Guild Wars 2

1. Trolling rallies with wells : being able to drop marks, and well of suffering on a downed player, whilst his team are trying to rally him.
2. Our easy application of fears and chills in various forms.
3. I love the green and black shades while in deathshroud.
4. Axe. I love the idea of a caster class carrying around an axe to sever heads with.
5. Gameplay diversity. Alot of other classes feel very one dimensonal. Necro has been challenging but fun since beta weekend 1.

Poplolita.2638:

Let’s be original, shall we?

Unlike you guys, my necromancer looks like a true undead master:

ok….fly little butterfly…

bwahahahaaaaa

Some nice looking necros in this thread. I especially am fond of Kyvia’s necro. Here is mine.

Bhawb.7408:

Flowerpower.6795:

Give me a skill that replaces all the new necromancer skills and minions with the gw1 ones. I would like to play a necromancer that feels like a necromancer.. getting stronger when somebody dies.

Crazy thought: if you miss the GW1 necro, why aren’t you playing GW1? This isn’t a re-skin of GW1, its a whole new game, and so is going to be quite a bit different.

I’m pretty sure u can deduce what he meant in his comment without being a punk. It’s ok to have an positive opinion of GW1 necro and wanting GW2 necro to have some similarities. (even if his suggestion is unbelievably extreme)

Kravick.4906:

Wells are balanced entirely around sPvP. We are never going to see a change to their cool down as long as sPvP is the focus of this games balancing.

Goodnight! and that is the travesty of balance right now. At lease we have seen some instances of sPvP changes kept seperate to WvW and PvE. I can dream. There are some real issues to necro.

I would love them to take 1 arena net developer and tell them “you are now a necro” be an advocate for the community and tell us what they lack or need in game. And do the same for every class. 1 anet employee becomes the advocate and spokesperson for balance, issues, playstyle for each class. We would have someone who could really speak to us on our level, while understanding some of our frustrations. Maybe they have this internally already at some level, but some direct communication back and forth with us necros who are in the trenches every night would be good.

cuge.5398:

I agree so much that its too easy to get out of Wells, the only way i see to make them effective is to use main hand dagger and immobilize them 4s into a WoS, i find every other well quite useless. Well of corruption does some dmg, boon conversion, but its quite slow to be effective, corrupt boon is way better, then if the immobilze dont land the well would be totally wasted, or if he cleanse it quickly and get out.
Well of darkness would be cool, but its just 5s for a 45s cd, seems just too long.

Your statement is a bit extreme. There are plenty of uses for wells outside the dagger immobilize then drop well routine. Any good opponent expects this combo from an “in your face necro”, they usually wait for it, and break out. If your using wells in this way, I can see why you have a problem with how they function. Your playing 1 dimensional pvp. Try a different technique. I personally only use well of suffering in my power build, and I use it in havoc style gameplay. Its strongest uses can be at chokepoints, or my personal favorite is using it when enemies are trying to rally a friend in downed state. Drop a well at their feet, staff aoe bomb, then DS 4. I have dropped 3-4 people in a multi layered havoc fight using that technique and honestly its very punishing to your opposition because every second spent rezzing is lower DPS and on top of that you have the AoE to punish them further.

I would just love to see lower cool down on wells. I think 25 seconds would be just right, and would make it so im not afraid to use one earlier in fights. How it works now, I can typically get 1 use, maybe 2 if lucky before I’m dead or the opponent is dead.

I would also love to see a mix of fields added to wells. Dark fields on every well make combo chain opportunity pretty boring. We should also be given the ability to blast or finish through our own combo field with at least 1 weapon skill that doesnt require a target to pass through it (mark 4). These few fixes here would NOT make the necro OP, but would bump the power side of the necro to where it should be.

One thing worth noting is Guardians Symbol of Wrath (GS 4 skill). This functions similar to a well, without having to use a utility. Yes i know there are some differences and you cant compare wells and this symbol directly. But at a base level, the necro has to sacrifice much more by using wells, than a guardian to use a similar skill on a way shorter cooldown, which is on a weaponskill. Wells need alot of work. There is no question in my mind about this.

