Necromancer Discussion Thread

[DrakeWurrum]

Spinal Shivers (Focus 5 ability) and Chillblains (Staff 3) applies -66% movement speed. Both of which are 1200 range (max without spec traiting into increased range).

Spinal Shivers is single-target, and doesn't do self-swiftness (am I the only one who sees the advantage of BOTH snaring the enemy, AND increasing your own speed? They'd need BOTH condition and boon removal to even it back out). It has the advantage of range, certainly.

The Staff has the advantage of both, but has the disadvantage of being a 2H weapon.

TRADE OFFS ABOUND!

[Deleted]

Spinal Shivers (Focus 5 ability) and Chillblains (Staff 3) applies -66% movement speed. Both of which are 1200 range (max without spec traiting into increased range).

I know, but with the dagger/dagger x/warhorn we were discussing, you wouldn't have any of those

[nighties]

I know, but with the dagger/dagger x/warhorn we were discussing, you wouldn't have any of those

Yep that's why you should always use staff. Hahaha..

The Staff has the advantage of both, but has the disadvantage of being a 2H weapon.

TRADE OFFS ABOUND!

I don't see the disadvantage you're referring to.. Clarify?

[Deleted]

On the subject actually, I feel necro needs a long range [1200] option other than the staff for single target with some straight up spell damage, or maybe buff the range on axe. But our current weapons are too suited into certain specs, so using a scepter outside of condition damage setups is pretty useless, having the staff as the only max range option is annoying, as the only 'general' damage weapon we have is axe which is on 600 range.

Just for pvp this is a massive disadvantage, even the more melee orientated classes know to bring a max range weapon, so running around with 600 range attacks as your go-to for long range, it's not great. TLR give us spell swords

[DrakeWurrum]

I don't see the disadvantage you're referring to.. Clarify?

Simple. You get 5 skills set specifically to that weapon, always. a 1H + OH combo allows you to mix and match to your liking.

Like the MH Dagger skills, but don't like the OH Dagger skills? Kay, go with Focus or Warhorn instead.

When you take the Staff, you take every single skill on it, even if you might want to swap out two of them for something from the OH category.

[Deleted]

The ground target slow on staff will also probably miss if someone is running away from max distance, cast-target abilities wont

[nighties]

Simple. You get 5 skills set specifically to that weapon, always. a 1H + OH combo allows you to mix and match to your liking.

Like the MH Dagger skills, but don't like the OH Dagger skills? Kay, go with Focus or Warhorn instead.

When you take the Staff, you take every single skill on it, even if you might want to swap out two of them for something from the OH category.

I see. But that doesn't take away from the many many many benefits Staff users have. There's nothing from 1-3 or 4-5 I would change from staff It's synergy!

The ground target slow on staff will also probably miss if someone is running away from max distance, cast-target abilities wont

There's a great skill-curve certainly on where and when to place your marks. Just for a little added insurance though, traiting into Greater Marks (tier 1 Deathmagic) is an absolute godsend. Unblockable and your increase the radius to 1.5x(?) the size. I also have little to no trouble hunting people down with Staff / Dagger Focus. If the slows don't get you, Dark Path will ^_^

[Alilei32]

Anyone use scepter? It feels weak to me for some reason.

[Deleted]

Anyone use scepter? It feels weak to me for some reason.

I use scepter/dagger and staff... It is quite reliant on a good mix of both power and condition damage tbh, but once I got decent numbers in both and started paying attention to how the skills syngergized... aka stacking debuffs and conditions, Im killing quicker than ever before, and an aoe snare on a 10 sec CD is far from bad ^^

Try maxing out condition benefits and bleed benefits, worth noting is that I use ground targeted wells with suffering and the corruption one I think its called, I also use the ranged pet and the golem... Golem sometimes bugs out but its less than before, dunno if something was fixed but lately he is doing his job.

[Xothic]

With scepter/dagger/fleshbeast, I never really find myself needing anything else in the way of CC/slows (outside of PvP, where a staff can be bloody useful.)

On another note, is anyone having problems with flesh beast AI? None of the other not-elite minions have any problems with their AI, just the Flesh Beast. I dont mind the fact that he is constantly set to agressive, it can make journeys through the wilderness a bit more interesting, but I just wish he wouldnt stand there and watch when I aggro mobs like he has forgotten how to fight. It is pretty frustrating.

