Guild Wars 2

I have taken advice from various sources and would like to share my build and hope some experienced Necro’s can improve it or give me advice as I do tend to die a lot :-(

Power/DS build (idea is to use DS a lot for bonuses and to remove condition)

10/20/10/0/30
Power 2.1k
Att 3k
Tough 1.7k
Health 18.5k (low I know)
exotic Knights armour+ ruby gems
cavalier (karma pow/prec/tough) trinkets/rings/back with ruby gems
Dagger + warhorn with bloodlust and accuracy sigils giving 39% crit chance 88% crit damage

Utilities wells, spec crasp, lich form, consume conditions

Maybe the Juggermancer would be better?

I wouldnt spec that much into curses as its a condition damage tree. I go full beserker because DS is all you really need to survive. Heres how I set out my necro:

http://tinyurl.com/ase9p9s

Spectral grasp and well of corruption can and should be switched out for certain situations. Signet of undeath is very useful replacement for spectral grasp in difficult boss fights. Grandmaster trait on soul reaping can be changed to grant stability in deathshroud when needed (eg. GL in arah). I also tend to use life blast as my auto attack instead of axe. And if im low on lifeforce i switch to dagger and auto attack with that. Dagger is your auto attack and provides some control and kiting abilities. Axe provides burst and life force so you can use DS as much as possible. You can crit for 5k with lifeblast with this build.

Looks great – oh, this is mainly for WvWvW I use dagger/whorn and staff (I realise staff damage sucks but for groups and keep attack/defence seems the only option)
Would your build work in WvWvW?

I designed this for dungeons but ive taken it into WvW and won every 1v1 fight. And in small groups ive managed to deal with being slightly outnumbered. I personally avoid the staff as much as possible but carry 1 around for the fear.

Cheers… so ds for main attack, then dagger to re-charge life force umm…
Maybe spectral grasp, dagger 3 wells, ds auto attack then finish with dagger

You find reapers precision gets you good returns at ~50% crit??

I’ve debated swapping it for weakening shroud, but I really like the aoe weakness on demand.

Budchgon.2108:

Cheers… so ds for main attack, then dagger to re-charge life force umm…
Maybe spectral grasp, dagger 3 wells, ds auto attack then finish with dagger

If u hit the immobilize, its better to run behind them, because the dagger #1 actualy has higher dps than DS #1 even at full LF.
after a wellbomb the enemy will try to run away and that would be better timing to switch to life blast for 900range compared. its another story if ur low on ur hp, then ds is always safer

Thanks… time to try the Build out :-)
What food would you recommend? Ommnom ghost and superior sharpening stones?

Budchgon.2108:

Thanks… time to try the Build out :-)
What food would you recommend? Ommnom ghost and superior sharpening stones?

I’d take his advice with a grain of salt… DS is definately not all you need to survive in wvwvw unless you plan to not get attacked. Good luck with that – if you’re careful sure but its a pretty specific game play.

You just said you didnt like dying a lot and you already have DS… I’d go for knights gear. Obviously his advice isnt going to work for you.

Kilger is right based on what you have said you are looking for.

you need higher crit chance and more power at the expense of crit damage

perhaps use emeralds in the armor and exquisite rubies in the accessories as they have 3% crit damage over 2% in the orbs.

I usually use a 30/20/10/0/10 build.

After trying every spec imaginable over the course of lvling and gearing two 80 necros this build gives me the most reliable high burst dps, AOE, utility and survivability in WvW.

