Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow Necromancers, I’ve been scrounging around the forums for a while, trying to find key information that is valuable to those building specific builds and characters for their own intended purposes and found some extremely useful posts/text blocks that i’m sure many will find helpful in their efforts to tune their necromancers the way they want.
This can also serve as a hot-list resource for people who don’t want to surf multiple web pages to get the info they need.

Special Thanks to Fiesbert.9816 for his Weapon DPS calculations originating here, Ascii.9726, and the official Guild Wars 2 wiki for furnishing parts of the information used for this compilation.
edit: Dacromir made a mention about Guild Wars 2 Wiki being one of the foremost go-to resources on the game that there is, being an invaluable tool and resource. If you’re new and haven’t taken a look at it yet, please do so at some point as information on the class is widespread and not all collective— You’ll most likely find what you need there if you can’t find it on the forums.
ToC:
Popular Necromancer Weapon Usages
Weapon DPS Calculated with Power
Commonly used Sigils
Commonly used Rune sets for Armor
Mechanic improving sources

Helpful External Links
Item Nomenclature – Armor set bonuses!
Necromancer Official Wiki

• Skills
• Traits

Game Mechanics You Need to Know as a Necromancer by Fiesbert
Condition Duration Formula by Tezoz
Popular Necromancer Weapon Usages by Ascii
Dagger: Close range quick damage, puts you in hitting range of mobs but does the most damage, has a okish healing skill, a 3s Immobilize, with a chain-blindness and AoE bleed on offhand.

Axe: Medium ranged decent damage, fast burst skill and AoE cripple, inflicts vulnerability every hit and 8 stacks of vulnerability can be kept on targets which boosts minion + allies damage.

Scepter: Condition damage (DoT) stacks bleed and poison quickly, though in big events your damage will suffer a lot due to the 25 bleed stack cap on monsters. 4 or 5 seconds of #1 spamming with scepter then Epidemic can deal a lot of damage to a group of mobs.

Staff: Extremely long range and a lot of AoE semi-spammable skills. nice for quickly removing conditions from yourself and laying down chill poison combos, builds Life Force very quickly. Noted combo field: poison for weakness blast finishers. on Chillblains

Builds

Minion Master: Uses all minions as utility skills and traits boosting minions health and damage. Very strong for PvEas they act as meat shields allowing you to solo pretty much anything. Suffers in PvP due to minions lacking AI and lower player outgoing damage sources.

Conditionmancer: Uses Scepter and Condition inflicting/ transferring utilities and traits for condition damage & duration. Great in PvE, suffers in large events because mobs dont survive long enough to deal damage and max bleed stacks cap at 25. Can be very effective in PvP small scale fights but tends to suffer a lot in larger fights because of all the AoE and self-target condition removals.

Power Necromancer: High power and critical damage that uses bursty skills and wells to drop targets quickly. Can be very effective in WvW and PvP with the combo fields acting mostly as perma-blinds in large fights but suffers a bit in small scale PvP like the mists because of focused CC and opposition mobility. A nice happy medium build for PvE, damage sticks and can be dealt fast.

Weapon DPS Calculated with Power by Fiesbert
>Original Post<
[spoiler] Necrotic Grasp (Staff 1)
Cast 1,4 seconds
246 dmg @916 Power
494 dmg @1839 Power
coEff 0,2686
175,7 DPS @916 Power
352,8 DPS @1839 Power
Lifeforce per second 2,14
attacks per second 0,71

Rending Claws (Axe 1)
Cast 1,2 seconds
236 dmg @916 Power
472 dmg @1839 Power
coEff 0,2556
196 DPS @916 Power
393,33 DPS @1839 Power
Lifeforce per second 4 ONLY WITH #2 and uninterrupted
attacks per second 1,66

Dagger 1
Whole Combo 2,2 second
1st 302 dmg @916 Power
1st 608 dmg @1839 Power
2nd 235 dmg @916 Power
2nd 472 dmg @1839 Power
3rd 403 dmg @916 Power
3rd 809 dmg @1839 Power
1st coEff 0,3315
2nd coEff 0,2567
3rd coEff 0,4398
427,27 DPS @916 Power (whole combo)
858,63 DPS @1839 Power (whole Combo)
Lifeforce per second 2,7272
attacks per second 1,81

