Guild Wars 2

A note on the 5s DS Build — it is tricky and fairly potent for bursting/support and heavily dependent on gearing for how to best apply the playstyle. By that I mean a choice between Staff D/D or D/F or going A/F and D/D and putting some heat into siphons/minions or going all-out for the On-DS skills (10pts spite for retal on ds; 15pts curses for enfeeble blood/fury on ds and picking up either greater marks or lose condi on ds), I hope this illustrates some of the flexibility of the 5s DS build.

And btw, that perma fury is harsh, mid-fights just run around spamming 1 and dont worry about targeting (unless one is called or you see some weakling to kill off, which i love doing a ds2/3 pop to dagger and run train) however the key, in my experiences overall with neco and in specific usage of this kind of build, knowing when to execute DS is extremely crucial (here comes a knockdown, better shroud sponge) like knowing you will have just 1 condi on ya from that KD so you get KDd and pop ur shroud, shrug it off and ds 3 that stomper into a wall.

In a similar vein to what Oldbugga says, as a part of working and developing a build suited to one’s desired Necro playstyle one thing that has always jumped out to me when I read posts about builds and other mechanics of SPvP.. tangent, i spose it applies in other aspects /tangent, but I always wonder, does the said-poster griping about such and such being UP or nonviable ever adjust their playstyle for the build?

Keep that in mind when you go from a D/D power well bomb build for a S/F condimancer… fundamentals, right? I like that my nec can fill a multitude roles that typically involve being the ‘clutch-kill’ guy.

I like how the visual representation of Greater Marks still remains broken for staff 2, 4, and 5.

What I would like more is that it is fixed. seriously. Is it going to be another 3+ months before deathshroud bugs are fixed or even acknowledged. in the mean time, i’ll enjoy the teamfight death match in the new map. meet me at the central node.

sounds like this nec needs to rethink how he specs his load out. 3 hs and ur dead? you deserve the griefing from a lowly thief. whats your armor? whats your tough? hp? seriously, pony up more info as to why a thief was able to just pwn you so easily, especially in wvw.

that’s nice but ds dropping and wiping off-hand/utilities for a brief moment is still needing a fix.

maybe anet will get to it in the patch after the next of this upcoming one on the 26th.. something like 2 months down the line. /sarcasm

Necro’s spec’d into Death Magic were plagued by this kind of bug for weeks because the 5pt minor trait was, and still is, a useless on-killl summoned creature. Finally got fixed after weeks more of crying.

They aren’t kidding. S/D is redonk. D/D is for nubs.

I don’t see this ‘lack of burst’ for necro. One may want to consider more options beyond the desire to burst while bunker or what have you. Necro is difficult to mix and match viable spices of our arsenal. I have plenty of burst when I spec for it, in t/spvp mind you (my perspective is rarely pve), and I have to adjust my loadout, approach, etc accordingly.

If you want to burst as a nec, try running BIP with a Power Condition build, bone minion and golem (clutch KD), spec into 2x tick terror, get to know what combo fields you do have as a necro for your spec. I can clutch burst np in hotjoin or tpvp as long as I am aware of the ~50% HP target training through chillblains with my bone minion on his heels (maybe the minion is just standing looking hideous but hey, that target is still close enough) and BOOM. BOOM. Golem KD, staff 5 (maybe 4 if a field is still up) and then ds3… sure, it aint close to an 11k 100blades or loltastic steal cnd bs rotation but it is something a nec can do that is, imo, somewhat dirty and sneaky.

as for animosity, its the internet. Just gotta let stuff roll off that Teflon armor.

I thought the tooltip for Spinal Shivers said, removes 3 boons… but it doesn’t. When did this change? Just like Well of Corruption gives LF per pulse — ninja changes need disclosure.

I mastered Deathshroud 3 months ago. I have since moved on to a variety of differing green pastures and have been much more satisfied with my necromancer once I got out of that Soul Reaping pigeon-hole.

