Guild Wars 2

I was looking up power necro builds but most of them seem to have useless sigils on the weapons. I have a couple questions about power necro.
-Going full zerk gear w/ zerk weapons, what are the best sigils to put on wepons?
-What is the best weapon setup for this? So far i’ve been going D/W since I dont mind going up close and am constantly moving so I dont hit by AoE (is necro the most mobile class or do people just not go around the bosses anymore?) But is Axe/W better?
-how do you play it? When do you proc Death Shroud? When is it best to proc Lich?
Also is there a way to see/count your dps? I have no idea if im pulling good dps or bad dps and would like to know.

For PvE last I checked the best weapons were force/bloodlust (could be wrong) and as far as weapons go, I run dagger/focus & dagger warhorn. Trait wise I think highest necro DPS trait spread is 6/6/x/x/2

jportell.2197:

For PvE last I checked the best weapons were force/bloodlust (could be wrong) and as far as weapons go, I run dagger/focus & dagger warhorn. Trait wise I think highest necro DPS trait spread is 6/6/x/x/2

6/6/x/x/2 seems like what I used for my Condi necro. Right now im using 6/2/x/x/6.

Octopossum.5678:

jportell.2197:

For PvE last I checked the best weapons were force/bloodlust (could be wrong) and as far as weapons go, I run dagger/focus & dagger warhorn. Trait wise I think highest necro DPS trait spread is 6/6/x/x/2

6/6/x/x/2 seems like what I used for my Condi necro. Right now im using 6/2/x/x/6.

6/6/x/x/2 can swing both ways. However it gives you the best damage modifiers (close to death/ % more damage per condition)

jportell.2197:

Octopossum.5678:

jportell.2197:

For PvE last I checked the best weapons were force/bloodlust (could be wrong) and as far as weapons go, I run dagger/focus & dagger warhorn. Trait wise I think highest necro DPS trait spread is 6/6/x/x/2

6/6/x/x/2 seems like what I used for my Condi necro. Right now im using 6/2/x/x/6.

6/6/x/x/2 can swing both ways. However it gives you the best damage modifiers (close to death/ % more damage per condition)

making this build in the build editor.. If you go full zerk with eagle runes + assassins weps/earrings and captian accessories, you only have 64% crit chance. Any way to get this higher?

Octopossum.5678:

jportell.2197:

Octopossum.5678:

jportell.2197:

For PvE last I checked the best weapons were force/bloodlust (could be wrong) and as far as weapons go, I run dagger/focus & dagger warhorn. Trait wise I think highest necro DPS trait spread is 6/6/x/x/2

6/6/x/x/2 seems like what I used for my Condi necro. Right now im using 6/2/x/x/6.

6/6/x/x/2 can swing both ways. However it gives you the best damage modifiers (close to death/ % more damage per condition)

making this build in the build editor.. If you go full zerk with eagle runes + assassins weps/earrings and captian accessories, you only have 64% crit chance. Any way to get this higher?

Don’t forget about fury on death shroud… You can just pop in and out real fast for an extra bit of fury. Also for pve you can take food etc.

In PvE if you want to actually max out your DPS you want to max out crit chance. Although Berserker is the “go to” for your normal setup, having a second set of assassin gear to be able to mix in to give you 100% crit chance (without going over) is best. Just make sure to consider your group buffs, since you should have 100% fury uptime if you’re with an ele, spotter with a ranger. So just see what you’re paired with then mix in assassin for the rest.

And obviously you’ll have food.

Considering that when you go into death shroud you get a 50% increase to crit chance, it might be better to just focus power/fero since you’ll be going into death shroud as much as possible.

For PvE you shouldn’t have 6 in soul reaping so you don’t have a 50% increase.

Octopossum.5678:

Considering that when you go into death shroud you get a 50% increase to crit chance, it might be better to just focus power/fero since you’ll be going into death shroud as much as possible.

In pve your better of going for crits outside of ds since dagger is actually your highest dps.

