Guild Wars 2

A lot of Necros find themselves lost and useless in WvW. I have been able to find decent success using my hybrid build, and I’ve accepted that I’m not a tanking, soloing character (which doesnt win much points in WvW). Instead, I’ve found my calling as a strong support character in messy and crowded attrition fights (commonly found in attacks and defences).

This has to be one of the most insane thought experiments I’ve had. How many Necros, in your own mini zerg, does it take to down the opposing zerg? (SoR fights against quite a zergy server) Secondly, which profession could imagine doing this better than a Necro?

Answer? 4. And only the Necro.

Here’s the answer to a zergy fight.
1. You need your own mini-zerg, obviously you need support.
2. Form a party of 4 Necros who have condition builds.
3. All must use Staff and Epidemic, preferably with staff CD, greater marks and decreased Corruption CDs traited.
4. Call a target in a clustered group. All 4 Necros place Staff #2 on him. One casts Epidemic. Instant AOE 24 stacks of bleeding for his friends caught in the marks and epidemic.

The best thing about this is that you can pretty much reach max bleed cap in less than 3s, and you can repeat this procedure every 4s (4 Necros with Epidemic means one Epidemic every 3s, traited. The limiting factor becomes Staff #2). Sure, “there’s a lot of passive condition removal”, most refresh every 10s, “Shake It Off” has a 25s CD untraited. This tactic refreshes every 4s. If I hit you at 0s, you will take the full base 8s of bleeding if you dont remove it. At a base 100/tick bleed, that’s 2500 dmg/s from 1200 range, AOE.

*Comment on point #4: I tested in the mists. A greater #2 mark that hits two golems give each 3 stacks of bleeding. If you Epidemic one of them, the other gets 6 stacks. So if you cast Staff #2 around the same target in a cluster of people, whoever sticks too close gets 12 stacks of bleeds. Epidemic your target and this poor soul will get 24 stacks. Sure, he’ll cleanse it, but it’s back 4s later.

Think about it guys, tell me what you think!

PS: I can see this working for zergs too, unfortunately, but regardless, for the coordinated ones it is still a solution.

The fact that AOE only hits 5 people adds a randomness to who is getting hit that really diminishes these cluster bomb style strategies I think.

Also, in order to prevent stacks from being removed so easily, I think the key would be to spam lots of other conditions as well as just bleeds, so some of the removals are getting stuff like blind or poison, instead of the bleeds, which you want to stay on.

I’ve done this before using blood is power, with 100% condition duration with three necro’s. It was most amusing. Also would be interesting to try with a few 100% fear duration necro’s

This actually sounds like quite a lot of fun, if you can find 3 other Necros on your server willing to WvW and co-ordinate with you. Definitely some creative thinking, nice work

I’m more of a fan of epidemic bombing a group trying to take on the grub or other similar creature. Since they’re both enemies and it’s more than likely maxed on all conditions the damage is rather spectacular

Replace other Necro’s with a tank-IP-condition Mesmer that can go in and drop 8-12 stacks of confusion on a few targets. Pick one, Epidemic, and proceed to giggle like a school-girl.

Pendragon.8735:

The fact that AOE only hits 5 people adds a randomness to who is getting hit that really diminishes these cluster bomb style strategies I think.

Also, in order to prevent stacks from being removed so easily, I think the key would be to spam lots of other conditions as well as just bleeds, so some of the removals are getting stuff like blind or poison, instead of the bleeds, which you want to stay on.

The staff bleed is limited, but as long as you get that stack on one person Epidemic doesnt have a cap of people it spreads to.

Unfortunately you won’t be able to finish anyone, and at best you just made those 5 people run away, condition clear, or go die at the back of the zerg to get picked right back up. You would be much better served with 4 coordinated “kill shot” attacks on someone near the front, so you could DPS them down or stomp them.

Current state of conditions and downed state is always going to favor burst. Perhaps one day, conditions will carry over half duration/effectiveness into downed state so they are more attractive.

Compared to pretty much any other 4 class burst combo, this is not any more amazing and is easier to counter.

Hugo the Great.1426:

Pendragon.8735:

The fact that AOE only hits 5 people adds a randomness to who is getting hit that really diminishes these cluster bomb style strategies I think.

Also, in order to prevent stacks from being removed so easily, I think the key would be to spam lots of other conditions as well as just bleeds, so some of the removals are getting stuff like blind or poison, instead of the bleeds, which you want to stay on.

The staff bleed is limited, but as long as you get that stack on one person Epidemic doesnt have a cap of people it spreads to.

Bad information. Epidemic is capped at 5, along with every aoe in the game excluding siege.

EDIT: Historically it was un-capped, and that was back in the days when you could stand at 3000 range, pop the grub while the enemy team was doing him and down 30 people.