MM bunker/siphon necro dungeon build
There are a few things that I would change with the build.
1) As a general rule, never put 2 sigils with CDs on a single weapon set. There are instances where it is okay (stacking 2 of the same on-crit sigil if you have low crit chance), but with his own sigil setup, one of his sigils on the main weapon set will never proc.
2) Blood Fiend is not good to use in PvP (just saw you said you were PvE, feel free to use Blood Fiend there). You never want to give the enemy the chance to completely shut down your healing like that. Literally all they have to do is kill the minion, and you have just siphoning to keep you alive for 20 seconds.
3) I would personally switch the off-hands in the sets to Axe/Focus Dagger/Warhorn, but that is personal preference; the ranges make more sense that way.
4) Don’t use death shroud traits in an MM build, imo. You don’t have tons of LF generation, you really need to use it solely for defensive purposes, so why would you waste a trait on something you will almost never use (life blast).
5) Use Flesh Wurm.
Thanks for the reply, Bhawb. Any thoughts regarding the armor? Is there a source for armor with P/T, P/V, or T/V at my level, or would it be worthwhile to consider using level 35 gear (for which I believe more itemization options exist)?
I never paid much attention to armor until 80. Just pay attention to what you pick up from mobs; if it is better than what you have on, equip it. You don’t really need to buy real armor until you are level 80, especially since you are using minions and they don’t scale with your own stats.
Hi Moon,
you are looking for items with the hearty(vit, tough)or vigorous(pow, vit) prefix. The vigorous stuff is pretty sparse but there are plenty of hearty armors on the TP. At your level your trait allocation is kind of a huge deal in terms of stat gain. I would suggest grabbing some cheap armor and trating for death and blood magic first. If you get more confident in playing your nec, just retrait. It is pretty cheap.
For more information about possible stat combinations and the prefix i’d suggest visiting the wiki: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Item_nomenclature
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I realized that there is plenty of fine gear available on TP with V/T. While I was hoping for rare or MC (fine is a downgrade), the stats are integral to creating a tanky build that will sit back and siphon or lay on vulnerability while the minions do the work. Hope to test it in AC tonight. We’ll see if it works or fails (or I just suck at playing this game).
Bhawb, I did not see where the guide recommened sigils. I elected to put peril and leeching on axe/focus and force/leeching on dagger/dagger. I believe the CD on leeching should coincide with the CD on weapon swap. I do not feel I have any better options for mainhand dagger since my crit is <10%. I think off-hand dagger is a must at my level for condition removal since I do not have the trait allowing minions to remove conditions.
Well, I tweaked the build a bit, and it performed fairly well… better than staff support. I moved away from life siphon, which seemed to provide too small of a benefit for the investment, to T/V on all gear and food. Ave/focus with peril/bloodlust and staff secondary with bloodlust. Runes were a mix of dolyak (4) and soldier (2). Via mark of blood and transfusion, I was able to keep the minions up much of the time. Support to group was provided through vulnerability stacking, staff marks, and damage/aggro provided by minions.
One complaint I have is that I felt I had to keep locust signet on bar to provide adequate mobility, which precluded me from running full minion build. Also, I suspect that my overall damage was no match for that of the other PUG members, which were mostly warriors, guardians, and an occasional mesmer or elementalist. I could change some of my gear (accessories, runes, sigils) to power; however, I am not sure the benefit of doing so with respect to my personal damage would offset the cost in terms of survivability. I suppose when I hit 50, I could switch out of transfusion to reaper’s might (or +20% focus recharge) and training of the master.
Bunker build, but you mean pve?
Bunker doesn’t exist in pve.
But I guess I’ll try using this term in LoL or Dota2 tonight and see if anyone understands what I’m talking about
Bhawb, I did not see where the guide recommened sigils. I elected to put peril and leeching on axe/focus and force/leeching on dagger/dagger. I believe the CD on leeching should coincide with the CD on weapon swap. I do not feel I have any better options for mainhand dagger since my crit is <10%. I think off-hand dagger is a must at my level for condition removal since I do not have the trait allowing minions to remove conditions.
I use the leeching on swap on both sets, and +cripple duration on both sets, but I use a warhorn on my dagger main-hand set.
I use Consume Conditions in PvP, in PvE I use staff.
Also, just drop Locust off your bar when you are about to get in combat.
@Phira: bunker = tank, tanks exist in PvE.
