Guild Wars 2

Hi Guys,
I recently thought about picking up my necromancer again. I don’t want to run dungeons or fractals with him ( I use my guardian for that), just do open World PVE stuff, like completing the world, doing the Living Story, completing events and all that kind of good stuf.

Point is, I want to play a MM Necromancer. I fell in love with the idea of being an MM in GW1 and I played him that way for several years. Now I want to do be a MM again!

2 questions:
1. I need a build (a link to a build with the traits+weapons would be awesome). The PVP build seems to build around the idea of bunkering which is obviously not necessary in Open World PVE, so I want to be a bit more offensive.

2. Which kind of armor/weapons/sigills do I wear? Condi? I have no idea, so help would be apperciated here as well.

Thanks guys.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/PvE-Minion-Master-traits/first#post4496057 this thread can help you out. Also id recommend http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW7YjM00UbbNe1webidBR6WpiNdylNhKAA-TJhHwACuIAAeCAHLDYa/BA I had a good time playing with it. But I prefer bunker builds when running MM. Or my build which is more for SPvP but can still do good in PvE.

Note: The build I linked is more of a PvP build also. The thread can help you out with more attack focused PvE MM builds.

4/x/6/4/x is more damage
2/x/6/6/x is more bunker but can still do a lot of damage if you have the correct synergy.

Ok, cool, thank you for your quick response.

1 Question, which kind of armor with which kind of runes do I wear. In the thread, I can’t see an answer to that. Would be great if you could help me there, since my necro is still wearing rare armor from 2012 :P

Sure I’ll post a more detailed build in a bit. Getting ready for work :P But i must say the Build that I linked is very powerful its a lot more offense minded then my build which is in my signature. Its a Condi build that has good synergy.

I’ve been having quite a good time in PvE using this power MM build (that I made with minimum outside advice). I certainly don’t see this as a finished build, I have recently made changes, and I intend to make some more (Sigils). I also tend to change the traits and abilities around when the situation demands it. It has been good for fractals and recently the Silverwastes. I’ve recently started trying to solo dungeons with it to mixed results which may have more to do with me than the build. (I haven’t done much with dungeon solo-ing before.)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAnYWjM00WbXNO2webiohS6A4AKgJvgPAyecAA-TxSBABBu/gRKhwRdnsU+cmSwGMhUpKBpoPAkTBwCHBAAeAAAA-e

Ok, thanks for another build.

What armor should I wear and what Rune? The usual bersi stuff or something with condition damage (like the new sinister set?).

If somebody could answer me this I would be really happy and I could start crafting the right armor. Right now I have the build idead but no clue what to wear in terms of armor, runes and sigils:)

I would stick with berserker for PvE. Also has the added benefit of you being able to use it for dungeons and fractals if you do decide to go there. And if its ascended it you can give it to ele/mes.

Currently using a 4-0-6-0-4 MM build. Been alot of fun so far. Its nice not being AS dependent on hte minions for when they decide to bug out a ltitle.

As for armor. Depends on what you want to be doing. If your planning on being surrounded by mordrem id go ahead and take a Knights set. With a necros base high health pool we benefit alot from toughness and nights lets you make plenty of crits and high power damage. MMs especially so. If your going to be focusing on dungeons later on though. Well the current meta is zerker or bust. However ever since ive switched to knights ive found myself being ALOT more effective when actually playing as an MM Necro as apposed to just another generic dpser.

I use the classic 4/0/6/4/0 trait spread, but I run a hybrid condi/minion build, using Carrion gear with Nightmare runes, and Scepter/Focus as my weapons. The idea here is that my minions provide the raw tanking/DPS, while I supplement it with conditions/boon strips. It actually works REALLY well for me. There are few Champions in the open world that I can’t solo with this setup.

I recommend something like this for “easy” open world content. 6/4/0/4/0
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRMQNgd4djM00UbbNe1webicBZylPhOwsVR2pEA-TRROwAjU+BY/BiaHAr+jMlgCCocA-e

Deathmagic is a big waste of traitpoints in pve. Not even one useful trait in this tree.

