Guild Wars 2 Artificer Guide - Craft Your Own Magical Weapons!

Guild Wars 2 Artificer Guide

Artificing is a weapon crafting discipline that creates equipment traditionally associated with magic. The item categories available to Artificers are focus, scepter, staff, and tridents as well as sigils, potions, and tonics. These weapon types are not extremely popular in GW2 endgame since most spellcaster classes actually use melee weapons in order to optimize their damage output. The crafting materials used by Artificers are different types of wood and metal. That being said, Artificers have much more possibilities in terms of consumables than most equipment crafters.

However, the staff is the go-to healer weapon, so supportive builds usually involve using this item category. Staves are also utilized by Thieves with Daredevil elite specialization – a great, simple DPS build, especially for players who want to avoid too complicated rotations. Other Artificer items are used less often. You will see an occasional focus or wand in some raiding builds, but they have a much higher presence in open-world setups.

GW2 Equipment Crafting

While there are some really powerful item options available through Artificing, you will only get access to them after you get to at least level 400. The whole economy in Guild Wars 2 is focused on the endgame. Low-level items are basically worthless since there’s almost no demand for them.

Leveling every crafting profession requires producing a ton of low-level junk. Players still do that, because they want to access the valuable higher-level recipes and there’s literally no other way. At the same time, not so many people actually play the early game anymore. There are not that many new players in the game and the veterans have some ways of blitzing through the lower levels (instant level 80 with Tome of Knowledge or getting levels from crafting).

Nobody buys the low-level equipment, almost nobody uses it, and yet, still a lot of people craft it to get access to better recipes. It leads to a situation where instead of making money, beginner crafters have to invest gold for no immediate returns. Weirdly enough, crafting level 400 is valuable, while anything below that is pretty underwhelming.

Endgame Artificer

Level 400 is so crucial for equipment crafters because it provides access to the Exotic tier of items. While they’re not the Best in Slot, they are great placeholders, definitely good enough for fractals and even raids. At this point, you’ll also unlock the superior sigils – the most potent weapon upgrades. Some of the interesting options that are exclusive to Artificers are Superior Sigil of Impact (for builds with a lot of stuns and knock-downs) and Superior Sigil of Malice (for condition damage setups).

The second critical threshold is the level cap on 500. It allows you to craft Ascended equipment and its components. While they’re not exactly the most prestigious Best in Slot items (this title belongs to Legendaries), they can have identical stats, just lacking some convenience and versatility. Crafting professions (including Artificing) can also produce some components for the Legendary equipment.

Components for Exotic and Ascended weapons are tradable, so you may make some money by crafting and selling them. At the same time, Legendary components are account bound. It makes actually getting this gear more difficult and esteemed. You will need multiple level up disciplines to craft a single Legendary weapon/armor set.

Artificer Leveling Guide

Since it’s challenging to craft anything valuable before the 400 mark, most players try to find the cheapest available route to that point. The initial investment will still amount to a substantial sum, but it would be much worse if you didn’t optimize the costs.

Remember that any crafting discipline in Guild Wars 2 is not about getting yourself through early game with some extra cash. It’s a luxury that requires some gold to be put into it before it even starts paying back. If you have more important things to spend your Guild Wars 2 money on, leveling up the crafting disciplines shouldn’t be a priority. You can always do that a little bit later when you get your economy in the right spot.

Artificer 1-400

This part is necessary if you want to get any value from Artficing. It’s going to require a lot of crafting materials that you’re going to pretty much waste on useless products. Just remember about your end goal and collect the valuable experience. Just don’t expect any significant returns at this time. It is an example of a 1-400 Artificer leveling route.

