Guild Wars 2

@Shibumi – Well as it stands Blood is Power really only fit into the build in my smaller group/single target setups. Taking a look at the ability itself it is a nice Bleed for some decent damage but losing that Life Force regen was a tough hit for what I found useful about the ability.

I am going to have to test the added stacks of Might. On paper I am really liking the idea of what this could do. 10 Stacks of Might is pretty serious as it affects both Conditions and Power (what this hybrid focuses on).

I need to re-apply some testing in WvW which I am doing right after I post this.

Changes on Oct 1 that affect this build:

Blood Is Power: This skill now grants 10 stacks of might but does not grant additional life force.

Epidemic: This skill no longer has infinite range.

Last Gasp: This Soul Reaping trait will now apply protection and remove stun as if using Spectral Armor. It also now has the displayed 60-second recharge, and the duration has been reduced to 6 seconds to properly match the skill.

And then some important things to note:

Spectral Grasp: This skill now also grants 10% life force when used. It also benefits from the Curses trait Spectral Attunement to properly increase the chill duration to 6 seconds.

Spectral Walk: This skill now stops granting life force when struck if the player activates Death Shroud, Plague, or Lich Form.

What does this mean for the Hybrid spec?

Currently testing the various ability changes because some of the changes do affect this hybrid.

Testing:

• Spectral Walk viability as LF regen (solo small grp effective?)
• BiP viability as a DoT + Might stack to start a DPS rotation
• Spectral Grasp as a Pull/chill/LF regen utility skill (Small to large grp + siege effective?)
• Epidemic – viability with the range nerf and testing LOS ability
• Last Gasp – Going to be keeping an eye on how often this procs now (and if spectral cooldown might work better with this build considering the other tests I am doing)

Do you have something giving you stacks of Might? That will increase your condition damage

Thanks for the post Obitus!!!

I’ve been eyeing the Divinity Runes for a long time now but the price has been so steep on them it’s been reduced to hoping someone took a chance with them.

If its possible could you post your final stats on…

Power
Crit Damage Increase %
Attack
Crit Chance
Armor
Toughness
Vitality

I would really like to see where you end up with your gear choices and with the Rune setup. It would go VOLUMES into me being able to configure the OPTIMAL build for if you want to hybrid. And accurately gauge where to direct stat points based on gear choices.

Disconnected.9253:

Let’s all agree on one thing: DS in water combat makes us cry

/signed

NUFF SAID, Im still not even sure what that last one is doing lol.

@Pookzob- I appreciate the feedback and I’m glad your enjoying the class. Once they fix some of the bugs for the class just wait.

I’ll start on a video it’s about time I’ve made one.

BTW in PVE if I am free casting I rarely do not pick up aggro and I usually end up tanking it from there.

Veteran Guild Supervisors at Supply Depots will basically become your arch-nemesis lol.

Mayama.1854:

I play mesmer and necro and from my experience its very hard to kill a mesmer with a power build you need very good well placements to pull it of and without LOS its almost impossible. If you play a condition necro its just a damage race which the side with less defensive cooldowns will lose.

This is what I have seen running a hybrid build of Power/Conditions.

I believe the duel is there for the Necro to win, but the Necro needs to play better in order to out DPS and survive the cooldowns. Basically I feel the Necro has less room for error but still has the opportunity to win if played right.

AKA I haven’t played agaisnt a Mesmer I was like… woah nothing I could have done would have allowed me to kill that guy.

@Shibumi – No problem any time! I started updating again since now that our server has settled down we are actually in a really close 3 way fight so I have been able to see what is MOST viable when the odds are relatively balanced.

@PCorajr – I was also in said category until I started really digging into the methodology of DS and read some threads on here. ANet marketed the Death Shroud as a second HP bar and that is what I thought it was even up to about lvl 50.

Most people prefer to see it that way because swapping in and out of DS on every fight might not feel “right” to them.

Granted it depends how you build the Necro but most people I’m sure would prefer to keep DS as that second HP bar to make the class a bit easier to play. I also believe this is why ANet stated it would be the toughest class to play.

It literally requires the most oversight. You can’t just AoE mobs down with a greatsword like a Guardian or Warrior. The class requires that META game of swapping in and out for the different tools of DS.

Like an Engi gets a tool belt, we get 4 abilities as well.

You should rarely use 2 and 3 in the same DS swap just due to their completely opposite functions (seems counter productive to fear and gap close)

That means you have 2 Utility skills, your Oh Kitten button and your Lifeblast.

That right there is 3 different reasons you could enter DS and use Lifeblast in each.

But like I said a lot of people don’t want to expend that much effort in a class to compete with other classes that may just spam a button or two.

One of the mechanics of Death Shroud is that it is more powerful the more Lifeforce you have.

I personally was hoping ALL the abilities would work like this.

