Guild Wars 2

I thought this would be a fun topic to start, after reading a few topics about there possibly being such a weapon in future expansions.

With our class being current Axe wielders, i can see the possibility of wielding such a weapon in the future!
This is thread is for making YOUR ideal Necromancer Greataxe in GW2.

What 5 abilities would you like to see with this weapon?

Will it be another addition to the ranged arsenal? Or will the MH dagger have a new sibling?

What direction would you like to see this weapon go? Power? Condition? Control? Mobility even?

What kind of animations would you like to see with possible Greataxe abilities?

Are you an artist? Post us your sketches of future necromancer greataxe wielders!

Lets get the devs reading this! Together we shall proudly bring this weapon into our weapon slots and onto the skulls of our enemies!

Can equiping the Great Axe replace DS with something useful and fun? because that would be great.

Auto attack be a chain of attacks that all cleave, the last attack should cripple enemies for a short duration.

2: Corrupts X amount of boons (probably 1, on a low CD)

3: PBAoE health steal, but you also “steal” a condition from each enemy affected. So if you steal HP from someone with 8 stacks of bleeding, you also take away that bleeding from them and it is given to you.

4: A channel that copies one condition from you to up to 5 enemies in the area per pulse, pulses X times.

5: A PBAoE pull that inflicts a condition and gives LF per person pulled.

If we did get Greataxe, I’d like to see it being PBAoE with some cleave, although not necessarily very high damage. I’d also like to see some more condition application of control conditions, not necessarily damage ones, and some kind of way to add in condition “mastery”, such as an ability doing more damage the more conditions you have, or the copy mechanic that I said for 4.

For the weapon skills, I just threw out ideas I thought would be interesting mechanics. I won’t even pretend I thought overly about balance. But I think we need more self-punishment and then ways to play with that punishment beyond just “give yourself condition, give condition to enemy”, and also a way to punish boons that isn’t on a huge CD, when boon application in its current form has a lot of continuous applications.

1. Cleaving attack. Bleeds.
2. Leaping attack. Boon corrupter.
3. Crippling attack.
4. Life Steal of some kind.
5. Whirlybird.

I’d rather see greatsword, but whatever.

why great axe? I can’t see it as a dark arts weapon.

vicious.5683:

why great axe? I can’t see it as a dark arts weapon.

Executioner style axe. Great axes tend to be more the more evil side of the more generic weapon set.

^ Death Knight?

JS though, Soldiers Necro+Greataxe + Spectral Grasp, inc clothy death knights!

Axe offhand, Dual wielding swords (i wont give up on these 2) and Waraxe! HELL YEAH METAL TIME!

A baseball bat with a laser scope. Sounds about as fitting as “great” axe.

Hey i really like that. A Greataxe looks pretty cool and at the moment the necromancer doesn’t have anything like this.. Staff looks stupid.

Maybe something like:

1.1 Wrathful Axe Chain 900 range
Casting a magical projectile which causes bleed for 5 sec if it hits (piercing)
1.2 Devastating Axe 900 range
Casting a magical projectile which causes bleed for 9 sec if it hits (piercing)
1.3 Incubus wave 600 range
Casting a magical projectile which causes freeze for 6 sec if it hits (piercing?)
This projectiles could look like the projectiles of zealots defense, but in green or smething like that and not that fast moving. But still a lot faster than staff autoattack.
The Attackanimation itself can be a bit longer to fit bleeding duration and so on.
The last attack could look like a small Illusionary wave (but in green or sth else) and hit more people in front of the necromancer.

2. Vodoo.
Cover behind your Axe and grumble forgotten hexes, blocks attacks for 2sec (max. 3 attacks) and inflict poison for each blocked attack. Poison 2sec. Cd 12sec.

3. Gate to the Underworld.
The necromancer smashes his axe on the ground, causing bleed (2 stacks 7sec) and chill (7sec) to nearby foes. (~160 area of effect.. bit greater than our marks and without such a stupid must have trait for the weapon)
The necromancer cant move while he performs this skill.
This skill is a blastfinisher.
1/4sec activationtime. Cooldown 20sec.

4. Bury them. Channeling skill. Dig some dirt up with your axe, blinding foes. Combo field smoke. 120aoe. 4sec duration. Blind 2sec every sec. Cd 30sec. (i would love this just for the animation .. WANT IT XD) btw.. the necromancer cant give area stealth to the group because its a channeling skill. (but another char could do that)

5. Back from the dead. Minionskill (Needs a target). 900 range
Summon Archemorus and Viktor. (okay maybe a bit too much ;D.. lets say at least you summon 2 undead..maybe wearing greataxes) One bleeds and one chills on attack.
They spawn (some kind of dig themself out) at your foe and attack it 4 times each, inflicting 3seconds bleed/2second chill on each successfull attack. Then they scream and return to the underworld, which inflicts 1 sec(each) fear to nearby foes.
The attack animation should be very fast, means pve foes normally don’t run away in that time andother player need a dodge.
Count as minion summon. All miniontraits work. 60sec Cooldown. 1sec activationtime.

