Guild Wars 2

I switched to air for now, rage is pretty lackluster after the nerf. Going to be trying out the 30/0/10/0/30 build for a bit. One of the main reasons for going 15 into curses was for the fury to get as many rage procs as possible.

With 0 in curses, won’t your crit chance be awfully low all of a sudden?
Wouldn’t your overall dmg decrease? Or would this be made up for by the increase in soul reaping?

Crit chance drops to 43% from 50%(70% from fury), but your crit dmg goes from 30% to 45%. I still have to try it out and see how it feels to see if I would stay with it or not. You will get larger crits when you do crit, but you will crit less. I think it would even out but again I have to try it out for a bit.

Played around with numbers. For taking 15 in curse, the crit chance increase gives you 4% more effective power when daggering as compared to 30 in soul.

However, while in lich, 15 in curse does about 5% less damage than 30 in soul.

So far that appears to be the direct damage trade-off. Additionally,

-Lose bleed on crit, weak shroud on activate, and fury on activate

for

-Mark +3%/25% slower DS drain/15% cd reduction, 5% more damage above 50% DS, and stability on demand/5s DS cd.

I’m curious to see what your conclusion is for traits and sigils. As of right now for sigil I was actually thinking about going battle, pretty much trying to grab something that I can benefit from while in lich form.

TJL

After doing some games with the 30/0/10/0/30 I still prefer 30/15/10/0/15. It just feels like I crit so much less without curses traits/fury.

Have you reached a conclusion on sigils?

Interesting build. I tried it, but didn’t like it. Way to squishy without the necessary mobility to make it work.

I think the major reason it works for Khalifa is because he has a team there to support him. In any other situation you are going to be targeted and destroyed in a matter of seconds. Especially when you pop lich form. This is a team fighting build, so if you don’t have a team to play with, this build most likely won’t work.

I actually had the pleasure of fighting Khalifa several times over the last 3 weeks. Hes a good player, make no mistake, but when I face him on my thief he doesn’t stand a chance against me if I catch him far enough away from his teammates. Of course any time he has teammates around he has the advantage. His team is very good at calling targets, focus firing, and getting people off the ground compared to the PUGs I always play with. On the flip side of things, every time I encounter his group when I am playing my necromancer, he absolutely destroys me in every fight.

Without a coordinated team, this build isn’t very effective IMO.

Kravick.4906:

Interesting build. I tried it, but didn’t like it. Way to squishy without the necessary mobility to make it work.

I think the major reason it works for Khalifa is because he has a team there to support him. In any other situation you are going to be targeted and destroyed in a matter of seconds. Especially when you pop lich form. This is a team fighting build, so if you don’t have a team to play with, this build most likely won’t work.

I actually had the pleasure of fighting Khalifa several times over the last 3 weeks. Hes a good player, make no mistake, but when I face him on my thief he doesn’t stand a chance against me if I catch him far enough away from his teammates. Of course any time he has teammates around he has the advantage. His team is very good at calling targets, focus firing, and getting people off the ground compared to the PUGs I always play with. On the flip side of things, every time I encounter his group when I am playing my necromancer, he absolutely destroys me in every fight.

Without a coordinated team, this build isn’t very effective IMO.

Kravik needs to catch the podcast :P. He actually mentioned this specifically stating that the main reason why he was so successful is because his original team was built around the powermancer.

He stated that powermancers are very strong, but not alot of people want to make a team around a specific build so the unique builds get left by the wayside for a more universal appeal (conditionmancers).

Such as theives in High End Tournaments are rarely seen because they have to be protected and against very good players they rarely catch you napping.

Kravick.4906:

Interesting build. I tried it, but didn’t like it. Way to squishy without the necessary mobility to make it work.

I think the major reason it works for Khalifa is because he has a team there to support him. In any other situation you are going to be targeted and destroyed in a matter of seconds. Especially when you pop lich form. This is a team fighting build, so if you don’t have a team to play with, this build most likely won’t work.

I actually had the pleasure of fighting Khalifa several times over the last 3 weeks. Hes a good player, make no mistake, but when I face him on my thief he doesn’t stand a chance against me if I catch him far enough away from his teammates. Of course any time he has teammates around he has the advantage. His team is very good at calling targets, focus firing, and getting people off the ground compared to the PUGs I always play with. On the flip side of things, every time I encounter his group when I am playing my necromancer, he absolutely destroys me in every fight.

Without a coordinated team, this build isn’t very effective IMO.

