Guild Wars 2

I’ve been a condition necro since beta, I like this kind of playstyle since it really lives to the name of the class but recently I’m really having strong doubts about the condition build when fighting organized guilds/zerg in WvW since they can easily cleanse conditions. Before you can secure your precious conditions ticks by using fears or even before you can stack more conditions, it’s already been cleansed. Also I feel that there are skills that has a ridiculous casting time/effect, making it even harder to stack fast and securing those conditions with fears, these skills are mainly scepter 2, dagger 5, Epidemic.

I’m thinking about that it’s time to leave my condi build. So any suggestion what path should I take? Although I would still love a strong team game presence. All suggestions aee highly appreciated.

I’m not sure if it’s better for zerg fights but I really enjoy my power build. It gives me really, really strong damage, good survivability as long as I’m careful, and a lot of options at any given time. Its bread and butter is grabbing someone with Spectral Grasp, trapping them in a Well of Suffering with Dagger 3, landing a good Focus 4, and then going to town with the Dagger’s autoattack (which deals hella damage). You also have Focus 5 for halting escapes (most people throw up some defensive boons when running) or ripping off stability/heavy might stacking, and then of course can switch to Staff if you need the marks’ utility or a long range option and don’t want to use DS (the Staff auto actually isn’t that bad in this build. I use it a lot to finish off foes who fall in their zerg).

Speaking of DS, all its skills are really strong for this build. #1 deals extremely high damage, #2 sucks at long range but firing it point-blank can give you more chill (enabling more dagger autos), #3 is awesome for obvious reasons, #4 deals less single-target damage than #1 but really strong AoE (it’s great for finishing off thieves) and can help you tank a bit, and #5 is great because it’s condition damage that doesn’t get in the way of your allies’ conditions followed up by an AoE immobilize.

One thing, because I run Runes of Strength, I try to make sure I have Might 100% of the time. Reaper’s Might does that for me but it does require swapping into DS at the start of the battle, which can be dangerous. Part of the nuance is figuring out how to do that without screwing yourself.

I tend to tweak my builds very frequently on the fly. Here are some of the more common changes I make.

Slot skills:

Replace Spectral Grasp with Spectral Wall in zerg fights or Blood is Power/Well of Darkness in PvE. I generally prefer Spectral Grasp, but Spectral Wall is a stronger skill for zerg fights overall.

Replace Signet of the Locust with Flesh Wurm when fighting near an allied tower (drop the wurm inside the tower on the other side of the wall from the entry portal, makes for an easy escape if I get in trouble).

Replace Plague with Flesh Golem when roaming away from allied towers. Plague is great for buying me some time or helping me get to a safe tower, but it’s just going to delay the inevitable if you get caught too far out.

Traits:

Replace the Foot in the Grave trait with Deathly Perception when I’m confident I don’t need the Stability. Deathly Perception is a massive, massive DPS boost, so I try to switch to it whenever possible.

Replace Near to Death with Soul Marks. I generally find that this build generates hella Life Force, but if you want more, Soul Marks can give it to you. Land all 5 marks on 5 foes each and you’ll have generated about 83% LF in under 5 seconds. Path of Midnight is another option, though I generally prefer Near to Death (so I can pop into DS for a few quick stacks of Might with less consequence).

Replace Spiteful Marks with Chill of Death, Spiteful Talisman, or Axe Training. Spiteful Marks isn’t the best trait in the world, but I like it for zerg fights. Chill of Death is much better when roaming as it pretty much ensures that you’ll win close fights, but Spiteful Talisman is better for preventing foes from escaping. Axe Training is great when you’re using an Axe, of course (sometimes I’ll switch to D/D+Axe/Focus when I don’t need the long range or utility of the Staff but instead want a smoother damage curve when switching between melee and 600 range).

Replace Weakening Shroud with Chilling Darkness. Mostly so Plague #2 becomes an absolute beast of an skill, though I mostly prefer Weakening Shroud (pop into DS when a thief jumps you and the battle becomes extremely one-sided).

Those 10 points in Curses can actually go wherever you like as you can kinda use any of the stats from Curses, Death, or Blood and all three lines have useful 10-point traits. It’s all up to you.