Guild Wars 2

I’m level 56 now, but still running around level 15-35 zones for completion. I’m basically focusing on Power/Precision with Dagger/Warhorn (although sometimes I try Dagger/Dagger). I’m decently geared (this is my highest character, so money is tight). I use sigils of bloodlust to get to 25 stacks, and then switch to sigils of force instead. I run with the healing minion and the flesh golem, the high damage well, blood is power, and the locust signet (for running speed).

I can solo probably 95% of the content so far. Enemies die fast to the well + dagger. One on one, or even two on one, anything short of a champion dies quickly.

I know I’m not expected to solo champions, but I figure that a couple Veterans should be doable. What I’m finding though is that in certain spots they just cram so many enemies together, and/or the Veterans have the ability to call/spawn even more enemies, and these are the places where I die. I’m probably not using death shroud correctly. It’s more my go-to when I’m about to die, instead of using it for additional damage/protection. Its just that the dagger auto attack does so much damage so quickly.

I can’t get real specific, but Gendarran had a couple places like this. One was an Ettin cave, with a Veteran and 4-5 regular Ettins around him. Also near there was an area full to the brim with Ice Elementals, at least one Veteran, and I’m pretty sure he summoned more. The respawn rates in certain areas seem higher than others also. There was a cave in the 15-25 Norn area with a big metal golem (Veteran) in a cave surrounded by Dredge. There might even be two golems – I just know there were a ton of enemies in one very small space. Once my minions die I am sure to follow shortly after (which annoyingly also drops all my bloodlust stacks).

My main question is regarding if the game designers “expect” one player to be able to kill so many enemies at one time, or if certain parts of PVE maps are intended for multiple players instead?

Thanks for your help/advice.

I would recommend that you swap out your blood fiend with Consume Conditions. It’s arguably our best heal because it clears 100% of our conditions. You could also try using well of darkness instead of the signet when you encounter and area with a lot of Veterans. Also, start saving up for your other 3 elites. Because Lich Form is incredible. Plague is also my go-to underwater Elite. It’s 20 seconds of blind and poison while giving your toughness and Vitality a huge buff.

As for Deathshroud, it took me a while to figure out how to use it effectively. Try running a DS build once you hit level 60. That will really reinforce how useful it is. But, for you, I would recommend using 5 first. This adds a nice 3 stack torment on five enemies, more importantly, it will damage and immobilize all of them at the end of the duration. Follow this up with DS 4, because you don’t even have to be facing the enemy while this skill is draining them. If you get CC’d, pop into DS while on the ground and use the 3 skill. The fear can e activated anytime, even while your casting something else!

First things first, power necros do much better against single targets. Condition necros are gods against large numbers. It’s easy to solo a few champs. The Icebrood Shaman in Wayfarer Foothills (up at the top of the map) is really easy to solo with an axe/focus, for example. Icebrood Quaggan in Frostgorge Sound is just easy to solo with anything. Champion Drake Broodmothers are likewise rather easy (Reefdrake is the hardest due to conditions she uses). Minion masters have a stupidly easy time soloing the champion fish in Frostgorge (though on my server, you can’t do that anymore because of the champ train).

Condition necros, however, have the easiest time soloing the champ Risen Giants. Epidemic is practically required.

All of open world pvp is facerolled by minions to around level 60, if half brained ai with op hp was able to beat it so can a smart person, you just need to use some cc or focus priority targets (like there are 2 kind of ettin, the ones that club you and the guys that do the dredge like drill/shockwave stuns).

I guess your ‘expected’ to learn the maps & the scary spots on them.
As a necro, there’s some not even vet mobs with lots of CC+Knockback that can destroy a non-wary necro. There’s also level 80 champions we can smack about without care.

