Which Salvage Kit Should I Use? [Recommendations] [Now With Data]

Updated: [this spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qLrFPcTJeoM-QvYl49OwgEXHwfHVN-R4aSKopr98xk) recommends specific kits for specific niches, using values using current market rates. The second tab shows the actual break down of values._

tl;dr

• Rares that drops ectos (rare L68+): Mystic → Silver-Fed → Master (Runecrafter good, too)
• Non-ecto rares (<L68) with an upgrade: Runecrafter (Mystic → Silver-Fed good, too)
• Non-ecto-bearing gear without an upgrade: Base → Copper-Fed
• Exotics: TP (use BL Kit if it has valued upgrades)

Purchase recommendations

• If you own neither silver-fed nor runecrafter, buy the runecrafter. If you already own one, there's little need to buy the other.
• The copper-fed is always a good choice.
• None of these items are necessary and none will pay for themselves for 99% of the community. You have to buy hundreds of stacks of things to salvage to come close to reaching the numbers required to break even. They are convenience items.

Usage recommendationsIn the list below, Copper-Fed can be replaced by Basic. Silver-Fed by Mystic (best) or Masterwork. There's no benefit to the blue or green kits (except in making master's). You can substitute Runecrafter's with Silver-Fed and vice-versa, if you only own one.

• Fine or below: Copper-Fed
• Masterwork without upgrades: Copper-fed
• Masterwork with upgrades: Runecrafter's (1s better than copper-fed, 0.5s better than Silver-Fed)
• L68+ Rares without upgrades: Silver-Fed (1s better than Runecrafter)
• L68+ Rare with upgrades: Silver-Fed (0.3s better than Runecrafter)
• Exotics: sell on TP

Caveats:

• The market is going to change (not might change; it will change) which will require new recommendations. The price of ecto and of charms|symbols matters a lot.
• We don't yet have great data on ecto rates from rares from runecrafter's; the could also impact the recs. Right now, it appears to be within 77-83 per 100, only somewhat less than silver-fed's 87+. Runecrafters seems to drop 0.8 ecto per L68+ rare compare to 0.875 from Silver-Fed.
• There are some salvage items that might benefit from a different kit; for the tiny number of these that most people get, it's not worth worrying about, i.e. use the copper-fed.
• Power traders/salvagers will have different usage patterns and therefore want different recommendations; these are meant for "typical" players.

Sources

• Comparison Spreadsheet
• Salvage Rates of Minor, Major, Superior upgrades
• Which Upgrades Salvage to Which Charms|Symbols

This list of recommendations was originally posted in a thread about the Runecrafter's kit. I thought it best to separate it out because there are things worth discussing that pertain to the RC alone. Additionally, the data remains sparse for the RC kit and the markets are still in flux (even before today), so the calculus will change over time. I thought it would be useful to be able to edit as things evolved.

In the given market, the data shows that the value of symbols|charms from salvaged rares is enough to make up for the expected lower amount of ecto in the long run. Over any short term amount of salvaging, you can expect huge variations; best not to worry about it unless you're looking at 100s or 1000s of results. Another reason that the RC comes out ahead is that its per use cost is 50% lower than for Silver-Fed. It's not much, but the numbers are close to start with, so it's enough.

There are perfectly reasonable alternatives to my recommendations, especially for people who want to simplify their inventory management. If you want to extra the most value with the least possible effort, then you could go with:

• Masterwork or below: Copper-Fed (or basic)
• Rares: Silver-Fed or Runecrafter (or mystic|master)

If you're lazier still and want to buy a single kit to salvage everything rare or below, I'd recommend Copper-Fed or Runecrafter's, but know that you'll be throwing gold away in exchange for simplicity.

How screwed am I if I bought the Runecrafter's just because it was 600 gems rather than 800 (~200g vs. ~300g), and I just use it to salvage everything out of convenience? Am I taking much of a loss over time since I'm also using it to salvage whites and blues?

Edit: I don't have a Copper-Fed.

