Equipment - weapons and armor - are hugely important aspects of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, substantially increasing the damage you deal and reducing the punishment you sustain. Rated on a scale from one to seven stars, naturally new players might be keen on getting their hands on some gear upgrades as quickly as possible. That being the case, this page will cover where you can find the best early-game game in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

Best Weapons Before Chapter 6 in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth¶

Like a Dragon, like most Yakuza games (which the Like a Dragon series is a spinoff of) are typically slow starters. The first few chapters of the game are functionally tutorials, getting you used to the gameplay elements, characters and setting… setting the stage for things to come and all that. Most of the gear upgrades you’ll get through Chapter 3 are scripted and/or relatively trivial, and when they’re not, most of the interesting loot you’ll find can’t be used until you can change jobs (unlocks in Chapter 5). Weapon crafting is a fine way to get your hands on new gear, but this isn’t unlocked until Chapter 4, so between the lack of good grinding spots prior to Chapter 4, the inability to craft weapons or change jobs, our focus on early-game gear upgrades will focus on what can be realistically be achieved (albeit with moderate grinding) by the end of Chapter 5.

Barbed Wire Bat¶

You’ll be forced to upgrade Ichiban’s bat near the start of Chapter 4, and while the Hero’s Bat is a fine little upgrade, if you want something much more substantial to whack enemies with at the end of Chapter 4, you’ll need to aspire towards getting the Barbed Wire Bat. To craft this weapon you’ll need to buy a Metal Bat from the Panthera Sports Kingdom (Worldwide Market Village, West Waikiki) for $500. You’ll also need 30x Rainbow Fragments and an additional $250 for the cost of crafting.

The best place to get money (without having to overlevel) is at the Anaconda Shopping Center, which you’ll need to visit during Chapter 4. Hunt the Krass Kringle enemies and be sure to use magic attacks, as they’re apt to dodge physical attacks. If you can kill one in a fight, you should get around $70 (plus whatever the other enemies give you), and while it can take some doing to scrounge up the money, the Barbed Wire Baseball Bat boasts 58 Attack, 53 Magic and it can inflict Bleed. It’s a x3 damage boost over the Hero’s Bat, which is a significant upgrade.

Broken Commandment Nunchaku¶

A three star weapon for the Action Star job, not only is this weapon unusable before you can change jobs in Chapter 4, but it’s also unobtainable until near the end of Chapter 5, when you unlock the Hawaiian Haunt. Complete Substory 34 - Legend of the Labyrinth and the Hawaiian Haunt will fully open up. Explore the depths of the dungeon and loot chests in Sector 1, which may drop this weapon. Enemies will be around Lv18+, which should be roughly on par with where you’re at by this point in the game. This weapon has 54 Attack, 44 Magic and can inflict Stun - a solid upgrade over the Japanese Oak Nunchaku, and you don’t have to pay a penny for it.

Cheating Hand¶

In an alley southeast of Revolve, just off Fuji St. (Little Japan), you can find a hidden gambling hall. Just get near and you’ll be let in after a verbal confrontation. Inside you can play Koi-Koi or Oicho-kabu to earn wooden tags, which can then be exchanged for goodies, including this weapon… or you can just buy wooden tags at a rate of $1 per wood tag. You know, if you want to preserve your sanity. Trade 456 tags ($456) and you’ll get this three star Cabbie-exclusive weapon. It has 35 Attack, 35 Magic and can remove buffs and lower an enemy’s Willpower when landing hits. It’s not as strong as the Ignition Wrench but it’s a hell of a lot easier to get.

Diving Knife¶

Picking gear out of chests in the Hawaiian Haunt is a fine way to get some free upgrades, but it’s not the only way. The Diving Knife is a prime example, a three star weapon for the Kunoichi, Robo Michio will give it to you as a reward for rescuing five people from Sector 1. This weapon has 49 Attack, 49 Magic and can lower an enemy’s Agility upon striking.

Durian Maracas¶

Much like the Broken Commandment Nunchaku, you can find this weapon in a chest in Sector 1 of the Hawaiian Haunt. A three star weapon for the Geodancer job, it boasts 41 Attack, 50 Magic and can lower the enemies Willpower on hit, making them superior to the Blooming Maracas.

