Guild Wars 2

Anchoku.8142:

Golem is great for leveling but I have not leveled since the masteries rework. I do not think you can choose which skills to learn from a group anymore. If you have Mistfire Wolf, it may still show up at L30, which was much earlier than normal elites and works great since they strengthened it.

Yes, investing on the Golem would require me to buy the entire minion skill line, this way delaying the acquisition of my trait lines. And the guy also only works on land, so I’ll have to get Plague anyway for underwater.

That’s why I’m trying to decide if really worth such investment on the Golem. Anyway, really seems the only good elite in my case.

As a newbie leveling Necro (focused mostly in condition damage, but also some power) I’m feeling really restricted on elite skills.

Since I’m focusing on corruptions Plague seems the natural way to go, but then I start thinking: is it actually that useful for solo leveling? I mean, when should I transform considering I’m most of the time alone?

So, Flesh Golem always end up as my only real option in my mind. But after trying it a little bit I’m not really sure how much it’s actually contributing for my overall defense/offense (considering it’s my only minion and I have no traits to improve it). Also, it dies too often. And finally, every time I activate Charge makes the Golem to simply run past the enemy instead of keeping melee range, this way losing dps.

So, are you guys having a great time with the Golem while leveling? Any tips to use it effectively (considering I’m not investing on minion traits)?

I’d be happy to just see more damage on the auto attack, making it simply a good ranged power weapon (the Scepter counterpart).

They could try adding good damage to Axe 1 and pass the vulnerability to Axe 2 (more or less the way Longbow works on ranger). Axe 1 could even do more damage the closer you are to the target (inverse of Longbow).

So Life Blast in used mainly in long fights to stack might/vulnerability? This way Spite seems the way to go for both axe and shroud..

But considering I’m using a condition heavy build with corruptions, should dhuumfire + piercing from Soul Reaping line allow Life Blast to surpass Axe/Dagger dps? Or even dhuumfire is not that great comparing to, say, just dagger auto?

I’m playing a hybrid build, trying to keep both power and condition high. This is working great on world map leveling, and fills pretty well my playstyle.

When attacking single target strong mobs (veterans/champions) I usually unload all my corruptions and also my Scepter/Dagger skills, than change to a power weapon. I’m still undecided on Axe vs Dagger, trying to figure out which one works better for me (I know I’ll eventually have to choose between strong melee or weak ranged).

My only problem is the decision between Life Blast vs Axe/Dagger. In other words, how long worth staying in shroud casting Life Blast instead of leaving shroud to swing Axe/Dagger?

This is important to me because it’ll dictate if I should invest on Soul Reaping or Spite as my second trait line (Curses was the first one).

Taking a look at the wiki, Life Blast deals only 345 damage which seems pretty bad for a 1.4 sec casting skill. Is the wiki really correct? At this point, staying on Dagger 1 (or even Axe 2+1+1..) seems simply better than camping shroud for Life Blast.

So guys, how Life Blast actually compares to Axe/Dagger in dps? Ultimately, my question is: Worth investing on Soul Reaping to improve Life Blast to cover my power needs, or can Axe/Dagger cover that (thus allowing me to focus more on Spite instead)?

Has anyone compared Death Shroud 1 vs Reaper Shroud 1?

The obvious difference seems to be balanced already: ranged vs cleave. Damage output also seems to be balanced..

But what about when you add traits to them?

I’m asking this because at first glance (have not tested) Dhuumfire and Reaper’s Might seem to be way better on Reaper. Have they considered that? Maybe they should improve the speed on Life Blast a little bit?

I want to start saying I’m not a big fan of WoW. Guild Wars 2 is much better in many aspects. But one think I miss from WoW is the visual alerts about your procs, giving you complete control of your build/skills.

Here is an example:

The Ranger has a trait (Clarion Bond) that procs when you swap pets, and this effect has a 30 sec cooldown. However, pet swapping has a lower cooldown than that. So, in many situations in the middle of combat after triggering Clarion Bond, I feel I simply don’t have enough information to decide if I should swap pets again or wait a little bit more for my Clarion Bond to recharge, since I don’t know exactly if 30 sec have already passed or not. In other words, I feel I don’t have full control of all my abilities.

