Guild Wars 2

Probably the weakest of all necro weapon options is the focus. It’s not good for PvE and it’s lackluster in PvP. One may only use it in PvP if they are going with both axe and dagger main hands on a power build which is not very popular either.

The way I understand it, this weapon is the long range off hand solution for necro. Even though spinal shivers works well at slowing down escaping enemies from 1200 range, the cast time of this skill, makes it very difficult to effectively achieve this goal. Also, Reaper’s Touch is not very effective at long range.

This weapon is in need of being looked at.
Some suggestions can include:
Spinal Shivers:

• Lower cast time
• Add secondary mechanic similar to that of unholy feast. If a boons is removed, send out an explosion that would damage and chill nearby enemies.

Reaper’s Touch

• Even though this skill has a range of 1200, it works poorly at long range because it has a hard time hitting the intended enemy. One solution would be to increase the projectile speed or improve its tracking.

Focus is good when fighting boon heavy bosses

Additionally I’d say replace the regen with a more offensive boon on Reaper’s Touch (fury, might or quickness).

Erm…axe/focus is pretty awesome. I suppose they could buff it but I don’t think they will any time soon. Who knows though.

Reaper’s touch should lose bouncing and move all of its damage to first contact. Its bouncing around doing kitten all is THE reason it sucks so much in PVE.

Other than pathing issues on Reaper’s Touch, Focus is honestly great. It’s my go-to Power offhand by a pretty large margin.

I also think focus is by far our weakest offhand weapon, followed by dagger offhand. Focus is the only “power” tuned weapon, so for meele power builds that want some extra punch its best, but that doens’t make it good, its rather the only choice for meele dps, despite its powerlevel.

Skill 4 needs an offensive boon rather than regeneration as people have often suggested. I personally feel that this skill is the perfect place for the new “charges” mechanic. The skills is bursty in meele range, and one of the thing power necro needs the most is a reliable, short cd burst skill. Being in meele range is dangerous most of the time, due to the lack of defenses, so this should pay off.

Skill 5 needs a small cast time reduction. And additional either better base damage or something like 1,5 seconds of slow per boon removed. Either give this skill a better damage identity that can also be used in PvE, or a better defensive reward for corrupting boons.