Guild Wars 2

Hi, ive recently been coming back to the game and im now focusing alot on WvW. Ive started thinking lately, with epidemic now also having 5 maximum targets, and LoS required + all the condition cleansing im starting to worry if Rabid gear is the way to go?

I still assume that staff is a must for the big battles and wells i assume will be a good addition too. So the focus i guess will be around the staff weapon most likely.

My question remains then, with a focus on staff and wells, for big aoe wvw battles, which will come out on top of the gear combination?
Rabid gives you maximum condition damage, precision and toughness and you are quite tanky. No power damage and wells dont hit hard though. Also the problem arises of the massive condition cleansing going on in big fights.

Berserker gear would yield maximum attack damage but at the cost of any condition damage. Epidemic loses its strength dps-wise. Squishy also
Another choice would be soldiers gear possibly but lose out on alooot of damage.

Then there is hybrid or rampager. I get precision power AND condition damage making my bleeds hit good, lots of procs from precision and good power damage.

Any thoughts on larger scale wvw battling? Also wondering a bit about 2nd weapon set, scepter/dagger still seems to win out since axe and dagger only have single target dps.

A lot of this will depend on play style. Personally, I like to stack power. Without food or buffs my attack power sits about 3200 (which is low imo), 33% crit chance 48% dmg. My gear is 4 of 6 PVT with 2 random pieces with healing and condition dmg on them. My accessories are a mix of ruby/berserker and valk. My condition dmg I can’t recall offhand, but my bleeds tick anywhere from 84 to 120.

I run staff and dagger/focus. Staff is pretty much everything I do, and go to the offset for dagger 3 (snare) and focus 5 (slow) to prevent escape and finish. Also, dagger is the only weapon we can use to hit things we can’t target (axe requires target lock – the culling end may offset this some). I tend to use consume conditions (never leave home without it), locust, wells (corruption/suffering), and either lich, plague or golem (depending on what I’m doing).
I change out wells for grasp and corrupt boon as needed, and will add the darkness well in place of locust for sieges.

There is a lot of cleansing that takes place in WvW, so it can be hit or miss on the condition heavy builds. You will wreck some and other times see no impact. The new change to epidemic (which I always found to be buggy anyway) puts a hurt on condition heavy builds (imo the wells are just as effective as epidemic and gives you an area of denial – cause if they stand in both wells, they are usually downed).

The hybrid build I couldn’t get down as it didn’t match my playstyle, but I have seen it used effectively. I always felt it was more of a single target roaming build.

Mostly what I’ve found is that dropping marks and wells in rapid succession will down anyone that doesn’t immediately dodge and move. Great in open field and sieging. The higher your power the harder the marks hit, before the conditions apply. Traited for unblockable/larger marks is great and, if you go 30 in spite, you can add 20% dmg to players below half health. Also, make fear do dmg from the curses line. I run a 30/30/10/0/0 build and still have 25k health…and good toughness.

I would definitely get hours in each build before crafting/buying your final gear. It will help give you a good idea of which fits your playstyle better.

The thing is now with the wvw changes maybe i can farm a power set to try it out. As you say, condition feels very hit and miss. Versus roaming groups it can be great because of the lesser amount of removal. The only thing im afraid of is the eventual dps loss of a power vit tough build over cond prec tough. Also i see in your build you dont have the 20% less staff cd, dont you feel this is important when you use the staff as a main wep?

I find rampager build with scepter/dagger-dagger(or axe)/focus to be the best dps/pressure setup. I feel like necro is made to be hybrid (DS scaling mostly with power). It’s also the fastest build to take down camp/vet solo that I’ve tested.

Then it’s all about how long you want/can survive. So you can choose to add some knight for more power or rabid for more condition damage depending on what you like more.

You switch to staff when against big groups or defending/attacking keep.

30/30/10 (greater mark when with staff and Shrouded removal when using scepter/axe) is by far our best hybrid build.

Even with max toughness, once you’re caught with your necro, you won’t survive if you didn’t plan ahead.

Good luck with your build!

Thanks for the input, the 30/30/10 is something i had in mind aswell and im def considering it, i do already have a rampager set in bank so:) I also feel alot of things synergize well for necro as a hybrid (bleed on crit) lots of bleeds etc integrated in other things like mark, DS and such. Im actually spvping right this moment trying out the exact build you mentioned, so i guess iwasnt all far off.)