Guild Wars 2

I don’t get to play much, so I’m, unfortunately a casual player
I pretty much log in, get 2~3 hours of dungeons and thats pretty much it :\

As a result I don’t get much theory crafting done so I’m bad with builds, and I can’t get really good gear and master the Mesmer :\

What build would you recommend for me?
I’d like to go for a Staff Shatter build that could put out some damage and be useful for the party. Suggestions?

I’m really liking the concept of the build, but do you think it can be converted to Staff + Sw/F build?

Rangers or Guardians imo ….
Corrupt boons will rune any Guard’s day, also they have a really low hp pool
And rangers are just pretty moderate at everything, I’m not having much trouble killing them

Get a Staff + Sword/Focus, go for an illusion build till lvl 40 [something generally like this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8Nlwzip3QDtWkgUBVXqAvB-e]

And go shatter till 80… You’ll get a really good DPS and you won’t have much trouble staying alive. [Something like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dlwzipXUzpGatICpCtWJF82FC-e]
Mesmer is a pain in the kitten Till 40, but Deceptive Evasion is a life changer imo … :3
Makes shattering so much easier

Good luck :)

JETWING.2759:

SrebX.6498:

Amazing how all 7 other classes forums complain on Warriors being too strong, while Warrior class forum complains on Warriors being the weakest …
Neighbor’s grass always greener I’d say

May be because warriors still being the easiest class to kill

How could you possibly say that? It doesn’t make sense to me at all
Warriors got a kittenload of Invulnerability, stability and CC on top having the highest health pool and being a heavy class.
Warriors is probably the one class that does not lack anything and have sufficient access to everything.

JETWING.2759:

I have problems against all classes, less against warriors :/
Engineers, Recros and Rangers still very hard to kill.

Necros are the definition of easy targets. No stability, no stealth, no invulnerability, moderate CC and it’s a light class. Basically, Necros are left to Soak hits with their 2 HP pools and condition removal.

Rangers have a bit of everything. In my experience, they’re pretty easy targets most of the time, but other than a moderate CC, range and bursting potential they don’t have much.

Don’t wanna talk about Engis since I’ve never played the class and I have no idea about whats going on with them. all I can say based on my PvP experience is that they have really good CC and damage potential, but for the most part I haven’t experienced any special difficulty killing them

First of all, and thats an important rule of thumb: There is no universal build.
You CANNOT build yourself for PvE, WvW and sPvP. Thats impossible. Each environment has it’s own unique settings and characteristics.

Personally, I go for a build that’s optimal for WvW and use it for PvE also and adjust it a bit to fit better [Like changing major traits, or having another weapon on you, Altering utilities…]. It’s not optimal for PvE, but you definitely go by since PvE is kinda easy. WvW on the other hand will be impossible to survive with a PvE build

Amazing how all 7 other classes forums complain on Warriors being too strong, while Warrior class forum complains on Warriors being the weakest …
Neighbor’s grass always greener I’d say

Sorry for the double, but main post updated. Need some help from you guys

BlackDevil.9268:

SrebX.6498:

Nice footage :P
Finally, zerging Mesmer footage… why is it so rare? ><

I’m actually looking for a zerging build for my Mesmer, could you post yours by any chance? :)

Oh I’m actually planning to make a video of running with [Scnd] soon, so stay tuned!

Will do :P
Can you talk about your build as well?
Was always wondering about Red Guard’s builds :P

lujate.5432:

SrebX.6498:

Finally, not only Roaming talking in here ….
I’ve been working on this Staff Mantra/Glamour build, can anyone give me some feedback? [I’m new to Mesmers]
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl4zSpHVTsGa9IhJFBH5neAdnz8SKi9tB-j0CBYgAoLRmcAggAmABK7pIasFTFRjVxATdaR16XA+DMa1SBYxYA-w

I’m no expert, but my first question would be:
-Is Restorative Mantras worth it, or would Temporal Enchanter or Warden’s Feedback be better?

I intend to use Staff mostly, so it’s nay on Warden’s Feedback.
As for Temporal Enchanter, I’m not sure as well xP . I took Restorative Mantras because I only have 2 charges, so I recast Mantras quiet often…

Finally, not only Roaming talking in here ….
I’ve been working on this Staff Mantra/Glamour build, can anyone give me some feedback? [I’m new to Mesmers]
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl4zSpHVTsGa9IhJFBH5neAdnz8SKi9tB-j0CBYgAoLRmcAggAmABK7pIasFTFRjVxATdaR16XA+DMa1SBYxYA-w

oZii.2864:

Just Fyi http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Strength the 6th piece bonus doesn’t work. It has been reported several times on the forums. It is also why it is so cheap because people know it doesn’t work. IF it worked it would be one of the best dps rune sets in the game the output is right alongside of ruby orbs.

I have watched this rune for forever waiting for them to fix it.

You have got to be kidding me… ~_~
I’m gonna switch for 4 Runes of Hoelbrak + 2 Runes of Strengh for the extra Might Duration.

Nice footage :P
Finally, zerging Mesmer footage… why is it so rare? ><

I’m actually looking for a zerging build for my Mesmer, could you post yours by any chance?

