Guild Wars 2

After toying around with the idea of Staves for Engineers on the Engineer forums, I decided to look at other weird weapon/class match-ups that could potentially work with the right ideas applied to it. Necros and Shields came to mind and this match up that would have never crossed my mind began to make sense when I got to brainstorming about skill ideas. How would Necros wield these inherently defensive weapons you might ask?
Well here my suggestions;

Skill 4:
Insidious Aura (cast time; Instant)
For a short period of time, every time you take damage, you also steal health from your attacker.
Duration: 5secs

OR

Barbed Aura
All incoming attacks are blocked. Enemies who attack in melee range suffer from bleeding.
Bleed Duration: 3secs
Block Duration: 3secs
(But I do like the Insidious Aura better because of the synergy with my proposed skill 5 below)

Skill 5:
Tainted Shield (Cast time; 1sec)
For a short period of time, every time you are attacked, your target is poisoned and weakened.
Duration: 5sec
Weakness Duration; 2sec
Poison Duration; 1sec

So what are your thoughts on a shield wielding Necro?

I think it doesn’t fit the lore.

I’d rather a Necro be wielding a 40 foot long detached airplane wing like most Anime characters. Sorry to say.

I’d rather those ideas be traits that apply to DS, but they’re good ideas nonetheless.

Greatsword a la Trahearne kthx.

Bhawb.7408:

Greatsword a la Trahearne kthx.

Wouldn’t bother me a bit.

Make it a vampire tool, with a teleport built in.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

I think it doesn’t fit the lore.

I’d rather a Necro be wielding a 40 foot long detached airplane wing like most Anime characters. Sorry to say.

I don’t get the whole “doesn’t fit the lore” thing. I don’t see it written anywhere that Necros MUST NOT carry shields EVER. Conventions can be broken, just like Monks evolving to become Guardians.

Why don’t we just give everyone heavy armor and a giant sword/shield then. They evolved. Like pokemanz

Necromancers are sorcerers that use the magic of death to boost their defenses, they face their enemies full on, exposed, bringing death and destruction in the form of weakness and pestilence. They aren’t the type to hide behind a shield. Even if they were, they’d just spontaneously create a wall of skulls or something to block attacks.

Dirame.8521:

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

I think it doesn’t fit the lore.

I’d rather a Necro be wielding a 40 foot long detached airplane wing like most Anime characters. Sorry to say.

I don’t get the whole “doesn’t fit the lore” thing. I don’t see it written anywhere that Necros MUST NOT carry shields EVER. Conventions can be broken, just like Monks evolving to become Guardians.

Good point, and absolutely right.

Necromancer is already not strictly about controlling the dead, so I don’t see why they couldn’t improvise and learn.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Even if they were, they’d just spontaneously create one out of a wall of skulls or something

Time for Arenanet to make a shield built from the skulls of our enemies then!

But seriously, I’m not asking for Necros to wield a Pistol. A shield is a more basic weapon and in my mind, I can definitely see them grabbing one and enchanting it with some bad mojo.

Necromancers are this: http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/121/e/2/necromancer_by_saryth-d4y94xn.jpg

Not this:
http://coolvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Portrait-Art-Taras-Skorobruh-Tzeentch-Knight-992x1048.jpg

If you want to talk about adding in another “Dark” themed class that uses heavy armor, fine, but at the moment Necromancer is a Scholar type. I’ve never seen a Scholar use a mortal shield. Ever.

Ah but then this is a generation that would like to see a cyborg spartan ninja be a playable character in Mario Brothers.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Ah but then this is a generation that would like to see a cyborg spartan ninja be a playable character in Mario Brothers.

Are you the generation that is not open to the awesomness of cyborg spartan ninjas being playable in Mario Brothers?

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Necromancers are this: http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/121/e/2/necromancer_by_saryth-d4y94xn.jpg

Not this:
http://coolvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Portrait-Art-Taras-Skorobruh-Tzeentch-Knight-992x1048.jpg

I’ve got to say, you’re really into how your Necromancers SHOULD look.

