Guild Wars 2

Hey thanks for making this thread man. It really is great

Do you feel like necros are as bad as people make us seem so in PvP and Pve? What build are you using when and why? What are your armor choices?

thanks

Bhawb.7408:

Necromancers aren’t just viable in WvW, it is by far their strongest gamemode and the only one where they are a nearly required profession to have. Note that condi falls off hard as the groups get bigger.

For condi builds, this should almost always be your base setup nowadays:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW74ic0UeD/NJCGqoFAnLlJBA

Anything left blank/unassigned is because its optional, up to your playstyle, and because that build works for both PvP and WvW.

Runes:
In PvP I’d almost always use Traveler or Speed runes (you need movement speed to rotate properly), in WvW you can use Undead, Traveler/Speed, or basically any of the runesets that proc conditions (Perplexity, Krait, etc.).

Skills:
Corrupt Boon – if you don’t have this, you shouldn’t be playing Condi Necro.
Flesh Wurm – the go to stun break because of its ability to get you completely out of danger, and in some cases z-axis movement can get you places where only thieves can follow
Spectral Armor – basically the main other one you should consider, if you pop this and go straight into DS you’ll basically take no damage for the duration
Signet of Spite (aka Signet of Skill) – great for extended overload, can be used after CB to completely screw someone, or as a secondary CB like effect without need of boons to corrupt.
Plague – the go to elite, a big AoE blind and poison, plus with Chilling darkness you get some chill up in there too
Flesh Golem – if Plague isn’t that great in your situation, or especially if you have on-elite use or on-interrupt runes, you can pick Flesh Brolem to help you out

Sigils:
You have a few choices here: corruption, doom, geomancy, earth, generosity, and plenty others. Pick something that fits your playstyle and situation, see if it makes sense, and try it.

Stats:
Carrion or Rabid for PvP (they all basically scale the same, its simply a preference)
Rabid or Dire for WvW (you can use Carrion for roaming, but these are much better for all around due to toughness’ scaling in groups)

Traits:
If the trait was filled in, you should almost always take it, unless you have a big reason not to. Extra traits can be used in Spite/Death Magic/Soul Reaping as desired. Spite is generally for extra boon removal, Death Magic is for staff traiting/general purpose defensive traiting, Soul Reaping is if you want Foot in the Grave or Master of Terror + Soul Marks.
In the extra slots:
Chilling Darkness – good for plague, otherwise don’t use
Weakening Shroud – if you expect people to hit you in melee, pick this bad boy up, along with geomancy you can get some nice bleed bursts
Path of Midnight – good overall, faster Dooms, faster Dark Path’s, more Tainted Shackles, all good

Thank you very much man this helps a lot. So Rabid is both good for WvW and PvP?

Any should I go all Rabid if i choose so? Weapons, armors, trinkets amulets etc?

Thanks again for the input it really helped alot.

Bhawb.7408:

PvE look at spoj’s build that’s stickied up top of our subforum, it explains it all. We can compete in single target DPS, but lack cleave (only have AoE on high CDs) and bring very low utility. Necromancer is the last person you’d ever pick, but you’ll still be able to do the content.

Also we are actually useful in boss blitz because of certain mechanics: Boom Boom for poison, Shrek because we essentially bypass his mechanic, Sparc because ranged non-projectile, and literally anyone can do Kuraii and Wiggins, so literally 5/6 bosses we are at least as good as anyone else, or specifically favored. I specifically mention this because if they are making new content that specifically favors certain things (although AGAIN they overvalue reflects, since nearly every boss is affected by it) then Necromancers in the future might find themselves in better spots if we get some QoL changes alongside good new content.

In PvP, run condi if you want to practice for “competitive” play, power if you want to just have fun in soloQ (not high viable really), and MM if you want a fun but not considered very high tier viable spec. In PvP you can definitely play Necromancer and succeed, even at the highest level, but it won’t be as easy as rolling your face over the keyboard on Warrior, for example.

