Initial thoughts on the Necromancer

[riffraff]

Awfully lonely in this forum...c'mon, am I the only practioner of the dark arts in our guild?

So I played the Necromancer in yesterday's beta. I found the staff to be the most useful weapon for groups of tightly clustered mobs, while the scepter had the longest range. I also seemed to mow through single target mobs much faster with the scepter/focus as compared to the axe or the staff.

My rotation was to open with Reaper's Touch at max range to do some initial damage and lay down my first condition. Next, Grasping Dead to snare them (or Spinal Shivers, if off cooldown), nuke twice with Blood Curse to apply bleed & poison, then either Feast of Corruption FTW, or additional Blood Curses, depending on how much health the mob had left. I don't know if this was the most efficient rotation, but it got the job done.

If the mob got within melee range, I switched to Death Shroud, Feared, then finished off with Life Blast.

For healing, I found the Blood Fiend to be more efficient than Consume Conditions, at least in the starter area. I suspect that later on in the game and in PvP that the reverse will be true, as you are more likely to have conditions ticking on yourself at that point, and thus able to maximize the healing from Consume Conditions.

Your intial water weapon (chain?) is absolutely pathetic; even at level 7, I was forced to retreat back to land to avoid dying. I tried finding a vendor to buy a better main hand, but never could find one who sold water weapons (anyone know where he is in the Asura starting area?)

Didn't get a chance to experiment with any minions (other than the Blood Fiend). By the time I Entered the Mists, the servers were going down.

Overall, I throroughly enjoy playing the Necromancer. My playstyle favors dealing death from a distance, and the Necro was ideally suited to the task. He seems quite powerful, especially with Death Shroud as an effective second health bar. In the three hours I played, I didn't die once, and it was rare for a mob to even get within melee range before I killed it.

[theactualkarly]

All classes have two underwater weapons. There are three in all: spear, trident and harpoon gun. I think necromancer has spear and trident but I'm not sure because I only got to play as one for a second. I think you can find any of the weapons that you want at a weapon vendor in the main city.

[morgwath]

I have loved the necro since GW1. I plan on starting with one. The first BWE i played one and got him up to 20 i think, or near there. I found the staff to be really good when doing large events with lots of people. The aoe effects are good. Did manage to have several minions but still felt weak compared to the 10 minions i used to have in GW1.

Underwater wasn't too bad. I don't remember exactly where i got an upgrade but if you can find a Heart in the water then the quest guy usually sells water equipment for faction. Or there is the cheap generic white weapons you can buy from a weaponsmith in the capital cities.

[danomeon]

The necro isn't going to be one of the first 5 characters I play, but I plan on getting around to him eventually. Can anyone who has played this mysterious class happen to tell me what its "Feel" is? For example, I could tell you that thieves are swift and agile with the need to manage a resource bar, or that playing a mesmer is heavily dependent on creating clones and destroying them near your enemies. What can I expect from the necromancer?

[ralimar]

Necro is one of my 5 that you will see me on and be in our guild. I am nervous however, as I have been told it feel sat the moment under powered when compared to all other ranged classes. From what I have seen the "feel" depends on which way you go. 1) PC buffs and power, or 2) wells and de buffs and conditons, or 3) stronger and more options of Pets and Minions. However I would like to hear from people who have played them and KNOW them well. Are they truly under powered when standing next to the elementalist, ranger and Mesmer?

[ralimar]

Death Shroud seemed to me from watching the videos to be a PVP Nightmare, but a bonus in PVE when dealing in a Dungeon, Overwhelmed PVE situation like a event or dungeon.

[morgwath]

The death shroud is ...unique. Once you've used it enough to unlock all 5 skills, there is a drain life skill that can really help save your butt in pve. But i'm still not sure how it all works exactly. Like i'll be close to death and swap over and it seems like i don't take any dmg the whole time im in death shroud, but then i'll do the same thing later and die. Gonna take some looking at to see the ins and outs of it.

I haven't really played the necro since the first beta weekend, so i'm getting forgetful and i've tried EVERY class since then.

One thing i do remember is that i didn't like the "healing" minion. This is your slot 6 heal spell to start with. His attacks heal you for a tiny bit, but you can sacrifice him to heal you for an average amount. The problem is i think his range his farther than yours(at least at first when you start off with an axe, which is actually ranged just not as far as the minion) so he aggros first and gets killed before you take enough damage to need to sacrifice him. then the mobs turn on you and you need to heal and you can't. But if you can buy one of the other healing spells or unlock slot 7 and get another minion to take the aggro, then it gets MUCH better.

[riffraff]

Aug 22, 2012 19:19:14 GMT -6 ralimar said:

Necro is one of my 5 that you will see me on and be in our guild. I am nervous however, as I have been told it feel sat the moment under powered when compared to all other ranged classes. From what I have seen the "feel" depends on which way you go. 1) PC buffs and power, or 2) wells and de buffs and conditons, or 3) stronger and more options of Pets and Minions. However I would like to hear from people who have played them and KNOW them well. Are they truly under powered when standing next to the elementalist, ranger and Mesmer?

Ralimar, although I haven't personally had a chance to do any PvP, from the videos I've watched, the Necromancer actually seems to be a bit OP at the moment. Their ability to quickly inflict multiple conditions on opponents, hit them with Feast of Corruption, purge their own conditions, and become temporarily invulnerable with Death Shroud is quite powerful. I suspect that their minions are better in PvE than PvP.

[audiomule]

Sad to say I'm already thinking about rerolling ... for some reson the Necro doesnt seem to be doing it for me.

[grimmur]

Aug 27, 2012 7:56:21 GMT -6 audiomule said:

Sad to say I'm already thinking about rerolling ... for some reson the Necro doesnt seem to be doing it for me.

Sad to hear it. Have anyone else play the class in depth. I love the necro in GW1 but I wanted something different this time around so I pass it.

I made an alt but I cant make heads out of the class. Its seems tanki but lacking punch. My wells require that I be in mix of things but my major damage is in DOT and slow to the point that in pvp someone could heal them self rather than die from it.

The wiki describes the class as being really good at support and I can see that, but try it in the mist and I cant think of good build that would be worth taking to pvp to stomp some nubs :/

[morgwath]

I"ve made it to level 45 now on my necro and i still enjoy him. When soloing i'm a minion master. They help keep aggro off me and let me focus on attacks instead of healing.

In dungeons however the minions die in 0.2seconds or less so they are nearly worthless. So i had to swap tactics and brought out the staff and wells (well of blood, and well of corruption). The marks from the staff stack conditions on the foes and regen on allies. Then the wells just add to it.

In WvWvW (the only pvp i've tried) it's all about the marks. Throw them down and watch people stand in them like noobs and slowly die. The Death Shroud is definitely a nice panic button. Use it when you are just about dead, and then cast life siphon and run for cover.