Guild Wars 2

I got destroyed by a friend of mine, an engy that had a weird spec.
He runs a lot of condis, one of which is when he gives me 5 stacks of confusion.. when this happens I always went down!
Now I’ve got sigil of generosity, and dagger off-hand, and tried to pick plague signet as well, but I just couldn’t beat him.

I’m a power necro 30/20/0/0/20

and I couldn’t even get close.
Any suggestions on how to deal with conditions, without gimping myself too much?
Also I run axe/focus and scepter/dagger

Your traits are spot on, axe/focus is great, but if you’re a power necro you shouldnt be using scepter. Swap to dagger/warhorn. Use the Axe/Focus to build vulnerability stacks along with Spectral wall swap over to dagger/warhorn for the 4sec immobilize, daze, cripple and huge dps.

Honestly, a necro should not have any problem with conditions. They just increase your heal. Be sure you’re using DS frequently for the might/vulnerability stacking as well as the frenzy when you’re not popping it defensively.

As per above axe/scepter is not ideal for this kind of build. Also as a power glass cannon necro you’re going to be weak in general if you try to dps anyone down – this is not a strength of necro. You need to have dagger offhand for deathly swarm, save your consume conditions until you really need it and you could also try shrouded removal.

If you really want to 1v1 with a necro you’ll need to use other tankier builds.

I just posted the below in another thread regading Rangers but it applies here as well. I think the idea of a Power build going 1v1 seems like common sense but I am familiar with this confusion Engi spec (Demented Engineer Spec) and it can be devestating.

His achillies heel is that he must get close to you to use his bomb that causes confusion, wrench etc. These are not long range abilities, so your need to be close to him and, on a typical Power build is helping his cause.

I don’t know if you want to re-spec for just one fight, but as you will see below, this spec can be very viable in any 1v1, regardless of spec/class.

(begin copy)

So, I have never played a Well-o-m and am considering moving toward a group Wells power build but I used to have the same issues with Rangers.

Today, I uses Nemesis’s (6x Fear) Terror build and I just LOL at them now. Like any class, if I get caught with my cooldows blown I am going to have a much harder time but, here is what I do…..

See a Ranger (any class I will need to 1v1 really)….get my Elite pet out. Once in range, I send my pet at Ranger which does a sprint / knock down. HINT: This speed/knock down will also interrupt an Ele’s steam charge if timed properly.

While he is on the ground I do a Staff 2 to start him bleeding, then a staff 5 on top of him. Right as he gets up, he is feared (which in my spec causes damage).

As he runs (feared), I place staff 3 down for chill so I can keep close enough to him. Once Fear runs its’ course, they will normally turn to fight. I switch to DS and use DS3 to fear him again. At this point, my pets is on him and psychologically, he is beginning to panic. He has now taken close to 4k famage on fear ticks alone and is ticking from other conditions on him.

When he pops buffs to run or strengthen himself, I will Corrupt Boon and turn those into conditions (situational….have to pick right time). If he uses a skill that grants Stability boon, when corrupted…that turns in Fear,

I switch to scepter and cripple / bleed etc to stay inside my range and he is trying to kite awy from me.

At this point, it is over he just doesn’t knonw it yet

By the time you have used your scepter skills, staff is off Cd. Switch to staff and use as needed. Remember staff 5 (fear) and DS 3 (fear) are likely off CD and read to take him out of the fight, again.

There is more that you will have to consider / react to but I normally have no issues with solo fights anymore.

Here is a link to the thread discussing the build I am using:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Fear-is-my-weapon-6x-fear-WvW-build/first

Hope this helps.

That engineer spec will “burst” you for 10-12 stacks of confusion. If you just go spamming buttons when you have all those stacks you will melt like butter. Worst case, wait out the stacks. Otherwise, cleanse it. Best case, use your OH Dagger #4 to put those stacks on HIM.

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Just wanted to reply to the folks saying scepter doesn’t go well with power, which is just wrong Dagger range is so short that if you get immobilized you can’t do anything. I love the damage from it, and the lifesteal ofc also the immobilize. However I like the range of 900 scepter, which actually hits quite hard in a power build. Not to forget you get a long duration cripple (since 30 pts in spite), and a bite that hits for 2200 on crits.
So that’s my reasoning for trying out the scepter, as I did have dagger before but just got tired of not being able to be in range.

Dietzen.6127:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Just wanted to reply to the folks saying scepter doesn’t go well with power, which is just wrong Dagger range is so short that if you get immobilized you can’t do anything. I love the damage from it, and the lifesteal ofc also the immobilize. However I like the range of 900 scepter, which actually hits quite hard in a power build. Not to forget you get a long duration cripple (since 30 pts in spite), and a bite that hits for 2200 on crits.
So that’s my reasoning for trying out the scepter, as I did have dagger before but just got tired of not being able to be in range.

Axe is still better – I can hit 2200 on my auto well maybe only 1800, pluse Axe has seen numbers significantly higher with food. I hit 6900 on a high toughness guy the other day.