Thank you very much for the answers, would say Necromancers are viable in WvW? and can you please please give me a link to a condi build you find powerful for pvp/wvw?

Would this work for WvW as well? and what armor would you pick for it?

I would really apprecate some answers guys, I’m really eager to learn and some tips would be so helpful

I have read many messages saying that Necro is only good in WvW and not really viable in the current meta in any other mode.

But I really like the concept of necromancers and I would like to see what you hardcore necromancer players think.. Now of course, I’ll play what I enjoy but I also would like to know if this class has been proven to be effective;

in PvP and in PvE. PvE really is not my priority since most of the time i’ll be playing WvW and PvP.

Do you guys prefer condi or powermancer and why?

Also what armors are usually used with what builds?

If you guys could get me up to date with all those questions, I would be forever grateful. Thanks!

edit: I read Ascii’s terrormancer is a strong build but is it still viable after 15th april patch and is it still being used?

I would really appreciate some answers guys.

Hello guys,

I have played thief, necro and ele so far. I mostly like ranged classes, thief seemed too much of a work for me, too squishy even though good damage but I really didnt have so much fun with it.

So my question is, is Ranger considered viable in WvW, sPvP and PvE?

What are some armor types and builds that are called meta and proven to be succesful? I would really appreciate any tips and advice. Thanks in advance.

I meant PvE and WvW guys I’m well aware of the PvP system, my bad god distracted so sorry.

So my original question was: a d/d – d/f Ele with celestial build will be good and useful for dungeons/fractals and WvW in the same time?

Aggrostemma.1703:

In wvw, the Dagger ele is also popular with focus or off-hand dagger.
It can be power, condition or hybrid.
And you can find some Scepter burst build usually with 6 in Air.

In sPvP the celestial D/D ele is “meta” (I hate this word).
You can see some scepter and staff build too.

Second question: I think the elementalist is very “important” profession let it be wvw zerg (staff nuker-healer-CC), sPvP (bunker or roamer) or might-stacking DPS in dungeons (D/F or S/F, sometimes staff)…

And I don’t think ele is squishy… It uses active mitigation instead of the thief’s stealth-teleport-blind. Protection, stability, invul, evade, heal, CC, positioning gives the “tankiness”. (you can see elementalists in the middle of a hammertrain… Even as commanders… This says a bit about how squishy is this profession if build for bunker…)

Ele is hard to play but very rewarding and a skrittload of fun!

I’m not an expert. At all.
Just my 2 cents…

So if I was to level a D/D ele with celestial gear, I could go WvW and PvP with the same gear since that build is proven to work in both cases as you mentioned correct? that’s great if i got that correctly..

nice video, i enjoyed a lot watching!

a link to the build would be appreciated <3

keep these coming

what about pvp and wvw, any ideas on those?

For D/D in WvW and S/D in PvP

I would prefer Berserker since I can use it for PvE as well which is the only advantage I can think of.

I’ll start crafting my armor so please, any pros and cons and which one I should aim for would be a great advice? PvE and WvW are my priorities but I would also love to do some PvP from time to time.

Hey guys just finished leveling a thief, but it looks like I am too squishy for my taste so I turned to Ele.

tPvP -> what’s the popular builds and armor types? Can someone link please?

WvW -> what’s the popular builds and armor types? Can someone link please?

PvE -> what’s the popular builds and armor types? Can someone link please?

Do you guys think Ele is an important asset to his party or there are other good alternatives?

Thanks in advance

Cant go wrong with this: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fZEQNAoYVlsMp0pdOx7J8PRBNhs5kHcHr2MvCrVAA-T1RBABRcCFua/R5He6bW4QAAwTKgS1fMTJYAAEgb2mt5Nzm38m3sbezbez2sMA6jB-w

I suck, and I have so much fun and ownage with this

enjoyed and learned from it, thanks.

advice: a link to the build can be useful to check later the build so that we dont have to open the youtube video again

Harny.6012:

Legendary greatsword, cost ~3300 gold: Strenght 1,045 – 1,155
Ascended greatsword, cost ~50 gold, Strenght 1,045 – 1,155 (considering you have weaponsmithing on 500, if not, its aditional one-time 110-170 gold).

