I hate to be the barrer of bad news, but this is a major change that would require a lot of new coding for the skill and wouldn’t be capable of effecting PvE. Since this isn’t GW1 which people love to remind me of that, Niche skills like that just can’t exist in this game. They need to have at least a small bit of function in all 3 game modes even if its not optimal in one or more.
Another direction could be a skill the straight up ends an aoe field when it touches it, like snuffing it out. And that could have really cool uses in all 3 game modes. But I can’t say I like the idea of that being on well of darkness even. Personally, I’d like to see some new utility given to the skill, yes, but it shouldn’t be overly complex for a core skill.
Oh, it would totally take new coding and plenty of time. Like pointed put earlier, it would completely change WvW zerging, which may or may not be something Anet wants to do at some time. If they do want to change WvW zerging it would actually be a time saver.
The skill would retain all its current function for PvE.
The technology to end fields doesn’t exist and won’t exist, unfortunately. Not liking the idea is something I can respect though
.
Another issue with your idea is it creates unseen effects and can create chaotic situations which are both hard to follow for players and the audience. Which is a major issue for barrier to entry. Ending the field, straight up is much easier to see than halting its combo effects.
Ultimately, I’m not suggesting anything. I’m pointing out an obvious flaw in the suggestion that would be detrimental to the game and providing an alternative that would work just as well or better without causing this unneeded complication.
I know its your idea and you really like it, however sometimes you need to take a step back and really consider what you’re actually suggesting. Be aware of all the ramifications of that suggestion if it was implemented. And their would be a lot.
I love LOVE that staff. It’s beautiful and has a wonderful name: Nevermore. Excited about that.
I see it more as a ranger (druid) weapon, with a branch and a crow, this screams “nature magic” to me…
Agree. And I will try to get it for my new Druid.
A dead enchanted branch with spectral lights floating around it and a prominent symbol of death hanging around it? Sure… Nature magic.. Not ritualist or necromancery at all. RIIIIIIIGGGHHHT……
I’m totally getting this for my necro.
It’s a branch, with wisps, actually. And yes, it has a crow on it but all the accompanying animations are bright and vibrant. The wisps blue, the bird animation bright blue. It’s not necromancy in anyway, unless you want to shoe-horn in the thought that it is. If the orbs were dark, or green and the branch black, I’d see it. As it stands, definitely for Druid.
snip
You don’t need to go that far.
The fact is that Raven is death. One of grenth’s theme is ICE.
Death tree branch + bird of death + with Ice being a symbol of death in Guild wars 2 lore.
The truth is you are probably not going to convince him, since his opinion is set in stone.
Probably not. Though I think the staff works for both druid and Necro. Also Ritualist. Get on that arena net. Make my ritualist elite specialization for necro… <.<
I love LOVE that staff. It’s beautiful and has a wonderful name: Nevermore. Excited about that.
I see it more as a ranger (druid) weapon, with a branch and a crow, this screams “nature magic” to me…
Agree. And I will try to get it for my new Druid.
A dead enchanted branch with spectral lights floating around it and a prominent symbol of death hanging around it? Sure… Nature magic.. Not ritualist or necromancery at all. RIIIIIIIGGGHHHT……
I’m totally getting this for my necro.
It’s a branch, with wisps, actually. And yes, it has a crow on it but all the accompanying animations are bright and vibrant. The wisps blue, the bird animation bright blue. It’s not necromancy in anyway, unless you want to shoe-horn in the thought that it is. If the orbs were dark, or green and the branch black, I’d see it. As it stands, definitely for Druid.
Its not crows. Its ravens. First off. Its called “Nevermore”. A poem by Edgar Allan Poe, The raven says this phrase over and over again. Reading it it sounds like madness but he attributes the raven to spirits and demons. In history and mythology the raven is seen as a symbol of death. Seeing as its a carrion feeder they often hang around the dead, devouring their flesh. The imagery of the raven is often associated with the grim reaper as the messenger of his arrival. Wisps as you called them, or Will-o-wisp is a Atmospheric ghost lights. Wondering spirits of the dead, demons or faeries. The dead branch looks like its from a Ghost tree. Though I don’t currently remember where i’ve heard that one before. I know there was a Ghost tree around my house when I was a kid and it always gave me this uneasy feeling. Though I was just a kid.
