Hello guys!
I gonna to start crafting ascended for my necro and need an advise which stats to choose.
I enjoy MM build variation, every skill-slot is used for minions. Axe + dagger for mobility and vulnerability stacking – to help minions with DPS, but from time to time I switch spite skill-tree for reaper to make some GS swinging.
Oh.. and I’m a PvE only guy – world events, bosses, dungeons (in my plans), etc…
It’s clearly for me, that my weapon will have berserk stats – don’t think I need something else here. Not sure about sigils, but probably something to improve vulnerability stacking for axe + dagger and plain damage for GS?
The main question is – which stats to choose for my armor?
At the moment I’m using exotic berserk with runes of dolyak and I feel like the tanking runes is overkill for my necro – she is already tanky enough to do solo all of the hero challenges in Verdant Brink, Auric Basin and Tangled Depths (my guardian for example – can’t).
So I’m considering something more offensive for my ascended armor. The first that comes to mind is also a berserk, but with HoT we have a new type of stats – marauder. It’s 4 stat gear – power, precision, ferocity and vitality, a bit less offensive then berserk, but overall it has bigger stats bonus and vitality is always good for necro, for anybody… So I just can’t decide what to choose.
And finally about runes… I can’t see anything better then runes of the pack – a bit more power, swiftness and swiftness duration and finally some might and fury to help minions with DPS.
Your advices?
random question: do you do fractals? Or plan on doing fractals, particularly past scale 30 or so? because if you don’t, ascended gear is a waste of money for the very minor stat boost you get imo.
I did no fractals yet but I admit the idea I will try it in some time in the future.
Well, I know that ascended gear is something about just +10% over the exotic with ascended trinkets and weapon, but hey… it’s a end game, and crafting ascended gear is one of the things to do at level 80.
And I’m also one of these people who always wish to have the best gear.
Berserker with Scholar runes, Force + Air sigils and that’s it for your gear.
If you get ascended gear, start with trinkets and weapons, get armor last (except you happen to get drops or something obviously)
Berserker-Scholar is as all-purpose as it gets. You can balance stats with weapons and trinkets.
Viper’s is probably more all-purpose but (a) costs more due to black diamonds and (b) you can change stats in the forge for a lot less than the ascended material cost of new armor so starting cheaper is easily justified.
Hmm… haven’t considered scholar before, the “above 90% health” part confusing me a bit… isn’t runes of the ranger a bit more preferable for MM necros – 7% vs 10% but you have this bonus independently of your health bar?
And what you guys think about Svaard’s\Marauder gear (power, precision, ferocity, vitality) for necro?
Just for example – imagine it with scholar runes, more vitality will help you with “above 90% health” condition?
Berserker-Scholar is as all-purpose as it gets. You can balance stats with weapons and trinkets.
Pretty much this, my vote goes to berserker armor with scholar runes aswell.
Reasons are:
- due to scaling issues the exo-asc gap is greater for power based gear than it is for condi gear
- as a necromancer you already have excellent sustain, so there’s really no need to get any “tankier” gear wise, especially when you use minions.
- I’d go scholar over ranger runes for several reasons: ranger runes give precision, something you won’t need so badly. 50% crit chance is our sweet spot since we can boost it to 100% easily by using “Decimate Defenses” for overall usage or “Death Perception” for “Shroud only” usage. If you can rely on getting permanent fury, you could go even lower. And on a side note- I wouldn’t be surprised if the 7% bonus won’t work for minions anymore after some patching in the future, simply because of A.Net logic
- for the “above 90%” issue- I was sceptic at first aswell, but now after paying some attention, I’d estimate I’m able to maintain it for about 70% of the time fighting. You’ll maw through trash faster than they can drop you below the threshold and for tougher enemies, necros sustain (and since you’re running a MM build your minions aswell) help a lot with keeping your health high.
- if you’re not convinced yet- the Pack Runes you mentioned in your starting post are a perfectly fine alternative (if you don’t mind changing traits on the fly, you could even consider using a warhorn; locust swarm + pack runes + Banshee’s Wail = perma Swiftness; just switch Banshee’s Wail out before engaging for something more usefull for the fight)
- I would NOT use Marauder stats as a necro, since you sacrifice power and ferocity for precision (which is not needed that much, see above) and vitality (on top of our already very high health pool). Totally not worth it imo.
And as Anchoku.8142 already said- if you really feel you need some more defense, change trinkets.
Ok, you guys convinced me to zerk armor with scholar runes.
Thanks for the detailed explanation, Nash.
You’re very welcome.
Another thing to keep in mind when crafting asc. gear: if you ever feel the need to use another stat combination, you can easily change your gear by using the mystic forge. The recipes are quite cheap, only inconvenience is that you lose the equiped runes/sigils by doing so.
So you might want to consider to craft your asc. stuff, equip cheap runes (e. g. centaur or sth.), do some test runs and if you feel comfortable with it, add the more expensive upgrades and watch your efficiency rise. If you don’t- change the stats and try again.
I like the idea of ranger runes as well, but in this case Nash is right. Necros have the least need for precision now of any class because of those two traits, and with a minion build you won’t even be taking that much damage anyways. Even less so if you are using the Blood Magic traitline.
Imo if you’re going to switch up your gear/build for going Ascended, then try out your new gear choices with exotic first to make sure they work together how you want. Once you’ve established it in exotics, then transfer over to ascended.