Legendary is a 2800 to 4600 gold worth skin. It has a nice feature tho, you can choose stat combination on the go.

is this the same for dagger and sword as well? Do they really have the same or really close damages?

Is it worth it to craft Legendary? Do you guys think the stat difference is worth the time and money?

I don’t care about looks.

im a thief, so i would say light

ExTribble.7108:

Gw2crafts.net is the best source I know of for pricing and walking you through leveling crafting. It updates periodically based on TP prices so that it gives a reasonable route to maxing out the craft. If you only care about leveling it up for ascended, you really don’t need much other than that.

The wiki page for ascended armor lists what materials you’ll need to craft a full set. Put those items into the TP or GW2Spidy to estimate your costs. As a tailor, bolts of damask alone run me over 360g for the full set. It’s very expensive assuming you’re starting from zero.

Edit: A lot of what you need for ascended is time gated, i.e. you can only craft one of a material per day. As a result buying these off the TP will usually cost more than crafting it yourself, so if you buy it directly you’re essentially paying a premium to get it right now.

I will have around 650 gold thanks to my friend Hope thats going to be enough at least for armors.

Hello guys I am a new player,

I do not know how crafting works, is there a youtube video guide which explains it nicely for someone like me?

Also I would like to craft my ascended gear as soon as possible, how much gold would it cost approx. for someone to craft a full ascended armor + runes + amulets etc from 0 ?

I mean I have 0 levels in my crafting and I want to craft ascended armors – how much gold would I need to have if i’m going to buy everything all materials off the trading post?

Thanks in advance

d/d full zerk rip through everything – or you can use s/d for cleave but i find d/d much better, such goodness. wow

Doug.4930:

Just wrote this up quickly, have a look:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAoY4alsMpzplOx7J8PNxOBtdtDwE4+EdoEdlDA-TFjDABLcCA4RJUjqEsy+DGcQAWUFHAMh5kyHEUCSxDAQH1B+QvAZAqmAA-w

<3 thanks for the video and the insight. Loved it.

Thanks for the quick answer, may I ask what traits? Would definitely like to give this a try

It sure was a good fight, maybe the editing could be better but still serves the purpose

Do you mind sharing your wvw build with us with the armors as well, look like you found a good balance with that hp pool.

+1 thanks for the video again

Zach.3264:

The build you have linked is full ascended, do you have this?
If not, a build showing EXACTLY what you run may be a bit more helpful. Even if you use cheaper food etc.

EDIT: I have amended the traits to something I personally use.
Build

Has good condi clear through stealth, good fury uptime and a ton of stealth heals.

The key to Thief is either stealth or evades. D/D is stealth based. In this case, you want to stealth often to clear conditions, stack might, heal and give you the advantage of re-opening.

Thank you I’m going to those traits a try right away! Guess this is more of a defensive setup, where I’ll be giving away a bit of damage for a way to clear condis and sustain. Should be a fair trade. Thanks again

e: are you using full zerk as well or valkyrie with zerk amulets (i know thats a popular gear setup)

e2: would you say 2 points in trickery is worth it as opposed to this : http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQJAoYlsMp0pdPxyJ8PNBNBtdFGeI4uGrYGaFAA-TFCFwA61DA4BAcVJISleCOBAOVGUb/BVq/QKArWGB-w

Zord.6130:

messiah.1908:

if you wanna destroy s/d thief just interrupt his rotations (its pretty much like d/d ele)
cripple, chill, immobilize… and he runs away. but good s/d is hard to counter

New SD builds don’t have rotations. Thieves in general don’t rely on rotations. The initiative mechanic makes rotations totally useless for a thief.