Bhawb.7408:

Cleave is an AoE ability centered around your target. You might not consider it AoE, but by definition cleave is a category of AoE.

what is the point of bickering back and forth about this. By definition, I hope you used merriam webster dictionary. Oh wait, is that the approved dictionary? Oh crap, we better define what a dictionary is now.

I’m running a dagger/dagger power build with 100% condition duration, so this dark path issue is really important to me because between it and spect grasp, they are the crux of me locking down my opponent (8 second chills. yes please!). We really do lack reliable gap closing abilities, and speeding up the projectile would insta-fix and make this skill much more viable for any build type.

I took this quote from Class Balance Philosophy that was posted by Jonathan Sharp the game designer some patches ago:

Necro

The necro boasts the highest natural health of all the caster classes, and also has death shroud to extend that life total even higher. While they don’t have some of the escape or damage reduction capabilities that other classes boast, they do have a lot of ways to win attrition fights. They have access to poison on multiple weapons, they are able to combine condition damage with raw damage, and they have multiple disables to interrupt enemy skills. Necomancers also have multiple movement disabling abilities, which allows them to chase down enemies who are low on health.

Leeto you are spot on in the OP. As stated here by the devs own philosophy, its just got to be around the corner to fix this dark path issue. Trying to stay positve here.

Login.5102:

I remember developers posting that weapon swap in ds was intentional!!!!

Why would they change it? Must be a bug.

I would love a link or quote about this from the Devs in a previous post. This would just put the cherry on top for me. I really have avoided being a naysayer about necros, but since i got my ascended amulet on my necro, I’m putting 100% into getting my last ascended on my guardian now….its just silly how fluid Guardian feels compared to necro…this patch just makes it even worse. Guard got even more fixes/balance. Pure of Voice works now….yet our plauge signet is pure trash. awesome.

This just ruffles my feathers. Confirmation on this doesnt break the way I play, it just makes Deathshroud less versitle…I’m really disappointed. There are so many reasons why I love to swap weps in DS. I like to be rdy to do something specific depending on the situation when I leave DS. Also the major DMG increase from using Staff is super important especially if I have to use DS in a o crap moment while using axe/focus.

Overall, this negates about 50% of the positivity I WAS feeling originally from this patch…the least they could do is tell us about it, and explain why it was not allowed now…..

After last patch, I cannot swap weapons while in DS. I use staff while in deathshroud, so its very important for me to swap in DS before I Life transfer. I cannot find this in patch notes anywhere. Is this a “hidden change” or is this something that got bugged out after the 2/28 patch? Personally im kitten at this change. Many times I go into DS in emergency mode while using axe/focus, but I like to switch to staff after the fact to maximize Damage. This really puts a dampener on what otherwise could have been a good patch for power and MM necros….

Am I missing something in the patch notes? Are you guys experiencing the same thing? Ive relogged several times, and rebound my wep swap, to fix this…nothing has worked.

Some fun in WvW. Special thanks to Drigan Prime and [Hope] for some of the larger scale footage, back-dooring, and overall fun.

I have been wanting to try my hand at making a movie for a while now, so here is my first attempt.

I’m running with my Ripper Build: http://tinyurl.com/auzux9q

Buffs with Master Maintenance Oil, and Curried Butternut Squash Soup

2400 Power -> 3511 Attack
1607 Precison -> 37% Crit Chance
1539 Toughness-> 2459 Armor
1439 Vitality-> 23602 Health
150 Cond Dmg-> +30% Cond Duration
60% Crit Dmg +15% Life Force Pool

Armor/wep: Power Toughness Vitality
Upgrades in armor: Ruby Orbs
Weps: Axe w/ Sup Sig. of Fire, Focus w/ Sup Sig. of Force & Staff w/ Ruby Orb (soon to be Sup. Sig. of Fire)

Back: Ascended PVT
Neck: Ascended Zerker
Rings: Ascended PVT
Earings: Exotic Zerker

Might even buy Bandicam to get rid of the annoying watermark…
Cheers!

I’ll be there, just let me know the date/server to guest on, and Ill even bring some goodies.

