Apothikary
Lecher
The goal of this build is to have a Necro that can function as a boon/utility within a small group, but can split and work well on its own, primarily being able to nullify and defeat Melee attackers, but hold it's ground against spell casters until help arrives.
>> Build Link
Hopefully this build doesn't look like a complete pile of nonsense. On paper it looks pretty strong and well-rounded. The deciding factor will be if it's TOO well rounded... damage output might very well be a concern. Utility and versatility is definitely covered though.
Feel free to post any scathing remarks below!
>> Build Link
Set 1: Axe + Dagger
This set will provide the majority of our 1v1 or 1v2 capability. Our offhand (dagger) gives us two excellent damage mitigation skills: Deathly Swarm and Enfeebling Blood. Let's take a closer look at what they offer. We lead with Deathly Swarm, to both blind our foe(s) and cleanse ourselves of any conditions we might have accumulated. Then we can cover the blind with Weakness and Bleeding via Enfeebling Blood. What is nice about BOTH of these skills is that they target multiple enemies. This allows you to handle a group of two, or 3 (ranger with pet) with relative ease, making use of careful dodging and positioning to avoid as much damage as possible.
Time to go on the offensive! Leading in on the enemy with Rending Claws provides a damage buffer in the form of Vulnerability (this may well provide TWO stacks since it slashes twice...), which should reduce defense and increase all further damage. We can use Ghastly Claws on recharge to provide extra damage and build our Life Force for Lich Form / Death Shroud later on. Finally, in the event we feel our enemy might try to escape, or if we are being mauled by multiple foes, using Unholy Feast gives us a defensive out thanks to it's Cripple applied, and Retaliation effect in the event of a retreat on our part.
Overall, this set appears to have very good tools to work in a (near) solo situation, providing good offense and defense.
Set 2: Staff
This set will serve as our primary group-based control unit. Given that our only direct damage option while on Staff is Necrotic Grasp, our main goal will be to use it to assist other players with extra damage or spike damage, and generally use it while our other skills are recharging to gain Life Force for later use. Let's move on to what makes the Staff special: Marks. Since each of the mark skills is ground targeted, we can use them in a variety of ways. We can best liken this to the widely varied usage of the GW1 skill: Ward Against Melee; WAM was widely used as a midline tool to protect a backline during pressure, protect a frontline during an offensive push, or provide a spot defense in the event of a predicted spike.
Mark of Blood: this mark appears to be usable in an effort to make an offensive push on our enemies with pressure by way of degen from bleeding, while still serving our attacking allies up a dose of proactive-defense from the Regeneration that is applied to our allies when this mark is triggered by foes.
Chilblains: using this mark provides us with backline protection as well as movement control thanks to the Chill it applies to our foes. It serves as a counter offensive with poison degen against would-be attackers moving into area in an attempt to be offensive. This mark could also help us thwart an escape attempt during our aforementioned push after a Mark of Blood, if placed proactively behind the enemy. Like the faithful condition Disease from GW1, the area of effect poison, placed well in a choke point or common retreat path should cause a good amount of pressure during a hasty retreat. If GW2 proves the same, teams backing up under pressure are more likely to make mistakes, and crumble even harder with the added degen.
Putrid Mark: This should be fairly straightforward as it serves as universal condition protection against our foes. Any conditions currently on ourselves should be transferred to our foes, along with any new added conditions they apply. We can think of this skill like the Mesmer skill from GW1, Empathy, but with the bonus being a deterrent also towards attacking AND applying conditions. (a note about its synergy with plague signet later)
Reaper's Mark: We can use this mark as an emergency defensive maneuver against a spike (on ourselves or one of our allies), or possibly use it during a small skirmish to interrupt spells or attacks and buy some time.
This skillset seems to be very useful in many situations, albeit low on damage; serving as a VERY broad utility belt for movement control and keeping up pressure between spike/burst damage.
