Guild Wars 2

Hey guys. So I just got my first level 80 character a couple days ago. It’s an engineer, obviously. I am in desperate need of help figuring out gear. I haven’t a clue where to even begin looking for any of it, or even what I should be looking for.

For reference, I’m most interested in Living Story events and WvW, and I’m sure I’ll be running some dungeons every once in a while. Here’s a link to my current build, in case that helps anyone. I’m really not looking to min-max anything, I just kind of pick skills that I have fun with and try to make them work together. So I’m not worried about squeezing every ounce of DPS I can with gear, I just need something that’ll be decent enough to get me by most of the time.

So, like I said, I’m a complete noob to level 80 stuff. What should I be looking for first? Exotics, I guess? Where do I get the best exotics from, and what do they cost? Any specific runes or sigils I should be looking for? Should I be running certain dungeons, or certain world bosses? Do I need different armor for WvW than I do for PvE? I basically need a guide for someone who has never looked up anything about armor or armorsets. I hardly even bothered to look at what armor I was wearing while I leveled, other than making sure it was relatively close to my level, and had stats somewhere in the range of helpful for me.

Oh! And before I forget; I’m a sucker for aesthetics, how do I get transmutation stuff for level 80 items?

I don’t have the time to speak long about gear and your build, per se. I’ll answer, for now, the easy stuff.

1.) Be careful with Flamethrower in WvW. Retaliation will eat you alive with the #1 skill.

2.) You’ll need Transmutation Crystals either dropped as rewards for zone exploration completion, or bought on the Gem Store.

3.) If you plan on transmuting most of your stuff, the cheapest way to get your exotic gear will likely be to buy emblazoned armor with the stats you want. Or, if you plan on crafting, craft emblazoned and then transmute it to the skins you want.

4.) Look over this FT/EG build guide if that is what you want to run long term. Phineas Poe did a LOT of work on research and comments.

5.) Remember that kit damage is set to exotic already at level 80 and can only be modified by the stats of your gear and not the “damage” of your weapon.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/72009-a-comprehensive-look-at-the-flamethrower-and-elixir-gun/

Good luck.

Yes, start with Exotics as they’re easy to get. You can decide to go for Ascended later. Not everyone bothers with that, it’s mainly important if you do Fractals or are a min/maxer. There is no such thing as “best Exotics”, as they’re all exactly the same, just with different flavours (e.g vitality instead of power).

Check this page to see how you can acquire the stats of your choice: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats
Some stats can only be gotten from the trading post or crafted, other can also be bought with WvW badges, karma or dungeon tokens.

Thanks for the tips guys, you’ve already helped immensely! Digitalruse, that FT/EG guide you posted is great. Now that I’ve nailed down the basics of how end-game armor works, My biggest problem now is deciding which armor insignia(s) I’m going to choose. I’m decent, but not the best player, and since I’m planning on doing WvW I think I’ll probably need something to help keep my a little tankier than usual and a buff to damage as well.

With at FT/EG build, I’m assuming power would benefit me the most? I’m looking through the WvW armor vendor and am planning on getting a few pieces since I’ve saved up 502 Badges of Honor from my time leveling up.

Again, thanks for the help so far!

Tokumaru.6370:

Thanks for the tips guys, you’ve already helped immensely! Digitalruse, that FT/EG guide you posted is great. Now that I’ve nailed down the basics of how end-game armor works, My biggest problem now is deciding which armor insignia(s) I’m going to choose. I’m decent, but not the best player, and since I’m planning on doing WvW I think I’ll probably need something to help keep my a little tankier than usual and a buff to damage as well.

With at FT/EG build, I’m assuming power would benefit me the most? I’m looking through the WvW armor vendor and am planning on getting a few pieces since I’ve saved up 502 Badges of Honor from my time leveling up.

Again, thanks for the help so far!

Just play with one of the build calculators until you end up with stats you desire. Dont dip below 2k power, or 2600 armor. Try and get good crit chance (30-55%) and crit dmg (70-100%). Make sure you have some kind of movement speed boost, be it from runes, power shoes, or speedy kits.