Guild Wars 2

I just tested minions (Bone Fiend, Bone Minions, Shadow Fiend & Flesh Golem) in Orr against Risen, and in Diessa Plateau against separatists and critters. I could only get them to fail to respond once, and that was by 1) disabling auto-attack, 2) not targeting the separatist, and 3) dropping a mark on him at far range. That said, every other time I did that same routine, the minions did respond. I tried to use the trebuchet hills near the Redreave Mill WP to get an altitude difference, but had no pathing issues.

I had thought marks were unreliable to prompt minions to attack, but I didn’t have an issue aside from that one occurrence, although single-target attack did sometimes seeom to prompt them maybe a half-sec quicker (but that may be observer error).

Roughly 20 risen, and 40 separatists, and maybe a dozen critters.

My build is in my signature. I tried half the test with those traits and half with minion specific traits in Spite(IX), Death(III,X), and Blood(VII). I used both scepter(Bloodlust)/dagger(Agony) and staff(Soldier crest). No detectable difference from weapon or traits changes.

Reaver.9256:

worked 4/6 times not a good average so far for attacking…..

edit I’m doing nothing but pushing 1 and it’s worked 4/7 times

Is it a specific minion which does not respond, or all of them do not respond?

Hmm, could it be there is some kind of issue caused by a wonky interplay of minions and, say, certain sigils, runes or traits? Or ping time? I’m trying to think of why some folks might see this occur and others not.

Are you using single-target attacks (e.g., staff1, scepter1) to get them to attack? Minions will not attack on AOE skills, like marks and wells.

Vengeful Cleric

Update 5/4/13 – I am using Exquisite Azurite Jewels (“Sentinel”) instead of Crests of the Soldier, for about 660 more health with only a loss of 30 Power. Unfortunately, the gw2buildcraft site is not yet updated to include Sentinel equipment.

Build Link:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.0|b.1k.h4.8.1k.h9|6.1k.h2|1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d|1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.8c.9c|k13.0.p25.p23.0|2m.1|3r.3u.3x.44.4f|e

Motivation:
I have been running a Rabid condition build almost exclusively since launch. But some recent posts (see below) got me to thinking about a different mindset that would address some issues with the condition build, such as damage to structures and better single-target DPS. I wanted a build which offered me several things for PVE:
- survivability, including passive healing
- ranged attacks
- useful boons for group event utility
- ability to swap functionality by swapping traits without respeccing
- ability to do damage to structures
- good single-target damage but also good AOE
- low-ish cost

The Vengeful Cleric provides all of the above. Although it can be retraited to use wells, I prefer the BiP+Epidemic combination for AOE damage, and Locust signet for mobility. Epidemic also lets me leverage conditions placed by other players, so it acts as a “force multiplier”. This combination of skills lets me move around freely without having to put myself wherever I might want to drop a well.

The use of cleric gear (HP/P/T) provides the three components for survivability, single-target & structure damage, and group boons, as well as being low cost on the TP. (I used Mhenlo’s armor.) The Soldier crests (P/V/T) are quite inexpensive but cumulatively make the build tankier and stronger.

This build was inspired by Dr Spook’s Sacred Ground build, and s h i z o’s build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Dr-Spook-s-Sacred-Ground-Build/1753172
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Full-healing-vit-toughness-build/1778191

In summary, it is a (comparatively) inexpensive build, yet seems to be quite resilient, flexible and effective. I am finding it to be a very enjoyable and potent all-rounder for soloing and events. I use it for PVE, so I can’t speak to its applicability to PvP or WvW.

Gear:
Weapons: Cleric scepter with Sigil of Bloodlust(e.g., Tsunami)/Cleric dagger with Sigil of Agony + Cleric staff with Sigil of Force
Armor: Cleric with Dwayna runes (e.g., Mhenlo’s Armor)
Trinkets: Cleric
Trinket upgrades: Crest of the Soldier Exquisite Azurite Jewels
Consumables: Plate of Orrian Steak Frittes and Superior (or Hardened) Sharpening Stone

Traits
Traits are 20/0/25/25/0. This allows good synergy via Death into Life (5% power to healing), Deadly Strength (5% toughness to power) and Blood to Power (5% more dmg when health over 90%). Also, traits can be swapped to support wells or minions or group healing as needed without respeccing. However, traits could be easily modified to variants such as 30/0/20/20/0 or 10/0/30/30/0.

