Guild Wars 2

has anyone been even moderately successful with power-based builds? maybe even involving GS perhaps? link ’em!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7Yjc0Q5NWcD+1A/NOCGK5K8BPN9K2ifNm0BQDA-TpRFABKt/QCPAgzLDAwRAAhDCwCXAAA

Not a new build, nor a power build, but the terrormancer from last year is working great for me so far. I didn’t think it would work initially, but wanderers gives you back the fear duration you miss from not taking fear of death and all the boon corrupt from scepter and CB gives you a ton of chances to remove stab. I take dhuumfire in this build only because it gives another cover condition and since this build takes no extra power, death perception really doesn’t add as much damage.

Reaper could be run over Death magic, but the lack of a good GM trait and the heavily nerfed shroud are making me wonder if its worth giving up the survivability and extra fear DM gives.

I think a Hybrid Mercenary build is still gonna be somewhat fine. Bleeds are not the base source of damage on this build so having them cleansed is not such a big deal. Altho the constant and reliable Chill damage will be missed.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBLhZ6kGRozGsyGwbTgeTsgLYUph2Q0K+K+FHjQXtAwCA-TJBIABB8EAA4UA8z+DyXGAA

I was fine with this pre-nerf and will stick with it for now.

Old condi signet necro works great vs most clases but is terrible vs thief

I’ve been playing around with power necro and I forgot how fun it was!!! I’ve been using the new demolisher amulet with Spite/SR/Reap and D/W+GS and its awesome!! full shouts with soldiers rune for some sustain and extra bulk, its surprisingly durable and so easy to have tons of might…. Hits like a truck!!! I’ve also still had a lot of luck with my build from last season, which was a mercenary hybrid shoutmancer with S/W and Staff and Curses/SR/Reap lines….if you guys want I can whip up some builds!!

I have a very effective build, I’ve come up with a name for it : mesmer

Personnaly i am testing a build with ice rune and sigil of chilling for the purpose of keeping a good chill uptime vs skill spamming classes.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArYWnc0AdbilbCO3A0biFjBjqJEFqVx5wg4RM6nFAGAA-TJBIABAcIASf/hAeCAyXGAA
CPC counters thieves, revs, DH, Druids, Eles, Engies here’s how:

• Provides constant weakness uptime: basically lets you ignore power thieves and revs with your weakness spam. Also helps with Scappers that will stay in it the whole fight.
• Destroys projectiles: nullifying Bristleback (Druids damage) Rev sword #2 (an easy 6k in a fight) ANY grenade ( it’s not coming back but still) Most of DH’s attacks
• Provides a decent poison stack: This is actually split into two parts. 1: Cover Conditions, as soon as it gets clensed it’s reapplied so this really cuts down on ele, scapper and druids ability to deal with condis. 2: It makes healing less effective, making it a double wammy against ele, scapper and druids.

The only thing CpC doesn’t counter is Condi builds, so I gave it 4 transfers
The one downside to this build is it’s mobility so I expect it to carry anyone though to low tier esports (legend 3) It can be easily out rotated though.

I tried something based on Asherah’s feedback, and it’s working surprisingly well: I’m very resilient and can dish tons of damage at the same time. Power necro done right is fun.

Now, keep in mind that even if I faced good players, most of them are currently testing odd builds as well. So, to know if a build is good, we will have to wait for a more stable meta.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhF6kZTobTscTwdTgeTsgLYUdh2wzKuK2FDjQXtAQLA-TJRGABlfIAA4EAgwTAAo9HAA (amulet is the new demolisher)

Being able to enter shroud every 7s (easy with all the life force at disposal) greatly helps to survive. I like the strength sigil for extra blighter’s boon regen, and the quickness on swap to land gravedigger in a split second. Either sigil works well with shroud as well (more health back and quick RS 4 or 5), which is not the case with the 2 leeching ones, but you’re almost guaranteed to get an extra 2k health on exit.

Next session I should try to replace leeching for battle and/or nullification. And replace a shout for the unblockable one in case I face multiple mesmer/rev: even if I find that shout lackluster (should be instant) the CD is rather short.

Ara.4569:

I tried something based on Asherah’s feedback, and it’s working surprisingly well: I’m very resilient and can dish tons of damage at the same time. Power necro done right is fun.

