Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

I’m been gone from GW2 for many months, but recently returned since I missed my cute little necro. I know, I know, they are supposed to be quite…lacking in DPS and utility. But I like the profession.

I parked my Necro at 36, and would love some advice what build to pursue for PvE questing/leveling. I checked the first two pages here, but didn’t find much in the way of specific help. I hear “Condition build” or “Well build” here and there, but they don’t mean anything to me.

I appreciate any advice you pros might offer.

Best,
Oygg.

PvE is so easy in this game.. Go d/d and axe/focus.. you can swap #2 between them and level just fine.. keep a well up for aoe with DS 4.

I mean honestly and no offense you can level pve in this game with a toothpick and pj’s for armor..

That’s a really difficult question to answer because everyone has different playstyles. The best thing to do is to try every weapon to see what you like.

For ‘condition build’ which is probably the most common for PvE, I would recommend the Scepter/Dagger and Staff. What you’d want to do is get gear that says ‘+ Condition Damage’ and trait for condition damage. The 6~9 skills you’d want are Consume Conditions for the heal, and then skills like Blood is Power, Epidemic, Plague Signet. Elite would be Lich Form but that won’t be for a while yet.

The condition build is designed to deal damage over time, so you won’t see like huge numbers flying off your scepter, but you’d see 10 bleeds ticking away and the HP bar just drains to zero.

The ‘well build’ would be everything that says wells, so. Well of Blood, Well of Darkness, Well of Corruption, Well of Power and Well of Suffering. Blood is great in a party, and Darkness and Suffering are useful. Corruption and Power are situational so it depends on where you’re at. I find Wells more useful in dungeons and WvWvW rather than PvE but again, it depends on your playstyle.

Another build you might want to try in PvE is the Minion Master. So you have the minion for the healing, then Bone Fiend, Bone Minions/Flesh Wurm, Shadow Fiend and then the Flesh Golem for elite. Minion Master is absolute fail in PvP and WvWvW but for PvE they’re not too bad. There are some problems with the Minion AI though so be prepared for a few incidents where they stand around and do nothing.

Personally for solo PvE I use Consume Conditions for healing, then Spectral Walk, Locust Signet and Spite Signet for the skills, then either Lich Form or Flesh Golem for elite. 33%+25% movement speed is fantastic for covering great distances and I do a lot of running around for 100% map completion (or if a guildie needs help somewhere, or if a dynamic event starts in the corner of your mini-map). This forces you to rely on your Scepter/Dagger or Staff for your attacks, but unless you’re in dungeons you don’t really need support skills like Plague Signet or Well of Power.

Sorry that was kind of TL;DR. I hope it was useful.

I’d suggest using Flesh Golem for general leveling, having someone to tank aggro for you is great, and since he cripples on hit, even if they go for you they shouldn’t reach you.

As for what build, I suggest either a power build, or a condition build. If you go conditions, make it a supporting build, because you will usually be running with other condition people who will just throw your conditions off as they apply theirs. Instead, make it half support (using staff/wells), and then bring epidemic to make all their conditions turn AoE.

Thanks for the tips!

Can someone kindly link me a “Power Build” and the weapons that might accompanying it?

Thanks again for the tips.

Really depends on what kind of power build your looking for/suits your play style?

There are tanky power builds, bursting power builds, well focused power builds, hybrid power builds…

Oyjord.2508:

Can someone kindly link me a “Power Build” and the weapons that might accompanying it?

Thanks again for the tips.

Have you taken a look at the Necro tutorials that are stickied at the top of the page? Generally anytime you want advice you should be checking the stickies before creating a new thread…

The Necro forum is actually really nice in that we have detailed guides at the top (some other professions are seriously lacking in mods stickying their guides).

Just go with life siphoning on dagger/horn with staff. You hit fast, run fast, rarely die. You damage isnt amazing but once you get all your wells, you basically drop 12 stacks of vuln and have an easy time killing you target. This build works for soloing vets (and some champs at 80) as well as is effective in all dungeons due to its ability to support the party as a whole. You’ll keep people alive and keep the enemies hurting. This build is hard to make work at low levels, but once you get all your wells, you’ll be fine. I recommend going Sylvari because of the elite skill. Temporary immunity and the turrets all siphon health.

Thanks for the replies! I’ve never tried that dagger/horn with staff playstyle. Sounds intriguing. Is this what they call a “Well” build? I should look into how to trait and gear for it….

I only recently got my Necro to 80. I’m now using Nemesis’ tank build which I love, but while leveling, I did exactly what Icpdragonslayer said above using a condition damage build. I just used Plague form instead for the elite. The Golem should work better for that, but I found it cumbersome. Plus, I hate pets as a rule. Also, plague 2 is great for saving your butt and delaying until your heal is off cool down.

But seriously… Blood is Power > Dagger 4 to transfer bleeding stacks on yourself > Epidemic and you’re taking down most groups. Add in staff marks and groups are cake.

This is the build I followed: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQUQNArYGmAkU881TKy+7oHEbcyA;TsAAzCpoay0koJbTumkNtIYUxsCA (copy paste link. Forums are bugged)

Curses first and when you respec at 40 and 60, put all points there. That’s your damage. After that, put points into Blood Magic first, then Death Magic. That’s it. Worked awesome.

Oyjord.2508:

Thanks for the replies! I’ve never tried that dagger/horn with staff playstyle. Sounds intriguing. Is this what they call a “Well” build? I should look into how to trait and gear for it….

I use a build like this and leveling has been insanely easy.

This is the build I’ve been using..

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67051-necro-power-build-daggerfocus-and-wells/

Thanks, Disturbed, brogarn, I’ll give those a go!