Guild Wars 2

This is a rather strange question, but consider this a small questionnaire of sorts.

which do you prefer, a tanky DS build that can dish out zerker DPS only within death shroud, or one that is consistent both inside and out of Death shroud DPS wise, but with less power (100-300 loss) and less vitality (1k-2k hp loss)? this is basically a question about 30 soul reaping, Deathly Perception.

edit: I guess I should note I am playing both WvW and PvE, so insight on both sides of the 3 sided coin would be nice.

Not completely sure what you’re talking about there, but I guess consistant damage. However, thanks to proper use of Death Shroud mechanics , I have no issues at all with survival, while still dealing great damage. The build I run is in my signature.

Well for pve DS is subpar as mentioned in spoj’s stickied post.
In small team pvp being able to do dps in and out of DS is a must, because DS IS a defensive mechanic. Sitting in it until you run out of LF is not going to get you anywhere.
In zerg warfare sitting in DS is fine because once you are caught it doesnt matter how much LF you have.
I personally always go 30 into soul reaping. If I go with zerk amulet then I grab FitG or soldiers with deathly perception.

The difference between 30/x/x/x/30 and 30/25/x/x/15 is that the first build works in range, has a steady dps, and needs either axe traited or staff for better deathshroud, so again ranged dmg mostly. The second build works better in melee range with dagger auto and dishes more damage, especially in a dungeon composition (takes advantage of the trait which gives 2% per condition), but it isnt as tanky. There are other trait setups, spoj’s stickied thread gives good info for pve.

Stand The Wall.6987:

Well for pve DS is subpar as mentioned in spoj’s stickied post.
In small team pvp being able to do dps in and out of DS is a must, because DS IS a defensive mechanic. Sitting in it until you run out of LF is not going to get you anywhere.
In zerg warfare sitting in DS is fine because once you are caught it doesnt matter how much LF you have.
I personally always go 30 into soul reaping. If I go with zerk amulet then I grab FitG or soldiers with deathly perception.

Actually running out of lf is something you may want sometimes (a hint if you dont understand: the cooldown of ds is not reseted that way). This however heavly depends on the fact that, with the right setup, you can regain lf really fast to even make use of the absense of a cooldown.

Also i think you are wrong if you reduce ds to a simple defensive mechanic, it is more than that. Especially for power necros, who normally have a high lf regain rate.

Yeah…..not sure where this confusion is coming from. I run high damage in AND out of death shroud, my life blasts to great ranged damage, and I run with both axe and dagger. Dropped the staff and haven’t looked back.

I think there is just so much about power necros that people don’t get.

Sorry! I guess some clarification is needed; the reason I was asking was I have two builds in line. One is without Deathly Perception and one is with. the Deathly perception one had abysmal crit rate outside DS, but godly within. I know some people have it so its good both ways with well over 40% rate outside, but the purpose of this build was to be rather tanky also, so I shaved some crit rate in favor of toughness and vitality. (i wanted atleast 2.4-2.5k armor and 20k+ health without food) It is to the point that , when used correct. They both have similar toughness on paper, but the deathly perception one beats out on Effective power when in DS by 1k about along with better HP. This was the main reason for the question.

I guess some context to why the question was raised is better than letting some people who would read this thread later misguided.

Well for pve its better to have consistant dps. Which is why you should avoid deathly perception when being optimal. For wvw and pvp it doesnt really matter. You can burst pretty well with both types.

Loyo.8526:

Sorry! I guess some clarification is needed; the reason I was asking was I have two builds in line. One is without Deathly Perception and one is with. the Deathly perception one had abysmal crit rate outside DS, but godly within. I know some people have it so its good both ways with well over 40% rate outside, but the purpose of this build was to be rather tanky also, so I shaved some crit rate in favor of toughness and vitality. (i wanted atleast 2.4-2.5k armor and 20k+ health without food) It is to the point that , when used correct. They both have similar toughness on paper, but the deathly perception one beats out on Effective power when in DS by 1k about along with better HP. This was the main reason for the question.

I guess some context to why the question was raised is better than letting some people who would read this thread later misguided.

I have a similar build in mind – although I am waiting until after the patch before I start purchasing any gear.