Wondering if anyone knows when I use Hold the Line as a Guardian or Mark of Blood as a Necro, or any of the various forms of giving Regen to allies:

1. Does the Heal over time affect my allies based on their healing power or mine?
2. Does the Boon duration work based on their stats or my boon duration?
3. If Hold the Line is used then Mark of Blood by a necro, the Regen stacks in duration, but whose healing power is this based off of?

Thanks!

As a power necro, I really like rolling with an Altruistic Healing specced hammer guardian. The control you have with this duo, is unmatched. Very fun fights.

Runner up is full zerker geared rifle Engineer. 25 stacks of Vuln is super nice, between Axe/focus and engi stacking. Vulnerability might be the most under appreciated condition other than weakness.

It seems like your headed in the tanky aspect of the necro. Like Prism states above, You would be best suited to go with Nemesis’ or sheobix’s jugger build. Or tweak around these to find your sweet spot.

There are some fundemental problems with your build. I’m at work so I cant go into huge detail but here are few points in your build that dont synergize well.

1. Reapers Precision, Vamperic Precision, and sigil of fire and sigil of blood all proc off of crits. Your crit chance is far too low with your build/armor/rune setup. Even with your fury buff with Furious Demise it doesnt make any of these work or synergize well. You need to get to roughly 40% crit chance to make any of these work consisantly to build around. Remember sigil of fire and blood share the same CD so you gain nothing by using both really. Better off using Sigil of Force.

2. You are using staff. It is essential for DS dmg output, utility/condition transfer, and fears. That being said you, will benifit from using greater marks over dark armor. Dark armor is just too random to make it worth it. When you are getting focus fired do you really have time to think…“hey i need to start channeling so I get 400 more armor!” Probably not.

3. Im a beliver in Axe/Focus. This comes down to personal preference, but I think playing around you may fight axe to be better than what alot of people lead on in the forums.

-Overall your build is too lopsided. Everyone looks at this game (or maybe just necro), as if you NEED to maximize 2 stats and be the best at 1 thing. This just isn’t true for guild wars 2. Balance really is the key to the necromancer. We dont shine in any one aspect of the game, so if we balance our stats/build we can synergize very with our own playstyle as well as fit rolls very well in a group. Everyone likes when a necro is in a party. They can just do so much.

Ive used a ton of builds/armor sets. I have nailed down my preferred playstyle as this spec. Its geared towards Wv3. Power Build. I use it for great dmg/and a great survivability. Very balanced.

http://tinyurl.com/auzux9q

I use all PVT armor and weapons.
Staff slotted with Sigil of Fire
Axe slotted with sigil of Fire, Focus with Sigil of Force.
Armor is all slotted with Ruby Orbs

Trinkets:
Backslot: PVT ascended.
Neck: Zerker ascended
rings: PVT ascended
earings: Zerker exoctics

Buffed Stats with Prec. Crit dmg food/oil

zainey.5021:

Axe is the worst Necro weapon, you’ll give up on it eventually. It’s main use is as the lazy man’s dagger where you don’t want to have to deal with the more frantic dagger play.

There are 2 main builds that can use axe but are better with dagger:

1) Minion master where you need axe or dagger for your minions to be responsive. You’ll move on from these builds eventually but they’re good for noobs.

2) DS builds where axe is ok for building life force. Real players don’t post builds but try 30/10/0/0/30.

I think a better way to state this Zainey, is that Axe auto attack is subpar in terms of raw damage. Its not necessarily the worst weapon for the Necro. The axe 2 skill does greater burst than dagger 2, but lacks healing transfer that dagger has. 3 skill on axe is great for keeping in the teeth of a fight and very good for power builds with the retaliation. Axe is just as frantic game-play-wise as dagger, so I don’t know what your talking about here.

Spouting nonsense about axe just because its NOT YOUR preferred weapon, doesnt really help in the discussion. Maybe give a few valid points as to why Axe is inferior and dagger is better with some real experience/scenarios…that would be more helpful. Your post kinda sounds condescending.

also, what are you talking about when you said this? :

zainey.5021:

DS builds where axe is ok for building life force. Real players don’t post builds but try 30/10/0/0/30.

This forum is full of people theory crafting builds. You are calling all these people not “Real Players”. Go troll somewhere else or ask mommy next time you want to click the reply button on these forums.

