If Necromancer had two new weapons, the profession might have fewer problems in Necromancer’s largest problem in PvE is facing high-powered mobs and bosses. Conditions do not work nearly as well on mobs with Defiant as boons and heals do on groups facing those bosses. Here is a way to improve Necromancer’s group support without reworking bosses by adding two weapons I think the profession needs to fill critical gaps in its design:
1. A long-range (1200) , single-target, direct-damage weapon with blind, daze, and other CC. The Staff does not do much direct damage being mainly designed for AoE (and it has been nerfed.) We need something designed for higher dps on a single target and include conditions that re-tarrd a boss’s outgoing damage. Staff auto-attack is not very impressive and the AoE for the rest of the skills is less useful when facing a boss because that AoE is designed for use against large numbers of trash mobs. Regeneration, fear, condition transfer, poison, all of those skills are weak against a boss. Chill is useful but can be added by traiting chill-on-blind where a steady stream of blind and daze does far more in group support than chill. Fear is practically useless on a boss without Terror to do a little damage because of Defiant and is not available often enough to wear through. The staff is significantly weaker than at the game’s release because of its use in PvP and Defiant. A long-range alternate designed for bosses is needed badly.
2. A shortish-ranged (300) 2H weapon with cleave and enough bleed to maintain a small stack after switching from the longer-ranged, high-stacking scepter. Torment and other mobility-limiting and damage-reducing conditions will be necessary. Weakness, blind (again), cripple, poison, these are things that are already on scepter/dagger but that weapon set is more focused on AoE conditions and less on direct damage. That is why a 2H weapon with single-target versions of these skills, plus Torment, is necessary. The scepter is great for stacking bleeds while kiting. Something that can maintain a few bleeds while doing dagger-like damage is what Necromancer could really use. Also included should be a channel and a combo finisher. Personally, I favor a version of the spear on land because it already has some of what the weapon needs but it should be reworked specifically for a single target with a few, close adds and group support against that single target.
A spear can use the staff’s traiting though the trait bonuses will be different. Instead of increasing radius of AoE, increase, instead the radius of cleave.
For the new ranged weapon, it is primarily power-based so use Axe Mastery for it’s cool-down reduction.
Edit: Sorry about the spelling error up there but the forum neko kept playing with it despite the correct usage.
(edited by Anchoku.8142)