Guild Wars 2

Thanks for all the helpful replies! I just had a few follow up questions:

Buy an r9 390 or 380 based on how much money you can afford to invest in your graphics.

That sounds like pretty good advice, but do you know what kind of framerates I would get? Also, I once read that AMD doesn’t render GW2 as well as Nvidia. Is that just a rumor?

The main nvidia vs AMD issue with modern mobos is multi-GPU support. Some only support SLI only, others Crossfire, and some support both.

Yeah, that’s my situation; my motherboard (H170 pro gaming) only supports crossfire, so I would ideally get an AMD card.

What’s your PSU? It’s important to know before you can even contemplate a GPU.

A new GPU is the priority, however a good i5/i7 would be beneficial too.

a 390 is a very power hungry GPU. You’ll generally need a 600W or more PSU.

I have a 500W 80+ bronze psu that was cheap enough I don’t mind upgrading it. I thought 3xx actually got more efficient than the 2xx, so now I don’t have to worry as much. The calculator I looked at seemed to think I had about 150W to spare if I got a 380/390. When you say a new CPU would help too, how much will that hold back my new graphics card?

I have some money I want to spend on a computer upgrade. I would primarily like to improve my GW2 performance, so I need some advice.

My current setup is:
cpu: i3 6100
graphics: integrated (hd 530)
lots of 2133MHz ram with low latency
asus pro gaming mobo
850 EVO ssd

I get 60-70fps on the lowest graphics settings, but the game still runs tolerably (20-30fps) on the highest graphics settings outside of a zerg.

I assume that my integrated graphics are the bottleneck, so what I would really like to know is:
What is the best gpu I can buy before I start to get bottlenecked by my cpu?
What sorts of framerates (max settings) should I expect?
Should I be looking into a cpu upgrade also?

It’s called the Revenant.

I just rolled my first rev because why not. I’m a little slow on the uptake, but I guess they have been listening to all our suggestions.

I just hit level 5 and unlocked my third mace skill, so I figure, what else a noob to do but spam 1,2,3.

So I did, and this is what happened.

skill 1: exactly the same as scepter staff 1 but melee. with torment instead of bleeds. and much faster. and hits multiple targets.
thoughts: gee, I feel like the necro has been asking for something exactly like that for a long time. Oh well, lets see what’s next

skill 2: low cooldown AoE burning and a fire field.
thoughts: Wouldn’t condi necro want that too? You know, for more active play and team synergy etc. and to cover bleeds.

skill 3: low cooldown blast finisher, comboing AoE might into the aforementioned fire field, and more torment (a condition we were told necros would benefit most from).
thoughts: I should be upset, but instead I’m just going to shut up and play my heavy armour condi necro and you should too.

I expect even more surprises that I could be upset at but will instead choose to enjoy as I journey from level 6 to 80.
Chill is nice on the reaper at least.
…

I’ve made a few changes based on what you guys have posted.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7YnMbCtbi12Au2A0bilgBLeIuEjiUXhvwvKKBEAaAA-TViBABqfEAA4BAkz+DAqbgT1fcUJYEXAAvU+h9BBAA-w

It’s pure condi now, so you lose some DPS and have to run from diamond skin eles. I also put the stunbreaks in and took out extra fear duration (it wasn’t giving an extra tick on any skills). Chill is more heavily emphasized in the runes/sigils. Lastly, a whole bunch of vitality and toughness got tagged on with rabid, rabid+dire and givers.

Don’t mind playing a squishy Necro? The good news is (barring pre release nerfs), condimancers/hybrids might be playable again.

The Pros
Terror + Shivers of Dread + Deathly Chill makes staff five scary
Reaper Shroud 1 brings Dhuumfire back from the grave (pun intended)
Three condi transfers AND Signet of Spite
Enough Chill to hit 100% uptime if you really wanted to

The Cons
Melee
Squishy
No boon hate
Stunbreak missing (probably have to drop a utility for this)

Possible Changes
Switch Staff for Greatsword and replace fear/staff traits
Wear rabid armor/jewels and die to DS eles

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7YnMbClbit2AO2A0bilgBLeIuEjiUXhpwvKKBEAaAA-T1BIAB4pEEgnAwtq/8x+DAp8z3LCws6GAA-w

THIS BUILD IS NOT OPTIMIZED
I just wanted to show the new potential of condimancers.
I basically haven’t played for over a year because I got too emotionally invested in necro. Accordingly, Runes and Sigils are not terribad but could probably be improved. My knowledge of the specific shortcomings of the class (with respect to the present meta – if changed at all) also suffers, so if 90% of all build can cleanse through these conditions while chilled, I’m sorry.

