Necromancer - Core Condi Roamer

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on July 21, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition based core Necromancer build for WvW roaming with proper sustain and decent pressure.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Warhorn

Staff

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

For the optional slot:

• Corrosive Poison Cloud - excellent sustain tool against both ranged and melee, it's even good at pressuring targets.

• Well of Corruption - great AoE pressure against groups, and could scare off melee enemies for a few moments.

• Summon Flesh Wurm - more mobility and a stun break with a bit of Life Force gain on the side.

• Spectral Armor - stun break, defense against direct damage, and excellent LF building.

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Equipment

Head
Trailblazer

Shoulders
Trailblazer

Chest
Trailblazer

Hands
Trailblazer

Legs
Trailblazer

Feet
Trailblazer

Backpiece
Rabid

Accessory
Trailblazer

Accessory
Trailblazer

Amulet
Rabid

Ring
Trailblazer

Ring
Trailblazer

Scepter
Trailblazer

Warhorn
Trailblazer

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Trailblazer

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Rune

• Rune of Superior Rune of Antitoxin - has great synergy with Spectral Walk and procs frequently with Sigil of Superior Sigil of Generosity (although it doesn't transfer 2 conditions, just gets rid of a second one).

Sigils

Geomancy can be replaced by:

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing - if you're having trouble dealing with conditions.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Corruption - if you're willing to lose a useful proc for a stacking damage boost.

Consumables

Food:

• - passive damage mitigation and great stats.

• - more active damage mitigation via dodging.
  • - budget version

Utility:

• Optimal:

• Budget: (found in Canned Food Crates looted from WvW Skirmish Chests)

Usage

General

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

• Reaper's Mark on Staff is an unblockable CC. Use them to interrupt skills such as a Warrior's Shield Stance.
  • Tip: enemy players who block Staff skills can work against themselves. Long duration blocks such as Shield Stance give you more than enough time to land important staff skills like Chilblains with little to no risk of being avoided as blocking players normally don't dodge.

• Entering Shroud triggers Weakening Shroud which is an excellent defensive proc that can also be used while CC'd to apply Weakness to nearby enemies.

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).

• Feast of Corruption is one of the most important skills in the build - boon corruption, condition pressure, and resource management all rolled into one. Try to use it with at least ~4 different conditions already on your target.

• Terror causes Fear to deal damage to the target.

• Plaguelands is potent, but hard to land as anyone could just walk right out of it. Your goal here is to make your enemy overcommit to staying inside the range of this AoE - drop it on downed enemies when their team is coming to revive them, or under yourself on low HP essentially acting as a bait.

• Life Blast with Dhuumfire is a great filler while in Shroud.

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. Spam Life Blast

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!

• Even at maximum health you may consider activating either Spectral skills before entering 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.

Related Builds

• Core Condi Necro - the Conquest PvP version of this Necromancer roaming build.