Yeah pretty much, it’s a high risk high reward team build very fun with a coordinated team – not so much solo haha

Khalifahaze.6045:

Yeah pretty much, it’s a high risk high reward team build very fun with a coordinated team – not so much solo haha

I have a video of me soloing in a tournament with your build. It’s hilarious! 10 minutes of deaths but I ended up with 110 points and a win. I am thinking of putting it together with a few other videos for when we launch the new youtube channel for SOAC Gaming where the podcasts will be going.

Kravick.4906:

Interesting build. I tried it, but didn’t like it. Way to squishy without the necessary mobility to make it work.

I think the major reason it works for Khalifa is because he has a team there to support him. In any other situation you are going to be targeted and destroyed in a matter of seconds. Especially when you pop lich form. This is a team fighting build, so if you don’t have a team to play with, this build most likely won’t work.

I actually had the pleasure of fighting Khalifa several times over the last 3 weeks. Hes a good player, make no mistake, but when I face him on my thief he doesn’t stand a chance against me if I catch him far enough away from his teammates. Of course any time he has teammates around he has the advantage. His team is very good at calling targets, focus firing, and getting people off the ground compared to the PUGs I always play with. On the flip side of things, every time I encounter his group when I am playing my necromancer, he absolutely destroys me in every fight.

Without a coordinated team, this build isn’t very effective IMO.

Actually i run berserker and I only feel slightly squishy. Usually I keep off the points/AOEs and use daggers when I am comfortable to land dagger 3. The extra HP from Knights isnt much, imo.

Dagger MH for necros lack the necessary mobility to help get in range (Dark Path is quite unreliable). It would be so much better if dagger 2 were a reliable gap closer. It also depends too much on dagger 3 to get your auto attack off, dagger 3 is easy to dodge due to long and obvious cast animation, and easy to counter even if you manage to land it.

Running into melee range runs the risk of getting focused fire, necros are usually targeted due to the lack of escape skills. I would agree that this build relies on a good team support to cover you, and to capitalize on the immobilize.

When I run this build I sorely miss corrupt boon/well of Corruption bombing/epidemic in bunker and AOE dominated meta, and this and the above reasons are why condition builds are still dominant.

Would love to see good power necros on videos though, and learn how to improve my play.

Did you come to any conclusion regarding build, sigils and other things you may have switched around?

Subscribed. @Khalifa thank you for this sPvP build. Always liked playing as Dagger Necro but lacked one that gives sufficient damage

also, what do you think if i use a Focus as off-hand in this build? Freezing my foes so i get to stab them while keeping up the pace?

Bas.7406:

Kravick.4906:

Interesting build. I tried it, but didn’t like it. Way to squishy without the necessary mobility to make it work.

I think the major reason it works for Khalifa is because he has a team there to support him. In any other situation you are going to be targeted and destroyed in a matter of seconds. Especially when you pop lich form. This is a team fighting build, so if you don’t have a team to play with, this build most likely won’t work.

I actually had the pleasure of fighting Khalifa several times over the last 3 weeks. Hes a good player, make no mistake, but when I face him on my thief he doesn’t stand a chance against me if I catch him far enough away from his teammates. Of course any time he has teammates around he has the advantage. His team is very good at calling targets, focus firing, and getting people off the ground compared to the PUGs I always play with. On the flip side of things, every time I encounter his group when I am playing my necromancer, he absolutely destroys me in every fight.

Without a coordinated team, this build isn’t very effective IMO.

Kravik needs to catch the podcast :P. He actually mentioned this specifically stating that the main reason why he was so successful is because his original team was built around the powermancer.

He stated that powermancers are very strong, but not alot of people want to make a team around a specific build so the unique builds get left by the wayside for a more universal appeal (conditionmancers).

Such as theives in High End Tournaments are rarely seen because they have to be protected and against very good players they rarely catch you napping.

I remember the days when QT ran their comp based around Khalifa’s powermancer. It did indeed work and was quite nasty when lined up right (been on the receiving end of a warp+lich haha). Also, 30/0/10/0/30 does work Khalifa. Thats what i ran until you gave me your build before you made this post. Its just different, but you do feel a lot more beefy if you ds weave correctly.

-Zombify

30/0/10/0/30 is more bursty, 30/15/10/0/15 is more sustained damage.
@Ferik Focus is terrible due to cast times and unreliable projectile.

stratosphere.9401:

Kravick.4906:

Interesting build. I tried it, but didn’t like it. Way to squishy without the necessary mobility to make it work.

I think the major reason it works for Khalifa is because he has a team there to support him. In any other situation you are going to be targeted and destroyed in a matter of seconds. Especially when you pop lich form. This is a team fighting build, so if you don’t have a team to play with, this build most likely won’t work.

