Guild Wars 2

Hi Necros,

I am exploring this class and I am level 11 right now and immensely enjoying my staff and marks. However, I seem to be at a loss as to what to put in the other weapon slot.

I’m currently running with Scepter/Warhorn (for the speed buff) but it seems to be subpar to how awesome the staff is.

The dagger and axes do wonderful damage but seems to be a little unweildy (especially the dagger). Dagger OH I found is really good but I don’t want to be kittened in terms of speed.

I am looking for a build that works well with Marks and Wells, preferably a power type build (although I won’t mind if the build you give me is condition just please bear in mind that this is a leveling build so the faster I kill stuff, the better), and that will do well in dynamic events (in terms of loot tagging).

I do not care for PvP or Dungeons at this point.

Can someone quickly post their build or suggest something based on Staff, Marks, Wells, and AoE goodness?

TY~!

If you’re really attached to staff, put 20 in death magic and get staff mastery and greater marks. But imho there are better ways to PvE than staff alone.

for offset, you can go scepter/warhorn or scepter/dagger (in fact, just obtain a scepter, dagger, warhorn, and staff because those will get you through to 80)

depends. You’ll eventually realize that the strongest way to PvE as a necro is through conditions. Focus on Condition damage, and get a source of vitality, or toughness if not that.

Then try to stack as many bleeds on one mob, then spread it with the Epidemic Utility. That alone will produce more AoE damage than any of the wells (since you’re probably enjoying wells early on in the game) because wells don’t scale up in power very well. here’s some example of endgame playstyle that you could pick up on for early pve style.

don’t pay attention to the dagger/dagger thing or the build formula i put in the description. There are multiple ways to approach condition damage.

^ This is wrong actually. The strongest way to PvE is NOT conditions, in fact in many situations conditions are pretty awful. Pretty much any grouping activities, mobs will either have maxed condition stacks or will die too fast and power is just superior.

Staff/Dagger and Life Blasting + Wells with a power build is much better (overall) and works for everything. Plus nothing beats a double well + Life Transfer combo. Of course you could combine all 3 if you really wanted to, double well, epidemic, life transfer.

Conditions are fine if you’re solo.

You can go either path, Power build with Wells, or Condition build with Epidemic, that’s really about it for leveling, you could also take 20 points in Spite for 30% minion dmg and slot minion utilities instead which is also decent but you won’t have the same aoe dmg.

pyronix.4081:

Hi Necros,

I am exploring this class and I am level 11 right now and immensely enjoying my staff and marks. However, I seem to be at a loss as to what to put in the other weapon slot.

I’m currently running with Scepter/Warhorn (for the speed buff) but it seems to be subpar to how awesome the staff is.

The dagger and axes do wonderful damage but seems to be a little unweildy (especially the dagger). Dagger OH I found is really good but I don’t want to be kittened in terms of speed.

I am looking for a build that works well with Marks and Wells, preferably a power type build (although I won’t mind if the build you give me is condition just please bear in mind that this is a leveling build so the faster I kill stuff, the better), and that will do well in dynamic events (in terms of loot tagging).

I do not care for PvP or Dungeons at this point.

Can someone quickly post their build or suggest something based on Staff, Marks, Wells, and AoE goodness?

TY~!

If you’re going a power/staff/wells build I actually have a suggestion since that is what I personally run in dungeons while waiting for a minion AI fix.

You’ll want to go for leveling purposes:
1-30: 10 points into death magic (get staff cooldown or greater marks), 10 points into blood (get transfusion), and 10 into spite (might on life blast).
31-60: get 20 in death magic (pick up either greater marks or staff cooldown depending on what you didn’t pick up), 20 points into blood (well cooldown trait) put the last 10 where you want.
61-80: go 30 into death magic for protection from wells, 30 into blood magic for vampiric wells, and the last 10 wherever you want (I personally prefer the might on life blast).

when you get the ability to weapon swap you probably will end up using staff+dagger/focus. This combination gives you the most direct damage.

For utilities you want well of blood (of course), well of corruption (highest damage well and causes vulnerability), and well of darkness (you’re basically invincible inside it from melee enemies). The last slot goes to your situational well. Bring well of power if you know you will be dealing with conditions, or bring the other well if the enemy stacks boons.

As an elite I recommend lich form for raw damage, however the flesh golem is a solid elite even without the boosts from the minion traits.

If you do use lich form, you ALWAYS want to cast mark of horror (the one that summons 5 jagged horrors) immediately. If you do it quickly enough it cools down in time for you to cast it a second time at the end of the elite form.

your other skills are somewhat self explanatory:
auto attack: high damage single target hit
#2: AOE vulnerability, cast it on cooldown.
#3: an AOE interrupt, great for stopping an enemy from using a powerful ability.
#4: mark of horror, cast it as soon as you can and make it priority at the end
#5: AOE cleanse. Removes conditions from allies and boons from enemies, a great support skill.

If you go with the flesh golem, just use the charge as either an AOE interrupt or to deal hefty damage to a clumped mob. If you use it on an enemy against a wall it does even more damage.

don’t level a necro you’ll regret it, i would say elementalist but you spend all your time hopping around like a bunny. Just put that thought away and pick yourself up a class you wont regret later on, warrior. Save your self the frustration. you’ll need one build for solo and another for dungeons and another for pvp just don’t do it.

I think i am tired of dodging everything

For pure PvE leveling i would recommend focusing on Minions first with your skill points. Minion builds in PvE are really powerful for soloing and you should be able to keep up with your storyline at the same level with them as well as take on large amounts of mobs or a boss.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAoYWjEa16laua07JCpHRjaTD6x7lmzoKUOA

Staff is a must for AoE farming, and 30 Death Magic points will give your minions a strong boost in damage apon death and boosting your Power by 5% (at least 65 points (916 base + 300 from trait line + 120 from minions + armour & weapon stat)) 10 Points in Soul Reaping for Life Transfer spamming and the soon to be fixed 10% more DS-HP.

Agreed with ascii. Staff+minions are a very solid way to level. But I also agree with uthar to some extent, that this class requires a build for each gameplay to be effective. (although i’d welcome you into the necro club, it’s still fun if you stick it out.)

Dagger + warhorn. I’ve been using a build by takarazuka on the GW2guru forums and it’s pretty solid. The thread title is Necro Power Build – Dagger/Focus and Wells (he changed to warhorn however). Of course you need to get up close and personal, but i haven’t had a problem with it. Rarely do i end up in a downed position, and when i do, it’s really easy to kill trash to get back up again.

Right now I’m trying this site’s suggestion.

http://gw2guidez.com/blog/gw2-necromancer-leveling-build-best-necromancer-pve-build/

So far level 43-45 and not doing too badly.