There are a lot of armor pieces in Guild Wars 2. Here's the best ten

It’s time to get pretty! If there’s any end-game to modern MMORPGs it’s solidly based in the need to accessorize. This is why sometimes players refer to Guild Wars 2 as “Fashion Wars 2.” At some point, playing GW2 switches from incessantly leveling and collecting the best stats on equipment to looking your most dapper.

After hitting the level cap, and getting a fully ascended set of armor, the armor pieces themselves no longer matter because it’s possible to transmute any skin into another.

ArenaNet, the developer of GW2, took this to heart early in the development of its game and has offered up a huge variety of different skins for pieces of armor both available in-game and in the cash shop.

Want to up your fashion game? Let’s go through the top ten best armors in GW2 that can help you look like a million gold pieces.

10. Primeval armor (heavy)

The Primeval Armor is full of spikes

Forged from molten metal and bone, Primeval armor displays a certain draconic aesthetic. Its gauntlets and greaves are filled with sharp horns, as well as the pauldrons, and the helmet has five swept-back horns.

The breastplate on the heavy version of this armor is intricate and beautiful, with an almost filigree carved into the chest. It looks very much like a proper set of field plate worn by a knight of Tyria. Each of its pieces also mix-and-match extremely well with other sets of heavy armor, meaning owners of this set have a lot of extra style to choose from.

This armor is based on a skin from the first Guild Wars of the same name.

The Primeval armor can be purchased in the GW2 cash shop and obtained from Heroic Chests as part of buying the Digital Deluxe version of the game.

Primeval armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Primeval_armor

9. Radiant armor

Radiant armor has a glow about it

Radiant armor is the stuff of heroes, worn by the saintly and mighty to reveal their prowess and show off. It’s the sort of thing that you expect to see born by heroes who want something comfortable when they go into the battlefield – but will also give them enough light to read a book.

Not exactly the best-looking set, the gloves and boots of Radiant armor do look nice when coupled with other types of armor. People tend to wear another set of armor (or mix-and-match) and add on Radiant gloves or boots in order to shine it up a bit.

The Radiant armor set is part of the achievement system in GW2 and earned by players are they progress with their ArenaNet Points. It takes at least 39,000 points to get the entire set, which is an achievement in itself and can take years.

Radiant armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Radiant_armor

8. Hellfire armor

Hellfire armor just wants to watch the world burn

Want to impress your friends by lighting their cigarettes off your very armor? Then the Hellfire armor set is for you – it does exactly what its name implies and makes your character appear to be covered in hellfire from head to toe.

This armor set comes in each armor variant (light, medium, and heavy) and they don’t look very different from one another. The differences are subtle, though, but most visible on the heavy armor which has a thick skirt that appears to be made of glowing coals and a metal grid.

Hellfire armor actually looks good as a set, unlike its companion, the Radiant armor.

Like the Radiant armor set, the Hellfire armor set is part of the achievement system in GW2 and earned by players are they progress with their ArenaNet Points. It takes at least 39,000 points to get the entire set, which is an achievement in itself and can take years.

Hellfire armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hellfire_armor

7. Armageddon armor (heavy)

Armageddon armor for a cheap, but nice, max level look

Did someone say they wanted to add spikes to everything they own? There’s an armor for that and it’s called Armageddon armor.

The Armageddon armor looks like a blacksmith just had too much metal left on the floor, so she used it to fashion numerous giant spikes and affixed them to this heavy armor set. It’s a very nice, fully-covering metal armor with a beautiful breastplate, greaves, gauntlets, and pauldrons. The helmet doesn’t have that many spikes, but it does have a pair of bighorn sheep horns.

This is some of the cheapest and easiest armor in the game to receive once reaching level 80. It can be bought for Karma from any temple in Orr when that location is under the control of the Pact.

The entire set costs 252,000 Karma, which is not that much in the grand scheme of the game (and it’s a one-time purchase for the skins). The other variants of this armor are called Aurora armor (light) and Rubicon armor (medium).

Armageddon armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armageddon_armor

6. Aetherblade armor (medium)

It's a pirates life for you!

Interesting in Steampunk? The Aetherblade armor has that! The Aetherblade are a band of Mist-marauding pirates who fly in giant steampunk airships and harass – pretty much everyone.

This outfit includes a helmet with goggles, an open vest with the appearance of an armored front, lots of buckles, and a sufficient number of gears and other bits and bobs to make even the most dedicated Steampunk aficionado happy.

This armor comes in all three armor types (light, medium, and heavy). All of the outfits come with goggles, but the light armor is less Steampunk than the other two and the heavy armor includes a breastplate and greaves.

The Aetherblade armor skins are a cash shop item with a value of approximately $10 (or 800 gems). The outfit is not currently available, but it rotates in and out of the GW2’s cash shop.

