Guild Wars 2

I think it depends more on your play style, I play a glass cannon build but I’m constantly told (by people who are not playing Necromancers) that I should be a Condition Build.

Assuming you want a build for PvE, as you wouldn’t have needed to level to 80 for WvW or sPvP, I’ll talk you through my power build. Bare in mind all builds are flawed in some respect and some more than others but for me I find the best defense if a good offense. If you are good at dodging then this is the build for you.

Traits are 30, 10, 0, 0, 10.
Spite:
Spiteful Talisman – increased ranged for focus and CD reduced by 20%
Axe Mastery – Increased axe damage and CD reduced by 20%
Close to Death – +20% damage while health is below 50%

Curses:
Weakening Shroud – Cast Enfeebling Blood on nearby targets when entering DS

Soul Reaping:
Path of Midnight – CD of spells in Death Shroud reduced by 15%
Near to Death – CD of Death Shroud reduced by 30%
Deathly Perception – +50% crit chance while in Death Shroud.

Healing Spell:
Consume Conditions

Utility Spells:
Well of Suffering – High damage and stacks vulnerability
Well of Corruption – Does damage and converts boon to conditions on enemies, remember that stability converts to fear
Blood is Power – For optimal pew pew. 10 stacks of might.

Elite spell:
Flesh Golem – the knockdown can make sure the enemies stay in your wells and also make is easier to kite.

The weapons I use mainly is Axe/Focus for Vulnerability. My second set of weapons at the moment is Dagger/Dagger but I switch it with the staff sometimes depending on what I’m doing.

Dagger 4 removes 3 conditions from you and put them on the target. Dagger 3 is immobilize and dagger 2 is a small heal with damage.

Axe 2 is the hard hitting spell that you want to cast after stacking vulnerability on the target with focus 4 and Well of Suffering.

The filler spell I use is Death Shroud 1 but some prefer to use dagger 1 but what ever you prefer there I guess.

Have fun as Necro!

No idea what you just said. By the time you wrote it you could have logged on and tried it lol but it doesn’t hit very hard and it hits up to 5 nearby targets if that tickles you in any way. I haven’t been using it because I just don’t think it is all that great on a zerker Necro. hope it’s good for you conditioners though!

Minion Master seems to be popular for leveling Necromancers. The minions take a lot of the aggro (attention from monsters) so you take little damage. You’ll probably move on to a condition build at later levels and thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world and that Epidemic is overpowered

Then you’ll realize you bleeds are clipped at world events when there are more than 2 bleed builds on any 1 target… You’ll feel cheated so you’ll turn towards playing a zerker Necromancer, quit your job, break up with your girlfriend, wake up in the mornings in a puddle on your own saliva and do nothing but play necromancer because it’s the greatest thing in the world. We also look the best.

P.S. the only reason me and my fiance are still together is because she plays GW2 also.

Yeah I play a lot of PvE and we were never as bad as you guys make out, much better now though with Axe Training AND Close to Death traits together. also +50% crit chance in DS is awesome.

I wouldn’t recommend using Torment in a Glass Cannon/Zerker build though!

spoj.9672:

That is the exact build id use on 3 of the necro’s. The gate controller necro would run 30/10/0/0/30 for stability.

If you charge the add at the gate with your Flesh Golem you don’t get aggro.

SJWhat.9237:

Yes but too bad necro axe still hits like a feather duster. I don’t think it will matter much.

This guy thinks that all Zerker necros use the #1 ability instead of life blast and dagger #1 lol. In the Necro CoF speed run, all but 1 person used axe as their main weapon.

Chesire.9043:

You need both toughness AND vitality to see any real effect from both. You will take around the same % of damage if you’re only stacking one. Regardless in PvE, you should be focusing more on damage than anything else anyway.

Are you sure? I thought Vitality was the amount of health you had and Toughness was to reduce the amount of damage you took?

Kravick.4906:

Were you guys using that 30/0/0/10/30 build?

Similar variations of that build, we were all either 30/10/0/0/30 or 30/0/10/0/30. I’m not 100% on that but to who I spoke to those are the builds.

I’d be very much up for trying it again after the patch and putting a lot more time and effort into really making the time we set a challenge for any other professions to beat.

Also thanks for having me in on the runs!

Edit: someone posted this in the Dungeons forum too.

I used to play a Condition Necromancer but now the condition armour is collecting dust in my bank, I’ve turned to what is pretty much a glass cannon for 2 main reasons

1. I’m a fool for massive big numbers.

2. If I’m in a dungeon and we’re fighting a boss and this boss has 25 stacks of bleeds on him/her, I wonder how many on the bleed stacks are from me? and also how much of my damage is being clipped off because more than 1 person here is a bleed build?

