Last Z: Survival Shooter Equipment Guide: Upgrade Order, Costs, and Forging
Updated October 12, 2026
Start With a Balanced Orange Loadout
The most efficient equipment plan in Last Z: Survival Shooter starts with your primary squad, not a single heavily upgraded item. Give your five regular heroes orange equipment in every standard slot, bringing the total to 20 pieces.
From there, follow this progression:
- Raise every piece to enhancement level 20.
- Purchase the opening promotion step across the entire loadout.
- Finish the first hexagon on each item before advancing the squad to the next one.
- Repeat that balanced approach through hexagon 4.
- Leave hexagon 5 for a substantial spending budget, and treat paid red transformation as a separate investment.
Earned Forging Stones can still improve orange equipment without committing to the paid transformation route.
Equipment Slots and Rarity
Heroes have four standard equipment slots and can also carry a hero-specific exclusive item. Orange equipment provides the following benefits:
| Slot | Equipment | Main effects |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gun | Hero ATK; completed-star promotion adds Troop DMG |
| 2 | Helmet | Hero ATK and DEF; completed-star promotion adds Troop DMG |
| 3 | Armor | Hero DEF; completed-star promotion adds Troop HP |
| 4 | Boots | Hero ATK and DEF; completed-star promotion adds Troop HP |
| 5 | Exclusive | 2nd Skill Damage, +450–600 |
Rarity determines how far a standard piece can develop.
| Rarity | Color | Enhancement limit | Promotion support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legendary | Orange | 50 initially, 75 after full promotion, 100 with mythic transformation and full promotion | Five hexagons |
| Epic | Purple | 30 | None |
| Rare | Blue | 20 | None |
| Common | Green | Cannot be enhanced | None |
Orange equipment should receive your long-term investment. Lower-rarity pieces are useful as enhancement material rather than permanent projects.
Already spent Enhancement Alloy on purple gear? That investment remains recoverable: feeding the enhanced purple item into orange equipment transfers its full invested alloy value.
Match Equipment Priorities to Hero Roles
Damage dealers and frontline defenders benefit from different stats. Use these priorities when deciding which equipment deserves attention first, while keeping overall squad development balanced.
| Role | Example heroes | Stat preference | Important slots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back-row damage dealer | Selena, Yu Chan, Queenie | Attack % first, Damage % second, Troop HP third | Gun, then Helmet |
| Front-row tank | Katrina, Bella, Harleyena | HP % first, Defense % second, Damage Resistance third | Armor, then Boots |
Attack % strengthens damage output, while Damage % multiplies attacks. Troop HP helps the army stay alive. For tanks, HP % improves endurance, Defense % reduces incoming damage, and Damage Resistance supplies flat damage reduction.
Enhancement and Promotion Work Differently
Enhancement spends Enhancement Alloy to increase an item's level. Open Heroes, select Equipment, and choose Enhance.
Orange equipment begins with a level cap of 50. Each finished promotion hexagon adds five levels, producing caps of 55, 60, 65, 70, and 75. Mythic transformation adds another 25 levels to the existing ceiling.
Promotion becomes available at enhancement level 20. Each orange piece has five hexagons containing six steps apiece, for 30 promotion steps altogether.
Promotion consumes:
- Power Cores at every step.
- Zent at every step.
- Orange equipment during hexagons 4 and 5.
The opening step costs just 100 Power Cores and 1M Zent. Its strong return makes it a better early target than pushing one item far ahead of the rest. Remember that this initial purchase is only one step: a completed star requires all six steps within that hexagon.
A Practical Upgrade Roadmap
Buy the weekly orange equipment choice box from the Merit Shop until your main five heroes have all 20 standard slots covered. Choosing missing slots makes this a dependable foundation for your loadout.
Once the equipment is in place:
- Reach level 20 everywhere. This unlocks promotion throughout the squad.
- Buy every opening promotion step. Collect the inexpensive initial gains before pursuing completed stars.
- Finish hexagon 1 across the loadout. Avoid leaving untouched items behind.
- Advance one hexagon at a time. Complete hexagon 2 everywhere, then 3, then 4.
- Reassess before hexagon 5. Its material demand is difficult to justify for free-to-play accounts and modest budgets.
Four completed hexagons allow enhancement up to level 70. The fifth raises that ceiling to 75, but its higher cost makes it a late luxury rather than the default next purchase.
Promotion Material Costs
These figures cover one equipment piece. Each hexagon listed includes all six of its steps.
| Hexagon | Power Cores | Zent | Orange equipment consumed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,100 | 6.5M | 0 |
| 2 | 2,800 | 9.5M | 0 |
| 3 | 4,500 | 12.5M | 0 |
| 4 | 6,500 | 15.5M | 1 |
| 5 | 10,500 | 24M | 9 |
| Complete promotion | 25,400 | 68M | 10 |
Fully promoting all 20 pieces for five heroes therefore requires 508,000 Power Cores, 1.36B Zent, and 200 orange items.
The final hexagon alone accounts for approximately 41% of the complete Power Core bill, 35% of the Zent bill, and 90% of the orange equipment consumed. Those proportions explain why balanced investment through hexagon 4 is generally preferable to rushing a single piece to maximum promotion.
