Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vQEQRAoY7djc00Tb5Ne2wfbCZqQ2A9IXwFQM6BxcMMDA-z0CBINDimWAmEAkkGi8GIHqIasVTFRjVzATlKp6YCy+AKrkC4RpRA-w

This is the build I’ve created and am currently using. I certainly don’t expect for it to be perfect but it serves me incredibly well. However, being full condition damage means that I have very little direct damage. This hasn’t ever proven to be much of an issue, I’m just thinking about the situation where it could become one. So my questions are;

~Would Dire or Carrion be better than Rabid? I chose Rabid because a lot of my conditions are triggered on critical hits. Figuring the higher chance I have of a critical hit the better chance of inflicting additional conditions.

~Would extra vitality be better than extra toughness? (Such as that which is offered in both Dire and Carrion). Since Necromancers have a high base vitality, I thought it would be better to go with toughness so I have a good balance of both while not having to make any trade offs.

~Is relying completely on condition damage a good or bad idea? I haven’t encountered any issues with it in either PvE or PvP, but again fearing the day I might I’m just curious, would it be better to go with power instead of precision?

As I’ve said, this build has served me very well. I’m not looking for a total overhaul just curious as to whether or not Rabid is a good choice for me with the given stats.

Well if you are very glassy than yes take dire. If not keep Rabid. Use Carrion only when going for a DS Condimancer.

From my perspective keep rabid, yes you are very glassy ,but you will nuke people with it.

@build:

Withering Precision is the worst trait in Curses after Toxic Landing. You should really pick a different one.
Also, for condition builds there’s only one viable food: +40% condi duration. This would also free up the Hemophilia trait slot for something more useful.
I’d also go for Scavenging runes instead of Undead, especially if you decide to mix in some more vitality.

On topic:
Mixing toughness and vitality will make you a lot more durable than picking just one or the other. And since you’re using a main hand dagger you’d really profit from some extra power. So in your case, getting some carrion into the mix is a pure win-win.
Don’t worry about crit procs. Barbed Precision is the only thing that get’s a noticable boost from a higher crit chance because there’s no icd. But everything else is totally negligable. You still have Furious Demise so lowering your crit chance to 35-40% is not a big deal.

Player.8373:

Use Carrion only when going for a DS Condimancer.

What is a DS condimancer? O_o

Here’s the build I run, mainly focused on WvW, since Necromancers are bad in PvE (yes I know they can work, but they’re outclassed in every respect).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vQEQNArYWjc00ab5N22webiASh7xV0DiFskRpAepD-zUCBYhBEXEiqAgkGkCBKTtIasl1FRjVdDTHjIqOAACwMLzycmBG6QH6QH6QbmzcmzcoDtUAwssC-w

No Dhuumfire because that’s changing in the near future to be applied on Death Shroud autoattack, and I don’t think that’s worth the time spent casting. 20 points in Spite for the Spinal Shivers application on targets <50%, which really seals a lot of kills. Additionally, 20% condition duration is quite nice.
Rest of the traits are pretty self explanatory.

Scepter/Dagger over Scepter/Focus because the vulnerability/regen isn’t super important for a condition build (especially when compared to a condition cleanse, long lasting bleed, and weakness) and Spinal Shivers can be traited, and fills the same role as Corrupt Boon.

Staff over Dagger/Dagger because Staff gives another major condition cleanse, a nice AoE chill, and an AoE fear which is great for combat near cliffs and ensuring a Rally or stomp. Staff also has deceptively high damage (although not nearly as much as Scepter/Dagger), Mark of Blood is on a 6 second cooldown and does 6k damage to up to 5 targets if left unchecked.

Dire Armor and Rabid Trinkets to ensure a respectable crit chance to get procs and putting the rest of the points into vitality, since Necromancers benefit from it not only as regular health, but as Death Shroud health, which is gained in percentages.

With this gear, I get a 40% chance to crit on my Scepter/Dagger set, and between the +40% from food, Lingering Curse/Hemoplilia, and the +20% duration from Spite, I can get the scepter autoattacks/grasping dead to apply +100% bleed duration, which hits the breakpoint and is quite nice for damage.

