User:Chieftain Alex/equipment guide

The rarity and prefixes on your equipment will determine how effectively you are able to use your skills and traits. This guide to PvE equipment aims to provide you with some basic facts about gear, and suggestions on what to aim for.

Glossary

Gear

• Gear for this article refers to any equipment that you can equip in the hero panel to improve your damage.
• This guide will focus on gear within the areas of the hero panel labelled 2 (Armor), 3 (Weapons) and 5 (Trinkets and Back items).

Rarity

• The rarity of gear is indicated by the colour of the text, e.g. FExotic is orange, GAscended is pink, and HLegendary is purple.
• Since Ascended and Legendary gear provide identical stat bonuses, this article will only refer to Ascended or Exotic gear from here on.
• A full set of Ascended gear would provide the largest stat bonuses (100%).
• Using a mixed set, with Exotic armor combined with Ascended trinkets and weapons would provide slightly less stat bonuses (98%). Using a full set of Exotic gear provides less still (91%). (stat comparison calculation)
• For most situations Exotic gear functions perfectly well, since a 2-9% loss of damage can almost be made up for by learning effective skill rotations, improving positioning and the use of food/utility items.
• The only content that requires full Ascended gear are Fractals of the Mists at Tier 4, since they require Agony Infusions to prevent fatal damage.
• Whilst Exotic gear is typically Soulbound (can only be used on one character), Ascended gear is Account bound (can be used on any character on your account) which means you can move it into the bank and then use it on another character of the same armor class.
• The prefix on Ascended armor and weapons can be changed using a recipe in the Mystic Forge, however you will lose any upgrades from the item when doing so. The prefix on Legendary gear can be changed for free at any time without destroying upgrades.

Prefix

• A prefix is a group of attributes found on equipment.
• Your character's attribute stats can be found on the right-hand side of the equipment tab of the Hero panel when you haven't selected anything:
  •  Power (increases direct damage)
  •  Precision (increased chance of a critical hit)
  •  Toughness (take less damage)
  •  Vitality (more health).
  •  Condition Damage (increase damage from conditions)
  •  Ferocity (increased damage when you critical hit)
  •  Healing Power (heal for more)
  •  Concentration (boons last longer)
  •  Expertise (conditions last longer)
  •  Agony Resistance (reduce agony damage in high tier Fractals)
• Most prefixes add stats to 3 different attributes (triple), but some can contain 4, or even 7. Adding the stats together for any prefix will provide a similar total (hence a quad stat attribute is not necessarily better than a triple stat attribute).
• Triple attribute prefixes have one major stat that is higher than the other two minor stats, and quad attribute prefixes have two major stats.
• This article presents major attributes before minor attributes (i.e. the most important benefit is on the left).
• A summary of the most frequently seen prefixes can be found in the table below.

Power damage	Condition damage	Utility/Healer
Berserker Assassin Dragon	Viper Dire Grieving Sinister	Diviner Harrier Magi Ritualist Celestial

Armor class

• If you have multiple characters of the same armor class, then they can share any Ascended gear via the bank. This can be useful if you want to try out builds requiring different prefixes.
• The armor class is determined by your profession as per the table below.

Light	Medium	Heavy
Elementalist Mesmer Necromancer	Engineer Ranger Thief	Guardian Revenant Warrior

Elite specialization

• Elite specializations are specializations (trait lines) that were released with the Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire expansions.
• They are equipped in the bottom slot of the specializations tab of the hero panel, and allow characters to use an additional weapon type.
• On the wiki, the icons for the elite specializations share the same colours as the icons for their associated profession.

