Guild Wars 2

I’m not that big on the necro, but a power necro intrigues me. How would it be build?

I see the mainhand dagger and axe as being associated with DD, and the staff to some extent.

And of course, death shroud is very big on DD.

So, perhaps a build that focuses on death shroud and something like dagger/warhorn with staff?

Maybe something like this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQAQJAodjMaZ7dbqbMcKipCfDqw7jUcMlR9wdw7cA;TgAA2CooqxUjoGbNuak1A

Not sure, anyone got any ideas? I’m mainly talking about PvE of course.

Long story short, power simply doesn’t scale very well on the Necromancer at the moment. Dagger does scale somewhat okay but it doesn’t deal anywhere near enough damage to make up for the melee range requirement.

The problem with Power builds for the Necro is that for the most part, they’re all pretty underwhelming.

The Axe does pretty poor damage, even with the grandmaster trait. The channel on 2 takes a long time without that much damage being done. The number 3 skill is very good though, but again, the damage is lacking.

The dagger 1 skill does good damage and attacks very fast, which is good, but I find that the Necro’s lack of mobility makes it difficult to stick close while dodging attacks. The immobilize on 3 is really good, but you still have to walk up to the enemy to hit them, and they’re attacking you the whole time. The channel on 2 is powerful, but the life siphon on it is pretty lackluster.

As far as offhands go, any of them is decent. The focus is good for the chill and the chance to get some regeneration stacks. Dagger is good for the blind and weakness, though the cast time on 5 is pretty dangerous at melee range. The warhorn is very powerful, but the cooldowns on it are too long.

As you said, you can do some pretty good damage in Death Shroud, but it doesn’t really compare to the kind of direct damage that other classes are putting out because you can’t be in Death Shroud forever.

Another big thing that hurts a Power build, especially in PvE, is the lack of good AoE direct damage. Except for the Well of Suffering, and maybe Corruption, almost all of the Necro’s AoE damage is from bleeds or poison. The minion skills don’t scale on Power as far as I know, so stacking Power there is pointless.

I’m all for trying out new builds, but I’ve been disappointed with the Necro’s direct damage capabilities.

That’s a real shame.

I play engineer most and enjoy them, but necro was the first class I ever was interested in, and what I really loved the idea of, was the tough, daggery, melee and healing guy.

When I really look at it, too many traits are too weak and negligible.
Damage seems low whatever you do.
Most utilities seem weak and not worth slotting.

I did like the death shroud though, I like how the fear is instant cast and can be done at any time.

And the staff, while being pretty weird, is pretty great with visuals.

I mean, I could give it a shot.

Hopefully by the time I get to a higher level they get some buffs but I never know.

Lyuben.2613:

That’s a real shame.

I play engineer most and enjoy them, but necro was the first class I ever was interested in, and what I really loved the idea of, was the tough, daggery, melee and healing guy.

When I really look at it, too many traits are too weak and negligible.
Damage seems low whatever you do.
Most utilities seem weak and not worth slotting.

I did like the death shroud though, I like how the fear is instant cast and can be done at any time.

And the staff, while being pretty weird, is pretty great with visuals.

I mean, I could give it a shot.

Hopefully by the time I get to a higher level they get some buffs but I never know.

I still love playing the Necro and am having a lot of fun. I really like the theme of the Necro and its abilities, I just think some of them were executed poorly. The scepter/dagger build is getting some flak because it is so common, but I still have a lot of fun using it. If you’re interested don’t let all of the hating change your mind.

Wells are the best option if you want to go power. You can also spec tanky and still do decent dmg (30 blood 30 death, 10 spite for example). Also, bone minions offer decent burst and combo well with wells (aoe blind bombs in darkness fields, retaliation in light fields). I have done just as well as any conditionmancer I have grouped with, just takes some creativity to use wells as a main source of damage. You want to root them in a well with the dagger, or pull them with spectral grasp.

Love the staff/well aoe abilities with power myself, but everyone just wants a cookiecutter conditionmancer build lol. And then they come here and complain about all the broken things about necros. Yeah we need help, but there are still a couple viable builds imo. I have even managed to run axe and a bit of a minion build with well of suffering and the axe stacking vulnerabilities it can get quite mean in the right situation. Also you can solo the bosses with such builds.

Axe + Focus and go 30 in the power line taking both the Focus and the Axe traits and build a Spectral+Power build and realize you will be inside Death Shroud nearly half of the time.

I don’t think people are taking into account Death Shroud damage.

So far I’ve been stacking power, but I’m only 67. Been using wells/aoe spec with D/D on switch for objects or single target dps depending. I’m pretty sure conditions only effect staff 2/3. So far I can still nuke groups down with marks > 2 wells > death shroud aoe > blind well > mark again > wells again after few dodges (spec’d for it)

But maybe at 80 I will change since every one is doing condition for marks, also I use the dodge blood mark as a combo blast.

From what i have seen, Power with staff actually works pretty well if you cant melee someone with dagger, since all of the marks have scailing with power too and the basic, i annoy you with sound effect, claw does ok damage too (especially if it pierces).