Scepter Combo
Whole Combo 2,5 seconds
1st 118 @916 Power
1st 236 @1839 Power
+ 5,xs Bleed (1 stack) 5×43/215 @0 condition
+ 5,xs Bleed (1 stack) 5×89/445 @923 condition
2nd 118 @916 Power
2nd 236 @1839 Power
+ 5,xs Bleed (1 stack) 5×43/215 @0 condition
+ 5,xs Bleed (1 stack) 5×89/445 @923 condition
3rd 168 @916 Power
3rd 337 @1839 Power
+ 2,xs Poison 2×84/168 @0 condition
+ 2,xs Poison 2×176/352 @923 condition
1st coEff 0,1278
2nd coEff 0,1278
3rd coEff 0,1830
DPS 666,4 @916/923 (the DPS isn’t really correct, its rather the damage applied of one combo than the damage dealt in 2,5 seconds)
Lifeforce per second 1,66 ONLY WITH #2 and 3 conditions on the target
attacks per second 1,2

Life Blast (Death Shroud)
Cast 1,5 seconds
235 – 470 dmg @916 Power
472 – 944 dmg @1839 Power
314 – 629 DPS @1839 Power

On Minions: Minions only scale with level, your equip doesn’t matter at all. Only Traits influence Minion attributes.

Flesh Golem
Autoattack 1,25 seconds
DMG 770
DPS 616
NOTE: Applys Cripple (1s) every 1,25 seconds

Bone Fiend
Autoattack 3 seconds
DMG 572
DPS 190,66
NOTE: Applys Cripple (4s) every ten seconds

Shadow Fiend
Autoattack 1,6 seconds (probably 1,5)
DMG 350
DPS 218

Flesh Worm
Autoattack 3,6 seconds (probably 3,5)
DMG 833
DPS 238

Bone Minions
Autoattack 3,5 seconds
DMG 2 × 159
DPS 90,85
Putrid Explosion
Cast 1s between explosoions
DMG 2 × 1592
DPS 1592

NOTE: Bone Minions can be detonated while casting other abilities and while dazed or otherwise hindered. [/spoiler]

Commonly used Sigils

• Sigil of Accuracy
  • Used for increasing critical chance by 5% used commonly in offhand weapon sets to improve builds lacking precision. Tested to be more beneficial than increasing power/condition damage statically with sigils of bloodlust/corruption.
• Sigil of Bloodlust
  • Improves power per stack, found commonly in Dagger or Axe power builds
• Sigil of Corruption
  • Improves condition damage per stack, found commonly in Scepter based condition builds.
• Sigil of Perception
  • Improves Perception per stack, found commonly in glass cannon power builds that focus on critical hit damage.
• Sigil of Agony
  • Used to increase bleeding duration
• Sigil of Chilling
  • Used to increase freezing duration, found in builds using Adept Curses Trait- Chilling Darkness
• Sigil of Blood
  • Grants life steal on critical hits,(30% chance with superior) used in builds with focus in Blood magic trees, Heals for 453 at level 80, and an additional 1 health for every 10 Healing Power. (quoted from wiki)
• Sigil of Earth
  • 60% chance to bleed on critical, found commonly in Scepter based condition builds, also found in critical hit chance based Dagger builds using bleeds as secondary DPS
• Sigil of Ice
  • Causes chilling on critical hits, found in Power/Precision based builds using Axe or Dagger to proc hits from channeled skills. Good with chilling builds.
• Sigil of Strength
  • Grants might on critical hit, found on power builds using dagger and running Runes of Rage and Runes of Strength
• Sigil of Battle
  • Grants 2/3 stacks of might for 20s when weapon swapped. Used in Burst builds that focuses on stacking might (found in builds using might blast proc on Adept Spite Trait – Reaper’s Might used in conjuction with Blood is Power)
• Sigil of Geomancy
  • AoE Bleeds nearby foes on weapon swap, found commonly in Staff + Scepter/x condition builds. Behaves much like Enfeebling Blood
• Sigil of Hydromancy
  • AoE freeze nearby foes on weapon swap, found in both power and condition builds utilizing freeze on blindness trait and bunker/minion builds to counteract opponent chains.

Commonly used Rune sets for Armor
note: following information is based off of superior set bonuses.

