Guild Wars 2

Loirinuotiolla.3287:

Does full valkyrie with zerk weapons/scholar runes work for MM build?

I don’t see why not, although I always felt plenty sturdy in full zerkers with minions, plus Rise plus Blood Magic life steal, plus the extra life bar from shroud. With 20k base hp I never felt the need to increase vitality. But for a non-MM power build having 30k hp is pretty sweet.

Power builds are good for all PvE unless you exclusively do T4 fractals and raiding. The gear is cheaper to get than Viper gear (which you must craft yourself and farm for the trinkets). And you can easily switch between minion master (e.g., Death Magic/Blood Magic/Reaper, with full minion bar) and non-MM shout/wells shroud build (e.g., Spite/Soul Reaping/Reaper) for 2 entirely different playstyles that use the same (zerker or valkyrie) gear. Both power builds also use GS and either staff, axe/x or dagger/x for other set, depending on your preference. Fantastic builds. The only reason I eventually switched to Viper condi build is to get set-up for T4 fractals and raiding.

Although that build is fine, I have found it much easier to use a minion master reaper build on HoT maps and in Bloodstone Fen. You can go Power or Condi build. For Power I use Death Magic/Blood Magic/Reaper and zerk gear (with GS and axe/dagger or staff). Awesome for all PvE except for T4 fractals and raiding. For condi I use Death Magic/Curses/Reaper and Viper gear (with scepter/x). Fill the bar with minions (plus Rise) or switch a few out for additional shouts or curses. This condi build is better for high level fractals and raiding, but can still work in open world.

Or better yet, change the loot tables so that at level 80 instead of dropping blue/green gear have crafting materials drop instead. Blue/green level 80 gear is completely worthless since no one will ever use it.

Interesting. I have always found Rise to be pretty great in open world. Even after the “nerf”,, which to be honest I didn’t notice while soloing. I always run Rise on my power and condi MM reaper builds. It’s what allows the ability to solo champs because of all the life steal and extra toughness.

LeShock.4219:

Something like this? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAnYWnM0AdbiN1Ae1As3glpBTaAUACAxfwU4Lc6BcBqAA-ThCBQB5RfglUVpg7PAgTAADOEAlRJWAeCAVStCso84MKBBA-e

Or like this? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR3YnM0AdbiN1Ae1As3glpBL+DmCfhSDgCQAY6BcBqAA-TRCBQBFc/h8obIAXBgyoEDLKPskqKnRJIAeIAVStCA-e

I used your build #2, but I used full zerker gear with Scholar runes and Sigils of Air instead of Accuracy. But if you want to sacrifice some dps for more tankiness then by all means add in more toughness or vitality. I didn’t feel squishy in zerkers because of all the life steal from minions when running Blood Magic. For fractals and dungeons I often switched out one or 2 of the minions for additional shouts (particularly fractals that need boon strip).

They have completely different play styles. Impossible to give advice. I really enjoy my necro. My thief is currently my level 53 bag opener. Your experience may be the opposite.

Tobias.8632:

Red Rover.9810:

Tobias.8632:

The best minion build you can get for PvE is the viper horrors build. Jagged Horrors are minions with decaying health that come from two places, a grandmaster death magic trait, and your 4th skill in lich form.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Viper_Horror

Viper horror is great, but for solo PvE and map exploration (what the OP is looking for) it lacks speed unless you run with the speed signet on your bar, or switch one of your trait lines to Blood Magic. Power MM reaper is much easier and cheaper to run in solo open world PvE. But if you want to do high level fractals or raiding, that’s a different story.

Yeah, so you just switch either CPC or epi for locust sig depending on the mobs in the area, that’s no reason to switch to an inferior stat set that will set you back if you later decide to try raiding

Right, but you are forgetting that the OP is not even 80 yet, probably does not have much gold (I know I didn’t at that time), may not have the capability to craft his own gear (which is required for Viper’s since it can’t be bought on the TP), and does not have Reaper unlocked yet. So in this case it will be much easier for him to start with a power MM build. This is exactly what I did and it took me several months to gear up for my switch to Viper Horror. I now run condi MM for everything, but power MM reaper served me well for a long time while I accumulated the gear for condi.

