Guild Wars 2

Hello!
This is a Minion master condition based team support build. Without any further ado, here is the build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBmWD7kZTobTspGwtGg9GsMNYTjgXWFQaAUACAxfwTYLE-TpxCQBCc/BxUGoCHEAAcEAmwFAQCPAAA

So, what are the pros and cons to this build?
Pros:

1. 7k aoe heal on your rs 4
2. 2k aoe heal on exiting reaper shroud
3. Can stack up to 30 stacks of poison with the death of a minion and rs 4
4. 3200 Armour lets you take punches like a big boy girl
5. 1200-1600 condition damage lets you hit as hard as a full condi necro
6. Lots of survivalbility, with only your minions attacking, you heal 2k/s
7. Lots of burst from rise, blankets a point in poison when they die
8. Weapon swap as much as an ele or engie
9. Massive team fight bruiser, you WILL win team fights (mostly because…)
10. MLG ressing

Cons:

1. Low mobility (only 1 short leap)
2. Low Stability ( No stun breakers, easy to get a burst set up on you while your traveling between points)
3. Amour doesn’t seem to actually affect damage output (those 5k vaults keep coming, not to mention rampage)

This build is fantastic. I’d like to classify it as a bunker/condi bruiser, but the minions do enough direct damage to let you be a general bruiser. It is designed to wade into team fights and carry overwhelming momentum. With correct positioning, you can easily guarantee the first person to go down on your side a res, meaning in even fights you’ll end up with a person advantage. After winning that team fight, you should have 10-15 stacks of corruption, boosting your condition damage to 1100-1200 range. In any given fight, you’ll be getting between 3-5 stacks from rune of thorns, boosting you up another 150-250 condition damage. So you know what I was saying about overwhelming momentum? The next fight you enter after that original team fight, you’ll have 13-1400 condition damage (the maximum is 1600 condi damage, AKA a full rabid necromancer’s damage) Coupled with the 85% poison duration, rise is basically a ticking time bomb every 25 seconds. The most important thing in this build to watch out for is your cool down on RS 4. You’ll have to choose between using it aggressively for 29 stacks of poison plus a 7k AOE heal, or using it defensively, for a downed teleport resurrection.

Note, for condition heavy teams, it is advised to swap flesh of the master out for shrouded removal

Frequently asked questions:

Q Why use the heal minion instead of X?
A The heal minion is more aggressive as well as a source of poison {more condi damage for you}. It heals generally the same amount as others over time ( I.E. if using it off cool down, you’d heal the same as CC by using it twice in the cool down time of 1 CC) It also provides 1 condition transfer per 10 seconds. (So what? That is the difference between 22 stacks of bleeding and 0 stacks of bleeding)
A It has been brought to my attention that using the heal shout has a shorter cooldown and you can use it more effectively than the heal minion. Since this build relies on entering and exiting death shroud, the small amount of life force allows an extra 2k heal, kind like the turret heal on engie.

Q Why use minions at all, you noob? Shackling your self to a computer, not better than the old turret engine
A If the actual minions where removed and only their burst skills were left, I’d still get 10% life force every 20 seconds, 2 2k blast finishers every 16 seconds, a knockdown every 40 seconds, constant cripple, and 50% less damage on a constant basis. Those two blast finishers allow me to apply almost constant weakness, while the 10% allows me to hope into shroud long enough to stun you, then receive my 2k heal. Even without minions, I’m a great bunker. With minions, I have obsence amounts of damage and condition application.

Q Does this work for Strong hold too?
A Yes, you can keep door breakers alive though sheer body stacking along with your 7k and 2k heal. If you desire to play defense, you can MLG save the lord with transfusion + stab res.

This forum has held some really awesome thread titles of late. Also, I might have to try some minion stuff sometime soon. Seems like it could be a lot of fun.

Interesting build, will try it. I still think the heal minion is absolute garbage. Being a ranged minion, if it dies from random AoEs the poison field won’t do much. I would take “Your soul is mine” instead, especially with the shout trait: better heal on shorter CD with life force on top, you can’t go wrong with it.

Cogbyrn.7283:

This forum has held some really awesome thread titles of late. Also, I might have to try some minion stuff sometime soon. Seems like it could be a lot of fun.

Haha, Thanks. I promise you’ll enjoy it even more with that chill buff!

