Guild Wars 2

The only way I could see this potentially working is if there were a cap of 1 flesh golem (with maybe a little buff) three shadow fiends and three bone fiends, and 4-6 bone minions (or 2-3 casts, depending on how you want to measure it) as well as 2 blood fiends. The caveat would be that there’s a hard cap of, say, 10 minions, so you get 4 more than you can right now (not counting jagged horrors) And that would give more variety to minion builds, at least in my mind, without making it insurmountable

Honestly, if the only thing they did was change those select cast times, we’d be in a bit better of a place

It’s irritating when it makes all of your skills go into cooldown at the same time…. MM grumbles in a corner

Do the cast times for minions and Shroud #1 decrease so much? I would loooove if minions and Life Blast had only half a second cast time, especially in PvP

Valvador.4291:

So Zerker is our new WvW Meta?

I was really excited about being a condi-tank.

kitten zerk meta, unless you want to absolutely do the top tier amount of damage. Otherwise, do what you want. You’ll be more effective that way, anyway, for the most part

Or be an oddball like me and run soldier with fighter(brawler) runes. You still do decently well without minions up, but you still need to be aware of how they’re doing and where they are (bone minions and flesh golem particularly.) Frankly, MM isn’t really a lazy build (except in PvE – not dungeons.) Realistically, no Necro build is “lazy.” Every build has an uphill battle against other classes and requires extra effort to do well with and that requires some commitment to continue playing as a Necromancer

Odyssey.2613:

Vydahr.4285:

I believe it’s been mentioned that the AI is getting a rework for HoT. Hopefully this is the case

Don’t hold your breath.

Clarification: The AI for mobs is getting a rework, which would include the Golem. Because the HoT mobs are more complicated than the vanilla ones, from what I’ve gathered

I believe it’s been mentioned that the AI is getting a rework for HoT. Hopefully this is the case

Dagger also has the best auto for any necro weapon by a significant margin (50% better than axe,) and quite good life force generation as well (8% every 2 seconds, which is better than the axe’s 12% over 2.5 seconds with an 8 sec CD). Plus, where you’re in PvP, Dagger 2 is a decent secondary heal. So, there are other reasons to use it mainhand

I don’t know of a guild on my end, other than a recognition of [SwAg] but I’m a necro in Northern Shiverpeaks as well, so look me up sometime (My Necro is named Drahvienn, but you can look for my screen name here, too :p) I’d love more necros to hang out with

If you’re solo roaming, big piece of advice (I figured this out the hard way even though I was somewhat aware anyway:) If you’re fighting someone (my experience was a diamond skin ele) and you have the advantage because of sheer tankiness and golem charges from a flank position, DO NOT EVER FOLLOW THEM NEAR A GATE. Ugh. Fought the guy for a while even with guards mauling me too, but just… Not enough AoE with minions to burn them all or his them all with Unyielding Blast.

So, yeah. Watch for guards is the gist of it lol

This is my (very) unorthodox soldier MM build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-343Z;1sHkD0s3wI-K0;9;4A89;0047036158;45cW0R;1OZG5OZG56x

Very, very tanky, but I use it to spearhead attacks with my team, particular in Courtyard, because I can take the initial burst of one or two opponents and fight back well. I survive so long that, in that scenario, I rarely get taken out more than once and I’m a giant pain in the kitten the whole time. And I use the same build for roaming in WvW for the same reasons. Take all of it with a grain or two of salt, though, as I’m no expert. Just a quirky player lol

Because even with the wonky AI, they still remove conditions from you and give you extra toughness while their alive. And if they go and hang out in a corner, they’re (mostly) out of harm’s way, so you maintain those buffs. Plus you can still get them off their kitten a little bit (Haunt and Charge for instance) for a brief assist

Ohhhh. I wasn’t aware that was a thing. As I said, I’ve only heard that they’re not good in fractals. My mistake if they’re technically possible to use there

One addition I would suggest that should be fairly minor: Fractals. While I don’t have any personal experience, from what I’ve gathered minions are awful in higher level fractals because of agony. Should minions not be affected by agony? Or have innate agony resistance? (Similar to how minions/pets can charge up to the Mega Destroyer heedless of lava)

So Soldier wouldn’t work well? Or would that build need to be yet another type of MM build?

Bhawb.7408:

For SR MM
WH > D offhand
Cleric > Soldier
Bone Fiend > Bone Minions
FitG > Dumbfire
Soul Marks > Unyielding Blast
Unholy Sanctuary > Death Nova
Transfusion > Unholy Martyr
Leeching/Energy/Renewal sigils > anything

Also you should replace those runes because Undead just don’t offer anything meaningful. Pack would be a much higher benefit overall, Grove are also pretty hilarious.

And it is worth noting, though this is more preference, that Blood Bond, Banshee’s Wail, and Life from Death are all viable options.

The key thing to remember about SR MM is that the whole point of using SR is being obscenely tanky and allowing your minions to deal the damage while supporting them with healing to keep them alive. You are doing a much stranger “hybrid” build, which just isn’t worth doing on MM, you define your build by what 3rd trait you choose, with SR being highly defensive, Spite being more offensive, and Curses being condi. You need to pick which of the three you want and specialize.