I actually had the pleasure of fighting Khalifa several times over the last 3 weeks. Hes a good player, make no mistake, but when I face him on my thief he doesn’t stand a chance against me if I catch him far enough away from his teammates. Of course any time he has teammates around he has the advantage. His team is very good at calling targets, focus firing, and getting people off the ground compared to the PUGs I always play with. On the flip side of things, every time I encounter his group when I am playing my necromancer, he absolutely destroys me in every fight.

Without a coordinated team, this build isn’t very effective IMO.

Actually i run berserker and I only feel slightly squishy. Usually I keep off the points/AOEs and use daggers when I am comfortable to land dagger 3. The extra HP from Knights isnt much, imo.

Dagger MH for necros lack the necessary mobility to help get in range (Dark Path is quite unreliable). It would be so much better if dagger 2 were a reliable gap closer. It also depends too much on dagger 3 to get your auto attack off, dagger 3 is easy to dodge due to long and obvious cast animation, and easy to counter even if you manage to land it.

Running into melee range runs the risk of getting focused fire, necros are usually targeted due to the lack of escape skills. I would agree that this build relies on a good team support to cover you, and to capitalize on the immobilize.

When I run this build I sorely miss corrupt boon/well of Corruption bombing/epidemic in bunker and AOE dominated meta, and this and the above reasons are why condition builds are still dominant.

Would love to see good power necros on videos though, and learn how to improve my play.

I was actually messing around using berserker ammy yesterday and I took some footage I will have to put together soon. The damage is noticeably higher with berserker so it can be pretty fun, but as soon as I ran up against a decent group of players I noticed the difference between using knights. The extra HP may not seem like much but it can be life vs death in certain situations.

Dietzen.6127:

Did you come to any conclusion regarding build, sigils and other things you may have switched around?

Only things I have changed recently were the following:

-Air sigil instead of Rage sigil

- Took Reaper’s Might + Chill of Death vs. Spiteful Spirit + Spiteful Marks

- I have been favoring using Blood is Power vs. Spectral Walk recently

- 5/6 Eagle Rune 1/6 Divinity Rune vs. 6/6 Thief Rune

Oblivion.8307:

30/0/10/0/30 is more bursty, 30/15/10/0/15 is more sustained damage.
@Ferik Focus is terrible due to cast times and unreliable projectile.

Yeah Pretty much this Ferik, focus tends to have large cast times and I just can’t bring myself to use it over dagger offhand. Every game I run with focus I keep wishing I had dagger equipped.

First hats off Khalifa for you and your team gameplay I must say you are skilled player and I like players who are shining with so called “underpowered builds” in eyes of majority. I use quite similar build nowadays I just use axe/focus knights amulet with zerker gem, and 30/20/10/0/10 traits I must say I prefer focus as offhand over dagger because removing boons and chill everytime is great in my opinion. And with chill of death trait instead of spiteful marks its amazing.

I tried almost every build on necro lifeleech would be awesome but its still so weak I have to wait for a revamp. I must say powermancers are most enjoyable characters in the game for me.

Khalifahaze.6045:

Insane burst damage (lich form, daggers with haste) will make boons not that big of a deal. We run a super heavy burst comp. People underestimate the damage a power necro puts out. It is on par with warrior/thief etc it’s all how you build your character.

So what do you do when people have brains and dodge your dark pact, which has a long enough cast time, and proceed to walk out of your well? There went most of your damage. Dark Pact even has, what a 600 range? What opponent seeing a dagger necro coming won’t just stand beyond that range and pummel you while kiting?

A pistol/shortbow thief alone will spam unloads on you and just stealth cleanse conditions if you happen to close in and reset range. Amesmer will just blink out of the root or Phase Retreat. A warrior will shake the root off or endure pain/shield stance the moment you try to lay your combo down.

Hell in WvW all a thief or dd ele needs to do is reset the fight and waste your well. The come back when you’re out of your well cooldown and they’re healed and muscle you down. If they’re any good you just can’t autoattack them to death with dagger.

Zenith.7301:

Khalifahaze.6045:

Insane burst damage (lich form, daggers with haste) will make boons not that big of a deal. We run a super heavy burst comp. People underestimate the damage a power necro puts out. It is on par with warrior/thief etc it’s all how you build your character.

So what do you do when people have brains and dodge your dark pact, which has a long enough cast time, and proceed to walk out of your well? There went most of your damage. Dark Pact even has, what a 600 range? What opponent seeing a dagger necro coming won’t just stand beyond that range and pummel you while kiting?

A pistol/shortbow thief alone will spam unloads on you and just stealth cleanse conditions if you happen to close in and reset range. Amesmer will just blink out of the root or Phase Retreat. A warrior will shake the root off or endure pain/shield stance the moment you try to lay your combo down.