Awesome vid :P
I’m looking for a WvW zerging build, so could you please post your build?
Also, whats your PC spec? Holy kitten it’s amazing that you’re able to keep good graphics while zerging, and even record …

Nagato no Kami.4980:

SrebX.6498:

Nagato no Kami.4980:

The lack of stunbreaks on your build is worrying, IMO. Your toughness is quite good and the HP’s fine but if you get CCed and fall behind the hammer train, you can be focus fired down very quickly. Consider at least one stunbreak to make this build a bit more self-sufficient.

Also, I’d almost never consider a frontline build without Lemongrass and Meladrus. They’re almost compulsory. They’re going to nerf you a bit but add so much survivability. In baseball, this would be considered OBP over HRs.

imho, Necro’s stun breakers are awful and unworthy in any situation other than sPvP.
I doubt a once-in-60-second stun breaker will be somehow save me from hammer train anyway :\

Honestly I haven’t had too much trouble with this. I Don’t get stunned that often, and Zergs can keep stability for a lot of time so I think this utility slot is better spent somewhere else.

IMO, a basic rule for a frontliner is: you shouldn’t die unless your zerg gets wiped (or runs away like gutless cowards). If it hasn’t killed you yet, there isn’t a problem.

BTW, have you looked into Hoelbrek runes? They give a nice balance of power, might duration and -20% conditions. I think that’s worth 5% damage and make up for the lack of Melandrus.

I did. I just don’t think I need it that much
Condition are never a problem for me when because I got: Pretty high hp, spiteful removal, consume conditions and Putrid Mark.
Conditions are rarely any problem for me, so I didn’t think I’d need it

The strengh runes actually give me pretty big damage output, I noticed that I can pretty much always keep 5+ stacks of might

YES, I’ve been so frustrated with the lack of Mesmer zerging information… finally someone other than me is saying it….
I’d be happy if you wrote a guide and got some info about it

However, gotta say I don’t really like that build

Ansau.7326:

It seems that this build is meant to be played by NA mesmers. After seeing some videos and builds, I see NA servers play WvW in a very different way than EU do.

While this build may work on small teams (5-15 people), it will be absolutely a mess when commanding and facing big zergs (+30 people), the most common thing in EU.

In such numbers, your health drops in a second and you need to be tankier. Also, the commander should be always the last to die, that’s why almost all commanders in blobs are guards and warriors.

So the biggest problems are:

- Absolutely no defense against conditions. Very low health, no Lemongrass and no Melandru runes.
- Your objective is to command, not to deal damage. Focus on defensive stats.

Looking at 10th dicember patch, I’ve been working on a mantra/glamour build as a pug/raid mesmer. But I think mantras suits better for a commander than a pug, so I designed this build, a commander version of the one I’m testing.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8dl4zSpHWTqGa9IypCMHpHqWqtaleEb32FC-jkCBocCykDBigAOnrIaslRFRjVbDT9SISDL1WdAW0Ma1SBwkyI-w

- High survivability. 2800 armor, 26500 base health with defense against guards buff, -65% condition duration, extra 600 toughness while casting mantras, healing through kills, access to 6s of stability, nearly perma vigor and F4 invulnerability.
- Normal DPS: 2488 base power with sigil stacks and +15% phantasm damage.
- Active support by stability to your party, Veil, Null Field and Time Warp.

Your build is quiet similar to the one I had in mind [even post a thread about it not long ago], Mantra/glamour is exactly what I’m looking for
However, from my experience in zerging, illusions die instantly and are completely unreliable, so I think deceptive evasion and empowered illusions are wasted traits :\

Also I’d probably run Staff for more support and survival, GS feels horrible for Zerging as it’s AoE is pretty bad >< [Other than iZerker, which will die instantly…]

Generally, Mesmers are pretty bad for commanding imo, it’s more of a back line class. imo :\

ronpierce.2760:

This is how necros should look :P

Nice :P Can’t regonize which armor and leggins you’re using though
I think the staff is more mesmer like, personally I use the Nightmare skin staff which is just perfect for Necros imo

Nagato no Kami.4980:

The lack of stunbreaks on your build is worrying, IMO. Your toughness is quite good and the HP’s fine but if you get CCed and fall behind the hammer train, you can be focus fired down very quickly. Consider at least one stunbreak to make this build a bit more self-sufficient.

Also, I’d almost never consider a frontline build without Lemongrass and Meladrus. They’re almost compulsory. They’re going to nerf you a bit but add so much survivability. In baseball, this would be considered OBP over HRs.

imho, Necro’s stun breakers are awful and unworthy in any situation other than sPvP.
I doubt a once-in-60-second stun breaker will be somehow save me from hammer train anyway :\

Honestly I haven’t had too much trouble with this. I Don’t get stunned that often, and Zergs can keep stability for a lot of time so I think this utility slot is better spent somewhere else.

Sujiro.3590:

Knight/Soldier gear doesnt justifies enough raw dmg to go deep into spite. Knight gear actually doesnt give u that much dmg due to lack of power. If you want to stay with Knight then on crit sigil is mandatory. Your stat has low dmg/high tankiness, while your build tries to scale on dmg without any tankiness scaling, so you end up with mediocre dmg and mediocre survivability. No stability or stun break with mediocre survivability is an issue.