Could you give an example link to that SD build you’re talking about please? And what type of armor they are going if thats possible. thanks

I’m using a 6-6-2-0-0 full zerk d/d – sb thief at the moment for wvw, switching to d/p – sb for spvp

I’m having problems vs necro with both builds, let it be power or condi. I am not a good player at all, so it can be just me being outplayed.

But on paper, if two equally skilled players are against each other can you comment how to proceed versus powernecro and condinecro both in wvw and pvp? I would appreciate any tips. My current build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fZEQNAoYVlsMp0pdOx7J8PNRLRsdY3LX5a/EcA-T1RBABRcCFua/R5He6bW4QAAwTKgS1fMTJYAAEgb2mt5Nzm38m3sbezbez2sMA6jB-w

Going to give this a try, as I said – I respect your insight

Do you have problems vs d/d or s/d in PvPs ?

hihey.1075:

Buy a full zerker armor+trinket set. Maybe add some Toughness/Vitality here and there (with some Valkyrie/Soldier/Cavalier pieces) to suit your need. Then buy a Dagger, a Sword, a Shortbow and a Pistol. Strength or Pack runes.

There, you have 3 perfectly interchangeable weaponsets (D/P, S/P, S/D, all with Shortbow as secondary) which can work pretty well in WvW roaming, and are decent training wheels for sPvP. They are also very good for PvE.

Just forget about P/D. Good/experienced players will either get away from you (because they don’t want to fight a spec such as P/D) or kill you (because they use some specs that can beat P/D and you are bad).

You don’t recommend d/d as a good way to play in WvW / PvP?

AikijinX.6258:

MrSimpleMan.6194:

AikijinX.6258:

Carpboy.7145:

Watch people like sizer on twitch. 2/0/0/6/6 is the current s/d meta

Sizer fanboying lol..

Let’s create over-dramatic threads of our own (“ooh we are predators, we should think, critisize, weigh the scenerio”), link them to everyone, call ourselves high tier player and then bash on people who are actually trying to help

lul
If you think what I wrote, and linked to you about how to think as a thief, and what it takes to actually be one is too over dramatic than I wish you luck and many other successes on your path to future thievery and skill development. I hope not to see a QQ thread from you in the future about Thieves being OP.

nooo, not really. I actually respect your contribution back to the community, and quite honestly enjoyed your build’s insight and video however it just clicks me off when someone comes in and links to an obviously one of the best thieves in the scene and then you come and call him out as a fanboy while you are trying so hard to depict yourself as one of the better players out there. You may be a very good thief and a player, but the fact that you are trying to put it under the spotlight, and then call others fanboy contradicts each other.

AikijinX.6258:

Carpboy.7145:

Watch people like sizer on twitch. 2/0/0/6/6 is the current s/d meta

Sizer fanboying lol..

Let’s create over-dramatic threads of our own (“ooh we are predators, we should think, critisize, weigh the scenerio”), link them to everyone, call ourselves high tier player and then bash on people who are actually trying to help

Shockwave.1230:

Thieves aren’t that useful in zergs, you can be a blast battery with cluster bomb in zergs. But your real value as a thief in WvW comes when you run in a havoc group. A 5-10 man group that runs around grabbing objectives that the enemy zergs leave behind. A pvp meta thief build will thrive in that situation.

For PvE/WvW I recommend thieves run as much zerker gear as they are comfortable with. Supplement any non-zerk pieces with something having vitality. Valkyrie is a good option

Makes sense, so you’re saying that a pvp meta which is (just an ex) s/d 20066 build with full zerker build can work in all pvp, pve and wvw(with small roaming groups) ?

Thanks for the answer it really helps alot, so is there any other spike damage that I can use for WvW? I am not a fan of condi build since people call it OP and boring. I can roll d/d, d/p or whatever, I see people talking about that 20k hitting backstabbing thieves, and I think that’s more fun than that condi thief which takes 2 hours to kill someone. Any tips for that?

Thanks Pavel and Cam Ron for great advice.