Hell in WvW all a thief or dd ele needs to do is reset the fight and waste your well. The come back when you’re out of your well cooldown and they’re healed and muscle you down. If they’re any good you just can’t autoattack them to death with dagger.

There more you pvp you will learn how players on certain classes react and how to react to them.

Dark pact getting dodge is hardly and issue (fear-> dagger #3) there you go , or just wait till after a dodge roll and make sure you enemy doesn’t have vigor before you root. Also you want anticipate evades, invulns etc because enemies with those abilities will usually pop them when rooted. So instead of just going in kitten mode and poop your well out you need to pay attention wait a second and make sure it’s the right time to drop a well.

As for getting kited, it’s hardly an issue for a necro that knows how to use his skills. We have plenty of access to chill not to mention a chill+teleport. If you’re getting kited that means you have a slowing condi on you, so what does a good necro do? Well you can use one of you 2 condi transfers or you heal to either give it back to your enemy or clear it off yourself.

Root is hardly the be all end all of this build, it’s more of a gimmick to help land burst. The more time played with this build and the more you pvp in general you will learn to work around it. Necro has access to plenty of ranged damage.

Thank you for the wonderful build Khalifa. My guild just recently started doing tournaments, so I decided to try your setup, and it’s fantastic. It does take some practice like you said, and it works great with DS. Fearing to get behind for that 10% damage increase, and Lich Form pounding 3-4k crits on groups of enemies from a distance is tons of fun. I was reluctant to use dagger offhand but it really does work work. My team won 6 free tournies in a row this morning, and it’s the best we have ever done. The only traits ive changed are Spiteful Spirit to Reapers Might, and Spiteful Makrs to Chill of Death. Chill of Death is perfect because it gives you that boon removal when you really need it to get the kill, and you don’t have a focus to do it.

Copenhagen.7015:

Thank you for the wonderful build Khalifa. My guild just recently started doing tournaments, so I decided to try your setup, and it’s fantastic. It does take some practice like you said, and it works great with DS. Fearing to get behind for that 10% damage increase, and Lich Form pounding 3-4k crits on groups of enemies from a distance is tons of fun. I was reluctant to use dagger offhand but it really does work work. My team won 6 free tournies in a row this morning, and it’s the best we have ever done. The only traits ive changed are Spiteful Spirit to Reapers Might, and Spiteful Makrs to Chill of Death. Chill of Death is perfect because it gives you that boon removal when you really need it to get the kill, and you don’t have a focus to do it.

Glad you like it, and the most updated version of the build is exactly what you said. I switched spiteful spirit to reaper’s might and spiteful marks to chill of death. After the patch those two will yield you much more overall damage. I also changed sigil of rage to sigil of air.

Khalifahaze.6045:

Copenhagen.7015:

Thank you for the wonderful build Khalifa. My guild just recently started doing tournaments, so I decided to try your setup, and it’s fantastic. It does take some practice like you said, and it works great with DS. Fearing to get behind for that 10% damage increase, and Lich Form pounding 3-4k crits on groups of enemies from a distance is tons of fun. I was reluctant to use dagger offhand but it really does work work. My team won 6 free tournies in a row this morning, and it’s the best we have ever done. The only traits ive changed are Spiteful Spirit to Reapers Might, and Spiteful Makrs to Chill of Death. Chill of Death is perfect because it gives you that boon removal when you really need it to get the kill, and you don’t have a focus to do it.

Glad you like it, and the most updated version of the build is exactly what you said. I switched spiteful spirit to reaper’s might and spiteful marks to chill of death. After the patch those two will yield you much more overall damage. I also changed sigil of rage to sigil of air.

Is Sigil of Air a better choice than Sigil of Fire. I remember reading the damage is very close on a single target, but you obviously get AOE with Fire.

Edit. Just did some tests on the target golems, and the damage is almost exactly the same.

Copenhagen.7015:

Khalifahaze.6045:

Copenhagen.7015:

Thank you for the wonderful build Khalifa. My guild just recently started doing tournaments, so I decided to try your setup, and it’s fantastic. It does take some practice like you said, and it works great with DS. Fearing to get behind for that 10% damage increase, and Lich Form pounding 3-4k crits on groups of enemies from a distance is tons of fun. I was reluctant to use dagger offhand but it really does work work. My team won 6 free tournies in a row this morning, and it’s the best we have ever done. The only traits ive changed are Spiteful Spirit to Reapers Might, and Spiteful Makrs to Chill of Death. Chill of Death is perfect because it gives you that boon removal when you really need it to get the kill, and you don’t have a focus to do it.

Glad you like it, and the most updated version of the build is exactly what you said. I switched spiteful spirit to reaper’s might and spiteful marks to chill of death. After the patch those two will yield you much more overall damage. I also changed sigil of rage to sigil of air.