Try not to go deep in Spite. Blood and Soul scale much better in low dmg/high tankiness builds. 30 in Soul with DP actually gives about the same dmg as 30 in Spite with CtD.

I toyed around with the trinkets and as much as it pained me, I removed CtD and Spiteful removal ….
Tell me what you think now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRLdPTzSjhThIp4aeGoCvXUhhh6x64OfIA-jkCBYgAYMRmgIwkIQJQFRjtypIas6FYqTLqW9CwfgRrWKAZVGB-w

Stx.4857:

Well, I haven’t tried your setup or build, so this is mostly going to be speculative criticism.

Firstly, your build. Reaper’s Might is a great trait, but since you are using an Axe on swap, I feel Axe mastery is much better.

Going 10 into Soul Reaping without picking up the amazing 15 point minor seems like a waste. Going 20 into Death also seems like a waste, since you already have high toughness and you don’t use minions. I have never been a fan of Greater Marks after they made them so much bigger baseline, but maybe I am wrong about this one. Either way, if you are going to spend 20 here, why not pick up the 25 pts for 150 free power?

Secondly, your stats seem pretty weak to me. 10% critical damage? 30% critical chance? Both very low. The only thing your build does well in is high amounts of power.

Compare your stats with mine for a second… You have 2300 power, 2900 armor, 30% crit and 10% crit damage.

I have 2k power, 2800 armor, 50% crit chance, and 70% crit damage. I also have 20k HP, which isn’t too much lower than yours.

So I could be wrong, but I just don’t think you are getting as much from that extra power/might to make it worth sacrificing so much crit/crit damage. Again I could be wrong, I know power is a great damage stat.

Thanks for the reply :)
I barely ever use the Axe. It’s there strictly for PvD and PvE [lords, guards and all those] so I don’t really need Axe training. Also, this build uses Might stacking, and Reaper’s might is highly important for that

As for the traits: I swear. I was thinking the EXACT same thing when I was putting this build together… I’ve been sitting and thinking what shall I do for a really long time, experimented with different forms until I finally came up with this trait build. I’m 100% sure I cannot change anything about it.
Greater Marks is awesome, it makes sure I hit lots of people in their Zerg and on top of it, it makes my Marks unblockable so all the aegis in the world won’t save them. This trait has been big help to me.

The stats are weak probably because I used all exotics here. In practice I got some Ascended trinkets, and with Bloodlust and WvW bonuses I usually hit 3000 Armor [Almost 3100], 38% Critical chance, 22k HP and 3,800 Attack.
Crit damage doesn’t interest me that much for this build. It is what it is :\

This is the build I use for WvW zerging in Front and middle lines. This build works really well for me, it provides Tanking abilities, Group utility and High damage.
Since, as most of us know, Condition builds don’t work very well in zergs [Due to high cleansing, ineffectiveness of focusing on 1 target, target dropping down too fast and tons of other reasons] It’s a Power build based on Wells and Might stacking.

Here’s the build link and final results:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRLdPTzSjhTRIp4aPD6h7fvziKMMqCrD-jUCBYgAYMRmgIwkIQJQFRjtypIas6FY6SER1+DFRrWKAZVGB-w

That’s it, tell me what you think of it.
I’d appreciate some critique and suggestions, especially because there are things I’m not entirely confident about [My runes for example]
I’d like to point out that I’m kinda new to the game. Been playing 2 and a half months now, probably 2 months with a Necromancer.
This build is inspired by Nemesis’es Glass cannon and Ascii’s Wellomancer builds.

Please, tell me what you think of it,
SrebX :)

Edit:
Alright, I’ve made slight changes. I’m looking to do more and I need your advice…
This is the current state:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRrcPTzSjhTRI94aPDAQKev7jKMMqCrD-jUCBYgAYLRmgIwkIQJQFRjVvATXaR1aYA+DMa1CBIbLA-w
I need help with:
1. 3rd major in Death Magic. options:
- Death Shiver. Spending lots of time in DS, so I think it can help my whole party to inflict vulnerability constantly.
-Rituals of protection: Pretty nice since I have 2 wells, yet both of them are on pretty long CDs…
-Dark Armor: I’m gonna be attacking a lot, and that means channeling, so I think it can be really useful :3

2. Armor runes. options:
-[what I have now] x4 Hoelbrak + x2 Strengh. This really 4th Hoelbrak perk + 40% Might duration help me keep constant 5+ Might stacks at all times [Usually at about 10] and this help my damage.
-Full Melandru. For survival increase and 25% stun decreased duration. [Condition duration doesn’t bother me at all since condition pretty much disappear instantly for the most part]
-x5 Dolyak + x1 Soldier Crest. For increased Toughness and vitality [not going full Yak ’cause I heard the Health regen is pretty bad :3 ]

Please give me your opinios :)

Genuinely it costs about 60g to get full exotic gear [Including weapons and trinkets].

