Guild Wars 2

Retaliation damage is keyed off of your power.

Hmm since when did that change, i remember long ago it use to be based of enemies power, and yea with the triple nurf to Retaliation over the past few months the difference between the two would be very minimal.

Would still like to see your build jul.7602 your link is still not working.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Retaliation
Retaliation damage was nerfed in PvP by 33%.
New formula is 198.45 + (0.075 * Power)0.66)

Ignore my previous post. This is probably a better build.

My wellomancer build

Effective health=27834
Effective power=3939.09

I converted your build to the buildcraft website. Much better statistics.
Ascii’s Wellomancer

Effective health=33776
Effective power=3037.29

My build has
18% less effective health
23% more damage (also 10% more mark damage)
29% more retaliation damage

Things to note about your build
Always take superior sharpening stones over maintenance oil. Raw power always increases EP better than precision.
You’re toughness to vitality ratio is off. You either need to increase your vitality or decrease your toughness by taking off knights or cavalier gear. Your vitality:toughness should be a 1:10 to get the best survivability with the least amount of stats invested.
Force greatly out damages sigil of blood. No real reason to have that over force on staff.

@jul.7602
Were-as you maybe right on your vit:toughness ratio, your not taking into account the -65% condition duration making a higher health pool somewhat unneeded. With only 1300 toughness you really open yourself up to being dropped by a melee train.

This build is not about straight up damage, its about disruption by staying in the fight longer and being able to rotate through key skills such as Corruption quicker, i prefer survivability and sustain over power.

As for Retaliation, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the difference 16.31%:
(198.45 + (0.075 * 2609))* 0.66 = 260.1225
(198.45 + (0.075 * 1872))* 0.66 = 223.641

The loss of Wail of Doom would be too much as-well, +1 second Daze on 5 people and -4.5 seconds off its and Locust Swarms CD is too strong to pass up.

All nice points. I reviewed your build made some modifications I would recommend.

I kept the same style of your build. No changes were made to weapons or runes.
*Added Sharpening stones
*Full soldier armor+backpiece
*Added 2 berserker trinkets,

More damage, but with the exact same effective health

uh u guys know about valk/zerker wells builds right? 2700 power, 100% crit damage, tons of vit and survivability, and an extremely deadly Deathshroud. imo, no reason to run wells any other way. starts at 13:50

mistsim.2748:

uh u guys know about valk/zerker wells builds right? 2700 power, 100% crit damage, tons of vit and survivability, and an extremely deadly Deathshroud. imo, no reason to run wells any other way. starts at 13:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7BLhqhtszk

2700 Power? Got a link to this build?

@jul.7602
All you’ve done then is kept my trait, weapon and sigil layout and swapped Precision food for Power food, swapping out high toughness Armour for low toughness Armour and hoping the -8% direct damage taken is made up in the vitality’s effective health.

Even for the slight boost in power i wouldn’t trade-off 8% direct reduction for it, conditions are not the weakness in this build, heavy melee damage is which is why anything but high stat toughness is a hindrance.

At a push, i would consider recommending Sentinels armor with Berserker trinkets for someone who wanted to do more damage, but the lower the Toughness the more chance you become a rally monster for the enemy.

@mistsim.2748
Dagger offhand and a wasted utility slot… Well of Power does so much more then Grasp ever can for GvG. Would be nice to see an actual build.

Please note for people who haven’t read all the pages, I’m not looking for advice or tips on my build but to answer questions on/ about it or Necro WvW gameplay in general.

Ascii.9726:

@jul.7602
All you’ve done then is kept my trait, weapon and sigil layout and swapped Precision food for Power food, swapping out high toughness Armour for low toughness Armour and hoping the -8% direct damage taken is made up in the vitality’s effective health.

Even for the slight boost in power i wouldn’t trade-off 8% direct reduction for it, conditions are not the weakness in this build, heavy melee damage is which is why anything but high stat toughness is a hindrance.

At a push, i would consider recommending Sentinels armor with Berserker trinkets for someone who wanted to do more damage, but the lower the Toughness the more chance you become a rally monster for the enemy.

Please note for people who haven’t read all the pages, I’m not looking for advice or tips on my build but to answer questions on/ about it or Necro WvW gameplay in general.

I gave you an all around attribute increase, that’s all that matters. You basically just listed the things I did to optimize your build.

