Guild Wars 2

First off, yeah I know I could ask in the Necro-sub, but I guess I don’t “trust” those guys over there as much.

So I’ve been wondering how necro builds are going to look like once HoT is out; since I didn’t get to test Reaper, I’m not entirely sure what works best.
I did hear from multiple people that Reaper’s Shroud hits the hardest out of everything, so with that in mind, this is what I came up with as base build. Unyielding Blast could be replaced by Speed of Shadows, Spectral Mastery by Vital Persistence and Dhuumfire by Death Perception, though that seems unnecessary with Decimate Defenses being a thing. I guess you could do that if you pug and your vuln on bosses sucks really, really hard and then get one of the other choices? Though they both seem rather underwhelming.
In high level fractals I’d probably drop Soul Reaping for Blood Magic if necessary, as the sustain helps a lot.

What I’d like to know now, is the Reaper Shroud really the best damage source? If not, what then? I mean Gravedigger obviously wins if you get to spam it, but you won’t be able to do it all the time, at least if the skill roots you. And even then, you have to get the boss down to 50% first; what AA would be best to spam once your skills are on cd? Dagger, GS or Shroud?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. o/

#CallingForSpojski!

AFAIK, dagger is almost the same as RS AA from BWE3, if not better.
This is the build that I prefer as for now : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAodRjk0QjN2SD20AHOWyFsphwSYKEXF7ijRoAQDYFA-TFSBAB6pPwS1fe4UAo0+DmpE8KlQYp8BgnAQAAEAH9oH9oH9odzbezbezbWKgI2ZB-w
If RS AA turns out to be better, than maybe drop the blood magic for soul reaping to get dhuumfire but I dunno whether it’s worth it.

Try this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QwiTyE5vqw

Great video by a top necromancer who states complicated stuff very simply. Probably the best necro out there. His dedication to the necro class and the gw2 community in general is amazing. He single handily took down Nike and all of DnT and in the process saved GW2.

xD

EDIT: Build seems pretty good. Glad necro is getting something sorta nice

what AA would be best to spam once your skills are on cd? Dagger, GS or Shroud?

With onslaught for RS#1, all the auto attacks do roughly the same amount of dps ( Dagger is ahead by less than 1% ). RS#1 only pulls ahead if traited with dhuumfire or if your team is lacking might/vuln generation.

TheFrighteningFrenchFry.3275:

Try this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QwiTyE5vqw

Great video by a top necromancer who states complicated stuff very simply. Probably the best necro out there. His dedication to the necro class and the gw2 community in general is amazing. He single handily took down Nike and all the elistists and in the process saved GW2.

xD

Wow, I feel badly insulted.

@Sigmoid: Alright, that does make sense. Thanks for the info.

@Gin: Any particular reason you went with Valkyrie-gear and Air-sigils? Seems pretty pointless. The build itself is rather close to mine, so that’s good I guess.

Hey! I´m one of “those guys over there” =P

Build is looking good, pretty much what I used for solo play last BWE, but I would never use SR without Vital Persistence. The small cd reduction on Lich Form from Spectral Mastery just doesn´t cut it and the extra LF-gen can´t compete with the decreased degeneration from Vital Persistence as well imo.
Swapping out SR for BM in group content definitely seems like the right thing to do though.

I haven´t seen any comprehensive calculations on Reaper damage so far, so pls correct me if I´m wrong, but I believe Dagger AA still beats RS AA against 2 or less targets. Also, burning maybe will get tuned down a bit with HoT (just speculation), so Dhuumfire might not be worth it in power builds anymore.

Gravedigger is a bit clunky to use sometimes because of the relatively long cast time, that´s correct, but if you miss it you can still fall back to RS or Dagger for ~8 or 9 sec and be fine I think.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

@Gin: Any particular reason you went with Valkyrie-gear and Air-sigils? Seems pretty pointless. The build itself is rather close to mine, so that’s good I guess.