Luckily you can cut the losses by more than half with Karma and Badges of Honor.
In WvW there’s these armor and weaponsmithes that will sell you exotics for a few badges + a bit of gold.
Also, after temples in Orr there’s these Karma vendors who sell a full exotic set + trinkets for 42k Karma EACH piece, stats depending on the temple you’ve completed [Check the wiki for full list]

Good luck

Xyonon.3987:

LemnzestManatee.2157:

I used to main a condi mesmer, even in PvE, and I was never once kicked out of a party because I was using a staff.

I guess they kicked you because of the condition mesmer part rather than the staff itself. Staff is a power, not condition weapon (iW).

How is staff a power weapon exactly?
It’s only power type damage is from Winds of Chaos and Chaos Storm, which have a very very low power type damage, while they inflict tons of conidtions…

I’ve always seen Mesmer staff as almost useless in a power build….
I really don’t get what you’re saying

The second I saw that skin on that NPC when Tower of nightmare started, I was like “I want this for my Mesmer!”… So glad it’s finally here Bought it immediately

And why the hell would people kick you for using a Staff? Mesmers are blessed wherever they go. Staff is pretty anyhow, It’s my main weapon [If you use it with illusionary elasticity it kill things really fast…]

Hey, thats a build I’ve come up with mainly for support, WvW zerging and occational dungeons: [I’ve been really struggling with finding a build since I found it clones are heavily unreliable when zerging….]
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl4zSpHVTsGa9IhJFBH5neAdn3cUK6e2B-jkyAorIj6AoGA0HYSEUmsIasFzioxqbwUsER1OlioVLFATSjA-w

What do you think?
I’m new to Mesmers so any suggestions are critique will be welcome
Thanks

This is what I used for PvE:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRBHbhG2IjWye6mlG9eiA6x7rlziKMMqCrD
With Berserker gear. [I recommend buying a full set at 65, that way you’re good till 80]

Has tons of control and damaging abilities, I soloed Champions with this so dw…

jalmari.3906:

SrebX.6498:

jalmari.3906:

Nagato no Kami.4980:

This would take the “attrition” out of the “attrition class.”

Necromancer in it’s current form is in no shape of attrition class.

It is. It just falls short against Multiple opponents.
1v1 and even 1v2 we’re still a perfectly good attrition class

No offense but I think this rework is kinda stupid :\ it’s essentially the same thing, it doesn’t fix any problem, and it’s more complicated for no good reason …

I have to disagree with you. In my books about any other class with condition build can work out to be better at that. Necromancers defense might be more focused on defensive conditions like blind and weakness but that doesn’t make necromancer more attrition class than any other. Maybe I just look at it differently. Just for example go look for signet warrior with hammer and lb or something equally silly.

You’re not the first one to say that, and time and time again I’m surprised about how somehow people forget we have a 2nd HP bar…

jalmari.3906:

Nagato no Kami.4980:

This would take the “attrition” out of the “attrition class.”

Necromancer in it’s current form is in no shape of attrition class.

It is. It just falls short against Multiple opponents.
1v1 and even 1v2 we’re still a perfectly good attrition class

No offense but I think this rework is kinda stupid :\ it’s essentially the same thing, it doesn’t fix any problem, and it’s more complicated for no good reason …

You have to ask yourself what are you looking for in the build
If you want to go backlines in zergs and DPS from afar, you can go Glass cannon.
Here’s Nemesis’es WvW glass cannon video build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdmGLBR6sLE
It’s highly detailed and Nemesis is probably the best information source for Necros. you should check out his channel, he got lots of interesting stuff

If you want to go mid-front lines, you should go for something more like Acii’s build, here’s his thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Ascii-s-WvW-Wellomancer-Build/page/4#post3061235

The WvW zerging meta is Power build, because conditions have many issues when it comes to Zerging…

Good luck :)

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

SrebX.6498:

I agree that in PvE we do fall short a bit. I wouldn’t say unforgiving, but it is a bit tougher… It’s PvE though, dodges and stun breakers are usually enough, you don’ t NEED soaking abilities for PvE… It’s just PvE

PvP wise we rock

The problem in PVE is that we only have 2 dodges, and no access to vigor either. And 2 dodges often does not cut it. Every other class in the game can fall back on other defensive skills to survive insta-kills, but the necromancer does not have that option. And this has created a severe unbalance in regards to the other classes.

See, if our defense is lacking, then surely you’d expect that our offense makes up for it… but that is not the case. In PVE we are also lacking damage-wise, due to said problems with conditions, and our lack of a Cleave attack.

The only condition being countered is Fear
Movement debuffs [which we have A LOT of] also provides really good kiting abilities, and save you Dodges.
Right, you we might not be optimal, but it’s just PvE… You don’t NEED all these nuances other classes have, you get by and do pretty well without it … The important and challenging part is WvW and PvP, which we do great in.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

SrebX.6498:

This is ridiculous. We’re not highly favorite for Fractals and dungeons because thats mainly single-target DPSing and support, which are 2 aspects of Necro that fall short compared to other classes.

-And because high end PVE is extremely unfavorable towards the necromancer. The necromancer is a class that revolves around conditions and control, and both are things that bosses and champions in PVE are immune or resilient against. We hit the condition cap constantly with bleeding and vulnerability, and several bosses count as structures, and are thus not affected by conditions.

