Guild Wars 2

I am interested in Necromancer and am curious how people play theirs.
The three things I see most people doing are Minions, Well support, and Condition Damage.
How do you play your necromancer and why is it fun for you? What are some ways Necromancers fill the control role (since every class is supposedly able to fill any role)?

I tried a power tank build and I liked it. I really felt unkillable and did pretty good damage. I missed the bigger numbers but did high base damage.

I tried a glass cannon 20/20/0/0/30 and 10/30/0/0/30 build that was really amazing for damage and provided really high numbers and high dps. It felt really good but it was stressing.

I also build a high toughness, high crit build and feel like a shadow ninja or assassin which I really like because it’s able to melee everything and come out alive and provides decent group support.

Right now I’m playing a conditionmancer just to try a ranged high damage playstyle to see if I like it. I’m not sure I will though since I like the fast paced melee combat style.

I haven’t played it in weeks. It’s so weak and useless.

I use 30/0/10/30/0 build. I have very high base HP and high DPS. Using wells and daggers with bone minions. AMAZING AOE damage when i drop two wells, explode bone minions aswell as maybe some marks in there, or my dagger 1.

Death shroud works great aswell

I actually wasn’t aware Necromancers could go power and deal straight DPS. Everyone says Condition Damage is the only viable damage. That’s fun to hear.

I slam Blood is Power, then epidemic it around. Next I come in with the dagger Bleed AoE (the name of which I have forgotten ) and cast well of suffering. Lastly I scream "I AM DEATH INCARNATE!!!) and siphon life force. No horde has ever managed to get past that, the DOT is incredible and the skills do not take long to recharge. The only trick is to do these as fast as you can, because mostly I am the center of attacks and so will die quite soon, even wen going for a tank Necro. The more targets there are the better this works but it hasn’t failed me yet.

I play heavy condition based build for PVE and WvW and wells/support/condition for dungeons.

PowerCat.5738:

It’s so weak and useless.

You are playing it wrong. Necros are far from weak and useless.

I’ve put considerable effort and gold into three builds and pretty much settled on condition dmg/duration. I still occasionally run my power gear, but only in wvw, and rarely.

PVE/WvW: 30/30/10/0/0 with rabid/ascended gear, undead runes, and 40%/100 cd pizza. Comes out to about 1700 base condition dmg, 133% bleed duration (max), and 80% condition duration. In general, absolutely rocks, but it is somewhat depressing when a bad guardian instantly clears 5 huge bleed stacks in wvw.

sPvP/tPvP: 10/30/20/10/0 with 2x/2x/2x runes.

I also have a 30/0/10/0/30 berserker/ascended/ruby orb set (d/w & staff)—~45% crit, 120 crit dmg, max power. Fun for WvW and “ok” for farming, but it doesn’t work in high level fotm. Really outclassed in most areas by conditions.

I also tried a large number of might stacking/duration alternatives for power and for conditions… just doesn’t work good enough. Don’t waste 50-70g to try this.

Nappy.4735:

I also tried a large number of might stacking/duration alternatives for power and for conditions… just doesn’t work good enough. Don’t waste 50-70g to try this.

Are you saying its useless to try a hybrid? Just curious cause I was thinking of sinking some gold into it.

I am leveling with double daggers and all minions. Seems to work well for me.

Ramiah.5648:

I actually wasn’t aware Necromancers could go power and deal straight DPS. Everyone says Condition Damage is the only viable damage. That’s fun to hear.

Thats a huge misconception about this class. I still have people from my guild mistake me for condition damage when we group up. Power necros are just as viable as condition spec.

Anyone ever go support? I hear extremely differing opinions about that role of the Necromancer.

pve (noob)
level 50 or so necro
scepter/dagger
axe/dagger
blood is power, epidemic, sigil of spite, epidemic

I like to fight multiple mobs this way. at level or 2-3 higher.

ihave to switch out sigil of spite with locust often though.
moving around slow sucks.

bleed them up. them up with scepter
blood is power…
sos (when its available)
epidemic

that is generally pretty satisfying when soloing.
however in a group epidemic cast time is so slow that the mob i have targetted is often dead before the spell goes off… resulting in uselessness.
I dont like dagger mainhand for pve.
its basically just autoattack which is not much fun. it does do damage though.

staff is not all that bad at support.
wells are pretty good too.
pulsing blindness for 5 secs is pretty powerful.