Guild Wars 2

Using a standard d/p spvp build (not the panic strike one) I really just feel like powermancers are the scissors to our paper. On a zerker thief, two ticks from a well and and the AA pressure, I can just never seems to keep the CC up long enough to burst them down. Basilisk venom, followed by a steal daze, and if I’m lucky enough to get the fear off after that, as soon as they’re free I get 100-0 in just the blink of an eye. And now that we can’t strip stability from lich form, they’ve got that going for them too.

Any tips?

Don’t stand in wells. Save stun breakers and blinding powder if traited for Shadow’s Embrace until you’re feared and break or cleanse it instantly. Try to use steal defensively to prevent their burst. Don’t fall below half health; if you do, you’re as good as dead because their next hit could carry 3 procs, one of which (their traited one) can crit for over 4k. At 50% health, a single hit from them can hit you for 66% of your total health: 4k traited Chill of Death, 4k Life Blast, 1.5k Lightning Strike and 1k Fire blast. If you’re approaching that 50% mark, stealth and recover.

Edit: Oh and it does go without saying but, engage on your terms, not on their’s. If they jump you, get out and return to jump them if you need to. Get your burst off first.

If they don’t have much life force they are beatable. If they have a bunch you’re in for a long brutal fight. Basically you don’t want to fight them in Death Shroud, and when you see them pop it, disengage ASAP. Wait it out, let it burn, and re-engage when it’s on cooldown. Repeat.

No, it’s not easy, and if they have a ton of life force you’ll probably lose – it’s just far, far too much health to chew through when a single hit with a Spinal Shivers proc can down you.

Also don’t even get near them during Lich post-patch; before you could strip stability and fear and deal with it, but now it’ll just wreck your face.

And if you don’t have a way to disengage easily try to stall by using headshot during all their channels to prevent as much damage as possible while you wait for a defensive cd to pop.

Thanks for the advice guys. It really seems like it’s exactly as tough a matchup as I felt. I think my problem is I try to chain CC them and burst them because I’m afraid of their counter pressure, I need to be more patient.

Keep in mind that all necromancer’s weakness is a good amount of CC. So using the panic strike build will help once they leave DS. Use shortbow and kite them while thyre in DS because they can’t heal. Once they’re out, they’re exposed.

If you see Lich form run away and cry like a girl.

dunno about spvp buti n WvW its just pathetic easy, im running d/d B*tch build and all i do is CnD backstab and repeat it for 2-3 times and hes dead. They just cant do a kitten thing about it.

Pathetic!

Do not stand inside red circles, press 0 to enter daggerstorm on lich once 2 claws are in mid air, then press f to collect the bag.

Well you can cain cc and burst them but you do need to wait until their ds is over. Using dp you can always stealth away and reopen once they exit ds and burst them down in the 10 seconds that they don’t have ds available.

Ario.8964:

Well you can cain cc and burst them but you do need to wait until their ds is over. Using dp you can always stealth away and reopen once they exit ds and burst them down in the 10 seconds that they don’t have ds available.

Shortbow while waiting for DS to go down is better because you apply pressure, at the same time saving more initiative compared to x/d or d/p.

Tbh don’t stand in the wells is the best advice. When they go into DS shadowstep away and refuge if you have to until they come out. Then quickly burst them down if you can.

Stun break, evade and don’t stand infront of them or in their wells. Lastly do not panic when they have DS up, just evade and blind them. Naturally it only works if you aren’t trying to stealth every 2 seconds which sadly way too many thieves do, which again is why the good power necros laugh at thieves in 1v1.

p/p kills them dead.

@Nephrite
You could stay and continue fighting in which case sb is most definitely the best option for weapons but if you are locked on d/p (due to weapon swap) you can stealth away and wait for ds to expire then come back and kill them in the 10 seconds they don’t have it. Imo, better to just leave and not take ds hits then to chance it by playing on sb.

Powermancer is potentially a tough matchup for thieves. Part of that depends on the amount of lifeforce they have available at the start of the engagement.

In a 1v1 situation, I’ve found the best way is lots of blinds (kinda a no brainer right?). But it really makes the difference in the fight. Blinding the necro’s dagger 2 (immob) is crucial since if you don’t you gotta burn a cd getting out of it because wells are about to follow.

If you’re on a point against power necro, let it be decapped and be moving around the point using LoS. You can recap once they’re dead no worries.

I typically steal early on in the fight, since this gives me the fear skill to use against them. Generally I save this skill for as soon as they go into DS. In DS they have no stun breaks (besides using doom, but that simply fears you and doesn’t break they stun). Typically this gives me 3s to just lay into the necro without worrying a whole lot. If you lead into the fear with a blind (#3 or #5) they won’t be able to fear you away quickly enough since life blast takes 1s to charge up before releasing and the fear cast is 1/2s for us.

Interrupting the heal is always nice against necros and isn’t terribly difficult to do with their cast time on it. Learn the animation, love the animation, interrupt the animation. Another good interrupt is life siphon, DS #4. Interrupting it deprives damage from the necro and reduces their DS uptime.

Against lich form, I typically steal right to it and apply blinds (if they’re moving I use #3 and if they aren’t #5 it all depends). If you time the steal right, you can get off the fear before the next stab stack comes up. And since the application of stability from lich isn’t a stun break, thats 3s of fear that the lich is forced to endure. Also if I see this up and am being targetted, I sometimes steal to a warrior (if there is one nearby) and use the stolen axe whirl for the reflect. Oftentimes the necro won’t realize it until 1-2 attacks already being reflected since it isn’t often sometime they have to worry about with thieves.

The way I view powermancer fights if they’re 1v1 or focusing me is its a race from 100-0 for them and its 100-50 for us. Eating a spinal shivers proc (which is a trait that needs to be looked at, the skill normally has 1.25s cast time for a reason anet, don’t give it automatically to them. Worse than air and fire procs) can spell a very very bad fight for the thief.

1) Play SD
2) Faceroll the motherkitten

I don’t much trouble with power mancers running 6/6/2. Gotta have condi removal and a stun break. Don’t stand in wells. Your aa will hit for 3k tho. So you can burst them down quick. Bs will hit for 6-8k depending on their buffs and % Life.

Yeah, don’t let them actually hit you, or it goes south REALLY quick.

I have seen a steady increase of Power Necroes, dunno what is up, but here is what I can offer;

Avoid being in melee when they got Locust Swarm or Spectral Armour up – both will give them Lifeforce – of which you want to drain them from, not feed them with…

I cannot give tips on Lich anymore sadly – on my Condi Necro it is still quite easy, and professions with a lot of sustain and snares can at least keep it in check, though I had increased difficulty on burst classes myself if unaccounter for

Ario.8964:

@Nephrite
You could stay and continue fighting in which case sb is most definitely the best option for weapons but if you are locked on d/p (due to weapon swap) you can stealth away and wait for ds to expire then come back and kill them in the 10 seconds they don’t have it. Imo, better to just leave and not take ds hits then to chance it by playing on sb.

Obviously genius== other then entering stealth you have to make sure he isn’t controlling the fight. Of course if you’re locked with d/p you can go into stealth, I’m just giving him an a better option facing DS. Trust me I’ve been practicing with my necro friend and shortbow is the way to counter DS.