Guild Wars 2

My main is a necro since i started the game, I love the class and have put all my hard work in gearing up into it and have done fine in fractals, but now that fractals have been beefed up I have been having bad experiences and my friend told me necromancers aren’t really good at fractals and that they were best for pvp and wvw. I am not into doing pvp as a necro and I am not into wvw much and it depressed me the thought that my class was weak for pve.
I run a power build with zerk gear, 45 ar, and was just looking for others opinion because I feel very discouraged about fractals becoming harder for me to contribute to the party.
I didn’t know if i should post this here or in the Fractured forums…

Theres not much else to say man, you nailed it. Necro’s just aren’t very useful for PvE. We don’t bring any really good group utility or support, and our damage isn’t high enough to make up for it.

It is what it is.

Fractals later levels really lends itself to heavy builds first off. Zerker Necro is just competing against Warriors and others for power DPS which is a battle a Necro cannot win. In Fractals I really do believe conditionmancers are better. A Rabid Necro is easily going to dish out 3-4K in area bleeds, 700+ burning and 300-800 damage in other conditions, per tick, on 5+ enemies, indefinitely… not counting epidemic, while having about 2600-2800 armor and doing “ok” physical damage because of all the crits. Zerker necros have lackluster spike compared to other Zerker classes, no cleave, mostly single target and no good base damage on area skills save for Putrid Mark (not really) and Well of Suffering.

Support Necros, whether condition or power, actually do surprisingly well in Fractals too. The hardest fights usually consist of condition debuffs, which we can convert to boons, enemies using stacks of might/Fury which we can turn into Weakness/Blinds, and we can spam blind on hard hitting groups with WoD and Plague. Necros with lots of healing power can keep up regeneration indefintely as well for about 300 healing per tick and bring things like Well of Blood, Transfusion etc. for extra ally heals.

So when Anet actually adds boon/condition mechanics to enemies (like Fractals), Necros end up being very effective in PvE. It’s just when we try to be other classes or when content is designed around “Dodge this super attack every 30 seconds, then DPS this boss/enviromental object to your hearts desire,” is when we run into trouble.

What kind of bad experiences? Are you dying a lot? If so try adding toughness to your build. As for what your friend said, I suggest you ignore it and play whatever the heck you want. If we listened to those max/min complaints we’d all be running zerker warriors and the game would be boring.

I’m a PvE necro to.. And I run fractals 40+ without complaining members.. And If some people kick you because you are a necro, they’re pathetic, there is no such thing as an ideal pve profession, everyone has to have a chance to play experienced PvE , if you master your profession and show others we necros arent that bad, our bad name will be removed..

Many of the instabilities necro has no way of dealing with effectively. The only instabilities I actually used necro for was 43 and 44 because going condi/rampager allows you to deal decent consistant damage without killing yourself. Rest of them ive been progressing as warrior/ele. Once I hit 50 i may use the necro a bit because the 49 instability is pretty much non existant. The thing is, with the mob armour nerf and the life steal on jademaw fix i dont see a reason to take necro anymore. Ele is better at killing dredge now that we cant go to higher scales where the armour becomes an issue.

Didnt Nemesis vid and build show that it was fine in fractals? I cant remember what level fractals he did in the vid but I think it was in the 30’s?

Hileron.2931:

My main is a necro since i started the game, I love the class and have put all my hard work in gearing up into it and have done fine in fractals, but now that fractals have been beefed up I have been having bad experiences and my friend told me necromancers aren’t really good at fractals and that they were best for pvp and wvw. I am not into doing pvp as a necro and I am not into wvw much and it depressed me the thought that my class was weak for pve.
I run a power build with zerk gear, 45 ar, and was just looking for others opinion because I feel very discouraged about fractals becoming harder for me to contribute to the party.
I didn’t know if i should post this here or in the Fractured forums…

See that’s BS from someone who probably only plays war/guard/mes.

Trait into blood tree, pick up transfusion, and heal exiting deathshroud. Go wells, and axe/focus. Stack those vulns up high.

Ive been running fractals since original release. I have never been kicked, or told to GTFO because im a necro.

