Guild Wars 2

I am not a complete noob in GW2. From 2 years ago I even have lev 80 war&mesmer and I am enjoying both now for few weeks after my comeback to GW2.
But I have problem with necro. As I am slowly closing to 80 I started to look around what kind of equip I should get him… and that is where I got stucked. It seems to me that current “meta” (which I hate anyway) berserker is complete bull-excrement for necro. On the other side rabid (which seems best to me) means I will get severally crippled in any group activity thanx to the condition stacking ceiling.
I have checked some power builds – but all seems to me to be severally lacking compared to other classes – necro weapon & trait selection seems to be specialized in conditions. And I am really not willing to use power build “because all cool kids use it” and also I do not like dagger primary weapon (staff + scepter/x is sooo much better IMHO).

Am I missing something or if I will build necro the “way it’s meant to be played” I will severally cripple it for any group activity /really (not)funny in MMORPG/? And if so – is this really intended by AN?

What kind of content you want to do mainly (pve, spvp, wvw roaming or zerg)?

:) I kinda like to play all the aspects of the game with my toons – but I hate to change equip/builds frequently…
Anyway as for now I am spending my time following way (descending order of importance): Silverwastes/DryTop – WvW zerg – WvW roaming – PvE boss events – exploring – Fractals/Dungeons – sPvP

Ryouzanpaku.1273:

:) I kinda like to play all the aspects of the game with my toons – but I hate to change equip/builds frequently…
Anyway as for now I am spending my time following way (descending order of importance): Silverwastes/DryTop – WvW zerg – WvW roaming – PvE boss events – exploring – Fractals/Dungeons – sPvP

Well changing you build depending on the sitiation it is something you always should to but i can understand that you dont want to change your gear much.

So i would suggest you that you farm up zerker gear and use a 6/2/0/0/6 build. Maybe also some addition defensive pieces (soldier, knight, valkure etc.) if you feel to easily taken down. The adventage is you dont have do change much (mostly you utilities skills and curses adept trait depending on if you use wells or not) and is, while not always amazing, decent in the situations you mentioned.

But if you dont like playing a power build on necro you can also run a condition build, but you have to aware that condition builds suck for pve world bosses and dungeons. For wvw and solo pve the work fine.

Try zerker gear with death perception trait, pew pew 8k life blasts

TBH this is not what I wanted to hear
btw wouldn’t the celestial set be good for necro? seems to me it is a real waste not to boost condition damage on class with so many condition dmg possibilities….

Ryouzanpaku.1273:

TBH this is not what I wanted to hear
btw wouldn’t the celestial set be good for necro? seems to me it is a real waste not to boost condition damage on class with so many condition dmg possibilities….

Oh well in that case I hear running full settlers in pve groups is highly desired.

Try Sinister gear for everything but WvW. There you want some more survivability for roaming. Zerg surfing nets you plenty of life force, so it’s not as important there.

In WvW, something with Power primary is best for zergs (I’m a fan of Zealot’s personally) and anything with some defensive stats can be good for roaming. Rabid and Dire are very effective for roaming.

If you already have an idea of what you want to hear or do not want to hear. I dont really see why you are asking for help. Seems like you just want validation on whatever you have already decided on. But you wont get that because the truth is not to your liking.

The advice you have found is there not because “all the cool kids use it”. Its there because its found to be the best for the specified content. If you dont want to follow that advice thats fine. Play however you like. It doesnt really matter what you use if you have already said you dont care. So theres not much point in asking here. Unless you want to ask something more specific.

I just hoped there is some reliable condition build on condition heavy class. Unfortunately it seems there is not.
(btw this is not negativity towards what you wrote – I am thankful you did – it is negativity against game design/balance where out of the 16? different combinations of stats 1 is so much better that every class is using it. Seems to me to be quite sad.)

Ryouzanpaku.1273:

I just hoped there is some reliable condition build on condition heavy class. Unfortunately it seems there is not.
(btw this is not negativity towards what you wrote – I am thankful you did – it is negativity against game design/balance where out of the 16? different combinations of stats 1 is so much better that every class is using it. Seems to me to be quite sad.)

There are a few reliable condition builds on necros. They’re just not desired for dungeons generally. I don’t have any issues getting event credit on a condition build, but for world bosses, Power is preferable (not required, though). In the Silverwastes, condition Necro is actually very strong, due to not only dealing with Husks very effectively, but also just turning the conditions from mordrem back. WvW roaming, condition Necro is strong. WvW zerg surfing and non-TripleTrouble world events? Power is better, but those have virtually no chance at failure anyway.

Ryouzanpaku.1273:

I just hoped there is some reliable condition build on condition heavy class. Unfortunately it seems there is not.
(btw this is not negativity towards what you wrote – I am thankful you did – it is negativity against game design/balance where out of the 16? different combinations of stats 1 is so much better that every class is using it. Seems to me to be quite sad.)

There are actually a couple of reliable condi builds for necro. I myself use rabid with scepter/dagger and focus on bleeds and wells. But as pointed out with the condi cap, its not as usefull in dungeons and world bosses, although is quite good in silver wastes. My suggestion would be if you want to play condi necro in dungeons, start your own LFG thats more selective to what you want to do. For world bosses you can always switch to minions and go more for direct damage just by changing a few traits and maybe main hand weapon. Generally at world bosses there are more than enough people to take them out even if you were afk.

For WvW roaming, condis can provide some great pressure if you are with a group. In PvP condi builds do rather well, as there are only so many cleanses one can do in X amount of time, and you can generally get all of your condis back up in short order, so it really only buys them a few extra seconds.

Ryouzanpaku.1273:

I just hoped there is some reliable condition build on condition heavy class. Unfortunately it seems there is not.
(btw this is not negativity towards what you wrote – I am thankful you did – it is negativity against game design/balance where out of the 16? different combinations of stats 1 is so much better that every class is using it. Seems to me to be quite sad.)

Well since you dont rate dungeons/fractals in high regard, just go with a condition builds if you want to run one.

For solo pve and WvW (or pvp in general) condition builds are fine. For pve world bosses they are not so good due the condition stacking limit (not because necro condition builds are bad), but they should be enough to get you gold contribution. For dungeons/fractals it is similar but i think in a coordinated group (one that is build around you as the only condition applier) you also can get away with it though it probably will not optimal.

I would say just go with a condition build or hybrid build (like with rampager + celestial gear and specializing in stacking bleeds and vulnerability)
In every PvE environment, any build with a sense of focus in play style is completely viable if not 100% optimal. Even then, the full zerk meta is only more effective with certain professions with certain skills, none of which the necromancer has, so you won’t be fitting in there anyways. And trust me, if you get into the Twilight Arbor Aether Blade path paired with a condition ranger, the group will love you two assuming you equipped epidemic.