Heal: Consume Conditions
By using this skill as our heal, we can cover a lot of bases. Not only is it a good defensive move in case of condition overload or Daze/Chill/Cripple/etc. during a split or solo situation, it is also very synergistic with the Utility skill Plague Signet, providing us a healing effect for the conditions we take on from the signet's passive effect. Alone, it might only provide a modest heal, but even with just a few conditions, its usage and viability should be plenty, given the situation it would normally be used in.
Utility: Bone Minions, Plague Signet, Well of Darkness
Bone Minions: What can we say here that hasn't been said before... the more the merrier. Minions, although limited to two work in many ways. Added pressure and damage, distractions, defense, and more. Check the trait section below for an added benefit of these minions!
Plague Signet: Sometimes its better to be a little bit dirty... we are necromancers after all. This lovely signet not only helps us keep our nearby allies clean from harmful conditions, but it also provides fodder for our heal to stop pressure in a group situation. The active state of this signet lets us transfer any negative conditions to a foe, which helps us in many ways. In a solo situation, we can remove and transfer negative conditions such as cripple, daze, and degen to our attackers, giving us a defensive out. In a group setting, we can use any conditions applied from pressure to our allies as a catalyst for a burst damage spike (we should be careful not to give ourselves away when using this not to pre-empt any spiking attempts by applying the conditions too early).
Well of Darkness: in conjunction with Pitch Black, this skill blinds and confuses an area of enemies.
Elite: We really could use any of the Elite skills depending on our preference, or metagame.
Stats & Trait Choices: Spite (30), Death Magic (20), Curses (20)
Lets start with Spite. Passively, spite at 30 grants us +300 power, and increases our condition duration by 30%. This helps our soloability given that our defensive conditions last longer, while giving us the power to do more damage with our Axe/Dagger combo. Our traits are as follows:
<< Minor >>
Parasitic Bond gives us health when a player dies, this should be more effective in a large setting, but might save us from a near death in a solo situation where we manage to kill our attacker.
Death into Life gives us a a +60 bonus to all heals. Testing should prove if this is to any heals directed towards us (here's looking at you, Parasitic Bond) or only our personal heal skill. Either way, it's a healing boon.
Siphoned Power helps us when we are low on health by giving us a Might bonus, allowing for a comeback factor.
<< Major >>
Signet Mastery gives us 20% less recharge when we decide to activate either of our signets. This brings the recharge on Plague Signet down to 40s, and the recharge on Signet of Undeath to 192s which is just a little over 3 minutes time. Talk about broken.
Training of the Master is fairly straightforward and provides us with 30% more damage from our active minions, including Jagged Horrors. We should test and see if the effect from the Putrid Explosion toggle on our Bone Minions is increased as well, as this could afford us some pretty hefty assistance when doing burst damage.
Chill of Death all but ensures our enemy will die with an automated cast of Spinal Shivers when they reach 25% health. This should prove to be invaluable against escape attempts.
Death Magic is our second trait, which empowers our defense during group settings with an added +200 Toughness and +20 Concentration, and our offense as well with our selected traits:
<< Minor >>
Reanimator gives us a chance to summon a Jagged Horror which adds to our pressure by its bleeding attacks, as well as another chance to debuff on chance with Necromatic Corruption.
Protection of the Horde continues to build us into an unstoppable tank. With the added defense we gain with our minions present, we gain more and more defense.
<< Major >>
Close to Death gives us a nice damage bonus to our already dying enemies. (Something better could fit here, possibly Greater Marks)
Fateful Marks makes any mark we put down unblockable and guaranteed.
Curses rounds out our trait choices. By spending 20 points, we gain access to the first minor trait Barbed Precision which helps with our condition spreading when our Jagged Horrors are not present, and are allowed to choose two traits:
Pitch Black: This lets us use our Deathly Swarm from our Dagger offhand to cause Confusion when we apply Blind, further deterring the use of any skills, even in the case of non-melee attackers.
Focused Rituals lets us ground target our well of choice.
