To be honest, for open world pve i dont use another ascended armor set cuz i am cheap. I got quite some gold doing fractals and later raids, so i built viper's for raids, minstrel for raid's and wvw, and i have another exo scholar for wvw - for which i'd need also a marauders and maybe a trailblazer for the meme. In my opinion the best thing to do here is to either craft it yourself assuming you've been doing the Octovine event every day for the recipe or you can do your Elite Spec's collection to get a Viper Ascended Axe. If you're lucky enough to get ascended weapons or armor you don't want, you can salvage those for 60 shards that are not included in the cap. So, you can buy the backpack (assuming you have defeated Sabetha) within ~4 to 6 weeks, depending on how good your RNG is, and also assuming that you don't want any other raid rewards more than you want Minstrel insignia is extremely expensive, and imo best option - buy set from fractal or pvp vendor. you can get 2 free sets of ascended armor from the envoy armor collections vol 1 and 2. If you want budget gear, you can run exotic Nomads with Platinum dubloons to compensate for concentration. As with Ruby Band, if you want two, you will have to attune/infuse one of them (ideally having one ascended+infused and one attuned) Edit: but actually, with pizza and toxic stone, i think you hit 100% on bleed/burn with just armor + weapons + amulet / 1 ring / 1 earring being viper. You can easily have 1 ring and 1 earring with Rabid stats - stunbreak with 2 charges and extra evasion. - AoE burst damage from or pulsing blind with and a replacement for if playing purely at range. - summons elementals, use for DPS or for tanks. These die when you mount up, and are best used against strong bossses. - mobility. - condition cleanse; Elites This item is not unique; unlike most ascended trinkets, two of these can be equipped. It is not possible to buy a non-infused version of this item; it is purchased pre- infused. If you attune this item, the selected stats will reset, allowing you to choose new stats. The chosen prefix for this item can be reset by using a Mist Capacitor. Reset I stopped playing a bit after the first expansion was released, but I felt like trying the game a bit more now as my old favourite class, condi necro, seems to be viable again. I have changed my weapons and ascended armor into Vipers, and am now using my old rabid ascended trinkets, but I want to upgrade them to Viper as well. Not only can you just buy the exotics with gold and ascended accessories with laurels/guild commendations/fractal relics (which are super easy to get, just time-gated) but also the fact that viper (condi) builds are way harder to get and also start off weaker and scale harder - having half viper gear half berserker gear, you'd still do better Armor class Headgear Shoulders Chest Gloves Leggings Boots Light: Medium: Heavy: Bladed armor. Light Head • Shoulders • Chest • Hands • Legs • Feet V33Oy.