Build:Necromancer - Vanilla Condi Necro

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage and Boon removal

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on June 20, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Condition Necromancer PvP build with heavy boon corruption made to teamfight. Usable by F2P players as well.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Dagger

Staff

Utility

Slot Changes

Utility

Viable utility options:

• Well of Darkness - the Blind is great at surviving in melee and the Chill could be used to pressure targets.

• Well of Corruption - AoE boon corruption.

• Corrosive Poison Cloud - AoE projectile counter and anti-direct damage skill that also helps with killing bunkers with the Poison

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Equipment

Scepter

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Staff

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Usage

General

• Positioning: Necromancer sustain is far from great. Keep out of melee range whenever possible, and abuse spots which break teleport skills to make it harder to get to you. Don't stand on capture points unless you absolutely have to.

• All of your marks are unblockable and generate Life Force.

• Never spam your marks on the ground out of combat - they are easy to spot and a single dodge from the enemy can get rid of them. The only exception can be Mark of Blood (because it's not a key skill and has a low CD), which you can freely place at an entrance or under yourself to potentially give away Stealthed enemy movement.

• • You're able to interrupt blocking enemies with Reaper's Mark on Staff.

• Entering Shroud triggers Weakening Shroud. If you're CC'd and getting focused you can enter shroud to rip boons and apply Weakness as a defensive measure.

• Entering Lich Form near the end of the ready up phase at the beginning of a game (right before the final 10 second countdown starts) makes you start off with 15% Life Force. You can skip this when playing with Eternal Life.

Damage

• Most of the pressure comes from various sources of boon corruption and condition applications over time, this build isn't really about burst rotations (bar 1-2 combos).

• Lich Form adds some direct damage burst to the build, this skill is great for finishing off opponents.

• Shroud burst rotation (in melee range this doubles as a defensive rotation):

1. Death Shroud to proc Weakening Shroud
2. Dark Path
3. Doom just before Dark Path reaches the target
4. Tainted Shackles
5. Life Transfer
6. Spam Life Blast

Support

• Blood Magic adds a small degree of team support to the build. The most notable benefit here is the improved rez potential.

• Ritual of Life places a Well under target ally which not only revives downed players, but also heals everyone in range including yourself (and it's quite a significant bit of healing). However, if the Well gets placed while you're in shroud, you won't be healed at all!

Sustain

• The build has above average condition cleansing by Necromancer standards.

• Both entering and exiting shroud removes conditions thanks to Plague Sending and Unholy Martyr.

• Spectral Walk (SW) is great for preventing condition pressure from ramping up on you. Activating its chain skill which "ends" Spectral Walk does not stop the cleansing. This skill has many uses, for example:
  • Activate SW ⇒ jump off a cliff while being chased ⇒ Spectral Recall when your enemies jump after you.
  • Activate SW ⇒ Necrotic Traversal (if using Flesh Wurm) ⇒ teleport back when they catch up to you. This works for stomping downed enemies as well, the channeling isn't interrupted by either of these teleports!

• Summon Flesh Wurm should be placed well before entering combat, preferably at a spot where your enemies can't reach it easily. Wurm provides you with an escape route and makes it easier to travel around the map in general. Last but not least, teleporting to the wurm with Necrotic Traversal grants 10% life force, which means you could consider using the teleport before even leaving spawn at the start of a game in order to start off with enough LF for a Death Shroud activation.

• Even at maximum LF you may consider activating Spectral skills before entering death shroud. The added LF generation and sustain can prolong its duration significantly.

• Consume Conditions is more of a last resort option that should only be used at or below ~50% HP and when other forms of cleansing/healing won't suffice.

Top Streamers

• Twitch: Naru

Related Builds

• Core Condition Roamer - the WvW Roaming version of this sPvP build.