Guild Wars 2

We all know how broken Necromancers were when GW2 was first launched, and they had no quality of life, i remember reading a thread with tons of bugs/problems with the class.

I want to know how Necromancers are right now.

Roll one. a few of the best ranked players in pvp play necros.

our potential is currently expressed through 3 out of 4 “viable” build paths. Variations usually fall between two of each.

Powermancer
Conditionmancer
Hybrid (usually dag/dag or scept/dag)
Minionmaster (Not fixed for competitive play in pvp)

You’ll usually find people leveling with conditions/spreading or minions+AoE healing in PvE.

When you pollinate your play into WvW, you’ll see more spike damage power builds using dagger, sometimes even axe (for personal preference, some people are willing to sacrifice marginal dps for range)

If you play a lot of s/tPvP, you’ll find high damage stacked skirmish builds (hybrid: 30/30/x/x/x) maximizing crits, condition damage, power, and condition duration with emphasis on placement and skill.

as necros, we have one of the highest base vitality pools in game (matched with warrior) and access to high armor levels as a cloth wearer.

Some people may state that other classes can stack bleeds faster than us, but at the end of the day, we can stack them more consistently, from a range, from a multitude of sources. In the same manner, we can control (and cleanse) these conditions back to our targets, which is a foremost condition advantage necros have over any other class.

Death shroud primarily serves as a secondary HP bar, and will give you rollercoaster-like varying performance as you level your character, change your traits and gear, and learn to “master” (more like incorporate) it into your favorite build. once you settle at level 80, it can prove to be a very strong and sometimes advantageous mechanic.

Many of our traits are broken (noted: minion AI is extremely weak, gluttony modifier in Soul reaping tree is total bunk, siphoning in Blood Magic is slightly lower in potential viability than most players would like although still solid if used correctly in PvE.)

As glass cannons, our high vitality and bubble-up DS mechanic makes us a slightly less squishy glass cannon than other caster-classes.

As tanks, we have ridiculous and awesome potential in all areas of play. At the cost of attack power.

Healing is 3rd best (under guardian with mace/staff and water elementals with staff) in my opinion, outwards healing is very flexible as a off-support playstyle as long as you have 15 points in blood.

It is a complicated class with many bugs, probably some of the most. Agony deals 2x damage in Death shroud.

it relies on a lot of skill, and some friends have associated the playstyle closely with how an engineer plays.

Roll one. If it’s a little mysterious in terms of how to make it shine, roll a different class.

But the necro has great potential.

Pretty much the same.

We’ve had a few decent fixes but still have a TON of stuff that need fixing and reworking/buffing etc.

We’re playable though, if you’re not going to bother playing it til more “good” fixes come you’re probably going to be waiting for a long time, the rate at which we’re getting fixes is extremely slow.

^this. It has a lot of bugs, which is not ignorable, but it still is a successful class. (fix rate is slow, but its not like we lose to absolutely everything)

Necros are pretty good imo. we dont really have to spec in survivability to have above average health and with a little bit of thoughness you easily survive backstab thieves and 100b warriors. So we pretty much have a natural advantage over all those class cannon builds. We have great bunker builds that take forever to kill (nearly impossible just by yourself), and even going full zerker D/D and D/W with 30 points in DS and power with 10 points in toughness we still have a good deal of surivivabilty (more then other classes speccing into vit) and deal decent damage. In the end it obviously comes down to how well you play.
In PvE we can easily take on higher level mobs and just kite them and generally kill them without much trouble, even take on multiple mobs (i usually get a pack of 5 in orr and just well bomb and DS4 and they are nearly dead) using a condition&power well support build with Scepter/D and OH staff.
Sadly our minion builds are next to useless. not because they have crappy AI but mostly because in a half serious fight they drop so fast you barley even see it happening making them next to useless in nearly every single boss fight(minions dont dodge red circles sadly).
Never really botherd with minions in PvP.
In WvWvW it hardly matters what you play. Throw some AoE in the zerk hit epidemy and thats it.