SrebX.6498:

No tanking ability? did you forget you have more movement debuffs than almost all classes? O, and you might not have noticed, but we have a 2nd HP Bar… which might help a bit

We have the worst defensive ability in the whole game. Several PVE bosses hit straight through a full Death Shroud bar, and your health bar in one hit. Any hit we soak, leaks into our actual health. Classes with invulnerability/blocking/evade do not have this problem. And on top of that, we need to build life force as well to use our ability, we can’t use healing skills while using it, and it disables our skills when we exit the ability. It’s absolutely rubbish in comparison to every other class in the game.

I agree that in PvE we do fall short a bit. I wouldn’t say unforgiving, but it is a bit tougher… It’s PvE though, dodges and stun breakers are usually enough, you don’ t NEED soaking abilities for PvE… It’s just PvE

PvP wise we rock

What in the world are you talking about?

Necro’s are pretty OPed for PvP… Personally, I don’t consider myself highly skilled and I win lots of matches and always am in top 3.
I can quite easily dispatch my opponents and cause pretty heavy damage on them. and Again, it’s done really easily

I have talked about it with my guildies and we all had ‘Necros are OP for PvP’ jokes, because it’s kinda close to that

The one and only class I find horrifically annoying is Thief, for obvious reason, but even for that I think necros have more defense than other classes

Lack of stability is annoying, but we have Spectral walk which is like a double stun breaker and I never felt like I need anything beyond that

this.

exactly. Necro’s are the hardest class to play. I just got 40 seconds of poison stacks on me by 1 engi lol. And he was knocking me around and healed to near full health when he wanted. Elixer’d out of any cc i landed and just completely trolled.

I usually at least end up in the top 3 and do well for my team. But hands down necro’s is like playing with a handicap. It’s hell mode. But dem wins do make it worth it. You just have to be especially good, you cant waste 1 dodge, not one of your stunbreaks, you have to pay utmost attention to every detail.

Unless you spam fears lol.

You got 40 seconds of poison? I stacked 30 seconds of weakness + some bleeds + fears on someone

Necro’s are far from a hardmode, they completely wreck in PvP.
Want a real hard mode? run an Ele

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Yet we are the least favored class for dungeons and Fractals, have no way to tank spike damage, have no invincibility skill unlike the other classes, have no cleave, have poor access to stability and no reflects, and our main “strengths” (control and conditions) are hampered by limitations/flaws in the game’s combat (condition cap and Unshakable/Defiant).

Good and OP compared to what exactly?

This is ridiculous. We’re not highly favorite for Fractals and dungeons because thats mainly single-target DPSing and support, which are 2 aspects of Necro that fall short compared to other classes.
For WvW, commanders will rejoice to see tons of Necros
No tanking ability? did you forget you have more movement debuffs than almost all classes? O, and you might not have noticed, but we have a 2nd HP Bar… which might help a bit

Thanks :)
I want some more people to help me test it, does anyone volunteer? :P

Btw, I still need advice on my earlier post… ^

Seriously? :o
Necros have pretty short cooldowns imo… most weapon skills aren’t higher than 25 seconds except Staff… Utilities are a bit long though

Elementalist’s CDs are horrible ><

Alright, took a look at my build again and decided to consult here….
I noticed that I can’t use SoS+Epidemic nearly as much as I’d want to, and as a result I have wasted points in Spite a Utility that I don’t use as much as I’d want to
So this is where I’m at right now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW7IjMadbub87JCJFX7ZQFcfkijFMA-jUCBINCy0CAUFQkHw5QFRjtaqIasqbY6YER1GzFRrGA-w
Options I thought of so far:
Utilities: SoS [Again, not as used as I want it to be…], Blood Is power [10 Might stacks every 30 seconds, can’t go wrong :P], Well of Corruption [Don’t think it’ll be useful without Focus rituals though], Spectral Grasp [Pulling people of Walls], Corrupt Boon [Self explanatory I guess :P] ,Spectral Walk/armor [Although don’t feel like I really need those…]

Traits: -10 more points into Curses for Chilling Darkness / Withering Precision / Focus Rituals
-10 more points into Blood Magic for Mark of Evasion
- 20 points into Soul Reaping for Spectral Mastery+Master Of Terror
-10 Points into spite for Chilling Darkness

Sorry if I’m talking too much, I’m just trying to describe my line of thought… :3
Opinions?

Honest to god, I have no idea whats going on here… Feels like even if I made the exact same rotation as you twice I wouldn’t deal as much damage

How the hell do they go down so fast? ><
May I ask whats your build and usual rotation?

Zikory.6871:

Snip, sorry :3

About Dire Gear and Spiteful removal: I don’t need Dire because of Spiteful Removal. This has been AMAZING for me. With piercing auto attack and 4 AoEs I’m hitting tons of people, getting kills left and right and having no conditions on me even without the need to get closer for Putrid Mark. I have no problem with Conditions, not at all, which is exactly why I don’t feel like I need the Vitality from Dire gear :3 I thought about Spiteful Marks, but since the power damage from them is kittenty anyway I didn’t think Spiteful Marks is a good investment… Am I wrong?

