Any Leveling guides for necros?
I wanted to play necro because I wanted to have a condi toon on hand, but I’ve found it’s a real pain in the kitten trying to work a condi build at lvl 27. I’ll give it another shot when I’m at higher levels but in the meantime, you guys have any advice for lower levels?
I tried running multiple minions to draw off agro and while this helps me survive a bit, things die reeeeally slowly. Also a lot of the times the mobs go after me not my minions which makes this moot.
If someone can direct me to a leveling necro guide or just general advice I’d appreciate it very much.
Have a staff as your main and switch to scepter/axe/dagger as your secondary after you use your marks.
The burst from the staff will leave a large group of most standard enemies at half health, while you can pummel off the remainder with the higher dps dagger/axe (or even scepter).
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Once you have mastered the above, you’ll probably want to get flesh golem at 30, since it provides some nice shielding and sustained damage.
I’d say level with power builds instead of condition because it scales a lot more during the early levels. Some people like wells but I used 2 minions, the run speed signet and the flesh golem for my utilities and elite. I like having pets that constantly due damage instead of having to wait on well cool-downs. I used staff and dagger+ dagger or focus because the dagger auto attack is very powerful. Lay down your marks from range then stab mobs in the face with your dagger to finish them off. When facing multiple mobs just lay down your marks, go into death shroud and use #5 then #4. Pop back out and finish them off with any other aoe you have + your dagger auto attack. It is pretty easy.
I levelled with a condi build witouth any problems.
Staff and scepter/dagger.
Basic idea is: Run around and hit a few mobs with scepter autoattack, when they are close hit 2, then 5 for aoe bleeds, then blood is power + epidemic, then 4 to get rid of your conditions (or consume conditions if you got hit too much)
If this didn’t take them all out ( usually it did), switch to staff and palce all marks, and go the DS possibly. Was able to take on large groups alone with this tactic.
Focused on precision and condi damage for equipement.
(edited by Alcibiades.3512)
Unfortunately, meta has kinda shifted away from anything but zerker. If you do want condi dmg, id recommend going hybrid at least as there are some problems with going straight con: structures dont bleed and there is a soft limit to the amount of con dps any target can take.
At any rate, I find in open world, it is best to max ur curses then focus on traits and sigils that quickly add bleeds rather than best over time dmg. Pick things like geomancy, enfeeble on ds, MoB on dodge, etc.
nice open world rotation:
AoE wep bleed, dodge for MoB, ds enfeeble plus terror, weapon swap to activate sigil of geomancy, AoE bleed w/ other wep (if mobs still alive), epidemic.
(edited by chaosgrimm.5837)
Leveling guide: Minions.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
It’s PvE. Not at all like it’s difficult to place marks on AI. Do you have difficulty in doing so?
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
Meh, its about the alternatives. I sure he doesn’t skip it cause he wants a smaller radius. In open world you have alot of control in terms of how mobs are grouped. If its greater marks vs a needed 10 in spite to hit the magic 100 percent con duration, im ditching gm. That being said however, I usually run gm in a con build xD.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
It’s PvE. Not at all like it’s difficult to place marks on AI. Do you have difficulty in doing so?
Yes, problem? You also conveniently avoided the fact that you are often faced with large groups of mobs in PvE, especially solo. You will not be able to cover dispersed groups as you would with greater marks.
If you want to solo/level up, GM is a must .. as much as having a staff is for a group of mobs.
At level 39, you have enough for greater marks and a full minions build with 20 in Blood Magic for Flesh of the Master. From there, work into Vampiric Master and then Training of the Master. Wear all magic find. Multi-pull all day long, blaze through your personal story, etc.
- Dr Ebola
Use staff, and get well of blood, well of corruption, well of suffering, well of darkness as utility. Golem for elite.
Try to get more power from gears but not a big deal if you don’t. I don’t usually buy gears pre-80 and just use whatever I got from drops.
