2023 BDO Gearing Guide (0 to 738+ GS)

Guide By: Reipunzel Irkalla, LugaI, Church

Last Updated: October 13, 2023

Without completely copying what we have in the introduction, we made this guide because we love this game.

As with all other updates made since April 2021, we are still pushing for players to buy their gear until they start enhancing Slumbering Origin Armors.

So save your Cron Stones and Failstacks!

Currently, it covers from 0 to 738+ Gear Score.

It will be updated again when new content is released.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bYsiVlcH-D3oL1BTVCpGTx4gKKQf4MQrEB7e_s3iNcU/

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask us via Discord.

For your convenience, the "List of All Upgrades" has been added to this post for easy referencing  in-game, without having to alt-tab.

To access this guide in-game, press F2 then navigate to Community → Tips & Guides → Gameplay, then click the post title: [GUIDE] 2023 BDO Gearing Guide

Interested in other gearing guides? Click these links:

I hope you enjoy this guide and don't forget if anyone needs any help, dont be afraid to reach out to me!

I will be the bad guy then:

1, You call it catchup guide, but it won't make you catchup. It's a guide to help new players, and it surely help somewhat, but it still going to take considerable amount of effort (time) and obviously others not going to wait for you...

2, Time.

It sure looks big saying that you can get up to 667 with that... just it misses the estimated overral time to do it.

It's not hard to gear up... like kill mobs, get money, buy/encha stuff, repeat. The game is simple....

The hard part comes when the players don't want to waste their time on repetative chore for months/years, as they come for fun, not for a second job.

You guys do mention the cost in some places and time estimates, but an overal time would be better prof on catching up (though it would shows the opposite probably).

Especially that the gearing process was only illustrated untill the easymode ~600gs and well the catchup (or the lack of) only going to come afterwards...

3, Getting PEN kutum as a first PEN, lol...

4, Hard to enchance part on BS is BS

To TET it's easier to enchance a BS than doing PEN on yellow stuff. Sure it's much harder to enchance a BS to PEN, but that ain't a point there.

You can do around 2 TET atempts on avarage from the weekly + the 3 node alone if you not cron. It's expensive, takes time, but if you plan to enchance, then this is the easiest to enchance.

Heck you can do the whole questline and enchance from +0. It's actually give decent xp at lvl 59, 60 aswell.

5, Yes, the guide is long. (Which will cause many players to ignore it)

However the bigger issue is that it's content ain't properly ordered in importance, there is a loot of filler information there and here, with some shallow mentioning.

Like at the start there is a whole page about listing what stats a food give, and about two basically pointless elixirs, which will be only a waste of silver for a new player. If you really think that insignificant bonus the echology gives him is that important, say that he should buy a glass, or better a kama buff for more extra drop rate he ever will see from echology...

A picture with a circle of ellie's location in velia and the icon of the food would help more.

Mentioning things like knowdolage etc sure can be helpfull.... but if he does every litle insignificant thing he will never going to catchup. BDO is all about efficently. You should ignore the little things if you want to purse highend gear, or play casually but then you will never catchup...

Talking about food, instead of pointlessly listing what it gives, say that he should ALWAYS put food on cd. (for health xp), as that's important, and not trivial, due to in other games you only use'em for the buffs.

tl.dr:

It's an ok guide for a new player assuming he is willing to read it. But it's not enough tl.dr like to catch the attention of the avarage player. If someone wish to invest effort into learning how to do things, he will going to read after it. But if he is lazzy ass, he won't read a 40+page pdf.

actualy garbage guide

Isn't it obvious that if someone doesn't want to put the time or effort in then they won't? It isn't meant to target unmotivated audiences. I thought that always went without saying since it applies to most things in life. There is no sudden and effortless way to hit 660-700 without having a deep $$$ pocket - and if there were and it were that simple, this would be a dead game. The title is "2021 Gear Catch Up Guide" not "2021 Quick Gear Catch Up Guide". 

As someone who has maxed out my ecology bonus, I find it to be incredibly useful. Doing all of the small, monotonous things like building contribution and energy helps establish a passive income when invested wisely, which may help make those upgrades especially if someone doesn't a lot of time to grind. Yet, you find it to be useless. I disagree. It pays off in the end. 

Well I wish I had such a guide when I started it gives the folks a fighting chance since they will have a good understanding of the game. Is it the only way sure there are others but the information Given will greatly help those get where they need to go to be competative it also can help others who have been in the game a long time and dont have the gear score or have the knowledge they need to get there.

Everyone playing BDO should take some time to read this as they may gain some insight is it perfect no but it is a good start for all playing the game as ther is information that many playing the game does not have or may not understand.

Thanks for taking the time to put this Doc together it will go along way and help many along the way on their Journey 

The first part:
You never going to catch up, if it takes years to get to 667. Or are you expecting that the others stop gearing in that time, and wait for you?

The catchup is ether fast, or there is no catchup.

Catchup basically means that you get the same that others already have faster. If you walk the exact same, timeconsuming path, then that's not catchup at that point.

Second:

Echology bonus only affects the rare drops, not the trashloot, which gives the mayority of the income.

Sure, every little bit counts... but don't overvalue it. Getting that 20% extra drop takes time, and druing that time he doesn't make money, so neither catchup.

If you focus on catching up, then you should not bother with such tasks.

Especially given that elixir would give neglechtable increase on the echology he gains, but he would actualy lose silver if he would start buying it and ussing it en masse.

I have 10% echology despite play for years. Surely if I would focus on wanting to max it out, I could get it, but it takes time, and probably you would need years to get back the lost silver, what you lose due to grinding echology instead of grinding silver.

Telling a new player to go, and waste hours for days on something, that maybe start making profit after playing fulltime for years is not a good suggestion.

It doesn't take years. The game itself has implemented so many ways to skip through to soft cap - Olvia server overhaul, Seasons, Narchillan gear, etc. - and end game gear is not only more affordable now but also more abundant. I'm thinking of TET/PEN yellow grade items. There is also a hard gear cap; yes it is very high and difficult to reach but those people who have been playing full time since initial NA/EU launch will eventually hit that wall. It's not as difficult as you make it out to be. 

You would not lose "years" to make back lost silver. I took my time to do it three years ago and I'm 690 gearscore. I've been playing very casually, I'm a beta/launch player and I have bought all of my accessories, Vells, Garmoths, etc. It is most definitely doable and if people want to get ahead of the "curve" then they can do it and quickly but the speed in which they go is up to them, not what a guide tells them. 

They don't have to stop and wait for anyone to catch up, it is just inevitable that if people continue playing eventually they will get there and no, they do not have to devote every waking minute to the game to do so. So yes, that is catching up - and this guide doesn't claim to be the One All Guide, it's just one perspective out of many on how newer players can get started down that path. Players are free to adjust as needed to fit their lifestyle - that goes without saying. Maybe the guide didn't include a timeframe because it's not about racing. Have you ever heard of The Tortoise and The Hare? Chill and just enjoy the game, otherwise why play.

It doesn't take years, kek, even if I would add the numbers literately written in the guide, it would already more than a year. Did you even read it?

Also your definition of casual is pretty laughtable. An avarage casual don't make more than 200m/day on avarage, but mostlikely it would be half of that in reality.

At that point your "easy to reach" 700+gs which is the wall you're talking about would take several years to reach...

Sure, I don't say that everyone should get it... but don't advertise catchup if it not exits. The illusion of catchup, and free shit gear ain't catchup.

all he wants is clout, don't hurt his feelings!