Guild Wars 2

SimenAaserud.3598:

Sorry buddy, but after playing last beta, maintaining enough energy was not a big issue…
Just keep your god kitten eyes on the energy bar and keep it above 40%. This worked really nice for me. Why it costs so much energy, is because the utility skills is truly powerful and needs the energy cost. Its the same as waiting for a 40 second cooldown. But actually, if you maintain the energy ok, you might actually use a utility skill twice. Which not many professions can do :-) GL training!

Even with careful use of my skills, I rarely got above 40% energy in sPvP outside of my opener. The need to use your skills to survive and outmaneouver is too demanding to ever have above 40%.

In PvE, it’s easy. Totally different in sPvP however. A single elite and 3 of your attack skills leaves you with nothing.

Tim.6450:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

It absolutely INFURIATES me that people take Nos’ build as Meta. The reason why he died – constantly – isn’t for his lack of skill, it’s because his build:

1. Isn’t bunker
2. Lacks mobility

He sacrifices absolutely everything for boon strip and a slight damage boost. Heck, even his use of Spectral Armor is negligible if you choose the right traits.

What should be meta is this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhZ6kGRozGsvGw4Gg/GcgLUzi4EWCYbGALANNajnF-TJRGwAAOFAg2fIaZADPBAA

1. Ridiculous mobility with Wurm and Spectral Walk
2. Still has strong life force gain from Spectral Walk
3. Still capable of stripping 4 boons when using Signets
4. Has much higher vitality, base power and toughness, without the need for relying on might stacking
5. Self sustain is much higher due to life stealing from Blood Magic trait line
6. Group support is higher due to no bleed out + Transfusion heal
7. You still gain the 25% speed buff when wielding a dagger, and get dagger cooldowns reduced significantly if played right

All you sacrifice is 20% extra critical hit chance and 4 extra boons removed. Honestly, it’s nonsense how his build is considered Meta.

You forgot the high weakness application, some extra boons, some extra boon removal one of which aoe , a bit more might, more condition transfers, more protection, … .

1. You don’t need the weakness if you’re self sustaining through blood magic.
2. I already mentioned the loss of Fury.
3. I already mentioned the loss of Boon Removal.
4. Plague Sending is situational at best and entirely unnecessary if you manage your DS/transfers.
5. I already mentioned the loss of protection. As stated, you don’t need it when you can comfortably avoid damage through the Wurm and Spectral Walk but also when your survivability is so much higher thanks to Blood Magic and Soldier’s Amulet.

nearlight.3064:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

It absolutely INFURIATES me that people take Nos’ build as Meta. The reason why he died – constantly – isn’t for his lack of skill, it’s because his build:

1. Isn’t bunker
2. Lacks mobility

He sacrifices absolutely everything for boon strip and a slight damage boost. Heck, even his use of Spectral Armor is negligible if you choose the right traits.

What should be meta is this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhZ6kGRozGsvGw4Gg/GcgLUzi4EWCYbGALANNajnF-TJRGwAAOFAg2fIaZADPBAA

1. Ridiculous mobility with Wurm and Spectral Walk
2. Still has strong life force gain from Spectral Walk
3. Still capable of stripping 4 boons when using Signets
4. Has much higher vitality, base power and toughness, without the need for relying on might stacking
5. Self sustain is much higher due to life stealing from Blood Magic trait line
6. Group support is higher due to no bleed out + Transfusion heal
7. You still gain the 25% speed buff when wielding a dagger, and get dagger cooldowns reduced significantly if played right

All you sacrifice is 20% extra critical hit chance and 4 extra boons removed. Honestly, it’s nonsense how his build is considered Meta.

gavyne.6847:

That build is made to hold points until help comes. Ironically the dd eles did the same jobs, but with less deaths, and they have great mobility to boot. This isn’t a knock on Nos at all, he did all he could given the toolset available to him, and he played well and made some great moves during the final. My problem is with the necro class and how they (devs and some players) think necros are so great at being tanky. When the tournament showed necros were getting destroyed left & right.

