Guild Wars 2

I played my necro in wvw last night both in zerg and roaming. I played a 0/10/30/30/0 build with marks, wells, and siphon traited with Staff + Dagger/Dagger. I did okay in the zerg, but couldn’t roam with a kitten . Heck, even breaking off the zerg just to pickup some supply was a perilous task. I was running with around 1900 toughness and lots of healing capability. I don’t understand why I was dying so quickly.

Is there a good necro build that suits both zerg and roam play or am I just spoiled by my mesmer’s mobility and stealth? A guildy of mine was saying something about using Death Shroud in some 30/0/0/0/30 (I forget where the last 10 is) build.

First of all, coming from any other class means you’re spoiled by their mobility :P

I suppose one of the most popular super-tanky-well-zerg-builds is Ascii’s (it’s on page 4 atm), but he uses a different one for solo stuff.

30/10///30 is a pretty standard trait setup for power builds, the 10 in Curses is usually for Weakening Shroud but could be switched to Focused Rituals in large scale battles.
Most roamers go full Berserker with this and rely on spectral skills for quick lf regen to buff their defense. (not sure if that isn’t too squishy for zergs though)

You could also check out my build. I solo roam for the most part, but I use it for zergs as well without changing anything.

Roam play a condi necro actually fairs a bit better as all your throwbacks, corrupts, and the fact they tick through dodges and blocks eats through people. But it doesn’t work well in zerg as often targets die before your condis tag the target. Personally I’ve landed with DS being my favorite in WvW play. Likely you’ll go 30/10/0/0/30 or 30/0/0/10/30. First one you want in zerg play as targeted wells is pretty important as you’ll be hitting lots of towers and keeps – you also want the ability to toss out the DPS for tagging. If you plan on roaming without hitting anything but empty keeps, 10 into blood for Transfusion is pretty nice party support… also gives the regen tick that can help a little bit for your own survival. Or if your party doesn’t seem to need it, weakening shroud is powerful (and also means you don’t have to retrait for zergs).

But yes, DS is pretty nice. If I’m not really paying attention and suddenly get hit for 15k by a thief combo, just pop DS and Life Blast > Fear > Life Blast > Life Drain (as life drain will channel through their inevitable invisi)… I’ve killed so many thieves that way. Hammer/Shield warrior knocks on your door? Lich Form and pelt them. Condi necro? Pfft, he’s just feeding your CC heal – just blast him until he goes DS – drop your DS, use Consume and fill your bar by laying into him as he just gave up his condition damage – the pop back into DS once his DS drops and finish him off. I’ve enjoyed roaming as a DS build… but realize you have some sad music to face in WvW – you have absolutely nothing to survive the attention of a group – no stealth, no escapes, no invulns, no blocks, no evades beyond your base dodges… so if you ever get “caught”, death is inevitable, and unfortunately there is no build that can help with that.

Other than Spiteful Spirit, why go into the Spite tree at all for a DS WvW build? What about this build (0/20/0/20/30) http://intothemists.com/guides/1472-necro_debuff . It has both DS and Wells matched with chill.

Helios.3598:

Other than Spiteful Spirit, why go into the Spite tree at all for a DS WvW build? What about this build (0/20/0/20/30) http://intothemists.com/guides/1472-necro_debuff . It has both DS and Wells matched with chill.

Reaper’s Might is a staple.

Close to Death is strong, too.

Helios.3598:

Other than Spiteful Spirit, why go into the Spite tree at all for a DS WvW build? What about this build (0/20/0/20/30) http://intothemists.com/guides/1472-necro_debuff . It has both DS and Wells matched with chill.

This is similar to what I run: 10/10/0/20/30 PVT, with targetable and reduced cooldown wells, reduced DS decay, DS crit and LB might and piercing, and siphoning. You’d think to yourself:

1) “Why go into BM at all, why not just get more power and Close to Death instead?” … sometimes I wonder that myself. Siphoning gives me about a 3-12% increase in damage (averaged) depending on the attack and reasonable offhealing in zerg combat when I’m not in DS. Going 30 in spite instead would give about an 18% damage increase at the cost of about 8% of my effective health and also my offheals… I’m not sure the trade is worth it.

2) “Why not go 20 into curses for chill?” … it’s because Parasitic Bond is noticable in WvW, and once I do that my choices are somewhat limited. Possibly 5/10/0/25/30 or 5/20/0/15/30 would be better.

Death shroud can be awkward to use. My general strategy is to stay in it as much as possible and certainly when my heal is down, and the build I use generally accomplishes that. However, while in DS I don’t get the benefit of any of the healing I’m investing in. I wish I could figure something better, but so far I can’t.

From an experienced old fart necro commander who can take ten men and clean a whole BL solo commanding…

Roam play: Full Rabid + S/D or S/F with Staff (gear+ rabid crests on trinks, bleeding% runes or chill% runes) x/30/x/x/5+ [recommend: 20/30/10/x/x for max damage, or 0/30/20/10/10 for pure condition pressure playstyle]

Zerg play: Full PVT (Soldier) gear with D/W + Staff (full soldier crests slotted in everything, all of it) 30/x/20/x/x base template.

roam play you build like a dancer. You pressure and control your opponent with conditions, and can either stack bleeds easily or lock down your opponent with chill rotations. Your choice.

zerg play you build like a tanky bruiser. mazimize power output, always roll with lich in your bar. See a kitten on the field? like a Warrior pwnstar commander running banners and shouts? pop lich, pew pew pew and wellbomb on exit. selective assasination within a large group. make sure to slot the warhorn trait for perma swiftness, as you’ll be running a lot.