As for Terror: I’m getting quiet a lot of Fears down… Spectral Wall, Doom, Reaper’s Mark, and in conjunction with DS #5 ‘s Torment I thought it’d be a worthy investment :3

As for the food: Do you have any suggestions? I’d be glad for some. I couldn’t find anything better that isn’t too expensive [10s+ each is way too much ><] and I thought it’d be good to raise the Fear duration…

Siege and PvD: Yep, I highly lack that feature… but 2 Rams are more useful than 30 glass canons on Gates, so I don’t think a few people running condition builds is noticeable.

Also, I read that comment before I even thought of that build. It’s very insightful and you’re 100% right, I just wanted to give it a shot, and I think it’s been quite successful so far :3 [I can make a video if it’ll help]

Nagato: Yea it’s squishy, looking back I think I should’ve used Knight’s instead… Anyhow, the longer I ran wells the more they started to feel lackluster, as anyone would just dodge out of them quite easily…

Alanis: I swear, I sat in front of my screen scratching my head trying to decide weather I should invest so much in Spite, or go 20 down Soul Reaping… Finally I decided that Sigent mastery + Spiteful Removal is more important than 50% Fear duration that can be broken through Stun breaker, and also I couldn’t find any fitting Adept Tier :\ You are right about Dhuumfire though, I’m trying to fix it now… not sure how yet

Nagato no Kami.4980:

For a newer necro player, you certainly went to two good sources for build advice. =)

Now, here’s my take on your build. You are indeed correct: the build seems it light on damage from being condition heavy. Using the scepter is even worse in a zerg as it really requires concentration on a single target to apply enough conditions to do any significant damage. However, the greater concern as I see it is that not only has greatly diminished survivability due to reduced armor and health but most alarmingly, no stun breakers or no condition duration mitigation from food or runes. The food part is especially odd since you’ve said you understand that conditions are quickly cleansed in zerg fights.

To me, this build seems to be a fairly typical terrormancer type build (minus the elite skill) except you put 20 into Death instead of Soul Reaping. According to conventional wisdom, it’s best suited for 1v1s or small group fights where conditions aren’t continually washed away. In this capacity, it should work very well (although the lack of stunbreakers can be fatal). As a zerg build, to be honest, it’s fairly suspect.

Have you tried running a power well build yet?

Thanks for the reply
A power well build is what I used before [I changed Nemesis’es build a bit…]

And yea, I think it looks so traditional because of the Dhuumfire, which is why I thought about switching these 10 points for Withering precision or Mark of Evasion

And as for the stun breakers, I really didn’t find this as too much of an issue… Besides the occasional stuns it wasn’t too much of an issue, since I’m in a zerg
Necro’s stun breakers are so kitten awful that outside of PvP I don’t bother with Stun breakers, and it hasn’t been too much of an issue for me

All the balance issues aside, the simple answer is: Because Necromancers are a ranged class
So it does mean they don’t need as much Health, armor and regeneration as a Melee class. They event get to do more damage than you for the exact same reason, because they don’t have as much DPS up-time as ranged classes….

Just to emphasize, I’m giving the simple answer… I’m not denying how useless Health siphoning is for us, and how our regeneration abilities are crap to pretty much everyone else….

I agree that siphoning is garbage and lol@ blood fiend, but it seems off to compare siphon with someone’s healing skill that can’t burst heal or remove conditions.

Currently, siphon fails because

-Bad scaling with the class with such a high life pool
-You can’t heal in DS, our primary mode of survival.

Anyone can see how contradictory and useless siphon is considering the investment. I think blood magic really needs a rework.

You’re right that it’s wrong to compare, but how can you ignore the fact that a PASSIVE healing ability heals around the same as an active ability’s BURST, which is obviously available after some long cooldowns

May I ask what is it’s current form?
Is it different in PvP and PvE? does it or does it not work on allies?

I’m kind of a new player, been playing GW2 for about 2 months now and most of it has been with the Necro
Since I mainly go WvWing and zerging, I’ve been running Nemesis’es glass cannon build [which is a Powermancer build] and it’s been great, it served me really well, but as a Necromancer I just felt that I’m not living up to my potential without a Condition build

SO, inspired by Acii’s build and livestream, I decided to try and come up with a Zerging WvW Condition build… I’m aware of the usual problems: Targets die to fast to stack conditions and Epidemic, there’s lots of Cleansing and whatnot …
So aside to the damage, I tried to emphasize the utility of Conditions [Which Staff is perfect for]

So, after all the talking, here’s what I came up with:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW7YjMad7Fbub87JEJFXzzA9oXcPQMSxxEMA-jUCBINERz0CAUFQkHw5QFRjtaqIasqbY6YER1GzFRrWIgFrBA-w

What do you think? :)
Since I’m a new player and have never really created a build I’m sure the build is far from perfect and there’s a lot to improve so I’ve opened this thread in order to get the community’s criticism…

From personal experience: I’ve been running this build for the last few days and I gotta say I feel a lot more useful in zergs. I’m not completely dependant on Death Shroud, I hit, fear and slow down lots of enemies and I could save allies more often.
My main issue is that in order to get the Staff’s utility you have to be inside the mark, which makes you go to the front lines, which the build doesn’t have enough armor and HP for, so I need to use a lot of evasive maneuvers [Like: Plague, spectral wall, reaper’s mark, DS’es extra HP pool and whatnot…]

I’m considering leaving Dhuumfire for Withering Precision, AoE weakness might be crucial … :3
Thoughts?

