Guild Wars 2

I recorded some video to help me understand how my son’s build was working. I thought it might be useful to share (and see if I’m looking at anything really incorrectly).

Here’s a link to what the build would look like with top gear (ironically most of his gear was damaged when I tested – didn’t see it until I recorded the intro):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3djM00VbbN+1webiohQ6gjip7+CpaH-TlBFABCcRAlgIp8jm9HsT3wkq/AwTAIAACwO3Z6sODG6QH6QH6Qbn7cn7cnJDg+CA-w

Here’s the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd2z7Y2vhvI&feature=youtu.be

My goal was to understand how each minion contributed to dps, and what total dps might look like in a pve fight. I’d love any suggestions on tweaks that fit the general concept. For sure, the video is not meant to represent the best that this build could be played. I’m clicking skills because that’s how he plays (and I don’t really know much about necros… lol).

Thanks for suggestions – hope this is helpful.

Interesting. I don’t know how well it carried across into the live test, but it looks like the damage split is somewhere around 11 : 7, favouring the necro over the minions? (About a 60% / 40% split, based on the 3600 damage overall and the 1400 expected from the video.)

For traits, how attached is your son to Vital Persistence in Soul Reaping? I think he’d get more use out of Unyielding Blast (Soul Reaping VI): the vulnerability stacks seem really relevant, and the current reduction on DS’ degen doesn’t strike me as crucial to his gameplay. (Axe, focus and staff are all fairly good at generating life force safely)

You could also try traits from other lines, of course. Weakening Shroud (IV in Curses) for example.

Do a test with training of the master.

It increase Minions DPS by 25%.

Consider trying something like this. Use armor and runes to adjust survivability.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRQQNAW3YjM00UbbNe1wejidBR6WJiNVPID8iqwA-ThBFABCcBAlgIp8jm9HsTHwkq/AwDAIAACwO3ZAYoDdoDdoDtduzduzdmMA6LA-e

Edit: Touched the wrong skill in soul reaping on my phone over lunch. Unyielding blast is a better fit than Spectral Mastery from trying to use the build editor on the phone.

Basically, use axe auto attack and Death Shroud to stack vulnerability. Eat pizza for condition duration, if you like, or food that siphons or heals. Use dagger off hand to transfer conditions.

Practice doing two things: keep minions re-spawning as soon as their cool down is complete, and use dagger 4 and staff 4 to transfer any really bad conditions to the target. While watching minions die in putrid explosions, keep up the auto-attack on axe to increase minion dps. Death Shiver and Unyielding Blast also apply vulnerability so there is synergy there to help keep the stack up.

If Blood Fiend does not heal enough or your son gets into too much trouble with conditions, there is no reason not to switch to Consume Conditions for the heal.

The build I suggest does not require a whole lot of active play or complicated strategy. Minions die, blow up for extra damage, and your son respawns them when he can. Axe has some range to it and staff has more if it is needed.

Thanks much for the feedback!

I really like the idea of Unyielding Blast. I’ll see if he likes that one.

Overall, the base minion damage seems so low, it feels a little bit like a losing game to invest in increasing it. (This may just be a mindset thing for me since I come from the perspective of phantasms for mesmer.) But it can be a pretty significant when it all gets added up. The Vampire Master trait seems good for my son because it gives him some passive healing, and it’s on the way to the Fetid Consumption trait which is really helpful because he doesn’t watch for conditions very well yet.

The Vampire Master trait seems to add anywhere from about 10% up to perhaps 100% dps (for a Jagged Horror) depending on the minion. I need to see if I can test a Jagged Horror by itself in the dps trials to see if it works like I think. Also, I didn’t capture the Vampire Master damage from the Shadow Fiend in the pve test because they only appear on the screen and not in the combat log.

For sure, a ton of the damage in the pve test comes from using AoE skills when many mobs are present. (Life transfer on the grubs for example. I don’t know if that’s a “valid” dps test, but it reflects the kinds of fights that happen in dungeons and sometimes in WvW.)

Thanks much for the feedback and help. He really likes his necro, so hopefully it continues to work well. And I want to make sure we have a good concept before starting to work on all that ascended gear…

Thx @softspoken I put in Unyielding Blast and did another test (video below). The fight was shorter and the average dps for the full fight went up to 4164

I couldn’t test the jagged horrors on the dps golem, but I tested them in Orr. Counting the damage from the bleeds, they look like they do about 195 dps. So with two of them out for the whole fight, I would expect the minions to contribute close to 1800dps.

The results from the video match that really closely.
Minions 66,293 / 37 sec = 1792 dps (they probably get interrupted, and the jagged horrors expire at some point – but they get a bonus from the vulnerability stacks)

Necro does 73,373 / 37 sec = 1983 dps

Rock Dog is actually doing 459 dps, but his summoned duration runs out before halfway (he was summoned in a prior fight)

Death Nova itself is only 191 dps (between the poison cloud explosion damage and the poison condition damage). But when you count in the two jagged horrors summoned by this trait, it’s over 580 total dps.

Overall it feels like adequate dps, so I’ll see if my son continues to like playing it and look at incorporating some of the other tips here if he needs more of something.

Thx much for the help!

hi, does the minion damage scales with your power ?

I’m definitely not a necro expert, but I don’t think the necro’s power affects minion damage. The wiki says they have a fixed amount of health and damage.

There are traits that increase the damage. I’m only using one of them (Vampire Master) in these test builds because that’s the way my son wanted to make the build.

rivurivurivurivu.3041:

hi, does the minion damage scales with your power ?

eldenbri.1059:

I’m definitely not a necro expert, but I don’t think the necro’s power affects minion damage. The wiki says they have a fixed amount of health and damage.

There are traits that increase the damage. I’m only using one of them (Vampire Master) in these test builds because that’s the way my son wanted to make the build.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Minion

A minion is an undead servant created by necromancers. A minion has a fixed amount of health and damage, which seems to be linked to the level of the necromancer, and will stay alive until damage destroys it which allows it to be re-summoned after any associated recharge.

Minions only inherit the necromancer’s Condition Damage, Condition Duration, and Boon Duration attributes.