Guild Wars 2

Hi, I’ve been play necromancer for 2 years now and it’s been okay for me but I wonder if I really need to change to another class to play high level fractals.

I play power necro(reaper build) with utilities , such as sucking conditions etc.., that help party members and have considerbly fine DPS and high survival rate but my friends keep saying that I should change my class to mesmer which can get all the gears from necro.
So…does necro really have no significant advantages againt mesmer or anyother classes?

1st off there will always be a large number of people that say to use the meta, whatever the meta happens to be at the time, and that anything else is a waste of time.

I say play what you like.

But as far as high level fractals go, and keep in mind I tend to run either my Necro or my Ranger (but I do have experience playing all 9 profs in fractals). Which 1 I run and which build depends a lot more on what # fractal exactly and instabilities, and what my party make up is.

I would bet almost no one on here would recommend you run Minions in a high level fractal. On my recommendation, after 2 guildies had been trying to beat the L69 Cliffside with the “mobs give condies” instability and causing various people to fail and rage-quit over 2 hours I joined and we tried something different. 3 MM Necros and 2 rangers and we beat it with no wipes. Then beat a L80 something Snowblind with the same group (think it was 80 something, might have been a 70 something) And another guildmate soloed a L90 something OldTom fight from 50% mark, as a necro, after they ran out of crystals for the fan and everyone else was dead.

I myself havent done any fractals over 87 yet as I am a little short on AR, but with my necro I can also do fractals being a lot shorter on AR then I would with my Ranger. And thus far I my experience has been anything they can kill I can kill deader….

thank you for your kind reply TAKINA.
I just couldn’t take those typical critisisms from my friends on necro in fractal anymore.

I have mained a necro since the beginning.And yes people do put us down alot but if you know the necro and play it well you usually out survive and do the same dps as other classes.

our group support isn’t the average type thus people don’t understand how to take advantage of us that is not our fault though ;-D

To be fair. There is two side on this argument.

1) Old Necro build were at the bottom of the dps chart and brought very little support to the team for fractal. Reaper helped that, but not completely. As a zerker necro you will do decent dps, with minimum support, which isn’t ideal to e honest. Condi Reaper on the other hand have good dps, better than Zerker reaper. It’s still not as good as PS Warrior and Chronomancer, which bring less or equal dps to the Condi Reaper, but bring so much support. Or the Herald who bring more support and dps.

2) Even if that’s true that other profession bring more than a Zerker Reaper, it’s not a bad choice either. If you wanna play chronomancer go ahead, maybe you will like it. But there is no reason to force you play a profession that you don’t like. Zerker Reaper does the job. And if your friend is try-hard enough that he doesn’t understand that, ask him what is the Zerker Reaper dps? If he’s so sure that it’s not worth it, I’m sure he did his homework and know what is the lost of dps for taking a Zerker Reaper right?

A well played zerk necro is a perfectly valid addition to a high level fractal PuG. You have enormous sustain, which will help in poor groups, while having reasonable damage. You have reasonable healing and downed player support through blood magic line. If crap hits the fan you can also swap out spite for soul reaping and go from having enormous sustain to crazy sustain (can solo hold one of the arm seals in 94 indefinitely if careful).

Also do not hesitate to swap back to the base necro for things where you will likely end up needing a reasonable amount of ranged damage.

Note that this is not the best class/build for a meta group or speed running group, but for PuGs it is perfectly viable.

Delus.3260:

Hi, I’ve been play necromancer for 2 years now and it’s been okay for me but I wonder if I really need to change to another class to play high level fractals.

I play power necro(reaper build) with utilities , such as sucking conditions etc.., that help party members and have considerbly fine DPS and high survival rate but my friends keep saying that I should change my class to mesmer which can get all the gears from necro.
So…does necro really have no significant advantages againt mesmer or anyother classes?

Offensive blood support reaper is one of the best builds for pug fractals. You have insane sustain, a very ballanced dps (below average when mob above 50% health but one of the best dps of the game when mob is below 50%), vampiric presence which helps the party a lot in both survivability and dps, and break bar wreckage.

Mesmer on the other hand, while being a better choice for organised groups, in pugs you will not be able to play it at its full potential because people will often go ranged, get downed, etc… so in many cases you will end up giving alacrity and quickness to 1 member while the rest 3 run around doing things… That leaves you with a way below average dps, a reliable boon strip, and minimal survivability compared to necro.

Also considering how easy fractals currently are, if people tell you to switch class, are pseudo elitists that have no clue or creativity about their builds and will always copy builds because their youtube follower told them to.

In general my rule of thumb is to play whatever you’re the best at. A mediocre Chronomancer is worth far less than an expert Reaper, regardless of what is or isn’t meta. That said, everyone else who posted above is right; Reaper offers killer sustain and mediocre DPS, which can be useful in random / casual groups. My best recommendation, though, is to avoid groups that refuse you by class alone.

I actually love having a reaper in my party when I do fractals. While their group support isn’t great, my other friends play chrono, herald, and ps war so we already have all of the support we need, and as mentioned above, reapers have incredible sustain and pretty good dps. I will say, due to the toughness scaling, you’re probably better off playing a condition reaper at the higher levels as condition damage ignores DPS – you’ll probably even start to out dps power classes, especially if you can pull off an effective jagged horror build (works pretty well on say, Mossman) – but honestly there’s nothing wrong with playing power reaper if you don’t want to switch over unless you’re going for speed clearing or something. Necro got a lot of flack before HoT, but now it’s not a bad class at all.