In dynamic event, you want to drop either well of suffering OR well of corruption on each wave of foes, add in your staff skills if you want.
Next wave you use WoS or WoC, whichever is left.
Also try to use Well of blood and Well of darkness alternatively for protection.
In event like this, you don’t necessary kill the mob, you only have to deal enough damage to tag mobs and leave the rest to other players.
If not going for the event route, get a dagger and bring all your minions.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
It’s PvE. Not at all like it’s difficult to place marks on AI. Do you have difficulty in doing so?
Yes, problem? You also conveniently avoided the fact that you are often faced with large groups of mobs in PvE, especially solo. You will not be able to cover dispersed groups as you would with greater marks.
If you want to solo/level up, GM is a must .. as much as having a staff is for a group of mobs.
Dont forget this guy is lvling. It’s tough to justify taking gm over con dmg and duration, esp a low lvl.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
It’s PvE. Not at all like it’s difficult to place marks on AI. Do you have difficulty in doing so?
Yes, problem? You also conveniently avoided the fact that you are often faced with large groups of mobs in PvE, especially solo. You will not be able to cover dispersed groups as you would with greater marks.
If you want to solo/level up, GM is a must .. as much as having a staff is for a group of mobs.
Dont forget this guy is lvling. It’s tough to justify taking gm over con dmg and duration, esp a low lvl.
on the contrary, it is, because most conditions won’t last long enough to make them worthwhile as the majority of enemies you will kill leveling to 80 aren’t veterans/elites
most of what you kill is trash
on the contrary, it is, because most conditions won’t last long enough to make them worthwhile as the majority of enemies you will kill leveling to 80 aren’t veterans/elites
most of what you kill is trash
This will be my last post on the topic, I gotta move on xD. You are free to have the last word, but gm is not worth taking if you dont have the points, and would otherwise need to sac 100 con dmg or 10 con duration if your con dur is less than 100.
You can group mobs very easily in open world which will make up for gm in most cases. The biggest dps gain for staff is MoB @ a 6 sec cd… but you get 2 aoe bleeds on scepter/dagger already. If you only have say 15 points, it would be silly to lower the effectiveness of all 5 of your scepter/dagger setup and all 5 of the staff skills in many cases, just to make a slight gain in very specific and rare circumstances in which you cannot group a set of mobs tight enough by the time you have use all ur other aoe, and provided the mobs have enough hp left to benefit from applying marks, but not so much hp that a wep swap could lower your dps.
on the contrary, it is, because most conditions won’t last long enough to make them worthwhile as the majority of enemies you will kill leveling to 80 aren’t veterans/elites
most of what you kill is trash
This will be my last post on the topic, I gotta move on xD. You are free to have the last word, but gm is not worth taking if you dont have the points, and would otherwise need to sac 100 con dmg or 10 con duration if your con dur is less than 100.
You can group mobs very easily in open world which will make up for gm in most cases. The biggest dps gain for staff is MoB @ a 6 sec cd… but you get 2 aoe bleeds on scepter/dagger already. If you only have say 15 points, it would be silly to lower the effectiveness of all 5 of your scepter/dagger setup and all 5 of the staff skills in many cases, just to make a slight gain in very specific and rare circumstances in which you cannot group a set of mobs tight enough by the time you have use all ur other aoe, and provided the mobs have enough hp left to benefit from applying marks, but not so much hp that a wep swap could lower your dps.
the time saved and less damage received herding mobs compensates you more than adequately
Hey guys thanks for the reply!
The staff + the wells seem to work really well thanks for the suggestion Afya!
Regarding the larger size of marks and whatnot, I’ll try it out and see what works! Larger circle is always easier to work with and generally in lower levels I should have the dps to kill most things. Come level 70+ I’ll probably re-trait.
