Equipment is generally any item that can be worn by the player. They can be acquired as a drop from Enemies, Chests, bought from Merchants or Exchanged with Reinhardt or other players. Each piece of equipment comes with a random Item Level, the higher the level the better the stats that piece has. The equipment primarily consists of Weapons, Armor and Rings.
Weapons
Weapons are the main way of dealing damage to enemies. All weapons can be used to block and parry incoming attacks and reflect projectiles. All one-handed weapons, except for the shield and bow, can be dual-wield by equipping both of them to main and off-hand and pressing "Switch Weapon" button (default X / LB). Every weapon, except for the shield, can be upgraded by blacksmiths with Nightsteel. Each weapon type has their own stat requirements and scaling.
Armor
Armor is the main way of protection and reduces incoming damage either magical or physical, depending on the armor type, it also affects the stamina cost of the dodge. Armor cannot be upgraded.
Rings
Rings are an auxiliary equipment that give passive bonus to stats as well as providing additional gemsockets for gems