Guild Wars 2

I’m kind of at a loss for what weapons/skills I should be going for. I have issues up close, so I’d prefer no dagger. I was thinking axe/dagger and a staff?

Also, has anyone built a cookie cutter crit/power trait tree?

Why does nobody ever mention PvP/PvE?

If it’s PvE I can help you out.

Let’s say PVE for now, because I’m using it to build for PVP.

Well for PvE, I’m going 10 Spite/30 Curses and Soul Reaping. You want to maximize fury uptime (the 15 trait in Curses), so you need the reduced DS cooldown at maxed SR. With two runes of rage, you can stay in DS for 6 seconds, equaling 3 shots of Life Blast, then you exit, get as much Life Force as possible, and reenter for another 6 seconds (this is the PvE philosophy). A sigil of strength gives you might when you crit, and you should be critting a lot – the points in SR are vital here as well, since traits are a major part of maxing crit damage, unlike stuff like the main stats where you get a lot more from geat than from traits. To that end, for PvE, mixing in a few runes of fire or anything else that increases might duration helps as well (I was actually about to test if the sigil might works with duration increases from runes, but I left it for tomorrow). Personally, I run 4 runes of rage and 2 of fire. You really want to keep reentering DS while making sure that fury is up all the time in that mode, and you want to have as much life force as possible because more of it equals more damage on your main attack. Due to all the critting, the trait that gives you 1% LF 1/3 of the time when you crit is very useful. Other valuables are the ones that give might, and the ones that let Life Blast pierce targets (shooting at 4-5 enemies in a line in PvE and critting all of them due to 80-90% crit chance with fury equals loads of might stacks), as well as those that activate when you enter DS or when you crit.

Due to spending only 5 seconds outside DS, you only have time to cast 1 skill per weapon, and an extra utility skill every time you leave DS. Thus, you want something with very good LF buildup – the scepter is perfect because it gives you 2-22% life force depending on the conditions on the target; and in PvE it more often than not has 6-7+ conditions on it. With a dagger/scepter combo, you can stack a fair amount yourself as well. An axe is a good choice for a second main weapon, because its 8-hit second skill, while not capable of giving you an easy 10% at the worst of times like the scepter, is still very capable of getting that green bar up. A staff works as well, the drawback being that you can only bring a sigil of strength, without a secondary one, and that you have to take the trait for 3% LF from marks. The range advantage is a bliss for certain PvE encounters though, as is the bleed stacking (synergizes very well if you have a condition necro pal with epidemic, because it overwrites your condition damage with his on the newly afflicted). Utility skills are something I change even mid-dungeon depending on the encounter, but a good start are the two wells that deal damage. Elite-wise, golem is the way to go, Lich has some uses but is mostly niche when it comes to this build.

I just tried this out and it is difficult to get the might to stick.

Also, just an FYI for people reading this thread that also want to go crit. You can craft the axe you’ll want with mystic forge for pretty cheap. I just found from a fellow player. You burn 50 sp and 30 mystic coins, but the rest of the mats will only cost you ~2g.

See: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_forge/Mystic_Weapons

Maybe it’s possible to make the axe work, but in my experience the weapon is sub-par compared to the dagger (for close-up, that you don’t want) or the scepter. It’s not a terrible weapon, but it just doesn’t compare well at the moment.

(My time using the axe has been limited, and I haven’t played a build specifically meant for it, so YMMV.)

So far as it goes, if I were looking to go with an axe I’d pursue a +Power +Critical Damage (with a small dose of +Precision to keep crit rate around 16-20%), putting the remainder toward Vitality (aka, the Valkyrie).

With the vulnerability the axe gives, I’d want to hit real big when I crit but wouldn’t care about crit-hitting as often. The Spite line suits this well as it increases raw damage and makes conditions like vulnerability last longer on the target.

It’d be the ogre necromancer, focused on signets and the occasional well. Probably 30/0/0/20/20. Personally, I do not see the axe as suitable for a high-Precision build, as suggested by Fadeaway.

Also, excepting WvW (where very long range is a common necessity), I wouldn’t suggest using a staff as a secondary weapon for the character. Scepter/x and its damage and utility will prove more useful in most situations.

I built a power/crit necro. It is not really working right now because of all the bugged skills/traits, but I think it will be good if all of those things ever get fixed.

Traits:
10
30
0
0
30

Some highlights:
64% crit chance with food buff
+110% crit dmg with food buff
3207 attack

I am currently using scepter/dagger trying to do the condition dmg angle with this, but like I said – bugs.

So I think a staff/aoe adaptation to my current build will work best for the time being.

I’ve had awful luck with the scepter. They need to buff its damage back up a little or increase its attack speed.

Dagger is really powerful, but your squishykitten in melee range usually doesn’t end well.

The axe hits really hard considering you get 600 range out of it imo.

If you make a power build and don’t go 30 spite for +20% damage when the target is under 50% health you’re an idiot. Casting spinal shivers on targets when they hit 25% health makes a kill pretty much guaranteed.

Pure power + crit builds don’t work in PvP as you need toughness and vitality. We scale incredibly well with toughness because of DS and our high base HP. Use that to your advantage.

Dagger + focus is your main weapon set. Generally a staff 2ndary because marks are too good to pass up and the main attack does OK damage with a power build. Axe is BY FAR our worst weapon, avoid it at all costs.

Well of Suffering and well of corruption do big damage in a power build. If a melee character wants to fight you in either well you will win.

The key is using dodge and DS to avoid the crazy burst skills out there. If you dodge the initial burst you will win any fight.

Main point of axe is you’re applying Vulnerability to every mob you touch (damage is mediocre but if you’re in a power/crit DS build you’re not auto attacking much). I don’t go 30 in Spite for 2 reasons – 1) it’s really only +10% dmg for mob below 50% hp (it’ll get fixed though), and 2) If I’m stacking crit mainly, crit dmg is my next highest source of dmg.

I mean, I’m stacking power/crit/crit dmg, but if I could sacrifice some power for more crit if I could. I’m sitting at 84% crit 106% crit damage pretty much always in a 10/30/0/0/30 build. And Karandor is so right, wells are SO powerful in a power/crit build.

Daggers do by far (like double anything axe does) the most damage of any of our skills in the game. If you aren’t using it with power/crit/crit damage you are seriously missing out.