Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

I just finished leveling my guard to 80, so now I have a level 80 medium class (thief) and heavy (guard), its time for the next project, light armor!

I’m somewhat on the fence between a necro or a mesmer, I defn don’t want ele I don’t really like the class mechanics of those. I know next to nothing about either of those classes, so for you necro experts, how does necros do in PvE and dungeon settings? (I usually only do PvE and dungeons, sometimes WvW but never PvP).

Do you have any leveling tips? Any particular builds you love/is quite popular? Since Necros seem to be the king of condi damage, I’m inclined to make a condi based build but again, I’m not sure which way to go.

Any input is much appreciated, thank you!

I leveled my Necromancer to 80 using Conditions, it was a mistake.

While still doable, it’s especially tough at early levels, where the gear just does NOT support the Condition Damage potential. Even moreso on structures, like Centuar Catapults, Dredge Machines, etc it’s a kitten nightmare to deal with those things.

Use Minions to level…trust me. Even if you HATE Minions and their stupid kittening AI, it’s so much more efficient.

Once you hit 80 and decide you want to run Conditions, use this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXhjICMN5No&list=FLCf-4-_em1SraMGo7pdvpEw&index=3

Nemesis taught me everything I know. And if you know what you’re doing, you’ll kick extraordinary amounts of kitten

I use Rampager gear for high everything damage. Since you are already plenty experienced, it shouldn’t be difficult at all to survive mobs with glass gear; if you absolutely need to you can always throw on some minions to face tank a bit for you. It also allows you to quickly swap from all condition damage to more power based damage if you find yourself in a party with someone like a condi engineer.

> how does necros do in PvE and dungeon settings?

I’ve two level 80s – a warrior and a necro. The necro has a harder time staying alive and making an impact than the warrior, but it’s still viable in PvE and dungeons, and lots of fun to play.

Necros are very flexible: they can build for minions, damage over time conditions, fear, bursting and tanking. As Faction says, Nemesis’ videos are well worth a watch. It’s also true that the scepter – the main condition weapon – is very poor against structures.

I started levelling using minions (which have got much stronger since then). Around level 30 I switched to this build which felt squishy at first but got stronger as I levelled up. That’s a strong, standard condition build that I recommend trying. Once up to 80 I got my rabid set finished, before switching to something closer to the Juggermancer/Abomination PVT-tank builds.

Good luck with your necromancer! I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve done.

Deciding to make a necro is like choosing Hard Mode on GW2

Thanks for all your advice, it was really helpful!

@TheDevice, dude I leveled a thief with minimal crafting and 95% PvE, trust me… if necros are “hard mode” thieves are “hell mode.” And also after leveling my necro from 0-16 last night I really dont agree, it really is extremely fun to play. Much thanks to Faction for the minions tip, I wasn’t really expecting minions to make a big difference but boy was I wrong.

Despite the large health pool I’m stunned at how squishy the necro feels, but I guess thats why I have death shroud to try to balance that. What is the heal skill that heals the most at low levels? I made the mistake of using the heal skill that eats conditions but I don’t have access to blood is power or other skills (besides epidemic) that puts conditions on me, so it doesn’t heal for much.

Also, what are the necro’s stun break skills? I see ways of managing conditions (a lot of them!) but not sure how to deal with CCs

@ Daimonos, if I trait my necro with rabid gear and go for the pure condi build instead of the hybrid (which looks very squishy), am I going to have an equally difficult time surviving in dungeons?

With full toughness, you’ll notice that everyone aggros you like a magnet, so you MAY find it a bit more difficult in dungeon and it will mostly consist of kiting/tanking your way through.

Playing hybrid will help your group a lot more against dungeons with objects to break (or like those fractal boss that receives almost 10x the direct damage but conditions damage stays the same on them)

Stunbreaker are Wurm, Spectral Walk, spectral armor and signet. I would suggest Walk or wurm, they’re on low cooldown and are useful to get away from a bad spot. Walk count for 2 stun breaks for the same cooldown as the Signet, but the signet also removes Immobilize (which is a stun in my mind )

Consume Conditions is your best heal to remove conditions, but Well of blood heals for more for the whole duration, and heals your minions too if you have them out.

Good luck on your leveling!

> if I trait my necro with rabid gear and go for the pure condi build […]
> am I going to have an equally difficult time surviving in dungeons?

As Panhuaramix says, the first thing I noticed on going full rabid was how much aggro I was drawing. Bosses like Malrona in Twilight Arbor / Up, or the Champion Risen Abominations in Orr just wouldn’t leave me alone. I ended up needing to lose some toughness, and to use the Locust Signet more than I’d rather. However, Lopez’ fractal guide attests to the conditionmancer’s viability in dungeons.

Rabid conditionmancer has superb AoE. Sometimes that’s not what you want, like in the Cliffside fractal, where you want to leave a chanter alive at one wrist seal. Other times it’s wonderful, like in the Charr or Dredge fractals. I’m taking a break from rabid, but do expect to go back periodically. I don’t regret having ground out the gear, at all.

Spectral walk is your best stunbreaker.

Well of Blood is much improved by Ritual Mastery – Blood Magic VII, -20% cooldown time, and Ritual of Protection – Death Magic IV, wells apply 3s of protection. The Blood Fiend may be workable if you’re going minion master, but not really otherwise. Consume Conditions is the staple for Corruption-using conditionmancers.

Do remember that Mark of Blood (staff 2) can give both you and your minions regeneration . You can also gain Regeneration from the Focus (I’ve come to love its attack 4). You can get ‘life siphon’ powers from the Blood Magic tree, and main hand dagger. See for example blood Magic VII, Vampiric Master – all your pets attacks will siphon life to you. Although Healing Power boosts regeneration but not life siphon, life siphon is another way to scrape back a few hitpoints.

We’re not the best dodgers; instead we can choose to put points into Soul Reaping, and spend more time in Death Shroud. I haven’t done this much outside of PvP yet.