Guild Wars 2

Why either or?

I’m currently running a glass hybrid silly build with Axe/Scepter. It kind of works.

Spectral Grasp and/or Focus helps if you need longer reach.

Edit: To clarify — staff is great utility but not mandatory.

Good read. Thank you.

All things aside, what’s lacking is players if you ask me.

The new maps have potential. Sure… I dislike the auto-upgrades (I would prefer them manual but free), the distances (though… are they much longer than in EB?), I don’t understand what the gimmicks adds and I feel the oasis event is too frequent.

On the other hand… I like the new sentries, the gathering nodes, I see possibilities for big fights around the fire keep and I see plenty of roaming potential. I’ve had fun zerg fights in EotM with its crazy map. Why not in the new borderlands?

I’m primarily a roamer, been a regular since before the first tournament, seen 3 EU servers and I felt a lacking participation a couple of months /before/ HoT.

New playable PvE content got some players. New scary borderlands chased away some players to good old familiar EB. Some are chasing guild hall upgrades.

Partially map design but not solely, and map design doesn’t explain what we saw before HoT.

Imagine the new maps filled with players and skirmishes. It could work with minor adjustments.

The only thing not minor in my book is stale matchups. Shake up the leaderboards and make the fights matter. That explains more to me than the new maps.

We could make everything right, we could go back to the old borderlands — but the matchups would still be stale.

Nightcapping is not a root cause in my book but a consequence, a red herring. Make the matchups matter and you will solve nightcapping at the same time.
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Edit: spelling

OP gets points for trolling.

Most said already and, to me, being focused is part of necro gameplay.

A thought though… in gw2 combat your outgoing damage doesn’t scale down with injury.

It’s probably too fundamental to change, I’m not certain it would be a good thing, but I do think that’s part of why we focus enemies. That combined with our defense situation explains why necro:s get focus — if you ask me.

I understand it’s not relevant for gw2, but scaling down outgoing damage quicker than own health could open for interesting game-/teamplay — for example forcing glass cannons to withdraw and heal up, working in coordinated waves. Probably a pain to balance though :-)

New to mesmer, wvw roaming with power hybrid scepter/(OH)sword/pistol domination shatterer.

Suits my play-style better than PU, I fare decent against anything but stealth and I can’t do the out-manned thing as good PU mesmers can. I have a background as nasty condi/hybrid necro in your face play-style.

Runnig with zerg and hiding in objectives I switch to a power glamour/PU build.

I really like playing with interrupts, but they are just too hard for me to pull off. At least for now.
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Edit: clarification

EnderKid.2567:

It’s a rampager hybrid shatter mesmer and if you’re still intrested feel free to go down here

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR7flknhy0YjawINwtGLvGk5KW2IKTQvjGaAyZTA-TJBGwAu3fAwTAowBBYaZAA

Sorry.. Late to the party… I’m first now taking up mesmer seriously in wvw (mostly roaming), and I’m curious.. where does the damage in this build come from? What I’m really after is the ratio power-condi (from a gear perspective).

I started out full condi sprinkled with sinister, but am slowly mixing in more and more power. A starting point would be nice. I’m currently 2:1 power.

TIA
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Edit: Clarification

Aryuke.9743:

Here what a necro can do in WvW on condi build

Entertaining video. Thanks. I didn’t watch all of it but you spent a lot of time in Death Shroud or with Staff from what I saw.

Roaming wvw condi necro myself (dire/rabid with scepter). I started to experiment after the summer patch because I felt it was harder to keep up.

Still condi but spiced up with some sinister, focusing on boon/condi manipulation with axe. Giving up scepter on a condi build is kind of sad.

I still use my scepter from time to time, but I’m having more fun with axe.

Cheers
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Edit: spelling

I just know of 2 ascended assassin’s trinkets (and they are not trivial to get).

1) I could be wrong (most probably)

2) how does exotic assassin’s trinkets compare to ascended berserker’s?

3) how does captain’s/assassin’s compare to berserker’s?

—

Edit: just saw the build links (surfing on phone) and that explains a bit (going for a mix of ascended berserker’s/assassin’s trinkets). Makes sense.

How to deal condi damage with staff?? If we are talking offense, staff can help me as a wvw condi roamer to get the upper hand in some odd fights by breaking the opponents flow. It’s situational and not easy to summarize, but shadow stepping thiefs is an example as good as any.

I don’t main a warrior, but I do have one and I don’t think they suck — and I say that primarily from a WvW perspecive. They are not what they used to be, but they are still versatile and viable.

