Guild Wars 2: Necromancer class announced

ArenaNet have announced the fourth profession for Guild Wars 2, and it's the classic maestro of the dark arts, the necromancer. They've also released a video showing off a few of his evil, evil skills.

I played a necromancer in the first Guild Wars. In fact, I play a necromancer in any game that will let me, but I've never before had the opportunity to play a necromancer who is also a three foot tall teddy bear.

He looks so cute and defenceless, as though he'd never hurt anyone. But then he casts a circular curse that kills his enemies in agonising pain. Not satisfied, he then he summons an apparition of the grim reaper himself to frighten those who made it through back into the circle of death. He's brilliant. Like an evil ewok.

The necromancer will be able to summon underlings as well, including bone minions that can be ordered to self destruct from range, turning them into travelling bombs. Necromancers will have access to 'Well' powers, area of effect abilities that can buff nearby allies, and will be able to use the 'Death Shroud' ability, which activates automatically when their health runs out, turning them into a spectral form with its own unique abilities.

The Well skills and the Death Shroud are good reflections of ArenaNet's philosophy that characters in Guild Wars 2 should be flexible, and not confined to a single job on the battlefield. The Well abilities make necromancers good support characters and the Death Shroud means that they should be durable enough to tank if needed. Head over to the official site for more information, including a few more videos showing off the dark arts. I particularly recommend the video of the Grasping Dead skill, in which a trio of necromancers defeat their enemies with an undead mexican wave.