DS1 – already does
DS2 – Projectile Speed increase or bleed stack increase for conditionmancer viability in DS
DS3 – Increase fear duration the higher LF.
DS4 – Fine as is maybe a slight cooldown decrease with Full LF?

Just a couple of suggestions I thought of off hand. The reality is I think DS in it’s current form is good, but needs tweaking.

I wouldn’t mind them first working on applying better synergy between Condition builds and DS. That is a major flaw design of the class and relatively important.

Kirika.9120:

Zintair.1987:

Vitality does not increase your LF pool.

Seriously, I mean no offense. But the irony here, when clueless people like you even trying to write guides…

I apologize I was under the impression reading on here that it does not affect your Lifeforce bar, i put Vitality by accident. Toughness is what doesn;t affect it. I had a ./facepalm moment. My bad. The only guide I tried to write was on a build I currently run that I find effective for WvW. I’m sure you’ve never made a mistake before.

It’s not that we can’t heal, it’s more along the lines of we can do many things, just not all individually as good as other classes. There are “Support” builds that offer various types of things that may be what your looking for.

No it is more CoF then anything else

@Shibumi

I did personally. I’ll elaborate a bit better.

There are two types of “Gear Types” that I prioritize for this spec.

Precision/Toughness/Condition
Power/Precision/Crit%

These can be found from Twilight Arbor and CoF.

I personally have used 42k Karma pieces with Power/Tough/Vit as a medium for added survivability in WvW. It is a personal preference of mine because of the playstyle I prefer. I am a very IN YOUR FACE Necromancer and prefer the added survivability as opposed to a more glass cannon spec.

The choice is yours based on your preference.

If you want to focus on the pure Hybrid DPS aspect of this build then I would focus purely on those gear types. You will have ample Toughness you just will not have the extra Vitality.

Haligator.9615:

Deathshroud is fun. Stack Vitality…you are a Necromancer. Even if you don’t stack Vitality, the class has a lot of health to start with. The purpose of Deathshroud is to extend your life until your heals come off cool down. It is very helpful and it works.

Having all of that health means that I can take on a lot of bad guys in PVE. I can even absorb a bunch of adds, such as when a group spawns on me. It is an aspect of the core Necromancer play style, being a high health class, and Deathshroud has synergy with that aspect of the class.

Isn’t there a trait that stacks Might in Deathshroud with the #1 ability? It’s in one of the damage trait lines, is it not?

“for clarification” I remember reading somewhere that Toughness does not affect your LF in DS. I was a nub and put Vitality however ./facepalm

Death Shroud Use

((Copied from my Critmancer build of Condition/Power Hybrid))

I do feel there are some issues with DS but it mainly that DS 2 takes too long to reach the target and DS 3 fear is to short. Not to mention the traits for DS need a look because there are ones that are broken and ones that are just plain useless

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read on these forums that DS is only being used as an “oh kitten” button for when the Necro needs to escape. This makes me want to Facepalm because Necros are getting hung up on the whole “second life bar” aspect of it and are not putting the particular tools of the mechanic to good use.

To start, DS is really going to be something that is dependent on your build. It can be as much an offensive weapon as it is a defensive. In terms of my particular build I use it more for its offensive capabilities but do leave room for the defensive when needed.

The first thing to remember about DS is that your Lifeblast will hit the hardest from 100% life force to 75% give or take. After that the numbers significantly decrease to where at 50% it’s no longer really viable to spam. Not to mention I have traited to gain Fury when I enter DS usually giving me roughly 70% chance to crit as well as Might (and Vuln/Pierce of you choose it) on Lifeblast. What does this mean for you? You are now a Power machine that is able to pump out 2500-3500 lifeblast crits. I usually get around 3/5 crits before my Life force drops too far and I swap out.
The second thing is to never stay in Death Shroud for too long. It is a situational mechanic (which will be explained later) that really shines when you try to perform quick actions then swap back out. Lingering too long will set you back in the long run with Life Force if you don’t have ample means of gaining it back. It will also leave you without that emergency button second health bar and as stated make your attacks weak.
The third is and final thing is that it is an incredible downed finisher. My highest crits come from Lifeblast on downed targets that I could not get to in melee due to damage. I am able to sit on tower walls on Lifeblast finish people if they are too close as well.

Situational Uses:

Gap Closer – A very effective gap closer (if it didn’t take so long to get to the target if they are moving away). With the build I have here I am able to close the gap and immediately stack bleeds and start pumping Lifeblast and building might stacks. Swapping out I can now stack conditions and overwhelm them.

Downed Finisher – Pretty much explained this one, LB is a great finisher if you are unable to engage a target for the Finish in melee.

AoE Finisher – You can stack all your Conditions and then Epidemic, Swap to Death Shroud, Gap Close if needed and then hit your Life Drain and wtach the health abrs tumble, especially if you have Might stacks.

On Demand Burst – One of the lacking areas of the Conditionmancer, the Critmancer is able to turn DS into a 3k crit machinegun to finish off opponents if they DoTs aren;t doing it. Most classes are still panicking when they see the spam crits.