Nos got destroyed because he isn’t bunker… His build is damage orientated, with some survivability. There’s a huge difference.

Well maybe when you win the WTS, then maybe you’ll get your chance to decide whats meta and whats not. You can talk all you want, but without tournament results, you have no way to assert that your argument is credible.

Although I will say that the build you run is similar to the one I run right now, except I don’t do questionable things like swalk and wurm on a tank build. That type of build is more suited for teamfights while Nos’s build is more focused on 1v1s and +1ing smaller fights, like in the tourney today where Nos would break off to go 1v1 eles. Also since I’ve watched Nos stream a lot, he actually does run a soldier’s signet build with blood magic over curses, and he acknowledges it to be a great build, it just serves a different role that what is needed for his team most of the time.

@Nyth, I disagree with your reasoning. I view warrior, engi, and necromancer to be roughly equivalent in viablity right now, and light years ahead of ranger. The only reason that warrior/engi seems more common is because more people played them prepatch when they had faceroll cele builds. Engi basically died out in pvp on NA for a while after the realization that cele engi was nerfed into the ground, with chaith’s power builds being the exception. And honestly with zerker warrior, its literally a one trick pony that depends on rampage (easily countered by mesmer, necro, or engi) to do anything of real value. Also about mesmer, right now they’re only strong because they can trait PU and use portal, without either one of those, they’re nothing.

So because I haven’t won WTS with my Necromancer, I have no right to logically argue as to why his build is poor? On that basis, some of the worlds best sports coaches shouldn’t be teaching because they haven’t won the competition they’re training their athletes for. What nonsense.

I argued above why Nos’ build was poor and I stand by it. The Abjured won the WTS not because of Nos but because of their own ability and the fact they dragged Nos and his build through it. He died almost twice as much as anyone else and as a result, regularly forced Abjured to waste cooldowns getting him up, or forcing them to fight 4v5.

As I previously stated, if he’d use Spectral Walk and Wurm, at the very least he’d be able to escape before needlessly dying. Being “tanky” doesn’t mean sitting there until you’re dead. Nos of all people should know the value of mobility in Guild Wars 2, with or without a “tanky” build and lets be honest, if he wanted to go tanky he’d have taken Blood Magic and Soldier’s like I suggested.

It absolutely INFURIATES me that people take Nos’ build as Meta. The reason why he died – constantly – isn’t for his lack of skill, it’s because his build:

1. Isn’t bunker
2. Lacks mobility

He sacrifices absolutely everything for boon strip and a slight damage boost. Heck, even his use of Spectral Armor is negligible if you choose the right traits.

What should be meta is this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhZ6kGRozGsvGw4Gg/GcgLUzi4EWCYbGALANNajnF-TJRGwAAOFAg2fIaZADPBAA

1. Ridiculous mobility with Wurm and Spectral Walk
2. Still has strong life force gain from Spectral Walk
3. Still capable of stripping 4 boons when using Signets
4. Has much higher vitality, base power and toughness, without the need for relying on might stacking
5. Self sustain is much higher due to life stealing from Blood Magic trait line
6. Group support is higher due to no bleed out + Transfusion heal
7. You still gain the 25% speed buff when wielding a dagger, and get dagger cooldowns reduced significantly if played right

All you sacrifice is 20% extra critical hit chance and 4 extra boons removed. Honestly, it’s nonsense how his build is considered Meta.

gavyne.6847:

That build is made to hold points until help comes. Ironically the dd eles did the same jobs, but with less deaths, and they have great mobility to boot. This isn’t a knock on Nos at all, he did all he could given the toolset available to him, and he played well and made some great moves during the final. My problem is with the necro class and how they (devs and some players) think necros are so great at being tanky. When the tournament showed necros were getting destroyed left & right.

