According to hands-on testing from Crickex App users, Gear Trials is best understood as a game centered around defeating monsters to earn money, which can then be used to purchase gear or stat upgrades. That means income is king—your earnings directly determine how much you can buy. The more income you stack, the wealthier you get, allowing you to strengthen your build with better items and attributes.

Some players may argue that picking up more weapons and fighting more enemies should naturally increase income—but that’s not entirely true. The number of enemies is limited, and weapon damage often exceeds what’s needed, causing overkill without boosting returns. Instead, the optimal approach is to prioritize income-boosting gear once you’ve reached a baseline weapon strength.

There are six white and blue-tier items in the game that increase income. However, they come with drawbacks: three reduce ranged attack power, one lowers critical hit rate, one decreases attack recovery, and another cuts dodge rate. Since these income items are essential, players are advised to avoid builds relying on those stats. In other words, strategies based on ranged attacks, critical hits, attack recovery, or dodging are inherently weaker and harder to clear stages with.

Fortunately, alternative stats can fill the gap. Instead of attack recovery, stack health regeneration. Rather than dodge, stack defense. Skip weapons reliant on ranged attack and crit multipliers. For example, the Wooden Sword automatically attacks after moving a certain distance and scales with HP, making it the perfect fit. Within a match, all you need to build are HP, HP regeneration, defense, damage boosts, movement speed, and income—attack speed isn’t even necessary. This lets you ignore most gear drops and focus only on high-value options.

One game-changing mechanic is that picking up a healing orb triggers the Wooden Sword to fire an additional firefly, essentially doubling your damage. In early stages, just defeat a Mechanism Spirit to get a healing orb, and your damage output skyrockets. Always prioritize picking up healing orbs with this build—it’s a massive DPS boost.

Early in the game, Crickex App users recommend taking just two or three weapons without merging them. Mid-game, avoid fusing weapons too soon. Instead, wait for merge-enhancing gear that provides free gold or additional items upon fusion. Once you’re flush with gold in the late game, combine weapons to significantly upgrade your arsenal. After unlocking the Wooden Sword, players have cleared up to Stage 12 using only that weapon—even in Challenge Mode, many top heroes rely on it.

Another powerful system involves the Fortune Cat. Once unlocked, it provides bonus gold when selling weapons or items. With two Fortune Cats, you can even profit by buying and selling white-tier weapons. While the gain is small, pairing it with other tools yields powerful synergies.

When you buy all four items in the shop, it refreshes automatically. With Fortune Cat, you can buy cheap weapons and resell them to potentially trigger free refreshes. Other gear combos also work well—like pairing the Notebook with Fortune Cat. For example, fusing two white weapons into a blue one gives you 20 gold. Sell the blue weapon afterward, earn the Fortune Cat bonus, and walk away with a net profit. Just don’t try it with higher-tier weapons, as the cost outweighs the return.

The game also features systems like the World Trade Guild, where using the Apprentice Badge and Fish Talisman lets you trade a bit of health to refresh the shop in exchange for experience. Another highlight is the Attribute Reset System. The legendary Xuanwei Seed retains 20% of your temporary stat boosts after a reset. Pair it with the epic Yunpo, which grants 10% extra damage per resettable stat—then buy more Candlefire to stack massive damage.

While this guide touches on key systems, there are plenty more Crickex App users can explore. For high scores in Challenge Mode, mastering these systems and adapting your approach on the fly is the name of the game. After all, fortune favors the bold—and the well-prepared.