Guild Wars 2

Greets to all.

I’m relatively new to the game, and while I’ve already played a Guardian a bit, I’ve realized that I think I’d prefer playing a Necromancer instead.

However, the undead minions that Guild Wars 2 Necromancers command don’t appeal to me at all.

Would it be viable (for both PvE and PvP) to make a build that doesn’t use any minions whatsoever?

Or is there no way to make that work?

Sure. Probably the best viable build don’t use minion.

Most builds don’t use them, you’ll do fine without them.

Its actually far more likely to hear people say you cannot be viable with minions, than to say you need them to work. Power and condi builds along with hybrids can all be built and played without slotting a single minion utility.

my necro is lv 30 and ive never used a minion sinse i got the heal consume conditions XD. even if yo dont trait them, some of them could be of use, like the bone minons.
Gather a pack of mobs, use poison clowd, summon minions, detonate them and you get all the mobs with weaknes for a good time so you will be gettiong arroung 50% less damage XD, but if you dont want, just, staf 23345, scepter 2 dagger 5, blood is power, EPIDEMIC and look how they melt XDDD

I am actually interested in this also.

I just started a necro a few days ago. Right Now I am level 19 and am interested in wells and corruption skills. The weapons I am using are staff and scepter dagger. I threw together a quick idea of traits, but I am not sure about them.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjEad6tbqb07JAJFX/8kisHP6BxGnMA-e

In defense of minions I’ll say that Flesh Golem is actually pretty good, but that’s an elite skill so you’d have to weigh it against your other options. If you’re committed to not using minions at all then you’ll probably take Lich anyway…

I always use the flesh golem because it cripples and does about 1-2k damage each time it attacks and has a very nice knockdown skill.

I’m playing a condition build, I don’t care for plaque form because if you get chilled/crippled your done for.

For PvP Flesh Golem and Plague are our best elites, Golem for offense and Plague for Defense.
Lich gets countered easily in PvP so it usually doesn’t work, on the other hand for PvE Lich is best.

Outside of Golem, I think most min/max builds forgo Minions altogether.

Shadow Master.7586:

Would it be viable (for both PvE and PvP) to make a build that doesn’t use any minions whatsoever?

There are viable builds that work for every game mode that don’t use minions much or at all.

For tromping around the world and leveling to 80, nothing beats Minion Master builds for ease of use, and not just other Necro builds. MM Necros have an easier time getting to 80 than virtually any other spec of virtually any other profession, with Warriors being a possible exception. You pretty much just spawn your minions and then mash your face on the keyboard as everything around you dies and you take no damage.

HOWEVER, it isn’t really all that much harder to get to 80 without using minions much or at all. Both my condition damage and power builds can handle just about anything in Orr or Southsun Cove or whatever high-level zone without any trouble. My suggestion would be to use minions until level 30 (it’ll let you take on very large groups of mobs very easily), then just slot Flesh Golem as your bodyguard and use whatever build you want for the rest of your skills. Flesh Golem is really good even without taking any minion traits and it can help draw some aggro while you kill things without otherwise defining your playstyle.

Furthermore, minions have little serious use outside of leveling to 80. Some people who really like minions can get them to work in sPvP or for small-group roaming in WvW, but since they can’t dodge, anywhere with significant AoE damage is really terrible for minions.