Items
Loot worth keeping, if you get out
Everything you find in DOSE is on loan until you reach the beacon. Gear comes in seven rarities, from Scrap you'll sell for caps to Irradiated pieces that run on the dose inside you. Get it out and it's yours, die with it and it isn't.
01
Seven rarities, one of them blue
Gear runs Scrap, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Irradiated. Most of what ordinary monsters drop sits at the bottom end, which keeps the trader in business. Higher rarities roll more affixes, and from Epic up an item starts doing things instead of just adding numbers. Item power follows the zone it dropped in, so a veteran can't flatten a friend's first run.
Irradiated is the odd one out. Those items run on radiation and get stronger the hotter you are, and they're the only gear shown in Cherenkov blue. In DOSE, blue means radiation and nothing else. They're rare everywhere and a little less rare in hot zones, so the best loot lives exactly where staying hurts the most.
- Scrap and Common: mostly trader fodder
- Uncommon to Epic: more affixes, then a mechanic
- Legendary: named, fixed, with a trick of its own
- Irradiated: runs on the dose you carry
02
What a stat card tells you
Hover anything and you get a card. The big number is the item's score, so you can sort a full backpack at a glance. Under it sit the level, the manufacturer's mark and rows of stats, each with a green or red arrow against what you're wearing. Effect lines come next, then a flavour line, then the price if you'd rather sell it.
Stats cover the usual damage, crits, fire rate and armour, plus a few that only make sense out here. Rad resistance cuts how much dose you soak up. Lethal dose moves your burn-out line. Glow modifiers make you dimmer or brighter, which decides who the mutants go for first. Every item is a small bet on how greedy you plan to be.
03
Made by people with opinions
Weapons and gear come from wasteland manufacturers, and each one has a feel you learn to spot from the badge. Scrapjaw makes big, slow, crude things that hit very hard. Lazarus Labs leans medical. Ironveil Militia builds accurate guns and heavy armour. Glowhouse runs everything on dose, Cinder Co. likes fire, Frostline likes cold and Old World Arms still has a few pre-war toys left.
- Scrapjaw: Big iron. Bad manners.
- Lazarus Labs: Clinical. Mostly.
- Glowhouse: It is not a leak.
- Old World Arms: Pre-war. Pre-everything.
04
Sets, legendaries and the catch
There are 16 gear sets, four per class, with bonuses at two and four pieces. A Glowstick can build around Reactor Core or Lead Wall, a Medic around Field Surgeon or Plague Doctor, a Scavver around Deadeye or Ghost, and a Rigger around Turret Lord or Firestarter. Each set also has a co-op bonus that clicks with another class's set.
The 32 legendaries are named, fixed items with a mechanic of their own, never just a bigger multiplier. Most of them come with a catch. The Halflife hits harder the more dose you carry, which is lovely right up until it isn't. Bright Idea does something similar and puts a bulb in your visor, so everything can see you coming.
- Halflife: Half of it is still out there, waiting.
- Cherenkov Lantern: It hums when you are afraid.
- Long Walk Home: The trick is leaving.
- Scav's Gamble: Double or nothing. Always nothing.
05
Extract it or lose it
Whatever you carry out goes to your stash at the safe settlement, equipped gear and backpack both. Whatever you die with stays behind. There's no secure slot and no insurance, because losing a big haul should sting a bit. It's also why taking your best rifle into a run feels like a real decision.
There are a couple of small outs. When you fall, your gear drops in a bag your crew can grab and carry home for you, which leads to awkward talks about who gets the shotgun. A few legendaries act as keepers and save something from your backpack when you die. Equipped gear is gone either way.
06
Crates, chests and loot beams
Anything Uncommon or better pops out with a beam of light in its rarity colour, so after a fight you can tell at a glance what's worth the walk. Hold Alt and every label on the ground shows up at once. Mini-bosses drop better than the packs around them, and dungeon bosses leave a chest that justifies the whole trip down.
Then there are crates. Smash the wooden piles on the street for caps, stimpaks, grenades and the odd bit of gear. Underground and up in the towers you'll find proper lootable crates, from plain wood to metal to rare glowing ones, tucked into dead ends and side rooms. Every floor has a few, and every one is worth the detour.
See it for yourself
The Bible only shows you the edges. The rest you find out in a run, with friends, under a green sky.