How I would change the class

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

For those who somehow don’t know who I am, I have been a Necro main since beta. I am a casual player, though I would like to get into raiding. Still, I dabble in a bit of everything.

For those who do know me, you know I am not a fan of completely changing functionalities of skills or traits, though I will make a couple of big exceptions in this thorough review.

First up, trait lines, then skills.

Part 1:

Spite
Reaper’s Might: no change. It’s always relevant, and 15 seconds base is pretty good for an auto-attack.

Spiteful Talisman: No functionality change, although I might up the damage increase to 10%. In PvE, Necros need the damage boost and in PvP/WvW, it lets you capitalize on the tiny windows of opportunity when your opponent has no boons a little bit better.

Spiteful Renewal: No change yet. While this trait sees virtually no play, that might change once the next Elite Specialization comes out. Bitter Chill is much stronger because of easy Chill from Reaper, but once people have to choose between Reaper and other Elite Specs, this will become a bit more attractive of a choice. Were I to change it, however, I would increase the health threshold to 50%, or change it so it is based on the Necro’s health, rather than his opponent’s.

Bitter Chill: Pretty good overall, as even base Necro has enough Chill to make this useful.

Death’s Embrace: The only thing that makes this decent right now is not having a cooldown, but by the time a target is below 33% health, they are likely already capped on Vulnerability. I’m okay with leaving it as-is, but this is one I would consider changing to a new effect. Downed damage increase is okay, I suppose.

Chill of Death: Awesome. No changes necessary.

Rending Shroud: This should probably be changed. I’d like to see it apply a unique debuff instead of Vuln that had a similar effect (increased damage and condition damage taken per stack), just because we put out so much Vuln anyway. While that would kill the trait’s synergy with Corrupter’s Fervor, has anyone had issues keeping that trait stacked even without?

Unholy Fervor: Underwhelming, to say the least. The condition on the damage boost is basically a nonfactor, but I would like to see it do something more. Perhaps giving Axe 2 a whirl finisher? Still, it’s functional as-is, just boring.

Grandmaster tier of Spite is all good as-is. Each trait sees play in different builds and performs well.

Curses
Barbed Precision: Good as-is.

Terrifying Descent: I feel like this can be merged with Fear of Death in this slot. Still not terribly attractive, but then it’s a trait you might consider taking.

Plague Sending: Great as-is.

Chilling Darkness: remove the ICD and we’re set.

Furious Demise: It was great on launch, but given the sheer number of Crit-chance boosters Necros have now, Fury is just overkill. This would do better to be changed to another effect. Perhaps copying a condition on the Necro to nearby foes, or casting Grasping Dead on yourself when you enter Shroud?

Master of Corruption: This one is a tricky one to talk about. On the upside, it does give an above-average recharge reduction, but I think the baseline corruption conditions would be sufficient as a cost, given that they now have higher uptime.

Path of Corruption: great trait

Terror: We have too many Fear traits, none of which do much on their own. Terror hasn’t seen a nerf, but it just doesn’t pull its weight anymore with drastically increased Stability and the introduction of Resistance. If Terror simply made your fears better at getting through those boons (perhaps strips two stacks of Stability instead of one and/or bypassing Resistance), I think it would make a resurgence.

Target the Weak: Remember what I said about crit chances? If Furious Demise doesn’t get changed, I would like to see this get a change. Perhaps instead of increasing your crit chance against foes for each condition, it increased your condition damage by 1% for each condition on the target?

Weakening Shroud: Good as-is

Parasitic Contagion: Changed to heal in Shroud

Lingering Curse: somewhat boring, but quite functional. Leave as-is.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Part 2:
Death Magic

Armored Shroud: boring, but practical, I suppose.

Flesh of the Master: While I don’t like that Minions get three traits in this line, each one is trait-worthy enough on its own. Leave this one alone.

Shrouded Removal: fantastic trait. Leave this be.

Putrid Defense: this needs some help. Only two of our weapons apply poison and only one trait. Add “apply poison (1 stack, 3 seconds) to your attacker when critically struck” with no ICD and I think this will be a good trait.

Soul Comprehension: DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! Completely and utterly worthless, this trait needs to go entirely. My suggestion to replace it is:
“Decaying Swarm: Surround yourself with a Locust Swarm when your Life Force falls below 50%. 30 second ICD.” Of course, there are plenty of other ideas out there, too, but this trait absolutely needs to get completely replaced.