Nos got destroyed because he isn’t bunker… His build is damage orientated, with some survivability. There’s a huge difference.

Akamaru.7415:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

EvilZombie.6801:

nicodemus.3812:

Use dwarf road then use hammer 3 and 5 blast finishers to get 100% swiftness up time.

you need to pause awhile to do so the by the time both blast happen you only have 15 sec swift 5 sec wasted on the delay casting

Perhaps that’s your latency, but you really don’t. As long as you cast the road and blast at the same time, you keep moving forward and obtain the swiftness.

No the hammer 5 locks you in place, preventing you from moving whilst it casts. It’s not a latency issue, its a casting animation. The hammer 3 doesn’t stop you.

And a swiftness stack is coming, so this thread is closed really

I was describing mace, not hammer Mace is fantastic for blasting.

You’re using the same build I was – it’s absolutely amazing in 1 on 1 and small skirmishes because Mallyx is so powerful. Conditions is really amazing on revenant.

Here’s the build I use:

If you’re struggling to find a viable revenant build, here’s mine for your next Beta weekend. It’s awesome.

1. Shiro and Mallyx

2. Mace, Axe and Hammer

3. Rabid Amulet and/or items. Celestial also works very well, so does Sinister.

4. Superior Rune of the Necromancer

5. Mace: Superior Sigil of Energy

6. Axe: Superior Sigil of Torment

7. Hammer: Superior Sigil of Energy and Superior Sigil of Strength (Superior Sigil of Geomancy is also a good variable over Strength)

Traits: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgYFdAF0A_g~

EvilZombie.6801:

nicodemus.3812:

Use dwarf road then use hammer 3 and 5 blast finishers to get 100% swiftness up time.

you need to pause awhile to do so the by the time both blast happen you only have 15 sec swift 5 sec wasted on the delay casting

Perhaps that’s your latency, but you really don’t. As long as you cast the road and blast at the same time, you keep moving forward and obtain the swiftness.

Invictus.1503:

Your link is to the old review back in March. This link is for the one done today.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/preview/guild-wars-2-revenant-hands-impressions-2

Doh! Copied wrong one! Updated main node

Zing!

http://www.tentonhammer.com/preview/guild-wars-2-revenant-hands-impressions-2

[Added correct link!]

Samhayn.2385:

Blighters boon was a good trait and worked really well when I was running in spvp with my buddies boon share ele. It was the first time he could actually heal me well I was in shroud.

Absolutely – with someone else it’s brilliant.

In all honesty, the Signet Necromancer build is much stronger if you drop Curses, remove Signet of the Locust, and put in Blood Magic. Add Wurm + Spectral Walk and you’ve a profession with lots of mobility and survivability but still with the ability to might stack and boon strip.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Blighter’s Boon is honestly competing with Death’s Charge as the best thing Reaper has to offer. It is fantastic. So much life force, if you’re running Spite, it’s a ton of health returned without worrying about Unholy Sanctuary or Blood Magic.

I wouldn’t go that far. It’s a highly situational trait that only really shines in a group environment when you’ve a heavy and constant influx of boons. If you’re by yourself, it’s pretty negligible. With a party however, it’s fab.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

I wish he had touched on the chill line as well.

There is a whole line in the reaper traits that is dedicated to chills and conditions, yet the chills are terrible, have no synergy and the “grandmaster” trait gives a whopping 2 stacks of bleed worth of damage. Compare that with other grandmaster traits that give professions a 20% damage increase. To put that into perspective, they would need to increase the damage from chill by >5x to match a 20% overall damage increase.

The class also seems to tie chills in with fear, yet reaper gets no access to fear, and even with staff you are looking at a total of 4s of fear every 40s or so. This makes the minor trait essentially useless for every spec except a pure terrormancer spec, and even then it still isn’t great.

My suggestions would be the following:

1. increase the duration and availability of chill back to what it was. You already nerfed chill multiple times, there was no need to nerf the reaper skills on top of that.