Norjena.5172:

Deathmagic is a big waste of traitpoints in pve. Not even one useful trait in this tree.

Bold statement for someone who recommends minions and 4 points in Blood Magic :P
(i know paraxes wants to be MM, but still…)

Well he is right that death magic is a waste. The same can be said for blood magic. x)

This was never about being the best or fastest in Open World PVE, I know that there are better builds for that but that was not the point. If I want to play fractals, do dungeon speed clears or be generally welcomed in every group, I play my guardian. I just wanted to play a Necro MM from time to time, run through the world and at least have a glimpse of a nostalgic flashback to the time of GW1, where a necro as a MM was actually amazing and viable for most content.

So what’s “best” for PVE was never the discussion point to begin with.

I’ve got some great ideas through this thread (some more offensive with minions less being important and others where the minions are almost doing the most damage for you) and now I can try a little bit out what fits my playstle better. So thank you to all of you guys:)

Glad you found some of what your lookin for paraxes. If I run into ya I may ask ya what ya decided to do in the end. Ive seen more variations of MM than I have any other build in this game. and its always interesting to see what a new MMancer will make.

Paraxes.3826:

This was never about being the best or fastest in Open World PVE, I know that there are better builds for that but that was not the point. If I want to play fractals, do dungeon speed clears or be generally welcomed in every group, I play my guardian. I just wanted to play a Necro MM from time to time, run through the world and at least have a glimpse of a nostalgic flashback to the time of GW1, where a necro as a MM was actually amazing and viable for most content.

So what’s “best” for PVE was never the discussion point to begin with.

I’ve got some great ideas through this thread (some more offensive with minions less being important and others where the minions are almost doing the most damage for you) and now I can try a little bit out what fits my playstle better. So thank you to all of you guys:)

We werent saying to use whats best. Just merely pointing out that those trait lines dont really do anything for you in PvE. Even as a MM. Your damage increase for minions is in spite. Taking that and slotting minions is pretty much all you need in PvE. And if you do that the build is actually pretty close to the most efficient build. So its an added bonus.

I understand you may want to go into death magic for minion master. If thats the case then 6/6/2/0/0 works pretty nicely. If you just want to go all in for death nova then i suppose I would recommend 4/4/6/0/0. Still if it were me who was wanting to play minions in open world I would just stick with 6/6/0/0/2 and slot minions for utilities.

Hope that helps.

spoj I think that death magic traits have some merits in the kind of fighting that the silver wastes has introduced. large scale spread out fighting. Its not hte instant death for MMs that the wvw blobs is but at the same time its the kind of place where ive seen many glassier people get nuked. Theres something to be said for death magic traits (minion master atleast but death nova is ALOT of help as well (weakness bombs)) if were going to get more zones like silverwastes.

The things that nuke you are most likely the terragif rushes. If thats the case then simply crippling/chilling/immobilising them will cause them to interrupt themselves. The only other danger i noticed was a swarm of hounds. Which the only solution to that is proper positioning and AOEing them fast. Minion builds dont really have AOE so you will probably just have to watch out.

As you said death nova and weakness may help you a bit there. But its far from needed.

Bone minions with death nova alone completely nuetralize a group of wolves even if they have mender support. The poison nukes the healing. and the explosions themselves do a health chunk of damage in an aoe. The increased l.f. gain as well that death magic users get as well makes life force almost constantly maxed out no matter what your trait setup. this is especially useful in my 40604 build.

Teragriffs are easily nuetralized by necros thats true. but havin extra toughness goes a LONG way when you have 3-4 of them on you. and when your fighting inside a large group of mordrem having flash of hte master can be really key. Otherwise your bone minions can die before there implemented properly. your bone fiend,shadow fiend can get clipped and taken out. leaving you without a utility. since all mordrem cleave this is a pretty common issue Ive seen other MM users have. Just having FOTM helps ALOT. (even in its current bugged state).

Id honestly say the survivability you gain from taking death magic atleast cancels out the dps loss. Since open world events care more about how long you can stay effective on the field and not how fast you can kill one specific mob out of 60. Especially since as a MM necro your unlikely to be engaging less than 4 mordrem at a time. If your 1v1ning mordrem as a minion master your really wasting your potential ya know?

