Guild Wars Insignias Guide - Part One

Insignias in Guild Wars are an armor upgrade that can go on all playable character’s armor, and on hero armor sets. These were originally introduced with the Guild Wars: Nightfall expansion. They are able to be purchased from the Rune Trader or from other players. It is also possible to find them on drops from enemies in the game. To get the insignia, you have to salvage it with the expert salvage kit or the superior salvage kit. If you are low on gold, the expert salvage kit will do just fine.

When you put an insignia on a piece of armor, the old insignia that was on it will go away, and the new one will be active. They can be put on any and all armor types except for festival hats and the max collector armor sets. Both of those will tell you that they do not take insignias if you try it.

Using the common insignia is where you’ll experience the Guild Wars health vs energy issue. The survivor insignia is where you can add in extra health, and the radiant insignia is where you have the option to add in extra energy. If your character is a caster, such as an Elementalist, Monk or Mesmer, it would generally be a better to use the radiant insignias. There are times that wouldn’t be the case, but most players have extra armor sets for specific uses anyways. That is just part of the basics of how to play Guild Wars.

Common Insignias can be used by all professions and heroes. The options available are listed below.

 Survivor: +15 health on chest armor, +10 health on leg armor, and +5 health on any other armor.

Radiant: +3 to energy on chest armor, +2 to energy on leg armor, and +1 energy on any other armor.

Brawler’s: +10 to armor while you are attacking.

Stalwart: +10 to armor versus physical damage.

Blessed: +10 to armor while affected by an enchantment spell.

Sentry’s: +10 to armor while you are in a stance.

Herald’s: +10 to armor while you are holding an item.

 There are only three Monk insignias available specifically for this profession. Most players don’t use these insignias anyways, as they prefer to use the Radiant or Survivor insignias that give them extra energy or extra health. Most Monks prefer to have extra energy. The only time that wouldn’t be the case, would be if you were solo farming, and needed the extra health on your Guild Wars Monk elite armor.

Wanderer’s: Armor +10 versus elemental damage

Disciple’s: Armor +15 while you are affected by any condition.

Anchorite’s: Armor +5 while recharging skills.

There are six Ranger specific insignias that you can use for Guild Wars Rangers. Many that use this profession do use these special armor upgrades. However, they also have many sets of armor that are runed for specific purposes. They also often use the Survivor insignias to help raise their health, especially on the chest armor pieces.

 

Beastmaster’s: Armor +10 while your pet is alive.

Earthbound: Armor +15 versus earth damage.

Frostbound: Amor +15 versus cold damage.

Pyrebound: Armor +15 versus fire damage.

Scout’s: Amor +10 while using a preparation (under the effects of it, not while casting)

Stormbound: Armor +15 versus lightning damage.

There are five specific Guild Wars Warrior insignias for this profession to use. Depending on what foes you’ll be encountering, different armor sets will be used. This is the tanking class, so it is essential that they are well armored for the situation they’ll be facing. The Guild Wars health vs energy issue for this profession is clearly to have more health. They do need energy, but not really any extra energy. So, the extra health is really what is most important.

 

Dreadnought: Armor +10 versus elemental damage.

Knight’s: Received physical damage -3.

Lieutenant’s: Reduces hex durations on you by 20% and damage dealt by you by 5%. Armor -20. This is non-stacking.

Sentinel’s: Armor +20 versus elemental damage. It requires your character to have 13 strength.

Stonefist: Increases the knockdown time on foes by a second for a maximum of three seconds.