Won't post my full message. ?
My suggestion:
Put equip and their levels on a tier based on their raw stats.
(Example: Eventide Mace lvl 10 has 37,400,00 atk.
With 6k/6k/ 8k/ 8k/ stats, your only allowed lvl 0 stats from mace. As you grow, higher lvls are unlocked.)
They use something similar for upgrading castle, unlocking new lands, etc.
Have to get to a certain stat to use higher lvls of equip.
It would nerf SH build problems in EE wars. Forces players to upgrade, which evens out the playing field.
I have seen players drop their build to teir 1 buildings to avoid being hit to not lose trillions they have saved, etc. But all their equip (EE or otherwise) is active and maxed out. They could literally decimate any player around their raw stats.
Having equip stats raise or lower based on raw stats would IMO would solve exploiting the game mechanics. Exploiting the game mechanics.