Necromancer Combat

[bahamuto]

I decided to play a necromancer first as I like the idea of having minions. As I have not read into much of how combat works before hand I have some comments and questions.

1) Why does the necromancer have to be in Melee range? Unless I'm doing something wrong, his main attack with a dagger and a axe is in melee range, and wearing light armor, this can be... well dangerous. Is there another weapon that isn't melee?

2)Number 1 wouldn't be as terrible but I can't figure out a way to tel my minion what to do before I do it. I would like him to attack someone first and then I can attack and he can be my meat shield, however I can't see a way to ask him to do anything specific.

3)Is there any concept of name plates? I usually walk into a bad guy because I didn't notice that he was un-friendly. I'm sure this has in part to do with the lag and frame rate issues, but I would like a way for bag guys to be more noticeable.

4)Is the general idea of a Necromancers "rotation" for back of a better term, to build up your life force bar to max and then get into death shroud? That is what I"m trying to do for the most part.

Thanks for any answers or comments.

[Slaughty8]

one important note:
"1) Why does the necromancer have to be in Melee range? Unless I'm doing something wrong, his main attack with a dagger and a axe is in melee range, and wearing light armor, this can be... well dangerous. Is there another weapon that isn't melee? "

GW2 is not like WoW or any other tank/healer/dps game. U can't just sit and smash buttons for imba healing or diminishing incoming dmg or just do the dmg. Armor in GW2 means almost nothing. Whole combat system in GW2 is based on action, true action, the system many ppl were waiting for. Every class in GW2 can fight in melee and "tank" with series of evade (double tap W or S or A or D). That's all.

In case of GW2 one need a fresh mind, because it's combat is smth new, like Tera.

[Bonkbonk100]

Axe skill is melee? Wut? Didn't know 600 range count as melee range these days.

[bahamuto]

Axe skill is melee? Wut? Didn't know 600 range count as melee range these days.

Sorry I didn't know the axe had range. Where does it tell you? I guess when I first started I saw an axe and I thought melee. Then at level 3 or so I switched to dagger, as it was more powerful.

[Bonkbonk100]

Sorry I didn't know the axe had range. Where does it tell you? I guess when I first started I saw an axe and I thought melee. Then at level 3 or so I switched to dagger, as it was more powerful.

Playing yesterday confirms it.

Yes, I also found dagger to do more damage than Axe, but that might be because of the weapon difference. Scepter is my favorite at the moment.

Also, http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/...00000000000000 and put your cursor over the axe skills. Shows damage, range, cooldown and so on.

[bahamuto]

Here is another noob question. When I'm attacking , with an axe or dagger or anything, do I need to have a specific target for it to do damage or will it hit anything in the path of the attack?

[Slaughty8]

It will hit anything in the path. Almost every damaging skill U can use to hit the air, they are direction-based, no need to target anything.

[Deleted]

1) Axe is 600, you can see it on the tooltip of the weapon or on the skill tooltip. The 2nd ability (whirly axe + life replenish) is 900 i believe.

2) Aggro is based on how close you are to a mob, not how much damage you do. As such if you attack from range and your minion moves in it will get aggro. The initial minion cant take a lot of hits though.

3) You can set the game to always show enemy names in the options.

4) Not sure about a rotation, I try to use the focus' slow effect to kite mobs a bit and hit them with the 2 axe abilities. Saving Death Shroud for when there's a lot of mobs up (atm its a zerg fest when there's a lot of people around).

I did really enjoy the Necromancer, it's like a ranged melee

[Ashnazg]

I decided to play a necromancer first as I like the idea of having minions. As I have not read into much of how combat works before hand I have some comments and questions.

1) Why does the necromancer have to be in Melee range? Unless I'm doing something wrong, his main attack with a dagger and a axe is in melee range, and wearing light armor, this can be... well dangerous. Is there another weapon that isn't melee?

2)Number 1 wouldn't be as terrible but I can't figure out a way to tel my minion what to do before I do it. I would like him to attack someone first and then I can attack and he can be my meat shield, however I can't see a way to ask him to do anything specific.

3)Is there any concept of name plates? I usually walk into a bad guy because I didn't notice that he was un-friendly. I'm sure this has in part to do with the lag and frame rate issues, but I would like a way for bag guys to be more noticeable.

4)Is the general idea of a Necromancers "rotation" for back of a better term, to build up your life force bar to max and then get into death shroud? That is what I"m trying to do for the most part.

Thanks for any answers or comments.

I had the misfortune of making necro my main in one of the previous CBT's, but since there weren't too many changes to the class, I can speak without really breaking the NDA. I got up to level 29 on him before quitting him for greener pastures, but:

1. You don't. Sceptre / focus and Staff are both long range options (900 range and 1200 range respectively). Compare to dagger (130) and axe (600).
2. Necro pets cannot be controlled. They attack whatever you attack. Rangers are the only ones who develop a "bond" with their pets to a level where you can precisely command them.
3. I thought you could turn on the name plates? (Not in BWE, so can't check right now)
4. Depends on your spec. If you spec for DS, maybe. Keep in mind that DS is actually really, really weak unless you optimize for it. It is a survivability tool, not a dps cooldown, since in death shroud, your life blast is actually much inferior to your normal attacks / skills, unless you optimize for it, and even then its only slightly inferior. The biggest benefit of DS is a 2nd lifebar for pvp/pve, and also the fact that if you spec for it, you can apply 3-4 different conditions when you enter DS, thus you can jump in/out of it to quickly chill/poison/vulnerable mobs around you.

