Guild Wars 2

So title mostly covers it but also looking for how to play it. Thanks in advance!

There are two main paths for WvW condition build.

Typical scepter build, or Staff as a condition or hybrid. The staff version is a really good starting point its easier to play and understand.

0.30.20.0.20 or 0.25.20.0.25 or 0.20.20.10.20

They all have a few things in common greater marks and faster staff recharge combined with soul marks. The other trait choices are fairly open.

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=;0_-34;0kHFC0r3FJ-K0;9;5TJ-J;113614;219-K-F4U;1dZH9fgm92VF

Here is one, the idea is to just spam marks use corrupt boon and epidemic. Soul marks is your lifeforce generator you can easily change to wells or spectral if corruption is not to your liking.

Some people might recommend carrion gear, I like rabid gear either is fine.

A good basic building block for condition build would be 0/20/10/0/20, with key traits being Terror and Master of Terror, Greater Marks given. Then you still have 20 points to personalize in whatever way you wish. Maybe maxing out Soul Reaping to get Foot in the Grave or Near to Death, or finishing 30 in curses, or even delving into Spite for a bit more hybrid. I like Blood Magic, but that is a bit more unorthodox.

How to play, stay with the zerg, AoE on top of your tanky leading edge, spread conditions with epidemic, and collect copious amounts of loot bags.

Your job is not to kill individual players or try and spike one guy down, but rather to pressure areas, and control terrain. Lay your marks down at chokepoints, force groups to back off tower ledges, or fear them off siege. Chill/Blind into the hearts of big fights where your more bursty classes are charging. Don’t be scared to even jump into Plague Form to lead a charge, and see if you can break the enemy line. The side that starts running or back tracking first is most likely the one that gets routed and wiped.

Once you get familiar with your strengths and weaknesses, then you can begin to branch out into more dangerous or alternative playstyles, small group, or even roaming around if you dare.

I would also suggest switching utilities frequently for the situation. Wells are good for zerg engagements, stuff like Corrupt Boon, Blood is Power, even Plague Signet, are better for smaller fights, coming up on a contested camp, something like that. Though Corrupt Boon has a strong argument in large standoff fights too, especially for neutering tanky distractors like Guardians, Dagger Storming Thieves, and D/D ele’s that try to get your whole team to waste time on them, while their DPS spikes you. Spectral Walk for traveling around, even keep a Warhorn handy for the speed boost, even if its not your normal off hand.

Don’t forget to always use food, and even crystals if you can afford them. Condition Duration stuff like the pizza’s are a big boost for condition builds and to get your fears hitting harder and lasting longer.

Gear wise, I believe in being more tanky (Rabid, even a few Soldier or Sentinel pcs if you don’t have Ascended). Necro’s get focus fired a lot, and as an attrition / pressure build, you need to be alive as long as possible to do that job. You are not in a race to burst anyone faster. Also a lot of your usefulness is in non-damage conditions like chill, cripple, weakness, blind, and cc via Fears, stats like power and crit damge do nothing to help those get better.

thanks for the input got one question why does the Spite usually get ignored? it adds Condition duration.

FearTheAmish.8730:

thanks for the input got one question why does the first trait field usually get ignored? it adds either Condition duration or damage.

I can answer that.

The first trait tree (spite) has little to no benefit to a condition build, other than the base 30% increase to duration. Since there are other, better ways to get 30% duration (such as runes or food), you are often better off taking those points elsewhere for the 15 point SR trait, staff recharge at 20 points in death magic, or siphon traits in blood magic.

If you look at the minor traits in the spite tree you have:

A heal on kill – Okay for WvW and PVE, but not game breaking
A skill to increase healing power – Largely useless, since our healing is so muted because of DS.
A might generation skill – If I could go into how much I hate this trait for A GRAND MASTER minor, I would. But suffice it to say, if you are below 25% hp, you are going to not want to be taking hits, and one might stack per hit at that point is completely pointless, when you are in survival mode, not DPS mode.

Compare our grandmaster spite minor to say a similar skill for the thief in their sub. tree, It generates 2 might per every few seconds while in stealth. Works perfectly with pretty much every build, as is desireable enough to build into that trait.

1 might stack when you are below 25% hp every time you are attacked is situational garbage… and it is another reason people avoid the tree.

Also at the Grandmaster major in spite, you have 20% more damage to targets below 50%, which is quite good in a power build, but does nothing for conditions. The other option is axe training, which is useless if you use sceptor/staff.

So long story long, I will dabble some into SPITE only if I am running rampagers hybrid, or need a little extra condition duration.

I’d like to share a Condition build that is considered slightly advanced, remember traits are changeable with a click and so are utilities!

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.0|b.1m.h5.8.1b.h16|6.1b.h1j|1b.b15.1b.b15.1b.b15.1b.b15.1b.712.1b.712|1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b|u4ac.u29b.a2.0.0|2s.d|3r.4d.4a.45.0|e

Effective Power 1547.79
Effective Health (EHP) 27039
Damage Reduction 28.39%

Critical Chance 54.57%
Toughness 1644
Condition Duration 40%
Bleeding Duration 35%
Condition Damage + 1507

Full Rabid

30/30/10/0/0 S+D / S

Consume Condition / WoS / WoC / SotD / Plague

EDIT: Runes are WRONG they should be Thief (its an important part of the build and play style)

I’m fairly new to the Necro, but this is what I’m running right now in WvW for rolling with the zerg. The #9 utility slot is swapped out depending on the situation. Alternatives often include Spectral Walk, Corrupt Boon and Spectral Wall. Gear is almost 100% Rabid stats, with a couple Carrion earrings. Those will likely move to Acended Rabid stat Earrings at some point assuming I decide to stick with my Necro.

Build link: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V00;3kHFJ0D4RIkJ0;9;5TJJ;212814-57;2a-F4aN1-NX8aNX8aPtF81-NYUsb-VEVJWOXU2_Zf49eWPV-7;0Rk06R;9;9;1F;9;9;9;17s5O

Copy and paste the link into a new browser window. You’ll get a bad link message clicking it from this forum.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.5|b.1b.h16.8.1b.h5|6.1b.h16|1b.719.1b.719.1b.719.1b.719.1b.719.1b.719|2w.d1e.2w.d1e.3w.0.1b.9b.1b.9b.2w.d12|0.u26b.k25.k18.0|30.d|3r.3w.3x.4a.0|e

that is what I run and i have had great results with it.

PS: I hate trying to destroy arrowcarts/cata….ect.