Necromantic Corruption: Trait-worthy on its own.

Reaper’s Protection: Nowhere near as good as it once was, again, due to the increase in Stability and the introduction of Resistance. And it was never great in the first place! I suggest changing this to auto-casting any of the following skills when disabled:

  • Well of Power
  • Corrosive Poison Cloud (no self-weakness)
  • Spectral Armor
  • “You Are All Weaklings!”

Deadly Strength: This trait doesn’t have a real impact, unfortunately. At worst, it’s 70 Power, with an additional 70 in Shroud, but there’s not a lot of reason to build both Toughness and Power on a Necro, so this gets kinda nerfed due to stat combinations available, plus the fact this trait doesn’t take Armored Shroud, Flesh of the Master, or Corrupter’s Fervor into account when giving its bonus. I would change this trait to something more impactful, though the trait line does cover quite a lot of bases in other traits.

Beyond the Veil: Would be nice if it also affected nearby allies, but it does not. Still, what it does do is good enough for a minor.

Death Nova: Only change I would make is to reduce the Jagged Horror spawn cooldown to 5 seconds. The entire fun of Jagged Horrors before the nerf was the ability to slowly amass a horde. Now, you still won’t have the ability to take them between fights, but they can be much more impactful rather than being limited to two.

Corrupter’s Fervor: Pretty good, though it does conflict in purpose with Unholy Sanctuary. Both traits are personal defense, and the fact you have to choose between two traits that effectively do the same thing is irritating.

Unholy Sanctuary: It could use a base healing buff, but is otherwise a solid trait. Ideally, this could be used alongside Corrupter’s Fervor. However, it may be a better fit for Blood Magic, swapping places with Unholy Martyr, since, it, you know, heals.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

(edited by Drarnor Kunoram.5180)

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Part 3: Blood Magic

Mark of Evasion: Why oh why does this have a cooldown? Mark of Blood really isn’t that strong of a skill, and Necros have no methods of accelerating endurance gain, so they can’t spam the dodges. Worse, the cooldown it does have is longer than the actual skill has! Get rid of the cooldown and this is fine.

Ritual of Life: Why didn’t this ICD get reduced when Well of Blood got its cooldown dropped to 30 seconds again? I think the trait is a bit underused, but part of that is just that Blood Magic isn’t good enough to replace Vital Persistence or Reaper and you still have to use Curses or Spite so you have some offense.

Quickening Thirst: Not much to say on this trait. The speed boost is pretty nice and the cooldown reduction is higher than average, though conditional. I’d like to see it apply while under 75% health, rather than above, given two dagger skills (Life Siphon and Deathly Swarm) are more important to have up while you are lower on health.

Blood Bond: pretty good, really. Tricky to trigger if you’re running Power, but Mark of Evasion is always an option. Also nice that it still counts as a signet for Signets of Suffering.

Vampiric: Up the scaling! It’s close to being decent, now that it actually works in Shroud, but it still needs better scaling with Power and Healing Power.

Life From Death: Only downside to this trait is that it’s tough to find a time you want to use it. It scales very well with Healing Power, thankfully, but the only time it’s the ideal pick is in PvP when you aren’t running Warhorn. Chances are, though, you’re also not running Blood Magic in that case.

Banshee’s Wail: Fantastic weapon trait.

Vampiric Presence: The trait of choice for group PvE content, this also needs better scaling with stats, just like Vampiric.

Last Rites: Quite a good trait. It gives you the Healing Power when you need it and gives your downed allies more time (unless they’re being stomped). It’s all good.

Vampiric Rituals: Good enough for me.

Unholy Martyr: this I would consider swapping with Unholy Sanctuary, as the obvious pairup for this skill is Shrouded Removal. Then you have a selection in Blood Magic for solo content without wells and a selection in Death Magic for a bit more group support. I think it could do with maybe giving you 1 second of Resistance each time it pulls, though, to help mitigate its whole “help your enemy focus the Necro” aspect.

Transfusion: Strong AoE healing plus the ability to pull your allies out of the fire, sometimes literally. Can’t argue much with this, even if its presence does mean all Shroud 4 skills we get in the future are channeled abilities.

Soul Reaping
Adept Tier: No comments. They’re all decent.

Last Gasp: like Ritual of Life, why is the cooldown of this higher than the actual skill?

