Guild Wars 2

Hey, a quick question for those that have delved into the raid already: is Ascended armor a must-have to complete the raid or is Exotic sufficient if necessary? I’d like to jump into the raid, but have not yet crafted any Ascended armor and would like to try out a few different types of armor before committing to a specific prefix for my Ascended set.

(I am a Guardian).

The gear is only as good as the player. So through ascended gear on a player who knows his class and has a build to complement the team, and you’ll take advantage of the extra stats you get. However, give the same gear to a noob who knows nothing about his class and is uncoordinated, and he’ll wipe. Though, at least he’ll look fabulous doing so in his flashy gear.

If you’re at the point where you’re building your set you may want to take a peek at this spreadsheet to see where you’ll get the best mileage. Weapon alone seems to offer the best payoff, trinkets offering the next big chunk, and Armor providing the lowest increase over its exotic counterpart.

Edit: The reason Weapon offers the most damage increase is due to both the raw stat increase as well as the boost in Weapon Strength. Though it’s easiest to get the trinkets so you should be able to collect those pretty quickly with Relics, Laurels, and commendations depending on how much of those you got stocked up. No harm in “trial-ing” the exotic versions first c:

You should have ascended rings, trinkets, and amulet at least (they are easy enough to get) and preferably an ascended weapon, but ascended armor doesnt give that much of a stat boost so it is not the most necessary.

EDIT: Raids are about skill and build rather than gear. You need to be able to actually play. The best gear is nice, but its not going to make it so you can’t succeed

Well, I wish I could tell you that skills is all the matter but the truth is, timer are extremely tight, the 12% increase in fully ascended might not be necessary for the first boss, but for the second (for sure) and probably third (haven’t got there yet) it is needed. So make sure everyone is running ascended and appropriate food/utilities because it will make a difference.

The dps checks are so tightly tuned that groups in full ascended are barely making the timer. Ascended armor can be the difference between a kill with a few seconds left and wiping to enrage at 0.

You want every statistical advantage you can get on top of your personal skill.

Lol the stat boost is barely around 6%. People keep saying 12% have no idea.
Anyway with time Im sure people will be able to beat them on full exotics.

Jephery.8915:

The dps checks are so tightly tuned that groups in full ascended are barely making the timer. Ascended armor can be the difference between a kill with a few seconds left and wiping to enrage at 0.

You want every statistical advantage you can get on top of your personal skill.

For the the time being. We do not know if these groups are playing optimally yet.

XxsdgxX.8109:

Lol the stat boost is barely around 6%. People keep saying 12% have no idea.
Anyway with time Im sure people will be able to beat them on full exotics.

The stat boost isn’t 12%, correct, but the overall damage increase is around 12% at most when factoring in raw stats and the additional Weapon Strength.

Ayrilana.1396:

Jephery.8915:

The dps checks are so tightly tuned that groups in full ascended are barely making the timer. Ascended armor can be the difference between a kill with a few seconds left and wiping to enrage at 0.

You want every statistical advantage you can get on top of your personal skill.

For the the time being. We do not know if these groups are playing optimally yet.

Precisely. Gear right now is being used as a crutch more or less until we (the community) can put together something that’s as close to as possible consistent technique for the boss.

XxsdgxX.8109:

Lol the stat boost is barely around 6%. People keep saying 12% have no idea.
Anyway with time Im sure people will be able to beat them on full exotics.

Stats compound on each other. Power is worth more DPS the more Precision and Ferocity you have, Precision worth more the more Power and Ferocity you have, etc.

Adding +100 power doesn’t just give you +100 power in a vacuum, it scales off all your existing Precision and Ferocity, and all the group buffs in a raid setting you’ll get.

The minor increase in stats from Ascended armor is going to be scaled by raidwide Quickness, Alacrity, Banners, Spirits, etc.