Guild Wars 2

Not set in stone, and haven’t even started to craft it yet.

Currently I run an old-school Non-Reaper/Cleric’s Gear MM…almost un-killable in PvE unless I get swarmed.

With the addition of Reaper…I’d like to get some thoughts and input on the pro’s and con’s of possibly swapping to Zealot’s Armor. It ups the power, but lower’s the healing of the minions…now I could swap out Soul Reaping for Blood and get back to vampiric minions…but that slowed the Lifeforce generation down a TON…so I’m on the fence.

This is what the build looks like currently, with Cleric Armor changed to Zealot. The rest is what I currently run…only Armor changed. (I am open to Rune changes…as I have considered Pack…but suggestions there are welcome as well.)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW3YnM0AdbiN1Au1As3glpBL+DmCfhUzgbQKQaAUACAA-TRTDABNoEEU1fO4IAUsGBQ0EklyjjUidz+DFYiDgHAgDXAgU0B8wBBAA-e

Using Reaper for addition of “Rise!” Most minions so far: 15

Thanks for input and ideas.

With all the extra healing don’t know why you wouldn’t run with blood magic to get the extra bit of healing and traits that benefit from healing. Also I’m not a fan of foot in the grave.

The runes of condition duration with a random sinister off hand dagger seems a bit weird to me. I’m guessing its for the jagged on a 60 second cooldown. Would of picked something healing related to fit the gear. Also maybe a warhorn or a focus with the axe.

The thing that bothers me the most is nothing you picked in utilities and traits benefits from all the healing you have.

I wouldn’t run healing myself on a necro. I feel we lack any short cool down decent heal and can’t really keep up Regen on a group. But if you have fun running around with it just do it.

healing without toughness or vit is kinda pointless.

Azsune.7946:

With all the extra healing don’t know why you wouldn’t run with blood magic to get the extra bit of healing and traits that benefit from healing. Also I’m not a fan of foot in the grave.

The runes of condition duration with a random sinister off hand dagger seems a bit weird to me. I’m guessing its for the jagged on a 60 second cooldown. Would of picked something healing related to fit the gear. Also maybe a warhorn or a focus with the axe.

The thing that bothers me the most is nothing you picked in utilities and traits benefits from all the healing you have.

I wouldn’t run healing myself on a necro. I feel we lack any short cool down decent heal and can’t really keep up Regen on a group. But if you have fun running around with it just do it.

Good points…and I think I may have left out some details that are important.

The Sinister dagger was a complete miss-click on my part…its a Zerker Dagger. Foot-in-the-Grave is situational. I seemed to get targeted and locked down by those darn Morderd Archers, so the stun break comes in handy. Situationally, I use all 3 GM Traits in Soul Reaping in one way or another.

I run a full Clerics rig currently, as you will see below. I don’t worry too much about Vitality since I have a pretty big pool to start, and the vampiric stuff keeps me at 75-80% Health even in big fights with multiple enemies. That is also why, however, that If I switched armor to Zealots I would keep the Cleric rings, earrings, etc. to help keep the Toughness.

Here is my current, non-Reaper loadout:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW3djM0QTN2WDW2A7NOmGK6McDbqcAKgAY2yXQFA-TBTDwAZVegT9HAPAgb7PASzQBTcHOCAOuAAp0B84gA0QJ4RlYAA-e

Pros:
- I rarely…and I do mean Rarely…have to recast any minions. The healing output is great for keeping them alive to deal direct dps while I support with Marks form the Staff.
- Often times I move in for a little up-close engagement, when it makes sense or when a group is focused on my minions, with the Axe/Focus, then flip to Shroud for Tainted Shackles followed by a Dark Path and Transfusion.
- With Blood Magic the Life Steal is massive, and the heals I lay out to allies in big fights(not just minions) is quite noticeable.
- Minion Management is much better now that the AI has been improved(could still use a bit more, but I am content for now).
- I love the Shadow Fiend…lots of people don’t…and I understand the trade off…but that Blind has pulled my fat out of the fire more than once in a boss fight.
- I rarely get taken down…with so much life-steal and healing…and tanking in Shroud…my MM is a beast.
- I can go into Shroud almost at will as my Lifeforce refills faster than the skills recharge.

Cons:
- I have to give up a minion for the Signet to get the movement boost…I so wish they would put a movement boost on a trait…but, that’s the hand I have been dealt, and I am dealing with it.
- Not using Reaper gives up “Rise” and Reaper is a better direct dps beast.

Switching to Reaper opens up some interesting options…the only drawback I have found is, IF I use Soul Reaping to keep lifeforce generation high, I lose all the vampiric qualitied of my minions.

Keep the Vampiric, and it seems like it takes FOREVER to build Lifeforce back up.

This is my proposed Reaper config(with Dagger corrected)…and these are my thoughts:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW3YnM0AdbiN1Au1As3glpBL+DmCfhSDgCQAY6BcBqAA-TBTDABOcBAe4gAcz+DA8AAARzAoq/klyjDOCAFYiLFdAHpErBlgAA-e

Pros
- Using Reaper gives me “Rise!”, which allows me to make quite the mess when engaging with groups of enemies. Death Nova ends up making a HUGE Poison area that can really add up in larger fights.
- Reaper is more of a direct DPS Beast, which is why I would swap out to Zealot to punch up the Damage in power and precision. As most DPS is coming from the Minions anyway.
- Reaper also gives me “Decimate Defenses” which plays on the vulnerability stacked by the Axe and makes crits all the more likely for proccing the Air Signet.

Cons
- Have to give up Signet for speed boost to get “Rise!” on the bar, so dagger is a must, making Blood Magic a must, to get the movement boost from Quickening Thirst. Forcing the loss of more efficient Lifeforce generation.

Its tough trying to find a good balance for this.

I appreciate the thoughts and input. Its helping me think through things as well.

Are you talking about open world PvE? If so, you could just go full zerker armor + scholars runes, which is what I’m currently doing with a full minion build (reaper/death magic/blood magic). I’m using greatsword plus axe/dagger. You could also switch out blood magic for soul reaping for more shroud uptime (in which case you may want dagger/x instead of gs for better life force gen), but I personally am liking the leech with all the minions. It crushes in solo PvE and still feels fairly beefy – don’t see why you would need the healing power. It also allows you to switch to a reaper shout build with few/no minions if you want. So it is pretty versatile. You could also go with Valkyrie, but then you kind of have to go Soul Reaping for the increased crit in shroud (more of a pure shroud build).

Stand The Wall.6987:

healing without toughness or vit is kinda pointless.

This I will have to disagree with. Necros can easily get away without Vitality, and my experience with Zealot’s armor (that’s my Power based Ascended set) and gear has shown me that we absolutely can get away without much in the way of Toughness. Our self-healing ability is actually rather astoundingly high, and that’s before counting in Life Force.

It does, however, require specific builds and accompanying playstyle to get that sustain via healing power.

Having effectively four healing skills on your bar is nuts (one being Shroud). People hate how many times they have to kill you.

EDIT: I totally blanked on the fact this was for PvE. So yeah, Vit and Toughness are unnecessary on Necros there.