2. Increase the damage from chill 5-10×. This is a grandmaster trait, it shouldn’t do less than a single auto attack from every other profession.

3. Give reaper an additional fear. Either through traits, in a shout, or on a weapon. No one is going to “fear the reaper” because he doesn’t have any fear.

Its been updated to talk about traits/chill

Rampage.7145:

NOBODY likes this new map make a freaking public pol and see it by yourselfl, if you feel like you really need to add this garbage to the game just make it optional like EoTM. Do not force WvW players to play on this map since we all dislike it please.

Unlike you may think there are actual players who ONLY DO WvW and we do not care about karma training we want to fights and kill people. Do not ruin this game mode, if we want to PVE we will just go to the silverwastes please, listen to your players.

We want maps that force you to fight insteand just hiding on walls, we want points per kill, we do not want more siege please. LISTEN to your players.

What you’re basically saying is your guild, or those like yours, want an open stretch of land where they can just fight blob verus blob?

Many that I’ve spoken to in game love this new map because it’ll force the need to use objectives.

Laraley.7695:

NayNay.7680:

I was just trying to put some positive vibes back into this thread..

And I actually do like Tornado

I’m sorry you don’t

Honestly, it’s not about liking/not liking a skill, but rather its effectivity. Tornado is just so far beyond Rampage and Lich, it’s the weakest transform in the game.

Lich is a liability at the moment – it’s pretty much instant death in PvP if you use it.

Arantheal.7396:

Please explain me how it appears as viable decision to you to split up a zerg in order to move faster or be more effective.
Last time i checked, small groups were just as fast as zergs, measured in swiftness-uptime. The only difference is that small groups have less of a tail, and single players even tend to be slower than both, unless their class offers perma-swiftness.
What will happen is that the zerg gets active on your border around the oasis event, roflstomps the few defenders there, and then rushes the next keep. And on their way out they swoop the towers as well. If you want to defend, you better bring a blobb of your own, because they’ll just drop omegas / rams and chew trough these shiny new (and now damaged) T3 gates.
It really doesn’t matter how long travel-times are, since running supplies from camps still takes way longer than the zerg would need to re-approach it, so you’ll eat up your keep supplies, until it’s empty, which is where the gates go down, along with your lord, regardless how “engaging” his mechanics might be.

Every mechanic introduced on these borderlands hurts small groups even more than zergs. So if anything, these maps promote zerging rather than making it less viable.

Congratulation on eating up a stress-test-spot so you could enjoy the landscape, and thank you for the positive press. But please don’t pretend to understand the mechanics on the map, when you clearly don’t.

Small groups can move as quickly, they can’t however have as bigger impact on the game mode when they do reach their destination. A group of 5 is hardly capable of flipping a Keep quickly in comparison to a large one. By introducing a larger map size with multiple layers, large groups of players will have to split into smaller ones to be effective (instead of being a blob of 20, they might have to be two blobs of 10 or fewer). The impact being positive for the game mode as it’ll reduce zerging, encourage smaller fights and mean that Keep defence or capture is much different than it is now.

Kodiak.3281:

PlatinumMember.5274:

I am also excited about these changes. Anybody that isn’t excited is kitten fool. Arena net knows exactly what elementalist needed. The power of more team work is always great in my book.

Yeap Anet has their ears to the ground man. They got the vibe of what’s really core of Elementalist game play. I mean it’s a long time known fact ANet has it’s finger on the pulse of the Elementalist community. It’s not surprising at all they delivered some really solid and exciting changes. I mean when I think Elementalist right now, I think selfish player. Limited to no team support. Limited field generation for others to combo with. No utilities that can be shared with other people. Don’t even get me started on the small amount of boon sharing. Before Tempest we didn’t even have shouts to share boons!

I can’t wait till Friday to see all the exciting new stuff with Tempest that really finally gives us the ability to support our team.

