Guild Wars 2

Kharr.5746:

It’s actually hard to die since you’re always in stealth and the traps do all the damage while you hide.

You get revealed when traps pulse damage.

Change Smokescale only when this change is added for everyone:

• While moving, you are immune to all class mechanics and class abilities.

If rangers’ class mechanic is completely negated simply by movement, then all classes should receive the treatment. It’s only fair.

Spike Trap is a knock down, even though the animation appears to be a launch. It is coded as a knock down.

Source: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spike_Trap

“Anomaly:
The description of this skill erroneously indicates this skill launches foes, but it deals knockdown as indicated in the skill’s facts.”

It’s odd that they removed the double leap effect of Swoop, because the actual animation of the skill really is like two separate leaps. It is two leaps chained together but it only counts as one leap finisher.

Tuomir.1830:

Out of curiosity, why would you use “Protect Me!” over Signet of Stone? It’s a pet sac and prevents point capture, the only thing it has going for it is slightly shorter cooldown. I run a shout-centric BM build myself, trooper runes and all, and I’d never pick “Protect Me” over Signet of Stone.

Slightly shorter is an understatement. Signet of Stone recharge is 80 seconds. Protect Me is 48s.

That’s the crux of the issue: From an e-sports perspective, it makes no sense for premades to ever be allowed to play vs randoms.

Premades do not improve from crushing randoms. Randoms don’t learn anything from getting crushed by premades. There is no defined path for growth. Right now the process goes: Step 1) Randoms get crushed by premades, 2) Randoms are inspired to form a premade, 3) Newly premade crushes randoms = no improvement, premade stagnates. 4) Back to step one.

The most competitive team-based e-sports games in existence support solo queue mode. Chew on that for a moment. Learn from example.

Seifer Thalaen.7869:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Is that it’s a psychological one.

Does psychological mean that is supposed to go trough evades?

You mean like guardian’s pull?

It’s intended.

Queuing arenas outside of HotM reduces the chance of players accepting queue pops, leading to longer queue times.

Dueling is on the development list but is not prioritized. Devs have expressed interest in creating a jump puzzle that leads to a dueling island within HotM. However, priorities are focused on living world content and HoT development.

It’s an interesting concept to give reapers zero mobility, but easy access to chill so the reaper can stick on targets. On paper it sounds wonderful; in practice it is horribad design. Now that movement abilities are unimpaired by cripple and chill, classes can dash/leap/teleport with maximum distance, and chill is just not enough to justify reapers having zero mobility.

Now more than ever, reapers need real mobility. The necromancer has teleports and fantastic ranged damage, but also fantastic melee damage, too. Why isn’t the reaper allowed teleports? Every melee greatsword in the game has a movement ability except for reaper’s.

I’m sure reapers are great in PvE, though – just horribad vs anything that moves.

Nerfed? You mean bug fixed and hopefully given some actual survivability to compensate.

Hammerguard.9834:

He wasn’t even doing that on a Reaper. Why has noone complained before?

People have been complaining… about necros being underpowered, weak, easily focus fired, easily kited, not having decent sustain options, having no representation in tournaments, etc. This is with the infinite life force glitch in place… let the mind digest that for a bit.

What’s sad is that this glitch makes all Necro players bug abusers whether they’re aware of it or not.

As long as this bug exists, it’s an insult to Necro mains, as it makes them exploiters by default.

Who knows how many balance decisions have been made by devs with this bug in place, too.

Can we get a tl;dr thanks

It’s sad I had to post this outside of the bug section, because I’ve actually posted and reported this bug in there over and over and over. It has been over a year now and no fix.

I fear that the bug has stagnated so long that dev balance decisions are made with this bug in mind, fully aware or not.

“Guys, Reaper 2 strong. Shaving imminent.”

SaintSnow.6593:

Just an fyi you’re only able to do that on clocktower bc no one trebed the walls on either side. Once those are down you can’t do that anywhere on clocktower.

Yup, just have to move to a pipe or a house and continue autoing away for infinite life force.

A necro in the middle of clocktower? Wow so tanky! Because there are 6 window frames, two roof parts, walls, and barrels and crates underneath to feed the necro life force with this bug.