The coloring is also right for the dead as well. Blue lights are often used to represent the spirits and pushing it further the new elite specialization reaper actually uses far more blues and turquoises in its coloring than previous necromancer has. Although core necromancer has used both blues and greens prior, the reaper pushes that a bit. Also considering that the symbol for toggling out of reaper’s shroud is a raven and there is a heavy raven theme going on with the reaper. Which makes perfect sense to me since I’ve always been fascinated by death and the raven is my favorite bird. The connection to me only made perfect sense. I’m not stretching anything.
Also, some poetry:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`‘Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.’
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,’
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,’ said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you’ – here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!’
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!’
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,’ said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
‘Tis the wind and nothing more!’
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,’ I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.’
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.’
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,’ said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of “Never-nevermore.”’
But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.’
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,’ I cried, `thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he has sent thee
Respite – respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’
`Prophet!’ said I, `thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore -
Is there – is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’
`Prophet!’ said I, `thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’
`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!’ I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!
I love LOVE that staff. It’s beautiful and has a wonderful name: Nevermore. Excited about that.
I see it more as a ranger (druid) weapon, with a branch and a crow, this screams “nature magic” to me…
Agree. And I will try to get it for my new Druid.
A dead enchanted branch with spectral lights floating around it and a prominent symbol of death hanging around it? Sure… Nature magic.. Not ritualist or necromancery at all. RIIIIIIIGGGHHHT……
I’m totally getting this for my necro.
@meow: It doesn’t really feel like you’re reading what I’m writing, especially when you draw conclusions on my opinion of whether each class deserves at least one viable build in the meta. I think distilling the game’s interactions to a single dimension, such as “I have an ability that makes it so the target cannot block for 3 seconds, I automatically beat builds that use blocks”, is dishonest. It’s akin to saying “I brought Corrupt Boon, so if a class uses Boons, I win”, when in fact a class like Guardian can convert all of those conditions right back into boons if the Necro misplays it.
At the end of the day, I think Defenseless is an interesting idea, and could be neat if implemented properly.
small doses. I think their should be a very defining difference between unblockable and defenseless. “Nothing can save you” should remain as giving us unblockable but adding defenseless to other areas of our skills that require a bit more offense would be good. I think that Defenseless is a much stronger ability in a group setting while Unblockable is better in a selfish situation. I like the idea that the necromancer Hinders their enemies to aid their allies. Its what I loved about them in GW1. So this debuff would slot very well right into that.
For the skills. Well of darkness’s defenseless should be on pulse and only last 1 second. So if someone moves out of the well then they are no longer hindered by this crippling ability. However, this still gives some interesting play with Chilling darkness. Suddenly that chill can become fairly valuable in a team fight for locking foes in the well for just enough time to burn them down. On Wail of Doom it should be a flat 3 seconds of defenseless. At these rates you can’t have permanent defenseless up time and would need to use those skills wisely.
I primarily think in terms of PvE, but I do consider my suggestions for PvP and WvW as well. I wouldn’t make an outlandish suggestion like a make minions immune to AoE damage. That would just be silly and completely broken.
But yeah, thanks for supporting this idea.
@Truefrost: Zaroua isn’t confused. He just accepts that there are enough unknowns to make attempts at declaring hard facts about classes and the roles they fill in raids look silly.
Roles are defined by boss mechanics. If we don’t know the boss mechanics, we can only theorize on the roles based on whatever little information we know. We can draw conclusions, but if you submit yourself to following everyone else’s conclusions on DPS, roles, etc., you’ll never find yourself out on the cutting edge of the meta. You need an open mind to make discoveries that evolve the meta, and evolution should be the goal over preaching someone else’s sermon.
Necros might find that they fall short of having a firm role in raiding. I’m not saying it’s guaranteed. I’m just not going to rule it out until the data is in. Vale Guardian on a beta weekend is not an appropriate amount of data, regardless of how professional everyone thinks him/herself to be.
EDIT – @Zaroua: If you mention boons, someone is going to mention Mesmer’s sword auto again which strips boons at a rate of I think 1 every 2.5 seconds, and I’m going to vomit into my mouth again. Please spare my taste buds.