Dynamite Nunchaku¶

In Chapter 4, during your trip to the Anaconda Shopping Center, you’ll have to dip your toes into the world of Sujimon League courtesy of Substory 37 - Choosing Your Starter. After you complete this you’ll be able to engage in the Sujimon League storyline which, while time-consuming, doesn’t require you to progress the story or grind for character levels or money. Instead you’ll need to hit up Suji Spots and challenge other Sujimon Trainers to level up your own Sujimon. Advance until you get access to the Sujimon Stadium (accessible via the Sujigami PC Shop in the Anaconda Shopping Center) and you’ll find various Sujimon Leagues you can compete in, earning points in the process. These points can, of course, be exchanged for rewards, including the Dynamic Nunchaku. These four star weapons for the Action Star will set you back 45,000 points, but their 94 Attack, 81 Magic and ability to lower an enemy’s willpower on hit make them awfully tempting… even if you can’t use them until you unlock job changing in Chapter 5.

Ephemeral Longsword¶

Near the middle of Chapter 3 you’ll be introduced to the Aloha Links collectathon via Substory 5 - Welcome to Hawaii MFer. After this substory plays out you’ll be able to make friends with fellow Aloha Links users via various means - usually simply by pressing or . For more information, check out our page on Aloha Links. You’ve already got plenty of incentive to make friends via Aloha Links due to the [Personality Traits] and gifts you gain from doing so, but at regular friend counts you’ll get rewards from Kei - the employee of Revolve who introduced you to the app. Get 50 friends on the Aloha Links app and return to Kei to get this weapon, a three star weapon for the Samurai job. You can get this as early as Chapter 3, but since you can’t change jobs until Chapter 5 it’s functionally useless until then. Still, a nice weapon to have on-hand for when you switch over.

Happy Candy¶

During Chapter 3 you’ll need to scrounge up some cash to get the main story moving again, and to this end you’ll be directed to the [Crazy Delivery] minigame. Complete Substory 3 - Crazy Money and you’ll be able to run this minigame any time you want, and while it’s not very lucrative, it doesn’t cost anything to do. Complete deliveries and you’ll inexorably earn points, which can be traded for various wares, including a few weapons and armor.

One of the rare four star weapons you can get early on, you’ll need to earn 96,000 points in Crazy Delivery to get this Tennis Ace exclusive weapon (a DLC exclusive job). This will take quite a while to farm, but the 86 Attack, 74 Magic and great MP reduction this weapon offers will definitely give you an edge, even if you can’t swap jobs until midway through Chapter 5.

Ignition Wrench¶

Like the Barbed Wire Bat, the Ignition Wrench is another solid craftable upgrade, this time for the Cabbie, Tomizawa’s exclusive job. To create this item you’ll need to buy the Wheel Wrench from the Wini Mini Mart (Waikiki St., East Waikiki) for $500, gather 30x Lava Fragments by defeating low-level enemies, then spend $250 more crafting the weapon. Grinding Krass Kringle enemies in the Anaconda Shopping Center is a passable early-game way to get the resources you’ll need. With 56 Attack, 56 Magic and the ability to inflict Burn on enemies, it’s about as good of a weapon as you can get by the end of Chapter 4… for a usable job, anyways.

Jet Surfboard¶

Much like the Broken Commandment Nunchaku, you can find this weapon in a chest in Sector 1 of the Hawaiian Haunt. This Aquanaut weapon features 37 Attack, 34 magic and can buff the user’s Agility upon striking an enemy, making it weaker than the Amateur Board you can buy, but finding it will keep $500 in your wallet.

Kunoichi’s Sword¶

Like the Dynamic Nunchaku, the Kunoichi’s Sword is a reward you can earn by trading points at the Sujimon Stadium - in this case, 70,000 points. This five star weapon is, of course, exclusive to the Kunoichi job, and boasts a 103 Attack and 103 Magic. It’ll take a good bit of grinding, and you can’t equip this weapon until you unlock the Kunoichi class (possible in Chapter 5), but it’s quite powerful if you get it early.

Mummy Band¶

Like the Dynamic Nunchaku, the Mummy Band is a reward you can earn by trading 45,000 points at the Sujimon Stadium. A four star weapon for the Linebacker job (a DLC job), it has 72 Attack and 66 Magic and causes the wearer to recover HP when attacking.