Ignorance runs rampant in this game, sadly.

aspirine.6852:

Didnt Nemesis vid and build show that it was fine in fractals? I cant remember what level fractals he did in the vid but I think it was in the 30’s?

Any class is “fine” in fractals. That doesnt mean they are good in fractals. Necro use to have some places in fractals where it was good. Now the only time necro is good in fractals is when you are doing 43 & 44 for progression. You will only do those once or you will skip them so yeah…

Kahrgan.7401:

See that’s BS from someone who probably only plays war/guard/mes.

… snip …

Ignorance runs rampant in this game, sadly.

Ironically this sounds like the BS from someone who only plays necro. Last statement is completey true. :P

You better don’t bring (condition) necro to fractal 38.

And to the topic, really I don’t see power necro’s value in fractal. Anything we do can be replaced with other classes. Power necro has next to no support except well of suffering for vulnerable or well of darkness. Condition necro has more cc but still useless facing defiant. And ofc, most important thing in fractal is reflect which we have none.

Epidemic would be useful on 43 but I think that’s it.

Afya.5842:

You better don’t bring (condition) necro to fractal 38.

And to the topic, really I don’t see power necro’s value in fractal. Anything we do can be replaced with other classes. Power necro has next to no support except well of suffering for vulnerable or well of darkness. Condition necro has more cc but still useless facing defiant. And ofc, most important thing in fractal is reflect which we have none.

Epidemic would be useful on 43 but I think that’s it.

Hoe about you play what you like ?

Go conditions in rabid gear, and don’t listen haters. Zerk necro is terrible choice, since necro don’t have protection from damage at all and his damage anyway lower (+zero party support)

I’m still fairly new at using necro and have only recently started running dungeons with the class. However, one thing I do when tuning my class for cooperative play is to search for the word “allies” in the traits and skills wiki for that class.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_necromancer_skills
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_necromancer_traits

From the look of it, we are fairly good at applying regen, some healing, and constant cleansing to our party. Is there a lot of conditions in the new fractals? The old fractals had some spots where cleansing was pretty important like the fractal with the blue giant and the lava one. Additionally, we are good at dealing with large mobs and we can be pretty tanky, yet still provide effective dps, with the right build.

Yes, that sounds a lot like the Guardian, but some people don’t care for melee classes.

Shame necros don’t have any reflects or group utility to give groups more incentive to give us a chance.

Are we also the only class that doesn’t have a reflect skill and also no invuls or vigor…. kitten .

Falcon.8713:

Afya.5842:

You better don’t bring (condition) necro to fractal 38.

And to the topic, really I don’t see power necro’s value in fractal. Anything we do can be replaced with other classes. Power necro has next to no support except well of suffering for vulnerable or well of darkness. Condition necro has more cc but still useless facing defiant. And ofc, most important thing in fractal is reflect which we have none.

Epidemic would be useful on 43 but I think that’s it.

Hoe about you play what you like ?

Well, there is a very real reason to not bring a condition necro for Fractal 38. You would be constantly giving the enemies Regen.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Falcon.8713:

Afya.5842:

You better don’t bring (condition) necro to fractal 38.

And to the topic, really I don’t see power necro’s value in fractal. Anything we do can be replaced with other classes. Power necro has next to no support except well of suffering for vulnerable or well of darkness. Condition necro has more cc but still useless facing defiant. And ofc, most important thing in fractal is reflect which we have none.

Epidemic would be useful on 43 but I think that’s it.

Hoe about you play what you like ?

Well, there is a very real reason to not bring a condition necro for Fractal 38. You would be constantly giving the enemies Regen.

You can just go 39+.. you don’t even have to enter 38

Only class without vigor/endurance regen/block/invul/reflect/etc.

Heavy class focus on Condi, which is rather bad for PvE/Groups. Worse as people say with condo-manilpuation mobs.

Power builds, with melee ranged weaps that only single target.

Support that only ‘burst’ support.

Can’t res others in transform unless we press both at the same time.

DS stops us getting heals, meaning others often waste them on us.

