Necro weapon questions!

[Crymsyn.5037]

My question is this is axe better for second weapon slot (First is dual daggers as I wanted to melee will change to greatsword when I unlock Reaper.) Or staff? If axe is Axe/dagger alright or should I go with something else in the offhand? keep in mind my Necromancer is just under 20 (I think either 17 or about to hit 17) It was between Melee Necromancer or Melee Mesmer and necro won out yesterday. (Tried both and Necro felt better to me and I did like the utilities more for necro.) Also should I go more Power with dual daggers or condition? I thought condition at first given all the dot's daggers have but have found nothing but power daggers maybe a healing one here or there.

[LucianDK.8615]

You do -not- want to use dual daggers.  Mh dagger is terrible from what piddly damage its doing.  And OH dagger is one of the poorest offhands we have. You will be much better off with warhorn, which have both breakbar damage and a speedboost

 

Axe is a better power weapon, in particular axe2. Stick with power damage, which is much easier to aquire gear for.  A full exotic berserker kit from trading post at 80 is a worthwhile investment.

 

Regarding greatsword, it can be used as both power with berserker gear or condi with a full set of condi gear. But I strongly advise starting out with power for when learning the game.

Edited October 3, 2021 by LucianDK.8615

[Crymsyn.5037]

While I will replace the dagger offhand on axe as you suggested and thank you... I LIKE the dual daggers and will keep using them (Until GS which I do like two handed swords a bit more.) I was asking about the second weapon slot whether it was better for axe/offhand and what offhand or staff. As well as whether I should go power or condition for daggers. Of all the weapons Dual daggers, axe, and staff were my favorites of the non reaper weapons. Staff only due to it turning into a scythe in a necro's hands =P

[Dadnir.5038]

If you're talking about leveling anyway, you'll just outlevel your gear very quickly, there is no reason not to go through all weapons and find the one you like, or not, at the stade you are in the game.

Staff might be the weapon that will help you the most at this stage of the game thought (it will allow you to take on the low level group of mobs from events and map objectives more easily than the other weapons), so that will be the weapon I'll recomend you.

 

[KrHome.1920]

PvE:

Power core necro is basically dagger/warhorn and axe/focus as your two weaponsets.

Staff is just for tagging 5 mobs in group content to leech the loot while others do the damage for you.

Offhand dagger has one single niche: transfer self applied bleeds, when you run blood is power on a condi or hybrid build.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Axe/Focus for real damage with Staff for AoE tagging + ranged.

When you unlock Reaper Greatsword + Staff for best all around or Greatsword + Axe/focus for maximum possible power DPS.

[KrHome.1920]

Dagger has a higher dps than axe. Still pathetic compared to GS, but significantly higher and at least a 2 target cleave. 

[Dadnir.5038]

48 minutes ago, KrHome.1920 said:

Dagger has a higher dps than axe. Still pathetic compared to GS, but significantly higher and at least a 2 target cleave. 

It's all about leveling not toping the dps chart. While leveling you'll have mismatched armor stats (because it's not worth investing into an armor set while leveling) and you'll need more utility than damage.

[Asum.4960]

Both Axe and Dagger are fairly terrible for Damage, doing around 1/2 to even 1/3 of the damage of core weapons on other professions (Staff is even much worse, doing around 1/6th of the average weapon damage). 

Even core Shroud barely does 2/3rds of the damage of base weapons on other professions.

So damage potential is not really the question with core Necromancer anyway. 

 

For leveling, just pick what's fun to you, really. There aren't really any bad choices for core Necro in PvE, as there aren't any good ones. 

 

Besides personal enjoyment, pick Dagger MH if you want some extra sustain, Axe if you want ranged damage, Staff if you want to tag enemies easily and get some Utility with Condi Transfers and CC. 

For off-hands, Dagger for Condi Transfers, Warhorn for CC, Focus for extra LF. 

 

Then, with whatever you enjoy most out of these, try to make it to Reaper with GS and it's Shroud.

[Pooh.6897]

Welcome to Necro 🙂 The best advice I can give you is the same that others have given above. At this point in the game, damage numbers are not your main priority. I HIGHLY encourage you to try all of the weapons for yourself and to get a feeling for them. Don't be scared off by people that say that one weapon is more viable than the other, especially for open world it doesn't really matter that much anyway. If you like running dagger/dagger, than by all means go for it. The best advice I can give you is to look at the type of damage a skill or weapon does. If you see a raw damage number, that's strike damage. You'll want power, precision and ferocity to push that further. If you see a condition, such as bleeding, you'll want condition damage and expertise (condition duration). Keep in mind that for a necromancer, vitality is a stat that comes with extra benefits. This is because the size of your life force pool is based on how much health you have. If you have more vitality, you have more shroud.

