Guild Wars 2

Recently swapped from 30/10/0/0/30 to 30/25/0/0/15. I prefer the latter, at least with my usual dungeon crew.

Will not go deeper into the build wars, roll with what you feel comfortable with.

Other than that, as mentioned before, powermancer as such is a bit lacking in dungeons as it’s rather selfish, not bringing anything useful for the rest of the party. And it’s pretty difficult for me to say that as I main a necro and really enjoy playing it.

I can confirm this, I just competed my testing of all dungeons (fractals next yay) and minions survive just fine through most boss fights even AoE situations. The biggest issues are with instant death mechanics and only a few bosses use them.

Overall if I’m really playing hard I’ll swap out my minions on 3 or 4 bosses to wells (untraited) and it works fine. But tbh I just re-sommon when I can and deal with it because in most encounters I kick major butt.

Oh and I’m learning that minions (espeshaly golem charge) take out objects super fast, I can take out the gate in CoF path 1 in like 2-3sec. Most of the pug runs I do I get people saying WTF!?

All the other transformations are pretty gender neutral (Tornadoes don’t have genders afaik) or actually affect your own character model (Rampage). Lich is the unique one that makes you look specifically like a male entity.

It is possible though, as Riot said, that we are taking the appearance of something specific, and as such it doesn’t matter what gender or race we are, we all take the same appearance. I have a feeling though really this whole debate is just pulling stuff from our kitten to give ANet an excuse :P I’m not actually sure they put this much thought into it.

Spoj’s build has more DPS than the 30/0/0/0/30 + 10 build that nemesis & others have used. How much is up for debate, but it’s better. It also requires you to be in melee 100% of the time. As spoj pointed out, you don’t lose much from dodging in a good group. The caveat there is good.

Pugs mean longer fights, and the longer the fight goes on the worse it gets for the melee necro who’s spamming dagger auto. I could go into more depth here, but suffice to say that in a pug your DPS “uptime” is much more important than spreadsheet numbers, and the DS build has far higher DPS uptime in a pug simply because you can stay at 600 range and (if necessary) kite around the crippled mob with no loss in DPS.

The issue over which necro power build to use isn’t important though, it never has been. The real issue is even in the best case a power necro isn’t as good as almost any other class for PvE at the highest level. Unfortunately without a complete rework of skills, utilities, and the inherent PvE mechanics I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

TL;DR: Play what you want. Min/maxing groups won’t take a necro anyways.

Well traditionally liches are powerful sorcerers or sorceresses that transform themselves so that they have an immortal form, usually that of a cadaverous figure or a skeleton. So honestly taking the form of a giant muscle bound figure is kind of off in the first place. So if we stick to that model, which again I don’t hate, the lich should take the form of the spellcaster. It’s a cosmetic issue really, but aesthetics are a big thing to my enjoyment of games sometimes.

Just as a note you do realize that the next set of achievements in the living story area is completely related to WvW and leagues right? it even has a mini dolyak if you complete the meta. Personally I feel there is nothing wrong with this as PvE has gotten the largest share of Achievement points(if that’s what you are going for) by far while WvW gives almost nothing in comparison for the amount of effort needed to complete them.

Good day everyone,

Some of you might remember my old SPvP build/guide that i have done many months ago. Since then the game has changed, the necromancer has changed… and my interest for TPvP has increased… so i thought it was time i’ve made a new, updated… perfected guide. So without further ado, i give you…

… and they shall fear my name [TPvP perfected guide – part I: the TPvP conditionmancer]

Do not be alarmed by the size of the video, in the first few moments of it you will encounter a table of content/menu designed for an easy and comfortable viewing experience.

Who ever wishes to get the quick information from it can simply browse through the categories… and those who wish to understand all there is to know about the TPvP conditionmancer can sit back and enjoy…

This time as you can quickly notice, i chose not to present some “final” stats… I chose to take a different approach when dealing with a shifting PvP environment. I chose to build something from the ground up so it will fit the requirements of the PvP meta regardless of what that meta might now… or in the future.
You will always require “enough damage” & “counters to (everyone and everything, or as close to that as possible)” so that you don’t die like a mob… and you get to do your enough damage.

In the last part of the video i’ve also included a customized table that i have made which has all the condition counters (ways to negate our damage) each individual class has… also a suggested course of action based on these facts…
Basically how you must fight vs < insert class here > in order for you to be victorious.

