Last War Gear Guide: Upgrade Order for Tank, Air and Missile Squads (2026)

For Last War players who want to know which gear slot to upgrade first, how to move from Legendary to Mythic, and where blueprints really come from.

Short answer: Damage dealers upgrade Cannon and Chip first, then Radar and Armor. Tanks flip it: Armor first, Radar second. Upgrade in blocks of 10 levels, since extra stats unlock at 10, 20, 30 and 40. Before Mythic, get the Legendary piece to Level 40 and 4 stars. The 5th Mythic star then needs 10 Mythic Blueprints. Main march first.

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Most Last War gear guides cover what to build. This one covers the order: which slot to level first, when to push star tiers, how to move from Legendary to Mythic, where blueprints come from, and how to set up gear for Tank, Aircraft and Missile squads.

Every weapon upgrade, every print and every crafting choice in the Gear Factory builds on the order you follow. Players with the wrong upgrade order do not fall behind because they spend less. They fall behind because they spend in the wrong direction.

Each hero in Last War has four gear slots: Cannon, Chip, Armor and Radar. Cannon and Chip drive damage. Armor handles physical hits. Radar cuts skill damage and energy attacks. Radar is the most undervalued piece in the game, because it gives survival instead of visible damage, and survival only pays off when the squad lives long enough to need it.

Gear is crafted in the Gear Factory with ceramics, then merged up through Epic, Legendary and Mythic. The Legendary to Mythic step is where blueprint choices decide which accounts pull ahead and which ones stall.

The universal upgrade rule

The base priority for damage dealers: Cannon and Chip first, then Radar and Armor.

Tank heroes flip the start: Armor first, Radar second, Cannon optional, Chip last.

Gear levels run from 1 to 40, paid with gold and Ore. Extra stats unlock at Levels 10, 20, 30 and 40, so finish each block of 10 on a piece before you spread materials around.

Blueprints follow the same order. Prints go to the top-priority piece on your main march, not spread across every slot at once. A fully upgraded Cannon on three damage dealers beats scattered upgrades on every slot of every hero.

Focus before you expand. Your main march gets fully built before secondary marches get anything. The squad your alliance needs on VS Kill Day, in Alliance Duel and in Capitol War gets gear first. Secondary marches wait.

Tank squad gear priority

This covers the Season 6 Tank lineup most 2026 sources recommend: Murphy and Williams in the front row, Kimberly, Stetmann and Marshall in the back row. Many players still run DVA here as an alternative, though she is generally listed as an Aircraft hero.

Williams (frontline tank): Armor first, Radar second

Williams takes contact for the whole squad. His team-wide damage reduction passive means his survival extends the fight for every hero behind him. Armor cuts the physical damage he takes in long PvP fights. Radar keeps him alive against energy attacks and skill damage. Cannon is optional on Williams. Once Armor and Radar match the rest of your march, Cannon adds damage in long fights, but it is never the first slot.

Kimberly (main AoE damage): Cannon first, Chip second, Radar third, Armor last

Kimberly's Barrage Strike fires 8 rockets of energy damage. Her damage scales with attack, which Cannon multiplies. Push her Cannon to 4 stars, then to the Mythic 5th star, before touching other slots on her. The return on Cannon at star tiers 3 and 4 is decisive. Chip boosts the skill multiplier on top of Cannon. Radar matters once she starts taking targeted energy damage in harder content.

DVA (single-target burst, alternative pick): Chip first, Cannon second, Radar third, Armor last

DVA's Vortex Missile burst stacks with her Armament Upgrade passive (+30% crit). Chip goes first because every crit rate boost stacks with that passive, so the returns multiply instead of adding. Cannon second for raw attack. Radar third once survival starts to limit her in PvP.

Tank squad gear chart

Air squad gear priority

This covers Lucius, Carlie, Morrison, Schuyler and DVA. Aircraft heroes scale hardest with offensive gear. Their survival comes from speed and positioning, not raw toughness, so the priority leans toward damage earlier than in a Tank squad.

Lucius (frontline): Armor first, Radar second

Lucius gives the squad energy damage reduction. Same frontline logic as Williams: his survival protects the backline. Armor for physical hits, Radar for the energy threat he covers.

Carlie (Aircraft tank): Armor first, Radar second

Carlie is the only Aircraft-type tank in the game. If she does not survive contact, your Aircraft damage heroes are exposed and the squad collapses. Treat her like Williams: defense first until the squad holds under pressure, then add Cannon if you want more damage.

Morrison (main damage): Cannon first, Chip second, Radar third

Morrison deals steady physical damage with armor-piercing that lowers target defense. Cannon drives his damage. Chip boosts how his armor reduction scales. Radar is third because Lucius and Carlie take the energy threat, which lets Morrison focus on damage earlier than a Tank squad hero could.

DVA in an Air squad: Cannon first, Chip second, Radar third

DVA is Aircraft-type, so in an Air squad she gets the full squad bonus. Without the Tank squad tradeoff, Cannon first gives more steady damage per upgrade than Chip first at the same investment, because her crit rate passive is already running.

Air squad gear chart

Missile squad gear priority

This covers Adam, McGregor, Fiona, Tesla and Swift.

Adam and McGregor (frontline): Armor first, Radar second

Both play protective frontline roles. McGregor's Taunt makes him a high-value target, so he needs survival before damage. Adam gives the squad its durability. Treat both like the Tank and Aircraft frontliners: defense before damage.

