Despite the envoy's inability to wear headgear, their inventory in Avowed still has many slots that need filling. As with any RPG, the best items to fill those slots are the rare and distinct pieces asking to be found, and in Avowed's case, which are distributed across each carefully crafted map's crevices and rooftops.

As hinted at by the developers' excitement towards Avowed's exploration, there are a lot of chests to be found and sorted through. Further, with Avowed's scaling crafting system, gear found within these chests, even in the early game, can be effectively used throughout an entire playthrough. As such, the best early-game items go beyond the beginning stages of the game, with the following items from the first zone, Dawnshore, deserving of an inventory slot at any stage.

10 Enchanted Suolenet

One Of The Earliest Items To Grab

The enchanted Suolenet is one of the absolute earliest unique items you can obtain in Avowed. Completing the quest Lost Suoles, which was accepted from Miteno in Shantytown, awards you a very powerful amulet. The power is not from combat benefits but rather from its 20% bonus to looting currency. I personally left this amulet equipped for nearly half of the game, staying comfortably wealthy throughout my playthrough.

Make sure to buy every lockpick you see. The tiny cost of gold is well worth the investment, especially with the Enchanted Suolenet equipped.

Every single Avowed playthrough benefits from an early acquisition of the Suolenet. The quest itself is a short walk from the Claviger's Landing starting point and can be completed through some simple parkour in Shantytown; no combat is required. While there's no immediate combat benefit, that 20% bonus can quickly add up throughout a playthrough, keeping you ahead of the monetary curve in Avowed.

9 Arcanist's Gambeson

The Best Light Armor, Especially For Wizards

The Arcanist's Gambeson is essential for any player looking to invest in the Wizard class skill tree. To understand the strength of the gambeson, it's important to understand the value of its +20 essence. Each attribute point put into intellect gives five additional essences: the resource used to cast skills and magic. The Arcanist's Gambeson essentially acts as a piece of +4 intellect gear.

Additional essence is important for any player heavily relying on magic, as spells can quickly eat through essence pools and, consequently, essence foods and potions. The 15% additional effect area is nothing to scoff at, either. It boosts the power of some strong early-game spells, such as fireball, and certainly scales into the late game as wizards gain more access to bigger impact abilities, such as meteor shower.

8 Woedica's Totem

The First Of Many Powerful Totems

Woedica's Totem is the first of a series of deity-themed buff collections found throughout each zone. While finding all the Woedica totem locations certainly takes some effort, the benefit of a completed totem is more powerful than any individual item. Of course, this is because it's a collection of six items, each providing its distinct buff. This also means it's six times the effort to acquire.

Each major zone has its own totem group to collect. However, note that only one totem can be active at a time.

The benefits from the Woedica Totem range from flat stat increases to game-changing quality-of-life ives. Woedica's totem, in particular, emphasizes companions, with the totem both buffing your companion's effectiveness and granting you buffs for utilizing them in combat. If the rest of its benefits weren't enough, Woedica's totem also buffs fire accumulation, which can be useful for any fire-based build or weapon.

7 The Long Touch

The Bow For The Classic Stealth Archetype

There is simply no action RPG archetype as classic as the stealth archer. For those interested in utilizing the tried and true RPG staple, The Long Touch may be essential to make it shine. The Long Touch is easily accessible and becomes available as soon as Paradis is unlocked, assuming you can afford its cost from the unnamed merchant in Northern Paradis.

The bow's bonus to critical hit chance pairs perfectly with any ranged build, as they tend to prioritize perception, which increases both weapon range and crit chance. Additionally, The Long Touch deals extra damage to full-health enemies, a perfect ive for one-shotting enemies from the safety of a low-rise bush. Its enchantments are strong as well, providing more crit chance or additional attack damage and speed after killing an enemy. The attack speed and damage enchantment alone make The Long Touch the best bow in Avowed, regardless of the stealthy benefits it also offers.

6 Gloves of the Strangler

Another Stealth Essential

Gloves of the Strangler are the perfect pairing to The Long Touch, as well as any stealth-based strategy. These stealth-focused gloves can be found by purchasing a treasure map from Sanza in Northern Paradis and locating the hidden chest near the Eastern wall of Paradis. Rangers in Avowed can utilize these gloves especially well by using their Shadowing Beyond skill, allowing for stealth resets once combat has already started, in addition to the typical pre-combat stealth takedowns.

Crit chance and stealth attack damage is perfect for any sneaky approach, whether bows like The Long Touch or the classic dual-wielding daggers to maximize crit chance. Gloves of the Strangler are a staple for any stealth-based ranger build, with the added benefit of being extremely easy to obtain at any point in the game.

