So…there are traits that benefit death shroud in every single trait line. a bit crazy right?! you’d have to go 20/10/20/20/30 (actually, to get ALL the death shroud traits, the soul reaping line would need 4 more major trait slots, making it a total of 140 trait points required for full-out death shroud) which of course you can’t… but here’s all the death shroud traits(major) anyway
Reaper’s Might, Spiteful Spirit, Weakening Shroud, Shrouded Removal, Death Shiver, Transfusion, Deathly invigoration, Vital Persistence, Path of Midnight, Speed of Shadows, Unyielding Blast, Near to Death, Foot in the Grave, Deathly Perception.
The only problem is deciding which traits to use for a death shroud build if you really want to.
- You can rule out Deathly Invigoration (currently is useless…might be helpful in pve if you’re under 80…i haven’t really tested that :P )
- Retaliation is nice, but there’s not enough of it for DS. Spiteful Spirit ruled out.
- Necro generally has some strong condition removals depending on the build…but i don’t think it works well for death shroud, so we can rule out Shrouded Removal.
At this point, there’s Reaper’s Might, Unyielding Blast, Death Shiver, maybe Transfusion but it’s a little lackluster in the healing aspect. ( I know it doesn’t scale with healing power, but does it get a boost from Bloodthirst/siphon traits/sigils/runes?)
lets say runes of superior vampirism, bloodthirst(vampiric,) and sigil of leeching all affected it. You are getting dps’d like crazy, so you swap weapons (get leeching effect) you use consume conditions (or any of the other 2 heals) for the vampirism rune’s forth effect, hop into Death Shroud, which is low on life force, and you hit Life Transfer (+transfusion) you run out of life force, but the skill still ticks. If all those bonuses DID stack with each other, you’d be getting a 20k heal just from Life Transfer…i hardly doubt it. There would be so much QQ about it…
But I think you can get about a 5k heal out of it with runes of vampirism and sigil of leeching but i don’t think the heal amount from those 2 stacks on every pulse, just the beginning.
LOL totally got sidetracked there, srys.
- Vital Persistence is always nice to have, idk about Path of Midnight (maybe rule out)
- Speed of Shadows is okay with signet of locust, even though speed buffs don’t stack past 33%. (undecided)
- I’d still take Near to Death, even with a 30%faster c.d. reduct from 50% 
- Foot in the Grave is kinda useful with Near to Death, though you really can’t have one without the other for effectiveness.
- Rule out Weakening Shroud, unless hopping in the middle of a mob and linking life xfer+tainted shackles
- gotta love Unyielding Blast with reaper’s might
- death shiver (applied vulnerability instantly when you enter death shroud. (possibly a keep)
- last but not least, Deathly Perception. it’s a phenomenal trait for necro while in DS, and it wrecks if going zerker or assassin gear pve/wvw. It gets a few effects from crits: Barbed Precision, Target the Weak, Blood to Power, and other effects from food/runes/sigils. (that’s what I would go for if rolling DS necro in pve or something.)