Is it really worth having more than a could Condition build players (any class with bleeds). This also goes for world events, when I’m fighting The Shatterer, for example, I feel like more than half my bleeds are clipped so I do very little damage where as if I was a glass cannon build with physical damage, none of my damage would get clipped and I would be a more valued member.

Also when I tell people I’m a Zerker Necromancer I get a lot more places that if I said I was a condition necro.

Thanks for you time/listening to me rant on.

Edit: So what I mean to say is; Do any of you Condition Necromancers feel like you’re not doing as much damage as you should be on world bosses or in dungeons with more that 1 player being a condition build? Do you think we should instead get something to compensate for the damage we’re made to miss out on?

I don’t know weather you’re looking at builds for PvP, WvW or PvE but this post if for PvE

I think Close to Death trait might be better for you rather than Axe Training. I tried in sPvP on the dummies there and there really wasn’t a great deal of difference in damage. Of course there is a 20% reduction in the time but I think, especially for long fights, that Close to death with pay off more that Axe Training.

I use a similar build but I go for the standard Glass Cannon build (30,10, 0, 0, 30). I use Life Blast instead of Axe #1 or I use Dagger #1 for superior damage to axe if something doesn’t get Vulnerability (like inanimate objects) or where someone else also has vulnerability build.

If you want me to explain more in detail about glass cannon build just say and I’ll help out as much as I can but you will take a lot more damage than you do with the build that you’re running at the moment but you will do dealing more damage.

I was also wondering why thieves were getting this :/

“Kiss my tail”
“very well”

Just seems very kinky

Rennoko.5731:

Or don’t run a necro for DPS? Because it is completely illogical in PVE to play a class as DPS that has only his “1” skill for actually doing dps…

Seeing as how #2-#5 skills do little to no added DPS…. your benefit in a group is around conditions and manipulation. Since that aspect of the game is largely unimportant (mobs buffing themselves too often for you to remove, party cleansing without you being needed to flip debuffs, other classes apply vuln as effectively as you), you are largely unimportant.

People can consume their own conditions with sigils and healing spells. we’re not needed for support really and if we went to a support built it would go very unappreciated if it was noticed at all.

Like the first boss on Arah P3, I went condition build and cleansed all debuffs on my team as they were put on and got rid of immobilize before they got 1 shot and no one noticed. Instead we can just add to the damage they’re doing already and then ress people as they get downed. In my opinion the latter is far more efficient.

I find Necro very fun to play but we’re just good at tossing around conditions which at the moment no one really wants condition builds in dungeons. As much as we don’t like to admit it, we don’t really do anything that other classes don’t do better except look good.

But apparently we should be getting a nice upgrade next patch.

I tried to join a CoF farm run today in full Arah gear and they said “No necros and no engineers, sorry.” lol. Was quite annoyed because I’m a full power build and my max in CoF is about 15k with Ghastly Claws and about 8k with Life Blast but this still doesn’t compare to warriors hitting 30k with Hundred Blades.

Feed.4531:

A solution.

---

Hundred Blades
Root yourself and immobilize your closest target. Repeatedly strike multiple foes. The last strike does extra damage.

Damage (8x): 1380
Final strike damage: 345
Range: 130
Immobilize duration: 2½ seconds
Channeled: 2½ seconds
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Increased cooldown from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
Increased casting speed by 30%.
Lowered damage by 15%.
Gains immobilise.

---

Now it has greater utility in PvP, while remaining viable for PvE builds. Plus it’s still avoidable with condition removal or block, unless using certain skills such as SoM.

hahahahahahaha no.

For Flesh Golem I never really have these problems. I think the idea of us charging and not the golem would be a nerf to us. If we’re being CCed then I use the Golem to knockdown my opponent to save the damage (like knockdown into hundred blades from a warrior).

Plague Signet is in My PvE condition build 90% of the time because of blood is power giving 2 bleed stacks for a good duration, I like to transfer these to get 4 stacks of bleed right away on my opponent. Also why would you want to transfer blind when an auto attack will get rid of it anyway?

We have Stability for 3 seconds when we enter death shroud with Foot in the Grave trait. If you really need stability I’d recommend that trait/tree. it’s very good necromancer survivability. You can Change out your Flesh Golem and get Stability from Plague Form or Lich Form killing two birds with one stone!