Decimate defences is 72% crit chance in his build. Spotter/Banner/Fury to reach 100% in or out of shroud. Valk for the extra HP and wurm runes. Overall works out slightly higher than str runes for damage last i napkined.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

TheFrighteningFrenchFry.3275:

Try this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QwiTyE5vqw

Great video by a top necromancer who states complicated stuff very simply. Probably the best necro out there. His dedication to the necro class and the gw2 community in general is amazing. He single handily took down Nike and all the elistists and in the process saved GW2.

xD

Wow, I feel badly insulted.

@Sigmoid: Alright, that does make sense. Thanks for the info.

@Gin: Any particular reason you went with Valkyrie-gear and Air-sigils? Seems pretty pointless. The build itself is rather close to mine, so that’s good I guess.

Sorry, I was joking hahaha.

Skoigoth.9238:

Hey! I´m one of “those guys over there” =P

Heh, well that works too.

Build is looking good, pretty much what I used for solo play last BWE, but I would never use SR without Vital Persistence. The small cd reduction on Lich Form from Spectral Mastery just doesn´t cut it and the extra LF-gen can´t compete with the decreased degeneration from Vital Persistence as well imo.
Swapping out SR for BM in group content definitely seems like the right thing to do though.

Spectral Mastery isn’t actually just a cd reduction for Lich, but also a duration increase from 15s to 22 1/2s. I do kind of lean towards swapping it out once Reaper hits, though.

I haven´t seen any comprehensive calculations on Reaper damage so far, so pls correct me if I´m wrong, but I believe Dagger AA still beats RS AA against 2 or less targets. Also, burning maybe will get tuned down a bit with HoT (just speculation), so Dhuumfire might not be worth it in power builds anymore.

Gravedigger is a bit clunky to use sometimes because of the root, that´s correct, but if you miss it you can still fall back to RS or Dagger for ~8 or 9 sec and be fine I think.

Ah, so it is a root. That’s helpful to know, thanks.

Sigmoid.7082:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

@Gin: Any particular reason you went with Valkyrie-gear and Air-sigils? Seems pretty pointless. The build itself is rather close to mine, so that’s good I guess.

Decimate defences is 72% crit chance in his build. Spotter/Banner/Fury to reach 100% in or out of shroud. Valk for the extra HP and wurm runes. Overall works out slightly higher than str runes for damage last i napkined.

Valid points there, but that assumes you always have 25 stacks vuln on everything where it matters (or very close to it) and only run in parties where you have those buffs. Since I don’t have a guild and mostly pug, it’s not really an option for me.

@FrenchFry: Yeah I know, the “xD” gave it away well enough, but kitten , that’s just cruel.

Sigmoid answered your question.

Air sigil is just personal preference since it’s good in general situation.
Sigil of frailty will be useless if your group can maintain 25 vuln (with rev or engi, I guess it’s very easy). Sigil of night doesn’t always work. Sigil of strength will be useless if you capped out at 25 might. Anet may release better sigils later on though.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Skoigoth.9238:

Hey! I´m one of “those guys over there” =P

Heh, well that works too.

Build is looking good, pretty much what I used for solo play last BWE, but I would never use SR without Vital Persistence. The small cd reduction on Lich Form from Spectral Mastery just doesn´t cut it and the extra LF-gen can´t compete with the decreased degeneration from Vital Persistence as well imo.
Swapping out SR for BM in group content definitely seems like the right thing to do though.

Spectral Mastery isn’t actually just a cd reduction for Lich, but also a duration increase from 15s to 22 1/2s. I do kind of lean towards swapping it out once Reaper hits, though.

I haven´t seen any comprehensive calculations on Reaper damage so far, so pls correct me if I´m wrong, but I believe Dagger AA still beats RS AA against 2 or less targets. Also, burning maybe will get tuned down a bit with HoT (just speculation), so Dhuumfire might not be worth it in power builds anymore.

