Bolded items are those that are still used even at the absolute endgame. They will be with you to the end.
If you have a group willing to help you gear up, I highly suggest that you ignore some of the older content for the time being. If you want to jump straight to the absolute best, you'll want to get into Reisenjima and farm multiple pieces of Herculean armor. However, if either you or your group need more practical advancement, I'd suggest a path somewhere along this one:
Escha-Zitah:
- Priorities:
T1
2x Rawhide Vest (Path A for CDC and Path D for TP)
Rawhide Mask (Any path, useful for idle refresh)
Rawhide Trousers (Path D, idle refresh)
Rawhide Gloves (STILL the best additional effect hands)
Subtlety Spectacles (Nice acc necklace for now)
T2
2x Nibiru Blade (Both Path A for now)
HELM
Falcon Eye (Absolute best accuracy ammo for us)
- Situational:
T1
All of the Despair set (Some pieces have situational uses for STR spells or WSs, but it's an overall mediocre set)
Mendicant's Earring (Nice cure potency piece for now)
Psycloth Lappas (Path D, our best ILVL Fast Cast option)
T2
2x Nibiru Cudgel (Path B, best magical weapons even now)
Sapience Orb (Best Fast Cast ammo)
HELM
Eschan Stone (Excellent MAB and additional effect piece)
Sinister Reign
- Priorities:
Wave 1
Dampening Tam (Tons of accuracy and strong DD stats. Excellent choice for high-accuracy situations)
Wave 2
SAMNUHA TIGHTS (I cannot emphasize how important these are. They are one of the absolute strongest DD items in the entire game. Get a max-augmented pair of these and you will basically never take them off)
Lilitu Headpiece (Great for single-hit WSs)
- Situational:
Wave 1
Leyline Gloves (Best Fast Cast option we have for hands)
Wave 2
Samnuha Coat (Strong MAB option for when you're bursting)
Vampirism (They're not particularly amazing swords, BUT they are piercing rather than slashing. This gives you a ton of versatility when fighting slashing-resistant enemies)
Medium's Sabots (Great magic accuracy and healing piece)
Escha-Ruaun
- Priorities:
Warders
Thereoid Greaves (Fantastic CDC piece until you move on to Reisenjima)
Combatant's Torque (Phenomenal accuracy option with nice offensive stats. Made by combining all of the individual melee torques dropped by the Warders)
Dedition Earring (Excellent DD earring for low accuracy situations)
Rufescent Ring (Wonderful Savage Blade ring, which is a very important WS to gear for)
Lissome Necklace (Fantastic all-around DD necklace)
T1
Caro Necklace (Great piece for Savage, Expiacion, and physical spells)
Grunfeld Rope (Very nice for STR based WSs and spells when you need the accuracy, but there are better options)
Ishvara Earring (Practically unbeatable for single-hit WSs)
Mantoptera Eye (Good for STR based abilities that need some accuracy, one of our better all-around accuracy options)
Petrov Ring (Rajas 1.5, very strong DD piece even now)
Adhemar Wristbands (Very powerful hand DD option, with Path A offering a very large amount of accuracy. Made by combining Jovian Hands and Vexed Wristbands)
T2
Adhemar Bonnet (Absolute best CDC piece in the game, and a very strong TP piece when you don't need the accuracy. Made by combining Jovian Head and Vexed Bonnet)
T3
Abnoba Kaftan (A rare drop, but there's a reason. Outside of an extremely well-augmented Herculean Vest, this is the absolute best for CDC)
Adhemar Jacket (Excellent TP piece, and can work decently for CDC if you really need the accuracy. Made by combining Jovian Body and Vexed Jacket)
Sky Gods
Shukuyu Ring (Great for Savage, Expiacion, and physical spells)
Reiki Yotai (Accuracy, STP, and DW when you need it. Excellent waist option)
Warder of Courage
Telos Earring (Lots of accuracy, attack, STP, and even some DA)
- Situational:
Warders
Incanter's Torque (Best skill neck we have, and the chance to not use MP is a lifesaver on high-cost spells)
Baetyl Pendant (Very nice MAB neck, as well as being one of our better Fast Cast options)
T1
Hydrocera (Excellent healing and magic accuracy option)
