Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow Necros.

You are probably (or hopefully) in this forum because you are either interested in the class, or because you already love it. We are a passionate group of individuals!

At what point, or when, did you realize that you loved the Necromancer?

I ask, because I had recently had an experience with my level 64 Necromancer in a story mission with some krait. I was struggling against mobs of them towards the end of the mission, when finally I realized that I had a second weapon set (my first being D/W, my second being staff, my utilities being wells) that I should be using as AoE damage. And it worked beautifully! I had previously just thought the Necromancer (though my highest level profession) was just a pretty nifty class, and I liked using the dagger… It wasn’t until I really started looking at the potential of marks, AoE damage vs. 1v1 melee that I saw how great this class can be, and is. And I know this is fairly minor to what the class can do, but I am excited to really get deep in my traits, etc.

How about you guys? What/when made you realize you love the Necromancer? We know it has its problems, but like I said earlier… If you’re here, you must be sticking around for something.

You took all that time to write this and no one has answered…
I’ll answer you, though it won’t be as lengthy.

I had my eyes on this class before the game even came out. It was the draw of using pets for me…reminiscent of my main class in DAoC, the Bonedancer.

I had a Necro in GW1 so there was no way I wasn’t resurrecting her for GW2.

There are a bunch of reasons why I like Necros in GW2 (#shamelessplug ), but I think the first time I got my MM build together was what made me first really fall for the profession. Suddenly, PvE content became drop-dead easy. I’d go to get some water and find a bunch of bugs on the floor waiting for me with I got back, my minions looking up at me as if asking “we did good, boss, we did good?”

Then, of course, I found all the other cool things we can do. The first time I landed a good Corrupt Boon in WvW on a Guardian was magical, and it’s still magical to this day; I remember this one time, a thief was taunting a group of us and made the mistake of using Steal on a Mesmer and then popping the Consume Plasma skill he got from it right before stealthing. He’d disappeared, but I knew I got him, and sure enough, there he was 5 seconds later bleeding out on the ground. Mwa ha ha.

EDIT: Apparently you can’t use the acronym for “away from keyboard.” Da kitten?

Took a bit honestly. from beta to around october, I ran strictly conditionmancer with staff and scepter+dagger. for the most part it was pretty fine as I had came from Aion and was a DoT class in that game (Spiritmaster), and I was able to get to 80. Problem was that while the CC potential was close to Spiritmaster, but the DPS ability seemed a little meh after a while. I eventually quit and only came back later around late january after finding axe and hybrid gear (Rampager).

Things were a little shaky even then. One reason I quit before was because the whole class felt like it was completely jumbled and riddles with bugs. When I came back, my ele friend suggested I make an alt to get over it. So I did, made a warrior and decked them out heavily when they got to 80. But even though I enjoyed her, she still didn’t fit. So I went back and made a Mesmer. Once again, powerful and sometimes fun, but just couldn’t play anything outside tanky Phantasm. However, somewhere between those two characters I had found But a Corpse Broadcast via reddit. I dont know why I didn’t start with the latest video, but I ended up somehow watching the Talentless episode with video. needless to say, I was impressed. After that, I picked up mainhand dagger and started making my own builds. Even with all my complaints about the class and how much i feel it needs some work, I know that the reason I want it to be better now is because I love the class. I signified that a few weeks ago by buying A Cultural set for my Necro.

Anyway, basically the Tl;Dr is that it took a while. That said, I still hope they work on the class more, and hope they never nerf Power builds.

To be honest I really didnt find the necro very attractive due to the negativity on thr forums for this class and only make one to help my guild in wvw.

But once I figured out the potential of this class and how I wanted to play it my thief took a backseat to be my troll class for the lulz.

I loved the idea of a Necro from Beta, and every time the weekend was over, I found myself daydreaming about how I’d build it the next time Beta rolled around.

But when full release happened, I went thief. It wasn’t until I decided to mess with a Powermancer build that I remembered how awesome the Necro was. The first time I pulled off a BiP, Well of Suffering, DS #4 combo in a Harathi Hinterlands meta-event, I was sold. I couldn’t stop giggling.

