Gear and Equipment Slots

Gear and Equipment Slots

tl;dr: A battleframe has three weapons, four abilities and nine pieces of equipment. Health comes from head, chassis, arms and legs, power rating mostly from the reactor. Rarity isn't "just" a color: a green item is as strong as a white one five levels above it, a blue one ten levels, a purple one fifteen levels.

Coming from an older version? Before update 1.6 the health of a frame came from a single item, the battleframe core, and there were no auxiliary weapons, medical systems, operating systems or gadgets. The core was split into head, chassis, arms, legs and reactor, so you can replace them one at a time and don't have to choose between health and the bonus stat you want.

The Slots

	Slot	What It Does
	Primary weapon	The signature weapon of the frame, e.g. the Plasma Cannon of the Assault. Only the frames of that kind can use it.
	Secondary weapon	Shared between the frames, e.g. Assault Rifle, Burst Rifle, Shotgun, Sub-Machine Gun or Grenade Launcher.
	Auxiliary weapon	Either a melee weapon (Energy Sword, Battle Hammer, brawling gear) or a reusable grenade (Fragmentation, Incendiary, Freeze, Chemical, Tesla). Without one, the melee key hits with the butt of your gun.
	Abilities	Three ability slots, which unlock at level 3, 6 and 9.
	Ultimate ability	Formerly known as HKM. Unlocks at level 10 and charges by dealing and taking damage instead of a cooldown.
	Head	Health.
	Chassis	Health. The game calls it Torso in some places.
	Arms	Health.
	Legs	Health.
	Reactor	A large bonus to power rating.
	Operating System	Stats that apply to all your abilities at once, e.g. cooldown reduction.
	Medical System	Sets your passive health regeneration and gives you a burst heal on its own hotkey. Unlocks at level 4 and replaced the stacks of health packs from before 1.6.
	Gadgets (2)	Special effects that trigger on their own under certain conditions: on a kill, on a headshot, when using the jumpjets, at critical health, etc.

Rarity

Rarity	Color	As Strong As a Common Item of
Common	White	its own level
Uncommon	Green	5 levels higher
Rare	Blue	10 levels higher
Epic	Purple	15 levels higher
Legendary	Orange	unique items with their own effects

So a common level 40 weapon is a standard level 40 weapon, the uncommon version equals a level 45 weapon, the rare one a level 50 weapon and the epic one a level 55 weapon. As such a blue item you find at level 30 will easily outlast the white ones of the next ten levels.

Items of uncommon or better rarity additionally come with a prefix that adds bonus stats, and those can affect your weapons and abilities as well. Prototype items are a special kind of rare: they're rewards of specific missions and operations and can be upgraded to epic by a Tinker.

Manufacturers

Every piece of equipment is made by one of four corporations and gets a fixed bonus from it:

Manufacturer	Bonus
Accord	Weapon handling rating and reload speed
Omnidyne-M	Maximum energy
Astrek	Energy recharge rate
Kisuton	Maximum ammunition

Power Rating

Power rating is the one number that scales the damage and healing of your weapons and abilities and the health of your shields. Weapons, abilities and the reactor each bring their own, tinkering adds to it with every upgrade, Force Enhancer modules add to the item they're slotted in and Elite Ranks can add up to 200 on top.

Where Gear Comes from

Drops from enemies and the rewards of missions, operations and events
The quartermasters at the outposts, who sell better gear the higher your reputation with them is
Bounties, including a few epic items you can't get anywhere else
Weapon, armor, ability and module caches, e.g. from PvP matches and Elite Ranks
Secure Lockers, opened with Security Keys (see resources)
Other players, through the market

Gear you no longer need isn't wasted, salvaging it returns the parts you need for tinkering.