Function and Fashion Coexist in the Best Forspoken Gear Items

Getting the right gear is a staple of RPG-style character progression, and Forspoken‘s no stranger to “gear lust”. But rather than the usual assemblage of helmets, armor, and weapons you might find in a typical fantasy game, Luminous Productions has leaned into the fact that Frey Holland’s greatest weapon in Athia comes from her magic. Using her spells and the protective abilities of her talking vambrace Cuff, she brings war to the Tantas on their own terms. To add to that witchy feeling, the Best Forspoken gear items take the form of items suited to outfitting a magically-empowered demigod. Here’s our quick guide to selecting the right items for you as you traipse around Athia.

What are the best Forspoken gear items and how do I optimize them?

Frey’s gear in Forspoken comes in three varieties: Cloaks, Necklaces, and Nail Art. You’ll earn them all over Athia, most often as rewards from activities. You’ll be able to see which activity earns what kind of reward by checking the icon. The purple icon will indicate if you haven’t earned an activity’s reward yet, as well as what type of reward it is. A few items are also given out as quest rewards, or unlocked out in the open world.

Cloaks and Necklaces are the most flexible gear pieces in Forspoken. This is because each cloak or necklace carries a unique perk. For example, the Orison necklace you can earn early in the game will restore a bit of health when you defeat an enemy.

However, one convenient thing about Forspoken‘s gear system is that once you unlock a cloak or necklace and its perk, you can place that perk on any other cloak or necklace you own by spending resources at a Crafting Table. You can even replace the perks on the gear that originally had them, to fully customize its properties to your liking. As such, if you find a particularly appealing-looking cloak or necklace, you can keep it upgraded throughout the game by transferring the best perks from other pieces you earn as you go through Athia.

Keep in mind, though: Perks don’t “stack”, so you can’t boost an effect by having multiple copies of the perk occupying the slots. It’s best to run with a diverse setup of different perks to have a broad spread of benefits.

As for nail art, the patterns you can earn aren’t upgradeable in the same way as cloaks and necklaces, but they do give out bonuses when equipped that are tailored to certain playstyles. You can equip two patterns at a time, so pick your favorites and set them to suit how you like to use your spells.

What are the best Forspoken cloaks and where do I find them?

There are so many cloaks and capes to find in Athia that the selection can get overwhelming. However, the main thing to remember is that nearly every cloak has just three perk slots, and if you’ve got the resources on hand, you can transfer any combination of perks to any cloak. There no single “best” cloak to get, just the best perks and stats your resources and exploration can unlock.

Except…that’s not completely true. In light of Forspoken‘s customization-friendly gear system, there is, in fact, a best cloak (sort of).

It’s this one: The Veriment Cloak. You can get it by completing the Locked Labyrinth challenge dungeon in the Visorian Isthmus section of Visoria.

The Veriment cloak comes with a good set of perks attached, which boost Frey’s damage, Surge Magic recharge speed, Critical Hit Rate, and Stamina Recharge when her health is low. But the real benefit of using the Veriment Cloak is the fact that unlike every other cloak in the game, it has four perk slots. That’s the most perk slots of any cloak in the game, giving you a full extra perk’s worth of advantage.

And only the Veriment cloak will have that many perk slots…until you unlock and upgrade the Diversify skill. The Diversify skill can be upgraded by visiting the Juniper Fount located in Junoon’s Crosstide Coast area.

The Diversify skill adds a 4th upgrade slot to necklaces, but upgrading the Diversify skill using the spell challenge allows a 4th upgrade slot to be added to cloaks, to. Once you’ve upgraded Diversify, any cloak can have what Veriment has by default.

Of course, you’ll have to unlock other cloaks to add their perks to your available options, then gather materials to fund both the upgrades to general stats and installing the perks themselves, making the Veriment Cloak more of a late-game all-purpose garment. Here’s a quick list of a few other cloaks that caught our eye, why they’re good, and where to find them.

• Unstoppable
  • Unlocked by clearing the Militis Academy scouting mission in Praenost.
    • Unstoppable’s perks reduce your fall damage (great when running around) and increase your spell damage when parkouring (essential in a fight)
• Pelerine
  • Unlocked by purchasing it at the doll vendor for 1 Poppet doll (obtained from “Follow the Cat” detours in Cipal).
    • Pelerine is a great early-game cloak, with a large stamina bonus in its base stats. It also lets critical hits restore health, giving you a bit of safety cushion while you come to grips with the combat.
• Puissant
  • Unlocked by clearing Locked Labyrinth: Cliff in Praenost’s Citadel region.
    • Puissant’s perk boosts your Surge Magic recharge rate when you’re outnumbered. Think about it: Other than Cuff: Frey acts alone in Athia. Your Surge magic is also a great tool against large crowds of enemies, making it easier to use when you’re in a pinch.

