The Difference Between Ascended & Exotic Gear

The Difference Between Ascended & Exotic Gear

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Posted by: maniamsmart.7981

maniamsmart.7981

VIDEO VERSION OF THIS POST IS HERE: https://youtu.be/gc4jG9b7NG0

One of the biggest questions I had when first playing the game, and a question I see many new players also asking is whether ascended gear is worth it? What’s the difference between ascended gear and exotic gear? Do I need ascended gear? And depending on what game mode you play, and what content you play, the answer can vary.

Based on a power Elementalist build I have, and comparing damage in the testing arena with exotic gear and ascended gear (excluding trinkets) and similar rotations, exotic gear damage comes fairly close to ascended gear damage. On average, exotic gear yields 15,151 DPS, while ascended gear yields 15,994 DPS. That’s a difference of 843 DPS. So damage wise, there isn’t too huge of a difference, in fact, food and utility gives a higher boost in damage than the upgrade from exotic to ascended gear does, which is already surprising to me! And with ascended trinkets on both tests, the gap is even smaller at only about 600 DPS.

So then why buy ascended gear, and when should you buy ascended gear? Well, the same argument which was made for my food and utility video can be made here; over the course of time that 843 damage will stack up and accumulate to huge amounts. Over the course of 15 minutes, the average length of a dungeon, raid and fractal, you’ll be able to gain up to 765,000 extra damage with ascended gear, compared to using exotic gear, if in continuous combat.

Ascended gear is also required to add infusions. Infusions are required for high scale fractals to have agony resistance. Since exotic gear doesn’t have infusion slots, this is another reason why you’d want to get ascended gear. As far as trinkets go however, while these do also have infusion slots, they are far more superior than exotic trinkets. With the ease of access to ascended trinkets, it’s also recommended that players get ascended trinkets over exotic ones. As stated above, the gap is even smaller in damage when ascended trinkets are applied to exotic gear and weapons.

So here are the key points to take away from ascended gear vs exotic gear:

  • Ascended Armor + Ascended Weapon DPS: 15,994.6
    Exotic Armor + Exotic Weapon DPS: 15,151.6
    Difference: 843
    Ascended Armor + Ascended Weapon + Ascended Trinkets DPS: 25,309.2
    Exotic Armor + Exotic Weapon + Ascended Trinkets DPS: 24,698.6
    Difference: 610.6
  • Ascended trinkets are far better than exotic trinkets. Get them.
  • Ascended armor and weapons cost 8-10 times the amount that exotic armor and weapons cost. They do not however, improve your stats 8-10 times. The difference is actually quite small.
  • Ascended gear is needed to slot agony infusions for higher level fractals.
  • Ascended gear is great for raids and fractals, as the continuous combat will stack up the damage pretty high even with a difference of only 843 DPS.
  • Ascended gear is not required, all content in-game can be completed, and has been completed without it (excluding high tier fractals).
  • Ascended gear is more of an additional goal or milestone in the game for optimal and maxed out stats.
  • The choice is essentially up to you, is a bit of extra damage worth all the gold and effort? Are you a completionist? Do you like to max stats? Do you want to be more competent in raids and provide the most amount of damage possible? Then get ascended gear. Otherwise, get the trinkets and you’ll be just fine.

That pretty much sums up all the points I have to share which I think are important and valuable for players. If you have your own opinions and thoughts on ascended gear vs exotic gear, please leave them down below. I could have missed some things, and if I did, I’d love to learn about them! Thanks for reading and hopefully you found this helpful!

NOTE: These numbers are based on all boons and buffs.

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Posted by: bearshaman.3421

bearshaman.3421

Here’s a similar question. Is there any real benefit to legendary items over ascended? Best I can tell it’s basically you can change the stats on them whenever you want (though I don’t know if that includes the new 4 stat HoT sets) but that seems to be countered by the fact that they are soulbound unlike ascended gear which is account bound. So given that most weapons are intended for particular builds, not sure why being able to switch stats on a soulbound weapon even matters. Is there any other benefit to legendary stuff?

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Posted by: Tanner Blackfeather.6509

Tanner Blackfeather.6509

Legendaries are Account Bound, not Soulbound; and no, they are not mechanically better than ascended. They are designed to be an aesthetic choice, and a little bit of a convenience.
They have (PvE) stat combos available, and are updated with any new ones, so I guess “future proof” is another feature.

(edited by Tanner Blackfeather.6509)

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Posted by: Sarpan.9074

Sarpan.9074

OP, thanks for the research and information. Your conclusions are pretty much what I’d come to, though in a less scientific way.

Actually, one of the things I like about this game is that you can do almost everything (maybe everything) in relatively easy to get and affordable Exotics. But for those players who want to have the best of everything, there are the pieces they can stretch for and see some benefit. It’s a good balance.

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Posted by: SlippyCheeze.5483

SlippyCheeze.5483

OP, thanks for the research and information. Your conclusions are pretty much what I’d come to, though in a less scientific way.

Actually, one of the things I like about this game is that you can do almost everything (maybe everything) in relatively easy to get and affordable Exotics. But for those players who want to have the best of everything, there are the pieces they can stretch for and see some benefit. It’s a good balance.

Yup. It’s nice to see someone grind out the tests to verify what I believed, which is that (a) exotic is good enough for all content in the game, save top tier fractals, and (b) getting the accessories first was the real big deal.

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Posted by: Sister Saxifrage.7361

Sister Saxifrage.7361

There are two other points worth considering:

1. All ascended gear is account-bound, even after equipping it. So you can pass it between characters if you want. There is some account-bound exotic gear, but most of it is soulbound on equip.

2. Ascended armor and weapons can be stat-swapped for less than the price of crafting an exotic piece. (There is a backpack, ring, and accessory in Bloodstone Fen that can also be swapped). Note this only changes the stats, not the gear itself; an axe will always be an axe, medium pants will always be medium pants.

So while ascended gear IS a big investment, that investment is low-risk. You don’t have to start completely over if you decide you want different stats or to use the gear on a different character.

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Posted by: bearshaman.3421

bearshaman.3421

Legendaries are Account Bound, not Soulbound; and no, they are not mechanically better than ascended. They are designed to be an aesthetic choice, and a little bit of a convenience.
They have (PvE) stat combos available, and are updated with any new ones, so I guess “future proof” is another feature.

If they are Account bound, then why are there legendaries on the trading post? I didn’t think you could sell account bound items…

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Posted by: Sister Saxifrage.7361

Sister Saxifrage.7361

Legendaries are a special case: account-bound on equip. And only the first generation are like that; the second generation isn’t tradeable at all.

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Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

Legendaries are Account Bound, not Soulbound; and no, they are not mechanically better than ascended. They are designed to be an aesthetic choice, and a little bit of a convenience.
They have (PvE) stat combos available, and are updated with any new ones, so I guess “future proof” is another feature.

If they are Account bound, then why are there legendaries on the trading post? I didn’t think you could sell account bound items…

The HoT legendaries are bound; the originals are not.

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