I’m not sure if you’re serious? As a ranger player with an elementalist alt, the difference in utility, support and mobility is day and night. Elementalist, compared to other professions, is top tier in most departments. Perfect? No. The current build sets for Staff and DD however are so strong and flexible, that “complaints” really do fall short compared to other professions in much more need (notably Necromancer/Ranger/Revenant).

Hanako.1827:

Really erks me that Karl pretty visibly went out of his way to not mention scepter to address what a clunky piece of kitten it is.

Also kitten support. We’re already decent at it, why are they giving us more when our main cry for improvements is on damage… half of the garbage I see in this post looks like Im going to have to be surrounded by at least 5 other people to make full effect of it…

For all we know they could be reworking or improving Scepter and so it doesn’t, at this time, need discussing.

So what does everyone think?:D

http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/guild-wars-2/guild-wars-2-tempest-revealed

Shrio and Mallyx with Swords/Staff :-)

Revenant has permanent swiftness:

Hammer: Phase Smash or Drop The Hammer + Inspiring Reinforcement
Mace: Echoing Eruption + Inspiring Reinforcement

Yes you have to use Jalis, but who cares? The best alternative is traveller runes.

It’s not like the Ranger or Mesmer has tons of Swiftness unless you want to use a weapon set you don’t like.

Do Rune of the Soldier cleanse conditions from the ranger when he uses shouts? They didn’t used to – has this been fixed?

I think the Orrian Greatsword is great for reaver.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/preview/guild-wars-2-desert-borderland-first-impressions

leman.7682:

Siva Mira.3546:

People eating their OWN 10 stack of Burning but anyway lets forget that and put the blame on Necro.

You mean that 10 stacks that were transferred back by an non-telegraphed Plague Signet passive proc?

It’s active proc, actually.

Ten Ton Hammer are giving away gold to the best new builds that players share.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/columns/persistent-worlds/persistent-worlds-share-your-guild-wars-2-builds-and-win-gold

Awful.

Condition necromancer is terrible right now because it still suffers all the same problems it did before but it’s now significantly worse because Death Shroud is removed in seconds thanks to everyone having ridiculously high damage.

The fact that condition mesmers now surpass us in every way gives me a headache.

The biggest issue I have is that playing a melee necromancer is already a liability, especially considering you have to go berserker gear to achieve good DPS. Without a greater form of mitigation (evasion/more protection/stability/blocks) we’ll still be a liability in PvP because we’ll die too fast (like all Power Necros against any players worth their salt).

Belzebu.3912:

How can we compare with the ranger’s traps if we don’t know how they’ll look like after the update?
Devs said that they will be changed to compensate the time to setup that will be added, but nothing else was said.

It states the numbers will be updated once we get the opportunity to get in game

Suppose this belongs on this sub forum as well:

New article on TTH just sharing thoughts on skill and trap comparisons:

http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/guild-wars-2-ranger-and-dragonhunter-comparison

New article on TTH just sharing thoughts on skill and trap comparisons:

http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/guild-wars-2-ranger-and-dragonhunter-comparison

Player.8373:

Meh not going to be excited untill we get something cool without much 111111111111111111 spamming on power necro.

A lot of the Lich skills are amazing – people just don’t use then. The AOE knockback/chill is brilliant and so is Grim Scepter – its damage is enormous, being AOE.

Sadly it’s much easier to just spam 1.

Some great skills here.

This is our auto attack by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIsgotF-AXw

Shiki.7148:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

Bhawb.7408:

Starting at max would be way too strong. There are a lot of changes they could make, including better LF gains, but that isn’t one.

Why would it be too strong? I keep hearing people say this, but I’ve never heard a good argument as to why.

You still have no range, no real mobility and no way to reliably retain Life Force when in Death Shroud. The mechanic is pretty self balancing – full or not.

Do you feel overpowered when it’s full now? No. So you really wouldn’t if it started full.

