Guild Wars 2

I’m wondering what the optimal utility skills are for a pvp terror build traited for foot in the grave. The meta builds seem to have wurm AND spectral walk on their utility bar, but I would imagine that the ability to stun break every 10 seconds without using a skill would change the need for those.
Spectral wall? Epidemic? Plague/locust/spite signet?
Is the teleport from wurm too valuable to lose? the swiftness from Swalk?

Idk just wanted some opinions what the “optimal” utility bar on a build like this would be now since the change.

I’ve been asking this question myself.

I’ve kept Flesh Wurm on my bar because it allows repositioning not possible by Spectral Walk I’ve been switching between Spectral Wall and Corrosive Poison Cloud and I cannot tell which one I like better. If spectral wall lasted a little bit longer without the trait I would for sure pick that one. As it is I’ve been leaning more on CPC which gives a 12 second poison field and is big enough to hit then entire point. Also more than once I’ve been saved by dropping it on myself when getting focused.

That said I’m not sure what the most optimal choice would be. I would think it would depend more on the situation you expect to face. Certainly CPC is far from meta, but I suggest giving it a try because it can truly change a fight on point.

this is what I have been running.

I too did not give up Flesh Wurm – simply because I feel it is more reliable when in need to heal/reposition yourself…

Tested and deemed worth it for other reasons:

• Signet of the Locust – Passive speed is always useful on a Necromancer, and the “heal” works quite well in enemy crowded enviroments
• Signet of Spite – obviously, it is nice to get some condi-coverage in 1v1’s, but it falls short relatively quickly in bigger fights
• Corrosive Poison Cloud – Unblockable poison makes Guardians want to retreat when trying to use Shelter, constant weakness is also no joke, and the AoE is nice
• Spectral Grasp – After a tip started and loving using this. Functions as a buffer, an interrupt and general annoyance with the chill
• Epidemic – Cannot spell Epidemic without “Epic”, does what it needs to do, and with a short cooldown, can be spammed to the annoyance of the enemy… Bro tip; use it when someone gets an immobilize off, and laugh

I still need to test some others, but these all function quite well imho

I switched Spectral Armor to Epidemic. As described in other thread, despite all doomsayers, it works surprisingly well in this meta. Yes, there are tons of cleanses, but lack of bunker guardian means that if you Epidemic and fear, it can wreck.

It’s not glory days of Epidemic, when I could wipe entire teamfight with a single one because nobody besides guardians and eles in water had any reliable condition cleanses, but it forces cooldowns. Many cooldowns. And because of all those celestials, it’s not only your conditions, but also theirs + PoC helps.

I still have both FW and SW with FITG. To me the opportunity cost of being in DS is really high, and I’m not going to eat a bunch of damage or not apply pressure so I can maybe break a stun I predict is coming – but I am still getting used to the trait. I personally don’t see FITG allowing you to ditch a stun break as much as I see it just addressing a weakness.

Plus between FITG, SW/FW, and plague, I feel like I have a lot of options for stomps compared to my build from a few months ago. Much harder to lock down in skirmishes as well.

You’re right, it’s not that simple. Flesh Wurm can be used to build up some life force at start (which leaves you with -1 stunbreaker). As it’s a teleport, it can be sesd as a panic button in many situations, teleporting to safety (likely to places that block LoS). Spectral walk is an extremely powerful skill for juking especially on places like Clocktower on Kyhlo or Keep on Forest, and it’s your only access to swiftness which can be useful.

Then there is the 3rd skill which is the mandatory Corrupt Boon.

I wouldn’t recommend swapping out any of these utilities, but if you do:

• Epidemic used to be mete for almost a year after the game was released, but with DD / Staff eles and shout warriors around, AoE condi cleansing is just too high to be worth it, not to mention necro condi stacking was nerfed multiple times.
• I’d go with Signet of Spite. Against mesmers/engis it’s insta-win.

As I say, Epidemic will not work for everyone, playstyles and preferences do differ. I always loved that skill, so if I have a chance to use it, I do.

Personally, SoS never attracted me, ever. It’s 1v1 bomb and that’s it. I feel like I can 1v1 without it. As for Spectral Grasp, I like it, but it’s same like last one or two years – still slow projectile, still getting obscured multiple times and because current meta has so many evades, vigor, it gets randomly dodged too many times for me to really consider it.

I’m going to have to try this out with Epidemic. I had been using Corrosive Poison Cloud in place of Spectral Walk.

I usually run with 1 stun break S.Walk before and now WoP ,I found nothing to replace it ,it would need be a good group sustain or condition utility, nothing really fits that right now I tried mixing Weakening Shroud with it but it became too situational holding on DS with no utility to make up for it felt really bad.

For ranked and even more for tournament play, I dont think you can drop the second stunbreak. It is more of having 2,5x stunbreaks and a bit of breathing time or a safe stomp in a small 2v2 here and then.

A good played S.Walk is just great defense – and there simply isnt any utility that gives better defense or greater offense.
*I would only take spite signet when facing against a turret, as it just melts the nab, preventing him from stalling a decap too long.

Can you safe stomp with WoP?

Czerny.6530:

Can you safe stomp with WoP?

No. the .5 seconds of useable stability aren’t going to help.

Czerny.6530:

Can you safe stomp with WoP?

Technically you could blast it for a blind, and it could give you aegis via burning, but no, not reliably. At least no that I’m aware.

Well that’s disappointing. Our only stomp options are Plague/Lich elites, blowing two utilities, or DS glitching?

Czerny.6530:

Well that’s disappointing. Our only stomp options are Plague/Lich elites, blowing two utilities, or DS glitching?

Well FITG helps a lot now. Plus there are blinds. But yeah that’s about it.

Czerny.6530:

DS glitching?

It’s not a glitch anymore. You can DS then start the stomp, no need for the weird double hitting of hotkeys like before. I run 0/6/2/0/6 and take FitG, the stability doesn’t cover the stomp 100%, but it’s close enough that I can normally secure the stomp. I save plague for rezzing or if there are multiple people and FitG won’t work.

Back to the original question, I have played around 100 more games with Corrosive Poison Cloud and I believe it will be my go-to 3rd utility skill.

I’ve been playing guardian and warrior lately but since this FITG buff I’m definitely going back to necro! I think SoS is the only real replacement for SWalk that makes a significant difference to the conditionmancer’s performance. The current problem is that with all the elementalists and shoutbows running around the aoe condition cleansing is just too much to catch up with our output. The condition bomb from SoS should help you down a guy you’ve gotten low enough, assuming you lock them down with a fear to make sure it lands first.

Bye bye, Reaper’s Protection! I’ll miss your ridiculous 3" fear, but, well, you were kinda cheesy tbh, so not very much…