Mikksmix's GW2 Compendium - XVII. Level 80, Now What? (2024)

Well first of all, congrats! Getting to level 80 is only the beginning, as your most exciting adventures are yet to come. You may use this in conjunction with the other Story section. View the subsections to check out the other topics that are relevant to level 80 characters.

Story Order

The last (8th) chapter of the core (non-expansion) Personal Story starts at level 80. Make sure you complete this before moving on to anything else. At this point, many new players get confused and jump directly into Heart of Thorns and/or Path of Fire, which will make zero sense if you’re not approaching content sequentially. If you care about the story, do not make this mistake and follow this guide. Living World content updates are free for those who log in while an episode is active (usually a period of at least a couple of months). For everyone else, they cost gems. I advise against unlocking episodes one by one, as it’s more costly that way. Focus on getting Complete Packs instead (under account upgrades in the Black Lion Trading Post/Gem Store). The packs will discount you appropriately if you already own one of the episodes.
Once you’re done with your personal story, you’ll be asked to visit a NPC to recap the events of Living World Season 1 (Titled Remembering Scarlet’s War in the Story Journal). The in-game recap hardly tells you anything, so I highly recommend watching this wonderful community-created movie in addition to the in-game recap. If you do use the in-game recap, Ela offers voiced dialogue introducing your main companions moving forward. Don’t skip out on these!
Play through Living World Season 2. This does NOT require any expansions and can actually be played for free if you tag along with someone that owns it (albeit with no rewards/achievements). Since this is the most expensive Living World Season (Currently 1280 gems, was previously on sale for 896 gems) and the rewards aren’t particularly critical, you may elect to skip out on buying this until it’s on sale to save money. If you do that, play through it with someone who owns it or at least watch this recap on YouTube. The story leads up to the events of Heart of Thorns and you’ll be lost story-wise without it.
Play through the Heart of Thorns Expansion. This now comes bundled with Path of Fire, so if you followed my advice by purchasing it from dlgamer, it should’ve been pretty cheap (usually $19.99)
Play through Living World Season 3. This requires Heart of Thorns and in addition to providing story missions, each episode unlocks a new explorable zone with unique rewards/achievements. This, along with Season 4, are highly recommended purchases. (Currently 960 gems, was previously on sale for 672 gems). The story leads up to the start of Path of Fire. Watch a recap here.
Play through the Path of Fire expansion. Not much to say here.
Play through Living World Season 4. Requires Path of Fire. Unlocks 6 additional zones (1 per episode) amongst exclusive achievements/rewards like the Skyscale and Roller Beetle mounts. (Currently 960 gems, was previously on sale for 672 gems)
As of the time of writing this guide, Episode Four of the next Living World content release, titled “The Icebrood Saga”, is out. As long as you log in between now and the release of the next episode, you’ll have it unlocked for free (regardless of whether you have a free to play account or a paid one) and it will be instantly be playable if you own Path of Fire.

Elite Specializations

Once you reach level 80, you’ll have the opportunity to work on your elite specializations.You’ll need to obtain quite a few hero points (250 per spec) to complete these specializations or even get them to a usable state. If you’re completing the story in order, it’ll take a while for you to complete these, since core game Hero Challenges only grant one hero point each. In Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire, they grant ten each and there are often hero point trains running through Heart of Thorns zones to help people complete them all. Hit “Y” and use the LFG tab to find them. Drubid has a solo guide for those who would rather do this without the aid of a group. For a list of all hero point challenges, use this wiki article.

If you play WvW, you can use your testimonies of heroics in exchange for hero points.

Gearing Up (Click arrow to Expand ->)

You should have been thinking about what build(s) you would like to play in both PvE and World vs. World (if you are so inclined). This will vary vastly based on the content you would like to play, so check the appropriate sections of this guide for more info.

Once you have figured out the build, you’ll want to start collecting/crafting/buying gear with the appropriate stats. Tanetris created an amazing guide embedded below detailing the best ways to obtain gear as a fresh level 80 character. This includes recommended runes/sigils. Please keep in mind that you have much more leeway playing open world content AND you will not be able to rely on other people to provide you boons. As a result, optimizing your solo build will involve trying to reach close to 100% critical hit chance and 25 stacks of might on your own. For more information on those types of builds, Wooden Potatoes has an amazing video series on them.

To maximize your potential, you’ll want to be eating food/using utility items to enhance your power when running dungeons/fractals/raids.

As a side note, there are a couple of useful recipes for you to look at. There’s a recipe to create a level 80 exotic stat-selectable amulet that not many people use. It’s affordable and allows you to select difficult to find stats (Viper’s and Minstrel’s, for example). In addition, the craftable level 78 exotic backpacks contain both an infusion slot and upgrade slot, which makes it a great budget option if you need something to slot agony resist into for Fractals. Here’s a list of stat-selectable Exotic weapons and armor. The easiest stat-selectable armor to obtain outside of PvP/WvW is Bladed Armor. The process to obtain this is detailed below:

You get a head piece from the story in the fourth chapter of HoT’s story, so please keep that in mind!