I guess YMMV. For me necro was much easier to level than thief. Just wield a dagger and use the Blood Magic trait for speed (or use the speed signet). Spite/BM/SR and kill everything with wells and dagger autoattack. Switch SR or Spite for Death Magic if you want to run minions, but I really didn’t use minions until I got to the HoT zones.

Tobias.8632:

The best minion build you can get for PvE is the viper horrors build. Jagged Horrors are minions with decaying health that come from two places, a grandmaster death magic trait, and your 4th skill in lich form.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Viper_Horror

Viper horror is great, but for solo PvE and map exploration (what the OP is looking for) it lacks speed unless you run with the speed signet on your bar, or switch one of your trait lines to Blood Magic. Power MM reaper is much easier and cheaper to run in solo open world PvE. But if you want to do high level fractals or raiding, that’s a different story.

That’s close to what I ran as a power MM reaper build before I switched to full viper condi. It works great solo. However, I prefer axe/dagger instead of staff (still carry the staff in your pack) because then you can run the speed trait for wielding a dagger in Blood Magic and drop the speed signet for either a ranged bone fiend (for a second bar break ability) or another shout or signet. I also like Decimate Defenses in Reaper because in open world situations the bosses will have lots of vulnerability stacks.

There’s also another MM thread just 3 or 4 threads below that has a lot of info.

Minions are fine in high-end fractals, but probably not a full bar. I run a minimum of the healing fiend, Rise and either lich form (for the minions from #4) or the flesh golem (if more bar breaking is needed in the group) with my Viper build.

With my power MM build I run the above plus the ranged fiend and usually take another shout (like the boon strip, which can be useful in 50+ fractals where the mobs gain boons when they are hit). I use Force and Air sigils on weapons with the power build.

As others have stated there are many ways you can go with a MM, but in my mind both Reaper and Death Magic are mandatory. Reaper for greatsword (when using a power build), Rise and the far superior reaper shroud. Death Magic for obvious reasons. When running power and mostly solo I use Blood Magic as the third line since it makes you tanky even with full zerker gear and the increased speed when wielding a dagger is great (which is why I run axe/dagger with GS). But Soul Reaping would also be an option for more of a shroud build (want to be in shroud as much as possible) and in this case you could easily use Valkyrie gear for extra health (to offset lack of Blood Magic life steal) since traits will bring you to 100% crit chance while in shroud anyway. Spite doesn’t seem to synergize that well with Reaper and Death Magic. With my condi MM (Viper) I take Curses as the third line and use scepter/dagger. When running around solo using the condi build I often switch out Reaper for Blood Magic.

The best thing to do is experiment for yourself to see what works for you.

Condi MM (e.g., Viper Horror with Curses/DM/Reaper) works well in the new zone since you don’t really need the speed as you are almost always gliding to move around the map. But on other maps that require a lot of running around I just can’t stand to be without Blood Magic for the speed while wielding a dagger. In the latter case I prefer a power MM reaper build (BM/DM/Reaper) rather than giving up Reaper for BM/DM/Curses (Curses and DM are pretty much mandatory for a condi MM).

I can only tell you what worked really well for me in a very similar situation. After reaching 80, I used a power-based build with dagger/wh and staff and Death Magic/Blood Magic/Soul Reaping (with full minion bar). I didn’t have much gold so bought a cheap set of Cavalier exotic armor until I could afford Zerker armor with Scholar’s runes (Zerker weapons and trinkets). This worked great for starting in the HoT zones. After Reaper was unlocked I switched to Death Magic/Blood Magic/Reaper and GS plus axe/dagger (still using all Zerker gear) and this has worked great for all PvE content up to high level fractals (switched to a Viper Horror condi build for those after crafting all ascended Viper gear). If you don’t plan to do high level fractals (or raids) then the power MM reaper build will be all you will ever need for PvE. And if you want you can easily switch out to a power non-MM reaper build with shouts/wells instead of minions (e.g., Spite/Soul Reaping/Reaper).