Is Sigil of Air a better choice than Sigil of Fire. I remember reading the damage is very close on a single target, but you obviously get AOE with Fire.

Edit. Just did some tests on the target golems, and the damage is almost exactly the same.

Air sigil has a 1.1 damage coefficient while Fire sigil has a 1.0 damage coefficient and a blast radius of 150.

They are pretty similar whatever you use is up to you both are fine.

Hey Khalifa, I was wondering what your thoughts were on this off shoot build from yours

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW4YjMaZ6dbKbMcKCpCPDqw7jUcMlR9Yds7cA;TsAA2CooqxUjoGbNuak1soYQwmAA

It is mainly for spvp and not tpvp. I sacrificed a little bit of damage to gain stability on DS and more survivability. I don’t plan on this being a pure DS build, but the traits are there to not lose that much damage when I do go into DS. The first 2 utilities are mainly for fighting against bunkers

Kindran.1896:

Hey Khalifa, I was wondering what your thoughts were on this off shoot build from yours

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW4YjMaZ6dbKbMcKCpCPDqw7jUcMlR9Yds7cA;TsAA2CooqxUjoGbNuak1soYQwmAA

It is mainly for spvp and not tpvp. I sacrificed a little bit of damage to gain stability on DS and more survivability. I don’t plan on this being a pure DS build, but the traits are there to not lose that much damage when I do go into DS. The first 2 utilities are mainly for fighting against bunkers

Build seems a little weird, not to say it won’t work (I would have to test it out first) but I feel there are just better options.

As far as your utilities go I can see why you would take well of corruption to kill bunkers etc, I still feel well of suffering is a better choice for running one well only. Not to mention that you have taken spectral wall (never been a fan of it, a good player will just not walk through it). Combining spectral wall +well of suffering will yield a high amount of vuln which is always nice. For spvp (hotjoins) signet of the locust can be helpful to keep you in range for dagger attacks although with some practice getting kited is rarely an issue. Generally speaking for tpvp signet of undeath is a must, it is far to valuable to your team to give up.

For your traits I’m not gonna say this can’t be effective I just think that as a power necro not going 30 into spite is a bad idea. Spinal Shivers+Close to Death are way to good to give up imo. Going 30 into SR is really nice for the stability, I just personally was never a fan of it in a power build. I always feel I give up too much.

Runes/Sigils seem fine, I would throw a berserker jewel in your knights amulet.

Overall can this build work? Probably. I just think you will find a 30/0/10/0/30 or 30/15/10/0/15 will give you better results.

Power necro needs to be played very very aggressively to be effective, this build seems to me as more of an in between build not sure what it wants to be.

The wall is mainly for the protection on me. You are right about the in-between as I don’t really have a guild yet (wish I did) to play tpvp with. As I am by myself I decided to try a more defensive type power build over yours.

I don’t want to be a glass cannon, but I would like to use daggers along with DS. My main defensive choice was DS and I would like to use it a bit, but its not the main focus. I would say this build would be more of 1/3 time spent in staff, daggers, and DS.

Khalifa, Have you ever thought about trying a 30/25/0/015 build?

Bas.7406:

Khalifa, Have you ever thought about trying a 30/25/0/015 build?

Staff is necessary for tpvp imo, it’s easily the best weapon we have. Not taking greater marks trait makes staff pretty worthless though. I would love if I didn’t have to spec 10 points into death magic to pick up that trait but without it staff just isn’t good.

A spec like that would give you more damage from the 25 point trait in curses but like I said 10 pts in death magic is a must.

Khalifahaze.6045:

Bas.7406:

Khalifa, Have you ever thought about trying a 30/25/0/015 build?

Staff is necessary for tpvp imo, it’s easily the best weapon we have. Not taking greater marks trait makes staff pretty worthless though. I would love if I didn’t have to spec 10 points into death magic to pick up that trait but without it staff just isn’t good.

A spec like that would give you more damage from the 25 point trait in curses but like I said 10 pts in death magic is a must.

Why not give up soul reaping then, and doing a 30/25/10/5 or something down that line?

Bas.7406:

Khalifahaze.6045:

Bas.7406:

Khalifa, Have you ever thought about trying a 30/25/0/015 build?

Staff is necessary for tpvp imo, it’s easily the best weapon we have. Not taking greater marks trait makes staff pretty worthless though. I would love if I didn’t have to spec 10 points into death magic to pick up that trait but without it staff just isn’t good.

A spec like that would give you more damage from the 25 point trait in curses but like I said 10 pts in death magic is a must.

Why not give up soul reaping then, and doing a 30/25/10/5 or something down that line?