How u can see it would be a weapon that woul fit a conditionmancer. I think abrutal greataxe direct dmg dealer would better fit with the warrior.
I wish that weapon would exist.. i would love it

Fun idea! Allow me to take a whack at this…

Gnashing Swing
Gash your foe (Hits up to 3 Foes)
Range: 250
Cast Time: 1/2 s

→ Feasting Strike
Strike your foe and gain Life Force (Hits up to 3 Foes)
Range: 250
Cast Time: 1/2s
Life Force Gain: 3% (Per Hit)

→→ Marking the Sacrifice
Prepare your foe for death with a “Mark for Death” (Hits up to 3 foes)
Range: 300
Casting Time: 1/2s
Marked for Death: Duration 20s

Nightmare Slash
Plunge your Greataxe into the ground to cripple and poison target foe and nearby foes. Your foes are “Marked for Death”.
Range: 900
Cast Time: 3/4s
Cooldown: 10s
Radius: 120
Poison: 4s
Cripple: 4s
Marked for Death: Duration 20s

Head Hunter
Leap at your foe, inflicting Daze and siphoning health for each “Marked for Death” on the foe(s). A successful hit removes two “Marked for Death” from damaged foes.
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1/4s
Radius: 130
Cooldown: 15s
Daze: 0.5s
Healing: ~300 per “Marked for Death”
Removes: 2 “Marked for Death”

Presence of the Lich
Rend one enchantment from nearby foes and cleanse conditions from yourself. Remove additional enchantments from foes suffering from “Marked for Death”. Removes two “Marked for Death” from each affected foe
Radius: 480
Cast Time: 1s
Recharge Time: 25s
Removes 2 conditions from self
Removes 1 Enchantment from hit Foes
Additionally removes 1 Enchantment for each “Marked for Death”
Removes 2 “Marked for Death” from foes.

Reap
Reap what has been sown. Step to target foe and unleash a Reaper’s Slash to remove all “Marked for Death” from target foe and inflict damage and gain Life Force for each “Marked for Death” removed.
Range: 600 (for the “shadow step”)
Cast Time: 1/2s (The “shadow step” is instant but the swing animation will be 1/2s and be fairly clear).
Cooldown: 40s
Damage improves for each “Marked for Death” removed.
Life Force Gain: 6% for each “Marked for Death” removed.

• Marked For Death: This “hex” does nothing by itself. It just sits there useless, but stacks.

These are rough ideas. It’s past midnight and I just came up with these thoughts, so I have no idea how good they are or even if they make sense. Regardless, thank you all for your time and have a nice day!

We need a power based weapon which actually fills the roll of close combat dps effectively. Similar to the spear underwater would be perfect. Dagger has decent single target dps but i consider it more of a life siphon sustain weapon. Its used on power builds because its the only weapon with a decent auto attack. So would like something better.

1. - Auto attack that generates lifeforce and then applies poison and strips a boon on the final attack of the chain.
2. - Reapers Wrath – Burst aoe cleave skill that grants lifeforce per hit.
3. - Deathly Chill – Summons a deathly cloud around the player which damages nearby foes every second and applies chill and vulnerability.
4. - Vampiric Gaze – Deals damage in a cone infront of the player. Damage dealt also heals the player for a small amount and grants 2s of vigor for each enemy hit.
5. - Unholy Grasp – Send out grasping hands that damage and pull foes to the necro and apply blindness.

The idea is to base it on the guardians greatsword. Guardians are the opposite of necro’s, they use boons to support the team, whereas necros use conditions and debuffs. Necro’s can actually fill the same role pretty well, they just lack the reflects and sometimes boons are far more useful. But if we had a decent weapon for debuffing, control and damage we could replace them on certain dungeons. It would also give us a decent weapon in pvp for power builds.

For this to work as a close combat cleaving weapon it will need to have some kind of damage mitigation and/or life on hit. Also this could just as easily be a scythe

1. Chain
Weakening strike: Weakness 5sec
Rotten Strike: Poison 5sec
Disabling Strike: Cripple 2sec
(Passive Defense in the form of Weakness, and ability to stay on targets with Cripple.)

2.
Leaching Strike: PBaoe heals you for X% of damage done. CD 4-5sec
(This will need to be closely looked at before settling on a percentage, however this is needed to allow necro’s to stay in the fight. This should give about 2k health if your hitting 5 ppl, but should not be a lot health gain against a single opponent)

3.
Deaths Clutches: 900 range aoe immobilize for 4sec. CD 15-20sec
(Allows you to set up your cleave, and Leeching strike. Can serve as a chaser or, if your lucky a way to escape)

4.
Taste Their Fear: PBaoe 1sec Fear. For every enemy effected gain 2sec of Protection. CD 30-40sec
(This is very similar to Unholy Feast axe 3, but instead this give us a interrupt/damage mitigation/ohkitten button.)

You could throw life force gain on any one, or two of those skills and be set.

i would say they could give us spear or greatsword with skills that has vampires in heroes 6……it could also fix our lack of mobility

spoj.9672:

We need a power based weapon which actually fills the roll of close combat dps effectively. Similar to the spear underwater would be perfect. Dagger has decent single target dps but i consider it more of a life siphon sustain weapon. Its used on power builds because its the only weapon with a decent auto attack. So would like something better.

