Guild Wars 2

Having played necro since beta I’ve gradually developed my own list of complaints about the class. So I made up a list of changes that I would like to see implemented that I feel would make the class harder to escape from (without greatly increasing its mobility) increase its trait synergy and make death shroud more usable for both condi and power specs. I also feel that giving necro the ability to have both terror and burn at the same time was a very poor balance decision (I realise that some previously nerfed condi skills would need to be buffed to make up for loosing this combo)

These changes are only thinking of WvW.

Please comment with thoughts, but don’t be rude I sincerely feel most/all of the changes I made would better the class as a whole.

Possible Functionality changes:*

Aquatic life blast would become the same as normal life blast (1s cast instead of 1/2s cast)

Dhuumfire could apply 3s of burn when you receive a hit while in death shroud on kitten icd.

Corrosive poison cloud
surround yourself with a poison cloud that apply’s 4s of Poison, Weakness and Cripple to foes you touch,
self poison 10s
15s duration
240 radius
(this skill would work the same as the Human elite Reaper of Grenth)

Spectral Grasp
apply a shadow tether to target foe that chills them for 5s, you may shadow step to tethered foe by using Spectral Traversal imobalising foe for 3s

Blood is power
sacrifice 10% of your current HP and gain 15 stacks of might for 12s

Rending Claws (Axe 1)
Slash foes near your target twice applying vulnerability, 180 radius around target.

Trait Changes:

Spite:

Spiteful Marks VII
All marks apply 1s chill (currently marks deal 10% more damage)

25 point minor
You have a 33% chance to blind foes when you apply vulnerability 4s icd (currently gain might when you fall below 25% hp)

New trait Plague blast XI
reduce life blast cast time to 1/2s from 1s but reduces life blasts damage to 235 base from 244, life blast now transfers conditions to your opponent. This change makes life blast the same as the current aquatic skill of the same name.(currently this trait spot is Dhuumfire)

Curses:

Hemophilia II
moved to master tier and combined with lingering Curse XI, new effect is +40% bleed duration.

Withering Precision XII
moved to adept tier, Weakness duration reduced to 2s icd reduced to 10s

15 Furious Demise
gain 5s of fury when you fear a target 10s icd (Current, gain 5s of fury when you enter death shroud)

Terror IX
has damage buffed to origenal at launch level (or higher) and is moved to Grand master tier.

Dhuumfire
moved from spite and placed as second grand master trait in Curses

Death Magic:

5 Re-animator
Summon a vampric horror, this minions attack steals health and transfers it to you 5s icd (currently summons a jagged horror on a 15s icd)

Dark Armor
gain 200 toughness while in death shroud. (currently gain 400 toughness while channeling)

Spiteful Vigor II
steal 1 boon from each nearby foe when you cast a heal skill, max 5 foes in 240 radius (currently applys 5s protection on heal skill)

Blood Magic:

Buff all life stealing traits heal amount by 20%

5 Full of Life
increase regen duration from 5s to 15s and icd from 30s to 40s

Blood thirst II
gain 3s of regen when you apply bleeding to a foe 5s icd (currently increases life steal amount)

25 blood to power
7% of vitality is given as a bonus to power (currently gain 120 power while over 75% hp)

Soul Reaping:

Fear of Death I
inflict fear on foes when you fall below 25% hp (currently fears foes when you go down)

Speed of shadows V
gain quickness for 5s when you enter death shroud, trait moves to Master tier from Adept (currently increases moment speed by 25% while in death shroud)

Mark of Revival moves to Adept tier.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Dhuumfire could apply 3s of burn when you receive a hit while in death shroud on kitten icd.

Another passive proc? No thanks.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Corrosive poison cloud
surround yourself with a poison cloud that apply’s 4s of Poison, Weakness and Cripple to foes you touch,
self poison 10s
15s duration
240 radius
(this skill would work the same as the Human elite Reaper of Grenth)

So you want to make this skill more mobile, like a poison version of Locust Swarm?
Sounds good actually.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Spectral Grasp
apply a shadow tether to target foe that chills them for 5s, you may shadow step to tethered foe by using Spectral Traversal imobalising foe for 3s

Meh… could be good, but there are a lot of situations (especially in WvW) where a pull is extremely useful.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Blood is power
sacrifice 10% of your current HP and gain 15 stacks of might for 12s

The whole point of Corruption skills is that you self inflict a condition which can either be consumed or transfered.
But I’m not saying no to a might buff.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Rending Claws (Axe 1)
Slash foes near your target twice applying vulnerability, 180 radius around target.

