Guild Wars 2

So, especially after seeing the specs of the new expansion, is it safe to assume that Anet has ditched the whole pet-AI thing?
This isn’t entirely a rant, it’s just that i’m quite disappointed that both hunter and necro were never able to make proper use of one of their core features.

Hello all,
I played gw2 since its release, with some pause in the last couple years, and finally stopping last year. My reason was, that even if the game itself was nice, with all its modes, the professions weren’t very appealing to me. Almost always in rpg I like to play the class who summons minions to do a good amount of its damage, better yet if they’re undead minions.
This was the reason I started playing this game, but then I saw that minions were badly coded, and usually were just dead weight. I still like the game enough to play it quite often, while also trying a lost of the builds available to the necromancer. But it always annoyed me it wasn’t possibile to use all minions in a effective way.
Personally, it was kinda frustrating, since I preferred a necron with an undead army, rather than one who pops black-green circles.

So I’d like to ask if right now an MM necro might fare any better. If not in Raids and fractals, where I can only assume it’s still shunned because of low dps, at least in WvW, which was the mode I liked the most.

I’d like to surround myself with minions, but it’s not as fun if that means that I become a free kill and/or provide nothing to a group of players.

Even eles tank better than us, while dealing more dmg and healing for more. Thieves can’t burst us, so they jump around till we die, easy as that. Mesmers apparently are meant to be op, as are warriors…

After the hundredth time seeing my “unblockable” marks being blocked, i must ask?
How does the unblockable effect work? It doesn’t seem to do more than non-blockable attacks. Does it boost confidence? Is it like those type of cures that work only if you believe you’ll be better?
Like, of course that skill was blocked, you didn’t believe hard enough!

Reading the description, only the chill should be aoe.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dark_Path

Bhawb.7408:

DM needs a better master minor trait, and it needs better defensive traits. The problem right now is too many of the traits don’t have any kind of actual defense increases. Deadly Strength has no defense, Reaper’s Protection doesn’t even work a lot of the time because of how easily mitigated its effect is, and Corrupter’s Fervor and Unholy Sanctuary are both sustain mechanics, not flat out defensive measures.

Anet is still scared of giving us damage negation, and as long as that is true DM will never be tuned to give us the defense we need.

Exactly, that’s my point . 20% more life force from deaths has no use, even with minions. Deadly strong is one, if not the only, trait that i actually like here, because generally i like going tanky. Reaper’s Protection has only the purpose of reminding me that every other kitten class has kitten diddly STABILITY!!!! CAT!!!!!!
Unholy Sanctuary isn’t bad, can save lives occasionaly, but it doesn’t do that much. Even weaker is corrupter’s fervor, 300 more toughness doesn’t do much, we NEED stronger dmg mitigation effects.
I tried DM in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t provide real dmg reduction in any way. Even eles, and i’ve seen it with my eyes, have better defensive mechanisms.
And thieves still circle around me like it’s nothing

I usually like to take DM for the condi removal and the bonus power from toughness, but other than that, the spec doesn’t seem to provide much. The other traits – less dmg from poison foes, aoe fear when hard cced (60 cd is alot for just this) and more toughness plus less condi dmg – aren’t good enough even for condi builds, BM still seems to provide more with the life steal.
So, since the DM looks like the spec that should give us an overall resistance to harm, couldn’t it be the spec that would allow us access to stability and/or invulnerability?
The 3 traits for minions are kinda good as they are. It’s the others that despite giving something in the way of survivability, aren’t really amazing.
It has its uses, but feels weak overall.

Hi Bhawb, this goes to you…
So far, I’ve seen you in lots of threads, and it looks like you know more than something about necros. Makes me guess you’re kinda skilled with them, or at least know a couple tricks.
So could I ask you how you play necromancer? Either in wvw, pvp or pve, depending of what you usually play.
Of course, you’re not forced to answer, but i’m getting the idea that you’re one of the elder necros here, so i’d like to hear something about the class from you
And I’m making this a thread cause others may be interested as well
Cheers!

But really, pls, don’t let this thread die. There’s a weapon out there that none can use. Halp

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Al Masone.1274:

Or you could add a trait that slows dashes when chilled. And it would be only for necro
For instance, since chill right now has a max 15 seconds duration,

Not true at all. 5 stacks of Chill, regardless of their duration, will all add up. Spinal Shivers with 100% Chill duration proccing Chill of Death (roll with it) is 20 seconds of Chill right there, and we still have space for 3 more stacks.