Necro is perfectly fine for high level fractals if you bring stuff to deal with whatever instability or fractal you’re on.

Necros are also pretty handy when condition instability becomes too much of a problem.
Speccing unholy martyr in blood, death magic and then equipting plague signet,bloodfiend,rise,well of power(abit overkill) and fleshgolem you’ll be able to constantly clear condis from team mates while your minions send them right back.

Mostly not needed in onrganized groups and will cost you in damage but for PUGs it can really make a difference when brute force and offense aren’t working.

I don’t remember which level, but in a certain tier where tempest can practically one-shot himself with boss’ retaliation, a well played reaper can actually sustain through that shenanigan and deal meaningful damage. A spoj is worth three of me.

Most players give a kitten what class you are. Why are people in this forum so much ‘viability’ oriented. In reality no one gives a kitten as long as you are not running a total crap build with next to no damage.

Im probably going to get alot of hate for this comment but I see necros as kind of a poor mans Engineers if you may.
Less dmg, less utility, equal sustain and MUCH easier to play.

Loop.8106:

Im probably going to get alot of hate for this comment but I see necros as kind of a poor mans Engineers if you may.
Less dmg, less utility, equal sustain and MUCH easier to play.

You went a bit too far here, Bob.

As for rotations – they should be fun, first and foremost and that is true for Condition Reaper. After all, both come down to just spamming stuff on cooldown, Engi just has more of them.

Wouldnt really consider condition reaper rotation fun but meh. GS + d/f reaper rotation is fun above 50% health.

Reapers/necros are much better than they were before. Damage is better. Utility is better. Their self sufficiency is also way better. Which makes them very good pug classes.

The only thing holding them back is a lack of a truly important unique role. And a bit of a damage insufficiency.

Condi reaper is only really good damage when you can effectively abuse jagged horrors (So Sabetha only). Everywhere else its decent but quite a bit weaker than other condi classes. Although this could change if people start actually creating more condi necros and start abusing epidemic on adds. Unfortunately it seems quite difficult to convince people to play necro, let alone create a condi set for one.

Power reaper simply suffers from poor skill balancing which holds it back from being top tier dps. Ele has multi hit aoes compared to reapers pulse aoes. And skills like Gravedigger have huge aftercasts which prevents them from taking the lead. Also a lack of trait modifiers doesnt help.

Iris Ng.9845:

I don’t remember which level, but in a certain tier where tempest can practically one-shot himself with boss’ retaliation, a well played reaper can actually sustain through that shenanigan and deal meaningful damage. A spoj is worth three of me.

There are several bosses where I have to watch out for retal … or I’ll kill myself. :-) [zerker tempest]

I haven’t seen any necro hate recently in PUGs (I mostly play in PUGs; at least at high levels). I just finished all the levels 51-75, I didn’t see people calling for specific classes after 80 (except that druid is popular for heals, and helpful, but generally that’s been someone volunteering).

I’m not sure if necro is optimal for speed clears, but IMO it’s fine — esp if you understand the encounters/mechanics and pay attention.

Delus.3260:

Hi, I’ve been play necromancer for 2 years now and it’s been okay for me but I wonder if I really need to change to another class to play high level fractals.

I play power necro(reaper build) with utilities , such as sucking conditions etc.., that help party members and have considerbly fine DPS and high survival rate but my friends keep saying that I should change my class to mesmer which can get all the gears from necro.
So…does necro really have no significant advantages againt mesmer or anyother classes?

No you do not need to change professions.

Even if your friends end up rejecting your company later on, you’re a necro, with the exception of say dredge which requires multiple physical bodies, you can solo high level fractals with your feet if you wanted.

A valuable ability of necros that you need to prioritize: MINIONS!

You can do wonders when you can keep damage off teammates by spawning an unholy army of the undead ^.^ People mostly look at damage output to determine the value of a class, but having these unique class side-quirks sometimes can be super helpful too!

With the current 50-100 climb, I’d say power necros are fine. That Shroud #4 pull-heal is top-keks whether you want to troll or want to help/reposition a teamie.
For dailies, necros are FINE, not the best, not the funnest, not the most helpful, but not a thief either.

K I just read your topic again, turns out you want above lvl 80 fractal advice with necros XD

Well then, once again, the Shroud #4 is perfect for pulling newbs out of danger. The mini-master route is AWESOME at lvl 94, when you can hold a side by yourself. Your elite summon can block projectiles for Old Tom for your teammates. Necros are great protectors (even rivaling Guards).

I’d say play what you like. I find necro to be very well suited to high lvl fractals. They barely put out any boons compared to many other classes so enemies don’t steal them. They can endure condi’s very well by transfering them back, eating them, or sending to their minions via death magic traits. Also really handy to have on lvl 40s when on crit gives enemies nearly infinite of all boons on enemies to be able to strip them or corrupt them into condi’s. Also their high hp and nearly constant death shroud make tanking stuff very easy. So many little tricks also they can do. Like the fractal avenger trying to stomp an ally. I just pop in reaper shroud, hit 3 to fear it and rez without putting my main hp in danger.