Copper fed only costs 3c to use, vs 30c for Runecrafter, so it is a big loss over time.

@Emberstone.2904 said:How screwed am I if I bought the Runecrafter's just because it was 600 gems rather than 800 (~200g vs. ~300g), and I just use it to salvage everything out of convenience? Am I taking much of a loss over time since I'm also using it to salvage whites and blues?

Edit: I don't have a Copper-Fed.

You're spending an extra 27 copper per use on items that don't have any upgrades. That means on some items, you'll lose coin. On the other hand, even after salvaging 1000 items, you'll have spent under 3g extra.

So instead of asking how screwed you are, ask yourself: are you willing to invest 3g every few days just to avoid having to worry about which kit to use?(My guess is no, since you were willing to spend 200 gold to avoid having to buy basic (or master's) kits.)

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Emberstone.2904 said:How screwed am I if I bought the Runecrafter's just because it was 600 gems rather than 800 (~200g vs. ~300g), and I just use it to salvage everything out of convenience? Am I taking much of a loss over time since I'm also using it to salvage whites and blues?

Edit: I don't have a Copper-Fed.

Yeah, 3g every few thousand blues/whites isn't a big deal. I don't think I go through that many in two or three weeks. If I bought a Copper-Fed in order to prevent that cost, then I'd still be at a loss in the end, having to salvage many thousands more to make up the difference.

Since I'm now using a kit that gives me rune/sigil materials more often (I was lazy/cheap and only ever bought Basics before), I should end up with more Charms over time to make it up.

TL;DR: You're right, that loss is meaningless. I'd rather spend the 3g every few thousand items than take up 8+ inventory slots on Salvage Kits and have to visit the merchant every so often, or literally every hour when doing Istan metas.

Related discussion on Reddit:https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/abto5y/comparison_between_the_different_salvageomatics/

Unless you have no forge stones and/or never work on getting achievement points, I'd say mystic kits are far more economical than the silver fed kit.

@Eekasqueak.7850 said:Unless you have no forge stones and/or never work on getting achievement points, I'd say mystic kits are far more economical than the silver fed kit.

Or if you salvage a lot. Or if you're new and don't have that many to start with. There are a lot of reasons people lack them.

That said, yes, @Eekasqueak.7850 is correct: mystic kits are by far more economical than Silver-Fed and competitive with Runecrafter's when that is the better choice. If you have plenty of stones, then you can use Mystic on any gear with an upgrade, any gear that drops ecto, ... and you could get away with using it for everything, with only a small loss in efficiency.

I use a mystic kit for everything, unless I have a free black lion kit for exotics with upgrades. I keep saying I'll get a copper and silver fed when I run out of mystic forge stones but that's not likely to happen.

Not sure how off-topic this is, but are there items that you should not salvage for profit reasons?

How high does an item needs to be in the TP so that salvaging brings less?Are there exotics that are just too cheap to sell?Or should certain things go into the mystic forge?

Since I often get an upgraded item from the forge that is more expensive than the four input items combined, I have the feeling that for some items on average this might be a good alternative to salvaging... only talking about dropped items, though...

You say there's no possible benefit for blue and green salvage kits, but what if someone decides to buy, if it's still possible, blue salvage kits for karma (meaning no coin cost)?

karma got a gold value aswell> @Airdive.2613 said:

You say there's no possible benefit for blue and green salvage kits, but what if someone decides to buy, if it's still possible, blue salvage kits for karma (meaning no coin cost)?

karma got a gold value aswell, just that alot of people dont want to go thought the hassle to convert it.

Is there a recommendation on what salvage kit to use to salvage runes and sigils (stand-alone, not attached to gear)? I recently discovered a stack each of old minor wintersday runes and sigils on a storage character and was wondering if using mystic over copper-fed (I don't have the silver-fed and won't likely buy it as I still have two stacks of mystic forge stones) would see a higher number of charms and symbols.

