Guild Wars 2

I’m a very experienced player, I play ranger for a main and have a level 80 mesmer as well.

Basically, I’m just looking for inputs on how to build my necro (Skills, Traits, Weapons, stats, runes, sigils)

It has to be able to:

- Steady DPS. Like really hard. I have no preference as to whether that means Power or Conditions, but I’m unsure as to how big a problem the condition cap is in parties.
- “Get out of jail free card” – I prefer being squishy, but I want some kind of saving grace. My ranger has a traited signet of stone (6 seconds of taking no direct damage). My mesmer has Decoy and Distortion. Necroes have their second HP pool, but I don’t want to rely on that to get my butt to safety.
- Run fast – Quality of life for open PvE.

What I’ve come up with so far is Staff + Scepter/Warhorn, all berserker using minions as utility skills + Signet of the Locust to run faster. It works just fine in open PvE, except I hate the minion AI. And I assume minion builds are horrible in dungeons.
Wells deals some nasty damage, but there is also a big cooldown where I feel like I’m doing next to nothing.

What are some nice Necro DPS builds that can include these quality of life speed boosts and get out of jail free cards? I’m a bit out of ideas.

Edit: Also, I’m aware of October 15th

If you want squishy pve build then go no farther then dagger/war horn. Full power build. Your survivability will be crap but your burst DMG will be awesome. I prefer a condition build for more steady ranged DPS but if you want to kill em fast then go 30 power 30 in crit and use dagger war horn.

DS will always be the get out of jail free card.

Look up nemesis’ hybrid build, but instead of divinity runes put in runes of the traveler. You’ll get increased boon/condi duration and 25% run speed for the loss of 30 to each stat and 6% crit damage, which I think is a worthy tradeoff.

And wait for Oct 15th

And btw might to clerify open world pve or dungeons. Minions aren’t good in dungeons but very helpful while lvling. And get ready for a reroll post too.

I am thinking about writing a leveling guide and an open world build selection similar to my mesmer one. But I am not sure if there exists something like that I might have missed.

Anyway, I will wait till after the balance patch if I decide to do so.

Refer to the build in my sig for a high dps build. DS is your main form of defense and seeing as you dont sit in DS you should always have full lifeforce as a safety net (you also gain it back very fast if you have to tank a bit hit). If you need more defense you can take some energy sigils in your offhands. Or take well of darkness for some aoe blinds.

I’m done leveling, and minions were indeed very helpful. I almost knew they would be bad in endgame (Ranger pet is horrible, even though we can somewhat control it).

I’ll look into the zerker dagger/warhorn, but I’m curious, what is that “condition build with steady ranged DPS” that you mention?

I’m with the guys on the “wait till after the patch.”

That being said, the present highest DD deeps build in PvE is 30/25/0/0/15, running D/Wh + D/F, Well of Suffering, Blood is Power, Sig of Spite, Fleshy. It’s on par with the Ranger’s S/Wh + Frost Spirit build, especially as long as Fleshy’s up. It’s lacking party buffs, though, which is why you won’t see it in “optimized” dungeon runs. It’s actually very respectable damage, especially in boss fights where 6-8 conditions are stacked on the target.

Also, the only “Get out of jail free” card you get as a Necro is Death Shroud. Unless you wanna slot Flesh Worm and pre-setup every fight. IMO not worth it.

It actually beats ranger, warrior and engi dps when fully buffed and under optimal conditions (flesh golem isnt even needed to out dps those classes). But those classes provide group buffs to make up for it. I suspect it beats guardian aswell but I havent compared them yet. And obviously nothing beats warriors solo dps because of the easy access self buffs they have.

spoj.9672:

It actually beats ranger, warrior and engi dps when fully buffed and under optimal conditions (flesh golem isnt even needed to out dps those classes). But those classes provide group buffs to make up for it. I suspect it beats guardian aswell but I havent compared them yet. And obviously nothing beats warriors solo dps because of the easy access self buffs they have.

I was gonna make this claim, but didn’t have the balls. So props – and I fully agree.

Conditionmancer is the build for ranged conditions. I use 30/30/0/0/10 but there are other hybrid builds. You use scepter/dagger and staff swap. With epidemic it is the king of aoe sustained dmg. It does however lack in burst DPS. Very high serviceability because you can stay ranged. You have a wealth of condition removals as well. You can also use flesh golem to add DPS and or tank for you. This also brings more utility to the group make up then just burst DPS. I have tried the power builds and they don’t fit my play style for this class. If I wanted melee I would play my guardian.

Treeline.3865:

I’m a very experienced player, I play ranger for a main and have a level 80 mesmer as well.

Basically, I’m just looking for inputs on how to build my necro (Skills, Traits, Weapons, stats, runes, sigils)

It has to be able to:

- Steady DPS.
- “Get out of jail free card” -
- Run fast – Quality of life for open PvE.

:)

In reverse order.

1. Signet of the locust stays on your bar. In open PvE, or for that matter WvW, you can un equip and swap out this skill right before a major fight and replace with a better skill. Get used to this.

2. Your get out of Jail free card is the 15 point trait in Soul Reaping providing spectral armor when your Heath goes below 50%. This trait is fantastic. Consider the many abilities that one shot you, this trait will apply the protection reduction to the same skill that hit you. As a result, many one shot hits don’t one shot you.

3. For Pve, your best theoretical DPS is Dagger Warhorn with all minions, but that build requires you to melee in light armor with little protection. I also consider condition builds to be more theoretical than workable in pve. What really makes necromancer the king of conditions are dagger 4, Staff 4, and epidemic, yet these skills are irrelevant in much pve that matters. (Absent these skills, other classes can outpace you easily).

Consider buying 2 sets of armor and 30/20/0/0/20. You can make a popular FOTM condition build with the setups, but then without needing to retrait you can make a powerful power-condition hybrid build using staff and either axe or dagger.

nekretaal.6485:

3. For Pve, your best theoretical DPS is Dagger Warhorn with all minions, but that build requires you to melee in light armor with little protection.

Slightly incorrect. The highest dps build is my build linked in my sig with flesh golem, shadow fiend and blood fiend. Other utilities remain Well of suffering and signet of spite. This is assuming minions dont die and reliably hit the target consistantly and you are fully buffed.