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Spectral skills have their uses. Some are incredibly handy. However, it is difficult to justify fully traiting for it because a Spectral build is just not there, yet. Spectal Armor has too long of a CD and Spectral Wall’s uses are more limited, situationally, than other utility skills.
A Spectral build reduces incoming damage and increases Life Force generation but at the cost of direct damage and damaging conditions. It could be very powerful for general use (if the skills are tweaked) and has the potential to be a real tank. I can easily see a Spectal built being 10/0/30/0/30 with gear spec’d heavy on toughness and vitality to be a purpose-build meat shield. Right now, though, it has a tankish niche it fills for a specific WvW play style. Spectral skills are more often used as add-on utilities than ones fully traited because there is not one spectral skill that does actual damage. An improvement in its tanking ability to make up for the loss of damage would be very nice.
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If you like pets, go ahead and roll a Necromancer. They get the most pets in the game. You can have six, sometimes 7, out at once. As Bhawb said, they are not pets you will want to fall in love with, nuture, and cherish. You will want them to die in a glorious explosion of putrid flesh; an ability that will apply to all of them once you get the third trait tier. Each minion has a special attack; poisonous explosion, siphoning health, blind, bind, knock-down, and even a really sad teleport. Use their abilities and use them as meat shields. Together with the Necromancer’s higher health and exceptionally handy Consume Conditions heal, you can farm in places other professions have difficulty with.
Regarding their perceived deficiencies, minions are totally stupid but they will attack your target, or defend you when you are attacked, when they feel like it. The best thing about having a fist-full of minions is that they will not all goof off at the same time and, with the AI patch in January, they also run on a shorter leash so they no longer go fetch everything that aggro’s until one of you is dead.
So, be a Necromancer and enjoy making your undead minions dead, again. Farming with minions is excellent, as others have said, and the February patch buffed both minions and a weapon commonly used by minionmasters.
Apothecary and Giver’s not make the list?
Waiting for mobs to have weaknesses…
Anyway, as a Necromancer I trait for the weapons I have and skills I plan to use. Picking up a weapon so generously produced just nerfs my skills. I would rather Elementalists dropped a sigil that could add a small amount of elemental damage, condition, or boon to the weapon I am using.
Nemesis, do you have any comments on a chillomancer build for less damage but more group support? I found I can keep chill up almost continuously with some cheap runes while swapping weapons and using chill-on-blind but have no recorded dungeon runs, yet. Theoretically, chilling a group of mobs and using Epidemic on them can reduce incoming damage for everyone without having to handicap a conditionmancer build too much but I have no data to support it.
If Spectral Armor had its CD significantly shortened, I would consider traiting for it. Not sure about Spectral Wall and Spectral Grasp. Both are good as stand-alone utilities to select when the situation merits it but a fully traited Spectral build is just not there yet for me.
I rarely run a full bunker build. Conditionmancer / light mobile artillery is too valuable in WvWvW for me to go off looking for 1v1 battles. Not saying I hate Spectral skills. On the contrary, I like Spectral Grasp and Spectral Walk quite a bit but I do not trait for them because I cannot afford to make a Spectral-specific build when other builds for minions, conditions, etc, are a higher priority.
Necromancer can be frustrating when leveling; especially for players used to higher dps. Fortunately, minions have been improved which should help that a little. The play style is different and many players are unsatisfied with it but the profession can be very tanky so expect to use Death Shroud, dodge, heal, and face-tank while whittling down a mob’s HP. There is no “nuke” button to finish fights quickly, which is a turn-off for many. Playing Necromancer takes some skill and a lot of consideration for traits because of all the options Bhawb mentioned but there is challenge, there, which is why I like the profession.
