Apocalyptic gear was introduced in update 6.8 (April 2024).
To improve the overall in-game balance and bring some freshness to the game, we started focusing on gameplay changes since the last update. In this update, we’d like to introduce a new equipment rarity. Our new equipment tier is called Apocalypse, with its traits increasing damage, increasing non-body shot chances, and reducing damage taken when fighting with high-level walkers. The larger the level gap is, the more effective these traits are.
In practical terms, Apocalyptic equipment are gear with one additional special functionality, which only works against targets of a higher level than the survivor, and gets better the higher the level difference is.
How to Obtain Apocalyptic Equipment[]
There are currently two ways to obtain Apocalyptic ("apo") equipment; through in-game campaigns or through the bundle shop.
Unlike normal gear, apo equipment needs to be unlocked similar to how heroes are unlocked. You first need to collect the required number of tokens (currently always 200 per piece of equipment), after which the equipment can be unlocked. The special apo trait will be active immediately (similar to "special functionality"), but the weapon still needs to be upgraded to unlock its 3 normal traits.
The Fair Trade shop will regularly feature bundles with 200 tokens for a apo weapon, usually at premium price compared to other bundle weapons. These weapons can be different (and better) than the campaign equipment. Collecting 200 tokens from the in-game campaigns requires daily play and requires some real effort, and a fair amount of gold, at a minimum 800 to double the Distance twice.
The current Apo functionalities[]
Apocalyptic Damage[]
The formula for damage is increase is, somewhat surprisingly, an exponential. So the description "When attacking enemies that are 5 levels higher than the wielder, for each further 1 level higher, weapon damage increases by 35% (up to a maximum of 600%)" means a formula of 1.35 ^ lvl difference, up to max factor 6. So if the wielder is lvl 32 and the walker lvl 40, the level difference is 40 - 32 - 5 = 3, leading to a damage boost of 1.35 ^ 3 = 2.46. Against a high level walker, the boost would be 1.35 ^ 6 = 6.05, which would be cut to 6 due to the max limit. Worth noting is that the 6x boost really is a 500% increase as 100% in this case means the normal damage of the weapon. So a Apo Trident with weapon damage 10,830 would at maximum boost do 10,830 * 6 = 64,980 in weapon damage.
Unlike most other damage increasing traits, apo damage increases only the weapon damage. As damage is built up by survivor damage and weapon damage, each providing roughly half of damage, the stated total damage increase will be roughly half of the stated %. However, traits that boost total damage will benefit of this mechanic greatly, as the weapon damage will then be boosted again. In other words, the more total damage boosting modifiers there are, the better the apo weapon performs.
Example; a hero has base damage 10,000 and the apo weapon does 10,830 damage. The survivor has Strong (+20% total damage), destructive (+60% damage) and Connie in lead giving +210% damage, and hits a high level walker so the apo boost is maximized (+500%).
- If the apo weapon would boost total damage, the total damage would be (10,000 + 10,830) = 20,830 * 1+ ( 0.2 + 0.6 + 2.1 + 5.0) = 165 k total damage
- However, the apo weapon boosts weapon damage, so the total damage is (10,000 + 64,980) = 74,980 * 1+ ( 0.2 + 0.6 + 2.1) = 217 k total damage
Apocalyptic Armor[]
Apocalyptic armor has a built-in Damage Resistance, which increases based on the attacker's level. The text description is somewhat cryptic, but what it means is that the DR increases slowly and reaches 90% DR at around 23 levels higher than the user. Since the currently only available apo armor has tactical, which gives a base 10% DR, the total DR can be seen in the below table:
| Bruiser ("10% per level to max 10%") | Taken dmg / normal hit (k) | |
|---|---|---|
| >36 | 10% | <7 |
| 37 | ||
| 38 | 18% | 8 |
| 39 | 29% | 9 |
| 40 | 33% | 10 |
| 41 | 41% | 10 |
| 42 | 46% | 11 |
| 43 | 52% | 12 |
| 44 | 58% | 12 |
| 45 | 62% | 13 |
| 46 | 64% | 15 |
| 47 | 69% | 15 |
| 48 | 72% | 16 |
| 49 | 74% | 18 |
| 50 | 78% | 18 |
| 51 | 80% | 19 |
| 52 | ||
| 53 | 83% | 24 |
| 54 | 85% | 94 |