1. - Auto attack that generates lifeforce and then applies poison and strips a boon on the final attack of the chain.
2. - Reapers Wrath – Burst aoe cleave skill that grants lifeforce per hit.
3. - Deathly Chill – Summons a deathly cloud around the player which damages nearby foes every second and applies chill and vulnerability.
4. - Vampiric Gaze – Deals damage in a cone infront of the player. Damage dealt also heals the player for a small amount and grants 2s of vigor for each enemy hit.
5. - Unholy Grasp – Send out grasping hands that damage and pull foes to the necro and apply blindness.

The idea is to base it on the guardians greatsword. Guardians are the opposite of necro’s, they use boons to support the team, whereas necros use conditions and debuffs. Necro’s can actually fill the same role pretty well, they just lack the reflects and sometimes boons are far more useful. But if we had a decent weapon for debuffing, control and damage we could replace them on certain dungeons. It would also give us a decent weapon in pvp for power builds.

I like the idea of being an evil counter the guardian, I would go with hammer as oppose to greatsword mainly because the hammer is slower and dagger is extremely fast.( i actually love hammer)

1. a chain ability that is slow and powerful and on the last strike does an aoe ability that converts 1 boon into a condition.

2. Skull cleaver

the necro throws the greataxe and teleports to it causing daze? and does large amounts of damage

3. Lick of death-

the necro licks the greataxe spewing up blood. Any one in range of this is chilled and has vulnerability cast on them

4. silience of the lambs

aoe whirl attack that causes blindness

5. Slice of life

The necromancer cuts himself with the blade and every hit over the next x amount of seconds restores life

Really great ideas so far guys! I especially like the idea Omega presented of ‘marked for death’ being linked to other Greataxe skills, this could even fit in with Lich form quite nicely. Other abilities like “Bury them” and “Slice of life” are certainly interesting!

I realy like all those things. A new weapon would be so much fun.
But i don’t agree that necromancers need a new weapon with cleave and high direct damage in melee combat. I mean.. its a necromancer, not a warrior in light armor and not a dervish.
Necromancers are normally caster. Vodoopriests and warlocks using dark magic. Somebody that gets his greataxe to rush on his enemy and hit them with high damage is no necromancer in my opinion. I think sometimes people just want to do something with a profession that can’t do that and justify it with other profession ability to do it. I mean if you see a warrior that says: “anet give me spectral walk to be able to hit and run like the necromancer” would you give them the spectral walk? …
Please give us more awesome looking stuff like spectral walk, plague and lichform. I dont care about pve balancing.. if a warrior can kill a mob in 7sec and i need 12sec it’s no problem to me as long as it is fun to play the profession.
In structured pvp its another thing.. balance is more important there i think because if a warrior can down me in 7sec and i can down him in 12sec.. it wont be so much fun for the necromancer.

Thats why i wanted skills like bury them. Would fit the role of the necromancer (sth like a ceremety keeper) and this skill offers a lot of teamplay combos and could look so funny!
I would do a video where my necromancer uses this skill on every graveyard in tyria or use it in tpvp on a stomped enemy! ;D

It should be a melee aoe weapon, power-conditions hybrid. Flavour would be something like = Charge the enemy with disregard of your own safety, even inflicting wounds on yourself as you attack, use the blood spilled on the battlefield by you and your enemies to your advantage. A Scythe weapon would probably be nicer but still…

1 CHAIN
1.1 Mad Cleave:
Melee AoE – 500~ damage per hit. Inflicts 1 stack of bleeding to foes and one to yourself
1.2 Something ^ Same thing
1.3 Feast in Blood – Melee AoE – 500~ damage per hit, cures up to two stacks of bleeding from yourself and gain one stacks of might per stack of bleeding cured. Might should last roughly what the chain takes to complete, so it can only be stacked if you have boon duration, and not very much either…

2: Spoil wounds: AoE with range 600, like axe 2. Deals damage to opponents based on the amount of bleeding stacks they have (4k on 25 stacks or so with 2000 power) also inflicts poison for 1s per stack of bleeding on your enemy.

3: Gorge on Blood: AoE Melee Range 600, cures all stacks of bleed from enemies, gain 2% lifeforce per stack cured, you are knocked down for one second. Channeled skill. 3sec channeling time.

4: Crimson lake: AoE with the area of Life Transfer’s range. Cure all stacks of bleeding from yourself and enemies, creates an area that lasts for 6 seconds and inflicts the total sum of stacks removed to you and all enemies on the area every 2 seconds. Would need to be seriously toned down for PvE as mobs are stupid and wouldn’t leave the area. Dark Field.

5: Totem of Corruption

This places your greataxe on the ground like a banner and forces you to switch back to your other weapon, it cannot be used if weapon swap is on cooldown… The banner is destructible and lasts for 10 seconds, when it’s up:

Every 2 seconds it will pulse, transfering 2 stacks of bleeding from allies unto itself and providing 1s regeneration for all allies per stack removed, and the opposite for all enemies. Every pulse also deals damage, moderate-to-low amount. When it reaches 10 seconds it explodes, bleeding foes in relation to the stacks of bleed it removed from you and allies and providing a blast finisher. This can happen earlier if it dies from the bleeds it absorbs or enemy damage.

