Do I need all ascended or not? If not which is the minimal ascended equipment requirement for doing any level of fractals?

Ascended equipment is needed because of stats or because of a number of slots? Do I need ascended equipment with the specific prefix or prefix does not really matter?

Any equipment works until level 20. At level 20 agony starts to appear and to prevent it you need agony resistance. It ramps up until 150 resistance at lvl 100. The fractal lobby and level selection screen tell you how much you need for specific levels.You can play 1-25 without agony resistance but prepare for increased damage at 20-25.

You also get upscaled in fractals, so lvl 1-19 could also be played as a non lvl 80 character.

@Annihilator.2617 said:Do I need all ascended or not? If not which is the minimal equipment requirement for doing any level of fractals?

You definitely do not need all ascended for long time. As said above, lower tiers can be done in almost any gears: at least exotic is more than enough, maybe rares work, too. When Agony starts getting up, you need to slot agony resistance, and to slot them, you start need ascended pieces gradually. You will get those from many sources, if you keep running fractals.

The first time you complete Fractal Level 20 (Solid Ocean - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Solid_Ocean_Fractal ) you will be rewarded with an exotic quality stat selectable ring that has an infusion slot. If you have no other ascended items (from LS3 maps for example) you can start with that. If you socket in a +9, you will then have the min recommended AR for fractal levels 1-20, which is most of Tier 1. For 21-25, you will take some extra damage from agony, but just getting another ascended item (either from laurel merchant, LS3 maps, etc) will give you one more (or two more if you attune it) infusion slots, and that covers you for all of Tier 1. You will then be able to complete every fractal map in the game at Tier 1 level, so if all you are interested in doing is experiencing the content, you don't need any ascended gear above that.

@TamX.1870@Turkeyspit.3965

What about max level fractals? Do I need all ascended? How much ascended equipment I need for max level fractal?

@Annihilator.2617 said:

@TamX.1870@Turkeyspit.3965

Everything basicaly.

@Annihilator.2617 said:

@TamX.1870@"Turkeyspit.3965"

The min AR requirement for LV 100 fractal is 150. You don't actually need full ascended armor + trinkets to hit that, because you can craft up to +21 Agony Infusions, but they are pants-on-head stupid expensive (like don't even consider it - really, stop thinking about it). Most players will socket in +9's, which means you need 17 infusion slots to hit 150. Honestly though, if you're going to be playing the hardest fractal content, by then I feel you should have full ascended gear for the extra stat boosts as well as AR.

EDIT: here is a list of each fractal for each Tier, and the recommended AR for each: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractals_of_the_Mists#Fractal_levels

EDIT #2: also keep in mind that by the time you reach Tier 4, you will be expected to use Fractal Potions (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractal_Potion) which can be acquired via the daily recommended fractal, RNG drops from bags, or purchasable with fractal relics

@Annihilator.2617 said:

@TamX.1870@Turkeyspit.3965

You don't need all ascended but you need 150 agony resistance. The easiest and cheapest way without fractal account upgrades is 6 +7 and 12 +9 infusions. You have 18 slots in a complete set ascended items with upgraded rings and backpack. Reduce the ascended items you also reduce your available slots and increase the agony resistance per slot. Higher agony per slot is more expensive than more slots.Full ascended is the easiest and cheapest way to get to 150 agony resistance.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:@Miellyn.6847 said:

Dow the prefix (stats) of ascended gear matter or just slots for infusion?

@Annihilator.2617 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:@Miellyn.6847 said:

Mostly for infusion slots, saves you from having to buy agony infusions higher than +9

Like @Miellyn.6847 (lol myelin, is a fatty substance that covers nerve cells, so interesting name!!)... OOps sidetracked...

Like @Miellyn.6847 said, at the lower levels 1-19 anything goes, really...You get upscaled, and there's no Agony, so you can easily go in for the dailies and start racking up some levels and rewards, even if you're not 80 or if you don't have decent gear.Beyond 20 you'll need to start getting Agony Resistance. But this is where the 1-19 comes in:

When i say 1-19 it's not really 1-19. It's at least 1-20. If you buy Anguished Tears of Alba it gives you 10 or 15 (If you have the Mastery) AR without anything else added. Make liberal use of those while you're down on AR to farm Infusions, and hopefully some ascended drops. Now, if you have masteries, you can also use Mistlock Singluarities to grab an extra 5 AR, but these end if they prevent you from being downed. So bear in mind that you might find yourself taking more Agony damage than intended if you rely on these.

Now first steps:

First of all, if you're already 80 you should have yourself a nice set of exotic gear with whatever particular stat combo makes your build tick (or close enough if you're going for condis). Also, ideally you should also have a couple of maxed crafting professions. Why is this important? Well, because for full ascended, if you're not planning on trusting lady luck, you'll need it.So, i'm assuming you're the poorest of poors, and playing for less than a month (more than a month you can also go for laurel stuff, and if you're really "old" or not as poor, you might get ascended stuff from Living World maps).First thing you will want to do is craft one of the "Elegant" profession backpacks (ie: Elegant Armorsmith Backpack). These puppies are quite easy to get, and come with one Infusion slot, this allows you to get your AR started.You'll want to use the Backpack and the infusions you'll be getting from 1-19 to craft your first +9 Agony Infusion. That plus the Fractal Mastery Tear of Alba will net you 24 AR, which allows you to do all of the Tier 1 Fractals, and up to lvl 29 in Tier 2.

