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Nightingale Gear Score – What is it and how do you increase yours?

Nightingale Guide

In Nightingale, your Gear Score is an important stat that plays a big role in progression. There are simply some things you can’t do if it’s too low, so Into Indie Games is here to help you raise that number.

What is Gear Score and how is it calculated?

Before explaining how to raise your Gear Score, it’s worth discussing where the number comes from in the first place. It’s fairly straightforward, and you should learn about it by completing missions. But so many things are thrown at you at once. Understandably, some bits might pass you by.

With the exception of any off-hand items – no, sadly the Umbrella doesn’t count – everything you equip contributes to your Gear Score. That includes anything in the following slot: Shoes, Gloves, Bottom, Top, Back, Gear, Hat and Main Hand weapon.

How do I raise my Gear Score in Nightingale?

How you raise your Gear Score in Nightingale largely depends on how far you have progressed in the game. At first, you won’t be able to upgrade at all. But you can still craft better clothing for your character compared to their default option.

Early on, you will get a quest that requires you to improve your Gear Score to 20. To do this, you will need to build a Simple Workbench and Simple Sewing Bench. The former allows you to craft Simple tools and weapons, while the latter lets you make Simple pieces of clothing.

To make a Simple Workbench, you need 10 Wood Bundle and four Plant Fibre. Meanwhile, a Simple Sewing Bench needs 10 Wood Bundle, 15 Fibre, and one Bone.

Visiting an Antiquarian Realm

Once you’ve upgraded all your Gear, you can’t upgrade anything else until travelling to your first Antiquarian Realm. Here, you can get blueprints to build a Simple Upgrade Bench alongside access to Tier 1 Essence, which you will need to make the upgrades.

But first, you need to build your Simple Upgrade Bench, which requires four Lumber, two Ingot, and three Twine. Chances are you’ll have gathered a few Ingot and Twine by this stage, but if not, check in with your local Essence Trader, as they’re probably selling some.

As for Lumber, you can easily get that by chopping down trees and refining those Wood Bundles at a Simple Sawing Station. It requires two for each Lumber, so you will need to collect eight for the Simple Upgrade Bench.

Once you’ve assembled all the materials and created your Simple Upgrade Bench, you’re ready to go. Interact with it using ‘E’ on your keyboard and select the piece of clothing, weapon or tool you want to upgrade. In terms of material, all you need is the item itself and 40 Tier 1 Essence.

And that’s all there is to it! As you progress, you will discover blueprints for better Upgrade benches that allow you to further increase your Gear Score.

What are the benefits of raising my Gear Score?

As mentioned, Gear Score is one of the ways Nightingale gates progress. So by upping it, not only will you be stronger, but you can access new areas – such as Astrolabes and Provisioner Sites of Power – that are usually blocked with a barrier until you reach a certain Gear Score.

With upgraded tools, you are also better positioned to hack down tough trees and mine iron awe. When you approach environmental items you can forage, sometimes you will be unable to, with a red number appearing alongside a silhouette of the tool required.

That means you can’t hack away at that piece of rock to get materials until your weapon’s Gear Score matches the number. If you come across something like this, mark it on the map so you can return later to reap those rewards.

And that’s everything you need to do about Gear Score in Nightingale. In the early stages, your options are fairly limited, but you will see more as you progress through the game.