Giving up what 15 pts in SR gives you is not worth it for the maybe 8-10% dmg increase you will have on some targets when they are fully condi stacked from the 25 pt curses trait.

Just my preference but 30/15/10/0/15 is the best we can do if you want a staff/dagger power build.

Khalifa, wondering about your sigils and runes in the latest update. How come you dont have bloodlust on staff for swapping when stacking like before and instead put force on the offhand for 5% more damage?

As for the runes, why is this set-up with eagle better than for example thief or ogre set 6/6?

Piriripak.8063:

Khalifa, wondering about your sigils and runes in the latest update. How come you dont have bloodlust on staff for swapping when stacking like before and instead put force on the offhand for 5% more damage?

As for the runes, why is this set-up with eagle better than for example thief or ogre set 6/6?

I just felt it was easier overall to swap the bloodlust to dagger so you don’t have to swap weapons on kill, and the 5% more damage from force sigil will help staff do a little bit more damage which can help.

You will get roughly 10% more crit damage with eagle vs thief and your crit chance will stay the same. In the overall picture the 10% crit damage is better than 10% damage when behind a foe imo.

As for ogre though, you can really use any of these the results will all be similar. The layout I have right now is just what I prefer.

Thanks for keeping the thread going Khalifa and I prefer Eagle on my power builds (on ele too) but I think you’re nuts for not using 6 for that bonus …

Hey dude I started running 30/0/10/0/30 picking up foot in grave, 3%LF on marks and 20% spectral cd. I’m using SArmor, SWall, SWalk. I think well of suffering is too easy to avoid and now my burst is on cd and I’m screwed. What are your thoughts on this?

Your burst is weak on that build, you have no fury access. On any bursting Necro build you NEED 15 in curses. Of course, my opinion doesn’t matter I suppose.

Couple questions 1) Would you consider dagger OH to be a preference? It seems to me this build would work just as well with focus 2) I’m skeptical about Fury on DS as a means to increase dagger burst because it forces you to put DS on cooldown when it is often very needed later as one of our survivability options… thoughts?

Appreciate you taking the time to put together this guide!

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Your burst is weak on that build, you have no fury access. On any bursting Necro build you NEED 15 in curses. Of course, my opinion doesn’t matter I suppose.

Without going 15 in curses and without any precision runes I drop down to 35% crit. With Runes of the Eagle I hit about 40% crit which is still very good. I pick up 5% increases damage when over 50% LF as well as more effective health with a higher LF pool, and increased survivability through protection boon. I feel like dropping weakness on your foe, forcing stun breaks, using Dark Pact, and dropping WoS is too much of a one trick show. I wanted to try and get away from that. I also get higher crit damage filling out 30 points in SR, and 5 seconds of stability instead of 5 seconds of fury.

Leadfoot.9071:

Couple questions 1) Would you consider dagger OH to be a preference? It seems to me this build would work just as well with focus 2) I’m skeptical about Fury on DS as a means to increase dagger burst because it forces you to put DS on cooldown when it is often very needed later as one of our survivability options… thoughts?

Appreciate you taking the time to put together this guide!

Khalifa mentions in BoC that he encourages using DS aggressively and using it often. I use it pretty much right off cooldown for the retaliation + stability (for me). Obviously there wil be times when you get caught with your pants down and you’re waiting a few more seconds for DS to come up while you’re getting shattered by a Mesmer. I personally pop SWalk as soon as I see a Mes lay down their Temporal Curtain. When I get pulled I hit Walk again and teleport away from the clones + Blurred Frenzy. If you just use DS as a secondary life pool for when you’re low on health and losing, then you’re already dead.

But still… furious demise = 5 seconds of Fury. If I go into DS it seems like a waste to not DS#1 at least once for the might from Reaper’s Might and vulnerability from Unyielding Blast and also to use DS#2 to gap close and get a chill on the target to set up the dagger spam and then of course possibly fear to make dark pact land – after this the 5 seconds of fury is down to like what? 1 or 2 seconds? I could very well be missing something here which I why I’m bringing it up. This is all in addition to the fact that DS is one of our most valuable defensive options and therefore there is a cost to using it offensively. Just curious about the rationale behind the DS use in this build.

The furious demise variant is strong when you catch them with your immobilize and can flash DS for the weakening shroud proc and get to utilize the full uptime of the fury on auto-attacks. It’s not that great when utilizing DS 2 into immobilize since you waste a large portion of the fury duration not auto-attacking the target.

Personally I like going for 30 in SR instead. It’s not as bursty but it feels more solid with higher LF generation and stability. And anything that is caught in your immobilize for the full duration is dying regardless.