Now, keep in mind that even if I faced good players, most of them are currently testing odd builds as well. So, to know if a build is good, we will have to wait for a more stable meta.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhF6kZTobTscTwdTgeTsgLYUdh2wzKuK2FDjQXtAQLA-TJRGABlfIAA4EAgwTAAo9HAA (amulet is the new demolisher)

Being able to enter shroud every 7s (easy with all the life force at disposal) greatly helps to survive. I like the strength sigil for extra blighter’s boon regen, and the quickness on swap to land gravedigger in a split second. Either sigil works well with shroud as well (more health back and quick RS 4 or 5), which is not the case with the 2 leeching ones, but you’re almost guaranteed to get an extra 2k health on exit.

Next session I should try to replace leeching for battle and/or nullification. And replace a shout for the unblockable one in case I face multiple mesmer/rev: even if I find that shout lackluster (should be instant) the CD is rather short.

Power is in fact very fun. Tho if you completely disregard boon corruption on your opponents you will very often feel like smashing into a brick wall. You swing and swing, and they are still 90% HP. Implement either “Corrupt Boon” or atleast 2 Signets with the “Signets of Suffering” passive. Especially Signet of the Locust should be good. You really need mobility in sPvP. Necros are slooooow without it.

There is a reason why Power Necro is not very popular in PvP.

this is my reaper build for pvp, i dont rly feel the dps loss, becouse of the changes, couse now its possible to burst fast with high bleedstacks:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArYWnMbClbid2A22A0biljBjaJ8EmVR9stVAI+G+DLiA-TJRFwACOFAAeCARLDoa/BA
in my opinion its not worth to play powerreaper in pvp, couse condidmg and boonconvert are better for necro/reaper atm

livlaender.8790:

in my opinion its not worth to play powerreaper in pvp, couse condidmg and boonconvert are better for necro/reaper atm

This is sadly the truth. The big numbers lie. A Hybrid build does atleast 30-40% more damage than Power. Depends on the amulet. Mercenary beats Paladin to the ground. Marauder is bit better dps-wise but you loose the toughness. Don’t know how good the new amulets will be. Maybe it will be enough? We shall see. So or so, I’m quite positive that GS won’t be the most optimal choice. D/W + Staff woud be my pick. “Soul Marks” passive is just too good to pass.

But hey, play whatever makes you happy. Power is fun, yeah. I personally love power. Most often it works only vs. silly glass cannons that think they can play sPvP with Zerker amu. Hell yeah, its fun to drop someone like that in 2 seconds. Or down a Thief when you are swinging to kill someone else and he just hits the ground without you even noticing (true story).

I have tested the power necro or even support necro with shout + rune of the soldier and there is no way it can be viable with condi mesmer out there.

After some more testing I can say I’ve had pretty good success with both power and hybrid reaper builds. Its hard to say if it’ll work in the long run as the meta hasn’t settled though. I definitely agree with the other posts that you need to slot some boon corrupt on power builds or else bunkers can straight up face tank you. But the damage is there for sure. A well timed gravedigger could take out 3/4 of a health bar on squishier classes. I’ve also found action cam makes aiming GS skills so much easier, and with strength sigils I was always sitting at at least 10-15 might stacks. My mercenary build was just amazing though, I didn’t have as much burst but I could pump out tons of Condi’s and some power damage, and tranfering a mesmers conditions back in their face is amazing bahaha. I feel my hybrid build was just a tad more effective because I had more ranged pressure and more boon corruption.

Just wanted to share the build thats been working the best for me so far. I call it the Papercut-mancer. Its a bleeding build that can quickly reach 20-30 stacks in only a few seconds, along with all the cover conditions that come from staff and offhand dagger. So far, I haven’t lost a duel or even a 1v2 with this build, and its been getting me more damage on average then terror or signets did. Its also pretty survivable with the 20 second heal and 3 condi transfers. The only thing I needed to watch for is plague sig necros, but even they haven’t been a huge threat so far.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArYWjc0Q5NWcD+1A/NWMGsofWAYAQ1EiC1q4dYQ8IC-TpRFABLcIAA4BAkwRAAhTAQK7PceZAA