Guild Wars 2

cempa. thats a silly thing to say.

I went with D/D and staff when lvling up. blood is power and epidemic are great by the way. I hsd no problems lvling with this as I had a mix of condi and power. This is not a great lvl 80 set up but its good fun to lvl.

check out the necro tutorials at the top of necro forums for some good tips on condi set ups and play style

I would say necro beats mesmer in pve. but they are better at different things in pvp and wvw.

wvw solo roaming id take a mesmer but a necro would be better in team fights (in my opinion)

pvp could go either way but an equally skilled necro and mesmer, you’d probably get more from the mesmer (in my opinion). though a highly skilled necro is very hard to kill.

leeto saw it coming! lol

I use spectral grasp with about a 90% success rate. I love the skill.

that would render it less beneficial for power builds ^^ but not a terrible idea.
rhayn, I agree with you. but as other classes are getting buffs and changes I think necros are eager to keep up.

I love my condi and power necro, so much so I have a character for both ;-)

I died a little bit inside when I saw what we had According to that post ha would be very over powered though I think. DS would turn us into an unstoppable face plunger.

if I didn’t need the soul marks trait aswell as the fear duration trait in soul reaping on my condition build I would use the stability on both my condi and power necro. I had 3 potential interrupts last night whilst stomping a ranger and my shroud stomp saved my kitten cos the stability negated all the CC. otherwise I would probably have got downed trying to stomp this ranger. our stability is “ok” but I have to give up alot to get access to it.

I see. thanks for the explanation bhawb. maybe after seeing the state of game yesterday minions will be more viable for builds that arnt specced for their specific use. more hp and aggro difference could be a nice buff

I like the idea of a kind of ‘save yourselves’ skill taking all conditions from nearby allies and slapping them all onto your target. that would be juicy. maybe the ‘new’ DoT element could be the more conditions the target has on them the more direct dmg they take, or they gain a kind of life drain taking 500-1k hp every second for each condition on them. so 5 conditions =5 seconds of a hp drain taking 2.5 – 5k hp.

maybe a sacrifice of hp to gain some LF. so you don’t get the situation that your skill is off CD in half a second and u get kicked out of DS before you can use it. maybe 5% LF for 10-15% LF. I know thats not a dark dot but would be nice!

fair point. I guess its their fault if they don’t use them at the best times. my mesmer carries 3 stun breaks, more than enough to negate fear dmg.

people saying fear is op. People say stealth is op. if your mesmer friend doesn’t bring any stun breaks shame on him. fear isnt op in my opinion though it is very powerful, 1 stun break will render your fear useless and a minor disruption. its not a Learn to play issue, more of a make sure you’re prepared for as much as you can be ie. Bring a stun break or 2.

Thanks grimm. I used a s/p and p/p set up before, was alot of fun and hit some scary numbers. I also had a good dmg and surv build with that same set up. only difference now would be id take sb over p/p offhand set. maybe ill try that again.

Thanks grimm, ill look into gear combinations like you’ve mentioned.

thank you for your input. any advice d/p play grimm?

I have crafted the rabbid one and will be crafting the zerk one soon. as I think books are more “necro’y” than the fractal backpieces

I currently have 3 armor and trinket sets on my thief. zerk, cleric, carrion. I find them all fun but am looking for something not 100% in one direction. I hope that makes sense.

any advice on gear/builds and weapon set ups?

I like the idea of pistol off hand and I enjoy sword mainhand. pistol whip is fun but what would you ‘more experienced’ thieves recommend?

I main a necro, and have 5 lvl 80’s so not new to the game.

I dont see why a utility (your minions) should be stronger because you have better gear? they are additional damage on your utility bar not a weapon skill?

im on EU server at EU prime time I guess. but if this was arranged would switch to NA.

I use knights armor with ruby orbs with everything else as zerk. I have a full zerk armot set too but would only advise going fully zerk if your are comfortable with necro. if you arent a knowledgeable necro and familiar with the mechanics etc going fully zerk will not be fun for you. like a fully zerk thief with very few escape tools.

if that could be arranged id transfer tonight.

nice video, I enjoyed it anyway.

I personally would like to see shield on necro.

do I think it’ll happen? NOPE.

like I said I have had few 1v1’s on this spec as theres SOO MANY ZERGS! though I did have a good 30second 2v1 against a thief and d/d ele (went surprisingly well untill there zerg arrived almost had the ele down) and im sure theres easier 1v1 builds but I like the burst. air sigils on axe and dagger means every 5-10 ls I get another 1k dmg. always nice.

I want to try a 0/0/10/30/30 spec but can see myself not liking the dmg and also lime the idea of 0/0/20/20/30 but not looked too much into it.

im sure more defensive gear with my build would be VERY powerful. maybe a mix of pvt and knights? I have full LF every 10s after empty due to weapon skills and utilities and traits. mix constant high LF with high toughness and vit and uve got a very sustainable build. but I like big numbers.

I play a spectral build at yhe moment which is high burst and good survivability if played right.

20/20/0/0/30

very fun to play and the very few 1v1’s ive had with this build it performed brilliantly. I use a/f and d/wh.

knights armor with ruby orbs and everything else is zerk.

glass cannon – GC

as im fed up of the endless zerging and failed attempts to solo roam, can we set up like a dueling evening? would be alot more fun than just running around in a ball. or getting steam rolled by said ball.

I’ve never tried a FULL chill build because I don’t really enjoy the half hearted chill build I use to bunker sometimes. but I see what you mean, spectral wall is very strong. I dont use it though. Maybe I will in future but I don’t like having things like running back through the wall after protection expires to distract me/hold me back while fighting. I use SArmor, SGrasp and SWalk and love the style it brings.

