Leveling from scratch

Afternoon Folks,So I know a lot of folks say "just do whatever you want till 80, then the real game begins", but I was hoping for a bit more direction than that. Brand new to the game, and trying to level a necro from lvl 1-80, and while I get that I end up with points enough for everything, what is generally considered the most entertaining path to level with? Curious about weapon set ups and rotations along with typical progression of hero points. I do know that lvling content is quite easy and I could run just about anything and succeed, but I would rather learn to play the class efficiently as possible :) Thanks in advance

@"kalg.7481" said:Afternoon Folks,So I know a lot of folks say "just do whatever you want till 80, then the real game begins", but I was hoping for a bit more direction than that. Brand new to the game, and trying to level a necro from lvl 1-80, and while I get that I end up with points enough for everything, what is generally considered the most entertaining path to level with? Curious about weapon set ups and rotations along with typical progression of hero points. I do know that lvling content is quite easy and I could run just about anything and succeed, but I would rather learn to play the class efficiently as possible :) Thanks in advance

I don't think you can really learn to play 'efficiently' while leveling because you can't run an 'efficient' build and gear yet. It's more important that you learn your skills, weapons, and traits in and out. Switch between weapons and skills often to get a feel for what works and doesn't. As far as what to do I prefer map completion. It gives good rewards, you'll probably want to do it eventually as it gives you an item you need for crafting legendary weapons, and it just just plain fun with all the cool stuff you find and do. Regarding skills just unlock what sounds the most fun to use. I find wells and corruption skills to be fun but I don't play much necro now days. I know this answer probably didn't help much but it's best to just focus on learning about your profession by just using all the things while leveling and worry about what is most effective once you hit max level.

First priority is to move faster. Start with a war horn in your off hand and use Locust Swarm. Put points toward either the trait Quickening Thirst in Blood Magic or toward unlocking Signet of the Locust. Spectral Walk is another utility that aids movement but it is more like the horn in that it requires activation and has a cool down between uses.

Quickening Thirst gives 125% movement speed when a dagger is equipped.

Signet of the Locust gives 125% movement speed when it is off of cool down but not used.

After learning to run faster, a lot of new players will find minions helpfull. They are AI pets that hold aggro and auto attack so you can learn the game without being killed as much.

leveling used to be very efficient/fast on power builds.necro got some very powerful early on traitlines/traits that scale incredibly good with power:

soul reaping (probably the most powerful of them all - when used as the first traitline - and also my personal preference); speed of shadows, soul barbs, death perception.death perception + deathshroud (f1 -> skill 1, 4, 5) will melt open world mobs and guarantee tagging many mobs in events.

blood magic (a tad less dmg, but more heals and more reliable speed, when using a dagger); quickening thirst, vampiric presence/banshees wail, vampiric rituals

spite; spiteful talisman, awaken the pain, close to death

weapons of choice for events, map completion:mainhand dagger (quickening thirst, heals + melee cleave)ormainhand axe (spiteful talisman, range, burst)offhand warhorn (swiftness, lifeforce for your shroud)weaponswap staff (piercing autoattacks, short cd aoes)

weapons for first dungeon experiences like the ascalonian storyline (although i dont recommend doing dungeons anytime before lvl 80, when you are new to the game)dagger+focusweaponswap to axe+warhorn

skills: whatever feels good.well(s) for more aoesignet of the locusta stunbreak (spectral walk(more swiftness), spectral armor)

however, "fun" is very subjectively perceived. there is no "most entertaining path" for everybody.many player love that minion master theme (most minions have only a niche purpose in most lategame scenarios. they underperform in many regards).and then there is that condition/dots thing - which is equally efficient in lategame, but definitely slower when you just started leveling (scepter, dagger offhand, everything that causes bleeds, poison; traitline being curses).

As Zexanima.7851 already stated "it's best to just focus on learning about your profession" by experiencing the different skills and weapons.so if you feel like power is boring, try out conditions or minions. and even if you like the power build, try out conditions at some point (switch equipment and equipment stats accordingly ofc*); or vice versa.

*edit:power stats: prioritize power (on every part of your equipment), precision and ferocity (substitute these two for vitality and toughness if you need more survivability)condition stats: prioritize condition damage (on every part of your equipment), precision, expertise (and also power to some extent, because most skills that inflict conditions do power damage on their first hit)

@"kalg.7481" said:Afternoon Folks,So I know a lot of folks say "just do whatever you want till 80, then the real game begins", but I was hoping for a bit more direction than that. Brand new to the game, and trying to level a necro from lvl 1-80, and while I get that I end up with points enough for everything, what is generally considered the most entertaining path to level with? Curious about weapon set ups and rotations along with typical progression of hero points. I do know that lvling content is quite easy and I could run just about anything and succeed, but I would rather learn to play the class efficiently as possible :) Thanks in advance

Check out metabattle.com, click on the class you want, in this case necro, and scroll down to open world builds. From there you can choose the type of build (power, condi), and the spec (reaper, scourge, base). I actually leveled my necro with tomes, so I didn't do much in the way of real leveling play, but what I was enjoying was signets, and minions when I got my second spec. Signets will help you move faster if you don't have mounts, and minions are good for smashing low level enemies in OW.

In all honesty, if you seek to learn/practise current endgame tactics as any role besides a support or tank, or in WvW/PvP (where you’d actually play that game mode instead), one thing that you learn quickly is that the damage meta overshadows a disgustingly large portion of PvE, only excluding extreme solo (solo-ing things that are not meant to be solo-ed), just due to the design of the game. The faster you accept this, the more prepared of a player you become for ‘lv 80 content’, which the levelling process is supposedly meant to do.

It really doesn’t help how necros are naturally resilient, and lacks a lot of additional defensive options outside of watching minions slowly eating away at everything. Ideally, like many other people have said, you’d want stack as much of power (main) -> precision -> ferocity + dmg% mods if playing power, or condition damage (main) -> precision -> power + condi procs if playing no expac condi/DoTs (don’t mix both), whilst ignoring all of toughness, vitality and healing power.

Edit: something I haven’t seen yet, if running power, always take Signet of Spite. Any signet that grants additional power is OP whilst levelling.