Also, I’ve been avoiding mentioning Patchwerk, but it’s been on my mind for days now. If they are going to create engaging encounters, they won’t be Patchwerk-style, and anything less than a very, very sophisticated simulation mechanism is going to fall potentially woefully short.
The Mes boon removal is actually quite good. Necros have to give up stuff and fall back on large cooldowns. Making the single boon removal quite nice. This of course could change If bosses begin to require a boon removal that removes multiple boons.
You’re completely wrong in this regard. Necromancer’s boon removal is often built into the build a necromancer will already be running. Well of suffering is already automatically run by a necromancer well build as it is. We give up nothing by bringing it. The same is true with Focus which will already be an auto include with dagger or dare I say axe? But to assume that the necromancer has to “Give up something” is completely false and utter nonsense.
First off It’s Well of Corruption that corrupts boons which also has a large cooldown on it, second focus is up in the air. It turns into Warhorn vs Focus, each gives something. We don’t need the vuln from focus anymore.
I’m not saying we’re bad at it, I’m saying It’s not enough of a reason to take us.
Sorry, half with it at the moment. New medication and all. I can’t brain today. I has the dumb.
But regardless. Do you honestly think that we wont have it up during the split phase? Or further down in the raid when it gets harder.
How much DPS does a Power Engie do? What if you are in a raid instance, and the next boss after needing condis is immune to condis? Do you bring 4 condi engis for the first boss? What if you can’t dynamically drop groups/add new people in the middle of a raid and have to bring a group that can tackle the entire thing?
Also, you assume you want a tank that can buff really well. What about a tank that can strip boons well? What about a tank that does solid DPS instead of buffs?
The limit on imagination is a little strong. Maybe the highest DPS class for one fight won’t be the highest DPS class for the next. Maybe a Necro’s ability to go Power, Condi, Tank, Strip Boons, and relocate downed Allies will be a great asset to a group for only 1 raid slot.
Also, what is the guarantee that every DPS in the groups who downed Vale Guardian and made videos pulled their fully optimized weight? Without meters, it’s like we’re assuming every single player of every class/spec is performing optimally. If you’ve raided in other games, you know that’s very much not the case.
Power Engi in ideal situations is about 17kdps, It’d probably be right about the same as necro in a realistic situation.
Anyways I agree in that I think Necro is one of the best tank options. A guard I actually think is one of the more mediocre options. I’d say Necro or Rabid Engi are my favorites when I think about it. The big thing is you need to get enough toughness to pull agro. Necro can potentially do that in a few ways (minion build
spoj just posted an idea in another thread), while Engi has rabid + scrapper which is a very minimal damage loss, and if they need more blocks they can grab toolkit, again not a huge damage loss, and shield which can help for breakbar as well as provide more defense. Necro build that toughness, RS for defense or utility. Guardian I’d feel forced out of a lot of damage stuff and it’s already falling behind those two in damage.
a cavalier necromancer might be good for tanking as well. Their damage would be solid and very sustainable as well. the biggest issue would be life force but with blighter’s boon with all the boons running around that shouldn’t be an issue.
First off Engi condi dps>>necro condi dps.
About the Mossman: Engineer has ground-target AoE that doesnt require a target, necro needs to have a target for scepter 1,3, life blast, dark path, so engi has uptime on its dps compared to necro. Also it’s a very specific scenario you are comparing which is in favor of the engineer. And it is also a completely useless comparison…
Guys remember Robert Geezus mentioned soft CC will be useful in raids. If a boss spawns countless adds who move fast i would really like a necro to do soft cc/ epidemic stuff.
Not everything is DPS, every class has its own utility, why do we have to compare DPS all the time. The devs have tools to measure DPS much much better than the spreadsheets we make and it’s the easiest thing in the world for them to raise it, there are reasons why they don’t do it.Also @Lily nice summary great post.
Although I do agree that the engineer’s condi DPS is much higher than the base necromancer’s, I wouldn’t necessarily agree that its higher than the reaper’s. More testing is required.
My estimated guess for whats actually sustained is about 30-35 bleeds, 5 poison and chill. Those are what we can sustain indefinably. However where I get my numbers is from the burst as well as the cool downs. I have gotten up to 40 stacks of poison using corrosive poison cloud and the soul spiral. During that burst the 30 bleeds stick on and I can quickly build up around 5-6 stacks of burning. Throw terror into the mix and you’re adding more damage to the burst. So for burst I’d estimate around 20k, but for sustained I’d say 8-9k at the stabilizing point.
