Guild Wars 2

Back with another roaming video.

I included some footage from a standard dire build with scavenging runes and maxed condition damage, and then focused the rest of the video on a full celestial build with some siphon traits.

Builds are for Dire and Celestial respectively
:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjMat7pbeb87JEoH7CuAiRKOmghSR5kOA-jUCB4iCik0gkIBKTqIas1gFRjVJjIqWdDzYeY1W0JSIgFrBA-w

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBLhZakRrdvYTejfPhMp4b8GoH7CuAiRKOmlB-jUCBYjCikFAUBRM5rIaslhFRjVVjIqWXDzaeY1W0JSIgFjBA-w

Enjoy

Good to watch as always.

As celestial you might want to try this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRLevdzYjfTBMVobIF9WbMjjXm+Q5A

had some good results with it, though I run it with wells.

shizo.5698:

Good to watch as always.

As celestial you might want to try this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRLevdzYjfTBMVobIF9WbMjjXm+Q5A

had some good results with it, though I run it with wells.

Axe is always an issue for me in WvW. That 600 range is just too close to the action and with our limited leap options, your ability to disengage is 300 units too close for me.

I find that scepter 3 is compareable to axe 2, in that it does less damage, but also doesn’t require a long channel. Both generate life force. And personally I prefer scepter 2 over axe 3 again because of positioning. Axe 1 vs Scepter 1 isn’t even a discussion.

Nice vid – good watch.

Wanted to point out that axe 3 also strips a boon from the targets it hits, but your reasonings are legit.

Also, I find sigils and runes generate more health then the siphons traits per cast. But that may be because the others have cool downs and the traits don’t. More procs per minute – likely more heals (Vampric siphons) over that period of time (if you’re constantly attacking). The lack of cool down is why I think the healing portion isn’t that great, Vampiric Precion and Vampric would be perfect if they did double of what they are doing now (or if the scaled enough to do double of what they are doing now).

Question: Scavenging runes – do the 2 procs share a cool down, would that effect stack for the next 2 attacks? Can’t sign into the game right now to test.

Celestial is great to use,but that build and food don’t work to well for it.30/25/0/0/15 works the best for it.

Blood is still useless and not worth the points.

I use axe just for the 2 and 3, I like the trait, because I dont loose damage in ds with it.

Transfusion heals for 3,9k in celestial, thats pretty good.

I like celestial gear, the added condition as well as direct damage can really put a hurt on people. The only down side is the low toughness, vitality is still a nice high amount. These attachments are my stats and build, all my gear is celestial excluding my back (ascended t/h/c) and an accessory (ascended p/pr/cd). The runes i use are travelers, no need to carry around locust signet, my sigils are crit for health/health on weapon swap and then corruption and then for food i use hp on crit and condition damage.

Seems to work pretty well, i was using flesh golem but i went Lich because you can melt stun warriors with it.

Sororita.3465:

I like celestial gear, the added condition as well as direct damage can really put a hurt on people. The only down side is the low toughness, vitality is still a nice high amount. These attachments are my stats and build, all my gear is celestial excluding my back (ascended t/h/c) and an accessory (ascended p/pr/cd). The runes i use are travelers, no need to carry around locust signet, my sigils are crit for health/health on weapon swap and then corruption and then for food i use hp on crit and condition damage.

Seems to work pretty well, i was using flesh golem but i went Lich because you can melt stun warriors with it.

Currently I am using Knights weapons, and maybe that extra toughness helps, but I don’t feel like the defensive potential is that much less than dire. I feel like if I use dagger or axe though, and use power food, I am just better off with full zerker, or a combination of zerker and knights.

The only way I think the numbers add up to value with celestial is if you can make good use of all the stats, and I don’t feel like you can without either condi food or a condi weapon set.

The issue I have is the ascended weapons really do make a big big difference in how hard things hit for, and I don’t have the resources to make a celestial version of everything to try out which I like the best. I think I could make a scept and axe swap work, but I hate to give up staff.

I gave your build a try. Bought a full set of dire armor/weapons and trinkets and the extra HP was nice, but overall I felt very lackluster damage wise. Not having that crit chance really felt like it was hurting me., Trying the same traits with my old rabid set of armor produced better results.