Light	Medium	Heavy
Elementalist - Tempest Elementalist - Weaver Elementalist - Catalyst Mesmer - Chronomancer Mesmer - Mirage Mesmer - Virtuoso Necromancer - Reaper Necromancer - Scourge Necromancer - Harbinger	Engineer - Scrapper Engineer - Holosmith Engineer - Mechanist Ranger - Druid Ranger - Soulbeast Ranger - Untamed Thief - Daredevil Thief - Deadeye Thief - Specter	Guardian - Dragonhunter Guardian - Firebrand Guardian - Willbender Revenant - Herald Revenant - Renegade Revenant - Vindicator Warrior - Berserker Warrior - Spellbreaker Warrior - Bladesworn

Step 1: Select gear rarity

• This guide will consider three possible scenarios:
  • Scenario 1: Obtaining a full set of Exotic gear. (cheap, 91% effectiveness)
  • Scenario 2: Obtaining a mixed set, with Exotic armor and Ascended weapons, trinkets and back items. (medium but considerable improvement in effectiveness, 98% effectiveness)
  • Scenario 3: Obtaining a full set of Ascended gear. (expensive, 100% effectiveness)
• Ascended armor and weapons require a lot of materials, and additionally there is a time-gate if you choose to craft it yourself. To purchase these time-gated materials off the trading post costs between 4  and 6  each.
• The following table gives a rough indication for how many time gated materials are used in each scenario (this example assumes one two-handed weapon plus two one-handed weapons):

Prices last updated June 2021

	Scenario 1	Scenario 2	Scenario 3
Daily time gated materials involved	0	35	94
Rough cost for non time-gated materials	8	28	89
Rough cost just for time-gated materials	0	112	336
Estimated total (excluding trinkets)	8	140	425
Estimated total as % (excluding trinkets)	1.9%	32.9%	100%

• Ascended back items and trinkets are predominantly purchased from vendors using special currencies and so have been ignored in the above table.

Step 2: Select a build

• One of the first steps to choosing you gear is actually to pick a build, as this will determine which prefix is the most effective. Try the external resources for specific builds. (#External links)

Step 3: Select a prefix

• As a rough guide, all builds fall into one of three categories: (1) Power damage, (2) Condition damage, or (3) Utility/Healing.
• In most scenarios, the prefix chosen for your weapon will be the same to use on your armor and trinkets.
• The following table indicates which prefixes are most frequently associated with each profession/elite specialization.

Power damage	Condition damage	Utility/Healer
Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker, Assassin Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker, Dragon Berserker Berserker Berserker Berserker, Assassin Berserker Berserker	Viper Viper Viper, Rampager, Sinister Viper Viper Viper Viper Viper, Sinister Dire Viper Grieving Viper Viper	Magi Diviner, Berserker, Assassin Ritualist, Viper Ritualist, Viper Harrier Celestial Diviner, Berserker Harrier Ritualist Harrier Viper, Ritualist Diviner, Berserker

Step 4: Select a weapon type

• Your build also determines your optimal weapon type.

Power damage	Condition damage	Utility/Healer
Dagger, Dagger Scepter, Focus Sword, Focus Sword (x2), Greatsword Axe, Dagger (x2), Warhorn Greatsword, Axe, Warhorn Rifle Sword, Pistol, Rifle Axe (x2), Longbow Axe (x2), Greatsword Sword, Pistol, Shortbow Staff, Shortbow Dagger (x2), Rifle Greatsword, Sword, Focus Greatsword, Sword, Focus Sword (x2), Staff Greatsword, Sword (x2) Axe (x2), Mace, Shield Axe (x2), Mace, Greatsword Axe (x2), Dagger (x2) Axe, Pistol	Sword, Focus Axe, Pistol, Torch Dagger, Focus, Sword Scepter, Dagger, Torch Scepter, Pistol, Dagger Pistol (x2), Mace Dagger, Torch, Shortbow Scepter, Dagger Sword, Scepter, Torch Axe, Scepter, Torch Scepter, Sword, Torch Shortbow, Mace, Axe Longbow, Sword, Torch	Staff Sword, Shield, Focus Staff (x2) Pistol, Scepter, Dagger Pistol, Shield Mace, Pistol Mace, Shield Scepter, Dagger Staff, Axe, Warhorn Axe, Torch, Scepter Sword (x2), Staff

• In addition to the weapon you're currently equipping, its often useful to have other weapons in your inventory to swap to. Examples:
  • A thief might carry a shortbow to shadow step quickly around obstacles.
  • A guardian might bring a shield to be used for protecting allies from projectiles.
  • A warrior might carry a warhorn to use for swiftness whilst running around out of combat between fights.

