Guild Wars 2

What is this pulsing stability supposed to accomplish over permanent stability? If every stability is replaced this way (pulsing) then its essentially the same but better since it cant really be stripped. Unless there is a huge amount of cc all at once.

Atherakhia.4086:

I just want to know if foot in the grave is getting that pulsing treatment so long as the NEcro is in deathshroud.

I hope so, 1 stack isnt gonna cut it

Rune of pack is great for several reasons.

First great damage stats that is non-conditional ie doesnt require you to be at 90% health or buffed in some other way.
Secondly it gives you very high uptime on fury, swiftness and might in combat without requiring you to trait for it. *edit – also your allies! group friendly necro!
Thirdly, combined with spectral walk, 30 death magic and spectral mastery you have 100% uptime on swiftness on demand. Spectral walk also is a stun break if you are traveling with others and dont need to use the swiftness.

Its best bang for the buck for min/maxers in wvw looking at the necro in terms of dps and utility.

Maybe its time necros got some mobility enhancements… hint hint (Greatsword)

I’d like it to approximate ranger GS also… very familiar with that setup and it would fit very nicely with necro abilities.

They probably wont give us “swoop” as that would go against their established norm of not giving us good mobility, but a teleport to person (ally or enemy) sounds likely …perhaps like thief even return within a few seconds allowing us to plant a couple wells and back out… perhaps the short “sprint” version that leaves a blinding dark field (more synergy with “chill on blind” trait)

More fear possible, perhaps on a block or some reactive condition. I would really like something that blocked.

Taunt or cone nuke… quite possible also, new abilities they will be spreading it around.

Why would boon strip become more of a thing? If anything it will be easier to do without as you just need to hit them a few times with a cc to strip the stability where before that would never work.

When this happens free transfers to any T2 server should be in order for the one pushed down to T3.

Will quickly become a proper T3 server.

Just make sure everyone you taunt is a necro with an axe and you’ll be ok.

Roe.3679:

Ah yes, the cornerstone of any good conversation about relatively meaningless things: insinuating that someone is so oblivious that they can’t see the obvious. Bravo. Did you read the thread?

They could give us one stack of stability and make it a longer duration, which would bring it up. It all depends on how they balance all stability skills, but I would look more into it if they made this change.

Sorry if that sounded harsher than I meant it… its just obvious that we are of so completely different perspectives theres little use arguing that point.

Perhaps in spvp a longer duration would be helpful. Extending this to wvw it is not, 1 stack will not suffice.

Roe.3679:

Kilger.5490:

Roe.3679:

With the stability change we could see this trait become useful.

It could also become useless… if it just gives us one stack of stability it will be easy to ignore and go death perception all the way.

If it say applies one stack per second then… maybe. I cant see it getting better than it is however, it seems the intent is to tone down stability overall.

It already is pretty useless. But there’s a chance it has a future with the stability change.

If you dont see its use then thats like teaching a blind man to see but what do you think would improve it with the change?

Stand The Wall.6987:

yes, and i do this sometimes although in a lot of cases it isnt as effective as the ctd damage boost. gaining stab in ds makes sense in that ds is supposed to be our go to damage mitigation mechanic, but there arent really any skills in ds that benefit from the stab. life transfer maybe but more often then not it simply gets dodged. now if we could use our heal and utility skills in ds… that would be something.

Most good players will try and disrupt a heal so very useful to flash ds, then heal. Goes for a lot of things. If you need to get it off, and you dont mind the cooldown on shroud, you have access to instant stability anytime anywhere.

Looks like they see us mostly as free kill. Makes sense, I find it probably the toughest 1-1 to really get any kind of solid control over. Its ok though, in large scale fighting our strengths come out out more, while theirs are diminished.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Muchacho.2390:

Kilger.5490:

Also you guys missed one… Lich#5 a.k.a.Grim Specter. This is one of my favorites to open on melee balls so I’m pretty curious what order they come off.

If stability is high up in priority then it makes the skill better than well of corruption in my eyes.

Also a bit curious how the boon stripping is distributed, I’d wager it strips one player completely then carries on to another until its got 9.

Isnt is simply a full boon removel for all 5 targets?

It is. Also a full condition clear on all allies in the area.

Thats awesome! I was reading the tool tip wrong then.

Stability has always been the “must-strip” boon for my necro. Without it the melee train unravels. On one hand it makes necros very desireable for boon removal, on the other it makes our fears actually have some bite to them. Not sure if this is a net benefit or loss to the game but I have some faith anet put thought into it.

Also you guys missed one… Lich#5 a.k.a.Grim Specter. This is one of my favorites to open on melee balls so I’m pretty curious what order they come off.

If stability is high up in priority then it makes the skill better than well of corruption in my eyes.

Also a bit curious how the boon stripping is distributed, I’d wager it strips one player completely then carries on to another until its got 9.