Bas.7406:

Zenith.7301:

Exaggerating? I spvp so no wvw scrubs skimping on condi removal utilities. You have no other vulnerability on a short cool down. Ele bunker with earth´s embrace trait for stability will laugh at conditions with ether renewal. Null field keeps removing conditions, and mesmers trait for condi removal on shatter often. Ranger with signet of renewal and empathic bond is pretty much immune to condition stacking.

Condi specs are rather screwed in this game relative to power/prec/critdmg specs. I only run focus when I´m on a debunkering spec for the extra boon stripping.

sPvP is full of scrubs. People who use sPvP to talk about builds are scrubs. No one on any team in tourney’s or spvp or wvwvw wastes it on Vulnerabilyt. Btw, axe 1 applies 2 stacks of vuln constantly so you make take my stack of 15 off, but now I have 6, now 10. Now someone else just applied a stack of 20 bleeds, but you have 10 seconds before you can cleanse conditions again. With Focus offhand I just stripped your buffs, now you have no buffs wasted your condition cleans on a 12 stack of vuln, so now I can apply chill without a worry.

Now you die because you are spending cooldowns foolishly

Bas you painted this picture perfectly, its like I was hovering over your shoulder taking in the scene as you were owning some nub. Awesome.

I have never tried stomping in plague form. Does this work without having to press stomp button and elite button at the same time? If so, plague form is amazing. Ill have to test this out in WvW tonite.

Thanks Bas! I really like vulnerability as well. I run with an engineer so its very easy between the two of us to get 25 vuln on focused targets very easy. As yous stated, I try to always switch to staff, pop DS, use dark path, and life transfer and always try to leave DS at about 50% healthbar, unless I’m trying to wait for my heal cooldown if I’m in trouble. I cant wait till they allow us to actually see our utility cooldowns…DS will be a dream if they just fix this.

Well, they won’t remove the limit to AoE across the board. There are too many scenarios where people are forced to bottleneck near and around towers and keeps to enter a room, or broken wall. This would make AoE defenders in essence the new turtle mechanic because you could hold a keep/tower point with 2 necros , 1 staff ele against 50+ players.

I was trying to discuss a “reasonable” fix. I’m pretty sure if Anet reads any of the posts above by those saying remove AoE limit everywhere, they would lol and move to the next thread.

Limiting AoE to 5 only near towers/castles/keeps would:

1. make AoE classes more viable in the open field
2. reduce culling by spreading the populations on maps by discouraging cull stacking/charging in the open field.
3. This would not kill WvW. It would greatly improve the amount of small encounters and dynamic within WvW.

For those stating why 5 limit? Why not 4, 6 8 10 whatever?!!!
I agree that the max at 5 within keeps/towers/castles should be upped to somewhere around 8-10 people. Anet is sooooo slow and so counter productive in terms of quicker fixes, I think it will be baby steps to get to this point.

mind posting your build Papish?

i assume its something like this? http://tinyurl.com/b6nf89j

It depends on what you are doing? In WvW i find Lich form to be more of a huge sign saying here I am run away from me, or if there is a larger force, they will burst you down quick. I use plague in WvW coupled with chilling darkness and spam blinds/chill and let team mates push with you. Alot of enemies will stay away from you in plague form; allowing your team to gain the upper hand on positioning. It is less rewarding damage wise but much more helpful in WvW in “most” situations. Lich can give great dmg burst for sure, and has its uses in WvW as well, but its all about preference/playstyle and group composition.

I use Lich form in pve/dungeons often.

I have a thought about the current limit on 5 targets hit with AoE:

The current state of AoE encourages zerg stacking, and zerg vs zerg fighting.I hear in /team chat from commanders often shouting “Stack ON ME”, to utilize this mechanic. I am NOT against zerg vs zerg fighting at all. But I think with the culling problems Anet has, it would be in their best interest to spread the floor out. I understand that making AoE unlimited would be a nightmare for keep/tower/castle seiges, and would make a few classes/builds very powerful.

Why doesn’t Anet set a limit for AoE to 5 targets only in towers, keeps, and castles? This would essentially spread out populations, encourage smaller fights, but at the same time the “zerg” or mass fighting force wouldn’t be discouraged to stay in the zerg. It would force zergs to fight more strategicly, and not just bum rush or stand to close together. Dont allow unlimited AoE in bottlenecked areas (keeps towers etc) and it just might fix this area of the game. Cull bombing zerg forces would become less frequent and easier to counter.