I really like tanky, but, on the other hand, I’m an aggressive player. So I use DS pretty offensively, which is why I trait Unyielding Blast. That being said, would spite be definitively better for my play style? (I like spearheading in deathmatch, for instance, because I can survive all the initial pain and then dish out some of my own while my team moves in)

Also, side note: Odd hybrid is, sadly/happily, my thing. And SR lets me live a bit longer while minions are down, so that’s one of my reasons for it

With all of the input I’ve gotten, I’ve decided to focus on the SR Tank MM with Soldier Amulet. However, I decided to take Runes of the Undead to actually get a pertinent 6th benefit and to make my staff and tainted shackles just a little better. Currently this is my build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-343Z;1sHkD0s3wI-K0;9;4A89;0048036157;45gV01;1jwmAjwmA6X

And suggested tweaks now that I’m more settled?

Dagger and axe each get Force, and both foci get Peril.

With the axe/focus, you’re going to want as much vuln uptime as possible, and do as much extra damage on top as possible, so you want the flat damage boost of Force and the vuln uptime (and thus, bigger damage boost) of Peril.

As for dagger/focus, you have a little more leeway. You can use Sigil of Chilling so that you stay closer to your target with the melee dagger. Or, you can keep more vuln uptime like with the axe, just a bit less of it. It can be switched depending on the purpose you want for the d/f set.

Overall, Sigil of Force is better than Bloodlust because you’ll get it regardless of the number of kills you have and it won’t reset at death. The only time you’d want to use Bloodlust is if you’re confident you’ll get those stacks, otherwise you’ll get no boost. But in the end, it’s up to you and what you want your build to do

Put sigil of force on dagger and axe, not dagger and focus, because it doesn’t stack. And instead of sigil of bloodlust, put a sigil of peril on the focus (better vuln duration on top of the lich runes.)

Might just have to try that at some point, Troll

Alright. I’ll consider it. Right now, like I said, I run full tank, SR MM. Though I do use Soldier amulet and I find it works well. Granted, minions don’t necessarily live long, but I can last through the cool down and in a team fight it works well because minions aren’t focused. So that’s why I thought possibly Carrion, but the healing power would make sense anyway, where I can’t also have the toughness

I’m assuming that, in this situation, dagger offhand would still be pretty solid. Also, Carrion gear/amulet as well, yes?

Is a condi oriented MM feasible at all? The build I currently like is Soul Reaping MM, and I’ve dabbled with Spite here and there, but would a Curses MM be a decent alternative? (Even just flat condi keeping the tanky SR) I ask because I love MM, but think it could use a little more flavor. Thoughts?

Cogbyrn.7283:

I’d say level one and see how you like it.

The only way to know for sure whether you want to play a necro or not. Actually play one a bit

Dawdler.8521:

1) Find a big rock.

2) Run around it until Ranger gives up.

3) Brag about your victory to your friends while keeping truth secret for years, until you finally make a tearfilled confession and go on to write a bestselling book called “My dear Ranger – I could never have killed you anyway”.

This is truly the only thing you can do in that situation

Zetsumei.4975:

Even goes to the gates in wvw xD

Does it really? I guess Anet wants everyone AND everything to be a vampire XD

I’m probably not going to use reaper, sadly. Minion Tank is really sturdy with Soul Reaping/Death Magic/Blood Magic. I wish I could get that greatsword though

Yeah, it does. Minions are considered allies, which means Vampiric Presense, Unholy Martyr and Transfusion (the healing aspect) all affect them

Start swinging your butter knives as you run at your target. It’ll solve most of that issue (They’ll still bug out a bit, but hey, that’s minions)

Joker.9812:

Necro is now one of the best PvP classes. I go solo Minion Master and always easy win. I have a lot HP, a lot of toughness and when they shramp me, I heal myself easily. Nice dmg with power focused and with Minions. And if there edge of death arrived, DS is always on my side.

Necro’s one the most powerful classes in PvP at the moment, mate!

I’ll second that. Yeah, you can still be hard CC’ed, but that’s nothing new. And minion master, though AI is still trash, does do really well in team fights. I’d venture to guess that the reason is because it’s so hard to keep track of everything and you have attacks going from all angles. And a well timed golem charge can knock down two or three people. I’m actually enjoying MM again, something I’ve never done in PvP before. So, I’m pretty good with it. Though I do look forward to AI changes..

Do minions proc runes? Dolyak, for instance

I run minions currently, so I use blood fiend. Even though it can get focused quickly, it’s still a sixteen second cooldown while you continue siphoning health. Of course, it truly is terrible with any other build

I’ve personally found more success in running unholy martyr with necromantic corruption. Certainly in pvp and it works well in pve wandering around in the cursed shore. In my case, I’d switch to transfusion if you’re in a group where you can use staff indefinitely with death shroud to keep distance while someone else tanks. Semi-backline, if you will. But that’s just my thought (By no means am I an expert)

That’s confusing then… Must just be that NPC

And yet, minion cast time is still 1.5 seconds on land. The 1 time I prefer underwater combat is that instance (It’s only .5sec cast)

I’m hanging around Fort Trinity a bit and I’ve helped burn down the hero point challenge a few times, and I’ve noticed that I occasionally get forced out of Death Shroud, presumably because of Moa. Is it accurate to say that Death Shroud is a counter to that pesky mesmer skill?