Punk Choker¶

Like the aforementioned Ephemeral Longsword (see above), this weapon is a reward for getting enough friends via the Aloha Links app. Get 25 Aloha Links friends and she’ll give you the Punk Choker, a three star Heiress exclusive weapon that has 45 Attack and 40 Magic that can also inflict Fear on hit. There’s no good reason you shouldn’t have this weapon before actually recruiting the character who can use it, which will happen near the end of Chapter 4.

Scabbard Fish¶

Like the Happy Candy weapon, you can acquire the Scabbard Fish by exchanging 96,000 points from the Crazy Delivery minigame. It’s a four star weapon for the Samurai job that boasts 86 Attack, 74 Magic, and restores the welder’s HP when attacking. While you can technically get this weapon as early as Chapter 3, you can’t change into a Samurai until midway through Chapter 5.

Steam Cleaner¶

Much like the Broken Commandment Nunchaku, you can find this weapon in a chest in Sector 1 of the Hawaiian Haunt. A three star Housekeeper weapon, it has 44 Attack, 48 Magic, and can inflict Burn.

Torchlight Axe¶

The final (alphabetically, at least) weapon you can pull out of a chest in Sector 1 of the Hawaiian Haunt, this Pyrodancer exclusive three star weapon boasts 51 Attack, 47 Magic, and can lower the enemy’s Fire Resistance on hit.

Best Armor Before Chapter 6 in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth¶

You can’t craft armor, unlike weapons, and you won’t find much new armor in Sector 1 of the Hawaiian Haunt, so this list is a bit smaller, but there are still good bits of armor out there you can pick up if you don’t mind grinding the odd minigame or dungeon.

Classy Hat¶

When recommending early-game gear, we want to avoid asking players to delve too deeply into the Hawaiian Haunt. While Sector 1 isn’t much of a stretch, level-wise, Sector 2’s enemies are much, much stronger, with a minimum level of 32. You can technically clear the entire dungeon by the end of Chapter 5 if you want to put in that much time and effort grinding, but that’s beyond the scope of this page. Fortunately, this hat can be found in Sector 1 - every time you defeat the Sector 1 midboss you’ll get a Classy Hat, which features 18 Defense, 15 Willpower and boosts your critical hit rate by 10%.

Cycling Cap¶

Perhaps the best headwear you can get your braincase into before Chapter 4, you’ll need to grind out 8,000 points at the Crazy Delivery minigame to get one. It gives its wearer 12 Defense, 10 Willpower, and +10% Evasion.

Cycling Shoes¶

You can get these shoes by exchanging 8,000 points via the Crazy Delivery minigame. They’re basically a weaker version of the Wind Sneakers, and honestly it’s probably faster to just grind money for those. These shoes grant their wearer 12 Defense, 10 Willpower, and 10 Agility.

Hilo Hattie Outfits¶

On the ground floor of the Anaconda Shopping Center, you’ll find the Hilo Hattie shop, which sells a variety of two star clothes. If you were wondering why we didn’t include the Cycling Clothes from the Crazy Delivery minigame, these are why, as it’s arguably easier to save up the $50-60 these cost than it is to grind Crazy Delivery for points. There are three outfits worth paying attention to here:

• Blue Hawaii Aloha Shirt: Defense +10, Willpower +8, Agility +3
• Prince Kuhio Aloha Shirt: Attack +3, Defense +10, Willpower +8
• Classic Hibiscus Short Muu Muu: Magic +3, Defense +10, Willpower +8

Nothing game-breaking, but they’re all fair upgrades over whatever you found earlier, just pick which flavor of bonus stat (Attack, Magic, Agility) you want and they’ll get you through the early game just fine, and they won’t break the bank, either.

Wind Sneakers¶

You’ll have access to a lot of armor upgrades by Chapter 4, the only problem is they’re prohibitively expensive. The Wind Sneakers are an edge case in that they both have very attractive stats compared to everything you can find and aren’t too expensive to buy. Each pair of these shoes will cost you $343, and give the wearer 18 Defense, 15 Willpower and 10 Agility. Buy them from the Fiddler Brand shoe store in the Anaconda Shopping Center.