Necromancer - Core Power

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Designed for: Open World, Open World General and Open World Core

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on September 03, 2023 and is up to date for the June 27, 2023 game patch.

Overview

Power build for the core necromancer class. It deals decent damage, has good utility, can remove conditions from itself and boons from enemies with ease, and is easy to play.

This build can be played while levelling, while working on acquiring elite specializations, or by free-to-play players. It leads nicely into Build:Reaper_-_Power_Greatsword.

Template Code

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Skill Bar

Axe/Focus

Dagger/Dagger

Utility

Weapon Variants

Axe is mandatory, and Focus is very good too. In the other weapon set, Dagger+ Dagger is decent, but other options can be considered.

Staff - good AoE, long range, and utility, but low damage. Good for tagging mobs in groups.
Warhorn - very weak damage, but good crowd control.

Players with Weaponmaster Training with the Secrets of the Obscure expansion should use Greatsword and Axe+ Focus.

Skill Variant

provides good damage and Vulnerability application, try to not remove it. is another great damage option, but can be swapped for some utility. is a generic stun break that may also provide life force. These are other skills you can consider using:

- pull enemies to you to cleave them down.
- useful for teleporting to places you normally can't reach with its active skill .
- alternative, passive DPS option.
- a friend with low damage and decent HP.
- destroys projectiles.
- alternative stun break that also removes conditions.

Specializations

The choice of third specialization doesn't matter much. Curses is decent as it provides Fury from . You can instead use Blood Magic for some support or Death Magic for some defense.
If levelling up, unlock the specializations in this order: Spite, Soul Reaping, and Curses.

Equipment

Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required. This build uses gear similar to Build:Reaper_-_Power_DPS, making it ideal for general PVE.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Axe
Berserker

Focus
Berserker

Sigil

Dagger
Berserker

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

and are interchangeable.
You can use other relics such as or , or deffensive ones such as or .
For defense, equip the highest tier Jade Core you can afford. Use defensive food, traits, or skills if required. If necessary, use Knight trinkets.
Players with Weaponmaster Training with the Secrets of the Obscure expansion should use Greatsword and Axe+ Focus and , or , or .

Usage

Damage

Your highest damage skills are , which deals extra damage for each stack of Vulnerability that the enemy has; , which deals extra damage if the enemy has boons; and , which triggers an additional strike against enemies below 50% health. All of this together with your wells and .
- Ideally, open with your wells plus to inflict 5 Vulnerability and regain some life force, followed by , and . Then, enter shroud and use and , followed by shroud auto attacks . This skill pierces enemies, so position yourself accordingly.
Go in and out of shroud periodically to trigger and . Though, ideally, you would only stay out of shroud to use your high damage skills and regain some life force, before going back into shroud, as Shroud has a stronger autoattack.
Your biggest sourcess of life force are , , and dagger auto attacks . Nearby deaths also provide life force, but finish off enemies outside of shroud, since you don't gain life force from nearby deaths while inside shroud.
You have a lot of boon removal. Prioritise using for that, due to its high damage, but know that you also have and .

Weaponmaster Training damage breakdown

Click to Expand

On Greatsword, prioritize , , , then . Be sure to use your and inside your or to trigger Leeching Bolts. The goal on Greatsword is to auto-attack as little as possible.
If the enemy is below 50% health, you can spam rather than using auto-attacks.
Use Axe/Warhorn for range. Warhorn is mostly there for CC from , which has a somewhat short range, so you may need to close in to use it.
Your highest damage skills on Axe are , which deals extra damage for each stack of Vulnerability that the enemy has and , which triggers an additional strike against enemies below 50% health.
Go in and out of shroud periodically to trigger and . Though, ideally, you would only stay out of shroud to use your high damage skills and regain some life force, before going back into shroud, as Shroud has a stronger autoattack.
Your biggest sourcess of life force is , , and . Nearby deaths also provide life force, but finish off enemies outside of shroud, since you don't gain life force from nearby deaths while inside shroud.

Defense

The best defense in Guild Wars 2 is evading attacks. To this end, be sure you are positioning and dodging correctly, and practice doing so consistently. Sometimes, extra defense may be needed. For this purpose:

CC enemies to stop them from attacking
- AoE blind
- stunbreak + Protection
- condition cleanse; be careful as this applys 5 stacks of Vulnerability to yoursel for 4 seconds on use, making you take +5% increased damage for a brief period of time.
- allows you to apply consistent Weakness to enemies; this is a massive damage reduction on non-defiant enemies.

Crowd Control

- fear ticks Defiance Break much more quickly than other conditions.
- if using warhorn
Soft crowd control from or .

Necromancer - Core Power

Contents

Overview

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