Gravedigger is a bit clunky to use sometimes because of the root, that´s correct, but if you miss it you can still fall back to RS or Dagger for ~8 or 9 sec and be fine I think.

Ah, so it is a root. That’s helpful to know, thanks.

Sigmoid.7082:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

@Gin: Any particular reason you went with Valkyrie-gear and Air-sigils? Seems pretty pointless. The build itself is rather close to mine, so that’s good I guess.

Decimate defences is 72% crit chance in his build. Spotter/Banner/Fury to reach 100% in or out of shroud. Valk for the extra HP and wurm runes. Overall works out slightly higher than str runes for damage last i napkined.

Valid points there, but that assumes you always have 25 stacks vuln on everything where it matters (or very close to it) and only run in parties where you have those buffs. Since I don’t have a guild and mostly pug, it’s not really an option for me.

@FrenchFry: Yeah I know, the “xD” gave it away well enough, but kitten , that’s just cruel.

I was hoping the xD made sure no one took it too seriously.

Yeah it may be a problem if you can’t get 25 vuln at opponents. but i think it won’t be hard for a pug group to cap that if you use focus 4 and RS with rending shroud trait in DPS rotation. You can use sigil of frailty to help you further if that is not enough.

It’s more likely to be a problem if you wanna solo a boss.

gin.7158:

Sigmoid answered your question.

Air sigil is just personal preference since it’s good in general situation.
Sigil of frailty will be useless if your group can maintain 25 vuln (with rev or engi, I guess it’s very easy). Sigil of night doesn’t always work. Sigil of strength will be useless if you capped out at 25 might. Anet may release better sigils later on though.

Funny because I heard Air sigil is pretty crappy now.
Then again, I’m someone who keeps energy sigils on his offhands because it’s basically a requirement for me. lol
I’d just go the multiple weapon-route like I do on Warrior, but I can see why you went with air.
As for being able to cap, nah, that won’t be difficult, keeping 25 stacks up will be though, considering they only last 5s on bosses. In pugs anyway, organized groups shouldn’t have too many issues indeed.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

gin.7158:

Sigmoid answered your question.

Air sigil is just personal preference since it’s good in general situation.
Sigil of frailty will be useless if your group can maintain 25 vuln (with rev or engi, I guess it’s very easy). Sigil of night doesn’t always work. Sigil of strength will be useless if you capped out at 25 might. Anet may release better sigils later on though.

Funny because I heard Air sigil is pretty crappy now.
Then again, I’m someone who keeps energy sigils on his offhands because it’s basically a requirement for me. lol
I’d just go the multiple weapon-route like I do on Warrior, but I can see why you went with air.

Yeah think accuracy>air now after the nerf.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

I haven´t seen any comprehensive calculations on Reaper damage so far, so pls correct me if I´m wrong, but I believe Dagger AA still beats RS AA against 2 or less targets. Also, burning maybe will get tuned down a bit with HoT (just speculation), so Dhuumfire might not be worth it in power builds anymore.

Gravedigger is a bit clunky to use sometimes because of the root, that´s correct, but if you miss it you can still fall back to RS or Dagger for ~8 or 9 sec and be fine I think.

Ah, so it is a root. That’s helpful to know, thanks.

Sorry, I was sloppy on my language there. It is not an actual root, it is just clunky because of the long cast time. You can move will casting it.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

gin.7158:

Sigmoid answered your question.

Air sigil is just personal preference since it’s good in general situation.
Sigil of frailty will be useless if your group can maintain 25 vuln (with rev or engi, I guess it’s very easy). Sigil of night doesn’t always work. Sigil of strength will be useless if you capped out at 25 might. Anet may release better sigils later on though.

Funny because I heard Air sigil is pretty crappy now.
Then again, I’m someone who keeps energy sigils on his offhands because it’s basically a requirement for me. lol
I’d just go the multiple weapon-route like I do on Warrior, but I can see why you went with air.

patchnotes

Superior Sigil of Air: Fixed a bug in which this sigil required a 5-second recharge instead of a 3-second recharge.

