You won't touch Gear Artificing for a good while in Endfield, and that's honestly fine. By the time it opens up, you've already cleared Wuling and handled the side content that unlocks the extra tab in Gear Assembly, so the game's basically telling you this is for players who are already deep in the grind. If you're still cycling through regular drops or testing team comps on fresh Arknights endfield accounts, this system can wait. Artificing isn't about getting new gear faster. It's about taking one strong gold piece you already trust and pushing it further, little by little, until it fits your build almost perfectly.

How the system actually works

The core idea is simple, but the game doesn't really let you be sloppy with it. Every gear piece has fixed main values, while certain secondary stats can be improved through artificing. To raise one of those stats, you need two things. First, a matching gear type as fodder. Gloves go into gloves, helmets into helmets, and so on. Second, a Catalyst tied to the region. There's also a catch that trips people up early: the sacrificed item needs to meet the value requirement for the stat you're trying to improve. If it doesn't, the attempt won't get you where you want to go. So no, dumping random weak loot into the system won't carry you through. You've got to keep pieces with purpose.

Failure, pity, and why it's not as brutal as it looks

This is where a lot of players get annoyed at first. Artificing can fail, and when it does, the Catalyst and fodder gear are gone. That part hurts. Still, it's not pure chaos. There's a pity layer running in the background for each stat line, and every failed attempt builds progress toward a guaranteed success. You won't always see immediate payoff, but the game is at least tracking your bad luck instead of letting it spiral forever. Because of that, it makes more sense to commit to one stat at a time instead of bouncing around. If you keep changing targets, you're basically slowing your own progress.

The value of a good match

The smartest players don't just save gear with high rarity. They save weirdly specific drops. That's because the Good Match bonus can seriously raise your odds when the sacrificed piece has a stronger version of the exact stat you want to boost. Once you notice that, your inventory habits change fast. That glove with a chunky ATK roll or that support piece with unusually high HP stops looking disposable. It becomes future material. A lot of people make the mistake of cleaning out their bag too aggressively, then regret it later when they start chasing better artificing odds. If a piece rolls high in a useful stat, it may be worth locking down.

What to prioritise first

If you want the biggest return, put your resources into the gear that actually moves your team's damage or consistency. Main DPS pieces come first, then the support gear that boosts uptime, energy flow, or core survival thresholds. Spreading materials across five average items usually feels awful in the long run. One properly upgraded anchor piece does more work. It also makes your farming feel less random, because every decent fodder drop has a clear use. That's really the whole appeal of the system. It turns endgame gearing into something slower, more deliberate, and a lot more satisfying, especially if you're the sort of player who likes planning upgrades, comparing stat rolls, and checking reliable marketplaces like U4GM for game-related resources while mapping out your next build.