As people say, Consume Condi, is a much better heal for ‘scary’ area’s. Floaty Gib’s is good heals till things get ruf, then he’s dead and not healing at all. Same with Golem. Awesome for trash, good for constant dam. But not ‘the’ skill for hard stuff.
Litch gives perm stability, beefs up your max life, and pow/pre lots. Tho you can’t heal yourself etc, and it’s only single target dam.
Plauge, tho condi damage, is prob your best defensive, as it’s AoE blind/Slow. (While beefing up your stats!)

Other nicely defensive button is Spectral Armor. You can either use it to quickly rebuild life force for more death shroud, or for brake stun/protection. (The protection keeps active even if you flip strait into Death Shroud).

Oh, and yeh. with power. Axe is a ‘safer’ weapon… Due to it’s range + aoe cripple. Tho dagger is more reliable & faster life force gen, and it’s got a heal. It’s offset by melee only range. (Tho it’s def nicer damage in places you feel safe hugging the mobs)

Necro’s can honestly solo anything your skill level will allow. I’ve done many champs solo, even a few of the nastier ones in Orr on occasion (not temples ones, I wish haha). The biggest things you need to learn to do are: know when to dodge effeciently-which ties in to my next point in a minute- because necros have no vigor, so you can’t be wasting dodges needlessly, and my second point: you will know when to dodge the most effecient by knowing how the enemies attack and what attacks to look out for. Sadly, the best way to do this is get defeated by them a few times so you can fully understand how they work. But this is also what makes the true necro players- not the fotm bandwagon ones- such skilled players. We are put through the fires, if you will, and come out stronger for it. Asking around for tips on particular ones helps too. Like those ettins, i know which ones you’re talking about because I hit up that rich copper node in that cave all the time.

As much as I’d like to give you some magic tactic to rush in there and obliterate them all at once, I can’t. They all have knockdowns, which is our weak spot. As such, you need to choose your fights carefully. mainhand dagger, while strong, put you in a dangerous spot, so you need to play smart while you take them out one by one. kite in a circle, keeping them off to your side so their slow hits can’t land on you, but your fast dagger ones can still hit them, know when their big KD hit is coming and dodge it. When I do that cave, and not on my faceroll lvl 80 hybrid necro, I will try to limit the number of ettins I pull at once. They usually come in groups of 3. I would recommend though you use the axe instead, it’s #3 skill is invaluable for cc in tight spots. Move on to the next group. Once you get to the veteran group, sometimes you can pull them and not him but if he pulls, you need to kite around the room and use the same tactic I mentioned. Since this is an endurance fight, blood fiend will be ok for your heal because you’ll still get heals even if you’re knocked down. The blind well is invaluable too since they are mostly melee. When they do catch up to you, don’t wait to use DS when you’re about to die. Pop it, use the fear to break off the closest one, then hit the #5. At the end of 5 it will immobilize them and give you breathing room, then you can aoe them some with 4 if you really want but it might be better to go back to the mainhand weapon. They will drop fast I assure you and as long as you keep your distance from the veteran one you can whittle him down alone. Grab your ore, get out. they respawn fast lol. long story short: use placement, kiting, and defensive utilities to keep large groups from rolling you.

Nay of the Ether.8913:

(not temples ones, I wish haha)

You can still do melandru solo… it takes around a hour and 40, but you can still do it.

Thanks for some great ideas. I’ll have to try some of these when I get back from work. I do have about 50 unspent skill points, because I hate the idea of long cool downs and did not know what else to get. I like the idea of substituing the blinding well for the run speed signet (which I don’t need once the fight has started), but that 50 second cool down time really stinks. I guess it will just be used for those particularly hard fights. I have never tried Plague or Lich form, again because I hate the long cool downs, but they both sound great for this type of scenario (especially plague). I will probably switch the heal as well before tough fights.

I sort of like the idea of trying axe, but I haven’t had a rare axe drop for me yet, and as I said, money is tight. I have less than 5 gold right now. Armor is also around level 40 still I’ll be on the lookout for one though and try it out.

