Guild Wars 2

I have just this to say: Where have you been all my life?

Quite the disruption against zergs, isn’t it? Even better now that Chilling Darkness works with it.

Heh, one annoying thing with this now is that thieves can give themselves 20s of stability if they’re able to boon steal in between your blinds.

They really need to fix the stability stuff with transformations.

Yeah, the one thing I’d been missing on my Necro was an “oh kitten” button like what I have on my Ele, Thief, and Engi, something you can hit when things go pear shaped to help get yourself to safety. I’m finding Plague Form does that… and then I can turn around and dive right back in. It’s absolutely hilarious.

I hadn’t even though about Chilling Darkness. That sounds amazing. I’d have to drop Terror to get it, I think, which makes me sad, but permachilling a zerg every time I Plague Form is very, very tempting.

Plague does ok in the latter stages of what is already, mostly a win, against baddy players that run around going 1,1,1,1,1,1,1…. which will get you by some days, some days are easy.

A group that knows what they’re doing? Its often better to stay as a regular necro, because there are a number of things plague locks you out of performing some important support functions for your group- condition removal, healing, crowd control, buff ripping… basically all the things that bad players, don’t think wins their group fights.

Because, you know what will end your fun?
Me ripping that stability buff off with 1 of 3 things, that I will always have 2 of at hand, pretty much keeping you either in perma-imobilise playing punt-a-necro ball. Or if I really dont like you, I’ll load you up with more nasty conditions (that you cannot clear) than a $2 hooker’s underpants drawer, then blow it up, killing all your friends.

Plague is a double edged sword.
Don’t drop it and expect to win all the time

if you’re condition specced you shouldn’t drop terror for chill on blind. that would be a very bad idea.

Plague form is fun until you get immobilized and have a million other conditions rained down on you.

Bull Zooker.1672:

if you’re condition specced you shouldn’t drop terror for chill on blind. that would be a very bad idea.

Totally agree, terror is the trait that makes condition necromancers conditionmancers. If you do not grab terror with condition build it is better to go for a condition engineer.

Plague is really usefull for situations where you now you cannot avoid damage, in other words when you get ran over by a melee train. The extra toughness and blinding really help you to survive. I use it as a defensive skill only. My marks/scepter/epidemic/corrupt boon/doom do so much more in terms of offensive play

Yamsandjams.3267:

Heh, one annoying thing with this now is that thieves can give themselves 20s of stability if they’re able to boon steal in between your blinds.

They really need to fix the stability stuff with transformations.

As a person that actually plays a thief from time to time when im wanna feel like in the super mario days (instakilling everything by jumping on them but dying from a light pat on the cheek), i must say: Hi rune of lyssa, nice to meet you, AGAIN, now please go away from the necros, warriors, guardians and eles, thx.

Bull Zooker.1672:

if you’re condition specced you shouldn’t drop terror for chill on blind. that would be a very bad idea.

Or just Slot in Chilling Darkness on the adept and Terror in the master slot (where it should belong since all other traits there are little rats compared to the massive cobra that is terror, yes master of corruption and wells use targeting are ok, but you dont really need em in open fights and if you are defending im asking why even use plague?

I would also have suggested that andele but I assumed (possibly incorrectly) that the OP only has 10 in curses.

if you do have 20 in curses depending on what it is you wanted to do I would pick up chilling darkness and terror.

Is Chilling Darkness > Haemophilia? Honestly curious as it is something I have been thinking about swapping around but haven’t got around to trying. I know conditions do drop off quickly in WvW so I haven’t really gone out of my way to stack bleed duration (20% from points in spite, 36% from pizza, 33% from Lingering Curse all of which come “for free” with the build I run) but with Haemophilia I on top I think that takes me over the magic 100% duration – if Lingering Curse is multiplicative? – which is supposedly the “holy grail” so we get an extra tick from Barbed Precision right? What are your thoughts? Am I just plain wrong (as usual)?

palmski.

if you follow the zerg id take chill on blind over hemophilia as it would be a benefit for the zerg having AoE chill. solo or small group roaming id take hemophilia but thats personal preference I guess.

I can’t answer your other questions as I dont understand them.