1. Rune of Strength
   Bonuses: 155 power, +20% might duration, grants +5% damage under effects of might
   found commonly in Dagger or Axe based power builds that stack might
2. Rune of Vampirism
   Bonuses: 165 power, 5% to cause your next attack to steal life when hit. (cooldown: 15s), Your next attack after using your heal skill steals life. (Not in), You become mist when below 10% health. (cooldown: 60s). (quoted from wiki) found commonly in blood magic builds using dagger2
3. Rune of the Mad King Halloween Event Drop
   Bonuses: 165 power, +10% condition duration, +15% bleed duration, Summons ravens when elite skill is activated.
   found commonly in hybrid builds
4. Rune of Lyssa
   Bonuses: 165 Precision, +10% condition duration, when using healing skill, grants random boon for 10s, Elite skill triggers all boons for 5s. found commonly in PvP centric builds
5. Rune of the Dolyak
   Bonuses: 165 Toughness, 50 Vitality, grants additional passive regeneration
   found commonly in bunker/minion builds for PvE and sPvP
6. Rune of Mercy
   Bonuses: 165 Toughness, Take less damage while reviving, You resurrect allies with 20% more hp, you revive 10% faster
   found commonly in dungeon centric minion master builds playing support roles
7. Rune of the Ice
   Bonuses: 165 Vitality, +20% frozen duration, 5% to freeze nearby enemies when hit, +5% dmg against frozen foes.
   found commonly in freeze centric builds, usually PvP oriented to hold points and CC
8. Rune of the Lich
   Bonuses: 165 Vitality, +10% TOTAL condition duration, 5% chance to summon minion on hit
   found in PvE builds focused on Scepter to apply conditions
9. Rune of the Adventurer
   Bonuses: 183 condition damage, 50 power, upon using healing skill, 50% endurance is gained.
   found in hybrid PvE builds that kite heavily and rely on dodging
10. Rune of the Afflicted
    Bonuses: 183 condition damage, +15% bleed duration, +15% poison duration, Triggers Death Nova on downed state (30s cd)
    Found commonly in Rampager’s and Carrion’s based conditionmancers playing in dungeon and WvW gameplay
11. Rune of Grenth
    Bonuses: 183 condition damage, +20% frozen duration, 5% chance to chill when hit, healing skill triggers AoE chill for 3s.
    found in pvp based conditionmancer builds utilizing chills
12. Rune of the Necromancer
    Bonuses: 183 condition damage, 50 vitality, +20% fear duration
    found commonly in WvW centric builds of all kinds to extend fear duration to control enemies in AoE fields.
13. Rune of the Nightmare
    Bonuses: 183 condition damage, +10% total condition duration, 5% chance to cause fear when hit.
    found in dungeon based condition builds
14. Rune of the Undead
    Bonuses: 183 condition damage, 50 toughness, 5% of toughness becomes condition damage
    found commonly in Minionmaster/Condition builds playing in tpvp and wvw.
15. Rune of the Golemancer
    Bonuses: +10% total critical damage, 50 precision, 5% chance to summon a golem (90s cd)
    found in dagger based minion builds for PvE leveling
16. Rune of Rage
    Bonuses: +10% critical damage, +20% fury duration, 5% chance to gain fury when hit, +5% critical while under effects of fury
    found commonly in dagger based power builds running berserker’s armor
17. Rune of Divinity special rune set
    Bonuses: +12% critical damage total, +60 to all stats
    found in all builds, most commonly found in power based pvp builds.

List of Mechanic improving traits and sources

1. Fear
   Curses Adept – (VI) Terror (Fear does damage)
   Death Magic Master – (VIII) Reaper’s Protection (when disabled, fear from enemies (2s) )
   Soul Reaping Adept – (I) Fear of Death (Apply fear to foes on downed state – 90s cd)
   Soul Reaping Master – (IX) Master of Terror (Fear you inflict lasts 50% longer)
   Rune of the Necromancer – +20% fear duration (bonus 6, superior)
   Rune of the Nightmare – 5% chance to fear when hit

1. Poison
   Curses Adept – (I) Toxic Landing (creates poison cloud when taking falling damage)
   Death Magic Grandmaster – (XI) Death Nova (minion death creates poison cloud for 3s)
   Sigil of Venom – poison applied lasts 10% longer (superior sigil)
   Sigil of Doom – Next attack applies poison on weapon swap for 5s
   Rune of the Rata Sum – +15% poison duration
   Rune of the Afflicted – +15% poison duration
   Rune of Orrian – +15% poison duration

1. Chill
   Spite Master – (X) Chill of Death (casts spinal shivers when enemy hits 25% hp)
   Curses Adept – (III) Chilling Darkness (when you blind a target, applys chill for 1s)
   Sigil of Chilling – When you apply frozen is lasts 20% longer
   Sigil of Ice – 30% chance to cause 2s of chilling on critical hit
   Rune of Grenth – 5% chance to cause chill when hit(bonus 3), healing skill chills in AoE for 3s(bonus 6)
   Chocolate Omnomberry Cake – +15% chill duration