Interrupt – Not at easy as you might think, the Fear is actually great for interrupting a heal or cast.

Oh Kitten – Yes it can be used for this. I know I will burn it for the added buffer of damage just to make sure I don’t lose my 25 stacks of Bloodlust. The key is to play the Necro so that this truly is the LAST RESORT. This class is not strong when it gets separated from the pack by a group of others. There are no escape measures except surviving till help arrives or you can zone in somewhere safe.

No wonder you don’t like Death Shroud you don’t even understand it. Lemme copy and paste something from my guide on how I use Death Shroud.

I have come upon a CRAP ton of AoE Damage from Necro but it takes a long time to ramp up and you cannot really be taking much focus fire.

I use Staff/Scepter+Dagger

Well of Suffering / Corrosive Poison Cloud / Epidemic

I basically drop everything on bridges and choke points and watch people just utterly melt under the weight of damage.

Dropping the WoS and CPC first starts them pulsing while you unload Marks and conditions on people.

Been able to kill 5+ people at a time usually with support.

Not a great smaller team build more for Zerg bustin and taking Towers and Keeps with defense.

EDIT: My gear is hybrid Power/Condition

average 3000 attack with 1000 condition damage.

Basically what Ascii said.

I believe the most important thing is to kill their adds because they benefit a TON from having them up. DS is nice for this.

But their downed skills make it extremely difficult to finish them when they are teleporting all over the place. Slightly OP when ours is an AoE poison and a single target crap fear.

Very frustrating to have the worst downed mechanic

PS: I thought thieves had awful ones? I usually never have an issue finishing a thief off they just sit there.

Have you checked the bugs compilation thread?

EDIT: After checking the thread apparently it is working correctly.

However:

(NT0006) Death Magic trait Dark Armor Tooltip does not escalate the amount of toughness given on lower levels. (Ex: its 400 at 80, at level 22 also says 400, but it does not give 400)

If only you were condition spec lol

My build that I came up with an currently run in WvW is very similar. I went hybrid Power and Conditions and currently am liking it. I hit hard enough when I stack bleeds that people will back off and fast if they aren’t getting constant heals but I also can burst single target if needed.

The only thing I found lacking in your current build is your Life Force generation. You don’t really have anything that will allow you a more hands on way to regain lifeforce.

Blood is Power and Epidemic are a must IMO. If you are going conditions there is no reason not to get Epidemic. We stack bleeds slower than most other classes however we have the unique ability to mirror the conditions. No other class in the game can do this in an UNBLOCKABLE/UNAVOIDABLE AoE.

I would also recommend dropping the 10 pts in Spite (10% damage when people are 50% and below isn’t as good as it seems when your not doing high damage.)

Replace those points in spite with points in Soul Reaping. This gives you the minor trait for spectral armor at 50% (amazing survivability and life force generator) and allows you to either take LB pierces and causes Vuln or what I always choose, Marks generate 3% life force.

My reasoning is this… when I built for hybrid I picked 3 different things that I wanted to be good at.

1) Conditions:

Scepter/dagger + staff
1100 condition damage
Blood is Power
Epidemic

2) Death Shroud and single target Burst:

Fury when entering DS
Might when casting LB
Reduction in LF drain
1900+ power with food and Berserker Sigil

(Staff 4 crits between 1.7-2.3k)

Death Shroud UpKeep: (Because the damage scales with Life force amount making it worthwhile with 75% or more LF.)

Spectral Armor – minor trait
Soul marks – major trait
FoC – Scepter 3
BiP – Utility 6-8

The reasoning why I place so much emphasis on LF regeneration is because the faster we have full LF the more aggressive we can potentially be. If you need to pop DS as an emergency second HP bar, you can easily survive to get away, reuse half your LF generating abilities and already be back up to full. Thereby once again allowing you the choice of using the LF to burst or once again as a survival mechanism.

This allows you to stack and spread conditions throughout the opposing team but also allows you to focus targets down. LB is amazing for when people are downed but you can;t get to them. I was seeing 3-4k crits on downed opponents which in 3 shots will kill them.

The key though is constantly swapping in and out of DS.

Macros.8715:

Ill try to post a video. Keep in mind I also have a build that entirely dedicated to increasing the damage to these types of attacks.

All of my gear is Power, Crit, +Crit damage….all of it.

Weird I’d love to hear your final stats. I try to avoid calling BS on people but it just seems odd (I have full exotics) and only crit for maybe 700.

Also weird you would gear for Power and +crit but use a Scepter.

Not saying it isn’t possible because if you stack enough +crit% then its possibly I suppose.

My highest Attack I’ve gotten to was 3200 not counting Might stacks. But I also hybrid Power and Condition

Outlaw.4078:

I think that’s silly. If the line stats were Precision + Crit damage (makes sense) and it had conditions that proc’d on crit that would be synergy. It’d be even better synergy if you had Condition Damage + Condition Duration (MAKES SENSE) in the same line as well because you could just put your points in those two lines and be working toward your goal.

