Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!

New week, time to show a build. This week it’s all about the masters of condi, the Necro. It’s all about how Necros can use their ability to stack vuln to their advantage in condi builds. Some people seem to have forgotten that vuln can actually increase condi damage but I’m here to remind them and show them how powerful it can be.

This build can be specced in several different ways and I go through those ways in the video and the upcoming written guide. Check the links below for the build and the video, try out the build and tell me what you think.

The Video Guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxb3yKxTuA

The Written Guide
http://intothemists.com/guides/6253-the_condivulnmancer

Full match with the Vulnmancer using the Blood Magic Edition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJetybPVICM

Builds used in Video:
Condi Vuln Necro: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBmWDbkjGatxybwzG4vxRvQBb6CIAiRdCUB0vYLqCA-TZhHABBt/AAXAAkKDEwTAA4DCAA

Hybrid Necro with Death Perception: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBmWDbkjGatxybwzG4vxRvQBb6CIAiRdCUB0vYLKWA-TpBHABA8AAGa/BBOIAJVGYgjAgwXAAA

Blood Magic Edition: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBmWDbkjGatxybwzG4vxRvQNz6hYehNdBEAxoOBqAA-TZhHABBt/AAHEAkKDEwTAA4LAAA

Death Magic Edition: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBmWDbkjGatxybwzG4vxRvQJnhTIehNdBEAxoOBqAA-TZhHABBt/AAHEAkKDEwTAA4LAAA

The written guide is now done.

Gameplay from me playing a full match is also on the way.

i’m reading through your hybrid with death perception, and i can’t seem to agree with 80% of the traits you’ve taken. unless this is for pve purposes, otherwise FITG is an absolutely must in wvw/pvp. as most of your damage will probably be done with the scepter, i find soul marks to be a poor choice as well. reducing the cooldown of deathshroud makes it so rending shroud is even more on demand(and thus have a point) Signets of suffering i can’t really understand either to be honest, or spectral grasp as you are almost always at range anyway. in full honesty i’m not seeing a point of the spite line in this set up at all. unless you went spiteful renewal, chill of death, and close to death. all three of these serve your build that much better.
if i was going to run curses in any sort of condition build at all, i would definitely take parasitic contagion.
you also run no toughness at all.
now that i’ve seen the full set up of it, why is it called hybrid at all? because you have 1900 power? you may as well just go full condi.

Lightsbane.9012:

i’m reading through your hybrid with death perception, and i can’t seem to agree with 80% of the traits you’ve taken. unless this is for pve purposes, otherwise FITG is an absolutely must in wvw/pvp. as most of your damage will probably be done with the scepter, i find soul marks to be a poor choice as well. reducing the cooldown of deathshroud makes it so rending shroud is even more on demand(and thus have a point) Signets of suffering i can’t really understand either to be honest, or spectral grasp as you are almost always at range anyway. in full honesty i’m not seeing a point of the spite line in this set up at all. unless you went spiteful renewal, chill of death, and close to death. all three of these serve your build that much better.
if i was going to run curses in any sort of condition build at all, i would definitely take parasitic contagion.
you also run no toughness at all.
now that i’ve seen the full set up of it, why is it called hybrid at all? because you have 1900 power? you may as well just go full condi.

The key here is theory and practice. You cannot justify my reasoning because you haven’t actually seen it in action.

When you spectral grasp a target (apart from it being a great interrupt) it gives you life force, and you’re applying chill to them which in turn applies vuln(bitter chill). They are also now right next to you which sets up Weakening Shroud, Rending Shroud, Tainted shackles and the 2.5s fear you can get when the target is withing 600 range. It also puts them within Locust Swarm range which gives you life force if you activated it before the pull. And with that you’ve just applied 6-7 conditions to your target not including the immob at the end of Tainted Shackles.

Let’s also remember that the constant re-application of vuln means that classes that cleanse, will cleanse the vuln first, which is not the one they probably want remove.

That being said, you can replace Spectral grasp with anything you prefer. I use it based on personal preference.

As for Signet of Suffering, it reduces the cooldown of your passive and active Plague Signet (this is useful, trust me). It also allows you to convert boons using the signets. So if you’re stunned and the target just so happens to have stab as their top most boon, you just Plague Signet and instantly chain stun them from there.

Spite also gives you might when the target is below 50% and you apply more vuln to the target when they are below 33%. This increases your damage.

Death Perception works well with Carrion. It’s a condi build but the amount of damage you can do to a squishy with a life blast, makes it more of a hybrid than you might currently realize, which is why I call it the Hybrid.

Also Soul Marks ensures that you actually HAVE a Deathshroud to enter in the first place. Yea you might have DS off cooldown fast with Speed of Shadows but how much DS do you have really? 10%? 15? Not worth it from my play perspective.

And I agree that FitG is great. That’s why my other builds utilize it. The Hybrid build is it’s own thing.

