Guild Wars 2

So i started playing necro couple of weeks ago. I first learned how to play mesmer then ele and now i’m on necro. I find necro to be the most fun so far but whenever i fight a mesmer, if i’m not like 10x better than the guy, it feels like its heavily tilted towards mesmers in a 1on1 fight. Any suggestions for a power necro?

Unfortunately due to the nature of clones they are really good at countering condition builds. Conditions are weak because you can stack them up but if you have a bunch of clones out chances are you toss a few to many bleeds on clones and the guy out heals your conditions. This means if you are a condition necro (aka 90% of necros) it is even more important than usual to single out the real mesmer.

In other words, yes, you can beat a mesmer, it is just a bad match up most of the time.

I forgot to mention the silver lining. Death shroud’s life drain benefits from more clones

a necros bad match up are including

mesmer
ele
thief
guardian
and now ranger

we can sorta do something to wars and eng , and of course other necros

power builds for the time being is about the only real option for a necro. conditionmancers like to brag about how they can do this and do that to people but chances are they are not facing many if any players that use condition removal .
minion masters are a good option if the pets were effective , and ds speced necros can be tanky and dish out a lot of dd but at the same time they lose out on the cc that they need for that mitigation .
necros just need to be looked at by the devs and then we can all see what needs help in some areas and where we dont need help in others .

lorndarken.3702:

a necros bad match up are including

mesmer
ele
thief
guardian
and now ranger

we can sorta do something to wars and eng , and of course other necros

power builds for the time being is about the only real option for a necro. conditionmancers like to brag about how they can do this and do that to people but chances are they are not facing many if any players that use condition removal .
minion masters are a good option if the pets were effective , and ds speced necros can be tanky and dish out a lot of dd but at the same time they lose out on the cc that they need for that mitigation .
necros just need to be looked at by the devs and then we can all see what needs help in some areas and where we dont need help in others .

Wait wait wait, rangers? Did they get a buff I don’t know about?

The rest I understand, they avoid hits and/or heal conditions.

¿?

I can understand the troubles with mesmers, their burst are really hard and is difficult to stack bleeds fast enough to do dmg, anyway mesmer just have 2 utility skills to clean conditions (i think) nobody use both at the same time.

By other hand i can’t understand your troubles with guardians, thiefs and rangers. Guardians have some condition removal, but like the mesmer they are using 1 o 2 at same time, and have 40s+ CD, not that hard to stack bleeding, and they have really low HP, so you don’t need to stack 20 bleeds.

About thief, burst thief are hard to avoid, but with full life force are easy to beat, they usually only use 1 condition removal, their heal, 30s CD. And like the guardian they have low HP. Against condition thief, just let them to stack bleeding on you, and then use 4 staff, 4 dagger or plague signet to stack 20+bleeding on him and wait.

Rangers?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿ dunno what to say about them.

Ele is just stupid to fight. They are awasome cleaning conditions, nothing to do here.

In WvW Mesmer’s very rarely bring any condition removal, so yes for condition builds. As a general rule, Mesmer’s are MUCH easier once you know how to find the real mesmer (watch health pools, conditions, movements ect.), and it really helps to take one to heart of the mists for a bit to learn what they use.

Power builds on the other hand do have a harder time with a mesmer, but remember most memsers are very glassy, if you know how to avoid their blurred frenzy and you see them use their distortion, they are usually out of ways to protect themselves, so you need to burst. To avoid a shatter, when you see clones running towards you dodge into them, dodging to the side usually means you still get hit. GS mesmers you need to keep a bit closer to lower their auto attack damage, but other than that they can usually be brought down decently.

Don’t generally have a problem against thief on necro- their burst isn’t going to take down my near 25k hp, near 1800 toughness build before they are suffering with all sorts, even if they catch me with my running weapon set on. If they are dumb enough to put their house up and stealth it, 3 wells and 5 marks later they are downed when they come out of stealth. Not to mention spectral, life steal, etc.

Guardians are a tough fight if they are decent player, rangers are a bit of a joke, especially melee ones who use healing spring- after 15 seconds their choice is run or die, and running is a little hard through marks. Boons are a bad idea to use when their is a necro around:-)

Mesmers are not hard either, just eat up those clones as fast as you can and be ready to dodge the burst. Most mesmers can’t handle conditions well and if you slow or cripple them they will be struggling.

Running flesh golem might seem strange as an elite, but once you have charged a couple enemies with it you will see how useful it can be when you are caught out in the open field against 1,2,3 enemies. remember to switch it for something else if you are running zerg fights!

Necro is very good 1v1 against almost anything if played well in wvw, as you naturally have around 50k’s worth of HP, decent damage output and the ability to use spectral can negate almost any burst.

Against mesmers don’t waste your time chasing the clones, it’s not difficult to distinguish the real targets. As said they don’t bring much condition removal so depending on whether you’re a power or condition build, control them or spam them with conditions.

I’m too tanky and knowledgeable about mesmer tricks to lose many fights against them. My simple strategy is to chase them down, chill them, cripple them and eventually immobilize and daze them while I get in 4 seconds of free shots with the dagger. After that the fight is pretty much over.

It’s always best to enter a 1v1 situation with full death shroud, otherwise you are not operating at your full capacity. With 27,000 HP, 2500+ armor and death shroud I can take a couple of shatters.

For mesmers you need a staff, aoe is their bane. DS siphon is very good too. You need to hit them and clear out their illusions at the same time.

