Guild Wars 2

I’m working on my Power Necromancer and have been trying to figure out how high to go with Critical Chance.

I’m currently using full Berserker gear (working on upgrading everything to exotics) with the following build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBIhZakRLdvSTTjhPRA9YXv3ZRFQG1j1xO0B

So far, this has me at 41% base Crit Chance, which is further increased by Crit food and Superior Sigil of Perception, totaling 58% Crit Chance. This will obviously go up a little bit when I finish my gear upgrades.

Do you think it is really necessary trying to get more Crit Chance at this point, or is over 50% good enough? I would really like to start focusing on Crit Damage at this point.

Over 50% is good enough in my opinion. Unless you are using like 6 on-crit effects.

How much condition damage are you packing, because if it’s less then 400 I’d swap the staff for anything+focus.

Kiriakulos.1690:

How much condition damage are you packing, because if it’s less then 400 I’d swap the staff for anything+focus.

Agree with this. The utility you get from staff is not worth the huge drop in DPS whenever you switch to it in a power build.

lettucemode.3789:

Kiriakulos.1690:

How much condition damage are you packing, because if it’s less then 400 I’d swap the staff for anything+focus.

Agree with this. The utility you get from staff is not worth the huge drop in DPS whenever you switch to it in a power build.

I disagree. A 10s drop in DPS is worth it for the range, AoE Regeneration, AoE Chill and Poison, AoE Condition Removal, Blast Finisher and bomb shell, and AoE Fear.

I typically only take my staff out in group situations (Dungeons, Events, Farming etc).

I know most of the Mark damage is condition based, but I am still able to pull off some pretty nice crits on Putrid Mark and the auto attack.

I would be using Axe, if there weren’t so many bad things about it (Slow, low range, low auto attack damage)

Ojimaru.8970:

lettucemode.3789:

Kiriakulos.1690:

How much condition damage are you packing, because if it’s less then 400 I’d swap the staff for anything+focus.

Agree with this. The utility you get from staff is not worth the huge drop in DPS whenever you switch to it in a power build.

I disagree. A 10s drop in DPS is worth it for the range, AoE Regeneration, AoE Chill and Poison, AoE Condition Removal, Blast Finisher and bomb shell, and AoE Fear.

Hey, if it works for you, go for it. The only thing I missed when I replaced my staff was Putrid Mark for the mass condition removal, but I made up for that in other ways. My build simply doesn’t benefit from Staff as much as it does from Axe/Focus.

Alternately, drop your warhorn for focus and slot spectral walk for swiftness like me. Focus is very good both at close and long range, giving you some reach even when you have your dagger (melee) set out. I cant do without staff, even though I usually just take it long enough to spam all the marks, or to charge up my lifeforce from range, its indispensible to me.

You pretty much have to use staff for AoE situations. Even without the marks your auto-attack pierces and hits several targets. I personally run with a staff and dagger/(focus or warhorn).

kidbs.8920:

You pretty much have to use staff for AoE situations. Even without the marks your auto-attack pierces and hits several targets. I personally run with a staff and dagger/(focus or warhorn).

I don’t feel that way, especially if you bring double wells in your utility slots.
DS 4 + Double wells is usually enough to deal with AoE mobs, sure the CD may be 40 – 60s, but I tend to take that long before needing ro AoE bomb anything in PvE.
I also use the piercing LifeBlast trait from the Soul Reaping adept, that helps as well.

In World PvE I have no problem taking on a large pile of mobs using only dagger and warhorn, wells and DS. I find glass cannon is perfectly viable here, especially with the killing speed of the dagger.

However, in dungeons the safety factor is definitely not there for the most part. There are a lot of monsters that can be attacked in melee range with daggers, but if you take agro and don’t get out of it quickly, you’re going down. This is typically why I play it safe and use staff at range in such a situation.

I really want to use Axe and Focus as my swap, but I still can’t justify doing it. It’s amazing for kiting and vulnerability, but the lack of range seems like it wouldn’t be able to offer the same utility as staff.

Kiriakulos.1690:

kidbs.8920:

You pretty much have to use staff for AoE situations. Even without the marks your auto-attack pierces and hits several targets. I personally run with a staff and dagger/(focus or warhorn).

I don’t feel that way, especially if you bring double wells in your utility slots.
DS 4 + Double wells is usually enough to deal with AoE mobs, sure the CD may be 40 – 60s, but I tend to take that long before needing ro AoE bomb anything in PvE.
I also use the piercing LifeBlast trait from the Soul Reaping adept, that helps as well.

The cool downs are too long on all of those if you’re doing any speed clearing. No doubt you can clear packs quickly with just that when they are up but I just hate having to wait.

kidbs.8920:

Kiriakulos.1690:

kidbs.8920:

You pretty much have to use staff for AoE situations. Even without the marks your auto-attack pierces and hits several targets. I personally run with a staff and dagger/(focus or warhorn).

I don’t feel that way, especially if you bring double wells in your utility slots.
DS 4 + Double wells is usually enough to deal with AoE mobs, sure the CD may be 40 – 60s, but I tend to take that long before needing ro AoE bomb anything in PvE.
I also use the piercing LifeBlast trait from the Soul Reaping adept, that helps as well.

The cool downs are too long on all of those if you’re doing any speed clearing. No doubt you can clear packs quickly with just that when they are up but I just hate having to wait.

Wells are what you want to use, you are already doing high direct damage anyway. If you want them faster, you can always use the trait. I found i dont really need the wells that often because of all the damage. When i do its for dungeons, then i go with the trait that shortens the CD.

Ragion.2831:

kidbs.8920:

Kiriakulos.1690:

kidbs.8920:

You pretty much have to use staff for AoE situations. Even without the marks your auto-attack pierces and hits several targets. I personally run with a staff and dagger/(focus or warhorn).

I don’t feel that way, especially if you bring double wells in your utility slots.
DS 4 + Double wells is usually enough to deal with AoE mobs, sure the CD may be 40 – 60s, but I tend to take that long before needing ro AoE bomb anything in PvE.
I also use the piercing LifeBlast trait from the Soul Reaping adept, that helps as well.

The cool downs are too long on all of those if you’re doing any speed clearing. No doubt you can clear packs quickly with just that when they are up but I just hate having to wait.

Wells are what you want to use, you are already doing high direct damage anyway. If you want them faster, you can always use the trait. I found i dont really need the wells that often because of all the damage. When i do its for dungeons, then i go with the trait that shortens the CD.

You’ll end up gimping your damage by taking those traits though. I use both wells and staff for AoE in dungeons. Staff 1 is actually very good if the mobs can be grouped properly.

Staff1 is very effective indeed, and hits for nice damage with a high power/crit damage build. The only other effective skill worth using is Putrid Mark, everything else just lowers DPS, so it’s best just to spam Staff1. I think the projectile speed of the Staff1 is terrible however.