Maybe I was doing things wrong, but my stats were nearly spot on from yours (exotic vs ascended) and I just didn’t feel like I had enough oomph to finish a fight. I’ll have to roam a bit more before making my final decision, but that’s just what I experienced.

@ Rennoko:

Well made vid, as usual. Thanks for that. But i do feel your celestial setup is not cutting edge. I use Celestial, Berserker, Knights and Cavalier with dagger/focus and staff and it absolutely rocks. The direct dmg output is so much higher than with scepter and the control coming from dagger 3 is key to build my play around it.

Basically I am trading 200 condition damage of yours for direct damage close to full berserker power necro and still have 500 condition damage plus 2700 armor.

@ Sororita:

Your playstyle seems to be very close to mine judging by weaponset but I feel your traits suit MM much more than focus on lifesteal without minions. Additionally your stats seem kinda low, despite you having consumables applied.

I have about 3k attack power, 40% critchance, 113% critdamage, 500 condidmg and still 2700 armor. I feel compensating the traited lifesteal with toughness is the better trade off, since the offensive potential is so much higher statwise (and offense is the the best defense).

No offense, just my input and thoughts.

Best regards

Moon.6371:

@ Rennoko:

Well made vid, as usual. Thanks for that. But i do feel your celestial setup is not cutting edge. I use Celestial, Berserker, Knights and Cavalier with dagger/focus and staff and it absolutely rocks. The direct dmg output is so much higher than with scepter and the control coming from dagger 3 is key to build my play around it.

Basically I am trading 200 condition damage of yours for direct damage close to full berserker power necro and still have 500 condition damage plus 2700 armor.

@ Sororita:

Your playstyle seems to be very close to mine judging by weaponset but I feel your traits suit MM much more than focus on lifesteal without minions. Additionally your stats seem kinda low, despite you having consumables applied.

I have about 3k attack power, 40% critchance, 113% critdamage, 500 condidmg and still 2700 armor. I feel compensating the traited lifesteal with toughness is the better trade off, since the offensive potential is so much higher statwise (and offense is the the best defense).

No offense, just my input and thoughts.

Best regards

Do you have a build you can post?I guess you are 30 in Soul Reaping to have that high Crit DMG.

I run 80% Celestial and my stats unbuffed are 3200AP, 45% crit, 51% Crit DMG with 900 Condi.

Banjal.7328:

Moon.6371:

@ Rennoko:

Well made vid, as usual. Thanks for that. But i do feel your celestial setup is not cutting edge. I use Celestial, Berserker, Knights and Cavalier with dagger/focus and staff and it absolutely rocks. The direct dmg output is so much higher than with scepter and the control coming from dagger 3 is key to build my play around it.

Basically I am trading 200 condition damage of yours for direct damage close to full berserker power necro and still have 500 condition damage plus 2700 armor.

@ Sororita:

Your playstyle seems to be very close to mine judging by weaponset but I feel your traits suit MM much more than focus on lifesteal without minions. Additionally your stats seem kinda low, despite you having consumables applied.

I have about 3k attack power, 40% critchance, 113% critdamage, 500 condidmg and still 2700 armor. I feel compensating the traited lifesteal with toughness is the better trade off, since the offensive potential is so much higher statwise (and offense is the the best defense).

No offense, just my input and thoughts.

Best regards

Do you have a build you can post?I guess you are 30 in Soul Reaping to have that high Crit DMG.

I run 80% Celestial and my stats unbuffed are 3200AP, 45% crit, 51% Crit DMG with 900 Condi.

What build do you get those stats with (and what are the other 20%)?

30/25/0/15/0 with Rampager boots/gloves and shoulder.The Accessory’s are PTV.

are celestial and dire better than rabid? running rabid since forever and i just want to know.
i think as mention above losing precision in rabid cost a great deal my damage (sigil of the earth is the integral part of my build so losing the extra bleed make you cant stack the bleed fast enough to pressure the opponent)
celestial is a bit off for me (power scales poorly with scepter damage, and your condition damage is not definitely going to be significantly lower than rabid. sure you got extra hp but is that worth it?)
running solo in wvw and i can always kill anything 1 vs 1

just want to know your opinion (also comment on the trait if you like)

Rennoko.5731:

shizo.5698:

Good to watch as always.