The necro should hold the axe through telekinesis with both hands glowing a little green, first skill would be like the axe spining on its axis and hitting the necro as well…

*All damages mentioned are with 2000 power.

A spear clone, but with Frozen Abyss instead of Dark Spear.

Edit: Might as well go with the flow

1a. Shadow Slash (1/2s activation time)
Slash your foe.
Damage: 239
Healing: 69
Range: 150
1b. Lifebane Slash (1/2s activation time)
Chain. Slash your foe again.
Damage: 239
Healing: 69
Range: 150
1c. Reaping (1s activation time)
Chain. Harvest Life Force from your foes.
Damage: 403
Healing: 118
Life Force: 5%
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Range: 360
Animation: Reaper’s Scythe on steroids

2. Mortality (Instant, 3s maximum channeling time, 12s recharge)(Pulses every 1s)
Channel dark energy that enfeebles foes and siphons health on release. Gain Life Force for each foe struck.
Damage on pulse: 257
Cripple on pulse: 3s
Weakness on pulse: 3s
Vulnerability (3 stacks) on pulse: 7s
Combo Field: Dark
———————————————————————————————-
Explosion damage: 433
Healing: 127
Life Force: 5%
Range: 360
Combo Finisher: Blast
Animation: Frozen Abyss

3. Night of the Dead (Instant, 18s recharge)
Gain swiftness and summon a swarm of undead bats that siphon health from nearby foes.
Damage: 134
Healing: 69
Swiftness: 8s
Radius: 180
Animation: Deadly Feast on steroids

4. Wheel of Fate (Instant, 3/4s delay on claws, 30s recharge)
Fear nearby foes. Send out grasping claws that cripple foes and pull them to you.
Fear: 1s
Range: 360
———————————————————————————————-
Damage: 252
Crippled: 5 s
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Range: 900
Animation: Whirling Wrath, but sends out Necrotic Grasp missiles

5. Death’s Advance (Instant, 3s duration, 40s recharge)(Could be a stun break)
Become a shade and charge your foe. Shade is extended by 3 seconds on a successful strike.
Shade: Ignore control effects
Damage: 833
Range: 1200
Animation: Death Shroud?

Flowerpower.6795:

I realy like all those things. A new weapon would be so much fun.
But i don’t agree that necromancers need a new weapon with cleave and high direct damage in melee combat. I mean.. its a necromancer, not a warrior in light armor and not a dervish.
Necromancers are normally caster. Vodoopriests and warlocks using dark magic. Somebody that gets his greataxe to rush on his enemy and hit them with high damage is no necromancer in my opinion. I think sometimes people just want to do something with a profession that can’t do that and justify it with other profession ability to do it. I mean if you see a warrior that says: “anet give me spectral walk to be able to hit and run like the necromancer” would you give them the spectral walk? …
Please give us more awesome looking stuff like spectral walk, plague and lichform. I dont care about pve balancing.. if a warrior can kill a mob in 7sec and i need 12sec it’s no problem to me as long as it is fun to play the profession.
In structured pvp its another thing.. balance is more important there i think because if a warrior can down me in 7sec and i can down him in 12sec.. it wont be so much fun for the necromancer.

Thats why i wanted skills like bury them. Would fit the role of the necromancer (sth like a ceremety keeper) and this skill offers a lot of teamplay combos and could look so funny!
I would do a video where my necromancer uses this skill on every graveyard in tyria or use it in tpvp on a stomped enemy! ;D

With the current design of necro skills, we are very frontline orientated. Most of our utilities are close range, useful for melee offense or facetanking. Mesmer is far more support and utility based caster yet they have an amazing power cleave melee weapon (sword). Why should the only fully offensive caster get the worst weapons for melee? Both eles and mesmers can provide a lot of defensive support with boons and reflects. Necro’s cant, we only have debuffs. Debuffs are a fully offensive form of support so we should have better offensive weapons to syrnergise with that.

1. CLEAVE. cleave CLEAVE cleave CLEAVE all over; hell; give us 360 cleave/pbaoe on third hit; hammer style
2. gap closer (preferebly a straight up distance and not snare; cripple is axe, chill is focus, immob is dagger already)
3. a party block (like protectors strike – except duration instead of on hit)
4. a skill… that does…. something… or other… defensive in nature maybe? deterent defensve seems particular interesting; but i do love the sacrificing aspect of corruption skills; maybe something similar (inflict chill or something on youself; gain protection? edit – protection and regen? protection regen and ret? well… what it grants would have to balanced around what you inflict on yourself; maybe a charge skill; we dont have enough/any of them atm -and they could add a lot of depth -http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Charge_skill)
5. a form of portal (rip a void in the ground or something; could be part of a chain; leave a mark -maybe invisible like shadowreturns- when activated necro gouges the ground open for escape)edit – could leave some sort of grave, upturned earth or spectral disturbance at the escape point; so people will know a necro could pop up there any time and prepare efficiently

Kravick.4906:

I’d rather see greatsword, but whatever.

greatsword: warrior
greataxe: executioner. and/or necromancer. angel of death, get it?

