Hero class or better gear?

[keru_90]

I'd say go for hero class first, and then upgrade you shield. The reason being getting that 10 shield skill makes a lot of difference, and often times you'll find people in a server carrying good shields on their zwei or pavise, so you can just pick those up. Shielding on normal with an sks is completely fine as RG, i even did it as zwei, but on hard you may struggle. Of course i'm assuming your first gear upgrade would be the shield, and that should be the top priority after getting hero class. About shield selection, go for defender if you want to be cheap and having a mid-tier shield while you're getting big moneys for a 3M shield, and i personally don't like royal shield (costs too much to be a temporary solution, but still needs to be upgraded). I choose to go straight for a 3M shield, getting a resilience, and don't regret the decision. Aegis and resilience are the most common choices for a RG, same identical crafting mats, very similar performances, the only main difference is that aegis can be used also on pavise, while resilience can be used on all commandos and infantry heroes. so if i were you i'd do things in this order:

- hero upgrade
- plate mittens (the most cost-effective way to improve you body armor, +2 for only 80k)
- shield upgrade
- trans armor
- swadian helm (since you got a grinder just skip the 63 armor helmets ang go straight for the 66 one)