@ Talentless: I am not sure perma-swiftness and vulnerability stacking are enough to justify the specialization in Spectral skills. I know you like your configuration for WvWvW but there are other setups that seem more powerful in zerg and in tower defense. In PvE, Signet of the Locust is almost as good as perma-swiftness without having to spend trait points or use warhorn. Minionmaster in PvP and PvE is really powerful. I just have not seen enough benefit come from traiting for Spectral skills since before Signet of the Locust was improved when Spectral Walk and warhorn were the only options for swiftness. When fighting PvE bosses, other professions stack plenty of vulnerability.
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Thank you, Manveruppd. The missed initial heal of Well of Blood for allies is the thing I would most like changed for Necromancer to improve condition support builds but I suppose a larger ally heal would also draw more aggro. Glad to hear the AoE pulses are based on Necromancer stats, though. I have been toying with a bloody Necromancer setup for maximum healing and boon support but have not run serious experiments, yet.
For Necromancer, a profession without a lot of battle mobility options, a 1 second standard Fear as a knock-back is kind of lame. That is why people on this forum use Terror for dps or regular Fear as an interrupt. It does not do much to improve the chance of escape. A Warrior can use Fear Me in close range for a 3 second head start and then other battle mobility skills to either widen the gap or close it back up on a single target.
Anyone know for sure how Well of Blood works on an ally? I assume it is a % heal based upon the ally’s own heal and HP stats so it would naturally be different for each player.
You can also choose 2 or 3 pieces from each set for an even more general armor set. At first, I thought each set was individual and was meant to be that way but the more I got to thinking, the more I wondered if a mixed-stat set was intended. After all, the temple karma armor is that way and I found the Grenth set pretty reliable.
I agree the Spectral skills need some attention. Minion, Corruption, and Wells builds are all strong enough to play as standard builds but not Spectral. Cool-down on Spectral Armor is too long while up-time on it is too short. Spectral Wall is easy to avoid and its boon/condition is too short, also.
Because the Necromancer is short on battle mobility skills, Spectral Armor and Wall are not strong enough to provide adequate survivability buffs. Spectral Walk and Grasp are both half-way decent battle mobility skills but traiting for them shorts other trait lines while not traiting for them adds a lot of capability. Power and particularly the toughness trait lines are very attractive for damage and utility. The precision line has Focused Rituals and the critical damage line has DS buffs.
A spectral build seems meant for a conditionmancer build with improved mobility and reduced incoming damage but it is not strong enough to match other common builds. I would love to play it, though. A Spectral build could be great in PvE dungeons where bosses spam AoE that would knock out minions too quickly for my tastes. I used to run Spectral Grasp as a knock-down but had trouble with it after the patch to bosses that nerfed Fear. More up-time on Spectral Armor and something else to replace Spectral Wall like a Spectral Teleport or some other gap-closer/opener could make the build worthwhile.
Dulfy dot com has a great page on end-game gear. Spend some time reviewing it. The temple of Grenth is a good, solid armor set for a Necromancer. It offers some balance so maybe you will not be singled out (quite as often) by a boss in a dungeon for extra punishment. Do your daily quests for jugs of karma and soon you will be able to afford a set. I use different armor for different builds and tasks. Popular stat types are Rabid, Soldier/Invader, Berserker, and Carrion.
Minions’ weakest point is that they do not dodge and so are susceptible to AoE. Bosses that spam AoE can wipe them out before they can do much for you. Hopefully, you are running with Transfusion in the Blood Magic trait line. When in Death Shroud, Transfusion uses #4, Life Transfer, to heal up to 5 group members or minions so get into the habit of hitting DS early and adding heals to your minions. You already use Mark of Blood. Keep doing that as much as possible but DS’s Life Transfer with Transfusion is better.
Also, do what you can to increase your toughness and vitality so you become the tank for your minions. The Bone Fiend is probably targeted due to its dps and toughness so you need to pull hate from it.
Trait to make your minions explode in a poison cloud. They might as well do something useful when they die and all the extra toughness you get will make you a better tank.
I am convinced that Necromancer’s Fear is its primary escape/mobility utility. It does a fairly poor job of it but Spectral Walk and Flesh Wurm are the only other options. Fear is Necromancer’s knock-back and, as such, it is less than impressive even though it is an AoE rather than a single-target condition. Unfortunately, Terror does not really improve Fear, it just adds damage, which is not the point of a knock-back.