Necro says “Control”, huge friggin’ Axe says “Power”.

1. Cleaving, for the love of Grenth! :p
2. Spin Finisher. Roots you while spinning. Generate Life Force on hits
3. Leap, teleport or a long single-target pull.
4. Medium Range AoE pull that deals very little damage but Chills. Good with Wells.
5. AoE Fear or Launch, used to get swarms of things off you. Low damage.

Would make in-you-face Well builds more interesting.
Dagger tend to switch between melee and 600 range a lot.

NECROMANCER =/= DEATHKNIGHT

Exorcise your fantasy ideas luggage from World of Moneycraft.

I agree Anet failed hard giving an identity to Necromancer, but this doesn’t mean it has to be insulted more pairing it to the Death Knight kitten .

Stop this heresy about 2 handed swords and axes!

yes greataxe, yes please.

ability idea: the necro plunges his/her axe into the ground shooting out a fissure along the ground, undead arms sprout out along a 900 range line, lasting for 4 seconds, damaging enemies on first hit and crippling any enemies who crosss it.
would look alot like scepter 2 but in a line.

ability idea: the necro whirls the axe around at head height stunning those caught for 2 seconds, " the executioner’s swing"

I thought about this before and came up with a kind of “power to the horde” weapon, used to lead the charge with a bunch of minions or allies and toughen them up in close-combat.

1: Reaper’s Strike – Wide cleaving attack chain. Third hit strikes a 360-degree area around you, briefly weakening and stealing life force from everything hit.
(Big kitten cleave attack with a defensive bent to it)
2: Bloodbath – Damages and bleeds nearby enemies and grants fury to nearby allies. Possibly a whirl finisher but I never did figure out the consequences that would have.
(Provides some condition damage, a boost to party damage, and possible support capability as a whirl finisher. Also, fury means more chance of a Guillotine crit, and Guillotine crits are scary.)
3: Siphon Speed – Cripples foes in the target area, and grants nearby allies swiftness for each enemy you hit.
(Gap closer, designed specifically to be good at getting one big group of things close to another big group of things)
4: Dark Apostasy – Blocks an incoming attack, stealing health and a boon (or two) from the attacker. If nothing hits you or you cancel it early, it blinds nearby foes instead.
(Strong defensive move useful against single or multiple targets)
5: Guillotine – Deals massive damage to a single target, increased by 1% for each % of max health missing from the target. If this kills the target, your minions receive a substantial heal. Long cooldown.
(For finishing off an exposed, worn-down enemy. The on-kill effect is intended to somewhat counter minions’ lack of OOC regeneration.)

Haette.2701:

I thought about this before and came up with a kind of “power to the horde” weapon, used to lead the charge with a bunch of minions or allies and toughen them up in close-combat.

1: Reaper’s Strike – Wide cleaving attack chain. Third hit strikes a 360-degree area around you, briefly weakening and stealing life force from everything hit.
2: Bloodbath – Damages and bleeds nearby enemies and grants fury to nearby allies. Possibly a whirl finisher but I never did figure out the consequences that would have.
3: Siphon Speed – Cripples foes in the target area, and grants nearby allies swiftness for each enemy you hit.
4: Dark Apostasy – Blocks an incoming attack, stealing health and a boon (or two) from the attacker. If nothing hits you or you cancel it early, it blinds nearby foes instead.
5: Guillotine – Deals massive damage to a single target. Damage is increased by 1% for each % of max health missing from the target. If this kills the target, your minions receive a substantial heal.

I actually really like the idea of this, although obviously things would need to be tuned for balance. The #5 skill I would say should be an AoE heal around the target, that way it could benefit not just minions, but also allies (so you aren’t losing benefit by not running minions). And the #4, while I like the idea of a block, probably shouldn’t be a block; they just don’t want us to have one. I do like the idea of stealing boons though, what about an aura that stole 1 boon per hit, short duration?

Also, something to think about. One problem with implementing a brand new weapon is having to design a bunch of skins for it, make it useable on multiple classes, and similar issues of resource management. What about having it be Greatsword, but with a similar effect to staff where it has a large axe-blade particle effect (or something similar)?

Honestly I added that heal at the last minute because I realized an execute generally means the battle is over, and minions need to stop being so dead in between battles. Healing allies would be nice too. Actually, Bloodbath originally gave regen instead of fury so adding the heal back makes sense.

Dark Apostasy could just steal a massive amount of health, enough to completely negate the attack’s damage without actually stopping any other negative effects from the attack.

And yeah, I kind of figured this would wind up as a greatsword kit, but that’s totally fine too.

As long as it had awesome animations and at least a whirl or leap finisher I would love it.

I see it as more of a tank weapon for us than a cleaving melee weapon. Along the lines of the Guardian hammer. But, you know, dark and stuff.

