Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

I used my 80 boost on a new necromancer (this would be my third…and my first one doing the map completion). I got a full Rabid set, and all skills/traits unlocked (except for reaper ones).

I would love to run a minions build and start working towards 100% map completion. I only do PvE, and rarely do dungeons/raids. 99% of my time is solo open world PvE

What spec could I use? What should I aim to once I unlock Reaper? Getting new gear is ok (not gonna happen in 1 day, but I’ll work on it if needed).

I came back 2 weeks ago after a loong rest, levelling a ranger now, but I’m missing some necro action

Thanks!

Erhnam.5732:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

FrostDraco.8306:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

I’m sorry but this is the one class that i don’t trust meta battle for. Use it as a guideline, but more optimal builds exist.

Links to those builds would probably be much more useful to the original poster — who clearly isn’t in the market for theorycrafting their own — than just the assertion.

I’m interested in that also, just to see what the differences are.

You are correct My days of theorycrafting and hardcore number crunching are already gone, I cannot dedicate as much time as before to gaming (that’s why nowadays my focus is open world pve – map completion, world events/bosses…)

I had a look at some of those pages, but seemed to me that they were focused on group content (fractals/raids), so I didn’t pay much attention to them. Is there a section for open world builds?

Thanks!

No, but grabbing the fractal build and swapping in movement speed or something is the easy way to get there. The difference between general “open world” builds and fractal builds tends to be how much utility is assumed and/or how much group support it focuses on.

You won’t miss much running one, and also, you won’t really find many “open world” guides out there — the answer is “anything works, so use whatever”. Hence grab the fractal build, and tune it a little to what you miss.

(For example, I run the condition reaper build, save for subbing in the sigil of the locust for move speed, rather than blood is power.)

It’s up to you, in large part, but … power minion master with axe MH is pretty reasonable, and scepter condition with minions is also pretty reasonable. Once you unlock reaper, moving to scepter/greatsword condition is also good.

Basically, minions are not amazing compared to some of the other options available, but they are a good starter.

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

It’s up to you, in large part, but … power minion master with axe MH is pretty reasonable, and scepter condition with minions is also pretty reasonable. Once you unlock reaper, moving to scepter/greatsword condition is also good.

Basically, minions are not amazing compared to some of the other options available, but they are a good starter.

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

I’m sorry but this is the one class that i don’t trust meta battle for. Use it as a guideline, but more optimal builds exist.

FrostDraco.8306:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

I’m sorry but this is the one class that i don’t trust meta battle for. Use it as a guideline, but more optimal builds exist.

Links to those builds would probably be much more useful to the original poster — who clearly isn’t in the market for theorycrafting their own — than just the assertion.

I’m interested in that also, just to see what the differences are.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

FrostDraco.8306:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

I’m sorry but this is the one class that i don’t trust meta battle for. Use it as a guideline, but more optimal builds exist.

Links to those builds would probably be much more useful to the original poster — who clearly isn’t in the market for theorycrafting their own — than just the assertion.

I’m interested in that also, just to see what the differences are.

You are correct My days of theorycrafting and hardcore number crunching are already gone, I cannot dedicate as much time as before to gaming (that’s why nowadays my focus is open world pve – map completion, world events/bosses…)

I had a look at some of those pages, but seemed to me that they were focused on group content (fractals/raids), so I didn’t pay much attention to them. Is there a section for open world builds?

Thanks!

The most important thing for map exploration is reapers shroud for #2

SlippyCheeze.5483:

It’s up to you, in large part, but … power minion master with axe MH is pretty reasonable, and scepter condition with minions is also pretty reasonable. Once you unlock reaper, moving to scepter/greatsword condition is also good.

Basically, minions are not amazing compared to some of the other options available, but they are a good starter.

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

Base power vs reaper power are very different
Base is zerk, yes. But the second you get decimate defense its a massive waste of stats. Valk is both safer and in a few cases leads to more dps uptime simply due to your immense ability to shrug things off even without ds

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Erhnam.5732:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

FrostDraco.8306:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

I’m sorry but this is the one class that i don’t trust meta battle for. Use it as a guideline, but more optimal builds exist.

Links to those builds would probably be much more useful to the original poster — who clearly isn’t in the market for theorycrafting their own — than just the assertion.

I’m interested in that also, just to see what the differences are.

You are correct My days of theorycrafting and hardcore number crunching are already gone, I cannot dedicate as much time as before to gaming (that’s why nowadays my focus is open world pve – map completion, world events/bosses…)

I had a look at some of those pages, but seemed to me that they were focused on group content (fractals/raids), so I didn’t pay much attention to them. Is there a section for open world builds?

Thanks!

No, but grabbing the fractal build and swapping in movement speed or something is the easy way to get there. The difference between general “open world” builds and fractal builds tends to be how much utility is assumed and/or how much group support it focuses on.

You won’t miss much running one, and also, you won’t really find many “open world” guides out there — the answer is “anything works, so use whatever”. Hence grab the fractal build, and tune it a little to what you miss.

(For example, I run the condition reaper build, save for subbing in the sigil of the locust for move speed, rather than blood is power.)

I’ll do that then! I wasn’t sure which kind of builds would be a good starter, so I will check the Fractal ones, and pick one as base.

Thanks!

