You can AoE heal with Well of Blood and Life Transfer which are both reasonably decent at that task.
So is there any viable build that uses the axe/whatever, and staff? I really like using Wells in dungeons, but I’m having a rough time finding a good build for it to use the axe. I’m level 61 currently, so something that could be used for leveling would be nice, too. Also, at level 80, is conditionmancer pretty much king, or are Wells still viable?
Wells are good but the issue with them is their short duration combined with long cooldowns. Due to this, I would suggest against focusing your build around them at max level.
The necromancer doesn’t really need much Vitality due to its very high base HP. If you’re going for Condition damage, it’s generally advised to go for Precision as well in order to proc Superior Sigil of Earth and Barbed Precision often for more bleed stacks.
Going melee as necro will get you destroyed in dungeons. Necros lack the defensive abilities of most other classes that allow them to survive in melee and the damage output of daggers isn’t exactly overwhelming even with a fully offensive spec. The lifestealing isn’t enough to keep you sustained against elite mobs.
How does the Rampager fare in event farming?.. does it really make a bigger difference?
It probably has something like 100 more power than my MH set.
For event farming, it matters more what skills you use rather than what gear you’re wearing. The main reason why I use Rampager’s is because there is simply no need of toughness gear in PvE at this point (unless you’re melee). Dungeons are just too easy at the moment and I have a hard time taking significant amounts of damage in open world events.
Event bosses in particular should require more teamwork and coordination. Sitting around half-afk spamming 1 for 15 minutes while occasionally dodging out of a red circle isn’t exactly interesting or fun.
Fully reworking the traits and abilities of an entire class in a way that they work together in a meaningful way takes more time than slightly adjusting already working and conceptually solid skills. This is at least one of the reasons why other classes have received plenty of changes and the Necro has not.
Just out of interest, Mathemagician, how does TPC work out for you?.. I know it’s the stats that Necros should go for, but what weapons/utilities/traits do you use and where? Doesn’t seem like it would be very useful in event farming.
While I’m not the person you’re asking…
Weapons are Scepter+Dagger OH/Staff.
For Traits, the Curses and Soul Reaping trees are really the only interesting ones to max out at the moment.
And yes, for event farming stacking power is definitely superior. Personally, I’m actually running almost full Rampager’s gear in PvE since there really isn’t difficult enough content in the game at the moment to warrant the use of toughness as a ranged character (imo).
Excellent post.
List of karma gear in Orr, including Tgh/Prec/Con gear:
http://dulfy.net/2012/09/08/gw2-templegod-karma-armor-sets/
You can also get this stat combination from the nightmare set (twilight arbor explorable mode).
As far as I’m aware there aren’t any rings or accessories with this stat combination yet.
Long story short, power simply doesn’t scale very well on the Necromancer at the moment. Dagger does scale somewhat okay but it doesn’t deal anywhere near enough damage to make up for the melee range requirement.
BiP is blood is power I take it? He doesnt say its useless, he says Mesmers get a version that is 100x better AND lasts longer. I agree BiP isnt useless but its not particularly good either. One condition per tick is far too low considering how fast people can stack different conditions on you. Also, if its removing say 1 Vulnerability stack instead of 10 Bleed stacks its pretty bad.
I even like taking BiP but its more because its usable as compared to a host of really really poor skills rather than because it is intrinsically good.
You’re thinking of Well of Power. BiP is the Corruption skill that gives you 20% life force which is very useful considering how hard it is to build life force in many situations.
I didnt see this posted in this thread yet. From Team Paradigm who are very good pvpers: http://www.teamparadigm.net/forums/Necromancer/374/The-Sorry-State-of-the-Necromancer-in-SPvP-Long-Post/
Essentially Necros have a ton of bugs right now and a crapload of totally useless traits as well as wonky minion AI and some really bad weapons skills.
Right now the best Necro is a Mesmer.
He lost me when he claimed that BiP is useless.
The cooldown timer of abilities used while under the effect of Chill is not increased.