Necro trait lines have terrible stat combinations. There’s really no other way of putting it. Like why would a condition necro want to waste points in power just to get condition duration? How would a power spec necro really benefit from that? True they’d each get minor bonuses: condition spec would have a bit more initial damage and power would get a bit more dot damage, but that’s not what makes sense and not what a lot of people want to do.

Instead of balancing the class skills/mechanics they take away your option to choose the way you want to play. You can’t be fully committed to condition damage because you HAVE to have power and they punish you for that extra bit of power. You can’t be fully committed to power/crit because you HAVE to have extra condition damage and they punish you for it.

Honestly, I’ve been playing Necro for hundreds of hours and I like the class but not truly having the option to build my character the way I want it and having the way they force you to build it be completelykitten is making me want to do something different.

THIS

I am forced to hybrid Power/Crit% with Condition damage in order to be effective at conditions.

Our class defining mechanic only benefits directly from Power.

Dibrom.6408:

Zintair.1987:

I never said anything about Prec/tough/condition gear in general and there are ways to get it.

Please tell me how to get the exotic level jewelry then.

There are none for trinkets I meant armor.

There is a post for lack of jewelery recipes though. ANet has to know about it.

What makes you think this is specific to Necros? Other classes don;t use conditions? or want Tough and Prec?

Yukishiro.8792:

Uh the point isn’t that it’s hard it’s that it’s much harder than most other classes have it for absolutely no reason except the totally arbitrary choice not to offer Rabid as a craftable armor or to offer decent accessories with rabid itemization.

There is just no reason at all to offer ideal crafted armors for some classes and specs but not for others.

from chuiu in another thread on THE SAME THING

“I’ve posted about it numerous times, it would be great if you guys could show your support for more jewelry recipes over in this thread:”

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/crafting/Could-we-get-more-jewelry-recipes-please/first#post217469

THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO BE POSTING

Necromancer discussion should be Necromancer specific stuff. And FOR THE NECROMANCER… Rabid just is very underwhelming. Makes me wonder if you guys have tried Conditionmancer yet in tPvP or WvW?

It is stamping your feet when you start the thread off with a “If you disagree with this, this thread is not for you.”

This is a forum where debate takes place, to state you don’t want people who disagree with you to post is childish and unrealistic. Hence stamping the feet.

Doesn’t even scratch the… your doing it wrong aspect of the post.

BTW took me 2 weeks after 80 to hit 1450 condition damage. Hardly a post worthy gear grind.

There are several dungeons with those gear options. He said RABID which calculates Condition damage as the highest stack on the piece.

I said that was silly because +Condition damage sucks for Necros stacked to max because of how slow we can STACK conditions and our lack of condition use in DS.

I never said anything about Prec/tough/condition gear in general and there are ways to get it.

Why do you want Rabid gear anyway?

Full condition builds just have too many counters for the speed at which we can (by ourselves) stack condition/bleeds. The only saving grace is Epidemic spreads ALL conditions. Not to mention stacking HIGH condition to like 1600 makes you a one trick wonder. Any good player will wreck you in this setup WvW or tPvP.

I even started doing this once I hit 80 only to realize HOW FAIL it was.

Deathshroud becomes “second HP” bar which is just WRONG and your basic attacks tickle.

But its your game, just wanted to post what I’ve seen through a lot of WvW. I could be wrong when it comes to tPvP.

I posted my Critmancer guide in the DEV sticky post if you want to see what I am running with Gear choices and final statings.

@OP – I know your pain but I think you should try to work with what the system offers you instead of trying to stamp your feet and say THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT.

I have FULL Rare trinkets of Prec/Tough/Condition Damage and my guild could have made them exotics if I felt like farming that far. The problem is stacking FULL condition damage is a joke.

No one seems to want to respond to me about this. Once you reach 1100 + Condition damage it basically becomes pointless to go any further.

I have gone from 1000-1450 Condition damage to see only a 30ish (from bleeds hittin for 100-130) increase in DoTs. The amount of stat points invested on your gear is NOT worth stacking this to max. The Necromancer class cannot stack conditions fast enough to make a FULL condition build worthwhile without support.

Power and +Crit Dmg after Condition damage hits about 1050.

I also used Runes of Undead for the added condition damage/

BTW – Twilight Arbor has the gear your looking for and it is very farmable, at least it was.

The reality is you will always be SUBPAR with a full conditionmancer setup. Why? Because you have completely ignored Death Shroud.

Start stacking to 2800-3000 attack/45% crit chance/1100 condition damage

Not exactly easy to do but with:

Berserker Sigil – +250 Power
Food – +200 Power after I kill for 30 sec
Runes of Undead – Highest Condition damage rune setup roughly +250 (depends on tough)

Then it’s all Armor/Trinkets and Weapons

I personally farmed WvW for 160k+ Karma and did a ton of TA for the Nightmare Staff. I bought the Mystic forge Scepter and I bought the Dagger (Power/Prec/+Crit)

Just my 2 cents though

Ok… You said power ratios about 40 times.

