NTE Gear System Complete Guide: All 12 Cartridge Sets, Module Mechanics and Builds for Every Character

Quick answer: Gear (Cartridge) is NTE’s set-equipment system, made up of a Cartridge + Modules. There are currently 12 sets (6 elemental + 6 universal), and substats are “what you see is what you get” and permanently fixed (leveling is no longer random, though the rolls you get on drop are still random). Farm them in the Rabbit Hole domain (Cape Square, unlocked at Hunter Lv 10), where 6 nodes map to the 12 sets. F2P must-grab: the free Lost Radiance from Exploration Guide Lv 8; the 3 most widely useful sets: Lost Radiance, Shadow Creed, and Fireflies and the Forest.

Arcs are weapons, and Gear is the set equipment — together they are the two equipment systems behind character progression in NTE. What makes Gear special is its “what you see is what you get” design: substats are permanently fixed, so upgrades stop being a gamble. This guide covers all of Gear’s mechanics, sets, domain, builds, and the new-player route in one place.

1. What Is Gear (Cartridge + Module)

A Two-Part System

NTE’s “Gear” is not a simple five-piece set; it’s composed of two parts:

• Cartridge: defines the “script / set type,” with a 4×5 = 20-cell grid
• Module: a puzzle piece (in 2-, 3-, and 4-cell shapes) that fills the grid like Tetris

Each character equips one Cartridge, and the set bonus comes from that Cartridge, so two sets cannot be mixed. Filling in enough Modules activates the set bonus:

Module Shape Categories

Character shape preference: each character has a “preferred Module type,” and placing the preferred type grants an extra stat bonus. For example: Sakiri prefers Type Ⅲ, gaining 9% Incantation damage per Type Ⅲ piece. Type Ⅱ-specialized characters: Nanally, Jiuyuan, Fadia.

2. The Core Difference vs. Artifacts / Drive Discs

This section is the Gear system’s most important selling point:

For players tired of the upgrade gambling of artifacts, this is NTE’s biggest draw.

3. The Complete 12-Set List

A. The Six Elemental Sets (One Per Element)

B. The Six Universal Sets (No Element Restriction)

4. Rarity, Main Stat, Substats

Rarity

• S-tier (orange): Legendary, full 4-piece bonus → the main farming target
• A-tier (purple): Epic, usable as a transitional piece
• B-tier and below (blue/green): early-game transitional; all can be dismantled after Level 30

Main Stat (1 per Cartridge)

Candidates: HP%, ATK%, DEF%, Crit rate, Crit DMG, Topple Strength, Cycle Intensity, Healing bonus, each element’s DMG%, Mental DMG%. There is no Energy Recharge main stat (Energy Recharge is a substat on certain Arcs such as Day Off, and the 2-piece effect of Speedy Hedgehog, but it cannot be a Cartridge main stat).

Priority by role:

Substats (4 per Cartridge, permanently fixed)

Candidates: HP, ATK, DEF (both % and flat), Crit rate, Crit DMG, Topple Strength, Cycle Intensity, DMG%. There is no elemental RES substat.

Reinforcement rules:

• Reinforcing every +5 levels “activates” one substat (+5, +10, +15, +20 each activate one)
• The substat candidates and their values are locked in the moment you obtain the piece and never change

Substat Priority for DPS Characters

Main stat → Elemental DMG% > Crit DMG > ATK% Substats → Double crit (crit rate + crit DMG) > Elemental DMG% > ATK% > generic DMG%

Push crit rate to 60–70%, then stack crit DMG.

5. Farming Location: The Rabbit Hole Domain

Domain Basics

⭐ The 6 Nodes and Their Sets (Key Mapping Table)

Each node always drops 2 sets: Clock Tricks, Sculpture Gallery and Latitude Loom each drop two elemental sets, while Defend the Radish, Mental Map and Night of the Rails each drop two universal sets. Picking the right node is the first step to farming the right set.

Domain Difficulty and Drop Rates

The Rabbit Hole has difficulties I to VI. It drops Cartridges, Radish coins and Manhole materials, not Modules.

• Difficulty I–II: early-game transitional use
• Difficulty III (unlocks at Hunter Level 30): S-rank Cartridges can start to drop here, and gold Radish coins only start from this difficulty, but the rate is still low
• Difficulty IV and above: the recommended place to farm seriously (a Bahamut player report says a gold Cartridge is guaranteed after Hunter Level 40)

⚠ Don’t farm heavily before Hunter Level 30; S-rank Cartridges need difficulty III to drop at all.

