Is Necromancer good?

[Felpacino]

I may start playing this game. But I'm confused about classes.

I play as a Warlock in WoW so Necro looked close to me. However, I'm not an Affliction Warlock, so I don't like dotting and expect them to die. I prefer burst over dots. So, Elementalist and Thief also looked good. Thief however looked better, because I love fast-paced combat. I saw some melee fights on Elementalist videos. If Elementalist is like Spellsword, then I'm up for it.

I mostly do PvP btw, but I do raids too. So what do you say?

[Krothar]

Elementalists can summon different Elemental weapons so that you can play a few different "styles" of combat for a short time, one of which being a Great sword. Also, using daggers, your spells are very short ranged, giving it a "Melee" feel.

Necromancers can play a few different ways. Going full summons is a safe, if slightly slower way to level. They can put out some fairly good AoE if specced the right way, however.

[Arlee]

I have a ton of fun on my Necro though I mostly use her for sPvP. Really all of the professions are viable depending on what you want to do. Also next week there is going be a big patch which overhauls how conditions work, the spec lines and traits for every class, and some other stuff. So, it's hard to say exactly how things will be after that.

The best advice is to start playing and trying things. You only need to really level until you get all your weapon skills unlocked to get a feel for how a profession works and if you like it. Gameplay doesn't really change at max level so you don't have to level to 80 to know if you'll enjoy a profession long term or not.

[Deleted]

I play mainly necro and ele. But with ele I only play staff, so I will not try to list dagger or scepter ele playstyles. They are faster and closer to melee range than staff play.

Also will not link builds, since next week's trait change will modify them. But here are some basic play-styles of necromancer:

• DoT class aka Terrormancer: Condition build that relies on large Bleed stacks, Fear chains and - just like most necromancer builds - requires good positioning. Good positioning and counterpressure via Fear is what will keeps you alive.

• Power necro aka DeathShoud(DS) necomancer: very powerful PvP burst build that utilizes Death Shroud for personal might stacking and increased survivability at range. In addition, it provides AoE vulnerability to groups and offers utility with its wells. Build is easy to play in 1v1s but requires experience and good positioning in teamfights.

• Play with summons aka Minion master: An easy to learn Necromancer build, the Minion Master is most comfortable holding side points, engaging in small scale fights, and contesting neutral objective. Offering strong sustained single target damage and CC, along with high sustain and immense amounts of health and armor, the player focuses more on supporting the minions with healing and movement disabling effects and doesn't have to directly worry about offense. With heavy investment in passive minion buffs, this makes the build one of the easiest for new players while still allowing a certain level of mastery through proper chaining of abilities and learning how to support your minions and have them support you.

Necro fanmade "marketing video" XD

[KuramaTotchi]

Necromancer was the toon that I made. I love the dark magic things in games and if any game has it that's what I'm playing. You bring so much utility to your groups and I always played with friends so it was the most logical way for me to play. I've tried other ways (playing with minions and more pure dps spec) but it caused some group problems as we didn't have much support. You won't be doing insane damage with a more utility based build but holy hell will you be super annoying to other players as you kite them and watch the health just go away.

[Felpacino]

I play mainly necro and ele. But with ele I only play staff, so I will not try to list dagger or scepter ele playstyles. They are faster and closer to melee range than staff play.

Also will not link builds, since next week's trait change will modify them. But here are some basic play-styles of necromancer:

• DoT class aka Terrormancer: Condition build that relies on large Bleed stacks, Fear chains and - just like most necromancer builds - requires good positioning. Good positioning and counterpressure via Fear is what will keeps you alive.

• Power necro aka DeathShoud(DS) necomancer: very powerful PvP burst build that utilizes Death Shroud for personal might stacking and increased survivability at range. In addition, it provides AoE vulnerability to groups and offers utility with its wells. Build is easy to play in 1v1s but requires experience and good positioning in teamfights.

• Play with summons aka Minion master: An easy to learn Necromancer build, the Minion Master is most comfortable holding side points, engaging in small scale fights, and contesting neutral objective. Offering strong sustained single target damage and CC, along with high sustain and immense amounts of health and armor, the player focuses more on supporting the minions with healing and movement disabling effects and doesn't have to directly worry about offense. With heavy investment in passive minion buffs, this makes the build one of the easiest for new players while still allowing a certain level of mastery through proper chaining of abilities and learning how to support your minions and have them support you.

Necro fanmade "marketing video" XD

Vid was cool, so much deeeeeeeath. Power Necro sounds viable tho, because prefer burst over dots. Thief looks super cool and Ele looks hard, but nice. If I'm gonna choose Necro I will do bursty build. If minion master does more single target dps then up for it.

Which of those three does more damage? Necro, Ele or Thief?

[Deleted]

Which of those three does more damage? Necro, Ele or Thief?

DPS calculations vary per patch (and are hard to do due different armor levels, buffs that increase your power and debuffs that lower opponents armor, etc). Most likely next week's trait change will change everything again, but here are some things:

Thief
* superior single target burst (backstabbing from stealth) at the price of low self-sustain
* few of AoE skills

Other things:
+ burst damage: no cooldowns lets them unload a large amount of damage in a very short amount of time (but there is resource management)
+ mobility and positioning: access to a number of teleports and dodges, easy to engage and disengage fight
+ stealth: more stealth than any other class, slip away from dangerous situations or sneak up on enemies for backstabs
- fragile: low base health and medium armor
- large group combat issues - ranged weapons don't have a very long reach and they only have a handful of AoE skills.