This is something new even for me, so i am really curious on the results… which can be judged not only by the feedback, but also by how helpful it was for each and every one of you.
If i missed anything or if you have any questions feel free to comment here, on in the comment section on youtube.

PS: I know 1-2 things have changed in this last patch, and i released the video a few days ago… i will modify them with annotations, nothing major though…

^

You do realize that the final damage number is the total damage of the skill added up, and not a “tick” number right?

I mean, the damage per tick isn’t increasing every time, it’s just adding up the damage from the previous ticks.

Vampiric would be ok if you could heal in shroud.

Shroud skills fire really slow anyways. And healing in shroud even a tiny but could allow you to buy some time waiting for cool downs. The class still has little mobility and bad stun breaks. The class is still weak to burst, vampiric in DS wolnt change that. Tiny heals protect mostly against conditions which the class is already good at.

It wouldn’t be broken to let necromancer heal in shroud.

Bhawb.7408:

Flesh Golem/Blood Fiend: 33,000 HP traited
Bone Minions: 13,000 HP traited
Rest: 28,000 HP traited.

Even the most pathetic of our minions have comparable HP to players.

Careful saying that though, people might draw an improper conclusion. They also can’t dodge (and don’t dodge with the master), tend to have lower toughness, and don’t worry about positioning/being in aoes so, there’s quite a huge difference when it comes to EFFECTIVE hp :P

No GS, no Hammer, no mace.

Scythe and Crossbow for my necro please!

Sctythe: melee, cleave, gap closer, chill, combo finishers, high lf gen.
Crossbow: cripple, bleeds, weakness, gap generator, summon jagged horrors.

I use that spot to play a sort of chicken game with other necros we cast spectral walk and jump then see who can get closest to the water before hitting recall. with a judge in the water watching green lines.

This… Isn’t really the problem in a nutshell. It’s a nutshell, the bowl around the nutshell, the table the bowl’s on, the room the table’s in and the house the room’s in.

If it was actually in a nutshell, it would be “Vampiric cannot provide strong returns because it procs off literally everything you do”.

Personally? I don’t see that as a problem. Maybe a bit of normalisation so it isn’t so affected by your attack speed, but even that’s unnecessary because it makes weapon selection with Vampiric in mind Actually A Thing. It’s a minor trait; it’s not something that you’re supposed to base your entire build around.

If any change needs to happen to Vampiric, it needs to be given some higher scaling.

Do other changes need to happen to the Blood Magic line in general? Sure, it could use a little shifting about. Do we need more active draining abilities? That’d be pretty cool too, but they won’t happen until we get new weapons, utilities or traits. If you want a discussion on the Blood Magic line, say “yeah this blood magic line it’s pretty rubbish innit” in the subject line.

Thanks for the softcore, by the way.

Wonderful. So not only are the requirements to make these items now completely insane, costing double that of a legendary weapon, but its also only available until November so it can’t even be a long-term goal.

Bweaty.9187:

It’s the 15th here now… When will you crazy Americans stop living in the past N give me my patch?!! :-)

Since it’s already the 15th for you, could you be so kind as to tell me the winning numbers for tonight’s lotto drawing? I’ll split the winnings with you 50/50

kailin.4905:

I’m starting to get the impression this whole revamp was a big ruse. I really just cant fathom how they could invest weeks of testing and equations into the blood traits just to have them give the exact same amount of healing as before. Then have the nerve to try to sell it as if they were actually going to attempt to make them viable. The whole thing feels like a shell game or typical Anet wordplay to justify there ineptitude. Still, I hope i’m wrong and its just bugged atm

The idea is to base life steal on Healing Power, you should see little to no change with general power or condition gear but if you equip clerics or something now you can buff your life steal…. its actually kind of cool. (and they way it should have always been)

Agreed on all points, Bweaty.

Necromancer; the class that’s supposed to facetank damage. Nevermind that the mechanic that permitted us to do so was nerfed (removing Death Shroud’s ability to absorb a single hit of any amount at the cost of all remaining life force).

Necromancer; the class that’s supposed to be the attritionist. Nevermind that other classes have superior sustain and damage mitigation skills; some of which don’t even require a trait or opportunity cost to use.

Necromancer; the class that’s supposed to have the best sustain. Nevermind that extra hit points (Death Shroud) means nothing in this game when focus CC-ed with no or very limited/situational access to block, evade, invulnerability, stability, stealth, or vigor.

The profession that arguably had the greatest variety of viable builds in GW1 has been reduced to go conditionmancer or go home in GW2. Reading you loud and clear, ArenaNet.

