'Anthem': How to Customize Your Gear

BioWare is doing things a bit differently with their upcoming open-world title Anthem and there are a lot of reasons to get excited! With the open demo going on now and the game's full release on the horizon for later this month, many players might be looking to make the most out of their Javelin suits and loadout. To help, we've put together a very simple guide to get you where you need to be looking both slick and fierce in the world of freelancers.

Javelins are arguably the most important part of the game. They offer unique playstyle pre-sets, protection against a world where pretty much everything wants to kill you, and they also have some pretty neat upgrade options for those super invested.

There are four basic javelins to choose from:

• Storm
  • Similar to a mage class
• Colossus
  • Tank class
• Interceptor
  • Dual-wielding rogue
• Ranger
  • DPS

When looking to level up gear, there are six different rarity levels. Like a lot of similar online games, the best of the best is going to be locked behind harder challenges like Strongholds and other world events:

• There are six rarity levels for gear: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Masterwork, and Legendary. The higher a gear piece's rarity, the higher its potential power.
• Beating enemies, completing objectives, and other actions throughout the world will reward you with new gear pieces.
• You can craft gear using blueprints recovered during your adventures into the world of Anthem. Any gear pieces you create will match your level at the time you craft it, so you can use the same blueprint to re-craft items as your level increases.

BioWare has previously talked a bit about individual style on a purely cosmetic front as well, something we've been having a lot of fun with:

• A javelin's paint job is made up of two parts: paint and materials.
• Materials change the texture of your javelin, making it look metallic, leathery, and everything in between. Each javelin is broken into six areas that can be assigned their own materials, so you can have multiple textures across a suit.
• You can pair different paints and materials to create a truly unique javelin. Want to use battle-stained canvas and neon orange leather on the same suit? No problem.
• You can add five character animations to your loadout, including an arrival animation, a victory pose, and three emotes

Thoughts on Anthem so far and how the gear customization will work? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy. As for the game itself, the open beta is going on now before the full game releases on February 22, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.