Guild Wars 2

So what’s the generally the most common used weapon for necro in PVE? For instance ranger is longbow, warrior is greatsword etc. I like offhand dagger but mainhand it’s a toss up between scepter and dagger. As I’m only lvl 19 obviously when reaching 80 there can be a big difference.

I would assume its dagger. By now most people tend to follow the meta.

I do not think Necro can have a PvE meta (compared to other professions ) that does not involve Epi but I run dagger/WH + staff.

Scepter for condition damage builds (It should be noted that these are not popular in PvE)
Dagger for DPS power builds (Berserker, Assassin, high risk high reward)
Axe for other power builds (Soldier, Cleric, low risk low reward)
Staff is a must-have for all Necros in PvE.

Staff isnt a must have in PvE. Its a bad weapon for everything except PvP and WvW.

all i roll with is offhand warhorn. fools try to get close and i say “step back step back you dont know me like that” sheeit all up in my biz who they think they talkin to.

spoj.9672:

Staff isnt a must have in PvE. Its a bad weapon for everything except PvP and WvW.

Best in range, best in AOE,
Comfortable, easy life force generation on autoattack,
Regeneration and blast finisher for stacking in dungeons,
The kiting potential it offers makes running around for map completion a breeze,
Also the only weapon other than Warhorn to have an interrupt, and this one isn’t limited to what is directly in your face.

>.>

I would rather kill things quicker, than wait and kite until they finally die.

For PvE I’d argue dagger/WH axe/focus should get the job done quicker, while still offering lots of CC.

dagger/wh + dagger/focus gets it done fastest. If you want a bit more aoe then swap focus for offhand dagger. But the bouncing focus 4 is also pretty good for aoe.

Dagger/Focus or Dagger/Warhorn for DPS. Scepter also does surprisingly good DPS when full berserker.

Hey, newbie friends! It’s Leman, the ‘Renownest Active Necro EU’.

1. Staff sucks in PvE. Completely. Literally no reason to use it other than trolling.
2. Dagger/focus – dagger/warhorn is the only set that could be considered viable if necro didn’t suck in PvE.
3. Listen to spoj.

That is all. Bye bye, newbie friends!

I use staff to unload the burst, regen, and terror. Then I have to put up with it until weapon swap CD is complete. It is fair for tagging but dagger does the dps.

leman and spoj are forgetting one MAJOR thing: tagging mobs in events. GL doing that without staff, unless u want to wait 35 secs between wells of suffering….

Staff is essential for mob tagging as none of our other weapons can match it for aoe potential.

Never had any problems tagging without the staff. I’d go as far as saying Life Transfer, Tainted Shackles, Locust Swarm, both wells managed properly, dagger cleave and Reaper’s Touch are more than enough to tag better than 90% of other players. Since we’re talking about open-world PvE I am assuming an abysmally low skill level, suboptimal builds and gear, low awareness, slow reaction times and overall high level of casual approach.
Not to mention the only good skill for tagging is really the Putrid Mark. Just my opinion.

Dagger+WH is much much better to tagg mobs in events. Same like thief, dagger is better then SB, if u move fast enough the fast atk speed tags more.
And Staff Marks have long Cooldowns.

Staff and Epidemic in a condi or hybrid build is more and faster damage than dagger/warhorn when you need aoe tagging.
Unless it’s in a situation like the (meanwhile nerfed) Svanir champion farm event in Frostgorge Sound, in which case even necro power builds fall far behind the high bursts you needed to get any loot at all.

I agree dagger/wh is the way to go for single-target dps and does well enough now with the 2 target cleave and wail of doom but staff has the range to help get there first. In farming with a group, Necromancer is up against lots of bear-bows, GS Mes, Ele, and so on. Getting the damage recorded before the target is dead is not always easy. I use DS to collect mobs when I can, too.

