Necro needs love

I give up trying to play necro in wvw because it’s just not fun needing to be regulated to Zerg play or carried by a team. It’s super monotonous to be the AoE spreader, and a whole lot of nothing else...

I prefer to roam in wvw solo and with smaller groups, and necro is a drag... Sucks being a bag of health that’s over dependent on a gated shroud for survival because the profession designs lacks a whole lot of utility that’s offered on other professions....

Melee Reapers only redeeming quality is the pbaoe slot skills in a pinch, and the greatsword is really slow, telegraphed, and lacks decent utility when compared to a whole lot other melee weapons used in wvw on various professions.

Mobility and positioning skills on necro are the absolute rock bottom, and most of my deaths occur due to not being able to move or reposition... That sucks big time.

This profession needs a very strong revamp that actually makes positive improvements in many areas for wvw, and I think that you can make a number of changes that will be beneficial in any mode.

Thanks.

Edit- And I don’t care about whatever dps or mighty condi numbers anyone brings up as a rebuttal. I judge mostly on fun factor and build diversity, and this profession is really lagging behind in both areas.

Edit 2- Shroud should be more of an add-on set of skills, more similarishesque... to how warrior adrenalin and burst skills work. Not a shroud needed for survival, and all your opponents need to do is simply out-position you until shroud times out. No real need to have some slow as as all get out skills when most other competitive weapons on other professions are pumping of fast damaging skills like there is no tomorrow. There is no valid reason why necro shouldn't have access to better utility, mobility and position skills across weapons and slot skills so they could be more competitive to other classes and have better build options... Yes, there are some good elements to a necro, but the things missing from this profession vastly outweigh whatever positive aspects we can bring up.

This would only happen through an elite spec.

Sword spec based around duelling and small scale fights. Yes please.

@Lahmia.2193 said:Sword spec based around duelling and small scale fights. Yes please.

But then either double swords or hammer.

Not just one hand. I want 5 new weapon skills. Maybe with a leap, dodge,block or evade on them

Well let me start by telling you that no form of current necro is a dueling profession (not that you cant use it as one) but it will be bad at it compared to most other professions in the game currently so if you are roaming on necro with 0 support at your side prepare to die alot (and occasionally win if you make good hard reads with a decent build)

Reaper now has the power to kill just as fast as it gets killed roughly your shroud auto attack can kill most professions in about 3-4 hits give or take one based on your trait set up and if they have a way to avoid the damage or not. While its mobility is still rather bad there are some tactics you can use toe mitigate this issue.Using Locust swarm as some one else already pointed out will help you immensely

If some one does not want to challenge shroud (most people wont now cause its deadly as it should be) they will start to kite you. From here you have a few options.1: Chase them normally, "DO NOT" use your shroud 2 skill even more so if they are really close to you. Wait for them to do some kind of blink or leap movement to get more ground then follow up with shroud 2. Even i have to still take my time on this one I often end up blowing my charge too early and people get away out of bad habit.2: If some one starts to walk away you turn an walk away. (if you have the life force to spare dont drop shroud yet) Usually what happens is they will turn and start to follow you. Once they start to do this use shroud 2 to dive in on them. Yes some times they will still dodge but it puts you in melee range, forces them to blow a dodge or evasive skill to avoid the damage, or just out right eat the damage (best case).3: Swiftness is key, Do not under estimate speed of shadows (Even more so if you dont run a staff) its a good trait lets you clear the immobilized, cripple, chill status.4: Drop shroud and opt not to waste your life force, use axe or staff to poke at them while you have the distance or use great sword to pull them back, Caution! this will always be the most risky play as most players will see this as the perfect time to attack you. Any time you drop shroud its when you are most vulnerable for the next 10 seconds.

Shroud up timeYou can have a slightly better chance at sustaining your shroud if you know how to combo spectral skills with shroud for max efficiencySpectral master is still a good trait if you run soul reaping and it always will be decent.Using spectral armor before going in to shroud (if you have it available or if you have other break stuns on your bar) will allow you to reduce incoming damage and keep your life force generating as you get hit. Each proc of this while in shroud can be considered an extra second that you otherwise would not have had. (in the instance of fighting mesmers each clone + the mesmer can proc the activation independently once per second which is massive life for generation. ) While you have this up consider using infusing terror but not releasing it as it will also reduce incoming damage This is you best time to pressure your foes even more so if they are committing to attacking you. Damage is reduced by a ton, you have stability, and if they hit you it rewards you by generating life force. If some one thats not condition challenges you in this situation its usually a win if they dont correct the mistake quickly.

Build DiversityI dont agree with you here. I think necromancer has some of the widest build diversity in the game. Necro no longer feels locked into any of its core traitlines and while yes you are locked into an elite spec line there are builds that can be ran without blood magic, spite, curses, or even soul reaping. We use to be locked into soul reaping along time ago but now we are not. (Its now a good traitline again) but not something you are locked into.Take these examples

• Ele: Often locked into arcane and or water
• Thief: 99% of the time always locked into trickery regardless of what build they use
• Warrior: The hot thing right now seems to be Discipline and or Defense... honestly warrior only usually only uses 3 of its 5 core lines in most of its builds
• Ranger: Almost alway locked into Beastmastery and or Wilderness Survival because they are way too good across all builds.

I think personally necro offers some of the most diversity between core traitlines in the game Non of them are so overly strong that they or required to the point that you cant play a decent power or condition build without them (depending on how well you know necro)

ShroudShroud is good-ish.Core shroud lacks raw power to be a threat but has 0 defensive skills or zone control to stop people form running it over. Anet needs to realize this and find a way to boost its damage to a healthy level without over shadowing reaper doing more damage in melee range or actually give it some defensive skills rather than offensive ones.Reaper Shroud is actually not too bad. Its got less uptime but easily 5x-10x the damage when you can land the hits. Its mobility is honestly no better than core but it has some bonus damage reduction and the power to give itself stability for a short time. Reapers biggest problem right now in my opinion and the only thing that needs to be reworked is it's shouts. Some of them could use 2 charges and the shout trait honestly needs to be reworked. the life stealing mechanic is a bit of a joke.

LastlyNow let me end this by saying, I totally agree with you I would love to see a shroud thats not 100% based on protecting your hp and gives you an assassin like play style
but if reapers charge was a blink and not a charge i feel like it would be pretty close to being a assassin though.

I would love a duel sword wraith like elite spec personally something that get s a shroud like https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/darksiders/images/2/2a/Ds_wraith2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100824053414

For myself, it would be nice to have an elite with elite utilities. Shout and Punishment utilities feel lacking and I end up running core utilities much of the time on elite specializations.

@Anchoku.8142 said:For myself, it would be nice to have an elite with elite utilities. Shout and Punishment utilities feel lacking and I end up running core utilities much of the time on elite specializations.

^ this :+1:

In sPvP Necros and Guards are the most commonly played common professions now.

@"Amaranthe.3578" said:In sPvP Necros and Guards are the most commonly played common professions now.

yeah but thats the Problem, you never say necro alone. ist EVER "Necro AND Guardian". its almost like being the 3rd Guardian weaponset. its not cool to be just a Gimmick of another Profession.