I think, for me anyway, that it is fine to have good crit in DS only as I’ve noticed that most of my kills come from life blast anyway. So if I can make it so I am much tanker and keep most of that killing power, it just seems to make sense.

I do apologize if I am missing something here, but I really don’t see why you can’t pick up Deathly Perception and still have sustained dps and survival. I run with 43% crit outside DS and 93% crit inside DS. I don’t require tanky stats due to my Life Force generation being so high that DS is always available when I need it.

Well normally for pve you take the build with the highst dps, which would probably a ds dancing build which only uses dagger main hand.

For pvp/wvw it comes down to more factors, but from my experience both builds can work.

Muchacho.2390:

Actually running out of lf is something you may want sometimes (a hint if you dont understand: the cooldown of ds is not reseted that way). This however heavly depends on the fact that, with the right setup, you can regain lf really fast to even make use of the absense of a cooldown.

Also i think you are wrong if you reduce ds to a simple defensive mechanic, it is more than that. Especially for power necros, who normally have a high lf regain rate.

Nah I mean to say that sitting in any weapon set is not a good idea because your opponent will change their tactics accordingly.
I believe DS is meant to be a defensive mechanic, along with control conditions. Using it for purely offensive means isnt a good way to approach the mechanic imo. The best offense is a good defense. To me necro is all about countering what your opponent is doing.

I have to admit being slightly confused. Maybe it is the three, strong beers I had but it sounds like you are talking about crit chance. I think, maybe Spoj’s comment is closest to the mark. Really, you can get crit chance through armor, trinkets, weapons, and traits. It does not matter where so go to town on it.

Stand The Wall.6987:

Muchacho.2390:

Actually running out of lf is something you may want sometimes (a hint if you dont understand: the cooldown of ds is not reseted that way). This however heavly depends on the fact that, with the right setup, you can regain lf really fast to even make use of the absense of a cooldown.

Also i think you are wrong if you reduce ds to a simple defensive mechanic, it is more than that. Especially for power necros, who normally have a high lf regain rate.

Nah I mean to say that sitting in any weapon set is not a good idea because your opponent will change their tactics accordingly.
I believe DS is meant to be a defensive mechanic, along with control conditions. Using it for purely offensive means isnt a good way to approach the mechanic imo. The best offense is a good defense. To me necro is all about countering what your opponent is doing.

Well, you are certainly right that sitting in only one weapon set is not a good idea, but that not what i meant.

The necro is build for offensive, the more pain he brings to his enemy the stronger he becomes (life leach, lf regeneration and so on…). Normally if you start playing defensively as necro you are more likely than other classes to lose the fight. And ds is created for that play style. The only skill in ds that could be a more defensive skill is the fear. The rest is meant for offensive and control. But of course ds is also a damage absorbing skill. Which also favours that play style, as it allows you to be more offensive.

For a necro, the best defensive is a good offensive, so dont play like a guardian… (well unless it is a meditaion guardian^^)

I guess we differ in that I think necro is built for defense which allows us to be offensive.

Stand The Wall.6987:

I guess we differ in that I think necro is built for defense which allows us to be offensive.

Well to be fair playing defensive may work as necro (Like with any profession. One of the good things in gw2, you are not limited to one play style), but saying the necro is intended to be more defensive is wrong.

I mean what uses a necro for defensive purposes?
He uses conditions, life drain and life force, all things that relay on hitting your opponent and thats, i would think, is the defenition of an offensive profession. We dont have blocks, we dont have invulnerable skills and our access to boons is not that great. Heck even our raw self healing is not the best.
As real defesive skills we only have things like spectral armor, which relay on getting hit instead of do the hitting.

I said I think death shroud is a defensive mechanic, not necro as a whole. I never said anything about playing defensive.

Stand The Wall.6987:

I said I think death shroud is a defensive mechanic, not necro as a whole. I never said anything about playing defensive.

And i said that it is not only a defensive mechanic, but also a offensive mechenic.

Maybe i should say it that way:
If you use ds only as defensive mechanic you dont use it properly and if you use it only for offnesive you dont use it properly.

The art of mastering ds is to know when to use it for offensive and when for defensive or even both.

Maybe i also should be more precise that it also depend on the build, but what is said holds true for power necros.

Glad thats cleared up.
OP – spoj has a post stickied for pve, any 30 x x x 30 build for wvw zerging will do.