Guild Wars 2

I main a thief so my WvW experience is mainly roaming and 1v1 situations. I’m branching out and trying a few of my alts in WvW. I finally got my necro to level 80 and geared him for the condimancer spec in PvE, but I realized things like Blood is Power (a staple in PvE) doesn’t have a lot of utility in WvW. Also, I didn’t worry too much about stun breaks and cc’s in PvE, in wvw its another story.

I really like how my necromancer plays in wvw and I especially enjoy zerg vs zerg fights (where the necro AoE’s own so many people, especially fun when my intended targets get out of the way but other people just walk into the AoE’s randomly!) I’m not sure what the meta “build” for necro wvw is though.

From what I read, the “Fearmancer” seems to be quite popular, I don’t know too much about how it is run but I imagine it is something along the lines of this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjMat7xbea07JAJFX/c0DiDOZKFqnOA-jgyAINioRKAIVBg8AlDLiGbBTIq8pxqZwUpER1ekioVDA-e

(The gear is what I currently have, obviously not optimized)

Is that about right? And if it is, how do necros deal with CC’s and speed issues (I’m used to flying all over the map with my thief, the necro in comparison seems reeeeeeeally slow which is why I guess running in a zerg is a necessity)

Any hints on how to play the necro in WvW would be very welcome! Currently I just throw down as many AoE’s as I can and things tend to work out somehow (i.e. sceptor 2 to dagger 5 to weapon swap to staff 2, 3, 4, 5, epidemic if i can, etc).

As you can see I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing, so please let me know how to be a better necro in wvw!

Opinions:

1) For zerg v zerg, I think that most people would argue some variant of power wells is meta. Amongst these people there’d be an argument about how much tankyness is desirable, and whether / how to go into the soul reaping tree / use death shroud. There’d be a large minority however that’d argue for some type of condition damage build. The most popular of these would probably be 30/20/0/0/20. Amongst those people there’d be a further argument about using carrion vs rabid. There would be however almost universal agreement that plague form is the elite to have.

2) I think the consensus would be that necros deal with CCs and speed issues badly. Your option for stability is 30 points in SR. Most people I think would suggest learning to use death shroud to absorb burst. Your options for speed are basically either spectral walk or signet of the locust.

As for how to play, I think it depends on how you want to play and how you gear / spec. Often I’ve seen advice along the lines of play on the back line, dropping well bombs and staff / scepter AOE. But I think if you watch the way zerg necros play, you’ll find they don’t play like that. Rather, it’s a mix of close in play using plague form and DS, and then backing out when those options are down, when you want to control a choke, etc. Check out videos by Quenta of the Black Talons. I learned a lot from watching those.

Silver.4798:

I main a thief so my WvW experience is mainly roaming and 1v1 situations. I’m branching out and trying a few of my alts in WvW. I finally got my necro to level 80…

Congrats on joining the ranks of necromancy! Your crypt is to the right and we have boarding kennels for your minions to the left.

Silver.4798:

I really like how my necromancer plays in wvw and I especially enjoy zerg vs zerg fights (where the necro AoE’s own so many people, especially fun when my intended targets get out of the way but other people just walk into the AoE’s randomly!) I’m not sure what the meta “build” for necro wvw is though.

You’ve pretty much hit upon it; you are light mobile artillery in WvWvW.

Silver.4798:

From what I read, the “Fearmancer” seems to be quite popular, I don’t know too much about how it is run but I imagine it is something along the lines of this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjMat7xbea07JAJFX/c0DiDOZKFqnOA-jgyAINioRKAIVBg8AlDLiGbBTIq8pxqZwUpER1ekioVDA-e

(The gear is what I currently have, obviously not optimized)

Is that about right?

I don’t run conditions, so I can’t help you there. There are plenty of expert conditionmancers who I’m sure will gladly answer your questions, though.

Silver.4798:

…how do necros deal with CC’s and speed issues (I’m used to flying all over the map with my thief, the necro in comparison seems reeeeeeeally slow which is why I guess running in a zerg is a necessity)

BWAHAHAHAHAHA !!! ROFLMAO !!! How do necros deal with CC’s? That’s a good one Oh, you were serious? o_O

Well, your options are limited but not non-existent. We have some stun breakers:

• Necrotic Traversal (secondary skill after casting Flesh Wurm)
• Plague Signet
• Spectral Armor
• Spectral Walk
• Well of Power

In a zerg-vs-zerg situation, Well of Power is nice. Breaks stun, grants 1 second of Stability (yes, we get excited about 1 second of Stability, given how little access we have to it), and converts conditions to boons for you and your allies.

Using Flesh Wurm as an escape takes practice since you have to pre-place your Flesh Wurm before you have access to the stun break/teleport.

