Guild Wars 2

Nearing my completion of a necromancer. One last question remains for end game application. Which serves the better future Power/hybrid/conditions?

I do play dungeons. I do play fractals lvl 25-35 (can’t be bother with AR after this point.) I do make strong investments in my alts with extoic armor/weapons and ascended trinkets.

This will be my 6th lvl 80 gear out, so I am experienced with dungeon evades, what is needed where for runs and evades etc..

Juast looking for feedback from more exp necromancers about what they found work best over the longer term at end game.

(No advice needed for PvP. I rarely WvW and keep it mostly in spvp, so all traits etc and free anyway.)

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

Nearing my completion of a necromancer. One last question remains for end game application. Which serves the better future Power/hybrid/conditions?

I do play dungeons. I do play fractals lvl 25-35 (can’t be bother with AR after this point.) I do make strong investments in my alts with extoic armor/weapons and ascended trinkets.

This will be my 6th lvl 80 gear out, so I am experienced with dungeon evades, what is needed where for runs and evades etc..

Juast looking for feedback from more exp necromancers about what they found work best over the longer term at end game.

(No advice needed for PvP. I rarely WvW and keep it mostly in spvp, so all traits etc and free anyway.)

Zerkers is always best, but other classes are better for that. Necromancers can do some sick aoe damage. Furthermore, if your doing fractal level 25-35 with no ar please stop. That is extremely rude to the people your playing with be it pugs or guildies. You literally go down every time ar is applied to you at that level.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQEQNArYWnYE1uZ6GGbwwZCYSB3eDpoXcjeQcwJD-jwBBINCiUIRkKAIFqIas1gFRjVJjIqWpETKAYmGB-e – kinda metaish condi setup for higher fractals and wurm in pve, still power is the better pug setup.

Vamp Signet? :o
Is it really any better with Signet Mastery and Bloodthirst?

power is usually the way to go for dung etc,anyway i use a hybrid build (ramp gear celestial trinks) and it’s awesome for fractals

You have misconstrued. I think it would be impossible to do fractals with out any AR. I have sufficient AR for up to lvl 35, but beyond that I can’t be bothered crafting more ascended just so I can slot more AR. I have seen ppl successfully play lvl 35 with only 15AR, but I myself wouldn’t recommend it. I keep whatever tier i am playing+5:
lvl 20+=25 AR
lvl30+=35AR etc etc

Pelopidas.2140:

power is usually the way to go for dung etc,anyway i use a hybrid build (ramp gear celestial trinks) and it’s awesome for fractals

I kinda thought this might be the case. Hybrid with a tad more invested into power. With the amount of might stacking that occurs I figure that would boost my conditions enough that they were viable enough to throw round as needed, but my core damage is power. Shame A-net gave necromancer no cleave damage weapons.

yeah i really dont get why dagger doesnt cleave….maybe they were bored to scale the siphoning or smthn..
Yeah you can get maybe a zerk ring or food to lean more towards power, and take close to death instead of dhuumfire…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRAnd7YjMap7tbKb87JEoH5StAiRPIGjJZoKsOA-jQCBYfBELMy0CQUFBmKAM/pIasVNFRjVVjIqWlELKAYC-e

you can switch curses VII and take Banshees Wail and use dagger/warhorn, if you feel axe is too easy

= lvl 25 fractals, never bought a piece of ARankitten ot planning on using AR until my set party will notice ^^
pat’s own shoulder

That said, i don’t run any conditions in pve/fractals/dungeon’s or anything..
Pure DS power is needed to try and match the dps of your party members.
and after the march patch i will expect conditions to be phased out even more in pve. (together with siphon if it’s being looked at)
then again, it’s subjective to your playstyle.

Only the wurm event would make me respec conditions..

flow.6043:

Vamp Signet? :o
Is it really any better with Signet Mastery and Bloodthirst?

Its still very good on husks (well worth the hp melting it does on them), in fractals not really but with all those investments it makes it… marginally less bad compared to CC (im still kinda trying to find a place outside AC skelk trap room to make it worth using as a signet instead of as on cooldown true damage).

I’ve used Nemesis’ rampager/celestial/berserker hybrid build a few times in fractals (just the 10-29 range) and it’s alright. I can’t recommend it at this point because celestial might be nerfed with the coming changes to crit damage, but it has very high overall stats with plenty of flexibility to cover every fractal.

In this build, Axe/Focus gives you decent direct damage and vulnerability. Life Blast traits are used to maximize damage with these weapons, and it is nearly equal to that of a berserker necromancer using a similar Life Blast build. Berserker will still of course do more direct damage because berserker has more power and critical damage, although using a Sigil of Earth will even the difference a bit, especially if you use Life Transfer against a group.

Scepter/Dagger is kept as the other weapon set to swap to when area condition damage is needed. This does mediocre single-target damage (about equal to a rabid necromancer in fact), but it offers far more area damage than a berserker necromancer can sustain.

Basically, the build covers both powermancer and conditionmancer while being almost as good as each at the same time and having higher vitality/crit chance. It also has unparalleled amounts of life force generation, since you have Axe 2 + Focus 4 + Scepter 3 all available to use.

