Basics
A Vial of Dye (usually just called Dye for short) can be used to change the color of Items. Dyeing your armor or weapons is completely optional and will provide no practical bonus, only aesthetic.
Dye comes in the following colors:
| File:GrayDye.jpg | File:BlueDye.jpg | File:GreenDye.jpg | File:PurpleDye.jpg | File:RedDye.jpg | File:YellowDye.jpg | File:BrownDye.jpg | File:OrangeDye.jpg | File:SilverDye.jpg | File:BlackDye.jpg | File:WhiteDye.jpg | File:PinkDye.jpg |
| Gray | Blue | Green | Purple | Red | Yellow | Brown | Orange | Silver | Black | White | Pink§ |
Usage
Most armor and weapons can be dyed. Dye is used by double-clicking on the Vial of Dye, then clicking on the item you wish to dye. This will bring up the Dye Preview panel. You may place up to 4 dyes into the preview panel, and it will show the result of the dye(s) on the item.
Backpacks, belt pouches and bags can also be dyed. This does not affect the character's outward appearance. It only changes the bags' color in the inventory window. These items become dyed immediately, without a preview window, and thus cannot have mixtures applied to them. Their default color seems to be brown. Zehtuka's Pack and Charr Bags cannot be dyed.
It is advised that you use the dye preview panel to examine the results before applying the dye. The window closely shows how your equipment will look after applying the dye. Dye is gone forever once used, and cannot be salvaged or removed. The only cure for a bad dye job is to dye it again.
Dye does not produce the exact same color on all equipment. Purple dye shows up purple on Mesmer armor, but a light lavender on Elementalist armor.
Silver will not make non-metallic equipment shine. For example, the Elementalist Elite Stormforged armor is dyed only in the cloth non-metallic parts. Dyeing the set silver will just make the cloth parts a light gray. The already shiny lightning is always metallic. Silver dye is also often used in mixtures to darken or lighten a chosen color. This effect depends on the texture of the item being dyed.
Some items, such as the Eternal Bow and the Necromancer Elite Scar Pattern armor for Males, will accept dye but do not change appearance when dyed.
Some weapons and armor (such as Eternal Shields and Elementalist Headgear) cannot be dyed.
Most holiday headgear and many common armor pieces cannot be dyed.
Hero Armor cannot be dyed.
Unique items cannot be dyed, with the exception of Straw Effigies and the Traveler's Bo Staff.
The starting color has no effect on the resulting color. There is no need to dye your equipment gray before dyeing it what you want.
Mixing Dye
You can mix dye effects in the dye preview screen by simply dragging the dyes you wish to mix into the appropriate slots. Once you have the color you want click apply and the mix is applied directly to your armor. Colors can be mixed only in the Dye Preview window; the mixture is applied directly to the armor. Multiple vials of dye of the same color cannot be mixed unless there is a second color in the mixture. For example, you cannot mix only two silver dyes, but adding a red dye as well is allowed.
Notes
- The drop rate for dyes is tracked on Drop rate/Dye.
- Dye is a somewhat valuable commodity and is often farmed. It is believed that dye drops more frequently in Pre-Searing (see Dye farming guide (Pre-Searing)).
- Black dye or White dye are very rare drops. These have the obvious effects of increasing the market value of their specific vials of dye. New players are often unaware of this fact and occasionally fall prey to scammers (see dye scams for details).
- If you are wielding a two handed weapon (bow, scythe, daggers, hammer, staff) and try to dye a left-hand item (shield or offhand) the said item will not appear, as when wielding a 2-handed weapon anything wielded by the other hand is omitted.
- For most items, their default color does not exactly correspond to any particular dye color but comes close to one. Keep this in mind if you wish to dye something but may want it back in its original color in the future.
- Black dye is often used in pre-searing Ascalon for high-end trades.
Historical note: Before the October 25, 2006 update, Merchants sold Dye Remover instead of Gray Dye
External Links
- Post-Update Dye Guide at Guild Wars Guru