As for dungeons, Fear was great as an interrupt on bosses, which was why it was nerfed. As a knock-back, you can still use it for its interrupt on non-boss characters in PvE, WvW, or PvP.
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OP, the most important point of this thread is that Necromancer has several perfectly acceptable builds. Many players get hung up on damage but that is not the only metric. I encourage you to take a long, hard look at the skills for each weapon and utility, then choose what is right for the situation rather than forcing one build to work for all.
In general, minion and power builds do pretty well for solo play with the exception of farming large numbers of trash mobs at once. Short-to-medium range weapon combinations provide higher dps and minions are great meat shields that can heal you but only you. Minions provide very little support for a group other than being explosive decoys but add greatly to your dps.
Conditionmancer AoE does well for group support by providing heals, boons, and inflicting/removing/transferring conditions. If you decide to run conditionmancer, make sure you are doing these things for your group. Half of the staff’s abilities seem made for group support so use it for that but do not expect it to provide high dps instead of applying combo fields, condition transfers, and regeneration for your group.
You cannot optimize for minions and conditions at the same time. The trait tree makes it difficult to do both on purpose. If you use most of your points on power and toughness, then precision comes up short and vice versa. You have to choose which build you want and trait for it all the way for maximum effectiveness. Otherwise, you could trait a little in each area for flexibility in weapons and utilities while acknowledging that every configuration will be sub-optimal in exchange for not having to pay the silver to retrait.
OP, when you trait, go all the way. Whether you run conditionmancer, minionmancer, hybrid, whatever, trait that way. It is a disservice to your group to trait half-way and try to do both, or trait for one and switch to another. You should also adjust your play style to match your weapon load and utility skills. Necromancer is a wonderful profession because it allows such diversity of builds and play styles but it does not allow optimal damage to those who think they can switch builds without retraiting.
Definitely the toy wand scepter skin. <3
Well of Darkness, Well of Power, Well of Blood and Greater Marks
In a five-on-one PvE situation, a support build keeps the short range fighters in as much control over the boss as possible. The heavy armor player may very well count on you and other ranged players for healing and boon support.
In a five-on-more-than-one PvE situation, Epidemic rules.
It is okay to use minions in dungeons but remember you fight as a team with other players. No one wants a team mate who plays solo beside them. If you opt for minions, run them hard spamming their skills as much as you can. I will not say minions are the wrong choice but wanted to remind you that wells, marks, and other AoE are more important than just the mediocre damage they do. Just keeping up cripple on a boss can prevent a total party wipe. Adding well of darkness with the protection buff gives short range players time for their own skills, including heals, to cool down so, just because you do not see big numbers shooting off the mobs, does not mean your attacks are not helping. What is better, using Life Transfer to heal minions, or your team mates?
In the end, it is about the team completing the path quickly and safely. Whether you do that through increased dps via minions and using them as poisonous, explosive, meat shields for the group, or use other AoE is up to you. The problem is that the skills you plan to use require specific traiting and gear. Try out different builds to see which you prefer.
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I think you are misinterpreting the situation. Like many other players on this forum, you are alarmed by the increasing trend in gold-to-gems exchange. However, botting is not the only way to make thousands of gold and gems in this game.
Arenanet will adjust the gem supply and exchange rate based upon the company’s need to take in real money. To do this, they use a pool system where one factor on the exchange rate is player demand for gold exchange.
That exchange removes gold from the system and converts it to gems, which are mostly just consumed for account bound items. The substantial exchange fee and mystic toilet should deter currency speculation.
Where people often make their gold now, aside from standard game rewards, is from the trading post. Small volume items with reasonable demand, for example, can be manipulated in price simply by purchasing all stock below a target price. This drives up price by removing competitive supply. As long as demand is sufficient at the target price, players can continue purchasing lower cost stock and reselling at the target price. This method is a bit trickier than it sounds because of the BLTC listing and sales fees, though, and the risk the target price will erode demand until the speculator is overwhelmed by the burden of excess supply.