We really don’t have anything going for us that we bring to the group, that other class’s don’t do better, and many things that hinder the group.
So it’s be selfish because the necro is fun to play, or don’t take it.
(I’ve personally found a buddy who trades support guard runs, and we take it in turns to play the fun toon or the helpful toon.)

Search ’’Jatoro’’ at trader if you want a condition build or try knight/zerk for armor and cavalier for trinket(power/crit). Something will/must work.

Bweaty.9187:

Only class without vigor/endurance regen/block/invul/reflect/etc.

Heavy class focus on Condi, which is rather bad for PvE/Groups. Worse as people say with condo-manilpuation mobs.

Power builds, with melee ranged weaps that only single target.

Support that only ‘burst’ support.

Can’t res others in transform unless we press both at the same time.

DS stops us getting heals, meaning others often waste them on us.

We really don’t have anything going for us that we bring to the group, that other class’s don’t do better, and many things that hinder the group.
So it’s be selfish because the necro is fun to play, or don’t take it.
(I’ve personally found a buddy who trades support guard runs, and we take it in turns to play the fun toon or the helpful toon.)

Just want to address some things point by point, since I diagree with your conclusion especially in Fractals based on my own experiences. Since I find myself performing on par or better then most players in the majority of my Fractal groups for months now.

- True we have little to no access to vigor, block, invun, reflect. However, DS does the job absorbing spikes and Agony in Fractals. As a side note we do have very easy access to 24/7 team regeneration. With WoP we also have access to group Vigor (From converted Chills/Bleeds) and Aegis (From converted Burning). There’s a lot of bleeds, vunerability and burning from enemies in Fractals.

- Condi Necro being bad DPS or unhelpful is a myth anywhere that has flesh mobs/bosses and where zerkers have trouble. Kind of like higher level fractals. Again the fact is a Rabid Necro can have 2800ish armor and do constant 3.5-5K area condition damage on 5-10 enemies for an entirety of a fight, per second. It only takes a few seconds to gear up which is nothing in Fractals. The condi manipulation isn’t a big deal Mistlock Instability wise. Just skip the problematic one(s) for your build (just as other classes/builds have issues with levels where we don’t).

- I agree on Power Builds. Really the only potent AoE power skills are Life Transfer and Well of Suffering… Power Necro really needs some cleave in the form of reworked power weapons or with the addition of new weapons down the line.

- Our support is actually pretty good in Fractals and isn’t as bursty as some may think. If you spec for healing/support you can have access to perma regen for 300+ heal ticks, 16 seconds of area protection from wells, lots of conditions to boons from WoP, lots boons to condition on enemies with WoC, spam blinds from WoD/Plague, 5K+ group healing at 600 range while moving on 40 sec CD with Transfusion, nearly constant chill/weakness on enemies etc. etc. Necros just have to spec for it (rarely do) and with our innate area bleeds without precision, can rely on condition damage + condition food alone to keep DPS up better than more popular support classes in say Clerics.

- Not being able to revive while transformed isn’t a big deal, even though it would be nice. Reviving is more about timing than damage mitigation. We do have Ritual of Life which is nice for Well Support builds. Basically you drop a WoB on downed ally, revive said ally and get rewarded with a 5 second duration WoB at the end.

- I agree with your DS vs heals point as well. A good ally player will try to heal you at the same time you instinctively pop into DS to mitigate damage. Best thing to do right now is be aware of ally skill usage. We can only hope for some healing effectiveness in DS one day.

- The only thing that hinders groups as Necros is Well combo fields interrupting ally combos because Wells last longer and have a larger radius. This can be fixed by again being aware of ally skill usage.

I won’t deny that many Necro builds are out performed in purpose and utility by other classes with similar builds/gear. However, there are other builds that do just fine and can actually shine in Fractals.

Vortok.6975:

Search ’’Jatoro’’

khilbron

I would like to see Spectral Wall having reflect capabilities in PvE only. I would love some sort of reflect…

Lunar Sunset.8742:

I would like to see Spectral Wall having reflect capabilities in PvE only. I would love some sort of reflect…

You wouldn’t see me complaining.

But we all know Necros are not really a reflect class both in mechanics and theme.

