Guild Wars 2

I have been trying the celestial signet (Nos-type) build recently, but I really don’t think I’m playing it right. In particular, I don’t know how to properly use my signets. Between the might, the boon corruption and their own intrinsic effect, I am never quite sure when to use them. Could anyone explains me briefly the main strategy of the build?
PS: I’m fairly beginner at necromancer, and maybe this build is just for higher tier than I am, but I like the survivability it brings compared to power necro so I would really love to master it.

A link to your build would be really helpful.

Signet can be played defensive or offensive or both at the same time but you have to know when to use them.

Here’s the celestial signet build: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Celestial_Signet

I too would like some tips on how to play this. Never sure when to use the signets, and the best situations for them. Any good gameplay on youtube?

A bonus would be to know how to survive in a group fight when you’re constantly the focus of attacks because you’re the necro

Yep, that’s the one!

No signet experts here?

Silverkey.2078:

…In particular, I don’t know how to properly use my signets. Between the might, the boon corruption and their own intrinsic effect, I am never quite sure when to use them. Could anyone explains me briefly the main strategy of the build?…

Use plague signet when you need to dump a lot of condis: it’s your main condi clear and lowest CD stun break. If you see 3+ burn stacks from an ele/guard/condi ranger with 1 or 2 other condi’s, feel free to pop it quick (preferably only if SA off CD), because those burns can do a lot of damage in a short period of time. Use locust signet in large battles to aoe corrupt boons; also can be used in a bind as a second heal to the same effect. The CD’s of these are low enough that you don’t need to “save” them; you’ll know to use them when you’ve been condi-bombed or the opposing team has an ele/guard dishing out boons like candy. This happens regularly, so don’t be afraid to keep them on CD.

I try to avoid using signet of vampirism frequently so that I can benefit from the heals over time, but if you need a quick burst heal, use it. It’s especially effective when your team is focusing down one player, as the active effect will improve your team’s DPS on that target. Unlike the passive effect, the active works through DS, so if your life force is full and you need some heals/dps, pop it before entering DS.

Corrupting stability turns it into fear: use this to your advantage when securing a rezz or a stomp (or to get an FT engi off point); locust can help you get this off quickly because you don’t even need a target, but plague signet is equally good because it’s instant-cast.

Don’t waste your signets just to stack might, just think of that as an added bonus; you’ll acquire plenty of might passively through a combination of siphoned power, plague sending, sigil of strength, reaper’s might and rune of strength.

bhagwad.4281:

…A bonus would be to know how to survive in a group fight when you’re constantly the focus of attacks because you’re the necro

These aren’t cele-signet specific, but what I can think of now: Pop SA and start out a fight in plague form to get the most out of the vitality boost if: 1) you’re outnumbered on point which ticks in your favor; or 2) incoming mesmer/thief [stealth] burst that happens frequently at mid right when the match starts. Don’t be afraid to pop shroud to eat a backstab and then instantly leave it to regen your LF(+). On the same token, take advantage of the low CD fear of DS 3 to pop DS—>fear—>leave DS if your health pool is above ~75%—-your dagger AA DPS is still high enough that leaving DS for the 10 s CD isn’t a gamebreaker(+), and using fear like this does help take some pressure off in the long run. Use dagger 2 life siphon immediately following signet of vampirism active to get a beefy heal; you can use DS 4 to secure the last ~3.5 seconds of the active. Use DS 5 to help kite, and locust signet for a second heal if needed. I personally use FitG for the stability and stunbreak, which helps relieve CC pressure under focus.

(+) (these strategies do work best if you have unholy sanctuary [so you don’t get caught with DS on CD] but there isn’t really a traitline you can sacrifice in the cele-signet build we’re discussing, so I mention this purely as food for thought. Either way, flashing shroud defensively when (1) your LF is too low to spend lots of time in it; or (2) your health pool is high, ensures aoe weakness uptime from weakening shroud, so try not to let your LF get lower than 10%)

I hope this helps.

Salamander.2504:

Silverkey.2078:

…In particular, I don’t know how to properly use my signets. Between the might, the boon corruption and their own intrinsic effect, I am never quite sure when to use them. Could anyone explains me briefly the main strategy of the build?…

Use plague signet when you need to dump a lot of condis: it’s your main condi clear and lowest CD stun break. If you see 3+ burn stacks from an ele/guard/condi ranger with 1 or 2 other condi’s, feel free to pop it quick (preferably only if SA off CD), because those burns can do a lot of damage in a short period of time. Use locust signet in large battles to aoe corrupt boons; also can be used in a bind as a second heal to the same effect. The CD’s of these are low enough that you don’t need to “save” them; you’ll know to use them when you’ve been condi-bombed or the opposing team has an ele/guard dishing out boons like candy. This happens regularly, so don’t be afraid to keep them on CD.