If you want to roll minions, you will be limited to only select paths in dungeons and open world PvE. PvP won’t treat you kindly.

The rest of the builds are OK. (the soul reaping tree sucks though).

Tried playing a mesmer and a ranger (probably not a good idea) but I keep coming back to the necro. Ridiculously high base health plus a second health bar if you can keep your life force filled up.

It’s been said before, there are a lot of bugs, but certainly not unplayable. Once these bugs get fixed (corrupt boon/spectral grasp/gluttony etc. working properly), necros will be pretty kitten good I reckon.

I don’t know about you but I always have at least 15 into the soul reaping tree for last gasp. Soul reaping ain’t that bad, the whole tree adds a fair bit to your survivability

Soul reaping is fantastic. III, VII, X, XI, XII are all strong traits, and last gasp is better than most majors.

Just play a class and enjoy it. I never considered the Necros broken, because they are not. It’s a hard class to get used to, but once you do, you’ll be kicking butt. I play a minion master btw. I do ok in structured PvP (which I find kind of annoying when it’s 8vs8 cuz I’m clearly winning vs 1-2 people, and then someone always comes from behind and picks me off haha) and I do really, really well in WvW.

Necro is ok. Ignore all those “necro is broken” posts.

Sure we have our problems and bugs but so do other classes.

Best advice is to not play the other classes.

You may develop the grass is greener syndrome, and it’ll turn you into a cynic.

just rolled a necro. my favourite caster by far. ele – i just wasnt digging attunement swapping (too frantic); mesmer – was fun but a little too simple. necro – there’s just so much you can do. utility, bunker, conditions, burst. many viable builds. having a blast.

Just 2 “competitive” builds in pvp, tons of useless or bugged (or even useless if working correctly) trash traits.
Maybe 3 – 4 competitive or at least useful PVE builds.
Disappointing.

If you’ve never played GW1 the necro might be hard to get used to at first, but it’s definitely a class worth playing. I started as a necro in GW1, and never turned back since (they were even harder to fight successfully with in GW1); I find it the most fun class to play, and never really found the other classes that appealing for some reason. It’s definitely a class that you will have to tweak over time before you find a build that works best for you, but imo that’s part of the fun XD

Luke.4562:

Just 2 “competitive” builds in pvp, tons of useless or bugged (or even useless if working correctly) trash traits.
Maybe 3 – 4 competitive or at least useful PVE builds.
Disappointing.

uh, thats pretty much where everyone is at. most profs have only one or two viable competitive builds.

nerva.7940:

Luke.4562:

Just 2 “competitive” builds in pvp, tons of useless or bugged (or even useless if working correctly) trash traits.
Maybe 3 – 4 competitive or at least useful PVE builds.
Disappointing.

uh, thats pretty much where everyone is at. most profs have only one or two viable competitive builds.

Add the fact those 2 have roles that are filled better by other classes…

Luke.4562:

nerva.7940:

Luke.4562:

Just 2 “competitive” builds in pvp, tons of useless or bugged (or even useless if working correctly) trash traits.
Maybe 3 – 4 competitive or at least useful PVE builds.
Disappointing.

uh, thats pretty much where everyone is at. most profs have only one or two viable competitive builds.

Add the fact those 2 have roles that are filled better by other classes…

uh nope, the well conditionmancer is the best condition/support build in the game. bunkermancer is at least as good as a bunker engie.

Class needs work. Specially minions. The attacking things for no reason or not attacking things for plenty of reasons needs work. In wvwvw they make great zerg surfers. I cant speak for the s or t pvp.

In terms of PvE leveling, how fast can necromancers kill mobs of equal level? I’ve read that while they are hardy and tough to bring down, they also take forever to kill something. Is that true, or can you kill quickly? How good are they with taking on 2 or 3 mobs at once?

Necro > PvE.

