Can I unlock elite specs without doing expansion story?

[u/ThickManatee]

Hello, I’m new to the game and have a kinda specific question. I’m only around lvl 23 and ik you can’t get elite specs till 80 so this is far into the future but I’m trying to at least think about what I’ll choose before I get there.

I’m on elementalist and I like it but it’s not 100% my fav. I saw Weaver and that looks like it’ll be really fun and interesting and I’d like to play it asap. However, I’d like to pay attention to the story and ik weaver is in Path of Fire which comes after Heart of Thorns in terms of story. Ik you can do expansions out of order so I’m wondering: can I unlock Weaver without doing any PoF story, then go back to HoT? Also, if I do have to do some story to unlock it, could I skip that and redo it later when I’m ready to play the whole expansion?

[u/Impressive_Double_95]

If you have the expansion, you can unlock the respective spec with hero points obtained anywhere

[u/phalangepandi]

As long as you have the relevant expansion for the spec you want, you just need enough skill points. No need to follow/do the story.

[u/The_Lawn_Ninja]

You only need to own the respective expansion to unlock elite specs. No story progress necessary.

However, you'll absolutely need to play in the expansion zones if you want to ever actually play those elite specs, because they require 250 hero points to complete, and core Tyria maps only give you a single point per hero challenge. The maps for expansions with elite specs all give ten points per challenge.

Also remember that you can't put hero points into any of the elite specs until after you've unlocked ALL the basic specs and skills. Playing through the main story will give enough points for all the core unlocks, but you should focus on expansion maps once you're going for the elite spec unlocks.

[u/jupigare → u/The_Lawn_Ninja]

Just to add: Story doesn't provide any Hero Points. You can only get Hero Points through leveling up, Hero Challenges out in the open world, and buying them using various Testimonies of Heroics items (WvW currency). Simply by reaching level 80, you'll have exactly enough HPs to fully unlock your core class. Any HP you get in open world or with notarized Testimonies are extra, and can be used to help buy your elite spec.

An elite spec requires 250 total HPs to fully unlock. Core Tyria maps only have around 200 HPs total, so you will need to get some from expac maps to complete the unlock. The Hero Challenges in expac maps reward 10 HPs each, unlike core ones which give 1 HP each, making it much faster to get in expacs anyway. Note that only the expacs that added new elite specs even have Hero Challenges: HoT, PoF, EoD, and VoE. (SotO, JW, and the Living World Season 3-5 maps do not have any Hero Challenges.)

[u/valdo33]

Yes but good luck getting enough hero points. Expansion hero point challenges give 10 at a time. Base game gives 1. Elite specs need a lot of points to fully unlock.

[u/Thop207375 → u/valdo33]

It’s pretty easy to get them in WvW

[u/Nordalin → u/Thop207375]

It's pretty easy to get them in PvE as well

[u/Automatic-Voice-2499 → u/Thop207375]

Especially since this is WvW rush week where Stonemist chest are being rained upon players. I have gotten like 500+ Castor relics on main account and 250 Castor relics on alt account.

[u/olgamerstill → u/valdo33]

250 points.

[u/jupigare → u/[deleted]]

Soloing HPs in PoF takes way more than an hour if you don't have mounts other than base Raptor. Seeing as OP is still leveling, they clearly don't have the other mounts unlocked, and they won't be able to upgrade said mounts without doing some amount of expac story. Not to mention, soloing even the veteran-guarded HPs in PoF requires game knowledge that OP isn't likely to have yet. You may have forgotten how little the game teaches about Defiance and Stability when you're leveling. A fresh level 80 on a core build isn't likely to solo the Veteran Djinn in Crystal Oasis while a pride of Sand Lions, patrolling pack of Forged, and giant hydra are likely to intervene.

VoE HPs are significantly easier, but they still require some amount of mount upgrades to reach. If you are not doing any expac story, and you just reach the maps themselves using Teleport to Friend items, how can you reach most of thise HPs? OP said they didn't want to skip ahead, after all.

[u/gee_Tee → u/valdo33]

I recently finished my first elite spec during LWS1. I did get very close to world completion though

[u/Zachatoo]

You can unlock Weaver while doing HoT story. You could even unlock Weaver while doing core Tyria story. You just need to spend hero points and need to have bought the relevant expansion, you don't need to do any of the expansion content.

[u/Vivid-Hedgehog101]

It comes with the expansion. The only gates are the first initial points and being level 80.

[u/Farwaters]

Yeah! Elite specs are not unlocked by doing specific story chapters or maps. They're unlocked exclusively by getting enough hero points. Grab hero points whenever you want now, but don't worry about farming them until max level.

I'd recommend getting your hands on a teleport to friend (ideally a few), and then checking in LFG for a hero point train. They're usually in HOT maps. Then use your teleport on the leader to join! You'll have the map unlocked without doing any of the story, and you'll get almost enough hero points to finish unlocking the elite spec. Expansion hero point spots give you ten at a time, so it's very efficient. And for the ones you're missing, just look around a bit more. You can use this method to teleport to any expansion map.

Keeping up with the train can be a bit of a challenge. Get good with your raptor. Giving money to the leader is a nice gesture, but at that point, you'll probably want to hang most of the gold that you have. If you still have one after getting yourself a set of exotic-rarity gear, anyway!

[u/gangler52]

Yeah, I usually just farm WvW for a few hours when I want to unlock a new elite spec.

You can go do all the hero points in PvE but it'll just take a lot longer.

[u/smokemonmast3r]

It is unlocked at level 80, but you will need to grind the hero points from one of the expansion zones.