After long time of running solely Powermancer for Zergs I’ve experimented a bit with going mid-frontline Conditionmancer. I’m actually happy with the results, I feel a lot more Useful and I’m able to sustain myself much more :P I think I prefer it over the Powermancer, even for Zergs…
Here’s the build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAW7YjMad7Fbub87JEJFXzzA9oXwFQMSxxEMA-jUyAINBZaBAVBi8AnDLiGb1sIasaGMVKRUtDpIa1A-w

Looking for large scale fight builds, with support and some damage…
I couldn’t find any and I’m really struggling coming up with one, since illusions are completely useless in large scale fights :\
Any suggestions will be welcome

I came up with something, though I’m not sure about weather it’s power or condition and I’m not really sure what to make of it … ><
Please give me your opinions [left gear untouched because I’m not sure if I should use Rabid, Dire, Knight, Soldier… or which runes to use ><]
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl4zSpHQTqGa9IhJFBH5nUAdnT6Rpd9qB-w

selan.8354:

well glmour builds got hit from 3 sdes:
confusion dmg reduction 50%
bb nerf
and the so called “bugfix” of confusion dealing dmg when its not supposed to

then we got the temporal curtain nerf
the retal nerf
blurred frenzy nerf
the underwater trident nerf
timewarp nerf
portal nerf
ic nerf

and all these nerfs happened while warriors and necros kept getting buffs….even other classes like engi got buffed and got their bug fixed. ileap is still bugged, blink still doesnt work n a bridge….so yeah that just mad our class not being able to keep up in wvw and right ow we are not in a good spot. there is maybe 2 builds u can sorta run in wvw zergs, but none of them feels like the glam or imortal mesmer builds felt in wvw. yeah we got blackwater, but thats still more of a roaming kinda build…
we need more aoe, that doesnt rely on ai!

What nerfs? what did they do before?
And no shortcuts please, I’m new to Mesmers so I don’t really know whats ic, tc, bb and whatnot ><"

Btw, thoughts please..?
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-N;4ZU-31273VV71;9;4T99J-47A3;04;039;9-m9fgm9fgRNGvcFZ7;34-8WCXIYM3U_9LV4V0N-Agk1Agg

I have no idea how it was a year ago, but right know I’m really satisfied with the class.
We’re awesome for WvW because of the AoE and ability to outlive most enemies, even with Glass gear
On the PvE side I felt a bit lacking from time to time, but overall I enjoy it and not feeling bad with it
On the PvP side, I haven’t really tried it, but I hear we’re doing really well… Terrormancers pretty much destroy in PvP and lots of other classes feel intimidated when they see a Necro.

The only thing I feel all the time when playing a Necro is the lack of support :\
I feel like we’re a really selfish class and we have practically nothing to help allies, only ourselves…

Ascii.9726:

• Soul Reaping II. Vital Persistence. Increased reduction of life force drain from 25% to 50%.

This has made me rejoice …

kitten , I don’t know why are you people whining about
There are barely any nerfs [1 less Bleed stack, oh lord!] and it’s mostly buffs
This is really good for us.
Yes, it’s dumb that they want us to use health siphoning while it’s completely useless right now and I’d really like to see a real buff [not the last “buff” …] But kitten , these are pretty nice buffs

I really don’t get these negative responses

selan.8354:

yeah ther used to be some good wvw builds, that didnt rely on clones, but the nerfbat hit us way too hard. i feel very up atm, but try out either triforce or glam so u get to at leat tag.

What is this kitten nerf that everyone’s keep talking about?

I don’t understand how this lets you keep up with other players

Tongku.5326:

Hi

kinda hard to tell the total numbers from that. It looks like it would be good for midline or backline, still not enough armor / health. To give you an idea, when I go frontline I tend to run between 3100-3300 armor with 21-23k health totals depending on buffs, guard stacks etc. Frontline is not about doing nay DPS, its about utility and survivability. All you need is to tag your targets. Bulk of DPS is done by mid and rear. Staff is still best for front line, you have AOE tag, AOE buffs, and its auto attack while very weak, bounces for tags.

My mid line and roaming build sits around 2700-2800 armor and 20k health, I run GS / Staff on it about half and half.

Also 2 things, you rely on shatters, they will not execute due to insta death of any illusions as well as terrain restrictions in getting to their targets. Anything clone, phantasm, shatter based is completely gutted in a large scale battle, or even a 20 v 20 when its really fast.

May want to switch out of Restorative Illusions, go for Temporal Enchanter if you will keep 30 points in Inspiration. Also, going for group builds, the absolute #1 thing on your utility while runing with your group if up front will be veil. All else comes after that. Veil, how soon you can recast it, and how long it lasts is far more prescious and useful then timewarp + all other utilities put together. A well executed veil makes or breaks a fight, its recast during an engagement, twice over.

Mental Torment is also kinda useless in this situation, again relies on clones, phantasms which will not even get to their targets.