Similarly, a player can make low-ball offers to quickly remove heavily discounted supply and keep market prices stable.
There are many who also speculate in futures. There was a flurry of chatter and some demand for eggs prior to the end of the year holidays because some felt there would be an egg-related recipe that would drastically increase consumption of that commodity. It did not happen. Now, the discussion is on ectoplasm speculation.
The BLTC’s trading post is the source of many player’s fortunes. I call it the TP mini-game. Arenanet’s challenge is to figure out how to get those players to purchase gems with real money and ensure there is no gold-selling going on so that casual or newer players are not disenfranchised by the exchange rate. The rate should be low enough to entice, but not so low as to make the purchase of gems with real money a terrible deal (which to me it is, by the way, given the content available) and not so high as to drive players away from gem purchases.
Personally, I believe the solution is to make a new currency that is not convertible back and forth with gold and offer premium skins and new content like an area expansion for sale using real money only. That will level the playing ground and take the TP mini-game and gold-selling out of the equation for all content denominated in the new currency. Players can still play with the trading post and farm as much as they like for crafting, exchange, and whatnot.
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Why are you asking, then? If you have Weapon smith, Armorer, and Jeweler at L400, then you should have a surplus of mats for Tailor and Chef. You may have enough mats for Artificer, too. Make what your character needs to wear, carry, and eat. It is less expensive than the trading post, if only because you have already done the gathering and salvaging.
I forgot to mention that the homunculus elite skill would be accompanied by an absurdly long animation sequence as minions merge to form a giant, necrotic flesh-bot accompanied by maniacal laughter and putrid whorls of bug-filled darkness while the Necromancer is immobile and vulnerable to attack.
Regarding another weapon, we have short, medium-short, medium-long, and long range weapons. All can do AoE, too. What more do we need?
If you mean armor stats, you can do pretty well with a variety of different armor. Different armor “types” (stat types) offer boosts in specific areas. Dulfy.com has a very nice guide of end-game armor so you can see what sets/names support which stats and where to find them. Maxing out on one particular stat can also cause trouble. Very high toughness, for example, can make you a prime target for bosses in dungeons while too low a stat can crimp your play. To counter some of that, you can do like the temple armors and mix various stats for a blended set. Blended stat sets work remarkably well, imho. When I acquired my HotW set, I ended up blending Rabid and Magi stat sets and it runs pretty solid; maybe not maxed out but not glassy or lame, either.
If you mean best armor looks, though, try gw2armor for pictures. Personally, I find many of the exotic armors are a bit over-the-top so I skin them using fine transmutation stones. For example, I put Tactical karma armor over a rabid set of temple armor, Embroidered and Cabalist over a couple of crafted Exalted sets, and Devout over Kahlkora’s (Seer’s). Find a look you like, even if mixing armor, and make it how you want.
Fine transmutation stones are available for sale from the Black Lion Trading Company. I have purchased many of them and recommend everyone else do the same. Most of the armor skins I like are mob drops or low-level craft or karma styles so I use fine stones frequently. My alts are using regular transmutation stones.
Just made this suggestion in the Necromancer forum and realized all professions could have a unique wvwvw elite skill that represents it.
" I would want an elite skill that assembles all of the minions into a homunculus like a catapult for instant siege. Make it weaker and less durable than purchased siege but allow its AoE to be choices of things the individual minions had, like a heal or bleed.
To keep the elite skill from being OP, the Necromancer must operate it allowing zero mobility, put up with a long cool down, and tolerate its low damage in exchange for increased range. I might also add that it could put all utility slots on the same CD as the elite skill. "
Guardians may have a wall reinforcement skill that buffs a structure.
Thieves may have a skill allowing them to run double the supply and deliver it to a depot like a dolyak.
Warrior may add 10% damage to siege.