Really though, I can still see the first image wielding a bone shield…. I guess I’m just too much of a youngn’

Yes. I’m a part of a generation that is a bit more traditional in actually not having blatant stupidity in every single one of my games.

I’m against Kratos from God of War flinging around giant glowsticks on chains instead of the traditional Spartan weaponry. Which would’ve made it more kitten, imo.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Yes. I’m a part of a generation that is a bit more traditional in actually not having blatant stupidity in every single one of my games.

I’m against Kratos from God of War flinging around giant glowsticks on chains instead of the traditional Spartan weaponry. Which would’ve made it more kitten, imo.

Funny thing is, you’re okay with Necros wielding Greatswords but Shields? Oh no, Grenth forbid that a Necro use an enchanted shield.

Greatswords can fit into the Vampiric lore of a Necromancer, and many other games include a Greatsword usable in special ways by a Necromancer. Plus it’s the only other solid weapon besides Sword a Necro should wield in this game.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Greatswords can fit into the Vampiric lore of a Necromancer, and many other games include a Greatsword usable in special ways by a Necromancer. Plus it’s the only other solid weapon besides Sword a Necro should wield in this game.

I’ve never played or heard of such games so maybe I’m a bit out of the loop but my train of thought is, if someone can say “Greatswords, we can make them work on Necros” then someone could just as easily do the same for shields or any weapon really regardless of lore or what people “think” the status quo should be.

Dirame.8521:

I don’t get the whole “doesn’t fit the lore” thing. I don’t see it written anywhere that Necros MUST NOT carry shields EVER. Conventions can be broken, just like Monks evolving to become Guardians.

Like Troll said, it just doesn’t fit, and frankly it is important to create a consistency like that. And Trahearne wields a greatsword, and another scholar class (mesmer) wields a GS, so yes it fits in this lore. Shields do not. A mace, hammer, torch; those kinds of things I could see, not shield.

You can see a Necro wielding a Hammer but not a shield? ………..Different strokes for different folks I guess….

Hammer is stretching it as far as I could see it going.

I honestly feel like shield could work, unless the balance team / devs are absolutely adamant about not giving Necromancers access to block. (Adding a shield, but not giving it block somewhere seems really unintuitive, in my opinion.)

As for lore / flavor, I don’t see why not. Necromancer as a defensive caster isn’t exactly that hard to conceive with the current state of the game. If you don’t feel like a shield is inherently magical enough, just add an animation where it spins around in mid-air to one of the skills. It worked for the axe and greatsword.

Necromancers used shields in Diablo 2.

hmmmmmmm I think any weapon should be considered for use… You still have to compile their usable weapons and armors to reflect their “character”. Whatever they use, they should have a feel; a theme almost. They cant use everything unless they are not defined in that way.

I personally think necros should be able to use greatswords at the very least. Mesmers have 2 options for a 2-handed weapon and its only fair :P

The concept of the necro atm can be seen as a bit unclear as it is. Their main functionality could be tanky/bunker, power, etc. They are like the jack of all trades, masters of none. (though i wholeheartedly believe this i also believe personal skill can bypass the boundaries of schematics)

I mean a warhorn and an axe are very primitive tools (probably considered for a shamanic feel.) Daggers can also be seen as items in occult practice and of course scepter staff and focus.

This is the conceptual basis the dev’s worked around.

Personally I think they can still make some stretches to allow players to build a variety of necrotic-themed characters (not just Shaman/withcraft-ish)

A two handed sword would fit nicely. Sortof a death knight / dark knight theme. It makes good sense to have that option of character feel for a necro imo. A shield is too closely related to armor, and so feels more militant and mundane. The sword (irl :P) has a long history of a magical and/or spiritual persona in several cultures (the ones with the eldest experience with swords btw) and would give the necromancers a 2-handed option for those wanting to be more in the middle of combat.