What exactly do you mean when you say “In General We really Lack Power ratios”

what is this mythical power ratio I have not heard of!!!

I personally like the current Incarnation of DS. The meta game you can play both offensively and defensively really makes this class unique and enjoyable to play.

In terms of the DS abilities.

DS2 needs to get to the target way faster. Instant teleport please or at least shoot the grasping hand.

DS3 fear is to short. The trait that buffs the Fear length needs to be taken from 50% to 200% to make it viable. Lotta ways to correct this.

The fact that this is even possible coupled with my main being a Necro makes me scratch my head.

Awesome tactics and bombing, feels like an old school DAOC/WAR vid. Just dont understand the rationale of the class bursting AoE for more than 6k

^^^^^^ Basically what Angry Squirrel said.

The reality is there are so many bugs currently throughout the traits and class that there is no real way for the Devs to accurately determine where the Necro needs their attention. Basically an entire tree for us not available. It also happens to be a tree that adds potentially big passive survivability bonus in the siphon.

That’s a lot of burst to deal with. My suggestion would be to have tried and changing tactics against the Thief.

Plague Signet – Stun break

One of the most challenging things about the Necro is they have an uphill battle vs thieves and warriors due to cast times on many abilities.

I’ve played around with the 400 toughness while channeling but opted instead for more DPS.

Great work here guys keep it up! The better these are compiled and laid out for the Devs the faster we can expect to see them fixed. Remember they aren’t trying to hotfix or band-aid patch but correct the issues and take the proper time to bring the class where it needs to be.

Not to mention I would feel pretty good if just our bugs were corrected.

Critmancer build thread. WVW.

Condition + Crit/Power hybrid

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/WvW-Critmancer-Build-Power-Condition/first#post198743

This is the thread for it. There is just too much and I didn’t want to spam multiple posts with a build guide.

forice.3165:

Ahmon.1730, Morelia.6835
epidemic sucks. and i have played gw2 for 260 hours. i saw epidemic only 1 ~ 2 times.(but those guys who used epidemic died more easily than anyone. it is why i dont select epidemic. and when i use it, i see i don’t kill many enemies. epidemic is just childish noob skill.). and epidemic is just weak with low chance killing enemies. i can replace CPC for pure bleed build. but all other skills seem just weak. i select those 3 skills because only those 3 skills have high damage. and i don’t see any skill that is higher damage than signet of spite. just look at necromancer traits. 20% signet recharge faster increases speed. it means more higher damage. there is no more skill or trait you can do more damage. and i see i use signet of spite very often in game. why would you replace it? i will challenge the highest damage for the last attempt because everything was lame with bugs. i don’t care enemy gets many boons. if i do highest damage, i can kill everyone. i realized boons are not strong at all. i see many people who get as many boons as possible. but i see they just die like noobs.

Can you explain to me how the only AoE ability in the game that can literally stack max conditions on people and CANNOT BE AVOIDED is for noobs?

Its literally the only AoE in the game u cant avoid (although maybe if the person u cast it on dodges when it hits other than that its GG)

You can use it Out of Line of Sight for siege

It has a 15 second cooldown and did I mention the conditions dont have to be from you?

Were we ever able to determine if the Bleed duration Trait and Scepter Condition duration trait in Curses were working correctly or not stacking?

Yeah I have totally come full circle when it comes to Might and this build. As I posted above on my gear choices, I actually swapped my Endurance Sigil on my Dagger for a Battle one for the added might stacks when I weapon swap.

Between having 3 orbs of power and Might stacks I was around 3500 Attack critting for 4k on Life blast. Wasn’t very long lasted but it was still pretty crazy.

EDIT:BTW I can;t seem to make my textile anchors work in the OP. No idea what I’m doing wrong.

Here is my wonderful Norn female Necro.

Mix of cosmetic armor transmuted with the Nightmare Staff

I prefer to use DS to rain 3200 crits on downed opponents when the damage is to heavy to get into melee for the finish.

Anyone else notice how effective Lifeblast is against downed targets?

I did a balance of CoF stat gear / Exotic 42k Karma / Nightmare (TA) gear – I will post in a few what overall gearing choices I went with.

EDIT: Oct 2 to fix Jewelery pieces

Focused on stating

Armor – 6/6 Undead rune
*Power/Prec/+%critdamage
*Prec/Tough/Cond
*Power/Tough/Vit

(I have been swapping between no Power/Toughness/Vit and just keeping the other two stat choices but I am always particular to more well rounded builds as they seem more effective in WvW.)