I would suggest a 1200 radius around the outer boundries of every keep,tower, castle would limit aoe to 5 targets…anything beyond that would be unlimited AoE zones. I think making supply camps AOE unlimited would be best in this senario for a more dynamic spread out fight.

What are you thoughts?

@Papish
Have you tested both dagger 2 and axe 2 (with traiting 30 in power for axe mastery) on dumbies in lions arch? I get larger hits on axe 2, also when speced in axe mastery cooldown on axe 2 is 6 1/2 seconds, whereas dagger 2 (with daggery mastery) can get to 10 1/4 seconds. So axe 2 is nearer to spamable than dagger 2. Long term dps on axe seems better, espcially considering that your enemies usually doesnt face tank you in WvW, so the range on Axe feels superior in the end to me even if the auto attack hits for so much less than dagger’s auto. Unless you can really perma lock an enemy at your feet 100% of fights, then Axe has outperformed dagger for me consistanty in WvW.

What are you thoughts? Or do you use axe as your other weap set? I use staff for the control and an extra chill, plus staff 4 condition transfer/removal.

@lettucemode
In a 2v2 , 1v1, 2v1, this would be great just as u stated, but the way I play usually 5 vs 5 or upwards of 5vs8 at times your chances of getting hit by 3+ players at once requires a bit more insurance into vitality to mitigate dps resulting in survival. I have just found that my chances for really small scale fights (like your theif/warrior fight) are few and far between, so going too “glass” really makes me more of a liability to the group than a help.

At the end of the day, its all about style of play, who you play with, and how you roam and engage on the battlefield.

Btw: tonight I 1v1’ed a staff elementalist. The fight lasted for about 3 mintues. I died and face palmed…I thought d/d eles were hard…I need to get in on some 1v1 fightclubs soon to learn some more.

Bhawb.7408:

TL;DR more QQing about a class that is perfectly fine if you know how to play it. The only problem with necro is you can’t throw a build together in a few seconds and expect anything. We have one of the worst learning curves in the game, if you want to do well as necro, sit down, grind it out, and expect it to take a long time.

Perfectly stated. ^^ he knows what hes talking about

I prefer asura. Here is my necro clown. Reminds me of Slipknot. Enough said. /creepy

@Azlidax
Yes I use this build very effectively in dungeons. I even use it in lvl 10 fractals. I use well of suffer, well of corruption, and well of darkness and trade out spectral mastery for path of midnight. I also use vitality toughness food instead of precsion food.

@trishaiX
Your choice of epidemic seems interesting. Makes me want to try using this after spinal shivers to spread those chills out. Very cool, and might been even more effective than using spectral grasp for my setup. I will try this out tonight on the battle field.

@lettucemode
Props for making the switch to PVT armor. Like sheobix points out in his build; necro and warriors benifit greatly from vitality and toughness because of our base to begin with. Also its a double bonus because it affects death shroud as well.

I beleive my crit chance without food is 24-25%, so using precision food is essential for this build. With fury ramping up in DS you can get to 53% chance. Couple that with almost 50% crit dmg, and you can hit very hard. I think you switching to PVT would balance out your vit and toughness better. 19k is pretty low for a necro especially since you are 30 in SR, so you rely on DS alot like my build.

On the flip side, I have thought about switching my pvt trinkets one day for knights…I may try this out someday. In the end, this build and PVT armor makes for a very versatile set to tweak to have more damage, or more tanky-ness pretty easy. Its all about what you enjoy doing the most and your static group’s composition really.

To be honest, I have never even tried using spectral wall. I will have to give it a shot. I usually run with an engineer so we get 25 vuln very quick, but passing through wall to get the extra protection for party members could be pretty nice, especially in some tight quarters. TrishaiX, what variation of build are you using might I ask?