I try to avoid using signet of vampirism frequently so that I can benefit from the heals over time, but if you need a quick burst heal, use it. It’s especially effective when your team is focusing down one player, as the active effect will improve your team’s DPS on that target. Unlike the passive effect, the active works through DS, so if your life force is full and you need some heals/dps, pop it before entering DS.

Corrupting stability turns it into fear: use this to your advantage when securing a rezz or a stomp (or to get an FT engi off point); locust can help you get this off quickly because you don’t even need a target, but plague signet is equally good because it’s instant-cast.

Don’t waste your signets just to stack might, just think of that as an added bonus; you’ll acquire plenty of might passively through a combination of siphoned power, plague sending, sigil of strength, reaper’s might and rune of strength.

bhagwad.4281:

…A bonus would be to know how to survive in a group fight when you’re constantly the focus of attacks because you’re the necro

These aren’t cele-signet specific, but what I can think of now: Pop SA and start out a fight in plague form to get the most out of the vitality boost if: 1) you’re outnumbered on point which ticks in your favor; or 2) incoming mesmer/thief [stealth] burst that happens frequently at mid right when the match starts. Don’t be afraid to pop shroud to eat a backstab and then instantly leave it to regen your LF(+). On the same token, take advantage of the low CD fear of DS 3 to pop DS—>fear—>leave DS if your health pool is above ~75%—-your dagger AA DPS is still high enough that leaving DS for the 10 s CD isn’t a gamebreaker(+), and using fear like this does help take some pressure off in the long run. Use dagger 2 life siphon immediately following signet of vampirism active to get a beefy heal; you can use DS 4 to secure the last ~3.5 seconds of the active. Use DS 5 to help kite, and locust signet for a second heal if needed. I personally use FitG for the stability and stunbreak, which helps relieve CC pressure under focus.

(+) (these strategies do work best if you have unholy sanctuary [so you don’t get caught with DS on CD] but there isn’t really a traitline you can sacrifice in the cele-signet build we’re discussing, so I mention this purely as food for thought. Either way, flashing shroud defensively when (1) your LF is too low to spend lots of time in it; or (2) your health pool is high, ensures aoe weakness uptime from weakening shroud, so try not to let your LF get lower than 10%)

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the awesome tips!

Thanks indeed

The thing is, play necromancer enough so you can predict when your passive signet triggers. Next to that, start precasting signets during an enemy dodge / CC→Signet / DS2 on blocking enemies. SA → First stunbreak to use (Make sure people hit you.)

I can’t tell you how to play it, but i can tell how i play it. Specially in rankeds.

1- Don’t get anxious to use your signet, control yourself.
2- Only use signet of locust when you have more than 1 target around you.
3- Use plague signet to transfer conditions, i usually wait until i get 5 of them. But if its a high stacks of bleed or burn i just transfer right away.
4- Signet of Vampirism can be used either offensively or defensively. You can active it at start of fight and try to deliver the max of attacks to your target for the extra siphon damage. Or even in a team fight focusing target, that will make the focused target drop even faster. Or use defensively to heal yourself, i usually wait until 60~70% hp to use it, so i can make best use of siphon health.
5- Always place your wurm before enter a fight. Try to place it behind a wall or up some elevated ground. That will make your escapes better and i always counter rampage that way. lol

I may be missing some points here, but that is how i play usually.

Signet of Vampirism: this skill has a long casting time, in an emergency situation where 2 or more DPSers jump on you it is likely you won’t survive the impact before you can get the healing off. In this situation you should priority Signet of Locust first and then SoV after. How to better at using SoV, this skill require you to face the target to land it but you can cast this skill while running away from your target and then turn back to your target at the last moment to land the skill. If you take BloodMagic line and capable putting out 4 Bleedings, you should not use SoV at the beginning of the fight because it will over stack with Blood Bond trait BUT if in a big team fight and you want to kill someone quickly use SoV and call the target.

Signet of Locust: It is also your healing skill. This skill capable of healing you ~7.5kHP. This skill is PBAoE and that means you can hide while using it as long as enemies are within your AoE.

Plague Signet: If you use Curse line, you should not use this skill before your passive “Plague Sending” came off. Priority this skill for transferring Condi rather than Stunbreak.

I think the best way to learn Signet build is to duel someone and then don’t touch your Signet at the beginning of the fight and learn how your passive Traits work for you after that you will know where and when to use your Signets.

I’m going to test out a variant of this build with death magic instead of curses, since Unholy sanct should scale well with cele’s healing power. I’ll have a tad less boon corruption and condi pressure though, so I’ll have to see how it works out.