Early-endgame gearing in GW2 is (charitably) a mess.
Depending on your build, you may or may not have a cheaper option available to you than the generic seer's/emblazoned/draconic armor sets. Those cheaper options will be the focus of this post.
Posts on Weapons and Accessories are forthcoming; they are not being included in this post because they would make it excessively long.
Base-game named armor sets
The base game (AKA core tyria) offers a handful of named armor sets that drop in the standard exotic loot table. Two groups of these are viable replacements for common gearsets used in endgame builds.
Power
Power gamers have it easy in this regard. berserker's is one of the attribute combinations available on named armor.
| Light | Medium | Heavy |
|---|---|---|
| Zhed's Armor | Nika's Armor | Devona's Armor |
Condition
Condition gamers have it a bit harder, unfortunately. Most condition builds in the meta use viper's armor which, due to its inclusion of expertise, cannot be directly substituted for other sets without losing significant damage.
If your use-case doesn't require absolutely optimized damage, which is most use-cases, you can however take the loss in DPS to use rampager's armor instead.
| Light | Medium | Heavy |
|---|---|---|
| Norgu's Armor | Aidan's Armor | Koss' Armor |
Healing
Healers have it the worst out of the three major categories. Most healing builds rely heavily on concentration to maintain full uptime on their required boons. Unfortunately, none of the most affordable armor sets offer any amount of concentration. Additionally, due to the tanking mechanics inside raid wings, it's generally inadvisable to replace harrier's equipment with cheaper giver's equipment, as the additional toughness can cause you to become fixated by the boss. The best option available for healers will likely be one of the stat-selectable sets in the next section.
Stat-Selectable Armor Sets
Outside of the core named armor sets, there are a handful of options for less expensive armor. Your access to these sets will vary depending on which expansions you own, as well as what content you are willing to do. Note that some attribute combinations are only available to owners of specific expansions. Most notably, Viper's and Minstrel's are only available to owners of Heart of Thorns, Harrier's, Diviner's, and Grieving to owners of Path of Fire, and Dragon's and Ritualist's to owners of End of Dragons.
World vs World (no expansions required)
If you're willing to do WvW, and you don't mind spending badges of honor on armor, the invader's armor set is a great option.
Each piece costs between 50 and 100 badges of honor, plus between 72 silver and 1 gold 8 silver. Overall the entire set, including jewelry and a backpiece, will cost a total of 680 badges of honor and 9 gold, 70 silver.
Heart of Thorns
Heart of thorns offers the Bladed armor set, another stat-selectable set that trades a special currency for a greatly reduced gold cost. However, obtaining a full set of this armor requires participation in the Night and the Enemy meta-event in Verdant Brink.
The purchase of armor pieces for gold and airship parts requires the Itzel Language mastery, as they are purchased from the Itzel Mastery Vendors in Verdant Brink and Auric Basin, or Xochitl in Tangled Depths.
| Slot | Source |
|---|---|
| Head | Dropped from Airship Cargo, purchased for 1 gold and 500 airship parts, or obtained as a reward from the story step The Jungle Provides |
| Shoulders | Purchased for 1 gold and 500 airship parts |
| Body | Obtained from Tier-4 completion of the Night and the Enemy meta-event, or as a rare drop from the Wyvern Matriarch |
| Hands | Dropped from Airship Cargo, purchased for 1 gold and 500 airship parts, or dropped by the Wyvern Matriarch |
| Legs | Purchased for 1 gold and 500 airship parts |
| Feet | Purchased for 1 gold and 500 airship parts |
The Icebrood Saga
There is one stat-selectable armor set available from IBS. Unfortunately, that armor set is rather expensive. However, if you have vast quantities of karma on hand, like doing Raid Encounters (formerly strike missions,) like the appearance of this set, AND don't have plans to make legendary equipment from Janthir Wilds or Visions of Eternity at any point in the forseeable future, the Runic armor set may be a viable option for you.
Janthir Wilds
Janthir offers three stat-selectable armor sets worth speaking about, the first being Polychromatic armor which is obtained from homesteading. It also offers two sets that can be purchased from the Trading Post. These two sets can sometimes be purchased for a lower price than regular crafted armor depending on which attribute combination your build requires.
Polychromatic Armor
Polychromatic armor is purchased from Deft Lahar for ursus obliges and research notes, requiring journeyman handiworker crafting for the full set.
Titanplate and True Sight Armor
Titanplate armor can be crafted by armorsmiths, leatherworkers, and tailors of rating 400 or greater using homesteading materials. True Sight armor can be crafted by those same disciplines requiring materials from Bava Nisos and Mistburned Barrens instead. Both sets are also available on the trading post for less than 20 gold per piece at the time of writing this post.
Visions of Eternity
Visions offers 4 selectable armor sets.
Alliance Field Operative Armor
This set can be obtained by completing certain achievements in Castora. To obtain the full set, both the Shipwreck Strand and Starlit Weald mastery achievements will have to be completed, in addition to other assorted achievements.
Extremis, Forge Keeper, and Restless Captain armor
These three sets are all obtained by similar methods, with the primary difference being which zone they are obtained from. All three sets can be purchased for 315,000 total karma from the Alliance Field Quartermasters in their respective zones, with the additional requirement of a set of tokens obtained from assorted activities in those zones.