Structure Upgrade Guide

Resource camps, towers, and keeps can be upgraded in world vs. world, the persistent battleground in Guild Wars 2. The upgrades range from increased defense to useful tools like waypoints and merchants for those who claim ownership of the structure. Upgrades can make or break a siege, for instance, upgraded gates are much harder to take down than the default gates, so knowing when, where, and what to upgrade is critical in WvW. Our guide gives you a detailed look at the upgrades, their functions, and when the cost should be paid.

Upgrade Basics

Upgrades can be initiated by any player at the quartermaster. Etiquette generally dictates that the claiming guild pay for the upgrades, but players can’t rely on etiquette to always be followed. Players should arrange to pitch in together and pay for upgrades or higher level players should take on the burden to make their experience more pleasurable and assist the realm. An upgraded structure is easier to defend and can result in faster experience, coin, and karma rewards if attacks are defended against.

The cost for an upgrade is coin and supply, although a few upgrades do require karma. The prices aren’t listed because they fluctuate often between hotfixes, but you can find the information readily in the game by talking to any quartermaster. The supply is consumed instantly for personnel upgrades and slowly for structural upgrades, which require workers to actually build the upgrade over time.

Players should be careful not to waste resources on upgrades that aren’t needed. For instance, if a tower is going to be lost to a massive zerg then there is no reason to pay for the upgrades. Most upgrades are generally designed around defending the keep from small groups of players who are trying to take an under-defended structure. If there are nothing but massive zergs roaming then the threat of a small party becomes smaller, so the upgrades that cater to fending off zergs become more relevant (reinforced walls and doors).

Resource camps have their own upgrade set; while towers and keeps have similar sets of upgrades. Resource camps and towers will increase their supply depot capacity with each successful upgrade. Towers, keeps, and resource camps close to the spawn points should always be max upgraded. The threat against them is minor but their importance is major.

Upgrades come in tiers; you’ll have to buy the first tier to unlock the second tier and so on. On another note, Stonemist Castle has the same upgrades as keeps, but at an additional cost (1.33x the normal cost rounded up and roughly twice the supply). Upgrades are also broken into structural (structure related) and personnel (NPC related). Within those categories, there are additions which add new features/NPC and upgrades, which increase the health of structures/NPCs.

Upgrades are always purchased from the quartermaster who usually idles near the supply depot. Speak to the quartermaster to bring up the interface. It'll show the available upgrades for the structure, the cost, and if you can purchase it yet or not.

Structural Upgrades

Structural upgrades, to me, carry the most importance. NPCs are nice additions and guards are helpful, but having stronger walls can help defend against small, medium, and large groups of attackers. It is important to have enough to try and break a siege then it is to have some extra NPCs sitting about. Structural upgrades do require workers though and time, along with a hefty amount of supply, so there is a big tradeoff.

Additions

Structural additions are low priority. You may think otherwise, but Pots of Oil and Cannons are the first thing that players take out. They’re only useful against groups of up to fifteen players, but after that they generally will stand back and clear them off the walls or take out the operators as a priority. They’re useful, but not as useful as using the supply to build arrow carts or ballista. 

    Build Pot of Oil (Tier 1 Tower): Adds a pot of oil above the door. This is great to fend off small groups of attackers, but will generally be destroyed as the first priority. Oil destroys rams, making it nice whenever a small group is trying to ram through a gate.
    Build Cannons (Tier 1 Keeps/Tier 2 Towers): Cannons are very similar to arrow carts. They have a very long range and are very good for taking out clumps of enemies. Like the pot of oil, they are exposed and easily taken out by larger forces. Great for defending against smaller forces.
    Build Mortars (Tier 2 Keeps/Tier 3 Towers): These are extremely long range assault weapons that can be used to assault other keeps/towers and take out fights anywhere near the tower or keep.
    Build Waypoint (Tier 3 Keeps): The waypoint is critical to the success of a world. First, it helps movement across the world, gets players back into the fight faster, and is just outright convenient. However, it’s expensive, takes a lot of supply, and is generally difficult to setup unless the keep will be held for a while.

Upgrades

These are simple; they increase the health of the walls/doors. They also should be a priority, unless the keep is immediately going to be taken by another world. They give you more time to call in more defenders and try to wipe the enemy. Doors are even more important, especially in stonemist, where the inner doors are critical to defending it.

   Reinforce Walls (Tier 1): Increases the health of the walls.
   Reinforce Doors (Tier 2): Increases the health of the doors.
   Reinforce Keep/Fortify Tower (Tier 3): Increases the health of the walls again.

Personnel Upgrades

These upgrades bring on or upgrade personnel which work within the tower or keep. They are somewhat important, the guards can do a great job of pushing back small excursions and patrols can really mess with players who are trying to take resource camps behind enemy lines. However, massive groups (50+) will not be fazed by any of the NPCs.

Additions

   Outfitter / Merchant (Tier 1): In towers they sell just adventuring supplies and in keeps they also sell equipment. Useful to get rid of extra stuff in your inventory.
   Siegemaster / Services (Tier 2): In towers you can hire a siegemaster who sells siege blueprints. In keeps you can get a banker and repair agent. Useful once the waypoint is up for respawning players in the keep.
   Hire Patrol (Tier 3): A group of guards will roam around the keep and attack any enemies they find. The keep closest to your spawn should have this ASAP, simply because it can really mess with groups of a few players trying to sneak about and take out a resource camp.

Upgrades

   Hire a Second Worker (Tier 1): Another worker comes, speeding up upgrades. This is a good thing to buy first if you have the extra coin.
   Hire Additional Guards (Tier 2): More guards will spawn.
   Raise Guard Level (Tier 3): Guards become level 83, making them very difficult to kill without a decent sized force. This is an expensive upgrade, so some thought should be put into if you’re worried about small forces attacking a keep. If you know the keep will be zerged, there isn’t much point.

Resource Camps

Resource camps only have personnel upgrades and have their own set of upgrades, which cost very little. All of them should be bought, even though they protect against small groups, small groups are the biggest danger to a resource camp. They are all relatively cheap and even if the supply camp falls, it’ll at least delay the attackers for a while.

Additions

   Caravan Guards (Tier 1): This is absolutely needed and super cheap, the guards can keep NPCs and enemies busy long enough for the supply delivery to make it.
   Additional Guards (Tier 2): Again, really necessary, dolyaks are constantly shut down and guards can make sure that they make the trip safely.

Upgrades

   Increase Supply Deliveries (Tier 1): Super needed as it doubles the amount of supply delivered from 35 to 70 for towers and 70 to 140 for keeps.
   Strengthen Guards (Tier 2): This upgrade will stop any attack from a group of one to a group of five players. A full group can take an upgraded resource camp, but the supervisor can pretty much knock out anyone in a few seconds, so strategy is needed.