Optimal gear for dagger build is currently assassin armour. Berserker everything else. And if you want expensive infusions then 8 mighty infusions and 6 precise infusions is best. This is assuming you arent running with a spotter ranger. Didnt bother to calculate for that seeing as hardly anyone takes a ranger. And for food you want seaweed salad. Truffle steaks for alternative/budget.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQRBHbdG2JNiUajN2gtNwhjJqFKorzAICiuDGh/lqwA-TBCFAB6sgAAPBgCV/5KlgIp8TgTCQa6f8Z/gAAHArX9qX9gzP/8zP/8m+8zXf9vLFwAzsA-e

Current build. Not sure about the utlity infusion or if bountiful oil or furious oil is better. suggestions welcome.

Why are you still using axe? It has no cleave and it’s single target DPS still doesn’t match dagger.

Also you aren’t taking close to death. That is a huge damage loss.

Using those runes aswell. Just get a full set of ranger runes and use a mini pet would give you way more damage. Or better yet go full scholar. The build looks like something you would throw together and use for PvP or WvW. But its not even good for those. :P

I currently use a build I refer to as ‘Ghost Walker’. It was on reddit a little while ago.
2/0/6/0/6 – Spec’d for basically living in Death Shroud. Soldier’s gear. D/D + Staff.
Utilities – Spectral Walk, Spectral Armor, Spectral Wall/Corrupt Boon for tPvP
Most 1v1’s are pretty easy, and you can hold a point against 2 or 3 for a good amount of time. At least enough for allies to either come help or for them to capture other points.
It’s not weak in offensive enough to be considered a bunker build but it’s very tanky. 3-5k life blasts are your main source of damage, with mainhand dagger 1 spam.

^ didn’t read the OP…lol.

Octopossum.5678:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQRBHbdG2JNiUajN2gtNwhjJqFKorzAICiuDGh/lqwA-TBCFAB6sgAAPBgCV/5KlgIp8TgTCQa6f8Z/gAAHArX9qX9gzP/8zP/8m+8zXf9vLFwAzsA-e

1: You have no corruption skills or wells so why do you trait for both?
2: You might gain is pretty trivial without runes of strength, so much so that you
would be much better off with other traits.
3: I like axe to but, double axe is just silly they share CD’s and you want dagger for life steal, life force, cleave and imob.
4: You only really need 50% crit chance so go schollar runes and sharpening stones.
5: Vital Persistence and Unyielding Blast are much better than Path of Midnight.
6: There are WAY better skills that Signet of Undeath and Signet of Vamprism.
7: Keep in mind that while 6/6/0/0/2 can have the highest damage it will only do that damage while you have a bunch of condis on target, signet of spite only gives you 13 seconds of big damage on a 48-60s cd. This relience on condis means most of the time in pvp or wvw 6/2/0/0/6 is functionally better.

This is what I run in wvw (with some slight variation in spvp) its a very strong havoc build and can quickly be changed for zerging or 1v1. Do be aware sigil of cruelty is only better than bloodlust if you are around a 100% crit chance which I am while in Lich and DS.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBHbhG2IHNt0WTjxNc4moWogOBCgZIqOg65oNqWA-TFSBABlfEAKU/wDPAAKV/xMlgXt/o8zhDCAAnAASBMwyI-w

When to use lich depends on the game mode (which I didn’t see you mention) pvp/wvw use it when you need to end a fight asap. Its very nice in spvp to roll into a team fight in lich and 2-3 shot every thing on point. In pve use it for big single target bosses.

Death shroud is entirely more complex. Life force management is the hidden skill that separates really good necros for everyone else and its very hard to teach because its all about knowing your cool downs and knowing your opponent. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. Most other classes have good ways of getting hp back other than their heal skill, you don’t, what you can do is get LF like crazy and use that to cover you hp. Use DS to eat incoming high damage skills (eviscerate and the like) use consume condis as you go into DS even if you are at 90% hp and stay in DS for 25 seconds so your heal is ready to go as soon as you come out, don’t just sit in DS spamming 1 if you don’t need to, its much better to use your weapon skills and have DS ready when you really need it to cover you HP.