I’m just throwing out rough estimations on that. I have gotten over 40 stacks of poison using my rotation and over 30 stacks of bleeding at the same time with the 6 stacks of burning and chill all ticking at once.
But thank you. I’m really trying to help the necromancer community out. I think we’re starting to get to a really good place and we provide so much more than just damage that I honestly believe that we’ll be one of the best professions for raiding content.
PS: On its own, With food Corrosive poison cloud ticks for about 2k with once the second second starts. So you have about 6 seconds of that damage. Whirling in it to get the 30-40 stacks, depending on how large the enemy is that you’re fighting, you’re looking at around 8-9k damage just from poisons. And getting 30 stacks of bleeding isn’t news for the base condi necromancer, let alone reaper.
Not trying to challenge anything
But, we’re talking about raid roles right? Why bring up solo?
I’m honestly just curious to hear more about Condi Reaper, if it’s described somewhere a link would be cool, or just explain it a little more I’d be interested to know. I imagined it was more of a hybrid with a lot of RS spam doing decent physical and decent condi, sounsd like I was wrong on that. It sounds pretty powerful, MUCH more powerful than what I’ve seen from Condi Necro. Obviously the stack numbers you posted can’t be maintained, otherwise you’d be pumping out 22k in condi damage
Did reaper bring condi damage for necro up to a viable level?
And it’s not about Engi being able to burst 20k in conditions, it’s about being able to maintain a high level of DPS once they get rolling (takes a few seconds) that is theoretically able to average out to 20k (emphasis on theoretically as I haven’t seen someone do it yet, it’s just on paper).
Except a condi engineer can’t sustain 20k DPS. Its closer to 7k. MAYBE 10 if they’re extremely good with the rotation but that’s pushing it. I have the good sense to admit that that sort of sustained DPS isn’t actually possible. Especially considering that the current meta says that full berserker is expected to do around 15k sustained DPS. Which also isn’t actually possible. 12k is possible maybe 13k, but pushing up to 15k far far beyond what any profession is reasonably capable of.
Also I bring up solo play, such as soloing Mossman because it gives us a base to talk about what DPS someone is actually doing. We know how much health mossman has and how long it takes you to kill it. In order to be doing 20k DPS you’d actually need to be able to solo kill mossman in a 50 in about a minute and 30 seconds. In the best case senario if we assume the mossman has 2 million health 4 minutes is about 8k DPS on full glass berserker stats. The community has unanimusly agreed that berserker is the highest possible DPS. And I don’t even think Mossman has even 2 million heath on a 50. However I don’t think its even that high so we could be looking at 6k or even as low as 4k DPS. Now if we also calculate for the fact that Mossman stealths into that calculation dropping the damage you can maybe calculate 10k in an ideal situation. Though looking at it I’d say closer to 9k.
So the reason to bring it up is to give you an idea just how incredibly off people’s DPS calculations actually are. With my reaper condi rotation. I expect that I’ll average around 8-10k with a burst of maybe 20k. Which that short burst would bring me up a bit. I’d have to calculate it a bit further but conditions have higher ramp time than berserker does and their damage is back loaded. I’ve used the example just to point out the flaws that the community has about DPS. They think they’re doing 20k-30k when in reality they’re doing closer to 6-9k.
Why I bring up my experience with fractals while soloing is because I looking for uses for mechanics in high tension situations. I’ll bring a single party member or a 3rd simply to further test high stress situations. We want to see how these skills can be effective in the encounters without actually cheesing the system by stacking or abusing line casting.
Basically I’m doing my research!
(edited by Lily.1935)
Many people are trying to find ways not to run necromancer in raids and actively looking for reasons why the necromancer is the worst possible profession to use. I’ve seen countless posts about it from “Necros have no damage”, “necros have no support”, “reaper is pointless”. But these people are not considering the unique abilities that the necromancer offers that will actually out preform in a raid.