Mostly OP, but I would like a change to dark path. They arent going to make it ground targeted, they explicitly dont want us teleporting with it at will. Butttt… a projectile speed increase would be appreciated. Anywhere near max range there are so many ways for this skill to go wrong and not hit. I feel like I won the lottery when I teleport with it successfully.

Im sure rangers would “love” more reflection, it already seems the game is trolling them quite a bit from their perspective. But necros are the only ones without some means to block projectiles, would be nice to have it block at least (or some ability).

Would be cool to have the fear affect not only apply to people passing the wall but attacking through it, probably OP though

Roe.3679:

With the stability change we could see this trait become useful.

It could also become useless… if it just gives us one stack of stability it will be easy to ignore and go death perception all the way.

If it say applies one stack per second then… maybe. I cant see it getting better than it is however, it seems the intent is to tone down stability overall.

Seems to me this was tested already long ago for corrupt boon and well of corruption but the axe#3 and spinal shivers is interesting!! Stability is the one I am usually trying to remove so I knew I liked these weapons for a reason! Too bad swiftness is so high up for axe though, a little redundant with the cripple applied.

I’ll bet its last for the corrupts since necros already have so much fear and with master of terror it can already get a little crazy.

Cant help thinking path of midnight would help a lot since you like being in deathshroud for extended durations, I would take it over the spectral cooldown even.

Long bow is a first rate range weapon no doubt, but once you get into melee it becomes a handicap. Sword/dagger doesnt really have burst thats why I prefer sword/axe, you get nice synergies with sword #2 and pos. Its also handy for dealing with other rangers

It makes sense since there is a direct damage immunity already.

I wonder what the reverse will do (via corrupt boon), make conditions do twice as much damage?

Dont forget game bugs, may not even be the players doing.

Could be used as a resource for healing regen.. suck the lifeforce into your health bar like a straw in a milkshake until full (passive ability) or for a duration (timed ability).

essentially another life siphon type ability.

Longe range: defensive… Retaliation, break Line of sight, dodge rapid fire. If they cant get LOS then they will do the work of closing for you. Just heal up and roast some marshmellows or move on, they may volley but its not too bad. Youve effectively made them useless and it will sting them worse than you. Dont charge them open field, pointless.

Medium range: Land marks while closing. If you can close range with dark path thats probably the best use of the skill ever. Try and anticipate point blank shot. If they used rapid fire recently it will be the next thing on their itchy bow finger to get off, try and dodge.

Short range: Dodge the mauls and fear the rapid fires, otherwise should be a pretty standard fight. Take advantage of successful cc to heal.

Embrace the blob!!

On a serious note, get a good guild group, you’ll have a great time smashing blobs. Its not guaranteed but it does promote individual skill more.

Joke noted but the way they switch weapon abilities by stance reminds me more of ele’s if anything. I’m curious how they build up their charge, and if its simliar to lifeforce or warriors (never played one).

Its sounding like they threw a warrior, necro and ele in a blender.

Yep add some damage to #1, thats all thats needed. Make every 3rd attack a big hit. Make it into a real power weapon. Its really going to suck when you get one of those new taunts on you and you happen to have an axe (autoattack only) in hand.

I even think Revenant should have been the necro specialization name..

My other “main” is a trapper ranger. It has a lot of simliarities while being more single target focused. With trapper runes you get a lot of stealth so something different. Melee rangers are more “evade” based tanks so its a very different play experience from necros who most just have to take all the damage.

Its a lot more useful in wvw… the on-demand stability is pretty much a must have there, at least on my server. For spvp its not nearly as important, dodge gets you more mileage. But securing stomps is pretty sweet, I like it.

I probably would take something besides axe… but dagger forces me to get too close …and scepter is even more watered down than axe (for power user).

1. meh, dont autoattack except when nothing else better
2. As mentioned good against thieves. The damage can get substantial with enough power and crit damage. However the main benefit to me is that its great for generating lifeforce, use it on a downed to get half a tank when needed.
3. Applies cripple, removes a boon and grants retaliation while doing ok aoe damage, whats not to like. Very easy to use. Useful against thieves also.
4. Yea I wonder how much this actually does for me, but again it generates life force.
5. Spinal shivers on a guardian or warrior under pressure will end them. Dont expect it to seal the kill by itself but good timing will cause buff heavy classes to melt.

So its a decent weapon set but its main strength is for debuffing and generating lifeforce imo.

Signet of spite is a gem for necro, it makes everything work better. Highly recommend if you prioritize dps. 5-10% more damage, yes please!

Just do enough to deter him and make his life difficult, otherwise ignore. Leave marks as you travel so they have to weave or dodge constantly, they will get tired of it too. Thief has far too many escapes to bother chasing down, but give them a few good bursts and they will look for easier prey. Insta fear in shroud followed by 2-3 lifeblasts is usually enough for most thieves to decide to move on. Gather lifeforce from ambients as you travel.

