In GW1 Necromancers were a force to be reckoned with, so how did they fall so low in GW2? Don’t try to make excuses now because I heard it all.
Let me explain how it happened, it’s because the builds they used back in GW1 have no way to appear in GW2. Other classes like the Elementalist or Warrior remain similar in playstyle as their GW1 counterparts.
Necromancers however had very specific builds which arguably were the most powerful in the game, however they had 1 loophole which made them unfit for team builds. I’ll get to that soon, but first I will mention a few of the most popular ones and why they would not work in GW2.
- The SS Nuker i.e. Spiteful Spirit, there are several skills with SS initials, however when someone said “SS” it nearly always ment “Spiteful Spirit”.
Spiteful Spirit is an Elite hex spell which causes enemies to take damage when they attack or use a skill. Basically a hex is something like conditions, only their effects are unique and much more deadly. Spiteful Spirit only targets 1 enemy however the damage is AoE so by casting it on multiple targets the damage stacks. Even better is the fact it’s damage ignores armour, so it is a “good for all” skill. In GW1 this build could melt legions of enemies in seconds, which is why it was often used for Duo Underworld i.e. 1 tank 1 spiker. However we can’t have it in GW2 because there are no hexes here and even if we did it would probably have 180 sec recharge instead of 10 as in GW1.
- Minion Master, ok, ok we can do that too here, but it’s nowhere near the level from GW1. For starters in GW1 you couldn’t have just 1 minion per skill, you can summon multiple minions of each type. There is a limit of how many minions you can have at once though, mostly it’s up to 11 with 12 being the absolute limit. In GW1 minions require corpses to summon and they die over time, which is why a MM would constantly recycle them. The build worked far better in GW1 though, for starters GW1 minions can function as pseudo-tanks. Because the AI will cause enemies to attack the “weakest” opponents first and minions were nearly always the weakest. So while enemies are playing with the minions the rest can blow them to kingdom come and once they start dying the MM starts producing new minions. The build also has far greater tricks to it, like the MM can cast “Death Nova” on their minions to make them explode when they die or a Monk can cast “Dwayna’s Sorrow” on the minions which causes all party members to gain health when they die or you can do both and more.
The build cannot be so great in GW2 however, because for starters we cannot rely on corpses and thus the build has to be nerfed. In GW1 you fight platoons not single enemies 1 by 1 so there aren’t enough corpses in the game to make the build so elaborate. And so we have a “skill limit” instead of a “corpse limit”.
- BiP i.e. “Blood is Power” yes this is a skill in GW2 too, however in GW1 it was used to give other classes what they wish they had when they think about Necromancers.
Necromancers in GW1 regain energy when something near them dies so they almost never run out. Blood is Power is an Elite enchantment which a Necromancer can only cast on someone else and it causes the target to regenerate energy much faster than normal. Which is why BiP is often called a “battery” as all they do is keep casting that 1 spell on everyone over and over, so the party never runs out of fuel. However again we can’t do that in GW2 because there is no energy in GW2 …. ugh.
Now what is that “loophole” I talked about? Well it’s simple while the Necromancer builds are practically unmatched they cannot be mass used i.e. if you have 1 Necro with such a build you don’t bring more. The SS can possibly cause more damage than any other build, however 2 or more SS Nec’s would only get in each others way. Casting SS on same target twice would do nothing so 2 players using this build would often just cause conflicts. So it works like this:
SS Necromancer > Elementalist
4 SS Necromancers < 4 Elementalists
Yes Elementalists using their nuking builds together will stack their damage while SS Necromancers not really. Exception to this rule is the Elite mission “The Deep” where people sometimes do take multiple SS Necro’s as the pro’s outweigh the con’s there.
Next the Minion Master is also usually only 1 because more would not have enough corpses to build their minion army. An exception to this rule is Bogroot Growths dungeon as there are so many corpses there that more than 1 MM can actually work, however even then most people only bring 1 MM there.
And as for BiP it’s pretty simple, 1 battery is enough, 2 would just be dead weight.
