Guild Wars 2

I’m leveling a Necro (L8 now) and this is my first GW2 toon. I was wondering if this class is needed in dungeon runs or if I should choose another ranged DPS class.

It’s not needed for anything, especially with the fear nerf, but it shouldn’t be too excluded among general players.

Once of the great things about GW2 is that all classes can run all dungeons. You’ll encounter some flak from elitists, but as long as you learn your class and play it well, you’ll always be welcome in a good group.

atm necros and rangers are subpar in dungeons but definitely not useless. Skill is always > gear or class

also about necros, imo there is no better kiter class in the game. They shine in cof p2 and ac p1 & 2. They are tanky and have decent conditions but still pale vs other classes that can do what they do well but significantly excel in other parts

yar, i’ve ran with some necro’s before that i believed outshined other guards, eles or what have you that i’ve run with before.

Why are guardians considered ‘awesome’ for dungeons anyways? I’m a necromancer and to me guardians are just my binding blade bots, outside of that skill and the occasional wall of reflection they arent all that great. Necromancers have insanely higher aoe potential and are equally good with team support.

Seriously, its not about the class but the ability of the player to play well.

Best example, Dungeon group where 3 couldnt dodge for kitten, ran around like headless chicken and had absolutely 0 situational awareness. Quit at the 3rd fractal before the boss which was easy swamp (because they simply couldnt survive mossmann)

Next was a group of 5 players that were very skilled and 1 disconnected. We finnished 2 fractals and the boss with just 4 players and it was much better than the run with the 5 players where 3 were idiots.

So choose a class that you like visually and think you want to play and learn it well. There are so many different abilities and things you can do with a class you will be surprised. Those elitist players think they are better but usually only know their class and only their preferred dps spec.

Why guardians are awesome? You probably have encountered the 90% of guardians that are terrible and mostly use 2h GS exclusively and dont know what weapon swamp or support abilities are, or better yet use spirit weapons offensively.

You will have a moment of “oh god thats awesome” when you encounter one of those few Guardians that know what they are doing (same for pretty much every class tough, bad players that have no clue about other classes)

Eldiora.5836:

Seriously, its not about the class but the ability of the player to play well.

Best example, Dungeon group where 3 couldnt dodge for kitten, ran around like headless chicken and had absolutely 0 situational awareness. Quit at the 3rd fractal before the boss which was easy swamp (because they simply couldnt survive mossmann)

Next was a group of 5 players that were very skilled and 1 disconnected. We finnished 2 fractals and the boss with just 4 players and it was much better than the run with the 5 players where 3 were idiots.

So choose a class that you like visually and think you want to play and learn it well. There are so many different abilities and things you can do with a class you will be surprised. Those elitist players think they are better but usually only know their class and only their preferred dps spec.

Why guardians are awesome? You probably have encountered the 90% of guardians that are terrible and mostly use 2h GS exclusively and dont know what weapon swamp or support abilities are, or better yet use spirit weapons offensively.

You will have a moment of “oh god thats awesome” when you encounter one of those few Guardians that know what they are doing (same for pretty much every class tough, bad players that have no clue about other classes)

Well can you clarify why guardians are awesome other than just saying ’they’re awesome and you’ll know it when they are awesome’. There’s nothing wrong with guardians using GS. The weapon is actually pretty kitten good and like I said, binding blade is great and just speeds up the whole trash mob process. Incidentally I’ve never had a moment where I thought ‘ kitten I wish I had a guardian’. I’ve had moments where I wanted a mesmer though.

A proper support Guardian will give your whole group most of the time 12-15 Stacks of Might which is a darn good damage up for everybody.

A long time -33% damage with protection and can stop spikes with Aegis.
Permanent speedboost and very long regeneration.
Regeneration on top of alot of heals.

Also tons of crowd controle abilities. The Staff has this amazing line which makes mass pulls alot easier.

Endless reflects and long stability which is essential in a good amount of encounters.
Condition Remove for the whole group.

So far Staff/Hammer or Staff/Scepter/Torch are great for me. Gives alot of utility, controle and endless buffs for my team.

Also a 4 sec combo blast finnisher on the hammer. People don’t utilize combo fields all that well most of the time. Area might (3 might) for the whole team every 4 seconds, 1.5k heals in water fields make a big difference in fights.

Usually its for me “not another warrior” wish I had a necro or ele

Play whatever class you enjoy the most , all are fine & all have something to offer to the group. CBA to say what or why , as you might find a way to use an ability in a totally different way than me or any other player , tbh the game alows you to do some incredible things, but sadly most ppl are still in the mentality of the trinity. If you like & you are having fun with, play it. This is a game its meant to be fun not a chore & whatever class you play you re bound to find someone with the attitude "oh not a …. (random class name) ". Just have fun , its that simple.

I dont know how someone can say necros are subpar in dungeons^^. Not only they are incredibly fun to play, but also the aoe they can spread with conditions is just awesome.
Who disagrees with this has indeed never played one.

Luke.2643:

I dont know how someone can say necros are subpar in dungeons^^. Not only they are incredibly fun to play, but also the aoe they can spread with conditions is just awesome.
Who disagrees with this has indeed never played one.

I feel the same about Rangers. People seem to think that Rangers are gimped for dungeons, but to me they’re extremely useful. The difference is that they’re not the “run into the mobs face and kill stuff” class that a warrior or guardian is, and so they don’t get as much credit as they deserve. I feel necros are the same. Always game to have a Ranger or a Necro in my dungeon party

Do high level Fractals, there is no “run in to the mobs and face and skill stuff” anymore. Anyone who does that simply drops dead in a heartbeat

And yeah the harder content gets the better it is to have a diverse group and every class has some unique abilities that make things easier on the group.