“Guess we should tone down Reapers!”

ronpierce.2760:

Why have I not been doing this?! (Just kidding, not a fan of exploiting) But wow, that means hit or not, dagger gets more Lf than it should even during mid fights if you’re not trying. Does this include Locust Swarm?

Yes on the locust swarm. Do you see how stupid this glitch is? The entire tanky (if even) perception of Necros is dependent on a bug. The bug masks the gaping design flaws of the Reaper.

And what’s sad is how long this glitch has existed. It’s been around for so long that it has become normal. Balance decisions from devs may even be based off of this glitch “unknowingly”.

The perception of Reapers being tanky is so false it’s absurd. Please observe this video:

Terrain with an interactive component grants life force on hit. Many maps have interactive terrain such as the glass platforms on Skyhammer, the whole clocktower, buildings, and pipes of Kyhlo (any terrain that the trebuchet can alter/destroy).

This glitch has been a part of the game for how many years now? — so long that it has affected the perception of the Necro class as a whole. Their general survivability is hinged on this stupid, stupid glitch. All major tournaments have been playing with this glitch in the game the entire time. E-sports!

Please give the Reaper a chance to contend with the other specializations. Right now, it is easily the worst creation from Heart of Thorns.

That was excruciatingly painful to watch.

Thank you to all who have been testing this build. Please keep testing and posting feedback.

I’m still performing consistently well vs many other strong builds. The only build that has stood shoulder to shoulder 1v1 is a tanky celestial Ele build with diamond skin, and still I could succeed versus that, given enough time.

Necromancer
Dhuumfire:
Fixed a bug with this trait that caused the skill facts on shroud skill 1 to omit the damage within a range of 600.
Corrected an issue in which the Dhuumfire version of shroud skill 1 would deal less damage than intended.
Fixed a bug in which Dhuumfire was a shorter range than shroud skill 1.
Unholy Martyr: Fixed the description of this trait to specify that it draws conditions instead of removing them.
Chilling Darkness: Added a 5-second internal cooldown to this trait.
Plague: This skill no longer inflicts bleeding every second while it is active. Instead, it inflicts 10 seconds of bleeding when it is first activated. When traited with Master of Corruption, it inflicts 4 seconds of poison.
Mark of Evasion: This trait now only activates if you are in combat.
Last Rites: The portion of this trait that prevents allies from bleeding out now only applies to allies while you are not downed. The bonus healing power is applied regardless of state.
Consume Conditions: Lowered the number of self-applied vulnerability stacks from 10 to 5.
Vampiric Presence: Fixed a bug in which the Vampiric Aura effect applied by this trait allowed it to steal life on skills that did not actually hit.

So… the celestial dhuumfire got buffed big time.

Dhuumfire range has been increased from 900 range to 1200 range. Dhuumfire now deals more damage (as if it didn’t do enough already).

Plague no longer inflicts repeating self bleeding, and Consume Conditions vulnerability is only 5 stacks. This makes taking Master of Corruptions even more viable than before.

Testing in progress!

KreatE.7612:

I’m curious as to how stacking your wells with well of blood as your heal and maybe even take the well of blood on revive trait would do. I’ll try testing when I can.

If you’re going to take Well of Blood, there’s little use for Master of Corruption (MoC) trait. That’s the main purpose of MoC. It changes Consume Conditions into the largest burst heal possible on the shortest cooldown in the entire game.

I originally played with Well of Blood, and it’s a good skill for mind games. Makes enemies run away. However it didn’t fit my play style because I am very aggressive and I need larger healing over time due to soaking up so much damage. Perhaps a more team supportive play style can make Well of Blood work.

You can drop the lesser Vampiric signet trait and it wouldn’t be that bad. The signet does not heal you in shroud anwyay, so you wouldn’t be missing out on much. Again, a more team supportive play style can benefit from the revival trait.

KreatE.7612:

I tried this build with small modifications, and kudos. I’ve been experimenting with every and all necro builds since patch and dislike them all for various reasons. This build feels pretty good overall.