There is sooooo much more to good LF management but thats the most important stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Feel free to ad me to your friends, I would be happy to play some spvp with you. My guild FLOT is pretty well known in T1 wvw for our necros, all of which are generally more than happy to help a fellow practitioner of the dark arts!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQRBHbhG2IHNl22YjtNc4moWoguODgZI6S4E+XqaDA-ThBFABCcSAQa/R5Xa6fA4BAUo6PXpEMAwBw6VPqHc+5nf+5n30nf+6r/dpAGYmF-e updated build I think somehow when I posted this the link messed up (two axes what?) The only reason for signet of spite is for the power. I’d rarely if ever use it. Undeath could be replaced by a well such a suffering but the targeting isn’t needed since you’ll be close to the boss anyway beacuse of dagger/axe. Undeath is only there in case the group needs it. Scholar runes are better so i added those in. Not sure about reapers precision i just dont know if anything is better to put in that slot. hope this is better?

The power gain from signet of spite equates to way less usable damage than a well would. When you are set up 6/6/0/0/2 the whole reason you take signet of spite is to cast it and get the 2% damage per condi from the Target the Weak Grandmaster minor trait. You want those condis on target, and it works very well vs NPC boss monsters, just not so well vs most players.

Here is what I would recomend for a dungeon running 6/6/0/0/2 build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQRBHbhG2IHNt0WTjjNc4moWogOCCgZI6O4E+XqaDA-TxRBABXt/o8r8jAAe6fA4kA8wDAgS1fMTJYAgDg1reUP48zP/8zPvpP/81X/7SBMwyI-e

The power gain from the signet equates to way more sustained dps than WoS. However WoS is very strong burst. You will very rarely be in a situation where casting Signet of Spite is worth it. Most of those condis should already be on the target. So its wasted.

Okay, yes in the long run spite will get you more damage, but in the amount of time most fights, be they in dungeons or in wvw/spvp last you will get more out of WoS.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Okay, yes in the long run spite will get you more damage, but in the amount of time most fights, be they in dungeons or in wvw/spvp last you will get more out of WoS.

this is a pve build so spite is better since i wont be in wvw much with or at all with spvp

Very few pve fights last very long either. In the vast majority of dungeon, stack up and aoe down type fights, wells will be better.

Which is why you take both. But dont cast signet of spite.

does anyone know how I could calculate dps w/ this build? It seems to be doing well in lower fractals without the WoS. I also carry a zerk staff on me for ranged but forget about it a lot however I would reccomend having it since d/a aren’t very good at all w/ ranged things. My only question now is things like reapers precision. Would it be better to switch it out with something like Terror or Banshee’s Wail? (Terror is prob better honestly..)

Calculating DPS is a lot of work. You have to calculate average coefficient per second and take into account aftercasts, buffs etc. Or work out the rotation and add up the total coefficients used and divide by time taken to complete repeatable rotation. Then calculate damage (The best way). But even those doesnt account for dodging or fights that last less than a full rotation.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Damage

The lucky thing is i have already done all the maths for these things. And worked out optimal builds and rotations.

http://dulfy.net/2014/06/30/gw2-necromancer-pve-guide-by-spoj/
http://youtu.be/O95olXxeTz8
http://youtu.be/zVUs752OFmc

The dulfy guide is a bit out of date. But the builds have remained unchanged. The rotations have been perfected are shown in these videos. I will be adding to it and clarifying some gear choice stuff when HoT comes out. Ill also add in new stuff for the specialisation.

Signet of spite is a gem for necro, it makes everything work better. Highly recommend if you prioritize dps. 5-10% more damage, yes please!

Siphoning is underrated.

For PVE, I use this –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBIhdu1IHNt0WTjjNc4o4YQk6zkvWFZgEU+cIA-TBCBwAG3f4sSQsK/k8AAwp+DgTCQe9DMOCAkBIfDA-e

The 2 points in Death Magic can be switched to whatever you like; I usually switch it to get quicker well respawn in Blood Magic.
Every hit you gain ~45hp from siphoning, and close to 100 every critical hit (~55 from crit trait). Given the quick autoattack on dagger, it’s extremely useful. Add in Locust Swarm, and you’ve got probably over 200hp per second. Dagger skill #2 heals for close to 3700, depending on your crit chance. Axe #2 heals for quite a lot and does pretty good single-target damage at the same time. If you had higher crit chance, well, it would be even better and you’d heal even more, but I have no ascended armor…
The other reason I like this build is I can trait into spectral skills really quickly, just by changing two traits. Hasn’t failed me yet, and the damage from dagger auto attack is actually really kittening good. Add the damage from the wells and you can deal some serious dps, as well as survive like a champ with DS.