Yes.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Spiteful Marks VII
All marks apply 1s chill (currently marks deal 10% more damage)

Overpowered.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

25 point minor
You have a 33% chance to blind foes when you apply vulnerability 4s icd (currently gain might when you fall below 25% hp)

I think most people would rather have a proper damage boost in Spite.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Hemophilia II
moved to master tier and combined with lingering Curse XI, new effect is +40% bleed duration.

Not sure what you mean by this.
Are all bleeding durations increased but not the other scepter durations?
This would actually be a nerf to scepter bleeds.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Withering Precision XII
moved to adept tier, Weakness duration reduced to 2s icd reduced to 10s

That’s right Withering! Back to the loser tier!
Not sure if anyone would take it even then.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

15 Furious Demise
gain 5s of fury when you fear a target 10s icd (Current, gain 5s of fury when you enter death shroud)

No. Absolutely not. This trait needs to stay as it is.
Why would you want to change it anyway?

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Terror IX
has damage buffed to origenal at launch level (or higher) and is moved to Grand master tier.
…
Dhuumfire
moved from spite and placed as second grand master trait in Curses

The devs said they considered this already. I doubt it’s going to happen (anytime soon or at all) after the upcoming change to Dhuumfire.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Re-animator
Summon a vampric horror, this minions attack steals health and transfers it to you 5s icd (currently summons a jagged horror on a 15s icd)

This trait will be combined with Death Nova.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Dark Armor
gain 200 toughness while in death shroud. (currently gain 400 toughness while channeling)

If it’s the new minor instead of Reanimator, yes pls.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Spiteful Vigor II
steal 1 boon from each nearby foe when you cast a heal skill, max 5 foes in 240 radius (currently applys 5s protection on heal skill)

It currently applies retaliation.
I like your idea though.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Buff all life stealing traits heal amount by 20%
…
Full of Life
increase regen duration from 5s to 15s and icd from 30s to 40s
…
Blood thirst II
gain 3s of regen when you apply bleeding to a foe 5s icd (currently increases life steal amount)

All of these could stay as they are if we could heal in DS.
Also, I think you got some regen overkill going on with your trait suggestions. It’s not too difficult to get perma regen as it is.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

25 blood to power
7% of vitality is given as a bonus to power (currently gain 120 power while over 75% hp)

k.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Fear of Death I
inflict fear on foes when you fall below 25% hp (currently fears foes when you go down)

The generic stuff-happens-when-you-go-down-trait. Yes, it’s useless, but it will probably stay this way forever.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Aquatic life blast would become the same as normal life blast (1s cast instead of 1/2s cast)
…
New trait Plague blast XI
reduce life blast cast time to 1/2s from 1s but reduces life blasts damage to 235 base from 244, life blast now transfers conditions to your opponent. This change makes life blast the same as the current aquatic skill of the same name.(currently this trait spot is Dhuumfire)
…
Speed of shadows V
gain quickness for 5s when you enter death shroud, trait moves to Master tier from Adept (currently increases moment speed by 25% while in death shroud)

OOOOOOW PEEEEEEEE!!!1!1!!!11

Did you really think this through?
You’d be able to fire 20 (!!!) Life Blasts in 5 seconds after going into DS, all of which transfering a condition.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Mark of Revival moves to Adept tier.

That trait should be removed completely.

Lol, I like both the initial proposal and the response from flow. There are a few things here and there that I dislike but there are many I like as well. However, I wouldn’t suggest much be done to the Necromancer, honestly. I enjoy the profession as is save a few minor irritants. Such as the extremely clunky nature of Dark Path.
For this ability instead of using that god awful grasping hand for the means of teleportation… How about using the same tethers as Tainted Shackles. When Dark Path is cast, a greenish tether would be sent out to your foe giving them a few seconds to get out of range before you’re teleported to them. Again similar to Tainted Shackles how there is a short duration between the cast and the final explosion.