Materials to buy from NPC Vendor

253x Jug of Water

24x Lump of Coal

Recipe: Assassin’s Mithril Imbued Inscription

Recipe: Carrion Mithril Imbued Inscription

Recipe: Knight’s Mithril Imbued Inscription

Rampager’s Mithril Imbued Inscription

Valkyrie Mithril Imbued Inscription

Materials to collect or buy from Trading Post

72x Iron Ore

80x Mithril Ore

90x Elder Wood Log

165x Green Wood Log

162x Hard Wood Log

108x Soft Wood Log

72x Seasoned Wood Log

24x Thick Leather Section

13x Rugged Leather Section

27x Pile of Glittering Dust

27x Pile of Shimmering Dust

13x Pile of Radiant Dust

27x Pile of Luminous Dust

90x Pile of Incandescent Dust  

27x Tiny Venom Sac

27x Small Venom Sac

27x Venom Sac

27x Full Venom Sac

42x Potent Venom Sac

15x Large Scale

27x Vial of Weak Blood

27x Tiny Totem

27x Small Totem

15x Large Bone

27x Heavy Bone

27x Small Claw

15x Large Claw

15x Large Fang

27x Beryl Shard

27x Opal Shard

27x Mushroom

135x Head of Lettuce

135x Spinach Leaf

24x Sage Leaf

13x Slab of Red Meat

12x Hunter’s Seasoned Inscription

11x Malign Green Inscription

Level 1

55x Green Wood Plank

11x Green Scepter Rod

11x Green Scepter Core

Discover Malign Green Wood Scepter out of Green Scepter Rod, Green Scepter Core, and Malign Green Inscription. Make ten more of them.

Level 25

Discover Weak Potion of Nightmare Court Slaying by combining: Jug of Water, Head of Lettuce, Spinach Leaf and Tiny Venom Sac. Craft 26 more of those potions.

Level 50

Discover Weak Potion of Demon Slaying with Jug of Water, Pile of Glittering Dust, Vial of Weak Blood and Tiny Totem. Then produce 26 more.

Level 75

54x Soft Wood Plank

9x Soft Wood Dowel

9x Soft Scepter Rod

9x Soft Scepter Core

9x Hunter’s Soft Inscription

Combine the three last items to discover Hunter’s Soft Wood Scepter. Craft eight more.

Level 100

Discover Minor Potion of Nightmare Court Slaying with Jug of Water, Head of Lettuce, Spinach Leaf and Small Venom Sac. Make 26 more.

Level 125

Use Jug of Water, Mushroom, Pile of Shimmering Dust and Small Totem to discover Minor Potion of Grawl Slaying. Craft 26 more of those.

Level 150

24x Steel Ingot

24x Seasoned Wood Plank

12x Steel Trident Head

12x Seasoned Trident Shaft

Combine the last two components with Hunter’s Seasoned Inscription to discover Hunter’s Seasoned Wood Trident and make 11 more.

Level 175

Discover Potion of Nightmare Court Slaying with: Jug of Water, Head of Lettuce, Spinach Leaf and Venom Sac. Brew 26 more.

Level 200

Combine Jug of Water, Rugged Leather Section, Pile of Radiant Dust and Slab of Red Meat to discover Ruminant Tonic. Craft 12 more.

Level 225

54x Hard Wood Plank

9x Hard Wood Dowel

9x Hard Scepter Rod

9x Hard Scpeter Core

9x Carrion Hard Inscription

Use the three last items to discover Carrion Hard Wood Scepter. Make eight more.

Level 250

Discover Strong Potion of Nightmare Court Slaying Potion by combining Jug of Water, Head of Lettuce, Spinach Leaf and Full Venom Sac. Brew 26 more.

Level 275

Use Jug of Water, Pile of Luminous Dust, Beryl Shard and Opal Shard to discover Strong Potion of Elemental Slaying. Craft 26 more of them.

Level 300

40x Mithril Ingot

30x Elder Wood Plank

5x Mithril Trident Head

5x Elder Trident Shaft

Discover Quality Tuning Crystal with 6x Pile of Incandescent Dust. Make ten more.

Level 325

Combine Jug of Water, Head of Lettuce, Spinach Leaf and Potent Venom Sac to discover Potent Potion of Nightmare Court Slaying. Brew 26 more of them.

Level 350

10x Mithril Plated Dowel

Discover Potent Potion of Ogre Slaying with Jug of Water, Sage Leaf, Thick Leather Section and Pile of Incandescent Dust. Make 23 more.