Plague form would be more worthwhile if it increased condition damage instead of power.

Palmski.6419:

Is Chilling Darkness > Haemophilia? Honestly curious as it is something I have been thinking about swapping around but haven’t got around to trying. I know conditions do drop off quickly in WvW so I haven’t really gone out of my way to stack bleed duration (20% from points in spite, 36% from pizza, 33% from Lingering Curse all of which come “for free” with the build I run) but with Haemophilia I on top I think that takes me over the magic 100% duration – if Lingering Curse is multiplicative? – which is supposedly the “holy grail” so we get an extra tick from Barbed Precision right? What are your thoughts? Am I just plain wrong (as usual)?

Lingering curses goes over the cap since it increases base duration of condis on scepter not actually giving condition duration (thus also increasing the efficiency of the cond duration you already got), hemophilia on the other hand is just pretty boring/kinda useless in comparison to how other stuff could impact your gameplay).

I’m surprised you haven’t been using Plague up until now, its the skill to have in WvW for Necromancers because of its great control and high tankability.

With the right combination of skills you can end up poisoning, blinding, chilling, crippling, healing 2k health / sec with 20 seconds worth of retaliation

Andele.1306:

Lingering curses goes over the cap since it increases base duration of condis on scepter not actually giving condition duration (thus also increasing the efficiency of the cond duration you already got), hemophilia on the other hand is just pretty boring/kinda useless in comparison to how other stuff could impact your gameplay).

!Ding! Lightbulb moment – LC increases base duration, thanks for that I finally understand how that trait works now. I think you’re right, Haemophilia is heading for the trash.

Ascii.9726:

I’m surprised you haven’t been using Plague up until now, its the skill to have in WvW for Necromancers because of its great control and high tankability.

With the right combination of skills you can end up poisoning, blinding, chilling, crippling, healing 2k health / sec with 20 seconds worth of retaliation

Any hints as to how one can gain 2,000 hps and 20 seconds of retal using plague?

Thresher.3049:

Plague does ok in the latter stages of what is already, mostly a win, against baddy players that run around going 1,1,1,1,1,1,1…. which will get you by some days, some days are easy.

Yeah I’m mostly saving it as an emergency escape. I just find that it’s usually getting me out with time to spare, so I’ll jump back in for the blind spam.

Thresher.3049:

A group that knows what they’re doing? Its often better to stay as a regular necro, because there are a number of things plague locks you out of performing some important support functions for your group- condition removal, healing, crowd control, buff ripping… basically all the things that bad players, don’t think wins their group fights.

Oh trust me, I’m a big fan of condition and boon removal. Corrupt Boon is one of my favorite skills in the entire game.

Thresher.3049:

Because, you know what will end your fun?
Me ripping that stability buff off with 1 of 3 things, that I will always have 2 of at hand, pretty much keeping you either in perma-imobilise playing punt-a-necro ball. Or if I really dont like you, I’ll load you up with more nasty conditions (that you cannot clear) than a $2 hooker’s underpants drawer, then blow it up, killing all your friends.

I’m actually not finding it to be all that big a deal to lose the stability or eat conditions. Stuns don’t matter because Plague pulses regardless of what I do and most of the time I can get away with enough life to pop Consume Conditions. That said, I am thinking about packing some Lemongrass Poultry Soup to deal with Immobilize and Cripple.

Bull Zooker.1672:

if you’re condition specced you shouldn’t drop terror for chill on blind. that would be a very bad idea.

I’m running kiiiiinda a hybrid/tanky spec right now. My equipment is full Rabid and I’d been going for a full condi spec but wanted to mix it up a bit, so I’m trying out a 0/10/10/20/30 build with a focus on Death Shroud. I’m thinking about working towards a set of Knight’s armor for a crit/power build. In any case, I can’t drop the points from Death, I really don’t want to drop the Blood any lower, and I’m abusing the heck out of my massive Life Force and stability so I don’t want to cut it from Soul Reaping either. I’ll probably keep Terror slotted unless I’m defending a keep and want to pop out in Plauge form for a brief jaunt.

Ascii.9726:

I’m surprised you haven’t been using Plague up until now, its the skill to have in WvW for Necromancers because of its great control and high tankability.