Has anyone already suggested the implementation of visual alerts for procs? I’m not even talking about screen customization such as we find in WoW. Simple icons counting down your proc cooldowns would be great already!

The problem is that increasing Dagger 4 speed will not solve the issue.

The issue is that Plague Sending procs when you’re already transfering your conditions, such as when Dagger 4 crits. I mean, there are a lot of times my Plague Sending procs when I already got rid of my conditions, thus wasting the cooldown. And to fix this they could just allow a more controllable way to proc Plague Sending (or at least avoiding it to proc from other transfering skills).

I have lost count of how many times my Plague Sending triggered just before Dagger 4 hits (while on the fly), or even by Dagger 4 itself (which is even worse).

Do you guys also have this problem? If so, any workaround?

Anyway, I believe changing the trigger for Plague Sending would be a great QoL improvement for corruption Necros. Any critical seems to be too random..

If you guys are interested, what can we suggest as another trigger for Plague Sending for Anet (something easy to implement so that we can see it soon)? I was thinking on the next auto-attack hit instead of any critical.

Dadnir.5038:

The easiest : minion master. Simply, this is the spec that don’t need any specific stuff, you can go with whatever you want, the minion have their own stat so they support you without any issue. For this spec and if you really want self survivability first, unlock Blood magic then death magic and spite at the end.

My problem with minion master is that after testing it more than once some time ago (maybe 1 year), I decided that definitely they don’t like helping me, and most of the time I couldn’t count on them. This was true at least on ranged wapons such as Scepter, probably because they decide to attack only after I take some damage, which can take a little while when you’re kiting with a ranged weapon.

Was there some AI improvement recently to make them more trustful (just want them to attack my target when my first hit connects)?

Hey guys,

Playing Necro from the start and having a blast at the lower leves. I like ranged combat, but didn’t liked the Staff, so here’s what I’m using so far:

- Scepter/Dagger (my main weapon set)
- Axe/Warhorn (range and a little bit of power damage)
- Corruptions (CPC + Blood is Power + Epidemic)

My goal is reaching 80 by questing in the world map, and this means being able to deal damage and survive alone when necessary. I’d like to focus on a hybrid build (condi + power), so Rampager/Carrion seems the way to go after lvl 60.

So, two questions:

1) In which order you guys recommend unlocking the trait lines (considering world map soloing and hybrid build)? Which are the staple traits in each line to aim for?

2) Which elite is better for my situation (again, considering world map soloing and hybrid build)?

Thanks.

I’m focusing my Necro on corruptions while leveling. Going great so far, since I feel there are “combos” to aim for.

For example, for dealing with groups I usually pop CPC + Blood is Power (good they have the same cooldown), then I immediately transfer my conditions using Dagger 4 and throw more conditions with the Scepter.

For now I feel Dagger 4 is enough to keep me clean, but maybe later after getting Master of Corruption I’ll need more transfers, so I’ll decide if Plague Sending is really needed. I’m considering going with Epidemic as my 3rd utility, so I won’t have Plague Signet itself (and thus will probably need Plague Sending anyway).

So, my question is related to Plague Sending:

Lets say I have a mob selected, but several mobs are taking damage from my AoE at the same time. Can I be sure Plague Sending will transfer my conditions to my selected target? Or will it transfer to a random target near me during my AoE criticals?

I feel this is important because I’d like to wait for Plague Sending to trigger on my specifically selected target so that I can Epidemic it with the additional conditions just transferred.

Hope you guys understand the question…

I’m leveling a new Necro focused on Scepter and condition damage. Still low level, but utility-wise I’m interested on trying corruptions, specially Epidemic and CPC for their AoE. I’m getting Curses as my first trait line.

My problem right now is I’m having a hard time to understand the benefit of Master of Corruption, and how exactly to use it.. So, every time I cast a corruption I have to trust a Plague Sending proc, or use off-hand dagger to get rid of my conditions? Should I also get Plague Signet?