Spectral Mastery: Great trait! The only problem is that it competes with:

Vital Persistence: The main reason Soul Reaping is even picked, it is quite arguably the most essential trait Necros have. The natural Life Force degeneration baseline needs to be reduced. This isn’t even a build-defining trait, it’s just necessary! My suggestion is to delete this trait, make the degeneration baseline 2%/second, and merge the cooldown reduction into Speed of Shadows. I will admit I don’t have a good suggestion to replace it, though.

Fear of Death: Seriously, just merge this with Terrifying Descent and replace it.

Grandmaster tier: All fine, though Dhuumfire could probably be upped to 2 stacks.

Reaper
Reaper is going to be fairly short, as I only have three traits I want to talk about.

Shivers of Dread: I think I would rather see this apply Chill when Fear you apply expires, so that when you do Fear someone to give yourself breathing space, they aren’t still right next to you when it’s over and it takes longer for them to get back to you. Add in a damage increase to Chilled foes and I’m sure folks would be happy.

Soul Eater: So, lifestealing on Gravedigger is pretty bad. Maybe if it were something like 1k health, but otherwise, Gravedigger is too slow to make that attractive. Make the lifestealing apply to all Greatsword attacks and, if Gravedigger still needs a bonus effect from the trait, I would suggest 1 stack of Stability per Gravedigger hit (3-5 seconds). This lets the Reaper actually brawl in the middle of things and makes avoiding the Gravedigger spam scenario vital in PvP/WvW.

Deathly Chill: WvW split needs to occur for this trait, dropping it down from the 3 bleeds/application there.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Skills

Only a few to talk about here.

Necrotic Grasp: 100% Projectile Finisher is needed.

Spectral Grasp: Speed up the projectile and make it homing.

Well of Darkness: One of the useless skills, despite the cooldown reductions, this skill needs two things:
1. a small tick of damage to proc Vampiric (Aura)
2. An additional effect other than Blind. My suggestion is a debuff preventing affected foes from Blocking.

Signet of Undeath: Cast time needs to be reduced to 2 seconds, and the passive needs to be 1% life force per second or also apply out of combat.

Lich Form: Reduction of cast times is necessary on this thing. Marked for Death needs to be scrapped and replaced for sure.

Plague: Make it pulse Resistance along with Stability and you have yourself a deal.

“Nothing can Save You!”: Remove the cast time so it can be used in response to blocks.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lahmia.2193

Lahmia.2193

There’s a lot to go through, so to save time I’ll just list the changes I really like (as opposed to the ones that are good but I don’t feel they must change it).
Spiteful Talisman – more/better damage modifiers is what we need.
Rending Shroud
Chilling Darkness – my baby needs to be herself again
Soul Comprehension
Reaper’s Protection – Well of Power gets my vote. Spectral armour is already used in Last gasp. CPC could work. “YAAW” is Reaper exclusive so unless they unbind all utilities and weapons from elite specs then I’m dead against this.
Unholy Sanctuary swap with Unholy Martyr
Mark of Evasion
Vampiric/Vampiric Presence – Life stealing is my favourite thing in gw2, so I’m always happy to see buffs.
Vital Persistance – I don’t think the degen reduction should be baseline but they should make it part of one of the minor traits (like thieves +3 initiative in Trickery). My idea would be to swap parts of VP with Strength of Undeath so we then have VP as a minor trait granting -50% LF degen and +15% LF pool. Then SoU as a mid tier trait granting +10% damage whilst in shroud and 20% reduction on shroud skill cooldowns.
All 3 reaper traits: Though with Soul Eater, I’d add a damage buff instead of a Gravedigger bonus.

All the changes to skills though I’m still for removing Lich Form and Plague in favour of 2 more useful skills.

Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Dadnir.5038

Dadnir.5038

I won’t go through everything I’d want but :

Rending shroud : Yes it need a unique debuff, vuln is already everywhere.

Soul comprehension : change it so that we gain LF from our horrors. This won’t be over the top and fit the traitline.

Vampiric : swap siphons value from minion and necromancer. The actual value almost force you to play minion master to have an almost descent amount of siphon.

Vital persistance : I don’t agree with the degen reduction being baseline. I think the degen reduction just have to go. It would be more interesting to replace this effect with an effect that grant life force from incoming condition.

Transforms : we got shroud, is there really a need for more useless transform? No! Change those skills for some easy to use unique skills and enjoy the fact that we will be able to have a lich shroud in an elite spec.