The truth is that there is not one answer that is best in all farming situations. In the labyrinth, I run staff as a backup for dagger/wh for its range that lets me hit targets earlier, the AA’s straight up damage when high value targets have conditions capped, the AoE burst, Terror on high value targets loaded with conditions, and the breathing room I sometimes need after taking a big hit.

Scepter or axe are also acceptable so I will not criticize them but, in candy farming, I have found staff to be the best compliment to dagger/wh. There is no need to trait staff, though, unless you are running perplexity like I am. Just watch for the weapon swap CD that lets you get back to dagger.

Here is what I am using for candy farming:
Ascended zerker armor with runes of perplexity
Dagger/WH + staff
+MF on an amulet and from food
Spite: Reaper’s Might, Spinal Shivers, Parasitic Contagion
Curses: Weakening Shroud, Terror
Death Magic: Staff Mastery, Reaper’s Protection
Utilities: Consume Conditions, Blood is Power, Epidemic, SotL
Utilities for the Lich: Well of Corruption, Epidemic, Corrupt Boon

The objective is to try and proc the perplexity runes’ confusion and take advantage of Terror. Without the perplexity runes, I would definitely run a different build so there is no reason other weapons cannot substitute for staff if you have a set of runes that gives other advantages.

I have much better time tagging with d/w + d/f + wells + DS. Condi tagging with epidemic is pretty abysmal most of the time. You really dont have much aoe downtime if you rotate your aoe skills instead of blowing them all at once.

If you have a staff you can hit 4 single pulses of aoe and then you are stuck with a poor auto attack. Also if you still think condi epidemic tagging is better. Then you still wouldnt use a staff. Camping scepter/dagger with epidemic is far superior in terms of aoe and single target condi damage than using a staff.

Staff is only used in PvP and WvW for the range, the cleanse and the fear. If it didnt have those it wouldnt be used. Its certainly not used for its AOE potential. Thats just a misconception. Its used for AoE in WvW because it has 1200 range. If it was short range then your standard dps weapons would be superior for AoE.

Staff is the weapon with highest damage rating that necros can use. If you’re Life Blast spamming you’ll do the most damage using the staff – 10% more damage even.

You get the same damage with axe + axe training. And you arent actually using the staff when you are lifeblasting. You are just taking advantage of its weapon power.

spoj.9672:

Camping scepter/dagger with epidemic is far superior in terms of aoe and single target condi damage than using a staff.

Single target: overall yes, but it really depends on your skill rotation and how much hp your target has.
And definitely false in regards to aoe. Even without having Staff Mastery traited, Mark of Blood alone will do more damage than Grasping Dead and Enfeebling Blood combined. If you add the other skills there’s no contest at all.
As to incorporating Epidemic: it’s far more effective to multiply aoe than having to stack some condis with scepter on a single target before spreading them.

spoj.9672:

Staff is only used in PvP and WvW for the range, the cleanse and the fear. If it didnt have those it wouldnt be used. Its certainly not used for its AOE potential. Thats just a misconception. Its used for AoE in WvW because it has 1200 range. If it was short range then your standard dps weapons would be superior for AoE.

All of this is false. You’re really underestimating this weapon.

I think you are underestimating the other weapons. Without the utility and range on staff its terrible. Its sustained aoe is really overated especially considering we now have 2 target cleave on dagger.

With regards to scepter vs mark of blood. Grasping dead has 1 less second of bleed duration and 4 second longer cooldown. Only in extended fights does mark of blood become obviously more powerful. However While mark of blood is on cooldown you do not have anything else. Scepter at least allows you to setup a more potent epidemic. Mark of blood is a pre burst condi skill. But setting up marks pre fight is often not worth the hassle in PvE. Im fairly sure no decent pvp player takes staff purely for mark of blood. Im sure leman agrees with me on that.

Theres a reason I didnt use staff even when i used condi/rampager to wipe trash mobs in fractals. The reality is even if for periods of time where you can only do single target dps and then epidemic. Its still better than being locked onto staff.