@Linken.6345 said:

karma got a gold value aswell, just that alot of people dont want to go thought the hassle to convert it.

Well, yes, though I think it depends on the current market prices; but 252 karma per 25 uses sounds like a small amount, can blue salvage kits turn out to be useful?

This has been great work done quickly by the community here & on reddit.I have a request by this same group.Could someone throw the Permanent Upgrade Extractor into the mix.Salvage with runemaster vs extract & sell vs extract & salvage with copper.I'm betting there will be a breakdown based on Charm/Symbol type.Brilliance & Control are high value, Potence & Enhancement mid, and Skill & Pain low(junk) if current trends hold.Sell the junk & salvage the high value unless its one of the high demand runes/sigils that is driving the market.

@"Dediggefedde.4961" said:Not sure how off-topic this is, but are there items that you should not salvage for profit reasons?

• Short story: yes.
• Medium story: it varies considerably with the market and the source of the items. Three examples: there have been (recent) times when some blue or masterwork gear was more profitable to sell, most exotic gear is more valuable sold than salvaged, and any item labeled as a "salvage item" that has a "common" source is better sold (there's a small list that drops in fractals, for example)
• Long story: gw2profits has the most extensive data with which to answer the question.

That said, for the most part, most people are better off not worrying about it because it represents a small (and changing) fraction of their loot. That is, the extra coin earned might not exceed the cost of your time (and headache) spent figuring it out.

How high does an item needs to be in the TP so that salvaging brings less?There's no good rule of thumb, because different types of items have different salvage tables, different rates and so on. You have to be very familiar with these to be able to assess the value.

Are there exotics that are just too cheap to sell?If you always custom sell, no. If you often sell to the highest buy offer, then yes.

Or should certain things go into the mystic forge?That is almost never a good deal for people who forge occasionally. But it is possible to make money forging. In fact, the largest source of precursors is not random drops from foes, but people who industrially produce precursors (1000s and 1000s of forges). They buy items cheap, forge them in bulk.

Since I often get an upgraded item from the forge that is more expensive than the four input items combined, I have the feeling that for some items on average this might be a good alternative to salvaging... only talking about dropped items, though...On the whole, no.However, it can be a lot of fun and only you can take a guess at how valuable that fun might be for you. I have a friend who religiously forges all rare staffs they get, but nothing else & another who forges all exotics with buy offers below 40s. Neither of those systems is "efficient," but both players enjoy the occasional special item, so for them, it's a good deal.

I don't usually sell mats, until they stack past 2K in my bank (and if I can refine them, eg mithril), then I wait until the refined version is hitting 2K. I might sell off some of ones I have a lot of if I have an immediate gold need but otherwise I hoard. I do want to build up a stash of symbols and charms. Right now I have under 900 ecto, but that supply has tended upwards thanks to my salvaging anything that doesn't have a notably greater TP value as an item. I have a Copper-fed and a Silver-fed; I use the former for greens and below, and the latter for rares.

I am considering buying the RC. The discussions I've been seeing in the threads about it seem to focus on value if one sells off the mats gained. Given that I hoard rather than sell, how would that affect the analysis of best -fed to use for what? Or is it too soon to tell how the RC will do on symbols and charms?

Thank you for making this comparison! Was about to make a thread asking the same question.

@Donari.5237 said:I am considering buying the RC. The discussions I've been seeing in the threads about it seem to focus on value if one sells off the mats gained. Given that I hoard rather than sell, how would that affect the analysis of best -fed to use for what? Or is it too soon to tell how the RC will do on symbols and charms?

That's a good question to ask, especially since it's common for non-financially-oriented players to ignore incoming mats and just sell|use stuff when they have to. On the whole, the recommendations do not change because a large part of the benefit of using Silver-Fed or Mystic or Runecrafter's is the increased income of symbols & charms.