MAJOR modifications I’ve made:
1.) Life from Death over Banshee’s Wail. The 2k heal from deathshroud on a 10 sec cd is substantial.

I’ve been testing this for about 15 hours straight in sPvP. Trying to synergize with Life from Death is awkward, because I don’t flash shroud. I stay in shroud for as long as possible to maximize dhuumfire and survival, so I don’t get the 1.6k HP heal from the trait every 10 seconds – more like every 20+ seconds. I think the trait may work with a particular play style though.

Shakaal.2563:

Hi guys, sorry for my english i’m french.

I really love this build. It’s very tanky and you can survive in 1v2 fight too keep points.
As a necro you are often focus on team fight but it’s not a problem! Taking 3 wells is the best option i think but i have changed sigils too.

A question : are you noscoc?

Glad you like it. Please keep testing the build and provide feedback. I am always trying new things and testing.

KreatE.7612:

I tried this build with small modifications, and kudos. I’ve been experimenting with every and all necro builds since patch and dislike them all for various reasons. This build feels pretty good overall.

Very good feedback, thanks. I will be doing tests. Unholy Martyr does not clear conditions from yourself; it pulls conditions from allies to yourself like plague signet passive. I agree that this is a good grandmaster trait if you decide to drop 1 out of 3 wells. I liked wells for the extra long protection with Vampiric Rituals (Well of Power giving even more protection on vuln conversion), but perhaps this can work too.

I feel like your tweaks are fine because they change the build but achieve the same goals. The purpose of Banshee’s Wail is primarily to gain huge amounts of Life Force in group fights, similar to the purpose of Unholy Martyr. Life from Death gives consistent healing over time, similar to the effect of siphoning wells with Vampiric Rituals. Etc.

Jelzouki.4128:

Still trying to understand why you ran celestial before June 23….celestial is the product of an efficient might stacking class

I liked celestial pre June 23 for its survivability while not compromising damage by very much. I have a lot of celestial videos pre June 23 in my signature.

Morwath.9817:

Show me Necro tanking Mesmers, oh wait…

Will you just watch the godkitten video. Jk.

1v3 with an enemy mesmer interrupting the necro’s heal over and over again. Tanked them for a long time. Again starting at a little over 10% life force.

People are incredible. Even in the face of evidence showing clear examples through video footage, people will still refuse to open their minds even just a little. Necro has sustain with the proper build. Not saying necro has the best sustain, but the June 23 patch improved necro sustain by a lot and there are options for decent sustain.

Morwath.9817:

People telling how good Necro sustain is when you’ve fully charged Deathshroud – lol. If you have it at beginning of the fight, that means you already won previous one and you’re just snowballing.

The best possible fix for Necros is to give them portion (50%?) of DS at beginning of match/afte respawn.

I understand your point. The 1v3 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQsW5JKu04#t=1m49s the necro started at 1/4th life force.

I think people are really discrediting the sustain potential of necros with the right build. Suspecting that people are desiring that same level of sustain in the video using glass berserker.

Necro sustain is awesome right now with blood magic. Not quite sure what the issue is.

Video example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQsW5JKu04#t=5m46s

A lot more examples in that video of 1v2, 1v3, 1v4, and group skirmishes.

bhagwad.4281:

On my necro, I’m finding that I need to press a skill several times rapidly to ensure that it activates. If I press it once, it’s not queued up…this has often been my downfall since before the patch I was used to a “press it and have faith it will work” approach.

Does this happen to you as well?

Edit: Only for skills with cast times.

Actions have a queue system, where if multiple skills are pressed in succession, some skills have priorities over others and will cancel the others. Heal, for example, will usually cancel out any other abilities in queue.

So yes you do have to spam the skill if you want to 100% ensure it will work right then and there. Otherwise if you rotate through a bunch of skills pressing them just once each, the skills will make your character think and change priority left and right, and you’ll just be sitting there casting and doing nothing.

It works with other classes though. Thief skills have a teeny tiny bit of casting lag, but they are all pretty equal in priority. So, if you press thief skills once and “have faith”, they usually happen in the exact sequence that you pushed the skills in.