Ara.4569:

Interesting build, will try it. I still think the heal minion is absolute garbage. Being a ranged minion, if it dies from random AoEs the poison field won’t do much. I would take “Your soul is mine” instead, especially with the shout trait: better heal on shorter CD with life force on top, you can’t go wrong with it.

Don’t forget they changed how aoe damage works with minions. It’s greatly reduced against AOE attacks, same against single target attacks. Unless someone wants to waste a burst or eviscerate on your minion, your gonna have it up pretty constantly, especially with the heals you pump out. if they DO focus your minion with single target skills, well, that’s damage mitigation too…

I use the same utilities for mastery farming and world completion in jungle grind land.

Dreaming serpent.5197:

Cogbyrn.7283:

This forum has held some really awesome thread titles of late. Also, I might have to try some minion stuff sometime soon. Seems like it could be a lot of fun.

Haha, Thanks. I promise you’ll enjoy it even more with that chill buff!

Ara.4569:

Interesting build, will try it. I still think the heal minion is absolute garbage. Being a ranged minion, if it dies from random AoEs the poison field won’t do much. I would take “Your soul is mine” instead, especially with the shout trait: better heal on shorter CD with life force on top, you can’t go wrong with it.

Don’t forget they changed how aoe damage works with minions. It’s greatly reduced against AOE attacks, same against single target attacks. Unless someone wants to waste a burst or eviscerate on your minion, your gonna have it up pretty constantly, especially with the heals you pump out. if they DO focus your minion with single target skills, well, that’s damage mitigation too…

“Player-owned minions will now take 95% reduced damage and condition duration from nonplayer attacks that do not specifically target them. When the attack specifically targets the minion, then it will deal full damage and condition duration.”
The minion change only applies to pve-content afaik.

Spicy.2481:

Dreaming serpent.5197:

Cogbyrn.7283:

This forum has held some really awesome thread titles of late. Also, I might have to try some minion stuff sometime soon. Seems like it could be a lot of fun.

Haha, Thanks. I promise you’ll enjoy it even more with that chill buff!

Ara.4569:

Interesting build, will try it. I still think the heal minion is absolute garbage. Being a ranged minion, if it dies from random AoEs the poison field won’t do much. I would take “Your soul is mine” instead, especially with the shout trait: better heal on shorter CD with life force on top, you can’t go wrong with it.

Don’t forget they changed how aoe damage works with minions. It’s greatly reduced against AOE attacks, same against single target attacks. Unless someone wants to waste a burst or eviscerate on your minion, your gonna have it up pretty constantly, especially with the heals you pump out. if they DO focus your minion with single target skills, well, that’s damage mitigation too…

“Player-owned minions will now take 95% reduced damage and condition duration from nonplayer attacks that do not specifically target them. When the attack specifically targets the minion, then it will deal full damage and condition duration.”
The minion change only applies to pve-content afaik.

Almost like he never tested the build at all.

Moa <drops mic, goes home>

Today I faced a lot of top ESL players in groups of 2-4 (I love solo q…) and power (nexed, drarnor, my own soldier/cavalier builds) clearly doesn’t cut it (at least on EU).

So I went back to condi and this build did wonders when facing up to 2 players. However, under focus fire in team fights, I’m CC’ed to death and can only hope for a quick rez as I’m slow as kitten and can’t escape at all.

Blockable staff hurts less than I thought, and LF generation is good with YSIM, warhorn and haunt. The stacking buff from runes is pretty strong and easy to get. I used hydromancy on both set, leech on staff and ice on scepter/wh for extra chills.

Good mesmers like Helseth and Frostball were using gravity well, only moa I faced were from average players and it didn’t kill shambling horrors anyway so it was manageable.

I was surprised to do roughly as much physical damage as condi damage, so pets really helped to put some pressure.

Ara.4569:

Today I faced a lot of top ESL players in groups of 2-4 (I love solo q…) and power (nexed, drarnor, my own soldier/cavalier builds) clearly doesn’t cut it (at least on EU).

So I went back to condi and this build did wonders when facing up to 2 players. However, under focus fire in team fights, I’m CC’ed to death and can only hope for a quick rez as I’m slow as kitten and can’t escape at all.

Blockable staff hurts less than I thought, and LF generation is good with YSIM, warhorn and haunt. The stacking buff from runes is pretty strong and easy to get. I used hydromancy on both set, leech on staff and ice on scepter/wh for extra chills.

Good mesmers like Helseth and Frostball were using gravity well, only moa I faced were from average players and it didn’t kill shambling horrors anyway so it was manageable.