1. Life Steal
   Blood Magic Master (Auto) – Vampiric (Siphon health on hit)
   Blood Magic Adept – (II) Bloodthirst (Siphoning health is 50% more effective)
   Blood Magic Adept – (V) Vampiric Precision (Siphon on critical hits)
   Blood Magic Master – (VII) Vampiric Master (Minions siphon health for you on hit)
   Blood Magic Grandmaster – (XII) Vampiric Rituals (Wells siphon health on pulse)
   Omnomberry Pie/Ghost – 66% chance to steal life on critical
   Sigil of Blood – 30% life steal on critical
   Sigil of Leeching – Life steal on next attack on weapon swap
   Rune of Vampirism – 5% chance to cause next attack to steal life when hit (bonus 2), Next attack after using heal skill steals life (Bonus 4)

EDIT: may not be complete as of yet, please contribute to this section! PM me.

Reserved for Edit/ Information

Reserved for Edit/ more information (thank you)

If this could be stickied, it would be much much appreciated. It took me about 6 different web pages to compile this info, and i’m still working it out. Also will keep this updated when the Nov15th patch comes around. Thanks!

Don’t take this the wrong way. You’ve put a fantastic effort into this, and you have some really valuable things here.

Everything you’ve put here can be found on the wiki.

If any of this information isn’t on the wiki, please put it there. The wiki is the number one place people go to look up GW2-related information, and by adding this information to the appropriate wiki page you’d be doing a huge service to the GW2 community. You’ve done a lot of great work here, and if you put it on the wiki (or check that it’s there) it’ll be seen by far more people. I think the minion pages especially could use the info you have here.

If you need/want help with wiki editing, send me a message here or drop a note on my talk page. I’m pretty good with most stuff, and I’ll be able to point you to more capable people for the rest of it.

On your first post, in the section on staffs, you noted the poison field for blindness finishers. You can’t get blindness from poison combo field. You get weakness for blasts, and leaps, and poison from projectiles and whirls.

I know a good portion is from the wiki, but It’s not a copy+paste thing going on. There are some annotations, plus the focus on having the key information organized for use specific to building. I love the wiki, but the purpose of the post is to grab specific information and put it in a usable place. I’ll be sure to add some of the information not already there to the wiki.
edit: all of the wiki information used I had to process and calculate to total the set bonuses useful to builders. Also, the runes and sigils listed are ones i combed through the necro forums for— all sets exempted are the ones not as beneficial to the class. (plus, wiki tables are extremely expanded and don’t provide a compacted and processed set bonuses) +183 condition dmg, +165 power etc.

Rottaran Owain.6789:

On your first post, in the section on staffs, you noted the poison field for blindness finishers. You can’t get blindness from poison combo field. You get weakness for blasts, and leaps, and poison from projectiles and whirls.

thanks for catching that mistake, made the edit!

You should consider putting it in a Google doc, makes it easier to read than the somewhat terrible formatting and split post necessity due to character limitations this forum has.

Aexrael.5918:

You should consider putting it in a Google doc, makes it easier to read than the somewhat terrible formatting and split post necessity due to character limitations this forum has.

If only spoiler tags worked correctly, it would be so much cleaner. haha

If you’d add credit to the data I gathered I’d be very happy

Sorry Fiesbert! Was trying to cram all of this info in there before i had to go do some business at home. made sure to edit the post(s) with more linky goodness for you Information contributed is something much appreciated, and I hope people see this as a good effort to provide to both beginner builders and experienced necromancers. I’ve just found that what goes into the necromancer forums is a mix of good Builds, Raw tested information, Complaints, Suggestion, Rusings on mechanics, and Questions from new players and the mission is to gather the most useful information on the forums here and keep it from getting lost in the swirl of decaying threads.

Thanks to all who understand and put in the effort to improving this thread and allowing it to grow.

If any players have more information on how to max out on specific conditions and such touched on in the “List of Mechanic improving traits and sources” section, or have additional paragraphs that currently do not come to mind, please share your information and i will gladly add it in!
We have to squeeze every last drop out of our necromancers these days, ya know? : )

Added links to tezoz’s post on condition duration, as well as fiesbert’s notations on condition related and minion related utilities/effects

Nice resource! Thanks