The animations are incredible (Axe #3 being my favorite), and the game play is so scrappy—there’s no “play this way” build, and with Death Shroud there’s always some trick to pull out.

On top of it all, I love the control/debuff aspect you can play as a Powermancer. ConD’s aren’t limited to bleeds, and you can help your group in so many ways while still dealing decent damage. I’ve been having a hard time leveling my alts ’cause all I wanna do is play my Necro.

I just REALLY hope they send some love our way in future updates.

Loyo.8526:

Took a bit honestly. from beta to around october, I ran strictly conditionmancer with staff and scepter+dagger.

I also started as a condi/bleed necro with S/D and staff as nothing else seemed as effective. I mostly played WvW and some casual PvE at the time. Once I started sPvP, I started exploring more with different builds (since I didn’t need to grind for the gear) and that’s when I stopped playing my other characters.

While I can’t speak too much for other classes, I feel like there’s a lot of nuances and variation in the builds that are possible with Necromancer that weren’t in any of the other classes that I played and that makes me want to keep playing it.

The class definitely has some issues with regard to balance right now, but I like its overall design and where it’s heading.

I forget where I was but it dealt with centuar, there was a group of 20 of them all cluttered around a rock dog fight. I figured what the hell, I already have the heart might as well see what happens.

(Syphon Build) So I pop my Locust Swarm and run right into the middle drop my well of suffering as they all charge in, pop axe #3 for retaliation and then hop into DS4 to drain a bunch before I get chain knocked down. when I resurface I drop corrosive poison cloud for AoE weakness spam dagger #4 to drop weakness and then hop into plague to blind spam. By now with all my AoEs I’ve kitten ed everything off and they’ve all charged in. When plague finished I hopped back into DS for #4 and finished the lot of them. Without using heals I finished off all the mobs at full health thanks to the brilliant amount of syphoning at work amongst all my AoE.

I was already enjoying my necro, but after the feat I was sold, nothing feels as immortal as my Necro does.

Mastering the use of Flesh Golem was one of my most proud things in this game.

Loved it since beta. Gave up playing for nearly a year when the game came out, because we were soooo buggy & it just made me ‘mad bro’.

Mimir.4690:

At what point, or when, did you realize that you loved the Necromancer?

When my cousin was playing the original GW1 campaign. In his team was a Necromancer with a Bone Fiend out, I instantly thought that amazing and was the sole reason I bought the original GW and rolled a Necro; which brought me here.

I’ve been maining as an engineer since launch in top tier pvp, but I’ve always been intrigued by the necromancer class. I finally decided to try it out on my team… AND IT’S AWESOME. For some reason it’s just a FUN class. Definitely a class for someone looking to see a lot of bleed numbers and be a servant to the dark lord satan!

I fell in lust with the Necromancer back in GW1, with a Corrupt Enchantment build and a delightful little spitfire with dark green pigtails out of Cantha. Ryn could do a little bit of everything and exemplified the toolbox necromancer for me back then. Enough minions to keep a shield between her and harm, debilitating hexes to protect her and her allies, some nice DPS from degen pips. A right and proper jill of all trades Ryn was, and something of a fixture of mine.

Heh…it’s really too bad GW2 doesn’t let me do half of that. Toolbox builds are against the rules now, it seems. Oh well. Ryn’s still there, and working up into a hybrid build. I’ve been enjoying it, and I could see myself growing to love it, but I suppose I just haven’t gotten there yet.

Oh well. Give it time, I suppose. Heh, Necromancers are supposed to be the best at getting a slow, inevitable grip on you, after all.

To be honest, my main char in GW1 was a Mesmer and I played a Mesmer here at first too. But! I played the Mesmer in GW1 as the annoying class that makes you suffer for what ever you do. Interrupting casts, using backfire etc. The GW2 Mesmer is completely different and that shocked me. I tried a thief, but not my style. Then I tried the Necromancer as he was able to wear two daggers and fight melee while using magic.
After some levels I realized that the necromancer is the new mesmer in regard to punishing the enemy for using skills (like boons) and is able to do for a part what has been the mesmer job before.