I’d mostly been using Flesh Golem to abuse my Runes of Lyssa, and also for its AoE knockdown to catch runners.

Yea I used to love plague but now all it does it make me a target for boon stripping and every other condition in the game. ymmv… how good it is depends on your opponents.

yea man stability on DS is awesome in big wvw fights.
and I like the idea of sswitching out the traits at certain scenarios given the chance. I do this alot too.

Kilger.5490:

Yea I used to love plague but now all it does it make me a target for boon stripping and every other condition in the game. ymmv… how good it is depends on your opponents.

PTV or PPT armor with melandru runes and lemongrass soup = whats conditions?

Execrable.1064:

Any hints as to how one can gain 2,000 hps and 20 seconds of retal using plague?

Warhorn-5 > Axe-3 > F1 Twice > Plague-2 with at least 0/30/0/15/0 layout and around 50% base critical chance.

You’ll end up crippling, chilling, blinding, poisoning, weakness with upwards of 20 seconds of retaliation & stability whilst life-stealing around 1,400 health, regening 130, 80 from soothing mist and the rest from melee training shout-healing.

And of course this is on-top of 5.5k armor, 51k health and -65% condition duration.

Thresher.3049:

Plague does ok in the latter stages of what is already, mostly a win, against baddy players that run around going 1,1,1,1,1,1,1…. which will get you by some days, some days are easy.

A group that knows what they’re doing? Its often better to stay as a regular necro, because there are a number of things plague locks you out of performing some important support functions for your group- condition removal, healing, crowd control, buff ripping… basically all the things that bad players, don’t think wins their group fights.

Because, you know what will end your fun?
Me ripping that stability buff off with 1 of 3 things, that I will always have 2 of at hand, pretty much keeping you either in perma-imobilise playing punt-a-necro ball. Or if I really dont like you, I’ll load you up with more nasty conditions (that you cannot clear) than a $2 hooker’s underpants drawer, then blow it up, killing all your friends.

Plague is a double edged sword.
Don’t drop it and expect to win all the time

That goes for any ability though, there are counters for everything.

I find it extremely effective when the other zerg’s melee ball tries to run into ours, I can load up on the blinds and chills, and if my stability gets stolen I’m not overextended in their back line.

Or, yes, against the weaker opponents, it’s a lootbag creating machine.

My experiences with plague in wvw are usually turning myself into a walking target and I get focused down immediately. I guess I just never ran into those baddies that stand in it all day. I honestly prefer to run a racial elite or flesh golem in wvw, much more success with those (for me anyway).

If played right you want people to focus you whilst in Plague. Necromancers (at least in high tier WvW) are not damage dealers nor full tanks. There role is disruption and diversion through blinds, chills and general boon disruption.

If people are focusing you whilst in Plague then your doing your job correctly, there focusing the 5k armour 50k health blinding Necro instead of the real damage dealers.

This is for large scale ZvZ though.

Ascii.9726:

If played right you want people to focus you whilst in Plague. Necromancers (at least in high tier WvW) are not damage dealers nor full tanks. There role is disruption and diversion through blinds, chills and general boon disruption.

If people are focusing you whilst in Plague then your doing your job correctly, there focusing the 5k armour 50k health blinding Necro instead of the real damage dealers.

This is for large scale ZvZ though.

This is my general experience as well.

I get a bit frustrated when I tie up a large chunk of the enemy group just to find out my own team has turned tail to run or seems to think that I am going to somehow deal the same damage as a Warrior or something while in that form.

If you see a Necro use plague over a group of enemies that is your queue to drop as much damage there as you can. Popping out of plague in the middle of zerg or even just a moderately sized group without support can be very dangerous to Necros.

There are situational circumstances it comes in very handy as well but some others are quite correct; plague can be a double edged sword. Unlike DS, the cool down makes it that skill you can fall in love with and hate bitterly because it is still unavailable when needed most.

If Anet gave us a nice “getaway” skill like some other classes have I would feel much more secure in being that focus fire target.

I love you guys as a thief. Always looking for one of you in zerg vs zergs. Thx for imba boons and aoe fear. They are game changers :P