Guild Wars 2

With wells on a much shorter cooldown, would it be stupid to make a zerk based necro?

Which part of the game? Well necros have been popular in WvW for a long time, and not bad in PvE.

Im talking about pure dps necros, Power Precision crit damage. Previously a lot of necros stayed away because well times were pretty long. Now with the traits they are much better and use-able more consistently to maybe warrant a full zerk build.

They have always been “viable”. With the new changes, such as only needing 10 points in curses for ground target wells, makes it more so imo. Also, dropping wells and popping into deathshroud with the new grandmaster soul reaping trait gives you 99% chance(capped at this i believe, might be lower) to crit with wells. Have fun(while it lasts, qq shall commence shortly >.<).

Full zerker was the best PvE build even before the patch.

Yeah I play a lot of PvE and we were never as bad as you guys make out, much better now though with Axe Training AND Close to Death traits together. also +50% crit chance in DS is awesome.

I wouldn’t recommend using Torment in a Glass Cannon/Zerker build though!

Zerk necro has always been viable and wells were always good, since they already start with such high health and DS.

conflict.6539:

Im talking about pure dps necros, Power Precision crit damage. Previously a lot of necros stayed away because well times were pretty long. Now with the traits they are much better and use-able more consistently to maybe warrant a full zerk build.

What part of the game. PvE, WvW, or PvP, because it matters a lot. PvE it has always been viable. WvW it wasn’t quite (too little defense), but possibly is now with 1200 range piercing, might/vuln stacking instant 50% crit chance life blast. PvP, probably not in all honesty. It might be with the right team, but its just so dangerous.

You could always play zerker nec and it was pretty decent. With the changes to lifeblast and soul reaping trait line and the easier to reach axe mastery the build should be in a good state. Just do yourself a favour and ingore the blood magic traitline. Points invested in it are, and sadly still will be, utterly wasted.

i used to run zerker on my necro all the time for dungeons. I was using my axe 2 as much as possible between popping into death shroud to spam life blast then back out to axe 2. trying to keep as much up time as i could on high dps moves. i would put 15 points in curses to get the fury on DS. the spec i was using could totally be reworked for the 30 points in soul reaping to max out more crit in DS and crit damage from the tree itself.

if anything it just made zerker more viable.

im hitting bigger numbers now and only 20 into spite. loving the extra damage.

Looking forward to reading over some necro zerker builds. i’d just gotten done with my zerker armor and only need the weapons. perfect time to get a change to the class for me.
If anyone has some already fleshed out, i’d like to see em pls!

Just saying: between trait moving, wells CD reduced + stunbreak added, and the whole new spectral wall, WvW power necs have just become OP.

(“OP” said to joke – they’ve even better than before, and were already in perfect spot prolly.)

An axe build focused on Life Blast was already pretty powerful in PvE, although it suffered from having its damage greatly reduced whenever a hit was taken in Death Shroud. With the new +50% crit chance and Life Blast not being reliant on life force (as well as the focus trait no longer being bugged in PvE), both axe and dagger have become significantly more powerful in dungeons. Plus, now you have a 1200 range attack available at all times even without a staff.

And berserker in PvP with wells received a crazy buff with DS#5.

conflict.6539:

With wells on a much shorter cooldown, would it be stupid to make a zerk based necro?

Berserker Necromancers have always been viable, and infact are more viable than condition Necromancers. However, now that we’re overpowered, they can be facerolled much easier.

How exactly were zerker necros ever NOT viable? :P

Yes. They are very viable. You do amazing damage with the new deathly precision trait and don’t need to pop lich form to bring someone down. This was the best patch ever ;_;

What trait builds would you run on a powermancer in PvE? WvW? sPvP?

psygate.5632:

How exactly were zerker necros ever NOT viable? :P

Yes. They are very viable. You do amazing damage with the new deathly precision trait and don’t need to pop lich form to bring someone down. This was the best patch ever ;_;

Because in PvP, just like Condi Necros, you die in about a second or two of focus.

Cubanito.8725:

What trait builds would you run on a powermancer in PvE? WvW? sPvP?

give this a go.

20/20/0/0/30.

spectral armor, grasp and walk for utilities and spectral recharge in SR. dagger warhorn and axe focus. in a very good place at the moment.

if youre wanting to do WvW, 1600 toughness minimum, itll suck if you dont atleast get some defensive stats behind ya.

This stat distribution works very well, enough offense to burst and enough defense to get out of a jam. 30/0/10/0/30.

Id still say 30/30/0/0/10 is the best dps necro build for dungeons. Using dagger warhorn and dagger focus. But with the new trait changes in spite and soul reaping, there is a new power build that is possible. Although at the moment ive found it unrewarding compared to the other builds, will finish gearing and testing then post it up on these forums even if it isnt that reliable.

Sororita.3465:

if youre wanting to do WvW, 1600 toughness minimum, itll suck if you dont atleast get some defensive stats behind ya.

This stat distribution works very well, enough offense to burst and enough defense to get out of a jam. 30/0/10/0/30.

Whatd you use to get that toughness? Knights armor sets, or zerks with mixed items and certain orbs/runes.

I loved this patch for buffing my semi-gc necro. I used to do a good amount of damage in wvw/pve, but now it feels amazing. That buff to axe and ds made zerk builds a lot more powerful, especially against gc thieves (the bane of most zerker builds because of who initiates first), because of their low armor/hp. I made a 30/0/0/10/30 build up a while ago that I’ve been using successfully in wvw/dungeons/pvp, and only had to tweak it a little for the patch. Has even better burst now

Berullos.6928:

Whatd you use to get that toughness? Knights armor sets, or zerks with mixed items and certain orbs/runes.

Knight armor with Eagle runes ( runes arnt necessary, use ruby orbs if you wish)
Soldier dagger + knight focus/ Berserker staff
Berserker back,amulet,ring and acessory.
Knight ring and acessory.

All gear but the back is exotic.

IMO zerker anything in WvW will never be viable in large scale WvW.

I’ve been playing with my Zerker/Knights-mix Necro in WvW for a couple of weeks now and it’s very viable. You have a lot of nasty tricks you can pull (including a pull) and still deal crazystrong damage.

If you’re planning on running pure zerker with multiple wells, I’d suggest sticking to zerg play. You’ll have a lot of strong damage, support, and debuffing, you’ll just be quite squishy.

Hey, does anyone know if Axe training plus Close to death actually stacks?