Heres my post from a year ago on what a druidic staff ranger powers could be:

Kilger.5490:

Had a thought of something unique… All ground targetted aoe nature type effects, either like wells or channeled

1 auto = energy attack, every third attack entangles (kind of lacking in long range disables)
2 Monsoon = Enemy range reduced to 25% + water field + dps (water fields valuable to groups)
3 insect plague= dark field + torment (we could use some torment)
4 Plant door = similiar to necro flesh worm except you teleport when you cast and in your place a plant tree thing, which grants aegis to allies, clears 3 conditions on user and aoe attacks nearby enemies for dps + chance to knockdown + whirl finisher (need an escape and some condi removal)
5 Lighting Storm = Raw aoe damage, blast finisher on creation, chance to stun on crit (damage, nuff said)

Just some thoughts for a unique role. Thinking this gives cc and aoe damage, both very desired.

(edited in what I was going for with the ideas)

They seemed to be listening so you never know!

“Soulsword” in reference to our sword with a soul in it… :P

I think people are talking about a whole lot of scenarios here.. in spvp or 1-1 I certainly prefer golem over lich, but in wvw lich all the way.

Well regardless this game borrows from other games heavily. They’ve even said it, particulary daoc, which is why Im here. Wow didnt have a two word class til it did.. what class was that again?

Bhawb.7408:

Because other games are irrelevant to talk about GW2. In GW2 every profession (even in GW1) everything had one name.

Last time I heard that it was the reason we werent going to have a paid expansion…. deja vu!

^^^

Cool why so much healing power? It doesnt seem like we synergize well with that compared to other classes.

Lich does do an awesome burst but its on a long cooldown. If power necro was dependant on lich then that would really suck..! (its not of course but that really doesnt deserve a response directly does it?)

Also a lot more to lich than 1 spam!!! The debuffs are amazing.

LastDay.3524:

I think that Death Knight is also a possibility, especially if the specialization switches us from Light Armor to Heavy Armor users.
It’s a bit of a long stretch for sure, but would explain why Necro’s specialization wasn’t seen in the trailer.r!

They could just give a buff that makes our robes equivalent to armor also, much easier. I dont see them changing our armor type as it would cause a lot of problems.

I dont think it will be wraith since there’s already mobs with that name.

Warlock works for me… in some cultures it was basically considered a male witch equivalent, why not. We are kind of the “bad boys” of the game in that necromancers are usually considered the big bad in most fiction.

But I’m still thinking it will have a martial bent to it.

I dont get the one word two word argument, lots of games only have a class or two with two words, otherwise one.

Its our achilles heal for having so much cc and relative tankiness. I would like to see one leap with the new weapon however..

I could live with all that, but there better be a leap.

I like the axe/focus too, but more for utility; building up some quick lifeforce(#2), aoe snare/tags for bags(#3), regen/lifeforce (#4) and debuff (#5) so I guess I look at it as the ultimate tool kit and do most dps-ing with the staff or shroud. Dagger doesnt work for me… have to get too close and not too concerned about individual targets in wvw.

With rune of the pack all you need is the spectral mastery (soul reaping adept trait) for full uptime on swiftness with spectral walk. IMO spectral attunement (curses mastery trait) not that great for the commitment level in the traitline, so if you dont like curses not that big a deal, dont take it and get your precision elsewhere.

Atherakhia.4086:

My issue with unholy sanctuary is you’re almost always going to have regen on you while running in a zerg. You’ll also have numerous times where you can ge blast heals from your group. You simply don’t want to sit in shroud all day spamming life blast while you wait for your wells to come off cooldown.

Unholy sanctuary isnt about the regen… its a life saver in case you get burst.

nekretaal.6485:

Chilling Darkness + plague form is, IMHO, the best thing this class offers. You can run with the frontliners with your damage reduction and stability, while using your chill to separate stragglers from their Zerg, where they can be easily killed off.

Lich is great too… 5k on autoattack downs people scary fast, and the #5 ability on the enemy melee train… yea its night night time :p

Maybe as part of enhanced class mechanic our robes will be transformed into equivalent of armor…? Rawr!

It gets reset periodically when they adjust the abilities.

Sniping is a legit tactic imo, all part of the meta. Counter sniping has become more of a thing lately. We have some pin snipers in JQ but thats just their own thing, not really an “official” tactic. Not sayin we’re morally better or something, just not really our style.

akaCryptic.2389:

Im assuming you did not check the traits which give you an extra 50% crit in DS. Since main source of damage will be piercing life blast, life transfer and wells (can also tick while in DS) build has 100% crit with fury. So you can make your calculations with 80% base crit basically.

Figure it out however you want, Im just looking at the simple math. You could add trait to the first spec and do better too…

Your first dps spec with 50%crit -200%damage means you hit 50% of the time for an extra 100 damage, so over time (.5)(100) = 50% extra damage. With power of 2200 that makes your effective power 2200 × 1.5 = 3300

Your new spec is 30%crit-211%damage so thats .3(111) = 33% extra damage average. With 2300 power your effective power is 2300 × 1.3 = 2990

So you lost about 10% damage with your new spec… though it will hit higher numbers over time it wont do as much damage as it crits a lot less.