Ah ok, then I misunderstood the latest patch notes, and a couple other threads talking about that :P
Still, isn’kitten bit redudant to have yet again an added chill duration? I mean, it doesn’t do much anyway, when the opponent can dash around all day
I like the damage reduction part, but the additional duration isn’t much interesting for a grandmaster trait, especially when you’re supposed to have lots of skills and other traits that apply chill.

Or you could add a trait that slows dashes when chilled. And it would be only for necro
For instance, since chill right now has a max 15 seconds duration, and you can already reach that limit quite easily with the right build, the “cold shoulder” trait might be a bit underwhelming.
Instead of adding duration yet again, which could be wasted, you could have :
Chilled foes deal less damage to you, and all their dashes (or whatever they’re called) have reduced effectiveness

Yeah, I know it will never be added, but a man can still dream

Thanks nemesis, didn’t really have the chance to try it in pvp, but i tried it a bit in WvW and feels nice, and it’s more or less what I was trying to build on my necro after the 23rd june, without as much success :P
If you happen here, are there some tweaks you would suggest for a WvW oriented version of the executioner? For me it seems to work great as it is, but i’d like to hear your thoughts on that.
And of course, really nice job, loved the video (and your facial expressions)! THanks mate

First of all, this would be IF, only IF, minions’ AI will be fixed at some point, maybe when greece will pay its dept, and germans will discover humour….
BUT, as we have right now a main weapon for power (dagger), one for condi (scepter) and one for utility (staff), plus the off hands weapons, that more or less fit in between (and are kinda good at their jobs), we could have one weapon that in some way would revolve around minions.
AI or not, minions ARE a core element of our class. Not to say that they’re mandatory for necros, even with all bugs fixed, we should be able to play just fine without them. But they remain one of the key elements that define our class, and probably the reason why many of us first fell in love with it, before being sadly disappointed.
So, after all those weapons, remains the axe, which is just underperforming right now. There have been lots of suggestions, all nice I must say, that Anet may or may not have looked at; either a power weapon with different abilities (or just tweaked numbers) or a condi weapon.
But IMO minions, despite everything, deserve a special place in our still hearts, so what about a weapon that revolves around them? Such weapon could be the axe.
I’m not gonna list all possible skills here, I’ll talk more about the concept overall…

One important thing, that many asked, others refused, but could actually be very useful, is the option to actually give orders to minions. Since the F key is already taken, and others over there could be confusing, the axe could play that role.
Of course, basic movements, aggros, and other things, NEED to be baseline for minions, but that has to with AI.
Here I’m talking about a weapon that could do a bit more. Like, 1 skill that summons minions on hit, 1 that buffs and/or heals them, 1 that could give their attacks an area effect, all while dealing dmg to the enemy you’re attacking.
It could still be a weapon able to work effectively on its own, but it would reach its full potential when supporting minions, while dealing damage.
For example, a skill like axe 3, the gives retaliation to yourself and minions and makes their attacks unblockable. One that summons a couple minions, to add to our small army. Axe 1 could, instead of applying vuln, apply a debuff that improves the dmg of minions, your’s and others, against that target. In such way axe could, SHOULD get more dmg.
I mean axe first of all needs to be viable in terms of damage, but apart from that, it could get some new interactions, so why not minions? Not to say it should be mandatory, right now I’ve seen dagger and scepter work fine too, but I think that a weapon related to minions, like the weapons we associate with power or condi right now, would be interesting.
Of course, as I said, that would work ONLY IF the AI worked fine, and generally most bugs affecting minions would be fixed.

Taking dagger for the most part, a liking the almost permanent swiftness with warhorn, i tried taking blood magic. It gives good sustain, and damage with wells… when I’m against mobs (camps) in wvw. Against players, the grandmaster traits are a waste.
I tried some spectral build, but i feel somewhat squishier, and dagger seems to lose effectiveness without life steal, although it’ll always be better than axe.
Could you suggest me one, or more, tanky spectral build?

In all stages of the game, pvp, wvw, pve, i find myself always taking well of suffering (sometimes even for condi builds, since vuln improves condi dmg too), for it’s fairly high dmg and vuln stacks.
I’d like to try some alternatives, especially for wvw roaming, where it’s rather difficult to pin a target onto a well. Sigils may be good, but i like going tanky, and so i take bm; that means that at grandmaster i either take the wells trait or just waste a trait.
Should I take spite or soul reaping instead of bm? So far it seems that bm gives good survivability, and often tends to outshine death magic (which doesn’t mitigate that much dmg, i mainly take it for the “toughness is converted to power” trait), but the grand master traits, for solo roaming, are either so-so or just useless.

