Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!

So my necromancer is only level 25, and I have a lot of learning to do. But…

I have noticed that my character does just fine with one enemy (even if it’s boss), but once I get three or more, I pretty much know I’m going to die. This is probably my fault because I may just not be that good at playing a Necro, but does anyone have any tips on how to handle large groups? I will also take build suggestions! I tend to solo PvE this game more.

Use epidemic to spread conditions. Use staff. Use DS defensively while waiting for your heal to come off cooldown.

As for build suggestions, have a look at the stickies at the top of this page.

When I was leveling I could handle groups of mobs easily using wells… Well of Suffering does a lot of damage and mobs are dumb enough to stay in its area.

lookitsandrea.8531:

Hey guys!

So my necromancer is only level 25, and I have a lot of learning to do. But…

I have noticed that my character does just fine with one enemy (even if it’s boss), but once I get three or more, I pretty much know I’m going to die. This is probably my fault because I may just not be that good at playing a Necro, but does anyone have any tips on how to handle large groups? I will also take build suggestions! I tend to solo PvE this game more.

I am a firm believer that until lvl 60 just build around the best weapon you have in your hand at that time. There is nothing major you can do until lvl 40 plus when you finally start getting to the good stuff.

Several vary basic tips for a new player.

1) Always carry a staff as a secondary (the aoe and escape abilities are worth it).

2) Upgrade your gear every 10 levels for maximum survival

3) Check out Nemesis and CHIPS videos of possible builds, and the But of Corpse Podcasts for some great ideas and encouragement.

4) Try everything you can, mess around with builds, and find the weapon you like the feel of best.

4). Stay active and talk to other necromancers about questions you might have.

As albotelho stated, use Well of Suffering. Additionally, if you’re using staff, you can use it in a variety of ways to improve survivability. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Always cast staff #2 (Mark of Blood) as soon as it’s recharged as it gives you regeneration (you must be standing inside the mark when an enemy triggers it to benefit from the regeneration, though). It doesn’t hurt that it causes bleeding to your enemies, as well.

2) Place staff #3 (Chilblains) followed by staff #4 (Putrid Mark). Chilblains is a poison field while Putrid Mark is a blast finisher. The two together create an Area Weakness combo which will reduce the damage output of your enemies.

3) Alternately, you can cast Well of Suffering and follow it up with Putrid Mark. Well of Suffering is a dark field. The blast finisher of Putrid Mark inside that field creates Area Blindness.

4) Whenever you have sufficient life force to do so, enter Death Shroud and use Life Transfer to hit up to 5 enemies for some decent damage. Try to time it at the same time they are inside your Well of Suffering.

5) If you would like to keep your opponents nearly perma-weakened, bring Corrosive Poison Cloud as a utility. This skill causes weakness to those caught inside of it. It will also cause weakness to you. This is NOT a bad thing. To turn this to your advantage, cast Putrid Mark inside the AoE of Corrosive Poison Cloud. CPC is a poison field and Putrid Mark’s blast finisher will interact with it to create an Area Weakness combo (5 additional seconds of weakness).

Furthermore, Putrid Mark transfers conditions (all of them) from you to your enemies; you will transfer the self-inflicted weakness of CPC onto your opponents, as well.

Opening with Chilblains (which causes the chill condition) and then following up with Putrid Mark will help ensure they remain caught inside your CPC for a longer period of time. Since CPC pulses, you want them to remain within it’s perimeter for as long as possible to maximize the length of the weakness and poisoning this skill causes.

6) Unlock Consume Conditions as your healing skill as soon as possible. It removes all conditions from you and heals you for more for each condition consumed.

7) Staff #1 (Necrotic Grasp) pierces; you can hit up to 3 enemies with it. Practice lining up opponents to maximize this ability. Another suggestion is – when facing multiple enemies – target one near the back. Then kite around while attempting to keep the other mobs between you and your target; this improves your chances of hitting multiple opponents.

Outside of the suggestions regarding weakening opponents, I don’t have suggestions regarding conditions as I don’t use them. This isn’t meant to start a debate or flame war about the pros and cons of conditions. I can certainly see their usefullness if that’s the kind of necro you want to play; especially against PvE mobs. It’s just not my personal play style.

I prefer Blood Magic which – despite it’s disappointing implementation in this game when compared to its predecessor in GW1 – I’ve found to provide decent survivability when you are finally able to unlock the Vampiric and Bloodthirst traits. Those small but constant ticks of life siphoning with every hit can help keep you alive through all the PvE mobs.

Just know that if you go this route, you have to be aggressive with your fighting style. Your sustain comes from constantly hitting your enemies; the more the better. Stacking wells, marks, and then getting up close and personal with dagger and warhorn’s Locust Swarm so you’re getting in as many hits as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time. If that’s not your style, then go with conditions and Epidemic. This will permit you to put distance between yourself and the mobs while killing them with the damage-over-time of your conditions.

Lastly, if you decide to try some of these suggestions, find a neutral animal like a moa or a deer to practice on. Since they won’t aggro on you due to close proximity, this gives you time to set up your marks in advance without having to worry about coming under attack while doing so. This will permit you to more easily witness the synergies of the combo fields and finishers while practicing the timing of when to cast what skills and in what order.

