Guild Wars 2

Necromancers tolerate conditions pretty well because of CC and the high natural Health. I know other professions have ways to clear conditions or avoid damage but Necro just eats it up.

Necromancer also has the most pets and they are much stronger and better behaved, now, than they were at release. Ranger has always had better control but mob violence has its own attractions.

In wvwvw, Necromancer has a more limited range of application but is very powerful within that range of tasks. The most powerful in large group play for me is as mobile condi-artillery where AoE can define a battle line working to hinder enemy movement on a field, or during a siege. Though it may not seem like a Necro is doing more than inconveniencing the enemy, you are forcing them to burn heals and condition cleanses so your high burst and dps allies can gank them.

If the downed state health is fixed, Necromancer will make one heck of a resilliant punching bag; practically a tank, or even a paladin-type job if healing is maximized a la MM-cleric.

I would like to join a few of the dungeon runs. Are there any fixed times (GMT) and days to queue up in the guild, or should I just represent and declare I am available?

There are many dungeons I have not done explore mode on because I did not want its ugly armor, some with ordinary stats I can just craft.

Unlike many players, my availability during spring and summer is greatly reduced so I doubt I will be a regular. I have hardly played at all the last two months; especially when compared to last fall. Forgive me if my play is poor.

Is this thread necromancy? I could swear I have seen this topic, before.

Putrid mark – I love the thing and cannot live without staff mastery. Wish I had more finishers as much as you do.

Bone minions – Been playing since beta so, naturally, I laugh with glee when I blow up the little buggers. (Yes, I do run them when on a mini-zerg binge. Unfortunately, I often get a bit trigger-happy with all my minions – bad memories from before the myriad patches, sorry.)

Flesh wurm – You are totally correct: I save its death for the teleport or keep it alive for its damage. (Still, I like making it dead, again, a bit too often.)

Regarding the OP’s topic, I start with the skills and utilities I need for the situation, not the armor. If playing a condition management role, set traits appropriately and then choose equipment to assist.

Armor stats is last as a factor behind a player’s experience, utilities, trait-skills, consumables, weapons, and runes/sigils. Choose everything else with more care than your armor, then use the armor stats to fill in what minor gaps are left. I used to think it all started with armor but that was backwards; armor and weapon stats are the tiles on the roof, not the foundation or walls.

Kind of wondering if the settler’s armor is better off with a power/vitality or power/precision build. With the armor’s stats bent so conservatively, the wearer is asking to be beaten like a drum, which works in team PvE, but not so well in other situations. the armor is basically paladin-type. When it was first announced, I could think of no good use for it and am still scrtching my head over what to do with it.

Thoughts?

I am shocked you have not tried a condition build, yet. There are many builds that are pretty useful and modify play style and tactics for Necromancer. I encourage you to try them out. See what you can make out of the trait tree and gear attributes.

Right now, I am evaluating a 20/10/20/20/0 MM build and how fast it can chew though karka. I plan on running hybrid against them nest.

I noticed it in Southsun but guessed the condition reapplies immediately or is exempt like the karka condies.

I like popping the little rats early, then right before the transform ends against PvE bosses. Not only do the ankle-biters add bleeds, they also make great fodder and a distraction to soak up damage for the group.

I like Lich form very much. As an Elite skill, it is way far better than Mist Wolf, which I paid extra real money for.

The two things about Lich I would like changed are auto-attack is off by default and the form’s large size. I waste at least 1 second turning on the auto-attack and that delay can get longer if there is heavy lag. The large size of Lich means that the camera position/point of view is moved and can violate solid objects so my view is occluded, or the lich itself obstructs my view. This can be a huge problem in confined spaces.

I would like auto-attack enabled by default and for the Lich form’s size to be reduced.

Slots 2 through 5 are more for group support while #1 is direct damage but all are useful. The last 4 skills are just more useful in group play than 1v1.

This is a content expansion update, not the planned bug fix update(s).

Edit: It looks like there are some bug fixes and a little ballancing but I still expect more near the end of the month.

You can only see your own damage with bleed ticks. What you see is what you did. What Rennoko said is correct. Epidemic bleeds are yours no matter who put them on your target. Bleeds over 25 become FIFO, at which point it hardly matters whose they are unless players realize the stack is maxed and adjust their skill mix to add more direct damage or different cinditions.

A number of players help Arenanet by identifying bugs, offering constructive suggestions, or simply purchasing gems with real money. Arenanet should recognise them with some form of reward.

