Guild Wars 2

So many posts talking about how bad axe is or trying to main a Staff, guys they are not designed to be your main weapon! Axe is for the second set and so is Staff! Its a way to get some utility, CC and Life Force regen in while Scepter/Dagger CD is winding down.

Ionno what you smoking, but Staff is the best necro weapon we got.

Marks hit in stealth, staff gains the most life force especially with mark giving life force traits, staff 4 transfers conditions, and aoe fear cc, 1200 range, pierce.

But yes, you’re supposed to be constantly weapon swapping and most people dont they just sit with one weapon. But if I had to choose a weapon set to sit with, itd be staff. It just is too good.

Agreed with Berullos, I think that other weapons besides Staff are just awful. I see myself having Staff+Death Shroud and nothing more. Sure, I have a Warhorn as a backup interrupt on the other set but most of the time I spent laying marks and jumpin in and out of Death Shroud to shoot off a couple of Life Blasts.

I originally thought like the OP, that staff would be my backup weapon, then I played with it. Greater marks traited, I love the thing (though the sound could be better and 1 could be a little faster). But gather a few mobs by 1 tab-cycling through them, drop 2, 3, 4, a well and DS/Life Transfer and you’re an AOE god

If i was to break down my typical usage of weapons in a small scale WvW fight it would be:

• Axe: 15%
• Staff: 30%
• Lich Form: 20%
• Death Shroud: 35%

Id agree on the fact Staff can be a ‘main weapon’ but only on the condition that its not your only weapon. Different scenarios call for different uses. Main hand with Off hand is completely dependent on the user and there style but we have too many variations on damage to have one “Main” weapon.

I’d agree with the OP, but the staff just blows the doors off all the other weapons.
I really don’t see how I can give up the wh offhand for the run speed.

With the staff recharge boost, I feel like I have comparable dps, with AoE, greater range, and access to a bunch of CC.

Maybe I can mess with runes to stack boon/swiftness duration and trait spectral mastery. e.g. PvP shoes with runes of air

Really I just want the best build that has 20 point in greater marks/staff recharge and near 100% swiftness uptime. Everything else is optional.

TRUE, very true… should go w/o saying. We have 2 switchable weapon sets and DS, if you’re not using it all of them then you’re missing out. Off topic, but this is also why I don’t understand everyone comparing axe/scepter and only the damage on the #1 skill. Who plays with just the #1??? That should be the spammable filler in between your cool-downs… I digress.

BUT, if I had to choose a “Main” weapon right now (pre any potential/hopefull 11/15 buffs to axe – please) that main would be the staff.

No idea what OP means here. I main staff. I see no reason why I shouldn’t. It is great for any situation.

If I were to have a weapon set, mine would be Staff and DS. I don’t find any of the other weapons to do as much for my build. The daggers are too close for my liking, the axe is…the axe, and the scepter is a weapon for complete condition damage. I am in staff 90% of the time. The 10% is just to switch for a warhorn swiftness.

staff is by far the greatest weapon that we have it got a blast finisher and and and aoe frost and poison and can heal your teammates and aoe fear. it should never be a main weapon unless your a super support build that does nothing but throw out mark of bloods on people give them area retaliation iwith wells and deliver area weakness to the burst dangers.. but yea.. how many necros play like that..

im a heavy power necro but i always got my staff out in the start of the battle its one of the few defensive counter measures i have vs the burst people espcially in the start with 0 lf.

Cempa.3645:

So many posts talking about how bad axe is or trying to main a Staff, guys they are not designed to be your main weapon! Axe is for the second set and so is Staff! Its a way to get some utility, CC and Life Force regen in while Scepter/Dagger CD is winding down.

what kind of CC does the axe give you??
And why not? I dont see any arguments in your post. How do you know they arent supposed to be main weapons?

Darkheart said, “Who plays with just the #1???”

…given the responses in this thread, apparently a lot. I use both my staff and daggers almost equally. What’s the point of weapon swapping if you’re not going to use it? DS is reserved for “oh kitten!” moments and the bits of utility it provides in keeping me alive and keeping pressure on my opponent. It doesn’t offer anything worthwhile enough to utilize it for more than that.

@ OP: So where are the tool tips for these classifications that tell me whether or not I can use a weapon as my “main” weapon? I’d also like to see where these limitations are represented on other characters. Could I find this in the wiki? /dumbfounded

1/10 – ridiculous thread is ridiculous

I thought about making a threat about a discussion of our weapons, maybe even more now.
Without claiming to be “right” for me, pve,

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQUQRArY3djMat7pbWaM8JCoHvHXOL6BxMWyoK4OA

with all rampager gear, the ‘most’ used weapon is the scepter. If bleeds are spread and #2, #5 are on cd i have two options:

axe or DS.