Level 375

Assassin’s Mithril Imbued Inscription

Carrion Mithril Imbued Inscription

Knight’s Mithril Imbued Inscription

Rampager’s Mithril Imbued Inscription

Valkyrie Mithril Imbued Inscription

Then use Mithril Trident Heads, Elder Trident Shafts and the respective inscriptions that you just crafted to make these five discoveries:

Assassin’s Krait Trident

Carrion Krait Trident

Knight’s Krait Trident

Rampager’s Krait Trident

Valkyrie Krait Trident

If you followed this route precisely, you should be a level 400 Artificer by now. At this point, we recommend taking a look at the Master tier recipes. You might need an Exotic wand, staff or focus. Even if you currently don’t use any of these weapons, you’ll most likely find some decent sigils that can make you more effective in combat. Of course, if you’re only interested in Ascended gear, you can instantly go straight to 500.

Artificer 400-500

If you’re not going for an Ascended weapon, we would definitely recommend skipping this step for now. The materials are costly, and the difference between 400 and 500 isn’t really that huge. On the other hand, at this point, you will start getting significantly better returns, and the components of Ascended weapons that you can craft at 500 can be a decent source of profit. It is an example of a crafting route to get from 400 to 500.

Materials to buy from NPC Vendor

16x Jug of Water

1x Lump of Coal

1x Recipe: Bringer’s Orichalcum-Imbued Inscription

Materials to collect or obtain from Trading Post

16x Orichalcum Ingot

3x Iron Ore

1x Mithril Ore

1x Orichalcum Ore

112x Ancient Wood Plank

2x Hardened Leather Section

15x Pile of Crystalline Dust

1x Powerful Venom Sac

125x Glob of Ectoplasm

2x Ruby Orb

8x Omnomberry

1x Carrot

1x Head of Lettuce

1x Spinach Leaf

1x Sage Leaf

1x Lotus Root

5x Orichalcum Plated Dowel

8x Unidentified Dye

4x Shaman’s Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

4x Cavelier’s Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

4x Rabid Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

4x Magi’s Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

3x Soldier’s Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

1x Settler’s Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

4x Dire Orichalcum Imbued Inscription

100x Snowflake

Level 400

For the most part, this point is about making the components necessary for discoveries that we’re going to make later.

1x Steel Ingot

8x Ancient Focus Core

8x Orichalcum Trident Head

8x Ancient Trident Shaft

6x Ancient Scepter Rod

6x Ancient Scepter Core

6x Ancient Focus Casing

5x Ancient Staff Shaft

5x Ancient Staff Head

1x Bringer’s Orichalcum Imbued-Inscription

Discover Multicolored Ooze Tonic with Jug of Water, Omnomberry, Unidentified Dye, and Pile of Crystalline Dust. Make four more of those.

Level 425

Discoveries:

Powerful Potion of Centaur Slaying

Powerful Potion of Nightmare Court Slaying

Powerful Potion of Inquest Slaying

Powerful Potion of Ogre Slaying

Mystery Tonic (Jug of Water, Steel Ingot, Ancient Wood Plank and Pile of Crystalline Dust)

Mystery Tonic (another recipe – Jug of Water, Lotus Root, Ancient Wood Plank and Pile of Crystalline Dust)

Shaman’s Pearl Quarterstaff

Shaman’s Pearl Trident

Rabid Pearl Trident

Rabid Pearl Rod

Shaman’s Pearl Rod

Shaman’s Pearl Conch

Then make:

1x Powerful Potion of Inquest Slaying

3x Multicolored Ooze Tonic

Level 450

There are only discoveries in this tier.

Bringer’s Pearl Trident

Rabid Pearl Quarterstaff

Dire Pearl Quarterstaff

Dire Pearl Trident

Magi’s Pearl Trident

Cavalier’s Pearl Trident

Dire Pearl Rod

Rabid Pearl Conch

Dire Pearl Conch

Level 475

Once again, nothing but discoveries here.

Magi’s Pearl Quarterstaff

Cavalier’s Pearl Quarterstaff

Soldier’s Pearl Trident

Settler’s Pearl Trident

Magi’s Pearl Rod

Soldier’s Pearl Rod

Cavalier’s Pearl Rod

Magi’s Pearl Conch

Soldier’s Pearl Conch

Cavalier’s Pearl Conch

GW2 Artificer

After all this crafting, you should be a level 500 Artificer. Since you got that far, we imagine that you’re looking to make an Ascended weapon. Now is the time to start collecting the necessary materials and crafting components. Keep in mind that the whole process will take a few days since the recipes are time-gated.

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