So to recap

Stats

see a raw damage number on a weapon/skill? That is strike/power damage. Invest in Power, precision and ferocity.

See a damaging condition, like bleeding? You'll want to focus on Condi(tion) damage and Expertise (condi duration) to boost this.

Vitality increases your health AND your life force pool, gives you more shroud.

Toughness is a tricky one. You will take less strike damage, but you will also cause more foes to attack you during group content.

The other stats are not that relevant for you at this point. Healing power gives you stronger heals, concentration makes your boons last longer. These are not really worth it to focus on for now, since necro can't give out a lot of healing or boons.

Weapons

Dagger mainhand: Deals strike damage and has strong life force generation.

Dagger offhand: Deals condi damage. Skill 4 is useful to send condi's to foes. Skill 5 is only strong if you invest in condi damage.

Scepter: Condi damage. If you use the trait line "Curses" and choose for lingering curse, scepter is one of the strongest weapons necro has without a doubt. If you're looking for pure damage on necro, combine scepter with curses.

Axe: Power/strike damage. Strong if you're fighting against one enemy at a time. on core necro, axe can provide the most strike damage.

Warhorn: This is almost always a good choice. you get a speed boost on skill 5 and a daze on skill 4. A daze is strong because it deals a lot of breakbar damage. A breakbar is the bar you see on enemies with a golden portrait, also known as champions. if you use skill 4 on one of them while the bar is blue, you will do a lot of damage to that bar. When the bar breaks, the champion will be stunned and will take a lot more damage for a short while.

Focus: Eh, hmm. Sooooo uh, hmm how to explain this one... well, just try it out 🙂 Skill 5 can remove boons from enemies and skill 4 can give you a chunk of life force. not really the best offhand, but it exists. 

Staff: Alright, this is a tricky one. Staff is not really a normal weapon. Instead, think of Staff like a toolbox. Staff is good at 2 things. 1) fighting multiple enemies. Staff can do quite some damage if you're fighting a lot of enemies at once, use it for that. if you're fighting around 4 enemies at once, use a staff instead of a dagger and try to lead the projectile through all enemies.  2) providing something we call utility. Others can probably explain what utility is much better, but it basically comes down to "Nice things to have". For example, you fight an enemy that deals a lot bleeding damage. Skill 4 on staff can send these straight back. You need a bit of regen? Use skill 2. You need a bit of breakbar damage? Use skill 3 and skill 5. You have trouble reaching the boss without taking a lot of damage? use the massive range of staff instead, no problem. As i said, Staff on necro is a toolbox. It provides a lot of different things, and because of that it will often have something that will be useful to you.

Greatsword (reaper): I know you're not at this point yet, but greatsword (gs) is a flexible weapon. If you want to deal a lot of power damage, it will serve you well as long as you invest in the right stats. If you want to deal a lot of condi damage, than it will do a lot of damage as well with the right traits.

Torch (scourge): Condi damage. Easily the best offhand for necro. If you ever reach the point where you can equip a torch on necro, you'll know why. the damage is very high, it has a knockdown (breakbar damage), just a really good offhand and matches especially well with scepter.

[KrHome.1920]

22 hours ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

It's all about leveling not toping the dps chart. While leveling you'll have mismatched armor stats (because it's not worth investing into an armor set while leveling) and you'll need more utility than damage.

ESPECIALLY when leveling you want the highest damage multipliers possible on your weapon to get the most out of your trash gear and to not waste your time.

[Klowdy.3126]

On 10/3/2021 at 12:36 PM, Crymsyn.5037 said:

My question is this is axe better for second weapon slot (First is dual daggers as I wanted to melee will change to greatsword when I unlock Reaper.) Or staff? If axe is Axe/dagger alright or should I go with something else in the offhand? keep in mind my Necromancer is just under 20 (I think either 17 or about to hit 17) It was between Melee Necromancer or Melee Mesmer and necro won out yesterday. (Tried both and Necro felt better to me and I did like the utilities more for necro.) Also should I go more Power with dual daggers or condition? I thought condition at first given all the dot's daggers have but have found nothing but power daggers maybe a healing one here or there.

To be fair, if you're unwilling to budge on D/D, then it doesn't matter what you use for the second weapon set. You're using the worst setup as far as weapons go (you do you), so anything you use in the second slot with be an improvement. I personally always liked the axe/focus setup, but switched to WH off hand for PvP. At this point, just pick what you think looks cooler.