You misunderstand the effective stats. I increased your overall damage by 6%. Damage reduction, and health are irrelevant unless you convert them into a similar currency. In this case I even increased your durability.

Sentinels armor is a massive damage decrease even with berserker trinkets. A false interpretation of attributes. As I said before, toughness alone is irrelevant, alone it means absolutely nothing. Low effective health is what makes you rally bait.

@jul.7602
You’ve done no such thing as an “all around attribute increase”. You’ve increased Power by lowering Precision, which is a 10% critical chance loss (Lowering Vampiric Precision, Sigil of Blood procs and the additional damage from the Critical Damage which in-itself is a 10% less chance at dealing 110% more damage).

You’ve also just swapped Toughness for Vitality hoping that it has the same effect through effective health.

Might i also point out that in every build, your actually missing out that i also have +6% critical damage more then your builds.

I have to ask this, because this was a big off-put in the earlier pages of these threads, have you even played any of the builds your theorycrafting in large-scale WvW for a long period of time.

The vitality for the original build is awfully low. Have you played with the Dire build at all since posting this, Ascii?

My build is the standard 0/30/20/20/0 as well but with Dire armor and weapons with rabid accessories. I’d go dire with the trinkets as well but I don’t have the ascended ones for that yet. I also use the omnomberry compote.

Staff with sceptor/warhorn.

I’m like you and I run mostly zergs for wvw. I have probably followed you a few times, as well.

Open to suggestions.

ascii is a top rate necro on the same server as me, well are taste in builds run different I will say I have seen his live stream and he knows what he is doing.

Also Plague is a must in group wvw, shoot rotating plague allowed me and my buddy to take out a 5v2 tonight.

I am no fan of chilling darkness withoug the well of darkness. Using a major trait for an elite skill which has 3 minutes cooldown seems weird. Use weakining shroud instead. Weakness is really strong.

In general putting points in bloog magic is worthless. The healing is too low. Stick with more power or more survivability with death shroud. Works better as your minor healings per hit.

Btw: You call yourself the best necromancer on north amercian servers? I do not think you can best high ranked sPvP necros. Being the best PvE necro is not as cool as you might think.

@Grimstar.6931
The build drops Vitality (otherwise gained from full Soldiers armour) for Precision (gained from Knights armour) and makes up for it with Melandru + Lemongrass, Vampiric Precision and Sigils of Blood (as health is more for sustaining bleeding conditions rather then direct damage). The health pool might look deceptively low but the sustain is much stronger then a standard necro well build and the pool is safe from condi bombs.

@Noc.2459
I’ve actually spent awhile using Banshee’s Wail over Chilling Darkness and will be switching to it permanently after the 18th patch when its buffed.

Points in Blood Magic is both not “worthless” nor for the healing power, its for the Well cooldown. Having Corruption up 8 seconds sooner every cycle is pretty big considering its an AoE boon strip * 5. Stripping Stability just before the melee train engages is usually a instant win.

Vampiric and Vampiric Precision are also both pretty effective for dealing true damage to enemies on everything and will be even stronger post 18th when its buffed.

As for the “Best Necromancer NA” I’m just going to say you don’t seem to get the reference and its not that literal so keep your panties on.

Grimstar.6931:

The vitality for the original build is awfully low.

I dont get why people want to get so much defense :]
I run the base HP which is like 18.7k ish ? With wvw bonuses and guard stacks it can go up to 22k. More than enough.
When the party prioritizing buffs update comes its gonna be amazing. Currently I run (with food and stacks) 90% crit dmg, 42% crit chance which can be boosted with fury by warrior(s) in your party and deathly perception from soul reaping (so maybe I can drop Foot in the Grave and guardians can give us stability when needed), that will get me up to ~80% crit chance in DS. Also with ~2.9k power (not counting might) and 22k hp/1.7k toughness.
Thats a zerg busting 30/10/0/0/30 build with last gasp and spectral armor you will be running with decent protection uptime and Life force gain etc so surviving will not be a problem for anyone experienced…and the damage is insane.

Build offensively imo, and it was said that they gonna change some stuff in the blood tree so gotta see what it brings.

@Aphix.9846
Thats pretty much spot on, Necromancers base e-pools are already the second highest in-game not taking into account Deathshroud. With all the additional health bonuses you get from WvW (Guard Leech & Robust) there’s really no need to go super defensive.

