Guild Wars 2

Hey peoples, I put together a WvW Necromancer Build and need some input.

This is the build myself and other necros use in my group. This build is ideal for organised raids in WvW – Utilizing Deathshroud traited with Death Perception for added Crit Chance. So far this build has been working well for me and my playstyle but i’m always open to suggestions and improvements. What I’ve found so far:

- High damage utilizing Wells through Deathshroud
- Not overly tanky – know when to dodge and use positioning is a must for this build
- Great for running with a group (10-15+)
- Not ideal for Solo roaming at all.

Build Video With Gameplay
The Build – Soldier Variant

You can also use Knight’s or Berserker’s slotted with Melandru Runes for the gear. For the weapons, Knight’s, Berserker or Assassin’s work as well.

Calling on more experienced Necros to put in their 2 coppers. Would love some input on ways to improve this build. Thanks in advance!!

Edit: After much advice and some minor tweaking, here is the updated build:

Updated Build

Chill of Death is a very interesting trait now so that’s something to try out. I’m not sure why you’re taking Dhuumfire as you don’t have any condition damage. It seems like Axe Training would help your damage more if you want DS burst.

ArchonWing.9480:

Chill of Death is a very interesting trait now so that’s something to try out. I’m not sure why you’re taking Dhuumfire as you don’t have any condition damage. It seems like Axe Training would help your damage more if you want DS burst.

Noted, may drop Dhuumfire and either pick up Axe Training or put those 10 points to grab Chill of Darkness in the Curses line while also boosting my precision a bit more.

Updated build after much advice from guildies and others. Still need a bit of input fine-tuning and optimizing build. Much appreciated!

A few things I’d note, though keep in mind this is from a tier 1 perspective so it might not be the same for DB. Your toughness is much to low, in most large scale fights you are going to be very limited to where you can go and positioning will be the most important part of the builds success. It looks like you’ll be on the defensive to often to make use of your full dps.

Your crit chance is to high, with fury, you will have 123% crit in DS which is a huge waste. You would be better off dropping down to ~30% crit chance and trading out vital persistence for Near to Death so you can flash DS more often. Reasons: In large scale fights, Vital Persistence is unnecessary, you won’t/shouldn’t have a issue with life force. Near to death will allow you to flash DS more often for fury and retal, also give you a higher chance of DS being up when you need it.

Drop the runes of the pack, you shouldn’t need the swiftness. If you are looking for high dps scholar or Rage would be a better option.

If you switch food to curry butternut squash soup (Prec, Crit dmg) and utility to sharpening stone you will sacrifice 3% crit, bringing you down to exactly 50%, and gain 1 power and 10% crit dmg. With this change your could also switch either your assassin axe or dagger to valk and maintain the 50% crit and gain a bit more HP(I know ascended are expensive but you could if you want and/or have the cash).

While I admit I have only picked up the Necro recently, you may want to consider switching chilling darkness to weakening shroud or banshee’s wail. You only have two abilities which apply blind, well of darkness and plague, both on long cooldowns. While chilling darkness is a good trait, weakening shroud might be a bit better as your build seems to be fairly DS-centric.

I also agree with Zikory about swapping Vital Persistence to Near to Death. While my perspective also comes from T1 play, imo, in GW2 in general shorter CDs > longer durations. As such more frequent use of DS would probably be better than being able to stay in DS for a bit longer.

Final build might look something like:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRrSPTTUjfPhApYXqlIFDzxQ9ocQnPE-jUDB4fwoiBisAiABgIAO5RZN9RQsSqIasqFYKXAaXLq2eDwbATIgRjBA-w

Thanks for the tips guys, will continue tweaking taking everything posted here into consideration.

I like the stats spread on the build you posted Glaucs.

@Zikory : Runes of the Pack was a cheap way to boost Power/Prec – will consider getting my hands on Scholar Runes and see how that works. Also, I’ve found Necros to have a lot of innate surviviblity – DS and Plague – so toughness isn’t such a high priority, I’d be more than willing to sacrifice toughness and work on my dodging, timing and positioning but I see where you’re coming from coming from T1, the zergs are slightly smaller on DB.

If keeping with the semi-high Crit Chance, should I drop Death Perception for Foot In Grave for stability in DS? Thoughts on this trait?

Keep em coming guys, learning a lot!