New Necro Cominng into WvW; power or condi for roaming?

I'm looking for a bit of advice on these builds for roaming both are reaper, though one is condi and one is power.Power Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lRw0YYsL2IO+WtNfA-zVJYwRNfZERKkeF40nIM7h3yXnRA-wCondi build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEt3lJwaYLMHWJW6X9tWA-zVRYfRNYG+yogKokUQ4PhgWB/JFQyjbA-w

I already have ascended gear I can flush in the mystic toilet to change the prefix, and the trinkets I can reset. My only problem is repeating that TA reward track until I have enough tokens.

Any feedback would be nice.

I think condi builds for roaming are better overall since 95% of roamers are just relying on stealth, swiftness, and dodge and don't even have condi cleanses, but power works too. You can make a condi build of pretty much any class and go out and take out some thief, ranger, and mesmer roamers and not just be trolling. Plus, aside from damage, condi reaper comes with things like chill that make life very very hard for the typical roamer since chill is a condition even if it doesn't have any damage. Power reaper won't be able to debuff roamers very much. I don't think power reaper is just troll level bad at roaming but condi seems leaps and bounds ahead of it when you consider what classes usually roam.

Edit: Commenting as someone who was formerly a former fulltime roamer, with a huge number of hours roaming on reaper. I have three reapers and have tried a plethora of builds for power/condi since its release.The TL;DR is that power is the superior build sheerly because Damage In : Damage Out is better than condi. As condi you're either glass or dealing substantially less damage. Necro loves a big health pool and for the reaper builds out there, condi just doesn't like a huge health pool. Sad truth.

You need Relentless Pursuit if you're taking Unyielding Blast. There's really no way around it.

Power:VP is better on the power build if you're running both GS and A+F.

Marauder with some zerk/valk trinkets is the only viable set for roaming power reaper. Your health is just too low for having next to no condition cleansing, and concentration is a useless stat in roaming because most roaming builds run boon denial on some level. Might is a bonus extra, not something to build around. Onslaught already gives you permanent quickness and GS is better for utility via skills 4/5 and LF/vuln stacking than anything else.

Spiteful Renewal is much stronger than Bitter Chill if you're planning on roaming.

Soul Eater > CV and are both better than DD if you are running sigils of accuracy. with marauder and Soul Reaping, as you'll already have capped crit chance in shroud. Again, the GS crits do not matter.

You cannot afford to run any utility except CttB or MAYBE Lich Form, but Lich Form will probably get nerfed and most of your hard matchups are made much easier by CttB's icicles tracking stealth letting you know enemy positions.

Power needs to run Your Soul is Mine + Suffer + Spectral Armor bare minimum. You have no stunbreaks which means you're dead instantly in most roaming scenarios.Signet of Spite is bad and you absolutely need to run sigils of cleansing on at least one weapon, if not both.

Runes should be Scholar, Wurm, Exuberance, or Speed if using Speed of Shadows, though I disagree with the SoS pick personally, and most people prefer it and wurm versus SA + SotL.

Condi:Generally a bad pick because it's harder to play and generally weaker as a whole due to Reaper's bad LF sustain/mobility and lack of synergy in the Reaper traitline. It's better to just go Onslaught for a faster AA for more Dhuumfire than to try for bleeding DPS because your primary methods of damage are just too high cooldown and too difficult to consistently land. Deathly Chill only applies 1 stack per chill application, and per tooltip, even if never cleansed, it's the same damage as an AA with Dhuumfire. All of your gains from chill are negated by an AA, which can be made into having permanent quickness and ferocity with RO. DChill is just straight bad, especially in a condi meta like now where everyone is going full cleanse.

You're too slow without SoS or Signet of the Locust or Flesh Wurm for Reaper to be even worth taking, and YaaW is just a bad shout into most matchups. Do not fixate on one type of utility. I still recommend the exact same utils as above, especially Spectral Armor, because a single longbow soulbeast will kill you before you can even get into scepter range on this build.

Nothing Can Save You is really mediocre at best due to its very limited matchup scope. Might be nice if you can swap it OOC before engaging a warrior or guardian, but generally speaking, against thief/mes/ranger, it's quickly outclassed by mobility-oriented utilities or ones with hard sustain or condition management, which is going to be a substantial portion of your matchups being that you're looking to roam.

