Guild Wars 2

With Blood Fiend healing being buffed recently, I’m just wondering as to how good it is now in both PvE and PvP.

Would you recommend Blood Fiend even IF you aren’t running a MM build?

If Blood Fiend dies, you get no chunk heal. The buffs were made to Blood Fiends life siphon not survivability or AI making it just as unreliable post-patch as it was pre-patch.

PvE yes, the additional damage helps farming, dynamic events and if your a good dungeon runner you’ll avoid most damage all together.

PvP no, unless its for solo roaming with a heavy minion focused build, and even then i would advise against it.

In PvE its fine, the 926 heal every 3 seconds is pretty good, and the heal itself is fine, plus conditions aren’t that big of a deal.

In PvP it is only good in an MM build, and it requires incredibly precise timing to make it worthwhile, and somewhat specific build (you will need to supplement the loss of condition removal). In general, unless you have spent a lot of time MMing in PvP and are really, really good, then don’t use it there.

I used it in fractals last night and it was amazingly good, especially on the frost fractal against the kitten structure boss, since it heals off wacking the building. It was also pretty good on cliffside during the boss fights.

I have tried using him in WvW some with limited success…. It seems too situational. Burst damage is so common, that HOT isn’t really cutting it. On a side note I just about raged out of my shoes last night against a d/d s/d thief that I got to 5% life 3 times in a row, only to watch him house away, come back, and eventually kill me.

Really wish they would adjust that stealth heal, and/or the stealth condition removal. Yes he was built specifically to kill a necro, but I can still rage!

minon: 900hp every 3s x8 = 7200hp in 24s
consume: 5700hp in 25s + 700hp per condition + damage NOT taken from removed conditions

Consume is still better, but the minion is now actualy very viable

yup it’s pretty good now. You also need to take into account the hits the minion takes on your behalf.

Flumek.9043:

minon: 900hp every 3s x8 = 7200hp in 24s
consume: 5700hp in 25s + 700hp per condition + damage NOT taken from removed conditions

Consume is still better, but the minion is now actualy very viable

If you pop the balloon at the end of that 24 seconds, its the 4.5k heal from that too… which puts it way ahead in healing. Granted you get no passive heal over the next 20 seconds, but still. The longer the fight, the more the balloon is going to put-pace if it can stay alive.

Tried it out in spvp for 3 matches today, the healing was excellent but I really hurt from the lack of condition removal. I doubt it would work against a decent team in tpvp where people would know to target me as soon as they saw the fiend die.

Consume conditions is (imo) the best self heal in the game. Solid healing, decent cooldown, and it eats ALL conditions (including poison before the poison halves healing).

Blood fiend pulls aggro like crazy and dies in one hit in any group content, which means no heals for you.

Not a difficult choice.

For mm you need to add in the minion siphon effect too. He’s another boon killer if you have that trait also.

That all may be true, but in PvP/WvW the Blood Fiend is very easy to drop with aoe skills or even weapon attack cleaving. Forcing it to drop early puts the Necromancer at a huge disadvantage. Do yourself a favor and don’t give yourself that kind of lynchpin that the enemy can so readily take advantage of.

If you’re running a minion master build: Yes. You’ll probably already have condition removal from other sources, and just having another minion adds to the “hive” synergy (shoutouts to anyone who knows what a Sliver deck is).

If you’re not running an MM build: lolno. Not by twenty thousand miles and an extra car ride.

Easy reply, Well of Blood, 99% of the time in general groups its the best heal (minions, zerk warriors and npcs you need to defend all get healed). In pvp if going a 2 man point defense, same thing, if doing PVE with MM it makes sure that they survive even stuff like risen giant stomp with ease. Solo PVP and if you wanna be a selfish prick (like i am) then use Consume conditions since it is a true life saver (if you get to cast at the right time), Blood fiend is a pureblood MM heal from as far as i know, but the buff might have made it worthwhile (didnt really use it since level 5; did on tests but never as a long term slot holder).

I’m condi/vamp build. For me, at least: Consume Conditions. Although, I have noticed a definate upswing in MMs lately. Not that I’m QQing. Who knows, maybe the next patch’ll bump Lifesteal up?

As a regular MM player it largely depends on situations and grouping.

In pve, I always run blood fiend it’s so good now, and it does such a great job of staying alive that you can last forever.

In sPvP and tPvP, if you aren’t running Minions take conditions or with a buddy who removes conditions than don’t take him. Consume conditions is amazing for survival.

In wvwvw, same holds true if you are roaming solo consume conditions, if you are in a group with a guardian or shout soldier healing warrior or even an elementalist than roll with your Blood Fiend.

Whether I’m running Nemesis’ abomination build or a straight up MM, consume conditions always seems like the better option to me.

I am just saying try it out for PVE. There are plenty of dungeon situations it is pretty good at now. And like Bas mentioned, in large groups, he is likely to not die, so the HOT aspect of having him + all the other heals in party is going to be pretty nice.

I run Conditions though, so I really can get by without the additional condition clear in most cases, so mileage may very.

I ran it with the new and refreshed bloodthirst trait and vampiric master and I freaking love the floating gutbag now. Granted I doubt I’ll be using him outside of mild farming or another specific build where I’m sure i could find use for him unless I’m running full minions, or mostly minions. I especially love using him and the other minions in fractals now, I can’t tell you how many times they eat that agony for me, and with the recharge trait I just throw them right back up. There were a few occasions where I didn’t use them but I’m liking the minions and specifically the floppy gut bag even more now.