For reaper, I’d only change gravedigger to a faster skill that do less instant damage. this would make the trait worth it, get rid of the bothersome gimmick that cry for nerf, benefit both condi and power spec… etc.

No core profession should be balanced around an optional elite specialization.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

The main reason I say Vital Persistence should be baselined instead of existing is because it is a required pickup. You can’t take Spite/Blood/Curses for a super signet build because you need Vital Persistence. Even if it became a minor trait, Soul Reaping would still be a required line.

And yes, I will agree that Thieves have the same problem with Trickery being practically required.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lahmia.2193

Lahmia.2193

Vampiric : swap siphons value from minion and necromancer. The actual value almost force you to play minion master to have an almost descent amount of siphon.

That’s… actually a really good idea.

Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Vampiric : swap siphons value from minion and necromancer. The actual value almost force you to play minion master to have an almost descent amount of siphon.

That’s… actually a really good idea.

Agreed. Still needs better scaling, of course, but that is a really good idea.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Rid.2736

Rid.2736

Whole life stealing should be changed to work off of bleeding instead of whatever pittance of a scaling we currently have from power. For example, life stealing could be set to deal 4% more damage for each bleed stack on the enemy you are attacking, capping at 25 stacks for total of 100% damage (and heal) increase. This would require some changes to MH dagger so you stack bleeds with it, but dagger is already in a weird place when it is the top power dps weapon and it is linked to the support traitline so it is due for some clarity of purpose.

For further support play make the healing portion of life stealing gain benefits from healing power on top of the bleed scaling so a necro can run somewhat competent
offensive healing support.

This in my opinion is the very least necromancer needs. If it were up to me I’d drag
the entire profession towards conditions with axe becoming a medium range torment cleaver, scepter mainly inflicting poison and as mentioned, dagger inflicting bleeds. With changes to all traitlines to support the heavier condition focus, of course.

Necromancing since 2005.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lahmia.2193

Lahmia.2193

Whole life stealing should be changed to work off of bleeding instead of whatever pittance of a scaling we currently have from power. For example, life stealing could be set to deal 4% more damage for each bleed stack on the enemy you are attacking, capping at 25 stacks for total of 100% damage (and heal) increase. This would require some changes to MH dagger so you stack bleeds with it, but dagger is already in a weird place when it is the top power dps weapon and it is linked to the support traitline so it is due for some clarity of purpose.

For further support play make the healing portion of life stealing gain benefits from healing power on top of the bleed scaling so a necro can run somewhat competent
offensive healing support.

This in my opinion is the very least necromancer needs. If it were up to me I’d drag
the entire profession towards conditions with axe becoming a medium range torment cleaver, scepter mainly inflicting poison and as mentioned, dagger inflicting bleeds. With changes to all traitlines to support the heavier condition focus, of course.

The damage part of Life stealing was designed as a power scaling effect and should stay as such.
edit: and we already have healing that scales from condition damage. 10% healing in fact.

Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.

(edited by Lahmia.2193)

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Rid.2736

Rid.2736

I know full well Parasitic Contagion exists, but that’s not what my suggestion was about. Life stealing, as it currently is implemented, cannot be buffed to make it decent in every game type without having to split it. By making it scale from amount of bleed stacks your enemy has you avoid making it too powerful in PvP and WvW as you rarely get to hit someone with more than 20 stacks (I will not acknowledge Deathly Chill bleeds, it needs to be changed to inflict damage when you apply a new chill on an already chilled enemy) while in PvE you would gain full benefits of it against pretty much any boss.

If life stealing stays as is and it scales from power we will never see it buffed to any meaningful decree as it has potential to break the game if there’s no counterplay to it.

Necromancing since 2005.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Fatalyz.7168

Fatalyz.7168

For what it’s worth there is an interesting post on Reddit that claims upcoming information, and the information in it concerning the future of Necro, looks pretty good, if it’s true, that is.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Dadnir.5038

Dadnir.5038

Necromancers were supposed to be called Scourges, but they changed this into Lich. Liches do not have a second health bar like vanilla necromancers, but instead have a Soul Jar. When using the F1-skill, they drop the Soul Jar which costs them 25% of their HP. When they generate Life Essence, this all goes into the Soul Jar. Using their F2-skill or by dying, they return to the location of their soul jar and receive all the life essence poured into it. Using their F3-skill will transform the life essence in the soul jar into a Beacon of Despair, which looks like a 2-handed torch. The amount of life essence in the soul jar translates in how long you can wield the beacon. This is a pure Condi spec, and when the expansion releases, the Reaper will get buffed to compensate. Reapers were supposed to be slow high-damage dealers, and this did not go over well. Deathly chill will change to not give any bleed stacks, but instead give an additional, delayed hit. Every time you apply chill, you’ll deal additional direct damage instead.