I can’t put this more blatantly Necro is greater than the sum of all PvE content combined. Any argument to the contrary is simply delusional.

In tPvP and WvW necro is only competitive if refined into support/AoE roles. Minion Master builds for example have nothing to offer tPvP but clumbsy traps that won’t even stay where you put them. The teleport/step dance using worm is pretty hilarious, but its not going to turn a point, survive a zerg push, knock out heavy siege, or bust a bunker.

But they will fix minions eventually and Necro will have viable bunker and burst builds that rely currently on minions that don’t work.

Current meta is support + synergy/burst = win. Also rez signet is absolutely required equipment. Necro AoE Chill, Vulnerability, and Boon to Conditions uttery decimates a team fight combined with the ability to ground target rez. Even healthy zergs can be kicked in the jimmy mid stream by a single well played Necro. But only in a support/AoE role.

Burst and bunker tools are all heavily minion, and minion trait reliant, and I think the developers, and most experienced players, are very well aware of this. So over time the fixes to minion AI will open up more diversity in necro playstyle.

I want the corpse wave minion master play-style from GW1 and from Vanguard, personally. Being able to make pets from corpses and have a single static construct is Necro done right in my opinion. And I have been playing a Necro in MMOs since March1999. So you could say I have a feel for it. Only thing GW2 Necro should have to make it a real Necro is the ability to gear your contruct or make it out of looted mob parts and customize it.

Because Arena Net, please pay attention to this next part whoever you are necro dev,

A Necro should always be judged not by the shine of their jewelry, or of skills left cooling from vigorous overuse, or even the motion within the ocean, of consciousness, he or she pours into the summoning pool to stoke their summoning fires, but instead let them be measured by the novel grandeur of their massive, throbbing
…constructs.

/thread

Reference:
Novel – New or unusual in an interesting way
Grandeur – The quality or condition of being grand; magnificence

I encourage you to start playing a necro. Regardless of the negative threads you hear about it, I find it to be the greatest class. I’ve played a ranger, a thief, a guardian, and a necro to 80. I love the necro mechanics. Sheobix has summed it all up. My advice though, do not look at QQ threads about necros. almost all of them do not look at the whole picture. You can do pretty good in solo play (damage and survivability wise). However, if you like to play with a group, you will be a great asset for the team when you place a well at the perfect time. I run power build with full knight armor, weapons and accessories in WvWvW. I also have a set of berserker’s weapons, and accessories for solo. I use dagger/warhorn and a staff. imo, I’ve had a lot more fun with the necro after i hit 80 than i had fun leveling. my thief though was the other way around. In wvwvw for example you can convert conditions on allies to boons, boons on enemies to conditions, you can revive 3 people at once from downed state and you can blind up to 5 people around you. Dont forget your lich form… it is awesome for solo play and plaque form for group play. even in dungeons you can bring a lot to the table than some classes would. dynamic event… you can almost tag every enemy and get crazy loot.

So much can be done. I hope to see you playing one. you’ll never regret it. and when you play another class you’ll come back tot the necro… i know i did!

I play a necro and have a blast(most of the time), and thats what game should be about. Unfortunately there is a very big BUT with this class. Gonna list a couple of things that come to mind

Master of conditions: oh please…we dont even have accses to burn and confussion the 2 by far most damaging conditions (ok yes we have confussion but you have to burn a utility and then spam staff 1=lame). We are left with bleed and poison. Serisly…who came up with that? Lets make a class that is supose to be master of attrition then give it 2 worst damaging conditions. Jesus. + conditons get wiped really easy

Access to boons: Lol. Just lol. Dont see why staff 4 doesnt transfer enemy boons to you. It pretty useless anyway…only blast finisher and full clense on 1 skill that is on a pretty long CD.

Condition removal: while not bad, its outdone by atleast 1 class (maybe more, havent played all). Again: master of conditions comes to mind and we are not top.