Elementalists may add burning duration to siege.
Rangers may add critcal damage to siege.
Engineers might add condition removal to siege.
And so on
I would want an elite skill that assembles all of the minions into a homunculus like a catapult for instant siege. Make it weaker and less durable than purchased siege but allow its AoE to be choices of things the individual minions had, like a heal or bleed.
To keep the elite skill from being OP, the Necromancer must operate it allowing zero mobility, put up with a long cool down, and tolerate its low damage in exchange for increased range. I might also add that it could put all utility slots on the same CD as the elite skill.
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Keys and transmutation stones are still chance rewards for completing an area or personal story event, I think. Correct me if I am wrong, though.
for your Necromancer to you carry around and how many more are banked? Do not forget the one your Necromancer is wearing. (^_-)
Talk about what makes them special and why, if you feel like it and can remember all of them.
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They are the little orcs to your Sauran. When one of them comes back and has failed you, you should extend your leather-clad hand and choke the life out of them…
… for having delivered a train of Fellowship of the Ring to your door step.
Buggy or not, Necromancer has always been great at farming. Lothial is right; the profession may be getting OP. I remember farming with a friend in Orr months ago getting questions like, “You’re not just going to pull that veteran, are you?” And I would do it anyway and face-tank my way through the fight like a noob. Sometimes, I would laugh and say, “Go, fetch, golem! Pull until one of us is dead!” That got old, quick, though. I am glad the minions’ leash got shortened. It is funny watching the golem jog off, hit the invisible dog fence, and get sent back.
Not sure Necromancer needed an axe and minion buff as much as better escape and damage reduction skills via conditions and boons. In the end, running minions on a power build should not be more effective than being mobile artillery as a condition cannon. Traiting and skills are completely different, as are the situations the builds are used in.
Soon, I hope, Necromancer will become more popular as jealousy over the variety of effective builds grows.
Necromancer can use a variety of the weapons that drop so I found Tailor was the best fit and Jeweler made good use of most metals and jewels found in gathering. Both give excellent XP and do not overlap in materials. Animal drops (claws, fangs, bones, blood, totems, scales, poison sacs) and salvaged cloth will be limiting actors. So farm these whenever possible.
Alternatively, you could level artificer or weapon smith. Just keep in mind you need to watch which your inventory of animal drops by crafting tier because most crafts use them. Cooking is hard if you do not already have ingredients from all over the world.
Use discovery as much as possible after refining no longer gives xp. If you have all the mat’s to run several crafting levels, consider a crafting booster to speed you along and reduce animal drop consumption. Buy all the recipes you find, too, because they can help bridge tough spots just under the next material tier.
Have fun.
@Waizabi: I understand your PoV on axe but Necromancer was probably never meant to equal axe on another profession. Use axe to make minions more effective and channel. You are still a Necromancer. Arenanet dev’s would probably say something like, “Roll a Warrior if you want to play like one,” if not, “LtP.”
The original axe back in August, I thought, was little more than a condition support weapon. Scepter far outstripped it in damage and lots of other classes had access to vulnerability so boss fights did not need axe to max that condition stack.
This profession can be so confusing.
Unlike other professions, Necromancer can effectively use several build types. My advice is to try them all. Minion master is the easiest to play. Conditionmancer was used more often in group support. The hybrid design from Nemesis requires a lot of skillful play and dodging. There are also fearomancer builds leaning toward power and chillomancer builds leaning toward conditions. Builds can also be tuned to use Death Shroud more. You can even bunker. There are lots of choices that actually work in this profession and some work better than others depending upon the situation.
So, again, try them all. Most of us on this forum, I suspect, retrait frequently to try things out. The trait tree does not funnel people into standard builds as much as other professions. I would say that is a good thing if I did not find it confusing and frustrating at the same time.
