Compared to every other soulslike I've played, Nioh 3 really just throws loot at you, Diablo-style. It's not so much about finding a rare, one-of-a-kind sword or helmet in a cave, so much as it's about hunting for ever-bigger stats on generic gear. In this way, you're encouraged to routinely swap your equipment for something shiny and new.
But what you do with all your old, potentially unused gear is vital. You can sell it at a merchant, scrap it at the blacksmith, or use it as an offering at a shrine to get Amrita—souls, for all you FromSoftware knowers. But it's more complicated than it sounds, and it's easy to shortchange yourself.
You might've noticed that the gear you use gains 'familiarity' as you kill enemies—it's the little progress bar at the top of the item description. This is crucial because the items you've got high familiarity with are worth much more Amrita when you use them as an offering at a shrine. You can offer gear to a shrine by selecting 'Preparations' and then 'Make an offering'.
As you swap weapons in and out and gain familiarity with them, you should mark them as 'locked' in your inventory so you don't accidentally scrap or sell them. You'll miss out on huge amounts of Amrita and therefore free levels in the long run if you're not offering your well-used items to shrines.
Weapons and armour you haven't used, you can either sell at a merchant or scrap at the blacksmith in the Eternal Rift, depending on whether you need money or crafting materials. Given you can upgrade gear using the Soul Match mechanic at the blacksmith, you'll need lots of both, but it's always worth offering your used gear to a shrine instead, which is something I forgot to do on way too many occasions.
