How to get ascended gear in Guild Wars 2

Ascended gear is the second-highest tier of equipment in Guild Wars 2, being generally stronger than Exotic Gear but often a little worse than Legendary Gear. There are four main ways to get Ascended Gear: Achievements, Crafting, Looting, and Vending.

Achievements

The following achievements award Ascended Equipment.

Ascended Armor Achievements

•  Ambrite Weapon Collection – One piece of your choice.
• Leystone Armor – One piece of your choice.
•  Bioluminescence – One piece of your choice.
•  The Sun Is Silent for This One – One piece of your choice with Grieving stats.
•  The Best Offense – One piece of your choice.
•  Envoy Armor I: Experimental Armor and  Envoy Armor II: Refined Armor – All six pieces of a single weight.

Ascended Weapon Achievements

• Gold Fractal Master
• Machined Weapons collection
• War Cache of the Twin Dynasts
• Primordus Weapons collection
• Specialization Collections
• Heart of Thorns
• Path of Fire
• Knight of the Thorn
• The King Toad and The Storm Wizard

Ascended Trinket Achievements

• Living World Season 2 achievements
• Dungeon collections
• Heart of Thorns: Act 1 Mastery, Heart of Thorns: Act 2 Mastery, and Heart of Thorns: Act 3 Mastery
• Heart of Thorns: Act 4 Mastery
• Path of Fire: Act 1 Mastery, Act 2 Mastery and Act 3 Mastery
• Icebrood Saga: Episode 4 – Jormag Rising Significant Otter achievement
• Legendary Trinkets collections

Ascended Back Items Achievements

• Heart of Thorns
• Path of Fire

Crafting

Crafting is a great way to acquire or accelerate the acquisition of Ascended gear. You can craft Grandmaster Marks to exchange for ascended marks or craft the equipment yourself if you have the recipe, the items, and the skill requirements. The skill requirements for each kind of equipment are as follows:

• Armor: Level 500 Armorsmith, Leatherwork, and/or Tailor.
• Weapon: Level 500 Artificer, Huntsman, and/or Weaponsmith.

Looting

Ascended items have a small chance of dropping off of certain kinds of events, including Daily Fractals, Raid Bosses, and World versus World rank ups.

Vending

Most ascended items can be purchased from vendors, usually after a certain requirement has been met, like completing an achievement.