Ascended amulet FAQ/discussion - Agony Resist, Get Utility slot, etc

RyanB

RyanB

Legacy of Elijah Guild Leader
Wanted to put a quick post for discussing amulets since this seems to be a confusing issue. TL;DR: As far as I can tell, you should only buy amulets with a Utility infusion.

Agony Resistance
You can purchase a Versatile Simple Infusion for 75 fractal relics, and this can be put into ANY slot. Utility included. That equates to a few low level runs. 5 AR will cut the agony damage you recieve by half in FotM 10-19, and 10AR will cut it by 93%, so I would highly recommend this for new FotM players, as it will make these runs far, far easier!

Even if you plan to slot something else later, those 75 relics will serve you well. One run at 10 + bonus chest yields ~70 relics, so please do your teammates a favor and toss in a basic infusion to your amulet until you get enough AR from other FotM sources!

Infusion type
Offense/defense slots are rubbish. These infusions are costly even if you look at laurels, missing out on spending those laurels elsewhere, and provide almost nothing. They have the same 5 AR that a basic infusion has. Go utility!

Gold, Karma, or Magic Find?

This is a very tough decision, so much so that I haven't made one yet.

Gold - best for dungeons. MF does not affect chests, and champs/bosses give gold. Added gold is significant here, which is why omnom bars are so popular.
Magic Find - best money maker overall. Still helps in dungeons, but not nearly as much as +gold.
Karma - another interesting choice, this stacks super nicely with other karma items for use with jewelry boxes.

I'm thinking of going MF for my guardian, but may get +gold for mesmer if they don't change CoF1 too much in today's patch.
 
The Versatile Simple 5 AR can be put into any type of slot (offense, def, utility). The only part where the slots come into play is if you want to add the expensive infusions (like 5 AR & 5 Power). It should be noted that all the Ascended gear has tiers to it and the one you are getting with laurels is tier 1. You can upgrade them 2 more times, but your infusion vanishes (tier 2 has an infusion slot and the 5 AR from tier 1 on it), so NEVER put anything but the 5 AR into anything below tier 3. I know for sure that backpiece and rings go up to tier 3 right now but not sure on amulet (but I suspect tiers will be added if they arent in the game already). Potentially you can have up to 35 AR on your gear. I believe upgrades cost 1 (glob, shard vial) of condensed mist essence, 250 ectos, 240 philosopher stones, and the item from the previous tier.
 
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AFAIK, there is no tier 3 of items, simply infused and uninfused. But yeah, no way I'm paying 5 laurels or ~50g worth of mats to get 5 points in one stat. Ever. :) Maybe 5 laurels if OCD takes over.

Rings dropped from 10-19 FotM are uninfused with an infusion slot. You can add a versatile infusion to get a max of 5 AR with these rings. Rings dropped from 20+ have a built-in infusion in addition to the +5 you can add for a maximum of 10. These are relatively cheap to upgrade - uninfused ring, 1 shard, 3 glob, and 5 vials of coagulated mists essence. Shards are gotten by putting globs into the MF, so it's essentially ascended ring + 8 glob, 5 vials, 1 ecto, 1 mystic coin, and 1 fractal relic to upgrade a ring. Recipe is here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glob_of_Coagulated_Mists_Essence

So we're talking <50s material cost here to upgrade a ring. Ascended backpack costs 1850 fractal relics + 75 for 5 AR infusion. That sounds like a lot, but you'll have more than that before you actually need one. More below. Actually getting a built-in infusion on top is very costly, which is where the 250 ecto comes in.

Here's a nice chart on how AR works:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agony_resistance

Here's my take:
  • Making a quiver/book/etc is completely pointless unless you want the look. You'll get a backpiece with fractal relics before you actually need it.
  • 0 AR needed before FotM 10. There is no agony.
  • 10 AR provides max protection for 10-19. Any combination of 2 basic items will give you this - ascended amulet + ring, 2 rings, and maybe even AR from the new accessories we have coming.
  • 25 AR provides max protection for 10-19. By the time you get here, you should already have an amulet + 2 rings, and a lot of coagulated essence. By the time you hit 20, it's likely you can upgrade 1 ring, have an amulet, have a free backpack, and have another ring. 25 AR right there. 30 once you get another infused ring drop.
  • Clearly, there is no point to putting ANY money into fractals prior to fractals 30.
  • Chances are very good that ascended accessories will change the above statement, in that you won't need to spend money to do 30, either. Call me when you get to FotM 40, and we'll discuss our options.
 
The backpack has 3 tiers of upgrades (both costing 250 ectos), but the third tier is only a glow effect on it. It wont add another infusion slot or raise stats at all, so unless your really into making your toons glow in the dark, its not really worth spending the ectos for it.
 
But does the backpiece actually glow in the dark? I know the Mad King Memories does...but wasn't sure if the fractal backpack gave off light.
 
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