Guild Wars 2

Recently I got my Guardian to level 80, making it my second to hit 80. I was wondering which character to next (all but ele and guard left) and friend suggested necro. Considering Necro was almost my main character instead of Ele, I decided to look into further. He gave me his trait build, which not too far from my old build I made months back.

Anyway, I am wondering what armor, weapons, and trinkets you’d suggest for a necro. I plan to use Staff as main with Scepter/Dagger as swap. I want my utility to focus on minions. I was planning to do 20 Spite (I/IX), 30 Death Magic (II/X/XI), and 20 Blood Magic (II/VII). My friend suggested 30 Death Magic (III/V/X), 30 Blood Magic (IV/VII/XI), and 10 Soul Reaping (VI). While I have yet to decide which build I am going for, it will probably be one of those or somewhere between there (majors likely to be changed around in both).

So instead of focusing on trait build (although feel free to make suggestions) I want to see what armor you’d suggest. I want to try to go for something with Toughness and Condition Damage as focus. I don’t think I will be using Critical much on this character, so I think I would prefer skip Precision and Critical Damage. So any one have any suggestions on what gear to go for? I prefer having all of armor one type and all of jewelry one type (e.g. knights armor with X rune and soldier’s jewelry with ruby jewels).

The main issue is there aren’t many sets that have the stats I am looking for. Apothecary has Toughness and Condition as minors, but majors in Healing (which I am not too excited about for a necro). Rabid has Condition Main and Toughness minor but Precision is other minor, which I feel is wasted more than Healing. And then there is good old Soldier’s, which I am fine with using some of but, considering that both my other character use it, I’d prefer not be the only gear. Shaman’s doesn’t have Toughness, but it does have Vitality main and Condition minor (with Healing minor, but I can live with that).

So what stats would you suggest? Do you think I shouldn’t focus on condition damage as much? Also, just to mention, this character will probably be more casual with no plans to be big in dungeons or such. If you want any information on what I am looking for, just ask.

Oh, I forgot to mention Carrion (Cond main, Power/Vitality minor). Currently I am thinking something like Carrion Armor with the unnamed stat combo on some ascended items (Ralena’s Band has it, main stats are Cond main, tough/vit minor with Rabid as upgrade component). It does give some precision, but it only 18 per trinket which is rather minor and probably the best way I can get toughness with condition.

In my opinion, Necromancers can take several valid approaches to gameplay. You can focus on one of the following stat priorities:

Power > Precision > Critical Damage:
Here you focus on raw damage output and build precision and critical damage for a nice powerful critical on occasion. This is a low survivability build with high damage output.

Precision > Power > Critical Damage:
With this approach you are attempting to make critical hits a consistent and reliable form of damage. This is a low survivability build with high damage output.

Power > Toughness > Vitality:
If you take this approach you can become much harder to kill but you will sacrifice some dps. This is a very survivable build and damage is based on how you gem or what skills you take.

Condition Damage > Toughness > Precision:
If you want to make the most out a Scepter/Dagger and Staff build I recommend using this simply because you can make your conditions hit hard but have enough toughness to survive a gank long enough to give you options. This is a medium survival build and provides moderate dps.

There are other builds out there, so don’t assume that these are the only ones! You can always try your own ones!

BioMasterZap.4350:

Oh, I forgot to mention Carrion (Cond main, Power/Vitality minor). Currently I am thinking something like Carrion Armor with the unnamed stat combo on some ascended items (Ralena’s Band has it, main stats are Cond main, tough/vit minor with Rabid as upgrade component). It does give some precision, but it only 18 per trinket which is rather minor and probably the best way I can get toughness with condition.

Whatever you do don’t fall into the common Necromancer trap and stack Vitality. Toughness provides radically greater survivability than Vitality alone but try and find a healthy mix if you are set on building a somewhat survivable build. Rabid gear is good but understand that against an opponent with even some condition removal you will have a hard time maintaining damage output.

Don’t worry, I want Toughness, not Vitality. Necromancers have the highest base life already, so I don’t see why I need to boost it any more than the 20/30 in Blood Magic. And I don’t plan to use Rabid since it has Precision on it. But with Carrion as main for Condition main and Power and Vitality minor I get a nice boost to power. Then with the ascended gear I can get Condition main with Toughness and Vitality minor (the upgrade slot has the Rabid stats, so only 18 precision per part). My main issue is finding gear that has Condition and Toughness on it. I may not go with Carrion because it has Vitality but for the moment, it seems to be the best bet.
Also, I am not too worried about condition removal since I plan to stick more to PvE where it isn’t as common. The idea is to be more of a tank with horde of minions. I also want toughness since the grandmaster minor of death magic will help convert it to power. So I guess I am really looking for Toughness main, Power and Condition minor. Too bad no such combination exists =\

So here’s the thing, Bio:

Power is near-useless for conditionmancers. I say nearly, because occasionally you need to break objects or do siege damage. Conditions scale only with Condition Damage and Condition Duration, or toughness with 6x Superior Rune of the Undead.

With 5 in Curses, though, you have a 66% chance to bleed on Critical, which DOES scale with condition damage. Thus, a Condition Damage+Precision build actually works pretty well for us.

Yeah with those weapon sets you’re pretty much going more for conditionmancer, and so you’re definitely gonna want more condition dmg than power. if you’re looking for a little more survivability but don’t want to settle for knights, consider apothecary, it’s set more for condition builds, although a lot harder to get mats to craft and/or usually more expensive to buy. A little healing for necro does make a difference believe it or not, so don’t hate too much on the apothecary.