Ascended Trinkets:

Now you need to think about getting the rest of your accessories as ascended (eventually the back as well). You can do this in a few ways:

• Keep farming 1-20 fractals (and Tier 1 dailies) for a drop or for enough currency to buy your first RING (this is important, start with the ring). If you're really lucky you'll get an infused ring of your wanted stat combination (or close enough), otherwise keep collecting currency until you can buy one. Finding an infused one makes the next step cheaper, but you'll be ok.
• If you have access to Living World maps that have stat-selectable rings (currently available only on LWS3 maps) on their Vendors, you'll be even better. Get one or two of those (from different vendors, since you usually can't equip two of the same ascended accessory - Most have the "Unique" tag on their description, meaning you can only equip one of that item).
• PvP and WvW can drop rings from their reward track chests, and you can also save up currency and buy a stat-selectable one.

Of course if you drop something not a ring, you keep it, and put some Infusions on it. But rings are the best way to stack AR, since they can hold up to 3 infusions, so it's better to start with those.

After you get your first ring, you next will want to work on Infusing and Attuning it. (make sure it has either stats you want on that character, or something like Berserker, which you can pass on to your other characters, since you're about to invest a bit on improving it).Now you have 3 more slots to put some AR Infusions into... Try and get some +9's in those puppies, for a total of 36 AR (including your back). At this point with the Tear, you can get 51AR reliably, which takes you up to lvl 44.

Repeat the previous for your second ring, which adds 27 (using +9 infusions) to that 51, so 78 AR, which allows you to play up to lvl 59. This means you can do all of Tier 2 now, and go a bit into Tier 3 (pretty close to half of Tier 3).

Now gains will start reducing. Earrings will only have 1 slot each... So that's only +18 from earrings, which pops you up to 96 AR (with tear), enough for lvl 69.

Now, if you don't have a way to get into Living World Season 3 or 4, or PoF and farm an ascended back from those. You can craft the Fractal Capacitor Back, this helps because you need it for the Legendary Back Ad Infinitum. Anyway, with an Infused ascended back you should be coasting at a total of 10 Infusion slots, which means a potential of 105 AR (with Tiear). This isn't really enough for lvl 75, it's short 1AR. But if you play it careful and make use of the Singularities, you should be able to complete all the first 3 tiers of Fractals.

Now you need Ascended Weapons.

Like for Trinkets there's a few choices:

• If it matches your gear, you can try to unlock Elite Specialization Weapon Collections, and get the ascended weapons from there.
• You can keep on farming and hope for drops (either in Fractals, some World bosses, WvW, PvP or Raids)
• You can craft (or acquire through Raids or PvP) GrandMaster Marks, and buy the ascended weapons from a vendor.
• Or straight up craft the weapons.

You get another Infusion slot per "hand" that the weapon uses, so two slots for two-handed weapons, and 1 slot for one-handed weapons (meaning that main hand + off-hand equals 2 slots).That's 18 more AR from those puppies, for a maximum of 123 with tear, 108 without tear. This means that you won't need tears to complete Tier 3, and you can go up to lvl 85 in Tier 4 without worries for Agony.

One thing that's important to remember about weapons is that if you only have Infusions on your main set, if you swap weapons, you lose the AR. So for maximum coverage, if you swap weapons a lot, you'll need Infusions on both sets.

Armor

Now time for a real talk... You might not want Ascended Armor... It's expensive, and heavily time-gated to craft, and expensive and heavily time-gated to buy (because you basically need to craft all the same).Me i'd advise sticking to Tier 3 dailies + recomended and hope for some armor drops, and start climbing from there. Do unlock lvl 85 as your personal level so you get improved rewards, but then stick to that. Increase your reward level as you get more Armor pieces, and keep going.

Otherwise, you, again, have a few choices:

• If you have PoF and the latest Living World Episode, do the Envoy Armor collection and get a whole set.
• Spend gold equivalent to the materials for Ascended Armor (300+g), and just use 10 +11 Infusions and a +13 and a +12 on the slots you have, and be dependant on a tear of Alba for the 150 AR.
• Spend a similar amount of gold and buy the Ascended Materials, and craft the set.
• Spend around 50-100g less and craft the GrandMaster Marks to buy the armor.
• Do a ton of separate Achievements for Ascended Armor boxes, this won't be enough for a full set though, you'll be shy a couple of items.

Finally... GW2 Efficiency and the Wiki are your friends.

If just starting, refer to the guide below that someone created.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/8yzp6p/fractal_zero_to_fractal_hero_a_beginners_guide/