The only real issues would be

1. Still have to deal with bleed caps
2. It doesn’t hit quite as hard as zerker warrior #625261 might want you to for bosses that stand still like punching bags
3. The gear is expensive (divinity runes)
4. Standard conditionmancer is probably more durable, although this is somewhat alleviated by having much higher life force generation than a conditionmancer
5. You’re still a necromancer, so no reflect/invulnerability/support

amiavamp.9785:

I’ve used Nemesis’ rampager/celestial/berserker hybrid build a few times in fractals (just the 10-29 range) […]

Why? ( ._.)

Dalanor.5387:

amiavamp.9785:

I’ve used Nemesis’ rampager/celestial/berserker hybrid build a few times in fractals (just the 10-29 range) […]

Why? ( ._.)

Spamming autoattack for maximum damage gets old.

You could make a much more effective hybrid build by making it yourself. Celestial on hybrid….

spoj.9672:

You could make a much more effective hybrid build by making it yourself. Celestial on hybrid….

Celestial in general … is just … Oo

Full Rampager is supposedly more dmg(power/condi) might be the best choice with the ferocity change. With the celestial trinkets you get a bit less power/cond dmg but more crit dmg and defensive stats. Full celestial doesnt have enough cond dmg/power, and celestial armor/ramp trinkets has similar dmg to the first combi, but is way more expensive to make and not as defensive. Sure he can make it himself but since another guy offers a ready guide with everything explained (gear/trait choices and math about dps/dps uptime, aoe/single target wise) why not see what he likes from that guide and copy it.

Because celestial isnt good. The crit damage doesnt make up for the loss of power and in some cases precision/condi damage. You get more damage just going rampager trinkets or even beserker trinkets. Heck even rabid trinkets would be better.

rampager trinkets>less survivability, less defensive stats, with celestial you get 54 crit chance (without food) with ramp you’d reach a (useless with the lack of crit dmg) 60+ crit chance.
with rabid you focus more on conditions, and start lacking on the power section of the build, again with lack of power/crit dmg, and with berserker you focus more on the power side, so why not go full zerk after all. And nemesis build already leans towards the power side of the build with the berserker backpiece. Hybrid is about having decent balanced stats all over the chart and nemesis build offers just that. And the build is flexible, you can change rings to zerk/rabid and suit your needs.

PS I have zerk/hybrid/condi/pvt and have tried most builds (or variations of them) i’ve seen, so im not that ignorant regarding theorycrafting.
I do not think all of nemesis builds are that effective, but every time someone mentions nemesis i see your hate flowing…why, because he didnt adopt the zerk meta?

Hello !
I only have a necro in game which i haven’T been playing for a while due to constant nerfs to it. I have reached up to 27 on fractals and going smooth for a while :P.

For 25-35 fractals, if you want pure damage, go power. Power build is our highest damage path but its also weaker compared to other classes. If its a pug, again go power, having a little vitality also never hurts sacrificing your dps. You are inferior compared to other warriors anyway :P.

If its a guild run and you know that you are the only condition damager, go conditionmancer.
I find condition aoe damage to be insane with epidemic and also real awesome if you are the only conditionmancer in team. Also the toughness you get is a real nice saver. Not with dumbfire, go old school with blood magic and life siphon :P. With toughness you’ll have an amazing survivability once you take aggro from all mobs that you are bleeding with Epidemic.

You probably know this since its your 6th toon, its nice to have 15-20 AR on your toon otherwise its really painful in higher level fractals :P.

I hope these help in any way.
All the best.

As a wise old man said once to me about instrument parts but it applies here too:
“You won’t know what is truly good, until you find something better you currently have.”

Dalanor.5387:

As a wise old man said once to me about instrument parts but it applies here too:
“You won’t know what is truly good, until you find something better you currently have.”

I have tried almost every necromancer build I can think of, spending hundreds of gold (plus other materials) on gear for PvE and WvW, and also testing various traits in SPvP. I have even attempted healing builds in both PvE and WvW.

The hybrid build by Nemesis is not perfect by any means, but I am seeking an alternative to an all-in power or condition build, which have their own limitations. I did attempt a melee hybrid build that utilized Near to Death and Enfeeble, but that was a waste of time, since it was obvious that berserker was just plain better there. What attracted me to Nemesis’ build was the fact that its stats are high across the board, the fact that it is capable of supporting multiple builds with a single trait setup, and the fact that it is a fast-paced, versatile playstyle that is more dependent on player skill than other necromancer builds.

If it makes you feel better, I still have my rabid and berserker gear piled up in my overcrowded inventory.

