Guild Wars 2

Unfortunately, my build is stuck with the rare-quality Crest of the Rabid to maximize condition damage through condition damage, precision, and toughness. Like stated earlier, Exquisite Coral Jewels are also viable for condition damage, power, and precision, but it does give less condition damage overall.

Just take Chrysocola
As with max equip you’ll have two of this:
40 CD+ 5%of 28 +6%of 28(buff food) = 43.08
The Jewels on the other hand give +50 CD

I did the math for it before, and Chrysocola is a DPS downgrade because of the lost precision.

Power is really bad for scepter. The coefficient for power on scepter attacks is really low, and precision boosts direct DPS better than power.

You only lose about 1% crit chance, i realy doubt that that has any real influence on your DPS, and Power scaling on Scepter 2 and 3 is ok, and on staff power scaling is realy ok(and in DS, too)

You actually lose about 1.5-4 percent crit chance depending on how many ascended pieces you have, which is a big deal for just a few pieces of gear.

While power scales better with staff and Death Shroud, you really should not stick in either staff or Death Shroud for long in a fight, if at all.

Again, the problem is power’s coefficient on scepter attacks is so low that precision is actually a better boost to direct DPS, on top of severely hurting bleeds.

Here is the math that shows the chrysocola set is a loss in bleed DPS, despite it giving more condition damage:

Chrysocola jewels: 18.06 DPS = 25.8 condition damage * 0.05 coefficient * 14 bleeds

Crests of the Rabid: 22.152 DPS = 0.04 crit chance * 0.6 chance to bleed on crit with sigil * 130 bleed damage per tick * 6 seconds of bleed + 0.04 crit chance * 0.66 chance to bleed on crit with trait * 130 bleed damage per tick * 1 second of bleed

I 100 percent advise against chrysocola jewels.

You actually lose about 1.5-4 percent crit chance depending on how many ascended pieces you have, which is a big deal for just a few pieces of gear

No, the more Ascended pieces you have the less you lsoe, as they dont hold any jewels.
and on lvl 80 21 Precision equals 1% crit. You lose 28 precision, do the math xD

Your calculation doesnt account for cooldown on the Sigil, only 2 out of 3 Autoattacks can trigger it. Also you forgot about the AoE nature of Condition necromancer. All your AoE attacks can trigger the Sigil on up to ONE enemy, but the eytra dmg is applyed to all targets hit. And as you can sustain about 20 bleeds as conditionmancer ( i summtimes hit the 25 all on my own), the extra bleedings lose their meaning rather quick as someone in the party almost always has some extra bleedings too.

What are you thoughts on incorporating +100% bleed duration via pizza/runes/spite if you’re in a group that doesn’t have other condition users (so you don’t hit the cap)?

Getting the extra tick on the earth sigil seems like it may be worth it

Quintal.6594:

What are you thoughts on incorporating +100% bleed duration via pizza/runes/spite if you’re in a group that doesn’t have other condition users (so you don’t hit the cap)?

Getting the extra tick on the earth sigil seems like it may be worth it

That would involve giving up well traits and utility to go into Spite, which is absolutely not worth it in group PvE situations, in my opinion.

Getting 100 percent seems somewhat arbitrary, anyway.

Lopez.7369:

Quintal.6594:

What are you thoughts on incorporating +100% bleed duration via pizza/runes/spite if you’re in a group that doesn’t have other condition users (so you don’t hit the cap)?

Getting the extra tick on the earth sigil seems like it may be worth it

That would involve giving up well traits and utility to go into Spite, which is absolutely not worth it in group PvE situations, in my opinion.

Getting 100 percent seems somewhat arbitrary, anyway.

Ok, cool. I was mainly looking at it for a way to get 2 ticks per sigil of earth proc

Don’t overlook Quality Tuning Crystals…they add 5% of your toughness and 3% oif your vitality as condition damage. And they are cheap too (around 45c each on my server so 100 will only cost about 45 silver…thats 50hrs of buffs)

Also the cooldown reduction traits (all a 20% reduction) effectively mean a 20% kick to whatever relevant conditions you apply because they are available 20% more of the time. For example the 20% reduction in corruption skills gives you BiP every 24 secs AND EPIDEMIC every 12 secs. This is awesome for a condition build especially if you synergise your epidemics with team application of conditions as well. If your group has a heap of conds up on a boss, epidemic will literally melt any adds that appear.

I’m not really sure who that’s directed to. Tuning Crystals are mentioned in the guide.

Master of Corruption is a much smaller DPS increase than Terror, but it’s also mentioned in the guide for Epidemic’s utility, not damage.

Sorry..overlooked the mention of crystals. The other was just an example…my focus is not damage but utility using condition management. I was not criticizing in any way as I think your guide is exactly the type of “documentation” needed to help the likes of me along.

