Guild Wars 2

Wondering what the people think of:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQUQNAW3dlQaq0mpRZDgOFhkir9sJFebcQKcvuiKMMA-jAyAYLBZCCARAmKAl8KiGbxtIas6aMlLRUtMA6LA-e

only theorycraft, since I’m lvl 23 atm. Am I crazy, or is it workable? My thought is that I can do reasonable damage outside of DS, and DS itself seems pretty hardcore at lvl 23, I’m just hoping it scales well as I level.

Suggestions?

My following comments are pretty subjective.

For starters, I’ve been an avid powermancer since the beginning. And experimented a lot. Weaponset wise, staff might not be the greatest choice for powermancers, especially the steep 20 point investment giving you also 2 utterly useless minor traits (Reanimator and Protection Of The Horde).

Spiteful Removal in Spite tree is of questionable value. Since you’re using focus, I’d recommend using Spiteful Talisman instead. Same goes for spiteful marks. Most of your damage would be coming from axe, not staff, so going for axe mastery would benefit more in my opinion.

Siphons in general are of questionable value. I’ve played around with the idea of a vamp build but it just doesn’t seem to be worth it.

Also, what would your focus be? PvE? WvWvW? PvP? A lot of the building depends on that.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRAoY3djMaJ7VaaaM8JEoH5St4MRFOGqHrT58hA-jAyAYrBRTQgIKAUhQn8KiGbboIas6aMlLRUNA-e
This is what I’m personally running at the moment. Just for reference and maybe for some ideas.

PvE, WvW and dungeons (I have a very dim view of the style of PvP Anet has given us). Was thinking marks because, though the damage isn’t huge, in a zerg context an AoE snare/condition transfer could be fun, and area regen couldn’t be that bad. Same thought on the wells.

Also, really didn’t like the feel of the dagger gameplay, which was part of picking staff. Scepter is too blatantly condition (though conditions right now in wvw seem stupidly huge) I could see having a second build/gear set for conditionmancering (that’s so not a word).

The siphon was chosen just as filler, before the staff trait. Spiteful removal was just a passive condition management. (consume condition or plague signet looked like the only other options). Surprised you picked weakening shroud over the ritual mastery,

Thanks for the feedback! Since I’m only lvl 25 right now, it’s only theory, but any advice can only help.

True, in WvWvW it’s nice to have large AoEs, plus ritual mastery. Since I prefer to be up and close myself with daggers (the damage is really-really nice) and I’m a squishy, I don’t need ground-targeted wells and benefit more from weakness on mobs.

And to be fair, I totally missed that you didn’t have Consume Conditions as heal (in my mind it’s the only heal a necromancer should ever use. :p)

I took the single-target-damage approach mainly due to dungeons, wells are there to help nuke larger groups down (drop both wells → death shroud → shackles + life transfer) and I’ve used it in WvW, too. It’s not good against zerging, but since I usually roam around with a friend or two and pick off smaller groups, it works nicely.

One more comment on elite skill: have you considered Flesh Golem? I’ve grown more and more fond of the knockdown it provides.

Ah, the elite suggestion was actually random, since I don’t know what the various forms do. My necro is a salad, the other characters are all human.