What I have in mind are slightly unique skins like a color variant on the Quaggon backpack. The dev community could toss a number of names from the forum into a pool to recieve a coupon code good for something minor but exclusive for forum contributions. Likewise, real money gem purchases could unlock a special skin or other bought-with-cash bonus.

Watch 3 things in your setup; crit chance, weapon auto attack rate (# chances per minute) and CD on the sigil’s proc. You might find AoE on weapon swap has benefits for the off-hand depending on your swap rate. Also, mind the condition stacking. Do not over-optimize for stacks of one type of condition or you could easily max it out and waste potontial in other areas like I did going for 100% chill up-time, which is fairly easy to obtain for a Necromancer.

Axe was buffed by the dev’s last fall but it is still primarily a vulnerability-stacking weapon; i.e., a conition delivery tool like all of Necromancer’s weapons.

Also, note that the shorter the weapon’s range, the higher the #1 skill’s dps (generally). It is a risk versus reward design. Personally, I like scepter in PvE because I can run all over the place and not miss while auto-stacking conditions but dagger rips through trash mobs fast. If you do not have many points in precision but do in power, then axe/focus makes more sense along with dagger/war horn. Weapons synergize with your build, or are penalized by it.

It is really sad Areanet’s SQEs do not verify the mechanics work as intended. If Arenanet is going to rely on the player community for software verification, then they should reward posters like the OP or those in the new, dark dot threads with something other than a ‘Thx 4 the feedback. We’ll look into it. Meanwhile, L2P.’

Sorry if I seem grouchy but Arenanet does nothing I know of to reward players who do the SQE or beta testing for them. Nor do they reward players who pay real money for gems instead of exchanging game gold. We could all just give up on the game, stop giving feedback, and refuse to buy gems. There are other games out there.

Do we not already have stuff like this? We can heal on crit or on minion attack, convert conditions to boons and vice versa, have Corruption and Spectral skills, and have exploding minions. The skills are not exactly as you describe but the functions are sort of similar.

Make Dark Path faster. That is the one improvemant I would most like to see. After that, I would like cool down shortened on the transformation.

Now, for the pipe dream: I would like a temporary port to a target that will apply the new dot but returns the user to the skill’s origen once Life Force runs out or leaves the player at the ported location if the skill is activated again, kind of like a reverse Spectral Walk. Necromancers do not have much combat mobility or boon access so those two things are at the top of my slot 5 skill desires, not more damage.

The problem is probably Life Leach. Against a trash mob, it holds steady when traited while draining the mob’s health and can kill making the downed state not terrible. When faced with a more powerful opponent capable of high dps and bursts, the result is less favorable.

I really do not want to wait another month to have this fixed. Other players in a group with me do not have nearly as much time to resurect me when I am downed as I do to help them.

Necromancer’s downed state is pretty good against trash mobs. I will give it that.

Andele.1306:

A) Replace Bone minions with Chicken (Jhorrors already use the rat model)
B) RISEN FREAKING SHARK UNDERWATER!

Make it a risen, exploding duck so it can be used both in the water and out. (A big duck, like Howard, or maybe an Oregon basketball mascot.) Now, that is an elite1!

Edit: Oh, yeah, penguins are great in the water. Maybe an undead emperor penguin, then.

Awesome video, thanks! A friend of mine and I were just in Southsun farming with the celebration bonfire boon and decided to duo an event boss. We both got hit with immobilize, then went straight to downed state, where I, the Necromancer was wiped in the next AoE shot while the Ranger lasted 2 shots before getting dead like me. I said, “See, Necromancer has less downed health!”

We re-spawned and went back to try again but still failed.

Edit: Perhaps the low downed state health is part of the profession on purpose, though. The dev’s might just say it is a feature and, “L2P.”

I don’t know. I ran the dungeon a dozen times, got some decent rewards in karma and crafting items, the fire was a nice boost that stacked with omnomberry bars, and lag was not bad at all. I almost like it better than the Southshore event but that area still exists.

I would like to see an underwater Living Story progression; perhaps tied to Southsun Cove. The underwater Fractal is interesting but there are fewer events that draw people into the sea than on land.

Also, please create special town clothes and armor for underwater. A mermaid/merman’s tail would be fun in Lion’s Arch and the same could be applied to regular armor.

Consider a completely underwater dungeon and an event tackling Tequatl, please, with bright, shiny aquatic scenery similar to Southsun Cove.