Deceptive Evasion is great for small scale, but completely irrelevant in large scale, you need as many passives as possible, your 2 dodge rolls will be used up right off the bat going over arrow cart fields or just keeping up with your commander hopping through aoe fields, the clone as the rest will just insta melt in a fraction of a second. What will keep you going is client side ticking regen, prot, aegis, otherwise you will just drop and if lucky, not be rally bait.

If I could, I would get rid of the points in my build in the dueling line entirely, but unfortunately that sword #2 is just a necessity.

When you build for DPS in these sort of fights, your main stat is power. Even necros do, hehe, and they are a lot more condition dependant then we are. Crit and Condi dmg is less relevant. If you want to do mid or backline DPS, scale down on the drit and go 30 points into Domination. Also via power, staff becomes more usefull, regardless of condi dmg. Always run sharpening stone in addition to food buffs, which further scales it up the more toughness and health you have.

Last night I went Zerging with my lvl 16 Mesmer, and foud out that you’re 100% right… illusions are completely useless :|
It made me think, Ether Feast is obviously not as effective as I thought, maybe I can make use of something else… And that led me to a sort of Mantra build
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-N;4ZU-31273VV71;9;4T99J-47A3;04;039;9-m9fgm9fgRNGvcFZ7;34-8WCXIYM3U_9LV4V0N-Agk1Agg
Thoughts?

Tongku.5326:

Hi

I run my mesmer mainly in organized groups 20+ and run dungeons / fractals. I have settled on my own build for it which suits me and my playstyle relatively well.

The build is not spectacular while roaming, you will not be winning 5v1s with it like with other builds dedicated to the purpose, but you can still win 3v1s on rare occasion and 2v1s quite often.

In dungeons, particularly higher end fractals, 38s and 48s, I do OK in damage, not as good as my war of course, but still not too shabby while providing a great deal of utility.

Main weapon sets are Sword / Focus (zerk stats, sigils are Force and perception) and Staff (PVT stats sigil: generosity) for WvW, switch staff for GS (zerk) for dungeons / fractals.

Default utilities are decoy, null field, feedback, mass invis, however I often switch around to blink instead of decoy, and veil or portal instead of feedback (depending on what my commander asks for) and Time Warp instead of mass invis.

I do have some different gear pieces which I switch and adjust as needed per situation. I run 6x Superior rune of the traveller at all times, including on armor pieces which I switch, so that when I do so, I retain the full rune bonusses.

Build itself is 0 10 30 30 0 http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-N;4VPVz0273VV71;9;59TT;23;019B137;9;8FvcFR7A

Gear wise, I run a 4 pcs knights and 2 pcs valk set as default, switch chest and legs to full zerk for dungeons / fractals. Back piece is ascended zerk, amulet is ascended zerk.

Acessories I switch between zerk, PVT, celestial depending if I do PvE or WvW roaming or WvW group, same with rings. I use the celestial pieces if I need to throw a little bit more healing into my mix, PVT for organized group wvw, and zerk for PvE.

I tend to stay away fro mall things relying on illusions in WvW, simply because of the fact that in group combat shattering, generating clones, their pathing and all that is completely and utterly useless due to server lag. You clones will not even get to their targets to shatter, they will die as soon as spawned or simply not even get to their targets. The only exception to this is the ilock which I pop on a passive target such as a gate or alike and let it sit there without it trying to run to or engage the opponents. The reason I do that is because it provides me with a really nice area passive regen as long as its up. The regen ticks client side regardless of server lag.

Sword #2 I use very often for what it does which you are already familiar with. Sword #3 I use lag permitting, its good if it goes off.

Focus is integral for CC and projectile reflection, the wardens do a ton of damage as well on smaller scale fights, and have an anti-lag advantage in that they are less subject to server lag because they are immobile, so sometimes they can be usefull even in very large scale battles. When traited your line of wardign acts as a wall of reflection, which also tags your opponents for more loot. And of course you can pull people with it

Staff #5 is great for both offensive and defensive purposses, and staff#2 is a free, spammable stunbreaker, cant go wrong there, even if your clone doesnt pop it still gets you out of harms way on ultra low CD.

Runes of the Traveller, its kinda like having most of divinity’s bonusses, a little bit short, but the 25% speed passive ….. see other threads about it, once you switch to it, you will never go back to any others except maybe melandru in super hard fights. Any other runes, you’re just wasting your gold because ultimately you will arrive at these 2 after you try out everything.

This build also gives you and your group TON of chaos armor due to the lower glamour CDs, lower CD on blink, port and veil and timewarp, all critical in WvW group fights.
-Had to cut some of the post cause it was too long-

Thanks a lot for this comment, it’s really detailed and helpful
Yet, honestly, I just don’t like this traiting … I feel like running with a Staff is pretty demanding since it’s only damaging ability is condition dependent, so running it without going with Condition build is not a good idea… I’ll keep a staff and use it for when needed, of course, Yet I’d hate to trait for it.
I want to go more offensively in traits and more defensively in gear. [Really defensive gear, especially trinkets] in order to go Frontlines in WvW..

I’ve read all of your posts, how about this?
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-N;4VPVz097BVV71;9;4JJ-T-09-39;217B;9m9fgm9fg_NGvcF35;3L-QWCXIYM3U_9LV4F-3-Agk1Agh