People rant. Check the other class forums. Check any internet forum. People rant. It comes with the package.

• Start thinking about conditions (your own and your opponent’s) as tools — you can manipulate them in a different way than other classes.

• You can soak a lot of damage but disengaging can be challenging — I like to pick my fights and I like to be prepared.

• Learn to use Death Shroud — obviously

• Learn to fight under water — not many opportunities perhaps, but rewarding =)

SDZz.8260:

Is power creep too high

Could be… first off — they will never find the perfect balance. Anet reacts to a reality, players adjust, a new reality emerges, and so on.

With the last couple of patches I’ve felt they tried to work on the balance direct-condition damage, and that’s needed.

I have a s/f fresh air build, I’m affected, but overall, I feel they are doing a good job balancing. I started WvW summer 2013 and I think it’s much better now.

That balance is very personal, and you don’t give much background info, but here goes…

• Maybe polishing your rotations and/or positioning could help you? That’s nice to have for some classes, but less so for ele:s.

• Maybe replacing some Berserker pieces with Soldier or Knight could help you?

• Maybe keeping aggressive gear but picking defensive traits could help you?

• Maybe running a condi tank (like Diva’s Signet build ish) could help you?

My bad… I answered without reading the question properly.

Krakilin.1524:

Is it better to simply make and use an ascended staff if the skill set is horrible?

I toggle scepter/staff (and builds) — typically depending on number of allies/opponents. I would stick with the scepter if I’m in a 2 man team opposing other small teams. The staff is more interesting to me if I’m running with 2 full parties. …ish

I’m a small scale roamer at heart, I prioritize good gear for that setting, and an exotic staff is good enough for me.

Try s/f fresh air if you roam in small groups, but solo roam carefully.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Scepter/Focus

You are squishy, a bit low on condi cleanse/aoe/dis-enagage options. Don’t overextend, stay in the background and annoy key opponents.

I’ve also tried roaming something like Diva’s condi build (first page on the forum) with a scepter. It seems to work, but you basically stay in earth all the time and it didn’t really do it for me.

Leinhart.2981:

I’ve an Elem and I love her but I don’t know if she can be viable in roaming whithout the celestial stuff…What do you think about that?

Ele is my favorite WvW alt, and I’m toggling staff-scepter/focus. None of them require celestial if you ask me. Roaming/havocing I’m running s/f fresh air (which is dps crit based), and according to the forums, some have fun roaming with s/f condi.

I started out leveling with d/d, but got stuck on scepter early on. The range suits me.

Edit: spelling.

John Corpening.9847:

Removing white swords from objectives to give defenders a stronger role in alerting their team as well as giving attackers more of a chance to get through having their siege disabled.

Siege traps are not relevant for camps, will they still have swords?

I’m a roamer on a well-to-do EU server (Desolation), I’ve been playing for two other servers earlier, and… let me put it this way — do you mind expanding your thoughts on this even further?

I like underwater content and I went looking for your skill point. Was it the one by the Melandru Statue?

I managed with my wvw fresh air roaming build. It’s not my main and I carry mostly exotics.

Actually… I can’t add much to the thread but my build. Underwater fights take some time to get used to, but I for one think it’s worth it.

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Edit: Wait a second, maybe there is something I can add. If the third dimension is taxing, try “walking on the bottom” instead of “hovering” in the water. The Melandru Statue skill point is well suited for that.

People did some interesting math when ferocity was introduced.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/21z634/some_relevant_math_for_buildcrafting_after_the/

Full zerker will still be top damage and building for the sweet spot, and why, is not obvious. Anyway… I thought the math might be of some help for you.

Cheers

Mattmatt.4962:

“you’re that bad that i’m running a no survivability build :p "

Ok. Thanks.

I was pug roaming on a high ranking EU server last night, still 0/6/0/0/6/2, now Valkyrie based build + Lightning Rod (with Tornado and Lightning Hammer), survived ok considering I wasn’t in a synchronized party and had great fun.

Edit/disclaimer: I wouldn’t normally roam with this build, or use it with Lightning Hammer — I just wanted to try out my new toys. Troll indeed =)

A zerg build with berserker staff + axe/warhorn usually equals a well build, and there are a couple of them out there. Meaning you can wing it. Besides… I build differently for organized parties/running with pug zergs.

I trait for wells obviously. I pick Unblockable (Greater) marks if I notice a lot of enemy stability flying around, and maybe getting some stability myself with Foot in the Grave if my own party doesn’t supply it for me. Add some LF generation if possible/needed.

I would say start out with cheap Ruby Orbs before investing in expensive meta runes (there is a chance you need defensive runes).