Fiona (main damage): Cannon first, Chip second, Radar third

Fiona is the strongest Missile damage dealer in the game. Her multi-target cluster attacks gain the most from Cannon's raw attack. Chip second for the extra multiplier. Radar comes right after, because Missile heroes are high-value targets in PvP and Fiona's survival decides how long the squad stays dangerous.

Tesla (precision damage): Cannon first, Chip second, Radar third

Tesla deals energy damage. His lightning attacks do well against heavily armored targets, so Cannon scaling pays off fast on him. Chip adds the crit multiplier. Radar comes right after because Tesla is a priority target in high-level PvP. His Exclusive Weapon at Level 20 is the big milestone, and it is also the minimum for his Season 6 Awakening in Week 5. Build it alongside his Cannon.

Missile squad gear chart

Mythic gear: moving from Legendary to Mythic

Red gear is not the endgame. The order of your red gear upgrades decides whether the investment keeps building or stalls. Two paths work at the top level, for different situations.

Defense-first path: best for alliances fighting in several modes at once, such as Alliance Duel, Capitol War and long high-level PvP. Red Armor and Radar on your tanks first keeps your march in the fight longer. Heroes survive, the squad holds through long engagements, and the account performs steadily instead of peaking early and collapsing. If your alliance holds territory against stronger opponents, this path gives more steady output across full event cycles.

Damage-first path: best for event scoring, World Boss damage and short fights where burst damage decides rankings. Put the first red Cannon and Chip pieces on your three main damage dealers. Results show faster: event rankings react right away to Cannon scaling, and boss damage goes up. The cost is endurance. The march is more fragile until your tanks' Armor and Radar catch up.

The star tier rule: star promotion starts once a piece is at Level 40 and your Gear Factory is at Level 20. Stars 1 to 4 use Legendary Blueprints. The 5th star is the Mythic step and needs 10 Mythic Blueprints. So get a piece to Level 40 and 4 stars before you spend a single Mythic Blueprint on it. Get several pieces Mythic-ready before you push any of them, then time the upgrades to active event windows for the best scoring.

What each star costs, per piece:

Last War Tutorial also lists the 5th star perk per slot: Cannon +10% damage on counters, Chip -5% damage taken on counters, Armor -15% chance of taking a critical hit, Radar -30% damage from critical hits. Check these in game, since perks can change with updates. For the full account cost, see how much max gear costs in Last War.

For a new account building a main march: craft Cannon and Chip to Legendary on your damage dealers and Armor and Radar on your tanks, push them to 4-star, then move them to Mythic before investing in the other slots. This gives the strongest mix of damage and survival before your spending spreads to secondary slots.

Where gear blueprints come from

Blueprints are the real limit on gear progress. Accounts stall not because they cannot craft gear, but because their blueprint supply does not keep up with their upgrade pace.

Legendary Blueprints come from the Honor Shop and events. Last War Tutorial advises spending Honor Points on Legendary Blueprints only, since there is no other steady way to buy them.

Mythic Blueprints come from special events and from World Boss rewards when you reach the high goals. They are also the most wanted item in the paid Glittering Market. One piece needs 10 for its 5th star, so a full Mythic set for one hero needs 40.

Dismantling a piece gives its blueprints back, but not the gold spent crafting it. That makes a wrong blueprint choice fixable, but expensive.

The blueprint rule: prints go to the top-priority piece on your main march, not spread across every hero. Ten Mythic Blueprints that finish one piece beat the same ten spread over pieces that never reach the 5th star. Focus before you expand.

Red gear: which path to choose

When you move to red gear, the choice between defense first and damage first sets your competitive position for the next several months.

Defense first is the safer path with a higher endurance ceiling. Damage first is the riskier path with faster visible results. Neither is right for everyone. It depends on your alliance's main competitive mode and your server's current meta.

If your server is heavily Tank-based (common in Season 6, since Kimberly is the Week 1 Awakening hero), defense first on your tanks cuts the energy damage weakness that makes Tank vs Tank fights so punishing. If your server has a mix of squad types and your alliance fights cross-server events where matchups vary, damage first gives more reliable scoring.

One rule applies to both paths: put your first red gear on three main damage dealers instead of spreading one red piece across nine heroes. The first red piece on hero three of your main march adds more than the first red piece on hero one of your second march.

For spenders and R4/R5 leaders

What to buy first. One piece from 1 to 5 stars costs about 750M gold, 500K Ore and 60 blueprints. Check which of these runs out first on your account before you buy a gear pack. If it is Mythic Blueprints, plan your Glittering Market buys. If it is gold, gold packs and speed-ups for resource buildings come first.

Order of spend. Cannon on Kimberly to 4 stars, then Armor and Radar on Williams, then the 5th star on Kimberly's Cannon. Only then the second damage dealer. Ten Mythic Blueprints on one piece beat ten spread over five pieces.

What to tell the alliance. Your rally leads need gear first, not the members with the most power. Ask rally leads to post their Cannon and Armor star levels before Day 6 of Alliance Duel and Desert Storm. Members who push gear on a second march while the main one is at 2 stars cost the alliance rallies.

Timing. Big gear pushes are worth more inside event scoring windows. Stage materials before the event and finish the upgrades while it runs. More on leading the alliance in our alliance leader hub.

Where Packsify fits

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Related: max gear cost in Last War, the Glittering Market guide and the best squad setup.

Sources: Last War Tutorial gear page, Last War Tutorial Hot Deals page, cpt-hedge Exclusive Weapons guide, cpt-hedge Awakening guide, Theria Games DVA skills. Checked October 30, 2026.

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