Good luck.

Make sure you use staff when fighting multiple enemies. It really helps kill them fast.

Watch my youtube guide. It should help you get things started. ^^

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

As albotelho stated, use Well of Suffering. Additionally, if you’re using staff, you can use it in a variety of ways to improve survivability. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Always cast staff #2 (Mark of Blood) as soon as it’s recharged as it gives you regeneration (you must be standing inside the mark when an enemy triggers it to benefit from the regeneration, though). It doesn’t hurt that it causes bleeding to your enemies, as well.

2) Place staff #3 (Chilblains) followed by staff #4 (Putrid Mark). Chilblains is a poison field while Putrid Mark is a blast finisher. The two together create an Area Weakness combo which will reduce the damage output of your enemies.

3) Alternately, you can cast Well of Suffering and follow it up with Putrid Mark. Well of Suffering is a dark field. The blast finisher of Putrid Mark inside that field creates Area Blindness.

4) Whenever you have sufficient life force to do so, enter Death Shroud and use Life Transfer to hit up to 5 enemies for some decent damage. Try to time it at the same time they are inside your Well of Suffering.

5) If you would like to keep your opponents nearly perma-weakened, bring Corrosive Poison Cloud as a utility. This skill causes weakness to those caught inside of it. It will also cause weakness to you. This is NOT a bad thing. To turn this to your advantage, cast Putrid Mark inside the AoE of Corrosive Poison Cloud. CPC is a poison field and Putrid Mark’s blast finisher will interact with it to create an Area Weakness combo (5 additional seconds of weakness).

Furthermore, Putrid Mark transfers conditions (all of them) from you to your enemies; you will transfer the self-inflicted weakness of CPC onto your opponents, as well.

Opening with Chilblains (which causes the chill condition) and then following up with Putrid Mark will help ensure they remain caught inside your CPC for a longer period of time. Since CPC pulses, you want them to remain within it’s perimeter for as long as possible to maximize the length of the weakness and poisoning this skill causes.

6) Unlock Consume Conditions as your healing skill as soon as possible. It removes all conditions from you and heals you for more for each condition consumed.

7) Staff #1 (Necrotic Grasp) pierces; you can hit up to 3 enemies with it. Practice lining up opponents to maximize this ability. Another suggestion is – when facing multiple enemies – target one near the back. Then kite around while attempting to keep the other mobs between you and your target; this improves your chances of hitting multiple opponents.

Outside of the suggestions regarding weakening opponents, I don’t have suggestions regarding conditions as I don’t use them. This isn’t meant to start a debate or flame war about the pros and cons of conditions. I can certainly see their usefullness if that’s the kind of necro you want to play; especially against PvE mobs. It’s just not my personal play style.

I prefer Blood Magic which – despite it’s disappointing implementation in this game when compared to its predecessor in GW1 – I’ve found to provide decent survivability when you are finally able to unlock the Vampiric and Bloodthirst traits. Those small but constant ticks of life siphoning with every hit can help keep you alive through all the PvE mobs.

Just know that if you go this route, you have to be aggressive with your fighting style. Your sustain comes from constantly hitting your enemies; the more the better. Stacking wells, marks, and then getting up close and personal with dagger and warhorn’s Locust Swarm so you’re getting in as many hits as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time. If that’s not your style, then go with conditions and Epidemic. This will permit you to put distance between yourself and the mobs while killing them with the damage-over-time of your conditions.

Lastly, if you decide to try some of these suggestions, find a neutral animal like a moa or a deer to practice on. Since they won’t aggro on you due to close proximity, this gives you time to set up your marks in advance without having to worry about coming under attack while doing so. This will permit you to more easily witness the synergies of the combo fields and finishers while practicing the timing of when to cast what skills and in what order.

Good luck.

This is a class of how to play a Necro… nice tips on the combination of skills for combos. Gratz.

I despise the staff because the marks are so small. I use a scepter/D on main and switch to Axe/focus for 1v1.

With the wells you can down several mobs down, I look for larger groups when there up and can down every one of them.

Wells are awesome and i just only switched to Conditionmancer at 40 and now there jsut OP awesomeness.

I’m also a fan of scepter/dagger + axe/focus. At 25, you have 15 trait points, IIRC. I would go for 5/10(II)/0/0/0 or 5/5/0/5/0. Consume Conditions, Blood is Power, Epidemic and Locust signet (switch signet with CPC or Well depending on situation).

But, as others have said, they prefer staff. I’d recommend it if I you were a minion master (then traits would be 0/0/15(III)/0/0).

There’s just a lot of different ways to play necro.

I run a pure Minions build with Scepter/Focus as my primary weapon set. I’ve picked up the traits where minions siphon health and transfer it to you; coupled with Bloodthirst, Parasitic Bond and my Blood Fiend, I have an incredible amount of sustained health gain as long as my minion army is alive. This means that I can run right into melee and lure enemies into attacking ME and still tank quite well (the fact that I have 30 Death Magic doesn’t hurt either). My minions provide direct damage, while I supplement with condition damage. Everything dies quickly, and if things do look like they’re going poorly, you can always leave your minions behind to distract enemies while you retreat.