How is necro compared to ranger?

Hello, how is necro/reaper/scourge doing compared to ranger/druid/soulbeast in pve (world, raids, fractals) on casual and more high-end levels, since i think there is gonna be big diference between the skill. Thanks for sharing knowledge and have a nice day.

Reaper is more self sufficient for things like fractals and it is the king of open world (any necro variant is) with ranger a close second. For raids, soul beast beats out necro.

From my point of view it's more or less this:Necro:open world: +++ (Optimal)Raid: - (not competitive)Fractal: + (Ok)

Ranger:Open world: + (Ok)Raid: ++ (Competitive and useful)Franctal: + (Ok)

From my point of view it's more or less this:Necro:open world: +++ (Optimal)Raid: - (not competitive)Fractal: + (Ok)

Ranger:Open world: + (Ok)Raid: ++ (Competitive and useful)Franctal: + (Ok)

Actually in raids ranger is meta or at least very good on every single boss be it either heal druid, power or condi soulbeast.And for fractals it also seems to be meta as power soulbeast. But I don't know exactly how good it is in fractals as I never played soulbeast there (well I didn't play fractals for past few months).And for open world: just don't play a raid build if You wanna be more tanky.

As for necro: not really good in raids. Yes condi scourge is meta for one boss. But else...

For reaper:First thing to note: the reaper dps rotation in the snowcrows video isn't really playable on any raid encounter.That rotation is only minmaxed for the golem.I don't say that reaper isn't playable, I enjoy playing reaper at sabetha as you will constantly get lifeforce from dying adds. But on most encounter it's not good due to several factors. incoming damage being the biggest one.And in fractals it's pretty good in my opinion, as you can bring quite some valuable utility like pulls and blinds for adds.

Pretty sure that necro is good for all PVE and it is probably the best carry for the bad groups or even the average ones, scourge has support build that helps fixing mistakes and a easy condi build, Reaper is self sufficient and its dps doesn't fall that much if the group has spotty boons support, but it doesn't pull great numbers and utilities for speed running. So basically necro is the king of pugs, and pug groups that say necro is bad are dumb cunts cause they think they are hot shit speed runners but will most probably will have the need to be peeled of the ground by support scourge.

@"Nimon.7840" said:

From my point of view it's more or less this:

Necro:

open world: +++ (Optimal)Raid: - (not competitive)Fractal: + (Ok)

Ranger:

Open world: + (Ok)Raid: ++ (Competitive and useful)Franctal: + (Ok)

Doing the exact rotation to a tee isn't possible for an extended period of time due to life force, true. However, I just change up the rotation as needed depending on available life force. So if I'm getting ready for the shroud burst but life force is a bit low, I swap to axe and take that route, if not then I stay on great sword and go that route. I've managed to pull 29-30k dps on actual boss fights with it, which is plenty for any raid group.

To answer the original question though, Necromancer will be better for any solo content or group content with pugs. Ranger will be better for group content with a competent group. The Necromancer's self-sufficiency allows it to out perform others in the group when that group is incapable of maintaining proper buffs. When the group is properly buffed though, other dps classes will pull ahead of Necromancer dps. However, to be clear, when people say Necromancer is "bad" for raids or fractals, it is more accurate to say that they are not optimal. They have the lowest dps in the game and they offer little to no group utility is the issue.

But if Necromancer is what suits you, then go for it. You'll get way more out of this game if you play what you enjoy. There is no class that is banned from end game content. Sure, some classes are in higher demand than others, but that can always change with a single balance patch. Also, what works great in one game mode, can be garbage in another game mode, such as Rangers in PvP.

I rather like Ranger' general versatility. It is good in all of PvE and also decent in WvW.

Rangers start with a pet at L1 that holds aggro throughout the leveling experience and Ranger is a very easy introduction to WvW. Your pet will always guard you while AFK, too, though in some high level areas, wandering mobs can wipe out anyone AFK so watch where you park if stepping away for a bit.

Necromancer can be peaky in end-game PvE. Some ways it is very good but others it is not. To get pets (minions) also takes a little time but they, too, watch out for you when AFK. Both Ranger and Necro were known for AFK farming, which is a waste of time, by the way, so don't bother with it.

In end game, Ranger is generally good. Druid is a meta-healer for parties and Soul Beast can do top-class damage. Druid used to be rediculously good in group PvE. It could heal and provide buffs so well it was absolutely mandatory. Druid was nerfed a lot but is still highly desired, as is Soul Beast. If you like playing a healer, Ranger is it. There are other professions that can perform as a healer bit Druid is the go-to profession for that. Of note is that Rangers always have pets. At times that can be annoying, like in jumping puzzles, but collecting them all and understanding their strengths and weaknesses is like a game in itself.

Necromancer is kind of lame by itself but has the most pets. You can easily have 6 of them out and they are excellent for very casual solo wandering and exploration. Reaper is a good dps elite specialization. It is not top-class versus boss mobs but is top class vs trash mobs because it has so much AoE potential, including cleave from greatsword. Scourge is mostly used to help struggling groups survive in PvE instanced content. It used to be quite good with condition damage but was nerfed a lot before Arenanet separated balance updates by game mode (PvE, WvW, PvP).

Reaper hard carries bad groups. The DPS is "bad" at the golem, but a Reaper will be better able to maintain a rotation when crap hits the fan if the PUG is subpar in capability. In the Pugs I've run with in FotM every Reaper that has joined ended up being one of the top DPSers. For Pugging, they are always a safe choice of DPS.

@"Lan Deathrider.5910" said:Reaper hard carries bad groups. The DPS is "bad" at the golem, but a Reaper will be better able to maintain a rotation when kitten hits the fan if the PUG is subpar in capability. In the Pugs I've run with in FotM every Reaper that has joined ended up being one of the top DPSers. For Pugging, they are always a safe choice of DPS.