I would love a cleave weapon as well, but I just dont think its in the cards for us ever. We are already the master of aoe damage regardless of spec because most of us use Staff marks…and if you dont use staff there is a good chance you use wells. With my build, remember you also get to use unholy feast every 12 seconds, It hits 5 targets around the 1k range each. On top of that, the retaliation helps because if you get focused it ignores the armor of your opponent and dmgs foes based on your power.
Death shroud’s life transfer is also a great makeup skill for lack of a cleave weapon. Life force comes very easily with this build and playstyle, so popping into deathshroud on every cooldown is pretty easy. Spectral walk and Last Gasp’s pop of Spectral armor help boost or LF gain especially because Axe is really lackluster in LF generation.

I have tried to stack only power and ignore crit and precision like Sheobix’s Juggermancer build, but putting all your eggs into that basket can leave you lacking the burst you need to down someone quick. Balance really is the key to success with necro, much like balance of stats when you build a guardian. I love the juggermancer build a ton, but viability in WvW lies somewhere in the middle stat-wise.

Yes, it works well with necro eh

Here are my stats buffed. Reminder that you gain 20% more crit chance with this spec when going into death shroud. This is in an overflow, with no world bonuses added as well.

I am away from home for an hour or two. Ill post full buffed stats when I get back.

Some insight.

Necromancing is a journey. It has had its deathly grasp on me since beta. I have played almost every other class, but I keep coming back for more of my Necro.

I’ve rocked full exotic gear of most build types and have gone through highs and lows of the necromancer and its community. I have used and had fun on Lopezirl’s build, Sheobix’s builds, and Nemesis’ builds, and on many variations of other builds. Ascci has been a very valuable asset to the forums as well with his builds. A lot has been woe and despair from others on this forum, but we can be very viable and fun in many facets of the game.

Everyone has their preferred play style.

This all being said, I wanted to give my build and insight on how I feel the necro can shine in a power build from a WvW perspective.

Build : http://tinyurl.com/auzux9q

I run in a 5 man gank group. So this build focuses on charging in quick, using Unholy feast to stack retaliation and begin chilling a targeted enemy. Use spectral grasp to pull target into well of darkness, constantly keeping chills up. Plauge form synergizes well with this build to spam blinds/chill and let others clean up. I used to use dagger/warhorn instead of Axe but dagger felt like I needed to be way too close to keep up attacks. I saw too many miss, miss, miss on my screen with auto attacks. Even tho Axe doesnt give out the raw damage on paper, in practice Axe is far superior. I still see big hits with Ghastly claws of upwards of 5k, 6k on the final hit. USE DS OFTEN AND EARLY!!! every chance it pops up. Dark path is another great chill/ gap closer. We all know DS is our friend. I use it very offensively.

I use full PVT armor and Weapons all slotted with Ruby orbs except my axe using Sup. Sigil of Force. Trinkets are a mix of PVT slotted with ruby orbs as well (Invaders Earings, PVT ascended rings, PVT backslot, and my neckalace will be bezerker ascended when I get laurels).

Food: Master maitence Oil for 6% toughness to precision, and 4% vit to precision.

Curried Butternut Squash soup 100 prec, 10 crit dmg

I have found that balance is key to success in WvW. You need to be able to burst a single target, but you must also have the stats to be able to withstand being attacked by 3 enemies for a short period. Leaning too far in one direction can leave you either hitting like a limp noodle and standing alone while your party gets wiped, or you will be dead in the first 6 seconds of a fight.

Remember we are not a 1v1 win class (although I have 1v1’ed plenty and won a good amount). We synergize with others in the group and we make other players better. We are similar to a guardian, but in a more offensive way. The anti gaurdian if you will.

No matter what spec, there is no 1 spec to rule them all. I love theory crafting, and constructive talk on the forums. So have at it. What are your thoughts on this build?

Thanks for creating this thread. I hope it gets Anets attention and we can get an official response. All I hear is crickets on this. Its not just a WvW matter, I have noticed it in PvE during events, pretty much everywhere. This culling (so called) improvement is epic fail. Can we finally get some official reply so we can all breathe a deep sigh knowing you guys are trying to resolve it along with the queue issues?

@sheobix
I will play around with that 5 points between soul reaping and spite to see what feels best. Your logic and research makes a ton of sense. Again, I would love to keep updates to this thread as u learn more, and I’ll continue to post my findings.