Hi Dan, try this necromancer build. Use dagger/warhorn for your primary weapon set and for your second weapon set either staff or axe/dagger (I prefer axe/dagger). Make sure autoattack is set for button 1. Dagger autoattack is quite good and will take you all the way to level 80 without needing to do much button pressing (don’t spam button 1 – just let your autoattack cycle through its series of 3 different attacks). Use gear with power and precision (and later on ferocity for the 3rd stat). Buy level appropriate green gear at the trading post every 10-15 levels since it is so cheap. Use cheap food and a sharpening stone.

For your build I would go with Death Magic 1,1,1 (meaning the topmost choice for each column that can be picked) and use a full bar of minions. Second trait line will be Blood Magic 2 (faster run speed while wielding a dagger!), 3, 2 and 3rd will be Spite 1, 3 (if you use axe, otherwise 2), 2. With axe you can just attack things from range while your minions kill everything, or jump into melee and rip things to shreds with your dagger. When full lifeforce you can go into shroud – great if your health gets low as it is basically another full health bar. Super easy and fun build (in my experience).

At level 80 I switched out Spite for Reaper and dagger/wh for greatsword and it is a fantastic minion build for open world PvE as well as dungeons/fractals.

It also should be mentioned that Reaper is still good even without using Rise, mainly for the shroud. Even if you don’t take Soul Reaping, reaper shroud is still up a reasonable amount of time (usually whenever it is really needed). With dagger mainhand like in your posted build you will have good lifeforce generation to fuel your shrouds. In my case, I prefer axe/dagger for ranged attacks, running around the map and ok-ish lifeforce generation, then switch to GS right before popping shroud and when shroud is over spam Gravedigger as the mob (e.g., a veteran or champion) is usually less than half health by that time. Works really well.

After playing several hours tonight in both open world PvE and fractals I honestly can’t tell much of a difference. Rise is still good when you have Blood Magic (Vampiric) and Death Magic (toughness per minion, condi transfer, poison explosion on death). However, I am curious about how the minion nerfs feel in a Viper Horror condi build (Curses/DM/Reaper), where you don’t have Blood Magic, since I have been gathering gear to switch to that build for higher fractals.

I don’t see the Rise and other minion nerfs as being a huge deal, but I don’t raid. I guess I will find out soon enough how badly this hurts me in fractals and world PvE. I do wish they would have slightly reduced the cooldown on Rise though with the damage reduction nerf. I wield an axe/dagger and GS with my power MM build, so hopefully the improvements to axe will offset the nerfs to minions.

I couldn’t live without the trait in BM for increased speed while wielding a dagger.

I prefer the ranged fiend instead of the shadow fiend, and the flesh golem for the bar break instead of lich (cooldown on lich too long for me in most situations). YMMV

I would use berserker gear with that build since it is a power build – will be interesting to see how squishy it is now. Previously I have felt plenty tanky using berserker.

Sounds like you’re talking about the Viper Horror condi build:

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Viper_Horror

However, for this build you will need a lot of gold, crafter characters to make the gear (Viper gear needs to be crafted since it is bind to account, or obtained through raiding) and the trinkets needed are only obtainable through raiding (Vipers) or are gated behind completing somewhat annoying and buggy achievements in the LW Season 2 story (Sinister trinkets) or HoT story (Viper amulet). I have been working on getting some of this gear outside of raiding and to be honest I am about ready to just give in and get the less desirable Rampager trinkets instead.

Or you can just go with a power reaper build (minion build or shout/well build) and breeze through all open world/dungeon and low-mid level fractal content.

It also depends on what content you will be attempting. If you are jumping right into the HoT zones (e.g., to work on unlocking Reaper) then it won’t be easy with a non-minion (e.g., shout/well), dagger/x, Spite/BM/SR power build. This was my experience anyway after leveling 1-80 with such a build. To make it a bit easier I bought a set of exotic Cavalier’s gear since it was so cheap on the TP and the extra toughness helped a lot. But even then I worked to unlock Reaper quickly (try to join hero point trains) so that I could switch to a power reaper minion master build (and I eventually switched to zerker gear).

