Guild Wars 2

Are you having trouble locking down a stable build? Do you often find yourself changing utilities to counter something only to just be countered by something else? Well Anet doesnt seem to want to change that but maybe this will help you find out why.

For years i have been trying to make power necro work in a way where i dont need to be hiding behind teammates just to hold multiple people when i need to. I have swapped to thief in the past and been able to do that, Revenant as well but even though i have had Necro for the longest time the class still makes no sense to me

So while Anet is still being Anet I decided to break down the class to solve this problem.

- The only defense is shroud, trading blows with 2 or 3 people with rise and protection when there are no high damage AoE skills does not work.

- Too many skills require set up skills. The high damage skills are slow so you cant just use them when you need to like other classes. You have to stun or immobilize first, or hope your opponent is a lamp post

There isn’t any space for players to use the skills in ways that fit the situation. The reason why thief, mesmer, revenant and a few others where so successful was because a lot of their skills were very flexible. Thief for example can use heartseeker, withdraw, teleports etc to attack or jump into better positions. This makes each thief very unpredictable and makes the class different depending on who is playing it. It also means the are too many things to account for when balancing.

Necro on the other hand does not have that freedom. That does not mean the class should be designed like the others, there are ways of keeping its identity while designing it in a way that makes sense.

These are pretty much the foundation issues, what i found next was really interesting. Since core spec only builds are pretty much useless against Elite spec builds, the class’ viability is hinged on the Elite spec.

It turns out that the most successful classes have their defense tied to their elite

Chronomancer – Shield, gives a huge boost mesmer defense which allows its offensive side to work well.

Herald- Shield + infuse light. If Revenant didnt have these two things (especially infuse light) the class would have been a flop

Druid- Staff + Celestial Avatar. It is common knowledge that ranger heals from CA have been considered broken. Staff also gives a kiting bonus

Scrapper – notoriously known for its sustain from the Hammer blocks, reflects and sneak gyro. together with invulnerability and healing turret Scrappers could do great damage while holding against multiple people. This prompted nerfs to turret and gyro.

Dragonhunter – Often said to not be viable at high level play but i disagree. Legend division is as high of a level as you can get without going pro and last season there were quite a few of these.

The new virtues gave the class a huge defense boost which meant that the traps and longbow were much more dangerous since you cant just face roll through the attacks. Sheild of courage + wings of resolve which synergize with renewed focus are the reasons why its high power and low toughness meta build worked so well.

The Problem Classes

Tempest – Its elite trait line has no real defensive traits which led to the tank/support auramancer being the only viable build in PvP

Daredevil – This class lost its duelist nature because it had really low defensive abilities compared to the abilities of other classes. The extra dodge, bandits defense and bound as a combo finisher allowed it to see some play but only as a decap class because the defense of the better elite specs for a while rendered its burst andrun play useless in a standard match.

Berserker – Almost no defense in it elite spec, instead was given more offense when it already had a lot (Anet logic) Its non existent defense caused it to be a running joke in PvP until the condi meta meta which allowed it to tank and stun for huge damage. Was still not as great as some other specs but at least made the class playable. Unfortunately power warrior was then forced out of play for the most part.

Reaper – Again no defense in the trait line but a boost in offense (especially conditions)The class is tied to shroud but only one traitline boosts shroud. Playing without that line is extremely difficult since your survival depends on it (Power or other wise) Together with its lack of flexibility, power became virtually unusable. This caused its condition side to be the only viable way of playing because there was the option to tank and cause the defensive abilities of other classes to become useless.

Tempest – Its elite trait line has no real defensive traits which led to the tank/support auramancer being the only viable build in PvP

As someone who typically mains tempest during the offseason and this and the previous season I’ll have to say that the lack of defense stems from its great versatility. If you buff defense enough to make air and fire traits viable then there’s no tradeoff. As it currently is tempest is the best class in the game due to its team support, utility, and AoE zoning. You can bait an interrupt with a fire overload or save it for cleaving rezzers. Even if you aren’t specced for condi the burning from d/f fire skills and the overload will help get in some damage on running targets. Air is better for a wider area and icing on the cake for securing the win at a team fight. Water needs proper timing and positioning since you’ll get interrupted out of it very easily but once you get that down the class is simply overpowered.

Daredevil – This class lost its duelist nature because it had really low defensive abilities compared to the abilities of other classes. The extra dodge, bandits defense and bound as a combo finisher allowed it to see some play but only as a decap class because the defense of the better elite specs for a while rendered its burst and run play useless in a standard match.

The defensive capabilities are great but active. Sw/D 3 and staff 3 and 5 have built in dodges on top of the three regular dodges. Let’s use a druid as a benchmark: there is signet of stone, bristleback, and longbow. With staff and initiative you have enough evade frames for each of their burst and SoS is on a long cooldown and steal can interrupt a CA heal.

So wait.
Shield of courage and wings of resolve you count as ‘defensive elite’ but physical supremacy, unhindered combatant, escapists absolution, bandits defense, hardy conduit, elemental bastion and overload water you dont?
And its not just the defense btw.
If daredevil was based around speed and defense it would be a really cool, optional choice for non-stealth thief gameplay.
But in actuality it also offers great utility, as many damage boosts as deadly arts and pulmonary impact.

Asrat.2645:

So wait.
Shield of courage and wings of resolve you count as ‘defensive elite’ but physical supremacy, unhindered combatant, escapists absolution, bandits defense, hardy conduit, elemental bastion and overload water you dont?
And its not just the defense btw.
If daredevil was based around speed and defense it would be a really cool, optional choice for non-stealth thief gameplay.
But in actuality it also offers great utility, as many damage boosts as deadly arts and pulmonary impact.

If you read the daredevil section carefully you will notice that i did recognize Daredevils defensive abilities. They are what makes the spec even remotely useable. The problem with daredevil is that it is a very high risk class to play, making it more likely to die in a team fight because of all the random damage. You cannot defend and attack at the same time except with sword/ pistol (which has its own issues) unlike DH where you can pop shield of courage and do something else.

Traps like Dragons Maw and test of faith and the longbow as well all defend and attack at the same time. When you add things like renewed focus and shelter which don’t take away from any build it just makes Dragonhunter objectively a better elite spec. On top of these there are burn builds that allow the guardian to burn and block at the same time.

Don’t forget how daredevils were treated last season vs dragon hunters