Air is no longer bugged and procs every 3s at best and does decent damage, is also effected by weapon damage and damage mods last i checked. If you/your party cant maintain 25stacks then its better in gins build to swap spiteful talisman for bitter chill. Will more than make up the 5% damage loss. Will always have more than enough then. Besides focus 4 and GS#3 will land you at 24 stacks on a single target/boss so pretty much max anyways.

Yeah think accuracy>air now after the nerf.

Is entirely useless in more situations as the extra 7% would actually land you well over 100% crit chance in parties. Was getting 1.3~2k+ procs with air sigil every 3~4s.

A note to add, the hit comes near the end of the animation, you are able to precast gravedigger from a distance and step into melee range to land the strike.

^ Yes, what I meant is that it locks you in the animation for ~1.5 sec before the hit occurs and then goes into ~0.2 sec of aftercast, which took me some time to get used to.

Not 100% sure about those numbers though, I´ve seen ppl calculate total cast times ranging from ~1.6 sec to ~2 sec, which is a pretty huge gap. Would be nice to get some clarification on that one =)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Upcoming-Global-Change-to-Player-Minions/first

Wow I think this change my build. Probably Death magic is worth to be taken for extra power. Now I wanna try chronomancer instead ha3

gin.7158:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Upcoming-Global-Change-to-Player-Minions/first

Wow I think this change my build. Probably Death magic is worth to be taken for extra power. Now I wanna try chronomancer instead ha3

Ehh, not too sure about it. Yeah, the damage reduction is pretty neat, but the second the boss aggros the minions (and that happens rather frequently, at least for me) they turn into pieces of nothing. Also you have to drop either a better death shroud or support via blood magic for it (though that would probably be acceptable, depending on the situation) + you still have to fight the biggest enemy of minions; their AI.
It surely does make the build more useful, though.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

gin.7158:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Upcoming-Global-Change-to-Player-Minions/first

Wow I think this change my build. Probably Death magic is worth to be taken for extra power. Now I wanna try chronomancer instead ha3

Ehh, not too sure about it. Yeah, the damage reduction is pretty neat, but the second the boss aggros the minions (and that happens rather frequently, at least for me) they turn into pieces of nothing. Also you have to drop either a better death shroud or support via blood magic for it (though that would probably be acceptable, depending on the situation) + you still have to fight the biggest enemy of minions; their AI.
It surely does make the build more useful, though.

Yeah dropping blood magic for death magic for extra toughness and power. The bonus power is pretty good the last time I tried it. Flesh golem may get aggro but for bone minions and healing minion is not very likely I think.

About AI, It’s perfect for me. They can quickly change target now. In case you don’t know, they have updated the minion AI lately. It’s so good that I do well at high mmr solo queue pvp(esl level players) with MM necro. But I digress.

I have a question for you dear min maxers.

On the valkyrie reaper setup.

10% slayer potion or Furious Maintenance Oil ?

If I’m not completely kittened you should get about 12-13% more crit damage from the oil, going by the Vitality in Gin’s build. Someone else surely knows better though and will correct (or, hopefully agree with) me

That’s nice.

I did some rough maths in WvW where guards buffs and bloodlust + might made me go up to 4000 power, so crit damage was a thing.

So i’m wondering if in pve ferocity will give better returns than flat damage.

12-13% more crit damage is about 5% damage boost.

What a disappointment.

I guess it will still stay as a default choice when slayer potions don’t cut (mob variety / unknown type) which can be relevant when fighting mossman.

I cant say anything conclusive yet because im not 100% on after casts. And i dont really trust the random different aftercasts and values people have been throwing out.

My general impressions are that RS auto with reapers onslaught should do slightly more than dagger (but havent confirmed). Gravedigger spam will probably be best dps below 50% even if the aftercast makes it 2 second repeatable cast. Lich is still really good so it might be worth using to fill in the gap before reaching 50%. No idea where a GS + dagger rotation sits when above 50% though.