I didn’t take offense. I was just explaining my take. Glad you like the guide.

I don’t blame you for Rabid spec. However, I’m surprised you haven’t mixed in some Rampager (main Prec, minor Cond/Power). Unless your crit rate’s decently high as is.
Figured I’d ask.

That would be a DPS downgrade even if my precision was low. Condition damage completely stomps precision in a one-to-one comparison.

But I already have 52 percent chance to critically hit with full rabid.

Lopez.7369:

That would be a DPS downgrade even if my precision was low. Condition damage completely stomps precision in a one-to-one comparison.

So..why are you so adamantly against Carrion jewels? You get more condition damage out of them than Rabid crests and only lose out on a bit of precision.

Just saying, seems like a bit of a double-standard here. Either it’s more important to get more condition damage or its more important to have a high crit chance. Either way, it seems like a jewel does a better job than the Crests (Crysochola for condition damage, coral for crit chance)

There’s no double standard. I said “one-to-one comparison” for a reason. Precision wins out when it’s a six-to-one comparison, which is what the comparison between Carrion and Rabid is.

I’ve already shown the math, so I think it speaks for itself. Carrion jewels are worse than rabid jewels for both direct damage and condition damage.

In underwater combat, other than DS1 to transfer conditions, are there other options?

Plague Signet, but it’s not worth it. Consume Conditions removes conditions as well.

Lopez,

Excellent guide!

For your PVE build, you indicate that the trait Terror is superior dps to Master of Corruption. I find this surprising given that the primary means of applying fear, Reaper’s Mark and Doom, come from staff and Death Shroud, respectively, which according to your guide are not used much of the time. Master of Corruption would benefit the three corruption utilities (Blood is Power, Epidemic, Corrosive Poison Cloud) that you claim to use frequently. Can you please explain the logic supporting Terror over Master of Corruption? Thank you.

You don’t remain in Death Shroud, but you absolutely use it (and Doom) on cooldown, like the guide says.

When paired with Terror, Doom provides about 60 DPS. Master of Corruption is about 10 DPS with Blood Is Power.

As a heads up, with yesterday’s patch, we now have Ascended accessories including Rabid.

Now there is no question about what is best to put in those slots.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

As a heads up, with yesterday’s patch, we now have Ascended accessories including Rabid.

Now there is no question about what is best to put in those slots.

Although, I could see an argument for using two of those slots for Cond/Tough/Vit
Ascended items. Make your Condimancer a bit more tankish. Probably only lose
~1% on Crit-Rate.

About yesterday’s patch… Is it a good option to use focus instead of dagger for PvP now?
By the way, awesome guide, leveling a necromancer right now

Arthok.5603:

About yesterday’s patch… Is it a good option to use focus instead of dagger for PvP now?
By the way, awesome guide, leveling a necromancer right now

I would say no because the Vulnerability does very little to help condition damage necros and Enfeebling Blood/Deathly Swarm help mitigate incoming damage and provide more AoE pressure. That and bleeds.

Lately I’ve started dropping corrupt boon for Well of suffering (and I take Focused Rituals for it) when I’m doing WvW and I’m not solo roaming. (easy enough to swap back if needed)

I feel it’s very strong against zergs and gives you an additional ranged AoE tool in sieges.

Advent.6193:

Although, I could see an argument for using two of those slots for Cond/Tough/Vit Ascended items. Make your Condimancer a bit more tankish. Probably only lose
~1% on Crit-Rate.

I disagree. Necromancers have enough health with this build. If survivability ever feels like a problem, it’s a personal, not class, issue.

Arthok.5603:

About yesterday’s patch… Is it a good option to use focus instead of dagger for PvP now?
By the way, awesome guide, leveling a necromancer right now

Nope. Off-hand dagger has bleeds, weakness and blind. It’s much better than the limited options from focus.

Helicity.3416:

Lately I’ve started dropping corrupt boon for Well of suffering (and I take Focused Rituals for it) when I’m doing WvW and I’m not solo roaming. (easy enough to swap back if needed)

I feel it’s very strong against zergs and gives you an additional ranged AoE tool in sieges.

The direct damage and vulnerability is useless for condition necromancers, and losing Terror is worthless.

Lopez.7369:

Advent.6193:

Although, I could see an argument for using two of those slots for Cond/Tough/Vit Ascended items. Make your Condimancer a bit more tankish. Probably only lose
~1% on Crit-Rate.

I disagree. Necromancers have enough health with this build. If survivability ever feels like a problem, it’s a personal, not class, issue.

Arthok.5603:

About yesterday’s patch… Is it a good option to use focus instead of dagger for PvP now?
By the way, awesome guide, leveling a necromancer right now

Nope. Off-hand dagger has bleeds, weakness and blind. It’s much better than the limited options from focus.

