Matchmaking plays an important role inDark and Darker. If you’re a new player, and you’re somehow getting matched with high-level players with powerful gear, your overall experience wouldn’t be very fun.

To help make matchmaking fair, your enemies are matched based on an attribute called ‘Gear Score.’ This score is calculated by the equipment and items that you have in your inventory and determines the difficulty of the enemies you’ll be up against. So, here’s everything you need to know about ‘Gear Score’ in Dark and Darker.

Gear Score of an Armor in Dark and Darker.

What Is Gear Score?

Every item in your inventory has a ‘Gear Score’.This value plays an important role in determining your matchmaking bracket, which affects the type of opponents you will face in the game. Each item in your inventory contributes to your total Gear Score based on its type and rarity.The higher the rarity and the more powerful the item, the higher its Gear Score.

Only inventory itemsare considered towards your gear score. Havingitems in your stash does not counttowards your total gear score.

Choosing dungeon matching pool in Dark and Darker.

Your Gear Score includes all items in your inventory,not just the ones you have equipped. This means that evenexcess consumables and unequipped itemsare counted. For example, a stack ofthree Uncommon-rarity Potionswill contributethree times their individual Gear Scoreto your total.

How Does Gear Score Affect Gameplay?

Gear Score has asignificant impact on your gameplaybecause it is the sole determining factor in your matchmaking. Your Gear Scoredecides the level of opponents you faceand the overall difficulty of the matches.

Matchmaking Brackets In Dark And Darker

There are two matchmaking brackets, in Dark and Darker. Your total Gear Score places you on one of the two following brackets :

Apart from these brackets, there areno separate brackets for High Roller mode. Also, there isno gear limit in the High Roller Mode.The above brackets are only available in the normal mode.

If you’re playing a party of two or three members, thehighest Gear Score among your team membersdetermines your matchmaking bracket.