Guild Wars 2

One question Is dagger/dagger viable for necro?

I’m aiming for this kind of build

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcVMzcMMzoRaCooRaCMVapx0Mzkzab.

I used to say it wasn’t, and in pve and dungeons it’s still the least favorable option, but in terms of pvp and wvwvw it’s viable.

Take a look at Khalifa’s D/D build on the forums.

Is this going to be a PvP build?
Some traits and utilities seem a little random:
Vampiric rituals, a gm trait seems like a waste when you are only going to use well of blood, keep in mind enemies still have to stand in it for the siphoning to work. Also you dont use any combo finishers so you would definitely be better of with consume conditions (especially in pvp), and with its shorter cooldown spiteful vigor could trigger more often.
Dark armor: your only channeling skills are life transfer (ds 4), life siphon (dagger 2) and life leech (downed 1). And last time I checked dark armor didn’t properly work with life leech and also in combination with deadly strenght (or has that been fixed yet?).
Parasitic bond: superb passive trait imo but 5 points in spite only for that would only be worth it in pve, not pvp.
And the 2 signets… meh. Even with traited cooldown the spite signet takes forever to recharge. Signet of the locust does not stack with quickening thirst and I dont think it works with spiteful vigor either, so that utility spot is completely wasted.

Bottom line: what Bas said → check out Khalifa’s D/D build.

Thanks for the replies guys. I’m mostly aiming for pve. I’ll ceck Khalifa’s guide.

theodor.3480:

Thanks for the replies guys. I’m mostly aiming for pve. I’ll ceck Khalifa’s guide.

In pve, D/D is not strong, because it there is no synergy with power builds. Dagger/warhorn and dagger/focus are much stronger for pve.

Dagger off hand has two roles, depending on the style of play.

In a Power Build (Dagger/Axe mainhand) you’re looking to use it for its inherent defensive capabilities. Dagger 4 being a blind and a cleanse coupled with Dagger 5’s Weakness helps reduce damage output of enemies. The bleeds provided by Dagger 5 are negligible in damage and shouldn’t be counted for much.

In Condition Builds (Scepter mainhand) it takes a more offensive turn. Dagger 4 opens up to not just blinding targets, but can be used to take off any self-inflicted conditions from Corruption to stack them onto Enemies. Often used in conjunction with Blood is Power or Epidemic. Dagger 5 being another source of bleeds and its weakness helping you to stay alive as you spam conditions.

So. In terms of viability, yes Dagger/Dagger is viable. However I think you’d find more utility in Focus (Boon stripping and Vuln stacking) or Warhorn (Mobility and Stun). The cripple/swiftness combo from Warhorn really helps keeping you in Melee range for the mainhand dagger.

I run dagger/dagger in WvW i love it.
0/20/0/20/30
I run d/d and a/f, once i get my 25 stacks of blood lust i switch to d/f and staff for well bombing, and of course changing some of the traits to fit what i need them to do and utilities.

in your build i would drop signet of the locust. With d/d and quickening thirst you have 25% movement speed, your signet does not stack with this so its kinda of useless, so i would drop that and either use well of darkness (if you find yourself taking too much damage) or Well of Suffering, i prefer suffering. Well of Suffering is a nice combo start into DS4, and if you choose Weakening Shroud you apply bleeds and weakness so you take less dmg all while doing aoe damage and applying vulnerability
Hemophilia in curses seems kind of pointless, i would choose Reaper’s Precision or Weakening Shroud, I prefer reaper’s precision. Although the Weakening Shroud would be nice to keep bleeds while in d/d.
Death Magic i would switch out Dark Armor, you only have two channel skills, DS4 and Dagger2, and pick up Ritual of Protection if you decide to grab a well.
Blood Magic
Since it seems like you are goin for almost a hybrid build i would grab Mark of Evasion, instead of dagger mastery.
DS 2 then rolling into your opponent can keep your bleed stacks up really nice.

Just my two cents

I’ve run something similar http://ow.ly/jGdCb either D/D or D/F (keeping regen and vulnerability up helps a lot) along with Staff as alternate weapon for more regen access and getting conditions up on targets for the dmg increase you get with the build.

This is all while wearing berserker gear too works in PvE / WvW well with some trait adjustments here and there. Optionally can take the 5points out of spite into Soul Reaping for faster LF build up. Works decently w/Axe and dancing in and out of DS for dmg when you know you can’t get close.. Can take some good hits from bosses/champs just due to the siphoning. The food life steal buff helps a lot too when needed if you’re in zerker gear, if you’re a mix of knights or cavaliers the food buff isn’t as neeed. Dagger 1 chain can hit hard if conditions are up on the target looking at 1.5k, 1.5k, 3.2k+(6.2k total 1s) or higher depending on if there is Vulnerability(why focus off can be nice) 8k+ total is possible just from auto attack change in that build.

Dagger offhand is viable in PvE for defense. Dagger 4 condition removal can be very useful for certain fights, and AoE weakness is often a 25% damage reduction since many PvE enemies rarely crit. I usually switch to a dagger offhand for the spider queen at the start of AC, since her immobilize is deadly. It also looks the coolest, if you care a lot about that. That said, I usually use a focus offhand for PvE, it’s just amazing at melee range on a single target.

flow had some good comments with regards to traits. A couple more:
– Personally I would replace vampiric rituals in blood magic with either “life siphoning is 50% more effective”, since it makes your dagger 2 heal for 50% more, or “20% shorter cooldown on wells” if you’re using wells
– What equipment are you going for? If you’re going for damage, well of blood isn’t worth it; if you’re going for healing power and support it is (but you want 20% shorter cooldown on wells then)
– I think there are better options for your non-blood magic trait points seem. Dagger main hand scales with power rather than conditions, so your curses points don’t help your damage much. Retaliation is underwhelming in PvE because most enemies have a slow attack speed, and you aren’t channelling that often with dagger to make 400 toughness useful (unless you’re in death shroud most of the time, but for that you should have some points in soul reaping, and “lose a condition on entering death shroud” ends up being better than 400 toughness)
– I would put the non-blood magic trait points in either spite for damage or soul reaping for death shroud defense and crit damage if you go for high precision.
– You only need one of ‘signet of the locust’ or ‘quickening thirst (25% faster with daggers)’
– Well of suffering or blood is power would do more damage than signet of spite
– spectral walk is great for running around the map, but less great for fights, and not that useful if you’re running 25% faster anyways (25% speed and swiftness don’t stack)

thanks again. i’ll try out some stuff keeping your advices in mind. think it’s best if i experiment and see what works best for me.

theodor.3480:

thanks again. i’ll try out some stuff keeping your advices in mind. think it’s best if i experiment and see what works best for me.

Definitely!

I have run 0/0/10/30/30 with berserker amulet and divinity runes in S, d/d or d/w wells, locust, & lich form and had some fun with it. I feel a thief can perfom this role better in general but you can reverse a point you’re losing on it.

I would never not run locust signet on a dagger spec, (except MM). Otherwise you will have trouble walking out of ele fields and catching anyone moving away from you with dagger hits. You can live by kiting off with a staff switch and dropping marks behind you also.

Mark of evasion kitten es me off since it doesn’t fire every time. Every other classes dodge trait does…