Aetherblade armor (medium) details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aetherblade_armor_(medium)

5. Exalted armor (light)

Exalted armor is for the crafters

This armor set has a little bit of an oddly burlesque feel to it (for women) with its wrap-around corset, tall boots, and frilly trim – and it has a sort of noble entertainer presentation (for men) with a huge tail coat, frilled open boots and gloves.

For women, the corset in particular pairs very nicely with other outfits that have lighter skirts. For men, the coat is a huge, obvious thing that’s almost garish, but it works extremely well with heavier boots and pants from other sets.

Like most armor in GW2, Exalted armor is a set, but its pieces can be taken individually and paired with other sets.

Light Exalted armor is an Exotic armor type that is crafted by Tailors. This makes its skin extremely easy to obtain (you only need to be a Tailor or buy a piece from the auction house).

Exalted armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Exalted_armor

4. Nightmare Court armor (light)

The Nightmare Court know how to go to battle in style

The Nightmare Court of the Sylvari may come across as edgy emo kids with a problem with the world and themselves – but they do have an interesting sense of style. If you’re into appearing as if you’re wearing a flower (or perhaps an entire arboretum) the Nightmare Court armor is for you.

The pieces of this armor also work favorably with numerous other light armor designs, especially Sylvari cultural looks. So, it works extremely well for mixing and matching. Its dye channels are also fairly well placed, which makes it easy to color – if you want to look like any particular type of flower.

You can obtain this armor by purchasing each piece from the Dungeon Armor and Weapons vendor using the Deadly Blooms currency (native to the Twilight Arbor dungeon).

Nightmare Court armor (light) details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nightmare_Court_armor_(light)

3. Elonian armor (medium)

Elonian armor for the desert chic

For the enterprising Thief, this armor shows off an interesting sense of style that speaks to a bit of desert chic. As with most armor in GW2, this is a set of pieces, but the one that is most attention-grabbing is the headpiece, or mask.

Like most desert cultures, this is a head wrap that includes a mask hiding the mouth, but the best part of it is the twin ribbons flowing from the back. When used by a character who is constantly in motion, the ribbons flow behind her like twin tails.

This armor skin arrived with the Path of Fire expansion to GW2 and you can earn it by completing the story.

Elonian armor (medium) details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Elonian_armor_(medium)

2. Mistforged Triumphant Hero’s Armor (World vs World)

For when you must stand out on the battlefield

On the battlefield, intimidation and glory go hand-in-hand and this suit of armor will do exactly that. Earning it is not easy, but it pays off in the end when donned and bright beams of light swirl around you when in combat. This armor comes in both ascended and legendary versions – with the latter being more intricate in pattern and glow.

Attaining this armor takes a great deal of time spent going head-to-head on the grim battlefields of the Mists in World vs World, the mass-scale battle maps of GW2.  Pieces of this armor unlock at a WvW rank as low as 1600, but to get all the pieces you must reach at least rank 2000.

It takes a total of 2,620 Skirmish Claim Tickets in total to obtain an ascended set of this armor. Crafting the legendary version requires a piece of the ascended set for each piece and follows its own legendary collection to build.

This armor comes in all three armor types: light, medium, and heavy. The light armor has several dye channels, displaying a cloth outfit that appears to cover the body in bands and plates, with pointed pleats for the skirt. The medium armor version is a leather, almost-ninja outfit with extra thick gloves and boots, as well as a corseted torso. The heavy armor shows off a gleaming breastplate, greaves, and gauntlets, along with a horned helmet and skulls on the epaulets – of course, it is all polished to a brilliant shine.

Wearing this armor on the battlefield displays perseverance and veteran experience in WvW. Reaching rank 2000 is not a feat for the weary – it can take months of hours long days. The beauty of this armor set, however, is almost peerless.

Mistforged Triumphant Hero’s armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mistforged_Triumphant_Hero%27s_armor

1. Perfected Envoy armor (legendary)

The armor only the legendary wear

No list of the best GW2 armors would be complete without mentioning the legendary armor. This armor is the only armor in the game that must be earned by playing raids and earning tokens to begin its production – and the crafting journey for this armor costs not just time but also a great deal of gold.

Wear this armor and other people will know you went through a legendary journey. Making this will not just send you through all of the raids in GW2, but also into World vs. World and Player vs. Player and then across all Tyria to collect components, craft parts and finally produce the final suit.

This armor is awesome because it is one of the few with an actually animated model that activates in combat.

All of this armor’s variants – it has skins for light, medium and heavy – appear metallic when activated in combat, with sharp spines that rise up like spines. The heavy armor looks exactly like that: a juggernaut of metal covering from head to toe. The medium armor has a nice-looking chest plate and the usual leather and the light armor also has a fairly nice chest plate with its normal cloth suit beneath.

Perfected Envoy armor details: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Legendary_armor

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