Guild Wars 2

So I’m new to necro, but I’ve played some WvW before. I don’t see alot of dagger necros and I was wondering if anyone could suggest some d/d roaming builds? Thanks for any help rendered.

Necromancer is rather easy to escape from. Main hand dagger auto attack is Necromancer’s highest dps weapon skill but range is so short actual dps only works if opponents are too foolish to kite the Necro.

I usually roam staff or axe as the main weapon set. Some roam scepter on a bunker condition build. Against NPCs or players that get in too close, I will swap to dagger / war horn. Sadly, it is quite challenging for me to convince opponents in WvW to stay close and enjoy my dagger.

Is axe a good weapon for a power build? I assumed chillblains/dark pact would be enough to keep enemies still for dagger builds, but I see how it leaves you kind of reliant on staff.

You don’t really see d/d paired often, this isn’t like ele d/d setup. For necros, it’s usually dagger/warhorn, axe/focus, scepter/dagger, etc.. with staff used as offhand because it’s your only ranged option.

Dagger/warhorn is the most common setup for power necros due to the high dagger auto dps, the control (dagger 3 immob and warhorn 4 daze), and lifeforce regen/swiftness from warhorn 5.

Scepter is used with condi builds.

Axe, recently got a small boost, but I’m not sure if it’s still that good to use for roaming build. You have no control with Axe, its dps is low compared to other options, and while the ranged boost is nice you simply lose too much dps and control going with axe.

For better roaming option I would suggest giving Reaper a try during this beta weekend. Reapers have much better mobility than standard necros, with access to more stab and cc. Last BWE I played with GS/Staff on my Reaper, but also had good success going with Dagger/Warhorn & Staff.

Off hand dagger, BTW, is a sustain weapon, not offensive at all, and main hand dagger 2 and 3 are also sustain skills. Ironic, yes?

Leeto made a job of running a D+D/Staff Necro, if I recall. He had a few videos a while back of him roaming to demonstrate the capabilities.

People don’t often combo D/D, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. The condi transfer on Dagger #4, plus a blind, gives you good flexibility. The AoE weakness on Dagger #5 also helps you stay in melee for more Dagger #1s to pile on the damage without worrying as much about retaliation (not the boon).

It’s all about what you need. D+Wh is common, but by no means necessary. D+F also gives you interesting possibilities for damage, boon control, and movement control.

If you do go D/D, I’d probably recommend Staff as your off-weapon to help control movement and give you some more CC to chain into. Also, with both Staff #4 and Dagger #4, you can potentially skimp on utility condi transfer while still having a lot of transfer capabilities, opening up some utility options as well.

Play around with it for sure, and you might find it to your liking.

Off hand dagger used to be critical for builds running low condition mitigation. I have not figured out if Deathly Swarm is still needed. Enfeebling Blood still is.

Thanks for all your help guys. I guess it seems like an awkward weapon combo, but I’m glad to hear it’s not obsolete. Am thinking of using pack runes with it.

Warkind.6745:

Thanks for all your help guys. I guess it seems like an awkward weapon combo, but I’m glad to hear it’s not obsolete. Am thinking of using pack runes with it.

That’s the spirit. Take chances. Make mistakes. Just because someone might try to bluntly say “no, that combo is bad” doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it in your mode of play.

Sometimes it’s about having fun over being A-#1 Leaderboard Steak Sauce.

A few things I picked up so far, which might help you:

Main hand

Dagger – High DPS, High LF generation; but low range. For roaming the latter can often be an issue. This weapon is mostly for sPvP (where you can force people to fight on points) and PvE.

Axe – Used to be “meh” before; but now that it has 900 range, I find that it’s uses have multiplied. In cases where you need that extra range that dagger doesn’t provide, the axe fills the job pretty decently.

Scepter – Haven’t played around with it yet since the changes. I know a lot of people liked to play with this while roaming, because it gives you the flexibility that daggers don’t give. They pushed it more towards the condition side of things. So this will mostly be your weapon of choice if you want to go condimancer.

Staff – All around great secondary weapon. It gives you range, it gives you utility (chill / condi transfer / AoE fear) and great LF generation; in turn you sacrifice damage. But that’s what generally makes it a good secondary.

Offhands

Warhorn – Warhorn is a really good offhand; giving you a good daze, LF generation and one of few good sources for swiftness.
Biggest downside is that all it’s abilities are practically melee range. However it’s still very good despite that. A melee range daze and a reliable source for swiftness are great even for people who like to stay at range.

Focus – Focus is a bit more damage oriented compared to the other offhands. It has really long range.
Biggest downside is that with Spinal Shivers a lot of the damage is dependent on the amount of boons the opponent has. (Can do up to 3x more damage on an opponent with 3 boons vs an opponent with 0 boons)

Dagger – Very defensive offhand. Allows you to transfer conditions and apply weakness. Really good if your build lacks that, but generally considered a “weak offhand” unless your build really lacks that.

Combinations:

Dagger / Warhorn – Both melee range; this is probably considered the best combo that necro’s have in general. They synergize well together.

Dagger / Focus – Used a lot in PvE as the second set, that way you can alternate between locust swarm and reaper’s touch for high dps.

Axe / Focus – The focus plays well into the extended range that axe has. Downside of this combo is that it lacks utility in favor for more damage and range. So you either have to make up for that with a secondary weapon (e.g. staff) and/or utilities.

Scepter / Dagger – Dagger is a decent addition for scepter usually. But mostly because the others aren’t always as useful (Focus is very power oriented / Warhorn’s melee range might not be what you seek). Benefit of this, is that you can build a pretty tanky, attrition based spec.

Scepter / Warhorn – As said in the warhorn section; the fact it lacks range doesn’t make it useless. Swiftness is great for roaming; and a melee range daze is excellent for people who want to stay at range.

Your secondary weapon is generally staff. It combines good range with utility. A ranged AoE chill, a ranged AoE blast finisher and condition transfer, ranged AoE CC and it builds life force really fast from range.
Now that the axe has it’s range extended to 900, we might see Axe/X take the secondary spot a little bit more for people who want a ranged weapon with a bit more ‘umph’.