Guild Wars 2

I can confirm this. Just finished tempered spinal blades. You can use something transmuted, and the stats are selectable after completion. Thanks everyone for the comments

Hello, I would like to craft the Tempered Spinal Blades back item and have a few questions.

About two years ago I crafted the Advanced Spinal blades and selected soldier stats for it. Since then it has been transmuted once, and just kinda sat in the bank.

Q1: Can I still use it in the mystic forge if it has been transmuted?
Q2: Do I have to keep the soldier stats, or can I change them when I upgrade it?

thanks

I am new to the warrior class and wanted to create a tanky build for solo PvE. I was thinking about going with Trooper runes for my armor for the condi removal since i am using shouts. But if I am using “Shake it off” with Trooper runes, will this remove 2 condi’s?

Brokensunday.4098:

Zenith.7301:

dzeRnumbrd.6129:

Cecilia.5179:

Rise got destroyed…

Really? 33% damage reduction is the same as having Protection boon up all the time.

Except the minions need to hit something for it to activate.

and now they die in 3 hits

this skill went from good to mediocre

AOE damage and blind would make sense though. Birds coming down and pecking at the eyes of your enemies merits at least blindness. I use war horn on my build and 4 is usually only used when I am waiting for something to finish cd.

Wow! Awesome game play! Can i ask why you went with the Druid trait line tho? I saw that you had accumulated AF but i don’t recall you using it.

Never mind. just rewatched the video

Basilisk would be my first pick, second would be the option to get some risen pets. Risen chicken anyone?

welp, as per our last discussion about the Druid
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/How-does-one-Druid-properly/6175869

i have been running around with two different setups.
1) DPS zerker Ranger
2) Cleric/Soldier Druid

I find myself mainly using the DPS ranger set up because it is much faster killing mobs and plowing through the jungle (no to mention crazy fun), but whenever i encounter a situation where i cannot solo it with zerker, i always switch to my cleric build.

Tragic Positive.9356:

A golden advice :
The longer your target lives – the more damage you take. And that graph is steeper than damage negated by stats.

While this is true, just because you are taking a ton of damage over time does not mean you are necessarily in danger of dying when running a cleric build. With pretty much perma regen, signet of the wild, and a super tanky pet taking aggro you can outlast most bosses solo. Just keep on healing, evading, switching pets, condi cleans, and attacking and eventually you will kill the enemy. Just keep in mind that this will take a REALLY REALLY LONG TIME, and it gets kinda boring.

Note: Trying to solo a boss that can self heal will not work if you are running Cleric, you just can’t cause damage fast enough to kill it. You will just go back and forth forever and eventually get bored and quit.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

(For Fractals/Dungeons)
Don’t think of Druid as THE healer. You are just like the other players, there to DPS… plus you can heal if need be.

Tragic Positive.9356:

I made my way to 100 with Cleric Daze build extremely safely and much faster than probably other Pug individuals who went for MetaZerk logic.

I am stuck between these two positions on Druid… Go Zerker or go Cleric? The question “How does one Druid properly” has been bugging me as well because it seems that most people who you come across in GW2 is all about DPS, you don’t really hear much about healing. I was thinking about going full Cleric armor and trinkets to take advantage of all the healing Druid offered but… is a healer role really necessary in this game? Or should we all just be trying to DPS?

tomwcb.9713:

I’ve been trying to work out exactly this – how to survive reliably on your own in HoT maps when out hunting down the mastery points etc!

Assuming you have Tempest, I have found this works well:

Dagger / Warhorn fresh air
Air: Zephyr’s Boon, Aeromancer’s Training, Fresh Air
Earth: Elemental Shielding, Geomancer’s Training, Diamond Skin
Tempest: Unstable Conduit, Invigorating Torrents, Imbued Melodies.

Skills are Wash the pain away, Feel the Burn, Aftershock, Flash-freeze, Glyph of elementals.

This is really decent for both DPS and survival. It is all geared towards applying auras. You get auras passively as well as from overloads, and your 3 shouts all apply an aura as well. Each aura grants Protection, Regeneration, Swiftness and Fury – in my case this means in a typical fight I have these up permanently meaning 85% crit chance and 40% damage reduction.

Diamond Skin also passively removes conditions and you’ve got some resistance to crippled etc so you’re less likely to get bogged down. All the boons stack in duration loads, and Imbued Melodies gives you an extra 20% duration.