Dirame.8521:

Lightsbane.9012:

i’m reading through your hybrid with death perception, and i can’t seem to agree with 80% of the traits you’ve taken. unless this is for pve purposes, otherwise FITG is an absolutely must in wvw/pvp. as most of your damage will probably be done with the scepter, i find soul marks to be a poor choice as well. reducing the cooldown of deathshroud makes it so rending shroud is even more on demand(and thus have a point) Signets of suffering i can’t really understand either to be honest, or spectral grasp as you are almost always at range anyway. in full honesty i’m not seeing a point of the spite line in this set up at all. unless you went spiteful renewal, chill of death, and close to death. all three of these serve your build that much better.
if i was going to run curses in any sort of condition build at all, i would definitely take parasitic contagion.
you also run no toughness at all.
now that i’ve seen the full set up of it, why is it called hybrid at all? because you have 1900 power? you may as well just go full condi.

The key here is theory and practice. You cannot justify my reasoning because you haven’t actually seen it in action.

When you spectral grasp a target (apart from it being a great interrupt) it gives you life force, and you’re applying chill to them which in turn applies vuln(bitter chill). They are also now right next to you which sets up Weakening Shroud, Rending Shroud, Tainted shackles and the 2.5s fear you can get when the target is withing 600 range. It also puts them within Locust Swarm range which gives you life force if you activated it before the pull. And with that you’ve just applied 6-7 conditions to your target not including the immob at the end of Tainted Shackles.

As for Signet of Suffering, it reduces the cooldown of your passive and active Plague Signet (this is useful, trust me). It also allows you to convert boons using the signets. So if you’re stunned and the target just so happens to have stab as their top most boon, you just just Plague Signet and instantly chain stun them from there.

Spite also gives you might when the target is below 50% and you apply more vuln to the target when they are below 33%. This increases your damage.

Death Perception works well with Carrion. It’s a condi build but the amount of damage you can do to a squishy with a life blast, makes it more of a hybrid than you might currently realize, which is why I call it the Hybrid.

see, i ran plague signet when it was 48s traited. this 30 second cd that it is now is fine for my mostly melee build. i’m just listing what i would do differently. but despite how effective you are/think you are with that build, that <1900 armor will come back and bite you, all it takes is an unseen killshot warrior, and 12k+ of that 28k hp is effectively gone. i know the basics of necromancer so including all of that information was sort of pointless, either way, you seem to have your bases covered from your reply, except one really big one: direct damage. (something parasitic contagion would help with.) what are you going to do when condis aren’t enough to drop someone?

Lightsbane.9012:

Dirame.8521:

Lightsbane.9012:

i’m reading through your hybrid with death perception, and i can’t seem to agree with 80% of the traits you’ve taken. unless this is for pve purposes, otherwise FITG is an absolutely must in wvw/pvp. as most of your damage will probably be done with the scepter, i find soul marks to be a poor choice as well. reducing the cooldown of deathshroud makes it so rending shroud is even more on demand(and thus have a point) Signets of suffering i can’t really understand either to be honest, or spectral grasp as you are almost always at range anyway. in full honesty i’m not seeing a point of the spite line in this set up at all. unless you went spiteful renewal, chill of death, and close to death. all three of these serve your build that much better.
if i was going to run curses in any sort of condition build at all, i would definitely take parasitic contagion.
you also run no toughness at all.
now that i’ve seen the full set up of it, why is it called hybrid at all? because you have 1900 power? you may as well just go full condi.

The key here is theory and practice. You cannot justify my reasoning because you haven’t actually seen it in action.

When you spectral grasp a target (apart from it being a great interrupt) it gives you life force, and you’re applying chill to them which in turn applies vuln(bitter chill). They are also now right next to you which sets up Weakening Shroud, Rending Shroud, Tainted shackles and the 2.5s fear you can get when the target is withing 600 range. It also puts them within Locust Swarm range which gives you life force if you activated it before the pull. And with that you’ve just applied 6-7 conditions to your target not including the immob at the end of Tainted Shackles.

As for Signet of Suffering, it reduces the cooldown of your passive and active Plague Signet (this is useful, trust me). It also allows you to convert boons using the signets. So if you’re stunned and the target just so happens to have stab as their top most boon, you just just Plague Signet and instantly chain stun them from there.

Spite also gives you might when the target is below 50% and you apply more vuln to the target when they are below 33%. This increases your damage.

Death Perception works well with Carrion. It’s a condi build but the amount of damage you can do to a squishy with a life blast, makes it more of a hybrid than you might currently realize, which is why I call it the Hybrid.

see, i ran plague signet when it was 48s traited. this 30 second cd that it is now is fine for my mostly melee build. i’m just listing what i would do differently. but despite how effective you are/think you are with that build, that <1900 armor will come back and bite you, all it takes is an unseen killshot warrior, and 12k+ of that 28k hp is effectively gone. i know the basics of necromancer so including all of that information was sort of pointless, either way, you seem to have your bases covered from your reply, except one really big one: direct damage. (something parasitic contagion would help with.) what are you going to do when condis aren’t enough to drop someone?

Oh don’t get me wrong, I know the Hybrid has weaknesses and I never expected to win every fight in the first place. But I do know it’s Strenghts and I will play to them and I advice anyone who tries the build to do so as well. Applying weakness on targets that I can see, dodging (sigil of energy), and CC are your tools. Use them wisely.

Also you may want to check my previous post because I updated it with more responses to your other questions.

Full match with the Vulnmancer using the Blood Magic Edition;

The original post has been updated with the link.