You must complete the first Heart of Thorns mission if you’re a new player. This unlocks the mastery track so you can train basic gliding. I would recommend that you get enough XP to get the second tier of gliding, which is updraft use. This will make participating in the Verdant Brink Night meta event much easier.
Use /wiki et from in-game to open up the event timer to see when this event is running. Use the in-game LFG tool (Y by default and 2nd tab) to see if there are squads running it when active. The goal is to reach tier 4 as a map and then your personal participation must be at least 100% to receive a guaranteed Bladed Armor Box. To get your participation up, capture a camp, bring Pact Supplies to it, escort Pact soldiers carrying supplies, and defend the camp when it gets attacked. After the second wave of attacks, pact helicopters appear and if you have the updraft mastery, you can head up to the canopy where there are five sets of bosses. These are engaging encounters so I recommend killing each one, as it gets you an achievement and the bosses have chests that may contain bladed armor or even ascended gear!
While you’re running around, try to open up airship cargo, as those have a chance of containing bladed gloves as well. Once the event is at maximum security (tier 4) and you’re set with 100%+ participation, stay on the map until the timer is complete. This is important, as you won’t get the full rewards until the event is fully over.
At that point, you receive a bladed armor box and bam, easy stat-selectable exotic armor! Get the chest piece first, as you can actually purchase other pieces for airship parts from vendors with the Itzel Mastery.

Generally, for ascended weapons, you'll want to look at Knight of the Thorn if you've finished Heart of Thorns, Elite Specialization Weapon Collections. For anything else in terms of weapons, you'll probably want to check out Tanetris guide. With the addition of Bjora Marches in The Icebrood Saga Episode 1, you can easily get an ascended stat-select amulet by completing The Hunger collection. Bjora also allows you to trade in eternal ice (the currency of the map) for Living World Season 4 currency. This allows you to get an ascended accessory, ring, or back item relatively quickly by trading for Mistborn Motes that can be spent in Dragonfall (Living World Season 4, Episode 6).

I will be creating guides on the easiest ways to gear up characters for specific roles, but that's a time consuming process and will take me some time. Please keep an eye out for that section coming later in Appendix A.

RAIDS/Strike missions

Many people think that raiding is something that’s out of their reach or that it attracts the most elitist and snobby players in MMOs. While that still rings true to an extent in GW2, it should not deter someone from trying the content. Raids are amongst the most enjoyable aspects of the game and really, the hard part is getting ten people who have the same mindset towards participating in them.

What I’m trying to say is that one should not waltz in expecting to clear raid wings right away - you will need to do some preparation beforehand. Thankfully, the community offers raid training groups. You’ll usually be asked to join a Discord server so that it’s easier for the commander to teach you the mechanics of each encounter. On NA, I recommend checking out GW 2 Raid Academy or trying to find a guild that will accept you. On EU, I hear good things about guilds like Raid Training Initiative so check them out. For more information, here is an excellent guide written by Raiders in Training. Also use GW2 RA’s website. For a quick guide on all raid encounters, please check out Triffon's guide. For video guides on all raid encounters with different Point of Views for roles, check out this amazing reddit post by RTI. For additional boss statistics, check this link out. If you're looking to tank on encounters, use this guide.

Introduced in The Icebrood Saga, Strike Missions are supposed to be a “stepping stone” to raids. There are currently six strike missions, which are all accessible via The Eye of the North (WP code: [&BAkMAAA=] ) hub that everyone should have access to if they own Path of Fire.

There's a somewhat confusing system involving prophet crystals and prophet crystal shards, along with an emissary chest that may only be opened once per week. The general idea is that you want to complete 3 daily strike missions per week to obtain 3 prophet crystals, and to maximize your reward, also complete the four strikes so the orbs above the chest will light up (Shiverpeaks, either Voice/Claw, Fraenir, or Boneskinner, Whisper of Jormag, and Forging Steel). Once that's done, open the chest. Shards/crystals of one color can be exchanged for shards/crystals of another color and shards may be used to purchase ascended equipment, among other things.