IGN: Catatonîk
I can’t really say when I’m free, I don’t have a fixed schedule at work.

I’m full exo zerker gear with 4 ascended peices

In my oppinion, you shouldn’t use axe #1.

I have traited a few things to power up my Life Blast (Death shroud #1) I’ve reduced it’s CD to 5 seconds, it also Pierces, causes 2 stacks of Vulnerability per hit and 1 stack of might. In Arah with Potion + Sigil I’m critting 6k + with a zerker build always.

This might not be the best way to go because I don’t look at all these other build I just like to play around with what is good for me but it’s worth a go, I’ll explain in more detail below if you’re interested

Traits;
Soul Reaping
Gluttony: Increases life force gain from skills by 10%.
Vital Persistence (II): Life force drains 25% slower while in death shroud.
Last Gasp: Gain Spectral Armor at 50% health.
Unyielding Blast: Life Blast pierces and causes vulnerability.
Strength of Undeath: You do 5% more damage if you have more than 50% life force.
Near to Death: Death Shroud recharges 50% faster.*

*You should switch out the last trait for Foot in the Grave for Lupi in Arah.

If you keep your life force >50% You will have a nice 5% damage boost on top of the 25% (from vulnerability) not to mention the might stacks you’ll be building up.

To get the might stacks you’ll have to be in Spite trait tree with Reapers Might (VI). The might stacks last 15 secs before any boon duration.

Usually you’ll be able to get one or two casts of Life blast out so you’ll need Death Shroud on a 5 sec CD because you’ll only be coming out of it while your axe and focus skills come off CD.

I ranted on so I’ll stop now…

I also find when I make the UI scale the smallest, The Lion Arch Trading Post text doesn’t scale down with it.

STOP! collaborate and listen, I have a suggestion!

Ok I was thinking the other day that we need more dyes in the beige colour hue… and the name…

VANILLA ICE DYE!

And while we’re at it I noticed there we’re running low on hammers so we should have just called

M.C HAMMER!

It should have spells like “Stop!” which would be a stun and another spell called “Hammer Time” where the whole world crumbles beneath the awesome dance moves occurring all over the world.

You don’t need to approve this, I know you’ll love it and yes I’m just trolling! :P

I’m a condition build at the minute using Scepter/Dagger and a Staff but I’ve not played any other professions proper so I don’t know how we compare as far as utility slots are concerned But I found that there are some fitting to most condition builds for example;

Blood Is Power – This gives you 10 stacks of might for a nice amount of time and also bleeds your target for a very long time with 2 stacks but also bleeds you for a shorter amount (you are not a happy bunny about this!) I have this on for all combat encounters though! because of course you can remove the bleed of yourself with Consume Condition (healing skill) or Putrid Mark (Staff skill 4)

For AoE I always make sure I have up my Epidemic but I make sure this is never on my bars for boss fights but it pairs very well with Signet of Spite and Blood is Power. This spell gives 3 stacks of vulnerability but as mentioned earlier we can lose our conditions easily.

Signet of Spite is also on my bars most of the time as it pairs very well with Feast of Corruption (Scepter skill 3) and is very handy for survivability with the freeze and blind!

And my favorite skill that I only use in single combat is Plague Signet. Plague Signet is very handy because it transfers all conditions from yourself onto your target after gathers all conditions from nearby allies. This skill pairs really well with Blood is Power because it instantly removes the 2 bleeds stacks you have and puts them on your target.

In short I would recommend try Staff and Scepter/dagger with utility skills of Blood is Power, Plague Signet and Signet of Spite for single target and for AoE I would switch out Plague Signet for Epidemic.

I never really played GW1 so I wouldn’t know about that but sounds like the sort of thing I’m on about.

I’m pretty happy about how the money is going at the moment, if they start pumping in more money in to the game, you think it would make you better off and closer to getting a legendary? because the prices of them will skyrocket and you might be even further away that you are now.

There are multiple builds that each profession can have as we all know and some builds are better suited to different situations, like you can’t bleed inanimate enemy NPCs so ideally you would be able to switch to a berserker build while out of combat.

In my traits window I would like to have different builds at the ready rather than having to go to a main city and relearning my traits just while I do a bit of world completion then change back when I want to do a dungeon.

Another handy tool would be saving what gear you have equipped and synchronizing it with the build, so when you change your trait points to a condition heavy build it will equip armour that you have saved so go with the trait build.

If this idea is terrible please post below by saying “What a great idea, I approve this and I wont sleep till it is here”, and of course if it’s already been posted flame me horrifically.

Thanks.