The BEST ways to get ASCENDED GEAR! | GW2 New Player Guide

Ascended Gear Overview

Ascended gear is Guild Wars 2’s highest equipment tier, but its stats are only about 6% better than exotic gear. Exotic gear is sufficient for raids and most other challenging content. Ascended gear is specifically needed to add agony resistance for higher-tier fractals.

Choose an acquisition method based on the gear slot, available expansions, and the content you prefer. Don’t rely on rare drops if you need a particular item.

Weapons

• Reliable options: Spend Astral Acclaim in the Wizard’s Vault (one weapon per quarter), buy weapons with raid currencies and gold, or complete collections.
• Collections: Elite-specialization collections provide signature weapons. Heart of Thorns players can complete Knight of the Thorn for a Caladbolg weapon. Janthir Wilds adds more Caladbolg forms and the Falling Star spear collection.
• Rare drops: Weapons can drop from raids, strikes, rifts, convergences, and certain meta events, including Tequatl, Dragonfall, Dragonstorm, and Dragon’s End. These sources are luck-dependent.
• Crafting: Compare costs first. Time-gated materials and changing prices can make crafting expensive; check Guild Wars 2 Efficiency.

Armor

• Best overall route: Complete the raid Envoy collections. They can award two full ascended armor sets, though the process includes difficult content and a five-week time gate. The second set is a legendary precursor, so handle it carefully.
• Other options: Raids and some open-world bosses can drop armor. Non-raid collections generally award one piece each and can be costly. The Gyala Delve Special Ops collections together provide a full set.
• Purchasing: Astral Acclaim can buy three pieces per quarter, so a full set takes two quarters. Raid currencies and gold are another option.
• Alternative: Quick-play fractals can earn legendary gloves, bypassing the need for ascended gloves.

Trinkets

Trinkets are generally easier to obtain than other ascended gear.

• Daily fractals are a good source of ring and accessory drops; raids can also drop some trinkets.
• Living World maps: Season 3’s Winterberry farm is especially useful, while Season 4 currencies can buy trinkets. Icebrood Saga Eternal Ice Shards can be exchanged for Season 4 materials.
• In Bjora Marches, complete Bright Shore’s The Hunger collection to unlock inexpensive selectable amulets.
• Completing Wing 5 and the Coalescence 1 collection awards the Hateful Swirl, a free ascended ring with three infusion slots. Treat it carefully because it is a legendary precursor.
• Completing the Living World story through End of Dragons and its related achievements can earn the legendary Prismatic Champion’s Regalia amulet, skipping ascended gear for that slot.

Backpieces

• Living World Season 3: Map vendors sell backpieces for map currency and unbound magic. Winterberries help with farming, while Siren’s Landing heart vendors offer a karma-cost alternative.
• Collections: Options include Heart of Thorns order collections, the 16-day Henge Away From Home collection in Draconis Mons, and Path of Fire’s Raise the Banners collections. Completing all three Raise the Banners paths requires three characters and grants a bonus backpiece.
• Other routes: Crafting, fractal progression toward the Fractal Capacitor, and PvP or WvW precursors are available, but some are costly or grind-heavy. Several are also steps toward legendary backpieces.

Aquabreathers

Most players do not need an ascended aquabreather. Options include crafting one, buying one with Winterberries and unbound magic in Living World Season 3, or purchasing one in Lion’s Arch with gold and swim-speed infusions.

Practical Tips

• Don’t wait for rare drops if you need a particular item; many drop sources are unreliable.
• Check vendor costs and currencies before buying. Fractal, PvP, and WvW currencies may be more valuable than the gold saved.
• For raid weapons, check Scholar Glenna’s inventory. After clearing an encounter, its unique two-handed weapon may cost less than a generic raid weapon.
• Ascended gear comes from many sources, but crafting and several collection paths can be expensive or time-gated.
• Very rare drops from WvW ranks, chests, champion bags, competitive reward tracks, guild missions, and world bosses should not be relied upon.

Featured Creator and Sources

SSCaide; Guild Wars 2 Efficiency; the Guild Wars 2 Wiki; and raid-community resources for players interested in learning raids.