Guild Wars 2

Okay, before you troll/flame me, just hear me out.

I used to play WoW a long time ago. I had a TON of fun with the warlock. This class basically plays by using CC abilities (like fear and lockdown spells) to keep enemies off you while you load up DoTs. Another major mechanic was that some of the DoTs and direct damage would give you life, which you could use as an extra mana source.

Now, the main thing I miss about the warlock that I’m looking for was being able to roll up into a crowd of 4 enemies (PvE open-world mobs) around your level and be able to kite/cc them while loading up DoTs. It was a fun dance and very challenging, and it’s even better in GW because the combat is so much more active (dodge).

I know there is no class like the warlock in GW2. I know GW2 professions are different, no holy trilogy, and all classes and do pretty much anything if specced right. That’s why I’m here. For those of you who know the necro well, and know a bit about the WoW warlock, can the necro function like this?

I main a mesmer, and I hadn’t even really thought of this until I was playing last night and I was fighting 4 mobs and was evading all over the place, throwing up illusions (instead of a minion) and stealthing (instead of fearing) to avoid and it was just so much fun. It reminded me of the warlock.

I’m looking for a way to play as close to the WoW warlock as possible. A profession/build that focuses on conditions (DoT) and some sort of evasion mechanic that lets you control multiple foes at a time while giving your DoTs enough time to work while simultaneously healing you. You can sort of do that with a mesmer, but a lot of the guys in the mesmer forums were saying that the necro sort of plays this way.

What do you guys think? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Educate me! And please, don’t tell me “if you like warlock, go play WoW”

PS – I mainly play solo/duo PvE open world and some dungeons. I play casually, so the best build and/or max DPS build is not so important to me. I’m more interested in the playstyle. For instance, I’ve already read many times that “condi is terrible for PvE”. That’s okay with me, as long as the playstyle is what I’m looking for. It’s all about fun and that differs from person to person!

Thanks for reading, you guys are great!

What is WoW?….

With the new trait you can technically do exactly what you are saying. A 6/X/X/X/X build with parasitic contagion will heal you for a small % of the damage your conditions are doing, you can use cripple/chill/fear to keep enemies off you, and load them up with conditions, spread further by loading up 1 target + epidemic.

So technically, yes you can copy the Warlock’s style over. It isn’t exactly the same, obviously they are two games and Necromancers aren’t made with the intent to copy Warlocks, but there are enough similarities you might enjoy it.

Just a note, this might not be the most viable top tier speed run leet MLG pro sponsored by red bull 360noscope build out there, but it will get you through all the content just fine.

Thank you! Can you suggest a build or 3? Clearly I have no experience with Necro, but it would be cool to look at some builds ahead of time and try to get an idea of how it would work, what util skills to use, what weapons etc

You are gonna have fun with necro.
It do all that and more.

In open world pve it will do just fine and is op against normal mobs.
I haven’t played that way for 18 mths so now I go remake it and try it again cos it was fun. I think I even kept the gear.

brb

Damagewise going conditions is not that bad. The problem with conditions however is, that there is a stack limit for each condition (25 for bleed, 1 for poison, 1 for burn, 15 for torment with the bleed cap the most annyoing for necros). Normally even non condi builds bring damage conditions which as consequence gives the problem that for condition specs the damage is reduced highly due already having full stack on the mobs. Not to mention 2 condi builds together.
If you adjust you group in such a way that you are the only one that applies bleed i think is is not a problem, but in general you cannot always get those group conditions.

I think if Anet ever fixes that problem condi builds wouldnt be in a bad spot, though i heard it is a limitaion of the programming so this may never happen…

But that said going zerker still gives the highest dps…

Yeah what you’re describing is fighting 5-6 mobs as a condi build, load bleeds poison torment chill blind and epidemic, maybe drop wells too.And then switch to staff and bombs away…beautiful combination:P
A perfect example is the ascalonian fractal (if you dont get 1-shot from asc warrior), you can have the whole group bleeding and crippling.
Condis and kiting are both places necro excels, many champs are easily soloable that way. Not the fastest way, but personally I take great pleasure xD

Hey, forgot to mention builds. Here is the basic thing you need to do to make a condi build in PvE:

Decide if you want Dhuumfire (a trait), if so, you’re going to want 6 in spite, which will heavily affect the rest of your build. This gives you access to burning.

Decide if you want Terror (trait), if so, again very impacting. This makes your fears do damage (can someone say if they have made it so fear applies to most bosses yet? I know the boss blitz ones don’t but I notice a lot of dungeon bosses still get the condition/damage).

Then finish off your build with what you need from Soul Reaping (generally 3+ points), Death Magic (up to 4 generally), Blood Magic (rarely), and Spite/Curses. There is a fair bit of variety and you should be changing your build at least a little depending on the type of content you are doing.

Thanks so much everyone! I’d like to try to do a condi heavy build, if I can. I guess I’d like to focus on keeping the cc as interesting as possible, since I know condi builds take longer to kill enemies in PvE. So, priority would be fear and other cc abilities first, and then maxing condi damage. I also probably won’t play it much once I get to 80 (I really just like leveling), so what do you guys think of something like this to strive for:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNArYWjk00db1NG1wfjigBRyWfmqXkHCQ52oA-e

EDIT: I didn’t include any GM traits b/c you can’t get them until 80 now and I’m looking for leveling builds.

Some tweaks, maybe better?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNArYWjM00dbxN+2wfjigBRyWfmqXkNCQ52oA-e