How do you gear up in Core Keeper?
There are 10 equipment slots
Helm, chest, pants, necklace, rings (2), off-hand, bag, lantern, pouch and pet. Weapons and pickaxes are not equipped in these slots; you hold them in your hand.
Re-craft your gear with each new material
Gear made from the ore of a newer biome is stronger. The basic path is to re-craft as you go: Copper → Tin → Iron → Scarlet → Octarine → Galaxite → Solarite (table below).
Late game, choose by build
The strongest gear depends on whether you fight with melee, ranged, magic or summons. Best gear by build shows the strongest combination for each.
Gear can be upgraded
Upgrading to Lv.20 at the Upgrade Station makes even old gear strong. Some gear cannot be upgraded, so check first (how to upgrade).
Equipment slots and what goes in them
Everything you can equip on the character screen.
| Slot | What you equip | Main role | Items | List |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helm slot | Helms (helmets, hats, etc.) | Armor (reduces damage taken) plus each item's effects | 93 | All helms |
| Chest slot | Chest armor (breastplates, shirts, etc.) | Armor plus each item's effects | 79 | All chest armor |
| Pants slot | Pants | Armor plus each item's effects | 66 | All pants |
| Necklace slot | Necklaces | Health, damage and other item effects | 64 | All necklaces |
| Ring slots (2) | Rings | You can wear two. Damage, crits and other effects | 76 | All rings |
| Off-hand slot | Off-hand items (shields, books, lures, etc.) | Shields, books, orbs, lures and more. Effects vary by type | 40 | All off-hand items |
| Bag slot | Bags (backpacks) | More inventory slots | 8 | All bags |
| Lantern slot | Lanterns | Lights up your surroundings | 6 | All lanterns |
| Pouch slot | Pouches | Each pouch has its own effect | 18 | All pouches |
| Pet slot | Pets | Fights alongside you or makes you stronger | 17 | Best pets |
- There are also cosmetic slots (cosmetic helm, chest and pants). Your stats come from the normal slots while the cosmetic slots set how you look.
- Weapons, pickaxes and fishing rods are held in your hand. Put them in the hotbar and switch between them (best weapons ranking).
Recommended gear by stage (biome and material)
Each time you move on to the next biome, re-craft your gear with the ore you find there. These are the armor, sword and pickaxe you can make at each stage (recipes are on each item's page).
| Biome | Material | Armor (helm, chest, pants) | Weapon (sword) | Pickaxe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Undergrounds | Copper |  Copper Sword |
 Copper Pickaxe |
|
| The Clay Caves | Tin | No armor in this material (keep the previous stage's armor) |  Tin Sword |
 Tin Pickaxe |
| The Forgotten Ruins | Iron |  Iron Sword |
 Iron Pickaxe |
|
| Azeos' Wilderness | Scarlet |  Scarlet Sword |
 Scarlet Pickaxe |
|
| The Sunken Sea | Octarine |  Octarine Sword |
 Octarine Pickaxe |
|
| The Desert of Beginnings | Galaxite |  Galaxite Sword |
 Galaxite Pickaxe |
|
| The Shimmering Frontier | Solarite |  Solarite Sword |
 Solarite Pickaxe |
Which boss opens up which biome is covered in What to do next (progression chart). Material tiers can also be checked in the armor set list (sorted by item level).
How to pick strong gear
- Higher item level means better base stats. Use the item level on each item's page as a guide.
- Match effects to your playstyle. Pick gear with melee damage for melee, range damage for bows and guns, magic damage for staffs, and minion damage for minions.
- Check set bonuses. Wearing pieces from the same set adds extra effects (armor set list).
- Boss drops are strong. Many of them cannot be crafted, so defeat bosses to collect them (boss list).
Gear for each purpose (best gear, mining gear, fishing gear)
| What you want | Page |
|---|---|
| Best endgame gear for each build | Best gear by build |
| Gear for melee | Best melee build |
| Gear for bows and guns | Best ranged build |
| Gear for staffs | Best magic build |
| Gear for minions | Best minion build |
| Gear for digging faster | Best mining gear |
| Fishing gear | Best fishing gear |
| Armor-only ranking | Best armor ranking |
Upgrading and reinforcing gear
- Upgrading: at the Upgrade Station, you can raise gear up to Lv.20 with Ancient Coins and materials. The lower an item's base level, the more it grows (example: upgraded pickaxe list).
- Reinforcing: reinforcing at the Salvage and Repair Station doubles durability and also raises effect values.
- Some gear cannot be upgraded (fishing rods, lures, grenades, etc.). The item page says so.
Unless a note on the page says otherwise, numbers are read from the game files of Core Keeper 1.3.0.6 (prefabs, configuration files, drop tables and the game's program) and calculated by this site, including upgraded (per-level) values, sell prices and mana costs. Names and descriptions are the game's official English text. Only reinforcing materials, minion and pet attacks and some food values are based on the Core Keeper Wiki (Fandom) data (CC BY-SA 3.0). Core Keeper and its images are © Pugstorm. This is an unofficial fan site.