I want the spear on land basically.
1 – big cone attack that builds lifeforce on last hit(3 hits)
2 – deathly whirlwind like warrior that cripples foes it hits
3 – the thrill of death – AoE channeling skill that damages surrounding enemies that grants movespeed and regeneration if the foe is under a cripple,freeze, immobilize or fear
4 – AoE pull skill
5- touch of death(1min CD) – 20% chance to instant kill normal or veteran mobs if under the effects of cripple, freeze, immobilize or fear in PvE. teleport to your foe and touch them with the mark of death, leaves you vulnerable and unable to move for 1 1/2 seconds

Whenever new weapons will be introduced for necro one will be based on minions, I don’t know if it will summon minions or be a general booning/healing support, but it will be based on minions.

Great Axe 1
Great Axe 2
Great Axe 3

I think a 2 handed axe is perfect for Necromancers. Only problem is Necromancers need better ways to stay alive in Melee combat in PvP.

Heres my idea in more detail. These skills could work on a greatsword aswell. As i said before its just a more viable frontline aoe weapon which fills the role we already have, debuffing with low mobility. Based on the spear and the guardian greatsword.

Vile Slash
Chain. Slash your foe.
Damage: 306
Life Force: 2%
Range: 130
Cast Time: 1/2s

Vile Strike
Chain. Strike your foe.
Damage: 306
Life Force: 2%
Range: 130
Cast Time: 1/2s

Vile Touch
Chain. Strike your foe and corrupt a boon.
Damage: 458
Life Force: 2%
Range: 130
Cast Time: 1/2s

Order of Pain
Channel your dark magic to surround you and repeatedly strike nearby foes gaining life force per strike.
Damage (9x): 1,261
Life Force: 1%
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Radius: 300
Cast Time: 1s
Cooldown: 10s

Deathly Chill
Summon a freezing dark cloud that repeatedly damages and chills foes.
Damage: 105
Chill: 1s
Vulnerability: 6s
Radius: 150
Duration: 5s
Cast Time: 1/2s
Cooldown: 15s

Ravenous Gaze
Leeches life from foes in a cone infront of you. Gain vigor for each foe you strike.
Damage: 416
Healing: 250
Vigor: 2s
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1/4s
Cooldown: 20s

Soul Bind
Binds the souls of nearby foes, pulling them to you. Bound foes are blinded.
Damage: 356
Blindness: 2s
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1s
Cooldown: 30s

I would prefer this to be a mobility/power/leeching weapon.

Greatsword:

Skill 1

• Deathly Swipe
  283 Damage
  130 Range
  Heals for 5% of the damage inflicted
  Cleaves
  1/2 Second cast time

• Deathly Cleave
  630 Damage
  130 Range
  Cleaves
  1/2 second cast time

• Deathly Blade
  1298 Damage
  130 Range
  Heals for 20% of the damage inflicted
  Does not cleave
  1/2 second cast time

Skill 2

• Bloody Strike
  Chain -> Bloodlust
  Teleport to your opponent and strike them with your Greatsword
  754 Damage
  Dazes for 2 seconds
  900 Range
  1/2 second cast time
  Cooldown 10 seconds

• Bloodlust
  Adds 2 stacks of Bleed for 5.2 seconds
  Adds Chill for 5.2 seconds
  Heals for 600

Skill 3

• Underworld
  Slam your sword into the ground for an Area of Effect
  236 Damage
  Adds Chill for 8 seconds
  Adds Blindness for 4 seconds
  Corrupts up to 2 boons
  300 Radius
  1.2 second cast time
  30 second cooldown
  Blast Finisher

Skill 4

• Deathly Grasp
  Channel a skill that immobilizes and damages an opponent
  1512 Damage (9x)
  Immobilizes for 5 seconds
  Cripples for 2 seconds per pulse
  1 second cast time
  300 Range
  20 second cooldown
  Player is stationary while channeling

Skill 5

• Undeath
  Channel a skill that converts conditions into boons, grants Regen/Protection
  5 Pulses
  Gives Regeneration for 6.2 seconds
  Gives Protection for 4.5 seconds
  3 second cast time
  40 second cooldown

Luke.4562:

NECROMANCER =/= DEATHKNIGHT

Exorcise your fantasy ideas luggage from World of Moneycraft.

I agree Anet failed hard giving an identity to Necromancer, but this doesn’t mean it has to be insulted more pairing it to the Death Knight kitten .

Stop this heresy about 2 handed swords and axes!

True about two-handed weapons, but one-handed light, be it martial, simple or exotic (dagger, throwing axe, mace, sickle, morningstar, swords) weapons are part of the necromancers arsenal, including the basic proficiency clause of using two handed weapons without a base value with x2 or higher multipliers (quarterstaff, scythe, spear, panseur, lance, anything else on a needlessly large rod).
Also (frost) DKs are cool and the fact that you can look like one with some work (since despite the classifications, most of the non stripper light armors look more full plate than some of the heavy armors).

My idea is a AOE/Cleave, Siphoning, Mobility based skillset with a strong combat presence like all other melee 2H weapons.

1

• Basic Chain, slow attackspeed, good damage

1. AOE Cleave in a cone
2. Second Cleavestrike in a cone, 1 Second of Weakness
3. Third cleavestrike, granting 3% Lifeforce. Damage and Lifeforcegain increased by 50% if only one target hit

2.

