- Dr Ebola
Condition / power hybrids
I am thinking of trying something similar to this. I feel as a pure power necro our damage is too one dimensional and we can be more useful solo and in groups doing both power and condi damage. The hard part for me is to spec in curses. I play a 30 0 20 20 0. Axe focus staff. However with me not bothering with mh dagger anymore it may be time switch.
Check out Nemesis guide, his take on hybrid build. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OCcT7iJUrA
I’m playing around w/ a hybrid build using scepter/dagger and axe/focus. It’s a good mix of the both. If I use consumables that strengthen condition damage along with sigil that does the same I can get bleed to tick around 140-150. My feast of corruption can crit around 3k. and scepter crits are around 8-1k dmg.
So the difficulty I have with the Nemesis build for WvW is that there is as far as I can tell no survivability in the gearing, and it’s likely that 30/30/-/-/- builds are out for similar reasons. I think it’s a choice between rabid or soldier’s with carrion gemming and roughly a -/20/10/15/- core build with well targeting and additional points allocated based on the particulars. Soldier’s with carrion gives obviously more power and more raw survivability. Rabid gives more crit and more sustainability through vampiric talents and on crit blood sigils / omnom pie.
After thinking it through I suspect the loss of direct damage with rabid will be made up for via siphoning damage, crit bleeds, etc. although I’m a little unsure about the use of wells with rabid gear. Roughly:
for rabid; something like the previous for soldier’s. In any case, I’m playing around with both, hopefully I’ll get something I like better than full minion bunker.
- Dr Ebola
I always run WvW and PvE without any defensive stats. If you are paying attention to your positioning you don’t need them (unless you are using dagger).
So, in a full 30/30/10/0/0/ build with full rampager’s and coral, I would lose about 1/3 of the effective health offered by a rabid build; I’d be looking at 5% damage reduction from armor instead of about 25%. In exchange, I’d get about 1/3 more effective power. Regen from siphoning might be a wash given the increase in crit, condition damage is roughly a wash, etc.
Here’s the build, which you could compare with the above:
It is possible it comes down to skill, but I feel the need to maintain a respectable amount of upfront defensive stats in WvW. There’s just too much aoe damage, rogues floating around, etc. to run with a glassy build. Having said that, I’m feeling more comfortable with the idea of rabid / carrion. This has been useful.
- Dr Ebola
I am thinking of trying something similar to this. I feel as a pure power necro our damage is too one dimensional and we can be more useful solo and in groups doing both power and condi damage. The hard part for me is to spec in curses. I play a 30 0 20 20 0. Axe focus staff. However with me not bothering with mh dagger anymore it may be time switch.
It really depends if you feel you can survive or not. Spite and Curses directly benefit each other in numerous ways, after all, so you’re going to put out more damage regardless of what you are doing.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
for there you have been and there you will long to return.