I might be somewhat skewed in my perception of this but hey here goes…
So, finally gathered up the stuff for my powermancer build stage 1. Full Soldier gear with zerker orbs in it, zerker axe and focus, zerker and knights jewelry. With Food my crit chance is nowhere near where i’d like it to be yet so, but I do reach +80% crit dmg and somewhere in the 40s crit chance and 3.2-3.3k Attack, maybe more.
I can crit for 1k-1.2k with autoattack with lots of stacks vulnerability… Ghastly Claws can go up to 7k rarely… Lifeblast generally hits for something like 4-5k, sometimes more. All this at 600-900 range. With Might and Vulnerability these attacks is…
Later I redid some stats for my warrior and ended up at +57% crit dmg and some 40% crit chance and about same attack as my necro. And with a rare Rifle in a non-rifle build I regularily hit for 1k with his autoattack + bleeds on that, 7-10k on Autofire and 10-15k on the burst skill and thats at 1200 range which can be traited to pierce. And thats while keeping over 2.6k armor as well…
Somewhere in all this there is something that is very unfair towards necros. I have better gear on my necro and a more focussed build and yet the warrior who is not even traited for maximum performance with rifle outdamages the necro at a longer range with a rare-class(ravager stats and lvl 78 at that) weapon that can hit multiple targets far more reliably than the necro can. Cause DS is not a reliable dmg alternative given that the dmg gets worse on lifeblast if the necro gets hit, which he will at that range to, and the projectile is easier to see coming.
Despite really really trying to like the necro, I constantly find that it gets outperformed in every area by other classes.
It is not number 1 in conditions, except for spreading them to other targets which pretty often is a misfire in my experience.
Direct dmg it is pretty kitten far from being number 1.
Survivability it is also pretty far from being number 1, without Invulnerability skills and mobility an extra healthbar can only do so much… make us last a few more seconds that is, when most other classes can escape completely. Dark Path is not a viable option for mobility, it can be dodged so easily its silly.
The minions still suffer from a stupid AI, and are pretty kitten useless vs mesmers and thieves… Can tear a new one in many others though… And dies alot in WvW.
Overall in WvW necros are pretty much secondrate in every area, if not thirdrate. No matter how well you play you can never reach the same heights as other classes in any area.
Bad trait lines, buggy skills, lack of mobility, DS UI, low dmg, short range, slow projectiles, easy to avoid wells, lack of boons… “please hit me” elites in which you have to toggle kitten to even autoattack… How much crap do we have to take really?