Edit: commenting on the post above mine, if you choose to play in the soul tree, you’ll be in death shroud 80% of the time you’re fighting. So instead of slotting soldier crests, slot ruby jewels. You’ll need the power and crit ramp to get those life blasts up in the sky and the AoE siphon to scare the masses.

@ Sheobix – yep, agreed – that is in fact what I run, just PVT gear with rubies in slots. Nothing like dropping wells, hitting DS and DS 5, and watching the big numbers hit. LB is nothing to sneeze at either, especially in chokes. It’s a real shame though that soldier’s / berserker’s ascended jewelry doesn’t exist though – going exotic PVT with rubies to soldier / soldier ends up being a problem.

i am running with group in wvw so using 20,20,0,0,30 build with A/D + staff
state are 2600 armor, 3100-3350 power, 45% (65%) crit chance, 75% crit dmg, 21k hp
rotation combo: using staff marks, using 2 wells go on to DS using skill 5 and 4 going to A/D using skill 5, 3 taking target and skill 2 and 1 and all over again
dmg done is between 5-10k with wells. giving support with weakness and chill, having stability every 6 seconds for 3 seconds and having fury and retaliation

regarding defense – if i wont positioning myself right i am pretty easy target. my worst nightmare is immobilization so saving my number 4 skill on my dagger

here is short video with the build
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Naqow8tEEsc

thanks for all the responses. It looks like I’ve a ways to go before getting comfortable with necro in wvw…

I switched back to my mesmer for the last few days and the contrast was pretty stark on how easily I could survive and how effective I was.

Don’t go PTV gear, it’s pointless and not needed if you use skills properly and know how to position, go zerker/cavalier. I run 90% crit dmg, 41% crit chance without fury, 2.8k power with stacks, 1.6k toughness and 22k hp.
BIG numbers while being very tanky.

Aphix.9846:

Don’t go PTV gear, it’s pointless and not needed if you use skills properly and know how to position, go zerker/cavalier. I run 90% crit dmg, 41% crit chance without fury, 2.8k power with stacks, 1.6k toughness and 22k hp.
BIG numbers while being very tanky.

That is bad advice for someone that is asking for help because they are dieing to much. OP should start with PVT until they get used to positioning and how to stay alive then adjust gear accordingly.

Aphix.9846:

Don’t go PTV gear, it’s pointless and not needed if you use skills properly and know how to position, go zerker/cavalier. I run 90% crit dmg, 41% crit chance without fury, 2.8k power with stacks, 1.6k toughness and 22k hp.
BIG numbers while being very tanky.

A while ago I did research on the effectiveness on going full zerk on a necro build.

If you go full zerk, you exclusively set your playstyle to one or the other, in the case of max physical DPS from ruby gear, you’ll find almost all your success in the folds of a zerg.

Roaming.. heh three auto attacks from any smart WvWer and you’re necro toast. Unless you walk around in DS like a paranoid clutz.

Even if you know how to position yourself, you give yourself a miniscule window of opportunity to react to anything your opponent does. It is just not a smart idea.

And to the OP: Alternatively you can find a good balance with the new Dire gear. It’s all i ever wanted when I used to play, and since Anet finally made it a real thing… you should at least have a set of it in possession.

Solo roaming as a necro is hard in general due to lack of mobility. What you are going to run into is a lot of enemies, if they realize they can’t beat you, will simply run. I’ve been on both ends of this. On my ranger, I fought a condi necro. She killed me the first couple times. Then I remembered “Oh yeah, I’m a ranger, and she’s a necro. I’ll just kite her.” and I won via hit and run tactics. Any good player will know they can do this to you.

So to solo roam you got to be crafty, sneaky and know when its time to port out. Gank enemies as they fight npcs. Engage them from behind; most don’t swivel their cameras behind them much. Hide behind stuff and get the drop on enemies. You need to surprise them and burst them down before they realize you are a necro and they can just turn 360 degrees and walk away.

Lorelei.3918:

Solo roaming as a necro is hard in general due to lack of mobility. What you are going to run into is a lot of enemies, if they realize they can’t beat you, will simply run. I’ve been on both ends of this. On my ranger, I fought a condi necro. She killed me the first couple times. Then I remembered “Oh yeah, I’m a ranger, and she’s a necro. I’ll just kite her.” and I won via hit and run tactics. Any good player will know they can do this to you.

So to solo roam you got to be crafty, sneaky and know when its time to port out. Gank enemies as they fight npcs. Engage them from behind; most don’t swivel their cameras behind them much. Hide behind stuff and get the drop on enemies. You need to surprise them and burst them down before they realize you are a necro and they can just turn 360 degrees and walk away.

Yes, as a WvW player, there is nothing more terrifying than trying to take a full condi necro on 1v1 head-on (as a non-necro). So just don’t. Burst, stealth, burst, run away, avoid them until more people show up. They don’t get to pick their engagements, and so the fact that they are a stationary gun turret is less of an issue if you use that against them.

Get them in a 2v1, and they will almost always die, while a mesmer/thief/ranger/warrior/ele will always find a way to get away.