As celestial you might want to try this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRLevdzYjfTBMVobIF9WbMjjXm+Q5A

had some good results with it, though I run it with wells.

Axe is always an issue for me in WvW. That 600 range is just too close to the action and with our limited leap options, your ability to disengage is 300 units too close for me.

I find that scepter 3 is compareable to axe 2, in that it does less damage, but also doesn’t require a long channel. Both generate life force. And personally I prefer scepter 2 over axe 3 again because of positioning. Axe 1 vs Scepter 1 isn’t even a discussion.

I’ve been running a hybrid build these days, with a/f and staff, and I’ve been growing more and more tired of the axe.. It’s great.. when it works, but if you’ve been detargeted fx vs a thief and don’t notice, you might waste your axe2. Happens a lot to me, fx if I am currently channeling a skill and queue up axe2, and they happen to stealth right before the axe2 is fired off, it’s wasted and that’s buh…
I am also beginning to wonder if scepter might be better than axe, due to what you’re saying, scepter 3 hits hard and scepter 2 is better imo than axe 3. And ofc scepter1 vs axe1 is just a no-brainer.

Moon.6371:

@ Rennoko:

Well made vid, as usual. Thanks for that. But i do feel your celestial setup is not cutting edge. I use Celestial, Berserker, Knights and Cavalier with dagger/focus and staff and it absolutely rocks. The direct dmg output is so much higher than with scepter and the control coming from dagger 3 is key to build my play around it.

Basically I am trading 200 condition damage of yours for direct damage close to full berserker power necro and still have 500 condition damage plus 2700 armor.

@ Sororita:

Your playstyle seems to be very close to mine judging by weaponset but I feel your traits suit MM much more than focus on lifesteal without minions. Additionally your stats seem kinda low, despite you having consumables applied.

I have about 3k attack power, 40% critchance, 113% critdamage, 500 condidmg and still 2700 armor. I feel compensating the traited lifesteal with toughness is the better trade off, since the offensive potential is so much higher statwise (and offense is the the best defense).

No offense, just my input and thoughts.

Best regards

I’d love to see your complete build as well

Stillmoon.6894:

are celestial and dire better than rabid? running rabid since forever and i just want to know.
i think as mention above losing precision in rabid cost a great deal my damage (sigil of the earth is the integral part of my build so losing the extra bleed make you cant stack the bleed fast enough to pressure the opponent)
celestial is a bit off for me (power scales poorly with scepter damage, and your condition damage is not definitely going to be significantly lower than rabid. sure you got extra hp but is that worth it?)
running solo in wvw and i can always kill anything 1 vs 1

just want to know your opinion (also comment on the trait if you like)

I dont find celestial worth it unless you go Hybrid. And even then I honestly prefer a more pure build. IF siphon worked better I would say it was worth it. Currently it doesn’t. Basically a hybrid necro build has a hard time using condition damage and healing power if it focuses on power, and has a hard time using all the power stats if it focuses too much on condition damage.

Mix and match the stats you want for a better result, as if you cannot leverage all of the celestial stats well, it becomes a poor choice.

JoshuaC.1320:

I gave your build a try. Bought a full set of dire armor/weapons and trinkets and the extra HP was nice, but overall I felt very lackluster damage wise. Not having that crit chance really felt like it was hurting me., Trying the same traits with my old rabid set of armor produced better results.

Maybe I was doing things wrong, but my stats were nearly spot on from yours (exotic vs ascended) and I just didn’t feel like I had enough oomph to finish a fight. I’ll have to roam a bit more before making my final decision, but that’s just what I experienced.

You get used to it. In fact I don’t even use earth anymore, as I prefer battle. The crit rate just becomes dependent on going in and out of DS as frequently as possible. The significant boost in HP is worth it to me, and the increase in damage from Scavenging.

That said, rabid is still a fine set, and deals more burst damage in most cases…. I just don’t think it synergizes as well with scavenging, the current king of runes.