If i use the focus #4 → axe #2 with the might from BiP the dmg is good to have

BUT: now i am stuck with the axe until the switching cd is ready again, so i can spam the unliked #1 or can change into DS for 2-3 LBs( or WOB + DS#4).

Long example short: For me the axe is more like a NOT-main weapon.

2nd BUT: if you switch between… DS, axe and say dagger i can see the axe can be used more often than the dagger, esp. if you can’t sit in one place without moving.

I’m pretty sure for every weapon are some good uses, as a main or a more off/utility weapon, so i would like to hear more ’rotations you guys use

cheers.

Staff can easily be tailored to be a main weapon and has plenty of traits to support this option. I feel staff is our best rounded weapon, and while it’s not the king of damage, it can still apply decent amounts for a ranged weapon, on top of all it’s other benefits/utilities.

Axe, however, just falls short, I agree. I never use it more than a weapon swap for life force/slow or supporting/stacking a bunch of vulnerability stacks to go along with my main power weapon, the dagger. Or using it to supplement staff, in a pure ranged power/DS build.

Axe is not a main weapon and hardly a secondary weapon. I have tried just about every build type and found axe to be inferiour to alternatives.

People spoke about it being for support builds, so spent a crap ton of money to get a support type build, high heal high vit heal, axe heal staff and ended up using staff exclusively as most axe skills are crap and it offers little of they way in support other than vuln.

Staff, however goes with any build. I do wish it scaled with condition as it does with power but I use it as much as my daggers as any given fight and do not consider it a secondary weapon in the least.

The fact that it hits like a truck and pierces helps too. It’s only fault is that its slow but in a Zerg it does its intended damage and seems to bounce between people that are close together.

I won’t even comment on the skills it offers, as that should be obvious to all.

If you doing a condition build (which is most people), scepter/dagger main is evident. Saying that staff is better is some outrageous kitten.

I use staff the most in my power builds.

Scepter the most in my condition builds.

/shrug

I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t consider myself to have a main/backup. I got two weapons.

Not arguing with people who think staff is main/not-main weapon, but I think there’s something wrong if a necromancer doesn’t carry a staff with him unless he can make it up with utilities. From being the easiest weapon to gain LF, to having 4 useful CC at 2-5 (I save 4 if I know I will need to remove a condition), and being the weapon you will swap on before you turn on DS or go on Lich Mode (using other weapons beside staff when you use those two are indications of how dumb people are not knowing the staff basic dmg)… carrying a staff is a no-brainer.

Hey let’s justify bad weapon design and ineffective damage by calling them ‘backup’ weapons.
Lol it’s funny how people allow their class to get kittenand make excuses for the company doing it.

Staff also has a projectile and blast combo finisher. Apart from minion bomb, our only combo finishers. I often go staff#3 → #4 just for the area weakness/extra damage when conditions aren’t a problem. Combine that with Light/Dark wells for different effects.

Vhalantru.3489:

Staff also has a projectile and blast combo finisher. Apart from minion bomb, our only combo finishers. I often go staff#3 -> #4 just for the area weakness/extra damage when conditions aren’t a problem. Combine that with Light/Dark wells for different effects.

This is a huge issue with necros, how our combos, and damaging abilities, we need to save for their utility, and yet they still do lackluster damage.

Axe and dagger are pleasing to use because you only use the abilities for what you need them for. 2 on cooldown with axe for life force and damage, 3 for aoe damage / snare.
Staff’s auto attack is pathetic, it’s the lowest dps auto attack of all our weapons, so mostly we use marks for damage in that mode, so then do you use your 3 for damage, or save it for kiting when you need it? What about our 4 then, the combo finisher? Do we use it for a finisher after 3 or save it for when we need to hot-drop all our conditions?

Yeah these choices might seem like ‘flavor’ but when you’re already struggling to bring down your opponent they really just seem like bad mechanics.

Sorry to ask but what combo finsher are there?

you swap to axe for them?

New to it all, so sorry to ask?

If you go staff main, is it axe/warhorn (for speed) in off hand?

Thanks

Siobhan.3582:

Sorry to ask but what combo finsher are there?

you swap to axe for them?

New to it all, so sorry to ask?

If you go staff main, is it axe/warhorn (for speed) in off hand?