For equipment, do not worry too much about it. I found a Carrion set is pretty universal and it can be loaed cheaply with Runes of the Undead. Mixing stats on gear seems ok, too, but I usually avoid crit damage improvements (unless I am going for a max power build) because Necromancer direct damage is not spectacular. Watch the YouTube videos from Nemesis and you will see he favors critical chance (precision) over the small % damage improvment Berserker and Valkery gear provides on top of normal critical hit damage.
Too tanky a build will make you a target but too squishy a build will make you easy prey (and also a target if your dps is high because of it).
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Trying this MM build: 20/0/20/20/10
Spite: Spiteful Talisman, Training of the Master
Death Magic: Dark Armor, Flesh of the Master
Blood Magic: Transfusion, Vampiric Master
Soul Reaping: Path of Midnight
Weapons: axe/focus, dagger, dagger
Armor: Tahlkora’s (Seers) vit+, cond dm, heal (no change to runes, yet)
Jewelry: No change yet here, either. Still running exotic rabid with exquisite chrysocola for improved condition damage considering the traiting. May switch jewelry around later for more healing.
Utility: Blood Fiend, Bone Minions, Bone Fiend, Flesh Wurm, Flesh Golem (note all of the ranged pets were chosen)
The build is primarily minions and channeling with both weapon sets and DS4 for minion AoE heal using the Transfusion trait with Life Transfer. The goal is to tank for, and heal, minions. I hope to consistently keep aggro from the Bone Fiend with high armor and HP.
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Axe is still laughably bad in pve. Sustained damage is what makes or breakes good dps builds, even if you use axe as a swap for it’s #2 (which still is not even that awesome), you’ll have to try as hard as possible to do something useful instead of autoattacking before you are finally allowed to swap back.
And no, vulnerability as a side effect does not cut it. At all. For other classes, vulnerability comes as a mere side effect of other, better weapons which actually deal damage by themselves. Actually, that necros have to basically give up dealing damage just to get what others have as a passive pretty much is what I expected.
I think a lot of people misunderstand Necromancer’s axe. It is not a dps weapon but a condition application and channeling/LF generation weapon. Perhaps I am speculating but I suspect its original purpose was to compliment other members in the group or another weapon like main hand dagger or scepter. I used to think of it as more of an off-hand weapon that somehow got on the wrong hand. It stacks vulnerability pretty quickly and the channeling can be traited for +400 armor to counter its relatively short range. What was goofy about axe is that it got a damage buff placed at +30 Spite instead of somewhere else like, say, Death Magic but then that trait line is already full of traits for axe and minions.
Axe goes well with MM builds because it stacks vulnerability your minions can take advantage of. If you think of axe/focus like that, it makes more sense. With this second patch to increase axe damage, Arenanet is making axe more confusing to use because now it has substantial damage but the skills have not changed. Think of the axe as a croas between MH scepter and dagger designed for vulnerability stacking. I am trying it again to face-tank for my minions switching between axe/focus and dagger/dagger for two sets with channelling. (Good grief, we need a stability for that build! Maybe traiting for Fear will suffice but Reaper’s Protection is stuffed into our Death Magic trait line, too. It is not fair! The Death Magic line is too useful but traiting it makes us mob magnets and there are only 3 slots we can use!)
By starter L80, do you mean rare quality rather than experimenting with various master quality gear at a much lower price?
In any case, it is generally better to stay away from pieces that add critical damage as Necromancer does not have strong enough direct damage to make up for the missing other stat bonus. Weight more of your stats toward condition damage if you can but there is no issue with mixing the other stats with the exceptions of critical hit damage percent increase and boon duration. You will not need to worry about those stats. In many ways, not using a totally maxed out set like all Rampager or all Cleric’s is a little safer. Too much toughness and vitality makes you a target and cuts into damage output. Too little makes you squishy. If you have enough karma, look at the temple armor sets; possibly adding 1 pc at a time to your set. The temple of Grenth set is a mixed set I found fairly sturdy and reliable while costing no gold.
Carrion is nicely balanced so if you want six of the same type, I would start with that.