I just have to say at this point, you are cherry picking when it comes to incorporating DS and utility skills. Dagger/wh has far less aoe but here you say there’s not much aoe downtime with proper skill rotation, with staff on the other hand “you’re stuck with the auto attack”?
Believe me, if I use all skills available with my build (no scepter) I can burst bleeds faster and higher on a single target, and this is after having done more aoe damage while having more utility and range at my disposal as well.

And no, I’m not taking staff purely for Mark of Blood, every single skill on this weapon is important in PvP.

spoj.9672:

With regards to scepter vs mark of blood. Grasping dead has 1 less second of bleed duration and 4 second longer cooldown. Only in extended fights does mark of blood become obviously more powerful.

Well, first of all you’re likely to have a decent amount of extra bleeding duration.
So in my case: +100% bleeding duration, the difference would then be 16 sec (on a 4.8 sec cd with Staff Mastery) vs 14/20 sec with 10/25 sec cd on s/d.
Also, “extended fight” as in after the second MoB? Because that is when you get 6 stacks instead of just 5. Not to mention that I might start attacking earlier because of the 300 extra range.

I’m sure we can agree on one thing though: if you want proper long range aoe damage for PvE, go engi or ele.

Mark of Blood ICD is fast enough. I usually pop it twice as much for the damage as for the regen before switching back to dagger.

Staff AA is fair, though I prefer to get close enough to use dagger, locust swarm, and, hopefully, proc confusion from wail of doom. If I can get a stack of confusion, epidemic is nice even if there are just a few mobs in the area.

Against the biggest candy corn boss, I only end up using epidemic once in a while because there are few adds that turn up but I do use dark path to close the gap if i get knocked back instead of face-tanking subsequent waves of knockbacks.

Epidemic and staff are most useful on doors that generate a few vets and lots of adds. I do pretty well on crowds using staff, dagger’s small cleave, and horn AoE even without a set order. There are lots of choices so cool down is not usually a problem except for being stuck on staff a bit longer than I like in crowds. Against bosses, I use dagger unless I need to distance myself for a bit but with so many AoE choices, I end up mashing buttons like an ele.
A) Unload on them with staff,
B) DS for life transfer and/or tainted shackles,
C) BiP follwed by Epidemic
D) Mark of Blood and weapon swap
E) Locust Swarm and Dagger AA
F) Wail of Doom as appropriate

I do not even have Corruption traited right now, though I did before changing it to Terror and traiting DM for Reaper’s Protection – another chance to proc confusion.

PS: As a side note for another discussion, I like how the candy corn big boss, the horror, and the lich punish ranged fighters and give breaks to face-tankers so everyone gets to eat dirt once in a while. This game needs more of that.

flow.6043:

Staff and Epidemic in a condi or hybrid build is more and faster damage than dagger/warhorn when you need aoe tagging.
Unless it’s in a situation like the (meanwhile nerfed) Svanir champion farm event in Frostgorge Sound, in which case even necro power builds fall far behind the high bursts you needed to get any loot at all.

Once all 30seconds? ah….well good argument. Epedemic is a slow and weak AoE with a huge CD. Nothing for tagging mobs frequently.

I think u guys play too much necromancer, u don´t even an idea how “fast and save” tagging works. And i don´t talk about staffguards, even guards have better options to tagg alot mobs.

The problem on staff is. Mark of Blood is ok…but then u´re stuck for 10 seconds on a useless weapon with rly bad AoE, low dps and slow attack speed.

Even with the use of DS the staff is still slow and not AoE heavy.
Better u use your small Bone minions and 2 wells. Necromancer is the worst AoE, and the worst range (600+) class ingame.

A tipp at last.
Buy a dagger with sigil of fire and geomany (a yellow 1 is enough) this helps alot.

U can rotate both daggersets always if a mobgroup spawns to trigger geomancy.
This is the same effect as mark of blood (it´s enough to tagg, yes).