Sharpening Stone + Sweet & Spicy Butternut Squash soup unless you need defensive consumables.

Pick some DPS sigils, but I would also pick something defensive like Energy since necro:s are short on bailing-out options.

I know you asked for specifics, but 1) I’m not a specific kind of guy and 2) it’s hard to be specific with the new patch.

Edit: clarification

Can someone please list the available prefixes for the lvl 78 backpacks?

tia

Mattmatt.4962:

And finnaly the “troll” build, more dps and support and NO survivability: 0/6/0/6/2
=> I tryed it, it’s playable, but it sucks XD

I’m a bit late to the party, but why troll build?

I run a Knight version with survivability utilities, and I survive good enough to start thinking about more aggressive gear.

The DPS and support is nice, but I also try to take advantage of the cc capabilities.

GoogleBrandon.5073:

I am not “too worried” myself, but I can see Eles, Warriors and Engineers getting some profit from it…
I need to see it first though, and will likely implement it in my own Warrior and Engineer build to see how well it works….

Thanks for the source. I’m with you. I’ll wait and see before I pass judgement. Sigils are not something you change often and this one has narrow use. We’ll see… I think this can be an interesting patch.

sinject.4607:

1. condition builds are broken in wvw in multiple different ways

I disagree.

Most of my opponents handle conditions reasonably well. Some few melt, and you must be one in that minority. I’m sorry, but every build doesn’t shine everywhere. Removing Food, Dire or Perplexity will not save the melters. I can probably skip brushing my teeth and kill them with my breath.

I don’t run what you might call a cheese build, I’ve cut down on my condi transfers because I don’t believe in the condi meta, it happens I forget food and the melters still melt.

Besides… WvW is unpredictable, and the notion of balancing the fights are contradictory to me. I like that chaos and I’ll go elsewhere for predictable fights.

I’ve not been successful finding a source. Do you mind?

MSFone.3026:

So I what I’m reading is that condi is the better choice for small group roaming or soloQ/hotjoin, basically any small group solo/PUG play, and power is the only choice for zergs(everyone knows that of course) and “high-level” pvp/coordinated team play.

I run DPS builds, several classes, but I main a roaming condi necro and I’ve played for 3 different EU servers in different tiers.

I would say less than half of my opponents are condi builds. This makes it hard for me to believe in the so-called condi meta. I hope the numbers can be encouraging for you since they show power builds can be viable for roaming. Happy hunting.

I’ve also noticed some opponents being prepared / aware of conditions, while others melt. Sure… some classes have a harder time with conditions (Holes and Roles, Ready Up June 13), but I can still see a clear difference.

Currently I read complaints about Dire, Perplexity and Condition food. You can remove all of them, but I have a hard time believing that will save the melters or drastically change anything.

Regarding DoT builds having more access to defense compared to burst builds… well… I don’t find that surprising. Please remember the lack of a Berserker equivalent for condition builds. I wouldn’t mind building more aggressively, but I can’t.

Regarding anything but burst builds being easy… I’ve heard people praise burst builds for dungeons. They say quick kills are easier since it requires less active defense.

Erhnam.5732:

Is berserker only enough to survive? Or is it worth to invest in some Soldier or Knight pieces?

If anything, I recommend salvageable gear. It makes future adjustments easier.

nearlight.3064:

What are your thoughts on the future meta, given that most of these changes effect underused skills and traits, many of which will remain underused, or simply encourage low risk-high reward builds to flourish?

I think Anet predicted the Adrenaline reaction as well as the Torment reaction. I might not agree with everything they do, but I do think they have a plan.

I don’t think the world will crash and burn. I think the meta will adapt, and not necessarily into something bad.

There are decent condition cleanse already and we know they’ll buff Elixir C and Spirit Bow. This patch could raise condition awareness, and it could introduce some interesting drawbacks …or not. I guess we have to wait and see. In worst case they’ll just revert the torment. No biggie if you ask me.

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Edit: s/Frost/Spirit/

Nah… necro minions are different to ranger pets by design, a bit more brain dead =) Have you tried running with traited minions? That makes a difference. You can also try wells if minions does not cut it for you.

What do you find challenging?

If you are happy with what you have got, I would say start using the dagger more and gear for power as primary stat, or you could try out the axe if you would like some more range — and don’t forget your death shroud #1.

Now… you will most probably always have a staff as your secondary weapon and it is good thing you have started to understand it. The same goes for death shroud.

Cheers!!