Remember that +Crit Damage is a percent on top of normal crit damage so it is not like you cannot critical hit without it.
Another set you may consider early on to compliment your first L80 set is one designed for improved magic find. Again, MF gear is a percent improvment over normal odds so +100 just doubles your odds of getting a better quality drop. Five Runes of the Pirate and one Rune of the Traveller is the cheapest, biggest buff (60%) to majic find. Make no mistake, you will still get rare and very rarely exotic equipment drops even without MF gear.
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I know staff seems bad when you look at damage but I think it was designed as a ranged weapon to support other group members.
- Necrotic Grasp: projectile combo finisher – otherwise low damage and medium LF build up
- Mark of Blood: regen for those near the target along with 3 long bleeds
- Chillblains: chill, poison and poison field for #4 or anyone else that combos off it
- Putrid Mark: condition transfer for those in the target area and blast finisher for use with Chillblains.
- Reapers Mark: low damage interrupt that used to be awesome for interrupting boss attacks.
Looking at the other weapons available, it seems like the staff was made a little more to benefit fighters near the target. Mark of Blood can keep almost constant regen on the target area and can stack bleeds all by itself. For a weapon with a 1200 range, users in a group rarely end up using it to provide regen for themselves. That is why I think staff skills were designed almost as much for allies’ benefit. Reaper’s mark is less effective when used as a knock-back than when used as an interrupt. The Warrior’s Fear Me is a better knock-back because of the increased duration with decreased range. For Necromancer, a 1 second standard fear is not very useful for escape; hence the Fear build in Nemesis’ thread.
Staff in solo play is lame when not used as a ranged weapon to support group members or combo off but then that is why Necro has such variety in weapons. It is definitely inconvenient how staff’s upgrades are in Spite and Death Magic instead of Curses or Blood Magic where a party support build is more likely to make use of them. Why would staff buffs be placed in a MM build?
@Bas: I will certainly try minions in a variety of more intense situations. In dungeons, I typically trait for condition high damage so so changing to minions is sub-optimal. Staff and S/D are my primary dungeon weapons and I switch between BiP, Epidemic, swiftness, and several Wells for group support. Minions are about improved dps or cannon fodder and offer less support for the rest of the group. Nevertheless, I still use Flesh Golem on occasion when a knock-down is needed more than another elite skill. In normal PvE, I use minions pretty frequently to make up for slow condition damage build-up. I look forward to seeing if the improved minion heals fully make up for reduced group support via reduced fight time and minion face-tanking.
One thing I would like to point out is that minions do not dodge so, like many others here, i have a harder time using them against bosses that can spam 1-shot kills. Hope the update improves their resilience.
I wish or Fear was better, though. A shorter cool down on it would help, I think more than the buff to Terror. It is our primary escape skill in place of mobility.
Retraited for axe/minions and ran them last night; nothing heavy, just light farming to work the new story. I was not sure I could tell the difference in minions, yet, but axe seemed to make quicker work of the low level PvE mobs. I definitely think that, while the profession got buffed, the improvements were more to bring a minion build near to par with a conditionmancer or hybrid build. I plan on going back to running more minions where dps matters more than condition control and also re-evaluating the vitality trait line. How I play Necromancer will certainly change and I foresee a lot of retraiting and armor changes.
Last week I was trying out chillomancer in CM where crowd control and boss skill cool down rate is important and found it has its merits. I like Necromancer specifically for its flexible build and play style options.
Honestly, I hope Arenanet’s next balance patch does something to improve spectral builds. Spectral could be a tank build with lower aggro risk and improved mobility and escape, though with naturally lower damage, if the developers can figure it out.
I like the update and hope to try it soon. A lot of it seems more of a sideways buff to better enable MM and power builds giving strength to options other than straight conditionmancer. I expect a lot more minions running around as people try them out and, hopefully, more players are attracted to the profession. I did not have any real issue with playing a support role but know that is not what most players prefer.
Honestly, I was expecting lesser buffs and only to improve support role utility and survivability, not a direct damage buff like today’s patch.
