Guild Wars 2

In WvW?

I’m running a 30, 10, 0 0 30 power build – Knight Armour/zerker trinkets using axe/focus + staff and although it’s fun sometimes, I find that most 1v1 I get royally slaughtered :-(

I tried Wells build but the cool-downs were too extreme (even when I changed my build to get the time-reduction trait on wells) – while Guardians and Mesmers seem never to run out of tricks… maybe change to dagger/horn, axe/focus?

Both of those weapons are weaker in 1v1s. Try well bombing with dagger, and make sure to trait into axe and have it out when you go into DS for big life blast hits. Float in, immobile and well bomb, get a dagger 1 chain off, then float back out and hit them with axe 2 and life blast.

You’ll have some trouble against certain builds like warriors or mesmers, but you can always try switching traits and utilities to MM for more 1v1 prowess.

But for zerging I believe that your build is about as powerful as you can get for WvW. Get ranged wells and sit back and collect your bags.

Power necro is bad for pvp.. (unless you are MM power necro). You have absolutely no defense, or cc, or something, just damage and little more hp with DS

knbBlackTemplar.3059:

Power necro is bad for pvp.. (unless you are MM power necro). You have absolutely no defense, or cc, or something, just damage and little more hp with DS

Maybe spvp, but he’s talking about wvw.

In very small roaming power has it’s limitations, but it’s main defense is a great offense. Most classes can’t really respond to the amount of burst we can dish out, or at least not for long. You can also get some CC with golem, warhorn and doom. Or just 1 spam people to death with Lich. But you have options and it is certainly viable.

Roaming wise I sometimes run 30/10/0/0/30 full zerker and its fine for me in most 1v1’s, super tanky types tend to give me a hard time. Out numbered fights for me are near impossible, though I get lucky once in a while. (EDIT) This last comment is probably more due to my playstyle then the viability…

Zergs/large fights Power is much more viable than condi.

Like most of the above, power is not great for solo roaming due to various match-up problems and inability to fight outnumbered with efficiency. It’s difficult to reposition when enemy reinforcements show up due to lack of CC pressure (fear not doing damage) and movement condi to buy you time.

Team roaming is not bad since team can provide cover and DS is enough survivability in those situations. Power wells is also great for space control and rez/stomp denies.

Power necro really shines the most in ZvZ in my opinion, and especially in siege (both attack and defend). DS is also maximized in this scenario.

If you want another option for smallscale pvp try bone bombing. 30/0/30/0/0 ten points as you like to spend. Grab minion dmg, CtD, minion cd and death nova and some power weapons and gear you feel comfortable with(yours seems ok).
Except bone minions utils are up to you.
Putrid Explosion is about 2k dmg per minion on 16 sec CD, unblockable, poisons, blast finishes and bone minions are way harder to keep track off and avoid than wells.

I have only ever played power on Necro, both Powershroud (zerker 30/10/0/0/30 dd/axe+horn) and I have never had issues taking down people 1v1, or even 1v2 for that matter.

If you don’t want to go zerker but retain most of the damage, try out 20/20/0/0/30 with soldier’s amulet, dd/axe+horn with Spectral Armor, Spectral Pull and Spectral wall – get the 20% reduced duration for spectral skills in soul reaping and the other thing in curses that enhances their duration. I can last a long time with this build while still dishing out a good amount of damage – not to mention the 3-4 fears you can squeeze out of a wall + pull (pull them into it!).

I have played approximately 2,000 games as Power Necro so I could help out a bit!

Forgot to mention, I use either Rock Dog or Lyssa (+10% condi duration means a total of +60% fear with the extension).

I ran into a necro that I dubbed as the down state warrior a month or 2 ago. He wasn’t too good (or maybe that was his plan?!), but he still burned me down and killed me in my down state before I could kill him (since he got his downed 3 first). First and last time I’ve met someone who speccs for maximum down state damage lol.

That’s still one of the more embarrassing losses I’ve experienced in wvw.

I only play power necro.
I generally don’t have problems in 1v1’s. Outnumbered fights is a different matter, but I think that goes for any necro. That said, I have won quite some 1v2’s.
When I roam, I currently run 20/20/0/0/30, with dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger. For zergplay, I take my staff and I might change some traits, but often keep the traitpoint allocation and slot an extra well.
I use PVT armor, ruby orbs and berserker trinkets.
Tanky targets can be difficult, more squishy targets often get scared by the damage we can do (lifeblasts, dagger autoattack combined with well etc).
I do feel I need 30 in Soul Reaping and heavily trait Death Shroud.