Damage:
In terms of damage the necromancer can easily fill ever single on of the required role of this without a problem. Once you understand their condition damage rotation its incredibly high and very sustainable. Their power type damage is also extremely high probably the strongest at range making them very effective at mobile DPS. Which the necromancer’s mobile DPS is one of the reasons that they’re known for it in WvW. Raids do actually force the group to keep moving which means that stationary moves like 100b blades gain increased chance to get someone killed rather than to help them. Its also notable that the bosses will move out of aoe meaning that the necromancer’s ability to provide solid damage at range becomes even more valuable.
Does this mean that necromancer is the only profession that can provide damage? Of course not. Engineers also have very solid ranged DPS. The difference between them is how they pump it out. Its something that people should consider for a raid encounter. The death perception necromancer with its life blast is solid enough damage at range and you can bring transfusion on the bar without actually sacrificing anything major for it.
The condition damage that the reaper provides out preforms the core necromancer and can also be used in combination with control as well as boon stripping to fill that role without issue. Dark path comes to mind since one of the bosses requires you to remove a special boon before it can be damaged. This gives the necromancer the unique versatility to actually move between bosses in one of the phases being capable of punishing both at once. The chill is extremely important on a reaper build. The damage output of it is slightly higher than a stack of burning above 50% and is a bit over 2 stacks of burning at below 50%. The advantage is that it both severely weakens the break bar as well as providing this bonus damage on something you’re going to be doing anyway. The versatility of their condition spec that allows them to stack 2-5k ticks from each of their condition stacks all at once means that if bosses that are both weak to condition damage but have reduced damage to some forms of condition damage such as burning or poison this go wide strategy means that the necromancer will flat out out preform many other professions which includes the engineer. However that’s just speculation on my part.
Control:
I’ve already mentioned chill and boon stripping. Two powerful abilities that the necromancer can provide both at the same time without sacrificing much if anything on their build. But they can also provide so much more on the control end of things. The corruption necromancer/reaper build provides projectile destruction, extremely high weakness up time, boon stripping, condition spreading and lock out abilities such as executioner’s scythe and fear spams.
Corrosive poison cloud deserves its own medal for being one of the best skills in this kit. As we continue to move through raids multi functional skills such as cpc will be invaluable to a group. The fact that the condimancer can take this skill into a fight without actually sacrificing damage will have a major impact on your build. You can put this skill on a boss, crippling their physical damage as well as locking them out of being able to use their projectiles if they have some. And later bosses will have them. You can count on that for sure. Another element of this is you can protect yourself with it by placing it over you. I’ve even combined this skill in the Mai Trin fight while training the guildies in fractals. Placing this around me and using transfusion to pull them out of her focus as well as preventing shots being fired by Horrik and as well as Mai’s herself. The usefulness of this skill will only increase with raids.
Further control is that the boss seems to stick on high toughness allies. The necromancer can take a hit far better than most other professions and compared to highly mobile professions such as thief or mesmer the necromancer is in a unique position with both flesh wurm and spectral walk to both take the hits and lure the boss into a favorable position with lowest possible risk. I know this concept may sound a bit alien to some people reading this. However I’ve had massive success using both of these skills in fractals while soloing or fighting in the aetherblade fractal boss fight.
The necromancer also has a high number of unblockable skills and even a trait that makes marks unblockable putting the staff as a seriously useful control weapon. Nothing can save will will see heavy use in raids if we find a boss who has a break bar while blocking that also causes heavy damage. Why would you want to struggle with your group to out heal the damage when a reaper can just cast nothing can save you and rip through their break bar with their high number of stuns and long lasting chill.
Boon corruption is also a thing on necromancer. They have high number of targets hit in a 600 radius meaning that their focus can be where it needs to be while also breaking through those boons without having to break agro. The mesmer has extremely strong boon stripping but their issue is that their aoe boon stripping is no where near as powerful as the necromancer’s. This will most likely be extremely valuable in the raid as we progress further and the content gets harder and harder.
Support:
The necromancers support is something that people don’t value too highly. But even a pure berserker necromancer provides a tone of support for allies that people might not even realize. Just on my power wells set I provide protection to allies as well as a dark field. The dark field is actually extremely handy for increasing a party’s DPS as well as providing healing. Whirling in a dark field or firing projectiles can provide a bit of healing while increasing their overall damage. And since might and vuln shouldn’t be much of a problem in raids this puts a stronger focus on these extremely powerful fields.
