The gear ladder

Weapons, armour, shields, capes, rings and amulets come in tiers, one every few levels. You can wear a piece once you reach its level. Where a piece comes from depends on its tier:

Every item's page says which kind it is, at the top of How to get it.

Basic gear: craft your next set early

A basic recipe needs you to be about five levels below the tier, so you can craft the next set while you're still growing into it. The materials climb with the tiers: flint and shells, then reeds and cloth, copper, iron, moonstone and, at the top, obsidian from the Ember Wastes.

Dropped gear: go and find it

From level 40, new gear only comes from cleansing creatures. A creature drops gear from the tier at or just below its own level (sometimes the tier above). Most finds will be for other classes. That's fine: trade them on the market board, and buy the pieces you need from others. Playing in a party helps too, because everyone near gets their own loot roll.

Master craft: rare materials

From level 75, the best gear is crafted again, at the anvil, the loom or the workbench. Each master recipe needs common materials (iron, gold, moonstone, cloth...) and two master materials. The strongest pieces also need a Guardian Core.

Master material	Dropped by level-70+ creatures of	Used for
Wellspring Drop	Riverlands	Mage weapons, armour, rings, amulets and capes
Heartwood Knot	Autumn Woods	Knight weapons, Shooter weapons, rings, amulets and capes
Everfrost Heart	Frostlands	Knight weapons, armour, shields
Sunscarab Relic	Sunscorch Desert	Ninja weapons, armour, shields
Everburning Coal	Ember Wastes, Dragonfire Isle	Monster weapons, armour, rings, amulets and capes
Starspore	Glowcap Hollow	Mage weapons, Ninja weapons, armour, rings, amulets and capes
Primal Amber	Primeval Isle	Shooter weapons, Monster weapons, armour
Gravelight Candle	Zombie Land
Guardian Core	mini-bosses and bosses (and now and then an elite)	Knight weapons, Mage weapons, Shooter weapons, Ninja weapons, Monster weapons, armour, shields, rings, amulets and capes

Creatures of level 70 and up drop their own realm's master material, but rarely: about 1 in 167 for an ordinary creature, far more often for elites and mini-bosses, and always for bosses. Guardian Cores come from elites (rarely), mini-bosses and bosses. If you can't reach a realm yet, look for its material on the market: other players may be selling it.

Every class, tier by tier

Tier	Band	Knight	Mage	Shooter	Ninja	Monster
1	Crafted
5	Crafted
8	Crafted	Reed Guard Sword	Glyphwood Wand	Mangrove Sling Bamboo Blowpipe	Leaf Blade Bamboo Blowpipe	Tidefang Claws
15	Crafted	Copper Cutlass	Coral Wand	Copper-Band Sling	Copper Kunai	Copper Talons
20	Crafted	Bronze Broadsword	Glyphwood Staff	Reed Bow	Bronze Leafblade	Bronze Fangs
25	Crafted	Iron Reedblade	Tide Staff	Bamboo Longbow	Iron Tanto	Iron Rakes
30	Crafted	Moonstone Longsword	Moonstone Staff	Moonstone Bow	Moonstone Leafblade	Moonstone Claws
35	Crafted	Obsidian Broadsword	Obsidian Rod	Obsidian Recurve	Obsidian Tanto	Obsidian Talons
40	Dropped	Tideglass Blade	Tideglass Wand	Tideglass Bow	Tideglass Katana	Tideglass Talons
45	Dropped	Reefsteel Sabre	Reefsteel Wand	Reefsteel Sling	Reefsteel Kunai	Reefsteel Claws
50	Dropped	Stormscale Sabre	Storm Staff	Storm Sling	Stormscale Wakizashi	Stormscale Rippers
55	Dropped	Skyshard Blade	Skyshard Staff	Skyshard Longbow	Skyshard Katana	Skyshard Rippers
60	Dropped	Sunstone Greatsword	Sunstone Sceptre	Sunstone Bow	Sunstone Katana	Sunstone Claws
65	Dropped	Duskfire Greatsword	Duskfire Sceptre	Duskfire Bow	Duskfire Wakizashi	Duskfire Claws
70	Dropped	Starfall Longsword	Starfall Wand	Starfall Sling	Starfall Katana	Starfall Talons
75	Master	Wildheart Warblade	Wildheart Staff	Wildheart Longbow	Wildheart Fang	Wildheart Claws
80	Master	Ancient Temple Blade	Ancient Glyph Staff	Ancient Hunter's Bow	Ancient Shadow Blade	Ancient Beast Claws
90	Master	Aurora Brand	Aurora Sceptre	Aurora Bow	Aurora Katana	Aurora Rakes
100	Master	Titan's Edge	Titan's Rod	Titan Bow	Titan Fang	Titan Claws
125	Master	Celestial Riverblade	Celestial Wellstaff	Celestial Skybow	Celestial Nightblade	Celestial Claws
150	Master	Mythic Riverfang	Mythic Wellstaff	Mythic Skyreach	Mythic Nightleaf	Mythic Moonfang
200	Master	Eternal Tidebreaker	Eternal Springstaff	Eternal Horizon	Eternal Moonblade	Eternal Maw

Weapons only; each tier also has armour, shields, capes, rings and amulets. See the weapons and armour lists.