Learn which GW2 items are best to farm, where to farm them, and the best farming strategies in the game. Wondering where to park your characters for the best farming? Read on!
Note: Options which are not available for free-to-play accounts are marked Paid Only.
Flax Seeds
The Verdant Brink flax farm continues to be one of the best farming locations in the game. This spot has eight flax nodes clustered closely together, each of which will yield 1-3 piles of flax seeds.
Where to Find Flax Seeds
Travel to the Jaka Itzel waypoint in Verdant Brink. Head northeast, drop off the edge, and fall/glide into the center of the massive tree trunk. The flax farm is located in the middle of the tree trunk, at the bottom. The flax only resets once per day.
What to do with Piles of Flax Seeds
- Sell the flax seeds (2 to 2.5 silver)
- Paid Only: Craft Vials of Linseed Oil (45-50 silver, requires any crafting 400 or better).
- Paid Only: Craft Empty Kegs (2.5-2.75 gold, requires Chef 400)
Tip: If you belong to a guild with the Lost Precipice guild hall, and have unlocked gliding with updraft, this offers a shortcut to the flax farm. Walk out the portal in the southern end of the hall, then glide to the flax farm.
Elder Wood Logs
Elder Wood remains in high demand, due in part to its role in guild hall upgrades and crafting legendary weapons.
Where to Find Elder Wood Logs
The best place to farm Elder Wood is in Malchor’s Leap. Head west from Pagga’s Waypoint, along the bottom of the map. You will find a statue circled by Cypress Saplings, and mobbed by other players. The Cypress Saplings reset every few hours.
What to Do With Elder Wood
- Sell the logs (1-2 silver)
- Paid Only: Refine it into planks (5-6 silver)
- Paid Only: Save to use with Vials of Linseed Oil to craft Empty Kegs (2.5-2.75 gold, requires Chef 400)
Winterberries
If you have Bitterfrost Frontier unlocked (requires Living World Season 3) the Winterberry farm is quite profitable.
Read our article on the Winterberry Gold Farm to learn how to turn Winterberries into tier 5 and 6 crafting materials, which you can then keep or sell on the Trading Post.
Map Bonus Rewards
A reliable way to farm specific materials is to use Map Bonus Rewards.
- Paid Only: Players with the Heart of Thorns expansion can unlock the Pack Supply Network Agent and buy objects with karma to earn Map Bonus Rewards.
- Free-to-play accounts can farm Map Bonus Rewards by doing events on the map. (Note: When farmed in this way, Map Bonus Rewards are subject to Diminishing Returns.)
For a more detailed explanation, see our article on Map Bonus Rewards.
Diminishing Returns
To reduce gold farming, ArenaNet uses a system called Diminishing Returns. This means that the longer you stay in the same area, killing the same creatures, the lower the chance you will get a good item (like a Vial of Powerful Blood). Keep killing the same monsters in the same area long enough, and soon all you will be getting is junk items like Brittle Bones.
Diminishing returns (often called “DR”) is a mysterious force. ArenaNet won’t release any specifics, which leaves us to rely on speculation and superstition.
Some believe that DR is triggered after an hour in any given area. Others, that killing a specific number of creatures is to blame. Can you shake DR by changing maps, or do you have to wait until the daily reset? No one knows, but everyone has their pet theory.
AFK Farming
“AFK farming” is the practice of putting your character in a busy location, then leaving your computer (“going AFK”). While you are gone, your character (usually either a Ranger with a pet, or a Necro with minions) automatically attacks nearby creatures.
AFK farming is explicitly forbidden in Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet employees are aware of the most popular locations for AFK farming, and will often patrol these areas looking for violators. The employee will whisper the player in-game, and if they hear no reply, the player will be reported for botting.
Don’t do it! It’s boring, not particularly lucrative, and it will get you in trouble.