Conclusions:
Overall, this build should make for a formidable foe in nearly any environment or situation it is placed in. Let's test it out shall we?
This set will provide the majority of our 1v1 or 1v2 capability. Our offhand (dagger) gives us two excellent damage mitigation skills: Deathly Swarm and Enfeebling Blood. Let's take a closer look at what they offer. We lead with Deathly Swarm, to both blind our foe(s) and cleanse ourselves of any conditions we might have accumulated. Then we can cover the blind with Weakness and Bleeding via Enfeebling Blood. What is nice about BOTH of these skills is that they target multiple enemies. This allows you to handle a group of two, or 3 (ranger with pet) with relative ease, making use of careful dodging and positioning to avoid as much damage as possible.
Time to go on the offensive! Leading in on the enemy with Rending Claws provides a damage buffer in the form of Vulnerability (this may well provide TWO stacks since it slashes twice...), which should reduce defense and increase all further damage. We can use Ghastly Claws on recharge to provide extra damage and build our Life Force for Lich Form / Death Shroud later on. Finally, in the event we feel our enemy might try to escape, or if we are being mauled by multiple foes, using Unholy Feast gives us a defensive out thanks to it's Cripple applied, and Retaliation effect in the event of a retreat on our part.
Overall, this set appears to have very good tools to work in a (near) solo situation, providing good offense and defense.
Set 2: Staff
This set will serve as our primary group-based control unit. Given that our only direct damage option while on Staff is Necrotic Grasp, our main goal will be to use it to assist other players with extra damage or spike damage, and generally use it while our other skills are recharging to gain Life Force for later use. Let's move on to what makes the Staff special: Marks. Since each of the mark skills is ground targeted, we can use them in a variety of ways. We can best liken this to the widely varied usage of the GW1 skill: Ward Against Melee; WAM was widely used as a midline tool to protect a backline during pressure, protect a frontline during an offensive push, or provide a spot defense in the event of a predicted spike.
Mark of Blood: this mark appears to be usable in an effort to make an offensive push on our enemies with pressure by way of degen from bleeding, while still serving our attacking allies up a dose of proactive-defense from the Regeneration that is applied to our allies when this mark is triggered by foes.
Chilblains: using this mark provides us with backline protection as well as movement control thanks to the Chill it applies to our foes. It serves as a counter offensive with poison degen against would-be attackers moving into area in an attempt to be offensive. This mark could also help us thwart an escape attempt during our aforementioned push after a Mark of Blood, if placed proactively behind the enemy. Like the faithful condition Disease from GW1, the area of effect poison, placed well in a choke point or common retreat path should cause a good amount of pressure during a hasty retreat. If GW2 proves the same, teams backing up under pressure are more likely to make mistakes, and crumble even harder with the added degen.
Putrid Mark: This should be fairly straightforward as it serves as universal condition protection against our foes. Any conditions currently on ourselves should be transferred to our foes, along with any new added conditions they apply. We can think of this skill like the Mesmer skill from GW1, Empathy, but with the bonus being a deterrent also towards attacking AND applying conditions. (a note about its synergy with plague signet later)
Reaper's Mark: We can use this mark as an emergency defensive maneuver against a spike (on ourselves or one of our allies), or possibly use it during a small skirmish to interrupt spells or attacks and buy some time.
This skillset seems to be very useful in many situations, albeit low on damage; serving as a VERY broad utility belt for movement control and keeping up pressure between spike/burst damage.
Heal: Consume Conditions
By using this skill as our heal, we can cover a lot of bases. Not only is it a good defensive move in case of condition overload or Daze/Chill/Cripple/etc. during a split or solo situation, it is also very synergistic with the Utility skill Plague Signet, providing us a healing effect for the conditions we take on from the signet's passive effect. Alone, it might only provide a modest heal, but even with just a few conditions, its usage and viability should be plenty, given the situation it would normally be used in.
