Guild Wars 2

well i been theory crafting this and trying it out while leveling, its proving to be quite fun but was just hoping i can get some critics about it, maybe shift the build slightly to try out other thoughts on it. What im trying to go for here typically is a build where i can sustain myself and still do a good amount of damage. Anyways enough rambling for those who want to see the build look below

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcVMcm9coMhmomahFM0fxGVVzmqMV08kir7kil7khV7070M7kuW70V7owX7ofD70z7owX70z

anyways as one can see im running a dolyak set for constant regen, + a good mix of berserker and knight gear. Im hoping this mix allows for well me to “tank” a good amount of damage before having to run around and drop marks like a chicken with its head cut off xP. So…. any thoughts?

I think the 30 points in Death Magic might be a bit excessive for Death Nova with just Bone Minions.
I would prefer to move the 10points to either Spite or to Soul Reaping – Spite for more damage, Soul Reaping for the Last Gasp trait. Or even into Blood Magic for Vampiric Rituals to siphon health with wells.

I would also recommend getting the Greater Marks trait in Death Magic as a substitute for Dark Armor. Dark Armor only really works for Dagger #2 and DS #4 as far as I know.
I also think that Ritual Mastery would be very good possibility to incorporate into your build since you are using quite a few wells.

Personally, I run a build very simliar to duckcheeps’ which uses mostly PVT gear for sustainability and berserker jewels for some extra damage with crits:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/900-hrs-My-dear-my-favorite-The-Necro/first#post1439480

Alternatively, if you are after something a bit more tanky, you can look at Sheobix’ Juggermancer build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Juggermancer-Final-Blog-Link

Or even the build that Nemesis has recently developed for a full-on vampiric tank build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/The-Abomination-necromancer-tank-build

Neova.5362:

I think the 30 points in Death Magic might be a bit excessive for Death Nova with just Bone Minions.

Hey, don’t forget the Jagged Horrors. Death Nova is about the only way they can be not completely useless :P (I don’t know if it’s worth it, though…)

damny.9342:

Neova.5362:

I think the 30 points in Death Magic might be a bit excessive for Death Nova with just Bone Minions.

Hey, don’t forget the Jagged Horrors. Death Nova is about the only way they can be not completely useless :P (I don’t know if it’s worth it, though…)

haha yeah, I forgot about those.

Though just for the reasoning why I don’t think Death Nova is very useful is because poison is generally only good for the healing reduction as the damage isn’t great. In PvE, most mobs don’t heal; and in WvW unless you are running in very small groups, I find that Bone Minions and Jagged Horrors tend to get blown apart before doing much of anything but being at too far of a range to do hit with the poison. Even then if the poison hits, there is so much condition cleansing that it would be cleansed very quickly.
PvP I find that the Bone Minion can provide some good burst damage, and the poison from Death Nova is very useful. Though I think that trait would be better suited for a Minion Mancer and there are traits that the OP is better off with IMO.

Guild Wars 2 – The Abomination [necromancer tank-build tutorial – Sheobix inspired]

It seems like your headed in the tanky aspect of the necro. Like Prism states above, You would be best suited to go with Nemesis’ or sheobix’s jugger build. Or tweak around these to find your sweet spot.

There are some fundemental problems with your build. I’m at work so I cant go into huge detail but here are few points in your build that dont synergize well.

1. Reapers Precision, Vamperic Precision, and sigil of fire and sigil of blood all proc off of crits. Your crit chance is far too low with your build/armor/rune setup. Even with your fury buff with Furious Demise it doesnt make any of these work or synergize well. You need to get to roughly 40% crit chance to make any of these work consisantly to build around. Remember sigil of fire and blood share the same CD so you gain nothing by using both really. Better off using Sigil of Force.

2. You are using staff. It is essential for DS dmg output, utility/condition transfer, and fears. That being said you, will benifit from using greater marks over dark armor. Dark armor is just too random to make it worth it. When you are getting focus fired do you really have time to think…“hey i need to start channeling so I get 400 more armor!” Probably not.

3. Im a beliver in Axe/Focus. This comes down to personal preference, but I think playing around you may fight axe to be better than what alot of people lead on in the forums.

-Overall your build is too lopsided. Everyone looks at this game (or maybe just necro), as if you NEED to maximize 2 stats and be the best at 1 thing. This just isn’t true for guild wars 2. Balance really is the key to the necromancer. We dont shine in any one aspect of the game, so if we balance our stats/build we can synergize very with our own playstyle as well as fit rolls very well in a group. Everyone likes when a necro is in a party. They can just do so much.

well from what i experienced via pvp the death nova actually does rather benefit me in out lasting my opponents, and while i do understand that some pve scenarios may not really require it they are some other good things i can grab in the death tree like as mentioned by some of you greater marks for those cases. But what i find is when you group up for a dungeon you may not always end up with a poison source, why waste that extra condition slot when you can slap something on i figured. Plus the poison clouds can be a nice source of combos for the group play too was my reasoning behind it.

Although ill try some more into presicion tree and play around with that. As for dark armor, i recognize that may be a bit random but the 400 extra armor really does turn you into somewhat of a monster tank i been known to just stand infront of 2 bandit riflemen in CM explorer face tank them and barely get hurt when channeling.

Though i suppose in PvP scenarios it might be better to run with reapers protection or death shiver for more tap in and tap out effects of death shroud. Actually perhaps ill just run that anyway? It would make my death shroud dancing abit more effective persay.

Any suggestions for tweaking my stats towards more crit chance then? Was really hoping for the endgame to have a decent amount of damage via dagger 1 spam line, i figured flame blast would be nice plus blood siphon from the blood rune, but do they really not stack? I figured two different runes would stack with each other it was reasoning behind me not getting two flame blast ones. I really rather not skew into full pure “tank” as i prefer to be more ‘midranged’ so to speak you know versatile and such :P. Anyone mind clarifying this because i was sure that they did stack x.x, if not wow i wasted alot of time in pvp with the wrong sigil set up lol.

crap….. after some testing i just noticed that they do indeed share the same internal cooldown like after i just sat by golem and meleed it straight for 10 min > . < guess i should swap accuracy for one not sure if i should pop in accuracy for blood or for flame ill experiment around with it lol XD. but that fixes that part i guess and actually that would put me at the 40% mark. So it fixes two parts ill experiment moving about the 5 points in deathmagic to other parts thanks for replying to my post guys much appriciated ^3^.