I have definitely run power builds with 30 in SR and do like the LF regen – but it’s almost overkill – especially if you bring the LF signet, which I agree with Khalifa is pretty f’n awesome.

I have also tried running 20 in SR and 20 in Blood magic for life stealing along with vampirism runes – pretty tanky!

I feel like this is one of the pros for necros is that there is some much potential build diversity as opposed to other classes (engi/ele/thief/warrior) that have very few viable build options.

Leadfoot.9071:

Couple questions 1) Would you consider dagger OH to be a preference? It seems to me this build would work just as well with focus 2) I’m skeptical about Fury on DS as a means to increase dagger burst because it forces you to put DS on cooldown when it is often very needed later as one of our survivability options… thoughts?

Appreciate you taking the time to put together this guide!

Dagger OH is my preference as I have stated many times, but overall in tpvp scenarios I feel dagger OH just fits in better. Condi Transfer+Blind and weakness from dagger #5 are amazing. Every time I play with focus I regret it immediately, that being said focus can work it’s just less effective imo.

As for the 15 pt curses trait for fury it is my personal opinion that you should pick this up in a power necro build. My crit is at about 50% normally so when I pop in and out of DS for fury its basically 5 seconds of guaranteed crits. This alone adds so much burst potential. As for worrying about DS going on CD for fury it isn’t such a problem imo. Generally speaking you would pop in and out when you have all your burst skills lined up for a nice extra chunk of damage. Just keep a good eye on your surroundings and you will get a good feel of when is a good time to give yourself fury and when it is a bad time.

Not saying that a 30/0/10/0/30 build is bad because it isn’t. Both are solid builds but I always feel like I’m losing too much damage for the 30 pt SR trait. Then again this is just what I have had the most success with and meshes with my playstyle the best.

Leadfoot.9071:

But still… furious demise = 5 seconds of Fury. If I go into DS it seems like a waste to not DS#1 at least once for the might from Reaper’s Might and vulnerability from Unyielding Blast and also to use DS#2 to gap close and get a chill on the target to set up the dagger spam and then of course possibly fear to make dark pact land – after this the 5 seconds of fury is down to like what? 1 or 2 seconds? I could very well be missing something here which I why I’m bringing it up. This is all in addition to the fact that DS is one of our most valuable defensive options and therefore there is a cost to using it offensively. Just curious about the rationale behind the DS use in this build.

As far as deciding when to pop in and out of DS for the fury boon so you can use it on daggers, or when to stay in DS and use that fury for some masssive life blast crits is really just a judgement call on your part. You wouldn’t sit there and cast some life blasts if you don’t have a full LF bar because that would just be a waste generally speaking.

On the other hand say that you are engaging a fight with a full bar of LF. It’s not such a bad idea to pop something like Blood is Power and use the fury for 2 or 3 big life blast crits and then go in with you daggers/staff. Daggers will still hurt even without fury and you will crit a lot.

I would also wait until the fury ends to use dark path for the chill if possible. This will allow you to start kiting enemies until you can line up a burst. Don’t blow it right away and waste the fury.

I also understand your concerns about using DS offensively when it is our sole defensive tool. You must understand that sometimes the best defense is offense. The damage you put out in DS from life blast and life transfer can be pretty impressive. Sometimes sacrificing a chunk of your LF to throw your enemy on the defensive side is the best choice. Again, it’s all a judgement call that you will learn through practice.

I’ve been running a defensive variation of your build in tPvP and it’s been working for me. Granted, I’m pretty average as far as tPvP goes and I don’t run with a team, but I feel confident in all 1v1s and even some 1v2s. Was wondering what you would think of it. I run Staff and D/D with the PVT amulet and gem. I use bloodlust/energy on the daggers and energy on the staff. I use Runes of the Ogre (Rock Dog is OP). I take Well of Suffering, Well of Corruption, Signet of Undeath, and Lich. (Switch Signet for BiP for hotjoin fun!)

Spite: 30 (V,X,XII) I don’t see many people get the instant retal, but it helps me out a ton against any class with burst that can evade/dodge most of my damage. It just takes some practice to get the timing right. And since I’m trying to outlast rather than burst, I don’t really need the might stacking.

Curses: 0 Giving up all crit damage.

Death Magic: 20 (I, II) I’ll explain the Dark Armor in a bit.

Blood Magic: 20 (II, X) the move speed from X is really just a nice perk, and I could probably use a better trait there. Not really sure. Probably Mark of Evasion with the extra dodges I have from sigils? I could remove 10 points from Blood, but I’m not sure where they would be better used without moving 15 points around.