Things I find are a must have for my playstyle.

targetable wells
Greater Marks
Pierce on lifeblast

Well, after trying the build I realised it missed a major component for WvWvW- a condition remover…
Yes I have ‘consume conditions’ but that’s my heal and has a 25 sec cool down which is impractical if you are running for your life and get crippled!
So I went with the 30,10,10, 0 20 …
Mainly for the remove condition on deathshroud (basically a cond remover every 5 secs)
Ok, I lose 10% crit damage but with ruby gems and knights armour I don’t miss out too much.
I’m using pow/crit/tough jewelry with ruby orbs – I am lacking in prec which I make up for with superior sharpening stones/omnomberry ghost foods

Budchgon.2108:

Well, after trying the build I realised it missed a major component for WvWvW- a condition remover…
Yes I have ‘consume conditions’ but that’s my heal and has a 25 sec cool down which is impractical if you are running for your life and get crippled!
So I went with the 30,10,10, 0 20 …
Mainly for the remove condition on deathshroud (basically a cond remover every 5 secs)
Ok, I lose 10% crit damage but with ruby gems and knights armour I don’t miss out too much.
I’m using pow/crit/tough jewelry with ruby orbs – I am lacking in prec which I make up for with superior sharpening stones/omnomberry ghost foods

While the extra condition damage is nice? Why not just carry the dagger OH or carry a staff as your second weapon to get the removal?

Well, I carry dagger/whorn+staff…
You mean using the staff mark that transfers conditions from allies to enemy?
So if I cast it on ground and ran over it, it would remove my condition?

Budchgon.2108:

Well, I carry dagger/whorn+staff…
You mean using the staff mark that transfers conditions from allies to enemy?
So if I cast it on ground and ran over it, it would remove my condition?

Staff 4 should be used in combat as it requires an enemy to trigger it. It’s really easy to do. Also using consume conditions early in a fight as a condition removal is okay, twenty five seconds is nothing when you really get cooking on your necro. I rarely have a fight that lasts less than 30 plus seconds unless it’s a gs warrior I am fighting.

Staff 4 is very easy to use, you need an enemy to trigger or any mob really. Between that and consume conditions I dont have a problem. Shroud can be used if you are in danger of dying to bleeds etc and you need to hold off a bit for your heal cooldown.

I used to use dagger offhand for transferring conditions but its got to successfully hit which can be problematic and even then it often only transfers 1 condition, I ended up shelving it for this purpose. Might work for you depending on playstyle. Staff 4 is extremely reliable.

I run 2 necros also and have done many many builds across wvw and spvp.

For power builds I always run 30 Spite for Close to Death but not always 30 Soul Reaping, DS is available often enough without Near to Death, the bigger problem is getting lifeforce up. For the other skills I pick between Reaper’s Precision and of course staff with Greater Marks is hard to avoid with any necro build. Transfusion or Vampiric Precision are also good in the right situations.

I use dagger/dagger or dagger/focus and staff. If you have decent crit and Vampiric Precision you can get health and lifeforce off live or downed people. I also always run Signet of the Locust AND Spectral Walk in any PvP now. Life is to short to run around at 0% speed boost. Then with power builds like this Spectral Grasp is a favorite.

I run with Knights/Dolyak Runes hybrid power build, 30/20/0/20/0 Dagger Warhorn

Tried many builds just absolutely love Locust Swarm hence the 20 points into Curses.

Don’t really have any survivability issues except in Dungeons where I always start with Staff and if the party goes well then switch more to dagger.

I cant quite work out the attraction to spec into a Death Shroud build, just seems so limiting with only four skills to choose from, I’d soon get tired of that as a play style.

Hully.7198:

I cant quite work out the attraction to spec into a Death Shroud build, just seems so limiting with only four skills to choose from, I’d soon get tired of that as a play style.

You use death shroud for the skills, to extend fights and to recycle other skills. And to take long falls … No need to stay in it for long. You actually have 4 sets of skills with 2 weapon sets, DS and Plague or Lich and to be the best you can be you cycle through all of them while other skills recycle.

Specced for power/crit, Life Transfer can be a monster as you watch it go …3k…4k…5k and I’ve wrecked groups dropping Well of Blood to get AOE retaliation combo field then doing this. I’ve also killed a lot of glass cannon thieves under 50% health with a 5k Life Blast. Necros have almost no other way to do this kind of spike damage other than a lucky dagger hit. And yes you’ll be a glass cannon yourself but it’s fun for a change when it all works.