If PvE armors are available in PvP then PvP armors should be available in PvE

I’d love to have this armor

So I don’t have a lot of time to read this, I’m just going to toss out my idea to improve the Norn Elite Skills. Nothing has to be changed, only this:

Bear Form – Every attack, including basic attacks, knocks down your target.

Wolf Form – Every attack, including basic attacks, stacks 3x bleed on your target.

Snow Leopard Form – Every attack, including basic attacks, blinds your target.

Raven Form – Every attack, including basic attacks, causes the confusion condition on your target.

This makes each Norn form useful in most situations.

That’s all I got, laters!

im expecting Black flame skull or something like this… BUT THIS is so dissapoint………

He also has an invisible pony. I wish I was making that up.

I know that it sounds so cliche, but I seriously believe that everyone should play the profession that enjoys to play. Each profession has one or two area that it really shines, but it always come down to personal preference, play style and taste, I guess.

I love necros since I made my very first character in GW1 as a necro, and I’m loving the hell out of them in GW2. I would even say that its among the classes that has the most versatility in this game so you can go for many directions once you reached level 80, and its easy to level up solo with the help of minions.

Personally I’m running a condimancer now on my main, but looking forward to the upcoming update to experiment a bit more, but it still comes down to sheer enjoyment. Play it, if you like it, but if you still want a reason, I would simply say: Epidemic. It’s just a very fun skill to play with, possibly my favourite utility skill in the game, and I cannot stop loving it. :P

Necros definately deserve more love, they are awesome!

Respawn.6802:

Make a Minion Master build, join 30 other necro’s in WvW and do this.
You will have unlimited fun.

It may look like PvP but you will enjoy it.

*image taken from SBI/FA/MAG WvW match-up thread, not my own.

Oh Gods… I always wanted to try that. It look beautiful, just beautiful!

Make a Minion Master build, join 30 other necro’s in WvW and do this.
You will have unlimited fun.

It may look like PvP but you will enjoy it.

*image taken from SBI/FA/MAG WvW match-up thread, not my own.

nolop.8095:

Necros have an attrition playstyle, they slow down and burden every group they’re in.

He’s right – necros don’t typically do amazing burst damage. (snicker)

We’re not designed to kill measly 15k HP Players…

…We’re designed to obliterate 390k HP GODS.

(power Necros do just fine in dungeons, thank you very much, but its true, mindless minions are pretty mindless when working indoors )

Because Necros are master of life and death.
Because we don’t pull our punches when we kill: we tear your souls apart (cookie for reference) and use them to reshape flesh and bones as we see fit.
Because a nuker necro does more spike damage than the average zerker warrior and inflicts conditions + corrupt boons: in dungeons (and PvE), bosses don’t simply melt.
They sublimate.

Because, even with a dagger, necro can stay in melee, (ab)using death shroud to tank, cleaning at the same time a room of mobs.
Because jet black/iron grey armor, with skull and bones everywhere, is pretty kitten.

Because when you get the sniffles, entire armies die.

That’s right you’re a plague-carrying machine, a Typhoid Mary, a walking epidemic, and you lover to share. Conditionmancy isn’t just theorycraft when you pull on the black cowl, its some of the most brutal sustained AoE in the game. Epidemic is the one-touch annihilator when you copy the 83 conditions on that world boss over there onto every single NPC in a truly shocking radius… Today’s forecast calls for heavy rain – that is to say sheets and streams of white numbers rolling up of off every NPC in sight until they explode like little red water balloons.

Roll Necro.

Because when you can’t find a party, you re-animate one.

You can load your entire right-hand tray with stinking, decaying, fawning, lovely servants who never ever ask for a raise or burst into tears when you tell them to kill 30 rabbits for the daily. No, these guys do what they’re told, and the do it without one word of complaint (the bit of meat sliding off and plopping to the ground was not a complaint). And having 6 NPCs following you around just waiting to do pile that centaur over there at your slightest whim is what being a dark lord is all about some days.

Roll Necro.

For the shear unmitigated awesome of mastering the dark arts.

Deathshroud is just ridiculously fun. Dive into the middle of 6-8 critters, drops wells on them, detonation AoEs and PBAoEs weapon skills like you bought them on clearance, and then when everything in the visible universe hates you with the passion of 1,000 black suns, you turn into a roiling cloud of death and hide your life bar behind a bubbling, hissing mass of even more PBAoEs. Insert maniacal cackling here.

…Then click once to loot the entire graveyard you just had installed.

Roll Necro.