I take Dark Armor because it works so well with Bloodthirst. It makes your effective hit points much higher and helps you outlast your opponent. This is really why I feel the build “works”, otherwise I’d just go full burst with your build. The extra boon duration also helps me keep regen up for most of the fight which helps out a ton. I know the dev’s were talking about how they didn’t like how Greater Marks was basically mandatory, so I’m hoping I’ll eventually be able to use the Dark Armor/Bloodthirst combo while still having enough points left over to invest in crit. I can dream right?

What do you think? Ever tried anything like it? Am I missing something that only becomes apparent at high levels of tPvP?

I would take Shrouded Removal over Dark Armor. It has removed immobilize for me so many times when fighting Mesmers about to set up a Shatter. I am also running a more defensive power build in tpvp with WoC ( turns boons into conditions), because it seems like higher level teams are always running bunkers or non-glass builds. Warriors had a trait similar to Dark Armor and they just got rid of it because it was very low popularity.

Seezer.2073:

I’ve been running a defensive variation of your build in tPvP and it’s been working for me. Granted, I’m pretty average as far as tPvP goes and I don’t run with a team, but I feel confident in all 1v1s and even some 1v2s. Was wondering what you would think of it. I run Staff and D/D with the PVT amulet and gem. I use bloodlust/energy on the daggers and energy on the staff. I use Runes of the Ogre (Rock Dog is OP). I take Well of Suffering, Well of Corruption, Signet of Undeath, and Lich. (Switch Signet for BiP for hotjoin fun!)

Spite: 30 (V,X,XII) I don’t see many people get the instant retal, but it helps me out a ton against any class with burst that can evade/dodge most of my damage. It just takes some practice to get the timing right. And since I’m trying to outlast rather than burst, I don’t really need the might stacking.

Curses: 0 Giving up all crit damage.

Death Magic: 20 (I, II) I’ll explain the Dark Armor in a bit.

Blood Magic: 20 (II, X) the move speed from X is really just a nice perk, and I could probably use a better trait there. Not really sure. Probably Mark of Evasion with the extra dodges I have from sigils? I could remove 10 points from Blood, but I’m not sure where they would be better used without moving 15 points around.

I take Dark Armor because it works so well with Bloodthirst. It makes your effective hit points much higher and helps you outlast your opponent. This is really why I feel the build “works”, otherwise I’d just go full burst with your build. The extra boon duration also helps me keep regen up for most of the fight which helps out a ton. I know the dev’s were talking about how they didn’t like how Greater Marks was basically mandatory, so I’m hoping I’ll eventually be able to use the Dark Armor/Bloodthirst combo while still having enough points left over to invest in crit. I can dream right?

What do you think? Ever tried anything like it? Am I missing something that only becomes apparent at high levels of tPvP?

Overall will a build like that be successful? The answer is most likely. The thing about powermancer in my opinion is that is is best suited for a certain play style. I have found you can bring the most devastation to enemies by going all out on the offensive side. While you may lack some of the defensive abilities a build like yours may grant you, you can make up for that with positioning and general map awareness.

You gain some survivability by going more into death and blood magic, but you lose the crit from curses and all the benefits that soul reaping gives you. In my opinion I would still say that a 30/15/10/0/15 will bring you more success but to each their own. Every person has their own play style and if this is better for you it can work. You will find that you will live longer, but your damage will be substantially lower.

To touch on a few of your choices I will say that retal on DS from the spite tree is very nice and would work well in a build like yours. The reason I chose the might stack per life blast trait was because life blast is a main source of your damage when you tilt towards a more offensive build. Mixed with blood is power you will constantly be might stacked increasing your overall damage.

Dark armor is nice, but I think you will find that it isn’t as great as it sounds. I feel that you won’t notice the increase in toughness saving you all that much. It goes back to the fact that vit>toughness for necro.

Double wells are pretty nice for some good burst damage, but you will find that you seem to be a one trick pony in a sense. You burn both wells and you are left with no utilities for a long period of time. This is why I found blood is power to be a better choice, it has a relatively small CD and increase your overall damage by a lot.

Overall I think a build that yours could work well, it’s just I feel that a condi necro is better suited for a defensive style build. Power necro as I have said many times needs to be play offensively to punish your enemies.

Hey Khalifa. How do you feel about WoCorruption over WoSuffering? The boon removal helps me kill classes like HGH Engis and Regen Rangers that I would normally get smashed against. I find that with Suffering once they realize they’re taking massive damage they’ll get out of it ASAP. WIth Corruption it doesn’t seem to be the case in my experience.

Well of Suffering is my go to, I won’t run a power necro without it. It just offers way too much damage to give up. Sure sometimes people can avoid it but speaking in general it’s just way to effective to give up.

As for Well of Corruption it is a good tool, but it’s just a personal thing I guess I can’t justify putting it on my utility bar.