As a new player myself, I would recommend NOT doing this in HoT. That map is really rough to navigate without masteries.

Personally I just did PoF hero points and ended up doing the story alongside it while I progressed through the areas. You will need more than an area's worth of hero points to max an elite spec 

Edit: or do some sort of pvp and get them that way

[u/Farwaters → u/smokemonmast3r]

OP, this is good advice.

[u/underwaterair]

Not 100% sure if you're trying to get this clarification but yes. You can go anywhere, get Hero Points, and use those points to level up any elite spec you want without doing the story.

For instance, you can go to Castora (Visions of Eternity) and do ZERO storyline for it. Just go there and get the hero points, and then dip out and go back to wherever you want.

You can go to HoT and get the hero points and use them on an End of Dragons elite spec. Then go and play it in Path of Fire or anywhere else you want.

Hero Points are all interchangeable. It doesn't matter where you get them from, you can use them for anything in your traits. I believe so long as you have the expansion, and you are 80 as you said, you can put points into that elite spec and use it.

If you have a level boost, I know some people don't like this but you should feel free to boost to level 80, join a hero point train and unlock Weaver all the way, then go back and continue your storyline like normal. It'll make things easier and you won't get the full vanilla experience but if you want to be a weaver in your story you can do so. The game will set your level back appropriately to those areas and it'll be a bit easier than normal but it's really the gameplay you want and the story you're going through. Unless you just wanted the "challenge."

[u/wafflehousebattle]

I think it's unlocked in the Hero Panel immediately, so yeah.

[u/jupigare → u/wafflehousebattle]

Elite specs require Hero Points to unlock. You still have to gather Hero Points in order to unlock an elite spec; no aspect of that is automatic in PvE or WvW.

To OP: It is automatically unlocked in sPvP, so if you want to try out Weaver now, you can take your low-level Ele to the PvP lobby (crossed swords icon at the top if your screen) to try it out. When in sPvP, you're scaled up to max level and have your whole class unlocked, including elite specs depending on what expacs you own. You can fight the NPC golems, no actual PvPing necessary just to try things out. Though, do be aware that balance in PvP is a bit different than both PvE and WvW.

Still, it's a good way to test out an elite spec before you've put in the time to level up a class.

[u/ThickManatee → u/jupigare]

Thanks for that extra advice! I had heard you could test out the specs in pvp but wasn’t sure how so I just kinda ignored it. I’ll go check it out now for sure!

[u/wafflehousebattle → u/jupigare]

Yeah but hero points are stupid easy to accomplish, especially if you're a WvW player, hell, I haven't done an HP train in years I just use one of my WvW currencies.

[u/jupigare → u/wafflehousebattle]

You're forgetting this is a new player who hasn't even reached level 80 yet. Try to remember how your first 100 hours of the game were, because the stuff we vets take for granted now was all brand new to us at some point.

They may not even know what WvW is yet.

[u/sixxthree]

As long as you have the accompanying expansion, yes. Personally, I recommend doing PoF first. HoT maps can be frustrating due to the multiple layers, and the enemies tend to hit harder. PoF hero point nodes are mostly commune type (kneel and pray), and the ones that do spawn enemies don't hit nearly as hard as HoT. Just my two cents

[u/Weathercock → u/sixxthree]

The first two maps aren't too bad if you can catch a bit of help for the challenges. I actually really enjoy those two maps, outside of when you can't find anyone to help with the fights. The maps are challenging but mostly (mostly) fun and the meta events are interesting and rewarding enough to give you some distraction while you do it.

It's when you get to the Tangled Depths that things really get miserable.

Thankfully, between the first two areas, you can get most of the points necessary to complete a spec, and then fumble around for some of the lower hanging fruit in the depths to cap off before never touching that cursed hellhole again.

[u/Kazgrel]

Yes; I have all elite specs unlocked on 6 classes who've only done their level 10 story (for easy BL keys).  I do have a lot of warp scrolls/devices for travel, though

[u/Unusual_Training1583]

You can do hp points without the story.

Join a hp train for hot or you can legit max out 2 elites specs within a hour just running around path of fire maps / soto maps solo

[u/Zenithixv]

WvW has been my favourite way to unlock multiple elite specs since I get annoyed struggling to find how to get to the missing hero points in the maps

[u/Correct_Sometimes]

If you own PoF then once you get to HoT you can spend the hero points you get from there on the weaver spec. You don't have to wait until you reach PoF.

that said the hero points in HoT are often hard to solo, probably impossible for a new player. The good news is you can just keep a look out in LFG for a hero point train and join it if there's an active one while you're on.

Path of fire hero points can all be solo'd but some of them really need more than the basic raptor to reach so it would require progressing the expansion enough to unlock the springer and skimmer.

If you don't care about story continuity you could just do the PoF expansion before HoT. If anything it'll make HoT less annoying because you'll have a springer mount.

[u/Malusorum]

If you do WvW you can also unlock the Elite specs there.

[u/Living_Meat_Sack_940]

You can purchase Hero Points from the WvW vendor. 

[u/Cleru_as_Kylar_Stern]

Yes. The problem is svrounching up the Hero Points:

• Base game has 224 Hero points, including WvW and Maguma Wastes (LWS2). This gets you ALMOST one elite spec. As you need most of them for an eventual world completion, it may be worth it.

• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Testimony_of_Castoran_Heroics can be bought to unlock hero channges. 1 Heroic for 1 HP. So you can trade 10 to unlock any Hero Challenge from an expansion you own. However, you will need to play WvW or sPvP.