Guild Wars 2

As I understand it, there are many ways to play the necromancer, and I am really interested in some alternative concept you guys run. So, how do you play the necromancer?

I mostly play my necromancer as a heavy bruiser, with initial bleed burst & fear lockdown on a target. I like that people get scared by the initial burst damage that the fear & bleed combo does. After that, I mostly try to apply conditions as good as I can and “tank” with shroud. That’s why I went 0/20/20/0/30. In team fights I try to intiate with Dark Path, burst my bleed and then stay back and apply conditions from behind, occasionally fearing a high priority target.

Edit: Fixed my traits.

First of all i like that u somehow managed to get 80 trait points

I like to lock others with CC to make them use their cooldown etc and end up being very vulnerble after a while. The build i use is 0/30/10/0/30 with Necromancer runes, sigil of paralyzation, Scepter/WH – staff, Corrupt Boon and flesh golem which provides you with the option to lock your opponent for a long time while still doing considerable dmg.

Put pressure on the enemy and when the time is right use your CC to prevent him from recovering and ‘burst’ him. The 2 fears and golem charge are enought to inflict around 4k dmg, most of which is not affected by armor.

If u run with a friend u can focus on controling the enemy right from the start of the fight while he decimates him.

Dont undestimate WH as it can Daze for up to 4 secs (Banshee’s Wail and sigil of paralyzation). I like to use it against thieves to prevent them from stealthing often allowing me to finish them off.

I am an axe + focus/Deathshroud build using spectral wall and spectral walk as my key utilities with lich form, so atm i am 30/0/10/0/30 with the axe grandmaster trait and the focus cooldown trait, the last trait i switch between retaliation in DS or chill at 25%,

On Death Magic it’s also depending on what dungeon i am doing and with who i am doing it, need more vulnerability i take Death Shiver, many conditions i take Shrouded removal, Staff mastery if team needs support for many condition (number 4 on staff, + the chill on 3 is awesome). At the harder bosses i use Dark armor if any of the other 3 is not needed.

Death Shroud is easy, i take Vital Persistence always with Unyielding Blast, for the last trait i go with Spectral Mastery, Near to Death or Foot in the Grave, Foot in the grave is mainly for stuff that knocks me down, and near to death is the one i use the least, so Spectral mastery -> Foot in the Grave -> Near to death for last trait.

My playstyle is mainly, stack some vuln with axe 1, focus 4 and Spectral Wall, Chill with Focus 5 and Spectral Grasp (if i have it on) then axe 2 for a good burst, DS 1 for 4-5 shots, then DS2, out of DS and do it again.

for Aoe mobs i just stay in Staff and use DS4 + Well of suffering (replaces Spectral Grasp for AoE bosses and trash). Heal is always consume condition, bone minion i have never even used and Well of Blood is used only when i need to keep a few NPC’s alive in open world events.

Edit: changed heal to necro heal instead of the mesmer heal.

In sPvP I’ve been running a similar build in concept to Enferian. For me it’s essentially a 10/20/20/0/20 hybrid build traited for fear and condition duration running with D/WH + Staff + Corrupt Boon + Flesh Golem. The idea is to lockup/interrupt players with long fears (DS3, Staff5, Corrupt Boon against stability) and WH daze at critical times. You also have the Flesh Golem Knockdown, a 4s immobilize in Dagger3 and long chills in Staff3 and DS2.

Azzer u might want to edit your post… Change Either Feast (mesmer heal) to Consume Conditions.

What amulet do u use with that build Hagrid?
Seems interesting…
Although i have no idea how u play… Do u spec for direct dmg through dagger? Or do u use staff mainly and swap to dagger for the immobilize etc avoiding to go melee?

My play style is up-front direct damage dealer with the dagger in most situations, taking blood magic & soul reaping ensures that i’m durable while still dealing out high direct damage.

In sPvP and WvW i run a Power Targeted Wellmancer with Axe/Focus or Axe/WH, the focus allows for situational boon stripping without the need for Epidemic, otherwise it’s Daze+Swiftness from the WH. I could use dagger, but i would rather kite on a point and support my team with axe vuln stacking. I also spend a lot of time in DS so i can hold points.

My build is 10(V)/20(IV/IX)/10(II)/0/30(VI/X/XII).

Marks and running around with a chicken with my head cut off. Also Wells and Daggers a bit.

But I haven’t messed with Necromancer since release so maybe they got massive buffs or changes or something. It just felt boring to me.

Enferian.2705:

Azzer u might want to edit your post… Change Either Feast (mesmer heal) to Consume Conditions.

What amulet do u use with that build Hagrid?
Seems interesting…
Although i have no idea how u play… Do u spec for direct dmg through dagger? Or do u use staff mainly and swap to dagger for the immobilize etc avoiding to go melee?

done, i for some reason always mix those 2.

For the first 38-ish levels I was just running scepter+dagger, laying down bleed and poison while hiding behind my minions. Now I’m starting to shift to a more hybrid conditions/DS build, using axe+focus for vuln stacking. Today’s patch seems like a great boon to all styles of necro, so I can’t wait to try out some of these changes when I get home.