(edited by Bhawb.7408)
Well, I am falling more and more in love with MM in dungeons! Ran CM exp last night using the build (with adjustments) described previously. Did very well. Interestingly, ran with another MM necro.
I am now lvl 50 ankittenhinking of changing my traits to 20 (XI, IX)/0/20 (III, X), 0/0. Transfusion is nice, but the range is very limited. In ranged battles where I am forced to use staff instead of axe/focus, I am only able to rely on mark of blood to keep up my minions. Overall, I think might stacking, and especially the 30% increased minion damage, would be more useful.
Along with the trait change, I am thinking of altering the stats on my gear. I have been running 100% hearty (T/V) gear. If I trait into Spite to increase personal damage, then it would make sense to invest in power. The easiest thing would be to gear P/V since I would be maintaining my investment in death magic and losing points in blood magic. However, mixing gear (e.g., berzerker with P/V) would also be possible. I have not done the napkin math to see how best to optimize by matching stats to gear slots. Any suggestions regarding gear/runes (assuming the traits described above) would be welcomed.
Bhawb, as always, thank you. You and Bas deserve a great deal of credit for your advocacy of the MM build.
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I am now lvl 50 ankittenhinking of changing my traits to 20 (XI, IX)/0/20 (III, X), 0/0. Transfusion is nice, but the range is very limited. In ranged battles where I am forced to use staff instead of axe/focus, I am only able to rely on mark of blood to keep up my minions. Overall, I think might stacking, and especially the 30% increased minion damage, would be more useful.
How do you get XI, which is axe training while only having 20 points investet? Or did you mean VI which is Reaper’s might?
@ Bhawb – any chance you can post a link to your PVE build, I would be really interested.
…..
I am now lvl 50 ankittenhinking of changing my traits to 20 (XI, IX)/0/20 (III, X), 0/0. Transfusion is nice, but the range is very limited. In ranged battles where I am forced to use staff instead of axe/focus, I am only able to rely on mark of blood to keep up my minions. Overall, I think might stacking, and especially the 30% increased minion damage, would be more useful.
How do you get XI, which is axe training while only having 20 points investet? Or did you mean VI which is Reaper’s might?
@ Bhawb – any chance you can post a link to your PVE build, I would be really interested.
Sorry… yes, reaper’s might (VI) in spite.
I played with the numbers a bit yesterday and am considering vigorous (P/V) gear with might duration runes and battle sigils. I do not like the idea of swithing back and forth between axe and staff just to proc might. However, it may work if a rhythm can be established: switch to staff, lay marks, auto-attack to build LF as needed, switch to axe, enter DS and use LB to stack might, exit DS and attack with axe, repeat. Not sure if the damage gain from might stacking would be offset by damage loss during staff phase. I am currently traveling and will not be able to evaluate the effectiveness of this set-up until the weekend.
@ Bhawb – any chance you can post a link to your PVE build, I would be really interested.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW7YjQaV6haub87JAJFPj9kCvHP6RwDzMA;TkAg1Cqo8xUkoInPrFGVsrA
I change my utilities, elites, and traits a lot, but that is my general build. I’ll often use BiP or CPC on bosses, Lich for bosses, Plague for general dungeoning, Flesh Golem for wandering around, Well of Power for dredge, and traits can switch around a bit depending on how I’m changing my utilities.
Also obviously the stats are off, since it only had PvP stuff, and I have 2x Rune of the Mad King (I know they don’t work atm, but I don’t care enough to get ones that do).
Thanks for that. That is a conditionmaster build not?
I’m new to this game and Necro is my first class, so still trying to find out what’s what atm.
It is a hybrid build, I have precision/condition damage/power. It lets me go from conditions to power whenever the situation calls for it, and doesn’t have the standard drawback of either one, at the cost of not having defensive stats.
I see. Or rather I don’t as I’m very new to this. I rolled the necromancer to have pets, but the further I get into the game the more unsure I get about having pets in my build.
Guess I just have to find my personal playstyle yet.
@Moonrabbit – let me know what you find out. I’m toying with the might-stacking option atm, but can’t quite get it to work right.
A hybrid build basically combines a condition build (precision, condition damage, condition duration) with a power build ( power, precision, crit damage). That way if I am in a dungeon with someone who can stack 25 bleeds, I can swap to an axe, and still do high direct damage, whereas if I were a condition build I would have to fight with him for bleed stacks to do damage.