Using my build its extremely rare for me to lose 1v1 unless I royally mess something up against any class. Mesmers are easier once you know which one is real. Use ctrl-T to put a mark on the real Mesmer right off the bat. Learn how to tell when he teleports or goes stealth in front of you, once you get comfortable with that it’s easier to predict their movements. Condition builds with epidemic work well on clones and well builds work great. Avoid his chaos storm aoe. Don’t burst until he wastes his teleport. If you get Moa formed just use 5 and run away.

I try to use staff to keep him busy and damage his clones. Mark of fear on me if he uses blurred frenzy. Usually I use deathshroud 2 to teleport to him then switch to dagger/warhorn and spam 1. As soon as he blinks, dagger 3 immobilize with well of suffering under him, golem charge, well of corruption. Warhorn 5 to cripple him and give you swiftness then warhorn 4 to interrupt. Add a sigil of rage proc and dagger spam and there’s times I feel like I drop people as fast as my thief. If he throws up his boons with stability I use corrupt boon. You just need to stick to them, avoid their aoe and blurred frenzy, roll toward clones when they run to you for shatter and don’t panic. If you blow your cool downs too soon they WILL outlast you. If you just wait and time your burst there’s really no class that can beat you 1v1 from my experiences. Again I can only speak for my build and play style and what works for me.

@Hanzo the only flaw i see in your description is that good mesmers will immobilize before they burst with mind wrack. if you can cleanse that fast enough, you’re good, but can be hard to avoid the big burst.

if you can keep the clones down they’ll never get a good chance though.

Helpful Hints:
- Always mark the real mesmer ASAP (ctl+T)
- Mesmers have probably the least amount of condition removal in the game. condi’s eat them up. Null Field (one of the big dome fields) is there only full condi clear.
- Great Sword hits harder the farther you are from the mesmer
- Expect Daze, Stun, Immobilize, and 2x Shatters right off the bat
- They typically only carry one or two stun breaks that are easy to spot: Decoy will turn them invis and drop the target symbol, Mirror Images will generate 2 clones right at the spot of the cast. When those are gone your window of opportunity has opened.
- Don’t stand in the Chaos Storm, Time Warp, Null Field, Feedback, etc.

After that it’s just down to skill levels and luck. Mesmers are by far the best 1v1 class in the game currently. No class is currently hard countering them so don’t take it personal if you have a hard time against them. Luckily this is a team game, so your best bet is to call your buddy and make it a 2v1.

A well played necro can be quite dangerous. Unholy Feast alone makes a axe necro very annoying to fight.

And I don’t think that calling a buddy is a good tactic. People tend to use groups as a crutch. Best to learn to hold your own.

Feldorn.6873:

@Hanzo the only flaw i see in your description is that good mesmers will immobilize before they burst with mind wrack. if you can cleanse that fast enough, you’re good, but can be hard to avoid the big burst.

if you can keep the clones down they’ll never get a good chance though.

Anytime I’m immobilized or stunned or otherwise CC’d I just pop into DS for 3 secs of Retaliation and Fear. I’ve never felt pressure from not running with a stun break, if I ever feel like it’s more useful than Corrupt Boon I’ll throw on Spectral Walk.

lorndarken.3702:

a necros bad match up are including

mesmer
ele
thief
guardian
and now ranger

we can sorta do something to wars and eng , and of course other necros

power builds for the time being is about the only real option for a necro. conditionmancers like to brag about how they can do this and do that to people but chances are they are not facing many if any players that use condition removal .
minion masters are a good option if the pets were effective , and ds speced necros can be tanky and dish out a lot of dd but at the same time they lose out on the cc that they need for that mitigation .
necros just need to be looked at by the devs and then we can all see what needs help in some areas and where we dont need help in others .

I’ll agree on glass cannon back stabbing thieves and glass cannon warriors, everything else I call out on (in terms of what conditionmancers can kill). Guardians and Mesmers can be tough, rangers have also went from being roadkill to something that will noticeably hurt if you ignore it, but i no way are conditionmancers as poor off as you’ve made them.

Now onto the actual topic. Killing Mesmers.
A good mesmer will be a tough kill, but as a conditionmancer it is completely do-able, but it requires you to know how mesmers work. You need to recognize what weapons the mesmer is using, what clones he’s pulled out, so you know when he’s swapped places, or when he’s gained stealth and is hiding. Epidemic and smart aoe bleed applications are very useful in clearing out clones. If the mesmer is particularly good, save mark of blood to be used on clones near you, so that way you can gain the regen boon. Save life transfer for also clearing out clones, and if you have less than 10k health, never attempt to stomp the mesmer if they have clones out, just go into death shroud and keep hitting them until they die or the clones despawn.
Mesmers are all about subterfuge, so long as they can’t fool you, they can’t win.

A: Yes, with a stick, when they sleep.

i agree that thief mesmer and some eles are hard oponents but guardians are my favored
Love to turn all their boons into conditions one second after they clear themselves

As a mesmer… I must say fighting a tanky necro is extremely annoying especially since most mesmers run shatter heavy which leaves little room for condi removal. I use signet of illusions which is a big help in keeping clones up longer and possibly fooling you guys however (and I am giving away trade secrets shhhh!) if a mesmer has a map completion star, a title such as combat healer or been there done that. It does not show on the clones. Hopefully this can help. I know mesmers are good in some respects but we are still just as vulnerable as other classes when you learn to exploit our weaknesses.

Epidemic is rather nice for turning a mesmer’s clones against him. Only way to do that, so far as I know, actually.

Or just leave them and go do something more productive, mesmers are nearly as bad as necros at catching fleeing people if you can avoid too many stuns, so just let them be someone else’s problem.