For Core Tyria content, non-minion dagger/x Spite/BM/SR works really well with whatever gear (preferably zerker) and kills stuff fast.

If you decide to stay with the dagger/x minion build that you are using I would suggest going with Death Magic 1,1,1 (Death Nova is a must for any minion build IMO; even better of course after you get Rise). I also prefer Vampiric Presence in BM and Death Perception in SR. And I would use staff or axe/x as a secondary weapon instead of scepter (which is a condi weapon).

I couldn’t tell you much about condition builds since I am just now starting to collect the viper/sinister gear for that. I leveled from 1-80 the old school way using a power build (power/precision/ferocity) stats with dagger/warhorn + staff and shouts/wells on my bar rather than minions. Power builds generally use dagger, axe and greatsword (after unlocking Reaper) as mainhand weapons. Condition builds generally use scepters. At 80 I switched to a power minion master build as described in the link above, switching dagger/wh +staff to GS + axe/dagger after unlocking the full Reaper tree.

You generally want to use either a power build or a condition build as they don’t really mix together that well (although I’m sure you could still work with some sort of hybrid build in most open world situations.

For a condition build you could work on gearing for the viper horror build that is a popular meta build, particularly for high level fractals and raiding. Just google viper horror and you will find all kinds of info on it. It won’t work quite so well for open world PvE and lower fractals and dungeons since things die too quickly to take advantage of the sustained condition damage, but on the positive side you will feel like a classic necromancer (minions, de-buffs, DoTs, fears, etc.).

Plus, wouldn’t Target the Weak in the Curses trait line make up (at least in part) for the decreased condition damage in the rampagers trinkets compared with sinisters? I haven’t done the actual math.

Also, with vipers gear plus rampagers trinkets (or sinister trinkets) is there an issue getting to 100% condition duration for bleeds, etc.? Or can it easily be accomplished with food?

Yes, Death, Blood and Soul Reaping works well for a minion build if you don’t have Reaper. This would be a good build if you intend to jump right into HoT zones because minions will make your life easier.

Alternatively, if you aren’t going to jump into HoT right away and instead plan to just explore Tyria, do your personal story, etc., then a non-minion build also works very well. For example you could use Spite, Blood and Soul Reaping with dagger/warhorn and axe/x or staff (for large group/world boss events where you want to tag as many mobs as possible or are in situations that are suited for ranged). Without minions on your bar you would instead use shouts/wells. But from my own personal experience I would suggest the minion build if you plan to jump into HoT to start to unlock Reaper.

Currently in the process of switching from power reaper build to condi (viper horror) for advancing into higher level fractals. Ascended viper armor/weapons are obvious, but what would be the best trinket/backpiece choices? Viper is not an option for trinkets since I don’t raid. Do I have to bite the bullet and do the tedious LS2 achievements for the ascended sinister trinkets or would one of the original sets (e.g., rampagers) work well enough for high level fractals? The metabattle build only has viper or sinister options for trinkets.

This MM power reaper build works great for all open world PvE, dungeons and low-mid level fractals:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR3YnM0Ad1gN1AebCs3glpBL+DmCfhTPgLwxSaAUACAA-TRRBABXt/o87hrAgZKBpU9HAeIAAA-e

If you haven’t unlocked all of Reaper yet then you can use Soul Reaping instead of Reaper and use dagger/warhorn plus staff.

It is particularly good for solo PvE, i.e. running around in the HoT zones. Non MM builds also work, but I find this to be the sturdiest build and easiest to solo large groups of mobs, champs, etc.

I leveled to 80 without minions and found it to be pretty easy with dagger/wh and staff (staff mostly for tagging mobs in large group events like world bosses). Mainly did exploration/hearts and personal story. I used Spite 1,2,2 and Blood Magic 2,3,1. In my 70’s when the 3rd spec opened up I used Soul Reaping 1,2,2 (shroud build). I used signets and wells on my skill bar. Bought new green (masterwork) “strong” gear every 10 levels or so since it is so cheap on the TP.