40% crit chance is plenty to proc Sigil of Earth and Barbed Precision, and means the Runes of Perplexity I use applies another condition pretty frequently. Speaking of Runes of Perplexity, the major reason I run those is (aside from having another condition for them to worry about) that with Spectral Grasp, a well timed interrupt on their heal puts them in an extremely poor situation, where they have their heal on a short cooldown exacerbated by the chill, 5 stacks of confusion, and a short CC that lets me apply more conditions.

Flesh Golem is there for the knockdown (it doesn’t benefit from Perplexity, sadly) but can be switched out for Plague if you absolutely need some survivability in which teammates can help you out. I highly discourage the use of this if alone (but Necromancers really perform much better in small groups anyways).

Corrupt Boon and Epidemic are interchangable, Corrupt is useful for crippling Elementalists, Warriors and Guardians, and Epidemic can put a lot of pressure on groups of players, especially when they’re attempting to rally someone.

Spectral Armor and Spectral Walk are interchangable, Armor generally being more useful, but Walk having its place in the form of a double stunbreak and a way to cheat death down cliffs (really the only way you’re going to escape a fight if the enemy is following you).

Relying solely on conditions means you’re really not going to bring much to PvE, since the majority of dungeons are highly favorable to power based builds, but that’s just a flaw of conditions. Necromancer doesn’t really bring much to dungeons because they provide very little might or other boons to their allies, have single target damage for nearly all of their power options, and can provide less vulnerability than other professions who ultimately do more damage themselves. I personally set my Necromancer up for WvW only, and left Dungeons to my Warrior and Thief.

flow.6043:

@build:

Withering Precision is the worst trait in Curses after Toxic Landing. You should really pick a different one.
Also, for condition builds there’s only one viable food: +40% condi duration. This would also free up the Hemophilia trait slot for something more useful.
I’d also go for Scavenging runes instead of Undead, especially if you decide to mix in some more vitality.

On topic:
Mixing toughness and vitality will make you a lot more durable than picking just one or the other. And since you’re using a main hand dagger you’d really profit from some extra power. So in your case, getting some carrion into the mix is a pure win-win.
Don’t worry about crit procs. Barbed Precision is the only thing that get’s a noticable boost from a higher crit chance because there’s no icd. But everything else is totally negligable. You still have Furious Demise so lowering your crit chance to 35-40% is not a big deal.

I disagree with everything here.

lol cool story brah xD
Care to elaborate? After all, you asked for advice on carrion/dire yourself…

flow.6043:

@build:

Withering Precision is the worst trait in Curses after Toxic Landing. You should really pick a different one.
Also, for condition builds there’s only one viable food: +40% condi duration. This would also free up the Hemophilia trait slot for something more useful.
I’d also go for Scavenging runes instead of Undead, especially if you decide to mix in some more vitality.

On topic:
Mixing toughness and vitality will make you a lot more durable than picking just one or the other. And since you’re using a main hand dagger you’d really profit from some extra power. So in your case, getting some carrion into the mix is a pure win-win.
Don’t worry about crit procs. Barbed Precision is the only thing that get’s a noticable boost from a higher crit chance because there’s no icd. But everything else is totally negligable. You still have Furious Demise so lowering your crit chance to 35-40% is not a big deal.

Player.8373:

Use Carrion only when going for a DS Condimancer.

What is a DS condimancer? O_o

Don’t you know what a DS condimancer is (also called by people DS dancer)?. If not I can t explain it right now, because that’s off topic :P

For OP:

-Withering precision isn t as good as lingering curse. ( I don t use both but that’s not the point).
-Aren t you feeling a bit glassy?
-Why useing dagger in the main hand over scepter? (I would choose for Staff + scepter/dagger).
-Why are you useing superior sigil of smoldering, it indeed gives your burning a bit longer duration , but you could better use a sigil of earth for a double bleed.