It’s stupid that Flesh Wurm is so limited compared to Mes Portal. Only the necro can take the wurm, significant LoS/Range limitations make it a serious niche skill. If I could forgo that stupid wurm pumping pitiful damage to just have a reliable across-map portal (regardless of obstruction objects) for J u s t myself I would — keeping in place the fact that some kitten can just waltz up and smash my portal (which you cant do to a mes portal, just as a nec swap your staff in a drop 4 marks… woo just wait for that shatter spam cuz as a mes when i portal I almost always anticipate a trap on the other side)

/agree on Flesh Wurm needing some ‘attention’ in the somewhat daunting long list of things the necro community wants (so as not to say ‘need’ cuz ANet’s got the monopoly in that department)

but I’d like to see a progressive set of patches with changes to necro so I don’t have one huge patch that completely uproots my notion of my, by far, favorite profession. If only I had Boiling Blood, Clinging Darkness and Heart Flutter…

There was a good point made in one of Tokyomurai’s videos where he says he plays necro because its one of the few classes that’s been explored fully. In that spirit, I opened up the box and jumped out.

There are ways to get your bugged pets to attack and the fixes are not 100% reliable. I’ve tested this build twice in tournaments (silly Holidays stealing precious leisure time) but plenty of trials in SPvP. Anyways, to the nitty gritty:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQEQNAW4djEat61ama07JApCRP9gbwDH6RuS7MA;TwAA1Cro+y8l4LbRuvkFtwYgx2iJBA

Anyone with some constructive remarks? Questions? Just putting another build out there that isn’t a Power Well Bomb or Conditionmancer. To me this build fits into the, ‘you, you are going to die and I am the one to make sure that it happens’ sort of playstyle.

or protection from Spec Wall/Armor, swiftness from spec walk, regen from staff 2/focus 4

So a while back I saw some patch mentioning prioritizing bouncing abilities to better effect players versus pets..

ANet, could ya take another look at this? In the mists @sparring NPCs, against the thief, all my pets will die during the fight (whatev) but once the thief is downed and I re-summon my horde and they eventually all attack the downed thief, if I pop Reaper’s Touch, standing on the thief among all my pets with myself at whatever hp amount missing, I next to never see the regen buff and my pets, full hp freshly summoned mind you, certainly do not need it.

Mmmh, is this horse glue yet?

To say that power builds aren’t viable one may consider their approach to that load out and their playstyle. As for the 3 month old comment of lrn2ds — DS has since become more powerful (gluttony fix, soul reaping trait benefits — but there’s still plenty of fine tweaking to be done, a la, DS UI and other LF generating related skills/traits [see Greater Marks and only chillblains targetting reticle is appropriately sized when traited for this]) and before that I myself had plenty of success in SPvP just using DS spam builds (as in you trait for as much on-DS abilities as you can).

Anyway, necro has a lot of options at their disposal in the current state of the profession its just finding a groove among them that works that is difficult and time consuming, as Jon Peters said, necro is one of the more difficult classes to master — I don’t discredit that statement in the least. I’ve invested a great deal of my game time in gw2 to necro, more so than any other profession, and don’t expect to ‘rollface’ in your first SPvP match as a necro.

Still holding my breath to see what improvements are in store for necromancer.

Ps: 5s ds spam is so brutal, hi 100% uptime on fury, pbaoe bleed/weakness (15s icd, did that thief just try to gib me lolroll), lose 1 cond per 5s, gain retaliation, see my point? Just get good at mashing your DS bind every 5s or knowing when youll need it.

I do not think necro is broke but I do feel that we need attention in targeted areas of our profession that has been championed for a while now (traits, synergy, design).

but before that, i would like ANet to give attention to the current areas of the necro that need the love. You certainly named a couple in the OP. I hope ANet does not change the ability of the necro to choose who they want to die and make it happen.

yeah, its another in line of fixes. I mean, there still isn’t a disclosure of Weakening Shroud (curses IV) not having an internal cooldown…

Nah, the sizes are correct. Just tested golems.

Edit: the ground reticle on Chillblains is the appropriate size when traited for Greater Marks however, Mark of Blood, Putrid, Fear all have the default untriggered mark size on the ground when cast.

Upon today’s reflections of merrymaking, goodwill, gift-giving and so on I was struck by a notion, as I was barreling along on the freeway, that when I am on my necromancer and I want someone dead — they die. Gotta love them poisons, terror fears, closers/pullers, chills and of course what mayhem wouldn’t be complete with some explosions.

How do you execute pet abilities when you’re downed and watching the golem watch you? I’d be so glad if you could tell me how you manage that.

I really would rather see a longer duration and shorter cooldown on wells.