[Keldrath]

Anyone use scepter? It feels weak to me for some reason.

Yeah I use a build I found in this guide, http://www.teamparadigm.net/guides/N...ncer-PvP-Guide

It's this build, http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simul....0.30.10.10.20

It's really solid, I opt for blood is power over plague signet atm. and I watched him stream and he switches between the two depending on something, I'm not quite sure what.

You just stack those bleeds up super fast and that's the goal essentially. It does crazy damage and chews through toughness based builds really fast.

[Allyrion]

I can't help but feel like that increased boon duration isn't particularly beneficial to the Death Magic trait line... primarily because it feels like it's primarily about minions.

Am I alone in this?

If Dark Armor was, say, "Gain X seconds of protection while channeling" that could cause that protection to linger past the channel, I could maybe understand. There's very little that Necros can do in regards to boon application in general...

There are other traits such wells applying protection when cast, which is much like what you are expecting from dark armor. Otherwise, like Hjalmtyr said, there's the well that converts conditions.

I think most toughness traits have this for other professions as well. The benefit comes into play more when you have reliable teammates which give a lot of boons, like guardians or mesmers etc.
When trying to be self-sufficient, it's a little lackluster but the rest of the trait line compensates for it (since it gives so much protection).

[DrakeWurrum]

There are other traits such wells applying protection when cast, which is much like what you are expecting from dark armor. Otherwise, like Hjalmtyr said, there's the well that converts conditions.

I think most toughness traits have this for other professions as well. The benefit comes into play more when you have reliable teammates which give a lot of boons, like guardians or mesmers etc.
When trying to be self-sufficient, it's a little lackluster but the rest of the trait line compensates for it (since it gives so much protection).

Pretty sure getting increased boon duration as a stat only affects the boons you apply.

[Allyrion]

Pretty sure getting increased boon duration as a stat only affects the boons you apply.

Well then it's not very good as we don't have many boons to speak of, other than the protection from wells and the condition conversion.
You're right since those are situational and you actually need to use a trait point for one and utility slot for the other while the rest of trait benefits are blanket buffs.

[DrakeWurrum]

Well then it's not very good as we don't have many boons to speak of, other than the protection from wells and the condition conversion.
You're right since those are situational and you actually need to use a trait point for one and utility slot for the other while the rest of trait benefits are blanket buffs.

Well there's also Spectal skills, but the only two Spectral traits we have are in other trait lines.

[Bugg]

Close to Death passive skill (Spite -> last one) that should do +20% dmg to targets under 50% does not work on Bleeds. is that normal?

Also Vulnerability does not seam to affect Bleeds.

[Luko]

Close to Death passive skill (Spite -> last one) that should do +20% dmg to targets under 50% does not work on Bleeds. is that normal?

Also Vulnerability does not seam to affect Bleeds.

I've noticed this in a few cases on a few different classes. I think they've gone out of their way to separate raw damage from condition damage that conditions often aren't taken into consideration during "+% damage" situations. It's the same with elementalist and their burns. Extra 10% damage when attuned to fire? Awesome. Fireballs doing 10% more, burns remain unaffected.

I'd love to find out if this was intentional. It's pretty silly and seems overlooked.

[DrakeWurrum]

I think Vulnerability not affecting conditions is intentional. It was, originally, just a -10 to the affected target's Toughness, which meant it didn't affect condition damage.

I think they changed it to "increases damage taken by 1%" per stack, simply for better scaling to be equally useful against every enemy.

[VibrantViolet]

I'm considering hanging up my necromancer for a bit. The bugs are really starting to annoy me, and the class feels weak to me. Maybe it's just me being tired, after 3 hours in explorer-mode CM....

[nighties]

I'm considering hanging up my necromancer for a bit. The bugs are really starting to annoy me, and the class feels weak to me. Maybe it's just me being tired, after 3 hours in explorer-mode CM....

No don't give up! They're not weak at all! Which bugs are you referring to?

Try my power build trust me you won't think they're weak.

Though some things I would like to be added to Necromancers:
Fix the bug where Greater Marks doesn't effect Mark of Blood (the roll and the skill 2 for staff)
Pets regen health outside combat
Pet AI is smarter, it attacks what you attack and doesn't stop randomly etc.