Thanks, both position are interesting. But i think i’ll follow Dawdler suggestion of switching to knight: the numbers against the golem may be the same, but the only immobile things in wvw are we necros, sadly; so some crit that boosts normal and condi dmg so that we don’t miss too much if we can’t stick to the enemy for a couple seconds seems appealing.
I still asked tho, in order to see if this was near the truth or if the numbers, even against moving targets, wouldn’t have changed much
Thanks

Necros gather, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my ban. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the axe in the darkness. I am the watcher on the axe. I am the dumbfire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that dazes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of grenth. I pledge my life and honor to the Axe’s Watch, for this night and all the nerfs to come.

yeah, just 1/4 would be fine, i don’t see how that could ruin “rotations” or other strategies. I too have had times where i died cause i got even just a small lag spike and pressed ds 2 times in panic. You have to be very convincing to prove that 1/4 would be a nerf instead of a fix

I usually wear soldier full set, for maximum survivability in almost all settings – pve, pvp, wvw solo (zerk for raids), but i’m seeing that vitality doesn’t have much interaction with necro’s abilities, nor with traits.
If I’m correct, DS scales with health, but i don’t really know how much is such scaling, especially without taking the soul reaping line.
So, if i still wanna go for power tanky builds, would knights be a better idea, for the added precision? Or is vitality really helpful, despite me not seeing it.
For now, even with full soldier, there are times where i don’t last very long, and aside from toughness, that gives me bonus power thanks to the dm trait, vitality doesn’t seem to play an important role; that’s why I’m asking this now.
Reason i ask is: i tried taking both dm and bm; from what i’ve seen, soul reaping works well with dm, but practically shuts off bm, especially the life steal part. Instead curses has decent interaction with both lines, either with minions or with wells; but it gives its best with good amounts of precision. Still, i like being more tanky than damaging. But if precision can synergize better with life steal, condi transfer, weakness uptime, and of course dmg, giving overall more survivability than vitality, then i’ll surely switch it. So I’m asking you what you’d suggest, especially if some of you have already tried this setup

I undestand the fact that we’re all thoroughly scrutinizing the reaper spec in order to see as soon as possibile if it will just be another failure in the necro department, given that all balance attempts so far haven’t been merciful on our beloved profession…
But the expansion doesn’t even have a release date yet. Unless by the end of august ANet will say that Hots will come out mid-september, I’m still kinda confident that all the elite specs will be subject to change; and they’ve probably already tried the idea of necro having a breakbar, and will try it again.
That said, I share your feeling, like most of the people here does.
ANet already said that the reaper is gonna be the tough monstrosity that stops at nothing in order to slay its victim, so nothing better than breakbar for that theme. Doesn’t mean necro must be the only one getting it, even if Anet said for now that only one will get it.
Still, i don’t really like the idea of eles getting a breakbar, engineers or guardians would be more fitting.
Not warrior tho, they already have everything imaginable and unimaginable

1/2 sec CD would be enough, just so you don’t accidentally go out of ds when smashing the F1 button during tense situations
I approve

Side thread, not really about gameplay, more about them.
I don’t know what you think, but vampires in fantasy settings aren’t really slow walking fleshbags that drain life from varying distances. Actually, they’re kinda agile, and usually dance from shadow to shadow, while of course feasting on their victim’s blood.
Right now, the blood magic trait line isn’t really bad, but I don’t see it really fit the vampire theme that much. Sure, we get life steal, but i don’t feel like vampire at all.
So I thought that, among the heal it already gives us, blood magic could give us some more utility (that isn’t just extending warhorn’s swiftness) – with the offset of lowering our health.
Maybe, just three traits of the line could explore the idea of an agile-like necromancer, more similar to real vampire:
1 – you move faster while using daggers, they recharge faster when above the health threshold, AND you regenerate endurance faster (like when having the boon, with which the trait could stack)
2 – the upper trait isn’t bad, but the others feel better IMO, so:
a percentage of your vitality improves your healing instead and your siphon damage, instead of your health. You get improved siphon dmg, siphon and other heals, but also your health is reduced
3 – transfusion and wells traits are ok, middle trait is meh, sooo:
you get increased attack speed based on the percentage of health missing. When under 25% health, get quickness and vigor instead. If an enemy attacks you while blinded, they heal you instead for a portion (or simply all) of the dmg they would’ve inflicted you.

Aside from “it’s too op” or “it’s ok but numbers aren’t right” (well i didn’t even put them), what do you think about it as a concept?