You mean that?

I got a hard time understanding why the “shroud” would be on F3 and not on F1 (well if this is true, there is most likely already a need for a lot of polishing since F1-F2 could be just a key that you can flip at will). Also, focusing an e-spec on specific damage (aka condition here) is definitely a bad idea. A perfect e-spec work with all other traitline regardless of what damage you want to focus on. In this regard, Reaper do an amazing job.

Reapers were supposed to be slow high-damage dealers, and this did not go over well.

Made my day!

Well… This glance at this e-spec does not hype me.

No core profession should be balanced around an optional elite specialization.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

If that post is accurate, it’s definitely not looking like an exciting spec.

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Patrick.2987

Patrick.2987

Making lifesteal via traits and leeching bolts etc. leech a percentage of the enemies’ health would make it way better. It would also make some nice changes to the underperforming power necro. On top of that reaper 4 with darkfields would be better and reapers’ onslaught maybe a good pick. I have no clue about a good number here since i’m not the balance team, but they won’t have a clue either. I was thinking about 0.1% of enemy health in pve via leeching bolts and 0.01% via traits maybe. It would solve some issues maybe create some new ones tho i have not thought of yet.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Muchacho.2390

Muchacho.2390

Also, focusing an e-spec on specific damage (aka condition here) is definitely a bad idea. A perfect e-spec work with all other traitline regardless of what damage you want to focus on. In this regard, Reaper do an amazing job.

I dont think i agree with that. I think a e-spec should always be more focused to a certain play style (i always thought reaper should be power based). So i am glad Anet is going with that design decision.

And for the new e-spec Scourge, Lich or whatever it will be called, if i understand it correctly f3 will be the “shroud” transformation while f1 and f2 will be a cheat death/teleport mechanic (could be quite good if it has good range). Mhh i wonder how that will interact with the lifeforce traits.

(edited by Muchacho.2390)

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lahmia.2193

Lahmia.2193

Also, focusing an e-spec on specific damage (aka condition here) is definitely a bad idea. A perfect e-spec work with all other traitline regardless of what damage you want to focus on. In this regard, Reaper do an amazing job.

I dont think i agree with that. I think a e-spec should always be more focused to a certain play style (i always thought reaper should be power based). So i am glad Anet is going with that design decision.

Its a double edged sword to be honest. If it caters to only a single aspect of gameplay, then it will often be ignored and not used in many builds (a bit like scrapper). Whereas something that caters to most aspects of play will be seen as a power creep and always be taken whatever the build.

Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Muchacho.2390

Muchacho.2390

Also, focusing an e-spec on specific damage (aka condition here) is definitely a bad idea. A perfect e-spec work with all other traitline regardless of what damage you want to focus on. In this regard, Reaper do an amazing job.

I dont think i agree with that. I think a e-spec should always be more focused to a certain play style (i always thought reaper should be power based). So i am glad Anet is going with that design decision.

Its a double edged sword to be honest. If it caters to only a single aspect of gameplay, then it will often be ignored and not used in many builds (a bit like scrapper). Whereas something that caters to most aspects of play will be seen as a power creep and always be taken whatever the build.

I dont think its a double edged sword. I think its a simple design decision. Both ways are probably fine. I just prefer the focused idea more. Balancing the e-spec should also be more easy with that way.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Dadnir.5038

Dadnir.5038

Also, focusing an e-spec on specific damage (aka condition here) is definitely a bad idea. A perfect e-spec work with all other traitline regardless of what damage you want to focus on. In this regard, Reaper do an amazing job.

I dont think i agree with that. I think a e-spec should always be more focused to a certain play style (i always thought reaper should be power based). So i am glad Anet is going with that design decision.

The main reason why e-spec shouldn’t be focused on either power or condi should be obvious. We don’t need e-spec that narrow our build diversity even more.

