'Anthem' Loot Rarity Explained: Understanding Common to Masterwork

Anthem is a loot farming simulator that just happens to be filled with flying robot suits. Understanding loot rarity is key, like Destiny 2 and Warframe players come for the controls but stay to get the best armor and weaponry possible. You'll start off with low-level common equipment that deals minimal damage, but as you increase your Pilot level and embark on harder missions you'll gain access to stronger weaponry (i.e. higher rarity) for your arsenal.

Weapons, seals, grenades and components all have loot rarity levels that determine how powerful the gear will be. Here's a breakdown of each of the loot ranks and how you can find everything from common to legendary.

Anthem Loot Rarity Explained

Common Rarity- When you start out your adventure in Fort Tarsis, you'll only have this grey-tinted gear in your inventory. Out in the open world, common loot drops everywhere and is easy to find. You'll be replacing gear in this rarity quite often.

Uncommon Rarity- Slightly better than common, the green gears and weapons start to drop around pilot level 7. These can be crafted using Uncommon Embers and by unlocking weapon blueprints (which come from completing weapon-specific challenges.)

Rare Rarity- Once you hit level 10, you'll get access to this blue gear. It's the best you can get until you're strong enough to unlock the Epic rarity tier. These can also be crafted with blueprints and Rare Embers.

Epic Rarity- At this difficulty, the magenta gear will replace the common weaponry that you've seen so much of, allowing you to power up your Javelin a little faster. These will be useful in the early stages of Grandmaster play, but will be replaced once you find Masterwork gear.

Masterwork Rarity- You need to be at least level 30 and willing to embark on Grandmaster difficulty missions to unlock these purple weapons. They are unique and are way more powerful than what you've seen before.

Legendary Rarity- The best of the best, these are the orange items that can push your gear score to 400. These drop from Grandmaster III bosses and Strongholds and are difficult to find. Here are all the Legendary Weapons in Anthem.

How to Craft Masterwork Weapons

Masterwork weapons in Anthem come with a few stat augments that can impact how you play. Once you acquire a Masterwork weapon, you can craft it as many times as you like, after completing a Challenge like kill 10 Legendary enemies. Once you've unlocked the blueprint, you'll be able to make as many of the same weapon as you want as long as you have enough materials like Masterwork Embers. These Embers come from loot drops or by killing powerful enemies like Elder Ash Titans or by completing tougher Contracts or Strongholds.

Have you managed to get the Masterwork of your dreams or are you still slogging through the early game? Tell us in the comments.

Correction (2/20): A previous version of this story conflated Masterwork and Legendary weapon rarity. The article has been updated with the correct information. Newsweek regrets the error.