Guild Wars 2

I’ve played the Necro’ profession for ages (some 1150 hours) – almost exclusively in normal WvW, and I gotta admit I just don’t get it.

Countless 1 v 1’s and it feels like 99% of them, I come off second best regardless of gear (I carry 4 sets) and spec’ – I regularly cycle 3 – 4 of these looking for inspiration. I’ve got a full set of crafted ascended ’zerker gear, exotic soldiers, knights and rabid gear – with crafted ascended weapons.

Even the law of averages suggests that I should see more ‘wins’ than I do.

For instance this morning, I’m full zerker, 3k power, 52% crit, 225% increased crit damage, chasing a warrior with a couple non-damage reducing boons ticking and dark path doesn’t land so I’m stuck at range. My life blasts are critting for 2k. I’m never, ever going to kill this guy – yet I know from experience that if he could be bothered to engage I’d be dead in under 10 seconds. with not a chance of defending myself or escaping.

If I mix things up and run Soldiers gear with other builds with up to 34k hp and 2900 armor and ascended zerker trinkets (say), all it does it prolongs the inevitable as damage is mediocre and everyone seems to out heal it.

Playing in Australia with 260+ ping, I feel as though opportunities to recognise skills opponents are about to use are rare.

How do I get better? I’ve watched many, many videos and quite frankly I have trouble believing that much of what I see is remotely possible based on my experiences, without the opponent being awful or an up-level when I have trouble even putting a dent in some non-combative human opponents.

Well at this point, I’d be kindest to tell you that the best way to play Necromancer post patch will be to reroll to something else. If you are stuggling now, your life is about to be hell.
The best Necromancer I know lives in New Zealand, so he has similar lag problems to you. Sometimes they cost him the duels, but usually he manages to win without looking like he’s trying. The best advice I can give you is for condition specs.
-Don’t throw all of your marks out at once
-don’t waste the #4 skill on either of your weapons
-be sure to land as many DS 3’s as possible
-don’t linger in deathshroud
-make full use of kiting melee specs
-find a tutor
-there are more things I can tell you, just ask

Proper Life Force management is the key to being a chore for people to kill.

First I’ll speak from the perspective of fighting a Necromancer rather than being it;

If a Necromancer is glowing green, do not attack him/her. He/she has activated a Spectral skill such as Spectral Armor or Spectral Walk which will grant them Life Force when they are struck. The more you attack them, essentially the more you are giving them “health”.

Don’t stay in melee range when a Necromancer is surrounded by Locusts. If they are using warhorn they will gain Life Force every time those Locusts hit you which again, is essentially giving them health.

If you have any form of CC, you’ll want to save it for interrupting the Necromancer’s heal since it has a long cast time, or interrupting their Death Shroud #4 channel “Life Transfer”.

If you apply any conditions to a Necromancer, you’re going to want to avoid Staff #4 and Dagger #4 if they are using either/both of these weapons. Having them hit you will remove the condition from the Necromancer and will instead apply it to you. Also, if you see them using Plague Signet, you’re going to want to be _VERY_careful about how/when you condition burst them (if you’re a condition build) because they can just throw it back in your face, top it off with a fear and lulz as you die from your own conditions.

When a Necromancer exists Death Shroud is the best time to lay on the deepz. Unless of course they are glowing green, or surrounded by Locusts… Are you starting to see how a Necro can be difficult to bring down? ~ You have a short frame of time to pressure the Necro while they are not in Death Shroud. Try to save major attacks for immediately after they exit.

Now, from the perspective of being a Necromancer;

You’re going to want to use your dodges sparingly. You are naturally tanky and have multiple skills which will benefit your Life Force if you are taking damage. So save dodges for avoiding key skills like a Warrior’s Earth Shaker or Eviscerate, a Guardian’s Whirling Wrath, a Ranger’s Rapid Fire, etc.

Spectral Walk/Armor will grant you stunbreaks but they also grant you Life Force. Spectral skills are very important for smaller scale stuff so you’re going to want those if you’re roaming/dueling, etc. ~ Don’t always try to save Spectral Walk/Armor specifically for stunbreaks unless you’re against an opponent where you’re going to need those stunbreaks such as versus a hammer Warrior. Otherwise, you’re going to want to activate Spectral skills to feed your Life Force.

Don’t camp Death Shroud for too long. If you’re a condition build, you’re not going to need to anyway. If you’re power, you may feel inclined to sit in it for long periods of time because of the huge damage spikes that Life Blast can deliver. Sitting in Death Shroud for too long however can end up meaning less overall damage and locks you out of utility that may prevent you from being killed/having your Life Force totally drained. Learn to manage your time between being in and being out of Death Shroud properly.