ID is kinda bad. You have like 3 stacks of torment per engage. Your mileage on Plague Sending is much, much stronger over the course of a fight in the current meta. Sure, it's a cover condition, but so are blind/chill/fear/vuln/poison and even your bleeds (see below).

Path of Corruption will probably give you more mileage than Terror. 2k isn't a lot when you only have one source of fear per engage.

Again, Relentless Pursuit. You need it against Seeds Druid and several other builds fixating on immob and cripple to kite. Augury of Death is kinda meh, and every facet of roaming is about mobility. If you don't keep pace/don't build to do so, you might as well not bother trying to roam.

You don't need Decimate Defenses if running Curses. Barbed Precision is already only 33% chance and only lasts 2 seconds, so there's no sense in building around it. Hoenstly, better to just ignore the crits and go full Dire/TB because they're irrelevant and the hard sustain matters more.

Sinister/Viper gear is too glassy. Look into at least mixing in some Rabid or similarly adding defenses so you don't get oneshot by rangers. Suffer can negate the thief threat entirely on its own if you are fast to react/predict the burst correctly since instant-cast transfer of weakness or blind will negate their entire burst combo and hit their dodges upon engage. I'd opt for Balthazar runes instead of Nightmare because CttB has too long a cooldown for a reliable cleanse, and the extra burning will vastly outdamage the aforementioned. Cleansing/Smoldering is much better on sigils and fixes your cleanse problems, too. Chill duration is negated too much by permanent superspeed or just mobility-impairment-cleansing effects by most prominent roaming builds.

At the very least, drop the chill duration investment and opt into cleansing while assigning your utils to for into your weak matchups. Your kit is really assigned to deal tons of damage, but that just doesn't work on roaming builds without built-in mobility and sustain like you see from Thief and ranger, respectively. Your enemies will disengage immediately and just bait your entire LF bar over and over while you can't really do much but stand and hope they come to fight.

@Coeruleum.9164 said:I think condi builds for roaming are better overall since 95% of roamers are just relying on stealth, swiftness, and dodge and don't even have condi cleanses, but power works too. You can make a condi build of pretty much any class and go out and take out some thief, ranger, and mesmer roamers and not just be trolling. Plus, aside from damage, condi reaper comes with things like chill that make life very very hard for the typical roamer since chill is a condition even if it doesn't have any damage. Power reaper won't be able to debuff roamers very much. I don't think power reaper is just troll level bad at roaming but condi seems leaps and bounds ahead of it when you consider what classes usually roam.

That's good that the condi is better. Diviner's insignias and inscriptions are a pain to get. Even worse than celestial. At least the sinister and viper's can be bought.

@archmagus.7249 said:

@Coeruleum.9164 said:I think condi builds for roaming are better overall since 95% of roamers are just relying on stealth, swiftness, and dodge and don't even have condi cleanses, but power works too. You can make a condi build of pretty much any class and go out and take out some thief, ranger, and mesmer roamers and not just be trolling. Plus, aside from damage, condi reaper comes with things like chill that make life very very hard for the typical roamer since chill is a condition even if it doesn't have any damage. Power reaper won't be able to debuff roamers very much. I don't think power reaper is just troll level bad at roaming but condi seems leaps and bounds ahead of it when you consider what classes usually roam.

The person above me likes power better. You might want to wait to hear a lot of opinions before you decide what to do.

I'd say that both condi and power are fine for roaming. If I were to just look at the builds you linked I'd tell you to take the power one though, you don't have enough fear sources on your terror build. That said you cruelly lack a stunbreak on your power build so I'm not sure it's really much better. Both builds can be improved.

@Dadnir.5038 said:I'd say that both condi and power are fine for roaming. If I were to just look at the builds you linked I'd tell you to take the power one though, you don't have enough fear sources on your terror build. That said you cruelly lack a stunbreak on your power build so I'm not sure it's really much better. Both builds can be improved.

Yeah.Just an example:The power build has 100% boon duration, but only 3 boons that it uses. Which seems a bit lacking.