Main issue I’ve been debating is toughness vs. critical damage or to be more precise Knights armour vs. Berserker armour and what would be more suitable for a prolonged fight, but that’s down to player preference really.

Wouldn’t scepter be better than axe, simply because of the ground targettable AoE cripple/bleed? Or does the axe retal really contribute that much to the fight?

Opc.4718:

Wouldn’t scepter be better than axe, simply because of the ground targettable AoE cripple/bleed? Or does the axe retal really contribute that much to the fight?

Scepter is a Condi weapon, and this is a Power build. Also, it’s not just about Retal, but Axe #3 also strips up to 5 boons depending on how many players it hits. Also, Axe #2 is very decent solid single target DPS for those occasional instances where some single target burst is useful.

@Opc.4718
Although scepter cripple is more aimable and safe then axe, its not the reason why i use axe (the cripple that is). Having perm-retaliation is super strong when your built to tank, your almost always reflecting back 300-400 damage and it isn’t bound by the 5 person AoE limit.

Unholy Feast (as Liquid pointed out) is also a AoE boon strip on a short cooldown, another more personal favorite for using Unholy Feast is it needs no target or placable AoE ring, you Axe 3 and it hits 5 people, even stealthed.

Another reason (but not in my particular build) people main hand axe is for builds that spec 20 into Spite for increased damage whilst using Axe (as this also boosts utilities when using Axe, such as Wells).

Why not replace one of the wells with well of darkness, which allows you to both blind AND chill enemies since you’re already traited for it? Wouldn’t that be better in utility compared to say, well of suffering?

Ascii, I just want to tell you thank you very much for sharing this build. I got my Necro up to 80, and honestly…..no other class makes me have more fun in WvW than my Necro.

I’ve had extensive usage of my warrior, guardian, mesmer in WvW. But man….this Necro…OH MAH LAWD.

Again, thanks for sharing this build.

Thanks for posting this Ascii

Q1: Is the build on P1 current?

Q2: If the changes seen here on the forums for Oct 15th are true, what do you expect this will do to your build?

@Opc.4718
Well of Darkness is a good utility to use, and in any other build but this i would 100% recommend it over Suffering but with the high spike damage being a core of this build Suffering is too strong to pass up.

@KOPPER.1458
Yes the first page build is still relevant with the exception of Banshees Wail instead of Chilling Darkness which i have been using since i heard about its buff coming in the upcoming patch.

With Banshee’s Wail increasing all warhorn effects by 50% we will see +3 seconds onto Locust’s duration (and with any hope the effects will be be buffed too by +5 seconds swiftness and +0.5 seconds cripple per proc).

With Vampiric Precision correctly scaling now it would simply be a damage and life-steal increase which is also brilliant. So all-in-all, given the leaked notes, this build will become a lot stronger in sustain power and migration.

1 more Question if you don’t mind:
You are using an ascended neck with Pwr/Prec/Vit/Crit D.

Are you using this because you wanted the extra Vitality or because you previously owned it?

@KOPPER.1458
The necklace is for 50% critical chance, it just so happens to be the one with vitality on it and the one i had before anything else.

If i was to change my ascended gear (to keep the 50% critical chance) whilst adding in the new additional stats from ascended weapons this what i would/ will be aiming for:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRLbvSTTjfPBIz46nnU494xMGeZA-jUCBoiCiEGBiIAMBqIaslRFRjVbDTFjIq2cORG0DrWKAmEGB-w

This is also the most up-to-date version of the Wellomancer build i will be using post-18th when leagues and balances hit.

The toughness infusions could be changed for vitality infusions and still work perfectly (the vit infusions actually give the build a higher e-health, but I’m a fan of toughness given the -65% nulling a lot of the need for high vit, so it would be player preference).

Hope this helps!

Ascii do you have 50% crit while using staff? Mine is at 50 with warhorn but like 45 with staff. Unless we have bloodlust

thanks for the update Ascii

happy to see gear doesn’t change too much. With ascended weapons and soon armor it’s very hard to replace or re-gear characters over and over.

@yiannit.2083
It will be 45% no matter what because you are missing the +5% critical chance sigil in the warhorn, so its normal to be on 45% with staff.

@KOPPER.1458
Yeah it is a pain if i have to change trinkets/ armour parts, but being a perfectionist if i can optimize stat points by changing parts then i will.

what exotics would you recommend for best power/crit/toughness/ ratio to a new necro farming the gear?