Power build is a bit mediocre right now, but I still bring it out once in a while solely for the use of Lich form.

Whatever you decide to do, life blast use is very important. Might per life blast and piercing are very important. Utility choices are pretty weak for a power build so it really doesn’t matter what you put there as long as you use it well. You’ll need precision for your gear to make up for the fact that you won’t be 30 in curses, important because crits make the damage respectable enough. You’ll obviously need axe training for the cooldown reduction more than anything.

I use a power/+healing Well build to do dungeons with groups (dagger/DS build solo). I’ve even had people thank me for joining the group after the run was over.

^-^

The problem with power builds are the low number of attacks it has.

If you notice with other classes, most other classes main hands have a good attack and offhand has a good attack. For example, Mesmers main-hand sword gives them the Flurry combo, which is a good attack, and off hand pistol gives them Illusionary unload, which is also strong. Thieves main hand dagger gives them heartseeker, which is very strong, and off hand dagger gives them Cloak and Dagger, which stealths them and sets up backstabs. Strong! Or, if you prefer, sword/pistol gives them Pistol Whip, which is also phenomenal.

Necros lack an offhand weapon that synergizes with a power weapon. The best candidate is focus, but it is only a utility offhand. The only other choice is dagger and warhorn; warhorn is great, but also utility. The dagger offhand synergizes with condition damage, which is fine, even good, but it doesn’t help power builds.

Another thing to consider is the lack of damage utility spells for necro. Other classes, like Elementalist, have damaging attacks like Arcane Wave as utility spells. The only thing even close to this for necros is the Well of Suffering and Blood is Power. Well of Suffering is actually pretty good, but the point blank nature and a small radius means anyone can roll right out of it immediately.

The autoattack attacks a bit slowly and hits a bit weak. It is not an effective damage dealer, it is only good for stacking vulnerability to set up your ghastly claws combo.

Ghastly claws combo would be fine, maybe even good, if Necro had another attack to go with it. The actual problem with ghastly claws is that its a 9x hit combo, so it’s easy to interrupt / mitigate its damage. If you see claws start scratching at your character, what do you do? You ROLL and DODGE immediately, avoiding 3 or sometimes 4 of the claw attacks. Personally, in my Power/Crit% build, the highest Claws combo I’ve hit thus far was for 5500, with a load of crits and about 12% vulnerability stacked on the target. Rolling out of half of my attacks cuts my main source of damage in half and makes me ineffective.

But what about Death Shroud, you say? The truth of the matter is that Death Shroud is unreliable as another ‘attack.’ Besides, if you place this into the formula to match Necros’ number of attacks in Power builds vs. others, consider that Mesmers have two attacks AND illusions, that Thieves have two good attacks AND deal damage with steal, etc. Life Blast IS a good attack in a power build. It can crit for around 3500 damage on the right target under the right conditions. But ghastly claws combos for 5k and a couple 2k life blast shots won’t kill anybody. And it certainly isn’t competitive, not when Thieves come in and Pistol Whip you twice in a row for 18k, or the Warrior frenzies and Hundred Blades you from 100% to 0% in 2 seconds flat.

Dagger is the same way; daggers auto attack is actually reasonable, but it has no other real attack. The Life Siphon is the closest thing to a second attack, which makes no sense, since it should be reserved for actual life drain instead of throwing numbers up for damage. The other problem with the dagger is that you have to be in melee range, and literally EVERY other class in the entire game fairs better in melee than Necros do.

The final icing on the cake is the lack of a secondary weapon set to support your power style of play. Necros are almost forced to take the staff as their secondary weapon set because of the utility it offers; one second AoE fear, a chill effect, and a condition transfer are really good. However, the autoattack is really underwhelming, and mark of blood is not useful in a power build. Heck, even in a condition build, it underperforms; it’s more about the healing with mark of blood / aoe than it is the actual damage put out by the staff.

Having a secondary weapon set that directly supports the playstyle is really important. Unfortunately, the staff is the ideal secondary weapon, and it supports more of a control and contagion style of condition damage gameplay.

It’s really late, i hope this block of text is coherent

Excellent post.

stayBlind.7849:

I use a power/+healing Well build to do dungeons with groups (dagger/DS build solo). I’ve even had people thank me for joining the group after the run was over.

^-^

heh, thanks for making me laugh

Great post, Mathemagician.

Necros need to be able to Duel Wield Axes for Power builds to be as effective as their counterparts. Being limited to 3 skills to deal damage is rather dampening.

I’ve been rolling a power/perception build for some time now. It’s not pure power, as I like using soul reaping tree and shroud-dancing around, and since this tree works nice with critical hits, I’ve put together something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQAQNAoYWjMaN7Vaia87JgJFfrdkiiHm6h7pfOA;T0Ag0CvowxgjAHbNOck4ssYAyZj3FTCA

It may not be the most viable build around, but I’ve grown fond of it and can manage to contribute in PvP, WvWvW and in PvE (dungeons, for example). It may not be the easiest, considering you have to be in melee range for the most part, but it’s totally playable.