Trinkets:
Earringsx2: Power/Prec/%Critdmg (with matching stone) – Berserker
Ringsx2: Power/Vitality/%Critdmg (with matching stone) – Valkyrie
Amulet: Power/Precision/Cond (with matching stone) – Rampager

EDIT: The Jewelery should reflect how you want to focus your hybrid. I continued in my theory of Balance.

Priority: Power
Emphasis: %Critdmg/Precision
Interest: Vitality/Condition

Weapons:

Staff – Nightmare staff from TA – Prec/Tough/Cond with Sigil of Bloodlust

Scepter – Prec/Tough/Cond – Sigil of Earth
Dagger – Power/Prec/Condition – Sigil of Battle (3s might on weapon swap)

LeetKony.5627:

I have a similar utility set up (Blood is power and Epidemic)..

For my 3rd utility:
I am currently trying to decide between a Plague Signet + Feast on Corruptions Heal skill combo — can see this being useful as it removes conditions on allies and can send over to foe, and epidemic again!

Or Spectral Walk + Well of Blood combo — can’t argue that a 33s swiftness would be useful in wvw for getting out of those situations — and also well of blood helps allies w/ healing as well

I read a good # of people use wells as well, but they do have relatively long cooldowns.

Honestly, it’s a tough choice as I see ppl forgoing Blood is power altogether — but I do like the 39s bleeding so I think it’ll be in my arsenal for now.

Sorry if I response wasn’t helpful — the necro has a number ofvery useful skills esp for WvW — it’s down to personal choice

Agreed it is so much personal preference. I just want to try to find some viable specs in WvW that kind of break the barrier on some of the current limitations of the Necro class.

Right now Wells are great for a utility setup but the problem is the gearing is all for Power/tough/Vit which I did not do haha. I just fell in love with the control of the Conditionmancer but I felt I was too weak when fighting up close.

Nothing is better than spamming 3200 Lifeblast crits to burn a Downed Target that you can;t reach in melee for the Finish then being able to pop back out and Rinse/repeat you condition spreading.

Would love some constructive criticism on what I have down so far. Or do I have to whine and say Necros stink or draw evil pictures of JP to get feedback now?

Death Shroud Use

I do feel there are some issues with DS but it mainly that DS 2 takes too long to reach the target and DS 3 fear is to short. Not to mention the traits for DS need a look because there are ones that are broken and ones that are just plain useless

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read on these forums that DS is only being used as an “oh kitten” button for when the Necro needs to escape. This makes me want to Facepalm because Necros are getting hung up on the whole “second life bar” aspect of it and are not putting the particular tools of the mechanic to good use.

To start, DS is really going to be something that is dependent on your build. It can be as much an offensive weapon as it is a defensive. In terms of my particular build I use it more for its offensive capabilities but do leave room for the defensive when needed.

1. The first thing to remember about DS is that your Lifeblast will hit the hardest from 100% life force to 75% give or take. After that the numbers significantly decrease to where at 50% it’s no longer really viable to spam. Not to mention I have traited to gain Fury when I enter DS usually giving me roughly 70% chance to crit as well as Might (and Vuln/Pierce of you choose it) on Lifeblast. What does this mean for you? You are now a Power machine that is able to pump out 2500-3500 lifeblast crits. I usually get around 3/5 crits before my Life force drops too far and I swap out.
2. The second thing is to never stay in Death Shroud for too long. It is a situational mechanic (which will be explained later) that really shines when you try to perform quick actions then swap back out. Lingering too long will set you back in the long run with Life Force if you don’t have ample means of gaining it back. It will also leave you without that emergency button second health bar and as stated make your attacks weak.
3. The third is and final thing is that it is an incredible downed finisher. My highest crits come from Lifeblast on downed targets that I could not get to in melee due to damage. I am able to sit on tower walls on Lifeblast finish people if they are too close as well.

Situational Uses:

• Gap Closer – A very effective gap closer (if it didn’t take so long to get to the target if they are moving away). With the build I have here I am able to close the gap and immediately stack bleeds and start pumping Lifeblast and building might stacks. Swapping out I can now stack conditions and overwhelm them.

• Downed Finisher – Pretty much explained this one, LB is a great finisher if you are unable to engage a target for the Finish in melee.

• AoE Finisher – You can stack all your Conditions and then Epidemic, Swap to Death Shroud, Gap Close if needed and then hit your Life Drain and wtach the health abrs tumble, especially if you have Might stacks.

• On Demand Burst – One of the lacking areas of the Conditionmancer, the Critmancer is able to turn DS into a 3k crit machinegun to finish off opponents if they DoTs aren;t doing it. Most classes are still panicking when they see the spam crits.

• Interrupt – Not at easy as you might think, the Fear is actually great for interrupting a heal or cast.

• Oh Kitten – Yes it can be used for this. I know I will burn it for the added buffer of damage just to make sure I don’t lose my 25 stacks of Bloodlust. The key is to play the Necro so that this truly is the LAST RESORT. This class is not strong when it gets separated from the pack by a group of others. There are no escape measures except surviving till help arrives or you can zone in somewhere safe.