Utilities
Rather than wells, I prefer a more mobile style where I can move quick, dodge around, and spread the love with BiP and Epidemic. Even though it is a power build, BiP still packs a wallop and it also provides an additional 350 power from the might boon for almost 19 sec. The third utility is the Locust signet, and I swap it out situationally.

Survival
Thanks to the toughness, Bloodthirst and Vampiric traits, along with high regen, this has good survivability. With Staff Mastery, Mark of Blood is 4.75 sec recharge, and with 25% boon duration the regeneration from it lasts 6.25 sec, so you can have essentially constant regen + siphoning of 330+ per sec total. This helps to stay above 90% health for that extra 5% dmg. The high regen also helps keep minions such as Flesh Wurm alive and even the Jagged Horror can last for quite awhile, defying its degen. Clearly, a full PVT-with-well-siphoning build can have more survivability, but this suffices for my needs, and offers more support ability.

The Temple of Grenth event has recently changed from annoyingly challenging (with the lame drop-from-height mechanic) to buggy-mechanics challenging. On multiple days, with different groups, the following issues occur with numerous group members, resulting in much “wtf just happened!!??” chat:

1) Being insta-downed by Shades. No record in the combat log of damage taken.

2) During the defense phase (“Cover Keeper Jonez…”), spiders spawning right next to Jonez, often causing almost insta-fail of the event.

3) During the defense phase, a culling-like issue where incoming waves of enemy swarms are often not visible (and so also not targetable), resulting in taking damage no way to attack.

Server is Tarnished Coast, although I doubt this is server-specific.

Plus 1 to what Voodoo said. I switched from a s/d & a/f condition build to a/f & staff power build and have been quite happy with it. Axe1 could use a bit of a buff, and axe’s effectiveness really depends on vulnerability (which is why its almost always paired with focus). Build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Vengeful-Cleric-PVE-build/1794780

My Asura necro:

Afya.5842:

Trait and utility isn’t always the same. I change depends on content. Sometimes I need blind, conditional removal, or just more dmg.

I think my biggest problem playing necro is the lack of mobility skills like leap or endurance buff. Often feel like being chased by tons of mobs.

And thanks for the auto #2 tip. I’d definitely try that. It’d be much more useful for staying alive.

Well, its difficult to make suggestions if you aren’t going to include your actual traits and utilities, because they define so much of your build’s capabilities and weaknesses.

As for the Plague elite, by default all three skills are essentially “auto-attack” once you hit a skill once. You don’t need to keeping hitting the button repeatedly. See Notes section:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Plague

Gear and weapons sound good.
I’m assuming your crit chance is good (over 45%)?
What specific traits are you using and what utility skills?

What is your current build?
- Traits
- Armor & Trinkets
- Runes & Sigils
- Weapons

I think the idea is that since a MM would have multiple minions attacking simultaneously, there might be 10 minion attacks total within 2-4 sec, and at 10% chance, that would pretty much guarantee boon stripping every few seconds. If the chance were higher than that, one could alot of get boon stripping with only 1 or 2 minions, which might be unbalanced.

That’s a good point DelOnasi. I kinda listed the ‘why’ in various places, but not as its own separate section. I’ll see about editing it.

Edit: Added ‘Motivation’ section.

emon.1863:

bad link bro

Link is fine; you just need to copy/paste.

