Guild Wars 2

Back before GW2 came out I played around with a skill editor and got my necro all in order to be a damage/tank hybrid, or so I thought. At the time half of the skills for my projected build didn’t work and the ones that did, weren’t reading my stats properly.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQEQRBIhtu1IkWle1moG/eCY6R3jLe0jjHOZqCqD;T4A5WStUbp0iyJjTCnsO5cS60ahRB7FmiA

That was my build that I ran from 1-80 without fault I unlocked everything for that build set up and used it for a long time, not realizing how terribly gimped I was. However, I enjoy the fact that my necro can get up in somethings face and not run the risk of blowing up instantly as other casters do. I want to refine the build I had once before to be the tanky/damage hybrid I had hoped it would be. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Well…the build i’ve been happy with looks similar to your in a few ways, but here it goes

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=;0_-7c;1IkI0G4FJ-K0;9;599TJ;12;01;027B12-a-k3Vt

i think the biggest difference is using a staff instead of dagger/warhorn, and the trait choices. I happen to think my build is pretty nifty so i’ll explain it in detail so you can see if you wanna try it. not sure if it’s what you’re looking for or not.

First: the weapons
staff, with its expanded mark range, can apply spammable bleeding and regen, chilled and poison, and has a handy little skill that transfers your conditions and is also a blast finisher. If you blast at the start of the battle right after casting 3 you get a nice long weakness, which i think is an underated condition. It means half the time, they do half damage(unless they crit).

Axe/Focus
I realize nobody likes Axe, but i’ve played around with every weapon set and it fits this build very nicely as long as you don’t stay on it. #2 isn’t too bad, and more importantly gives you lots of life force(espcially with the 10% boost from the minor trait in soul reaping). the #3 skill is actually very good. gives you 3 seconds of retaliation for every enemy you hit, and cripples them all. use it RIGHT after switching from staff. I also put on a sup. sigil of geomancy which applies 3 stacks of bleeding on switch, and a little bit of dmg.

The focus is my oh-no-you-dont offhand. #4 i sometimes use for the regen and high vulnerability, but really it’s all about skill 5 which removes 3 of their boons and chills for 5 seconds. Along with staff #4 which can transfer a condtion from you to an entire group of enemies, it keeps them boons free while you are condition free. Well of Power and well of suffering are very good choices when the areas you’re fighting in use lots of what they counter.

How my traits supplement the build
Chilling Darkness: this pretty much decided that i was going to be a wellmancer. every time you blind a foe, theyre chilled. Now what to you expect will happen when you throw down a well of darkness? group chill for the whole duration, to go with the chill that’s a part of staff 3, and focus 5, and Death shroud 2. can also get one more my blasting the well of suffering to get blind+chill combo if well of darkness is recharging. As we all know chill slows down movement and Recharge speeds of skills(basically capping DPS) by 66%

The blood magic traits aren’t essential, but they’re all pretty nice, especially the grandmaster. it keeps you topped off very well, especially if you have heal on crit and bloodthirsty on. Its fun to watch all the healing you can get when the wells are up and they heal on trait, on hit, on crit, while you get healed by spammed regen, regular attacks, crits you are doing on your own.

Soul reaping line:
Death shroud is almost a constant part of my rotation. after you burn through the staff skills and wells, and then the axe/focus skills(usually just #2 and #3 in a group fight), hop in death shroud and do the 4 skill, or pop in for the fear. #2 also is nice for the bleed and chill on multiple people.

Equipment:
Runes: more bleeding, weakness, and poison. bleeding to kill, weakness helps you survive, and poison kills and screws with their healing.

Sigils
of corruption. stacks of condition damage. a pretty obvious choice.
of air. specifically because axe 2 hits 8 times and therefor has 8 chances to crit. the 3 skill also hits 5 people.
of geomancy. Get dem bleed stacks on, son

Forgot about plague sig and flesh golem. who doesn’t like 25% movement speed? plus, a fair bit of healing in touchy situations while your better savior skills like DS are on cooldown. Flesh golem is basically just a distraction that can knock down a whole group, and if you activate his skill against walls or turrets it sort of bugs out and does uber damage.

This build melts large groups fast, while keeping them screwed and you healthy. Hope you like it

EDIT: after re reading this may not fulfill your damage expectations, but it should your tankro ones. i finish almost every fight with 100% health

Heres the build me and my guildie have been rolling with great success.

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/aoe-bomber-wells-necro-staff-940kittenml

The 2 skill on staff keeps constant regen while smartly using all of your wells will hold you at max hp through almost anything. The 20% recharge reduction on wells means that if you use lich form and death shroud back to back you can keep your health pool up long enough for most of your wells to recharge. Dagger focus is great for the occasional extra boost to healing.