Guild Wars 2

Hi, I’m relatively new to the Necro and looking for suggestions on how to tweak/improve my WvW build (I run with a 10 to 20 man guild group looking for open field fights).

I’m calling it “Flexible” because I’m hoping it can perform decently well in WvW solo/roaming with some trait and slot skill swaps. Alternative gear sets are fine (I keep 3 full sets on my Ranger) but I prefer not to have to re-spec depending on what I’m doing.

Coming from bunker Ranger I do miss all the boons, evades, mobility and water field. But oooh man, the AoE damage and sweetness that is DS and plague form.

In WvW with my guild, I stay on or near the front line at all times and use DS both offensively and defensively. I find plague form to be absolutely amazing and I try to save it for big pushes (ie. last resort on defense).

Ok, here’s what I run when I’m with my guild:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRrYPTzSjfPBI946nxeSR3jHpY4iB-jUDBYLYYMDRmgAgwQRjIAO5LqJQDZsMsIasqaCyqIYqTJ1gWQ2bQZVKAmUGB-w

I switch the first slot skill between Signet of Spite, Spectral Wall and Spectral Armor as needed.

Here’s what I roll solo with (and most PvE):
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmQDbkQrVvWzSjePBI946npeSB3gHpg4gB-jUDBYLYYMDRmgAgwQRjIAO5LqJQDZsMsIasqaCyqGYqTJ1gWQ2bQZVKgyVGB-w

Gear wise I prioritize Power, Precision and Toughness. I don’t mind trading off some priority stats to become a little more well-rounded (mainly for more Vit, Crit dmg although the Condi dmg and Healing is nice too). So I use several pieces of Celestial (eventually full trinkets). I think it works well on Necro given the diversity of the class.

Traits I consider mandatory to my play style and build:
Staff Mastery, Greater Marks, Focused Rituals, Chilling Darkness

Others I consider very important:
Transfusion, Ritual Mastery, Deadly Strength, Furious Demise

This gives little wiggle room to tweak my build. It certainly feels very potent and effective already, and I’m leery of losing too much toughness/defense since I play aggressively.

Some questions:

How significant is the health siphoning from the Blood line? I’m assuming that this, along with occasional regen, is what’s passively keeping my health topped off much of the time.

I see that Soul Reaping is popular with many Necros, and Last Gasp does look enticing to me. But I primarily “stance dance” using DS just for Life Transfer (Transfusion), Tainted Shackles and defensively for survival. I actually prefer to be out of DS when I can. Am I gimping my damage by not using it more?

Finally, how decent is my quasi-MM build (the second link)? I find it to be a fun alternative to wells and the minions seem to perform well in PvE and the 1v1’s I’ve gotten into.

Thanks!

I like this build. It’s basically the Ascii wellmancer but does a bit more damage due to the superior power. Whether it has less sustain is debatable. I think it’s probably a wash.

To tell you the truth, this type of build doesn’t hit very hard. It’s more of a sustain build. There isn’t anything bad about that but it happens to be the case.

To answer your questions the best I can:

Siphon can be very powerful but generally speaking, it is most effective in a zerg where the large numbers will proc it continuously.

Yes, you could be getting more damage if you used DS more but it works best when you have the proper synergy of Deathly Perception, Unyielding Blast and Reaper’s Precision (and Axe Mastery sends it over the top). This is basically the max damage zerk setup. The problem with this is that it completely dominates your play style and limits your defensive options. So, if you don’t like it, don’t worry about it. You may, however, consider running a build that features Foot in the Grave — a favorite of those of us who use DS situationally.

I run a power well build and I, too, run minions when I’m away from my guild. It lacks punch without Training of the Master but other than this, it works very well 1v1. Well builds are power based but don’t really have enough of it to be very bursty so we duel very poorly. Using minions allows us to leverage our power and siphon skills into something, er, not completely useless. The only thing I’d change is to keep Consume Conditions. The minion is terrible.

Thank you for the feedback, Nagato.

I really like this build and will keep running it.