With these stats you might at least want to get protection and swiftness for example

Unyielding Blast is trash in any competitive environment and on top of that you do even replace speed of shadows with it, which is a must pick in any competitive environment (if you don't play a niche build that does not run soul reaping at all).

You will be soft cc'd to death by every encounter above bronze division skill level.

A reaper build without staff results in only one fear at low range and a high cooldown. Dread is a wasted gm trait for such a build.

Condi reaper is only viable on dire gear. You plan to run a glass canon condi build, which just won't work outside of pve.

Your power build is way to squishy too (and has no stunbreak - what were you thinking?) but will work against noobs that you can overwhelm even with a pve build. But I think that's not what you aim for.

You can try these builds and you will fail often. After reading my posting you will know why, which is good since you improved your knowledge about the game.

Here's a revised power build.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwEE6MsMBGDzhNxGxT7KtVD-zVJYwRNfZ0dKkeFI4nQI7BmeLfdGB-w

I swapped to wurm runes, so that I can have bonus ferocity, since I don't have a reliable source for chill. I decided to take death magic for the carapace stacks,which also grant power. Eventually getting protection.

Here's the revised version of the condi build.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEt3lVw+YgMHWJWsX/taA-zVIYdUzfGdrCaZK4vDRgGDvkJ3A-w

I changed the condi runes to the sunless, since I'll be using corruption skills a lot. My one stun break is a shout, since there isn't a corruption stunbreak. I did take speed of shadows.

@"archmagus.7249" said:Here's a revised power build.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwEE6MsMBGDzhNxGxT7KtVD-zVJYwRNfZ0dKkeFI4nQI7BmeLfdGB-w

I swapped to wurm runes, so that I can have bonus ferocity, since I don't have a reliable source for chill. I decided to take death magic for the carapace stacks,which also grant power. Eventually getting protection.

Remove those minions from your build. Minions are extremely bad in pvp modes. There's. Only one good minion, which is Wurm. But it isn't taken to deal damage to an enemy.Play bottom-middle/bottom-middle in deathmagic instead and take spectral walk (synergy with shrouded removal) or spectral armor (high protection uptime) instead of the minion. + Either the elite shout or lich form.

Another thing to consider: your crit chance is extremely low for a power build.

Here's the revised version of the condi build.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEt3lVw+YgMHWJWsX/taA-zVIYdUzfGdrCaZK4vDRgGDvkJ3A-w

I changed the condi runes to the sunless, since I'll be using corruption skills a lot. My one stun break is a shout, since there isn't a corruption stunbreak. I did take speed of shadows.

First off: the stat combination you chose is awful. No condition damage on it.And you want to play a condition build.

Blood is power isn't really good in pvp modes, especially wvw.Yes it can do high damage, but it only applies one type of condition that is easily cleansed.

Corrosive poison cloud is only really useful, if you can stun people in it, else people will move out quickly and it'll do nothing for you.Yes it can annoy ranger enemies with projectiles, but that is basically it's only use (maybe prevent enemies from rezzingTaking reapers onslaught is ok ish on some condi builds (mostly hybrid). But normally you take deathly chill on condi reaper.

And some last information: don't try to max out condition duration.As a roamer, take as much as you can get, but don't build for it.50-70% is plenty. Other roamers will have condi cleanses.Small damage (low condition damage stat) over a long period of time is inferior to high damage (high condition damage stat) over a shorter period of time

@"archmagus.7249" said:I'm looking for a bit of advice on these builds for roaming both are reaper, though one is condi and one is power.Power Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lRw0YYsL2IO+WtNfA-zVJYwRNfZERKkeF40nIM7h3yXnRA-wCondi build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEt3lJwaYLMHWJW6X9tWA-zVRYfRNYG+yogKokUQ4PhgWB/JFQyjbA-w

I already have ascended gear I can flush in the mystic toilet to change the prefix, and the trinkets I can reset. My only problem is repeating that TA reward track until I have enough tokens.

Any feedback would be nice.

