Guild Wars 2

I know Necro in the past has gotten a lot of kitten for their traits being suboptimal (each offensive traitline has one condi and one power enhancing stat boost, and many traits that enhance one side for another (specifically Curses, Barbed Precision, Target the Weak, benefit the other side, Scepter 3 is perfect for hybrid as well), so decided to make a build around that. The advantages of this seem especially present when you realize that Might grants both power and Condi damage, thus enhancing your output more. Here’s my build I’ve been using, and I think I’m rather successful, but it’s tough to compare since I haven’t tried any other necro builds in PvE:

The Build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRAnd7Yjc00Yb3NW3wfbiaBB6EBmF9nRvoaOA-TpRAABY8AAA4gAU4+DIcCA84IAoWZAA
EDIT: I’ve recently been slotting Well of Suffering and Poison Cloud instead of Spite and Epidemic, and loving it.

My gear is probably a 60-40 or 66-33 mix of Rampagers/Zerker’s gear, to be sure I’m still getting a lot of damage out of my crits, but bleeds and other conditions are still racking up significant damage, due to my ability to spread them rapidly. I found Traveler runes to be a perfect fit for me, a perfect mix of offense, personal utility and group utility.

Purpose of build:
-Offer extensive offensive condition support (namely Vulnerability, Bleed Stacks, Weakness, but decent options with chill and whatever else you can get everywhere with Epidemic, an old combo when I was still using dagger/dagger was AoE immobilize- great fun)
-Take advantage of necro’s hybrid nature, to deal significant single target and AoE Damage
-Increase uptime of might stacks as high as possible to gain the dual benefit of might stacks power + condi

Rotations:
-For single target I often do Axe 4, Axe 2, Swap, Scepter 3, DS 1, 1, 2, 1 (or so), Scepter 3, swap, repeat. Very powerful single target abilities.
-For AoE situations, it’s mark my target (to get other party members to pile conditions on), Scepter 5, scepter 2, Signet of Spite, Epidemic, Blood is Power, DS 5, DS 4, then adjust as needed, needless to say, pretty insane conditions everywhere.

Other Notes:
The double whammy of the 10 might stacks from corruption as well as the -20% to corruptions means a very high uptime for might stacks, and epidemic is just the supreme necro skill in PvE, I find. But in scenarios where there is no need for adds, I found poison cloud to be a great alternative. Boosts up your capacity for weakness greatly.

Considerations for optimization:
-I haven’t extensively done the math on whether this build should fly, but the amount of synergy between my skills screams to me that it makes sense. I can get more accurate stat distributions later to see if anyone else wants to weigh in on the soundness of the DPS, I think I’m at about 1800 power, 60% crit and 177% crit damage with like 600 condi damage? Maybe less condi.
-Is superior sigil of energy worth it? I recently had the +10 Condi damage on kill but found it not granting immense benefit most the time, since you get downed frequently on more challenging content, thus getting less from the sigil when you need it most. Considering the total lack of vigor from necros, it seemed to make sense to patch a hole in our survivability with such a rune. Thoughts?
-I’ve been considering what using dagger mainhand instead of axe or scepter. I’m skeptical because I think it weakens the build overall, I’d only really be doing it for a reliable dagger 1, but does it bring much to the table? Given my single target rotation (above) Life force gain is no issue, considering every non DS spell in that rotation grants significant life force. I do find myself sometimes in spots of suboptimal play in my rotation, which dagger could remedy.
-Is signet of spite the right fit? If so, should I enhance my signets over the focus? Perhaps if I DID do dagger instead of axe, I could drop axe mastery, and keep the -20% focus recharge (for reapers touch), and put in something like well of suffering or poison cloud instead. I just LOVE Spite -> Epidemic too much.

Final Thoughts
I find this build very effective, and offers enough plenty of single target and AOE DPS while even enhancing the DPS and surviability of the rest of the party. Thoughts?

Here are my current stats, ascended trinkets, ascended weapons, exo gear:
1962 power
59% crit
175% crit damage
890 condition damage
15% boon duration
40% condi duration

(sigils):
20% bleeding or 20% vuln duration

Traveler runes… on a necro….. sigh…. what do you need those for in pve.

The justification was being tired of sacrificing other portions of my build to make up some movespeed. I find movespeed essential for all aspects of the game, the benefits of 25% MS are dramatic (as an aside, I find MS underrated in most games). Otherwise options are warhorn, spectral walk, signet of the locust, quickening thirst, speed of shadows all of which have their own set of sacrifices. I figured I lost the least and retained the most flexibility with my builds with this set of runes.

25% Movement speed is good in PVE for not standing in kitten, skipping packs and generally moving…quickly. Other stat gains are still solid, though I wish it was more condi duration than boon. That said, +15% boon duration is still very handy for keeping might on there, means I have a 47.9% uptime on Blood is Power.

What would you use? Sure Rune of the Scholar grants more damage output, but you’re unlikely to keep the +10% bonus on truly challenging content, when you need your bonuses the most (Also why I’m not keen on the “on kill” sigils, getting downed…happens)

I’ve recently been slotting Well of Suffering and Poison Cloud instead of Spite/Epidemic and loving it.