It’s ok that, overall, we’re the most immobile profession, but that doesn’t mean that not even a single trait line (meaning just 3 traits) can’t improve our mobility. Getting meaningful healing (it’s not too bad right now, but it could be better) and more frequent dodges (could get more than that, but i didn’t want to overdo), at the cost of reduced health could open up for more diverse gameplay.
On paper, we’re a tough, slow moving, hard cc susceptible class, that deals high dmg and drains health. In reality, you know how much of that is true…
So i’d like to see even just a couple trait lines that would offer something a bit different than usual necro play, while keeping its feeling as a death-attuned fighter, and without even changing the profession too much (thus not requiring another elite spec)
Even if it should be the vampire’s job, we can’t strike from the shadow, that’s the thieves’ job, so i wouldn’t add something like shadowstepping or blending with shadows

Aside from that, we have a trait in curses that reduces fall dmg and causes aoe fear when taking fall dmg. A single frikking, diddly trait, that does just that, like i have to think half a day over which one of the other two i should take… oh right, of the other 2, one chills when blinded, but only once everytime snow falls on the sahara desert, so it’s only one choice… yeah, let that sink in.

A lich form that would last a spectral effect for 30 seconds.
Removes life blasts range treshold, so that it deals full dmg even from 1200 range, and boosts its dmg overall, and reduces cast time – while keeping additional trait effects like dhuumfire.
Gives stability every second while in shroud, and shroud degenerates slower (doesn’t stack with the trait tho)
the other skills could be a mix between shroud and current lich form, and would keep their associated traits:
2 freezes one target in place and poisons it
3 fears the target and up to 5 (10?) enemies around it in a range of 240
4 passive aura, that pulses each 2-3 seconds dealing moderate dmg to foes and absorbing lf. Crits have 33% chance to summon a jagged horror, kills obtained from these pulses automatically spawn them.
5 same as putrid mark, but applies 1 stack of torment, plus one for every boon ripped from enemies; applies 1 stack of might on allies, plus 1 more for every condition removed
You’d also gain increased toughness, that would stack with dm traits
Little caveat: you cannot exit death shroud after entering it while the effect is up; you’ll automatically exit ds when you lose all life force or the effect ends.

Wanna have an awesome lich from, here it is XD

There could also be a dedicated version for reaper shroud, again with a mix of thoes skills, ds skill 1 limited to melee range, but the lich gets to wield the axe… pic related – and made by gw2 art group sooooo
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/cd/Wraith_Lord_concept_art.jpg

I’m counting 7 jagged horrors. You have golem on, so i’m the can’t come from lich form, since you’d have to wait for its cd before swapping elite. 2 come from grandmaster trait, 1 from rune of the lich.
The other 4?

Well, the trait line has a nice bit of everything, condi damage (chill), tankiness and healing, power and even boons (if i remember right). And helps in applying a lot of chill, which really helps our lack of mobility.
Still, chill isn’t that needed in pve, so spite and soul reaping (for 50% crit chance) will maybe still be the priority, but it could give more damage than blood and death magic lines.
In pvp it could be really strong, with overall tankiness and chill uptime.
In wvw i don’t know, a reliable way to apply chill is surely good, but necros right now are seen as well dispensers for aoe burst. nothing more, nothing less. In raids at least.
When going solo, it might be similar to pvp, except chill would allow us to stick to our targets more than now, something we really need in open spaces.

Apart from that, a problem of the profession itself is that we’re supposed to go in short-to-melee range, even if we’re not as resilient as warriors or guardians. And this may be where the spec comes in handy: reaper shroud, together with the soul reaping line, could sensibly extend the duration of shroud, making us “invulnerable” for quite a long time. And that might be one of the spec’s main focuses: to greatly enhance shroud duration, to the point where we won’t really need new forms of damage mitigation. Right now it seems it focuses more on the shroud than the rest (GS included).

Where the GS role will play out, i don’t know. I don’t really mind slow attacks, considering they’re meant to be used carefully and not spammed, IF they’ll deal really high damage. There’s a shout that’ll make a few attacks unblockable, and if a single attack of GS will be able to hit nearly like Lich Form, it will be nice. Otherwise, I’ll just keep the dagger

I like the idea, but as FrostSpectre said, axe #2 and #3 are closely related to power, even your variation of them. You’d have to outright switch the 2 weapon sets. Also, i like the idea of having 1 short range weapon per type: dagger for power, axe for condi (in this case), and 2 long range, that provide more utility than damge: scepter for power, staff for condi. In addition, transforming the axe into an infected cleaver (necro goes where he pleases) could make space for more diverse curses that would be applied with the scepter. I give you some ideas, tell me if you like them