Class mech: #4 good, 1 good over 50% LF, rest…meh

Signets: serisly? somebody actually SPENT TIME coming up with that? Yes the revival is good…to bad it only works in PvE…on a 3min CD…yeah…usefullnes supreme

Elite skills: 1 is a retared bag of flesh, 1 makes you insta target for everyone in WvW, 1 is usefull..as long as you stay on #2.

Weapons:
- staff: clunky as hell for anything outside PvE, and WTF is with marks being visible to enemies? The whole weapon revolves about pre/positioning marks that everybody can then avoide since there is a BIG RED circle on the gound? Invisible marks till triggered for enemies kkthx?
Also #1? Lol.

- dagger: possibly highest damage output…with 1 skill..yeah…awsome. #2 tickles, #3 imobilize good, #4 lame as kitten, have to bounce 3 times to remove 3 conditions, blind kinda good, lots of classes can do better. #5 good-ish i guess

- Scepter: #1 chain to slow, #2 good, #3 kitteny…relies on dmg/cond when we cant stack THAT many of them…hits like a train with corrupt boon vs. a buffed target

- focus: good, maybe a bit longer durration on chill

- horn: utility weapon…lower CD would be awsome

Healing skills: fiend crap, consume cond. good if you get stacked on, otherwise crap, WoB: best, but still: Hi im anet, we are making a game thats about mobility, but you have to stand in a circle if you want full use of this skill kk?

Utility: signets: see above, minions: wont even go into that

- spectral: pull to slow projectile, walk is good, armor idk never found much use for it
- wells: imo best option atm, see comment @ heal skill
- corruption: plague good if you’re in a pty with many stackers, otherwise its just bleed and poison for the most part, BiP good, cloud good when combined with well bombing, corrupt boon worthless PvE wise, good-ish pvp

Downed/drowned: not the worst in the class, bottom 2 or 3 easy.

Underwater: /facepalm. Hey guys im drowning!!! What should i do?? Poison yourself.

Disclamer: most skills either work/dont work PvE/pvp and are really good at the other thing. For instance AoE bombing with wells and DS 4 + couple marks from staff= win vs. idiot npc; = full combo dodgeable with a press of a key in pvp

That reminds me: COMBOS: next to non-exsistent.

Conclusion: there were dozens of ways to go with the class that was supose to be about cheating/controling death, they chose one of the worst imo. Self ressing (from dead, not downed), minion army instead some guys you’d pick last in gym class, sucking life from enemies that actually has some use etc. etc.

In the end if you can make it work its EXTREMELY fun and rewarding, but tbh getting there feels like work sometimes and scarcly seems worth it, so in the end i often swap to mah engi and cheat at jumping puzzles with rifle 5.

Mah 2 cents.

doodeyte.7356:

I encourage you to start playing a necro. Regardless of the negative threads you hear about it, I find it to be the greatest class. I’ve played a ranger, a thief, a guardian, and a necro to 80. I love the necro mechanics. Sheobix has summed it all up. My advice though, do not look at QQ threads about necros. almost all of them do not look at the whole picture. You can do pretty good in solo play (damage and survivability wise). However, if you like to play with a group, you will be a great asset for the team when you place a well at the perfect time. I run power build with full knight armor, weapons and accessories in WvWvW. I also have a set of berserker’s weapons, and accessories for solo. I use dagger/warhorn and a staff. imo, I’ve had a lot more fun with the necro after i hit 80 than i had fun leveling. my thief though was the other way around. In wvwvw for example you can convert conditions on allies to boons, boons on enemies to conditions, you can revive 3 people at once from downed state and you can blind up to 5 people around you. Dont forget your lich form… it is awesome for solo play and plaque form for group play. even in dungeons you can bring a lot to the table than some classes would. dynamic event… you can almost tag every enemy and get crazy loot.

So much can be done. I hope to see you playing one. you’ll never regret it. and when you play another class you’ll come back tot the necro… i know i did!

i regained hope in humanity.

play the necro! we’re awesome!