In open world were probably the best there is at fighting and killing large numbers of computer enemies at once. Especially when we build with that in mind.

Or just take wells and deal with multiple enemies at once with ease. Oo Overcomplicated “solutions” and turnarounds for nothing.

hmm that would be fine if he hadn’t specified he wanted an MM build o.O

You are basically saying you prefer more defence in SW. Which is fine. If you prefer to build like that you can. Im just saying its far from needed. Im sure the OP can decide whether he wants to focus more on damage or not. I feel the added risk makes it more fun but thats just me.

spoj.9672:

Well he is right that death magic is a waste. The same can be said for blood magic. x)

Yes, but he wants a build for mindless open world. OK open world is most times mindless, but more lifesteal makes it even easier.
That´s the reason for bloodmagic. And it´s doing a good job here. To make is easier, not faster or “better”.

He even said he would never use it in dungeons. Just for solo open world.

Shadelang.3012:

As for armor. Depends on what you want to be doing. If your planning on being surrounded by mordrem id go ahead and take a Knights set. With a necros base high health pool we benefit alot from toughness and nights lets you make plenty of crits and high power damage. MMs especially so. If your going to be focusing on dungeons later on though. Well the current meta is zerker or bust. However ever since ive switched to knights ive found myself being ALOT more effective when actually playing as an MM Necro as apposed to just another generic dpser.

I run Knights as well, with a DS / MM setup, and Staff. I’m usually the last one standing, and, while my minions are continuing the fight, I’m rezzing everyone else…

Shadelang.3012:

Bone minions with death nova alone completely nuetralize a group of wolves even if they have mender support. The poison nukes the healing. and the explosions themselves do a health chunk of damage in an aoe. The increased l.f. gain as well that death magic users get as well makes life force almost constantly maxed out no matter what your trait setup. this is especially useful in my 40604 build.

Teragriffs are easily nuetralized by necros thats true. but havin extra toughness goes a LONG way when you have 3-4 of them on you. and when your fighting inside a large group of mordrem having flash of hte master can be really key. Otherwise your bone minions can die before there implemented properly. your bone fiend,shadow fiend can get clipped and taken out. leaving you without a utility. since all mordrem cleave this is a pretty common issue Ive seen other MM users have. Just having FOTM helps ALOT. (even in its current bugged state).

Id honestly say the survivability you gain from taking death magic atleast cancels out the dps loss. Since open world events care more about how long you can stay effective on the field and not how fast you can kill one specific mob out of 60. Especially since as a MM necro your unlikely to be engaging less than 4 mordrem at a time. If your 1v1ning mordrem as a minion master your really wasting your potential ya know?

In open world were probably the best there is at fighting and killing large numbers of computer enemies at once. Especially when we build with that in mind.

Hey buddy! would you be so kind as to show me more in detail what your “40604 build” is? I’m looking into working on my low level necro to be a MM.

I made up something like this and wanted to maybe create a hybrid of it and yours.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQFAWjM00UbXNu1webiphS6EYACgpvgJYDg6GB-TRxDAB5t/QMq/gqSwfU+Bg5PA-e

Let me know! The Death Shroud stuff that you speak of in your post is interesting and I def want to use Death Nova. I like your opinion also of that the pts in Death Magic/Death Nova outweigh the missed points into the spite trait line. I’m more into survivability with a minion army vs. full damage.

I remember as the OP may remember, the MM days in GW1 when they didn’t have a minion limit, you could harness an entire army! It was amazing. Even after the nerf to minion mastery to where you could only have up to 10-11 minions wasn’t so bad.

Thanks,

Thomas

@wetwillyhip np mate I currently use two builds that act as a ds/mm hybrid The only difference between the two is where the majority of the damage comes from.

The 4 0 6 0 4 build is closer to this games traditional minion mancer setup. Instead of life drain (vampiric master is unreliable due to ai issues atm) It focuses on improving death shroud. Amulet is interchangeable with soldiers. Runes are up to your preference. choice of healing skill (blood fiend or consume condition) depends on your choice of rune. I prefer centaur runes with blood fiend for permanent swiftness for me and my other minions. But theres other possibilities as well and consume conditions is still the most efficient by itself.

