PvP gearing in Rift has become a somewhat confusing task due to the simplification of the system and how ranks work as per recent changes from Rift 1.7. In this article, we're going to take a look at the most efficient way to obtaining PvP gear.

(Check 1.7 PvP New Prestige Ranks System Update)

Currency and Farming

There are, in a sense, two types of currencies that are used for PvP gear. These are Favor (the actual money) and Prestige (which is obtained the same way, but is used for PvP levels). These, together, allow you to buy the items you want, as well as upgrade as needed.

Players can start farming Favor at any level above 10 (and it's recommended to start as early as possible to get a head-start on saving up for good items, plus you'll get normal experience and gold in the process). This is done via the following methods:

• Warfronts (accessed using the "k" key)
• Killing players of the opposite faction in PvP combat
• Doing PvP Rifts (for higher levels, say 45+, though 50 is better)
• Daily PvP quests (the quest is for level 50's but I think you can get it at 48)

As for the fastest method to obtain Prestige and/or Favor, it's by taking part in the Weekend Warfront bonuses, where the amount of both is increased by 100%. Though if you wish to work on this during non-weekend periods as well, that's fine, and is still easiest to obtain by doing the warfronts. In this case, you will want to focus on Black Garden and Library of the Runemasters. For level 50's, The Port of Scion is good sometimes as well, but that's a bit hit-and-miss depending on the others in your warfront.

Gearing Process

There are essentially 3 tiers of gear that can be obtained at level 50. Each tier has full armor, full jewelry and weapons. All weapons have Prestige requirements, however the rest of the gear does not. All gear above the first tier has to be upgraded from the tier prior to it. Coupled with the fact that you can have up to 150,000 Favor on you at a time, making smart gearing choices is a must. The most efficient way to handle this process is to follow these steps:

• Save up enough Favor for the first weapon (or weapons if you can dual wield) before making any purchase
• Only spend excess, and purchase armor one full tier at a time before moving on to the next

This method will allow you to always upgrade your weapons as soon as you gain the appropriate Prestige Rank, while letting you use extra for armor. Keeping with one tier of armor before moving up to the next lets you upgrade quicker and makes things easier to keep up with.

Synergy Crystals

If you choose to go with Synergy Crystals as part of your set (which is recommended but takes a lot of farming), you will want to factor that into your calculations as well. In this case, it's best to save up enough for your weapon(s) and your Synergy Crystal before purchasing armor.

Synergy Crystals require Daily PvP Faction reputation so you will need to do the daily PvP quests or PvP Rifts to earn it.

Example

To help illustrate this process, we'll take a fresh level 50 with no (or a small amount of) Favor. In this case we will assume that a Synergy Crystal is desired as well. So the thinking process is as such:

• Save up 32k Favor for weapon(s), plus another 23k for the first Synergy Crystal, for a total of 55k Favor
• Start spending the rest on armor, starting with any piece (some prefer the cheapest first, but really it's not going to make a huge difference)
• If you aren't high enough for the tier 2 weapon(s) by the time you finish the tier 1 armor, start working on tier 2 armor, otherwise when you are high enough for tier 2 weapons you will want to start saving up for them before buying more armor

As an alternative to the Synergy Crystal method explained above, you can also exclude that until you are ready for the highest one (at Prestige Rank 40). This will save a lot of Favor and allow you to get armor faster, but this comes at the penalty of not being quite as powerful as you otherwise would be. Since Synergy Crystals have no prior-tier requirement, this is a choice you'll need to make on your own.