I’m partial to the Asura cultural T2 helm (colors are wintergreen & ceylon):

Vengeful Cleric

Build Link:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.0|7.1k.9c.d.1k.9c|6.1k.9c|1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c|1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.1k.9c.8c.9c|k13.0.p25.p23.0|2m.1|3r.3u.3x.44.4f|e

Motivation:
I have been running a Rabid condition build almost exclusively since launch. But some recent posts (see below) got me to thinking about a different mindset that would address some issues with the condition build, such as damage to structures and better single-target DPS. I wanted a build which offered me several things for PVE:
- survivability, including passive healing
- ranged attacks
- useful boons for group event utility
- ability to swap functionality by swapping traits without respeccing
- ability to do damage to structures
- good single-target damage but also good AOE
- low-ish cost

The Vengeful Cleric provides all of the above. Although it can be retraited to use wells, I prefer the BiP+Epidemic combination for AOE damage, and Locust signet for mobility. Epidemic also lets me leverage conditions placed by other players, so it acts as a “force multiplier”. This combination of skills lets me move around freely without having to put myself wherever I might want to drop a well.

The use of cleric gear (HP/P/T) provides the three components for survivability, single-target & structure damage, and group boons, as well as being low cost on the TP. (I used Mhenlo’s armor.) The Soldier crests (P/V/T) are quite inexpensive but cumulatively make the build tankier and stronger.

This build was inspired by Dr Spook’s Sacred Ground build, and s h i z o’s build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Dr-Spook-s-Sacred-Ground-Build/1753172
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Full-healing-vit-toughness-build/1778191

In summary, it is a (comparatively) inexpensive build, yet seems to be quite resilient, flexible and effective. I am finding it to be a very enjoyable and potent all-rounder for soloing and events. I use it for PVE, so I can’t speak to its applicability to PvP or WvW.

Gear:
Weapons: Cleric axe/Cleric focus + Cleric staff
Armor: Cleric
Trinkets: Cleric
Upgrades: Crest of the Soldier
Consumables: Plate of Orrian Steak Frittes and Superior (or Hardened) Sharpening Stone

With consumables:
Power: 2382 (2732 w/10xMight from BiP + 230 if using Bloodlust = 2962)
Toughness: 1968
Health: 23,672
EHP: 37,236
Healing Power:1186 (Regen = 278hp/s, Well of Blood = 6260)
Boon Duration: 25%
Condition Duration: 20%

Traits
Traits are 20/0/25/25/0. This allows good synergy via Death into Life (5% power to healing), Deadly Strength (5% toughness to power) and Blood to Power (5% more dmg when health over 90%). Also, traits can be swapped to support wells or minions or group healing as needed without respeccing. However, traits could be easily modified to variants such as 30/0/20/20/0 or 10/0/30/30/0.

Utilities
Rather than wells, I prefer a more mobile style where I can move quick, dodge around, and spread the love with BiP and Epidemic. Even though it is a power build, BiP still packs a wallop and it also provides an additional 350 power from the might boon for almost 19 sec. The third utility is the Locust signet, and I swap it out situationally.

Survival
Thanks to the toughness, Bloodthirst and Vampiric traits, along with high regen, this has good survivability. With Staff Mastery, Mark of Blood is 4.75 sec recharge, and with 25% boon duration the regeneration from it lasts 6.25 sec, so you can have essentially constant regen + siphoning of 280+ per sec total. This helps to stay above 90% health for that extra 5% dmg. The high regen also helps keep minions such as Flesh Wurm alive and even the Jagged Horror can last for quite awhile, defying its degen. Clearly, a full PVT-with-well-siphoning build can have more survivability, but this suffices for my needs.

Consumables
The choices shown are a suggestion. Clearly, depending on the scenario, one might opt for condition duration or other choices.

Sigils
One might opt for Bloodlust, Life , or Peril instead of the Soldier crest. I’m still undecided.

What Taril said. Necro gives you such a wide range of playstyles, from in-your-face melee (dagger MH) to furthest ranged (staff). I like scepter/dagger + axe/focus ( or even scepter/dagger + scepter/focus) for leveling. But its really going to be up to your preferences.

Takeelah.9143:

TheAgedGnome.7520:

Takeelah.9143:

Thanks for the replies. I would rather be without pets at all, but I can’t seem to do the personal story line without them. I seem to do fine otherwise. I am using 2 daggers or scepter/focus atm.

1) Can you tell us your current healing & utility skills you have unlocked?