Basically, how I approached it, was choosing weapons I’d aesthetically like (staff/dual-daggers) and building around that. I also liked death shroud and wanted to utilize this fully. What has changed over time (at first I went 30 spite/30 curses/etc.), is that wells are pretty nice in melee range with daggers and also while wielding the staff (wells use ground targeting trait).

One more thing to mention before posting this: I have not done tournaments with this build and this is intentional. I want to get a solid group together first and the build might change accordingly.

Other than that, I am really pleased with the aesthetics of the weapons and weapon skills, I know what and when to utilize. Yes, I know I may be lacking some points, but that’s intentional. I’m just glad I found something that suits my playstyle.

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.5.1.4.13.18.24.24.33.33.106.108.109.121.129.2.2.6.302.310.312.0.0.0.0.0.0.350.353.0.366.367.0.30.0.0.20.20
Power/Crit build <— what your looking for. Double daggers out 3 to double well to flesh golem charge to AA, You can fit the other skills in the combo as u like. but thats how Power is done

Staff compared to scepter still seems stronger for me at level 80, is any one else getting that too?

@Mathemagician: People like you give me faith in the class and MMO-communities. I can only giev a sincere “Thank you”. +1

Vesper.8359:

Staff compared to scepter still seems stronger for me at level 80, is any one else getting that too?

Yes. I don’t even use the other weapons because the staff hits harder than other things for me, plus it allows me to use “Blood is Power” without making me bleed for long.

I stack all power/crit/crit dmg on my gear, and run a DS/well build (10/30/0/0/30) and with no buffs I’m sitting at 51% crit and 88% crit damage… and I still need my runes of the eagle. Add into that the 5s Frenzy buff and 5s cooldown on DS and I’m at 71% crit pretty much always. I initially played a necro for the pets and dots, but I’ve found this works best for me (for now!).

Techinically you can use Axe 2 skill twice change weaps, Syphoon then DS Life Transfer for a good damage.

Personally I’m about to craft myselft a full rare kit of daggers, staff, armor and jewels since I’m maxed in all these disciplines and I will try pwoer builds a bit more since I’m failry sure people give up on power builds before 80 and don’t gear for it. Plus while leveling it’s hard to evaluate power builds since they are more gear dependant.

Personally I already saw a few possibilities and it’s looking good especially if they buff back the boring and slow Axe.

Lyuben.2613:

That’s a real shame.

I play engineer most and enjoy them, but necro was the first class I ever was interested in, and what I really loved the idea of, was the tough, daggery, melee and healing guy.

When I really look at it, too many traits are too weak and negligible.
Damage seems low whatever you do.
Most utilities seem weak and not worth slotting.

I did like the death shroud though, I like how the fear is instant cast and can be done at any time.

And the staff, while being pretty weird, is pretty great with visuals.

I mean, I could give it a shot.

Hopefully by the time I get to a higher level they get some buffs but I never know.

You can do it. I run an axe necro in PvE, and I have done a fair amount of sPvP as both a dagger build and an axe build.

That said, prepare to feel like you are fighting an uphill battle.

I always end up going back to scepter/dagger conditionmancer because I always end up so frustrated.

for a power build you really want an axe. dagger is more of a “health siphon” build weapon, but even then it’s sorta lack luster.

For dungeons well builds are the way to go. No other class has access to as many dark fields as we do and they can play a huge role in mitigating damage for the group.

As for spec, you can go for an extremely group friendly build that can essentially perma blind mobs while chilling them, stacks vulnerability on top of that and provides aoe protection. Or you can go with a kind of wells/conditions hybrid that does a bit more dps with a bit more range, but at the cost of some utility and overall group damage.

There is no power build, you only get power as a conditionmancer because you need the condition duration buff, which also makes you a glass cannon unless you decide to replace it with toughness, then you don’t use it at all.

There is no power build, you only get power as a conditionmancer because you need the condition duration buff, which also makes you a glass cannon unless you decide to replace it with toughness, then you don’t use it at all.

So I read that a few times and I still can’t make any sense of what you just said. Anyways have a power build: D/F wells

And here are a few skills that are affected by power:

Staff 1 – Necrotic Grasp
Staff 4 – Putrid Mark
Axe 1 – Rending Claws
Axe 2 – Ghastly Claws
Axe 3 – Unholy Feast
Dagger 1 – Necrotic Slash
Dagger 2 – Life Siphon
Dagger 3 – Dark Pact
Dagger 4 – Deathly Swarm
Death Shroud 1 – Life Blast
Death Shroud 4 – Life Transfer
Well of Suffering
Well of Corruption
Lich Form 1 – Deathly Claws
Lich Form 2 – Marked For Death
Lich Form 3 – Chilling Wind
Lich Form 4 – Mark of Horror
Lich Form 5 – Grim Specter

Additionally staff 2, 3 and dagger 5 and DS 2 have up front damage that is affected by power.