Corrosive Poison Cloud is actually a great ability. However, it’s basically a joke if not coupled with a ton of other conditions. Just walking through that AOE will do next to nothing to your enemies. Which leads me to believe either the base poison/weakness duration should be increased or the base poison damage itself should do more damage. Because even in full condition damage gear it really isn’t much of a threat, as fun to use as it might be.

Well Of Darkness Reduce the duration it’s active but increase the frequency of it’s blinds.

And Spectral Grasp just plain and simple needs to pull better.

As for traits, remove that, summon a jagged horror every time you kill a foe trait and the gaining might trait when your health drops below the threshold. Besides what I’ve mentioned though I’ve always been very happy with this profession. Of course none are ever going to be perfect but these are what I personally would like to see changed. Dark Path being my number one gripe.

In all honesty I think dhuumfire should just be taken out but….we all know that’s never happening .

I think a teleport chill/imob plus chills on staff would help necro lock down opponents that are vastly more mobile than it is, if its gonna make up for the terribad mobility necro needs a bunch more slow CC.

Hemophilia change was really to open both grand master slots.

Furious demise on fear would be a significant buff to necros out of DS crit chance without greatly changing its in DS function.

I really think necro needs better ways to regain hp, if it really is suppose to be an attrition class ele, guardian, warrior, mesmer and ranger(to lesser extent) all have some quite powerful heals that can be traited onto utility skills, we get … like 60 hp when we hit something … wew thanks.

Plague Blast (the 1/2 second life blast) curently with full zerk and ruby orbs only deals about 2k on most targets. The quickness duration is probably a bit excessive and would require a hella big (240s) icd. But I really don’t see it as that op compared to some of the stuff warrior can pull of in full zerk with a rifle, like 20k+ unblockable kill shot. Life blast that can be blocked or evaded for large chunks of damage doesn’t seem that OP to me.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

In all honesty I think dhuumfire should just be taken out …

Good man.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

I think a teleport chill/imob plus chills on staff would help necro lock down opponents that are vastly more mobile than it is, if its gonna make up for the terribad mobility necro needs a bunch more slow CC.

I don’t run a chill-build, but by now I’ve heard from a lot of opponents in WvW that my chill and cripple uptime is brutal. A 1 sec base duration on every mark would almost double up my chilled application, not to mention the indirect damage increase as a cover condition.

On the subject of mobility, yes necros are slow. But tbh, of all the classes I’ve played in WvW (including thief), my necro really is the best at preventing other players from escaping me. It’s just easier to slowly walk after someone who’s chilled and crippled than leaping and blink teleporting after someone who has the same mobility.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

Furious demise on fear would be a significant buff to necros out of DS crit chance without greatly changing its in DS function.

Out of DS it would only work if you have a staff, and then you’d only get 5 sec fury every 40 (or 32) seconds. Corrupting stability or Spectral Wall is too situational.
You could sometimes stack more fury, but overall the on-Shroud-fury is just more reliable. And for many players it’s a crucial part of their damage rotation.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

I really think necro needs better ways to regain hp, if it really is suppose to be an attrition class ele, guardian, warrior, mesmer and ranger(to lesser extent) all have some quite powerful heals that can be traited onto utility skills, we get … like 60 hp when we hit something … wew thanks.

I agree.
It’s quite ironic that the class with the highest hp pool has the worst healing. Atm your Shroud timing has to be perfect to protect your regular hp, and even then, once you lose health it’s probably gone until you’re out of combat. It’s impossible to win real attrition fights like this.

I think the top of my balance wishlist is for the terrestrial version of DS to have some sort of condition removal/transfer. The underwater version has two of them!

Would be amazing to be able to choose which DS skill you wanted to use for each slot and I dont think it would make you OP and would massively increase DS usefullness to condi builds as they could now transfer conditions with their high condi dmg and duration.

The only other thing on my wishlist is to be able to see my cooldowns when in DS. I understand that the more you play the better you get at “knowing” when skills are up but that is beside the point… why do Necros have to do this when no one else does.