Guild Wars 2

The idea of the necromancer having a mace had rolled around in my head for months now. I like the idea of giving the necromancer a more defensive weapon then what they currently have. As it is, the staff is the necromancer’s best defensive weapon. Although i would consider it more of a control weapon while others consider it more support. The necromancer lacks a truly defensive weapon and I feel the lack of mace using professions in the game combine with the lack in defensive skills for the necromancer this is a good fit for both of them. But I wont just Say “we should have a mace” without giving you a potential look at what a mace as a weapon might provide for the necromancer profession.

Here are the list of the 3 skills with explanations of why they should be the way they are.

1. Shadow strike:1/2 second cast, Bleeds and damages foes > Lifebane strike:1/2 second cast, Bleeds and damages foes > Bitter Chills: 1 second cast. Damages and chills for 1 second.

All 3 skills from the auto would be aoe. The first 2 would cleave while the last one would be a blast that would hit around the necromancer. It would also have about a 1/4 after cast delay on it as chill is quite powerful, even at 1 second. If the chill sounds too powerful, just say so, it probably wont stay as the only possible auto 3rd strike.

2. Grim mark: 3/4 second cast, 600 range, Damage, Pull up to 5 foes and gain life force when this mark is triggered. 7% life force and an extra 3% life force beyond the first target. 10 second cool down.

Although other professions get teleports to get away or stalk their target. Necromancers don’t do this or don’t do it very well. A necromancer needs to bring the target to them. So a pull would be most appropriate. At a 600 range, this is quite a short distance but can make a difference.

3. Plague sending: Block the next attack against you and transfer 3 conditions from yourself to adjacent foes. 180 radius. > Plague touch: Touch your foe transferring all conditions to that foe. 15 second cool down.

A Block skill is something I’ve wanted on the necromancer for a long time. It has been something we seriously lack that could save us from attacks that we should normally be able to defend against but for one reason or another, cannot.

Well there you have it. This is my mace concept. If you like the idea, leave a comment. If you don’t like it, leave a comment anyway and give me your feed back. How would you change it? what would be better? I look forward to hearing from all of you.

I earnestly second this idea. Though I personally have always sought for a 2h option, if a new 1h main was on the horizon I’d like to see this. Well done!

1. A solid idea. Melee cleaving bleed stacks is not only necro-sensible but unique.

2. Seeing as how marks are limited to staff and our 3min recharge elite, I find this most appealing.

3. Condition transfer should be more pronounced on our class as it is one of our primary defenses. Fitting all around

+1

A solid and not overpowered necromancer weapon it also feels like a necromancer

I like the auto attack. Nice, slow, but the added chill makes up for it.

So basiclly it would be like Magnetic shield (ele conjured shield#4)? How about 5% + 1% for each pulled foe up to 5 ofc?

Way too OP. Its way too much. Putrid mark got nerfed for the exact same reason (or didnt get debugged you know). A full condi cleanse on such a low cooldown, even less than Putrid and with a possible block, nah its just too much, sorry.

But the direction indeed is very good! As i see mace wants to be some kind of soft control LF generator tool. Wouldn’t be better to rework the idea with hammer? You would have more room (5 skills) to work with.

Dalanor.5387:

I like the auto attack. Nice, slow, but the added chill makes up for it.

So basiclly it would be like Magnetic shield (ele conjured shield#4)? How about 5% + 1% for each pulled foe up to 5 ofc?

Way too OP. Its way too much. Putrid mark got nerfed for the exact same reason (or didnt get debugged you know). A full condi cleanse on such a low cooldown, even less than Putrid and with a possible block, nah its just too much, sorry.

But the direction indeed is very good! As i see mace wants to be some kind of soft control LF generator tool. Wouldn’t be better to rework the idea with hammer? You would have more room (5 skills) to work with.

The idea behind the life force and the condition transfer is that the weapon is melee range. The different between putrid mark and plague sending is a 1,200 range difference. Perhaps 3 condition transfer, and on plague touch a 5 condition transfer would be better? Still, a block is very valuable, even more so then extra condition removal in some cases.

Grim mark being a mark makes it very distinctive from the other skills as it would require to be triggered. So you could place the mark and move away beyond just 600 range. I also don’t see the life force being a problem. Maybe at 5% with a 2% bonus on each foe beyond the first would be okay, but at 5% with a 1% bonus would much too weak.

Disagree with the hammer bit. I don’t think 2 more skills will improve the defense or fill the gaps that this weapon has that couldn’t be filled by any of the 3 off hands already provided to us.

Lily.1935:

Dalanor.5387:

I like the auto attack. Nice, slow, but the added chill makes up for it.