If you want a versatile, challenging hybrid build this is what I would use >

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRAoY4djMap7Vaub07JEoH5CuAiRPImjxYoKUOA-jwBBIhDimkO0UBBK5sIasVVFRjVXDTHjIqOGA/A-e

Its far from min/max but theres no way to min/max a hybrid build seeing as they are always going to be underwhelming in either condi dmg or direct damage. If rampager had power or condi damage as main stat or we had another similar stat combo then maybe we could make some genuinely good hybrid builds. But atm we have to overstack crit chance or focus more on condi damage. Either way the build lacks a lot of power. So hybrid builds always have low direct damage.

that build isnt bad. But
In comparison to ramp/celestial build it has 330 more cond dmg, 70 less power and much more direct dmg from dagger auto attack.
Ramp/celestial has more condition duration, 51% more critical damage(imo needed for a useful dagger autoattack and ds life blast), vulnerability from axe #1/life blast and a little bit more survivability…and if you kill enemies with the scepter you get cond dmg stacks to cover up the cond dmg difference. And better deathshroud when axe is equipped.
So someone could take the rampager/celestial build and use the dagger and be more effective than the build you posted, because of the much higher critical damage and the higher precision/power…changing the axe mastery trait and dhuumfire for chill of death and close to death.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRAnd7YjMap7tbaa87JEoH5StAiRPIGjJZoKsOA-jgCBYfBELMy0CQk0wk3gUBAJnFRjtqpIasqaER16aYRBATA-e

The other build for comparison, also refered to as nemesis build

People overrate critical damage a lot. Plus investing in celestial now is a very bad idea. Ferocity change will completely kill the crit damage portion of celestial gear.

spoj.9672:

People overrate critical damage a lot. Plus investing in celestial now is a very bad idea. Ferocity change will completely kill the crit damage portion of celestial gear.

I don’t know about that… the crit damage was really the redeeming quality. They may just adjust the stat a little to make it slightly more on Celestial. They never claimed celestial itself would get the same crit damage as all the other sets, just that all the crit stats would be set at a secondary stat level.

Could be a special case…. but i agree I wouldn’t invest in ascended Celestial to be sure.

They already confirmed it will be hit hardest and they want to introduce a ferocity mainstat gear eventually so that means celestial cant have it as main. It never made sense for celestial to have so much crit damage anyway.

spoj.9672:

They already confirmed it will be hit hardest and they want to introduce a ferocity mainstat gear eventually so that means celestial cant have it as main. It never made sense for celestial to have so much crit damage anyway.

Oh that is too bad…. but I think the over-load of stats on that set was made up for by the fact it forced you to take all the stats. It is a bad way to prevent extremes on builds; by coaxing people into all stat gear because of stat budgets, but in the end it would have resulted in more balanced builds.

Doubt it will catch on now, as you really have to make use of every stat point to feel good about the gear, whereas before you could ignore the condition damage for instance or healing power, and still feel okay.

so full rampager is the way to go ?
im starting a necro just for pve focusing on conditions but the power on rampager seems like a nice dps bonus for scepters against singel targets or is carrion still way better ?

Don’t go hybrid or condi in pve.

rivurivurivurivu.3041:

so full rampager is the way to go?

spoj.9672:

If rampager had power or condi damage as main stat or we had another similar stat combo then maybe we could make some genuinely good hybrid builds. But atm we have to overstack crit chance or focus more on condi damage.

So what about celestial equipment instead ?
Seems to be a well rounded alternative for a hybrid, especially as i heard rumors of them going to buff celestial equipment (only heard it once in another forum post so dont rely on this). It may be a very expensive alternative, especially when used with traveler runes, but it could be worth a thougt.

Artasqweroldy.7458:

So what about celestial equipment instead ?
Seems to be a well rounded alternative for a hybrid, especially as i heard rumors of them going to buff celestial equipment (only heard it once in another forum post so dont rely on this). It may be a very expensive alternative, especially when used with traveler runes, but it could be worth a thougt.

No. Just avoid celestial. No matter what they do with it its going to be bad. And more than likely it will be even worse off even with compensation after the feature patch.

Dalanor.5387:

Don’t go hybrid or condi in pve.

Dalanor.5387:

Dalanor.5387:

Don’t go hybrid or condi in pve.

And this.

spoj.9672:

Artasqweroldy.7458:

So what about celestial equipment instead ?
Seems to be a well rounded alternative for a hybrid, especially as i heard rumors of them going to buff celestial equipment (only heard it once in another forum post so dont rely on this). It may be a very expensive alternative, especially when used with traveler runes, but it could be worth a thougt.

No. Just avoid celestial. No matter what they do with it its going to be bad. And more than likely it will be even worse off even with compensation after the feature patch.

Is quite functional on Guard and Ele tho.

Andele.1306:

spoj.9672:

Artasqweroldy.7458:

So what about celestial equipment instead ?
Seems to be a well rounded alternative for a hybrid, especially as i heard rumors of them going to buff celestial equipment (only heard it once in another forum post so dont rely on this). It may be a very expensive alternative, especially when used with traveler runes, but it could be worth a thougt.

No. Just avoid celestial. No matter what they do with it its going to be bad. And more than likely it will be even worse off even with compensation after the feature patch.

Is quite functional on Guard and Ele tho.

Not in pve. :/

And techniquely everythings functional on every class, that doesnt make it good. Ele is the only class I feel that gets a good use out of celestial but I would still never recommend it for pve.