Thanks

If you are looking for finishers necros have very few
Staff 1 – 20% chance of projectile
staff 4 – blast finisher
spear 4 (water weapon) whirl finisher
utility bone minions – 2x blast finishers
utility flesh wurm teleport – blast finisher
and one more not known by many people using the blood magic III trait mark of evasion when you roll you place a mark and create a blast finisher at the end point of your roll. this has a cool down of about 10 seconds

In this game you can pretty much do whatever you like, throw random skill points and use random utility traits and pretty much think you are the next big thing…except in Tournaments.

Axe can be used as a second set weapon for Life Force and Cripple+Retaliation and that is why you switch to it and also the off hand which is also utility based!

Staff is intended also to generate Life Force and give AGAIN CC and utility! It is not a main weapon!

Can you build around Staff, of course you can, you can build around axe too!

What if you want to be all that you can be? Then you build a condi Necro….PERIOD!

Spec whatever floats your boat and go into the worlcd feeling like the HULK, but if you want to be all you can be then its Scepter+Dagger as a main and 2nd set you can pick staff or Axe.

Noriega.8763:

I do wish it scaled with condition as it does with power

Can you explain why you think staff scales better with power? I run a power build, but ended up buying a Rampager’s staff for the extra condition damage over Berserker’s because my minor testing showed that I’d do more damage that way… Was I wrong?

Kolisch.4691:

using other weapons beside staff when you use those two are indications of how dumb people are not knowing the staff basic dmg

You mean the difference in weapon strength right? Or am I missing something here?

The staff is my main weapon. In fact is the one thing about necros that I believe is irreplaceable. the fact that I I can hit in stealth and blocking foes ((While traited)) is amazing. The transfer conditions and fear when applied correctly can change the course of things in a tough dungeon.

As far as the other weapons go, they are interchangeable. None of them have proven to be too useful, I like to take and axe to swap and build my life force when we are at bosses. Hopefully the buff the axe because it really needs it.

I love Dual Daggers to death. The damage is great, it has utility to nerf the opponent’s damage, and rooting with #3 and stealing health with #2 works wonders for me.

I just really don’t see Ax being viable. It seems to mostly be about damage, but the damage is worse than the Daggers and it doesn’t have the utility of Daggers. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Also, +1 to Staff being incredible. I couldn’t see playing Necro without it.

I love my staff’s utility, but I can’t stand listening to Necrotic Grasp’s sound effects for more than a few seconds at a time. As such, I carry dual daggers for when I need to not listen to “Goooo, goooo, chhhhew, chhhhew!” and for when I need to do damage to structures.

I use axe as my main weapon, more so becasue a norn isnt a norn without an axe, its dps is less than that of dagger but retaliation can make up for it if getting targeted. Axe however still requires a revamp, 3 should be a blast finisher and 1 and 2 require either more utility or higher damage.

Dagger on my main hand , I faceroll every class.

ps : i dont know how ppl 1 on 1 with staff though lol

There really isn’t a main weapon. Rarely if ever is there a time where you’re better off auto attacking than using your abilities on your other weapon. (unless you are saving putrid mark to transfer conditions as an example).

the axe is simply a sub-par weapon. the 3 skill on it is FANTASTIC though.

Yes, because we can use the least weapon variety among professions, and now you come along and say that only one of them is supposed to be a main set.

ALL weapons that are given to a class should be usable as main weapons, that’s what gives variety which should naturally come from good game design. Currently only the staff and scepter/off-hand are the only one that work. Axe does pathetic damage, dagger does the job but too risky with our lack of CC and mobility like other melee squishies..who also deal more damage.

axe should be buffed, 1 especialy is way to weak 9 rework it so it is a combo chain similar to dagger, remove vunerabiltiy, add dammage

slightly buff axe 2 (ghastly claws) for either more dammage or adding a condition (fire perhaps)

also buff axe 3, i dont see retaliation as usefull like so many do, id rather have more dammage or have it place a 5 stack of vunerability

Axe does seem kind of weak.

I swap between scepter/dagger and staff. The cooldowns on each are such that I can just frontload every targetable ability for each weapon upon swapping and use the abilities that hit harder based on number of conditions afterward, like scepter #3, if I remember right. I just started playing necro and mine is only level 28 but I’m loving it pretty hard.

Cempa.3645:

So many posts talking about how bad axe is or trying to main a Staff, guys they are not designed to be your main weapon! Axe is for the second set and so is Staff! Its a way to get some utility, CC and Life Force regen in while Scepter/Dagger CD is winding down.

So If I have staff in weapon slot 1 and an axe in weapon slot 2. Which one is my main weapon?