Dagger is more challenging for me to play because the only gap closer Necromancer has is Dark Path. You can still play dagger as your main and will be rewarded with higher damage but having to chase down you target all the time carries some frustration; especially in group PvE when other professions use their knock-backs. It is hard enough when I drop a well on a boss and a ranger knocks it out of the circle. having to run up close just to get a hit in is tedious. In solo PvE dagger is great, though. Also, some bosses port all over the place, like in the Molten Weapons Facility.

Sorry about the rant. Dagger has a lot of things going for it but there is no combat mobility on it like, for example, there is for Warrior’s short range weapon skills. Use DS a lot for Dark Path is my best advice.

If axe mastery was combined with staff mastery and DA+boons were placed in Spite as a grandmaster trait, you could have Close to Death stay there. Also, though I did not write it out, I assumed the boons proc’d by a hit during channeling would be short lived with at least 30 seconds of CD so it would only proc boons once in a while or on the first hit in a fight.

I agree this is all a pipe dream, though.

It would also be awesome if DA proc’d retaliation and stability when hit but the odds of a buff like that are not good. Still, it may convince more people to shelve their staff but I think adding boons to DA could make minionmaster too powerful. Maybe if the trait skill was moved to the master level of Spite so the choice was between an axe buff or DA with boons.

^^ Yep, back on topic, the dev’s are eyeing the 5th slot in DS and would like it to apply a new condition. Lots of people have posted suggestions, even me, so are there any other ideas that are novel and interesting?

Kited, I run Bone Fiend and Signet of the Locust under water. Bone minions, Epidemic, and either BiP or the improved Signet of Spite are rotated for the third slot depending on the situation. Foul Current is huge for me because I shoot through a mob from up close, gain distance on the other side, turn around and Epidemic. Bone Fiend wrecks my opponent with its ranged power attack while I do my thing. If you have not tried this setup, I encouage you to do so.

It should be called, “Undowned.”

sigh

What ASCII said – plus, watch the traits for CD reduction on either corruption or wells. Some builds will only allow one option. Master of Corruption is in Curses and Ritual Mastery is in Blood Magic.

edit
Oops, I meant Ascii. (Sorry, Ascii.)

Kitedyou.1720:

Bhawb.7408:

WHAT? Necromancers are one of the strongest classes underwater, hands down.

Heh…hard to believe with a spear that can’t hit squat because you have no mobility and DS skills that blow. I hate underwater combat (that isn’t pve). The DS skills suck, Wave of Fear and Gathering Plague are no good for solo Necros.

The g’darn Flesh Golem wilsons on you whenever you enter water, leaving you with that garbage Plague form.

The trident is the only useful weapon IMO on the Necro for underwater combat.

You have your opinion and I have mine.

Whenever I use Deadly Catch or Foul Current, I go to my fluffy place.

Edit———
I go to my fluffy place with my quaggan backpack and have hugs of joy for the amazing mobility.

Dungeons take a bit of practice and teamwork. You will get more benefit from those two things than from changing your setup.

Your equipment is all Rabid. That means you will have high condition damage and toughness. Use pizza to extend condition duration and Epidemic to multiply stacks on grouped mobs. As a word of caution, your high toughness and good vitality will make you a preferred target so toning down the defensive stats will make you look less like a tank.

You might consider putting 30 into precision to help you crit more often and add bleed duration to your scepter.

The trait build you have and your equipment are not “bad” by any means. It can run wells and staff. Minions are also benefitted by the point allocation if you find a situation where they perform better than your basic setup.

I guess what I am trying to say is that your setup may be a little too tanky and you may benefit from tweaking it toward damage but practice in the dungeon and your team’s expertise make a larger difference.

Wells are some of our strongest skills and can be traited for shorter cool-down for higher dps. They also synergize with Epidemic, create fields, and can be traited to add Protect and Chill, and Power is one of precious few utilities that add boons.

Frankly, there are other areas of the Necromancer profession that need tuning, first.

The topic of this thread has a number of interesting ideas. I am intrigued as to what the Arenanet developers settle upon for the new skill in Death Shroud’s empty slot and the new condition transmitted by that skill.

Please keep the creativity flowing regarding both the skill you want and a new condition but remember there are two pieces to this puzzle.

Btw, Nemesis’ point is valid but the game participation rewards (daily and monthly) will also build karma. There are limited ways to spend each form of game currency. There are also the large events that always reward you with at least one rare and a chance at an even better item. Soon, you will have multiple sets of armor, accessories, and a pile of weapons.