The only other variance I use besides though is changing near to death vs vital persistence. that all depends on how bursty my enemy composition is. (near to death is better against things like shatter mesmers and thieves in my experience being able to hop back into ds is a huge survival bonus. Yet against more long term oponents having the longer lasting life force pool is key against heavy sustain.

Works equally well in pve yet im currently using another setup for that.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW3IDN12VjfNs3mIaokOAOgCAyecAosG2BA-T5AIABAcRAE4JAUcZAA

The other setup that I have been using in pve recently ankitten ow testing in pvp (to decent results) is a 20606 build. It back loads the damage into death shroud instead of the minions and uses cavalier gear to make the best use of both the toughness to power conversion and also the high crit chance well have. Basically loading up on ferocity to make our in death shroud skills hurt like a truck.

Thanks to death nova our primary damaging minions (bone minions) still do there job perfectly as aoe pressure and debilitation. our other minions still do there jobs as cc bots perfectly as well (as well as the flesh wurm get out of jail free card) it just provides a more centered damage focus. And it seems to confuse ALOT of people I fight. Wouldn’t surprise me if other MMs are using this more often in pve now as well.

With vital persistence we can fire off ALOT of life blasts which means alot of crits and alot of might as the fight progresses. The high ferocity gives us the feel of a more power focused build while still having the extreme toughness levels that MMs are known for. The improved life force pool combined with the extra life force we gain from deaths means were almost immortal in any form of pve whatsoever. And our cc bot minions work just fine to keep us topped off. Your a bit more susceptible to condi nukes so being able to land dagger and staff 4 will become a second nature part of your survival. Closest ive found to a true MM/DS Hybrid. CC and tankiness from the minions and death magic while still having the high crits that makes DS necros dangerous. Also it has one thing most DS builds lack ive seen. Wide area and rapid poison application.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW3IDN12VjfNs3mIaokOAOgCAqek6aYH6UA-TJBFABCcQAc4JAIdZAAuAAAA

Shadelang.3012:

@wetwillyhip
The other setup that I have been using in pve recently ankitten ow testing in pvp (to decent results) is a 20606 build. It back loads the damage into death shroud instead of the minions and uses cavalier gear to make the best use of both the toughness to power conversion and also the high crit chance well have. Basically loading up on ferocity to make our in death shroud skills hurt like a truck.

Thanks to death nova our primary damaging minions (bone minions) still do there job perfectly as aoe pressure and debilitation. our other minions still do there jobs as cc bots perfectly as well (as well as the flesh wurm get out of jail free card) it just provides a more centered damage focus. And it seems to confuse ALOT of people I fight. Wouldn’t surprise me if other MMs are using this more often in pve now as well.

With vital persistence we can fire off ALOT of life blasts which means alot of crits and alot of might as the fight progresses. The high ferocity gives us the feel of a more power focused build while still having the extreme toughness levels that MMs are known for. The improved life force pool combined with the extra life force we gain from deaths means were almost immortal in any form of pve whatsoever. And our cc bot minions work just fine to keep us topped off. Your a bit more susceptible to condi nukes so being able to land dagger and staff 4 will become a second nature part of your survival. Closest ive found to a true MM/DS Hybrid. CC and tankiness from the minions and death magic while still having the high crits that makes DS necros dangerous. Also it has one thing most DS builds lack ive seen. Wide area and rapid poison application.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW3IDN12VjfNs3mIaokOAOgCAqek6aYH6UA-TJBFABCcQAc4JAIdZAAuAAAA

Thanks for explaining the builds you use.

The 2nd build is more interesting to me. I do like the sustainability of damage you can take while in DS and the high survivability. And, you crit and get some great damage dealt from DS.