Thoughts?
Comments?
Concerns?

As I recall, dhuumfire is getting nerfed again because it’s overused and has no counterplay. How is backstab not the exact same thing?

lazycalm.5186:

Hi guys

I’m gonna start playing SPvP with my Necro, and I don’t want to faceroll (MM), neither want to be meh (Power), because I’m new to SPvP.

I leveled with a condition spec, so I’m quite familiar with the playstyle of Scepter/Dagger and Staff.

1. Is 30/20/0/0/20 still the way to go?

2. How are Condi Necros doing in SPvP overall?

3. Are there any guides that actually show the rotation and some tips?

4. What utility skills should I use? And should I use Plague Form or Flesh Golem and why?

5. How do you manage Death Shroud? When should I go in and out of it?

6. What is the role of Condi Necros in SPvP?

I hope you can answer all my questions
I’m really looking forward to spread some terror

Thank you

1. Necro condi builds support a wide variety of trait selections now. I get pretty good results with 10 30 20 10 0 believe it or not. If you want to go Dhuumfire (most people do) you’ll have to go 30 20 something though.

2. In sPvP they do pretty well against most classes but get facerolled by warriors (who doesn’t). Diamond skin eles are impossible to play competitively but impossible for conditions necros to kill.

3. Nemesis has really nice in-depth guides for most necro playstyles, I don’t know if they’re up-to-date, but I learned from him.

4. You need AT LEAST one stunbreak. The utilities depend highly on team composition and which build you’ve chosen.
First utility: spectral walk/spectral armor/plague signet
Second utility: spectral wall/well of darkness/signet of spite/epidemic
Third utility: spectral armor/well of corruption/corrupt boon

Plague form is brutal in team fights (when traited for chill particularly)
1v1 Golem is much better for CC every 30s.

5. Condi specs should mostly flash DS for the terror. If you need an immobilize you can hit DS 5. Otherwise the only reason you should be in DS is for sustainability.

6. Roam a little, but mostly stand around the points and rain condis on the other team. If you can get an epidemic off in a team fight you’re golden. Plague form on a point is nasty too. Necros have the easiest access to an interrupt with DS 2: use it on stomps and heals for some clutch play.

To be fair, it was probably much easier to fix the mesmer bug than any individual necro bug. Add to that the fact that necros have multiple bugs and a low playerbase which literally takes any possible opportunity to kitten on Anet on the forums and you can maybe see why they are less enthusiastic about fixing our bugs.

That being said, I would really, REALLY like them to fix our “Profession Breaking Bugs” also. In the meantime I’m playing mesmer >.<

And now apparently this.

Sentinel VX.1392:

The right and left eye has different brightness, as the right eyes appear to be darker compare to the left eye.

It seems the problem is with the shaders option, since the brightness of both eyes are the same when I use “low” for the shaders setting.

The first and second images are on “high” shaders while the third one is on “low” shaders.

This is the first face of the three exclusive faces for sylvari.

There is no visible eyes brightness problem when using total make over kit.

Why do I feel like you just wanted to show off all your level 80s?

I spent a few days playing this spec in WvW (mostly roaming) last week and it was quite fun. The following are my observations. (I only had exotic gear and didn’t use any food, so take this with a grain of salt)

This is a VERY tanky build.
I was running full berserkers and comfortably tanking warriors and thieves as long as I had LF generation up in DS.

This build has difficulty with sustain classes
Despite being (with the possible exception of MM) the closest necros can come to a sustain spec, it cannot regenerate the health you (will slowly) lose. Couple this with the fact that you sacrifice all your (already sub-par) burst to maintain LF through spectral skills and you can feel totally powerless against high-sustain classes like elementalist and guardian.