As far as runes go, you don’t really need the ones I have on, but I like the extra fury and duration. Use DS every 6 seconds and you’ve got perma fury from the trait. I love it.

For pve either force/night or force/bloodlust(deathshroud ftw). Axe/Wh is a terrible idea unless you know that your group has little to no vulnerability or you are playing a deathshroud build in PVE (weaker than the typical power necro in this setting, and even then the staff offers a better base damage) The axe autoattack is just poor compared to the dagger’s. For non DS power necros I’d recommend D/F and D/Wh
the focus offers 12 stacks of vulnerability while doing a great deal of damage from melee range.

eye floater.7140:

Siphoning is underrated.

For PVE, I use this –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBIhdu1IHNt0WTjjNc4o4YQk6zkvWFZgEU+cIA-TBCBwAG3f4sSQsK/k8AAwp+DgTCQe9DMOCAkBIfDA-e

The 2 points in Death Magic can be switched to whatever you like; I usually switch it to get quicker well respawn in Blood Magic.
Every hit you gain ~45hp from siphoning, and close to 100 every critical hit (~55 from crit trait). Given the quick autoattack on dagger, it’s extremely useful. Add in Locust Swarm, and you’ve got probably over 200hp per second. Dagger skill #2 heals for close to 3700, depending on your crit chance. Axe #2 heals for quite a lot and does pretty good single-target damage at the same time. If you had higher crit chance, well, it would be even better and you’d heal even more, but I have no ascended armor…
The other reason I like this build is I can trait into spectral skills really quickly, just by changing two traits. Hasn’t failed me yet, and the damage from dagger auto attack is actually really kittening good. Add the damage from the wells and you can deal some serious dps, as well as survive like a champ with DS.

As far as runes go, you don’t really need the ones I have on, but I like the extra fury and duration. Use DS every 6 seconds and you’ve got perma fury from the trait. I love it.

You don’t need siphoning for pve at all, in fact in sucks in all areas of game as far as I am concerned every point you put in death magic or blood magic in pve is pointless useless silly ridiculous downright ludicrous. It’s not underated it’s a dps loss….. if your just having fun do whatever you want but there is a reason why the elite pvers just go pure dps. In a decent party you should have fury all the time anyway.

NeXeD.3042:

eye floater.7140:

Siphoning is underrated.

For PVE, I use this –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBIhdu1IHNt0WTjjNc4o4YQk6zkvWFZgEU+cIA-TBCBwAG3f4sSQsK/k8AAwp+DgTCQe9DMOCAkBIfDA-e

The 2 points in Death Magic can be switched to whatever you like; I usually switch it to get quicker well respawn in Blood Magic.
Every hit you gain ~45hp from siphoning, and close to 100 every critical hit (~55 from crit trait). Given the quick autoattack on dagger, it’s extremely useful. Add in Locust Swarm, and you’ve got probably over 200hp per second. Dagger skill #2 heals for close to 3700, depending on your crit chance. Axe #2 heals for quite a lot and does pretty good single-target damage at the same time. If you had higher crit chance, well, it would be even better and you’d heal even more, but I have no ascended armor…
The other reason I like this build is I can trait into spectral skills really quickly, just by changing two traits. Hasn’t failed me yet, and the damage from dagger auto attack is actually really kittening good. Add the damage from the wells and you can deal some serious dps, as well as survive like a champ with DS.

As far as runes go, you don’t really need the ones I have on, but I like the extra fury and duration. Use DS every 6 seconds and you’ve got perma fury from the trait. I love it.