Here's a comparison of material income (ignoring market prices) for salvaging 100 units (to avoid notation confusion between US and non-US readers):

• Ecto (from L68+ rares): 87+ from SF & Mystic vs 80 from RC
• Charm|Symbol from upgrade-laden greens: 1.5 from SF|M vs 1.9 from RC
• Charm|Symbol from upgrade laden rares (any level): 3.1 from SF|M vs 3.9 from RC

Examples:

• If you salvage 1000 upgraded rares with RC instead of SF, you'll have 70 fewer ecto and 8 more symbols|charms
• If you salvage 1000 upgraded greens with RC instead of SF, you'll have 4 more symbols|charms (and a somewhat different mix of T5|T6 mats from L80 gear)

i.e. the very thing that makes RC more profitable on greens is generating those extra high-value RC-type mats; that's also the very thing that keeps it competitive on rares compared to SF & friends

For gear without upgrades (e.g. accessories), Copper-Fed is better for greens, while SF is much better than RC.

And because it bears repeating: if you have lots of mystic stones, I strongly recommend creating mystic kits. You can use them on just about anything, as the per-use cost remains competitive compared to Copper-Fed and you spend less time making decisions.

@"Grimmtooth.4163" said:Could someone throw the Permanent Upgrade Extractor into the mix.tl;dr I don't recommend itIt's not a horrid idea, it just seems like more micromanagement than most people would tolerate.

Salvage with runemaster vs extract & sell vs extract & salvage with copper.The big disadvantage to the Perma Extractor is that you can't "salvage all", so it's a huge time cost. For that effort, you save exactly 27 copper by using PUE first on greens followed by using copper fed on the upgrades, i.e. not worth it.

For rares, the math is a bit different. On 100 rares with upgrades, the best scenario is PUE first, SF on the rares for max ecto, CF on the upgrades. Compared to RC, you'll spend 33 silver more on salvage and end up with 7 extra ecto. Compared to using SF directly, you'll spend 3 extra silver on salvage and get an extra 80% of an upgrade.

It's up to you to decide if it's worth the effort.

I'm betting there will be a breakdown based on Charm/Symbol type.On the one hand, if you stick to only the mats worth 1.5g or better, then you'll be spending a lot less time salvaging, but a lot more time sorting through gear (and you'd have to memorize the list of which 30 sigils and which 30 runes have the "good ones."

Sell the junk & salvage the high value unless its one of the high demand runes/sigils that is driving the market.Currently, I don't think there's any reason to sell greens or rares rather than salvage. That's even more effort than anything else described so far, because you'd have to check everything or have your spreadsheets run algorithms to determine rules of thumb to speed up you decisions.Plus, there's the time spent waiting for the TP to react, which currently seems longer than usual for a lot of players.

Most exotics aren't worth much these days (which is a real shame and a real economical issue IMO), so it is smarter to salvage them for the rare materials they provide (given you own enough Black Lion Salvage Kits).

@Ashantara.8731 said:Most exotics aren't worth much these days (which is a real shame and a real economical issue IMO), so it is smarter to salvage them for the rare materials they provide (given you own enough Black Lion Salvage Kits).

Most exotics are worth far more than their salvage value.And due to the upgrade overhaul, they are increasing in value (mostly).

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:Most exotics are worth far more than their salvage value.

But still much less than they were worth only 1.5 years ago.

And due to the upgrade overhaul, they are increasing in value (mostly).

Hopefully so.

That's an interesting data set, I was curious what the difference in salvage rates for tiers of runes/sigils was.

It's worth splitting up exotics into exotic weapons or exotic armor. From what I can tell the data set merges the two together.

Weapons typically sell higher, but both can be salvaged into ectos and globs of dark matter (which are sometimes helpful, even if they don't have a pure coin value). Weapons can also be MF'd to unlock skins (there are far more weapon skins than armor skins) with a small-but-non-zero chance of a precursor.

These days, if an exotic weapon sells for <1g I end up forging it, >1.5g I end up selling it. I'll black lion kit something with a valuable sigil. Armor I'll always salvage since its value is usually half that of low end weapons, and black lion kit a valuable rune.