Walking with Minions, playing condition damage, playing melee damage with wells, or just plain supporting the group with heals and so on. As the necromancer was able to do all this and more I began to love this class as it is able to do alot without getting bored. True enough there are a lot of drawbacks and balance is not that fine, I also have my issues with DS as class special, but inventing the class all new again with a different build when I am bored or just feel underwhelmed makes my day.

The playstyle, animations, styling, the IDEA behind what Anet wants them to be (hopefully will happen soon), wide variety of semi functional builds

seraphenslaved.6235:

The playstyle, animations, styling, the IDEA behind what Anet wants them to be (hopefully will happen soon), wide variety of semi functional builds

This. Whether it’s due to inherent class-design (doubtful) or the vast number of bugs (probable), there really is no one build. As a result, half the fun of the Necro is simply saying, “Eh, I’m bored with _______. I’m going to try something different.”

I play both the Thief and the Necro, and this is what brings me back to the Necro all the time. With the Thief, there are just certain ways you HAVE to build. Not so with our deathly friend.

My first alt (main Thief) came thanks to the to the concept of having an asura necro with a business card saying "Cryptician Zetti, Bureaumancer of Necrotic Efficiency, College of Statics".

The first time you get a good stack of bleeds Epidemic to melt the other team at a point in sPvP... yes, love.

Great stories, guys.

I would also like to add another really defining experience for me as a Necromancer: Having finally reached my first level 80 on my Necro, I went along with a beginner group to do CoF P1 (my first dungeon with my Necromancer, and first dungeon since release) and while I did die a couple of times (some of which was the fault of downed state, grrr), I found myself being a relatively strong addition to the team of 2 mesmers, 1 warrior, and 1 thief. It was very encouraging!

Mimir.4690:

At what point, or when, did you realize that you loved the Necromancer?

I want to say 12 or 13 years ago, because I loved the Necromancer in Diablo 2 and Googling stuff about Necromancers later on made me find out about GW1.
And I liked Necro in GW1 as well!

Of course when GW2 came out my mind was already made up.
They are all quite different but I like all of them.

I got bored of Necro at one point and made a Thief.
I saw so many things that Thieves do way better than Necros… but also I saw Necromancer in a different light.
It made Necro’s strengths shine out much stronger than before.
How Necros don’t get one-shotted by “everything” and how you can still affect battles quite a bit from 1200 range away.

It also gave me a good idea of just how much the high health pool helps against spammy AoE damage in WvW.

It’s unlikely that I ever stop maining Necro, although they do need a bit of love right now.

The moment I managed to get a epidemic off on the opposing team on the graveyard point in spvp. 391 hrs and full exotic carrion set later still never bored with my necro.

Epidemic, deathshroud and being one dirtiest ranged casters in the books. So many tricks and traps, PBAoE bleeds and nasty marks.

I do love my necro. I’m happy 1v1’ing pretty much any class or build going (though I still hate stealth-cleansing thieves) and the sheer joy of hitting Corrupt Boon on someone with all the boons is amazing.

When i was level 10 and i got my first well… Ahh it was awesome

Well in combination that i played the Necro in GW, my general love for twisted things: Cute, Cute, Cute, Cute More cute. etc then the obvious choice is the profession that gets marks and wells with runes from the stygian pits of hell, that also turns into a giant friggn lich. Also Pink and cover are for sissies, I AM WALKING COVER!

my love for necro was at the release of gw1:factions when i started mine i kept playing necro and loved the wide range of possibilities. mele, tank, ranged dps it can do it all not the best at any of it but always with more tricks to be used.

this carried over to gw2 and i was plesantly supprised that the necro still has more versatility then the other classes and has the power to get things done.

also it is always fun to be able to 1v1 90% of the thiefs and warriors and still be one of the best at seige defence/offence

Great thread. I played Necro exclusively on GW1 for 6 years and just finished gearing my second necro in GW2 (due to not wanting Asura anymore).