2) Are you perhaps moving too fast in your personal story? The levels on the episodes of the story increase in a fixed progression and do not down-level to to your character level.

Sure. Have only 3 utility spots atm since I am only level 12. I use well of blood and both signets. I just bought my Adept Manual and I am trying to decide where to put my points.

I am the required level for my personal story. I just find them hard. I die a lot. I have a level 80 warrior though and usually play melee so this is taking some getting used to for me.

Signets on the necro are pretty lame. The only useful one is Locust, but of course, that isn’t going to help you kill anything – just run faster.

If you have the skill points, go for Consume Conditions (better self healing and condition cleansing), Blood is Power and Epidemic. Kite mobs in a tight circle, scepter2 (cripple & bleed), BiP one of them, dagger4 transfers the self-bleed back to the mob, followed by Epidemic, and watch them all melt.

For trait points, I’d just go for Blood for the first 5 points, and Spite for next 5, just to get some extra health and healing to make it easier, at the start.

The link is good, you just need to copy/paste it instead of click on it (its a problem with semicolons in the URL). You might want to use this calculator, so folks don’t have that issue:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/

The build looks pretty squishy., with low toughness & vitality and spectral armor has such a ridiculously long CD (even when traited). You have DS to soak up damage but that’s about it. Retaliation will not reduce damage you take. You might want to replace spectral armor with spectral wall to gain the protection boon.

It looks more like a kill-fast-before-I-get-killed approach, rather than survival.

Just my 2 copper from a PVE carebear.

This build has me interested. But for PVE and groups, I’m wondering about this variation, which is based on using Clerics gear + Shaman crests (“Theomancer”?):

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.1|7.1k.h2.d.1k.he|6.1k.h2|1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d|1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d.1k.9d.1d.9d|u17c.0.a2.u243.0|0.0|3r.3u.3x.44.4f|e

It would spit out alot of Regeneration (approx 300hp/s), good support, mobility, and still have decent DPS.

Comments?

Takeelah.9143:

Thanks for the replies. I would rather be without pets at all, but I can’t seem to do the personal story line without them. I seem to do fine otherwise. I am using 2 daggers or scepter/focus atm.

1) Can you tell us your current healing & utility skills you have unlocked?

2) Are you perhaps moving too fast in your personal story? The levels on the episodes of the story increase in a fixed progression and do not down-level to to your character level.

Takeelah.9143:

What type of build and weps do you use if you don’t want a pet at all? Is that even feasible?

Very feasible. Most builds you’ll see posted in the forum are non-MM builds.

Here’s a post with my current scepter/dagger + scepter/focus build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Forced-into-MM-while-leveling/1764167

I’m also a fan of scepter/dagger + axe/focus. At 25, you have 15 trait points, IIRC. I would go for 5/10(II)/0/0/0 or 5/5/0/5/0. Consume Conditions, Blood is Power, Epidemic and Locust signet (switch signet with CPC or Well depending on situation).

But, as others have said, they prefer staff. I’d recommend it if I you were a minion master (then traits would be 0/0/15(III)/0/0).

There’s just a lot of different ways to play necro.

Moonrabbit.1543:

TheAgedGnome.7520:

….

That said, I personally prefer a Condition build, such as 20/30/0/15/5 or 10/30/0/20/10. At level 30, I’d probably be 5/10(II)/0/5/0 and use scepter/dagger and scepter/focus, or scepter/dagger and axe/focus. Skills would be Consume Conditions, BiP, Epidemic and Signet of the Locust.

Can you please link your builds or explain your trait allocation?

For 20/30/015/5:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRArY3djMap7tbKb8bKi5DcDSxtcf0DiZskRLA

For 10/30/0/20/10:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRArY3djMap7tbKb8bKgJFc7NUhbjeQsxJTVocA

I only recently tried Death’s Embrace and really like it – especially since I tend to get myself into trouble more often than I should.

I swap out traits/skills sometimes. E.g., Withering Precision instead of Lingering Curse if its a boss where I’m in more of a support role, or Ritual of Life instead of Vampiric Precision, in a group setting, Signet of the Locust with Pain Inverter/CPC/well, for some situations.

