Best/easiest way to get ascended gear?

Like the title says. I'm trying to gear my necro, but I haven't been having any luck with fractals, and I can't move up without it. I have full trinkets, and a few legendary weapons, though only GS for this class. I would like to get fully heard, despite not having that much more stats. I like having the ability to change the stats if I need to. Thank you in advance.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Tanetris/So_You_Want_To_Gear_a_Character(includes a section on Ascended gear)

So it seems as though I'm doing the best thing already, running fractals. I've been very unlucky so far, doing about 40 fractals and never getting a single piece of gear. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep at it, wasn't sure if there was a better way than hoping for fractal drops in order to move up.

@Klowdy.3126 said:So it seems as though I'm doing the best thing already, running fractals. I've been very unlucky so far, doing about 40 fractals and never getting a single piece of gear. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep at it, wasn't sure if there was a better way than hoping for fractal drops in order to move up.

Fractals drop ascended in t4 at a much better rate. The irony is you need ascended to run t4. If you are in exotics stick to t1 and t2, t3 is very iffy you need at least some ascended, this is not only for stats but for AR, you cant get the amount of AR needed in t4 from exotics at all. Im not sure about the potions as i dont buy them because i do t1 and t2, but i dont know if they give a high enough AR to survive. I also need ascended gear and its a slow laborious process in my case, and actually there are some pieces i will prob never get. Probably have a legendary before then lol

Best way is to craft your first ascended gear. There is no easy way to get.Well there is a way to buy daily t4s carry and hope you get ascended drops but I don't think you were asking for this easy.

@Tiviana.2650 said:

@Klowdy.3126 said:So it seems as though I'm doing the best thing already, running fractals. I've been very unlucky so far, doing about 40 fractals and never getting a single piece of gear. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep at it, wasn't sure if there was a better way than hoping for fractal drops in order to move up.

I have trinkets I can add some agony resist to fo T3, how much do I need for that level?

@phs.6089 said:Best way is to craft your first ascended gear. There is no easy way to get.Well there is a way to buy daily t4s carry and hope you get ascended drops but I don't think you were asking for this easy.

I made a heavy set a long time ago, when I had a bunch of gold, but it is expensive, and I'm not a big fan of the crafting system in this game. I'm honestly not a big fan of crafting in most games, outside of Albion online, and old school WoW. I guess that holds me back, but I was looking for ways outside of crafting. I was actually thinking of leveling something on my necro, but he is fairly new, as far as me actually playing him is concerned (leveled to 80 with tomes, and just picked up reaper last week, but he is almost two years old).

I really knew the answer, I was just hoping to hear something I didn't know about. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging away, and start my craft grinding.

Although timegated, Envoy Armor I gives a full set and it's not gated by requiring asc gear. On top of that, raids can drop asc gear/boxes and the magnetite shards can be used to buy trinkets.

@"Awesumness.1823" said:Although timegated, Envoy Armor I gives a full set and it's not gated by requiring asc gear. On top of that, raids can drop asc gear/boxes and the magnetite shards can be used to buy trinkets.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it, but I don't think I'm good enough to raid. I guess i should check out a video of one, but despite probably being incorrect, i feel like i drag down groups in new things. Idk, i need to try some group stuff on my reaper.

What I like to do is craft a relatively cheap gear prefix, and then transmute it to an expensive one. It's cheaper to craft something like Hronks and change it to Zojjas than it is to craft Zojjas.

@Klowdy.3126 said:

@"Awesumness.1823" said:Although timegated,

Envoy Armor I

gives a full set and it's not gated by requiring asc gear. On top of that, raids can drop asc gear/boxes and the magnetite shards can be used to buy trinkets.

The trouble with that collection is that while most of it is doable with training groups some of it really isn't, at least not that my level of ability indicates(having trouble with wing 2, essentially) BUT don't let that put you off trying raids. Some of them, wing 4 particularly, and wing 1, are pretty easy to get the hang of, and ANY raid boss can drop a piece of ascended. Just look for a guild that does training, or join a training run to get your feet wet. DO USE VOICE, watch the videos, and be a bit patient. I remember my first training run on Cairn took 2 hours and now we can one shot it(but sometimes don't, oh well). The group I'm with is pretty patient, no one gets upset even with stupid mistakes, and it's fun!