If I read you superficially, I’m only reading that it’s ok for you that the “lich” will not be used with :
- Spite
- Dagger main-hand
- Axe main-hand
- Focus
because all of this have nothing to do with damaging condition.

So that leave us the e-spec weapon, scepter, staff and off hand dagger (+war-horn) as valid weapon for the new e-spec. As for traitline you’ll definitely take curse and soul reaping.

That’s what it mean to focus an e-spec on one kind of damage. Absolutely no diversity. So sure Anet can do it, like any idiot can stab a knife in it’s own limb, but that won’t do any good for both anet and the player base.

Edit : ironically enough “So that leave us the e-spec weapon, scepter, staff and off hand dagger (+war-horn) as valid weapon for the new e-spec.” this sentence is close of what we already suffer with the current reaper.

No core profession should be balanced around an optional elite specialization.

(edited by Dadnir.5038)

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Muchacho.2390

Muchacho.2390

Also, focusing an e-spec on specific damage (aka condition here) is definitely a bad idea. A perfect e-spec work with all other traitline regardless of what damage you want to focus on. In this regard, Reaper do an amazing job.

I dont think i agree with that. I think a e-spec should always be more focused to a certain play style (i always thought reaper should be power based). So i am glad Anet is going with that design decision.

The main reason why e-spec shouldn’t be focused on either power or condi should be obvious. We don’t need e-spec that narrow our build diversity even more.

If I read you superficially, I’m only reading that it’s ok for you that the “lich” will not be used with :
- Spite
- Dagger main-hand
- Axe main-hand
- Focus
because all of this have nothing to do with damaging condition.

So that leave us the e-spec weapon, scepter, staff and off hand dagger (+war-horn) as valid weapon for the new e-spec. As for traitline you’ll definitely take curse and soul reaping.

That’s what it mean to focus an e-spec on one kind of damage. Absolutely no diversity. So sure Anet can do it, like any idiot can stab a knife in it’s own limb, but that won’t do any good for both anet and the player base.

Yes i am fine with the fact that weapons like dagger wont be used in an condition damage focused e-spec. I mean why would you even want to do that when they dont have any damaging condition on it.

And for traitlines… since when is spite soly power damage based? Since the trait rework long time ago you can use spite just fine in a condition damage build. Heck conditon damage meta builds have taken it over curses in the past. But here i can somewhat agree with you a bit but i would argue the other way around. Also core traitlines shouldnt favor any damage type (major traits in the lines howerver can).

(edited by Muchacho.2390)

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Dadnir.5038

Dadnir.5038

Yes i am fine with the fact that weapons like dagger wont be used in an condition damage focused e-spec. I mean why would you even want to do that when they dont have any damaging condition on it.

And for traitlines… since when is spite soly power damage based? Since the trait rework long time ago you can use spite just fine in a condition damage build. Heck conditon damage meta builds have taken it over curses in the past. But here i can somewhat agree with you a bit but i would argue the other way around. Also core traitlines shouldnt favor any damage type (major traits in the lines howerver can).

I’m not fine with leaving behind half of the profession tools for the sake of specializing an e-spec in condition damage.

As for traitlines, I think we can agree with each other. Even if it’s a little twisted and terribly inefficient, here is how I see the spite traitline :

- Spite : Support through vuln and power damage

NB.: I started to write an incredibly long thing and found out that I was going totally off topic… So I’ll stay at that.

No core profession should be balanced around an optional elite specialization.

How I would change the class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Muchacho.2390

Muchacho.2390

Yes i am fine with the fact that weapons like dagger wont be used in an condition damage focused e-spec. I mean why would you even want to do that when they dont have any damaging condition on it.

And for traitlines… since when is spite soly power damage based? Since the trait rework long time ago you can use spite just fine in a condition damage build. Heck conditon damage meta builds have taken it over curses in the past. But here i can somewhat agree with you a bit but i would argue the other way around. Also core traitlines shouldnt favor any damage type (major traits in the lines howerver can).

I’m not fine with leaving behind half of the profession tools for the sake of specializing an e-spec in condition damage.

As for traitlines, I think we can agree with each other. Even if it’s a little twisted and terribly inefficient, here is how I see the spite traitline :

- Spite : Support through vuln and power damage

NB.: I started to write an incredibly long thing and found out that I was going totally off topic… So I’ll stay at that.

Well it seems the leaks were false, so chances are the new e-spec wont be condition damage focused and the reaper bleed trait wont be changed to a power one.