Sorry, I am starting to sound like a broken record, but I have long since switched to a Core Necro for roaming (using Grieving stats at the moment -with Antitoxin runes).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAYd3lRw0YIMFGJO8O/LPA-zVZYBRI6SMiQIsRBH4h0kCIThQFyAJfBEXIA2AvkH3A-w

I am having a lot of success with it, and unless my life force starts off at 0 at the beginning of a battle, this works well against Reapers and Scourges. I can't remember the last time I've lost to either of those. The only classes I have issues with are well-played DHs (I have to be very careful with them) and permastealth thieves. The sustain is incredible and as the fight lags on, Death Magic's Carapaces start to stack and give me more and more power. In fact, I've seen my power hit close to 3500-4000 with buffs etc.

How about scourge? Are there viable options for that?

@archmagus.7249 said:How about scourge? Are there viable options for that?

Do you want to cripple yourself? No? Then don't play scourge for solo roaming

Trailblazer scourge is extremely strong in 1v1. But not for beginners. You need some good terrain awareness because you are slow.

As a beginner you should just play the "spectral onslaught" or "greatsword roamer" reaper metabuild. It's quite versatile, even though stronger builds exists for specific demands.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Necromancer

Arenanet nerfed the heck out of every Sourge build in every game mode to tone down WvW and PvP performance before the hard split in the beginning of the year. It is still good for PUG support in PvE and blobbing in WvW, though, but is not OP.

@"KrHome.1920" said:Trailblazer scourge is extremely strong in 1v1. But not for beginners. You need some good terrain awareness because you are slow.

As a beginner you should just play the "spectral onslaught" or "greatsword roamer" reaper metabuild. It's quite versatile, even though stronger builds exists for specific demands.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Necromancer

I was about to say, I roam with a variety of Necro builds and Scourge is one of them. It's mostly Trailblazer with a bit of Dire and Tormenting runes + Parasitic Contagion. My Life Force gen is quite bad with the build I use, but my damage is overwhelming. I play extremely aggressive and the only times I have much trouble are against decent Rangers or too many players to handle. I honestly have not found a 1 v 1 that can deal with the amount of conditions I can pump out, even Firebrand.

When Torment is ticking in the 4 - 5k's on top of all the corrupts and Fear CC's, as well as having a lot of passive regen and damage reduction via Death Magic, I don't at all feel "crippled". I just need to be extra cautious about my positioning and who/where I engage, but that's something I'm used to doing with Necro anyway, just a bit more so with Scourge.

I think what you say is true, it's quite strong, but it's not for beginners.

@"SpellOfIniquity.1780" said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Trailblazer scourge is extremely strong in 1v1. But not for beginners. You need some good terrain awareness because you are slow.

As a beginner you should just play the "spectral onslaught" or "greatsword roamer" reaper metabuild. It's quite versatile, even though stronger builds exists for specific demands.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Necromancer

Are the Metabattle builds kept up to date? Because some of the engineer builds haven't been kept up to date.

I've got plenty of experience with roaming, so I'd just need experience with the class and build.

@archmagus.7249 said:

@"SpellOfIniquity.1780" said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Trailblazer scourge is extremely strong in 1v1. But not for beginners. You need some good terrain awareness because you are slow.

As a beginner you should just play the "spectral onslaught" or "greatsword roamer" reaper metabuild. It's quite versatile, even though stronger builds exists for specific demands.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Necromancer

I honestly don't know, I never use Metabattle. I do know that it has a lot of false information and a number of objectively bad builds though. A lot of people treat it like it's gospel but it isn't. It's mostly a good place to get templates when you're new to a class or want a frame for a build.

That isn't to say everything on the site is bad, just that you should take it with a grain of salt.

@"SpellOfIniquity.1780" said:

@archmagus.7249 said:

@"SpellOfIniquity.1780" said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Trailblazer scourge is extremely strong in 1v1. But not for beginners. You need some good terrain awareness because you are slow.

As a beginner you should just play the "spectral onslaught" or "greatsword roamer" reaper metabuild. It's quite versatile, even though stronger builds exists for specific demands.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Necromancer

I do take it with a grain of salt since it took them weeks to change the "Corona burst is your main source of stab" when they nerfed it to just give you more barrier.