You don’t need siphoning for pve at all, in fact in sucks in all areas of game as far as I am concerned every point you put in death magic or blood magic in pve is pointless useless silly ridiculous downright ludicrous. It’s not underated it’s a dps loss….. if your just having fun do whatever you want but there is a reason why the elite pvers just go pure dps.

siphoning had some niche uses in the past like ignoring damage reductions on Liadri and other encounters that reduce direct damage to 0 but other than that it’s garbage.

Siphoning is accurately rated. It is rated as garbage because it is in fact garbage. Vampiric Master is generally regarded as the best siphoning trait and it gives a whopping 150HP per second and 200 DPS in ideal situations.

NeXeD.3042:

eye floater.7140:

Siphoning is underrated.

For PVE, I use this –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBIhdu1IHNt0WTjjNc4o4YQk6zkvWFZgEU+cIA-TBCBwAG3f4sSQsK/k8AAwp+DgTCQe9DMOCAkBIfDA-e

The 2 points in Death Magic can be switched to whatever you like; I usually switch it to get quicker well respawn in Blood Magic.
Every hit you gain ~45hp from siphoning, and close to 100 every critical hit (~55 from crit trait). Given the quick autoattack on dagger, it’s extremely useful. Add in Locust Swarm, and you’ve got probably over 200hp per second. Dagger skill #2 heals for close to 3700, depending on your crit chance. Axe #2 heals for quite a lot and does pretty good single-target damage at the same time. If you had higher crit chance, well, it would be even better and you’d heal even more, but I have no ascended armor…
The other reason I like this build is I can trait into spectral skills really quickly, just by changing two traits. Hasn’t failed me yet, and the damage from dagger auto attack is actually really kittening good. Add the damage from the wells and you can deal some serious dps, as well as survive like a champ with DS.

As far as runes go, you don’t really need the ones I have on, but I like the extra fury and duration. Use DS every 6 seconds and you’ve got perma fury from the trait. I love it.

You don’t need siphoning for pve at all, in fact in sucks in all areas of game as far as I am concerned every point you put in death magic or blood magic in pve is pointless useless silly ridiculous downright ludicrous. It’s not underated it’s a dps loss….. if your just having fun do whatever you want but there is a reason why the elite pvers just go pure dps. In a decent party you should have fury all the time anyway.

Uhm, I’m sorry, what? Elite PVE’ers? Is that a joke?

Siphoning is not needed with 90% of PVE, but with the other 10% it’s actually very nice. It could totally be improved, but it’s definitely not garbage; I don’t know what you guys have been playing to call it that.

And yes, I prefer a little more survivability than your average zerk drone; I still output amazing damage for having the build I do, and I’ll be here when you pure “elite” PVE’ers are waypointing back.

there is elite pve. Those guys will never be waypointing unless it’s on purpose and they will be done with the instance before you finish the first mini boss =)

Elite PvErs, as in the guys who do a dungeon in 5 minutes that takes you an hour to complete. There are people who take the game seriously, even if it isn’t difficult to complete.

NeXeD.3042:

You don’t need siphoning for pve at all, in fact it sucks in all areas of game as far as I am concerned every point you put in death magic or blood magic in pve is pointless useless silly ridiculous downright ludicrous. It’s not underated it’s a dps loss….. if your just having fun do whatever you want but there is a reason why the elite pvers just go pure dps. In a decent party you should have fury all the time anyway.

I disagree, siphoning is sometimes needed when you solo/duo something difficult like high lvl fotm and need a sustain (like 65030 for small sustain or 64040 with minions for ultimate sustain but bigger dps loss) almost nobody soloes on necro anyway but its a thing when u do. i duoed se p2 with a necro, without 64040+minions I would never survive the aoe spam of one of the golems (last boss)
when you solo old tom you also need it, and so on.

For weapons, start a dungeon or fractal with dagger and watch the vulnerability stacks on your team targets. If you think the average stack is, maybe, 5-10 less than the cap, axe may be more potent than dagger from a group perspective.

Some groups keep vulnerability capped continuously and others miss it. Just remember, 1 vuln on a high value target is equal to 1 might on all allies (group members and minions/pets/turrets/etc.) If there is a significant lack of vulnerability, I often suck it up and trait axe for the benefit of group dps.