Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone,

My main character is a Sylvari Necromancer, so I am trying to get him some gear now that he’s 80.

My spec is an axe/warhorn power/crit 30/20/0/20 focusing at on-hit and on-crit bleeds and hp regen.
This is the trait build i use

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/necromancer#11|15|1201|2064|3415|1199|1205|30|1255|1211|1217|20|2325|1233|0|0|0|0|0|20|2397|2320|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

So I ask you guys, I want to add some survivability to it by using some Vitality or Toughness. What is worth the most?
also what gear (and from where) should i use?
I am thinking on adding runes (ofc) to the armor, more specifically " of the Mesmer" runes. Any advice?

Ask yourself: do I play a class that has high Health by default?

Necromancers have the highest base Health in the game, so you would definitely benefit more from Toughness than Vitality at this point.

hmm, I guess you are right, Thank you Oglaf! Merry X-mas btw

My main problem is, what gear to use :/ craft some (i have tailoring at 400) get Karma ones? if so which ones?

Some crafted Knight pieces perhaps?

This gives Toughness/Power/Precision.

Mix with Knight (tough/prec/power), Cavalier (tough/crit damage/ power) and Berserk (power/prec/crit damage) balancing with the amount of defense/offense you desire

I was thinking some Knight with some Berserker pieces, problem is to craft this costs some gold and I already have 210k Karma on the side. Are karma exotic pieces worth the trouble?

Thank you Yareon for your response! I am a man of programming ahead of action ( :P ) and I am trying to find a tool (if it even exists) that allows me to simulate the stats with my traits and armor so I know what’s my Crit chance, Power, Toughness (and how much damage it blocks). I am aiming for around 50 ~ 66% crit chance with as much Power possible and Toughness is what I am asking even possible? :P

Airanthus.4592:

Thank you Yareon for your response! I am a man of programming ahead of action ( :P ) and I am trying to find a tool (if it even exists) that allows me to simulate the stats with my traits and armor so I know what’s my Crit chance, Power, Toughness (and how much damage it blocks). I am aiming for around 50 ~ 66% crit chance with as much Power possible and Toughness is what I am asking even possible? :P

Look into Knights gear (Tou/Prec/Pow) and Rampager or Berserker jewelry, with Emerald orbs/jewels (Prec/Tou/Pow) in all pieces. Use weps with precision and the Sigil of Perception. You should then be around 60-65% crit chance if you have 20pts in Curses. That’s what I have for crit in my build (I use CondDmg/Prec/Tou gear in mine, because I’m somewhat more condition-focused).

My main is a Necromancer as well and personally I don’t find Toughness very useful, at least in PvE. Most of the time I die it is due to the health degeneration effects of conditions such as Burning, Bleeding and Poison against which Toughness does not help at all whereas the extra hp offered by Vitality does help you survive longer against both direct damage as well as condition damage, especially if you find yourself using Plague Signet often in dungeons I figure Vitality would be way more useful.

Most of the time I die to direct damage it is in dungeons or to event bosses who use powerful attacks which are capable of 1 or 2 hitting you regardless of your toughness, so tanking those attacks is not an option, they have to be dodged/kited. Also for all caster professions, the trait which increase Vitality also increases Healing Power so this makes your heals stronger to compensate for the lower armor although yes, Toughness is better at protecting you from direct damage.

Overall I think Vitality is a more reliable way of increasing your survivability whereas Toughness is more situational. Toughness would probably be more useful to you if you farm in an area full of mobs who never inflict degenerative conditions. Higher Toughness would allow you to group more of them together and aoe them for farming.

A rule of thumb I heard is that you should have your armor be 10% of your health. Then if you do a lot of healing, deviate from that to have more toughness. Or if you face a lot of condition damage, deviate from that to have more vitality/health. There is math behind it but I’m too lazy to elaborate it right now.

Thank you everyone, I am quite overwhelmed by how many replied and how fast. Mostly I need this build for WvWvW as well as some dungeons and such. I will go with TheAgedGnome’s idea for Tou/Prec/Pow and Pre/Tou/Pow jewels. maybe try to customize it. I will let you know how it goes.

Quick question, since i am going to make these by myself (jeweler and tailor at 400) what am i supposed to do with 212k Karma? :P

Sundar.1735:

My main is a Necromancer as well and personally I don’t find Toughness very useful, at least in PvE. Most of the time I die it is due to the health degeneration effects of conditions such as Burning, Bleeding and Poison

You’re a necromancer: push that kitten F1 (or whatever button you bound to death shroud) once in a while!
Or remove them by placing them on your enemies with staff 4 or many other necromancer skills!

A necromancer has ~18.000 base hp at lvl 80 (same as a warrior, the 2 high hp pool classes) PLUS a second rapid-charge second life bar (death shroud) and many way to remove conditions from yourself.

1 point of toughness in a class with the most health bar in the game is worth way more than the 10 HP you gain from 1 point of vitality.
Yes, it does not offer additional resistance to condition damage but, it’s also true that, unless you’re a minion master, probably you also don’t have more than 100 points of toughness from traits while having at least 100-200 points of vitality from Blood Magic.

Airanthus.4592:

….for Tou/Prec/Pow and Pre/Tou/Pow jewels…..

Actually they’re both tough/prec/pow, being toughness the major stat.
If you don’t equip any condition damage, like Cond.Dam/prec/tuogh from the dungeons equipment (condition damage main stat) or a Rampager (Prec/Pow/Cond.Dam. with Precision as main stat) I suggest to equip some piece of equipment with Power as main stat to not drop too much attack.