Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

i’ve been playing a necromancer for quite a while. I know, that necromancers aren’t very useful compared to other classes but i realy like to play it. Anyways I don’t realy know what to play when doing fractals.

I’ve tried 3 kinds of necromancers in fractals right know:

First: The conditionmancer (30/30/10/0/0)
I am not realy a fan of a conditionmancer because of the bleeding cap and the crappy damage on buildings. Also the full potential of a condimancer limited as other classes produce bleeding stacks.

Second: The Powermancer (30/25/0/0/15)
In general I play the powermancer in all dungeons but I kinda struggle using it in fractals. I feel like a very bad replacement for a warrior or another high dmg class. Also likely all of the necromancers builds have no or low group support.

Third: The Hybridmancer (30/30/0/0/10)
Well, this is actually a mixture of both with a bit more survivability than the powermancer. But, I don’t know, this build doesn’t feel good when I’m playing it. Also as it is a ranged build it isn’t optimal in some cases.

I thought about trying Phenns “Vampiric Well Bomber” build as well as it has at least some support trough healing and also a good AoE DPS.

But what do you guys think about it?
Which builds and strategies are you using in fractals?
Do you have some advices for me?

I will be thankful for every answer (since it gives me a real advice).

If i was to use my necro in fractals I would use 30/25/0/0/15 or 20/25/0/0/15. There is plenty of flexibility with these builds and no reliance on camping DS for damage. You have your class mechanic available for dps, defense or control and you have good solo dps. You could also use 30/30/0/0/10 on a power build for slightly more choice in curses traits.

The key to being efficient at fractals is not so much the builds you bring (it helps to have a good flexible build) but more about taking the right utilities for each situation and adapting. Weakness, cc, blinds and cripple/chill/immob are all incredibly useful in fractals. The issue comes with the fact that other classes can do these things while also providing groups buffs and more utility. Still, atleast necro can help a lot more in fractals than they can in dungeons.

So basically I would just go with what you feel most comfortable with and have the most fun with. Aslong as you know encounters and adapt you should contribute fine.

The build I always use is conditionmancer. This is because there are already plenty of DPS/Support builds in fractals. Just grab a guardian and some warriors and there you go.

I utilize conditions simply because I think the’re what the necromancer is best at. If you use 0-30-20-0-20, for example, and use scepter/dagger/staff, you get a ton of condition manipulation, bleeding, and poison, along with a bit of weakness and chill. Each of these conditions are useful in various situations.

So: why go condimancer instead of power? Because to utilize most effectively scepter/dagger which gives a lot of poison/bleeding plus some weakness/blind/cripple, you’re going to want a full condition build, perhaps with extra duration.

After the update, I might even consider going 30-30-10-0-0 just so I can get that extra duration and so that I can get a bit of regen with it as well.

Chuck Nizzle.6283:

The build I always use is conditionmancer. This is because there are already plenty of DPS/Support builds in fractals. Just grab a guardian and some warriors and there you go.

I utilize conditions simply because I think the’re what the necromancer is best at. If you use 0-30-20-0-20, for example, and use scepter/dagger/staff, you get a ton of condition manipulation, bleeding, and poison, along with a bit of weakness and chill. Each of these conditions are useful in various situations.

So: why go condimancer instead of power? Because to utilize most effectively scepter/dagger which gives a lot of poison/bleeding plus some weakness/blind/cripple, you’re going to want a full condition build, perhaps with extra duration.

After the update, I might even consider going 30-30-10-0-0 just so I can get that extra duration and so that I can get a bit of regen with it as well.

I can’t believe I found someone who thinks like me that it’s not such a bad idea to use and abuse necro conditions.
I know that a bers necro can deal a nice damage, but it will be always replaced by a warrior, so what’s the point?

At the moment I’m using a full rabid equip with runes of perplexity, running a 30/30/0/0/10 build, and I love it. Especially when it comes to use a skill a the right second to interrupt a mob. Or to use epidemic to give burning, poison, chill, blind, vulnerability, weakness, bleeding and 3 stacks of confusion to the mobs around.

I know we’re not talking about 30k damage in 2 seconds, at least not on a single target, but I still think I’m more useful in fractal than any other “omg-only-bers-pro-ping-gears” who’s not able to dodge at the right time or uses the same skills on any encounter.

I am no expert at fractals but am comfortable with a power/marks/wells build. The utility in group play seems more worth it. I know I cannot do as much dps as other professions but condi management and AoE helps prevent accidents from becoming larger problems. The roll os not very glamorous, though.

Rob.6934:

I can’t believe I found someone who thinks like me that it’s not such a bad idea to use and abuse necro conditions.
I know that a bers necro can deal a nice damage, but it will be always replaced by a warrior, so what’s the point?

