Guild Wars 2

Khalifahaze.6045:

Overall will a build like that be successful? The answer is most likely. The thing about powermancer in my opinion is that is is best suited for a certain play style. I have found you can bring the most devastation to enemies by going all out on the offensive side. While you may lack some of the defensive abilities a build like yours may grant you, you can make up for that with positioning and general map awareness.

You gain some survivability by going more into death and blood magic, but you lose the crit from curses and all the benefits that soul reaping gives you. In my opinion I would still say that a 30/15/10/0/15 will bring you more success but to each their own. Every person has their own play style and if this is better for you it can work. You will find that you will live longer, but your damage will be substantially lower.

To touch on a few of your choices I will say that retal on DS from the spite tree is very nice and would work well in a build like yours. The reason I chose the might stack per life blast trait was because life blast is a main source of your damage when you tilt towards a more offensive build. Mixed with blood is power you will constantly be might stacked increasing your overall damage.

Dark armor is nice, but I think you will find that it isn’t as great as it sounds. I feel that you won’t notice the increase in toughness saving you all that much. It goes back to the fact that vit>toughness for necro.

Double wells are pretty nice for some good burst damage, but you will find that you seem to be a one trick pony in a sense. You burn both wells and you are left with no utilities for a long period of time. This is why I found blood is power to be a better choice, it has a relatively small CD and increase your overall damage by a lot.

Overall I think a build that yours could work well, it’s just I feel that a condi necro is better suited for a defensive style build. Power necro as I have said many times needs to be play offensively to punish your enemies.

Seems like a pretty fair analysis to me. I like the defensive play style, but I’ve never been a big fan of condition damage for many of the same reasons you’ve listed. I’ll definitely be trying out your build though and seeing if I can make things work with a more aggressive play style. Thanks!

I’ve been running a defensive variation of your build in tPvP and it’s been working for me. Granted, I’m pretty average as far as tPvP goes and I don’t run with a team, but I feel confident in all 1v1s and even some 1v2s. Was wondering what you would think of it. I run Staff and D/D with the PVT amulet and gem. I use bloodlust/energy on the daggers and energy on the staff. I use Runes of the Ogre (Rock Dog is OP). I take Well of Suffering, Well of Corruption, Signet of Undeath, and Lich. (Switch Signet for BiP for hotjoin fun!)

Spite: 30 (V,X,XII) I don’t see many people get the instant retal, but it helps me out a ton against any class with burst that can evade/dodge most of my damage. It just takes some practice to get the timing right. And since I’m trying to outlast rather than burst, I don’t really need the might stacking.

Curses: 0 Giving up all crit damage.

Death Magic: 20 (I, II) I’ll explain the Dark Armor in a bit.

Blood Magic: 20 (II, X) the move speed from X is really just a nice perk, and I could probably use a better trait there. Not really sure. Probably Mark of Evasion with the extra dodges I have from sigils? I could remove 10 points from Blood, but I’m not sure where they would be better used without moving 15 points around.

I take Dark Armor because it works so well with Bloodthirst. It makes your effective hit points much higher and helps you outlast your opponent. This is really why I feel the build “works”, otherwise I’d just go full burst with your build. The extra boon duration also helps me keep regen up for most of the fight which helps out a ton. I know the dev’s were talking about how they didn’t like how Greater Marks was basically mandatory, so I’m hoping I’ll eventually be able to use the Dark Armor/Bloodthirst combo while still having enough points left over to invest in crit. I can dream right?

What do you think? Ever tried anything like it? Am I missing something that only becomes apparent at high levels of tPvP?

Zalaz, I’ll have to try that out, it sounds like it could work well. I’m still not completely sure about using Life Blast to stack vulnerability since the Axe can already do that, but traiting for retaliation makes it a bit stronger.

I don’t have many issues with melee classes, but struggle when it comes to fighting ranged classes in open areas. How did you try to deal with this?

Elusive, I guess using the word “burst” is a bit misleading. I don’t expect (or want) the Necro to be a bursty class like the thief or warrier. I was trying to make a build that did moderate sustained damage without relying on conditions. “Burst” for this build would be stacking might for yourself and vulnerability on your target with life blast, then popping your signet for more might, then dropping your 2,3,4 marks.

Mattl, let me know how it goes, and if you find anything that works any better.