I was surprised to do roughly as much physical damage as condi damage, so pets really helped to put some pressure.

Yeah, that makes sense since this build evolved from the question of: How do I make mayhem stop killing me on his war while tanking someone else? I’ll take a good look at YSIM and see how it stacks up practically.

Now found on meta battle at: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Settler%27s_Minion_Master

Dreaming serpent.5197:

Hello!
This is a Minion master condition based team support build. Without any further ado, here is the build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBmWD7khGobTspGwtGg9GsMNYTjgXWFQaAUACAxfwTYLE-TZxCwAiLDU5gAA4IAM5CAI5BAAA [Note, the rune of choice is rune of thorns, this is very important].

So, what are the pros and cons to this build?
Pros:

1. 7k aoe heal on your rs 4
2. 2k aoe heal on exiting reaper shroud
3. Can stack up to 30 stacks of poison with the death of a minion and rs 4
4. 3200 Armour lets you take punches like a big boy girl
5. 1200-1600 condition damage lets you hit as hard as a full condi necro
6. Lots of survivalbility, with only your minions attacking, you heal 2k/s
7. Lots of burst from rise, blankets a point in poison when they die
8. Weapon swap as much as an ele or engie
9. Massive team fight bruiser, you WILL win team fights (mostly because…)
10. MLG ressing

Cons:

1. Low mobility (only 1 short leap)
2. Low Stability ( No stun breakers, easy to get a burst set up on you while your traveling between points)
3. Amour doesn’t seem to actually affect damage output (those 5k vaults keep coming, not to mention rampage)

This build is fantastic. I’d like to classify it as a bunker/condi bruiser, but the minions do enough direct damage to let you be a general bruiser. It is designed to wade into team fights and carry overwhelming momentum. With correct positioning, you can easily guarantee the first person to go down on your side a res, meaning in even fights you’ll end up with a person advantage. After winning that team fight, you should have 10-15 stacks of corruption, boosting your condition damage to 1100-1200 range. In any given fight, you’ll be getting between 3-5 stacks from rune of thorns, boosting you up another 150-250 condition damage. So you know what I was saying about overwhelming momentum? The next fight you enter after that original team fight, you’ll have 13-1400 condition damage (the maximum is 1600 condi damage, AKA a full rabid necromancer’s damage) Coupled with the 85% poison duration, rise is basically a ticking time bomb every 25 seconds. The most important thing in this build to watch out for is your cool down on RS 4. You’ll have to choose between using it aggressively for 29 stacks of poison plus a 7k AOE heal, or using it defensively, for a downed teleport resurrection.

Note, for condition heavy teams, it is advised to swap flesh of the master out for shrouded removal

Frequently asked questions:

Q Why use the heal minion instead of X?
A The heal minion is more aggressive as well as a source of poison {more condi damage for you}. It heals generally the same amount as others over time ( I.E. if using it off cool down, you’d heal the same as CC by using it twice in the cool down time of 1 CC) It also provides 1 condition transfer per 10 seconds. (So what? That is the difference between 22 stacks of bleeding and 0 stacks of bleeding)

Q Why use minions at all, you noob? Shackling your self to a computer, not better than the old turret engine
A If the actual minions where removed and only their burst skills were left, I’d still get 10% life force every 20 seconds, 2 2k blast finishers every 16 seconds, a knockdown every 40 seconds, constant cripple, and 50% less damage on a constant basis. Those two blast finishers allow me to apply almost constant weakness, while the 10% allows me to hope into shroud long enough to stun you, then receive my 2k heal. Even without minions, I’m a great bunker. With minions, I have obsence amounts of damage and condition application.

Q Does this work for Strong hold too?
A Yes, you can keep door breakers alive though sheer body stacking along with your 7k and 2k heal. If you desire to play defense, you can MLG save the lord with transfusion + stab res.

I play that build from 2 month (without reaper but with blood, pre HoT) and it work. It really work and very good.
Actually i play that build, with curse instead of blood why I prefer perma weakness and send condition back and with rabid why I lost the heals, but It’s a really good build anyway. But that’s why I frequently hold close and fighting in 1vs1 a perma weakness is better than heal someother that isn’t near me XD
In team fight I can say that it’s one of the best necro build ever to support and at the same time deal damage.

only one thing: Change the Summon Phantom Fiend with Corrosive Poison Cloud to spam weakness and poiron (very good in team fight) and block projectiles (the best thing against a lot of professions like rangers, engi, warrior, thief with P/P or SB and more).