Step 5: Search for possible gear

• At this point you should know:
  • Which rarity you're aiming for.
  • Which prefix you're aiming for
  • And know which weapon types you'll need in addition to which class of armor you will need.
• Feeding the above into the wiki's "Equipment query" search form will generate possible matches.

Link to the "Equipment query" form

• If you can't find the combination you're looking for using the wiki search form, the chances are it probably doesn't exist ingame.

Step 6: Obtain the gear

• If you want to know every possible other acquisition method, including collections, random drops and exhaustive vendor lists, see Tanetris' guide. (#See also)
• This guide however will make some assumptions based on ease of acquisition and present a limited set of suggestions:
  • Exotic weapons/armor will be bought on the TP, or crafted if necessary.
    • If you have WvW Badges of Honor then you should strongly consider buying from TEID-07 Unified Vendor System for expensive prefixes.
  • Exotic trinkets/back items will be bought on the TP, or crafted if necessary.
  • Ascended weapons/armor will be crafted.
  • Ascended trinkets/back items will be bought from vendors.

Assassin (core prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Trading Post for Exalted (light), Emblazoned (medium), or Draconic (heavy) recipes, then craft	Buy core armor recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Saphir's armor directly.
Weapons	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Buy core weapon recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Soros' weapons directly.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended instead.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Purchase any stat selectable trinket item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Berserker (core prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Trading Post for Zhed's (light), Nika's (medium) or Devona's (heavy) pieces	Buy core armor recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Zojja's armor directly.
Weapons	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Buy core weapon recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Zojja's weapons directly.
Back item	Use level 78 crafter's backpack with an exquisite jewel.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Purchase from Laurel vendor (amulet and rings) and from Guild mission vendor (accessory).

Celestial (core prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Trading Post for Exalted (light), Emblazoned (medium), or Draconic (heavy) recipes, then craft	Buy core armor recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Wupwup armor directly.
Weapons	Use another prefix, or buy pearl recipes then craft.	Buy core weapon weapon sheet from master craftsman, craft Wupwup weapons directly.
Back item	Use level 78 crafter's backpack with an exquisite jewel.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase from Laurel vendors (amulet and rings) and from the Guild mission vendor (accessory).

Dire (core prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Trading Post for Jatoro's (light), Errol's (medium) or Yakkington's (heavy) pieces	Buy core armor recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Morbach's armor directly.
Weapons	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Buy core weapon recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Mathilde's weapons directly.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Purchase any stat selectable trinket item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors. If you're willing to accept a small compromise, there are combined "Dire and rabid" trinkets available from Laurel vendors (amulet and rings) and from the Guild mission vendor (accessory).

