Wizardry 6: Gear Progression

Gear in Wizardry 6, while important, isn’t as emphasized compared to a more loot oriented game like an ARPG. However, even if the idea of gear tiers probably weren’t concretely conceptualized when games like this were conceived, there are certainly 3-4 stages of the game where you can find upgrades. Naturally, the game zone difficulty will dictate the power of the drops but many are fairly reliable, although some items can only be discovered once.

Tier 1 Items

The Castle up until the Dwarf Mine should be considered in this category. The Castle itself has two vendors: L’Montes and Queequeg. L’Montes is unlocked through a small quest and can be found by locating his missing stuffed beagle while Queequeg is underneath the Castle in the basement. L’Montes doesn’t have much for sale while Queequeg probably will end up being your main spot for selling off gear. In the early part of the game, you probably should use Queequeg to upgrade lower grade armor and a few weapons if you either did a character transfer or if you have the money. Here are the best items I think worth buying from Queequeg:

• Halberd (for Valkyries)
• Katana/Wakizashi (if you did an early class change into a Samurai)
• Cure Poison (easy spot to restock on these)
• Cure Lt. Cnd
• Books of Direction, Knocks, Detection (don’t bother learning these during level ups unless you have nothing else to choose)
• Leather Boots (for most fighter types except Samurai. Also, Bards and Rangers)
• Buskins (Bishop and Samurai’s best footwear excluding Water Wings)
• Cuir Gauntlets (most fighters can use this)
• Buckler (bis Bards if you want more armor and don’t want to dual wield)
• Leather Leggings (for most fighter types and bards; but not Rangers oddly)
• Quilt Leggings (great for Bishops if you decide to take one early on)
• Suede Pants (good for Rangers but these are common enough to just find)
• Leather Cuirass (best entry level body armor for most fighters and the Bard)
• Quilt Tunic (great for Bishops)
• Suede Doublet (for Rangers)
• Feather Hat (for Rangers and Bards)
• Leather Helm (for Fighter types)
• Elm Arrows (worst for bows but cheap and plentiful until you can start farming Drow Elves)
• Quarter Staff (for Mages because a plain Staff just stinks)

The other major items in the castle are:

• Harmonium (in the basement jail)
• An Annointed Cloak (which should go to your Lord)
• An Stud-Cuir Bra +2 (which is decent as a starting body armor for a Valkyrie)
• Breastplate (found in the Captain’s Den in the backroom which is good for your front line non-Samurai fighter)
• Skull Dagger (good as an offhand for a Bard)
• Heraldic Shield (great for Lord or Fighter especially wielding the Sword of Striking)
• Chain Hauberk (good for Lord, Fighter or Valkyrie).

Unless you decided to swap to a Bard, your Bard’s starting Lute will be the best instrument he/she can use for a while. The Harmonium is okay for certain situations but incapacitating opponents and doing max damage is far more valuable in the early game. Otherwise, you’ll have to get lucky in picking one up in the Mines, which I heard has a very low drop rate.

Tier 2 Items

I would argue that the Mines are where some better items start coming into play. You can still survive on Tier 1 weapons like for your Samurai or if you’re still using the Sword of Striking from the box near the entrance of the castle. But I would suggest trying to get to Smithy, another vendor located on the first level of the Mines, as soon as you can. Hopefully by this point, you’ll have 18k worth of gold as he sells a top tier item (the Vulcan Hammer) which is great for a fighter type like a Lord or plain Fighter. Armor-wise, I don’t think he has much but the Mine itself and the Hazard Area have a few random treasures that probably will help upgrade most of your fighters’ armor. Samurai will continue to face armor issues for a while though. The rest of the party probably won’t be able to upgrade any armor in Tier 2. But your spell casters should focus on pushing the spell skills every time they level and cast when possible to increase their Oratory while your Bards (who should be in position #5) can use Hide in Shadows to avoid damage when not playing their instruments. But Smithy’s best items are:

• Vulcan Hammer (priced at 18k from last I checked; you will need to level up your Mace & Flail skill though but totally worth it)
• Lance (small hit penalty but better damage than a Halberd for your Valkyrie)
• Naginata (possibly your Samurai’s biggest weapon upgrade at this stage but you’ll have to swap to polearms)
• Monstrance (a Bishop or Priest’s best weapon here)
• No-Dachi (can’t recall if Smithy sells one here. If he does, then this is your Samurai’s best weapon despite dropping your offhand Wakizashi).