You can pretty much solo whatever you want in pretty much every part of this game, as long as it doesn’t have forced mechanics (like CoF p1) that make it impossible.

Also, don’t waste your money on buying gear till you’re level 80.

You need to get used to long cd’s, that’s the necro in a nutshell. However, you can trait those wells for lower cd’s in the blood magic line if it bothers you that bad. If you want an axe, just buy a masterwork one from the tp. You’re only lvl 56 so you don’t need rares to do the content really. Anyway, you could buy a rare one for less than a gold pretty sure. Go do some of the world boss events and you get a guaranteed rare per day each event. Even if you don’t get an axe, you could sell the rare you do get and buy one. As for the armor, see if you can get someone to craft you some updated stuff. Don’t need rare armor either, masterwork is fine.

Little tip for lich and plague though: lich scales much better in power builds (which you said yours is) and while plague can do power ok, you’re wasting it’s potential as it works better with condi builds (in pve anyway).

Andele.1306:

Nay of the Ether.8913:

(not temples ones, I wish haha)

You can still do melandru solo… it takes around a hour and 40, but you can still do it.

You might be able to, I can’t lol.

I know you don’t like using long CD skills (I’m the same way), so don’t use them. Keep them in reserve and treat them like an “Uh-oh” button. Lich and Plague form are best used at full health, so if you see a wall of enemies coming, pop it and wreck them.

Generally, I pop Lich form as soon as I see a Veteran. That cool down is only 3 minutes. And well of darkness I pop if I’m rooted with 2+ mobs attacking me. Just set up some rules and situations in where you’re willing to use your cool downs. This isn’t LOTRO where your “Uh-oh” skills are on 5-15 minute Cooldowns.

As a guardian, I feel abandoned by Anet. Every other class eventually kills me but I can slow most of them down a bit.

Necros are obviously top of the pile thanks to Josh Groucheroo and his influence and access to the devs on the State of the Game show.

Svarty.8019:

As a guardian, I feel abandoned by Anet. Every other class eventually kills me but I can slow most of them down a bit.

Necros are obviously top of the pile thanks to Josh Groucheroo and his influence and access to the devs on the State of the Game show.

Necromancers are good against trash mobs and less useful against high health bosses and structure that are not attected by condition damage. Necromancer was extremely weak on release and has been strengthened for direct damage several ways, since, though many condition aspects have been restricted.

Guardian is a powerful group support profession and the opposite of Necromancer in many ways. Of all professions, Guardian is most like a compliment to the Necro being strong in areas Necromancer is weak, and vice versa.

I am not sure what the OP’s point or question is. Being spec’d at a higher level than veteran mobs in an area should be winnable by all professions and using strategy and skill to your advantage can help you beat even tougher opponents. Of course, anyone can get into trouble if mobs link or if on spawns unexpectedly but that is part of Pve’s challenge. If it was too easy, it would become boring.

Necros aren’t top of the line. I find it even funnier that a Guardian (essentially considered a required class in every composition in every part of the game) is complaining that Necros are finally considered high tier, when we aren’t ever as universal as Guardians.

Necros are just less wanted in PvP, depending on team comps. In WvW I guess it depends, I could see Necros being a bit more wanted maybe, but I would imagine it is very even. And PvE it isn’t even close. Necros are accepted in most groups, but never really wanted, whereas Guardians are pretty much expected in nearly every group.

Necros can be challenging for some people at various levels in the game especially if you get comfortable in a power/zerker build and then discover some of those more challenging areas of the game, or mobs that have plenty of CC and hit hard all of the sudden.

Taking a look at your gear and swapping out some pieces here and there for added survivability can make a noticeable difference.

I also don’t like to assume that someone does not know how to play their character, but using the wells and Death Shroud as mitigation tools can really alter how a fight goes down.

I am leveling my second Necro at the moment, level 43 right now with primarily a power build. Sometimes I use blinds to offset damage, sometimes I use the Flesh Golem as a tank and time his knockdown as best I can to prevent untimely damage.

