Guild Wars 2

I think the reason our fears are weak is because you can make them so much better with traits and runes.

Ascii said above that you can get 2.8 seconds of fear, let’s bring that down to 2.5 seconds of fear because you can’t count on using Rare Veggie Pizza in all situations. You can make Fear do damage with a trait, and that damage scales off condition damage. So it seems easy(ier) to fit in to a good condition build. Also, we have an AoE fear when we go down if you trait for it. We also have an AoE fear trait when we are disabled by knockdown or whatever else. Don’t forget the free fear mark when reviving (although it is bugged atm, keeps the smaller radius I think).

Someone said above that his warrior can do a 4-5 second AoE fear. That’s pretty good, but it seems like as necros, if we trait for it, we have 4 or 5 2.5 second fears, 3 of which are AoE, and all of which will probably be used in a single fight. It seems to me that our fears are weaker than other classes’ fears because we have more of them up more often, and when traited for them, it seems like all of them together makes a pretty attractive package. Personally I’d rather have several good fears than one great one.

Someone should make a build that incorporates all this, test it out and report back…

The other aren’t intended to be used for damage anyway.

Here’s the Reddit link to all stat combinations on exotic armor in the game: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/zrd0c/complete_level_80_exotic_armor_list_find_the/

Looks like Khilbron is the craftable one that gives Pre/CondDmg/Toughness, there are also a few dungeon sets that have it.

I’m pretty sure that first minor trait in Spite, Parasitic Bond or whatever, works fine. I was in WvW the other day at half HP, stomped someone, went up to full HP.

I’ve set aside some time today to run through the bug list and see what still does/doesn’t work, will post there later tonight.

+20 toughness if you’re traited for it.

What about switching out the 10 points in Soul Reaping for 10 points in Death Magic, and taking Rituals of Protection? 3 seconds of Protection on well cast should benefit this build since it uses 3 wells.

For WvW, I’d switch out Reaper’s Precision for Banshee’s Wail, and swap out one of the utility skills with Spectral Walk…necros get 100% swiftness uptime that way.

All staff skills have a randomly sized targeting circle, a randomly sized visual effect once placed, and a randomly sized trigger/effect radius. These may or may not be the same as each other.

Spectral Grasp will now always miss if an opponent is running away from you on a slightly inclined plane.

@Teknomancer: A’ight. <3

@Dibrom, if it’s inconsistent between classes, as you claim (and I haven’t tested it so I don’t know), then I think that should be standardized across the classes, one way or another. If necro minions are considered different from all those other for balance reasons, that should be explained to us.

@Josher, I agree it’d be nice to get some responses specific to necromancers.

Teknomancer.8475:

They know because it is a confirmed bug in the bug report thread sticky’d at the top of the forum, that mods and devs go through. That is how most bugs are widely known.

Whaaaaaat? Because a group of people NOT related to the development or design of the game decide something is a bug, it’s automatically a bug??

Bugs are added to that thread by us, the players. They are also confirmed by us, the players. Mods and devs read the thread, so what? That does not imply that they approve of everything that is in it, or that they agree that everything in it is a bug.

We as players can report on issues or behaviors we feel are bugs. We do not have the final say as to whether or not these things are actually bugs. That’s a decision for the game designers. The bug list stickied in this forums has no more worth than an internet petition.

EDIT: Just to head anyone off who would jump to conclusions about this post…yes, many of the items in that list are legitimate bugs. That does not imply that every item on that list is automatically a bug just because it is on the list.

What amuses me most about this thread, even more than the funny fake patch notes, is the fact that some people thought think that ArenaNet is covering up this bug by calling it a feature. How do you guys “know” that this behavior is a bug? Do you have a link to a dev post or some other source?

Minions aren’t pets – they are utility skills. Like all utility skills, if they’re not on your bar, you can’t use them. When transforming into Lich or Plague form, all of your utility skills, including your heal skill, are removed from your bar. Thus it makes perfect sense that the minions would go away too. Some people were getting confused because this wasn’t explained properly, so they modified the tooltip to clarify. What is the problem here?

OK, cool, thanks for the write up. I know what you mean with the trait lines, there are some really tough choices to make between spite and curses.

So then what’s wrong with Necromancers being the best at spreading conditions rather than applying conditions? Seems like with good teamwork, a Necro + Mesmer combination could be brutal.

When you say that there are only a few good necro builds, are you referring to sPvP only, or everything? I’ve had some good fun and success with the builds I mentioned above, but I agree that sPvP builds are limited.

Knote.2904:

This is definately reaching.

Now go compare it to other classes will you?

Our traits are severely lacking.

How is it reaching? How are all the things I listed worse than all other classes? What exactly about our traits is lacking?

This is what I hate about debates on the internet. Are you going to actually respond to what I said or just hand-wave it?

Terok, what other class is better than a necro at conditions? Epidemic, Corrupt Boon, Plague Signet…all among the best condition spells in the game.

I disagree with a lot of the things said in this thread.