@misterman.1530 said:

@"archmagus.7249" said:I'm looking for a bit of advice on these builds for roaming both are reaper, though one is condi and one is power.Power Build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lRw0YYsL2IO+WtNfA-zVJYwRNfZERKkeF40nIM7h3yXnRA-w

Condi build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEt3lJwaYLMHWJW6X9tWA-zVRYfRNYG+yogKokUQ4PhgWB/JFQyjbA-w

I already have ascended gear I can flush in the mystic toilet to change the prefix, and the trinkets I can reset. My only problem is repeating that TA reward track until I have enough tokens.

Any feedback would be nice.

I'm having a hard time with this build (I'm using exotic armor since they're easier to get than ascended, and using a zerker staff since getting a grieving weapon is a pain.)

@"archmagus.7249" said:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAYd3lRw0YIMFGJO8O/LPA-zVZYBRI6SMiQIsRBH4h0kCIThQFyAJfBEXIA2AvkH3A-w

I'm having a hard time with this build (I'm using exotic armor since they're easier to get than ascended, and using a zerker staff since getting a grieving weapon is a pain.)Because it's bad. It's an immobile glass canon.

If you roam on core then you either play

• condi bunker to have a chance to win some fights (but will be ganked every other minute, because you are slow) or
• power bunker to make your target fall asleep (because you can sustain lots of 1v1s forever) and then after 150 seconds kill it with lich.

Sometimes I think anet's balancing strategy for core necro is be a punching bag for 150 seconds and then use lich.

Even the build in the link would move from "trash tier" to "can kill some targets by surprise tier" by just changing the elite from plaguelands to lich.

ima give you a warning rn and tell you that signets are largely dookies (except locus signet). You really need stun breaks, unless you like losing to everything. Stability is non existant. You also want some health and armor, because unlike PvE, you will get one-bopped by a thief and then get danced on. I wouldn't go over 2500 to 2600, but I'd also go for more than 1900... Health pool for average necros is around 25k.

Sample power reaper build for WvW (small scale/roaming): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lVw2YcMPWJmcXnNbA-zVhYBBBKG1cBEBhcEk1ZkpEoC1gGPACsHu/JJA2i+zAA-w

@"jpsssss.7530" said:ima give you a warning rn and tell you that signets are largely dookies (except locus signet). You really need stun breaks, unless you like losing to everything. Stability is non existant. You also want some health and armor, because unlike PvE, you will get one-bopped by a thief and then get danced on. I wouldn't go over 2500 to 2600, but I'd also go for more than 1900... Health pool for average necros is around 25k.

Sample power reaper build for WvW (small scale/roaming): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lVw2YcMPWJmcXnNbA-zVhYBBBKG1cBEBhcEk1ZkpEoC1gGPACsHu/JJA2i+zAA-w

I'm using this build right now for roaming. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lVw2YcMPWJmeXutbA-zVhYBBBKG1cBEBhcEkVp0UEEXBkZIEeCYyBQg9w9vJBQW0fGA-w (I replace my utilities with Wells when I join up with a zerg.) I've been successful most of the time, but I still get one shot by some perma-stealth deadeye, and condi spam.

The two examples above are basically the pvp metabuild I mentioned in my second posting with its strengths and weaknesses. Always a solid pick but low on durability. This means you have one skill rotation and then your target should be dead or you get life force and cooldown problems. That's why I don't play it and why I usually have no issues beating it. Kiting shroud one or two times and the build is done.

The exact traits within in the BM, SR, Reaper traitlines and the rune are personal preference.

Besides this build a signet build (Spite, SR, Reaper) with vamp and undeath signet is very viable in wvw, because the pvp signet splitting has not been transfered to wvw yet (and I hope it never will). If you run a power core build you are basically limited to a signet build because you need the sustain to not become facerolled by any pew pew ranger, thief, core warrior, holosmith or any other burst build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAEd3lJw2YcMPWJecXltfA-zVZYDBLG2RUDlRcVQnpgJXigsHeLANDA-w here's a build I've had success with. Right now the armor and weapons are exotic, but I still crit cap, especially in shroud. Thanks to the putrid defense and corrupter's fervor not having an icd, I can stack lots of toughness and power. That combined with unyielding blast and reapers onslaught, I can easily stack vulnerability. Decimate defences and death perception ensure I land a critical hit every time. I use my utilities mostly for building life force, though I will switch to greatsword to quickly get some carapace stacks in close quarters, and spam gavedigger on bosses once they're below half health.