Is Master of Corruption really worth the effort?

My only issue with dagger is the range. I really hate being at melee.

So, is scepter also a good weapon for leveling? (I understand scepter is just getting a buff)

Should I decide staying with the scepter, which trait should I aim for? (Soul Reaping line seems great, specially Dhuumfire)..

Hey guys,

What you guys suggest to level a Necro in the open world to 80? I mean: weapons, utilities, equips, and trait lines?

Above all else, I’d like to have enough survivability to solo anything.

I wish I could go minion master, but I know minions are way too boring since they simply do not engage when they should, so I’d rather have offensive utilities.

So far I’m considering S/D as main weapons, probably with A/F as secondary. Also considering to focus on wells, due to the easy AoE damage output. Regarding traits I have no idea..

I never played a condition character, so this may be the opportunity. However, I understand power scales faster at lower levels (e.g. 25 stacks from sigil of bloodlust can double my power), so maybe I should focus on power equips..

So, any tips?

Blaine Tog.8304:

Personally, I prefer S/D for open-world PvE. You get a lot of burst and flexibility, though D/D is probably better overall (I just don’t like it as much). With Staff, you’ll have more difficulty killing single-targets and a harder time with foes getting up in your grill.

I decided on Staff because after testing all weapons a little bit this was the only one I felt strong enough to bring me both offensive and defensive powers, and all that at range.

D/D was powerful, but too melee oriented for my taste (I enjoy ranged combat). S/D felt way too weird, and I found myself camping fire all the time with no good option on other elements.

What’s the trick to succeed on S/D while questing? When should I change elements?

Hey guys, so I heard here a lot about the Air line instead of Water..

Getting 25% more speed without the need to waste an utility slot is great. But what else makes this line stronger? Is Bolt to the Heart the staple in this line?

Thanks guys.

I liked the idea of going with some Cantrips at the start. This way I can get that synergy trait on fire line very soon (allowing me to benefit from Might stacks at lower levels, when they are more powerful), and also get better results from Ether Renewal, which was going to be my heal of choice anyway.

Also, something I enjoy doing is grouping together some mobs before casting Meteor Shower, and probably Armor of Earth / Lightning Flash can help me with that channel.

Then at higher levels I can decide if I want to migrate to Arcane utilities, since there is a trait named Elemental Surge that drawn my attention in Arcane line and I want to try it. Seems really good.

I’ll start an Elementalist, and my initial goal is reaching lvl 80 by questing the world map.

I already played as Ranger, and enjoyed a lot his ability to solo anything. So I’d like to have an Elementalist with enough power and survivability to solo every map content (I know the world map is easy for everyone, but sometimes you have to face that harder champion, those harder skill challenges, etc).

I have already decided some things to fill my playstyle:

- Weapon: Staff (no doubt here)
- Equips: Focus primarily on Power, then Vitality/Toughness (for more survivability)
- Traits: Probably Fire, then Arcane, then Water (maybe switch Water and Arcane)
- Elite: Probably Glyph of Elementals (Earth) (again to have a pet as distraction on those hard moments)
- Utilities: That’s where I need help

So, what yous guys recommend as Utilities for world map questing?

Easiest way seems to be Arcane, even more considering their synergy with the Arcane line.. But what about Conjure Weapons (never used them)?

I enjoy playing my Ranger at long range with the longbow.

To support this play style, I usually go with traps (with the throwing trait to keep me at range) or spirits (with the trait to make them follow me). I find both skill sets nice for an archer, since with both I can keep distance while making use of my support skills all the time.

Now, after listening to the coming changes, I’m not sure how to choose my skills after the expansion. Traps are supposedly not being thrown anymore, and spirits are going to be static.

So, my question is:

Do you guys also think archer rangers are getting out of options when choosing their support skills (most are now melee/static)? And which skills you guys suggest for a long range play style after the expansion?

(talking about open world and PvE only here)