Axe – still 600 range
#1
Could be a chain, first applies bleed, second applies bleed and poison, third applies bleed and vuln – 3stacks. Small radius (as you suggested)

1. Channeled 2-3 seconds. Transfer bleeding from you to the enemy each second (2 stacks per second). If you don’t have bleeding on yourself, apply 2 stacks of it each second. Gain life force for each stack of bleeding you apply either way. Also apply 1 stack of torment each second.
   #3
   same range as current skill, combo blast finisher, max 5 enemies struck. attacks x2
   For each foe you strike, swap one of their boons with one of your conditions (follows the boon into condi conversion scheme as a priority, otherwise just swaps the condis and boons present at the moment). After that, inflict cripple on them, and fear them if they still have more than 3 boons.

I don’t think it’s too op, and has a bit more interaction than the current axe. Vuln on axe #1 is useful, since it enhances condi dmg too.

Scepter
#1
Single target, less damage than dagger (and is slower), but a bit more than the current axe
Curse your foe to make them vulnerable. Behaves differently depending on the amount of vuln the enemey has.
1-14 stacks, no additional effect
14-24 stacks, applies weakness too
25 stacks, gain also might
#2
Same area as current scepter #2, attacks 6x (at least). Not channeled, instead works like a well. Combo field poison.
Skeleton arms erupt from the ground in the target area, striking foes multiple times and crippling them.
#3
Same area as #2. combo finisher blast
Curse foes in the target area, applying weakness. Convert already pre-existing weakness on enemies into blind, and cripple into chill. Gain retaliation and life force for each enemy struck

Ok i’ve not put out CDs and casting times, but overall axe #1 and 2 should be kinda fast in execution, with #2 having a medium cd. #3 could have a long cd.
Scepter skills should instead be kinda slow, such that you won’t be able to use their full effect with the scepter alone; you’ll need traits, sigils/runes and other things that apply vuln or non damagin condis. They should also have fairly long CDs, given the scepter would still have 900 range, and the skills might have some fairly strong impact.

Vuln and cripple/chill may be redundant, but we have no mobility, and applying vuln is all we ever did

Again, I like the idea, and your thread gave me the chance to post some of my ideas as well.
Axe could very well be a condition based weapon, it’s just a matter of flavor. It can be a claver that, instead of striking the enemy with violence, cuts where hurts most, opening and infecting wounds while also sundering armors.
Scepter, on its part. Could be a power weapon that, instead of direct damage, would apply different non-damaging conditions on the enemys.

Hi, today i’d like to ask you about these 2 trait lines. How do you feel about them?
Personally, death magic looks really good on paper, and is quite efficient too, but it’s like it misses something. Mainly because during lots of fights, even if full pvt and all the toughness i can get, i don’t feel that much resistant, meaning that i’m still kinda susceptible to bursts, so much that i can barely escape fights. That is, for the traits that don’t involve minions, i’m not asking about them here.
I take it over blood magic, mainly because bm is so manistream right now, and doesn’t stack in small parties. Problems is, bm feels more strong and rewarding than dm overall
Maybe dm could reduce the duration of hard CC, or mitigate damage (more than protection) while CCed?
I think of bm and dm as mutually exclusives: one makes you a vampire that stays alive by draining the life out of your opponent, the other makes you a juggernaut that simply doesn’t go down. The first is kinda this way in the game, the other isn’t.

Curses has interesting effects, but it really looks like the weaker version of spite. It doesn’t seem to enhance conditions that much, considering that spite gives plenty of might and vuln, that both amplify condition damage, as well as direct damage. Curses seems more about side effects, and while i found it fun to use with dm and bm plus minions and rabid set, it doesn’t seem too much if you go “solo”.
In Pvp I’ve had lots of victories going celestial MM (dm, bm, curses). But otherwise, if I wanna try conditions (and they’re not that appealing on themselves right now), i’d rather take spite and two of the other 3 trait lines, leaving curses out.
What do you think? Did you manage to actually to use the curses line to its full potential?

On a side note, soul reaping seems always mandatory, because death shroud has a really short duration and doesn’t deal much damage, unless traited. You just have to take that trait line, otherwise necros’ own mechanic feels useless.

Let’s try minions after a long time. Let’s roam a bit and see how long it takes to kill random mobs… Golem, what are you doing? Golem pls! Bone minion too T.T

Ok, the complaints about minions’ AI are numerous enough, so why not add a walk, ehm, halt, of shame? Post your minions in the kitten iest moments, with double kitten topping!
Anywhere, anytime you have enough reflexes to realise that your minions are stuck in a coma, or thinking about birdwatching, while there’s a raging zerg next to them, and you go “wow, I must immortalize this moment for the next generations”, post the results here.