I have a few interupts, boon strippers, snares and big DPS attacks at all times which is great for unsettling and Messing up your opponents ‘flow’ . not to mention the amazing LF regen this build uses as its survivability.

haha staff is our badge harvester! if using a power build/play style you could go 10/20/10/0/30 or 30/20/10/0/10.

I currently use 20/20/0/0/30 and love it, but I have not got staff equipped. maybe give those ^^ a go and see how you like it. you can adapt/change things to fit your play style of course

ekemeister – deciding on an end game build is fine, except there will always be something else to try with necro. I have spent well over 500g on armor and trinkets for necro. and im not done yet!
I guess what im trying to say is theres not just 1 build I use (closer to 5 or 6 actually) and I would imagine alot of necros are the same.

I have been playing with a spectral high dps build over the last few days and am blasting the hell out of people, its very fun to play as when my LF hits empty, its normally full again within 10s so I can sit in a decent amount of DS every time I enter.

no ur right dyl, but immobilise chill vuln all count as conditions and I could keep that up on a target almost for entire fight bringing a 6% dmg increase.

also not sure I would take staff without greater marks.

yea ive played with that before talentless but never in this set up. u go for bloodthirst and siphon on crit? I like siphoning, our dagger 2 feels like a slower ele water dagger 2. but I was looking for a high dmg spectral set up to use as an alternative build.

not looking to be particularly survivable really just trying to pump out some big numbers. I will play around with your suggestion tho. see how it ‘feels’ when I get in game.

also if I took the 5 out of death I could invest the other 5 in something else as jagged horror is not an optimal choice for 5 trait points. maybe 20 into SR pick up piercing lifeblast? or go further into curses for the dmg increase for every condi?

yea I was thinking about that. I like running d/wh with a/f but I miss the AoE of staff. maybe ill give that a go. will be better DPS too and we all like big numbers :-)

what gear do you use? im guessing something with vit?

you beat me to it bhawb.

elaborate on what bhawb said.
yes. if you dont enjoy necro for whatever reason. play something else. there are 7 other professions.

nice advice from talentless. I like to play d/wh with a/f but usually run with staff offhand instead of a/f purely for the range but will be working on my play without staff for sure. its far more fun for sure.

talentless, u take spiteful talisman in spite?

as mentioned above I am looking for tips for a spectral build. I enjoy my current set up and use spectral armor, spectral grasp and spectral walk as utilities. lich as elite.
I am not using the optimum gear or traits im sure.

so would like to know what others use to help me tweak my current build.

I use 30/20/10/0/10 .

d/wh and staff, currently using warhorn trait over the spectral attunement trait but will happily switch it out.
using knights or zerk armor and everything else is zerk.

I am aware this is not optimum set up for spectral build but I like the dps.

I know that vitality and DS go hand in hand, and I know that as a spectral mancer im wasting soo much by not taking 15 in SR but not sure what to sacrifice to get it. the 20% dmg under 50% hp is amazing, I love the warhorn daze and have traited so I can use if more often also perma swiftness with warhorn and SW is amazing. greater marks obvious choice and then spectral recharge faster in SR.

what would you guys and gals recommend?

enjoy play style of a spectral-mancer?

it is easy to be effective on an ele with all the combo fields and AoE but it is more rewarding to play a necro effectively in my opinion though it will take more skill and awareness to be as effective.

I find that as an ele you are buffing your team constantly removing conditions etc where as necros are constantly debuffing the enemy. so its completely different play style but extremely fun to play, if played well.

I would recommend practicing your rotations on the golems before hitting on trainers if you are having problems.

the only place I ever get caught without life force is in pvp with a condition build and no spectral skills. so I can kind of see your point, but outside of pvp I wouldn’t benefit from it.

that would be hilarious, I would definitely be up fo that. minions everywhere… lol

I am actually moving house this weekend so will be unavailable until the following week. im about most evenings though so if your planning a tourney just inv me. Im a member of BoC

I agree with afya, though I would take plague over golem. personal preference I guess as both are good.

I know how to play necro but thanks for the advice. I am not the only necro on these forums that struggles 1vX fighting, I do believe its the majority of players that have these problems (and not so much on other classes). I am of course talking about WvW and pvp. no amount of pve mobs can take down my condi necro.

yea I know where/why we struggle, its just trying to find a build to combat these short comings and help us with bad odds.

I have knights armor with ruby orbs an everything else is zerk. I run 30/20/10/0/10. does alot of damage and perma swiftness which is very valuable for wvwvw. I use spectral grasp to pull foes to me (as im quite squishy despite the knights armor) and I burst/shut them down away from all the heavy AoE. usually run well of suffering spectral grasp spectral walk. have alot of fun with this.
weapons dagger/warhorn (traited) and staff (traited). or dagger/warhorn and axe/focus depending on what I’m doing in wvw. pick up shrouded removal instead of greater marks when using axe.

I find 1v1 is fine on necro. its 1v2+ that we struggle.

you are arguing that if a necro runs without minions 9 traits are wasted. good point I guess. but look at a warrior. how many of their traits relate to certain weapons and they have so many weapons that they must have alot of dead traits too. Having useless traits using certain builds etc isnt just a necro thing.

haha! if everything didn’t happen so late I would have stayed!
Regarding showing them how its done… nervous laghter all over it ;-)

I level up my 2nd necro in about 40hrs and did it mostly through completing hearts, I did about 8lvls in dungeons (iff that) and max’d out tailoring and weaponsmithing giving me about 20 levels.
was soo much fun leveling a necro again. had my liche form at lvl 48 :-) boom.

bas, im on eu server now, would be up for this with the EU necros!