Right now I have D/D, and staff but I can also afford to buy whatever gear I need every 10 levels or so.

I tend to use trinkets as my balance pieces. If I think I need more Vit, or toughness, etc, I swap out those items until I get the balance I need. Obviously runes and sigils are a large factor as well.

I am very comfortable playing a Necro in so many ways as it was my first character at launch and I have spent most of my time playing one. The biggest thing I discovered about every class is that what works for others will not always work for you. You sometimes have to take the suggestions as a base and then play around with things until you find a nice comfortable way to play.

Good luck.
Feel free to message me with any questions I am always happy to help.

Any class regardless of build can solo the majority of any open world zone aside from group events. You just need to learn when to dodge and to not waste all your cooldowns.

Svarty.8019:

As a guardian, I feel abandoned by Anet. Every other class eventually kills me but I can slow most of them down a bit.

Necros are obviously top of the pile thanks to Josh Groucheroo and his influence and access to the devs on the State of the Game show.

Cool story bro. We’re talking about necros here, and in pve of which guardians are lot valued over necros. I mean, I’ve been asked many times to switch to my guardian during an dungeon run. Now either share some necro experience or go back and complain with other spoiled guardians about how 0/0/30/30/10 doesn’t do any damage and thus guardians are bad. Let’s not realize necros need to spend 30 points just to have some stability and being flung around like a ping pong ball is just a fact of life. Or that awesome condition cap in pve.

Oh where was I?

You can easily solo most champions in low-mid zones; other stuff seems unassailable. I am not able to do that Risen Noble guarding that skill point in Cursed Shore. A If you really insist on breaking through those, wearing them down as a minionmancer is entirely possible but not advised.

And yes, don’t pull too many mobs; you can run back. Flesh golem is your friend.

I will say though that mid level zones, especially the deserted ones are annoying due to the high respawn rates. This isn’t because your character is weak, it’s just true of any character really.

Man, you guys are harsh. I was trying to tempt Svarty into rolling a Necro.

Anchoku.8142:

Man, you guys are harsh. I was trying to tempt Svarty into rolling a Necro.

We have enough QQing rerollers, thx :P I’m just waiting for the few more nerfs (in one way or another) to our PvP condi that ends up getting the mass exodus that I have been expecting since they added Dhuumfire.

Bhawb.7408:

Anchoku.8142:

Man, you guys are harsh. I was trying to tempt Svarty into rolling a Necro.

We have enough QQing rerollers, thx :P

Why could that be?

Svarty.8019:

Bhawb.7408:

Anchoku.8142:

Man, you guys are harsh. I was trying to tempt Svarty into rolling a Necro.

We have enough QQing rerollers, thx :P

Why could that be?

Same reason why there are so many warriors and guardians are always, why mesmers, thieves, engies and kinda rangers (spirit, traps, cleanse pet proxy, etc) from time to time get their time in the light. One build gets op in most forms of play thus baddies that dont get the strength of their profession reroll.

OP here again. Level 64 now. Just wanted to say that I have implemented some suggested changes and I am liking it. I bought both Lich form and Plague, to be used only when I see a big fight coming up, and they work splendidly. In Lich form, spamming number 1, most Champions being ganged up on start heading straight for me, so the damage must be respectable. I think I may like the Stability that these offer most of all. I am also going Axe/Warhorn now instead of Dagger/Warhorn. The damage seems to be quite similar, but I feel safer with the axe since I can attack from a distance. It also works well in the Might line, since I can boost axe damage and reduce the cooldowns. With 25 stacks of Perception I can get to 50% crit chance also, which seems to help. I was going with Bloodlust before. Is Perception better at this level though? Thanks again for all your help.

Bhawb.7408:

And PvE it isn’t even close. Necros are accepted in most groups, but never really wanted, whereas Guardians are pretty much expected in nearly every group.