At 80 I switched to a MM build for HoT zones (switch out Soul Reaping for Death Magic 1,1,1) and a full minion bar. After unlocking Reaper I switched out Spite for Reaper 1,3,3 and switched out one of my minions for Rise. Full zerkers armor plus scholar runes. Switched weapons to GS plus axe/dagger. Love this power reaper MM build for solo PvE at 80. And it can be easily switched to a non-MM build (e.g., Spite/Soul Reaping/Reaper with shouts) for grouping when minions aren’t desired.

You’re not really going to be using wells in a “true” MM build (i.e., full minion bar). But the nice thing about power reaper is that you can easily switch between MM and non-MM builds (e.g., Reaper/Spite/SR or BM). Personally I find the MM build makes solo PvE a lot easier though, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of preference.

So you guys will actually put up with old farts who remember pocket calculators, rotary phones and vinyl records (I guess these are making a comeback), and who think of “classic rock” as just “rock”? I will be applying later after I get off work.

That is close to the build that I use for open world PvE. I use full berserker’s with scholars runes. Most of the time I use GS instead of dagger/WH, and I use axe/dagger instead of staff. I use the bone fiend instead of the shadow fiend. And as Lahmia suggested in the previous post I use Decimate Defenses and Reaper’s Onslaught in the Reaper tree.

I would never get rid of Rise. It is what allows soloing larger groups of mobs in low pop HoT or Silverwaste maps – all that extra toughness and life steal.

OK that makes sense. I haven’t done any of the dungeons yet (other than to solo some of the story modes), but I have watched a few videos on the various paths and am familiar with the stacking strategy (e.g., in AC). So it sounds like I can still bring Rise into dungeons, but only use my “permanent” minions in fractals.

I’m curious as to which minions are acceptable to use in dungeons/fractals. I currently run a power MM reaper build for open world PvE with a full minion bar, but I could eliminate some of them or even switch to a non-MM power build (e.g., Spite/Reaper/BM or SR) for dungeons/fractals. I prefer playing with minions tho as I enjoy the classic necro playstyle more than the “melee reaper” style.

Here’s my power reaper MM build that I use for solo PvE:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR3YnM0AN1gd1AebCs3glpBL+DmCfhSDgCQAY6BcBOWA-TRRBABXt/o8jS1fMTJ4DXBAAeIABAOA43f/93f/NA-e

It works great and you can easily switch to a non-MM power reaper build (e.g., spite/SR (or BM)/reaper with shouts/wells) for grouping if you want. I used dagger/warhorn and DM/BM/SR until I got reaper. It doesn’t take long getting the points for reaper if you just join hero point trains on HoT maps.

The only problem is that the food that I typically use is cheaper to buy on the tp than it is to buy the mats to craft it. So my alt that has 400 cooking goes largely unused.

I recently returned to the game after not playing for about 3 years (I stopped sometime at the start of LS1 to play another game). This time around I decided to start a new level 1 character (necro).

1. I didn’t buy HoT until after I hit 80. If you decide you like the game after playing again then you will eventually want to get it.

2. As others have said you would need to buy LS2 if you want to do that content. It’s not necessary, but really helps to get to know the characters you interact with in HoT. You also get some Central Tyria mastery points from it, and some decent gear. If you don’t buy it and want to know the story before playing the HoT maps you could watch youtube playthroughs. There are some good ones.

3. I have really been enjoying necro since I also play mostly solo. I’m using a power-based reaper minion master build (reaper/death magic/blood magic, gs and axe/dagger, full zerker gear, full minion bar). HoT zones were a bit tricky until I got my reaper specialization and some exotic gear, but now are not an issue.

4. It took me about 2-3 weeks to level to 80 playing approx. 3 hours per day. I used two tomes (to rush to get my 3rd trait tree) and got around 12-15 levels in the mid-level range from crafting artificer to 400. Otherwise it was all from map exploration, hearts, personal story, events/occasional world bosses. I finished all of my races home maps (Kryta) and Orr, but didn’t do any of the other race maps until after 80. No PvP or WvW. No dungeons. I did use some birthday xp boosters that I had lying around. So this should give you a good idea.