This class is the most interesting of all the ones I’ve played. The animations, the skills, the loosely connected builds… it’s all a part of the beautiful chaos that is the Necromancer. Notice that every player that talks about the Necro’s downfalls still play their favorite class religiously. This is because we know that once ANet completes their vision of what they want the Necromancer to be, it will not disappoint.

Also, Final Rest.

I originally played dervish in GW1, loved the idea of using spells and weapon attack skills in melee while still not being the squishiest thing out there. My friend, who had played for much longer than I had, told me about the ranger/necro touch build, and from there I had my first taste of necro skills. For the flavor, I used an axe to make sure my auto-attack got me into melee range and the knife-skin grim cesta was a great touch to the feel. At this point, I decided to actually roll a necro primary, but I didn’t play it too much before GW2 came out.

From launch, I mained an engineer, mostly because the mechanical mayhem that was available. I rolled a necro to try leveling mostly in WvW, but I didn’t get very far until I started reading the forum. I saw the idea of the power necro build, and it returned to me the same sort of feelings I had for the tanky-melee-dps I had going in GW1. So, I started putting more time into my necro. Then I was enlightened as to the unadulterated joy in corrupt boon and running people down with spectral grasp. My happiness was, in that moment, complete.

I’ve always loved casters and after my gw1 account got hacked (and my ele got deleted) I rolled a necro. I’ve had great times with him both in PvE and PvP (suicide bombing) and I just had to have a necro in gw2 ^^.

I must say I felt pretty kitten strong throughout the levelling process ^^
Been playing for 9 months now (and own my necro for 9 months) and he’s grown out to a tough plant!

my necro never bores me, idk how, but he never does. Whenever I pick him up for a dungeon, I’m just enjoying his epicness ^^.

Also the fact that they’re so dark and evil-ish (well not in gw, they’re good guys here) just makes them cooler.

I really liked the Warlock in Wow, so naturally wanted to try the Necro. But the lower levels were boring: squishy pet, boring axe, etc. So I hung it up for a while and tried several other classes. When I returned and switched to S/F and Staff, things worked much better.

Now, it’s the only profession that I’ve taken to level 80, and it’s never boring. Marks are clever, we have three elites that are great (many professions don’t), things like Epidemic are really different. Yeah, it’s a fun class.

last night after finding out i can play a mage type char with my fave weapon set d/d without being squishy or have colorful stuff come out from them.

Funny story,

I was on a HIGH cliff watching a battle and I spot a guardian behind me. I knew he was probably gonna knock me off with hammer, so I jumped off intentionally without having life force or spectral walk active. My first though was that , DS will save me!!

Then I saw red message “Not enough Life Force”

I laughed at my fail and the guardian was probably like " did they just kill themselves???"

when I made my 1st character and chose the skull mask with big floppy ears.
when i got to level 80 and tried conditions for the first time.
when i leveled my 2nd necro and only struggled with mobs when they were 10lvls higher than me (immune to my damage)
when I realized how powerful terror was.

theres more… but Im at work.

The necro just does two things that fit my playstyle fairly well: excessive dots and minions. The latter in particular is always my first choice when deciding what class I want to play in a game. Then there’s a lot of small things that just make me smile:

- Almost every time I decide to try out DS to see if it will absorb some big instant kill attack it doesn’t disappoint and I’m usually left laughing the rest of the fight.
- Wreaking havoc in WvW with staff/wells or scepter/dagger and Epidemic.
- Nearly soloing a boss in a dungeon with minions after my party got downed.
- Laughing as my allies struggle to remove a boss’s damage negating abilities while my conditions steadily reduce it’s health

I have 5 80s, but the necro just makes me giggle more than any other class. Getting off a good corrupt boon or epidemic is absolutely delightful. If I want variety outside my bleed burst build, I switch to power wells + chill. Well of suffering/corruption + guardian dome of death — joyous again! And plague form--how I love thee!