Actually with full Necro would be extremely strong in 1v1’s and some 1v2 scenarios. Starting at half would be enough imho.

Is full Life Force “extremely” strong in 1 v 1’s now? It’s good – but so is Signet Of Stone, or Berzerker Stance. I really fail to see why we shouldn’t have it.

Gryph.8237:

Great immobile spirits for a kittenty immobile class hahahah. Would end us

It depends entirely on how ArenaNet design the specialization. I’d personally prefer Shouts, but spirits based on Living World are most likely.

Bhawb.7408:

Starting at max would be way too strong. There are a lot of changes they could make, including better LF gains, but that isn’t one.

Why would it be too strong? I keep hearing people say this, but I’ve never heard a good argument as to why.

You still have no range, no real mobility and no way to reliably retain Life Force when in Death Shroud. The mechanic is pretty self balancing – full or not.

Do you feel overpowered when it’s full now? No. So you really wouldn’t if it started full.

I really wish they’d just make it so our Death Shroud bar always started at maximum and it was up to us to keep it topped up.

Considering they’ve made ranger spirit’s immobile with the new trait system, is there a possibility that the Necromancer could gain spirits based on Belinda being in Majory’s great sword? The spirits could be similar to a Ritualists…

Possibly Wards or Symbols…I think either suit the Druid.

All I want is for ArenaNet to improve our traps now that the Guardian has better ones – this is undeniable.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/guild-wars-2-thoughts-dragonhunter

ronpierce.2760:

Yeah. It was bound to be a yes or a no, and it was, directly to the question asked. It’s frequently asked, and gave an opinion and said why. I see no problem with that. It wasn’t even hidden. Why must the answer inherently be “no” in order to not be click bait?

One can only assume because GW2’s Reddit is attempting to remain positive at all times! Regardless of how blinkered that is.

Ratphink.4751:

I got in touch with one of the moderators on the subreddit. The post wasn’t deleted, just removed from the front page. The moderator removed it “because of the clickbait title”.

“Are Necromancers Really So Bad?” is concerned clickbait? haha, christ. Clickbait would be “Necromancers are the worst profession in Guild Wars 2. Here’s why!”

Riot Inducer.8964:

Ok, I agree with a lot of the article, necros need a lot of work, but this statement, "Necromancers only use minions when they’re new to the game and anyone who uses them outside of that is trolling or doing it ‘for the laugh’. "

kitten you article author. Seriously, don’t make this kind of incendiary statement. I have mained a minion master since GW1. I am more aware than most of how horrid the current minions are, but to imply my persistence in using them is me having a lack of knowledge, trolling or otherwise not taking my gameplay seriously is immensely insulting.

The fact of the matter is when you get past the many AI issues minions have they do in fact embody the attrition playstyle of necromancer better than most builds. Even with their AI issues they’re still meatshields and passive dps and provide far more in protracted fights than many other necromancer skills.

Again, I agree with a lot of this article and appreciate the intent of raising awareness of the issues we have but this ignorant attitude you have presented towards minions will only serve to drive others away from the playstyle that simply needs AI improvements to be more user friendly and universally useful.

No one is suggesting you can’t have fun with minions, but no one serious about WvW, sPvP or PvE would ever play them. They die near instantly in dungeons, they have terrible pathing and reactions and their damage is really poor. Their trait lines aren’t great either :-\

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Skoigoth.9238:

Life Siphon. It’s rubbish.

I like that guy, he gets it.

From that comment alone? No he doesn’t. Life Siphon is quite good with values and scaling rather equivalent to another #6 skill.

On everything else? Yeah, he’s spot-on.

Scaling aside, I think Life Siphon is poor because unlike the heal that a Guardian’s Meditation provides, it’s a staggered gain. It has a short range, the heal is gradual and it has a long (ish) cast time. Where a Meditation heal provides 2.3k healing instantly, Life Siphon is much slower and easily interrupted. Admittedly it doesn’t have a 16 to 39 second cooldown, but it also doesn’t remove 2 conditions and grant fury.