I still feel like a ping-pong ball
I’m not used to PvP, so this might just be me, but I tried to play a few hotjoin games with this build and just got knocked around when there was more than one person on a point.
Full disclosure: while I think I play necro decidedly above average in WvW, I’m at best average at dodging, which is much more important in PvP than WvW.

#bringbackshade
While it doesn’t feel as strong as the condition, MM and power specs that are currently standard for necromancers, replacing foot in the grave with shade could easily put it in contention for a place as the fourth viable (but still balanced) necromancers spec.

Thanks for a cool build! I feel much less pigeonholed into my condi spec now.

I think necro would actually be the most OP. In a 30 30 30 30 30 meta, all the vigor and leaps which other classes have access too become less valuable and the necromancer’s unique class abilities begin to really shine.

The build is a DS flashing condi-MM build and there are basically no traits which you want to take but can’t.

It goes like this:
V-IX-XI
II-IX-XI
III-X-XI
II-VII-XI
III-VIII-XI
Full rabid gear with runes of the undead (cheapest, most effective runes for condi specs IMO)
Scepter/Dagger with +condi damage and bleed on crit
The highlights are:
Dhuumfire/Terror (obviously)
33% scepter duration (a good but not overpowered trait, take this mostly to incur maximum QQ on forums about scepter auto-attack)
Stab, retal, fury when flashing DS
DS flashing 30% more often
Reduced recharge on DS skills

Plus the minion traits:
Steal health (combined with 20% bonus siphon)
30% extra damage
Poison on death (can switch for boon hate as needed, but the poison goes nicely with the condi spec)
reduced recharge and increased health

Basically a Condimancer with Stability that keeps hitting you when you finally do manage to disable it.

Full disclosure, I main a condition Necro and play mostly WvW
Below are my observations on what problems exist with conditions as well as on the my beliefs about them and the beliefs people have about them.

There is a tl:dr; at the end if you want to skip my pontificating

Fire and Forget
One of the most frequently aired concerns about condition damage is that it encourages passive play. The most cited example is necro scepter autoattack This fully-specced build (same survivability as a zerker spec with knights) puts out a meager 1.2k per autoattack on a ten second countdown. Not only does this nowhere compete with other DPS specs, but it exactly encourages, not discourages, active counterplay by being aware of how many conditions bleed stacks you have on you for optimum cleanse and whether to dodge the poison at the end of the chain.

So what’s the problem?
For many people who think (for some classes rightly so) that condi specs have an unfair advantage on them, the problem lies in the actual passive play. Conditions that trigger on crit or on something that you would be doing anyways (in that build, the major offenders are Terror and Dhuumfire with an honorable mention to Mark of Evasion. These are high-damage skills that force attrition playstyles into dps/spike roles. Every condi class has them and without them they barely merit mentioning as viable builds.

What else?
Conditions are the most counterable mechanic in the game
Every class has access to at least two good condition clears with little investment. While some of these could do to have their effectiveness boosted, many are quite fair. But over half the classes have access to passive condition clears, which are explicitly the passive play which conditions themselves are accused of being. Two classes even have passive condition immunity, which make it impossible for full condition builds to damage them at all without team support.

What is the root of the problem?
There are two types of conditions in the game. Control and Damage
All condition counterplay treats these the same for fundamentally different pressures. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to simultaneously balance conditions intended to do the bulk of build’s damage with conditions intended to supply the bulk of a build’s control. Some builds are indifferent to control, but very weak to condition damage. Giving them the tools to mitigate the damage well make control obsolete. The converse can also be the case. As concrete examples: elementalists before Diamond Skin were very weak to condition pressure but had no problem escaping CC. Taking Diamond Skin gives them a hard counter to condition pressure, but also makes it impossible for pure condition specs to put the sorts of control effects (chill, cripple, fear, weakness) on them that they need to get them out of Diamond Skin.

tl:dr;
How would I fix it?
*Make two catagories of condition for the purposes of condition removal (much like how the thief healing skills currently work). For example: make berserker’s stance a resistance to damaging conditions only.
*Remove passive resistance to conditions (DS ele and AR engi).
*Remove all passive damaging condition application from the existing conditions builds.
*Worry about balancing once these root problems of passive play are corrected, though I suspect that this would go a long way towards solving most people’s issues with how conditions currently function.