I’m not into dueling but I 1-1 ok when it comes up. First thing I think of though, is why not use staff. Staff #4 is great at handling conditions, guaranteed he ends up the worse in that deal. Anyway, good luck!

Bas.7406:

Dietzen.6127:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Just wanted to reply to the folks saying scepter doesn’t go well with power, which is just wrong Dagger range is so short that if you get immobilized you can’t do anything. I love the damage from it, and the lifesteal ofc also the immobilize. However I like the range of 900 scepter, which actually hits quite hard in a power build. Not to forget you get a long duration cripple (since 30 pts in spite), and a bite that hits for 2200 on crits.
So that’s my reasoning for trying out the scepter, as I did have dagger before but just got tired of not being able to be in range.

Axe is still better – I can hit 2200 on my auto well maybe only 1800, pluse Axe has seen numbers significantly higher with food. I hit 6900 on a high toughness guy the other day.

I AM running axe :-)
Axe/focus and scepter/dagger. I used to run d/d instead of scepter, but opted for range in the scepter and gave up on the dagger.

Dietzen.6127:

Bas.7406:

Dietzen.6127:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Just wanted to reply to the folks saying scepter doesn’t go well with power, which is just wrong Dagger range is so short that if you get immobilized you can’t do anything. I love the damage from it, and the lifesteal ofc also the immobilize. However I like the range of 900 scepter, which actually hits quite hard in a power build. Not to forget you get a long duration cripple (since 30 pts in spite), and a bite that hits for 2200 on crits.
So that’s my reasoning for trying out the scepter, as I did have dagger before but just got tired of not being able to be in range.

Axe is still better – I can hit 2200 on my auto well maybe only 1800, pluse Axe has seen numbers significantly higher with food. I hit 6900 on a high toughness guy the other day.

I AM running axe :-)
Axe/focus and scepter/dagger. I used to run d/d instead of scepter, but opted for range in the scepter and gave up on the dagger.

Wow, no staff? That’s crazy, staff is so versatile. I occassionally run D/W instead of staff to deal with the melee guys.

Yeah I’m trying it out, to see if it works. Seemingly I don’t need the staff as much as I’d have thought. And it is 10 trait points I can use elsewhere, cause I simply can’t take staff without greater marks :-)

I rarely use staff in PvP, the only time I do is as an off-set in condition builds, and in those builds it is saved solely for fearing people away from stomps/rez and objectives.

I use staff without greater marks, its ok, just land it on people and no one will notice

Also shroud is a great tool for avoiding condition damage but that might only apply to poison and bleeds.

Except you take 4 times the damage in DS :-)

Dietzen.6127:

Except you take 4 times the damage in DS :-)

I’m thinking that would be 4 x zero which would be ok. In other words, it seems to me all condition damage is on hold while you are in shroud. Whenever I’m in dire straits and switch to shroud I dont see any additional tics coming off my shroud LF.

You cant heal in shroud but it seems you dont take damage either, ie all things that affect health are locked out.

Sorry if I’m starting rumors here, this is only casual observation, havent really tested.

I don’t know about conditions, I haven’t paid attention often enough to notice, but I don’t personally see my HP drop because of them. However direct damage definitely cuts down your LF %.

Except it’s four times the condition damage taken while in DS.
There was a recent post about this.
I wouldn’t have mentioned it, if it was four times zero. Can’t remember why though.

Easy way to test it, against enemy pve conditions since a ton of mobs apply conditions on bleed, but i know for sure that bruning in fractals (standing still on grawl one at last boss to get it) does tick with DS, it degenerates it faster rounding up to 2% LF pre tick (with 30%+ LF from Soul Reaping and Soldier gear) while confusion from reef drakes (5 stacks) takes 6% pre life blast cast.

Bas.7406:

Dietzen.6127:

Bas.7406:

Dietzen.6127:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Just wanted to reply to the folks saying scepter doesn’t go well with power, which is just wrong Dagger range is so short that if you get immobilized you can’t do anything. I love the damage from it, and the lifesteal ofc also the immobilize. However I like the range of 900 scepter, which actually hits quite hard in a power build. Not to forget you get a long duration cripple (since 30 pts in spite), and a bite that hits for 2200 on crits.
So that’s my reasoning for trying out the scepter, as I did have dagger before but just got tired of not being able to be in range.

Axe is still better – I can hit 2200 on my auto well maybe only 1800, pluse Axe has seen numbers significantly higher with food. I hit 6900 on a high toughness guy the other day.

I AM running axe :-)
Axe/focus and scepter/dagger. I used to run d/d instead of scepter, but opted for range in the scepter and gave up on the dagger.

Wow, no staff? That’s crazy, staff is so versatile. I occassionally run D/W instead of staff to deal with the melee guys.

Hehe, I dont use a staff outside of siege or some pve situations either any more. I consider Axe to be my range and dagger to be my main hand.

You run into these guys a lot in sPvP and duels, not sure there’s much a power necromancer can do short of heal/cleanse early and often to avoid triggering the confusion.

They’re pretty much fodder for a condition user, though.