Guild Wars 2

I’ve been trying to experiment with solid PvP utilities and while I’ve been enjoying my power builds, wells don’t really seem to do enough most the time, I find. Even when you nail a dark pact into a double well drop, the damage seems underwhelming, and they still don’t seem to get a full duration most the time. Their usefulness seems pretty limited when players are good enough to not stand in them. So I’ve been experimenting with others that give me more guaranteed or diverse utility. Please correct me if you disagree with my analysis of WOS and WOC.

Spectral Armor is probably my constant.

Some other utilities I’ve been considering toying with and why:
Well of Power: Good ability for bunkering down on a point, can help a team out with some removal as well as give yourself a nice safe zone (enemies are unlikely to recognize the difference as well so they’ll probably stand clear regardless knowing that wells = bad)
Plague Signet: Similar team utility, more direct offense as well, but could probably result in some hairy situations unless you pack the condition removal on popping death shroud as an easy out to any nearby allies who accidentally get you in combat.
Corrupt Boon: Great way to drop some beefier classes unexpectedly. BOOM.
Spectral Walk: Move fast around the map, juke fools, a little bonus LF, a classic.
Spectral Wall: Fear enough to get off some big hits, walling off escapes, blocking foes on tight spaces, buying you a neutralize, plus protection! Well rounded utility that offers interesting strategic options.
Blood is power: MORE POWER!!

I was looking at minions as well, I’ve never played much MM so not sure on their merits (especially with no traits to back them up), but a shadow fiend could provide some clutch blinds and a little backup damage, and how often does a flesh wurm attack? Seems to deal considerable damage and a little utility if left alone. Not sure how many hits it can take.

Thoughts? I’m thinking corrupt boon and another spectral skill could be my strongest bets so far. I just don’t think I get enough from wells to take up two slots. Am I just playing wrong?

You should consider flesh wurm. It is a rather reliable way (compared to spectral walk and not other professions) to get away from a bad spot and apart from flesh golem the only minion i would take in a non mm build.

Interesting, I always just assumed it would get gibbed easily but I bet you can have a LOT of fun with it. Thanks for the advice.

I guess it’s a good thing most the utilities are…utility instead of something you would use 100% of the time, or else they’d just be bland and the straight DPS options would always be the optimal picks.

Mind telling me any of your favorite spots for it on any maps?

Yes you can make a good tanky build with vampiric rituals, you will need.spectral Grasp most the.time.and dagger.main hand for.immobile

It takes a lot of getting use to.and trying to.control your target

Wells can be amazing, you just need to be smart about using them. Make sure your opponent can’t get out easily without giving up something big (like allowing you a cap/decap). They can be used to secure stomps (darkness), or to put down massive downed pressure (suffering/corruption). Just keep track of what your opponent can do to get out.

Also, if you’re in a build with something like Lich and DS/LB build, remember that wells are only one of your huge damage sources. If they blow all their defenses to get out of a well, they might not have the ability to get out of Lich or LB spam.

Wells are very good uti skills for PvP.
With immobilize you can use extremaly powerful combo and kill enemy in a few seconds.I experimented with many types of the build,and the final result can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfnCGpbVBk4
In the description of the video, you can find the build.

Do not be discouraged right away,well build is hard to learn,but later is better.

Necros have really good utilities, so good that you always will miss some. Of all professions, i think necros are hit the hardest by the limitation of 3 utility skills.

One thing to note about Well of Power, It is our only source of vigor.

Since this well converts bleeding into vigor you are able to get 25 secs of vigor sometimes. Bleeding is the first condition to be prioritized and is also a very common condition. Getting 20 seconds of vigor from WOP is not uncommon.

I wish Flesh Wurm just worked like a personal Mesmer Portal :\

Does it have a range limitation or does it just get blocked by Z axis changes?

Mega Skeleton.8259:

I wish Flesh Wurm just worked like a personal Mesmer Portal :\

Does it have a range limitation or does it just get blocked by Z axis changes?

Yes. Not necessarily. It is a shadowstep just like thieves have but without a LoS requirement, and so it behaves just like those would.

20 seconds vigor on a necro. Every other classes worst kittening nightmare. Hethe I’m a necro you can’t hit hahajhahahhaja

The flesh worm has a teleporting range of 800 I think, but you still teleport that direction if you are out of the full range. I recommend it putting at the side of where you are attacking from so that if you are in trouble, you teleport there so you can run away, but it is also close enough that it will attack enemies for you

It teleports the full 1200 range unless it isn’t allowed to because of shadowstep rules.

So far I’m quite pleased with Flesh Wurm. It’s quite a lot of fun anyway, and has definitely saved my kitten a few times. Glad I decided to try it out.

In my spvp power build, I like to keep WoP around (especially against other condi-heavy classes). I’ll use it as a 2nd-string condi clear when Swarm & Putrid Mark are on cooldown and it would be stupid to burn Consume Condis at anything above 1/2 hp.

And yes, Flesh Wurm is fun. Like others said, put it out of the way incase you need to burn it but close enough to attack enemies. It’s saved my skin numerous times by buying a few precious seconds of “not dying” time to allow LF to generate, cooldowns to expire, or to get a few ticks of regen in. Alternatively, it’s also fun if your target’s dumb enough to run towards it trying to escape you and you port on top of him with a poison field

We are hurt badly by the 3-utility limit. So many tools of the trade, but not a large enough box to carry ‘em all. It’d be great to have access to situational skills like Spectral Grasp, Spectral Wall, or Sig of Undeath without having to mainline them.

Just a note on the CC thing it’s not stupid to burn it. Alot of the time it’s pretty stupid not to burn it in case you don’t even get the chance too. Sometimes by using it early if your on a sustain build you get it back up and now you’ve been able to heal for double the amount rather than sitting on it too long where you only get half the healing.

@NeXeD: I can understand your point on a sustain build, and I will acknowledge I am nowhere near the best player around (in fact, I’d like to think I do decent enough to hold my own) however when you combine horribad luck, the fact that I’m not in a sustain build, and the tendency for necros to have a gigantic target painted on ‘em at all times…. if I burn CC early, I’ll die before it comes off cooldown.

I mean, I’m not running full glass, I’m running 6/0/0/2/6 w/ Speed runes & Barbarian Amulet. Occasionally I’ll swap to Wurm Runes. Still, gotta love dat chain stun, immob, & daze.

But what the hell, I’ll give it a shot next time.