Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve been playing exclusively SPvP for a couple years on and off. Rank 45ish after numerous 2-4 month periods of not playing. Relatively casual; I don’t do ranked and I don’t play with a serious SPvP guild. Therefore a lot of my input could be taken with a grain of salt and I’m open to being completely wrong, and would like others’ opinions.

I’ve ran a power necro for about 2 weeks, and have had a mixed experience. Refined a build I felt comfortable with (basically what you see on meta battle with minor tweaks) and found generally staying alive and doing my job to be relatively difficult as opposed to playing a zerker warrior or guardian. As a power mancer, I seem to be obliterated by thieves and rangers almost immediately.

Honestly, the power mancer seems to have very little going for it. The extra healthbar provides a relatively small amount of survivability vs invulnerability, high regen, invisibility, or high mobility, which are the survival techniques of the other zerker builds. I feel a warrior can passively regen his healthbar more quickly than I can actively build life force (in a way that’s remotely safe).

I suspect this opinion is shared to some degree by the comments I see on necro forums and from other classes. I’m a bit disappointed, because I genuinely prefer the flavor and theme of the necromancer, but find the gameplay of the other zerker builds far more enjoyable and it seems to simply be because they’re just more viable. My warrior is fun, but I’m playing the class rather begrudgingly as my preferred class choice seems undeniably weaker than all the zerker alternatives.

Curious what other SPvPers are saying about zerker necros in comparison to other zerker classes? Am I missing something, or are they the worst of the bunch?

Thanks for the input.

PS – I’m aware I could play a terrormancer, but as a player tend to prefer direct damage builds.

Let me explain it to you:

A power necro is all about positioning, if you position yourself well you can do lots of damage with the right combos.

BUT

A power necro under focus will die faster than anything in this game.

Hopefully, the new necro specialization and greatsword will add some more active defense for necros, so they don’t get focused so easily.

Jelzouki.4128:

Let me explain it to you:

A power necro is all about positioning, if you position yourself well you can do lots of damage with the right combos.

BUT

A power necro under focus will die faster than anything in this game.

Seems like these tremendous positioning requirements are so pronounced in the necro because it’s so weak. Good positioning will benefit /any/ class, but it’s considered mandatory for a necro because they’re not powerful enough to be be useful when even small mistakes are made.

And this is why our team runs power necro with a designated rez character; HOWEVER, it does in fact have survivability if played in a way that at least tries to negate damage. You have overlooked the fact that you have not one but two invulns, a LOT of uptime on protection, and a massive, and I mean Massive amount of damage output as well as an “I win” button.

So, power necro rocks, play it for more than 2 weeks before you post about your shortcomings.

It’s probably true that there’s more to be done with the build than I’ve currently managed. I intend to keep at it. Granted, I sincerely doubt I’m playing the other zerker classes near top effectiveness, either, and they do seem a lot easier to pick up and do well with.

Appreciate the input.

DaShi.1368:

Hopefully, the new necro specialization and greatsword will add some more active defense for necros, so they don’t get focused so easily.

just slapping a specialisation on the profession while leaving the default class unfixed sounds like a very kittenty way to adress a problem. i hope therell be done more about it than just the specialisation.

@firebird: 2 invuls? and those are?

RashanDale.3609:

DaShi.1368:

Hopefully, the new necro specialization and greatsword will add some more active defense for necros, so they don’t get focused so easily.

just slapping a specialisation on the profession while leaving the default class unfixed sounds like a very kittenty way to adress a problem. i hope therell be done more about it than just the specialisation.

@firebird: 2 invuls? and those are?

It’s not a complete invuln but Spectral Armor while activating deathshroud is technically invulnerability, but kind of sub-par.

i have somewhere between 500 and 600 ranked games as power necro and my experience with matchups goes like this:

thief: it’s a very binary situation, if you have high life force you should always defeat him, if you have no life force it’s going to be a really really tough match. you can kill a zerker thief in 2-3 hits anyway so you’re generally ahead. they still make up being much more mobile than you across the map.

warrior: warriors are necros natural predators, no matter the spec it’s always going to be tough, ironically enough shoutbows are one of the least sources of concern (due to low cc) but if we’re talking zerker warriors they usually win the 1v1.

guardian: another really tough matchup, the blocks and blinds can really screw you over and they -will- melt you in seconds when your DS is down, on the other hand a good well combo will end them really fast, doable but difficult.

ranger and mesmer: the match vs those 2 classes is very similar, they will kill you if you allow them to range you down but if you can get close and personal and manage to avoid their big bursts (shatter combo and knockbacks+rapidfire) they will go down really fast. easy overall if you can out-position them.

elementalist: zerker ele would probably be scepter/focus, they will kill you if they can get you by surprise (as they will any class really) but if you avoid their big CDs they won’t have much going for them. easy if you don’t get surprise-killed.

engineer: zerker engineer? that’s so rare i have really no opinion about it sorry.

other power necros: i’d like to say skill wins… but it’s usally the one with most life force at start that has the edge.

keep in mind:

A) this is my experience, others might differ
B) necro is a snow-bally class, the more lifeforce at start the easier the matchup becomes
C) this is from a 1v1 vs other zerkers only, ofc it differs a lot in 2v2 and up or vs tankier spec.

Jelzouki.4128:

RashanDale.3609:

DaShi.1368:

Hopefully, the new necro specialization and greatsword will add some more active defense for necros, so they don’t get focused so easily.

just slapping a specialisation on the profession while leaving the default class unfixed sounds like a very kittenty way to adress a problem. i hope therell be done more about it than just the specialisation.

@firebird: 2 invuls? and those are?

It’s not a complete invuln but Spectral Armor while activating deathshroud is technically invulnerability, but kind of sub-par.

No… it “technically” isn’t…