An important point for people to remember is that Necro and it's elites are less dependent on boons from others, especially Reaper with its self-generation of might. Although Reaper misses the mark for max dps, it also misses the low mark when things go sideways and provides consistent damage. Core Necro is still terrible, though, and minimal-support Scourge is over-nerfed.

It's the self quickness and self might and most important: the mechanic of the reaper metabuild.

• GS auto,
• shroud auto and
• spamming the wells off cooldown

is already 90% of the dps. You end up at 30k just doing this and nothing else. And spamming autos is what most people do in pve.

@Shaogin.2679 said:

@"Nimon.7840" said:

From my point of view it's more or less this:

Necro:

open world: +++ (Optimal)Raid: - (not competitive)Fractal: + (Ok)

Ranger:

Open world: + (Ok)Raid: ++ (Competitive and useful)Franctal: + (Ok)

Yeah. What I wanted to say, is that reaper is a lot harder to play in actual raids, than just doing the rotation, as you have to adapt the rotation very often.In my opinion it's much easier to play other classes that don't have the lifeforce as resource, and you will get better results because you can just do the rotation.

To answer the original question though, Necromancer will be better for any solo content or group content with pugs. Ranger will be better for group content with a competent group. The Necromancer's self-sufficiency allows it to out perform others in the group when that group is incapable of maintaining proper buffs. When the group is properly buffed though, other dps classes will pull ahead of Necromancer dps. However, to be clear, when people say Necromancer is "bad" for raids or fractals, it is more accurate to say that they are not optimal. They have the lowest dps in the game and they offer little to no group utility is the issue.

But if Necromancer is what suits you, then go for it. You'll get way more out of this game if you play what you enjoy. There is no class that is banned from end game content. Sure, some classes are in higher demand than others, but that can always change with a single balance patch. Also, what works great in one game mode, can be garbage in another game mode, such as Rangers in PvP.

Yeah as long as you're not going to go for faster kills, you can basically play everything.

If you have trouble you can run double signets (spite* + the LF regen) with signets of suffering, instead of WoD and awaken The Pain.In theory you lose 250 power and a well but in fact you earn 20 power in shroud which is the bigger part of the dps +a nice life force regen that help to maintain shroud or generate it.On golem it is certainly not DPS increase but in practice when you get constantly hit the opposite is true.

Sometimes it's even better to have the signet and spam DS #1 to recharge DS skills rather than leaving the shroud to recharge +10% dmg and generate LF, but with lower DPS overall.For example if you're not sure to place effectively your wells, or when there is a lot of mobs and so you generate LF infinitely + recharge DS #4 in <10sec.

@Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:If you have trouble you can run double signets (plague + the LF regen) with signets of suffering, instead of WoD and awaken The Pain.In theory you lose 250 power and a well but in fact you earn 20 power in shroud which is the bigger part of the dps +a nice life force regen that help to maintain shroud or generate it.On golem it is certainly not DPS increase but in practice when you get constantly hit the opposite is true.

Sometimes it's even better to have the signet and spam DS #1 to recharge DS skills rather than leaving the shroud to recharge +10% dmg and generate LF, but with lower DPS overall.For example if you're not sure to place effectively your wells, or when there is a lot of mobs and so you generate LF infinitely + recharge DS #4 in <10sec.

The Signets you are referring to are Signet of Spite and Signet of Undeath. I agree, using them (+ Signet of Vampirism and Well of Suffering) in combination with Signets of Suffering (trait) is a very good strategy to maintain a high DPS and avoid screwing the rotation thanks to the extra passive Life Force generation. It is also helpful defensively.It also makes a Greatsword+Reaper Shroud only (no Axe) rotation possible with less Life Force generation issues. Not having to swap to Axe makes the rotation extremely easy.

Also, this (but with Well of Darkness instead of Well of Suffering) is what is optimal to run for Reaper in the role of BackWarg at the Escort of Glenna. Just immobilise it, cast GS4+WoD+GS5, enter in Shroud, then Shroud skill 4+Shroud auto attack until the Warg is at less than 25% Health points, then cast Shroud skill 5 and auto attack until the end (the last hit could be a GS 3 just to gain back Life Force).The back Warg should die halfway between its spawn point and the first mines. Signet of Undeath will take care of the Life Force generation before another Warg will spawn.

I prefer Necromancer (not Scourge condition that is overly complicated and feels completely different from any necro spec), mostly Reaper, over Ranger. I love its Cleaving potential, the utilities it can provide in Fractal, its self buffing capability. I love how it moves itself and the Shroud mechanic. The potential DPS is definitely lower compared to Soulbeast, and particularly noticeable in Raids (but also in Fractal CMs when fighting bosses with mostly no adds to cleave) when playing with one of the few great Soulbeast out there.

I enjoyed using Scourge as a healer for some time, but now I rarely use it (it is quite fun and helpful at Boneskinner, or in Open World meta events where “people” continuously die). When I played Scourge Healer in Fractal the groups of PUGs was in serious lack of DPS, it is far better for the group to have the DPS of my Reaper compared to the support of my Scourge.

When playing in Fractal is also generally better (same for Druid) to let the Firebrand heal. When playing Druid or Scourge healer there, could be important to remember to pick a Quickbrand for its buffs (Aegis for example is almost mandatory against some bosses, the Quickness is helpful).

To enjoy Necromancer in PvP you have to enjoy having by far the greatest weaknesses compared to every other profession. You also have to accept that you will often be disabled by CCs, and bursted down if the enemy group coordination is good.