Guild Wars 2

First post I’ve written (please be kind!)

I’ve been PVPing with my Necro for around 5 months now, nothing serious – just SoloQing. Completely hooked, I haven’t played anything but PVP since.

I tried a power build initially with some good success – traited axe (30/10/0/0/30 build)
I also tried a traditional Terrormancer Condi build – but it didn’t fit my play style.

Finally I thought I’d try a hybrid build (it’s essentially a version of Dhuumfire).

Here it is: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBLRdG2IHNd22Yj1Nc4moXomqIgOAKzjN6HoDyAA-TpRAABA8AAi+EA0xRAgsyAccQA6Z/BA

It’s been very successful for skirmishing – dashing from point to point and maintaining a constant pressure on the opposing team by making a general nuisance of myself. I seem to win most 1v1 point encounters – and more often finish top of my team points wise (I’m currently level 39 – pvp)

Build Overview:

This build is all about manoeuvrability and bleeds. I go Scepter/Dagger & Axe – Warhorn with Rune of the Krait & Carrion Amulet. Sigil of Agony on Scepter – Sigil of Bursting on Dagger with Sigil of Geomancy on Axe and Sigil of Doom on Warhorn (to maintain Condi pressure whilst weapon swapping for burst damage.

All this adds up to a nice balance of Power (2056) Condi Damage (1407) and Health (25972). Crit chance is pretty poor, but this build isn’t built around maximising this.

Build Highlights:

Banshee’s Wail – gives me almost permanent SWIFTNESS (minus a 1.5 second cooldown wait). This is crucial to the effectiveness of skirmishing and getting from point to point – with manoeuvrability usually being a huge drawback for Necros.

Bleedtastic – Lingering Curses/Hemophilia/Rune of the Krait/Carrion Amulet all add up to long bleed times and huge DOT.

Signet Mastery – This is underrated. I pack both Signet of Spite & Plague Signet (my stun breaker) so accessing them more often and stacking MIGHT on activation is priceless.

Mark of Evasion – I’ve tried putting the 10 points in various places, but I personally find a dodge mark that bleeds for 3800+ every 10 seconds pretty nifty.

Play Style:

I aim to mainly 1v1 and apply pressure on group skirmishes from the sidelines.

I usually open by activating Signet of Power – (applies 6 conditions and kicks like a mule – can throw a lot of classes off their game – 8648 DOT) After this I go Blood is Power – (a devastating slow burner – 16,855 DOT) Then I dodge into them activating Mark of Evasion (4448 DOT). Then Scepter 2 (Grasping Dead for 4916 DOT) Dagger 5 (Enfeebling Blood for 5618 DOT) then spam Scepter 1 for more bleed/poison stacking.

If I need to burst them down a bit, I either assume Lich Form and blast them or pop into DS and Dhuumfire them.

Works pretty well, but please feel free to suggest how I may optimise it.

BROKENCAPS.4561:

Bleedtastic – Lingering Curses/Hemophilia/Rune of the Krait/Carrion Amulet all add up to long bleed times and huge DOT.

You are overstacking your bleeding duration. You can’t get more than +100%.
And except for Barbed Precision, all of your bleeds have rather long base durations. So chances are you will not get the full duration before they are cleansed anyway.
My suggestion: change Hemophilia to Weakening Shroud, Lingering Curse to Path of Corruption, Sigil of Agony to anything else.
Also, I’d take Flesh Golem with Krait runes, or a different rune if you want to keep Lich.

Am I stupid to want great sword to be a condi-power hybrid mobility weapon to make our class stand out from the rest of the community.

flow.6043:

BROKENCAPS.4561:

Bleedtastic – Lingering Curses/Hemophilia/Rune of the Krait/Carrion Amulet all add up to long bleed times and huge DOT.

You are overstacking your bleeding duration. You can’t get more than +100%.
And except for Barbed Precision, all of your bleeds have rather long base durations. So chances are you will not get the full duration before they are cleansed anyway.
My suggestion: change Hemophilia to Weakening Shroud, Lingering Curse to Path of Corruption, Sigil of Agony to anything else.
Also, I’d take Flesh Golem with Krait runes, or a different rune if you want to keep Lich.

Forgive me for sounding NOOBish Flow, but I don’t understand how I’m overstacking my bleed duration. Can you explain please?

By my calculations I’m stacking as follows:

Hemophilia: +20%
Lingering Curses: +33%
Rune of the Krait: +20%
Sigil of Agony: +20%

So with Scepter equipped, I’m stacking +93% bleed duration (just below the +100% cap, right?)

I take your point about longer bleed times = more chance of condi cleanse, but I’ve made it part of my strategy to pressure certain vulnerable classes to blow their condi cleanse or risk bleeding out fast.