Just don't pretend to be experienced. It will show. And you don't need to hit the numbers snowcrows throws up. Sure, my elitist friend's group tosses out 30k's and downs CA in 3 minutes, while we barely make it in 6 with 20k's but we still get it down.

Then once you've gotten a few ascended you get get your AR up in fractals, and get drops there too. Oh, and you get magnetite shards just for trying.

There's always the PvP or WvW option. It takes a while, but it has the benefit that you can choose stats : Super helpful for stats such as minstrels. You need to craft grandmaster marks, but shards (which you need 10 off in wvw) or an actual Mark box where you (from pvp) can choose a 'mark' drop from a completed chest (during the season) .The other added benefit is that you don't need a group if you don't want to pug.
I craft mainly all mine (doing a steelstars set as a type) but I have all the mats i need to get a PvP set ( but can't decide on what kind/stat) .I have gotten some ascended boxes, even one from istan (the horror) but with crafting I control when I get a piece not hope on a random drop.

@"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:What I like to do is craft a relatively cheap gear prefix, and then transmute it to an expensive one. It's cheaper to craft something like Hronks and change it to Zojjas than it is to craft Zojjas.

That is not universally true as you require an additional exo insignia for this.

Zojja's visage 44g https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/calculator/a~0!b~1!c~0!d~1-48087Hronks visage + stat change 44g (price doesn't even account for 5 ectos) https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/calculator/a~0!b~1!c~0!d~1-48033;1-19913Viper's directly 43g https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/calculator/a~0!b~1!c~0!d~1-74357

WeaponsZojja's axe 48g https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/calculator/a~0!b~1!c~0!d~1-46759Hronk's + stat change materials 49g (price excluding ectos) https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/calculator/a~0!b~1!c~0!d~1-46968;1-19920

If you craft an ascended item specifically to stat change you should check the prices first or you end up paying more.

Don't forget you add in the cost of buying exotics to savage for dark matter BTW, which GW2efficiency doesn't include.Those prices are for putting in orders in too, not for buying the mats outright or doing the time gates.

@Kiza.5630 said:

@"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:What I like to do is craft a relatively cheap gear prefix, and then transmute it to an expensive one. It's cheaper to craft something like Hronks and change it to Zojjas than it is to craft Zojjas.

Indeed. In fact, it's rarely true that you save coin by using the forge to transform the stats.

There are reasons for doing it, though, because you can save on other currencies. For example:

• Crafting Yassith's directly requires fulgurite, which in turn costs HoT map currencies.
• Crafting Hronk first and forging with a Viper's Exotic avoids that.

Final note: think of it as item transformation rather than stat swapping, because the original weapon|armor is destroyed (including any upgrades). Zommoros takes everything and returns an entirely new item (at least, new to you; probably refurbished).

@Klowdy.3126 said:I made a heavy set a long time agoWhy dont you play that heavy class with full ascended to run T4 daily and wait for the Drops?

I crafted my 1st set ascended armor for Ele, play t4 daily with that ele and have 5 alts full ascended now.

Easiest would Be ofc craft those.

@VanWilder.6923 said:

@Klowdy.3126 said:I made a heavy set a long time agoWhy dont you play that heavy class with full ascended to run T4 daily and wait for the Drops?

I'm bored with those classes. I'll start doing as you said, and just completely lose interest in the game, and stop playing. I've tried several times, for years now. I'm burned out with the heavy classes. The only thing that has been able to keep my attention for more than a week, has been necro. I'd rather slowly get gear than have to do something unenjoyable in a video game.

I might try to run power rev, I dont have a ton of playtime in that spec. I think with my trinkets, and weapon, I'll be able to get enough agony resist to do T3 with my necro.

Thank you to everyone that answered. I was hoping for some way I didn't know of yet, but I guess I'll just start crafting (such a long process starting a new craft, lol), and continue with fractals. I bought the two recipes to craft Mark's last night, so I was going to aim for that. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at PvP, the only success I've had so far was with a bunker guardian, and that was a little boring, but I've never tried any on my reaper.

