Guild Wars 2

Hey there. I’m having trouble with what build I want to play as basically. I’ve noticed that while the necro is pretty bad when it comes to bugs and balance, they have quite a bit more in terms of potential builds.

What I’m wondering is, what do I go for?

I like in general, power builds most, as they don’t face the problems conditions do, and you have a lot more freedom for power builds in your trinkets tabs. Plus, with the necro, power is better for death shroud, since skill 1 and 4 are quite power intensive.

However, I notice that there isn’t really any clear utilities that go for a power build and how to trait for them, and trait synergies themselves are sort of lacking. Seems fairly hard to pull one off. I’d assume that you have to go for axe+something with staff and use DS for big time nuking. The right gear is pretty hard to pick too, since I am assuming that berserker is necessary, and that leaves you pretty empty of defensive stats.

There is also the minion master build. Pretty iconic, and minions have their uses as meat shields, condition sponges and so on. Plus, since they don’t scale with stats, I don’t have to worry about gearing any particular way. I can go conditions and power builds and get similar results with the minions.

However, I’m a tad worried about the god awful AI, and the QoL issues like the lack of a regen and the summoning times. Plus in dungeons, they are very good at pulling things, which I am not a fan of.

There is of course also, the famous conditions build. This build is probably what the necromancer is best at, conditions. With the scepter and dagger, and a lot of corruptions/signets, it allow them to put a lot of conditions and melt the enemy.

But as I’ve mentioned in another thread, it has the issues of it being a conditions build. It isn’t effective at big boss fights, and against structures its quite bad. I don’t like that one bit.

Other builds could be a lifesteal build, around the dagger and a lot of points in blood magic. And a well build for support.

But really, I’m not so sure what works best.

If anyone could offer some advice on what works, and how to make the most of what I have, I would really appreciate it.

Like might stacks? Try mah build. It’s a power/condition mix.

Trafalgar’s Stackomancer
http://www.gw2db.com/skill-builds/2026-trafalgars-stackomancer

The Stackomancer is based off of the Necromancer’s ability to gain 10 might stacks from your BiP (Blood is Power). Capitalizing on that, you can easily get 10-25 stacks depending on your play style. As you should know, might doesn’t only give power, but it also gives you Condition damage. I have done up to 120-130 per tick in mediocre blue gear.
There are 3 ways you will capitalize on might stacks:
BiP
Weapon Swapping with Sigil of Battle
Life Blast in DS mode

Here is the basic sequence of battle. I typically start off with Specter 2, then Dagger 5 (If there is enough time, if there’s not..) then use BiP (The earlier you get it in the more damage you get to do over time.) Immediately use Dagger 4 to transfer your bleed onto opponent (Dagger 4 has a blind and a condition transfer effect.). As this places blind too, and possibly another stack of bleed, cast epidemic right away if you want to do some AoE,append this with a final Scepter 3 with the 7-12 bleed stacks from that combo.
Swap over to staff after that. This should give you 2 stacks of might +BiP. Spam your marks and get ready for another epidemic, if you didn’t hit multiple marks, go into DS mode right away and spam life blast and fear, the more you use life blast, the more might stacks you get. If you’re doing a boss battle, I can manage to stay in DS mode for awhile, giving me 25 full stacks of might.

Rinse, Repeat.

With the 20% corruption recharge reduction, and 2 of hoelbrak, fire and strength runes for armor, you’ll be doing a +80% might duration considering your traits. BiP will have a very short cooldown, meaning you’ll have your might stacks almost longer than it is down.

I will not cover everything, but for a power build, you want to go dagger plus offhand of your choice as your main damage, as it does the most dps. I like warhorn for mobility and life force gain and the daze can be useful. Dagger is also a pretty good choice, but I find it better for condition builds as an offhand, but that’s just my opinion. Axe is good for the number 2 skill mainly, or support with a focus for stacking vulnerability which debuffs the mob/mobs. Staff obviously for AoE and range/utility.