No good/fun traits
Ritual of Protection in Death Magic line: Give 3 seconds of protection on well cast. This gives protection to all allies in the well radius. With 2-3 wells on your bar and the well CD reduction trait you are better than a guardian at spreading around protection.

Chill of Death in Spite line: Free boon removal and slow when someone is low. So even if they popped swiftness to run away, your conditions will tick them below 25% as they run, then remove the swiftness and slow them. Pretty awesome IMO.

Banshee’s Wail in Curses line: Gives warhorn CD reduction and increases the duration of the effects. With this trait and Spectral Walk you have 100% swiftness uptime. Also the daze goes from 2s every 30s (6% of the fight) to 3s every 25s (12% of the fight). On an AoE daze!!! That is RIDICULOUS.

Foot in the Grave and Near to Death in Soul Reaping line: If you take Foot in the Grave, with the boon duration increase of the Death Magic line (or other +boon duration stuff from armor), you have 4 seconds of stability EVERY TEN SECONDS. That’s 40% stability uptime. You can switch in and out of DS quickly, then down someone no sweat. Alternatively, if you take Near to Death, with other traits you can get 3 seconds of Retaliation, 1 condition removed, and Enfeebling Blood (bleeds and Weakness) cast around you every 5 seconds (though EB has a cooldown). That’s over 60% Retaliation uptime with +boon duration, no other class has that except maybe guardians but I think they were getting that nerfed.

Only 3 builds
Admittedly sPvP builds for necros are limited at the moment, but I’ve found tons of good builds for dungeons, PvE and WvW. You can go all Soul Reaping and Curses, sit in DS in large groups, and spam Life Blast for huge critical damage. You can go crit and daggers for huge life siphoning in the Blood Magic line, or make it more supportive by putting traits in Wells and Staff CD/marks. There’s always minion master, too (though the AI of the minions leaves something to be desired) and even then you have like 20 or 30 points to play around with depending on your playstyle. That’s like 4-5 builds right off the top of my head and I’ve experimented with all of them.

Most boring
No way are necros the most boring class. I have a blast playing as necro. Raining down conditions on players attacking the door of a keep or tower, then spreading those conditions to everyone nearby is amazing – the screen fills with little white numbers. Nothing decimates zerg like a condition necro. I’m having lots of fun trying to make a melee-focused siphon build viable, and I’ve had pretty good success in WvW and PvE so far. Nothing gets away from a dagger/warhorn necro.

Yes, there are lots of bugs, but I’m gonna stick with the class for the long term. I’m so glad I chose it at the start. Things can only get better from here (however slowly).

I don’t think dead minions are a problem. They’re not pets, they’re utilities. They are useless while on cooldown, like all utilities.

As for your suggestion itself, I’m not sure what can be said. You suggested a way to lower the CD of minion recharges. I guess my response is “that’s certainly a way to lower the CD of minion recharges.”

Nuhj, if you take the Banshee’s Wail trait in the Curses line, combined with Spectral Walk necros can get 100% swiftness uptime. Pretty fun in WvW for getting around. That exploit was awesome, though, I agree.

Try this: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V-44Z;2IFJ0E4gJ-K0;9;5JJT;232-13-17Bp

The forum doesn’t like that link for some reason…copy and paste it into your browser bar.

You have lots of longevity from protection on well use + siphons from everywhere. It’s not hard in later zones to aggro 4-6 enemies, drop wells, and staff-AoE them all down without going below half health. I’d recommend a dagger for your main hand, though, as faster attacks means more siphoning.

Vita.6302:

I think your Rune of Vampirism is causing that (you cant use any skill while in mist form, right?), like my svanir if it is transforming me into an ice block. Thanks for confirmation! Im wondering why not more ppl did note that until now. Even without Rune of Svanir or Rune of Vampirism its not hard to see what is happening there

Ahh, yea, you’re right. I didn’t realize what was happening because the mist animation never plays. So – confirming that Runes of Vampirism activate immediately upon taking damage in combat in DS.

DS HP Related:
(NB0001) Rune of Svanir “Become a block of ice for 5 seconds when you fall below 20% health” will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 20% by damage.
(NB0002) Rune of Vampirism “You become mist when below 10% health” will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 10% by damage.
(NB0003) Decaying Swarm Will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 25% by damage.
(NB0004) Full of life Will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 90% by damage.
(NB0105) Last Gasp “Gain Spectral Armor at 50% health (60-second cooldown)” will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 50% by damage.
(NB0106) Siphones Power “Gain might when hit and under 25% health” will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 25% by damage.
(NB0107) Full of Life “Gain 5 seconds of regeneration when your health reaches 90%” will trigger if Death Shroud health reaches 90% by damage.
All of the abilities take effect immediately after entering DS while in combat state and under attack (no matter how high % your Life Force at the moment is).
Reproduction: In combat, under attack and 95-100% HP and life force.
Who can test this? Or just some?

I can confirm NB0004.

I haven’t noticed Rune of Vampirism activating for me when DS goes under 10%.

I can also confirm what Vita said earlier. As soon as I am hit in DS while in combat all my DS abilities are locked. I can still move around but can’t use anything, like I’m dazed. Happens in all zones at all levels.