Which Salvage and Gathering Tools should i use?

[Bonabopn.1842]

Hi folks, i've got a few questions about salvaging and special gathering tools. I've seen some old threads but i'm uncertain if their info is still accurate.

Should i sell or salvage unidentified gear? Which tiers?
What tier of salvage tools should i use on which tiers of gear?
How much better are the crown store's salvage-o-matics? Which should i get?
Are special gathering tools such as the Prospector's Mining Pick worth the karma cost or should i stick with basic orichalcum tools? Which do you recommend?

 

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I use a simple method for quick handling unwanted items:

1. Copper fed salvage tool: for white, blue and green items
2. Silver fed salvage tool: for yellow items
3. Black lion salvage kits: for exotics (orange)
4. Ascended salvage tools:  for ascended items

[Linken.6345]

I would not use black lion on all the exotics only if u want the rune/sigil to use or sell.

The store ones are the same as the ones you buy for ingame coin just infinite use. ( its for convenience and take years to pay of the price for them)

About the prospecting picks only u can decide if you have enough karma to spend on those and you like the extra materials.

I think they were mainly in so people can get hocked on the effects and buy the unlimited tools with said glyphs ( or just the glyph on the trading post to use on ori tools)

[stormemperor.3745]

1 hour ago, Bonabopn.1842 said:

Hi folks, i've got a few questions about salvaging and special gathering tools. I've seen some old threads but i'm uncertain if their info is still accurate.

Should i sell or salvage unidentified gear? Which tiers?
What tier of salvage tools should i use on which tiers of gear?
How much better are the crown store's salvage-o-matics? Which should i get?
Are special gathering tools such as the Prospector's Mining Pick worth the karma cost or should i stick with basic orichalcum tools? Which do you recommend?

 

1- None, sell them on tradepost. You will lose some gold in long term but you will retain your sanity

2- check 1. Ascended salvage isn't worth it unless you need to craft legendaries. Black lion salvage kit(for exotics or when you want to recover runes/sigils).

3- Its for convenience only, also check 1

4- Karma Volatile gathering tools bis. NPC in lw4 sells them. Paid/Gem Tools never worth the money spent, you will not profit unless you gather 24/7.

[Mppa.3250]

Regarding the tools and when it comes to these that you buy with karma, the most profitable according to "fast.farming-community.eu" are the frostbitten ones, giving you a profit from 12.5silver up to 25silver per 1000 karma. But as Linken wrote above it will depend if you have enough karma to spend constantly on these (in case you are planning to node farm a lot and regulary). Karma in general (and efficiently for gold proffit) is motsly used -daily- on pact supply network agents to aquire mapping materials that give 14-16+ gold per week. So if you have and/or generate enough karma you can use this method. When it comes to the gathering tools from the shop that have unlimited uses, volatile are the most profitable ones but not always as the level of the map/type of nodes can change the results and so you can get more profit from other glyphs instead (on specific areas). As its written already above it takes a lot of time for these tools from the shop to pay off.

About salvaging, opening the gear to see what you get, gives always better results (in the long run) than selling them before openning them on the traiding post or selling them after openning them without salvaging. So I would say always open and always salvage. And also, if you like and feel so, you can even upgrade (from crafting and mystic forge) some of the materials that you will get from salvaging to higher tier to get even better value out of salvaging.

Personally if I would have to buy something from the shop it would be the salvaging kits due to quality of life, time spent and so.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Mppa.3250

[Erich.1783]

As far as salvage goes it really depends on how many items you get to salvage.  If you are generating stacks of unidentified gear a day, then it is probably worth getting them.  That said I like:

Copper Fed for blues and lower

Runecrafter for greens (You will get more symbols and charms which helps with making legendary runes/sigils, but if you do not have that kit just use the copper fed).

Mystic Kit for rares and low value exotics (Silver fed would be the permanent version, but unless you do not have mystic stones and/ore generate large numbers of rare/exotic, the mystic kit will work).