Carmine Greaves (Excellent Fast Cast option, and actually pretty good for TPing in low-accuracy situations. Made by combining Shinryu Feet and Bewitched Greaves)
Amalric Gages (Very good nuking piece. Made by combining Venerian Hands and Vexed Gages)
Amalric Nails (Strong nuking piece outside of Burst Affinity, but our AF3 will do better during BA. Made by combining Venerian Feet and Vexed Nails)
T2
Carmine Mask (High accuracy headpiece for TPing and additional effect spells, and an excellent Fast Cast option. Made by combining Shinryu Head and Bewitched Mask)
Carmine Cuisses (Gotta go fast. Also some nice accuracy. Made by combining Shinryu Legs and Bewitched Cuisses)
Amalric Coif (Great magic accuracy piece, and has a nice boost to Battery Charge. Made by combining Venerian Head and Vexed Coif)
Amalric Slops (Still our best nuking legs. Made by combining Venerian Legs and Vexed Slops)
T3
Amalric Doublet (Excellent nuking and magic accuracy option. Made by combining Venerian Body and Vexed Doublet)
AAs
Rahab Ring (Good Fast Cast option)
Sky Gods
Genmei Shield (Decent option for PDT if you're doing some niche content)
Genmei Earring (Another good PDT piece)
Reiki Cloak (Tons of HP for White Wind, high enmity, and good MDT)
Reisenjima
- Priorities:
T1
Multiple sets of Herculean armor. Each piece can be made into something exceptional. It can be an enormous hassle to build them all, but they're so versatile that it's impossible to ignore the benefits they provide. (Example uses: High acc TP with acc/TA. High acc CDC with DEX/acc/Cdmg. One-hit WSs with STR/WSD. DT with up to -4 DT or -5 PDT or MDT). In terms of priority on which pieces to focus on, the hierarchy goes something like this:
Herculean Boots (The best thing you will ever put on your feet for DD. Amazing TP and WS option in every scenario. Love them)
Herculean Gloves (If you can get an additional 4TA as an augment, they will beat Adhemar Wristbands very consistently. Excellent for CDC as well with DEX/Cdmg augments)
Herculean Helm (If you can get high accuracy augments as well as 4TA, they can match Adhemar Bonnet for TP)
Herculean Trousers (The weakest part of the set, but that's really just because Samnuha Tights exist)
Apate Ring (Solid option for physical spells and STR WSs if you don't have other options.
Begrudging Ring (Absolutely phenomenal for CDC with maxed Tonberry Hate)
T2
Colada (I can't praise these weapons enough. Fairly low delay with a decently high base damage rating combined with lots of accuracy and even some Fast Cast. Outside of REMA weapons, two well-augmented Coladas will be the final swords you ever use. You can get up to 20 additional DMG, 15 DEX (if using Taupe stones), some accuracy/attack and even some DA, STP, or Crit rate. The likelihood of getting all of those augments together is unbelievably low, but they are strong enough to justify the time investment)
T3
Herculean Vest (Just like the previous pieces of the set, this is an incredibly versatile item. As long as you get the augments to back it up, you can fill multiple roles through these vests)
Ainia Collar (Excellent low-acc TP piece)
Hetairoi Ring (You will almost always use this for TP combined with Epona's, and it's not bad for CDC, either)
- Situational:
T2
Dignitary's Earring (Great accuracy and magic accuracy piece)
Pemphredo Tathlum (The end-all nuking option as of writing this)
T3
Luminary Sash (Excellent healing and magic accuracy option)
HELM
Ahosi Leggings (Great PDT and status resist option)
Sayadio's Kaftan (Good CDC piece for when you just absolutely have to hit something)
Skaoi Boots (Medium's Sabots 2.0. Just a stronger magic accuracy option)
Vedic Coat (Higher MAB than Amalric at the cost of some macc. However, the Conserve MP is quite useful for some of our more expensive spells)
This is not a comprehensive list of all the gear you'll ever use. There are still plenty of items through High Tier Battlefields, Unity, and Ambuscade that you will need.