As far as utilities, the heal is really up to you, but I typically use the one for condition removal. Well of Blood is useful in support specs/dungeons or groups. Other utilities for a power build can vary, but the obvious choice are wells, as they do nice damage and since you are in melee range anyway, why not? Bone Minions are good for using as bombs with a power build as well, as they can be used as burst along side other abilities and are aoe blast finishers. Spectral Walk is good for scooting around and kiting melee in dire moments. Spectral Armor is always useful as an oh crap button, but has a pretty long cooldown and most power builds pick up the trait for Spectral Armor automatically at 50% health. I sometimes use the wurm minion in spvp to setup and guard nodes, outside of that or if you are traversing a lot, he is less useful and the teleport can be funky at times.

Blood is Power could be useful now with the might stacks, but I still think it’s better left to condition specs as I find the wells more useful. I can see potential in it for bursting single target by stacking might with DS form, might sigils on weapons, and popping that on top to cap out might stacks and then jumping into lich form to do some hefty damage, but I haven’t tried it.

Elites are personal choice, lich form is pretty good for spike damage, golem for some CC and steady damage or tanking some in pve, plague form is good for survival but better for condition builds.

Trouble with power builds for me is the utilities.

Not sure how it would work in a build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAndWjMaV7hbabMcKCpCPbqw3gekr3XLKFwbdA

Could work perhaps? Wells seem like they need too much investment for what is in effect quite poor.

Lyuben.2613:

Trouble with power builds for me is the utilities.

Not sure how it would work in a build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAndWjMaV7hbabMcKCpCPbqw3gekr3XLKFwbdA

Could work perhaps? Wells seem like they need too much investment for what is in effect quite poor.

Well of Corruption is useful without any traits in a power build. It does great AoE damage and stacks vulnerability on all mobs inside it, allowing you to hit harder. I like to pair Bone Minions along side it, as exploding them inside it causes AoE blind. You basically have a huge AoE nuke/burst. The other wells are situational, but can still be useful. You can turn Well of Darkness into an AoE blind and chill with only 10 points into the Curses tree. Sure, it has a long cooldown, but again you shouldn’t need it all the time and it’s great in pve and pvp alike. I usually have Spectral Walk as a third, unless I’m doing pve and not moving around much.

The other well traits that you are talking about, while nice, are more for support spec builds, not damage power builds.

Also, Spectral Grasp is typically not worth slotting in most situations. The best use for it is WvW for picking off runners or over extending opponents. It has a cast time, which makes it trickier to get off as well. Not useful for pve at all really and in instanced pvp, you have better options as you should be hanging around nodes most of the time in a limited area and capping things. If you made a build based purely on stacking chill, it could have it’s merits, but outside of that, waste of a slot most of the time.

Cyricus.2981:

Also, Spectral Grasp is typically not worth slotting in most situations. The best use for it is WvW for picking off runners or over extending opponents. It has a cast time, which makes it trickier to get off as well. Not useful for pve at all really and in instanced pvp, you have better options as you should be hanging around nodes most of the time in a limited area and capping things. If you made a build based purely on stacking chill, it could have it’s merits, but outside of that, waste of a slot most of the time.

I’ve used it already and I see quite a few merits in it actually.

Well timed, and well executed, in a dungeon it is fantastic. A necro using to pick off a knight in TA for example, was invaluable.

Plus, the chill and life force are nice enough when it fails.

Lyuben.2613:

Cyricus.2981:

Also, Spectral Grasp is typically not worth slotting in most situations. The best use for it is WvW for picking off runners or over extending opponents. It has a cast time, which makes it trickier to get off as well. Not useful for pve at all really and in instanced pvp, you have better options as you should be hanging around nodes most of the time in a limited area and capping things. If you made a build based purely on stacking chill, it could have it’s merits, but outside of that, waste of a slot most of the time.

I’ve used it already and I see quite a few merits in it actually.

Well timed, and well executed, in a dungeon it is fantastic. A necro using to pick off a knight in TA for example, was invaluable.

Plus, the chill and life force are nice enough when it fails.

That’s true, as I did say most situations. It can be a useful tool, I won’t deny that. I just think we have better options for everyday use and abuse. That was really what I was getting at.