(Acknowledging that troll post is troll)

Man, let us have some satisfaction of holding four people off point for a little while. We never got that before (Still hurts like being mauled by a kitten tiger though and equals very dead necro)

As the title suggests… I’m incredibly confused about this. I’ve seen in a number of places 10sec as the duration of WoB, but quick hop into the PvP lobby from PvE shows quite clearly that it’s only 5sec in duration. Why is this?

I wish this were true. It would be such a help

This is my current build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V543Z;2IFJ0D4cJVJ0;9;469A;0137156236;45gV08;19cV19cV16w

Does very well in 1v1 and is about 50/50 in a 1v2, though even in that case it can hold out quite a while (One case I’m thinking of was vs a ranger and ele)

Substantial sustain from BM and a 7sec CD stunbreak is wonderful against CC, though definitely best to have more LF in case of CC chain. I choose spectral grasp over other spectral skills because being able to grab an engi or ele and keep him in my wells (SG + Dark Pact combo) melts them while giving me some healing.

Opinions or suggestions?

Major differences for me are WoS instead of WoD/WoP/SA because I like doing even more AoE damage. I also have kept soul reaping and left out curses because I like spectral grasp on such a quick CD (24s interrupt/grab? Yes) not to mention Lich coming around a little bit faster and for 7.5 seconds longer. As for runes and sigils, I go soldier amulet with brawler runes so I’m quite a bit harder to kill (especially with vampiric rituals) and I like Superior Sigil of Force on mainhand dagger and staff (that way, if I’m above 50% lf and they’re below 50% health, I do 30% more damage plus whatever vuln is on them) as well as Debility sigil on offhand dagger (gotta have the condi transfer and AoE weakness is handy) and a Chilling sigil on staff, though that I may just change

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

Soul Reaping (III, IV, VII)
Spite (II, IV, VIII)
Blood Magic (II, VI, VII)

D/D and Staff

Well of Blood
Well of Suffering
Well of Corruption
Spectral Grasp
Lich Form

Soldier gear with Brawler runes

Ran that in a deathmatch last night and only got taken down once while forcing the other team to focus on me a bit more and my team of four beat their 5. I tagged/killed 18 times. I am using Spectral Grasp to get a bit more benefit from SR IV but primarily for the lf generation and the ability to bring someone into my wells/relieve a little pressure from teammates. I know Shrouded Armor would be a good switch, or Spectral Walk, but I like the 1200 range grab. Still, comments are welcome

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the help

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Vydahr.4285:

Any stun breaks that would fit in well with the general idea of my build that come to mind?

Spectral Armor. It does a great job of helping to make your health and life force go further with the Protection, but also is our best defensive skill combined with Death Shroud. Since you’re deep into Death Magic anyway, the boon duration gets put to good use.

Swap out Signet of Spite for it.

Also, swap out Spiteful Marks for Chill of Death. Spiteful Marks is pretty worthless due to how terrible the coefficients are on everything but Putrid Mark. Chill of Death is good on literally every build (not necessarily best, but it’s always good).

Is it possible to use Spectral Armor and then switch to Death Shroud with the effect still active? Or is it entirely separate?

I suppose that if I stubbornly refuse to play by the meta because I find it boring I’m SOL, yes? sigh kitten meta….

Any stun breaks that would fit in well with the general idea of my build that come to mind?

I find myself mildly discouraged at the moment, though it certainly won’t last. However, I’m just getting into PvP and lately I’ve been trying to duel people so that I can get better with my build (I run a tanky power build.)

Normally, I do fairly well. I have a lot of health and toughness and even if I don’t switch to daggers right off, I still last pretty well. However… I just fought a duel against an engi by the name of Salty Suite. Actually, fought him twice because I’m a sucker for punishment. Anyway, he absolutely trounced me both times. Hardly put a dent in his health and got slaughtered in return, despite my best efforts.

This is my build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAoYWjc00SbNNO2whbCdBR2e7m8XQYPEA-TZRBwABOCAlLDU4EAYd/BAPCAA

So.. As the title says: Any advice?

Update: Just did some team pvp and did really well, actually, once I got into the swing of it. Didn’t take much damage and people buggered off fairly quickly if I didn’t gut them. So.. .Now I’m lost. But, eh. I’ll take that for now

The point of a duel is to practice with your build against a variety of other builds. The goal is to be as evenly matched as possible and go from there.

As an aside, pewpew rangers are a giant pain in my necromantic hiny to duel, but kitten it’s fun when you beat them

To be honest, in duels I try not to use death shroud if I can help it. Yes, it’s our main (only) defense, but even so, I figure if I can fight and win a good percentage of the time without life force, with it would really lock in the win.

That being said, I absolutely think we need to start with something like thirty-ish percent in pvp. Although, really, having a default level of fifty percent in every game mode would be very, very nice