I’d like to see Life Siphone not only siphon more, but be an instant spike of health gain.

While understandable, compare to the fact Life Siphon easily hits 4k healing, does damage on its own (and is great for proccing on hit/crit effects), and is on a shorter cooldown while not taking a utility slot.

A shorter cast time can be argued for, but really, the skill is quite good as-is.

It’d be really great if Life Siphon was just a quicker skill. All the Dagger main hand skills feel quite slow to me.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Skoigoth.9238:

Life Siphon. It’s rubbish.

I like that guy, he gets it.

From that comment alone? No he doesn’t. Life Siphon is quite good with values and scaling rather equivalent to another #6 skill.

On everything else? Yeah, he’s spot-on.

Scaling aside, I think Life Siphon is poor because unlike the heal that a Guardian’s Meditation provides, it’s a staggered gain. It has a short range, the heal is gradual and it has a long (ish) cast time. Where a Meditation heal provides 2.3k healing instantly, Life Siphon is much slower and easily interrupted. Admittedly it doesn’t have a 16 to 39 second cooldown, but it also doesn’t remove 2 conditions and grant fury.

I’d like to see Life Siphone not only siphon more, but be an instant spike of health gain.

flow.6043:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

Life Blast is poor for condition necromancers in the sense that they currently have to waste lots of points in the power line to get Dhuumfire and outside of Dhuumfire, the attack does no damage because they lack power. Power necromancers definitely get more use out of the skills, except for the fear because they don’t take the traits to maximise its duration or damage.

Doom is a valuable interrupt, the fact that power builds don’t do the same damage with it as a condimancer’s Terror-traited fear isn’t that important. Also, power necros usually have 6 points in Spite and not every condi necro has Master or Terror. So the difference in condition duration isn’t necessarily that big.

As for Life Blast, Dhuumfire is not in “the power line” but in Spite: condi duration, Chill of Death, Spiteful Spirit… nothing that a condi necro wouldn’t want to have.
And the damage of LB with a carrion amulet is definitely not nothing. Worse than a power necro of course but still somewhere around 1-2k dmg depending on crits and your target’s armor. Also, Life Blast can be used to remove blindness or aegis before using more impactful skills, among other things…

I should have clarified, I meant that when you obtained Dhuumfire you spend points in Spite which provides +300 Power.

Doom is definitely a powerful interrupt, there’s no denying that. In all honesty though, I don’t know any condition necromancers that don’t take terror.

I think Death Shroud skills are definitely useful regardless of spec, but they aren’t particularly optimal – I think that’s the key. They could be better and they could be much more useful for specific builds.

flow.6043:

It’s a really nice article btw.
The only things I disagree with are that according to the author some DS skills are unusable by certain builds. That’s not true, Tainted Shackles is a really good skill for any kind of build, and even Life Blast and Transfer have some value for conditions builds.
Also, instead of being able to use regular utility skills in Death Shroud, I’d rather get new DS skills that actually provide more utility and scaling defense than the regular skills we already have.

Life Blast is poor for condition necromancers in the sense that they currently have to waste lots of points in the power line to get Dhuumfire and outside of Dhuumfire, the attack does no damage because they lack power. Power necromancers definitely get more use out of the skills, except for the fear because they don’t take the traits to maximise its duration or damage.

Kilger.5490:

I play a zerg wvw necro Its essential but it really boils down to the fact we have well of suffering and corruption. If we didnt have that niche we’d be out.

Won’t be long, then. Chronomancer is due soon

ronpierce.2760:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

Kantz.6420:

Applaud…. nice article didn’t hit everything but hope someone from Anet reads it.

Hitting everything would result in the Bible ;D

The comments will take care of the rest. :P hehe.

Interesting seeing the Reddit reaction: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3528jq/are_necromancers_really_so_bad/

Seems they think necromancers are amazing :P