Guild Wars 2

I am trying to make a new build for WvW Zerg in tier 1 server, but I would like some opinions.
I did two build.

DPS Build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3Yjc0UbbNNu0wfbCchC63MAahouAqbjz4LA-TlDEABps/wTKh0T3QUKHgUFiLVdJR1AM4CA0lSQmUiIlSCJOCAA8AAe4gAEAAB4m3Mb2mBD9oH9oH9oN0bezduzdWGglJA-w

Well Build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3Yjc0UbbNNu0wfjihha2aIIgJqAg6rIKyVA-TFDEABps/ge6GiS5wlq6koaAGcBA6SJoUK5k4IAooKBA8AAe4gAEAABYn7MdWnBDdoDdoDdotzduzduzdWGglJA-w

Those two build have different Traits, and I don’t know which should I choose. Any idea?
About stats, mostly Power, Toughness, Vitality, Crit Chance and Ferocity. What are good number to follow a battle with a zerg?
I think the DPS Build is ok and don’t need more modifications. Now about the Well probably some stats need to change, maybe the Crit chance can be a little lower as I have the trait to get 50 Crit chance in Death Shroud.

Opinions and suggestions are welcome

TLDR: with death perception 25-35 base crit is optimal. Foot in the grave is not worth if you have good guardians.

The DPS build seems ok as Im assuming it fits your playstyle and zerg. I never tried the faster well recharge build simply because i felt close to death was too strong of a trait to pass as it synergizes well with my own playstyle.

My setup is almost identical to your dps build but i take lich form and 50% in crit. This allows me to mix valkyrie with zerk to get some more HP. I like to keep my crit chance around 35% as i will get enough fury from my warriors. Giving up 50 crit for death perception doesnt make too much sense for me as ill have 2 guards in my party for sure. Also i run pack runes cause im broke but 50% fury uptime isnt that bad overall. I drop my wells and go into DS piercing lofe blasts and everything crits its just so nice DPS. You can do the same with ice bows to get crits. As for the stunbreaker i usually take spec armor but sometimes swap to walk or even wurm to place it in my keep. Though wurm can leave you off worse by porting away from your allies water fields.

Yes I was thinking on the same, switching Foot in the grave to Death Perception. With Guardians in the party should be fine.
So I will lower the critical chance to 35% and get a little more of toughness and vitality.
And how much Critical Percent and Power do you have?

2400 power without bloodlust and food is very good to have. Ferocity should be around 210% Pure mix of valk/zerk can get you up to 220% but i think thats too much so i throw in 1 or 2 pieces of soldiers to get some armor up.

Thank you very much for your suggestion

My guild doesnt put together set groups so its generally pug for me and I dont rely on my guardians (if I even have one in group). I find foot in the grave useful. If you get caught in a push, necro doesnt have the movement abilities of other classes so insta-stability can be priceless. Its upped my dps by making my shroud abilities guaranteed as well. Just my 2c.

Your dps build looks ok, Ive got a lot more toughness and power but you have 6% more crit chance. I slot sigil of spite to get some of that extra power. I like hitting f-hard.

I did some modification in my DPS Builds, and looks like that now:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3Yjc0UbbNNu0wfbCchC63MAahouAqbjz4ZB-TFDEABLqiRK7PElSIIVJIR1RM4CAIlyHJOCAtpbAQlgA8AAe4gAEAAB4m3Mb2mBDdoDdoDdotzduzduzdWGglJA-w

Your first dps spec with 50%crit -200%damage means you hit 50% of the time for an extra 100 damage, so over time (.5)(100) = 50% extra damage. With power of 2200 that makes your effective power 2200 × 1.5 = 3300

Your new spec is 30%crit-211%damage so thats .3(111) = 33% extra damage average. With 2300 power your effective power is 2300 × 1.3 = 2990

So you lost about 10% damage with your new spec… though it will hit higher numbers over time it wont do as much damage as it crits a lot less.

Kilger.5490:

Your first dps spec with 50%crit -200%damage means you hit 50% of the time for an extra 100 damage, so over time (.5)(100) = 50% extra damage. With power of 2200 that makes your effective power 2200 × 1.5 = 3300

Your new spec is 30%crit-211%damage so thats .3(111) = 33% extra damage average. With 2300 power your effective power is 2300 × 1.3 = 2990

So you lost about 10% damage with your new spec… though it will hit higher numbers over time it wont do as much damage as it crits a lot less.

Im assuming you did not check the traits which give you an extra 50% crit in DS. Since main source of damage will be piercing life blast, life transfer and wells (can also tick while in DS) build has 100% crit with fury. So you can make your calculations with 80% base crit basically.

akaCryptic.2389:

Im assuming you did not check the traits which give you an extra 50% crit in DS. Since main source of damage will be piercing life blast, life transfer and wells (can also tick while in DS) build has 100% crit with fury. So you can make your calculations with 80% base crit basically.

Figure it out however you want, Im just looking at the simple math. You could add trait to the first spec and do better too…

I understand, thank you for the math I didn’t know about that

Even if i lost a little damage, lowering the Crit chance I can get more toughness and vitality, that is good for following a zerg. Even I have the Bloodlust that will give more than 3000 damage for sure. Although the real power will come once in death shroud with the trait to improve 50% Crit chance.

Wells tick while in DS (Crit)? Didn’t know. I used to put my wells and my staff skills in the circle for combos. Maybe I should put wells, go to DS and keep my staff skills for other things.

Yes when you commander says go full dps your rotation would start by dropping two wells and immediately going into the shroud.

Edit: Forgot to mention you want the trait axe training over chill of death as the 10% damage bonus will also count towards death shroud skills (if you transformed from axe wielding).

that’s a good idea! Axe training instead chill of death. But now I’m asking which sigil are you using in your weapons?