6. Reinforcement Mechanics + Acquiring Modules

Reinforcement Rules

• Cartridge level cap is +20 (synced with Modules)
• Every +5 levels unlocks the effective value of one substat
• Reinforcement materials: Manhole (three tiers) + Fons + Beetle Coins

The Rewind System (Acquiring Modules)

Access via: Character → Console → Gear → “Rewind” in the bottom-left corner

Rewind has three difficulties, each with a fixed quality:

Choose-Shape: Normal and Hard let you pick shapes. The base cost is 80 per pull, and each extra pick of the same shape adds another 50% to the cost, up to 8 picks.

⭐ Guaranteed Shop Pity (Key to F2P Endgame)

• Harmony Workshop Shop: can buy 1 orange Module per week
• Fons Shop: limited to 2 orange Modules per week
• → 3 guaranteed orange Modules per week total

This is the key reason NTE is far faster than artifacts — F2P players have a clear, defined endgame timeline.

7. Recommended Builds Per Character

Builds by Character

Each character equips one Cartridge. The table shows the suggested set (fill all 4 pieces) and the Cartridge main stat priority.

8. New-Player / F2P Fast-Track Route

Week 1 Priorities

1. ❌ Don’t grind Cartridges hard before Hunter Level 30 (S-rank Cartridges need difficulty III to drop — pure stamina waste)
2. Stamina priority order: Main DPS EXP → Main DPS ascension → City Tycoon unlock → Sub-DPS → supports → skill materials → Fons
3. Gear only needs to be “good enough for your Main DPS”; in the early game, run exploration quests first to scrape together some A-tier pieces to make do
4. ⭐ Exploration Guide Level 8: gives you a free Lost Radiance legendary Cartridge + a 4-piece activation Module set — be sure to grab it
5. Once you reach Level 30 and unlock Rabbit Hole difficulty III, start long-term farming from difficulty IV up

The 3 All-Purpose Sets (Farm First)

1. Shadow Creed — a flexible ATK boost, useful for almost any damage-focused character
2. Lost Radiance — used by Esper Zero, Hotori, Chiz, Shinku and other Cosmos Main DPS, and one is given free at launch
3. Fireflies and the Forest — Nanally, Mint, and Jiuyuan all benefit at once, so a full farm can be shared across three characters

Can Wait Until Later

• Quiet Manor: stacks are hard to maintain (only 6s)
• Kingdom’s Guard: only needed by shield characters like Adler
• Thea’s Night Tavern: only needed by Edgar / healers
• Tiny Big Adventure: exclusive to Fadia’s HP-sharing build

The “Auto-Equip” Trap

⚠ There is an official “Auto-Equip” button, but the community broadly recommends not using it — it won’t prioritize placing the right shapes to trigger the 4-piece bonus. You must place pieces manually until “all 4 correct Modules are filled in” to activate the legendary effect.

9. The “NTE Flavor” of the Gear System (Summary)

Compared with Genshin artifacts / ZZZ Drive Discs, the Gear system’s exclusive selling points:

1. ✅ “What you see is what you get” substats — upgrades stop being a gamble, a core draw for players tired of re-rolling
2. ✅ Puzzle-grid design — more strategic than the usual “five-piece set,” and visually expressed
3. ✅ Guaranteed shop pity — 3 guaranteed orange Modules per week, making F2P endgame far faster than artifacts
4. ✅ First-week Exploration Lv 8 guaranteed Lost Radiance — a launch bonus the community calls “a loss if you don’t grab it”
5. ❌ No substat re-rolling — but because substats are decided from the start, this is actually an advantage

Related Guides

• Arc System Complete Guide — the weapon system (Gear’s sister article)
• Signature Arcs Complete Guide — each character’s BiS weapon
• Equipment System Breakdown: Arcs and Gear — overview
• NTE Boss Bestiary — which Bosses correspond to the set materials you want to farm
• Affinities and Anima Reactions — elemental sets need their matching elemental reactions

FAQ

Gear data compiled from public sources including Game8, GameWith, Kaiden.gg, Mobalytics, Prydwen Institute, NTE Guide, ZeroLuck, AllThings.How, Bahamut, Mobile01, 4Gamers, LDPlayer, Entertainment Taxi, HN News, Gamersky, 17173, and others. Some set names (e.g., Lost Radiance vs. Lost Glow, Baicang vs. Baizang) vary slightly between sources; defer to in-game text.