Necro feels really slow at everything :(
Getting Reaper helps a lot, big addition to condi burst with the chill→ Bleed trait as you can RS 5→4 for a burst of chilling bolts (causing bleeding). Likewise with power builds you get gravedigger which makes the last 50% in most open world content last 1.5s or whatever that GD cast time is.
Outside of that I’d run a power build, condis are good on nec but take a while to build up. Look up the old dps builds until you get Reaper finished. I believe this was the DS build (which is the nice and easy option, line up enemies to pierce and get multiple hits with DS1)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIh3akjGapxaawxG4wxRuQNHilIJgBQDsC0yYNaWA-TBBXgAh6FA2fU+1r+zjSQA-e
Of course there’s a reason people used to look down on necros, they were lower damage, they did have issues with lacking active defenses, but reaper has helped here and I think your opinion will certainly change once you get that. But I’d say give the DS build a try, your DS will take over as your range option, and then daggers to quickly get LF up.
I run a Spite / SR / Reaper power build and if anything, things die too quickly in PvE even without Reaper’s Shroud, especially after you get them under 50%.
Spinal Shivers procs + Close to Death + every strike crits due to Decimate Defenses + Bitter Chill. I’m pretty sure it’s not very optimal, but hey, it works for me.
Unfortunately what you’re feeling is how most necros felt pre-Reaper. It’ll get much better once you have Reaper fully unlocked.
For now, if you are too tanky, you could go more power route by taking Spite – Soul Reaping – Blood Magic. Spite gives you more power damage, might stacking, and vuln application. Blood Magic gives you faster wells refresh, protection on wells, siphons, and dagger enhancement + movement speed.
Drop double wells on a pack of mobs, then pop warhorn 5, then dagger auto until swarm fades, then go into shroud and do shroud 5>4. You can burn most pack of mobs with that combo almost every time. Rinse & repeat, and now you’ve mastered power necroing.
Happy hunting.
Thanks guys, I’ll work on getting reaper unlocked. Until then I’ll try what @gavyne suggested with the power reaper build.
It also depends on what content you will be attempting. If you are jumping right into the HoT zones (e.g., to work on unlocking Reaper) then it won’t be easy with a non-minion (e.g., shout/well), dagger/x, Spite/BM/SR power build. This was my experience anyway after leveling 1-80 with such a build. To make it a bit easier I bought a set of exotic Cavalier’s gear since it was so cheap on the TP and the extra toughness helped a lot. But even then I worked to unlock Reaper quickly (try to join hero point trains) so that I could switch to a power reaper minion master build (and I eventually switched to zerker gear).
For Core Tyria content, non-minion dagger/x Spite/BM/SR works really well with whatever gear (preferably zerker) and kills stuff fast.
If you decide to stay with the dagger/x minion build that you are using I would suggest going with Death Magic 1,1,1 (Death Nova is a must for any minion build IMO; even better of course after you get Rise). I also prefer Vampiric Presence in BM and Death Perception in SR. And I would use staff or axe/x as a secondary weapon instead of scepter (which is a condi weapon).
(edited by Red Rover.9810)
I used Dagger/Warhorn and Staff (I liked the AoE Ranged Marks)
Death – 111
Blood – 233
Soul Reaping -222 (did not really matter that much since I quickly went to unlock Soul Reaper)
If you use Axe maybe use Spite instead of Soul Reaping.
I use all 5 Summon Skills, I switch out Shadow Fiend for Flesh Wurm if I know I am not going to be moving for a while on boss fights or defense events.
Once I got Soul Reaper I started using Rise instead.
Necromancer has always been slow but that is the penalty for being… indelicate. You can challenge a boss and not be one-shotted. Other professions can go from max dps and health to downed in the blink of an eye. You may still be downed because you have no escape but other professions may rely on you to soak damage while they reset.
It is a mold-breaking profession because, while Necro is not OP by any means, you will often find yourself out of phase (up vs downed) with the rest of your group. I frequently res’d others and went down once they were up having exhausted heal, heals, skills, and LF while they were all refreshed.
(I try not to remember the downed health issue when Necromancer would go almost directly to dead, becoming a group’s biggest liability.)
You should definitely be using the Reaper Elite spec, even if you don’t have it fully unlocked. The damage boost you gain from Reaper form instead of vanilla Death Shroud is probably the single biggest dps increase you can get from traits. That and being able to use a Greatsword makes things go so much faster as once a mob gets to 50% life you can just spam the #2 attack, Gravedigger, and watch things die in seconds. (Also, with GS and Reaper form added to your rotation you’ll find that for the first time ever you’ll be able to blast through an enemy’s breakbar, which just feels great.)
For bumming around, I use Dagger/WH with Greatsword and Berserker’s stats
Spite: 3-1-2
Blood: 2-3-3
Reaper: 1-2-2
(Your Soul is Mine!/Well of Suffering/Rise!/Signet of Spite (almost always passive)/Lich Form (for the rat summon for Champions.))
But, if you don’t have Rise! unlocked yet, you might want to stick with Soul Reaping instead of Spite because you’ll want the extra long Reaper form to avoid getting murdered in HoT maps.
(edited by narcx.3570)