I ALWAYS take fire on one of the slots for my wvw builds be it warrior ele or guard. Its just too good of an aoe to pass and every zerg build on metabattle has it. As for the other one, i take force on axe because its my only ascended axe that i also use in PvE. Its not a bad choice but not absolutely needed. As for staff, besides bloodlust you want energy or fire. In some instances you really need that extra dodge but its up to you. If you are broke you can get sigil of stamina lol (refill endurance when you kill a foe with no cooldown?)

Yeah I need to think about that. Maybe:

Staff – Bloodlust and Energy.
Axe + Dagger – Force + Fire

OR

Axe + Dagger – Energy + Fire

Two energy can be good to play safely as well.

akaCryptic.2389:

Yes when you commander says go full dps your rotation would start by dropping two wells and immediately going into the shroud.

Edit: Forgot to mention you want the trait axe training over chill of death as the 10% damage bonus will also count towards death shroud skills (if you transformed from axe wielding).

Staff does 10% more damage than axe does base so you’re really not benefiting from that unless you use Air+Fire and don’t use the same thing on your staff.

Also, depending on if you run foot in the grave or death perception, you may want to consider running Cruelty for the extra ferocity over bloodlust.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3Yjc0UbbNNu0whbCchC63MAahouAqbjz4ZB-TlCEABvpbYR1RSZ/hhvAAJqyxWKBN4BA0kyPAOCAPcQACAgAczbmNbzghO0hO0hO0u5NH6NH6NLFgYDrA-w

Necros should generally try to get into parties with guardians and warriors. Then you get stability and fury. Stability from guardians negates the need for using Foot In The Grave and gaining fury from warriors allows you to only need to gear for 30% crit chance. With 30% crit chance from gear, fury, and Death Perception you will have 100% crit chance while in Death Shroud.

The higher base weapon damage of a staff more than makes up for an axe with the Axe Training trait. The staff should be your primary weapon as a “zerg” necro and you only use your axe/* or dagger/* if you are getting focused by a pick team and need to defend yourself. Notice the build I linked has bloodlust sigil on the axe instead of staff.

Staff 3→Wells→DS5→DS4→Spam DS1→Lich when able

Your staff 3 mark is a very important cooldown because it does AOE chill. Don’t waste this by spreading this mark around randomly. Always reserve your staff 3 to use right before the well bomb so enemies are chilled when your wells are dropped.

Viable replacement utilities for Spectral Armor:

Spectral Wall: Place in front of your melee on a push so they get protection, they can also blast for chaos armor.

Corrupt Boon: Use on random melee in your wells

Well of Darkness: Use when your melee goes to engage the enemy melee.

Poison Cloud: Toss on enemy single downs, poison stops them from being bannered.

I’m not in love with either build.

The DPS build is something that you could roam with or just hop into WvW with, and I guess it’s ok. The well build is not necessary, as the reduced cool down on wells is a non factor most of the time.

Chilling Darkness + plague form is, IMHO, the best thing this class offers. You can run with the frontliners with your damage reduction and stability, while using your chill to separate stragglers from their Zerg, where they can be easily killed off.

The second best thing this class has going for it is unholy sanctuary. Unholy sanctuary with this classes already great life force generation in a Zerg make you very tough to kill even in berzerker armor.

My advice would be to build around one of those two traits. (hard to get both into the same build considering the required traits needed elsewhere). Something like 20/20/0/0/30 (chilling darkness) or 0/10/30/0/30 (Unholy sanctuary).

Atherakhia.4086:

Staff does 10% more damage than axe does base so you’re really not benefiting from that unless you use Air+Fire and don’t use the same thing on your staff.

Also, depending on if you run foot in the grave or death perception, you may want to consider running Cruelty for the extra ferocity over bloodlust.

Even if Staff does more damage base than Axe, joining Axe + 2º weapon isn t the same damage?
Yes but ferocity is based from power, so if I got a bigger power from bloodlust, I’ ll get more crit as well I guess.

I disagree with your opinion on unholy sanctuary, but 44006 is what a lot of zerging necros run.

My issue with unholy sanctuary is you’re almost always going to have regen on you while running in a zerg. You’ll also have numerous times where you can ge blast heals from your group. You simply don’t want to sit in shroud all day spamming life blast while you wait for your wells to come off cooldown.

If it healed for more or at least allowed regen and blast heals to go through at even just 25% effectiveness then it would be a trait worth considering. But with as weak as it is, even if you already went 5pts in death, I’d sooner go 03506 before I went 02606.

Atherakhia.4086:

My issue with unholy sanctuary is you’re almost always going to have regen on you while running in a zerg. You’ll also have numerous times where you can ge blast heals from your group. You simply don’t want to sit in shroud all day spamming life blast while you wait for your wells to come off cooldown.

Unholy sanctuary isnt about the regen… its a life saver in case you get burst.

nekretaal.6485:

Chilling Darkness + plague form is, IMHO, the best thing this class offers. You can run with the frontliners with your damage reduction and stability, while using your chill to separate stragglers from their Zerg, where they can be easily killed off.

Lich is great too… 5k on autoattack downs people scary fast, and the #5 ability on the enemy melee train… yea its night night time :p

I’m running zerker with knight armor to have a bit more toughness and not miss the critical chance:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3Yjc0UbbNNu0wfbCchC63MAahouAqbjz4ZB-TFCEABps/wWKBZS5nBXAg20N0o6PAcEAe4hAEAAB4m3Mb2mBDdoDdoDdodzbO0hezbWGglFA-w

Do you think this is good? I don’t know if I keep this way or change something. Any suggestions?