I also have a mesmer and she is definitely not quite as easy to solo with as the necro (but fun to play though).

Edit: Actually, thinking about it some more I believe I only got 7-8 levels from artificing 400. I got close to 15 levels on my mesmer from crafting both tailoring and weaponsmithing to 400 each. It only costs a few gold to get to 400 crafting if you save up mats as you play (and if you use crafting boosters).

What is your build? I run full minions power reaper (Reaper/DM/BM) for solo PvE and full zerkers is perfectly fine. But it feels a bit too squishy when running a non-minion power reaper shroud build (Reaper/SR/Spite) with zerkers, so for that I am working on getting valks (mainly for grouping in dungeons/fractals). Valks should be fine in a group setting with all the other buffs. Also, slowly working on ascended vipers just because (something to aspire to I guess).

I use a similar build for PvE with some differences:

Axe/dagger instead of staff
Full berserkers plus scholars gear; force/air on weapons
“Rise” instead of the shadow fiend
Quickening Thirst in BM (BM 2,3,2) for increased run speed while wielding the dagger
Reaper 1,3,3 (Augury of Death for shorter “Rise” cooldown: Decimate Defenses is important for pushing crit chance toward 100%)

I’ve tried all the different reaper power builds and this MM build is by far the best for me for solo PvE. YMMV

Power reaper builds are fun and versatile, and a lot cheaper than the condi (viper armor) build. You should have no problem doing all solo PvE content (including HoT zones), other PvE events (metas, world bosses, etc.), dungeons and fractals. I went with full berserkers armor/weapons/trinkets (exotic armor/weapons with some ascended trinkets, working on ascended weapons for kicks), but another option would be Valkyrie’s armor, particularly if you group up a lot (you don’t need added precision if you always have the precision buff plus 25 stacks of vulnerability up with the Reaper trait that converts that to 50% crit chance).

There are several fun power builds that can be interchanged depending on your situation or preferred playstyle:

Reaper/Death Magic/Blood Magic – minion build with lots of life steal, great for solo in the HoT zones, high mobility with dagger equipped, my personal favorite (with gs and axe/dagger)

Reaper/Death Magic/Soul Reaping – minion build with emphasis on staying in shroud, lower mobility without BM unless you sacrifice a minion for the speed signet

Reaper/Spite/Blood Magic – uses shouts/wells instead of minions, good mobility with a dagger equipped

Reaper/Spite/Soul Reaping – shroud version of the above

You can mix/match these weapon sets with a power build:

Greatsword – slow, but Gravedigger crits are so sweet when the mob gets below 50%
Dagger/warhorn or focus – good for building life force
Axe/x – ranged that does ok damage, great when you want to be lazy with a minion build
Staff – low damage but best range, good for tagging in zergs (world bosses, meta events)

I carry all of these weapon sets and switch them out when needed.

I don’t see any need to get ascended armor unless you plan to do high level fractals and raiding, in which case you will probably want a condi (vipers) build anyway for that content.

I am loving this power-based reaper MM build for solo PvE:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR3YnM0AN1gd1AebCs3glpBTaAUACATPgLwxK+DmCfhA-ThRBABXt/o8DPdDA8QAe4KAQp6PmpE8bABg1atWrGChQIIFQELjA-e

I’m using Berserker armor for solo play, but Valkyrie would certainly be good for grouping. It’s versatile so you could easily switch out minions for shouts/wells (in which case you would switch Death Magic for Spite – Soul Reaping could also be used instead of Blood Magic for a more shroud-oriented build). I also carry around a staff and warhorn in my bag, but mostly just use the axe/dagger and gs. I have no problem soloing most hero point champs in HoT zones with this build.

Like you I’m also interesting in trying a condi build – working on crafting Viper gear as my next set. Those linseed oils are expensive tho. Was planning on just using the Viper Horror meta build.