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Traits 20/30/0/0/20

Critmancer Traits on the Calc

20 Spite

- VI – Reaper’s Might – Lifeblast and Plague Blast grant Might

+ Adding stacks of Might when your Life Force bar is full and you have Fury from entering DS your LBs usually crit around 3200 with full self buffs mentioned above.

- VII – Spiteful Marks – Marks deal 10% more damage

+I am in the staff a lot usually either building Bloodlust stacks or dropping Marks in the rear. It may not initially appear so but when you stack this trait with 50% chance to crit and for 40% more it can be quite a hit. Staff 2 3 and 4 if they all crit can hit for well over 4-4.5k.

30 Curses

- II – Hemophilia – +20% Bleed duration

+Conditionmancer staple

- VII – Master of Corruption – Corruption Skills Recharge 20% faster

+ Might get some flack here, it’s a personal choice. I love Corrupt Boon. I feel it is the ultimate game changer when your trying to burn a single target down. 8 seconds off the duration (40 ->32 seconds) is nice. Especially when it was being replaced by inflicting blind also inflicts chill.

- XI – Lingering Curses – Scepter conditions last 33% longer

+Conditonmancer staple

20 Soul Reaping

- II – Vital Persistence – Death Shroud drains Lifeforce 25% slower

+Obvious with how much you are naturally switching in and out.

- VI – Unyielding Blast – Lifeblast pierces and causes Vulnerability

+One of your power attacks and finishers at mid range when people are downed. Adding a pierce and vuln to it along with might makes it quite powerful.

or

- X – Soul Marks – Marks generate 3% Life Force

+It appears as if this trait is broken and not all the Marks are applying the life force gain?? I really like the idea because without Spectral Armor on the Utility Bar it is only going to fire at <50%. That means your only Life Force control is Staff 1 and Scepter 3. With DS being so important it really is nice. I think at least a few Marks apply the 3% I’ve used it a bunch and have been pleased if not ignorant of the overall results in my quest to perfect my gear numbers.

Utility Skills

Blood is Power – Good heavy long duration bleed for bleed, great as a queue up for Epidemic

Epidemic – Need I say moar? It’s natural synergy with both the food this spec uses and the Sigil make it a MUST.

Corrupt Boon – My personal Choice. I think it adds an Ace in the Hole if we are having trouble dropping a single target. Nothing is better than seeing a Guardians full stack of boons vanish in a wave of Conditions that can then be naturally cast epidemic on everyone. Oh and their panic as God mode has been stolen from them.

UPDATE – 9/30/2012
Well of Suffering – A new favorite of mine with the boosts to Power. I can really hit hard with the ticks if people are not moving out of this. Great for Offense/Defense of sieges and for zerg fighting.

Corrosive Poison Cloud – Another great addition if you are running with Well of Suffering. It will benefit from conditions and it is a constant poison (Heal debuff) in similar situations of Well of Suffering.

Spectral Walk – Obviously a speed boost and great for a solo roamer. I have used this ability for it’s immediate buff when dealing with a more melee group. It can really turn the tide and out-position opponents.

Elite Skill – Plague – You could make arguments for any of the Elite skills. I prefer Plague because I’ve found it’s use in defense of points or attacking groups of enemies is just unbelievable. Practically a perma blind/bleed machine with a cripple if needed. Oh and the bleeds hitting for 100 is nice too.

Inherit Weaknesses

coming soon

The Right tool for the Right Situation

Foreword: I use Epidemic on most if not all specs. To not to is to silly IMO with points invested in condition damage

Taking a look a the Utility skills is where this build needs to look for it’s “perks”. These will really define what the class is going to be geared for doing. It’s important to note that this spec can be flexible in it’s effectiveness across a long span of WvW gameplay.

Example:
For solo roaming and small group engagements?
Blood is Power/Spectral Walk/Epidemic

Towers/Sieges/Zerg?
Well of Suffering/CPC/Epidemic

Small to large group fighting?
Well of Suffering or Corrupt Boon/BiP/Epidemic

Use you Utility skills to your advantage, each of them excel in their specific area and should be used exclusively. You will find this build work 10x better if you are constantly rotating these abilities to handle the scenario presented.

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The Critmancer
The best of both worlds

UPDATED: October 2, 2012

Change Log:
Sept 21 – Deathshroud Update
Sept 30 – Utility Bar Update
Oct 1 – Right Tool/Strengths of class
Oct 2 – Patch Fixes from Oct1 Update

Role: Balanced
Range: Mid Range 900-1200
Death Shroud Use: Offensive and Defensive
Focus:Power and Conditions

Crit Highs:
Lifeblast 3300 / Staff 4 2300 / Life Drain 4200 ending damage

Bleeds – 100ish tick dmg

Table Of Contents:
Introduction
Build Concept
Traits
Utility Skills
Weaknesses
Strengths
Death Shroud Use

Introduction:

After playing WvW for a solid amount of time and learning the different trends on how capture points change and supplies become targets only to swap to towers etc. I have a long history from DAOC and Warhammer and I was fairly sure I knew what I was looking for when I rolled the Necromancer and I think I am getting pretty close to finding it. The build itself is a hybrid that takes two distinct specs for the Necromancer and combines them. What I think makes it special is the natural cycle in which the abilities roll off and compliment each other, but more on that later.

