Best in Slot by Stage

Weapon tiers unlock at the same levels in all three styles: 1, 10, 25, 40, 55, 70, 80 and 100. Upgrade your weapon at each of those, then spend what is left on the armour slot that gains the most.

How "best" is decided here

Idle Clans does not publish a single damage number for an item. A weapon has an accuracy bonus, a strength bonus and an attack speed, and the game turns those into hit chance and max hit with your levels. This guide ranks by strength first and accuracy second, the same rule the gear pages use. That favours bigger hits. Against a monster with high defence, the more accurate weapon can come out ahead, so if two weapons are close, put both into the combat calculator against the monster you actually fight.

Attack speed matters as much as either bonus. In the game data, the melee tier weapons below swing every 3.6 seconds, staffs every 4.75 seconds and crossbows every 3.5 seconds. A faster weapon with a slightly lower max hit can deal more damage per hour.

Melee (Attack level)

The interesting row is 75. The wiki puts four special weapons there: the Scorched halberd, Abyssal maul, Astaroth's scimitar and Fury's glaive. The halberd has almost the strength of the Godlike hammer five levels early, the Abyssal maul (128 / 124) is the balanced pick, and Fury's glaive has 146 accuracy, more than anything in the table above, with 116 strength and a slower 3.8 second swing. In the game data they drop from Phoenix, Kraken and Fury respectively. Astaroth's scimitar is weaker (74 / 71) but swings every 2.75 seconds, and it comes from Guardians of the Citadel. Weapon type matters too: melee weapons split into damage types, and a monster weak to crush or stab takes extra damage from the right one. The weapon types page lists which is which.

Archery (Archery level)

Crossbows carry far more accuracy than strength. In the game data the Normal crossbow has 8 accuracy and 3 strength, the Elite crossbow 75 and 15, the Godlike crossbow 125 and 32, and the Otherworldly DS crossbow 145 and 44. The wiki lists bows on the same tier levels, with the Dragon slayer's crossbow at 75 (118 / 30, from Guardians of the Citadel) and the Otherworldly DS crossbow at 110, ten levels later than the other Otherworldly weapons. The Thunderbolt bow at 80 trades strength for speed: 91 accuracy, no strength bonus, and a 2.5 second interval. The archery gear page compares bow against crossbow tier by tier. Ammunition is its own slot for archers, so check it every time you upgrade.

Magic (Magic level)

The Wand of lifesteal is weaker than the Outstanding staff on paper but faster (4.4 seconds against 4.75) and comes from Hades, Zeus and the Witch in both raids. At 80, the Godlike staff beats the two specials that unlock alongside it, the Sorcerer's staff (125 / 144) and the Divine staff (115 / 132). Magic is also the style that needs Enchanting thought soonest: the enchanting guide covers the scrolls.

Armour by stage

Melee armour comes in named families. In order of official base value they run Bronze, Iron, Steel, Platinum, Meteorite, Titanium, Astronomical and Otherworldly, with Warrior's and Citadel pieces in between. A full six-piece set goes from 27 melee defence for Bronze to 250 for Titanium, 335 for Astronomical and 409 for Otherworldly. Several of the early metal pieces also show up in the Smithing quest list, which is worth a look before you buy them off the market.

Magic armour runs Magical, Enchanted, Cursed, Wizard's, Necromancer's and Astronomical. Archery armour runs Leather, then the Orange, Green, Red and Black families, then Archer's, Centaur's and Basilisk pieces.

You never need a complete set. Each slot is a separate decision. The upgrade path on each gear page keeps only items that no cheaper item matches on all three bonuses, so you can skip the dead steps.

The endgame loadout

At the very top, the melee best in slot from the game data uses Otherworldly helmet, body, legs, gloves and boots, Grimwark's shield, Sobek's blessing as ammunition, a tier 4 mastery cape, diamond jewellery and Silhenik's lunar belt, for +198 accuracy, +218 strength and +404 defence across 13 slots. Very few of those pieces have market offers, so expect to earn them. For what tracked top players actually wear, see the best in slot gear pages.

Frequently asked questions