The spectral line is a bit of an odd duck in that there is no real overarching theme between the skills, and each one will see very situational usage. You could possibly make a case for Spectral skills being about enhanced survivability, but then Spectral Grasp doesn’t really fit that particular mold.

Instead, you want to ask yourself, “What other aspects of my build do I want to enhance?”

• Spectral Armor – Good for survivability and generating life force
• Spectral Grasp – Great for dagger builds, and one of my favorite skills in WvW since you can use it to pull enemies into a swarm of your allies to prevent them from escaping or running into keeps to defend.
• Spectral Walk – Works sort of like a reverse shadow step ability, and can be used for either mobility or a survivability mechanic
• Spectral Wall – A good group support skill, but as a ‘wall’ it can be sidestepped by enemies far more easily than AoE skills

Wells tend to be some of the necros most powerful utility (and healing) skill options, but with one major catch: they can’t be used underwater. That aside, on land Wells can be great for condition manipulation, and Well of Blood tends to be one of the best heal skills available to necros. With the Focused Rituals trait slotted, they can also become ground targeted, and otherwise are particularly effective in sPvP while fighting on capture points.

There are only a few traits that support Wells, but they tend to be some of the strongest supporting traits for a single skill line. Ritual of Protection, Focused Rituals and Vampiric Rituals in particular are all solid trait options if you intend to work multiple Wells into your build.

As you will see above, Minions are the most heavily trait supported of all necro skill lines. As such, they can be a utility skill line that tends to factor more heavily into your overall build and gameplay style than most others as well. You can go a couple of different directions with minions: build them for better survivability (thus augmenting sustained DPS) or keep them in their weaker, natural state so that they can blow up and provide some additional burst damage.

In terms of weapon pairings, you may want to consider the following:

• Staff – The Marks from the staff can help chill enemies, and keep your minions alive longer
• Scepter – Grasping Dead will cripple foes, which can help make minion bombing via the Death Nova trait a bit more effective
• Focus – If you’re building your minion army for survivability, Reaper’s Touch can provide another form of regen to keep a small HoT (heal-over-time) on your minions.

Signets

Signets are a skill line that all professions have with the exception of the engineer. The way they work is that, once slotted, they will provide you with a passive benefit of some sort while also having an ‘active’ skill interaction. The active skills tend to have much longer cooldowns than other skill lines (between 60 and 180 seconds depending on the skill) so will see a bit more situational use in combat.

You could think of signets as a means of enhancing other aspects of your overall build, depending on the purpose and playstyle you’re aiming for:

• Plague Signet – great for builds focused on condition manipulation
• Signet of Spite – Improves direct damage slightly, and can help you quickly apply conditions though on a longer cooldown (90 seconds)
• Signet of the Locust – Improves mobility while passive, and a minor heal via life steals on a 60 second cooldown
• Signet of Undeath – Great for builds that factor in Death Shroud, with a great active support skill that revives nearby allies, though on a very long cooldown (180 seconds)