If you want to use Staff, I’d use exactly the same build, just swap Air for Fire and use Burning Precision, Pyromancer’s Training and Persisting Flames.

Hope that helps!

Interesting… with a full set of trooper runes, this sounds like it would be a pretty tanky build. I think ill give it a try when i unlock tempest. thanks

Currently running with this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWhcMoshNOwwB0RM0AY0RoG8DkAZAYCMpgWwLA-TRBBwAAeQAnVCiT9nAXQAs7PK/AA-e

Is there anything i should change for better sustain, while maintaining dps?

I don’t always play alone, but I like to have the option. With my reaper I have solo’ed some story mode dungeons, champions, and even some group events. I wanted to try out ele so I started building one that leans towards a dps. It is pretty fun so far but daaaaayum this build is squishy. I find myself getting downed by enemies that would normally be easy with my reaper.

Is a solo dps ele even viable? If so, how? Or should i just start investing in tankier gear?

luminathor.2839:

Here’s an idea. Don’t fix it.

Well… not this. It would be nice to just get a rough guesstimation on when we can expect this to be resolved.

Consume conditions is just better. I was super excited about YSIM at first with the low cast time and recharge, (not to mention LF generation) but it does not heal enough. When you are covered with conditions YSIM does not really help you, even if you use rune of the soldier. I have tried them both and have always had better results with consume conditions.

I would recommend Soul Reaping. It focuses on Death Shroud and LF which is great for survivability but it also allows you to do crazy damage. The grandmaster trait Death Perception increases your crit chance my 50%! With the right gear, you can get 100% crit chance while in Shroud.

Personally this trait line is a must in any build I make, including my reaper build for PvP and PvE.

“While Transfusion does attempt to heal you, being in Death Shroud prevents you from gaining health from any source; if Life Force runs out during Life Transfer’s channel, Transfusion will heal you.” – gw2 wiki

So with the new changes that allow necro to heal health while in shroud, shouldn’t this heal you as well? Vampiric Presence heals while in shroud… why not this?

Well there is a little trick you can do. If you are using the “Flesh of the Master” trait (I think most MM do), while not in combat just swap the trait for something else and poof all minions destroyed. Just put it back after. Kinda annoying to do, but it works.

Necro Sylvari. Staff and GS

got it. thank you

So just to clarify, RO increases attack speed (swinging weapon) and SS increases movement speed (distance covered). Correct?

Also, if i am using the Rune of the traveler which already provides a 25% movement increase, is SS even worth having?

In response to the question of the thread, I would have to say yes. (IMHO) playing as a necro, we don’t wear heavy armor, can’t really block or reflect incoming damage, so our LF is how we compensate for that. i try and start every fight with as much as possible. Don’t let others put you down for using the skills you have. I don’t ask others to handicap themselves before a duel, and I expect them to return the gesture. It’s like asking a thief “please don’t stealth during our fight”. Having full LF doesn’t guarantee a win. I have been beaten by truly great players who were able to down me despite the amount of LF I had in the tank. Other players should just step up their game.

And i would certainly not want to lose close to death. 20% extra damage can be devastating to enemies when you have vulnerability stacked on em and might stacked on you courtesy of DS.

@Verdis:

Jelzouki.4128:

I’ve build crafted with power necro so much and I would honestly never move the 6/2/0/0/6 trait split. The only way you’re going to change the build is by switching runes and sigils and utilities and possibly the weapons. If you move any of the traits around the build suffers severely in damage.

This is what I follow, and i would recommend it for you as well. The two points in Curses helps with crits. which is good

I think if you sacrifice some power for toughness you are getting away from the point of powermancer. Your best defense is an aggressive offense. Making the enemy sweat is how you avoid damage. If they are trying to heal and defend, they probly won’t be hitting yoyou much. By losing power you aren’t putting enough pressure on em, which gives em time to do some damage.

Currently I am using Well of Darkness + Chilling Darkness on my build. It has saved my necro butt over and over again. Since we dont really have good defense, some blinds really come in handy, especially when you have a Warrior swinging a kitten hammer in your face. Yes the cooldown sucks but I wouldn’t change it for my build. For my other utilities I have Spectral Armor, and Signet of Spite. I used to run with Well of Suffering but since I already get vulnerability from my axe, I switched to Signet. Not only do you get a power boost, but when you activate it you get more blind and vulnerability at 1200 range. Spectral grasp is ok but it is sooo slooow. Usually didnt work for me.