Edit: spelling

I feel you have some good ideas, go with them, try new things, and don’t invest too much too early (especially considering the upcoming feature patch). A condi necro’s main weapon is typically scepter with dagger off-hand and staff as utility (rabid and/or dire gear, but some swear by carrion).

Now… conditions are cleansed rapidly in big fights, and that could potentially be a bigger challenge to you than your condi build variety. There’s a risk you by yourself are not going to achieve much, but it’s another story if you have a hoard of condi friends by your side.

I would check my server and how they play, if I were you. I’ve played for 3 servers myself and I can see a condi necro work better/worse in zergs depending of the context.

A dps build is a safer bet for zergs.

Cheers

Carighan.6758:

In other words, my sense of balance is whether I can crush 50 people by bringing 80, and whether I can crush those 80 with 60 by boxing them off into two sets, swipe most of one, then crush the other.

Yes… I was referring to micro balance, but that’s usually what the complaints are about. “Your” idea of balance suits me much better =)

Odokuro.5049:

I feel that food needs to be balanced in a way that it’s a nice thing to have but doesn’t benefit you like it does now, as it is with Ascended and Food stuff, it makes it feel like WvW atleast is more of a Gear battle than skill/tactics, which isn’t fun and shouldn’t be part of the game.

I would say – based on subjective guestimates – 80% of all my WvW encounters are far from being balanced, and it’s not primarily due to food or ascended gear.

They need to re-think the entire game-mode to make it balanced. I don’t think that’s going to happen and personally I don’t find it desirable. I like WvW the way it is, the chaos and unpredictability of it.

Soilder.3607:

I don’t think foods should be usable in WvW. They only seem to add more balancing issues which tend to fall on changing classes instead of the foods themselves.

The notion of balance in WvW is strange to me. I was solo roaming yesterday, I ran into an enemy party, and do you know what — they stomped me.

WvW is not a balanced arena, I like not knowing what’s behind the next bend and I head for the Frozen Maw if I want something predictable.

Now… this is OT, but I would love to see balanced leaderboards (points per played server hour or something).

I’ve always found range-mobility to be challenging when it comes to peripheral necro:s in guild fights, but I guess that comes down to the driver as well. I would gear a bit defensively until I got the hang of it.

Thanks

I think I dislike wasting traits more than a sub-optimal build. I’ll continue my dabbling (haha), before I re-trait myself out of the issue =)

Still… I’m curious.

How do minion masters think, in general terms, when it comes to uw roaming?

Hiya

I’m trying to run Training of the Master with my condition ish necro (wvw roaming with flesh golem/wurm), no other minion traits.

Fighting on land is one thing, but neither of my two pets are available underwater (and I like uw fighting).

How do minion masters think, in general terms, when it comes to uw roaming? Any tips for a condition-minion hybrid?

Cheers

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been running Well of Darkness + Chilling Darkness when WvW solo roaming. I wanted to experiment with my standard condi build – not to optimize but for the fun of it and trying to get away from some go-to choices like extended fear. My current base is dire/rabid, undead runes, bursting/frailty sigil, and x/x/0/0/x.

A surprising number of players insist on staying in the well (EU, tier 5), and the ones smart enough to leave are still giving me the initiative. The fights are slower, I didn’t find it as good against evasion-builds, but I still had fun with it.

I went back to the drawing table yesterday, no more Darkness/Chill, tried Training of the Master with golem/wurm and scepter/focus. I think I can make it work, but I missed off-hand dagger after running into condi-/evasion-builds.

Any tips for my latest experiment?

Have you tried any odd roaming builds?

Cheers!

Reverence.6915:

It’s ridiculous that some classes can apply more conditions than you can cleanse, basically killing you in less than 5 seconds.

It’s ridiculous that some classes can apply more direct damage than you can heal, basically killing you in less than 5 seconds.

How is one fair but not the other?

Seriously… I wouldn’t mind to see more diversity when roaming, but your argument falls short as long as condition builds are marginalized in the rest of the game. I think condi builds got the short end of the stick, not the power builds.

Instead of expecting every build to shine everywhere, I’m trying to adapt and I’m running several builds.

You are right though. We’ve just seen a power review (ferocity) and we could do with a condition review. I would love to see more condition prefixes (power and precision are sub-optimal to many builds, leaving Dire as the only option), and I would love to see PvE doing a better job teaching players about conditions (I can imagine the shock for some players when going from dungeons to roaming).

Edit: Spelling

I think their choice of topic is as interesting as the actual content. Why did they see the need to talk about design philosophies?

True…it’s not always easy to stack condi:s, especially not against tight teams.

