Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

I’ve been playing necro for a long time and I love it to bits. I really love taking her into WvW and helping my guildmates. I started out using Ascii’s wellomancer build, or at least close to it. Then I incorporated some power aspects from spoj’s PvE guide, usually just switching out my armor (full zerk for PvE with scholar runes, knight’s for WvW with melandru runes) and my elite skill (flesh golem to plague).

Anyway, it’s been a long time and I know a lot has changed. I’m posting my current WvW build and would like some suggestions on how to make it better. Maybe it’s a complete mess… I don’t know. I feel like I do ok with it, but I’m sure it could be better.

I don’t solo roam. I am with a group, but sometimes (read, usually) that group is quite small – 10 people-ish. Sometimes I run with a bigger zerg in EB.

How I’ve used the build I have: pop plague and run through enemy zerg and back again, using blind. Then stay at flank or back line or tail commander and hit wells and marks. If I cut someone off I switch to axe/warhorn and get closer to melee range, using cripple, daze, etc. Also use DS quite a bit, but usually wait until my health is down.

Any advice will be appreciated.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fREQNBmODbkjmibrpxlG+bUsLISmLFUBiMSIKPvF-TVDBAB1oTgH1fEa/hnvAAYp0BgDCgXKjo4BAkimmHMBxwRIYDlgBcgACAgAwyF6N35yRKAFFGB-w

Use DS early and often, if you have a full ds bar after you’ve dropped all your marks and wells and plague you better be camping ds until your wells are back up. It’s better to lose your LF from the hammer train than your ho.

Switch “Near to death” to “Unyielding Blast”, and “Spiteful Spirit” to “Reapers Might”.

You will become a cannon when camping DS like NeXeD suggested. 3k-4k crits wont be uncommon, and you’ll feel just as powerful in DS as you are out of it.

Preacher

This is what I use in t1 zerg fights lately. It may appear glassy but with proper positioning it is not. Just make sure and ask to be in the melee group with guards/wars for their stability.
Basically wells and ranged pressure on melee ball and picking backliners off with hard hitting lifeblasts when wells on cd. Only on pin for transitions and plague. Just flank the melee ball.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAnYWjc00SbNNG3wfbiahC66MAmho6AqnjzoaB-TVSBABRcCAwSJHe6D4S5wCHCAe2fAgnAAlq/YmSwAAIA3sNbzbG4oH9oH9oHtbe0be0buzSBknuK-w

I’m actually using runes of strength but hoelbrek is good too.

NeXeD.3042:

Use DS early and often, if you have a full ds bar after you’ve dropped all your marks and wells and plague you better be camping ds until your wells are back up. It’s better to lose your LF from the hammer train than your ho.

Thanks for the advice! I was in WvW tonight and I did think to use my DS more. Worked well. It helped especially since we were greatly outnumbered all night

Preacher.4836:

Switch “Near to death” to “Unyielding Blast”, and “Spiteful Spirit” to “Reapers Might”.

You will become a cannon when camping DS like NeXeD suggested. 3k-4k crits wont be uncommon, and you’ll feel just as powerful in DS as you are out of it.

Preacher

Thanks Preacher. I forgot to change this out tonight but I’ll do it tomorrow.

citizankane.5723:

This is what I use in t1 zerg fights lately. It may appear glassy but with proper positioning it is not. Just make sure and ask to be in the melee group with guards/wars for their stability.
Basically wells and ranged pressure on melee ball and picking backliners off with hard hitting lifeblasts when wells on cd. Only on pin for transitions and plague. Just flank the melee ball.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAnYWjc00SbNNG3wfbiahC66MAmho6AqnjzoaB-TVSBABRcCAwSJHe6D4S5wCHCAe2fAgnAAlq/YmSwAAIA3sNbzbG4oH9oH9oHtbe0be0buzSBknuK-w

I’m actually using runes of strength but hoelbrek is good too.

Thanks for the build suggestion. Seems kind of similar to mine, but I wouldn’t mind trying the strength or hoelbrek runes. Thanks for the advice also on positioning. I think that’s pretty much what I’m doing unless I get lost in the crowd :p

Necros have enough “oh kitten” buttons that we can easily go zerker and still survive. Positioning will almost always be what dictates your survival; However, I want to mention that with these zerker builds running Plague isn’t as useful because it forces you into the center of the fight to be useful where you will likely not last long.

build
or 6 in Curses and 2 in Death Magic

Quells.2498:

Necros have enough “oh kitten” buttons that we can easily go zerker and still survive. Positioning will almost always be what dictates your survival; However, I want to mention that with these zerker builds running Plague isn’t as useful because it forces you into the center of the fight to be useful where you will likely not last long.

I see your point. Which elite would be best to replace plague in your opinion?

Lich Form. The Blast skill pierces for really great damage and it has a pushback. It’s really the only other viable option. That said, you can still use Plague so long as you’re good at staying on the cusp of the enemy forces. I mean, you really shouldn’t be jumping in the middle no matter your build. You can only hit 5 players at any time so to stand in a place where you’re hitting five but 40 are hitting you makes very little sense.

To me, having a higher ferocity and power is better than having a really high precision, and with death perception getting into the 40s should be enough crit chance. I think my build caps out at 48% but I also use accuracy sigil on warhorn for now anyway.

I also agree that zerker/asssassin/cavalier is our best state combo.and for builds I’m personally a fan of 0/2/2/4/6, but 4/2/0/2/6 and 0/4/0/4/6 for the warhorn trait are cool too. With my build that’s not even complete yet, I’ve been able to hit assist targets like thieves for over 4k with life blast which is really strong.

I still don’t know what runes are ideal. I’d say that melandru are the best defensive set while scholar or strength are good offensive choices. Making howler has drained me of money so I won’t be able to buy any of those for a little while I’m afraid.

Also if you’re fighting a good enemy group, don’t use lichen form unless you’re cleaning up or they’re bound to lose. It basically just makes you a giant target for their heavies and hank squad to dispatch. Plague you do need to use smartly though, but to me it’s more so I can stay alive after making a positioning mistake so I can live long enough to get back to recovery. As a necro you should never die when your defensive skills aren’t on cool down or when you have life force.

some necros will run spectral walk and pop it before engagement to give them an escape if they’re caught out of position. It is really good but as an Asuran I will always take Radiation Field instead. 15 seconds of Weakness and Poison is just too good.

2 more in Soul Reaping for Foot in the Grave. 3 seconds of stability every 6 seconds is epic for WvW group fights.

Thanks for all the good advice everyone! Here’s what I did with my build. I’ll look at changing out some of my trinkets (replacing the cavalier ones) over time. Right now I’m working on making an ascended backpiece. I’m sure it’ll be quite an upgrade from rare! I’ll play in WvW for a while and let you know how it goes.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fREQNAW3Yjc0UcbRN20whbCdhC61MAm3omAqTjxYLA-TlTBABUcABa+gAQjOARVh4KlOdpM6G1X64CIgimnFOCBOYCSDlg8s/AAPIgAAIAschezduckCwPlVA-w

Looks ok, I’d use plague over lich for zergs and change that condi sigil but other than that looks fine.