Guild Wars 2

I’ve been flipping my WvW build this way and that and I keep landing on effective builds that have 30 in DS. DS seems to work great in ZvZ and roaming. I even, somewhat accidentally, came across the nice DS + Rune of Vampirism (mist form) combo. Having mist form give you time to get back into DS is amazing.

After some build critiques I’ve been moving around the other trait points to see where they would be the most effective for my playstyle. I like to ZvZ and roam on the fly. I always put 10 in Curses for Wells ground targeting so it’s mostly those last 30 points. I tried 30/10/0/0/30 with Staff + Axe/Warhorn. I felt I needed more toughness so I switched that to 5/10/25/0/30 to get around 1900 toughness which feels much better.

I suppose my question is, is it even worth investigating WvW builds that don’t have 30 in DS?

EDIT: 30 in Soul Reaping I mean.

It really depends on your groups comp and how you want to play your Necro. For me I have 30 in Soul Reaping for foot in the grave. My very aggressive front line play style requires me to be able to provide stability for my self, this is less needed for back line play or dps focused play styles.

So the answer to your question is yes.

Here’s a build that doesn’t touch the tree that is still very good. Don’t mind the fact that the tread is old, its been updated about a month ago and the OP is banned from the forums for other reasons. This build is still very good.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Ascii-s-WvW-Wellomancer-Build/first#post2499132

Zikory.6871:

It really depends on your groups comp and how you want to play your Necro. For me I have 30 in Soul Reaping for foot in the grave. My very aggressive front line play style requires me to be able to provide stability for my self, this is less needed for back line play or dps focused play styles.

So the answer to your question is yes.

Yep, I’m very aggressive frontline. I typically will try to get ahead of my zerg to absorb as many opposing cooldowns as possible. What build are you using?

Here’s a build that doesn’t touch the tree that is still very good. Don’t mind the fact that the tread is old, its been updated about a month ago and the OP is banned from the forums for other reasons. This build is still very good.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Ascii-s-WvW-Wellomancer-Build/first#post2499132

Interesting. This is very similar to the first build I made up when I first started zerging with my necro.

20/20/0/0/30 Axe/WH Staff
Spite V / VIII (Spiteful Spirit / Axe Training)
Curses VI / VIII (Focused Rituals / Banshee’s Wail)
Soul Reaping III / VIII / XI Path of Midnight / Near to death / Foot in the grave)

WoS/WoC used always Spectral walk/wall, corrupt boon and WoD get swapped out often. Melandru runes and 1 sigil of stamina on Axe/WH. Gear wise, hit 1800-1900 toughness then maximize your power/crit/crit damage. I use a mix of Kinghts/PvT/Cavaliers/zerkers. Remember though that this build isn’t really meant to be a damage dealer of sorts, it more meant to disrupt the the enemy stack and just be nuisance.

I have 2000 hours on my necro and 90% of it in wvw. The build I run is 30 20 20 0 0 i do very well in zerg and love roaming with this build just hammer war and certain mesmers give me a run for my money.

There are builds out there that don’t invest in DS (like the Ascii build Zikory pointed out) that are effective. In truth, most of the time, guardian provided stability is all you’ll need for a zerg fight and you can manage roaming with one stunbreak. You should check them out.

Since you mentioned you like being able to drop in and out of a zerg to roam, you might consider something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW7YjMax7Fbib87JEpCXD0jeBXAxoHHTwwMA-jECB4iCy0Cwk3BKHqIaslRFRjVdDTHjIq2krIa1SBAxwI-w

It’s a condi build which is very effective for roaming but has a reputation for being somewhat useless in a zerg. Well, that’s only kinda true. Condis aren’t as effective as power builds but actually better when it comes to getting into keeps as the condi damage can quickly blow defenders off walls. What’s more, this build’s distribution has a bit of flexibility in it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRLTvczbjfPhIV4age8e1CIG9YYKmlB-jECB4iCy0Cwk3BKHqIaslRFRjVdDTHjIq2krIa1SB4rwI-w

By switching food, weapons, slots, elite and traits, you can convert the pure condimancer into a frontline disruption/well build.

It might not be as optimal as running two entirely separate sets of gear and retraiting, but it will enable you to be effective in both roles.

Edit: I was supposed to be running Golem as the elite in the first version.

Thanks for all the insightful responses guys. To be honest, if feels like necro is quite flexible for however you want to play it. I think I just need to play it more in WvW to get a better feel.

For my 5/10/25/0/30 build, I like the extra toughness the 25 in Death magic affords me, but if I may grab a Sigil of Resistance and some toughness runes at some point and retrait back to something like 30/10/0/0/30.

Once Plague is no longer an option I find DS extremely important to sustain while my heal is on CD. I may also take Path of Midnight over Unyielding Blast too since I am so often popping into DS and find piercing Life Blasts is not too effective most of the time.

I forgot to mention, in quite a coincidence, I’m also running a 5/10/25/0/30 build. Later this week, I’m going to try dropping 15 from Death into Blood to see how the siphon adds to the sustain and if it makes up for the -150 toughness. The -120 power will be a bigger loss, I think.

I used to run 10/30/30 with undead runes. Now that I am running torment runes and sigil, I am running 30/30/10 (dumbfire/fear) corrupt boon and eipdemic. I do use DS but only to torment, fear, and then life transfer for the aoe (on crit) torment from the sigil.

Nagato no Kami.4980:

I forgot to mention, in quite a coincidence, I’m also running a 5/10/25/0/30 build. Later this week, I’m going to try dropping 15 from Death into Blood to see how the siphon adds to the sustain and if it makes up for the -150 toughness. The -120 power will be a bigger loss, I think.

Also, the proposed balance fix this month doubles the Power added by Deadly Strenth. Hence, 2000 toughness turns into 200 Power rather than 100 Power.

My last build was 0/10/0/30/30 which worked fairly well. I originally put it together so I could use dual daggers for speed, but you could go axe/horn and trait very pro siphon instead.

One way to go about it would be a strong support build with 0/10/5/25/30 that takes Plague Signet, Transfusion, and Fetid Consumption. You’d then rely on Consume Conditions, Reanimator minions, and OH dagger, Staff, and active Plage Sgnet to cleanse yourself from passive Plague Signet.

@Helios
I think a lot of us are looking forward to that +5% and will re-cajigger out builds to get it. ^^