Concerning your traits… Some would argue Hemophilia and Lingering Curse are not worth it in WvW due to the condition cleanse. Reaper’s Protection looks nice at a first glance, but it has an internal cool-down, and I prefer to use conditions applied to me actively in fights instead of passively clean them.

I’m currently prioritizing high condition damage over condition duration, and I try to cover important conditions (like my bleeds) with expendable conditions. Nothing revolutionary, but maybe it will help you to get going. I would also trait more aggressively when roaming in small parties, typically nothing in death/blood magic — but that’s me.

I dislike passive skills/traits in general, but that’s about it.

Condition necro:s are decent in most 1v1. The existence of a single, and to me gimmicky, counter build doesn’t upset me much. Especially now when we can re-trait on the fly. Besides… roaming solo I can’t really expect anything.

Sumiko.5673:

Can you guys tell me why you personally like your Necromancer? I’d love to hear from other players what makes them fun to play.

• It’s fun to play something evil,
• I’m not a brawler and
• I like the necro commitment to fights.

Pregnantman.8259:

Do you actually use it over other Curse GM traits?

Yes… when in small parties/solo WvW, and there are times I run with 6 point in Curses but with no GM at all.

I for one like the feature patch and what it did to build variety. I’ve found myself de-cheese my builds (usually dire/condition or soldier/wells), I’m trying out a lot of new combinations and I’m having more fun than before.

…and yes — I still run with dhuumfire from time to time. I’m not allowed to play with fire in real life, and it just too much fun to pass it up =)

Juba.8406:

now with crit dmg nerf (more than 30% in my case) the damage just dont cut it against Dire users, you either go full zerk or rune of strength and hope you dont commit a mistake or go Melandru/Hoelbrak and bring every condi-cleanse you can get.

I’m sorry but I feel you misunderstood me, maybe I wasn’t clear enough. Yes… I understand a berserker build has a rough time WvW roaming. That’s nothing new and I don’t think of that as a problem. Power builds are successful in many other aspects of the game, and I don’t expect every build to be successful in every aspect.

I tend to think of it as the difference between melee and range. Melee is successful in close combat, and range is successful in…well… ranged combat. Condition builds are successful in small-scale fights in-between players, and power build are successful everywhere else.

It sounds to me as if the condition builds got the short end of the stick, not the power builds.

Juba.8406:

and say goodbye to to the period of diversity we had in WvW, something even PvP didn’t have.

A classic tell-tale of sects is the idea that they are the last generation before the big apocalypse. I’m not saying you belong to a sect, but please listen to yourself. Power builds are still relevant and viable in WvW.

Juba.8406:

the problem is that damage from Soldier is terrible, can be negated by toughness, cant fire and forget and Power is hugely dependent on 2 other stats (precision/ferocity), unlike Dire.

I know of several WvW guilds recommending Soldier’s for power builds, and the damage is not that bad. There was a damage break-down by prefix on Reddit the other day. http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/249pc7/effective_power_and_effective_health_of_all/

Juba.8406:

and for the “reasonable arguments” folks, just have a walk in WvW, choose whatever power build you want, then tell us your horror story.

Exactly… up until the feature patch, anyone investing in condition gear did that exclusively for WvW roaming. I’m not a PvP:er but as I’ve understood it you can use your PvE gear there now as well, which broadens the use of condition gear.

Power gear on the other hand is viable in all other aspects of the game.

How is that balanced? If you suggest reduced conditions because power builds doesn’t work for WvW roaming — guess what I will call for….

As a condition user, I’ve always had power builds for situations when conditions doesn’t cut it. Now here’s the trick question — why shouldn’t the same rule apply to power users?

Edit: clarification

Morvius.8270:

Ah. I stand corrected. I am at the Straits of Devastation now though so I would need something decent underwater.

Can you be more specific?

Range and conditions you say? I hate to say this, but try to mix in a power spear now and again. Trident by itself can be a bit tedious if you ask me.

I don’t know if there are any tricks to UW combat but to train. I used to have Ship of Sorrows as my training ground, but alas =)

LezardValeth.9453:

Just want to hear different opinions.

My opinion is that necro:s aren’t an escape class. We do have some nice mobility tricks when in a fight (you’ve got some good suggestions already, and I would like to add Tainted Shackles), but as a scout I try not to get into fights to begin with.

If I’m facing a fight I’ll probably loose, and if they try to chase me down, I usually end up dead no matter what. I would say our only safe escape is fatal drops. Going underwater can deter some hunters.

Digno.6945:

So. Anybody else depressed?

I like the control.