My pics here are kinda lame I know, but I’ll try doing a group wvw without my guild kicking me :P. And if you like the idea, maybe eventually we’ll get more creative, and picture minions in moments of kitten never tought possibile.
Possible other bugs are welcome too, just let the moment that ruined your day brighten ours!

Since minions, spectral and corruption skills end with an elite, while signet and wells don’t, and the upcoming shouts will end with an elite shout too, wells an signet deserve some love as well. So I came up with an elite well and an elite signet that could maybe expand on their related trait lines, and bring something we currently don’t have but need.
An elite well, with long cd (of course), could work as an aoe pull and/or heal (heal yourself and allies for a fixed amount and some more for each enemy pulled). Max 10 enemies pulled, and 10 allies healed.
An elite signet could give ferocity and/or precision (that we lack right now) and apply a random non damaging condition between cripple, vulnerability, weakness, chill and maybe blind everytime you strike a target (with and ICD of 5 seconds maybe); active could deal high aoe damage and each enemy could be stunned for 0.25 or 0.5 seconds for each of the above conditions he has. Max 10 targets, and if you chose the grandmaster trait, each target would have 2 boons converted into conditions, but you only get 2 (or maybe 5) stacks of might in total (NOT 2 per target)

I’m sure this has been brought up before, and maybe it will become reality later on, but since I like the idea, I too will ask for it
So, since nearly every line has a trait that reduces the cd and/or improves a single category of skills, an elite for every specialisation OR skill category would make the trait more interesting, at least those that aren’t already tied to and elite.
Playing mostly necro, I saw that spite-signets, curses-corruptions, souls reaping-spectral skills, blood magic-wells, death magic-minions. But there isn’t an elite signet or well, that could bring effects we lack right now.
I think that, with the help of the community, this could lead to new creative abilities, that wouldn’t make hard distinctions between skills categories that don’t end with an elite and those that end with one.
What are your opinions about this?

1. No, tried it a couple times before the 23rd june patch. Didn’t feel it was doing much, with or without chill
2. Doesn’t last enough for what it gives, blind itself is kinda weak, when professions can deal high sustained damage with regular showers of strikes, or do even higher damage with burst that recharge way too quickly
3. Maybe a bit more radius (10-20%, only for wod, not the other wells), and some other effect. It should be a freakin well of DARKNESS, not a puddle of smoke; it should feel like you’re summoning a sort of portal to grenth’s domain, or dhuum’s prison, for bibbity bobbity kitten’s sake!
That other effect could be some sort of damage mitigation while you stand on it (that’s why the larger radius). Make it negate a portion of direct damage you take, as darkness absorbs the harm directed at you. Maybe make it give power (just power, not might) to you, and to a lesser extent, to teammates who stand in the well, as the darkness strenghtens you as it absorbs damage. You’d end with 2 wells more directed towards power builds and 2 more directed towards condi builds, that could still be interchangeable, since wod would do mostly nothing vs conditions, exept maybe denying a couple of applications.
Also overall, wells could either last a bit longer, and maybe WoP too could use a bigger radius

Thanks for the tips, but even though I’d like to experiment a bit rather than just take premade builds, what are your favorite trait lines? curse and spite don’t seem that strong to me, they’re supposed to be the most damage oriented lines we have, but either i can’t yet use them effectively or they lack damage

Hi all, after a couple heartbreaking tries of a rabid build, trying to mix power and condis, I was gonna come here to forum and post another rant…
But, after using extreme violence on my surroundings, people and objects, my thirst for blood was sated. You can make me hurt anything around me, but can’t hurt ME, Anet
That said, I’d still like to know if a hybrid build is more or less viable in pvp and wvw (despite the everlasting kitten everyone has for zerk), particularly a tanky one, that would care first about toughness/vitality, then at power/condi.
As I said, so far, so bad, so very bad.
Thanks for the attention, I’d be grateful for some general gameplay tips rather than builds

I’m gonna try and suggest something new for the class, just because
New necro only condition:
Rot (or call it what u want)
a percentage (10% or more) of the damage you take doesn’t affect you instantly, instead it makes you rot over X seconds. Deals 33% less damage while in death shroud
Counts as a condition for related traits and abilities
Nothing brand new, I don’t know if any of the other classes already have something like that, but in other games there is something like it.
could be implemented as a trait or as an ability effect. I’d prefer the second option. Well of power or well of darkness could apply it, as could poison cloud and plague signet

