Guild Wars 2

I’m going to admit that I am not a “good” player but I’m learning to be a little better every day. I have experimented with nearly every class and I keep going back to Necro. After trying a few builds, I created one that is inspired by a few of my favorites.

I apologize in advance if this is already well known because it is definitely new to me. Take a look and let me know what you think.

(It is for sPvP)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW3djEat61a+a07JAJFXT90DuBPcIF5KNA-TsAgzCmIESBlDKjQSosQNAZBy2AA

Why I took what I took…

First off, I am using minions to deal the vast majority of my damage and since they scale with traits rather than power, I am going more defensively with my runes and such.

I am also putting a lot of emphasis on chill. It is absolutely devastating when used correctly.

Weapons:

Staff needs no explanation. Pop your 2 skill down for an emergency heal and make sure to use 3 for the chill when you can.

Axe is mostly used for the cripple with it’s 3. What we really need is the focus for it’s vulnerability and emergency heal on the 4 and the chill on the 5.

Remember to swap frequently for the AOE chill.

Skills:

Minions all the way. They’ll be doing the vast majority of your damage while you kite like a madman with your chills and other nasty necromancer goodies.

Notice I took Wurm instead of Bone Minions. Frankly, that is just personal preference. The Wurm is great for point holding and the teleport has saved me quite a few times already.

Traits:

These are pretty standard I think. In Spite, it is tempting to take Chill of Death but for the purpose of this particular build, we need to buff our minions as much as possible.

Runes, Sigils, and Amulet:

I love the Cleric Amulet in this build. It helps buff our heals since we have a couple regen abilities and helps when you need to murder your healing minion to save your life.

The runes vastly increase our chill duration as well as buffs our toughness and vitality.

The sigils give us an AOE freeze when swapping as well as a chill increase on the focus.

I know it was a bit long winded, but what do you think?

Great idea, it is not totally new but it’s by no means the cookie cutter Necro bunker. One thing I would suggest is taking consume conditions over blood fiend. (especially with clarics) also consider running with a utility well, 3 pets is still enough but the extra condition removal/stability is wonderful (and without foot in the grave it’s your only source of stability)

Just a couple of tips from a fellow bunker and lover of minions, overall good build.

I know that not taking Bone Minions is a preference, but I’d argue that 90% of the time its a bad preference. Without Bone Minions you have almost no meaningful burst to finish fights off, which is pretty important if you ever want to win a 1v1. Unless you are using this build with a coordinated team and you are constantly teamfighting, I very rarely see a reason to not bring Bone Minions.

If you’re using Blood Fiend, there isn’t much reason to bring Clerics. His siphon doesn’t scale at all, only his on-active heal does, and it just isn’t worth the loss of a 923 stat. In your case, I’d suggest dropping it for Soldier. If you want to keep Clerics, then I’d suggest WoB with this build, or CC (WoB will give more minion healing though). Otherwise your using all that healing power for fairly little.

Also, I’d drop the 3 and 4 set of runes, and put in 2 Rune of the Sanctuary for another 20% chill.

Thank you Tattoohead and Bhawb for your insightful responses. Looks like I have a few more experiments to run thanks to you two! :-D

I can see this turning into a pretty epic build now.

Listen to Bhawb… The guy knows what he’s talking about with minions.

I actually did drop the Wurm and took the Bone Minions, changed my amulet to Soldier and replaced the two runes and it made a world of difference. I literally just tore myself away from the game and was just about to mention that in the forum here.

The difference is night and day. Much better!

I’d say to drop the Shadow Fiend in exchange for the Wurm. Having at least some kind of out against a high-pressure melee attacker can buy you time to throw out a Charge, and if they don’t know where your Wurm is you can disorient them for a little while.

As you have Bloodthirst, it may be worth considering using Dagger MH instead of Axe; the 2 will give you a very nice amount of health whenever you use it. I find this is something of a matter of personal preference.

I’d also suggest considering using Runes of Lyssa. It might not quite jive with the Chill thing you have going on, but I personally find having the ability to set up Fury for a burst or wipe conditions a second time to be really helpful.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=;04-_;1kH-D0z3gI-K0;9;4J-JT-08;229-16A;1XNV7;2nBnBnBnB6gN

I prefer this build.

Staff is Utility only. No need to make staff better. Minions die really easily to AoE, with 20% reduction on minions, the cooldown will be insanely short by the time you notice that one of your minions is dead.

Axe’s cripple is not necessary. Bone Fiend and Flesh golem already cripples. I use Dagger because of life steal and immobilization. Immobilization is a great way to stop a player from getting away and then the minions can close in and surround him.

I use Warhorn because Wail of Doom is a great reliable daze. Locust swarm is a recurring cripple compared to Unholy feast. If your target is trying to escape, use Locust swarm and melee him. He can’t escape by removing cripple. He will be pressured by you and all of your minions. Locust swarm is great for escaping. If you have a melee chasing you, locust swarm will cripple them and you will escape faster than them.

I prefer Bone minions over Wurm. The problem with Wurm is that if you place the wurm on a 1 degree slow, you will not escape. It is unreliable. I prefer bone minions to maximize pressure. They are also good body blockers and they have really low recharge.

I use Rune of the Dwyana because it is great support.