Gearing up in Neverwinter - What to do at level 20 (2023)

So you’ve hit level 20 in Neverwinter, but you don’t know what to do now. Fear not, this is what most fresh level 20’s feel like. End-game in Neverwinter can be quite confusing, but this guide is designed to help you out on your way to gear up your character.

This guide is also great for new level 20 alts. In this guide, I will be showing you how to get to around how to increase your item level after hitting level 20.

At level 20 there are so many things to do and so many choices to make, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ll cover everything from what gear to equip, to which enchantments and companions are best for your character. So read on, adventurer, and learn what it takes to become a powerhouse in Neverwinter!

Maybe the best way to get a higher item level is by using Astral Diamonds. You can use AD to buy gear, enchants, mounts, companions and even to skip campaigns. See our Astral Diamond guide, for methods on how to make hundreds of thousands or even millions of AD per day.

Armor, Weapons, and Artifacts

First things first! Getting some new gear after hitting 20, to increase your item level. To see what gear is best in slot for your class, go to our Neverwinter class guides.

Seal of the Adventurer Gear

At level 20, make sure to visit the Adventurer Seal Trader in Protector’s Enclave and spend all your Seal of the Adventurer on the item level 950-1000 gear.

Weapons

First of all, decide which weapon set you want to go for. Popular choices at the moment are the Lionheart set from Tower of the Mad Mage, the Masterwork set that can be bought for Astral Diamonds on the Auction House or the Grand Alliance set which can simply be bought for Seals of the North that you get from random queues.

Refining your weapons to at least Epic quality is pretty easy and low cost and should be done early. See our Refinement Guide for more info on how to farm refinement.

Armor – Head – Arms – Feet

Do queues and spend your Seals on gear at the Seals Trader. Some of the gear that you get from Seals of the Wild in Mod 22 is actually pretty good and some is best in slot at the moment.

The next step when it comes to armor should be to get your best in slot items. To see suggestions for your class go to our Neverwinter class guides.

Many good and best in slot items come from rare mobs in Avernus and from the bags from Yuma which are easy to get as soon as you can do mod 18 content.

Cloak, Belt and Set

Most sets can be bought for AD. Don’t put too much refinement into your set before you got the one you want for your class and build. Some builds use a full set and others break them up or use items that aren’t part of sets. For the most part, getting your cloak and belt probably won’t be too hard. Some are bought through the AH for Astral Diamonds and others through campaign currencies.

Once you have the one you want, you can start putting RP into them to upgrade them. Try to get them to at least Epic quality as quickly as possible, working to upgrade the whole set at once, rather than one item at a time.

Rings

Decent Epic quality rings can be bought from the Auction House, and some BiS legendary rings can be bought as well although these are quite expensive. Get the purple-quality ones first if you can’t afford legendary ones.

Shirt and Pants

The Shirt of the Dragon Cult is very easy to obtain and is very cheap on the auction house. It is also one of the best shirts.

For pants the Velvet Pants +1 is a good choice for most classes and is also cheap to buy.

Artifacts

Getting and upgrading all your Artifacts will take some RP and time. I would recommend getting all your best in slot artifacts before upgrading anything past Epic quality. Upgrading to Epic quality is done pretty quickly, but slows down towards Legendary.

The best way to go about refining your artifacts is working on all of them at the same time. Refine all of the to the next tier, instead of working on them one at a time.

Try to get the new artifacts for the most stats unless you are using a older artifact for a set.

Enchantments

As of mod 22, Enchantments can be bought in the Sage Shop in Protector’s Enclave.

Armor Reinforcement Kits

These can be made or bought on the Auction House and will boost your stats and item level a little bit. These are good to keep in mind when you need a little extra item level to be able to do new content.

Companions

Next up we have companions. These also give you a higher item level. The problem with companions is that they can be really expensive. So you might have to wait with the ones you actually want. So before you can get the good companions, get some cheap rare and epic quality ones.

You can also get good companions and gear by spending the Chaotic Writings you earn when working on the Avernus campaign on Juma’s Suprise Bags from Juma the Curious in Vallenhas.

Your end-game companions will mostly come from the AH. They are expensive but usually worth it as they can provide you with some big boosts to DPS, healing or to you defensive capabilities.

Next up you want to pick your companions for the offense, defense and utility powers.

Gear for your companion will be rewarded as you progress through the Undermountain campaign, or can be bought from the Auction House.

Mounts

As a new level 80 you can buy cheap mounts off the AH, or from the mount vendor, or they can be gotten from events. Slot each of your mounts with 2 or 3 insignia’s.

You will then want to look at what insignia bonuses you want for your character. Wanderer’s Fortune is a good one to get for any character as it will provide you with some extra RP every day to upgrade your gear. When you know what bonuses you want, start saving up for mounts with slots for these bonuses. Our Mount Insignia Bonus Guide has more info on this.

Boons

Boons also affect item level. Work your way through the modules by doing daily and weekly quests. You can also buypass them by buying completion tokens from the auction house or from the zen store. Check out the campaign completion guide for the fastest ways to complete each module.

Joining a guild and activating the guild boons, is one of the quickest and best ways to increase your item level quickly.

Summary

In the end, Neverwinter is a game you need to take one day at the time. Work on everything mentioned above, a little bit every day and you will eventually get there. The main things to keep working at daily are:

• Hitting Astral Diamond cap. AD is one of the most important factors to improve your character. Remember our Astral Diamond Guide.
• Getting your best in slot gear.
• Getting your Artifacts, Weapons and Enchantments so you can farm RP to upgrade them.
• Working on your uncompleted modules.

If you have any questions or need some help improving your character, leave a comment and we will get back to you! See you in Neverwinter.