Introduction
Want to truly master your character in Guild Wars two? Are you looking to squeeze every last point of damage, healing, or sustain out of your chosen build? Then the answer lies in ascended food. While exotic food might seem sufficient for casual play, ascended food elevates your character to a whole new level, providing significant stat boosts that can be the difference between victory and defeat in challenging content. This guide delves into the world of Guild Wars two ascended food, explaining what it is, why it’s crucial, and how you can acquire it to maximize your in-game potential. Understanding and utilizing ascended food is no longer just for hardcore raiders; it’s becoming increasingly important for all aspects of the game as content becomes more challenging and optimized builds are more frequently expected.
What is Ascended Food?
Ascended food represents the pinnacle of consumable stat enhancement in Guild Wars two. These potent edibles are a step above exotic food, offering significantly larger stat bonuses that have a noticeable impact on your character’s performance. Ascended food is designated as the ascended rarity, the highest tier for consumable items. This higher rarity comes with greater benefits but also requires more effort to obtain.
Why is ascended food so important? Because the stat bonuses it provides are substantially higher than those of lower-tier food. These aren’t just marginal improvements; they represent meaningful percentage increases in critical stats. For instance, ascended food can grant a significant boost to your power, precision, ferocity, healing power, or concentration, translating directly into higher damage output, increased healing effectiveness, or longer boon durations. These improvements are particularly noticeable in endgame content like raids, fractals, and challenging open-world encounters.
While this article focuses on ascended food, it’s important to briefly mention the difference between ascended food and ascended utility items. Utility items, such as sharpening stones and maintenance oils, provide different kinds of bonuses, often focused on critical hit chance, condition damage, or boon duration. While these are also valuable, ascended food primarily targets core stats, making it a fundamental component of any optimized build.
The introduction of ascended food marked a shift in the Guild Wars two meta. As the game has evolved and new content has been released, ascended food has become increasingly important for tackling difficult encounters. Power creep has been a factor, and the stat increases provided by ascended food are now often necessary to keep pace with the challenges the game presents.
Ascended Food Categories and Examples
Ascended food comes in various types, each tailored to enhance specific character roles and builds. Here are some examples of popular ascended food categories and the stats they boost:
Damage Focused Foods
These are designed to maximize your damage output. A prime example is Fried Golden Dumpling, which grants a substantial boost to power and ferocity. Power is the primary stat for direct damage builds, while ferocity increases critical damage. This dumpling is perfect for power-based damage dealers who want to hit harder with every attack. Another popular option is Dragon’s Breath Bun, which boosts power and condition damage, catering to hybrid builds that deal both types of damage.
Healing Focused Foods
For healers, the goal is to maximize healing output and boon duration. Omnomberry Compote is a staple, providing a significant bonus to healing power and concentration. Healing power directly increases the amount of healing you provide, while concentration increases the duration of boons. This compote is invaluable for healers in fractals and raids, ensuring that allies receive ample healing and maintain crucial boons. Another excellent choice is the Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew, which offers healing power and vitality, improving both healing output and survivability.
Support Utility Focused Foods
These foods provide a variety of utility bonuses that can enhance your character’s support capabilities or provide other beneficial effects. Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup is a great option, granting a significant increase to expertise and vitality. Expertise increases condition duration, making it ideal for condition-based builds that rely on applying conditions to enemies. Vitality provides increased health, improving survivability. Another notable food is the Spherified Seaweed Salad, which offers boon duration and toughness, perfect for tanky support builds.
Foods with Unique Effects
Certain ascended foods offer unique effects beyond simple stat bonuses. One example is the birthday blaster, which gives a small stat boost but also allows you to break stuns.
How to Obtain Ascended Food
Acquiring ascended food requires some investment of time and resources. The primary methods for obtaining it include cooking, purchasing from vendors, buying from the trading post, obtaining drops, and receiving it as rewards.
Cooking
Cooking is the main profession used to create ascended food. To craft ascended food, you need to level your cooking discipline to its maximum level. Learning ascended cooking recipes requires acquiring specific recipe sheets, often from vendors or as rewards. These recipes require specific ingredients, many of which can be purchased from vendors or gathered from various locations throughout the world. Some of these ingredients can be very expensive and require grinding.
Vendors
Some vendors sell ascended food directly, often in exchange for specific currencies. Festival vendors during seasonal events often offer unique ascended food items. These items can provide temporary stat boosts that are perfect for tackling seasonal content. Some vendors also offer ascended food in exchange for karma or laurels.
Trading Post
The trading post is a central hub for buying and selling items, including ascended food. The prices of ascended food on the trading post can fluctuate depending on demand and availability. Pay attention to market trends to find good deals. If you are willing to wait, you can often buy ascended food for a significantly lower price than the current market value by placing a buy order.
Drops
Ascended food can occasionally drop from enemies or chests in certain areas. These drops are often rare, but they can provide a convenient way to acquire ascended food without having to craft it yourself. Certain content, such as high-level fractals and raids, has a higher chance of dropping ascended food.
Achievements Rewards
Certain achievements and content offer ascended food as a reward. Completing specific storylines or participating in events can grant you ascended food. Keep an eye out for these opportunities to earn ascended food without having to spend gold or resources.
Optimizing Your Ascended Food Usage
To get the most out of your ascended food, it’s important to choose the right food for your build, manage your budget, and understand the stacking rules.
Build Synergies
Selecting ascended food that complements your build is essential for maximizing its effectiveness. For example, a power-based damage dealer should prioritize food that increases power and ferocity, while a condition-based build should focus on food that increases condition damage and expertise. A healer should choose food that increases healing power and concentration. Consider your character’s role and the stats they need to excel.
Budget Considerations
Ascended food can be expensive, especially if you are using it regularly. If you are on a tight budget, consider crafting your own ascended food to save money. Also, remember that ascended food is not always necessary for all content. For casual open-world gameplay, exotic food may be sufficient. Save your ascended food for challenging content where the extra stat boosts make a significant difference.
Stacking Rules
It’s important to understand the stacking rules for food and utility items. Food and utility items do not stack with each other; you can only have one food buff and one utility buff active at a time. Be mindful of the duration of your food and utility buffs, and reapply them as needed to maintain optimal performance.
Conclusion
Ascended food is a critical component of character optimization in Guild Wars two. By understanding what ascended food is, why it’s important, and how to obtain it, you can unlock your character’s full potential. Experiment with different types of ascended food to find what works best for your playstyle and builds. Ascended food provides a significant advantage in challenging content, making it an essential investment for serious players. Explore different options, consider your budget, and enjoy the benefits of enhanced stats and improved performance. The journey to mastering Guild Wars two involves a constant pursuit of improvement, and ascended food is a crucial step on that path. From the crafting table to the battlefield, understanding ascended food empowers you to conquer challenges and achieve your goals.
To further improve your character, research different builds on websites like metabattle or hardstuck. Ascended armor and weapons are also very important. Good luck on your adventures in Tyria!