@Klowdy.3126 said:

@Tiviana.2650 said:

@Klowdy.3126 said:So it seems as though I'm doing the best thing already, running fractals. I've been very unlucky so far, doing about 40 fractals and never getting a single piece of gear. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep at it, wasn't sure if there was a better way than hoping for fractal drops in order to move up.

@phs.6089 said:Best way is to craft your first ascended gear. There is no easy way to get.Well there is a way to buy daily t4s carry and hope you get ascended drops but I don't think you were asking for this easy.

There is a table here for AR.

InitiateLevel Fractal AR1 Volcanic 02 Uncategorized 03 Snowblind 04 Urban Battleground 05 Swampland 06 Cliffside 07 Aquatic Ruins 08 Underground Facility 09 Molten Furnace 010 Molten Boss 011 Deepstone 012 Siren's Reef 013 Chaos Isles 014 Aetherblade 015 Thaumanova Reactor 016 Twilight Oasis 017 Underground Facility 018 Captain Mai Trin Boss 019 Volcanic 020 Solid Ocean 821 Swampland 1022 Cliffside 1123 Molten Furnace 1324 Nightmare 1525 Shattered Observatory 17

AdeptLevel Fractal AR26 Aquatic Ruins 1827 Snowblind 2028 Volcanic 2229 Underground Facility 2430 Chaos Isles 2631 Urban Battleground 2732 Swampland 2933 Deepstone 3134 Thaumanova Reactor 3335 Solid Ocean 3436 Uncategorized 3637 Siren's Reef 3838 Chaos Isles 4039 Molten Furnace 4240 Molten Boss 4341 Twilight Oasis 4542 Captain Mai Trin Boss 4743 Underground Facility 4944 Uncategorized 5045 Solid Ocean 5246 Aetherblade 5447 Cliffside 5648 Thaumanova Reactor 5849 Nightmare 5950 Shattered Observatory 61

ExpertLevel Fractal AR51 Snowblind 6352 Volcanic 6553 Underground Facility 6754 Siren's Reef 6855 Thaumanova Reactor 7056 Swampland 7257 Urban Battleground 7458 Molten Furnace 7559 Twilight Oasis 7760 Solid Ocean 7961 Aquatic Ruins 8162 Uncategorized 8363 Chaos Isles 8464 Thaumanova Reactor 8665 Aetherblade 8866 Urban Battleground 9067 Deepstone 9168 Snowblind 9369 Cliffside 9570 Molten Boss 9771 Aetherblade 9972 Volcanic 10073 Captain Mai Trin Boss 10274 Nightmare 10475 Shattered Observatory 106

MasterLevel Fractal AR76 Aquatic Ruins 10777 Swampland 10978 Siren's Reef 11179 Uncategorized 11380 Solid Ocean 11581 Underground Facility 11682 Cliffside 11883 Molten Furnace 12084 Deepstone 12285 Urban Battleground 12386 Snowblind 12587 Twilight Oasis 12788 Chaos Isles 12989 Swampland 13190 Molten Boss 13291 Uncategorized 13492 Volcanic 13693 Snowblind 13894 Cliffside 13995 Captain Mai Trin Boss 14196 Aetherblade 14397 Thaumanova Reactor 14598 Chaos Isles 14799 Nightmare 148100 Shattered Observatory 150

@Tiviana.2650 said:

@Klowdy.3126 said:

@Tiviana.2650 said:

@Klowdy.3126 said:So it seems as though I'm doing the best thing already, running fractals. I've been very unlucky so far, doing about 40 fractals and never getting a single piece of gear. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep at it, wasn't sure if there was a better way than hoping for fractal drops in order to move up.

@phs.6089 said:Best way is to craft your first ascended gear. There is no easy way to get.Well there is a way to buy daily t4s carry and hope you get ascended drops but I don't think you were asking for this easy.

Thanks, that helps a lot. I have one trinket with +9 on it right now, and I'll have to give up about 20 power, but I'll end up putting +9s in all my accessories, and my GS. That should give me 63 without gear, and I'm guessing i can add extra slots to some of those. I know i did that for a viper ring i got from LW3 so i could use two of them.