If you’re still leveling the character, don’t worry and be happy. Necro is the best class for soloing pve. Of course, wait to get to 80 before thinking about what build is the best.
Axe is garbage, there’s no other way to describe it. Not undertuned, not niche, not hard to manage (whatever tha means); it’s just plain, utter, reality defying garbage.
I don’t know much about condis, so i’ll just say what i learned from experience with power builds.
Pve
Just stick to dagger + warhorn/focus/dagger. There isn’t a best offhand weapon there (maybe dagger is more for condis, but it’s not like the other 2 deal tons of damage). dagger mainhand deals great sustained damage. And staff, more for utility than damage. You can try the other weapons if you want, you’ll discover how bad axe is after a couple runs, and scepter is for condis.
Spite is the one of the best lines for pve, you easily stack 15+ power on yourself. But just try a bit of everything, you might discover something new.

PvP and WvW
Up until now, soldier (power, toughness, vitality), and death magic + soul reaping + blood magic has been best way for me to play the necro. It’s not about doing insane damage, it’s about surviving long enough till everyone is dead (don’t worry, the enemy will be dead if your teammates don’t just stare at the scenery). In pvp i get more points playing this way than when i focus on damage, and i die a lot less.
WvW depends, for solo roaming, either stick to this or take spite over one of the three above. For teamfights well, I don’t know if there is a best build right now, but wells pretty much dominate, and blood magic is the most, if not the only, line that gives utility (tons of healing), so I wouldn’t leave it for other lines.
I feel stronger in small teamfights than when solo roaming and in big zergs, but you’re kinda strong in solo too.
Zergs are kinda complicated, but again, going tanky means you can dive and last a couple seconds while hitting all the buttons (plague is best here, regardless of build). You could stay away and stick to staff + wells + lich form, but remember that you will never be able to escape fights, you’ll just try to pop some swiftness, while all your allies will use their gapclosers/jumps/rockets/mistforms/invisibility/godknowswhat, and you’ll go in deathshroud, sing “somebody save me” from smallville, and die a couple seconds later. Against fights with more than 10 ppl, your death shroud is equal to 1 second of invulnerability from damage and condis for every 10k hp it has, 0.5 if you’re alone and therefore get focused. Warrior has 5 seconds flat and more access to range damage; guards have perma aegis, retaliation and protection. let that sink in…

But yeah, the class is fun, despite all the kitten we have to live through. And everytime you manage to kill someone or just survive a fight, you’ll feel the strongest player ever.

I’d like the necro to have more survivability rather than damage. We have the tools to hurt a lot right now, either through power, condis, or both. We don’t have much burst damage, and that is fine too. What we need is to be able to live longer in order to deal all the damage we can. Kinda like warriors or guardians, we’d need something that allows us to shrug of damage more consistently
And ds <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< invincibility and perma aegis (they can deal with insane heavy damage, while ds can’t, even with high health and traits)

Played necro since the start of the game (tho i stopped playing for long period before returning this year), and for me it’s still the most entertaining class to play. But don’t think of necro as a “light armor class” like mesmers and elementalists, who can go full condi or full power thanks to their mobility. Instead, try for a mix of damage and defense, despite the zerk trend. You’ll still deal great sustained damage (not burst, that’s not what we do best) either in PvP, WvW and PvE.
I have yet to try how well condis do right now, but power works fine. Feel free to experiment, only zerk and everything with healing seems underperforming right now.
If you like the theme of death and decay, you’ll like it. And a lot of time you’ll find yourself lasting longer than guardians

Hand of dhuum:

Life blast applies a 2-3 seconds effect (not a condition, so it can’t be dispelled) that increases the damage of your conditions on the target by X% (15 at least?) – doesn’t stack

or

Life blast hits extend the duration of your conditions on the target by X seconds

or

Life blast procs all your damaging conditions on you target (indipendently of their tick timer)

or

Life blast deals damage based on your “condition damage” stat

burning may be the most damaging condition right now, but it just doesn’t fit with necros IMO. Better have the other condis do more dmg than adding a new one that pretty much does nothing.