Anyways.. my two cents

Daecollo.9578:

Necromancers used shields in Diablo 2.

This isn’t Diablo 2.

Ok guys, lore has no say what weapons a class can use in gw. In gw1 any class could use any weapon. So you could be a sword shield wielding necro if you wanted or even take a longbow. Lore wise any weapon could be given to any of the classes except maybe magical weapons on warriors.

I like the idea of a shield on a necro. But we have enough offhand options. Would much prefer a cleave melee weapon of some kind. But to add more weapons to classes they would have to do it for all classes. It wouldnt be fair. So its very unlikely it will happen.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

I think it doesn’t fit the lore.

I’d rather a Necro be wielding a 40 foot long detached airplane wing like most Anime characters. Sorry to say.

Oh man this made my day.

But yeah a shield might be too much. A GS seems reasonable because of sylvari Jesus, but if that’s no good, maybe a torch or a sword.

Bhawb.7408:

Greatsword a la Trahearne kthx.

It caught me by surprise when I saw that Traheane was a necro with a greatsword. It would be pretty cool.

Few notes,
Greatswords would be just as probable as shields, bows and pistols.
Offhand axe (aoe minion master offhand), swords(siphoning long range equivalent of dagger), hammer (mobility) and torch (defensive/disengage effect offhand) should have higher chances of getting to be part of the necro arsenal.

spoj.9672:

Ok guys, lore has no say what weapons a class can use in gw. In gw1 any class could use any weapon. So you could be a sword shield wielding necro if you wanted or even take a longbow. Lore wise any weapon could be given to any of the classes except maybe magical weapons on warriors.

I like the idea of a shield on a necro. But we have enough offhand options. Would much prefer a cleave melee weapon of some kind. But to add more weapons to classes they would have to do it for all classes. It wouldnt be fair. So its very unlikely it will happen.

Not really true, anyone can pick up and equip every weapon, but you cannot actually use it without the points in said tree pre profession without it hitting for less than a wood plank you could pick up from the ground. That pretty much translates to out weapon limits.

I personally would like to see shield on necro.

do I think it’ll happen? NOPE.

Andele.1306:

Not really true, anyone can pick up and equip every weapon, but you cannot actually use it without the points in said tree pre profession without it hitting for less than a wood plank you could pick up from the ground. That pretty much translates to out weapon limits.

The only class that had weapon trees in gw1 was the warrior. Every class could use every weapon perfectly fine as long as they specced into the associated attribute to get the auto attack damage. But that wasnt really needed on a lot of builds. Weapons only affected the auto attack and some minor stats. It was your 8 slot skill bar which made the biggest difference.

spoj.9672:

Andele.1306:

Not really true, anyone can pick up and equip every weapon, but you cannot actually use it without the points in said tree pre profession without it hitting for less than a wood plank you could pick up from the ground. That pretty much translates to out weapon limits.

The only class that had weapon trees in gw1 was the warrior. Every class could use every weapon perfectly fine as long as they specced into the associated attribute to get the auto attack damage. But that wasnt really needed on a lot of builds. Weapons only affected the auto attack and some minor stats. It was your 8 slot skill bar which made the biggest difference.

Give me one scythe that isnt in scythe master, spear for spears, a shield that uses death magic, a scepter that get its damage with strength and say ok, but till then weapons are very much based on profession (and secondary profession). And if you say you can use it even without the points may i point you to the jotun greatsword bundle in gw2 and say you can use greatswords too because the damage will be just as kittenty damage with either.

Give me greatsword, Twilight would look great on my silvary necro with the arah set and I’d actually have something to do in game ;p

I like the idea of 1h sword but whatever weapon it is, I pray there is a leap finisher

Yh I want greatsword too . Many classes can have it so why not necro .

No thanks, I’d rather greatsword.