Utility: Bone Minions, Plague Signet, Well of Darkness
Bone Minions: What can we say here that hasn't been said before... the more the merrier. Minions, although limited to two work in many ways. Added pressure and damage, distractions, defense, and more. Check the trait section below for an added benefit of these minions!
Plague Signet: Sometimes its better to be a little bit dirty... we are necromancers after all. This lovely signet not only helps us keep our nearby allies clean from harmful conditions, but it also provides fodder for our heal to stop pressure in a group situation. The active state of this signet lets us transfer any negative conditions to a foe, which helps us in many ways. In a solo situation, we can remove and transfer negative conditions such as cripple, daze, and degen to our attackers, giving us a defensive out. In a group setting, we can use any conditions applied from pressure to our allies as a catalyst for a burst damage spike (we should be careful not to give ourselves away when using this not to pre-empt any spiking attempts by applying the conditions too early).
Well of Darkness: in conjunction with Pitch Black, this skill blinds and confuses an area of enemies.
Elite: We really could use any of the Elite skills depending on our preference, or metagame.
Stats & Trait Choices: Spite (30), Death Magic (20), Curses (20)
Lets start with Spite. Passively, spite at 30 grants us +300 power, and increases our condition duration by 30%. This helps our soloability given that our defensive conditions last longer, while giving us the power to do more damage with our Axe/Dagger combo. Our traits are as follows:
<< Minor >>
Parasitic Bond gives us health when a player dies, this should be more effective in a large setting, but might save us from a near death in a solo situation where we manage to kill our attacker.
Death into Life gives us a a +60 bonus to all heals. Testing should prove if this is to any heals directed towards us (here's looking at you, Parasitic Bond) or only our personal heal skill. Either way, it's a healing boon.
Siphoned Power helps us when we are low on health by giving us a Might bonus, allowing for a comeback factor.
<< Major >>
Signet Mastery gives us 20% less recharge when we decide to activate either of our signets. This brings the recharge on Plague Signet down to 40s, and the recharge on Signet of Undeath to 192s which is just a little over 3 minutes time. Talk about broken.
Training of the Master is fairly straightforward and provides us with 30% more damage from our active minions, including Jagged Horrors. We should test and see if the effect from the Putrid Explosion toggle on our Bone Minions is increased as well, as this could afford us some pretty hefty assistance when doing burst damage.
Chill of Death all but ensures our enemy will die with an automated cast of Spinal Shivers when they reach 25% health. This should prove to be invaluable against escape attempts.
Death Magic is our second trait, which empowers our defense during group settings with an added +200 Toughness and +20 Concentration, and our offense as well with our selected traits:
<< Minor >>
Reanimator gives us a chance to summon a Jagged Horror which adds to our pressure by its bleeding attacks, as well as another chance to debuff on chance with Necromatic Corruption.
Protection of the Horde continues to build us into an unstoppable tank. With the added defense we gain with our minions present, we gain more and more defense.
<< Major >>
Close to Death gives us a nice damage bonus to our already dying enemies. (Something better could fit here, possibly Greater Marks)
Fateful Marks makes any mark we put down unblockable and guaranteed.
Curses rounds out our trait choices. By spending 20 points, we gain access to the first minor trait Barbed Precision which helps with our condition spreading when our Jagged Horrors are not present, and are allowed to choose two traits:
Pitch Black: This lets us use our Deathly Swarm from our Dagger offhand to cause Confusion when we apply Blind, further deterring the use of any skills, even in the case of non-melee attackers.
Focused Rituals lets us ground target our well of choice.
Conclusions:
Overall, this build should make for a formidable foe in nearly any environment or situation it is placed in. Let's test it out shall we?
Hopefully this build doesn't look like a complete pile of nonsense. On paper it looks pretty strong and well-rounded. The deciding factor will be if it's TOO well rounded... damage output might very well be a concern. Utility and versatility is definitely covered though.
Feel free to post any scathing remarks below!