The portal that you spawn next to currently has the following strike missions:

Shiverpeaks Pass (Legendary Icebrood Construct) - Easiest one. Only one person has to complete the JP and it'll spawn a beacon at the end that anyone can click on to port to the boss.
Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen - These two need to die around the same time.
Fraenir of Jormag - Stay out of AoEs and dodge the attack when he lands in the middle of the arena.
Boneskinner - Stack tightly and dodge hands together in one direction (most groups do clockwise aka to the left if you're facing the boss) Bring an alac ren to negate the wisp attacks using the ventari bubble and at least one heal scourge to pull downed people out of hands.
Whisper of Jormag - Probably the closest to a raid-level encounter out of the strikes so far. Spread out when people get the AoE circles and dodge at the last second to negate the damage from your own circle. You fight your clone every 25% and after returning from that split phase, three players will have chains that heavily damage anyone touching them. This becomes four chains in the last phase around 20% and lower. Do not stand in the middle of the boss otherwise you'll instantly die to all the chains. Also during the last phase, arrows will appear pointing away from the boss. This is your cue to swap to a ranged attack and dodge the white balls at any cost. Necromancers can bring flesh wurm and druids can use spirits to block the balls.

If you begin the story for Visions of the Past: Steel and Fire OR if you join someone's squad that is running the Forging Steel strike, you'll get access to a story mission-style strike that scales up to 10 players (completely possible to do it solo) and includes challenge motes as well.

Achievements/Collections

Achievements are excellent ways to get rewards including useful items, exclusive skins, gems (cash shop currency), mastery points, and titles.

Collections are a subcategory of achievements that are a mixture of traditional collections and quests. Since the game doesn’t have quests in the traditional sense, some “quests” are placed into the game as collections. For instance, certain legendary equipment can be crafted/obtained through multiple series of collections. If you look closely, you’ll be able to grab a couple of easy-to-get 20-slot bags as well.

I recommend giving the list of achievements a good look every once in a while - you might find something you will want to unlock or that you’re close to unlocking.

Adventures

Adventures are typically meant for level 80 characters, but some can be done by lower level ones, such as holiday-specific time trials. They have leaderboards and different rewards and it can be fun to compete against your friends and guildmates by attempting to beat their times/scores. Heart of Thorns adventures also grant mastery points and a good amount of xp.

Pact Supply Network Agent

These agents will offer recipes that are normally expensive or difficult/impossible to obtain otherwise. You must first train Supply Line Management, which is one of the Pact Commander core masteries in order to access these vendors.

Meta events

As mentioned in an earlier section of the guide, meta events are one of the best parts about open-world content in Guild Wars 2. Keep an eye on GW2timer and check the wiki for a complete list of meta events.

Leveling alts quickly

If you’re looking to level up an alt as quickly as possible (without using scrolls, level 80 boosts, etc), I recommend taking a look at this guide on reddit written by /u/Brawhalla_ At the moment, Apprentice Tuning Crystal and Bowl of Candy Corn Custard are the cheapest utility and food options for leveling.

I would use this, but then supplement it with exploration, completing events that pop up throughout your journey, completing dungeons (story mode first since you're new, then explorable paths if you want since they grant 70% of a level per run), and actually going through the core story if you've never made it all the way through. Sure, these things might be slower than killing yellow mobs, but they're definitely a welcome break LOL. Basically what I'm saying is you should definitely pop on food (bowl of candy corn custard) and utilities (apprentice tuning crystal), kill yellow-named (neutral mobs) that you come across while exploring and then focus on doing things that you find fun. When I was a new player, I enjoyed exploring and finding hidden nooks and crannies throughout the map and completing all the jumping puzzles but that may or may not be for you.

If you want to take breaks by playing sPvP, that's an easy way to finish your dailies (which grant 2g per completion and you can mix/match completing pve, spvp, and wvw dailies), that's a great option as well. I recommend selecting the Crystal Desert Reward Track to make a decent amount of gold on the side and you'll get a nice stat-selectable piece of armor at the end. You'll accumulate transmutation charges and tomes of knowledge (grant you a level per use) from time to time as well.

If you have a guild that runs t1 fractals, you can see if they're willing to take you along as well. The game will scale you to level 80, even though you will be a lot less effective than an actual level 80 character. For most guild groups running t1, it shouldn't be an issue as long as they're aware that you're sub level 80. This gives you yet another activity to break up leveling that will benefit you in the long run.

Explorable Dungeon paths also grant you 70% of a level's worth of xp, so that's another good option. You can also craft to get anywhere between 7-12 levels.

If you’re a returning player, you will receive birthday gifts on your old characters that contain scrolls that can take you directly to level 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60. Tomes of Knowledge will also help speed up the process and are handed out like candy in all game modes. Don’t forget that 20 Writs of Experience can be traded in for a Tome.

There’s also equipment that can be crafted/obtained that can be used by lower level characters and is way stronger than the usual equivalent. An example would be ineffable weapons/armor that are for a set level and do not scale, or bloodbound weapons that scale based on level. Here’s a complete list of leveling equipment, although I will say that it’s not worth the resources to craft/purchase these. If you happen to get some via drops, then go for it :)