Guild Wars 2

So I am a new player of about a week or so and am loving playing Necro. I dislike using a dagger, and am ok with using an axe. I see myself more of a caster and cant stand melee combat >_<

But where would I best flourish in PVP and WvW with playing with a staff or scepter? also what should my off hand be? War horn is opted out cause of being in too close to my enemies.

Also for my utilities I have been using my minions. Both PvP and WvW. I am only lvl 18 or so. I almost defeated a guardian last night in a 1v1 trying to contest a capture point. (was pretty sweet cause the enemy team that was behind the guardian did nothing but watch, as well as my team, guess they enjoyed the show, my team was cheering me on in chat! “go newbie go!” one of them said. xD Was an epic fun time ^^ )

but to the point, any advice on where i should focus my weapons and such? how i should thrive in PVP and WVW?

Well in PvP you don’t have to focus anything. There’s no gear grind for PvP, so just pick your build and go. The meta Terrormancer build is S/D + Staff, so you should be fine there. If you go WvW, you’ll want to follow the metabattle build for well Necromancers which should suit your wants.

Stay out of dungeons, though, because S/D + Staff is garbage there. Maybe consider the Death Shroud build for PvE since you sit in DS a majority of the time and auto-attack at range, and if you really hate Dagger you can Axe.

If you’re in WvW, you aren’t always in a zerg/GvG fight (see his 1v1 on a capture point), and Wells are arguably much less useful the fewer people who are engaged against you, since the ebb and flow is less dictated by mass movements.

It sounds like you want to play a Minion Master build, which I have absolutely no experience with. If you like Axe, I think Axe/Focus could be a good combo for you, since Focus #4 will give good LF and Focus #5 is a great boon-removal tool + long chill. It can be traited to 1200 range too, so you can catch people with Focus #5 and slow them enough to get in range (or slow them enough to stay at 600ish range, potentially).

Staff is probably going to be your best bet as a secondary weapon, since the utility it brings (chill, poison, condi transfer, fear) will be nice. Also, don’t be afraid to use Staff #1 to help generate more LF so you can use DS more.

Also, if you’re going minions, I believe gear with tankiness/power is the best option. Power/Vit/Toughness will probably make you much more difficult to bring down (though if you’re level 18 in WvW, you’re going to be way behind until you hit max level, sorry ). Gear with +healing might also be a solid option, as again, I’m no Minion Master. Others around here are, but I’m not sure how many of them still regularly play the game/post.

If you’re going PvP, I’d definitely recommend experimenting. You may not think highly of Scepter/Dagger+ Staff on a Condi build now, but when you have all of the utilities at your disposal and max gear, it can actually be a lot of fun loading people up with conditions. It’s also a much more caster-y style of play. Minion Masters can do fine in PvP as well, but I hear it’s tricky to work with your pets appropriately, as controlling them isn’t exactly clean.

Anywho, get out there and have fun. I like looking at meta builds if only to gain ideas, not necessarily copy them, so don’t feel bad about looking up ideas/clicking links to builds that people post. Just also don’t feel like you have to follow them to a letter. Some things definitely synergize better than others, but you can often find a happy medium that fits your enjoyment better even if it isn’t completely optimal.

Good luck out there!

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Traditional_Terrormancer
solid build, might take time to learn but is scary when you know what to do

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Minion_Master
wreks noobs, but thats about it

If you want to play staff/scepter then you should be a terrormancer—- which is exactly as it sounds- you stack fear & your fear damages — but it’s not a faceroll build, you can’t stand in the middle of a ring & think you can take the damage, no it’s not as glassy as a power necro but it’s not tanky either-- It’s all about positioning yourself close enough but not too close as to say “hey im the reason you guys can’t cap/stomp others because I just pulled you with my spectral grasp then feared you to death”

No, I don’t recommend this for PvE due to the lack of raw dps & everyone would be angry because of the fears that make npcs run away in stacking situations— so it’s more of a PvP/WvW havoc thing.

If you went minion master, your minions can spaz out & not ever attack or just attack anything — you wouldn’t be able to handle tons of CC or Aoe, your minions would be dead quickly thus, a dead necro you’d be. Pick your fights carefully