Guild Wars 2

If I buy a skin set from the black lion trading post with gems, do I have to use transmute stones to use the skin?

If so, that would be stupid. I want to buy a skin to make my guy I am leveling look better. But obviously I will be replacing armor a lot as I level.

When you purchase a skin, you:

a. Get the skin permanently unlocked in your Wardrobe
b. Get a one-time use item that you can apply to your existing gear.

So, no, you don’t need to use Transmutation Charges the first time, but once you’ve used that initial skin item, any subsequent transmutations you apply will be charged.

If you buy an outfit from the gem store, you never use transmute charges on it. Outfits are not mix and match- they do not have individual pieces, like the armor sets- and they do not have an armor class attached to them.

But for an armor set, you’ll have to use transmutation charges to reapply the skin to your new pieces, as Zaxares describes above. I generally do not apply armor skins until I’ve reached level 80.