We have seen yet another change to the gear.
Just last week, on May 1, 2024, the devs patched in the new adjustments to the gear set effects. Now some of the sets activate already with just two items of the same type, which will help especially F2P or lower spenders to be able to get at least some extra buff.
While I was reworking and refreshing the sheet anyway, this was the perfect opportunity to finally implement what has been asked by multiple people - a tracker for your own gear items. I am excited to introduce this too and hope it helps you with managing your gear and planning your setups better in the future.
You can find the link to Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)© at the end of the article.
Changes in Game
So, what has changed?
In short, some of the effects on the gear now activate already if you have only 2 pieces. The requirement for the sets got adjusted accordingly and also the stats got adjusted to the effect that you will still have the same boost with 4 items of the same type.
Originally there had been planned some 2-set effects. However, when the game team launched the changes for 2.0, they had opted to put all effects in 4-sets. I believe this was done to avoid some OP mixes with classic gear, which originally I believe they did not intend to keep in the game. So in order to avoid having insane combinations (which some are still possible), they simply made the requirement for all effects to have 4 items with the effect to activate the buff.
This however made it quite challenging for some people. If you do not spend a huge amount of money, getting a full set of 4 items with the desired effect is not that easy. And the devs listened to the community - they reworked the system and I think it turned out quite nicely.
Some of the effects got turned into sets that require only 2 pieces to activate. You can now mix and match these effects. You can also double those effects to get back to the same buff that you had previously with the 4-set requirement.
The effects that changed into 2-piece Sets are:
- Might: Physical Damage dealt by the commander's formation +5.0%
- Lore of the Arcane: [This Formation] Burn, Poison, and Focus Damage dealt +5.0%
- Fortitude: Physical Damage dealt by the commander's formation +5.0%
- Agility: Initiative of the Commander's formation +5.0 during combat
- Upkeep: [Commander] Recovery administered +3.0%
- Siege Ladder: Siege of the Commander's formation +5.0%
- all racial effects: When the commander's formation is comprised of race [Beasts/Dwarves/Elves/Evil Men/Men/Orcs/Trolls/Undead/Uruk-hai], damage received -5.0%
As you can see, the effects got halfed from their original values:
- if formerly +/- 10%, they have now +/- 5%
- if formerly +/- 10, they have now +/- 5
- Upkeep went from +5% to +3%
I said you can mix and match the sets. What does this mean?
Examples:
1. Hand w/Agility, Armor w/Siege, Head w/Siege, Accessory w/Agility will result in both effects activating.
2. Four pieces with Agility will result in the effect activating twice, resulting in the same effect as it used to have before the patch update.
You can see in this screenshot how both Siege Ladder and Might activate and give the buff.
However, as soon as you mix in just one piece of 1.0 (aka classic) gear, you do not get any set effect at all, even if you have two or three pieces of a 2-set.
Example:
Hand w/Dwarven Siege (purple hammer), Armor w/Siege Ladder, Head w/Siege Ladder, Accessory w/Drums of Moria Dwarven siege means the Siege Ladder effect (+5%) will not activate. You get only the buff from the Hand/Accessory pieces.
Or as in this screenshot, if you use the Hithlain with Elven Siege (Classic), you do not get the other set bonus. The game displays this by "graying out" the effect icon.
The following effects have not changed and still need a full 4-piece Set as always:
- Sharp Blade: Attack +20.0 during combat
- Flay: Damage ignores 15.0% of the target's Defense
- War Cry: This formation's damage dealt +20.0%
- Perseverance: Damage dealt +2.0% each round
- Thick Armor: Defense +20.0 during combat
- Power Overwhelming: Damage received -20.0% when in the Stun or Madness status
- Evasive Action: This formation's damage received -20.0%
- Divide and Conquer: Damage received -2.0% each round
With the changes made to some of the sets, you can now not only get buffs if you don't have enough items to create a full set. It also enables you to adjust your strategy on what you are using and by deliberately picking two different sets to optimize your army setup. It means there es much more room to play around.
Changes on Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)©
With this article I officially launch upgraded Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)©. This is the second major update on my Gear Tool and I hope this makes it even more convenient for you to use and provides you an even better experience and support in planning and strategizing your army compositions.
So, what does it look like now?
There have been no changes to the basic tabs that you already knew. I updated the data collected from game according to the new changes. The tab "Effects" is now updated with the new values and information.
There have been no changes made to the basic tabs "Gear" and "Relics".
I have added a third tab "Filter your Gear" and now there can three people work with the tool at the same time. As always, please try to remember to never change any real data, the layout etc. Only filter according to what you're looking for and when you're done, please reset everything again for the next user to be able to find what they need.
There are two brand new tabs added to Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)©:
- Instructions:
Here you find all information to the related articles with explanations and version history in the first section.
The second section gives an overview on all available tabs with links to said tabs for your convenience. A table of content if you will.
The third section provides a Quick Start instructions, which will allow you to get a small reminder on what to do where and how to use Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)© - Gear Tracker©:
This has been requested by many over time and finally I am able to launch it. Your own personal gear managing and tracking tool to support you with finding sets.
It enables you to inventory your own gear pieces, which enables you to plan better which gear changes to make and which effects will allow you to get set effects activated.
I hope this is a tremendous help when redoing your gear and reduces the amount of Elven Craftsman Hammers used as now you will know what you have in your Items Bag.
Of course these changes are hopefully only the start and I will work on continuous improvement to make Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)© even more useful over time. Suggestions and ideas are always welcome, but I can hint already that I have something in mind that will help with the planning even more. Putting this into reality will take a bit of work and time. So please stay tuned.
How to Use the NEW Gear Tracker©
Since it is going to take you a good while longer to work with the Gear Tracker than just looking up the ideal pieces, for this tab I made only one, which is protected from any changes.
This means you will have to pull a copy of the sheet first. You can do this either by adding a copy to your own Google Drive, or by saving the file to your computer.
With this I explicitly allow you to download and save a version of GT for your personal use. Please pay me the courtesy not to share your version, but a link to my Blog instead and let people get the link to the tool here themselves. Of course you are welcome to share links to specific articles if you want to.
Once you have the file copied you are good to go. You can duplicate the tab "Gear Tracker" as many times as you want and track the gear for all your accounts - if you have more than one of course.
Now you are good to go and enter the items you own. Just type in the number of times you have it and the tool will calculate also automatically for you how many items you have of which gear piece to get an idea how you're standing on refining your pieces.
With the sections divided optically with different colours per quality type, alternating lines and frame dividers on gear slot, this should help to give you an easy overview on which sets you can go for to get the best out of your gear.
If you have any questions, remarks, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me on Discord under ladydeath1.
Lady Death's Gear Tool (v2.0)©