Sure if you run COF you can faceroll it with 5 Warriors easily. Try that at Fractal 30+ and you will want to gouge your eyes out.

Its just too bad that there are only Fractals currently that offer that kind of challenge in the game.

Akame.1073:

Play whatever class you enjoy the most , all are fine & all have something to offer to the group. CBA to say what or why , as you might find a way to use an ability in a totally different way than me or any other player , tbh the game alows you to do some incredible things, but sadly most ppl are still in the mentality of the trinity. If you like & you are having fun with, play it. This is a game its meant to be fun not a chore & whatever class you play you re bound to find someone with the attitude "oh not a …. (random class name) ". Just have fun , its that simple.

^^

A good player will always be welcome, regardless of professions. Every single profession can bring something to a dungeon party, especially in particular parts of particular dungeons. Just have fun and.. in the process you will learn what your necro has to offer and when to use certain skills.. and then you will become a good player welcome in any party xD

Eldiora.5836:

A proper support Guardian will give your whole group most of the time 12-15 Stacks of Might which is a darn good damage up for everybody.

A long time -33% damage with protection and can stop spikes with Aegis.
Permanent speedboost and very long regeneration.
Regeneration on top of alot of heals.

Also tons of crowd controle abilities. The Staff has this amazing line which makes mass pulls alot easier.

Endless reflects and long stability which is essential in a good amount of encounters.
Condition Remove for the whole group.

So far Staff/Hammer or Staff/Scepter/Torch are great for me. Gives alot of utility, controle and endless buffs for my team.

Also a 4 sec combo blast finnisher on the hammer. People don’t utilize combo fields all that well most of the time. Area might (3 might) for the whole team every 4 seconds, 1.5k heals in water fields make a big difference in fights.

Usually its for me “not another warrior” wish I had a necro or ele

Wow, I never knew about the might stack thing, that does sound pretty good! Thanks for the info. However, I always found the defensive capacity of guardians a bit unnecessary; I often run with a group of experienced people all using glass cannon builds and dodge suffices for almost all defensive purposes, such that prot, regen and aegis are rarely needed. I will look into this might stacking build though! thanks again! Btw what is the general skills this build uses for this might stacking?

I think its more about the player bringing the skill rather than “is my class good in pve”. I do a lot of dungeons and there are so many really poor players who just hit the same 3 or 4 buttons (one of those being there heal skill). And most players dont use there group skills at all. I’ve grouped with good necro’s and have no issue with that class. Other professions have the potential to do a lot more in some respects but fall short.

A good for instance is about 6 weeks ago my profession was considered “useless” in dungeons. Now they are desired in groups. The profession has received nothing but nerfs and broken skills since then yet the community views them as good now. Go figure.

Necro and Ranger are UP for PvE right now.

There is always the issue with player skill obviously, so it doesn’t mean all necros are worse then all guardians or warrior, etc.

But in the hands of an equally skilled player across all classes, a Necro is less useful in dungeons. Other classes just offer way more in terms of group synergy, specific roles, and direct damage for dps check events.

And yes, my first 80 was a Necro. I now have 5 classes at 80 and never use my Necro in dungeons because they can’t fill a role as good as other classes like Guardian, Warrior, and Mesmer.

That’s not to say you can’t complete dungeons with a Necro, but if you are looking for the “best” classes in the current meta and are looking for a class that is highly desired in organized dungeon groups, Necro won’t be it.

In terms of group usefulness and fulfilling specific roles, the tiers in my opinion are:

Tier 1: Guardian, Warrior, Mesmer
Tier 2: Elementalist, Engi, Thief
Tier 3: Necro, Ranger

Again, a skilled Ranger will still be better then a clueless noob Guardian, but if you are talking about high skilled players who run organized groups with multiple 80s and experience with all dungeon paths, the above are what I consider the most useful.

I absolutely agree with Strifey. My main, honestly, is a Necromancer, and while I do use it for Fractals because I insist on it, my Warrior, Guardian, and other classes all bring so much more to the table when I do them instead. Strifey’s tiering is absolutely spot-on, too, if you assume perfectly equivalent skill across the board.

There’s one nuance I have to point out, though, and that is that many groups use specific class setups for specific skills. For instance, a Ranger is very valuable in very high level fractals against the Grawl boss because of Entangle. With that one nuance aside, you can likely do well with any class if you’re a talented player, but Strifey’s tier setup is “where it’s really at” if you’re looking to rank what we have.

Necro is an extremely strong support class with the proper setup. They can do a lot to keep allies safe while simultaneously dishing out some decent (not amazing) DPS.

Pretty much anything in dungeons that doesn’t require projectile reflection/blocking, a Necro can do. Crucible of Eternity will be a pain if you lack a Mesmer, Guardian, or Ele, but other than that, any dungeon can be done pretty well with any group.

The effectiveness of different classes really depends on the group composition and skill level. At a very high level of player performance, for example, it’s hard to beat a Warrior/Warrior/Warrior/Guardian/Mesmer melee train doing the Time Warp.

At lower levels of play skill I’ve found the Necromancer to be much more effective. Melee benefits a lot from increasing returns and group support which is not present in weaker and disorganized groups, which tends to drive everyone into safer (but much lower damage) ranged roles. That lower damage also gives the Necro more time to work, since their damage builds over time and isn’t terribly effective against foes that explode in a couple seconds. On top of that your natural bulk makes you very survivable and consistent even if your team is collapsing.

Its consistency hurts it in a high power environment, since it doesn’t scale up like a lot of other classes – but it’s felt like one of the strongest characters I could run in an environment where my team was wholly unreliable.