I built my necro around bleeds. You cannot stack poison (doesn't stack in intensity, only in duration), so picking up poison skills on necro is a waste, however you can stack bleeds in intensity, and various necro skills allow you to get bleed stacks up to 15-20. This was for PvP though. The PvE spec, iirc, was your standard run-of-the-mill minionmancer with a horde of minions and debuffs to make those minions more effective. Very simple, very boring.

[Purple]

I decided to play a necromancer first as I like the idea of having minions. As I have not read into much of how combat works before hand I have some comments and questions.

1) Why does the necromancer have to be in Melee range? Unless I'm doing something wrong, his main attack with a dagger and a axe is in melee range, and wearing light armor, this can be... well dangerous. Is there another weapon that isn't melee?

Some weapons are more melee ranged. Others are not melee ranged. The Scepter is a good example, and the staff has a ranged attack as well. That said, the axe's first and second skills are both mid-range abilities, as far as I can tell.

2)Number 1 wouldn't be as terrible but I can't figure out a way to tel my minion what to do before I do it. I would like him to attack someone first and then I can attack and he can be my meat shield, however I can't see a way to ask him to do anything specific.

Minions are like in Guild Wars 1, you don't get to control them.

3)Is there any concept of name plates? I usually walk into a bad guy because I didn't notice that he was un-friendly. I'm sure this has in part to do with the lag and frame rate issues, but I would like a way for bag guys to be more noticeable.

Have you noticed the outline when you hover your mouse over, or target, certain things? Yellow outlines are neutral, but you can attack them, and they'll fight back. Red outlines are hostile, and will attack you whether you like it or not, provided they see you.

4)Is the general idea of a Necromancers "rotation" for back of a better term, to build up your life force bar to max and then get into death shroud? That is what I"m trying to do for the most part.

I tend to pop in and out of Deathshroud quite a lot, as needed, rather than building it up full, and I rarely stay in it the entire time. With certain trait selections, this may change, it's insane not to use it though, as even 'just' the main nuke you get can do decent damage. Indeed all the abilities have their place, and you'd be amiss not to use Deathshroud enough to unlock all its skills. None will be especially powerful unless you spend your traits to support Deathshroud and its abilities though. The main reason I pop in and out of it so much is survival, and eating large attacks that I can't dodge.

[bahamuto]

I think the Staff is the way to go at least for me. I can start out at ranged, and also do a ranged poison effect. It is also easier to keep track of the little buddy blood fiend. I'm only level 6 , but I'd like to get to 10 before I give a thumbs up or down.

Also looking at all the skills, wow there is a lot of different builds you can do. I don't' think I'll be able to keep track of it all.

[Ashnazg]

If you pvp, the range of "valid" builds narrows down significantly.

Daggers are almost immediately out because of 0 range. Axe sucks because the attacks are channeled, meaning you have to stand still.

Sceptre / Staff are viable, however Staff's cooldowns are a little on the high side, and its missing good defensive skills. Staff is a clear winner in WvWvW for sniping people off keep walls and such.

[Purple]

If you pvp, the range of "valid" builds narrows down significantly.

Daggers are almost immediately out because of 0 range.

Dagger skills focus around life returns, and if you trait to support that, you can be very survivable, even up close, but you have to build your character's skills, their gear, and their traits to support it.

Axe sucks because the attacks are channeled, meaning you have to stand still.

Misconceptions about Guild Wars 2 and its combat are rampant, people seem to mistake what they think should be happening for what actually happens. The axe has three skills, the first, you can hotkey push it for each attack, or set it to auto attack, and you can move, it's a mid-range skill. The second skill you get, yes, it's channeled, but no, you're not rooted in place in the least, and it's also a mid-range skill. The third skill, a favorite of mine, is a wonderful PBaoe with a retaliation effect. Typically, once you have all three, I recommend you hit this when in range, then hit the second skill, and then decide between your secondary weapon skills and your primary attack skill, as well as any utility you might want to harness.

That third axe skill is a great turning point for a battle, and you're not rooted in place for it either, quite the opposite, I've even hit it on the run, and I'm closing in on an enemy, for it to go off just as I reach their ranged. There's something humorous about my little Necromancer using its particular animation.

[Deleted]

but no, you're not rooted in place in the least

I find myself really needing to get used to this after playing wow for so long; keep standing still when I see a channel bar when I could just move while casting. It's muscle memory overtaking logical thought.

[Purple]

I find myself really needing to get used to this after playing wow for so long; keep standing still when I see a channel bar when I could just move while casting. It's muscle memory overtaking logical thought.

That's a good way of thinking about it, they say repetition is as good a teacher as any for that reason, the solution, I guess, would be to purposely put yourself in situations where you're going to use the skill and just move. Even if you aren't in a situation you need to move, just move, retrain the muscles and all. Might help?