What are the best Forspoken necklaces and where do I find them?

Forspoken necklaces work pretty similarly to cloaks, in that unlocking necklaces adds perk options to your database, which can be transferred or copied over to another necklace. Unlike cloaks, though, you can upgrade Necklaces to increase their perk slots and change their appearances. In fact, many necklaces share perks with cloaks, and some are applicable across categories.

There’s no necklace like the above Veriment Cloak in Forspoken, which has four perk slots. All have the same maximum number, so your decisions will hinge on looks, stats, and whether they come in with appealing perks.

With that in mind, the best Forspoken necklace is Home Sweet Hell.

Home Sweet Hell has the best base stats in the game, with good bonuses across the board to all categories of magic. It also unlocks a killer unique perk that restores stamina when you attack while parkouring. Unfortunately, though, it’s a bit of a pain to unlock.

Home Sweet Hell can be obtained by visiting the “Curiosity Shop” in Inner Visoria. You’ll then need to purchase the “Sewing Kit” item for 64 Old Coins. This unlocks a crafting recipe for the Necklace, as well as for the Unbroken cloak. Once you craft it, Home Sweet Hell is yours to keep and modify.

There are a few other necklaces you can unlock to hold Home Sweet Hell’s place as you go through the game, though. Here are some of our favorites.

• Orison
  • Unlocked by completing Locked Labyrinth: East in the Barren Plains area near Cipal.
    • Orison unlocks the ability to restore health from destroying an enemy, a good safety net for early and mid-game fights before you’ve built up your supply of healing draughts.
• Balle Balle
  • Unlocked from completing the Place of Prayer in Junoon’s Sacred Peaks area.
    • Balle Belle comes with 3 excellent perks that increase your Critical Hit rate when you cast in quick succession, improves your Surge Magic recharge when your HP is high, and adds an auto-heal effect when you’re recovering from a defenseless state (such as taking a big hit and temporarily losing the ability to block).
• Sooth
  • Unlocked in Locked Labyrinth: South, located in Visoria’s Homestead Hills.
    • Sooth is a good “general purpose” necklace, coming with decent stats and three perks that boost your three magic types (Attack, Support, and Surge) when your stamina’s full.
• Sarka
  • Unlocked by completing the Ruins of Pagus activity in Praenost’s Citadel area.
    • Sarka doesn’t have much in the way of distinctive stats, but it does have a great perk that boosts Support magic damage across the board. Support magic spells are excellent damage-dealers, and a perk that boosts them all is invaluable in any situation.

What are the best Forspoken nail designs and where do I find them?

As far as the best Forspoken gear items go, your gear choices are largely determined by your play style and preferences. The same holds true for nail designs. You can equip one for each hand in Forspoken, and you can unlock them the same way you unlock cloaks and necklaces: Via activities, treasure chests, and quests.

Unlike cloaks and necklaces, though, the benefits of a given nail design are  fixed, and in some cases they have a trade-off, like boosting one type of magic while reducing the effectiveness of another. Additionally, you need to pay a small amount in resources whenever you change nail designs. Thus you’ll want to choose carefully: Either boost your favorite spell types, or select for a more broadly applicable general boost to effectiveness across the board. I favored the latter approach, because a one-size-fits-all angle let me focus more on the combat and traversal than messing around in gear menus.

Here are a few of my favorite Forspoken nail designs.

• Amped
  • Unlocked by completing the Ruins of Calme area in Avoalet.
    • Amped gives you a boost to damage when surrounded by enemies, and adds 5% to Frey’s magic damage output. This is great because you’re always outnumbered, and Frey’s magic is the most versatile magic type.
• Fatale
  • Fight and destroy the Gigas, an enemy located in the Rock Beds in Praenost’s Mount Garrison area.
    • Fatale makes it easier to knock down enemies, based on the number of spells Frey’s learned, along with giving a flat bonus to all spell damage. Knockdowns are good because you can use them to unleash Killer Blows. Easier knockdowns also make certain spell challenges simpler to complete.
• Lit
  • Unlocked in Visoria’s Tanta’s Demesne area, after completing the Zakto Village scouting mission.
    • Lit gives you a universal boost to damage if your Surge magic is fully charged. Since Surges are usually reserved for big groups and bosses, you’ll probably hold onto one most times, so you’ll benefit from a high uptime on the buff. You’ll also have a general boost to all spell damage.
• Flaunt
  • Flaunt can be found in Visoria’s Yonder Cape area, unlocked by completing the Fort Gabb sidequest.
    • Flaunt boosts your damage when your HP is high, which it always should be.

Forspoken is available on PS5 and PC. Check out Siliconera’s review of the game, or our guide to unlocking the “Cat Person” achievement/trophy.