I know power doesn’t affect condition. Personally I find it rather silly how criticals got 3 stats (power, precision, and crit damage) while conditions only got 2 stats (damage and duration), with only 1 on armor. But that is another discussion. Interesting combo with the Curses line though. Although I am not sure if 1 stack of bleeding for 1 second is really worth it. Also, it will be hard to spare 5 without losing something important. Maybe a 0/10/30/30/0 build would be worth trying.

I guess Carrion won’t be armor and instead I’ll have to try Rabid or Apothecary. Also, speaking of runes, what do you think is best to try? Think I should go for a Condition Duration for 27%/20%+15% Bleed? Or Afflicted, Nightmare, or Undead sets for effects? Personally I can see Undead working really well with my build.

If you plan to PvE, go condi, if you ever want to PvP, go head and just roll condition or make a backup berserker set if you have the money. Or if you don’t, run with a group and use a perma chill build.

Don’t buy anything ’till after the feb update. Roll an alt.

If they fix necros, gear accordingly.

If they don’t do anything, again, gear the alt.

Ezeriel.9574:

Don’t buy anything ’till after the feb update. Roll an alt.

If they fix necros, gear accordingly.

If they don’t do anything, again, gear the alt.

Ha ha ha!

My ranger is a month late on is his supposed “class” fixes.

I doubt ’da necro class will see any any time soon.

I already planned to go condition. Just hard to find the right balance of condition damage and toughness on gear >.< Perma Chill Build does sound interesting; can anyone elaborate on that a bit more?

Also, what is so broken about necros? Either way I will be making a necro and gearing it for condition damage and toughness. And considering necro is my alt, I don’t see a problem here XD

I’ve been looking into armors a bit more and here is what I’ve come up with. The first name is armor and the 2nd is trinkets. It is figuring a full set, evne if not always possible (e.g. back slot). The Rabid+Apothcary and Unique Ascended figure ascended trinket stats (with exotic for earrings) while Rabid is pure exotic; so any that says “with Rabid” would be a bit higher with ascended set. None of these sets figure in Runes. The critical chance also figures 10 in curses.

Rabid with Rabid- 823 Condition Damage, 570 Toughness, 570 Precision [35% Critical Chance]
Rabid with Rabid+Apothecary- 743 Condition Damage, 590 Toughness, 506 Precision, 146 Healing Power [32% Critical Chance]
Rabid with Unique Ascended- 865 Condition Damage, 590 Toughness, 343 Precision, 247 Vitality [25% Critical Chance]
Apothecary with Rabid- 732 Condition Damage, 570 Toughness, 346 Precision, 315 Healing Power [25% Critical Chance]
Apothecary with Unique Ascended- 774 Condition Damage, 590 Toughness, 315 Healing Power, 247 Vitality, 119 Precision [14% Critical Chance]

Why did I only figure in those armors? Because I wanted Toughness and Condition Damage and those are only stat combinations that currently offer it. I consider Knights and Shamans but ruled them out quick; same for Apothecary Trinkets, no exotic version and I lose too much Toughness/Condition Damage with Healing Power main.
It seems I don’t have much of a choice in going with a Critical build =\ I will probably do Rabid with Rabid/Unique Ascended unless a new stat combination comes along. Although considering the Unique Ascended is a new stat combination, I wouldn’t rule it out from spreading to armor someday (it is Condition Main, Toughness and Vitality Minor. Only one rings and amulet with rabid as the “upgrade slot”).

Now for the Runes. Rune of the Undead was a bit disappointing in the end. Since all builds gave the same Toughness, it always gave 275 Condition Damage and 50 Toughness. While it sure beats Crests and Orbs, it just felt like I’d be better off with other runes over just more Condition Damage. So now I am considering Rune of the Nightmare (183 condition damage, 10% condition duration, 5% chance to cause fear when hit with 90s cooldown) or 2 Rune of Lyssa/2 Mad King/2 Afflicted (25 Precision, 25 Power, 28 Condition Damage, 20% Condition Duration, 15% Bleed Duration).
As for traits, I am thinking 10 Spite (III), 10 Curses (II), 30 Death (II or V+X+XI), and 20 Blood (V+VII). It is still very close to my original plan, only dropping 10 Spite for 10 Curses and picking up more “on Critical” effects.

Anyone have any comments on these ideas?

Actually, I gave it a bit more though and now I am thinking to go for the Apothecary with Unique Ascended combination with Runes of the Nightmare. That way I can skip the Critical focus and go 20/0/30/20/0 like I originally planned for a more tanky minion healing build. Later, if I want to, I could always get a Rabid set and swap over to a more critical build. Any comments on that?

I decided to look a bit more into a power build for minions. Pretty much, I planned to go for full Soldier’s Gear with Soldier’s Axe and Warhorn (or Focus) and Peril Sigils on both. Goal would be to stack vulnerability while my minions tear them to shreds. I may get this set in addition to a condition set if I have the karma spare. I also considered Clerics armor instead of Soldiers, but probably will just go for the full Soldiers.

Also, I have been planning out weapons a bit more and have a silly question that I don’t want to post in a new topic yet. Condition Duration boosting Sigils do stack, right? So if my main hand and offhand both had sigils of agony the bleeding would be reduced more than if just one had it right? I never read anything that said they don’t stack, but I also never read anything that said they do…never can be too careful with these sigil >.>