After the last patch, my pc has started to shut down whenever I play gw2. At first I thought this had to do with overheating, but if I play other games it doesn’t happen. It mostly occurs during saturday and sunday, when I can’t play a couple minutes without the pc shutting down; it has happened in the other days too, but not nearly as often.
Is anyone experiencing the same issue?

maybe we could have more chances to apply cripple and/or chill. Immobilize isn’t really bad, but imo thematically is out of place, and as you said, it has more downs than ups. And kittenmit the range, seeing people dodge it by sheer fortune is not as frustrating as seeing the “out of range” phrase when you’re almost in melee

+1
Make it has a trait that replaces dumbfire

Seriously though, it would be really appreciated

More finishers
900 range, at 600 you may as well go melee with daggers. With that range there would be some kind of death dance, where you try to stay away from the enemy when using the axe, then go closer with death shroud, then back again.
Not sure about the damage, I would keep it as it is, BUT get some cleave, 3 targets pls (maybe with the secondary targets taking reduced damage, better than nothing)
And how about skill 3 applying chill instead of cripple? The devs said that chill fits well to the necro style. 2 chills, if we include focus, may sound like a lot, but since we have so few gapclosers, it would just support the “you can’t escape me” feel. Though in the end they’ll escape anyway

Hi everyone, first i’ll say that I’am personally quite happy with the changes to our traits and abilities, and i’m having a lot of fun, both in pve and pvp. i’m also seeing less “hurr durr only warr-ele zerk meta for ascalon catacumbz!1!”, which was hurting the game.
That said, i still can’t really figure out how to play my necro in wvw. If I’m roaming solo, a pvp build isn’t as good here, cause there are very few tight places to exploit.
But what interests me most is my possible role in teamfights/zergs.
I’ve been arguing with some guildmates about my role in raids: they say i should stay in the backlines, dropping all wells and sticking to staff, using daggers only to defend against thieves.
I say that, in order to use the blood traits to the fullest (since they’re the only way for us to give some utility, and going only for damage from long range would be pointless, since other professions do that better while giving boons to the team) you have to stick near both friends and foes, so you either have to stay in the frontline, or right behind it. I’ve tried in the last couple days to change from zerk to soldier (pvt), and using a tanky build. I mix damage with healing, when going around with other people. If there are less than five allies, I take blood middle, down (life steal) and up (wells). If there are more than 5, i take down, up and down. basically I give more heals to myself or to the team depending on the amount of players. The rest kinda stays the same, with soul reaping and death magic (deathly strenght gives enough power), and a priority on wells. I feel more useful playing this way, i don’t see scary drops in damage, and the heal is pretty nice, 1k every 7 seconds (blood 2 up and soul 1 down), plus 3k with transfusion, all aoe.
I don’t know if it would be good to go for cleric, switching vitality for healing power, since then i’m afraid I wouldn’t be resilient enough, even though right now I still get wiped out as soon as someone decides to focus me.
That said, what do you think? Maybe it’s too soon to say, after the last changes, whether necro will still be a zerk spike house, or can change depending on preference. But I’d like to hear other opinions, and try out a couple of setups to see which one is the best.
My focus right now stays on team builds for the necro

P.S. : just out of curiosity, would the terrormancer be an option for wvw? either vs small or large groups, more for the cc than for the condi damage (assuming i’m going condi)

Change the name then :P

I wanted to make a suggestion, but now it’s question instead. Why couldn’t be implemented an F2 attack and an F3 return abilities for minions (and maybe wells). I get the AI is poorer than greece since the launch of the game, but is it so bad that two more F skills (ele and engi have 4) couldn’t be added? An F2 skill that makes all your minions focus on a target and an F3 that makes them return to you at will.
I tried the ranger a loooong time ago, so i might be mistaken, but he should already have that option for his pets. Just 2 more buttons that won’t surely fix the AI as it is right now, but maybe could circumvent some of its most frustrating aspects.

On a side note
-Wells that last a couple seconds longer and would follow you, unless you trait them to be targetable – the trait would say “wells can be targeted, but are stationary”
-Minions that spawn 2 jagged horrors when slain, 3/4 for golem, last 30 seconds
-A trait that gives minions a small aoe poison around them while “alive”
A poison attack on the bone fiend, in addition to cripple
-Shadow fiend blinds every 10 seconds (probably too much, but sounds nice)
-When in death shroud, 2 (or more) jagged horrors are spawned near you every 2 seconds, last 30 seconds, after 5 seconds in death shroud to bone minions are spawned, that don’t replace the bone minions of the spell (meaning you could have 4 of them), but don’t stack everytime you use DS
-Minions draw power from DS: for each (?) percentage of life force you lose while in death shroud, your minions receive a stack of power, up 50% more damage i’d say
-If 2 or more jagged minions are near an enemy, it is crippled until said minions are slain.

Just some ideas thrown around, probably too much, but sounded nice in my head. Also, my main character (proud to be necro), had his first birthday last week, yay