LFG Pug dungeon. 2 Guards 2 Warriors. I’d put I have a less geared support guard alt, in join message.
Me > Greetings
Group > Better get your guard if you want to run with us.

I have never once been kicked from a group for being a Necro, from anything (I don’t do fractals though). I have had people QQ up until I single-handedly wipe an entire room of trash mobs, or am one of two left alive Plague form tanking a group of mobs while the other guy goes around healing the rest.

I get the most QQ from CoF p1 speed runners, and even then I can keep up just fine.

Edit: not saying it doesn’t happen, but I don’t think its a huge issue where you will never find a group because of it.

The real issue is that 5 berserkers are better than a mix of professions and builds.

Anchoku.8142:

The real issue is that 5 berserkers are better than a mix of professions and builds.

AR, MF, Quite a bit of fractals and Taco the Saucless are quite the proof that that aint true, lets hope they keep up with it in the new TA path.

Andele.1306:

Anchoku.8142:

The real issue is that 5 berserkers are better than a mix of professions and builds.

AR, MF, Quite a bit of fractals and Taco the Saucless are quite the proof that that aint true, lets hope they keep up with it in the new TA path.

Given we see Aetherblades in the video, my guess is that necro abilities will be very much in demand for the new path. Aetherblades are fantastically designed enemies, IMO.

AR and MF were both facerolled by beserkers just like all other dungeons. The meta doesnt involve warrior/class stacking anymore though, the only time that becomes worth it is for a record arah run (mobility for skipping sections). Still is best to run all beserkers in dungeons and will be until they make condition damage better in pve.

I’ve been kicked from groups for being a necro.
I’ve had groups say, well if you keep dieing we’ll replace you, and been last standing multi-times and solo’ed boss’s with the dead screaming “Reset, you can’t do this without us”
Funnest was a warrior that kept dieing before making it to meele range of a boss, who even told me I was kiting the wrong way, I was going anti-clockwise and I should have been going clockwise.

I got to admit. If the groups got the damage, I prefer taking my guard. I’d say I’m only ‘ok’ with a guard, but soo many support seem to have no ‘raid awareness’ (Not sure what it’s called in this game, basically just having a clue what’s going on around them)
It’s also lots more relaxing on my guard. Necro’s always balancing CD’s/life force/condi stacks vs spike dam to leave DS and get utils & cleans back. Got to be soo tight on dodge’s. The slightly selfish feel, particularly if you just pop’ed DS/Litch and someone downs. Necro you got to weigh up, they worth giving up your CD’s and being weak yourself. Guard, you just wonder over, say ‘careful now’ and res them, roll as they get up and they full of health. If they lagy on res, throw a bit of protection on them, maybe a block.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Andele.1306:

Anchoku.8142:

The real issue is that 5 berserkers are better than a mix of professions and builds.

AR, MF, Quite a bit of fractals and Taco the Saucless are quite the proof that that aint true, lets hope they keep up with it in the new TA path.

Given we see Aetherblades in the video, my guess is that necro abilities will be very much in demand for the new path. Aetherblades are fantastically designed enemies, IMO.

Don’t hold your breath yet, did you see the preview video at the EU conference yet? It showed one of the bosses filling the room with ground running flame bolts. Yep, you got it, cannons all over again in a different package. Necro might not be as welcome in this new dungeon as we think. Now, if blinds actually worked on bosses, it would be a different story. But no way we can dodge an entire room of that nonsense, and with that many hits, even if they’re not ohko’s, DS will be chewed up in a second. I hope I’m proved wrong. For once I would like to see a dungeon designed around better mechanics than “bring reflects/blocks and vigor, you’re gonna need it” …. Such as the Molten Alliance one. that was by far the best dungeon ever produced in this game imo alongside CoF story mode.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Aetherblades are fantastically designed enemies, IMO.

