Core Necromancer
The following build is designed to guide you through your first playthrough, or simply offer you a decent and reliable Core build if you are on Free to Play account. Core builds are not advised to be used later in the game due to superiority of elite specializations.
Core Necromancer is a highly self-sufficient build that can supply itself with Might
Fury
Quickness
Death Shroud
This build also has excellent burst area of effect damage thanks to staff, Well of Darkness
Death Shroud
Life Transfer
A natural followup to this build is Power Reaper which takes a lot of fundamental mechanics from necromancer and focuses even more on massive melee cleave damage!
Build Fundamentals
This build utilizes synergy between Fear
Dread
Quickness
Fury
Quickness
Might
Awaken the Pain
Death Shroud
Life Blast
Reaper's Might
Doing this is straightforward, simply use your Fear
The key Fear
Reaper's Mark
Wail of Doom
(third ability inDoom
)Death Shroud
Note:
reduces the cooldown of Dread
by 50% whenever you kill an enemy, when fighting multiple enemies in the open world you’ll be able to use this ability a ridiculous amount of times for incredible crowd control and Doom
uptime! This combined with Quickness
causing Fear of Death
to generate life force (even while in shroud) can allow you to stay in Fear
pretty much forever as long as you keep killing enemies! Death Shroud
Death Shroud

Death Shroud
Death Shroud
These are the abilities that you get while in Death Shroud
: powerful ranged attack that will be the key ability to use for consistent damage!Life Blast
: utility ability, excellent for chasing enemies down as if you hit something it turns intoDark Path
allowing you to teleport to the enemy you hit!Dark Pursuit
: long durationDoom
, perfect for shutting down enemies.Fear
: very powerful area attack that also restores some life force while in shroud, because this ability strikes so many times it has amazing synergy withLife Transfer
andVampiric
from blood magic which cause your attacks to steal life. These two traits will causeVampiric Presence
to restore a large amount of health when striking multiple targets.Life Transfer
: this ability tethers you to nearby enemies, applyingTainted Shackles
and after a few seconds any tethered enemies will be struck with moderate damage and will be affected byTorment
for a few seconds. However, if you move away from enemies the tether will break somewhat nullifying the skill.Immobilize
Weapons
Staff
On staff, skills 2-5 are called ‘marks’ these are trap-like area of effect abilities that explode when an enemy walks into them or if you just directly cast them on your opponents. They all do great damage and have some nifty utility too.
Chillblains
Poisoned
Chilled
Putrid Mark
Chillblains
Weakness
The staff autoattack Necrotic Grasp
Death Shroud
Dagger Warhorn
Dagger is a strong melee weapon that also has a very good self healing ability: Life Siphon
Life Siphon
Dark Pact
Immobilize
Warhorn grants addition Fear
Swiftness
Locust Swarm
Locust Swarm
Death Shroud
Utility Skills
Summon Blood Fiend
Taste of Death
Spectral Grasp
Well of Power
Might
Well of Darkness
Blinded
Chilled
Summon Flesh Golem
Charge
Crowd Control
This build has massive crowd control, your opponents won’t be able to do anything and defiance bars will melt away!
Spectral Grasp
Doom
Wail of Doom
Summon Flesh Golem
Charge
Reaper's Mark
pulsingWell of Darkness
is especially good for shutting down the damage output of large groups of enemiesBlinded
Dark Pact
Alternatives
Lich Form
Bringing Well of Suffering
Spectral Grasp
If you are finding yourself getting stunned a lot, take Spectral Armor
Additional minions, especiallySummon Bone Minions
Gearing tips
Since this build is designed to be your entry point to Guild Wars 2 world, let’s start with the basics, if you haven’t checked the guides below, give them a read to make yourself familiar with game basics.




Don’t try to invest in Runes and Sigils before you acquire proper level-80 Exotic gear with Berserker’s stats as transferring upgrades is not possible without destroying the item, and retrieving them during the process has a small chance with most salvage kits.
From drops, crafting and level-up rewards pick items with Power, and on later levels supplemented by Precision and Ferocity.
Unlocking skills
If you’re looking up this build as you’re leveling through the wide world of Tyria we recommend unlocking wells and minions early on!
The first specialization at level 21 should be Spite
Soul Reaping
Blood Magic