The vampiric aura is minor in terms of our support but can be absolutely vital for allies survivability. Anyone who’s run a flamethrower with a necromancer around in a world boss knows the feeling of going from almost dead to full health from this trait. Other life stealing abilities such as Signet of Vampirism which normally take a while to trigger can cause some more minor healing to your entire raid as they focus a boss as well as boost the damage.
I’ve already mentioned transfusion. I’ll mention it again. In the first raid boss I’d personally probably require this trait to be used in my raid. The effectiveness of this trait is just too high not to consider it. Battle Standard and revive skills lack the ability to pull allies out of damage while this can do just that. I saw a lot of raid runs where people where going down and going down trying to revive their allies that I couldn’t find a good reason not to have at least one necromancer running this trait. Even if you’re not specked into healing power the teleport can mean the difference between a dead ally and a living one. This trait can be a bit tricky to use at first but once you get it down you’ll love it.
Well of power and well of blood have also been useful for helping allies. Buffering attacks with healing and well of power being an extremely solid counter to burning with its conversion to aegis. I’ve used this skill against the imbued shaman on many occasions to nullify its attacks, against Mai trin to save my allies from the 14 stacks of bleeding. This might not sounds so great to some people who think a shout guardian can do the same thing. But remember that there is a major difference between 600 and 900 range. You’re also not doing anything different than what a berserker necromancer will probably be doing anyway.
More testing required:
There are a few ideas that I’d like to test out in raids a bit more. The minion master is something I want to see. There is a tone of talk about endless minions thanks to rise and that can seem valuable with the high toughness that the minions will provide. Using something like Apothecary stats on a minion builds with dozens of little bombs sounds like a solid strategy and would have been extremely notable in GW1. The added bonus of transfusion in this sort of set and being almost exclusively focus with its extremely high sustain could make this a build worth looking into.
Conclusion:
The abilities that the necromancer provides are numerous. Although when compared side by side with abilities of other professions it might seem like the age old tale of “Everything the necromancer can do someone else can do it better” but the fact that most of the necromancer’s abilities actually overlap in multiple roles that the raid requires anyway should make any group consider the necromancer for their raid. Our highly effective skills that might not preform as well in some situations as other skills, such as Corrosive poison cloud when compared to wall of reflection, are more tool box skills that can do everything that you need it to do all at once. The necromancer has multiple examples of this from their wells to their corruptions, to signets and even shouts.
The necromancer might surprise you. Many people during the beta weekend really wanted to try the reaper as it looked to be the coolest. Though many of these people didn’t have a firm grasp at what the necromancer was capable of before they decided to do the raid. The devs of GW2 are not lying to us when they say they pretty much always bring at least one necromancer into a raid. And considering the first boss and that’s supposed to be the easy one I only see more and more reasons to consider 1-2 necromancers in a group.
Although we will have to wait and see the more I think about it and the more I’m practicing for raids by doing fractals without using abusive stacking mechanics the more valuable me and my guild are noticing the necromancer truly is. I hope this is helpful to some people. I’ll see you all in the mists.
I’m not a negative person. I try to be critical about what I’m saying. Though sometimes I just need to vent and I think we can all agree that that happens some times. I do post positively from time to time intentionally because I’m a human being. Not some rage machine. I’m generally a fairly calm and bubbly person. If you really get to know me.
I totally believe you’re a calm and bubbly person. I just always enjoy seeing when people who I’ve personally seen be mostly critical in times past on the Necro forums (again, I could have easily missed some/most of your posts) show excitement. To me, that says ANet really did something right.
Plus, in some of the responses to the changes, I kept thinking “Wait, did no one read the CPC changes?” Then I saw this thread and wanted to give kudos. So kudos.
I can’t wait to play around with this skill personally.
Oh, its been allot of fun. In fractals especially. Its hard not to justify taking it in there.
I know I’m only around periodically, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lily happy about Necro things. It’s truly a treat to see people get excited about things.
Also, I’m super glad to hear this change is operating as awesomely as I hoped when I read it. I’m looking forward to coming back to my Necro in the expac.
I’m not a negative person. I try to be critical about what I’m saying. Though sometimes I just need to vent and I think we can all agree that that happens some times. I do post positively from time to time intentionally because I’m a human being. Not some rage machine. I’m generally a fairly calm and bubbly person. If you really get to know me.