Zhaid Zhem.6508:

On video you don’t place many many fire, or not at all … I’m okai with dhumfire but i think others runes like the good old rune of the Pack should be more profitable.

Interesting suggestion. Do you think pack rune would be better? I used pack rune by default at first but gradually evolved to Flame Legion. The swiftness on pack is unnecessary because of Banshee’s Wail, and this build gets fury in Shroud, and blind from heal is converted to fury with Power well. Though, pack runes would give more fury than that.

On the contrary, necros have decent diversity now. “Power wells” is vague, because there are different variations of wells. For example, I’ve been running a Celestial Dhuumfire build with siphoning wells (link and video in signature). Other necro builds use support-style wells like Well of Blood and Power, and forego the damaging wells all together.

The diversity is decent. It’s much more improved at the very least.

I uploaded the video demonstration on YouTube for 60fps goodness.

The Celestial Dhuumfire build remains the same: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V44-_;1kHFJ0D4-KkJ0;9;479A;0136246148;4INl2h;1Bk-2Bk-20M

Please try it out. Any feedback is appreciated.

morrolan.9608:

zone.1073:

Grouch, the community must give you a lot of flack for being an engineer main and on the development team. Everyone thinks your bias towards engineers affects decisions when it comes to balance. But confirming this bug, taking action, and having a prompt plan to fix the issue has really made me feel otherwise. You’re doing a good job.

Its hardly been timely action especially when other abilities were nerfed so quickly. And what plan? No plan is specified.

Grouch specified that it is disabled until the next patch. Giving us a date on a bug fix is better than a Soon™.

Grouch, the community must give you a lot of flack for being an engineer main and on the development team. Everyone thinks your bias towards engineers affects decisions when it comes to balance. But confirming this bug, taking action, and having a prompt plan to fix the issue has really made me feel otherwise. You’re doing a good job.

Grouch, the community must give you a lot of flack for being an engineer main and on the development team. Everyone thinks your bias towards engineers affects decisions when it comes to balance. But confirming this bug, taking action, and having a prompt plan to fix the issue has really made me feel otherwise. You’re doing a good job.

I find plague’s self-condi odd because it continuously applies poison and bleeding to yourself if traited. No other corruption skill applies self-conditions multiple times like this. Usually it’s just one time, and then you can counteract it by transferring, converting, or removing.

bhagwad.4281:

I’m liking the tankiness of this build and its damage. As with all necro builds, the weak point is probably the active heal – easy to get interrupted accidentally or purposely – maybe use the well that provides stability first…not sure.

I have a lot to learn – mostly with regard to CD management and when to use which wells. Hard not to panic and blow them all

Aside for breaking stuns, I try to use Well of Power (condi conversion) only after I heal, or right before if I know I’m about to heal soon. Well of Power converts the vulnerability and blind from the heal into extra protection and fury. If I’m about to use plague elite, I blow all cooldowns, all wells, all marks, then go into plague. By the time plague ends, all cooldowns will be refreshed and ready for round two.

Also, try to use staff skill 4 after healing because it will transfer your blind and vuln to the enemy. Don’t make the mistake of using any other mark or important skill (like fear) right after a heal because it will just whiff due to blind.

Couple important notes: 1) Well of Power does little damage but it vamps the same amount as the other wells. And 2) When placing down the power well, enemies cannot discern whether or not it is the highly damaging wells (suffering, corruption). They all appear the same. You can use this information to lull your foe into a false sense of security. “Oh the necro used his wells, I’m safe for a while!” then you surprise them with immobilize and throw out your damage wells.

Well of Suffering and Corruption go hand in hand; you should always use them together in unison. It’s Well of Power that you need to make tactical decisions on. Every enemy class has a good opportunity for power well. Example, when a guardian or ele lays down a burning field that constantly applies burns, putting down the power well will give you multiple aegis blocks. It’s a very versatile skill.

Solori.6025:

DavyMcB.1603:

Seems like a hard code problem. Things like this would never last for a week (even hours). It’s probably more than just switch pierce mode on and off.

If you switch the trait, the grenades dont pierce.