My main profession is a glass cannon crit Ele and while I enjoy the damage, I am growing tired of how fast I have to be on my feet and low survivability. The problem is not being able to sustain lots of damage for a long period of time. In eles, you either go all damage being your best defense or you go all defensive and lose lots of damage output (basically feeling like you’re mediocre of a class lol)

My main application with a necro MM right now would be all levels of PVE
I’m thinking your second build with Vital Persistence, cavalier armor with golemancer runes. Any other synergistic runes you would go with besides centaur? For PVE, would you switch out flesh wurm for Shadow Fiend?
(Though I will have try it for PVP, looks great)
Here’s what I’ve added to your 2nd build (gear/sigils/runes):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQFAWjM00UbXNu1webiohS6A4AKAo6RqrhdoTB-TBSDABdq+T3XAgAeAACp8zFdA7t/wCKBBw8HA-e

If you look at the link, I’ve outfitted the armor/accessories with Cavalier. Sigil of Restoration will stack nicely with Parasitic Bond trait. Sigil of Cruelty will get you 250+ more ferocity and with 10-15 stacks of might from life blast, you’re looking at some pretty high power, toughness, and ferocity with a 63% crit chance when in DS.

One last thing…
What do you think of the original Necro MM PVE build I sent you? Are some of the traits not worth or redundant? Especially points into Blood traits like Vampiric Master (as you’ve said it’s bugged. What happens?) and Bloodthirst. Are any traits in the blood line worth it for a MM? I would think strengthening the siphoning would be the key to high survivability.
But at the same time, 300+ stats into vitality and healing is probably a waste right?

@wetwillyhip

To the question of other runes first, The thing about MM is that its useable with many difference rune types. Golemancer runes would probably work just fine with the setup. Another option are Air,Strength,Path,Ogre,Water(to supplement blood fiend sacrifice if you decide to use it), hoelbrak (see where im going with this?). Its up to your own preference. And limiting yourself to once setup will keep you from finding others that might fit your playstyle more (thus being more fun). Id say try different things. Use one until your bored then switch to another. Golemancer is a great place to start. and you might decide that those runes are what fits you best and never move on. One of the joys of having a playstyle as adaptable as MM is.

As for the build you posted. I was originally hesitant on commenting on it due to some presonal issues I have to vampiric traits and setups. As such I havn’t utilized them nearly enough to be able to give you a good idea. I will say that without having a heavy damage source (training of the master for increased pet damage. Or focusing your damage somewhere else) you may find yourself struggling to kill (or is more appropriate to the MM playstyle “outlast”) certain encounters that have heavy aoe pressure.

Normally that could be counteracted by your trait setups high sustain. However the issue with vampiric Minion masters is that both there damage AND there survivability are both tied to the minions. Which atm are very susceptible to aoe. And when they die your primary source of both sustained damage and sustained survivability die.

Long story short. With that setup there is much content that you will be able to largely breeze through. However you will encounter situations that feel like a hard counter to you. Completely stopping you in your tracks and forcing you to rely on those around you until you can recover.

MinionMancer has typically two great strengths. Dispersed sources of damage and Dispersed sources of control. We typically have lower mobility but we make it up for being naturally tanky through our high hp pools our high toughness and our liberal applications of debilitations.

The part where each MM build differs is where the focus is.

My second build that you were looking at is one where damage is focused on the caster and control is spread between the caster and the pets.

The first is one where the damage is spread between the caster and the pets and control is spread between the caster and the pets.

Yours is a case where Instead of damage you take survivability. Having survivability being focused on the pets and control between the caster and the pets. This takes the longer approach to fighting.

What you choose to do may be none of these. You may find a combination that many people look at and go (what the kitten?) but as I said before your playstyle will decide whats will truly be most effective for you. Id reccomend picking one close to what you know and working towards what you think is your ideal playstyle until you reach a conclusion through testing.

Either of these are a great place to start. But its similar to the runes when you may stay there or may end up somewhere completely different. You may even abandon MM entirely for a more DS focused build. Or even go into conditions.

P.S. I use flesh wurm for almost all content. Having an oh kitten button is a massive benefit in all forms of a gaming.

Thank you so much for all of your feedback. This all makes so much sense.

You don’t suppose you have an ele? lol.