At the moment I’m using a full rabid equip with runes of perplexity, running a 30/30/0/0/10 build, and I love it. Especially when it comes to use a skill a the right second to interrupt a mob. Or to use epidemic to give burning, poison, chill, blind, vulnerability, weakness, bleeding and 3 stacks of confusion to the mobs around.

I know we’re not talking about 30k damage in 2 seconds, at least not on a single target, but I still think I’m more useful in fractal than any other “omg-only-bers-pro-ping-gears” who’s not able to dodge at the right time or uses the same skills on any encounter.

You dont need to be condi specced to use chill, weakness, poison, cripple, vuln and blind. Warriors have their use in fractals (very durable and op defiant stance skill bypasses every trap and high damage attack). But warriors dont have a lot of group utility that is important in fractals. They can provide plenty of cc and weakness with hammer, mace and warhorn and banners are important to have. But stacking warriors is highly inefficient. Id take a good necro over a 3rd warrior any day.

I’ve been running a full rabid, condi necro since release, and have taken her to high level fractals. I enjoy it more than any other class/build in the game.

To this day I still think it’s a pretty underated build inside of fractals, especially the higher you go. But perhaps I notice it more because I don’t pug, so we’re a somewhat organized group.

I do hope you find a build you enjoy playing. Don’t just go with the meta if you aren’t going to enjoy it

Rabid condi necro. Power necros don’t cleave. You’d never match a Warrior or even a DPS-specced guardian on that route, why not do something else they can’t do? Also, conditions go through defense, and some fractal opponents have quite high defense.

Also, condition overwriting is not that bad in fractals because nearly nobody uses condition builds anymore in high level fractals in the current Warrior/Mesmer meta.

There is no current warrior/mesmer meta.

I have found that running power wells in fractals is pretty fun. If you have an ele in your group let them get their firefields down first then throw down Well of suffering and pop in DS and watch as it wrecks all the mobs around… It is insane AOE damage.

Hayashi.3416:

Rabid condi necro. Power necros don’t cleave. You’d never match a Warrior or even a DPS-specced guardian on that route, why not do something else they can’t do? Also, conditions go through defense, and some fractal opponents have quite high defense.

Also, condition overwriting is not that bad in fractals because nearly nobody uses condition builds anymore in high level fractals in the current Warrior/Mesmer meta.

Sorry for coming by to nitpick but there’s so much misinformation in that post:
1) Are you saying (rabid) condi necros do cleave?
-Yes I know Epidemic, but by default? No.
-Also there’s Staff, which you also should at least carry in your inventory when running power.

2) power necros don’t cleave…
-last time I checked my necro had plenty cleavage =)
-Wells, Staff, WH5, DS1,4,5, you name it…
-while this is not exactly the luxury of a cleaving auto attack it’s on hell of a lot AoE we can burst, especially because you can combine those.

3) Everybody does more damage than I do
-Necro has very high sustain single target melee DPS, plus I see warriors and guardians die left and right… I do know they put immense pressure on NPCs in PvE but as long as it’s an extended single target fight you should be on par or slightly ahead the warrior.
For AoE scenarios you have plenty of burst which should always suffice to clear LoS trash pulls.

4) I admit I am unsure about toughness scaling in high level fractals but I believe it has been reduced from what it used to be before fractals were reset to level 30. At least it doesn’t warrant dropping 30-50% of your DPS in a boss fight.

5) Condi overwriting has always been a problem and it’s still the way it was.
-nearly every profession can passively proc bleeding by trait alone, not counting any bleeds randomly applied by weapon traits… My power necro build can apply like 10-12 stacks of bleeding which would suffice to render a pure condition build useless, sad but true… I wish it wasn’t so =(

Yep. To add to point 4. Armour scaling in fractals was reduced and even before that it wasnt worth using condition damage unless you were doing scale 70 dredge.

Burst aoe on power builds is enough. Its not ideal but it works. And you dont sacrifice single target dps to get it.

I use 20/20/0/0/30 for Fractals with 2 sets:
PVT with zerker trinkets and Axe/Dagger // Staff for DPS
and Rabid with Dire/Rabid trinkets and Scepter/Dagger // Staff for Condi
and mixmatch trinkets and weapons around with a specific armor depending on the party/fractal needs.

This setup gives me the freedom to swap utilities and traits around without having to worry about the returns.

I can focus on DS with lifeblasts reaching over 4K on crit and pierce.
I can focus on CC with spectral skills and marks, provide support and keep grawls away from the NPC’s to be sacrificed in the volcano Fractal better than most professions.
I can average bleeding DoT with Scepter/Dagger on 2700 per tick. and spread it around with epidemic (+ other DoT conditions)

1 trait setup, 2 sets of gear. Ready for any job, able to tweak the build for better use per Fractal.
You won’t be a 100% meta necro, but at least you are put to 80% good use in the whole run instead of 100% in the first, and 20% in the next.

Doing lvl 49-50 on a daily basis with randoms with almost no complaints.