Finding Orange Equipment and Power Cores
Use predictable equipment purchases first, then supplement them with random rewards.
| Equipment source | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Merit Shop | One orange choice box each week |
| Arena Shop | Random orange equipment boxes purchased with arena points |
| Exploration | Random equipment drops in later stages |
| Bullseye Event | Chance-based equipment rewards |
| Alliance Duel | Reward chests; Day 4, Hero Initiative, is especially useful |
Until your main squad has a full orange loadout, keep the weekly Merit Shop box ahead of Power Core saving priorities.
Power Cores come from several activities and shops:
| Core source | Available amount or reward type |
|---|---|
| Tent Event | Up to 250 Power Cores |
| Military Shop | 1,000 Power Cores; prioritize this after equipping your heroes in orange |
| Tyrant kills | Approximately 500 Power Cores weekly |
| Alliance Duel | Day 4 chest rewards |
| Other events | Check each reward list |
For Tyrant rallies, activate Engage Offline. This lets you receive Power Core materials and other damage-tier rewards even when you are not actively playing.
Enhancement Alloy Budget and Sources
The following estimates apply to a single orange item.
| Enhancement interval | Approximate alloy needed | Cumulative alloy |
|---|---|---|
| 1–20 | 150,000 | 150,000 |
| 20–50 | 1,850,000 | 2,000,000 |
| 50–75 | 4,850,000 | 6,850,000 |
| 75–100 | 9,000,000 | 15,850,000 |
Reaching level 100 takes approximately 15,850,000 Enhancement Alloy per piece, alongside the promotion and transformation requirements needed to unlock that level cap.
Build your alloy supply through:
- Conversion of spare green, blue, and purple equipment.
- Bounty missions and radar tasks.
- Daily Alliance Duel reward chests.
- Event milestone rewards.
Do not leave unwanted low-rarity gear sitting unused. It can support orange enhancement, and previously enhanced purple pieces retain their invested alloy value when used this way.
Check Exclusive Equipment Before Investing
Exclusive equipment belongs to a particular hero, so its acquisition rules and effects need individual inspection. Consider it alongside the hero you intend to keep using, rather than assuming every exclusive is equally accessible.
Separate these three questions:
- Unlocking: Which hero-specific item or fragments actually grant the equipment?
- Upgrading: Which resources improve the item after acquisition?
- Availability: What does the current shop listing or event offer include?
Generic upgrade fragments do not automatically unlock an exclusive item. Likewise, a new season does not guarantee that every exclusive becomes free. Compare the acquisition expense, future upgrade needs, and practical effect before replacing a hero or buying materials.
Forging Orange Gear Into Mythic Equipment
Forging is independent of enhancement levels and Power Core promotion. Orange equipment progresses through five Forging Stone stages, from +1 through +5, before the MAX stage converts it into red equipment.
The stone-only stages remain usable without purchasing the final transformation. However, each stage requires both a minimum equipment level and enough completed promotion stars.
| Forging target | Required level | Completed promotion stars | Forging Stones | Pulse Modules | Electricity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | 20 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 10M |
| +2 | 30 | 1 | 50 | 0 | 30M |
| +3 | 50 | 1 | 100 | 0 | 50M |
| +4 | 50 | 2 | 200 | 0 | 70M |
| +5 | 60 | 2 | 300 | 0 | 100M |
| MAX | 60 | 3 | 300 | 50 | 200M |
For one piece, the +1 through +5 stages consume 680 Forging Stones and 260M Electricity in total.
After +5, MAX requires another 300 Forging Stones, 50 Pulse Modules, and 200M Electricity. The full forging route therefore costs 980 Forging Stones, 50 Pulse Modules, and 460M Electricity per item.
MAX requires the preceding +5 stage, enhancement level 60, and three completed promotion stars. It does not replace Power Core progression. Although red transformation increases the enhancement ceiling by 25 levels, reaching level 100 still requires all five promotion stars.
Pulse Modules and Spending Decisions
Pulse Modules are used for the MAX conversion, not the +1 through +5 stages. Reported acquisition options include expensive event milestones and special packs; check your server's current offers before budgeting. Do not count on Alliance Duel as a free module supply.
For free-to-play players and lighter spenders, earned Forging Stones offer a way to improve eligible orange equipment without buying into red transformation. Only purchase Pulse Modules as part of a deliberate spending plan.
When possible, spend Forging Stones and Pulse Modules on Tuesday during Shelter Upgrade to earn Alliance Duel points.
Quick Tips
- Keep equipment investment concentrated on five heroes and their 20 standard pieces.
- Pick up the Merit Shop's weekly orange choice box until that loadout is complete.
- Bring every orange item to level 20 before starting its promotion.
- Buy the opening step everywhere: each costs 100 Power Cores plus 1M Zent.
- Finish each hexagon across the squad instead of overdeveloping one item.
- Treat four completed hexagons as the usual stopping point for limited budgets.
- Feed spare lower-rarity equipment into orange upgrades rather than hoarding it.
- Use earned Forging Stones without assuming you must also pay for red conversion.
- Keep enhancement, promotion, and forging requirements separate when planning materials.
- Schedule Forging Stone and Pulse Module spending for Tuesday's Shelter Upgrade scoring.