WvW Roaming Power Necro
I didn’t take a ton of time looking over it but I can tell you right from the start a few suggestions.
Never run Lich form, there are SO many reflects out there that people are actually using now, you’ll end up downing yourself more often than not with Lich. I love it when Necros use Lich fighting my ele because they usually 2 shot themselves.
Durability runes aren’t too good for roaming, they’re pretty nice for larger group play, but not too effective for smaller play. I tend to go for Strength runes for classic necro or Scrapper runes for reaper personally.
Drop staff for roaming, go with Axe/Dagger and Dagger/focus. Staff is actually more of a condi weapon and is only really great for larger group play or if you’re condi. Dagger main hand is very strong and will help you burst down your enemies that want to stay on you melee. It also provides you an immobilize. It works really well with focus off hand because you can hit 4 to give them a bunch of vuln, then 3 to immobilize them, then you can just spam 1 on them and watch them fall.
Also, I generally prefer full zerk on necro and drop death magic for blood magic. Then you can also drop the 25% movement speed sigil and run the line that gives you 25% movement when you are wielding a dagger from blood magic.
I have my group play necro build on the page in my forum signature, I used it for roaming pretty often even. Only thing I change are the weapons I’m using (which are above.)
I added my roaming build to my web site, hope it helps.
Here is my roaming build: http://asphyxia.tv/wvw-roaming-necromancer-build/
Your build is better then what Josh XT suggest.. Most of the advice he gave is terrible. Except the lich thing, take Chilled to the Bone instead going to be much more useful.
#MAGSWAG: All class player. XOXO
I’ve had a lot of success with this build both roaming and in a zerg on mid-lines. In 1v1s against other legitimate roamers I win about half the time, but I’d like to increase that rate. I’ve played around with Reaper swapping out each of the trait lines I use, but it seems to add no utility advantage beyond what I can get from other trait lines.
Any thoughts?
Personally, I’ve found the brute force approach of Reaper can really throw off some people’s momentum.
I’ve been using that ^ with solid success both in solo/duo roaming, 5-7 comp, and I’ll even take it zerging on occasion when I feel like it. With this you’re pretty tanky, deal pretty strong damage due to high Might uptime, and have good sustain thanks to Blighter’s Boon synergy with Spite/Str Sigils/Food Buff. If you want more damage just replace the soldier rings with zerk and you’re set to go. If you need more cleanse throw on Plague Signet instead of Spectral Armor and you should be fine in most occasions.
Your build’s crit damage is pretty low for a DPS build, not to mention you lack a lot of the stability and sustain you can get from the Reaper Shroud and traitline. I’m not a big fan of Durability Runes on Necromancer, as you can get more out of Pack/Strength Runes.
If you’re going to stick with core Necro, I’d HIGHLY reccomend using Soul Marks if you’re running staff purely for the extra life force/unblockable effect. Locust Signet isn’t as terrible as it used to be, but you’d be best served using a Spectral skill like sWalk or sArmor as they’ll allow you to stunbreak a CC chain. Your traits are alright, aside from my personal favorite of Soul Marks.
I’d swap out the Durability Runes for something else like Pack or Strength, and work some Crit Damage into your build (sacrificing a little Vit for Ferocity).
>Still going full zerk on necro
Decimating strikes, and death perception will cap your crit rate with no sweat. Better to use valk for HP.
I’ve had a lot of success with this build both roaming and in a zerg on mid-lines. In 1v1s against other legitimate roamers I win about half the time, but I’d like to increase that rate. I’ve played around with Reaper swapping out each of the trait lines I use, but it seems to add no utility advantage beyond what I can get from other trait lines.
Any thoughts?
Personally, I’ve found the brute force approach of Reaper can really throw off some people’s momentum.
I’ve been using that ^ with solid success both in solo/duo roaming, 5-7 comp, and I’ll even take it zerging on occasion when I feel like it. With this you’re pretty tanky, deal pretty strong damage due to high Might uptime, and have good sustain thanks to Blighter’s Boon synergy with Spite/Str Sigils/Food Buff. If you want more damage just replace the soldier rings with zerk and you’re set to go. If you need more cleanse throw on Plague Signet instead of Spectral Armor and you should be fine in most occasions.
Dope dude, finally someone running reaper with GS/Staff. I’m stealing this so hard.
Dope dude, finally someone running reaper with GS/Staff. I’m stealing this so hard.
Enjoy! It was made for working with my team but it’s pretty serviceable solo as well.
Dope dude, finally someone running reaper with GS/Staff. I’m stealing this so hard.
Enjoy! It was made for working with my team but it’s pretty serviceable solo as well.
His sarcasm was so thick you’d need a laser to cut it.
I had run traveler runes before switching to durability, both of which allow a 25-stack of might to be sustained pretty reasonably.
Whenever I do the math, I find that (typically) adding more power adds DPS faster than adding precision, which is faster than ferocity. As a result, the crit damage is pretty low, but the DPS would be lower if I traded any significant amount of power or precision for ferocity.
I could get more by reducing toughness/vitality. Lich form was a response to the lack of “finishing power” and stability, though none of the elites are really inspiring. For a while I was using Take Root (as a sylvari) for the 3 second invulnerability, but it loses its effectiveness in zergs and is really only suited for 1v1s.
Maybe I’ll try using a dagger main-hand. I don’t know how it will work without a leap finisher (the same issue I have with greatsword).
I do use spectral walk in sPvP, but it’s a lot faster to get to the fight there.
I think I’d sooner swap out trinkets than go pack runes. 20% boon duration to all boons is better than 30% to just swiftness. I think that might just be what I have to do.
Thanks all for the input!
His sarcasm was so thick you’d need a laser to cut it.
I had run traveler runes before switching to durability, both of which allow a 25-stack of might to be sustained pretty reasonably.
Whenever I do the math, I find that (typically) adding more power adds DPS faster than adding precision, which is faster than ferocity. As a result, the crit damage is pretty low, but the DPS would be lower if I traded any significant amount of power or precision for ferocity.
I could get more by reducing toughness/vitality. Lich form was a response to the lack of “finishing power” and stability, though none of the elites are really inspiring. For a while I was using Take Root (as a sylvari) for the 3 second invulnerability, but it loses its effectiveness in zergs and is really only suited for 1v1s.
Maybe I’ll try using a dagger main-hand. I don’t know how it will work without a leap finisher (the same issue I have with greatsword).
I do use spectral walk in sPvP, but it’s a lot faster to get to the fight there.
I think I’d sooner swap out trinkets than go pack runes. 20% boon duration to all boons is better than 30% to just swiftness. I think that might just be what I have to do.
Thanks all for the input!
Ah, well. If he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t like it. I upkeep 25 might pretty easily in shroud thanks to Spite and the food/sigils. Yeah it’s a pretty slow build. I use pack runes for the Precision steroid and the fury/swiftness proc (~50% uptime in combat). Mostly it was made for group fighting (5-7 vs like 10+) so it’s a lot more durable than most people need for solo roaming.
Dope dude, finally someone running reaper with GS/Staff. I’m stealing this so hard.
Enjoy! It was made for working with my team but it’s pretty serviceable solo as well.
His sarcasm was so thick you’d need a laser to cut it.
Don’t put words in my mouth, I loved power necro in sPvP, and the opportunity to smash people with a greatsword and get major crits in reaper is too good to pass up.
The main downside of roaming necro, i.e. lack of mobility, is basically something you can’t get around without dozens of hours of practice, so I just accept it as part of the playstyle when I’m in the mood to corrupt the innocent.