[neighto.7386]

1 hour ago, TheQuickFox.3826 said:

I use a simple method for quick handling unwanted items:

1. Copper fed salvage tool: for white, blue and green items
2. Silver fed salvage tool: for yellow items
3. Black lion salvage kits: for exotics (orange)
4. Ascended salvage tools:  for ascended items

I am similar to this but I also have the runecrafter salvage kit so my list goes as follows:

1. Copper Fed Salvage tool : white and blue items

2. Runecrafter's Salvage Tool: Green items (sometimes yellow items depending on how lazy I am)

3. Silver Fed Salvage tool: Yellow Items

4. Black Lion Salvage:  Exotics and only if I want a specific rune/sigil from it, if not then I usually sell the item on the TP

5. Ascended Salvage is pretty  self-explanatory

 

I should also state, I do not care about getting the most returns and gold when I salvage stuff... I am at a point in the game where gold isn't much of a worry or concern... so if I lose some gold using a specific salvage kit I really don't care too much... So if you are doing this as a way to boost your returns efficiently then my system will not be ideal. 

[Dahkeus.8243]

People here are mentioning the salvage-o-matic things from the gem store, which is fine, but if you're not spending gems, just use basic kits for whites, blues, and greens.  For yellow items, use either a Master kit (the yellow one from the vendor) or make a Mystic Kit if you have a couple extra Mystic Forge stones.  It's the same as a Master kit, but it's cheaper per salvage and has 250 charges.  Link to the recipe below.

For exotics, just use your Master/Mystic kit unless it has a really good rune/sigil.  In that case, you can use a Black Lion kit.

 

https://wiki-en.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Salvage_Kit

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

I will say that if you are salvaging your unidentifeid gear, ALWAYS OPEN THEM UP BEFORE SALVAGING.  The chance for quality upgrades is significant enough to be aiming for.

[Bonabopn.1842]

What does it mean when it says a salvage kit recovers 'rarer materials'?

[Buran.3796]

  Gathering tools:

Mining: either the unbound magic pic, the skyscale or the choya. The unbound magic has the fastest animations, the other two mine 5 units x movements, which means 2 animations at rich nodes. Glyph of use: industry is the overall best one in my opinion.

Chopping: unbound magic axe (fastest animation), o glacial or firestorm (highly affected by quickeness). Best glyph: industrious.

Gathering sickle: Molten or Consortium; fastest animations, avoidable aftercast. Best glyphs: Reaping or Volatility depending of the goal. 

 

   Also, very useful:

 

 

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

2 hours ago, Bonabopn.1842 said:

What does it mean when it says a salvage kit recovers 'rarer materials'?

Things like globs of ectoplasm or reclaimed metal plates.

[SlayerXX.7138]

On 6/15/2023 at 6:50 PM, Bonabopn.1842 said:

Should i sell or salvage unidentified gear?

Depends. You either sell the unidentified gear for slightly less profit directly to the trading post or you open all the unidentified gear, salvage the identified gear and sell the salvaged results on the TP. Pro/Con directly selling: Less time investment at a small profit loss. Pro/Con salvaging: Slightly more profit, luck which does increase magic find, but more management of all the moving parts.

On 6/15/2023 at 6:50 PM, Bonabopn.1842 said:

Which tiers?

Yellows you should open up and salvage the results. Rest depends on personal preference and a couple of factors. For example right now you better of selling your greens then opening them up and salvaging them unless you have an unlimited upgrade extractor(expensive item that lets you get more value out of gear). Source: Fastfarming.

On 6/15/2023 at 6:50 PM, Bonabopn.1842 said:

What tier of salvage tools should i use on which tiers of gear?

Grey(basic) salvage tool on green gear and below. Yellow salvage tool on Yellow gear and above.

On 6/15/2023 at 6:50 PM, Bonabopn.1842 said:

How much better are the crown store's salvage-o-matics? Which should i get?