The closest thing we get to reflects are area pulsing blinds. :p

-Necros bring 100% weakness uptime with with very little trait investment (15 curse) +| offhand dagger to start fights and you are set) even with power builds.

-Necros have great aoe boon stripping which makes the most annoying fractals much less of a pain (Anything with the gong dredge and honorable mention to Ascalon 25 might stacks).

-Power necros are usually going to be using dagger/warhorn which means you have a 3 second AOE daze and a strong way to survive with warhorn 5 + DS. Warhorn 5 is also useful for the cripple uptime on certain mobs that need to be locked down (Volcanic and Reactor oozes come to mind).

-Speaking of which warhorn daze is unblockable which means you can CC mobs even when they go into block mode. This is useful vs the ooze in reactor and the boss in ascalon during the melee phase.

Now I’m not saying necros are perfect, it would be really nice to have a cleave but the class is far from useless in high level FOTM. As long as your team is covering the reflects having a dagger/warhorn necro along is pretty sweet. 3 seconds of aoe daze + 100% weakness uptime helps against trash a lot.

Altoid.9104:

-Necros bring 100% weakness uptime with with very little trait investment (15 curse) +| offhand dagger to start fights and you are set) even with power builds.

-Necros have great aoe boon stripping which makes the most annoying fractals much less of a pain (Anything with the gong dredge and honorable mention to Ascalon 25 might stacks).

-Power necros are usually going to be using dagger/warhorn which means you have a 3 second AOE daze and a strong way to survive with warhorn 5 + DS. Warhorn 5 is also useful for the cripple uptime on certain mobs that need to be locked down (Volcanic and Reactor oozes come to mind).

-Speaking of which warhorn daze is unblockable which means you can CC mobs even when they go into block mode. This is useful vs the ooze in reactor and the boss in ascalon during the melee phase.

Now I’m not saying necros are perfect, it would be really nice to have a cleave but the class is far from useless in high level FOTM. As long as your team is covering the reflects having a dagger/warhorn necro along is pretty sweet. 3 seconds of aoe daze + 100% weakness uptime helps against trash a lot.

A few notes of mine, WH 4 daze (stun for mobs) + permachilling and the cripple from 5 if you mess up the rotation tends to help more than weakness since even if your allies get a fumbled hit in 30+ chances are they die unless warrior.

Well of power also helps a lot in grawl against the chain immobs.

DS hammer drop duplication can help speed up naked blue man group fractal (which i asked about if its a bug or exploit and just as the mimic/echo axe throw the dev said its a smart use of game mechanics, still kinda borders but its not really important).

During winter wrap up you can use wells and life transfer while the shammy is on the ledge to still damage him.

There is still lots of misinformation about necro damage even with countless videos out.
I am 30/10/0/0/30 and back up to fotm 50 now, I know I out damage all the idiot warriors and guards who rifle/longbow/staff autoattack on bosses because they are scared to get close with my deathshroud autos and axe.
The AoE burst and control is also much higher than people give credit. Frequently peircing groups of mobs for 7-10k DS hits. People cry saying its hard to line up but it really isn’t just a bit of common sense and you can see that any group which is stacked up for melee cleaves is just as easy to peirce if you move to the side.

Along with that I keep up vun and chill on enemies and able to strip boons frequently which really speeds up certain fights.

Play what you like, people don’t know kitten. A good player will trump a good build any day in fractals.

kfcoco.8470:

Play what you like, people don’t know kitten. A good player will trump a good build any day in fractals.

Yesterday i ran with a 2 spirit weapon +WoR guard who had the burn tome, he was the best guardian i met thus far in fractals thus i can with about 99.99% certainty say this is true.

Plz explain the DS hammer Drop plz

cyst.3108:

Plz explain the DS hammer Drop plz

On blue man group (aka colossus/cliffside) fractal, when you are on last boss, on the 50% hammer drop, make sure that the necro picks it up and mid animation pop ds, another hammer with spawn in the bosses hand since it cannot detect one on in the players hands, on the 25% phase, just before its hit someone picks up the hammer and then you can kill the seal instantly instead of bothering with chanter mobs and the bone minions the boss spawns.