As I’m posting this, I just finished solo’ing a bunker specced engineer and glass cannon ranger in WvW with this spec. One of the biggest highlights of my whole time playing GW2! They could have been terrible, but the fight lasted over 2 minutes and gave me chills. Cheers man. Keep it up!

I have kept an eye closely to this thread for a while now, and have enjoyed your updates along the way Sheobix. Im a necro for life, so this class is very important to me and I have invested all of my playtime into my necro. I fully geared out a conditionmancer and spent most of my playtime dropping mass AoE and conditions. This in its own right is fun, but I found what I lacked was the ability to showcase my prefered style of play which is 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 fighting in WvW. Playing conditionmancer felt like all stars had to align just perfect for condition stacking, and even then they only got cleansed away.

I have tweaked aspects of your build, and have since gotten my full exotic set of power, vit, toughness gear. I’ll tell you this is what I dreamed of playing when I chose the Necro. I appreciate your theorycraft, insight, and all the others who have added their input to this thread. I destroy theives, send guardians running, and can outlast any class in the game without suffering in the DPS department. Necro needs a lot of fixes, but this style of play has really opened my mind to the versatility of the Necro. Its only goign to get better from here.

Also glad that I made the switch over before ascended gear fully comes out so I can invest my hard won tokens on some PVT gear at the next level.

1 more question:
your build version 3.2 uses 15/0/25/20/10
The real issue I have with this build is that you put 15 into spite and got the minor trait %5 of power is a bonus to healing. How does this help your build other than the exta power from stats. The healing doesnt scale your siphon health or life transfer from what I understand. I personally tweaked it and kept just 10 in Spite line, and put the 15 in Soul Reaping for Last Gasp. This minor trait has saved my butt and mitigated tons of dps from burst and given me a buffer to get my heal off or pop into death shroud. Its also pretty important because it helps tons with LF filling back up and its like having a free bonus utility that synergies well with this build. Whats your thoughts?

PS: Will you drop spectral mastery and maybe use Path of Midnight and run with Sig of Locust when they buff it to 25% run speed?
Best regards!

The real interesting question is what the ratio of WvW kills to tokens are. At the moment on my condition necro (1717 cond. dmg with food) I have 3957 kills in wv3 and I am sitting on 858 tokens in my bank. I run a 30/30/10/0/0 build. I have found that I rely on conditions to not only to make the kill, but to get more tokens. That being said, in all aspects of being condition spec, i have learned to spread conditions and drop aoe like mad. For this spec dropping 1-4 on my staff to open as quick as possible, then switch to scepter, hit BiP on a single target, and then epidemic, followed by stacking more and more bleeds with scepter 1,2,5. Using epidemic greatly increases my badge drops, as well as using staff with the trait Greater Marks. Specifically in keep defense,I get similar number of tokens as if i was on an arrow cart. Necro can be pretty rewarding in 5+ man fights as a condition stacker, but lackluster at times 2v2 or 3v3ing.
1 other aspect I have noticed, which was mentioned, is that some nights it seems like tokens flow and others nights I’m getting spikes as loot all night long.
I run a gank group with a mesmer and a guardian. My guardian has half the tokens and kills I have, with roughly the same playtime, because its so much easier for me to make hits on enemies in virtually all aspects of wv3.

Edit: I did not post this to infer L2p or anything, just giving you my perspective cause Wv3 is all I do in this game.

Ya last night I did up/up path with no reward. Just a congratulations, and couldnt insta port out of instance. This all happened after doing f/f and f/u and receiving rewards successfully. My whole group didnt receive the tokens not just me. Bum deal :/

I’m at work atm, so I cannot test this, but does anyone know if the trait spiteful Vigor—->gain retaliation for 5 sec when you heal, works in conjunction with the siphone health traits like bloodlust, vampiric, and vampiric precision? My build is Scept/Dagger Well build with staff as a defensive/retreat long range tool. Here is my build, what do you all think? Ill test out spiteful vigor tonight later, but anyone have any insights?

Build : http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQQQNArYWjQap7Vaaa87JAJFYz7kCv5O6BxDnMA;TgAg0CtoMyYkwIrROjkGB

EDIT: i guess you have to copy and paste link to get it to work in browser.