Now if only a-net didnt have a fetish to make more than half of them veterans and give all of them aoe stunlocks (like one stun is ok, but 3 fields that overlap, each stunning you for 1.5 seconds is plain annoying). But at least its better than knockbacks.

Andele.1306:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Aetherblades are fantastically designed enemies, IMO.

Now if only a-net didnt have a fetish to make more than half of them veterans and give all of them aoe stunlocks (like one stun is ok, but 3 fields that overlap, each stunning you for 1.5 seconds is plain annoying). But at least its better than knockbacks.

Yeah, the stunlocking is a pain, no doubt. Still, they attack quickly (so defensive stats actually matter), they have CC (so blinds/stability matter), they use boons (so boon stripping/conversion matters), and they don’t have dumb “I’m a boss” mechanics like permanent stability and Defiant (so CC/conditions actually matter).

They are difficult, but they’re difficult for everyone, yet everyone has tools that are useful against them.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Yeah, the stunlocking is a pain, no doubt. Still, they attack quickly (so defensive stats actually matter), they have CC (so blinds/stability matter), they use boons (so boon stripping/conversion matters), and they don’t have dumb “I’m a boss” mechanics like permanent stability and Defiant (so CC/conditions actually matter).

They are difficult, but they’re difficult for everyone, yet everyone has tools that are useful against them.

Yeah no problems with that, but i ment the sheer count of vets a normal group of ablades has in comparison to anything else (with flame legion being on the opposite end of the spectrum… i dont think i ever saw a vet flame legion guy outside the guys in MF that throw the flame tornados, maybe my memory is just rusty) is the annoying part, im all for trash mobs that dont make you fall asleep, but if rng decides if they are sometimes more lethal than a boss because of chain-stuns and the 2x damage vet multiplier is… well not very good design (start of AR kinda showed this, the vets during the bombardment were crazy if you didnt stack up behind the rocks for them to have and melee you, while the boss was pretty easy… well except rng pulls trough instakill lazor, but they only used it if you went from within 300 to 600 or within 600 to over 600 range of em so its k).

fourhim.3584:

I’m level 56 now, but still running around level 15-35 zones for completion. I’m basically focusing on Power/Precision with Dagger/Warhorn (although sometimes I try Dagger/Dagger). I’m decently geared (this is my highest character, so money is tight). I use sigils of bloodlust to get to 25 stacks, and then switch to sigils of force instead. I run with the healing minion and the flesh golem, the high damage well, blood is power, and the locust signet (for running speed).

I can solo probably 95% of the content so far. Enemies die fast to the well + dagger. One on one, or even two on one, anything short of a champion dies quickly.

I know I’m not expected to solo champions, but I figure that a couple Veterans should be doable. What I’m finding though is that in certain spots they just cram so many enemies together, and/or the Veterans have the ability to call/spawn even more enemies, and these are the places where I die. I’m probably not using death shroud correctly. It’s more my go-to when I’m about to die, instead of using it for additional damage/protection. Its just that the dagger auto attack does so much damage so quickly.

I can’t get real specific, but Gendarran had a couple places like this. One was an Ettin cave, with a Veteran and 4-5 regular Ettins around him. Also near there was an area full to the brim with Ice Elementals, at least one Veteran, and I’m pretty sure he summoned more. The respawn rates in certain areas seem higher than others also. There was a cave in the 15-25 Norn area with a big metal golem (Veteran) in a cave surrounded by Dredge. There might even be two golems – I just know there were a ton of enemies in one very small space. Once my minions die I am sure to follow shortly after (which annoyingly also drops all my bloodlust stacks).

My main question is regarding if the game designers “expect” one player to be able to kill so many enemies at one time, or if certain parts of PVE maps are intended for multiple players instead?

Thanks for your help/advice.

I either have a great affinity for a necro or I traited well somehow but I only use mf foods and level appropriate crystals and today for the first time in the game at any level I solo’d a Champion.

