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Age Of Wonders 3 Wiki

When you conquer a monster filled dungeon out in the wild lands or clear out an infested hole in the middle of the blighted swamp you may be lucky enough to find an item or two that could be of use to your leader or heroes.

Equipment itself has many uses and the random nature that often accompanies finding such trinkets makes them very situational but they should be valued as they are a method of improving your leader or hero without needing them to level up. This is a powerful effect and should be seen for the game changing factor that it is as fighting a well equipped enemy can lead to quick defeat without items of your own.

The game comes with many items by default, but if you find the various tombs and crevices you are clearing to be bereft of interesting or useful loot, then you can sell items you found from a hero's equipment screen and turn to the item forge to make your own magical gear, at a cost. This is far less efficient than finding loot but it is a custom made thing and more useful in the short term than searching the whole map.

Rarity[]

The rarity of the item is usually a good indicator of its value and power as the more useful artifacts are often much more rare than pieces of ruined chain mail you found at the bottom of a well. This isn't a certain thing though as there are a few examples of Common items being more powerful than strong ones but the power curve of items does favor rarity quite strongly.

Each item has a gold value set individually.

This gold value determines its displayed rarity levels, which is itself linked to its sale value:

  • Minimum gold value: this is the minimum threshold an item has to exceed to be classified at this level of rarity (e.g. an item with 90 gold value exceed 80 so is considered Strong).
  • Sale value: this is the gold and mana you get for selling an item of this rarity level.
  • Usual gold value: items of this rarity usually have been set at this gold value by developers. This matters for item rewards, see below.
Rarity Minimum gold value Sale value Usual gold value
Common 0 20 Gold, 5 Mana 50
Strong 80 40 Gold, 10 Mana 100
Epic 140 60 Gold, 15 Mana 150
Legendary 200 90 Gold, 23 Mana 225
Mythical 260 120 Gold, 30 Mana 300

There are also different rarity levels listed in the editor, which do not reflect the rarity levels that are listed in the game. These had meaning at one point in the development of the game, but are no longer used by the game at all.

Note that mount eggs cannot be farmed for gold via the Sorcerer's summon spell.

Item rewards[]

As for other reward, the total gold value available for item rewards is determined by:

  • The theoretical defender strength (and not the actual defenders): Very Weak to Very Strong
  • A multiplier, here the Item Reward Multiplier

For example, Ziggurat have Very Strong Defenders (= 900 Gold value) and a 1.2 Item Reward Multiplier, so the total gold value available for items is 1.2*900 = 1080 Gold, which is then split between 1 or 2 items (the number of items is randomly set between 1 or 2 for Ziggurat). As even Mythical items have a gold value of only 300 Gold (usually), it means a Ziggurat can yield 1 or 2 top items, depending on the luck.

The items are chosen among an Item Reward Set. Only two Item Reward sets are used: Tier3 Item Cat and All Item Cat. Most sites use All Item Cat, which basically means that you can be lucky and get a Mythical item (if the gold value of the reward is sufficiently high, see previous paragraph) or be unlucky and get a Common item (in the example above, the Ziggurat uses the Tier3 Item Cat). The list of all items and associated Reward Sets can be found in the Tables of Wonder.

Equipment Slots[]

Equipment Screen

You can't just nail every random scrap of cloth, shiny pebble and live wild animal to your armor and call it a day in AoW3. Every leader and hero has the same equipment slots that items can go in along with a small inventory for carrying items that are not currently equipped.

You cannot adjust your equipment during a battle so it is important to re-adjust any gear that is not appropriate for a coming combat before you enter the fray. This can be a liability if you are ambushed by prepared foes.

Here is the equipment screen you can see for any leader or hero, the example here being Edward Portsmith from the Commonwealth campaign. The slots are self evident given the picture inside the slots and then the inventory is located in the ten slots along the bottom.

The icon to the bottom left of the Hell Hound icon is a saddle and indicates that this item is a mount that the character can equip. The small inventory that each leader and hero possesses prevents keeping a full bank of items and it is advisable to leave any extra, unneeded items inside your safe cities for storage but be aware this might make them a target for enemies as they can then claim the items for themselves.

When you drop an item on the ground you leave it in an item sack. Nobody who is not currently on the same hex as the sack can see inside it or access the items it contains. It is important to remember this when discovering an item sack out in the wilds or in an enemy city as it could be either a trap or nothing of note.

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