And u have the cleave + fast attack speed (important if mobs die fast).

Dagger + Warhorn / (Axe) + Focus
Axe only if ranged is needed. Best dps. Don’t use life blast, dps loss.

Norjena.5172:

flow.6043:

Staff and Epidemic in a condi or hybrid build is more and faster damage than dagger/warhorn when you need aoe tagging.
Unless it’s in a situation like the (meanwhile nerfed) Svanir champion farm event in Frostgorge Sound, in which case even necro power builds fall far behind the high bursts you needed to get any loot at all.

Once all 30seconds? ah….well good argument. Epedemic is a slow and weak AoE with a huge CD. Nothing for tagging mobs frequently.

I think u guys play too much necromancer, u don´t even an idea how “fast and save” tagging works. And i don´t talk about staffguards, even guards have better options to tagg alot mobs.

The problem on staff is. Mark of Blood is ok…but then u´re stuck for 10 seconds on a useless weapon with rly bad AoE, low dps and slow attack speed.

Even with the use of DS the staff is still slow and not AoE heavy.
Better u use your small Bone minions and 2 wells.

I do not think anyone here will claim Necro staff is as good as Ele staff (Ele has 4 of them to swap between), or some other 2h ranged weapons. Everyone knows Necro is weak in PvE because conditions are a dime a dozen, bosses are mostly immune, and group support is terrible.

In the context of Necro, staff has uses in PvE that are not bad in some situations when compared to Necromancer’s other choices.

Don’t knock Epidemic, either. It melts adds when proc’ing off a loaded vet or boss and keeps the group safe. Epi is one of those skills that are usually completely useless when not being OP.

Norjena.5172:

flow.6043:

Staff and Epidemic in a condi or hybrid build is more and faster damage than dagger/warhorn when you need aoe tagging.

Once all 30seconds? ah….well good argument. Epedemic is a slow and weak AoE with a huge CD. Nothing for tagging mobs frequently.
…

Since you obviously don’t play necro at all, how about you look a skill up before you post next time? The cd of Epidemic is 15 sec or 12 sec traited.

Also, you’ve taken my post out of context. It was a comparison between the aoe potential of staff vs dagger/warhorn. We all know both is weaker than what other classes can do.

Staff because its easy to use. Just like every other profession sadly.

NinjaEd.3946:

Staff because its easy to use. Just like every other profession sadly.

Strangely enough, I find staff as challenging to use as any pair of 1h weapons. MoB ICD is fast and PM is slow with our fear trailing so I find it interesting to pop MoB as often as possible while holding off on Chillblains until Putrid Mark is almost up and the burst is available. Reaper’s Mark is an interrupt but can also damage with Terror and Confusion.

This is not the same as Ele’s rotation unless you simplify things by swapping until all ICDs are cleared. When you are a Necromancer, popping skills is more like DDR than Ele’s mosh pit dancing.

Staff is probably the most common weapon.

Pretty much everybody has it as their offhand because it’s the only weapon with range. It also gives the best damage in death shroud.

It’s also an awful weapon.

As for lvl 19 OP, use Axe or Scepter until you are confident playing in melee range, then use dagger most of the time, swapping to staff only when you need range or a condition clear.

Funky.4861:

leman and spoj are forgetting one MAJOR thing: tagging mobs in events. GL doing that without staff, unless u want to wait 35 secs between wells of suffering….

Staff is essential for mob tagging as none of our other weapons can match it for aoe potential.

Run in using DS2. Dagger 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 → more chance tagging mobs through damage then using a simply condition based staff (except for 4)

Bit of a thread revival but i dont think people realise. You can tag every single trash mob in a huge group with d/f + d/w and wells setup. And theres only about 5 or so seconds where you might miss a couple of mobs.

Not to mention its much better to tag with power-skills/weapons in a power build, condi damage/weapons have a much harder time tagging.