Since you are going for a condi build, it sounds like you should just get whatever armor set with condition damage is the cheapest while you save up for Vipers. I’m not sure why you would give up Reaper tho since you have HoT. Rise is so so good as a MM, and reaper’s shroud is so much better than death shroud. You don’t have to use a greatsword. You can still use scepter/x and staff for a condi build, or axe/dagger for a power build, and maintain your “lazy ranged playstyle” with minions.

I mostly run around doing solo PvE, except when grouping periodically for champ hero points, meta events, etc. I have really been enjoying a reaper minions build – reaper/death magic/blood magic. I have full minions on my bar, including rise. I use greatsword and axe/dagger (love the fast speed when equipping dagger with the blood magic trait). My gear is all exotic or ascended (a few trinkets) zerkers with scholar runes. I find it works well for all solo PvE including HoT content.

Exotic zerkers/scholars can be a bit pricey, but not too bad if you can craft it yourself (assuming you have been saving up some mats as you leveled – by doing this it cost me almost nothing to level both tailoring and weaponsmithing to 400) and use buy orders to purchase mats.

Another good option is valkyries armor if you are still feeling a bit squishy (I haven’t felt this way with the minions build in zerkers to be honest). However, if soloing with valk armor it may be better to use soul reaping instead of blood magic to get the increased crit chance in shroud. This makes it more of a shroud build (with minions) as you want to be in shroud as much as possible. In this case it may help to use dagger/x also for fast life force generation. Valkyries seems to be a very good choice if you plan to do a lot of grouping as precision on armor is not important when you always have the precision buff plus 25 stacks of vulnerability (50% crit chance with the reaper trait). There are other posts on valkyries by people with more experience than I.

I’m sure it would also be fine to use the build mentioned above (reaper/spite/blood magic) with shouts/wells instead of minions, but for HoT content I wouldn’t try this without at least having exotic gear (this has been my experience at least – YMMV). Without minions having valk armor may be even more desirable (and possibly soul reaping instead of blood magic), but I’m sure people have managed this with full zerkers as well.

Are you talking about open world PvE? If so, you could just go full zerker armor + scholars runes, which is what I’m currently doing with a full minion build (reaper/death magic/blood magic). I’m using greatsword plus axe/dagger. You could also switch out blood magic for soul reaping for more shroud uptime (in which case you may want dagger/x instead of gs for better life force gen), but I personally am liking the leech with all the minions. It crushes in solo PvE and still feels fairly beefy – don’t see why you would need the healing power. It also allows you to switch to a reaper shout build with few/no minions if you want. So it is pretty versatile. You could also go with Valkyrie, but then you kind of have to go Soul Reaping for the increased crit in shroud (more of a pure shroud build).

FrostDraco.8306:

Don’t run full zerk on a power necro. Decimating strikes is 50% crit, and death perception is another 50 in shroud. Valkyrie is a much better use of stats. You only need 30% crit rate to cap outside of shroud in pugs. 20% if you have a warrior with banners, and 10% if you have a ranger with the precision buff.

Valkyrie armor sounds good for grouping, where you will always have 25 stacks of vulnerability up, but what about for solo open world? Wouldn’t your crit chance be low outside of shroud without using berserkers armor? So wouldn’t you need berserkers armor if you want to use a greatsword (for crit gravediggers) or if you want to use Blood Magic instead of Soul Reaping (assuming the 2 non-negotiable trait lines are Reaper and Death Magic for a reaper minion build)?

Shinzan.2908:

The personal story and low level zones are fun, but playing without full traits or skills is not, I’d suggest using the boost then playing through the content and explore everything anyway.

I agree with this. Some professions don’t really start to shine until you have all your traits unlocked. So if you plan to boost and then play the core game that should be fine. But I wouldn’t recommend boosting and then heading straight to the HoT zones since that will likely be very frustrating. I leveled 1-80 without boosting and found out that I needed to make some changes to my build and gear when I got to HoT. The build and playstyle that worked just fine for me in the core game didn’t work so well in HoT. It really helped that I had leveled previously without boosting and experimented with different builds previously so that I could adjust easier to HoT.

