I’d only ever use Hemophilia if you aren’t using wells, aren’t using plague, and are too far away for Weakening Shroud to take effect often enough. Otherwise its lackluster compared to Chilling Darkness, Weakening Shroud, or Focused Rituals (imo). Oh, and also if you aren’t hitting the 100% cap as well. If those conditions are met, take it.
I also think its way stronger in PvE and pretty bad in PvP/WvW.
Thanks for the updated guides btw. I’ll go through them sometime, maybe I can finally figure out how to condi Necro without being a baddie.
Really not sure about terror in pve. It’s good against single target but it can also ruin pulls. Makes it kinda works only half of the time (trash/boss), and if you think of it that way, it’s half the theoretical effectiveness throughout the whole dungeon. Of course trait can be switched between battles but your runes are also built around fear, makes it not so flexible.
The runes aren’t built around fear. The condition duration also applies to all other conditions, particularly burning, poison, torment and weakness. The six-piece is nice for some extra survivability and defensive damage.
But what’s better against trash? Lingering Curse? The only AOE Lingering Curse affects is scepter’s No. 2 attack, which is OK but not a massive gain by any means. Epidemic isn’t affected by Lingering Curse even while using a scepter.
I have been in a few situations in which fearing an AOE pack has saved a party on top of doing damage.
People should of course be careful with scattering mobs, as I noted in the guide, but there’s really not much reason to give up a substantial single-target DPS gain against bosses — the real challenge of the game — for a trait that’s much less single-target damage and barely beneficial in AOE.
The runes aren’t built around fear. The condition duration also applies to all other conditions, particularly burning, poison, torment and weakness. The six-piece is nice for some extra survivability and defensive damage.
But what’s better against trash? Lingering Curse? The only AOE Lingering Curse affects is scepter’s No. 2 attack, which is OK but not a massive gain by any means. Epidemic isn’t affected by Lingering Curse even while using a scepter.
I have been in a few situations in which fearing an AOE pack has saved a party on top of doing damage.
People should of course be careful with scattering mobs, as I noted in the guide, but there’s really not much reason to give up a substantial single-target DPS gain against bosses — the real challenge of the game — for a trait that’s much less single-target damage and barely beneficial in AOE.
You’ve convinced me. I’ll give it a try. My guildie found a champion mob to farm but that seems to be a pretty good sustain dps target. I’ll try the traits with undead runes first tonight, see how good it is, and farm TA later.
Really not sure about terror in pve. It’s good against single target but it can also ruin pulls. Makes it kinda works only half of the time (trash/boss), and if you think of it that way, it’s half the theoretical effectiveness throughout the whole dungeon. Of course trait can be switched between battles but your runes are also built around fear, makes it not so flexible.
The trick is to chill or immobilize the mobs so they can’t move during the fear. Try casting tainted shackles on a group and as soon as the immobilize activates, drop reaper’s mark. The mobs will cease attacking and take the terror damage, but won’t move.
Glad to see your guides back up Lopez! I don’t always roll conditionmancer, but when I do, I go with your builds.
Yeah, I should add a note about snaring before fearing. Good tip.
I’ve made some updates to the guides in the past few days. I’m actually recommending Hemophilia for AR engineers and Berserker Stance warriors now that they’re becoming more prevalent.
Hey Lopez, I’ve got a question.
What is your take on getting 100% condition during with a givers dagger in offhand and 2 runes of the mad king + 2 runes of Lyssa.
The lower condition damage would be me more than made up for with the extra dmg tick form all conditions.
Also I was wondering if you’d upload your guide for fractals again – it would be a huge help for me as I’ve just started running those.
You left out Spectral Grasp in the Spectral Skills section. It’s good at producing LF and offers a nice chill especially with points into Spite.. It just seems extremely buggy still and rarely lands :/