For Monks and Ninjas, your Hands & Feet are your best weapons so don’t bother picking up any weapons. Beyond Smithy, the Mines has a few random armor upgrades and a key instrument that will be great for your Bard:

• Steel Helm (great for any fighter)
• Angel’s Tongue (excellent for your Bard once Sleep stops being effective)
• Wizard’s Ring (quest item that also gives you a small AC bonus to mages; not sure if it goes away after using though)
• Wizard’s Cone (small AC boost and an upgrade to your Mage/Psionic/Alchemist from a Skullcap)
• Shadow Cloak (found in a chest in one of the darkness zones; Should give this to either your Ninja or Bard)

The Pyramid section, which I still consider part of the later mid-game, does pose tougher opponents but there’s not a lot of gear upgrades. However, the main vendor, Kuwali Kubona, has a lot of useful spell books. If you can avoid learning spells during the leveling process, you should pick up any stragglers from her. The only negative aspect is that anytime you travel here and want to speak with Kuwali Kubona, you must present an offering to the Amazulu Queen. Most people I’ve read simply dump their spare keys from the Castle but you should have at least one non-quest item that you’re prepared to ditch when you want to trade here.

Tier 3 Items

The River Styx is the start of the end game for me. Many difficult encounters pop up here and people suggest that this is where you will want to spend time grinding out a few levels to around 11-13 and changing to more elite classes. The most important NPC here (next to Charon) is Mai-Lai as she is a vendor who sells the next major set of upgrades.

• Cat’o Nine Tails (bizarre Mace & Flail categorized weapon that does high damage for a 1H weapon)
• Holy Basher (for your Bishop with a great Knockout effect to boot)
• Blade Cuisinart (great for fighters)
• Helm & Coif (great helmet upgrade for fighters)
• Full Plate U/L (really good armor upgrade for fighters)
• Studded Hauberk (good for Bard and Samurai body armor)
• Stud Chausses (legs for Samurai)
• Chamois Gloves (for Bards, Rangers and even Bishops apparently)
• Silver Gloves (for fighters)
• Silver Sollert (boots for fighters)
• Dragon Kite (best shield for your main tank)

You can just go back and forth if an item is not available from Mai-Lai. Other items you can find in this zone are:

• Water Wings (best footwear in the game; probably should give it to a Faerie and/or Bishop/spellcaster)
• Beastmaster (decent 1H sword found from Minos)
• Devil’s Pipe or Midnight Choice (found in the Hall of the Damn; your next useful Bard instruments)

Isle of the Dead/Hall of the Dead

This zone (the tomb part) is single-handledly the best the spot for gear in the game. There are a few other sections where you can still get upgrades, but this area presents some of the hardest fights in the game that provide your BiS gear. Because of how the area is structured and the general difficulty of the fights, you will want to rapidly dart back and forth to the healing fountains (which I believe are the strongest ones in the game and the last ones you’ll find) as you deal with each encounter and clean up the area. You still will be beset by hard encounters, some of which can wipe your party if you’re not careful.