Burn all of current Lifeforce for a single target direct damage ability. I don’t see it being any more overpowered than say an ele dropping churning earth which is aoe damage, cripple and bleed.

I don’t see how it would be pointless to give every necromancer the option at spike damage without having to pigeon-hole their build and where the option expands on the class mechanic.

Nec should not have to trait for pet commands.

DS dmg sponging is fine; implement UI tweaks (% to # , appearance of buffs/cond’ts ), add a Manaburn-type ability ( hey, why not — the situation doesn’t always necessitate sponging dmg, maybe I need to spike somebody down with the cunning use of LF burn + terrorwells+vuln+bone minion+putrid mark )

Life Siphon is balanced — make Siphons on the whole scale, to some degree, with Healing Power.

Some TLC for our Trait trees; synergy, is what I would like to see… hmm, I’ve heard this all before. ANet has plenty of work cut out for them.. I’ll try to hold back until the next round of fixes.

Anyone remember Manaburn-type spells?

Imagine burning one’s entire Lifeforce bar in a single-blast.

he’s right. I didnt bother looking at the exact % gains but WoC has lf per pulse.

huh.

edit: 33% w/ gluttony

Sometimes a fashionably late entrance with a well positioned fear mark in the right order is just what your smashed team needs.

But if that would be the case, the 50% would only be applied while fear is active — a small window of opportunity for a necro to burst.

anyone else popping some popcorn?

So, shelving nec until next patch (save for when a tpvp team needs a nec).

If you need me, i’ll be in the welcoming committee on the ele forums. Just look at ele daggers in comparison to nec… just sayin.

edit: shelved until traits see a major overhaul. there is still no disclosure about Weakening Shroud having a cooldown.

april is still months away!

ugh — more pewpew less qq?

I am itching to test LF generation with the Gluttony fix/buff.

Disappointed.

Full agreement here.

if i get all minions to attack the same target in a hotjoin — oh man, i dont need siphon.

there will be an update, its all over gw2twitter. The 14th, pacific time, isnt over yet. Hang in there.

k, i see you must be the be all end all opinion on nec. And given that trait lines are set up universally for all nec, the 1st 0 indicates nothing into Spite. the next set, 20, would imply Curses, 20 pts into, the parenthetical III and IV would represent the traits in that respective tree. Need me to hold your hand with how to use ds beyond dmg sponging?

I’d go dagger/focus, focus 4 gives you regen and single target you can stack 12 hits of vulnerability. Spinal Shivers is amazing in pvp applications and if you want/need swiftness, just keep warhorn in your bags to swap out while OOC. Id focus more on crit in a siphon build since vampiric traits dont scale with heal power.

This wasn’t on the first page and it ought to be.

This should be implemented, imo, to make SPvP more enjoyable. I think in my specific instance when I find a build that I like and is useful but then, oh, one of two jobs is calling and I’m out the door without testing it. In the end, without really having to draw this out longer than it needs to be, for those of us with limited time to play (casual by circumstances, hardcore at heart) multiple spec load-outs would be a godsend.

Don’t allow swaps in combat and limit the number of load-outs to something manageable, say 4 max (buy the 3 additional slots via gold or gems) this would also benefit PvE but I’d rather leave it to the PvE constituents to make that case. As is, I don’t see a balance issue just a matter of prioritizing items. This is just a starting point that, to me, seems reasonable.

For me, this is starting to climb the list of priorities since I’ve become jaded with the necromancer and have branched out to other classes that have more than 2-3 viable gear/stat funneled specs and its becoming cumbersome keeping records of builds with all the variations in sigil/runes and traits. And with the time constraints — jumping right into the most enjoyable aspect of this game for me, well, will keep me logging in and recommending it to friends.

i’ll be sitting there waiting in the q for sure; first friday off in a long while where I didnt have priorities to take care of

sounds like a case of a skilled player showing a less skilled player how its done.

Hi,

I play necromancer. I have played necromancer since BWE #2. Before necro I played guardian. I’ve over 800 S/TPvP matches as necro and I simply state that as a marker of credibility — or short to say, I’ve invested time in the class.

To the meat of the matter:
Spite: 0
Curses: 20 (III*, IV*)
Death Magic: 20 (II*, VI*)
Blood Magic: 0
Soul Reaping: 30 (II, X, XII)

• swappable trait

The key to the build – mash DS every time it is up and will be useful — know when it will be most useful ( ala knowing that the next time you DS that enfeeble will go off because the tooltip still does not disclose a 15s internal cd and that warrior is going to charge in and you need the -condition on ds + weakness from the enfeeble). And then micromanage every other cooldown (this is really important).