The WvW season has just begun and as promised i have re-vamped and updated my build (found in this post and the homepage) to include all the newest stat sets, traits and items.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRLcvSTTjfPBIz46nnU494xMGeZA-jUCBoiCiEGBiIAMBqIaslRFRjVbDTFjIq2cORG0DrWKAmEGB-w

Changes:

• Ascended weapons added.
• Weapon stat set changed to Assassins. This is to free up precision points otherwise gained from the amulet so the amulet can be changed.
• Amulet stat set changed to Cavaliers. This is to provide more toughness.
• Shoulders, gloves and boots stat set changed to Knights. This is for more toughness, though it can be kept as Berserker.
• Banshee’s Wail set at master trait for the Curses tree. This is due to the buffs to this trait making the slow effects much stronger then Chilling Darkness and active much more.

As always I’m happy to answer any questions or queries on this build or its playstyle!

Sorry i dunno if this has been answered already, i’ve only read the OP and this last post, but is this a roaming or zerg build?

I may have missed it in the arguments, but may I ask your reasoning behind Vampiric Precision and not Mark of Evasion? I would think the regen you get would make up for the loss in health stealing (in addition to being another AoE attack you can use in Plague), but I could be mistaken.

@Tobbygnome.6793
This is a zerg build.

@Drarnor Kunoram.5180
Theres many reasons why Vampiric Precision is superior then Mark of Evasion in this build, mainly;

• Mark of Evasion would provide at-best a 969 heal over 6 seconds, Vampiric Precision will heal that amount in 23 procs which can be done much quicker.
• Regeneration can be stripped/ converted.
• Mark of Evasion requires you to be point blank and inside the mark.
• Mark of Evasion has a cooldown.
• Vampiric Precision procs of every single direct damage source with no ICD.
• Vampiric Precision deals what i like to call true damage, its fixed damage that cant be reduced or cleansed.

To put it in a more simple way with the example you provided, if i was to use a pretty standard engage rotation for this build (WoC > WoS > Locust Swarm > Plague) in a 30 second period with both traits in one situation the hits/ healing would be:

Mark of Evasion: 5 (targets hit) * 3 (activates) = 15 targets hit
Regen total: 2,907
Bleed total: 3,960

vs.

WoC: 5 (targets hit) * 6 (pulses) = 30 targets hit
WoS: 5 (targets hit) * 7 (pulses) = 35 targets hit
LS: 5 (targets hit) * 13 (pulses) = 65 targets hit
Plague: 5 (targets hit) * 20 (pulses) = 100 targets hit

230 Tagged @ 50% critical chance = 115 Vampiric Precision procs
Healing total: 4,485
Damage total: 4,715

Both are in ‘best conditions’ were the damage/ regen isn’t removed/ stripped and all skills hit there max number of targets.

Hope this helps!

Oh, a zerg build, have you considered swapping out Vampiric for Transfusion on occasion now it is buffed, heals upto 3200 per person x5. I pretty much use it when we re-stack in a zerg fight to help top everyone off because it’s the same healing as 2.5x water blasts

Just giving my view from experience, i don’t like to impose on other peoples builds.

PS: I still think your other build is better – below

Ascii.9726:

The Asciis Amazing Guardian Slaying Dungeon Roamer Heavenly Priestess Build ©
30/30/30/30/30
Staff/ Warhorn + Greatsword/ Rifle
Celestial Amulet (it has all da stat points).
No Gem (Necros are op and can kill without a gem).

Yup. Pretty good breakdown of the reasons, thanks.

@Tobbygnome.6793

I would definitely recommend running Transfusion if your in the more disruption spec’d build (PTV gears, Well of Darkness/ Power ect).

As for this build its 50/50 for me, the heals are nice for allies (or pets there/ clones…) but i dont like using Life Transfer for healing/ defensive reasons when it does a lot of damage in this spec (and for tagging people!)

How would you set this build up without Ascended items (I’m still working towards a full set atm)? Would it be the same setup with just exotic items or would you change things up at all?

Castien.1872:

How would you set this build up without Ascended items (I’m still working towards a full set atm)? Would it be the same setup with just exotic items or would you change things up at all?

Berserker exotic weapons and Cavalier exotic neck/rings/ears/back. You can get a full set of these from the Temple of Balthazar if you have the karma for it.