Moon.6371:

@ Rennoko:

Well made vid, as usual. Thanks for that. But i do feel your celestial setup is not cutting edge. I use Celestial, Berserker, Knights and Cavalier with dagger/focus and staff and it absolutely rocks. The direct dmg output is so much higher than with scepter and the control coming from dagger 3 is key to build my play around it.

Basically I am trading 200 condition damage of yours for direct damage close to full berserker power necro and still have 500 condition damage plus 2700 armor.

@ Sororita:

Your playstyle seems to be very close to mine judging by weaponset but I feel your traits suit MM much more than focus on lifesteal without minions. Additionally your stats seem kinda low, despite you having consumables applied.

I have about 3k attack power, 40% critchance, 113% critdamage, 500 condidmg and still 2700 armor. I feel compensating the traited lifesteal with toughness is the better trade off, since the offensive potential is so much higher statwise (and offense is the the best defense).

No offense, just my input and thoughts.

Best regards

When I have suggested Scepter as a viable power weapon, I don’t take offense to being told otherwise… It is still very clearly lack-luster in that department. Celestial has been around for months, I had intended this to be a video to showcase the improvements in Siphon and how well they worked WITH celestial, but as you can imagine that didnt work out. I was determined to go forward with the video in either case.

The point of the build and the reason to keep running scepter is that I want to leverage conditions. I am using duration food, so that I can still provide enough condition pressure. If I was to go to dagger or even axe, I would lose that strong condi pressure, and I would just be better off with zerker/knights/valk mix. And then I may as well run a power food… and then I am just in a power build.

Dagger is very much a strong set for direct damage, and hits far harder than scepter, but also requires you to be in melee range, something I can never seem to get to work in WvW on any reliable basis. It however doesn’t apply any damaging conditions, and therefore doesn’t really fit in a hybrid build at all. It does get the healing power on 2, which is okay, but I don’t have great success with completing that channel in WvW very often either.

When gw2 came out, and i got to endgame, first thing i prayed for was C/T/V…

Then long after I leave from the imbalance… they release Dire.

Everyone should be on top of that stuff.

@ Rennoko:

Thank you fo the insight, it`s just that I feel (after testing myself) that the more direct damage heavy approach with 30 SR d/f immobilize focused playstyle is putting out way more pressure and tanky enough to stay “forever” in meleerange (talking wvw).

Additionally, I think 30 SR Stability and Traveller runes are atm a blessing for any roamer, stuntastic warriors are easily dealt with, not even using lich form.

I didnt see such a celestial variation in your video (which was well made as usual) and felt like adding that to the discussion.

Best regards

While I enjoyed the video, I gotta say that the build using Dire armor does not cut it in T1. I’ve tried roaming with it for a few days this week (at different times day/night) and killed a few people. What I found was that with no stun break or stability any fight with more than one person went badly for me because of all the CC. And, unfortunately, in T1 you rarely find fights where enemies don’t add in.

Not going to try the celestial build. This was an expensive enough experiment already.

Renn doesn’t solo roam.

Poxheart.2845:

While I enjoyed the video, I gotta say that the build using Dire armor does not cut it in T1. I’ve tried roaming with it for a few days this week (at different times day/night) and killed a few people. What I found was that with no stun break or stability any fight with more than one person went badly for me because of all the CC. And, unfortunately, in T1 you rarely find fights where enemies don’t add in.

Not going to try the celestial build. This was an expensive enough experiment already.

OP is on a T1 server.

Poxheart.2845:

While I enjoyed the video, I gotta say that the build using Dire armor does not cut it in T1. I’ve tried roaming with it for a few days this week (at different times day/night) and killed a few people. What I found was that with no stun break or stability any fight with more than one person went badly for me because of all the CC. And, unfortunately, in T1 you rarely find fights where enemies don’t add in.

Not going to try the celestial build. This was an expensive enough experiment already.

Well I run the dire build in T1 and kill pretty much kill everyone. Yes stun lock warriors are tougher, but they are still able to be killed.

alanis.6094:

OP is on a T1 server.

What video did you watch? Neither Kaineng nor Ehmry Bay are T1 servers. Perhaps the celestial footage is from T1, but that’s not what I was talking about.

Granted it has been more than a month since I last played but I preferred Celestial over Dire. Rennoko is right – Celestial does not have much of a punch but the little boost to healing and condition damage give it some flexibility. With Dire, I found myself always leaning toward sustained condition damage. Essentially, I had to play like a tank knowing it will take a long time to win.