I run Dagger/Focus + Staff. I typically enjoy Sigil of Fire/Bloodlust on dagger/focus and usually Fire on staff. I push 60% crit nigh 100% of the time (15pt curses, 5s fury on DS, ds on 5s cd from XII in soul reaping). Runes are whatever fits your fancy ( I like divinity for overall balance but it isnt my go-to).

Berserker/Rampager/Knight amulets all work for me and it depends on my mood (do I want to be a little more bursty or tanky).

I personally feel this build is versatile within the playstyle (in your face aggressive pressure with situational bunker) with options for utility loadouts — I run either full wells or mix it up with some mobility or skirmisher utilities. And as for the elite, Plagueform but if I am going tandem with one of my buddies we may go dual golem charge. Yeah, that ain’t falco.

*edited to help folks understand the trait allocation

Even geared for heal power +regen 100% uptime with siphoning well pulses the siphon build doesn’t, to me, feel up to par. Lack of ally healing through siphoning, other boons (primarily vigor, imagine what that could do for necs) and the list could go on. But I’d be happy to have ANet take a look at some scaling of heal power in regards to blood magic trait line.

marks on downed buddy? roll through em. or hey, drag your pet through them. dont see why theyd have to be changed.

@ black regent

have you ever seen Life Burst crit with a power build? Or how about the aoe stacks of bleed from Life Transfer, or the DS 2-3 combo?

If one gets 3-4 sec of survival from DS, traited for it or not, in the words of Point Break, you’re doing it wrong Roach.

Uh, just curious but are these decimal percentages functional like condition duration? as in they get rounded down?

I PvE’d @ headstart only to get rid of the uprank arrow in wvw; now all I do is T/SPvP.

I’ve played with Siphon builds since the patch fix for it. I still prefer my 10 (V):20 (III, IV):10 (VI):0:30 (II, X, XII) D/F+Staff build.

I’ll tinker with a vamp spec here &there but until +heal power scales with siphons (well, crit, on-hit) I will keep mashing my 5s DS spamming power build. Its legit for bunker and situational burst.

I’d play MM more but minions are outright broke.

Is anyone else on board with the ‘lets wait til the patch’? Since we got a dev reply on the gluttony topic.

Oh, what do you think the buff will be? I was just stoked to see ‘rounding error’ being fixed but then… a buff? I’m all giddy!

Hmm, comparing apples and oranges with the whole scepter/staff attack velocity. How about looking at necro staff 1 to mes staff 1, which is easier to avoid? Which is more appealing?

Dare I say, imo, mesmer. Since the ele:nec comparison was made.

As for J.P.‘s leak of the ’buff’ in the next patch — amazing bit of insight we finally hear as to why it was suspected that Gluttony isn’t working. I’ll hold my judgements on this one trait, of many, that need work and synergy. As I see it, those first 5 points into a trait-line are as a cornerstone for one’s spec. Since I primarily run a bunker power ds spamming build I take a full 30 pts into SR (and I did so before SR was adjusted) and if Gluttony see’s a proper fix in the next patch I am sure I will notice it and have an opinion to share.

You’re looking at the 2stat/crit dmg aspect, it works well enough for me in spvp that its a standard socket. Pve is ez, any build works and if you’re looking for bursty, divinity is at least a good set to start with.

10-20-10-0-30
0-30-10-0-30
0-20-20-0-30

That’s what I use. Mix and match with the traits but I’ll tell ya what if it isn’t already abundantly clear, I trait for DS — since the soul reaping core trait (30% more life force) was fixed it has been far more worth it than it was previously.

I use Dagger/Focus/Staff; I rune for Divinity; sigils of Fire/Rage/Bloodlust, yes I keep multiple sets in my bags. I take 50% death shroud CD, lose condition on DS, gain fury on DS, gain retaliation, cast enfeebling blood. As you can see, a lot happens every time I DS and I DS every 5s. Get that down and you’ll see the boons of this build.

Oh if only Gluttony worked!!! And if healing power scaling saw some love. Think about the ‘heal in area when exiting DS’ with the 5s cd… yeah, possibilities.