If facing a single opponent CC-ing you, entering Death Shroud and fearing them away with Doom is an option. Doesn’t break you out of the CC but it prevents your opponent from capitalizing on it.

Can try using Death Shroud’s Dark Path to teleport yourself out of trouble.

Generally, though, if you get CC train focused by a group of enemies, you’re pretty much dead as a necro unless your party or zerg is able to peel them off you or you have a Flesh Wurm at the ready to teleport you out of trouble.

As for speed, you have access to Swiftness from Locust Swarm and Spectral Walk. You also have Signet of the Locust for a passive 25% speed boost. Locust Swarm is tricky if using purely for speed. If you hit anything with the cloud of locusts, you’ll be put into combat mode and slowed. It’s really better reserved as an offensive snaring skill in combat than an out-of-combat speed buff.

Personally, I use Signet of the Locust when covering open ground between fights. I’ll then switch it to a more offensive utility as I approach a battle.

Silver.4798:

Any hints on how to play the necro in WvW would be very welcome! Currently I just throw down as many AoE’s as I can and things tend to work out somehow (i.e. sceptor 2 to dagger 5 to weapon swap to staff 2, 3, 4, 5, epidemic if i can, etc).

As you can see I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing, so please let me know how to be a better necro in wvw!

You seem to be getting the general hang of it; AoE pressuring. I’m sure others will weigh in with more specific suggestions; especially with regards to the condition-related questions.

I just started playing necro also it is alot of fun and the control over boons and conditions is really fun.

Kraag pretty much said everything from my playing necro and reading around you pretty much have the general idea. Just like any class your muscle memory will kick in as to what is best in what situation etc.

You don’t have the escapes like you have on thief (Have a thief also) so in small engagements (I run condi) with a few friends I tend to do my work in the back laying aoes and putting bleeds on people etc then epi it. It is especially fun when you are with a mesmer or engi running the new runes of perplexity and you epi the target with 15+ stacks of confusion stuff just starts to die quick.

Just play it out though and you will get a feel for it I love conditions and I got tired of trying to make it work really good on my thief and mesmer(though with the new confusion runes mesmer condi builds are very good again). Still I feel like compared to those classes necro easily outshines them in condi builds currently.

1vX like you can on thief is a bit different if there is a berserker stance warrior around that should be your top priorty to either kill or get out it can be done but they tend to force me personally to use important cd’s because they can put alot of pressure on you.

Also in small man fights you will probably be the #1 target I know when my guild is out roaming (we use voice comms) necro’s are the priority target over any other class outside of maybe a really support heavy guardian that is making it difficult to take people down. Then maybe a cc heavy hammer warrior but usually necro is top on the hit list and usually our berserker stance warrior is the person we have to occupy/kill the necro.

Other than that though have fun the utilities are all depending on what you like to run/playstyle it isn’t so clear cut like on your thief where most thieves take SR and SS. I wouldn’t say there is a standard utility that everyone runs. I think from my playtime on all classes the utilities I see most common on necros are epidemic, signet of locust, spectral walk.

Zergs – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjQaZ6dbia87JAJFX/8kiuHP6xwFHMA-jEzAINlRsWgoFAUFICDYOsIasFsgUziW5LsaGMVKRUtPoIa1CBsYNA-w

I find it changes often now since the servers get mixed up more now.

One week I will be fighting lots of stability and next week none, sometimes more condition cleansing or high toughness builds with lots of healing.

I have been changing my builds to counter what I am fighting more than ever before and having more fun with it as well.

I would recommend building a power set to go with your condi set and play around with builds on your own, even in the same night you may want to respec a couple times to suite the group/zerg you are running with and the people you are fighting.

Tobbygnome.6793:

Zergs – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjQaZ6dbia87JAJFX/8kiuHP6xwFHMA-jEzAINlRsWgoFAUFICDYOsIasFsgUziW5LsaGMVKRUtPoIa1CBsYNA-w

Nice zerg build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW7YjMax7tbib87JAJFX/8kis/O6BxHHMA-jkyAINioZaBM5JQ5wioxWNLiGr6GTliqjHis5OY+AUpAgYNA-w

what I use on a normal basis for roaming and duals.
can change some traits and utilities around for zerg play

I have run two tank power builds that are frontline for leading zergs – both produce copious amounts of bags:

All PVT gear and accessories
0/10/30/30/0
0/0/30/30/10
axe/dagger with staff

Depending upon food buffs and full stacks of bloodlust, both can obtain 2700+/- power (this is with crests of the soldier). Lead with Plague (trait for chilling if possible) – blind, blind, blind and let frontline heavies kill.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2vc6bnm.jpg

Another option with these two builds that I have been playing with lately is to use Melandru runes with condition reduction food – makes using Plague and DS a smoother proposition. Power output with full stacks of bloodlust = 2500+