The rich ori node was badly abused and the login-mine-logout-switchchar was arguably against ToS but there is no way for Arenanet to fix the damage short of some heavy-handed action. For example, they could “disappear” collections of materials in an account above some limit, or they could adjust the gem exchange rate based upon total item and gold holdings.
I would go further and offer special skins or town clothes only available by real money gems purchase. I would also make major content expansions also only available to those willing to pay developers in real currency instead of game gold. Arenanet knows how much real life currency I have rewarded them with for their game. It should be worth something more than a laugh for not being a proper troll.
I’m curious, assuming the argument that a 20% discount should apply to the gem exchange rate (I think people here have done a good job of explaining why the sale isn’t a sale on the exchange, so lets leave that be). What system do you use to create a moving 20% discount on exchange, keeping in mind that the supply of gems is not unlimited, and that the exchange does not fabricate gems?
I pay real money for gems, not all the time but most of it, and I hope you continue to keep the economy stable so new and “old” players can enjoy the game. Whiners who enjoy BLTC exclusive items and new content but have never bought gems with real money obviously need more incentive to do so. Why not make another class of gem that is not convertible from gold – something that can only be purchased with real money?
In fact, I am surprised Arenanet does not keep track of real money gem purchases and adjust the exchange rate on an individual account basis. I hate freeloaders who expect continued maintenance and content development for free, then complain about gem exchange rates because they want to purchase content without paying real money.
Seriously look into ways to increase real revenue without making the honest, responsible players pay for so many freeloaders. I have spent more than my share of real money to support you and think I deserve better than to be thought of as a chump who pays for 100 whiners to play for free.
Farming random mobs will become less dead if prices for crafting mats continue to increase. :p I regularly see people farming T6 mats with me so it is not completely dead.
I agree that dungeons pay pretty well. People get rich and forget what it was like in August last year. Then, I thought having 1 gold was awesome and spent it on armor right away.
Agree with TheAgedGnome to some extent. The staff is the Necromancer’s most ranged weapon. Use it like that. Use it like a bow or a rifle. Once a mob, or mobs, get close, switch to S/D or something similar.
If you get a lot of company, as in a train of unwelcome visitors, switch back to staff and burn off your skills on them before trading for your closer range weapon set. The staff does decent AoE if you 3-4 them and Fear will cause them to scatter a moment to give you breathing room. Otherwise, for facing mobs 1v1 or 1v2, any of your short range weapons options will perform better.
The rest of the classes don’t bring enough to offset their liability of not being a heavy with lots of dps.
That is not exactly true. Necromancers do a lot with conditions that straight dps professions do not see. Marks and wells, especially Greater Marks, a couple of elite skills, Epidemic, and the normal weapons skills do a lot for the group. Direct damage may be low but the condition control of a Necromancer on not only the target but the short range fighters around the target helps the group tear into the mob. A Necromancer does not just put conditions on the mob, it also strips them or converts them into boons. It may not seem significant but it is. A stack of conditions on a boss can stop a bunch of the boss’ adds from being a huge problem with a tap of the Epidemic button. Even something as simple as a cripple is important in keeping control of the battle.
Even Necromancers often forget how important their role as a support job is. Blinding a boss, while adding protect to the heavies, then converting their bleeds to regen and laying down another darkness field for the mediums is nothing to be ashamed of.
MM is definitely viable. I frequently run minions when farming trash mobs for crafting materials – not all the time or even most of the time but I do run minions for doling out speedy damage.
I will also run one minion in dungeons or in regular PvE for particular boss fights. Flesh Golem has a useful knock-down and Bone Fiend provides good support against Tequatl and in underwater battles with its ranged damage.
It is probably best not to settle on only one build for your Necromancer. Some fights, you will want to use the staff and marks along with Epidemic, Blood is Power, and wells of various types. I wish I could quickly re-equip, re-trait, and re-skill for each and every battle instead of running blindly behind the group with my skill menue up.