How to get Hero Points?

[Kittyx.3758]

I've just returned to this game and I want to unlock elite specializations but have no idea how to get the required hero points for them. I've just been playing living world season 2 so far to follow the story arc but really would like to unlock the new specializations. Where can I get hero points?

[Blocki.4931]

You'll need "Mastery Points" and you earn them through various means. Usually completing the associated story chapter will start you at least out. Once you get to the Heart of Thorns expansion they will become a pretty big deal. Check your story journal and do the associated achievements to get more. Once on the maps, you will also find them at various, usually hard to reach, places.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Blocki.4931" said:You'll need "Mastery Points"

No. To unlock specializations, you need Hero Points.

@Kittyx.3758 said:but have no idea how to get the required hero points for them

The two expansions have Hero Challenges that give about 10 Hero Points per challenge. It's the fastest way to get Hero Points as Central Tyria offers only 1 point per challenge. I recommend the Path of Fire expansion, because its HPs are easier to collect.

[Danikat.8537]

Levelling from 1-80 gives you exactly enough hero points to unlock all the core skills and specialisations. To unlock the elites you need to do hero challenges in open-world maps or play World vs. World and use Testimonies of Heroics from rank and skirmish chests to unlock them.

Each elite spec costs 250 points to unlock. Each challenge in Central Tyria or WvW gives 1 point, and each one in an expansion map gives 10 points. There's a total of 904 available, more than enough to unlock both elites which means you can choose which challenges to focus on. (And in case it's not clear all hero points are identical and go into the same pool, you don't need to do HoT challenges for a HoT elite spec or PoF ones for a PoF spec.) It's generally better to do ones in expansion maps becaue you need to do fewer challenges overall, and as Ashantara said the PoF ones are easier to complete than HoT ones.

A lot of PoF ones can be done solo if you have an ok build but if you find open world game play difficult with what you've got now it might be worth using the LFG tool to look for hero point trains, or simply heading to the location and then waiting until someone else shows up to do it with them (this will of course go better if you're able to play at peak times for your region). HoT ones mostly require a group, so if you want to do those I recommend looking for a hero point train to do them with.