That build is more or less the same build I posted some time ago and it really work.

It’s my favorite build for Necromancer in sPvP.

Tried your build for a few hours today and had lots of fun with it. My favourite build so far and im not usually a pet fan. Thanks for this.

Silv.9207:

Dreaming serpent.5197:

I play that build from 2 month (without reaper but with blood, pre HoT) and it work. It really work and very good.
Actually i play that build, with curse instead of blood why I prefer perma weakness and send condition back and with rabid why I lost the heals, but It’s a really good build anyway. But that’s why I frequently hold close and fighting in 1vs1 a perma weakness is better than heal someother that isn’t near me XD
In team fight I can say that it’s one of the best necro build ever to support and at the same time deal damage.

only one thing: Change the Summon Phantom Fiend with Corrosive Poison Cloud to spam weakness and poiron (very good in team fight) and block projectiles (the best thing against a lot of professions like rangers, engi, warrior, thief with P/P or SB and more).

That build is more or less the same build I posted some time ago and it really work.

It’s my favorite build for Necromancer in sPvP.

Sounds like your slowly making a Condition point fighter. Ever since minions lost the ability to remove boons, and signets gained it, signets have been better at that sort of build. I suggest you try out signets with spite/curses/reaper and see what happens!

Padaxes.7305:

Tried your build for a few hours today and had lots of fun with it. My favourite build so far and im not usually a pet fan. Thanks for this.

Thanks for the feedback, remember to rate it on meta battle (http://metabattle.com/wiki/Special:Rating?name=Build:Reaper_-_Settler_MM)

I’m a bit confused on how you got 7k heals on shroud 4. Because I have 7k heals with 1500 healing power and that build has 1000.

According to tooltips:

607×9= 5463

Really where are you getting 7k heals from? On that note, how come an investment of 500 in healing power only offers me a 20% increase in transfusion healing? And if you aren’t fudging your numbers, why do I only get a 0% increase?

Anyone else have comments on healing power scaling?

Rishnock.6230:

I’m a bit confused on how you got 7k heals on shroud 4. Because I have 7k heals with 1500 healing power and that build has 1000.

According to tooltips:

607×9= 5463

Really where are you getting 7k heals from? On that note, how come an investment of 500 in healing power only offers me a 20% increase in transfusion healing? And if you aren’t fudging your numbers, why do I only get a 0% increase?

Anyone else have comments on healing power scaling?

Well, you get an extra 300 healing power from last rights when below 50% HP. Just tested it in pvp when I was below 50% and I got 7,850 ish on my minions when I healed it. Tooltip might be wrong? Above health I got around 7,200

Do you think we can use this build in raids?

it works in raids but its a tank build so you use it to hold agro

Dreaming serpent.5197:

Ara.4569:

Today I faced a lot of top ESL players in groups of 2-4 (I love solo q…) and power (nexed, drarnor, my own soldier/cavalier builds) clearly doesn’t cut it (at least on EU).

So I went back to condi and this build did wonders when facing up to 2 players. However, under focus fire in team fights, I’m CC’ed to death and can only hope for a quick rez as I’m slow as kitten and can’t escape at all.

Blockable staff hurts less than I thought, and LF generation is good with YSIM, warhorn and haunt. The stacking buff from runes is pretty strong and easy to get. I used hydromancy on both set, leech on staff and ice on scepter/wh for extra chills.

Good mesmers like Helseth and Frostball were using gravity well, only moa I faced were from average players and it didn’t kill shambling horrors anyway so it was manageable.

I was surprised to do roughly as much physical damage as condi damage, so pets really helped to put some pressure.

Yeah, that makes sense since this build evolved from the question of: How do I make mayhem stop killing me on his war while tanking someone else? I’ll take a good look at YSIM and see how it stacks up practically.

I tried out “Your Soul Is Mine!” and it does work alot better, I’m updating the build to reflect this, thanks for the suggestion!

sirrush.8950:

it works in raids but its a tank build so you use it to hold agro

With the toughness boost from minions you will always have the agro from bosses. The only problem is that this is often a ressing build since you teleport downed to your location. When your the tank, however, you want to keep the downed AWAY from the boss. With the right people, I could see this replacing druids as a healer/tank.
Protip: Sub out shadowfiend for flesh wurm, so that if you miss a dodge and get teleported to the wrong area, you can instantly teleport back while figuring out your directions.