After posting this build yesterday, I noticed a similar build being tested on Metabattle:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Blood_Bomb

BROKENCAPS.4561:

By my calculations I’m stacking as follows:

Hemophilia: +20%
Lingering Curses: +33%
Rune of the Krait: +20%
Sigil of Agony: +20%

Krait runes give +45% bleeding duration.
You also get +30% from having 6 points in Spite.
If you add Sigil of Agony and Hemophilia you get +115%.

Lingering Curse is a different story.
First of all, the tooltip is completely misleading. There is not a single skill on the scepter that is increased by exactly 33%. Not only that, but a percentage value all too often makes people believe that this trait somehow interacts with other duration increases, which it doesn’t.
What really happens is this:
Auto Attack (bleed/bleed/poison): 5/5/4 seconds. With LC: 7/7/6 sec.
Grasping Dead: 7/5 sec. LC: 9/6 sec.
Lingering Curse simply extends each skill by a fix amount, and that new base duration can again be extended by 100%. So an unmodified 5 sec of bleeding on Blood Curse can be turned into 14 seconds without violating the 100% rule.

So like I said, +100% is as good as it gets. If you have +115% your 30 seconds of bleeding on Blood is Power will still only tick 60 times. With one exception: if you face someone with for example Melandru runes (-25% condi duration) you’d still do +90% against them.

BROKENCAPS.4561:

I take your point about longer bleed times = more chance of condi cleanse, but I’ve made it part of my strategy to pressure certain vulnerable classes to blow their condi cleanse or risk bleeding out fast.

I know what you mean, but different traits might add more pressure than the extra duration.

flow.6043:

BROKENCAPS.4561:

By my calculations I’m stacking as follows:

Hemophilia: +20%
Lingering Curses: +33%
Rune of the Krait: +20%
Sigil of Agony: +20%

Krait runes give +45% bleeding duration.
You also get +30% from having 6 points in Spite.
If you add Sigil of Agony and Hemophilia you get +115%.

Lingering Curse is a different story.
First of all, the tooltip is completely misleading. There is not a single skill on the scepter that is increased by exactly 33%. Not only that, but a percentage value all too often makes people believe that this trait somehow interacts with other duration increases, which it doesn’t.
What really happens is this:
Auto Attack (bleed/bleed/poison): 5/5/4 seconds. With LC: 7/7/6 sec.
Grasping Dead: 7/5 sec. LC: 9/6 sec.
Lingering Curse simply extends each skill by a fix amount, and that new base duration can again be extended by 100%. So an unmodified 5 sec of bleeding on Blood Curse can be turned into 14 seconds without violating the 100% rule.

So like I said, +100% is as good as it gets. If you have +115% your 30 seconds of bleeding on Blood is Power will still only tick 60 times. With one exception: if you face someone with for example Melandru runes (-25% condi duration) you’d still do +90% against them.

BROKENCAPS.4561:

I take your point about longer bleed times = more chance of condi cleanse, but I’ve made it part of my strategy to pressure certain vulnerable classes to blow their condi cleanse or risk bleeding out fast.

I know what you mean, but different traits might add more pressure than the extra duration.

Thanks for taking the time to explain Flow. Maths never was my strong suit!

As you pointed out, I’d completely forgotten to include the +30% condition duration for the 6 points in Spite.

And I had no idea that the Krait runes stacked bleed duration cumulatively! (+10% + 15% + 20% = +45%) I thought it just bumped duration up to a max of +20% based on the 6th slot of Krait being filled. It’s great to know this.

And from the way you described how Lingering Curse works (separately from other condi duration) helps me understand bleed stacking much better – so thanks again for taking the time to go through this.

Based on your comments I’m thinking of trying the following 2 builds out:

Hybrid amended 1:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBLRdG2IHNd22Yj1Nc4moXomqIgOAKzjN6HoDyAA-TpRAABA8AAi+EA0xRAgsyAccQAeZ/BA

This is a quick fix – swapping out Rune of the Krait out for Rune of the Afflicted – bringing my bleed duration down to the magic +100% to avoid waste (and increasing poison duration slightly for scepter & Signet of Spite)

Hybrid amended 2:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBLRdG2IHNd22Yj1Ns3moXomqIgOAWhjN6HoDyAA-TpxFAB7eCAO4IA4UZAAeAAGcQAOZ/BA

This is a bigger overhaul. I’m going to swap out Lich for Golem, and replace Reapers Might (Spite V1) with Training of the Master (Spite 1X) to maximise the Golems damage. I’m also replacing Sigil of Agony on Scepter to Sigil of Ice (my thinking is that applying an additional condition for them to clear may help me maintain my bleed stack).

The bleed stacking on this build will now clock in at +95% duration – so no unnecessary waste.

Will let you know how I fare.

Thanks again!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBLRhG2IHNd22Yj1N83mAXom6JgeBCgoN6MYCyXA-TZhGwAf2fgwJAYZZAAPBgCHEAA

Try this.