Build “Hybrid” Concept:

One of the nice things about GW’s is the overall unique nature in which it was devised. The combat system and stating of the gear is very customizable and there are unique methods to achieve various stat numbers that would otherwise be OP if found on a piece of gear. Building off that we have the two aspects of the build.

Power/+ Crit Dmg

Superior Sigil of Blood Lust – +250 Power at Full Stacks

Food – +200 Might for 30s after you kill something +10% crit damage +10 experience

I’ll be honest it feels like a bit of a band-aid but when you farm some mobs real quick outside the spawn keep you can usually get at least 10 stacks before you engage anyone. The food really shines when you start attacking points or engaging enemy players and you start to constantly see the buff lingering longer than you might originally expect. 30 seconds in a fight can be a long time to kill something to prolong the stack. Not to mention each kill with the (Staff I put Blood lust on) weapon that has your BL rune will keep pumping your Power up.

Conditionmancer

One of the biggest complaints that Conditionmancers have is that there is no burst what so ever. I can attest to this as I first designed my Necro for full Conditions and was able to stack up to 1450 condition damage. Unfortunately my bleeds were only ticking for roughly 112-120ish and while I do not believe there are diminishing returns I did feel that stacking the condition damage to high was “putting all your eggs in one basket” and for WvW that wasn’t as effective as I felt I could have been. Not even adding in the already mentioned issues with Conditions for us (Necros) in general. So basically what I did was focus my Runes on Conditions.

I chose Superior Rune of Undead because it has the most +condition damage totally 250

28+55+100+5% of toughness is added to condition dmg.

Once again I am trying to get as much stat power as I can in the allotted spaces we have.

Ending Stats:
((Its late aka early in the morning so I will post exacts tomorrow, Numbers are rough/rounded estimates))

Fully buffed from food with +250 Power stacks no Boons

Attack – 3000
Crit – 40% + 54% Crit Damage
Condition Damage – 1100 (97-100 bleed ticks)
Toughness – 1275
21,000 HP

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With 1300 condition damage I do about 110 on my dot ticks. I agree with a lot of what was said but not enough to want to shelf my Necro. I can absolutely facemelt people especially if I am being assisted by other classes.

Woe to the zerg that leaves me unattended. Especially in tower defenses.

SupahSpankeh.8452:

Zintair, post that sort of question in the red topic at the top of the forums. That’s where we discuss bugs.

Also, they do stack and work correctly (feel free to test this in the mists) but I prefer Withering Precision anyways :P

Opps yeah meant to do that I wrote my dealings with the Necro which was what was supposed to go there.

I read somewhere that the 20% Bleed Duration Major and the Scepter Condition duration 33% Grandmaster are not stacking?

Has anyone been able to confirm or reject this?

EDIT:

In regards to the Necromancer specifically in WvW.

I play Scepter/Dagger and Staff

I like the GTAoE of the staff for tower and keep sieges. I can put a lot of damage on the walls of the tower and Epidemic works out of LOS. By far our class defining ability out there for me. Signet of Spite is what I use as well but there needs to be clean LOS it is very unfriendly to land. Depending on the situation I could use Bone Fiend or Pull or even Well of Power (one that cleans conditions).

The Scepter is for stacking bleeds with crits and applying blinds and chills for utility. The burst comes from Feast of Corruption. It may not be the burst of some of the other classes but it works in conjuntion well with the speed at which I can stack conditions and then spread them to 5 people around all within a few seconds.

I’ll be honest it sometimes takes a big ramp up but once you get through a weapon exhange there are few classes that are backing off and trying to cleanse conditions. The key is high crit and stacking conditons fast. Since the Scepter is fast attack I put the 60% superior that applys a bleed on crit. I can sometimes stack 3 bleeds on a swing.

Death Shroud is purely my utility and final burst. Its great for hurting people who are downed but still have a lot of damage focused around them. There are some limitations to the class such as speed and Focused burst but I think it’s a really important class to have to just melt down multiple people while the burst finishes others.

My 2 cents after playing thus far.

In PvE – I have always been the top DPS. I usually run with a Ranger and we will always have 20-25 stacks of bleeds up. If there were DPS meters I doubt there would be any other classes who could match our outright AoE DPS when I cycle a full weapon exchange and pop into DS. Its just heavy sustained damage usually enough to work most PVE trash to half health. And DS is so nice to have on the fights where AoE damage is just being hurled everywhere. (TA worm boss)