I’m currently using the first build and am overall pretty happy with the performance. Rabid gear w/Crest of the Rabid, mix of Rampager, Rabid and Berzerker (axe/focus) to get me to around 52% crit chance.

Malchor’s Leap definitely qualifies as my least favorite zone. Nearly every WP is contested 24×7, and the Risen theme in Orr becomes mind-numbing after awhile.

I get that the storyline led to areas overrun by Risen, but the uniformity the “Risen-ness” of Orr makes it somewhat tedious rather than thrilling.

I’m fine with the Orr NPC density as its now, compared to the way it originally was, when the Risen were thick as flies. After all, it is supposed to be dangerous.

But a dangerous zone which is also stark, washed out and unrelentingly repetitive will eventually just feel tiresome after awhile.

I’ve always thought Epidemic needed a cast time reduction.

Edit: What’s the point of fixing the cast time if you increase the CD??? We are talking about a skill correction, not about a skill boost which requires some offsetting skill reduction.

I loved AC way back in the day! The terror of trying to run my Sho mace warrior across the Obsidian Plains….finding a secret spot to drop equipment on the ground so I could logout/login as another character to transfer it for storage…getting gored by Olthoi…waking up at the lifestone…burning up tapers and scarabs learning spells….the “subway”…ahhh.

Edit: can’t believe I still have this pic….

Paul.2745:

So, my necromancer is level 30 and I’ve been trying to play him as a minion master. I have 10 points in spite and 10 in death magic, mainly use a staff, and have most of the summon skills on my bars.

I’m finding these pets to be rather frustrating and annoying, mainly because I have zero control over them. They’re squishy, and they seem to despawn randomly if I jump down a cliff or move too far away from them (sometimes they move slowly for some reason).

Is there a less pet-centric build I can use while I level, or is MM pretty much the way to go until 80?

If I were doing MM at that level, I’d respec to go 20 into Death so you can get Flesh of the Master so your minions have more health. I’d use Axe/Focus and Staff, and focus on giving regen to minions and vuln to targets, rather than trying to be the one doing the most damage.

That said, I personally prefer a Condition build, such as 20/30/0/15/5 or 10/30/0/20/10. At level 30, I’d probably be 5/10(II)/0/5/0 and use scepter/dagger and scepter/focus, or scepter/dagger and axe/focus. Skills would be Consume Conditions, BiP, Epidemic and Signet of the Locust.

carlvinmadarang.4130:

My minions are making me mad since they dont do anything but stand there.

Are you attacking the target with single-target skills(e.g. Staff1, Axe1/2)? They won’t attack on AoE skills.

I originally made my necro as a Charr and leveled to 80. Then, I got reroll disease and decided I’d really prefer a Asura necro, and leveled it to 80.

I am now committed to the Asura necro, so now I have this old Charr character with 280K karma I want to use before I possibly delete it to free up a slot.

What would be the best way to spend that 280K of karma that will benefit my other character(s)?

I use Feast of Corruption all the time and it seems to work fine for me in PVE. If I load up the mob with a variety of conditions it sure seems to do more damage, and if I add vulns to the mob. it does quite a bit of damage. And since its a fast cast and it boosts Life Force, there’s no reason to not use it.

I think it would help to supply some more info:
1) What is this build for (PVE, dungeon,WVW,PVP)?
2) What is your current trait allocation?
3) What weapons & utilities do you use?

PinCushion.7390:

Nay of the Ether.8913:

I actually love shadow fiend, but you’re right he is kinda situational sometimes. Even though I do use signet of spite in my hybrid builds, I would agree it’s a mostly useless skill. Now corrosive poison cloud, it’s nearly op if you know how to use it properly. One of my favorite skills we have. Yes I am sad it doesn’t pulse physical damage too (even if it was a tiny bit just so we could get siphons off of it). Now as for spectral wall, now that they fixed the combo field location I bring that everywhere I go. Minions making confusion, chaos armor, awesome stuff for a necro. bring bone fiend and flesh wurm and you just got yourself about 7-10 stacks of confusion before it runs out. It’s one of our hidden gems, learn to use it and you’ll reveal more of it’s secrets

So I guess I wrote all this to say, signet of spite sucks lol, oh and don’t hate on shadow fiend, shame on you :P

OMG! You just told me how to Confusion spam with a Necro.

