Guild Wars 2

People talk about how hard DS1 hits with a power build in spvp but I’m not really seeing it… I get low 2ks tops for crits and 950ish for noncrits. I am playing a 30/x/x/x/30 (with 10 points moving around) build with Thief runes and Knights Amulet with zerker jewel. Lich #1 crits for mid 4ks. Just curious what other people are seeing and what their setups are?

Try 30-25-x-x-15 I think lol.
I use ranger runes
Also run knight and zerker

I’ll check later and try to post exact.
But I hit 2.5 or so me on a rouge head on he does first cause I survive longer.

Edit: I am for runes that increase crit damage

1) First off I’m a big fan of Ogre runes for power builds. In virtually any gear setup (in sPvP at least), power adds much more DPS than the equivalent amount of precision (not including proc effects/traits from precision). Thief is nice due to the 6pc bonus but from my tests Ogre gives roughly similar DPS even if you assume 100% uptime on the opponent’s back (which is obviously not a realistic assumption). If attacking from the front Ogre just flat out smokes Thief runes.

2) Certainly 30 in the SR line is nice for the stability on DS (and is great if you’re getting focused and chain CC’ed), but for pure DPS and burst potential (I’m assuming you’re going dagger/wells) going at least 15 in curses is very strong for the fury on DS. You could go 25 in curses to grab target the weak but the tradeoff isn’t worth it since you’ll have to give up more important traits (spectral armor @ 50% or greater marks).

3) The main trait that makes DS1 actually worth using is Unyielding Blast, which gives DS1 piercing and applies 2x vulnerability. As necros are mostly a team fight oriented class I have gotten a ton of mileage from this trait. A spammable, ranged AoE skill that crits for 2-4K per sec is nothing to scoff at. Very useful for blowing up rezzer’s, clones, whatever. But most importantly it gives the Power Dagger/Well Necros the ability to fight at range for extended periods of time rather than just spam staff auto-attack.

Skyro, thx for that info – I think I’ll definitely give the ogre runes a shot.

Regarding the curses line – maybe i get too hung up on the fact that it’s the primary line for conditionmancer and one of the main benefits is condition damage… there are actually some really good traits in there that are not condition oriented including the fury one that you mention, the well targetting one (I use a couple wells with my power build), etc.

I find that with the build I’ve been playing with SR maxed LF builds even faster that I can or care to use it so I could probably sacrifice some points in that line to invest into curses. If LF, which I love for survivability, becomes an issue I guess I could replace a well or my spectral armor/walk with that signet that grants LF.

if you’re using a staff in your power build I find 20 points for Soul Marks and Last Gasp will give you more than enough LF on a regular basis.

The only thing is I find myself hardly using staff with my power build – it has some great utility but I tend to use it very situationally so I’m not entirely sure that trait would be worth it… but basically something along these lines:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQEQNAodWjMaZ7VaiaM8JCoH769OLSxxQGli1xOA;TsAA2CnoQygkAJLSOkkIt+YMyECA

Well most Power necros grab the +10% marks damage trait and combined with the high power and crit makes Putrid Mark hit like a truck. Greater Marks also make marks unblockable so it allows you to still DPS through things like the Warrior’s block and such. The 2 builds I switch around depending if I need the stability or not is 30/15/10/0/15 or 30/0/10/0/30. The main thing to grab from curses is the fury on DS trait. If not for that I wouldn’t even go into curses.

And IIRC the targetable well trait makes wells only tick 5x instead of 7x w/o the trait. I’m not sure if this has changed or what, but as a power dagger necro you don’t really need targetable wells.

I prefer to use the Staff as an opener. Our burst isn’t impressive enough to insta nuke someone so I like to soften them up first from range before moving into nuke them with dagger, focus, and wells. It also has our best team utility as far as weapons go. you’ll definitely want to grab Greater Marks though when using the Staff.

Also, you’re Sigil of Rage and Sigil of Energy share CDs. Personally I prefer a sigil of battle on my staff and focus with minor corruption or bloodlust on dagger. Ground Targeted wells and Terror will probably serve you better dmg wise as well. Even with out a ton of condition dmg you’ll get 700+ ticks on every fear. DS2 >DS3 (DS1 Lands same time) can easy net you a 4k spike on top of closing the gap to finish them off.

Unyielding blast is nice but since you already have Focus 4 and Well of Suffering, you could probably lose UB and not notice the drop off in Vuln stacks. I prefer the CD reduction on DS skills for more insta fears for more frequent interrupts in addition to the above combo.

Just some food for thought.

@hackks

You don’t really grab UB for the vulnerability (that’s just gravy). You get it for the piercing ability. While the DS cooldown reduction trait is nice I don’t feel it is neccessary in a Power Dagger build since I always save DS 2 to combine with Dagger 3 (which has a longer cooldown) for my spike rotation and I always save my DS fear as an interrupt or peel. It’s not bad for DS 4 though.

I see cooldown reduction traits useful for skills you know you’re always going to be spamming those skills once they are off cooldown, which is mostly applicable to DPS skills.

Skyro.3108:

@hackks

You don’t really grab UB for the vulnerability (that’s just gravy). You get it for the piercing ability. While the DS cooldown reduction trait is nice I don’t feel it is neccessary in a Power Dagger build since I always save DS 2 to combine with Dagger 3 (which has a longer cooldown) for my spike rotation and I always save my DS fear as an interrupt or peel. It’s not bad for DS 4 though.

I see cooldown reduction traits useful for skills you know you’re always going to be spamming those skills once they are off cooldown, which is mostly applicable to DPS skills.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice trait, but I’ve just personally found having more access to my DS skills to be more useful.

I’ve also backed away from going pure power when I’m in a team and opt for more hybrid style build using 20/20/10/0/20, with a Carrion Amulet, lots of might stacking, and minor sigil of accuracy to help pump up crit chance on top of the Fury from the Curses minor trait. Teams don’t really bring a necro for their direct dmg burst and more for the aoe pressure. I don’t like using the 30/30/10/0/0 build or a scepter so this is sort of my way of filling the role while still using my preferred play style.

So I messed around with the 30/20/15/0/15 build using ogre runes last night and certainly noticed a significant increase in DS1 damage. I Feel that the Unyielding blast trait could be seen as situational and maybe personal preference (well i guess everything is personal pref but maybe this one more than others) – I really like the trait that makes LF drain slower – I noticed a big difference in that last night (though I’m not entirely sure whether my LF was draining quick due to this missing trait or due to above average incoming damage).

I didn’t realize the sigils shared a cooldown – that’s good to know – how do you find that out?