Insane Skeleton

• Jazeraint Tunic (Best item for Bards)
• Jazeraint Skirt (Best item for Bards but only for females)

Robin Windmarne

• Elven Bow (BiS for elves, especially Rangers as it has critical hit bonus)
• Peacemaker (arrows)
• Chainmail Doublet (BiS body armor for Rangers)
• Chainmail Pants (BiS pants for Rangers)
• Forest Cape (Only Rangers can use this item)

The Black Knight

• Avenger (best sword in the game next to Excalibur which has an exceptionally low drop rate I’ve heard)
• Ebony Plate (U) (best body armor for fighters)
• Ebony Plate (L) (best pants for fighters)
• Ebony Heaume (best helmet for fighters)

Brigerd Woltan

• Maenad’s Lance (Valkyrie’s BiS weapon)
• Armet (decent helmet but doesn’t bet the Ebony Heaume)
• Mantis Gloves (best fighter gloves)
• Mantis Boots (best fighter boots)
• Horn of Promethius (best Bard instrument because you gain unlimited Fireballs)

Haiyato Daikuta

• Muramasa Blade (best Samurai main hand weapon; massive damage from this one!)
• Hi-Kane-Do (U) (best Samurai body armor)
• Hi-Kane-Do (L) (best Samurai pants)
• Kabuto (best Samurai helmet)
• Wakizashi+1 (best Samurai offhand)

Enchanted Forest

At this stage, you can choose to go in challenge Rebecca and the Bane King. If you do, I believe you no longer can return to the castle. But if you want to continue grinding levels and changing classes in preparation for the final stages of the end game, there is an alternative method. In the castle’s basement level, there is a strange set of stairs that leads to a gate that is closed. I think you can only open the gate by confronting Rebecca and the Bane King with a special key. However, this zone, although having just two tiles of movement, is still considered part of the Enchanted Forest and has those monsters as part of its encounter table. So you can effectively just stand next to the stairs and spin around and battle some of the top monsters in the game for plenty of experience. Besides the experience factor, these monsters (Liche, Wraith Lords in particular) can still drop highly valuable Ankhs, Rings and Amulets.

• Ring of Speed (+1 speed on usage)
• Ring of Deftness (+1 dexterity)
• Tora Maedate (+1 vitality for Samurai)
• Ring of Minds (+1 intelligence)
• Ankh of Might (+1 strength)
• Ankh of Youth (+1 vitality)
• Ankh of Arnie (+6 max HP permanently)
• Ankh of Purity (+1 karma)
• Ankh of Sanctity (+1 Piety)
• Ankh of Wonder (mana regeneration I believe)

There are other items too but the motivation for getting these items is to increase your base attribute score beyond 18. I think there’s a limited number of times you can boost your attributes though, so you might want to save your game each time you try. Last time I played, I recall that the Ankh of Wonder additionally gave mana regeneration, which is hard to find in the game. So I included it here as a must have for spell casters, even above resistance or bonus armor since by this point it will take a long time to get your spell pools back up to maximum. I believe the highest level I’ve been able to elevate my attributes was up to 20. That said, I recommend only using these items once you determine your final classes going into the end game to avoid dealing with the attribute reset for a class change.

Another comment I have is that you can still find some other gear like for Samurai’s, Ninjas, etc. as you’ll encounter like opponents. For instance, the Tora Maedate is an extremely rare item that I’ve found off of a Lord Daimyo I believe. And by avoiding the central room in the Tomb of the Dead, you will still have access to Queequeg around the corner to sell off any excess gear. Also, if you have a monk and started the end game, there’s a Jade Figurine with some decent bonuses for your Monk.

Temple of Ramm

By this point, you should have the vast majority of your end game gear. There are still a few limited upgrades.

• Robe of Enchant U/L (for your Monk or Bishop; your Monk should have really good natural armor by this stage so your spell caster should use these)

The other guaranteed items can still be found in the Enchanted Forest encounters.

Other Items

If you have a clue book, you might see additional items that are labeled “not in the game”. That just means they won’t drop so you can edit them in. Or there might be items with an exceptionally low drop rate. The only way to get those is by grinding the highest level items. The Diamond Ring, I’ve read, is given to you by one of the end game bosses but may not appear until Wizardry 7. You can still edit one in if you choose.