You’re the best forum poster ever!

Or, you can reroll as an Asura to get the Pain Inverter racial. But, yea, that is an awesome use of spectral, minions and combos!

@OP: what do you use for gear & weapons? Berzerker?

Bas.7406:

Disclaimer: [i]The reason a majority don’t play minions has nothing to do with whether they are strong or not. It’s simply they feel there are better or more useful utility choices. A majority rarely run a single (focused build). It’s not that they don’t think that you can’t outside of Agony (hopefully the patch changes that), simply that the abilities given up to run one will limit your ability to play different roles.

It is pretty remarkable how it is possible to switch from a condition build to a power build to a MM build and that they are roughly pretty balanced with respect to each other – they just have different strengths/weaknesses. After playing around with the minion build, I’m kinda torn about going back to my condition build. If I could just have a minion that cast epidemic, I’d be all set!

Bas.7406:

It’s not that Minion AI is broken. The entire pet system is really poorly done. I just find a way to work around it. Using Single Target attacks to create threat on a target is fine. Should it be tied into our own personal target, and attack that one? Absolutely!

I think it has to stay tied to single-target attacks. I don’t want my minions to attack arbitrarily as a I tab between targets until I am on the one I want them to attack. Since we don’t have pet controls, the single-target attack is our only “pet button”.

Bas.7406:

So if you can’t change the inherent nature of something, how do you fix it? You make it slightly better than it was before. I think the major issue is the lack of any sort of semi decent tutorial as to how to make certain things work that aren’t user created.

It also seems that the full combination of traits to make minions really shine aren’t available until late in leveling, especially since they are spread across three lines: Spite, Blood, Death. By the time one acquires these traits they’ve probably long given up on minions as being: low-health, low-damage, and poor healers.

For me it would be Signet of Spite. 90 sec CD for a bunch of 3-5 sec conditions (too short to reliably use w/Epidemic) just ain’t worth it.

Server: Tarnished Coast

The escort event Get Warmaster Chan to Shark Anchorage is stuck just outside of Meddlers Waypoint, and they won’t advance.

I’m just glad that Staff1 is quieter and not that awful whine anymore. The mark sounds are just ok – after a while I’ll probably not even notice them, but for now they are slightly annoying.

It sounds like there were one or two consumables that could potentially be used as exploits, but that coding-wise it was too hard/tedious to just remove only those items, so instead they coded it to remove an entire category. Since most of the other items were just for fun and not game-changers, the removal would have no notable effect on the dungeon run outcomes.

When you are a lab rat running a maze, you have to do what the scientists expect or they’ll redesign the maze until you run it as expected.

See:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Nice-fix-for-Spiteful-Talisman-not/1703163

Bhawb.7408:

TheAgedGnome.7520:

Arghh. It seems pretty inane to fix a trait only partially.

You would rather they not fix anything until they can fix everything? It is completely a point of personal preference, (no one can really be right or wrong in this), but I will take a small fix over nothing.

Two points:
1) It strikes me as inane and bizarre that the coders could fix one aspect of the trait and not the other; particularly since CD reduction has got to be a pretty standard and simple code change (if it requires coding at all and not just a checkbox and a value change).
2) Since I am interested in PVE, my personal preference is for fixing focus4 over fixing focus5 since boon removal on mobs is not a big part of PVE.

So, while in the grand scheme a small change may be better than none, I reserve the right to vent over them not fixing what I want fixed!

Oglaf.1074:

TheAgedGnome.7520:

Arghh. It seems pretty inane to fix a trait only partially.

That’s exactly my point. The loss of Boon damage wasn’t my biggest issue with it to begin with because the damage bonus wasn’t that great anyway. The extra Healing/Vulnerability from a short cooldown on Reaper’s Touch, however…

Agreed. It strikes me as likely intentional, as if they were concerned we could vuln/regen too much. Doesn’t make sense to me.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Wait… epidemic originally worked without LoS?