Again it depends:). The Cash shop items are better but the profit is neglectable. Copper has the most convenient value because you use it most of the time. Rune crafter has the most value for salvaging greens with no in game counterpart. Silverfed is the least relevant. If you have a couple of mystic forge stones from log in rewards you can make https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Salvage_Kit in the mystic forge. That thing has 250 charges.

On 6/15/2023 at 6:50 PM, Bonabopn.1842 said:

Are special gathering tools such as the Prospector's Mining Pick worth the karma cost or should i stick with basic orichalcum tools? Which do you recommend?

They are the best way to slowly convert karma into gold. With a couple of exceptions of course. From the core special gathering tools watchknight is the best in general. If you low on karma don't buy them they provide value, but not enough to deplete all of your karma. Worth of the tools. Volatile tools come from season 4. Frostbite from the Christmas event. If you have season 4 I recommend Volatile magic because that generates a useful currency besides being a gold generation tool. Otherwise Watchknight.

Edited June 16, 2023 by SlayerXX.7138

[SlayerXX.7138]

Feel free to ask any follow up question. They system is a little convoluted and players desire to optimize destroys a lot of common sense approach a new player would take. I myself didn't know opening greens is a loss till I fact checked my advice posting here.

On 6/15/2023 at 11:54 PM, Bonabopn.1842 said:

What does it mean when it says a salvage kit recovers 'rarer materials'?

Unimportant. It means you get more value out of gear you salvage. But with players looking at spreadsheets for ages and market forces influencing the prices it is useless information to look at that stuff in game. You better of looking at the same spreadsheets online then figure the math out yourself.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

16 hours ago, SlayerXX.7138 said:

Feel free to ask any follow up question. They system is a little convoluted and players desire to optimize destroys a lot of common sense approach a new player would take. I myself didn't know opening greens is a loss till I fact checked my advice posting here.

Unimportant. It means you get more value out of gear you salvage. But with players looking at spreadsheets for ages and market forces influencing the prices it is useless information to look at that stuff in game. You better of looking at the same spreadsheets online then figure the math out yourself.

I agree with Slayer here that if you are going to "optimise" every salvage vs selling at TP or when to use which glyphs (or what gem store  gathering tool that is most optimal to buy), then you will spend a lot of time only to figure this out instead of playing this game and gather while you are close to gathering nodes during events or when you exploring maps.

In my opinion you have two classes of Glyphs: (a) "speed up Glyphs" like Glyphs of reaping which collect every node in an AoE as long nodes are in range or Glyphs of Industry which only speed up that node your are gathering from. There is also a "cheaper" type which have 33% chance to gather faster which is called Glyph of Timekeeper. The other type of class is (b) "addition Glyphs" which is  add items or more mats from interacting with nodes like Glyph of Bounty which is also based on a 33% chance every time you gather from a node.

It is important to understand that Glyphs work like upgrades for gear, but without any restriction or fee.  For getting back upgrades (runes from armour and Sigils from weapons) without turning them into mats you would need a special tool salvage tool (like an Extractor for Sigils or Runes).

For Glyphs you only need to use  your characters Hero Panel where you can move Glyphs out of Gathering tools they have been equipped on by right clicking on it to get options to remove it from that Gathering tool or just mark that Gathering tool you want to replace a Glyphs on and click on Glyph that are in your inventory to exchange place.

As an example if you buy Skyscale Hatchling Harvesting Tool which come with Glyph of Reaping equipped and went to Thunderhead Peak's where there is two or three spots with Iron nodes on different elevations (close enough to use an AoE Gathering Glyph like Reaping), then you could just move that Glyph to any Mining tool and now you can use Reaping effect every time you are gathering from mining nodes.

If you later plan to go to Orr where there a ring of trees standing close, then just move that to your logging axe and now with only one interact you will have all these logs instead of having to interact with every which you would have to if you use Industry or Bounty Glyphs.