Murdock.6547:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

It’s up to you, in large part, but … power minion master with axe MH is pretty reasonable, and scepter condition with minions is also pretty reasonable. Once you unlock reaper, moving to scepter/greatsword condition is also good.

Basically, minions are not amazing compared to some of the other options available, but they are a good starter.

Oh, and it’s berserker for PvE power DPS, vipers for condition DPS, mostly. metabattle.com and quantify.eu will tell you the fine details of the best theorycrafting done at the moment.

Base power vs reaper power are very different
Base is zerk, yes. But the second you get decimate defense its a massive waste of stats. Valk is both safer and in a few cases leads to more dps uptime simply due to your immense ability to shrug things off even without ds

Considering he was asking for open world, what you said about valk being better than zerker is kitten. Valk is only ever better when you have allies to provide buffs for you (like in a raid setting), so that you gain 100% crit chance with fury, banners , decimate defenses and the small amount of precision you have taken to begin with.
In open world you’re gonna be solo for the most part so having 50% crit chance (near exactly what you gain from full zerker) + decimate defenses is perfect. Also valk achieves the higher dps through expensive food, not something you want for general pve.

For open world, which I assume will be world bosses, map meta events and maybe some dungeons, I recommend to have a main Condi set and a backup Power set for when you feel like it. Dire and Rabid gear are quite inexpensive compared to Berserker gear, so if you are really strapped for gold, run Condi.

For gear you want a mix of Dire and Rabid gear and jewellery and Krait runes – such a setup won’t cost you a lot. Aim for 30%+ critical chance and 1600 toughness. Adding to that you have some vitality from Dire and won’t die if you make a mistake and step into something horrible.

Just run this until you get comfortable; Necro isn’t big on rotations.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7Ync0A12gV2Ae3A0biliBLKAMASAUPhpQRIuHOETiA-ThyFgAJPAAWVCkV3pT3ggSwdlfn7PAcQAOOCAFXAAA-e

Some tips:
If you are low on health and Life Force is almost full, enter it to buy time for your heal.
Shroud not full? Pop Spectral Armor, go into shroud and you’ll be ok-ish safe.
If you are on Staff and find nothing to do after casting your marks, swap into Shroud and use its abilities until the Scepter set is off CD.
Reaper Shroud in melee: 5 -> 4 produces Chilling Bolts that each proc Deathly Chill, giving you very rapid bleed stacks.
Reaper Shroud 2 -> leave shroud before it slows down to hit: this allows you to travel more quickly.
Use Dagger 4 and Staff 4 to transfer off the conditions you give yourself after using Corruption skills. They also remove the blind you get from Consume Conditions (traited with Master of Corruption).
If you are moving around a lot and avoiding circles of doom, and can’t find breathing room to cast your skills, remember your Scepter spam is still decent damage. Spam it to bleed and proc chill for more bleeds.
While uses are few and far between in PvE, Necro has “Boon Corruption” as a big selling point, and you can notice this on many weapons and some utilities.

Traits:
Curses 3-1-3
Soul Reaping 2-2-1 (you can take Dhuumfire, but the stunbreak of Foot in the Grave can save you if a world boss knocks you into a dangerous puddle of goop and you are stunned)
Reaper 2-2-2

Weapons:
Sceptre Dagger (Geomancy and Ice sigils) (sometimes I go Warhorn)
Staff (Hydromancy and Intelligence sigils)

Utilities:
Spectral Armor (use and go into Shroud if you have to)
Epidemic (to bring down groups faster)
Blood is Power (when doing bosses and you want some oomph)
Signet of Locusts (drop BiP when you are travelling)
Bone Minion (for blast finishing)

Elite:
Plaguelands (drop on stationary bosses or group)
“Chilled to the Bone!” (If you don’t feel safe with Plaguelands just use this)

Power Build:
I run it like so and basically camp in Reaper Shroud (not literally, just high uptime), but it’s an extension of what I run in PvP and it’s not streamlined or anything.
No, it’s not original (metabattle build).
It’s not that I don’t like Dagger, but you can get chunked easily trying to stab things near you. Though it is a pretty good sustained damage option with steady LF gain, so you do you.
I like Axe because I can just Axe 2 and go into Shroud. GS 3 is great for a quick burst of LF as well. Note that due to Chilling Victory, multi-hit skills produce an additional chunk of LF; Chill can be applied easily with “Suffer!” or GS 5 (the pull). You can also use Sigil of Ice.
When low on health, enter shroud and use Shroud 5 -> 2 to get an easy burst of healing (due to Chilling Victory + Blighter’s Boon). Swing your grasscutter around as well and notice the incoming health from all the might you get (Spite life blast minor trait +1, enemy under 50% +2, chilled +1). There’s an ICD on might gain and healing, but multi-hit attacks bypass this and are thus favoured skills to use.

Going Ham (you can proc things to death with Chilling Nova + Chill of Death + Fire + Air): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhOD7kjGo2GsyGwxGgeTsgLYUdh2wzC6qFAaBxXxuYYE-TBCFwAt2fApyvSaEEcRAQp+jddBXVCC4JAAA-e

Shouts with more survivability (you’re still squishy): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhOD7kZTo2GscTwbTgeTsgLYUdh2wzKuK2FDjQXtAQLA-TRCFwA21FgS9HkK/KufwgLCwVlgAeCAl0I0aBBA-e