You’re probably wondering what those symbols and added perks your gears have. If you’ve played a lot of Anthem this past week, then you will probably still tinkering with your Javelin build and still scratching your head. If you missed our review for Anthem, you can read it here.
Those small details are what they call Inscriptions. These so-called Inscriptions are perks that give your Javelin, weapons, and gears more than what it offers. These enhancements can be elemental damage, a Shield or Armor boost, you name it. While it does seem easy to read and some of the labels are self-explanatory, they might not work as intended. In a recent update that went live last week Friday, some of the Inscriptions were useless, others don’t quite fit in its category. However, BioWare made changes and fixed the problem.
What Are Inscriptions?
In Anthem, what are Inscriptions you may ask? These are the add-on perks your gears have. Each gear, may it be weapons, components, and gears, has its own set of enhancements. Please do take note that Common weapons and gears do not have Inscriptions. They are only made available higher rarities from Uncommon to Legendary.
There are two specific icons: a “Gear” icon and a “Javelin” icon. The latter shows a person symbol, while the former simply shows a “gear” symbol. The ‘Gear’ represents the specific item’s improvements, while the ‘Javelin’ icon tells you that the enhancements are across all gears and weapons equipped.
How are these Inscriptions made? Can they be manually crafted? The answer is yes. Every time you craft weapons and gears via the Forge or the Vault, it will randomly add enhancements. You read it right, they are randomly added to your items without you having any control of it. If you have intentions of crafting then salvaging when the results do not fit your liking, then you’re simply wasting materials and embers.
Weapon Inscriptions
- Weap + X% Dmg / Simply means additional of weapon/gun damage.
- Weap + X% Ammo / The number of ammunition your guns can carry as reserves.
- Weap + X% Fire Rate / Increases your gun’s firing rate.
- Weap + X% Clip / Increases the number of bullets your gun can pack in one magazine.
- Weap + X% Aim / Improves accuracy.
- Weap – X% Recoil Aim / Lowers recoil while aiming.
- Weap – X% Recoil / Lowers recoil when shooting from the hip.
- Weap +% Blast Dmg / Only works with Grenade Launchers
- [Weapon Type] + X% Ammo / A weapon class specific that improves for ammunition.
- [Weapon Type] +% Dmg / A weapon class specific that improves its damage.
Javelin Specific Inscriptions
- Shield +% Max / Increases your shield bar (blue).
- Shield +% Delay / Lowers the delay from recharging the shield bar.
- Shield +-% Refresh / Enhances how fast your shield will regenerate.
- Armor +% Max / Increases your armor bar (green).
- Armor +% Dmg Resist / Increases your Javelin armor’s resistance to damage.
- [Element] +% Resist / Improves Javelin’s resistance to a particular element (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Acid).
- Overheat +-% Delay / Lowers the duration of how long your Javelin recovers from overheating.
- +% Pickup Radius / Improves how far your Javelin can pick up health and ammo drops.
- +% Thruster Life / Improves the durability of your Javelin’s thrusters from overheating.
- +% Thruster Speed / Improves how quickly your Javelin’s thrusters recover from overheat.
Javelin Combat Specific Inscriptions
- Combo +% Dmg / Increases combo damage.
- Combo +% Targets / Chains additional enemies when triggering a combo on primed enemy units.
- Critical +% Dmg / Increases critical damage on weak points.
- Elemental +% Dmg / Elemental-based damage increase.
- Effect +-% / Increases all status effect, including how quickly the ailments prime enemy targets for combos.
- [Element] Effect +-% / Increases all elemental status effect.
- Melee +% Dmg / Increases melee damage.
- Ultimate +% Dmg / Increases your Javelin’s ultimate damage.
- Ultimate +% Speed / Improves cooldown of the ultimate skill.
- +% Dmg / Increases all damage.
- +% Force / Improves how quick you can stagger enemy units.
Drop Rate Inscriptions
- Ammo +% Drop Rate / More ammo drops from killing enemy units.
- Repair +% Drop Rate / More repair kit drops from killing enemy units.
- Supply +% Drop Rate / More repair kit and ammo drop from killing enemies.
Drop Quality Inscriptions
- Repair +% Amnt / More health when picking up repair kits.
- Ammo +% Pickup Amnt / More ammo when picking up ammo kits.
- Support +% Luck / Gives higher chances of getting better item loots. Base luck of 100% for all players, 90% cap for improvements to Luck Rate (a total of 190%).
- +% Harvest Bonus / Better crafting material loots – compounds and embers.
Any changes with the Inscriptions will be updated immediately.