(Part ~ I)

(Continued: Part ~ II)

Wells are primarily for zergs and more group related content where as solo they are much less suitable. They have long cooldowns and people won’t often stand in them for longer than a second making them a huge waste to carry. Unless you can manage to land a Dark Pact (dagger #3) on someone prior to dropping a well under their feet you’re probably not going to get much of an effect with them.

Soft CC is your friend and we have some of the best access to it next to Rangers. Use your cripples, chills, immobilize and fears properly. If you are trying to keep someone close to you, or away from you, you’ll want to learn how to manage those conditions rather than just spamming them at random.

Doom (Death Shroud skill #3) is on a short cooldown and has a very powerful effect. You don’t need to be too careful about using this skill simply because of it’s short cooldown but you also might want to save it for interrupting heals or preventing stomps, etc. Don’t ever get spammy with your fears even if you’re a Terrormancer. Fears can be used both defensively and offensively, sometimes even at the same time.

Avoid using skills like dagger #2, dagger #4, staff #4 and warhorn #4 without a purpose. Dropping a random Putrid Mark or throwing out a random Deathly Swarm could mean you’ve just burned a condition transfer that you’re about to desperately need. Using dagger #2 leaves you very open to being interrupted and won’t often allow you the full healing benefits unless you’ve set it up first (such as by first fearing your target). And warhorn #4 of course, save it for interrupting people. It does no damage, you don’t need to use it unless you want to interrupt with it.

And a last little tip, if you’re against a D/P Thief, try to use staff as little as possible. Their frequent blinds and the staffs slow attack rate will mean that you end up missing about 75% of your attacks. Also, as soon as you see them drop a Black Powder field (pistol #5) fear them before they can leap through it and follow up with a burst. They’ve just burned 5 initiative and are going to be hurting real bad after missing that combo leap for stealth.

Hope this helps and sorry that I was very broad about the advice. I wasn’t trying to cover any Necromancer builds in particular just giving tips across the board.

It’s kind of funny when someone wastes an interrupt on a condi necro’s DS #4. The only time it is useful is when there are multiple targets.

Cecilia.5179:

It’s kind of funny when someone wastes an interrupt on a condi necro’s DS #4. The only time it is useful is when there are multiple targets.

True, but it still grants Life Force and hurts quite a bit. If you have more than one CC I think it’d be better to just stop that channel than to let them free cast. IMO, though…

Mr Smith.9173:

I’ll tell you the secret of my most successful Necro build, I have tried basically every type of necro and this build BY FAR has the highest Win Loss ratio. But the thing is your probably not going to want to play it and lots of people are going to come here and tell me it’s crap but w/e.

I reduced my quote because otherwise all of this wouldn’t fit.

Few things,
1#, Dolyak Runes do not heal in Death Shroud
2# Water and Blood Sigils do not heal in Death Shroud
3# Blood Magic is a bad idea usually, it’s a waste of points.
You’re just killing time in fights running this stuff, there’s better ways to do this, these are really bad choices.

Let me start by saying the concept is good, the idea that enemies will instantly focus the necromancer and waste their time is cool.

However about everything with this setup is flawed, Barbarian Amulet isn’t good, pick one of the other defensive amulets (Sentinels, Soldiers, Cavaliers are all better options)

here’s some better trait setups.

this for a offensive setup
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAodWjc00WbPN22whbifhS6XIAaXoCTqzivIYB-TZBBABfcIAA4JAI4+DiXGIgTAAA

or this for the original tank concept you had, without doing any damage output, i threw this together just now, the other two i’ve actually played with.
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNBIhZakjmWbLux2G+bTgMUS3BRw2GZAUAUGFNBA-TZBBABfcIAUvMAAPBg+OBALt/AA

Lastly this for a inbetween setup that i can confirm works to a extent (My personal divine soldiers build i play with when i’m bored)
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNBIhZakjm2aLvx2G+bT8LUS/CBQ7CVYSdW8FBLA-TZBBwAfOEAAeCAx2fwcZgAnAAA

I’ll also point out the reasoning for using the shadow fiend, The on-use ability blinds and gives LF, it’s also a point-blank AoE, so you can get more than 10% from that, Next the pet gives 13% back when it dies, (26% if you kill it purposefully with plague), it’s a good source of ranged LF generation.

Obviously you can play around with these on your own, but this is what i could come up with for the idea, not that any of this matters by next tuesday.

It is nice to see another bunker necro around.

Thanks for the feedback, I’m listening.

Interesting points about not attacking when the necro is green, SpellOfIniquity. I actually find that most opponents don’t care about such things and keep beating on me through these skills regardless.