Dying Light 2 Gear and armor explained

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How to find gear in Dying Light 2 and how it works

Dying Light 2 Gear armor Aiden
(Image credit: Techland)

Dying Light 2 Gear is essential for surviving in Villedor thanks to the numerous stat bonuses and armor that it provides as you set up your ideal build. Kitting yourself with headgear, gloves, jackets, and more will provide small stat boosts for you abilities, armor for protection, and style for your Aiden. The stat boosts on each piece of gear also lean into a very light class system within Dying Light 2 that allows you to better pursue your favored playstyle. Here’s how you can get your hands on some Dying Light 2 Gear and how it works.

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Dying Light 2 Gear and how to get it

Dying Light 2 Gear sold by vendor

(Image credit: Techland)

In Dying Light 2, you can kit your Aiden out with six different types of Gear to provide you with small bonuses to particular stats or abilities, and some extra armor to reduce the amount of damage you take. This armor isn’t guaranteed to appear in every piece of Gear, so having any pieces that increase your total Gear Armor, and therefore overall damage resistance, will be useful, especially if you’re focusing all your Dying Light 2 Inhibitors in Stamina.

Dying Light 2 Gear looting from dead bandit

(Image credit: Techland)

Gear is found almost anywhere in Villedor, whether it’s looted from dead Bandits or contained within chest and crates. Loot whatever you can, and you should eventually build up a wardrobe of Gear for Aiden to wear in no time. You’ll also get some of the best stuff from vendors in major faction structures, so check in with them regularly to see what you can get for your builds.

Dying Light 2 Gear rarity tiers

Dying Light 2 Gear artifact rarity jacket

(Image credit: Techland)

Much like Dying Light 2 weapons and mods, Gear also uses the classic color-coded loot rarity system. Each rarity tier offers more potential bonuses than the last, with Artifact Gear offering the most and generally best bonuses. Gear Armor is based more on player level than rarity, so you might find Uncommon Gear with higher Gear Armor than your own Rare or Unique Gear as you progress. Here are all the Gear rarity tiers:

  • Common/White: Up to two stat bonuses and sometimes Gear Armor.
  • Uncommon/Green: Up to three stat bonuses and sometimes Gear Armor.
  • Rare/Blue: Up to four stat bonuses and sometimes Gear Armor.
  • Unique/Purple: Up to five stat bonuses and sometimes Gear Armor.
  • Artifact/Gold: Up to six stat bonuses and sometimes Gear Armor.

Dying Light 2 Gear classes

Dying Light 2 Gear inventory medic mask

(Image credit: Techland)

There is a very loose class system in Dying Light 2 that allows players to lean into certain playstyles. Each Gear item you find comes randomly rolled with one of four classes, and each class determines which stat bonuses can roll on a piece of gear with a bit of crossover. While the stat bonuses are generally small boosts, having all six of your Gear pieces belonging to the same class can mean the bonuses will really add up to make powerful builds. Here are the four Dying Light 2 classes and their playstyles:

  • Tank: Good for taking a lot of hits and mastering powerful two-handed weapons. Expect to see damage resistance and two-handed weapon damage bonuses on Tank Gear.
  • Brawler: Useful for general combat with one-handed weapons. You can get bonus one-handed weapon damage, melee weapon stamina cost reductions, and more with Brawler.
  • Medic: Specializes in parkour-based combat and healing. Expect to get stat bonuses for reduced parkour stamina cost, parkour attack damage, and health regeneration with Medic.
  • Ranger: Focuses on stealth and ranged attack. You should find bonus stats for ranged weapon damage, ranged weapon stamina cost, and enemy recognition time with Ranger.

Best Dying Light 2 Gear builds and recommendations

Dying Light 2 fighting renegade

(Image credit: Techland)

Ultimately, there isn’t one single best build given how small and random the bonus stats can be. Arguably, your own skill and weapons should be the main things to focus on with your build, but Gear provides nice bonuses that allow you to focus in on your preferred playstyle. Use the above Gear classes to see which one fits how you play and try to focus on finding the best gear possible for that class.

Tank and Brawler are great all-rounder classes for later in the game as you’ll face a greater variety of enemies that often mean parkour attacks are less viable. Being able to take a few hits, block, and retaliate with powerful strikes from one or two-handed weapons will serve you well. While this should go for any class, finding Gear with good Armor is especially important for these melee weapon-based classes so that you can mitigate as much damage as possible.

If messing around with parkour attacks is more your thing, then the Medic class will be for you. Your dropkicking abilities will be empowered by certain Medic stat bonuses, and your general parkouring abilities will be a little better off as you explore if you can get stamina cost reduction bonuses. In combat, mastering the perfect dodge, parry, and grapple, will really help you avoid getting hit and open plenty of opportunities for vault kicks and slams. The more rapid healing will also make you a bit harder to kill without having to heavily rely on Gear Armor and damage resistance bonuses. Just make sure you’ve got some medicine to hand.

Dying Light 2 using bow to shoot bandit

(Image credit: Techland)

If you can get yourself a good bow, such as the Paper Clip, then the Ranger class can be a great change of pace. Given that Dying Light 2 is more about close-quarters combat, the Ranger is a hyper-specialized class, but it can really work if you lean into the stealth archer playstyle that it tries to mimic. Bandit camps and other settlements can be cleared from afar without raising the alarm if you place your arrows correctly.

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Will Sawyer
Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.