The condi mechanic in this game needs to be more thought out, the condi cap really discourages players from making a condi toon in dungeons, but its really fun and satisfying to use in solo PvE. I already have a balanced lvl 80 guard, and lvl 80 zerker warrior and thief. Making yet another dps oriented toon feels.. meh. But I agree this is where the meta game is at now.
Kill kitten, do quests, kill some more kitten, do some more quests. Move from area to area after all quests are done.
if that gets boring, take some gold and craft some kitten.
wash, rinse repeat.
Basically, you will NEED/WANT 10 points in death for the greater mark area. It’s almost a necessity in all aspects of this game, even in PvP.
Not at all a necessity for PvE content. Not even close.
Whatever you say. Enjoy your pathetic baseball radii.
It’s PvE. Not at all like it’s difficult to place marks on AI. Do you have difficulty in doing so?
Yes, problem? You also conveniently avoided the fact that you are often faced with large groups of mobs in PvE, especially solo. You will not be able to cover dispersed groups as you would with greater marks.
If you want to solo/level up, GM is a must .. as much as having a staff is for a group of mobs.
If you’re relying on marks to be your AOE for fast leveling, you’re already working ineffeciently. A single well outperforms the best mark for AoE purposes, and is more than adequate to reduce mob HP to one-hit level. Not to mention DS4 is superior AoE to marks as well.
In all reality, if you want to level quickly you go with a power build and skip the staff altogether.
But hey, maybe you have a different definition of ‘necessity’ than the rest of the world.
If you’re relying on marks to be your AOE for fast leveling, you’re already working ineffeciently. A single well outperforms the best mark for AoE purposes, and is more than adequate to reduce mob HP to one-hit level. Not to mention DS4 is superior AoE to marks as well.
In all reality, if you want to level quickly you go with a power build and skip the staff altogether.
But hey, maybe you have a different definition of ‘necessity’ than the rest of the world.
I don’t use a single mark, I use all of them at once and since the radius is so large, I don’t have to herd and can swap to a dagger/scepter to mop up….
oh yeah, I can use a well on top of that like mentioned
If you’re relying on marks to be your AOE for fast leveling, you’re already working ineffeciently. A single well outperforms the best mark for AoE purposes, and is more than adequate to reduce mob HP to one-hit level. Not to mention DS4 is superior AoE to marks as well.
In all reality, if you want to level quickly you go with a power build and skip the staff altogether.
But hey, maybe you have a different definition of ‘necessity’ than the rest of the world.
I don’t use a single mark, I use all of them at once and since the radius is so large, I don’t have to herd and can swap to a dagger/scepter to mop up….
oh yeah, I can use a well on top of that like mentioned
That’s horrifically inefficient. If the goal is leveling swiftly, you’re deliberately hurting yourself by doing that.
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That’s horrifically inefficient. If the goal is leveling swiftly, you’re deliberately hurting yourself by doing that.[/quote]
sure, whatever..
Haha efficiency or not I’m having a lot of fun with the staff and swapping to a more dps oriented weaponset (yet to be determined, right now most things die due to marks and wells in starter areas).
I REALLY appreciate all the suggestion guys it helped me out tremendously!
Already at lvl 32 from 29 in about 2 hrs and having a ton of fun doing it, will hit lvl 80 in 2 weeks at this rate!
Since my Necro is already level 80, here’s my tips:
Run a condition build with staff+scepter/dagger and Blood Is Power, Signet of Spite + Epidemic. Spec into Greater Marks and whatever else you want.
Toss on an XP tonic and some xp food.
Go to WvW borderlands, nw corner just north of the Skritt cave. You’ll find an area with a ton of spiders. These spiders are never killed. As such, their bonus XP is pretty much maxxed out all the time. Smack the spiders, round them up, cast Blood Is Power + Signet of Spite + Epidemic. Then spam marks, DS4/5 and loot. Do this until you’ve cleared the area, then move onto the next borderlands.
You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll level.
Just run the kessex event loop with any hybrid or power build. I used axe.
downed state is bad for PVP