Don’t things die too fast in non-raid PvE for the viper’s build to be worth using? I thought that was for raiding and high level fractals? That being said, I’m sure it’s feasible to use any build for non-raid PvE. But don’t you find Lich Form (and subsequent horror generation) to have too long of a cooldown in most non-raid encounters? Wouldn’t Flesh Golem and “Rise” be better for a Death Magic build for non-raid PvE?

When you first hit 80 it can be very expensive to gear yourself out in full berserker plus scholar runes, so full cavalier plus scrapper runes is a good alternative. You can use assassins trinkets if you want to boost crit chance a bit, or go with Reaper/Death Magic/Soul Reaping, in which case you don’t need precision that much as you will be in shroud as much as possible anyway (close to 100% crit chance in shroud with the appropriate traits). This is if you don’t mind getting into the fray with your minions rather than standing back and letting them do the dirty work. The extra toughness is nice when running around solo in HoT zones.

I’m no expert as I recently started playing GW2 again after a break of several years. But I can tell you what has been working well for me. I leveled up a new necro from 1-80 using dagger/WH plus staff, mostly open world PvE, and using a Spite/Blood Magic/Soul Reaping build. Never used a single minion. Worked great in the vanilla zones. When I hit 80 I bought a full set of rare (yellow) berserker’s armor and weapons, rare scholars runes and green berserker’s trinkets and headed to the HoT zones. But I felt really squishy. So I changed things up a bit as follows:

- Bought a full set of exotic cavalier’s armor and superior runes of the scrapper. This cost me a little over 20 gold using buy orders – much cheaper than trying to get exotic berserker’s plus scholars which will cost about 20 gold per piece. Kept my berserker’s weapons and trinkets.

- Switched my build to Death Magic/Blood Magic/Soul Reaping. Still basically a shroud build, but with minions (and Well of Suffering).

- After grinding out my Reaper elite I switched Blood Magic to Reaper ankitten ow using GS plus Staff. Still a primarily a shroud build (but Reaper Shroud now), but with some minions (Flesh Golem plus Rise).

I will slowly accumulate berserker’s armor for more dps in groups, but I love the extra toughness when mostly solo in the HoT zones.

Not for what I am doing currently, but my survivablity shot up anyway when I hit 80 and started upgrading armor/jewelry/weapons. It will keep getting better as I add more exotics. This build certainly works great for running around Orr. BTW I am using hammer and scepter/focus. I leveled mostly using the GS but I have grown to like the hammer.

I am also a new 80 guardian using a shout build (mostly based on the Paragon build). The 0/5/30/30/5 build is certainly a good one, but since I am still soloing quite a bit (finishing zones, farming for ectos to buy more exotics, etc.) I switched to 0/15/30/20/5. Being able to use Virtue of Justice on every mob is great and I still feel fairly sturdy with full knights armor and soldier runes (full berserker jewelry and weapons). However for grouping (dungeons or Wv3) it may be best to switch to the other build (to add Pure of Voice and a bit more health).

Actually I should qualify my first statement. Crafting while leveling is basically worthless from the standpoint of keeping yourself in gear. It is not worthless from the standpoint of helping you to level up, as it does provide good xp.

Increasing the drop rate of fine materials (or decreasing the fine material requirement for recipes) would certainly be welcomed, but unfortunately that still won’t solve the problem that crafting is basically worthless while leveling. On my server you can buy a full set of masterwork (green) gear on the trading post, including all armor, weapons and trinkets for a few coppers net, at any level. Individual pieces are easily found at one copper over vendor price. This allows you to completely upgrade your gear every few levels for almost no cost (a few coppers after vendoring your previous set). It would be hard to justify the cost in coin and time of crafting comparable gear every few levels when you can just buy it for free (basically). Of course you sometimes can’t find all of the exact stats that you want, but it doesn’t matter much with gear that you will only be using for a few hours.

I love crafting in MMO’s but have shelved it (except for Cooking) in GW2 until 80, when I will just power it up so that I can work on the “end-game” gear.