The things i am certain on though. Spite is mandatory for power along with Reaper. And it will be your standard dps traits. The 3rd line could honestly be anything. Soul reaping would be the best dps. But death magic has potential for shroud dps increase and anchor utility along with minions. And blood obviously has vampiric aura.

For a group condi build im really keen to try a curses, death magic, reaper build. Basically death nova spam with whirls to stack poison out the kitten. Only problem is death nova spam might not be as good as i hoped with minions becoming 95% immune to aoe damage. If this build does work and provide a decent amount of condi dps then it could also anchor in raids. due to toughness from death magic.

spoj.9672:

I cant say anything conclusive yet because im not 100% on after casts. And i dont really trust the random different aftercasts and values people have been throwing out.

My general impressions are that RS auto with reapers onslaught should do slightly more than dagger (but havent confirmed). Gravedigger spam will probably be best dps below 50% even if the aftercast makes it 2 second repeatable cast. Lich is still really good so it might be worth using to fill in the gap before reaching 50%. No idea where a GS + dagger rotation sits when above 50% though.

The things i am certain on though. Spite is mandatory for power along with Reaper. And it will be your standard dps traits. The 3rd line could honestly be anything. Soul reaping would be the best dps. But death magic has potential for shroud dps increase and anchor utility along with minions. And blood obviously has vampiric aura.

For a group condi build im really keen to try a curses, death magic, reaper build. Basically death nova spam with whirls to stack poison out the kitten. Only problem is death nova spam might not be as good as i hoped with minions becoming 95% immune to aoe damage. If this build does work and provide a decent amount of condi dps then it could also anchor in raids. due to toughness from death magic.

Well, good to know I wasn’t really far off.

As for the condi build, the minions summoned from the shout lose HP over time, don’t they? And you can manually blow up bone minions and blood fiend, so it shouldn’t be too bad I guess. Probably not as effective as it could be, though.

Yeah for it to be worthwhile it needs to provide enough poison and death nova procs to compensate for the lack of burn necro has.

The irony, minion PvE buffs are actually making minions worse in PvE.

Well it makes Flesh Golem a lot better and that’s the only minion I’d take in a regular power build anyways =P

Also makes blood fiend easily the best heal we have. Ive been enjoying it for a while now. But this change just clinches it. Its like warrior heal signet but it deals damage.

Oh yeah, I haven’t even thought about Blood Fiend tbh =D Gonna give it a shot tomorrow for sure.

spoj.9672:

Yeah for it to be worthwhile it needs to provide enough poison and death nova procs to compensate for the lack of burn necro has.

I’ll ship u if u make the condi necro work!

Ship me where? Im happy where i am. :<

Could drop soul reaping if capping vuln. Allows you to take blood magic instead for vampric support. Using dagger mainly until 50%

Painbow.6059:

Could drop soul reaping if capping vuln. Allows you to take blood magic instead for vampric support. Using dagger mainly until 50%

Something like that. For fractals I’d run Blood Magic anyway, for dungeons I’ll probably stick with Soul Reaping.

As for Blood Fiend, yeah he’s going to be quite good after the change, though I can still see myself slotting the other heals.

The thing is soul reaping is better from a pure damage perspective. Even if you dont use dhuumfire you still have a 5% modifier and the option to trait lich form.

So like i said its not really an obvious choice.

Even Curse to carry all the Plebs with your amazing grace CPC!

@spoj: not that kind of ship D;

Only take blood over soul if you need the support. Else soul reaping is better for damage.

Also as a reaper more often than not GS> Dagger unless changes were made. Also if you have dhuumfire RS auto is the best thing to use when you are out of cooldowns.

Yeah I understand that, but I think the party wide life steal as well as extra sustain you get and movement speed without swiftness or locust signet is all pretty nice too. Vampric support is one of the unique things about necromancer. Come HoT I think blood magic will be even better since the utility and sustain it provides will be strong in raids. But it is slightly less damage