Ascii, got a question for ya:
why Curses 25pts for “Target the Weak” (2% dmg incr per condit on foe) and not grabbing Spite 5pts “Parasitic Bond” (1k heal per kill; 5 ICD)? In a www environment heavy with melandru/lemongrass/shout heavy do you feel the benefit of that dmg increase? Parasitic Bond feels like it would complement better no?

edit: maybe because of that extra 2% chc from Curses?

Aphix.9846:

Grimstar.6931:

The vitality for the original build is awfully low.

I dont get why people want to get so much defense :]
I run the base HP which is like 18.7k ish ? With wvw bonuses and guard stacks it can go up to 22k. More than enough.
When the party prioritizing buffs update comes its gonna be amazing. Currently I run (with food and stacks) 90% crit dmg, 42% crit chance which can be boosted with fury by warrior(s) in your party and deathly perception from soul reaping (so maybe I can drop Foot in the Grave and guardians can give us stability when needed), that will get me up to ~80% crit chance in DS. Also with ~2.9k power (not counting might) and 22k hp/1.7k toughness.
Thats a zerg busting 30/10/0/0/30 build with last gasp and spectral armor you will be running with decent protection uptime and Life force gain etc so surviving will not be a problem for anyone experienced…and the damage is insane.

Build offensively imo, and it was said that they gonna change some stuff in the blood tree so gotta see what it brings.

I agree, with DS and active play the 30/10/0/0/30 build is definitely insane power and enough surivivability with any experienced necro. I used to run that build until I transferred to T1. The build no longer works because of 1 thing – skill lock. The lag gets so horrible, you will not be able to play around with your active skills anymore. Ascii’s build works really well in T1 where the blobs are so massive, you need every bit of passive survivability (blood line) since most times you cant cast anything for 10 seconds or more. Looking at you, SoR blob!

hyman.7526:

I agree, with DS and active play the 30/10/0/0/30 build is definitely insane power and enough surivivability with any experienced necro. I used to run that build until I transferred to T1. The build no longer works because of 1 thing – skill lock. The lag gets so horrible, you will not be able to play around with your active skills anymore. Ascii’s build works really well in T1 where the blobs are so massive, you need every bit of passive survivability (blood line) since most times you cant cast anything for 10 seconds or more. Looking at you, SoR blob!

I still actively use that build in T1 ^^ The numbers are just too good, rather than building tanky which I find pointless as I let the melee train soak up the damage while I nuke with ridiculous numbers, wasted potential building defensive imo.
You know you’re doing your part when well of suffering can tick for 4k crits, putrid mark 5k etc, part of the blob is downed before the melee train gets to hit them. lol. While still having really awesome survivability.
It only gets laggy in a 3-way blob battle which doesn’t happen often here really.

I just want to give a complete thumbs up to Ascii’s build. I’ve been using it for about a week in WvW and I love it. I’m on a small pop server and often find myself in small skirmishes (10v.15, 2v.3) and also in small groups facing large zergs (hopelessly outnumbered usually). I always manage to do well, and that’s saying a lot since I’m not a PvP’er. I love this in comparison to playing my hammer/GS warrior – it’s so much more fun and effective.

Thanks for posting the build. It is awesome.

Hello Ascii, is there anything that you would change on your build for roaming in small group (3 – 5 ppl)? Thank you.

syndromx.1063:

Hello Ascii, is there anything that you would change on your build for roaming in small group (3 – 5 ppl)? Thank you.

You may want to follow Ascii’s Twitch stream and ask questions there when he’s online and streaming. Unfortunately he may not be able to respond to this thread in the future.

http://www.twitch.tv/gw2ascii#/w/7467092976

Just did my first GvG with this build. What a difference. Thank you Ascii for taking the time to share this and to explain and defend in such detail all the aspects of this build.

/salute

cheers mate

Thanks for the thread great info Ascii.

“50% or more critical damage.”
Any reason for this then the obvious more dmg.

Is the heals from crit dependent from the amount of CD?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_hit#Average_damage_increase
If not then it would be better to get Average dmg increase 1500 in some other way like CC 85% 10% CD or something like that. Because we would crit more to get heals but make the same dmg as CC 50% and CD 50%.

Hey Ascii, been playing a build quite similar to yours prior and throughout leagues. I have a carbon copy of your original gear set up, as well as a full pvt+vampirism runes for situations that require alot of survivability, and i like how both play out so far. Usually use your gear for open field fights for a little more DPS output, and PVT for keep/enclosed combat where i am eating alot of dps – a little more of a front liner feel.