Elementalist
* highest AoE DPS
* few single target skills

Other things:
+attunements: turns your one equipped weapon set into four. Learning when to swap to each element and using your full arsenal of skills is essential to playing an elementalist
+ Mobility: loads of movement skills to get themselves out of trouble
+ combos: can combo with their own skills. Buff dps, give speed, heal, etc
- very fragile: low base health and low armor

Necromancer:
* Medium and steady DPS with amazing amount of staying power (point capping)
* Good in AoE and single target

Other things:
+ conditions: good at stacking conditions & has powerful controlling effects (most notably Fear) = heavy sustained damage
+ survivability: High health, low armor. Death Shroud + large health pool = very sturdy
- limited mobility: makes escaping and chasing more difficult

PS: I am playing power necro in both PvE and PvP. I like it. Next patch will be interesting.. all the new builds to try and face.
PSS: Kind of cool point to join in game... it will be almost new to us veterans too since old meta will be changing. There will be variety of builds rolling around until new meta is found. Oh, and here are some basic PvP guides, if you are already pro-pvp player those might be boring to you: http://qqmore.net/basic-guides/

[Christonya]

In terms of pve, right now, Necros are the worst class in the game. In terms of pvp, they're like locks in wow, fairly strong, perfectly viable, super easy to play.

However, with trait changes coming up next tuesday and HOT on the horizon none of this matters and much of it will likely change.

[Felpacino]

In terms of pve, right now, Necros are the worst class in the game. In terms of pvp, they're like locks in wow, fairly strong, perfectly viable, super easy to play.

However, with trait changes coming up next tuesday and HOT on the horizon none of this matters and much of it will likely change.

Thanks for being honest I'll consider that

[Arlee]

It's worth noting they are only the worst class in PvE because of the current cap on conditions, which is being raised so high on Tuesday it might as well have been completely removed. Also saying it's the worst is sort of misleading because yea in terms of the PvE meta sure, but Necros can do any of the content perfectly fine currently. If you want to do speed run groups though you might be sneered at... but that only matters if that's the sort of thing you want to do. Also, again that might change after the patch on Tuesday.

[Deleted]

^I agree with Arlee... Next week will change things and we do not know what it will look like.

And "the worst class" is bit harsh judgement. It is more like is "not optimal for PvE speedruns" and that has been due necro's inability to bring buffs that speedrunners want aka party wide Migh(dps buff), Fury (crit buff), etc. Random groups that you find in LFG are not ever keeping full buffs up and thus necro is just fine there. DPS is in line with other "less optimal speedrunning" classes.

Try all the classes that you are interested and see what you like most. GW2 isn't gear-gated (not in pve or pvp) so it is easy to have multiple classes. Rewards are better looks, not more power to pawn nwbs with shitty gear.

Edit:
Linking wvw (server vs server vs server) fan-made video for fun... since I am just logging into wvw with my guild.

[Christonya]

It's worth noting they are only the worst class in PvE because of the current cap on conditions, which is being raised so high on Tuesday it might as well have been completely removed. Also saying it's the worst is sort of misleading because yea in terms of the PvE meta sure, but Necros can do any of the content perfectly fine currently. If you want to do speed run groups though you might be sneered at... but that only matters if that's the sort of thing you want to do. Also, again that might change after the patch on Tuesday.

It also has some thing to do with out putting the lowest dps in berserker gear which is what is used in the current meta. Right now unbuffed a necromancer deals approximately 5.8k dps, where as a thief deals around 8.3k. That is a big difference.

Edit: In a fully optimized group a thief out puts approximately 14k dps. A necro however outputs 9.1k.

Again, there is a large discrepancy.

[Arlee]

It also has some thing to do with out putting the lowest dps in berserker gear which is what is used in the current meta. Right now unbuffed a necromancer deals approximately 5.8k dps, where as a thief deals around 8.3k. That is a big difference.

Edit: In a fully optimized group a thief out puts approximately 14k dps. A necro however outputs 9.1k.

Again, there is a large discrepancy.

And that only matters if the person in question wants to focus on speed running. Aside from that is doesn't matter at all. Plus along with the Patch on Tuesday all the math for condition damage is changing as well. So seriously this is a weird thing to harp on.

[Shakadam]

Necro isn't in a very good spot tbh, I do like playing mine but it just doesn't perform as well as the other classes. It works well for solo content and just running around the world but for both group PVE and sPVP it has obvious flaws that make it a bit frustrating.

The overall DPS isn't actually that bad. It's nowhere near elementalist or thief level of DPS but it's not the worst either. The problem comes from not having any real way of supporting the group with boons and lack of blast finishers. This makes Necros unwanted in dungeon groups and it also feels like you're not contributing much, it's really not much fun to play like that.

In sPvP the problem is different but no less troublesome. Necros are quite good when playing 1vs1 or against "noobs" who don't know how to counter necros. The problem arises when facing multiple opponents. In any higher rated group pvp Necros will become the prime target of the enemy team, because necros have no way to escape pressure. All other classes have ways of surviving vs multiple enemies (invulnerabilities, blocks, stealth etc) until help arrives or can choose to escape from the battle (leaps, stealth etc) and regroup, necros have none of those options (exception: flesh wurm, although easily countered) and are quickly reduced to being a punching bag in a team battle.

Necros have a place in organized WvW but that is only because of wells. If you plan on playing your class in all game modes I wouldn't recommend Necro.

[Christonya]

And that only matters if the person in question wants to focus on speed running. Aside from that is doesn't matter at all. Plus along with the Patch on Tuesday all the math for condition damage is changing as well. So seriously this is a weird thing to harp on.

Not harping. Stating facts. Necro is a poor pve class. Also:

However, with trait changes coming up next tuesday and HOT on the horizon none of this matters and much of it will likely change.

[melodramocracy]

Probably more of a L2P issue on my part than anything else, but I don't find them all that enjoyable or strong.