Helicity.3416:

Lately I’ve started dropping corrupt boon for Well of suffering (and I take Focused Rituals for it) when I’m doing WvW and I’m not solo roaming. (easy enough to swap back if needed)

I feel it’s very strong against zergs and gives you an additional ranged AoE tool in sieges.

The direct damage and vulnerability is useless for condition necromancers, and losing Terror is worthless.

how is losing Terror NOT worthless with someone that has no cond dur increases? if anything the buffed Weakening Shroud is the better way to go(melee dmg range really shouldnt be that big of an issue)

In comparison to the other trait options, Terror is a huge DPS gain, even without buffed condition duration. It also provides decent AOE burst in world vs. world.

Wonderful Guides
Im going to lv up a necro just because I read this.

For PvP, Corrupt Boon is so good. Like instagib in situations where it counts. I now too switched from corruption cooldown to Terror and use Corrupt Boon instead of Blood is Power. After 100s of hours of PvP/WvW you never stop learning new things, right?

Had Problems with certain Guardian builds before, now you only have to pressure them a little bit for them to spam their shouts and BOOM splat. Same for Bunker D/D Eles and certain Engineer or Warrior builds that rely on Boon uptime and Might stacking.

Not saying it’s easy. If you screw up you’re dead, but it feels like you have the upper hand as Condition Necro if you play smart. Shame that you can’t use more skills at the same time isn’t it?

Yeah. Keeping an open mind is really helpful in this game. I’ve made a lot of improvements to my build and even this guide just by talking to people and trying new things. Sometimes the ideas or suggestions end up being horrible or mathematically flawed, but it usually doesn’t hurt to try or run the numbers.

Corrupt Boon is ridiculously good. I’m always a bit surprised when I see people dismiss it. Being able to convert stability to fear, vigor to three stacks of bleed, and retaliation to three stacks of confusion can easily gib someone, like you said. Getting rid of might stacks and turning them into weakness has also saved me a few times.

The only reason I typically don’t have Corrupt Boon slotted is because I’ve seen it fail so often. I might try it again when I go back to a condition build.

Edit: Oh, I forgot that you claim in your guide that CB never fails you. Well, it has me on multiple occasions in sPvP along with another rank 38 guildie of mine who’s been playing this far long than I have. So, YMMV, I guess.

Never is me exaggerating, so I’ll fix that. But it’s very rare if I use it when I’m in range and facing a target. Somebody said it’s an invisible projectile, so that might explain the discrepancy.

Lopez.7369:

Never is me exaggerating, so I’ll fix that. But it’s very rare if I use it when I’m in range and facing a target. Somebody said it’s an invisible projectile, so that might explain the discrepancy.

Fair enough. And ya, I’m curious about the mechanics of it as well because the other night after posting that, I started doubting myself and paid very close attention. It literally failed from 10 feet away (whatever the game measurement is) facing a guy and … nothing. /baffled

I do know that it’s failed in a way that’s similar to when the Engineer flamethrower 1 fails, and that’s camera angle. So it doesn’t work like Epidemic, but instead, as you said, maybe an invisible projectile. Which would be … I’ll be nice and say the “wrong way to do it” if that’s the case.

Oh, and as I mentioned in your original thread on this topic, I definitely use your guide. So take any criticism with the understanding that I absolutely respect your work and benefit from it, so am appreciative.

I am completely open to criticism, so don’t worry about offending me.

I’m probably going to have to hold off on doing structured PvP, but I’m eyeing dungeon guides as revamps come into play. First up would obviously be AC.

Just a heads-up: I updated the world vs. world guide after some testing. I decided what’s essentially the cookie-cutter structured PvP build works much better for world vs. world. The downside is it’s no longer possible to change from my recommended PvE build to my recommended world vs. world build without paying for a re-spec, but I feel like the 3 silver or so is worth the gains in survivability and damage.

Bumping this. At a time necromancers clearly need a little help in PvE and PvP, these builds are still faring well for me. Even though I only solo or duo queue, I am usually ranked in the top 1,000 in structured PvP with my world vs. world build. (Not currently thanks to a night of bad teams.)

Lopez.7369:

PvE: http://lopezirl.com/2012/12/19/a-condition-necromancers-guide-to-pve/

World vs. world: http://lopezirl.com/2012/12/30/a-condition-necromancers-guide-to-world-vs-world/

Fractals: http://lopezirl.com/2013/01/07/a-guide-to-fractals-of-the-mists-with-condition-necromancer-tips/

I have re-uploaded these guides. Feel free to leave any feedback.

Amazing guide because it has everything I could ever want to know about my Necro!

As for WvW you are on the right track I think the best WvW build is a straight up Tournament build +Food/Armour.

Thanks