What are your thoughts in a 0/20/0/20/30 build, dropping the points in death magic and a little DPS from condi’s+stat bonus to power for the 30 in soul reaping? I’ve played this build for the last little bit and i really like it. Here’s the build, and my thoughts around it:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRrSPTTUjfPBMpo7xjUU8wUPWH9zB-jkyAYfBRyBEBBkwAk8UWTgCilxioxqtx0uAq4FVLFATCjA-w

1) In big zerg fights i have no problem hitting 4-5 people with my marks, which im basically using as filler DPS and to tag for my restoration sigil.
2) The minors in that tree are god aweful. bone fiend looks like a skinned cat that does nothing and i dont care at ALL for toughness w/ minions.
3) I understand you are losing 250 toughness by not going into death magic. But by going into soul reaping, you are getting better life force regen, spectral armor (stun break which is nice) and a flat out dps increase when ranging your wells/marks.
4) Piercing life blast, stability on DS, and DS cooldown (still not sure if i love FiTG, no stun breaker makes it pretty hard to use but still pretty good)
5) +30% crit damage.

I find piercing life blasts can be a nice addition to your DPS in big fights. The play style is a little different as you are utilizing your DS in compensation for straight up toughness.

Not sure if anybody else in this thread proposed or discussed this build so sorry if this is redundant.

Thanks for continuing the chat, and updating the builds!

i would run a build similar to yours when my team needs a full well spec. instead i am specced for ds cannon most of the time:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fQUQRAnd4YjMaZ6VambMcKEpCNDUh3LSxwcMUPcn15DB-j0zAYLBZ0FIxAmcASFCU2LiJwhsWBLiGriBTXma9JiyFQFD5BStPJZyAsMBA-w
if you want more toughness you could always switch up your food and get a momentum sigil for 225 toughs and rely on your staffheal for condi control. its a game changer for sure. it all depends on your playstyle and what your team needs.

DirtyBird.6093:

Hey Ascii, been playing a build quite similar to yours prior and throughout leagues. I have a carbon copy of your original gear set up, as well as a full pvt+vampirism runes for situations that require alot of survivability, and i like how both play out so far. Usually use your gear for open field fights for a little more DPS output, and PVT for keep/enclosed combat where i am eating alot of dps – a little more of a front liner feel.

What are your thoughts in a 0/20/0/20/30 build, dropping the points in death magic and a little DPS from condi’s+stat bonus to power for the 30 in soul reaping? I’ve played this build for the last little bit and i really like it. Here’s the build, and my thoughts around it:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBHhZakRrSPTTUjfPBMpo7xjUU8wUPWH9zB-jkyAYfBRyBEBBkwAk8UWTgCilxioxqtx0uAq4FVLFATCjA-w

1) In big zerg fights i have no problem hitting 4-5 people with my marks, which im basically using as filler DPS and to tag for my restoration sigil.
2) The minors in that tree are god aweful. bone fiend looks like a skinned cat that does nothing and i dont care at ALL for toughness w/ minions.
3) I understand you are losing 250 toughness by not going into death magic. But by going into soul reaping, you are getting better life force regen, spectral armor (stun break which is nice) and a flat out dps increase when ranging your wells/marks.
4) Piercing life blast, stability on DS, and DS cooldown (still not sure if i love FiTG, no stun breaker makes it pretty hard to use but still pretty good)
5) +30% crit damage.

I find piercing life blasts can be a nice addition to your DPS in big fights. The play style is a little different as you are utilizing your DS in compensation for straight up toughness.

Not sure if anybody else in this thread proposed or discussed this build so sorry if this is redundant.

Thanks for continuing the chat, and updating the builds!

Oddly enough, this is the exact build, including gear and traits that I use (except for I switch out to path of midnight in DS when I don’t snipe). I love the build and with the right playstyle you can be in the thick of things and be one of the last one standing.

I have used ASCII’s wellomancer build and terrormancer build quite a bit, probably even against his own zerg.

My one question: any thoughts at all to using the new vampire signet?

The only place I think it may actually work is in a zerg, but only if it is true that the ICD on the passive is 1 second per target really works like it sounds: that each person hitting my wellomancer triggers ~350 heal, limited to once per second. So if 10 people hit at once, theoretically that’s 3500 healing received.

If it’s 1 second ICD global… then it’s useless.

I’m going to experiment with it tonight.