Regarding the scepter, it really is a toss-up to me whether to run with it or with the axe. Where scepter does not have CD reduction, the axe does in the Spite line but scepter has range and sustained DoT as well as being easier to kite with making it less powerful but more reliable and flexible. Hybrid scepter, to me, is just as good as hybrid axe but the quick punch of staff 3-4 and staff’s ranged AoE is often too attractive for me to run both axe and scepter, not that I don’t do that on occasion.

When, or if, I come back to Grind Wars I plan on experimenting with a Carrion set more. The promised improvements to vampiric traits should help where before, the extra health did nothing for the profession’s sustain because the heal rate in Blood Magic traiting was too flat forcing me to invest in toughness, instead.

Poxheart.2845:

While I enjoyed the video, I gotta say that the build using Dire armor does not cut it in T1. I’ve tried roaming with it for a few days this week (at different times day/night) and killed a few people. What I found was that with no stun break or stability any fight with more than one person went badly for me because of all the CC. And, unfortunately, in T1 you rarely find fights where enemies don’t add in.

Not going to try the celestial build. This was an expensive enough experiment already.

Most of the Dire footage was pre-WvW season 1. That was simply because I had it backlogged. If you want proof it works in tier 1, I can prove it to you. I have been experimenting with builds in an effort to create something amazing (not successfuly so far), but I will run the standard build to make a point.

The problem with tier 1 is the blobbing. And it doesn’t matter what build you play when the blobbing is going on. If you accept that you are not JQ BG or SOR, then you have to accept a 2vX is going to turn into a 2v morethanX. This makes the necro a horrible choice in general.

If you are on the top 3 servers, then it is just as likely your side will add as their side will add, so it makes no difference. I will completely agree it is much harder to roam against JQ for instance, just because there are so many more people vs. what we can put out as a server (maguuma)

As for survival and stun breaks, you can always run a spectral build with conditions and dire if you want to pop around and have stun breaks. It is horrible for small group roaming though because it will hang your partner out to dry when you spectral walk back 3000 units. Dire is good in a number of builds if you want stun breaks, don’t feel like you wasted money on arguably the best condition set.

My builds are never focused on solo roaming. I don’t like necro solo roaming at all, because it lacks easy disengage, which is the halmark of effective solo roaming. This is even more of an issue with the tier 1 servers. I also always play at prime time, so I never have the luxury of more balanced fights.

99% of the struggle for me in fighting these higher tier servers has been knowing when to not jump right in. I hate to run from any fight, even if it is a 2v6. Because I know I may not find another fight for 10 minutes, and I would rather lose a 2v6, then fight empty supply camps or zerg 50 v 50.

I still have faith, though muted faith, they will find a way to encourage people to spread out, so we can all learn to play our classes better, and discourage 1 spam within a skill lagged environment that is not fun to play in.

Thanks for the reasoned response. I’ll take some time off from my Necro & try again later. I also hope for the changes that you describe in the last paragraph.

Easy escape? RAWR snow leopard stealth and dash

What traits should I run if Im using Dire gear set?

CKres.4589:

What traits should I run if Im using Dire gear set?

It really all depends on what you want to do. On the surface, Dire has very low base crit rate, so you would want at least 20 points in curses for Terror and the extra crit chance.

At that point, you would need to decide if you want to get dummfire or take the high road and play without it. If you take dummfire its an automatic 30 in spite. If not, it opens up some other choices, such as 30 points in SR for stability, or points in death and blood for greater marks/mark of evasion.

Assuming you take 30 in spite and 20 in curses, you can put the last 20 where you want, but it synergizes best with the SR tree, for DS cooldowns, longer fears (to go with the terror) and spectral armor at 50%, which is hands down the best minor trait we have.

Dire lacks a lot of barbed precision procs, and likely won’t use sigil of earth, so tends to work well with burning and terror together. The soul reaping tree is really about getting your base fear cooldown lower and getting that boost of survivabilty. You may decide you don’t need that, and say take greater marks in death, or siphon traits in blood. Those trees have far less effective minor traits though.