Magi (core prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Buy from dungeon vendor for Ascalonian Catacombs tokens	Buy core armor recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Hronk's armor directly.
Weapons	Buy on the trading post directly (use the equipment query above)	Buy core weapon recipe sheet from master craftsman, craft Hronk's weapons directly.
Back item	Guild Caretaker Backpack	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinket item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Sinister (core prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Trading Post for Exalted (light), Emblazoned (medium), or Draconic (heavy) recipes, then craft	Purchase the insignia recipe from the Silverwastes map currency vendors. Purchase the armor recipe from the trading post, craft directly.
Weapons	Check halloween weapons, otherwise buy pearl recipes from the trading post, then craft.	Purchase the inscription recipe from the Silverwastes map currency vendors. Purchase the weapon recipe from the trading post, craft directly.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Either: (A) Complete the LWS2 achievements then purchase from Laurel vendors (amulet and rings) and from the Guild mission vendor (accessory), or (B) purchase any stat selectable trinket item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Viper (Heart of Thorns prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Trading Post for Exalted (light), Emblazoned (medium), or Draconic (heavy) recipes, then craft	Recipes for Yassith's armor look okay until you realise they are crafted using Jeweled Damask (which requires Fulgurite). Craft the cheapest core stat ascended armor, and stat swap it with an exotic insignia.
Weapons	Trading post for Pearl recipes, then craft	Recipes for Yassith's weapons look okay until you realise they are crafted using Jeweled Damask (which requires Fulgurite). Craft the cheapest core stat ascended weapon, and stat swap it with an exotic inscription.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinkets, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Grieving (Path of Fire prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Buy Funerary armor for Elegy Mosaics	Buy the recipes off the trading post and craft it.
Weapons	Buy Funerary weapons for Elegy Mosaics	Buy the recipes off the trading post and craft it.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinkets, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Harrier (Path of Fire prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Expensive recipes for warbeast armor, don't bother with this prefix at exotic.	Recipes for Zehtuka's armor are ludicrous (e.g. the chest recipe is 25g). Craft the cheapest core stat ascended armor, and stat swap it with an exotic insignia.
Weapons	Buy mordant crescent weapon recipes, then craft	Recipes for Zehtuka's weapons are also expensive. Craft the cheapest core stat ascended weapons, and stat swap it with an exotic inscription.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinkets, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Diviner (LWS4 prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Farm Mistborn Motes, do the Dragonfall achievements for the mist shard recipe books, then craft Mist Shard armor	Buy recipes for laurels and volatile magic, then craft Steelstar's armor.
Weapons	Buy recipes for laurels and volatile magic, then craft.	Buy recipes for laurels and volatile magic, then craft Steelstar's weapons. Alternatively complete the achievements and craft Heroic Dragonsblood weapons instead.
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinkets, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Dragon (End of Dragons prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Expensive recipes for jade tech armor, don't bother with this prefix at exotic.	Buy Suun's armor recipes, then craft
Weapons	Don't bother, use ascended.	Buy Jade Punk weapon recipes or Suun's weapon recipes, then craft
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinkets, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Ritualist (End of Dragons prefix)

Type	Exotic	Ascended
Armor	Expensive recipes for ritualist armor, don't bother with this prefix at exotic.	Buy Togo's armor recipes, then craft
Weapons	Buy Shadow Serpent weapon recipes, then craft	Buy Togo's weapon recipes, then craft
Back item	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable back item, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.
Trinket	Don't bother, use ascended.	Purchase any stat selectable trinkets, such as those from LWS3 map currency vendors.

Step 7: Upgrades

• Upgrades are straightforward. You need one Relic, six Runes to apply to your armor, and 1 or 2 Sigils per weapon, plus Agony Infusions if you're heading for Fractals.

Relics

• Relics are selected as follows (use 6x):

Power damage	Condition damage	Utility/Healer
Weapon skills with longer recharge Relic of Fireworks Weapon skills with shorter recharge Relic of the Thief Cleave Relic of Cerus	Best option Relic of the Fractal Confusion or torment builds Relic of Akeem Vulnerability builds Relic of the Aristocracy Budget/Without SotO Relic of the Sunless	Healing builds Relic of the Monk Regeneration builds Relic of Dwayna

Runes

• Runes are selected as follows (use 6x):

Power damage	Condition damage	Utility/Healer
Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter Superior Rune of the Scholar (near identical) (Builds with no crit chance enhancement traits) Superior Rune of Infiltration (Like infiltration but slightly less precision) Superior Rune of the Golemancer	(Builds with different conditions needing +15% duration) Superior Rune of the Trapper (Builds mostly with burning) Superior Rune of Balthazar (Builds mostly with torment) Superior Rune of Tormenting (Builds mostly with bleeding) Superior Rune of the Krait (Builds mostly with bleeding and some poison) Superior Rune of the Afflicted ? (Builds with innate high condition duration) Superior Rune of the Elementalist (Builds with mostly torment) Superior Rune of Tormenting	(Builds with quickness) Superior Rune of the Firebrand (Builds with healing) Superior Rune of the Monk (Celestial) Superior Rune of the Traveler

Sigils

• Sigils are selected as follows: (Depending on the amount of breakbars/stuns, or critical chance you may get more out of a sigil of Impact or Accuracy than Air or Force for power builds).