So basiclly it would be like Magnetic shield (ele conjured shield#4)? How about 5% + 1% for each pulled foe up to 5 ofc?

Way too OP. Its way too much. Putrid mark got nerfed for the exact same reason (or didnt get debugged you know). A full condi cleanse on such a low cooldown, even less than Putrid and with a possible block, nah its just too much, sorry.

But the direction indeed is very good! As i see mace wants to be some kind of soft control LF generator tool. Wouldn’t be better to rework the idea with hammer? You would have more room (5 skills) to work with.

The idea behind the life force and the condition transfer is that the weapon is melee range. The different between putrid mark and plague sending is a 1,200 range difference. Perhaps 3 condition transfer, and on plague touch a 5 condition transfer would be better? Still, a block is very valuable, even more so then extra condition removal in some cases.

Grim mark being a mark makes it very distinctive from the other skills as it would require to be triggered. So you could place the mark and move away beyond just 600 range. I also don’t see the life force being a problem. Maybe at 5% with a 2% bonus on each foe beyond the first would be okay, but at 5% with a 1% bonus would much too weak.

Disagree with the hammer bit. I don’t think 2 more skills will improve the defense or fill the gaps that this weapon has that couldn’t be filled by any of the 3 off hands already provided to us.

Now i got it, thanks.
How about this … You cast the ability, the block is channeled. Upon hit, you transfer 5 conditions. If you press it again or you don’t get hit, 3 conditions removed from you. Here is why. Give it some counterplay and punishment. Your enemy starts to beat the hell out of you, press it and he / she not only lose to land a ability on you due to the block, but you lose even more condition AND your enemy have to bath in it’s own conditions. The windup animation or the lack of it could be a problem however.

How about adding a effect after the mark triggered? Maybe a shorter cripple, so you ensure the enemy stays there.
Yeah, the 5% + 2% sounds better, the CD / LF gained should be a reasonable amount.

I actually starts to like this idea even more … Good job, keep it up!

Mace or Hammer would be awesome. Please implement a power melee weapon and a condition melee weapon. Then give us a trait to buff axe range and scepter range by 300 and I’d be happy as a kitten (literally a kitten).

I do like the direction of this.

Coupla thoughts:

1. In PvE, a hybridized weapon is a non-weapon. Would the primary use of this mace-set be for stacking ConD? Or would the coefficient be such that the direct-damage is primary, with the bleeds being short-duration DPS increases? I just don’t want another Warrior Sword, or Thief main-hand Pistol.

2. Chill, chill, and more chill. A tanky Necro is one that can hold down an enemy and make the pay for not escaping. I’d love to see the Necro get more chilling, or at the very least some play off of chills. I’d actually like to see “Grimm Mark” chill rather than damage (or at least, do only a little damage), and then give the AA a damage bonus to chilled enemies. (Besides, makes sense in my head—freeze something and make it brittle, then go all “SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!” on it = higher damage.)

3. Personally, I’d want another off-hand. But that’s primarily because in my head, a mace is a tanky weapon that should be “balanced” by a tanky offhand. I hate running M/F on a guardian for that very reason. I’ll always run shield just because a tiny focus doesn’t seem to “balance” the mace. I know, I know. Realism and all that. But this is why I’d like 2H Hammer. Solves the problem. Or if we had some slender, wicked-looking maces that weren’t a giant ball-on-a-stick (Kevin being a wonderful exception).

That being said:

A) Warhorn would work well for high-control, and huge lockdowns.
B) Focus would work well for single-target DPS spikes if, indeed, the mace scaled against chilled enemies (too much chilling though?).
C) Dagger would be Diamond-Skin untouchable with two ConD transfers.

No auto does or ever should have chill.
Pulling 5 foes on a 10 sec cd is pretty OP
I like the idea of a block, but I would rather get a boon ripper then condi transfer

Overall, I like the idea of a necro with a mace. It is the next weapon that makes sense from a lore and balance perspective. I think giving the mace a mark is a cool idea, kinda like the guardian mace which has a symbol. I do hope they give this to necros with all attacks cleaving.

Stand The Wall.6987:

No auto does or ever should have chill.
Pulling 5 foes on a 10 sec cd is pretty OP
I like the idea of a block, but I would rather get a boon ripper then condi transfer

Overall, I like the idea of a necro with a mace. It is the next weapon that makes sense from a lore and balance perspective. I think giving the mace a mark is a cool idea, kinda like the guardian mace which has a symbol. I do hope they give this to necros with all attacks cleaving.

I’m kinda leaning the same way on the chill. Life stealing on 3rd attack? That might be better. And as an active that removes boons, I would prefer that. But the condi transfer as a being attacked is still very appealing to me.

Whatever they actually decided to do with a new weapon, hopefully they will take into consideration what we want.