Wow, all very good advice. I think for now I’m going to go with something like

So for build I’d recommend (assuming you still want to play conditions): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNArYWjMax7tbKb07JEoHuHuAiRKOmghSh7kOA-jECBYLIINDakkWQjKAJHqIasVTFRjVdDTHjIqGA-w

Corrupt boon, spectral wall and spectral walk seem to fit my playstyle best. At least until I start playing around with rampager’s. I like the idea of having full access to chill, fear and weakness. Something like this

Bhawb.

And someone who is better on lore can correct me on this next bit, but I’m like 95% sure a Lich could handle being underwater as well.

Actually, a major theme often present in the portrayals of necromancy and the undead is their inability to cross running water. I’m thinking specifically about the Sabriel books by Garth Nix, which are more or less the reason I love necromancers, but I know other examples exist.

That being said: in guild wars this doesn’t seem to have ever been a problem. I love how mesmers have 3 underwater elites and necros have one. I wouldn’t mind being allowed to take my golem or lich form into water because right now, and I always feel like my aquatic dps is really low.

I came up with something that would require the zerker armor but might otherwise not be that awful. build

Hey everybody, this is one of my first posts on here, so bear with me, but I need some help right now. I just finished getting all my ascended trinkets and I’m a little over halfway to an ascended staff. The problem is that all my trinkets are rabid, so I’m locked into condimancer. I shouldn’t really mind considering how cool curses necros were in the original games and how awesome the concept of a necromancer is. I need help dealing with some parts of the game where I just feel helpless though.

Please note: I am aware that there is a lot of disappointment with recent patches from the necromancer community. As much as I would love to vent alongside you, I’m dedicated to making this build work for me (I doubt it would be quicker to get a separate set of ascended trinkets regardless) so please try to keep an optimistic tone (in this thread at least).

But I’d like to know what my options are to deal with:

Condi Immunity
As seen actively on warriors and passively on engineers and elementalists, this seems to be a total shutdown for me, is my only option to put on zerker armor and hope I can keep up a respectable dps with life blast? Has anybody seen or heard of an acceptable check to these abilities?

Crowd Control
Warriors seem to be able to keep me dazed or knocked down permanently. Other classes can be almost as bad. The only solution I can think of to this would be to give up terror or dhuumfire for foot in the grave to get some nice stability uptime (this might synergize well with weakening shroud, but I’ve never tired it).

Disengage/mobility
Particularly in WvW, most classes can reset a fight or run away when I might otherwise be winning. Maybe I just don’t know when to use staff three, but it seems as though I never have enough chill to kite or chase. Also, does anybody know when to use spectral grasp or that other chase skill. It seems as though whenever I use them it’s too late. Also, is there an angle from which I have to throw these skills? It seems like they can be simply side-stepped, let alone dodged, especially when they are already retreating.

So, as I understand it (minion master is the one build I’ve yet to play seriously) the reason they’re afraid to improve siphon is that vampiric master would be overpowered. I’m playing off of the other suggestions a little here, but what would you guys think if they changed bloodthirst to double siphoning effectiveness if the foe is bleeding? (obviously, they would have to change the prevalent passive condi immunity meta also) or maybe have life siphon grant life force also if the foe is bleeding. This would make more sense with the name of the trait, it would see more use in condi build as opposed to power and it would be hard to get all the other minion master functionality while keeping up bleeds.

Well. Diamond skin.
Alternatively, you should never die to a solo necro. Necros have a really nice heal but miserable maneuverability and too much health to abuse it; get their health as low as you can, clear chill and ride the lightning/etc away (knockdown will help you here too) you can dodge/sidestep the necro’s two chase skills (both look like icy claws). You’ll be able to catch them again no problem after healing to full. If you’re not making progress, just disengage, maybe they have food/better armor or are just better than you.

Moral of the story, use their weakness against them: low maneuverability and very little/no access to vigor or stability.