As far as I can tell from all posts here it seem to not mention that you actually can move every glyph to every gathering tool incl those non-permanent or non-infinite tools that you can buy from NPC vendors. The main difference when those charges have ended, you will now have to re equip that glyph to continue (as Glyphs will be moved into Inventory when the last charge have been used on those gathering tools). In short you don't need to buy permanent gathering tools as such, but it is probably still cheaper then if you would farm gold to purchase same Glyph from Black Lion Trade Post as Gold to Gem very much is in the same price range for getting those Glyphs or purchase a permanent/infinite one from GS which have Glyph.

[edit: When you use right click which brings up different option, make sure that you don't pick destroy (it is the last option at bottom of that list) as both Infinite/Permanent Gathering tools and Glyphs can be destroyed/deleted by accident from you account!]

Just make sure that you are buying a package deal with both Infinite/permanent tool AND Glyph as some Infinite/Permanent Gathering tools are also sold without any Glyphs (only a skin with an animation with infinite charges).

You can find out more about which tools are sold with what Glyphs here (scroll down on wiki to find a list of these sold in GS).

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gathering_tool

Permanent Gathering tools and also Glyphs are account bound which means that the best use is to keep your Glyphs or Gathering tools (save Shared Inventory slot by equipping Glyph on Gathering tool) in Shared Inventory as you then can fast change character and exchange gathering tool (keep a cheap gathering tool in each charters gathering slot) and now you other character will also have same tools for gathering.

GW2 efficency site is a very useful site for finding fast which maps that have rich nodes and there are BlishHUD where you can pick map marker for where you can farm nodes that are close to each other.

https://gw2efficiency.com

https://github.com/blish-hud/Blish-HUD

(There is a video explaining how to use BlishHUD and you need to activate a module called "pathing" which in turn have different option for map markers with different focus, TACOs map markers is one that should be well known from community and there a lot of other that might help to find out where those gathering nodes can be found on maps)

Edited June 18, 2023 by ShadowCatz.8437

[Harfang.1507]

My 2¢:

Whatever you feel is not too much work or expense.

I always ID all unidentified gears before I salvage them. I would be even more inclined to do so if I am brand new to the game and still in levelling a character.
Short term, if you can, get a copper-fed Salvage-o-matic. Best bang for your buck. Otherwise, just Basic Salvage Kits. Once 80, spend your Mystic Stones from achievement chests to make Mystic Salvage Kits and use those on rare (yellow) gear. It does the same job as a Silver-fed one. Runecrafter's is good, but more a niche item; I'd pass until you know better what you want out of the game.
Karma-bought tools are good, provided you don't need to hoard karma for something else. I highly recommend the Gem Store's Volatile Magic tools; they may not be quite as good as before, but they are still fantastic. In mid-level zones, I still use the leather-gathering, karma-bought tools though.

[Lucy.3728]

I use the Mystic salvage tool for just everything.

I'm a cheapskate, I don't want to waste gems in black lion salvage tools that have less % or cost too much. The gold wasted in that is... well a waste. The materials (you keep paying for on top) won't bring the gold back. Esp the silver one is a laugh. The copper one is at least good for the junk, but still a gems waste.

I most often sell the unid gear since I get more money out of it than salvaging it all. Calced it all several times. Selling was always the better pay off 😞 Unless you urgently need the luck thingies. Those come from salvaging green/blue equipment.

When I need ectos I keep the yellow gear but that's not often.

Put your gems into the tools. The ones that get additional magic. Unbound magic and voitale magic, unless you farm on those maps often to get enough that way. You can use the stuff to trade for ascended trinkets. See the list here: https://www.peuresearchcenter.com/resources/living-story-trinkets.php
I got some breathers and backpieces there. (For rings I use the laurel guy in wvw)

And I like they skyscale sickle. Harvests all nodes around you too. Saves time in guild hall, wvw and everywhere with lots of plant nodes on a small place.