• Kind of a signature spell with a strong combat presence

1. Channel for 3 Seconds, cant move while channel
2. Necrotic energy hits up to 3 Enemys in front of you, Pulses each 0,5 Seconds
3. Each hit bounces 3 times to a random enemy in range of 300 of the last target, each enemy can be hit once per pulse only(up to 9 possible hits per pulse)
4. Siphons life on every hit and granting 1,5% Lifeforce for every unique target hit during channeling
5. initial range, possible bounce range is 300 from the point of impact

3.

• Teleport / Mobility Spell

1. 900 Range
2. Groundtarget skill, effect look like a bigger and faster animation of dagger#4
3. Teleport to the target location slash and deal initial damage and create a small Well for 3 seconds, poisoning and blinding foes each second
4. Whirl finisher
5. Can be activated again within 3 seconds for a second slash causing a short chill
   #Second whirl finisher

4.
* Life Steal

1. Range
2. Throw a Spectral Greataxe into your enemy, causing initial medium damage
3. Projectile finisher
4. Siphons health every second
5. duration ~ 6 Seconds
6. Can be activated again to immediatly stop the effect by tearing out the Axe of the victim, causing a bigger ammount of heal and damage, as well as a AOE heal for every ally around the target
7. activating the chain will also cause a 1 second stun/daze if the target is below 50% health

5.

• Defensive skill

1. Block all Incoming attacks for 3 seconds
2. Can move while blocking
3. After the block ends you strike violently with your Greataxe, damaging and launching targets infront of you
4. Range of Launch and Damage increases with the number of attacks blocked
5. Maybe leap finisher

btw theres no light armor class wearing longbow/shortbow/mace/shield/hammer/rifle.
Maybe the mace, with 5 weaponslots (twohanded only on necromancer) would fit. That would be easier than crating a new weapon and an attackanimation like the staff one could help
Or what about the shield (we want some defense) and it gives the necromancer 5weaponslots too with an summoned spectral weapon in the other hand

I approve of this thread.

I would personally love to see greataxe on the necro and I would like it to be a melee weapon with a cleave.

My 2 cents probably something like this.

1. I like Brujeria.7536 version so I will steal it but all credit to him. My suggestion on this is an animation similar to our underwater wave of fear skill.

• AOE Cleave in a cone
• Second Cleavestrike in a cone, 1 Second of Weakness
• Third cleavestrike, granting 3% Lifeforce. Damage and Lifeforcegain increased by 50% if only one target hit

2. Executioners Strike
Leap at your target stealing X amount of health. <- This would be a pure life steal ability scaling with power and a leap finisher.

3. Meekness
Slam your axe into the ground and Inscribe a mark that inflicts weakness to enemies and gives allies might

4. Cull the weak
Draw upon life forces around you and inflict X amount of damage enemies near you, damage is doubled if targets suffer from weakness.

5. Execute
Attempt to decapitate your enemy inflicting X amount of damage and daze your target, inflicts tripple damage if enemy is below 25% health.

Lightsbane.9012:

Kravick.4906:

I’d rather see greatsword, but whatever.

greatsword: warrior
greataxe: executioner. and/or necromancer. angel of death, get it?

The Angel of Death is said to have used a Greatsword.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_%28archangel%29

Anyway, we still need a cleave weapon. I don’t care what we get to do it with. Personally, I’d rather stab people with a spear or trident on land (Kraitkin anyone?), but I don’t see ANet reworking the system to allow underwater weapons on land any time soon.

IMHO Greataxe is no weapon fitting the Necromancer.

Ranger: Yes
Warrior: big Yes!
Guardian: maybe
Engineer: maybe

necro, Ele, mesmer, thief: nopes

spoj.9672:

Heres my idea in more detail. These skills could work on a greatsword aswell. As i said before its just a more viable frontline aoe weapon which fills the role we already have, debuffing with low mobility. Based on the spear and the guardian greatsword.

Vile Slash
Chain. Slash your foe.
Damage: 306
Life Force: 2%
Range: 130
Cast Time: 1/2s

Vile Strike
Chain. Strike your foe.
Damage: 306
Life Force: 2%
Range: 130
Cast Time: 1/2s

Vile Touch
Chain. Strike your foe and corrupt a boon.
Damage: 458
Life Force: 2%
Range: 130
Cast Time: 1/2s

Order of Pain
Channel your dark magic to surround you and repeatedly strike nearby foes gaining life force per strike.
Damage (9x): 1,261
Life Force: 1%
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Radius: 300
Cast Time: 1s
Cooldown: 10s

Deathly Chill
Summon a freezing dark cloud that repeatedly damages and chills foes.
Damage: 105
Chill: 1s
Vulnerability: 6s
Radius: 150
Duration: 5s
Cast Time: 1/2s
Cooldown: 15s

Ravenous Gaze
Leeches life from foes in a cone infront of you. Gain vigor for each foe you strike.
Damage: 416
Healing: 250
Vigor: 2s
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1/4s
Cooldown: 20s

Soul Bind
Binds the souls of nearby foes, pulling them to you. Bound foes are blinded.
Damage: 356
Blindness: 2s
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1s
Cooldown: 30s

Beautifully done.