So they could very well just disable the trait if it’s working like the symbolic avenger.
But they haven’t.

So I’m going to guess this is working as intended.

This is not consistent with how ArenaNet handles glitches. If the glitch impacts the game on a large scale, like being PvE-exploitable to the point of farming world bosses like with the guardian trait, then they will hot fix it in a matter of hours. However, this glitch impacts only a very specific portion of the game: sPvP. It’s still a glitch but it doesn’t call for a hot fix at the same speed as the aforementioned.

What’s amusing is how such a prominent bug (6 grenades =/= 15 grenades) that regular players notice the first 3 minutes of pvping goes unnoticed by an entire team of developers and internal play testers.

What’s more interesting is why the ranger’s call of the wild on pet swap was hot fixed so much sooner than anything else. Priorities seem so scatter brained.

After much experimentation, I have refined and improved the celestial dhuumfire build (using some suggestions posted here, too). I agree that the Curses trait line is powerful, and I replaced the Spite traits with Curses.

Without Spite, the build loses out on the Chill of Death proc, might stacking, and signet trait. With Curses, the build gains more defense versus conditions, more defense versus power damage through weakness, more condition pressure, more crits, more synergy with Blood Magic and Soul Reaping traits. Essentially the build’s damage output remains relatively the same, but the survivability has been greatly improved (it already had good survival to begin with).

The new celestial build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V44-_;1kHFJ0D4-KkJ0;9;479A;0136246148;4INl2h;1Bk-2Bk-20M

Simple video demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQsW5JKu04

The footage is very basic but it shows the celestial dhuumfire build in motion. My gameplay is not perfect and I make errors, but perhaps the build will excel in more capable hands.

I’ve actually been running Dhuumfire in pvp and enjoying it. Dhuumfire is not worth it as a primary damage source, and building full condi and relying on Dhuumfire is not going to work.

Rather, Dhuumfire is a powerful supplemental damage source. It’s great in a power-heavy build with Flame Legion runes. I personally use it with Celestial amulet because of my play style (jack of all trades, power/condi/sustain).

Build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V44-_;1kHFJ0D4-KkJ0;9;479A;0136246148;4INl2h;1Bk-2Bk-20M

For pvp, plague is surprisingly strong with the June 23 condition system revamp. The condition output is bursty enough to kill most classes using a berserker setup, and of course it is still a reliable stomp. It’s even better for stomping now that there is cooldown reduction available for it, bringing plague down to a quick 2 minute recharge. The self-inflicted conditions from plague is negligible, and if you use the Plague Sending trait, your condition output is actually increased.

Plague is the best elite because of its flexibility: stomp, survivability, self-peel, AoE condition output, and team support.

Lich is decent but it doesn’t add any new element of gameplay. The necromancer already outputs high damage through weapons and skills; Lich can be redundant in this sense. Even the 1200 range is redundant because one must be standing almost on top of one’s target for the Lich skill 1 to land; it is very strafe-prone otherwise. Furthermore, Lich is a poor emergency elite because it requires the necromancer to already be at high health and in good position before use, whereas plague can be used in unforeseen emergencies and actually save the necromancer and/or his teammates and turn the tide.

If Vampiric signet was instant cast, I would use it over Consume Conditions, or create a build around it.

The fact that the vampiric signet can be interrupted just as easy like Consume Conditions makes it an unreliable, inferior personal heal. However, it is a strong offensive tool and team support skill. But as a personal life saver, no.

Celestial necro round two, success?

Hello. I used to run celestial on necro before the June 23 patch. I liked celestial due to its well-rounded nature and equal mixture of power damage, condition damage, and survivability. It was the target for a lot of criticism due to berserker amulet being the golden standard at the time. Really, why use celestial with a power build that has 1) little condition damage, and 2) no sustain. The celestial stats are seemingly wasted.

However, after the June 23 patch, all of those issues have been alleviated.