5 Band Of Transcendent Suffering

The Highest Damage Buff, But With A Huge Cost

The Band of Transcendant Suffering is a callback to monks who rely on accumulating damage and wounds to use their abilities in Pillars of Eternity. This ring is either the best or worst item in the game. For its primary benefit, 35% extra melee damage is an absurd, pure number increase, equivalent to multiple ability points, and far out-valuing other combat-enhancing rings.

However, such a powerful effect comes with an equally absurd drawback. Equipping the Band of Transcendant Suffering makes the Envoy take 100% extra damage from all sources. Of course, damage is only taken if you get hit. If paired with skilled dodges, parries, and blocks, the Band of Transcendent Suffering is no doubt the single best ring in the game for any melee-focused build and can be easily found in the Paradis canals after the city is unlocked for exploration.

4 Drawn In Winter

The Best Freeze-inducing Weapon

Drawn in Winter is a little more difficult to obtain than some of the other entries, as it does require exploring and fighting in the more harshly scaled Eastern half of Dawnshore. Looting Drawn in Winter from its stump in Watcher's Mirror triggers a barrage of undead enemies to attack. But, if the multiple-wave onslaught can be overcome, the weapon is quite the reward.

Once enemies are frozen, shatter them with grenades for massive damage.

What makes Drawn in Winter a step above other, similar elemental weapons is that it accumulates frost in an area of effect without any additional enchantments. For any build relying on vast amounts of frost accumulation, Drawn in Winter is the premier choice. Out of all the debuff-accumulating weapons, Drawn in Winter is the best at its role at actually applying its debuff, as it's the only early-game weapon that deals both high frost accumulation and does it to multiple enemies.

3 White Key Cameo

A Trinket For Long Fights

There are plenty of early-game items in Avowed that make surviving fights easier. Some increase healing received, while others provide a source of healing in the first place. White Key Cameo, found easily once Claviger Eamund's Estate is unblocked, is the best defensive amulet in the early game. White Key Cameo, assuming companions aren't buffed, offers the best non-consumable healing in the early game.

The effectiveness of White Key Cameo increases in greater difficulties, as companions are more likely to get downed, and health restoration will always be in demand.

Its effect of healing 50% when reviving companions may not seem particularly effective at first glance. However, I've noticed that my companions get downed multiple times in any extended fight. Instead of guzzling health potions and rare foods in a war of attrition, reviving companions is a free and shockingly consistent self-healing method with the White Key Cameo. This is helped by the amount of healing: a whopping 50%. If you're struggling with a particular boss, slot this amulet in.

2 Last Light Of Day

Everybody Loves Flaming Swords

It's a fact: there's nothing better than flaming swords. Last Light of Day, beyond its entry into the eternally cool category, also brings much to the table beyond its fiery visuals. 10% bonus damage is fantastic, especially when that bonus damage accumulates a debuff on the enemy. This flaming sword shares that facet with other elemental weapons, but its true strength lies beyond this appreciated addition.

The most interesting usage of the Last Light of Day is in a parry-focused build. The second enchantment for the sword deals high stun to enemies on a successful parry. Doubling down on this effect with parry effectiveness and stun can create a defensive powerhouse that can CC enemies like no other build. While it gets outclassed in the elemental department, its versatility and build variety are in a league of their own. The quest chain required to obtain this weapon is also worth doing for the writing and story alone, another win for the Last Light of Day.

1 Caeroc's Pride

Smoke And Lightning

Caeroc's Pride received from killing the bounty target Tempestuous Luandi, is a fantastic early-game weapon and one of the best pistols in Avowed. Caeroc's Pride greatly benefited from its additional elemental damage for the same reasons as the aforementioned elemental weapons.

Shock damage has one of the stronger accumulation effects: shocking enemies to deal with pulsing AOE damage and stun.

The pistol's AOE enchantment makes chain-spreading the shocked effect even easier. Caeroc's Pride is one of the premier horde-killing weapons. Beyond that route, the alternate enchantment, a percentage chance to cast a crackling bolt on killing enemies, is a simple and fun ability. It fulfills a similar purpose to the first enchantment, albeit with some additional RNG and additional flair.

These items are found within Avowed's first zone, Dawnshore, making them some of the earliest items you can obtain. While there are some differences in strengths, it's important to that the best weapon is the one that feels the most fun. For instance, if daggers are your go-to, there's nothing wrong with Sheathed in Summer or Seven Strivings for two-handed fighter enthusiasts. Explore and experiment; there are plenty of builds to go around in Avowed.