The axe we have is just barely thematic(imo), I’m not sure we need another iteration of it. With that said, Spoj’s idea is pretty neat.

I like 1h axe, but I think I would rather have scythe fill the gap of an AOE melee 2hander for us. Something not terribly different from how spear is, but terrestrial. I love dagger, but it pales in comparison to how fun spear is, and most of the offhands we have are lacking that melee charm.

Flowerpower.6795:

I realy like all those things. A new weapon would be so much fun.
But i don’t agree that necromancers need a new weapon with cleave and high direct damage in melee combat. I mean.. its a necromancer, not a warrior in light armor and not a dervish.
Necromancers are normally caster. Vodoopriests and warlocks using dark magic. Somebody that gets his greataxe to rush on his enemy and hit them with high damage is no necromancer in my opinion. I think sometimes people just want to do something with a profession that can’t do that and justify it with other profession ability to do it. I mean if you see a warrior that says: “anet give me spectral walk to be able to hit and run like the necromancer” would you give them the spectral walk? …
Please give us more awesome looking stuff like spectral walk, plague and lichform. I dont care about pve balancing.. if a warrior can kill a mob in 7sec and i need 12sec it’s no problem to me as long as it is fun to play the profession.
In structured pvp its another thing.. balance is more important there i think because if a warrior can down me in 7sec and i can down him in 12sec.. it wont be so much fun for the necromancer.

Thats why i wanted skills like bury them. Would fit the role of the necromancer (sth like a ceremety keeper) and this skill offers a lot of teamplay combos and could look so funny!
I would do a video where my necromancer uses this skill on every graveyard in tyria or use it in tpvp on a stomped enemy! ;D

You need to keep anet’s design philosophy in mind. This was designed to be a versatile game where each class can be played as either melee or ranged….zerker or bunker. There are no “casters” in this game. That means there is absolutely nothing wrong with playing any class as melee or ranged. That’s why warriors have longbow and rifle. That’s why guardians have scepters and staves. That’s why thieves have pistols and swords. That’s why mesmers have 1h swords and staves. I think even rangers have melee weapons (never played one). Necromancers absolutely should have at least one viable melee dps weapon. Currently they have none…as the dagger does not qualify being that it is only single target…with the majority of content being aoe fights. Melee cleave is required to be viable in melee combat in this game. I think necromancers have enough ranged options at this point..we need something viable for melee. One topic of warriors getting something like spectral walk…Signet of Rage? Swiftness plus fury and might.

Back to the topic though…I like a lot of the ideas posted in this thread. I would love to have a scythe be our option..I’d prefer that over a hammer. I think a scythe fits necromancers more than a hammer would…as a hammer seems like a non-lethal weapon…whereas a scythe is all about death. I like the idea of “marked for death” as a stacking, non-damaging debuff as was posted earlier. I also like the idea of using debuffs like weakness/chill/vulnerability as proc effects from our weapon to give us staying power/survivability in melee versus boons like the guardian uses.

I would love to have a build based on melee cleave and that has synergy with spectral utilities…instead of being pigeon holed into using wells for aoe damage.

Luke.4562:

NECROMANCER =/= DEATHKNIGHT

Exorcise your fantasy ideas luggage from World of Moneycraft.

I agree Anet failed hard giving an identity to Necromancer, but this doesn’t mean it has to be insulted more pairing it to the Death Knight kitten .

Stop this heresy about 2 handed swords and axes!

we’ll ignore the fact that blizzard did not invent the concept of deathknight. if a greataxe comes into the game, it will be given to at least one of the light armor classes, warrior, possibly ranger.

EDIT: the greataxe on a necro could function like mesmer’s greatsword. no i don’t mean shoot a beam of superdeath. the greataxe could function in a way opposite to the mesmer’s greatsword, closer target is, more damage it takes, with a max range of 900. still would swing it like a warrior swings a hammer, and most abilities would be melee with a couple ranged hits.

The axe itself doesn’t even need to be important. Look at the weapons we use right now, warhorn is the only one that is properly “used” as a weapon, and even then that is just blowing into it to cast the effect, which has little to nothing to do with the warhorn itself (you could just as easily use a cardboard tube). Every other weapon is used more as a ritual tool as an aid to cast the ability itself (no idea if lore supports this, but the animations show it). There is no reason that if they added a greataxe it would be actually used as an axe, and not as the same kind of tool, like everything else.

Bhawb.7408:

The axe itself doesn’t even need to be important. Look at the weapons we use right now, warhorn is the only one that is properly “used” as a weapon, and even then that is just blowing into it to cast the effect, which has little to nothing to do with the warhorn itself (you could just as easily use a cardboard tube). Every other weapon is used more as a ritual tool as an aid to cast the ability itself (no idea if lore supports this, but the animations show it). There is no reason that if they added a greataxe it would be actually used as an axe, and not as the same kind of tool, like everything else.

These were my thoughts on my gs/axe skills i posted earlier in the thread. The auto attack would be the only thing which looked like the necro was using that weapon. The rest would be kind of ritual casting animations and effects.

Give us hammer with a shadow axe effect similar to scythe effect on staves