Power damage	Condition damage	Utility/Healer
Superior Sigil of Accuracy Superior Sigil of Force Superior Sigil of Impact	Superior Sigil of Agony Superior Sigil of Earth Superior Sigil of Geomancy Superior Sigil of Malice Superior Sigil of Energy Superior Sigil of Malice	Superior Sigil of Transference Superior Sigil of Water Superior Sigil of Concentration Superior Sigil of Force

Agony Infusions

• Each piece of ascended gear has infusion slots, the image to the right indicates how many slots each item has. There are a total of 18 slots available.
• If you're heading for Fractals of the Mists at Tier 4, you'll need 150 Agony Resistance too - these are provided by Agony Infusions. The following table has the cheapest method (this does assume you have 18 slots to utilise; if you don't want to infuse some of your items to get 18 slots, use a higher value of infusion in each slot to accomodate):

Armor	Back item	Trinkets	Weapons
+8 Agony Infusion (x6) = 48	+8 Agony Infusion (x2) = 16	+9 Agony Infusion (x8) = 72	+7 Agony Infusion (x2) = 14

Appendix 1

These tables show a comparison between (1) a full set of Ascended gear, (2) a mixed set of Exotic armor with Ascended weapons and trinkets, and (3) a full set of Exotic gear can be found below:

Weapon strength [A]

.	GAscended	FExotic
Average weapon strength (one handed)	1000	952.5
Average weapon strength (two handed)	1100	1048
Average weapon strength as % of ascended	100%	95.3%

Attribute stats [B]

Item GAscended gear Major stats Minor stats Sword 125 90 Shield 125 90 Headgear 63 45 Shoulders 47 34 Chest 141 101 Gloves 47 34 Leggings 94 67 Boots 47 34 Back item 31 22 Amulet 125 90 Ring 94 67 Ring 94 67 Accessory 78 56 Accessory 78 56 Total 1189 853 % of a full Ascended set 100% 100% Item GAscended weapons/back item/trinkets and FExotic armor Major stats Minor stats Sword 125 90 Shield 125 90 Headgear 60 43 Shoulders 45 32 Chest 134 96 Gloves 45 32 Leggings 90 64 Boots 45 32 Back item 31 22 Amulet 125 90 Ring 94 67 Ring 94 67 Accessory 78 56 Accessory 78 56 Total 1169 837 % of a full Ascended set 98.3% 98.1% Item FExotic gear Major stats Minor stats Sword 120 85 Shield 120 85 Headgear 60 43 Shoulders 45 32 Chest 134 96 Gloves 45 32 Leggings 90 64 Boots 45 32 Back item 30 21 Amulet 120 85 Ring 90 64 Ring 90 64 Accessory 75 53 Accessory 75 53 Total 1139 809 % of a full Ascended set 95.8% 94.8%

Total effectiveness [A * B]

Damage done = Weapon strength [A] * Power [B] * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target's armor)

• We can use the generic damage formula above to compare using an identical skill on an identical target.

Scenario	GAscended gear	GAscended weapons/back item/trinkets and FExotic armor	FExotic gear
Weapon effectiveness [A]	100%	100%	95.3%
Stat effectiveness [B]	100%	98.2%	95.1%
Total effectiveness [A * B]	100%	98.2%	90.6%

Appendix 2

The approximate cost in terms of stat effectiveness improvement is shown in the table below.

	Stat effectiveness
Scenario	(1) GAscended gear	(2) GAscended weapons/back item/trinkets and FExotic armor	(3) FExotic gear	Stat improvement between (3) and (1)	Relative cost
Weapons	21.1%	21.1%	20.0%	+1.1%	Medium (~120g per percent) However also improves weapon damage by 4.7%.
Armor	36.9%	35.1%	35.1%	+1.8%	High (~160g per percent)
Trinkets	42.0%	42.0%	40.1%	+1.9%	Low (~75g per percent)
Total	100.0%	98.2%	95.2%	+4.8%

Based on the above, the preferred order to upgrade equipment from Exotic to Ascended should be:

1. Trinkets
2. Weapons
3. Armor

See also

• User:Tanetris/So You Want To Gear a Character

External links

• MetaBattle — A collection of Open world, Raid, Fractal, WvW, PvP builds
• Discretize — Fractal builds