Uchi, not sure about Vampiric Rituals. Didn’t know that it might be bugged? I’m honestly to new to pay attention to how much it ticks, I just pay attention to how full my health pool is, and if it’s going up or down lol.

A few questions..

What do you mean by stability?
Doesn’t (3) in a condition build do decent burst? I’ve heard it does, but haven’t tried it.
Do they get outshined even with a condition build? By what class(es)?

Edit: Also does Lich form count as burst damage? Or does it take to long to put out all your damage?

I don’t like doing damage over time, and I love stealing life. Everything I’ve read about the necromancer so far is basically telling me that I should trait for conditions in sPvP and use a scepter, but the lifesteal/power build I’ve been using seems to be working for me.

My build focuses on stacking might, being tanky, and having lot’s of healing. I end up with about 28k HP, 2.4k Power, 1.8k Vitality, 1.5k Toughness, and only 900 Precision.

I don’t have a lot of sPvP experience, I’m only rank 8, so hopefully there are some necros here that can improve my play/build.

Spite: 30 Points
VI: Reaper’s Might – Life Blast and Plague Blast grant Might for 15 seconds.
VIII: Signet Power – Activating a Signet gives you 3 stacks of might for 10 seconds.
IV: Signet Mastery is a decent alternative for a more defensive playstyle.
XI: Axe Training – Axe damage is increased, and Axe skills recharge 20% faster.

Blood Magic 30 Points
II: Bloodthirst – Siphoning health is 50% more effective.
III: Mark of Evasion and IV: Ritual of Life are probably better, I haven’t tried them yet.
VII: Ritual Mastery – Wells recharge 20% faster.
XII: Vampiric Rituals – Wells also siphon health every time they pulse.

Soul Reaping 10 Points
VI: Unyielding Blast – Life Blast pierces and causes vulnerability.
V: Speed of Shadows seems like a good defensive alternative

Sigils and Weapons
Axe: Sigil of Superior Life = Snowball healing.
Focus: Sigil of Superior Restoration = Small health burst on kills.
Staff: Sigil of Superior Life

Other Skills
Well of Blood
Well of Corruption
It works well (ha..), but Well of Darkness is a great defensive choice instead.
Well of Suffering
Signet of the Locust
Some move speed, greatly needed because I don’t take an “escape”.
LICH
Marked for Death (2) + Deathly Claws (1) DOES SO MUCH DAMAGE

Runes
Superior Rune of Vampirism x6 = Lots of Power and Healing

Amulet
Soldier’s Amulet with Soldier’s Jewel = Power Toughness Vitality

How I Play

With a single target I generally start with Spinal Shivers (5) to slow them so I can get in range for my Axe skills. I wait until I’ve taken some damage to cast Reaper’s Touch (4) so I can benefit from the regeneration. This spell is a lot stronger in a 1v1 because you’re guaranteed to hit your enemy multiple times. I try to save Unholy Feast (3) for when I’m trying to escape since my target is already chilled from Spinal Shivers (5). Unholy Feast is a great escape because I don’t need to face my enemy while I cast it so I can run away at full speed while applying cripple. I can generally catch fleeing enemies with Dark Path (2) in Death Shroud and Spinal Shivers (5). I use Ghastly Claws (2) and Rending Claws (1) for general damage.

I generally use my wells after jumping in to the middle of a big fight at a capture point. People are less likely to notice them, and I’ll need the healing after jumping in. They’ll also be more likely to move into them if they’re on a capture point. I try not to use them all at once so I don’t lose any healing while at full health. Signet of the Locust is also very useful in the middle of a big fight. Unholy Feast (3) can be strong in a fight, but I like to save it when I’m trying to get out.

Once my Wells and Signet have been used and my health is starting to drop, I pop into Death shroud. I Life Transfer (4) while running out, cast Life Blast (1) for damage, and use my Doom (3) to keep enemies off of me. Once I’m at a decent range, I switch to Staff after hopefully saving some Life Force for in case I get jumped on again. Staff is pretty simple, just save Chillblains (3) and Reaper’s Mark(5) to keep people off of you. If Lich form is up, I can use Chilling Wind (3) to maintain distance while also gaining some health temporarily. Then I just use Marked for Death (2) and Deathly Claws (1) to deal damage. Lots and lots of damage. Lich is also great to use before jumping into a fight and using Wells. Lich is great almost whenever you use it.

Try it out and let me know what you think! Does the build work or am I just playing against bad players?