I am thinking of following the meta: s/d with 2/0/0/6/6 – but I have no idea what type of armor I should aim for. Should I go full berserker with some valkyrie?

Is berserker better than valkyrie? What does valkyrie exactly do ?

Specific tips would be helpful. <3

Thank you, may I ask what type of armor should I get for my thief to play in sPvP or roaming WvW if I wanted to burst down with s/d or d/d ? There are many different opinions on this, dont know what to follow – would appreciate someone’s ideas who plays a thief.

Epic video.

Would you mind sharing your build if that’s not too much to ask with armor types etc. Would love that. Thanks

So you’re saying that even though a skill is balanced (not too powerful, not too bad), just because a large portion of unsuccessful people are spamming HS (and getting beaten btw), the skill has to be nerfed?

kitten , we’re lucky you’re not a staff in balance section :P

Hello guys,

I’m a very eager player, I read a lot. I play a lot. I started the game three days ago, so far I’ve leveled a Warrior, Thief, and an Engineer until level 25.

But I’m still very much so in doubt. I need your advice on what class to play and below I’ll list what I like.

ps. I did not write warrior as a choice because it looks like there are so many of them out there, and they are a bit of everything but not good in one thing so;

What I like:

- Be useful. I would like to play dungeons/fractals from time to time and be a useful asset to my party however this is not my priority.

- Be deadly. I would like to put a good amount of damage. With the right items and the build I want to be able to be a 1v1 beast.

- Be good in sPvP and WvW. self explanatory.

- Not be too squishy. (I have this problem in thief)

- Be able to farm one awesome gear set and build for sPvP, WvW and open world farming / casual dungeons-fractals so I do not have to spend too much time farming different sets of armours/weapons for different events I would like to do.

I would appreciate any advice and tips SO MUCH. Thank you all very much in advance. The help I got in these forums have been impeccable so far.

Link doesnt have the armor slots filled in, thanks anyways

execullent.8560:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0Mp7pFOxyJ8PNBNB5dY+SZ0KAdHl+eEA-TZBFwACeCAl2fYxhAoaZAAnAAA it is for spvp as well as WvW

But for much fun because it needs more skill
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0Mp7pFOxyJ8PNBNB5dY+SZ0KAdHl+eEA-TZBFwACeCAl2fYxhAoaZAAnAAA
D/D really fun but for roaming alone D/P better

thanks! what about the armors, you go full berserk i guess?

execullent.8560:

Cool man!
I prefer direct dmg but its faking good!

Can u link build?

Sorry for hijacking thread but can you link a build to direct dmg for wvw/spvp as well, I would really appreciate it !

Would a direct damage build be viable for WvW too so I can just gear up one awesome armor and weapon set for both spvp/tpvp and WvW? And what kind of a build it should be if yes?

Hello everyone,

I am a very eager new player, leveling my thief 10 hours a day, and I’m starting to experience WvW and some sPvP action.

I have few questions though:

1) Everyone is saying P/D full Dire condi build is the way to go for WvW to faceroll everyone. Will this build work for open world farming?

2) Will the above build work for sPvP ? If not, what build would I have to aim for?

3) If that build won’t work for sPvP, will I have to have 2 sets of armors? Won’t it be super expensive to farm?

Thank you very much in advance, people are in this forum are so helpful, and the community is much more mature. A big help to new players like me and pretty sure what still keeps this game so fun and active <3

what do you mean P/D condi thieves are too passive? They are a killing machine

I started the game 3 days ago, read a lot. Even I can win vs a HS spamming thief right now.

Can you guys give me some tips about what sort of armor I should aim for sPvP and WvW please (berserk, celestial etc)

thanks!

i can very much benefit from this too.

btw i heard s/d 20066 build is the way to go for 1v1 pvp

Can someone give me a leveling guide? Or some tips to level easily? Skills & traits, weapons?

Really need them atm.

Still looking to get some help with skills and traits while leveling. I find it that Ele is one of the few classes that do not have a leveling guide like others for Open World Farming..