Guild Wars 2

As we know, Necromancers in general are a very self-sufficient profession. This should become even more true with the fast attack of Reaper Shroud (compared to Death Shroud) and traits such as Reaper’s Might.

How about replacing a shout such as “Rise!” or “Suffer!” to instead provide some sort of support while keeping true to the Necromancer in general? I propose either of those shouts because “Rise!” is just plain bad (and no matter which summon is chosen, AI isn’t great to begin with) and the shout I’m proposing would be similar to the current “Suffer!”.

So here’s the shout:

Damage and chill foes around you. Transfer [number] condition(s) from allies to yourself. Send your boons to your allies.

Damage: 259
Chilled: 1½ s
Conditions Transferred: 1 per Ally
Boons removed

The damage and chill are there to keep some sort of offensive aspect to the shout, to stay similar to other Reaper shouts. The general idea, however, would be to stack up boons on yourself (such as Might from Reaper’s Might or Fury from Furious Demise) and then sacrifice all those boons to send them to your allies (leaving you with none). Instead, you end up with some conditions on you, which you can then cleanse using one of the many Necromancer skills.

As has been mentioned by others many times before, the core necromancer needs more support. The necromancer shouldn’t get that change via it’s elite specialization or else everyone will be forced to be a reaper. It seems like Arenanet has listened to this remark and is reworking blood magic somewhat to fit that ideal.

“Rise!” is just plain bad (and no matter which summon is chosen, AI isn’t great to begin with)

This is no argument to get rid of it. Instead it is an argument to change the skill and/or improve the AI. Personally I am looking forward to trying it out.

Well, Anet stick to the very bad idea that necromancer have to support through debilitating the ennemy. They want the Necromancer to do that by using :

Poison : limit healing ability
Chill : slow ennemy and their skill cool down
Weakness : reduce damage output and endurance generation

While on paper this would work, in actual gameplay it’s pretty much a waste for a great part of the content. Beside, their are other classes that best the necromancer in this area.

The main point of “Rise” is that it have synergy with “death nova” and will apply ton of poison and weakness. So, if i translate : “Rise” is exactly what Anet see as what a support skill should be for the Necromancer.

I do not have a problem with Reaper as a specialization but, as many others have pointed out, the core reasons for Necromancer’s lower popularity have not really been addressed.

Reaper is, after all, just a way to play the current Necro meta better, not to broaden its play style or make it more useful to groups and teams. The game is all about powerful gimicks like Slick Shoes, rapid might stacking, stealth, reflect, spike damage, ect.

Diovid.9506:

As has been mentioned by others many times before, the core necromancer needs more support. The necromancer shouldn’t get that change via it’s elite specialization or else everyone will be forced to be a reaper. It seems like Arenanet has listened to this remark and is reworking blood magic somewhat to fit that ideal.

I completely agree with this and I’m curious to see what ANet will do with the Blood line. I proposed that skill as a shout because that’s likely something they are still iterating on. However, it could work very well as a Corruption skill if the damage and chill are removed.

It just seems to me that sacrificing your own boons to give them to your allies, while receiving their conditions, is something that fits the Necro very well.

A few ways they can make the Reaper more Supporting:

Terrify – Activating this not only Fears nearby enemies, but also Grants the Stability Stacks you had to nearby Allies for Twice their Duration on you. Suddenly, Necros have a “Stand your Ground!” of their own.

Rise! – Instead of summoning Jagged Horrors, this is instead a Rally skills that Damages nearby Enemies, Rallying 1 Downed Ally within range for every enemy struck. Cooldown would have to increase, of course.

Chilling Force – This Trait has been considered too powerful as it is, so instead I suggest a change. Instead of granting the Reaper Might and Life Force every time they strike a Chilled foe, Chill now instead causes the enemy to take 5% Additional Damage and the Duration of Vulnerability and Weakness is increased by 50% against Chilled enemies.