Guild Wars 2

Cempa.3645:

The best build(s) do not use any minions. Condition based of course and uses Wells.

Is there any mathcraft around that supports the idea that wells > corruption skills + epidemic? Well CD’s are long and require that you go up a dumb tree (blood) to reduce them by 20%. Corruption skills are baked into the Curses tree, freeing up room for including DS and maybe Spite depending on your build.

And I find that the best PvE builds take the golem. It’s better overall in my opinion, although I opt for plague in PvP.

I just don’t see how you can consider the class on-par with others. The spike damage, survival, and lockout potential just isn’t close. PvP is largely about those three elements. Sustained damage through a precise rotation ain’t how you kill dynamic targets. Yes, you can go buckwild and come out in the middle of the pack, or you can get a buncha noobs and come out on top, but in a competitive environment, you’re mediocre at best, with nothing setting the class apart in a valuable way.

Bug fixes will help, but overall output seems to remain a problem.

I’ve found 0/30/10/10/20 to be really effective for both pve and pvp:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#McVczm9MmnwvMmnwvM0xaaGMkbMcMc

The traits can be switched up a bit for a fully-pve build, but the distribution of points can remain static. I also recommend the flesh golem over plague for pve. I really like the balance of this spec overall, though. The DPS is there, the survival is there, and there’s a good amount of support.

Devilsmack.5736:

I use a Scepter+Dagger/Staff build and I love it.
Except for Boss monsters I ALWAYS get Gold in Dynamic Events.
What I do is Cast Scepter 2 and 5 right off the bat, then Well of Suffering+Corrosive Poison Cloud, then a few 1s and then Epidemic. Finally I pop DS and cast 4. If they are not all dead, my Scepter 2 is already up again or I switch to Staff for a few Marks.

Getting gold is generally quite easy I find, regardless of build. DS/Condition lacks synergy in a big way, though, because you can pretty much only DS for #4, then you’re back out of it or you’re not doing any damage. Dots tick off so quickly with a Conditionmancer that unless you’re constantly stacking and reapplying, the damage drops to nil. With a power build, you can at least frontload your damage and spending time in DS isn’t as painful.

So at 80 I rerolled to DS/Dagger build. It looks something like this:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#MzVMzm0zmFwvmmFRvMaG0axomVzoMb

I toyed with subbing Signet of Spite in for Blood is Power, but the shorter CD on BiP is pretty nice. Basically, the gist is to start the fight popping in and out of DS quick to stack fury, doing some damage, AoE if necessary, and finish it off in DS.

I’ve tried MM (sucks), Conditionmancer (better), and this so far, and I am enjoying this the most. The epidemic thing + the dagger OH + piercing DS shots make AoE fights more viable, still, and the single-target damage seems much higher. In terms of elite skills, you’re hard pressed not to take the golem I feel. Lich is too gimmicky and situational, and the knockdown is just awesome. The AI is definitelykitten but even with that I find it to be the best elite.

Just a warning that I haven’t played this build in pvp at all, and can’t vouch for it there.

edit: Really ANet? “d e r p y” is censored? Isn’t that a bit much?

Totally disagree that communication, even if vague, is bad. There are diplomatic ways to assuage a large portion of an irritated player base in big ways. I would never expect communication necessarily, but were it to happen, I (and I suspect a lot of other necros) would greatly appreciate it. I’d love to see a post like: “We understand that there are concerns about the status of the necro profession as compared to other professions. We’re looking into some changes to bring it up to parity. Stay faithful and stay tuned.”

I mean sheeeit, kitten, that’s all you had to say [I used "kitten preemptively there fyi].

We choose to play the necro in this game not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

In my experience, scepter/dagger & staff is best for group damage. I haven’t really found anything viable for single-target to be honest. I guess daggers / being downed half the time might be one option.

I’ve literally gone AFK to get a drink when killing objects.

When you dump hundreds of hours into a character, learning the weapons, skills, and mechanics, expecting to be at parity with everyone else, it is obviously frustrating to sit around waiting for an overhaul. If you can’t stomach complaining, I recommend not reading this forum (or any class forum, actually).

On some level I’m happy that bandaid fixes aren’t being heaved on the class. It obviously needs more love than that, rather than trying to polish a deuce. However, after 75 levels of deuce, I have to shelf my necro. I can totally echo the sentiment that the class is intriguing both in mechanic and concept, and I really hope it can be rescued from the obvious obscurity that it faces.

Going to switch to a guardian I think. I like the idea of a more potent support class. Engineer looks pretty neat, too. I’m going to avoid the cloth caster archetype if only for armor type reasons. Ultimately, I don’t want to spend my time getting my muscle memory acquainted to a class that should be heavily tweaked. I can’t bank on promises…

I would like this feature, as well. Despite getting online within seconds of the realms coming up, I didn’t get any of the names I wanted. I later managed to snag one, but I had already put 20 levels into a main. I’d pay for it as needed… Please add this!