Guild Wars 2

I run dagger and staff, but am torn as to whether Warhorn or focus is a better offhand for dagger.

I mean, focus has a regen heal, but it’s pretty weak, though skill 5 is pretty strong against mobs with boons. Warhorn 4 and 5 are decent, though the damage on 5 seems weak and both skills have long CDs.

So what do? Any thoughts?

well…Whats this for?
But in general for me:

Spvp: warhorn or dagger primarily, focus is OK.

WvW: warhorn

PvE: focus

PvE. I’ve been running warhorn. Any thoughts on dagger offhand?

Warhorn is utility. Focus is dmg. Dagger is Conditions.

Answer: which ever one you feel you need more of. A wise necro carries one of each in his bag.

IMO; dagger offhand sucks for a dagger necro in PvE because:

Enemies and their conditions come in great supply, often if you are in a situation where you need/want to transfer conditions, its just going to get reapplied to you soon after. Blind, whilst useful, isn’t effective against bosses, and against trash mobs well, you rarely need to blind 1 out of their many many attacks.

Enfeebling blood is good, but not when it has casting time. A dagger necro most likely will go crit, and up the curses line to 15 for the minor master trait. That gives you 1 adept major trait slot which coincidentally can be weakening shroud, which lets you cast enfeebling blood faster, and more frequently.

.’. dagger offhand sucks, especially for a dagger necro.

from a wvw perspective I use warhorn and second choice is usually the dagger offhand

but it is a hard choice between all 3 offhands

I find each one has its advantages against certain classes and certain builds

I’d use focus. Warhorn has a windup time for it’s daze which means you need good timing. Locust swarm is priceless though. Great initiator and escape tool.

Focus has vuln and regeneration on 4 which is very useful. 5 is a freeze which is situational and a good initiator. It does not have an escape button though, while warhorn does so you need to consider this in your build.

regarding synergy is scepter / dagger for obvious reasons , bleeds ; axe / focus huge amount of vuln stacking ; dagger / warhorn its an interupt & cripple/speed.

Now it all depends on your play-style. With dagger i normally go wells or spectral, which both have an ability to stack vuln (althow one does also dmg , the other gives me protection) that is why i scraped focus. Dagger blind is nice but blood didnt work for me.
With warhorn i feel more at peace , the interupt is great + speed / cripple is awsome as i need to go fast in , fast out when needed. Its not smart to stay shoulder to shoulder with an enemy.

Now plz keep in mind that are mine preferences , you might find something else that fits your playstyle/spec/gear.