The new celestial build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V44-_;1kHFJ0D4-KkJ0;9;479A;0136246148;4INl2h;1Bk-2Bk-20M

Simple video demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQsW5JKu04

(Flame Legion rune is outdated on the build calculator. The newly updated Flame Legion rune effect: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_the_Flame_Legion )

Key points of the build:

• Celestial amulet
• Flame Legion runes
• Dhuumfire
• Life siphoning wells
• Equal mixture of power and condition damage

Dhuumfire is now a powerful trait with the condition system revamp; it now has zero internal cooldown and applies burning on every hit of shroud skill 1 (permanent 3-4 burning stacks on target while using Dhuumfire). Flame Legion runes are the best choice to amplify the burning, and it also fits the theme of equal mixture power/condition damage.

FAQ: Why Banshee’s Wail instead of Vamp aura trait? Banshee’s Wail gives the build near permanent swiftness from warhorn, and it is also an essential part of the build’s tankiness as it is a key source of life force generation. More life force equals more dhuumfire.

Survivability: This is where the build shines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQsW5JKu04#t=5m46s

• Blood Magic gives very good sustain, especially from the lesser vampiric signet from trait that procs very easily due to the synergy with Curses traits.
• Anti-conditions: Plague Sending and Well of Power provide easy condition wipes, and the Well synergizes nicely with the 20s cooldown Consume Conditions and Plague elite. All negatives of using Master of Corruptions are erased with Well of Power.
• Banshee’s Wail and Soul Marks traits amplify the life force regeneration of the build. Soul Marks synergizes with mark of evasion, and it gives the build momentum with another source of ranged, instant life force early in a fight.

I’m always looking for ways to improve the build. Please take a look, try it out in-game, and give feedback. Thanks for reading.

Regarding the efficacy of solo queue, we have to understand why the concept of solo queue even exists. Why do the major e-sport powerhouses like League of Legends have ranked solo queue mode? Why is their solo queue mode the most popular mode? Why did many of the successful e-sport players in League get recognized from their performance on the solo queue ladder? Certainly there is a reason.

Solo queue is important for building a competitive community because it is a true test in skill: can you carry your team or not? Solo queue builds players into carries and leaders. It forces players to learn, improve, and as a result, the community becomes a more competitive environment.

Poliator.7021:

Aww yisss, let’s bring back Solo Arena, with all the kids QQing, where the team with more members won (because most of the games were 4vs5) with a imbalanced matchmaking as today’s queues. And of course with the lack of communication and people who thought they were “pros”.

Did I do it right? We can QQ about everything. Of course I am against the implementation of Solo Arena again.

When solo queue existed, there was no queue pop attendance check. Also, Skyhammer was a map option. The matchmaking algorithm was also different back then.

We never truly had a proper solo queue. With all of the improvements to arenas today, reviving solo queue would be interesting. My suggestion: change Ranked to solo queue only; Unranked can still have team premades.

imo, A and D should be strafe functions by default, forcing all players to learn to use the mouse to turn.

If you evade as soon as you see the visual cue of PBS, it is dodgeable. Usually one would anticipate when PBS is about to be used, and so evading it is definitely possible.

Normally, however, players are unable to evade it because of lack of dodges – they probably had to burn dodges earlier to evade the ranger/pet’s other attacks.

What did I just read? Dude, you need to write this stuff in a personal diary or something. Not here.

Sounds like you got your butt whooped and took a hit right in the feels. I’m telling you: Diary.

Finishing off a downed player should not be effortless. If I’m ever downed, I want my foes to work for their kill. If people have the option to sink or swim, most people will choose to swim. Don’t assume that all downed players must automatically die; some players build their characters and sacrifice lots of beneficial traits and stats just to function well while downed.

If you recognize that the downed player is a high damage berserker player, then you should understand that his health pool and defense are extremely small, and it may be better to just cleave them down instead of stomping, or use a tactical approach to finishing off the downed player (strafe his projectiles, LoS behind terrain and chip him down, put a pet on him, safe stomp, etc).

I don’t like the map because there are no comeback mechanics. Because of the layout of the map, one player makes one mistake and the game is over: that team gets farmed like NPCs in a “I swung a sword” quest.

A map like courtyard is not for team deathmatch; that map should be a free-for-all. Actually it’d be great for free-for-all with its tight spaces and narrow passageways.