Necromancers can do a lot of good for your team in Guild Wars 2; providing support and decent damage whenever they are needed to.
Builds are always an important part of any MMO-RPG, and the same goes for Necromancers and Guild Wars 2. You can spec out your character to be just about whatever role you want. You can choose to be someone who supports your teammates or someone who likes to dish out the damage yourself.
This build provides a good balance of both, giving you good abilities to support those around you and giving you the tools you need to hurt an enemy when required. This build has been vetted by the community as a top-tier build for a Necromancer, and we think it is the best build available to the community.
Vanilla Condi Necro build
As we said, this build is focused on providing ample support and damage output for a teamfight. This build possesses abilities and tools available to the free-to-play community, making it very accessible.
Equipment
Basic Scepter + Warhorn
- Superior Sigil of Doom: Your next attack will inflict 3 stacks of poison for 8 seconds after swapping to this weapon while in combat.
- Superior Sigil of Revocation: On hit, remove a boon.
Basic Staff
- Superior Sigil of Energy: Gain 50% of your endurance when you swap to this weapon while in combat.
- Superior Sigil of Escape: Remove movement-impairing effects from yourself when swapping to this weapon while in combat.
Superior Rune of the Traveler
- +8 to All Stats
- +5% Boon Duration
- +12 to All Stats
- +10% Boon Duration
- +16 to All Stats
- +25% Movement Speed
- +10% Condition Duration
Carrion Amulet
- +900 Power
- +900 Vitality
- +1200 Condition Damage
You can also swap out with the Superior Rune of Speed or the Superior Rune of the Nightmare.
Specializations
Curses
- Barbed Precision: Critical Hits have a chance to cause bleeding. Increases bleed duration.
- Plague Sending: Your first attack after entering shroud transfers conditions.
- Furious Demise: Gain fury when entering shroud. Gain additional precision.
- Terror: Fear you inflict deals damage each second.
- Target the Weak: Increases critical-hit chance for each condition on the foe.
- Lesser Enfeeble: Bleed and weaken nearby foes.
Blood Magic
- Lesser Mark of Blood Mark: Inscribe a mark that bleeds does when they trigger it, and grants regeneration to allies.
- Lesser Well of Blood: Summon a well of blood to heal nearby allies.
- Vampiric: Siphon health whenever you hit a foe. Minions siphon health and transfer it to you.
- Vampiric Presence: You and your nearby allies siphon health with attacks. This effect increases while in Shroud.
- Last Rites: As long as you are not downed, allies near you do not bleed out if they are downed. Gain healing power based on your current health.
- Unholy Martyr: Entering shroud transfers conditions from allies to you. Exiting shroud consumes conditions currently on you and converts them to life force.
Soul Reaping
- Gluttony: Increases the amount of life force gained from all sources.
- Soul Marks: Marks become unblockable and generate life force when triggered.
- Sinister Shroud: Shroud skills gain reduced recharge.
- Fear of Death: Your fear effects have increased durations. Inflicting fear generates life force.
- Soul Battery: Maximum life force is increased.
- Eternal Life: Gain life force every interval up to the threshold when no in shroud. Gain protection when you enter shroud.
Skill Bar
- Life Blast Shroud: Blast your foe with life force.
- Dark Path Shroud: Send out a claw. If it hits a foe, it inflicts bleeding and chill on nearby foes and you may cast Dark Pursuit to shadowstep to the initial target.
- Doom Shroud: Inflict fear on your foe.
- Life Transfer: Damage nearby foes and steal their life force.
- Tainted Shackles Shroud: Begin binding nearby enemies with your life force, pulsing out conditions; they can break this binding if they get far enough away from you. Bound foes are immobilized if the binding finishes.
- Death Shroud: Assume a spectral form and gain new skills, turning your life force into health.
Scepter + Warhorn
- Blood Curse: Bleed your foe.
- Grasping Dead: Summon skeletal hands to cripples foes in the target area.
- Wail of Doom: Screech a wail of doom ina cone pattern, dazing foes.
- Locust Swarm: Gain swiftness and summon a swarm of locusts that siphon health to your from nearby foes.
Staff
- Necrotic Grasp: Send out a grasping hand that damages foes in a line and grants you life force.
- Mark of Blood: Inscribe a mark that bleeds does when they trigger it, and grants regeneration to allies.
- Chillblains: Chill and poison the target area.
- Putrid Mark: Inscribe a mark that transfers conditions from yourself to foes when they trigger it.
- Reaper’s Mark: Inscribe a mark that causes fear when foes trigger it.
Healing
- Consume Conditions Corruption: Feast on your conditions, gaining health for each one consumed. You become vulnerable.
Utility
- Corrupt Boon: Poison yourself. Transform boons on your foe into negative conditions.
- Spectral Walk: Create a shadowy tether and become spectral, consuming conditions for life force. You may return to your initial position by using Spectral Recall.
You can choose any of these three Skills in the third Utility slot:
- Spectral Ring: Create a spectral ring that protects allies and inflicts fear on foes. Gain life force when a foe is inflicted by fear from this skill.
- Summon Flesh Worm: Summon an immobile flesh wurm to attack foes.
- Well of Corruption: Target area pulses, converting boons on foes into conditions.
Elite
- Lich Form: Assume the form of a lich for a brief time. Entering this form removes all other spectral effects. Gain life force when this skill ends.