It was great in PVE to be able to kite a bunch of mobs into a tight circle, BiP one and then Epidemic them on the run without facing the mobs.

Ahhhh….those were the days….

Arghh. It seems pretty inane to fix a trait only partially.

skullmount.1758:

I’m curious why they did this: “Weapons sold by vendors are no longer salvageable.”.

It made doing the salvage daily pretty quick – just buy 10 white axes and salvage. Done.

Anyone know the patch size?

Navani.5281:

Hello! I’m new to GW2 (I bought GW when it first came out and I’ve played MMOs for years) and I want to try a necromancer because that’s part of what I played in the original. I’ve seen many things around the web about necromancers being broken, such as poor minion AI, but I haven’t really seen other reasons why they’re bad.

Are they a common class? What are some of the main issues and how do people work around them?

Thanks =)

Like all professions, we’ve got some bugs and a few things each of us would like to see tweaked/changed, but all in all, I’d say we’re pretty strong as a profession. It seems like alot of the complaining is just carryover from earlier months of the game where we had some real weaknesses. We aren’t OP, but we also aren’t UP.

I recently leveled my second necro to 80 (an Asura this time, for the racial skills) and I normally run a conditionmancer/vampire build and am quite happy with it.

This afternoon, for fun, I switched to a MM (minionmancer) build (20/0/30/20/0) and took it to Malchor’s Leap – the zone I despise the most – to try it out. I was very impressed with the ability to plow through content easily. It took alot of work to get into trouble.

While running around, I decided to take on a Champion Risen Giant, which I knew would end badly. But soon after I engaged it, another MM came along and between the two of us and our minions we took it down. Felt pretty good.

(edit: Just soloed a Champion Risen Knight as an MM. Took awhile, but mostly just required alot of persistence and attention to resummoning minions.)

Its nice to have a variety of builds to choose from. I’ve tried all the other classes and I haven’t found one that has a playstyle that is as enjoyable as the necro.

As for commonality, I am seeing ALOT of necros at all levels recently, including endgame. Some are power builds, some condition, some MM. Its almost as if its become the flavor of the month.

There’s a good thread in the necro forum about this:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Conditionmancer-Dmg-or-Duration/first#post1657739

Look for “Strong” prefix rare armor on the TP. There are several 3-stat permutations, including rabid.

As for weapons & jewelry, I’d probably just stick with rare Rampagers/Carrion, since its pretty quick to get from your current level to 80.

Ok, maybe not as far as the eye can see (due to culling), but recently, as I’ve been playing around with other new characters, or roaming all levels of zones while doing dailies, or just chilling in LA, I am seeing lots of necros. Lots.

MMs, dagger/dagger, and so on, just seem to be everywhere I go, and in a pretty high percentage compared to the “olden days” (aka “a few months ago”).

Anyone else notice this?

I’m going to have to try out the fire bomb and grawl totem – sounds interesting!

Ok, these don’t really help with conditions specifically, but I’m rather fond of the Deployable Mortar Kit as a fun accessory:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Deployable_Mortar_Kit

And of course, everyone needs some Ogre Pet Whistles:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ogre_Pet_Whistle

CHIPS.6018:

Can someone post a link to where the “state of the game” is?

Here:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/1070-gurus-spvp-state-of-the-game-w-tyler-bearce-jonathan-sharp-and-karl-mclain/

The transcribed notes for necro:

“A bit slow, need to move to kill radius to lock down. Need to have heavy control on boons for removing or converting them.

Deathshroud more of a transform skill, not an actual down-state. No weapon swapping deathshroud will come back.

Build Diversity; necromancer in a place where other professions should be.

Evading while immobilized, not just for necromancer, up for discussion. Immobilize shouldn’t become a “sort of” stun, where you are completely locked out and can’t dodge during it. Need to keep an eye on this."

See the “Network Lag” thread in the Tech Support forum. Its an ongoing issue, especially since the last patch.