Karma gear cannot be salvaged of any level; no runes, no ecto, no T6 mats.

With that said, karma armor have unique skins you may like the look of. Temple armor and accessories are also pretty solid as exotic sets and you can skin over them or crunch new runes, crests, or jewels over the stock runes. Instead of paying gold, you can pay karma so chose what works for you at that moment.

The only other uses of karma are to purchase recipes, shards, and a few other little things. You will find it easy to make karma if you play a lot of PvE and get the dailies and monthlies.

Tip: Save containers of karma and karma boosters until you have a need for a big purchase. Then use a booster before consuming only what you think you need.

I commend you for only dying 5 times on your way to L8. Get a utility pet if you do not have one ar your first opportunity. Rely on consume conditions and put off other healing skills. Minions make great bait and distractions for enemies. Use staff and scepter/dagger to keep as much range as you can while learning to dodge and the job skills.

Harvest everything and use crafting, heart quests, and area discovery as much as you can.

Hace fun, too.

Rebuilt last night 10/20/20/20/0 staff/scept+dagger wells and a PUG. The run went pretty smoothly.

Consume conditions
epidemic
well of suffering
well of corruption
lich

traited for staff mastery and greater marks, targetable and shorter CD wells, spiteful spirit, terror, and master of corruption

group was ele, guard, thf, 2 necro

Tried it for the first time last night and picked a MM build. Anyone have a favorite build for this dungeon?

Related to above is a CD timer reset (to 0) on certain or all skills. Call it corrupt timer or whatever. It would be more powerful than a stamina leach unless it works only on certain skill slots so it may be OP, especially if it precludes a heal.

Another condition suggestion: Stamina Leach/Steal

Stamina bars of enemies within the dot are emptied and the caster recieves stamina worth extra dodges but will not regenerate hers or his stamina until the bonus stamina is used up.

More ideas!

Divinity boon gives % increase to all stats.
Dark Blessing gives % increase to offensive stats.
Shining Shield gives % increase to defensive stats.

The actual % increase should be low, like 2%, but subject to duration stacking.

Likewise, the same can be applied as a curse with % reductions.

New condition: Pet Exchange

“I am taking your healing tree. Here, you can have my jagged house rat. Thx much.”

One more new “condition” idea is to have a condition/boon duration extender for use on enemies and allies. It might be similar to epidemic in some respects but available to all professions through trait skills or as a #5 slot skill on Necromancer.

Instead of multiplying conditions, it would slow condition and boon timers by some percentage. Something like that placed far up the trait tree of each profession could make less popular support roles more attractive.

Kravick.4906:

You know, I could see vampiric builds being viable as bunker if the healing amounts weren’t so pathetic. Doesn’t help any that healing power has such a negligible effect on them as well. Meanwhile, thief life leech abilities scale off their power stat. WTF kind of shenanigans is that?

Sort of like a regen-Ranger, then. Necromancer would probably have to give up damage somewhere to be allowed any kind of real bunker. Using minions does not cut damage so I understand poorer native healing for Necromancer when minions are traited: the minions heal the Necro plenty by themselves. I guess that would mean whatever other bunker build is selected, it cannot allow fully-traited minions or that would be OP.

Bunker is what I hope the Spectral skills might eventually be. Not one of the Spectral skills actually does damage. They mostly add non-damaging conditions and aid mobility. If the protection and vulnerability portions had longer up-time, I would call that a bunker build with the right gear and traiting.

I agree. Does not mean there is any other kind of support role. Maybe operate siege?

Meh, Necro is still not in bad shape. Other professions are getting buff a lot because they have fewer viable builds. Also, some of Necromancer’s “problems” are pretty deeply embedded so any change can be tricky. The class is sort of non-linear in performance in different situations so improving it for one might make another over-powered.

Necro healing is not so good. I tried making one and was humbled by other professions. If you want to play support, go full conditions with wells and staff and scepter/dagger along with epidemic. Even if you do not do much damage, tossing condition AoE everywhere is like covering the ground in mud. It takes away a lot of mobility for the other server and leaves players open to high dps attacks.

Support Necro lays down cover-fire that does very little damage but can seriously mess up the enemy’s battle plan if your group has the dps to take advantage of the opponents’ reduced mobility.

Dervo.9186:

Whereas some necros don’t do much chill at all…

I can easily maintain perma-chill with one setup and it does not stack so adding more than, say, 80% up-time on Chill is kind of a waste.