So i asked a similar question when i was having trouble with one particularly nasty thief here.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/that-one-thief-PvP

I am running a power build so i know its a bit different but one thing that i found worked for me is adding Well of Darkness to my build. Not sure if you are willing to drop a skill for this one but i have found it useful countering thieves. I also have Chilling Darkness in my build so it adds a bit more to the well.

You just drop it at your feet when you feel the thief attack is coming. If he jumps in it his first attack will miss (probly backstab) giving you time to respond. If he stays in the well and continues his attack… you are golden.

I played Terror for a while as well and faced the same issue. And with the condi cleans that ppl have in their builds i just felt that it was just not doing enough damage. You are supposed to be sacking as many different condi on ppl and chaining your fears from what i understand, i was never great at that.

Jake.1430:

I always see people on the forums say Necros can do insane damage at the cost of defence. I just can’t seem to find the trust in that when I play.

the insane damage and low defense that you are talking bout here may be in reference to a powermancer build. In DS with almost a 100% crit chance it is not uncommon to take 4-5k chunks out of ppl, and even more when in Lich. The biggest problem with this build is that if you dont have much LF, you are pretty squishy. The build relies heavily on DS.

mine goes a little something like this
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBIRdG2IHNF12YjtNc4mAXog+NDgWIqNg62IMeWA-TJBBABA8EAw4kAI4+DlVGAA

notice the 48% crit chance goes to 98% when in DS or Lich.

Ok, well as far as a good support for your daggers i would probably go with the staff. It will give you some range and fear when you need to recover, and the Mark of Purity is great for cleansing. If this “tanky” build is working for you then keep at it, laying down marks on a point will help ya keep it.

In PvP, where does most of your damage come from? Based your trait point distribution you are definitely not dishing out a lot of direct damage.

I use it in my build combined with Well of Darkness. It has been working ok for up-close and personal fights (Thieves, Warriors), and when immediately followed with Deathly Swarm, it provides a fair amount of chill. But I see your point, a little more would definitely be better.

Shaogin.2679:

Bah. Just run up and Lich form his butt.

Yep. That’ll do it. You might get some smack talk from em about wasting Lich and blah blah blah. But who cares. Other peeps in PvP use their elite skills against necro, why not return the gesture.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Instead of blowing CDs/DS/Dodges, just put Mark of Blood on yourself and wait on point. If the mark pops, you know they’re there and can bomb them before they even get to backstab you.

At the time I encountered this particular thief I was running staff, d/d. I was using the marks as you suggested here. The problem with this “thief early warning system” is that he would petrify me before beginning his attack. So it didn’t matter if i knew where he was because there wasn’t much i could do. Even when i used Spectral Armor to break the stun, he had already inflicted a ton of damage.

I have switched over to Axe/Warhorn since and it seems to be working pretty well against thieves. Axe 3 gives you retaliation, warhorn can daze and cripple. i am also using Well of Darkness combined with Chilling Darkness. Makes them miss and slows em down. Ive been applying this when they go into stealth. The dumb ones so far have been running straight into the well and swing blindly hitting nothing but air, giving me enough time to inflict some up close damage with my daggers.

This new combo seems to be working great for me at the moment, but i have yet to meet another thief of this caliber. I am interested to see how it would work out.

Ok. thanks for the replies all. @Holl, im not discouraged at all i was just frustrated. Im going to try out the axe/warhorn and drop the staff for a bit to see how that works out for me. I was also thinking of running with Well of Darkness for more blinds. What ya think? Not quite ready to drop Lich yet because the power is awesome.

Running power necro for a few weeks now and loving it. There are a few things I wish were better but that is for another thread. Thiefs have been a problem for me since i started with this build. Most times in 1v1 fights i come out on top, but not by much. When things start getting too close i just pop Lich and fight is over. Then there was this one thief a few days ago who just smashed me over and over and over. No matter what I did he was just too fast, and strong. He would literally down me in about 4 seconds. (Stealth -> petrify -> few hits -> dead.) Then when i used Lich, he just ran away till Lich was done… then downed me again. How the hell do you counter this? Any suggestions?

Ahhhh. ok. thanks for the reply

Newish to necro, what do you guys mean by GS?