I kept waiting for him to down me and then kill me but he didn’t and I didn’t die.

Long story short? I wasn’t using a staff and I was listening to a very intelligent player whose videos are very informative

I don’t do every single thing yet, but I am following the pattern to get there. I use golem, and I don’t use consume conditions – I use the minion and seem to be able to survive just fine without consume conditions.

My character was about 40-ish when I solo’d the champ…

If I can do it anyone can.

fourhim.3584:

I’m level 56 now, but still running around level 15-35 zones for completion. I’m basically focusing on Power/Precision with Dagger/Warhorn (although sometimes I try Dagger/Dagger). I’m decently geared (this is my highest character, so money is tight). I use sigils of bloodlust to get to 25 stacks, and then switch to sigils of force instead. I run with the healing minion and the flesh golem, the high damage well, blood is power, and the locust signet (for running speed).

I can solo probably 95% of the content so far. Enemies die fast to the well + dagger. One on one, or even two on one, anything short of a champion dies quickly.

I know I’m not expected to solo champions, but I figure that a couple Veterans should be doable. What I’m finding though is that in certain spots they just cram so many enemies together, and/or the Veterans have the ability to call/spawn even more enemies, and these are the places where I die. I’m probably not using death shroud correctly. It’s more my go-to when I’m about to die, instead of using it for additional damage/protection. Its just that the dagger auto attack does so much damage so quickly.

I can’t get real specific, but Gendarran had a couple places like this. One was an Ettin cave, with a Veteran and 4-5 regular Ettins around him. Also near there was an area full to the brim with Ice Elementals, at least one Veteran, and I’m pretty sure he summoned more. The respawn rates in certain areas seem higher than others also. There was a cave in the 15-25 Norn area with a big metal golem (Veteran) in a cave surrounded by Dredge. There might even be two golems – I just know there were a ton of enemies in one very small space. Once my minions die I am sure to follow shortly after (which annoyingly also drops all my bloodlust stacks).

My main question is regarding if the game designers “expect” one player to be able to kill so many enemies at one time, or if certain parts of PVE maps are intended for multiple players instead?

Thanks for your help/advice.

I either have a great affinity for a necro or I traited well somehow but I only use mf foods and level appropriate crystals and today for the first time in the game at any level I solo’d a Champion.

I kept waiting for him to down me and then kill me but he didn’t and I didn’t die.

Long story short? I wasn’t using a staff and I was listening to a very intelligent player whose videos are very informative

I don’t do every single thing yet, but I am following the pattern to get there. I use golem, and I don’t use consume conditions – I use the minion and seem to be able to survive just fine without consume conditions.

My character was about 40-ish when I solo’d the champ…

If I can do it anyone can.

Go for a tanky build and you won’t ever ask yourself such a question. Necromancer are probably the tankiest low armor class when built to be tanky. If you got problem against something in open world it’s probably because you build and gear to do damage, while you should build and gear to survive.

Andele.1306:

Yeah no problems with that, but i ment the sheer count of vets a normal group of ablades has in comparison to anything else (with flame legion being on the opposite end of the spectrum… i dont think i ever saw a vet flame legion guy outside the guys in MF that throw the flame tornados, maybe my memory is just rusty) is the annoying part, im all for trash mobs that dont make you fall asleep, but if rng decides if they are sometimes more lethal than a boss because of chain-stuns and the 2x damage vet multiplier is… well not very good design (start of AR kinda showed this, the vets during the bombardment were crazy if you didnt stack up behind the rocks for them to have and melee you, while the boss was pretty easy… well except rng pulls trough instakill lazor, but they only used it if you went from within 300 to 600 or within 600 to over 600 range of em so its k).

Arah trash are already more dangerous than most bosses when you fight them in a group. Illusionists and mages op. Aetherblade trash were pretty faceroll in comparison, just annoying with the invuln thumper or w/e it was. Molten trash were interesting apart from the annoying jumping jacks.