If you’ve just hit level 80 in Guild Wars 2 and find yourself staring at your underwhelming gear wondering what to do next, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common points of confusion for new players. What gear do you need? Where do you get it? What’s even considered good gear in the first place? In this long-form guide, we’re walking through the full process of gearing up—from understanding your gear tiers to finding cost-effective and efficient methods for each slot. You’ll be ready for strikes, raids, and metas in no time.

Understanding Endgame Gear Tiers: Exotic, Ascended, and Legendary Let’s break it down. Guild Wars 2 has three primary gear tiers relevant for endgame:

• Exotic: Easily accessible and more than adequate for almost all types of content, including raids and World vs. World.
• Ascended: Offers about a 12% stat boost over exotic and is required for high-level fractals due to its ability to hold agony infusions.
• Legendary: Stat-wise, the same as ascended, but with unmatched convenience. You can freely swap stats and upgrades, share them between characters, and reskin them at will. These are a long-term project.

Focus on exotic and ascended gear first. Legendary gear can come later as an ongoing goal.

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Step 1: Know Your Stat Combo Before acquiring gear, you need to know what stat combo fits your build. This depends on your class and role. Some popular options:

• Berserker: Power DPS
• Viper: Condition DPS
• Harrier: Healing/Support
• Celestial: All-around open-world flexibility

Look up a build that fits your playstyle. Focus on ones labeled as “low intensity” if you want simplicity. Most guides will include gear loadouts, stat recommendations, and even budget options.

Step 2: Acquiring Exotic Armor Let’s start with armor. If your desired stat combo is available on the Trading Post, that’s often the easiest route. Use filters for exotic, level 80, and your preferred stats. Named exotic gear sets are typically affordable and decent for getting started, even if their runes aren’t ideal.

Some stat combos won’t be available via Trading Post. In these cases, pursue stat-selectable armor like the Bladed set from Verdant Brink. These take more effort but reward flexibility. You’ll need Itzel language mastery and enough map currency to buy pieces from vendors. Rewards from events, story steps, and even enemy drops (like the Weaver Matriarch) contribute to collecting this set.

Players in World vs. World can benefit from the Tide07 vendor system, which allows purchase of stat-selectable armor using badges of honor. It’s an incredibly efficient one-stop shop if you’re active in WvW.

Another overlooked option: the karma merchants in Orr’s temples. The stats might not be perfect, but if you’ve got a lot of karma, this method can bridge the gap until better options are acquired.

Step 3: Upgrading to Ascended Armor There are multiple non-crafting paths to ascended armor:

• Wizard’s Vault: Each season offers up to three stat-selectable ascended armor chests for Astral Acclaim.
• Strike Missions and Raids: These drop currency used to buy ascended gear, sorted into roles like healers, defenders, and assaulters.
• Fractals: Great source for drops and purchasable ascended gear. You’ll need agony resistance to participate in higher tiers, but even Tier 1 can yield results.
• PvP and World vs. World: Reward tracks and vendors here offer ascended armor in exchange for game mode currency and grandmaster marks.

Don’t forget about the Mystic Forge. If you get gear with the wrong stats, you can reroll them to something better.

Step 4: Getting Your Weapons Weapons follow similar rules. Start by checking the Trading Post for cheap exotic options. If your preferred stats aren’t available, look for temporary substitutes. The Elite Specialization training track offers an exotic weapon with limited stats, which may work depending on your build.

For ascended weapons, again, the Wizard’s Vault offers one per season. Fractals, raids, and PvP all offer paths to earning ascended weapons over time.

Special mention goes to Elite Spec collections. Completing these achievements rewards you with a matching ascended weapon. If it aligns with your build, it’s a rewarding and visually striking option.

Step 5: Choosing Trinkets Exotic trinkets are hard to get without crafting or significant gold, so many players go straight for ascended trinkets.

Your best options for ascended trinkets include:

• Living World maps: Each map from Living World Seasons offers stat-selectable trinkets for unbound magic and map currency. For instance, Bitterfrost Frontier has a ring, accessory, and back item.
• Laurel Merchants: Buy amulets, rings, and accessories using laurels.
• Guild Commendations: Earned through guild missions.
• Fractals: Offer pristine fractal relics and drops.
• Mists Trinkets: PvP, WvW, and Fractals sell resettable, stat-selectable trinkets. Just be cautious—resetting removes any infusions unless you extract them first.

Step 6: Runes, Sigils, and Relics This is where you’re likely stuck buying from the Trading Post unless you want to get into expensive crafting. Prioritize what your build suggests, but feel free to use budget alternatives.

Hot take: many budget-friendly runes and sigils perform well enough that only hardcore players will notice the difference. Don’t break the bank trying to perfect every detail upfront.

Putting It All Together: A Practical Example In one real-world example, a new level 80 character needed full Viper stats. The player chose Carrion gear (Power, Vitality, Condition Damage) as a temporary alternative due to affordability. They sourced armor and trinkets from the Trading Post and temples, added budget runes and sigils like Earth and Battle, and even made use of upgrade components that came pre-installed on cheap weapons.

While it wasn’t an ideal final loadout, it was more than good enough to dive into real content while working toward a full Viper ascended set.

Final Thoughts: Pick Your Path, Set Your Pace There are many ways to gear up in Guild Wars 2, and while this guide highlights some of the best and easiest methods, it’s not exhaustive. Every path offers its own pros and cons, and your choice will depend on how you like to play.

Whether you’re exploring the Trading Post, taking part in PvP, or tackling fractals, just remember—you don’t need to be perfect to be powerful. Use what works, swap when you can, and grow your gear along with your skill. Welcome to endgame, and good luck out there.