Customize

To customize something in Guild Wars means to attune an item to a specific character. This makes the item only usable by that specific character or their heroes. The process cannot be reversed.

Effect of customization

There are four kinds of customizations in the game:

• Weapon customization: When a weapon is customized for a character, it deals 20% more base damage. The drawback is that no other character (even for the same account, or a new character with the same name) will be able to use it. This reduces its value to other players, since only the weapons upgrades have a substantial trade value.
  • Customization is a good idea for martial weapons, since the primary damage tends to be through the weapon rather than indirectly through skills.
• Armor customization: Any armor crafted in the game will be customized specifically for the character that purchased it. This is by design and there is no way to avoid it.
• Inherent customization: Observed on storybooks and certain other quest-related items that are given to characters; these items are customized upon receipt.
• Monument customization: Weapons placed for display in the Hall of Monuments will automatically be customized (this includes shields and focus items).

How to customize weapons

Weapons that have not yet been customized can be taken to a weaponsmith in a town or outpost for customization. In the weaponsmith window that appears there will be a tab called Customize. Click on it and choose the weapon in your inventory that you wish to customize, then click on the Customize button at the bottom of the screen. Your currently equipped weapon will also be displayed as one of the options. Weapon customization always costs 10. Displaying a weapon at the "Valor" monument in the Hall of Monuments also customizes the weapon.

Any weapon you create on a PvP-only character will be automatically customized giving the 20% more damage bonus. Weapons acquired from the Ancient Anniversary Weaponsmith are customized to the character that acquires them.

Other characters' customized items

As mentioned above, a character cannot use an item customized for another character. Equipment Packs cannot store armor nor weapons that are customized for another character. Customized items can be sold to merchants (for prices far below what it cost to craft them). They can also be salvaged for crafting materials or upgrade components, perhaps the only value one will get from a customized weapon.

Note that if you have an item customized for character A, put the item in storage, delete character A and make new character B with the exact same name, the new character B still cannot use the customized item.

PvP reward weapons are the sole exception to this rule: when equipped by PvP heroes, the customization will update to match the current PvP character.

Trading customized items

It is possible to trade customized items with other players. If you accept a trade window offer which includes customized items, a warning message will be displayed.

Notes

• A customized item will have the phrase "Customized for <character name>" in its description when the cursor is hovered over it.
• Weapons that have been customized for a character can be used by any hero bound to that character; that hero gains the 20% damage bonus. (To customize a hero's weapon, move it to your character's inventory before visiting the weaponsmith; it cannot be customized while the hero wields it.)
• Off-hand items (shields and focus items) cannot be customized by weaponsmiths.
  • Some off-hands are customized upon acquisition, such as Zehtuka's Horn, bonus items, Bonus Mission Pack reward items and Anniversary Shield "Curtain". Tormented, Destroyer, and Oppressor off-hands also become customized automatically when placed on the "Valor" monument in the Hall of Monuments. These weapons suffer the same limits as primary hand weapons, but without any in-game advantages.
• If you try to sell a customized item, a confirmation window will pop up to request that you confirm or cancel the sale.