Guild Wars 2

While looking over the Elementalist trait changes I came to a conclusion (not a particularly new or original one) that Necromancers seem to lack build defining traits. Elementalists have Diamond Skin, Blinding Ashes, Fresh Air, Lightning Rod, and all kinds of traits that really define their build. Necromancers on the other hand really lack this. It isn’t so much that our traits are necessarily bad, but that they simply don’t directly impact gameplay as much.

What are build defining traits?
A build defining trait is a trait that fundamentally changes how you play your build. It is the thing that takes your build from just another condi build to being a Dhuumfire build, which has a very distinct and different damage rotation and goal than just your standard condi build. These are traits that you can build around, in essence, where you decide “I’m going to be an Aura Share (Powerful Auras) ele” and then this decision shapes the rest of your build.

I also want to separate build defining traits like Dhuumfire or Fresh Air from traits like Close to Death and Signet Mastery (the new GM one). Close to Death doesn’t define your build, you take it because you have already decided to be a power build and you decided the extra 20% damage was more useful than something else. Signet Mastery is in a similar spot, you decided you were going to be a Signet build and so you took Signet Mastery, the actual build defining thing here is your utility skills, not the trait.

What are our current build defining traits?
I’m going to frame this with the trait rework as presented initially to us.

Lingering Curse – I think this will be very build defining as it currently is. It is going to make you re-think your entire condi build because it gives you 100% duration right off the bat when your Scepter is active. This is going to change runes, sigils, and its going to most likely make previously under-appreciated choices suddenly much more attractive.

Necromantic Corruption/Death Nova – With Putrid Defense and a buffed Necromantic Corruption, these two traits finally have significantly different use-cases, and will likely end up with significantly different MM builds. One will have MMs picking up much more support and healing, with the other most likely being more selfish and the minions being more expendable.

Death Perception – When this came out it absolutely changed how power builds are played. While it is somewhat synonymous with power builds in general right now since it is practically necessary, it still makes a really big change in how your build is changed.

Dhuumfire – I’m not 100% sure on this with the new Dhuumfire. Old Dhuumfire absolutely changed how you played because it changed your condi rotation, but this new one I’m not sure of. Just curious, what would people think if they changed it to have the same ICD it used to, and instead of applying 1 stack of burning it would applied multiple so that it deals similar damage to what it does now, so essentially unchanged except in SR now.

And that is honestly it imo. Terror isn’t really build defining now, and I don’t think it really will be, except as condi builds that don’t take Lingering Curse. I just don’t see it contributing enough to really define your build.

Some ways to make traits more defining
Note, I don’t think every trait needs to be build defining. Spite for example has 3 GM’s that are all absolutely fine traits, they just don’t end up being build defining really. However traits like Terror could be, but just aren’t quite strong enough to base a build around. I just feel like so many of our builds don’t have any particular direction to them because there aren’t traits that give entirely new ways to play.

Terror – Revert the 17% nerf it saw a while ago just as a base, this trait needs to become the “burst” option of Necromancers, compared to Lingering Curse which will be more utility/over time focused. Ideas to make this stronger are giving it extra damage when an enemy is interrupted, so interrupting an enemy with fear will cause Terror to deal extra damage, or even all conditions to deal extra damage. You could also have it apply an immediate damage (that scales with condition damage) instead, so that as long as you interrupt them you get an immediate damage spike that can’t just be cleansed away. Either way, this trait needs to actually give burst so that it is reasonable for Necromancers to truly condi burst, instead of just overload over a longer fight.

Unholy Sanctuary – I don’t think this directly needs a change to make it more build defining, it just needs to stack with other regeneration sources by allowing Necromancers to actually get regen and self-traited siphons and healing (not including Transfusion) through DS. I also really dislike the forced-DS entry, if anything just allow us to manually override the CD (either through F2 or just allowing us to re-enter). If it actually stacked with regen and gave us a way to have say 500HP/s while in DS (still VASTLY worse than the 1k HP/s Rangers can get) it could be build defining.

Blood Magic – Even after the changes, it still lacks anything to really create a “support” build. I’m honestly not sure what to put here, people put forward the idea of Dark Auras that give siphoning, which are interesting, but I’m not sure how to implement it in an interesting way, especially if we get “Shouts” with Orders, that do just that.

Chill Builds – Considering Grenth and chill are such a core idea of Necromancer, it is kind of ridiculous that we have no +Chill duration, and no unique ways to play with Chill. A strong chill trait at the GM level in curses or death magic would make a lot of sense to help out our chill builds, which don’t need a huge amount to make them viable.

Anyway, these are just my opinions. Any other changes you think could happen to make some of our GM traits a bit more build-defining? Do you think we are fine as is? Or do we need to scrap some of our current GMs in favor of new ones?

As far as the Dark auras thing goes, I just think that’s what should happen when people leap through or blast dark fields instead of lifesteal. Then maybe you could see some trait support like mesmers got, or just leave it at that.

As for Terror, the damage needs to go up by more than 17% or master of terror needs to get merged into it. Currently, it doesn’t deal that much extra damage. Mesmer new trait that deals 25% more damage on shatters is a way bigger burst dps, and overtime dps than terror, and it has an extra effect of dealing 50% extra damage when targets aren’t activating skills. It isn’t strong enough to be GM right now.

I still think a shared vampiric buff should be the build defining trait of Blood Magic, then the other traits in that line could build off of that. Some kind of support needs to be innate to that traitline (as in included in the minors), or it will always be bad because investment in healing power is only useful if it is also benefiting allies.

I’m fully with you on chill builds, it would be cool if there was a GM that gave necros the extra endurance that chilled foes weren’t getting (or just gave us vigor for chilling people cause it would be simpler), or lowered our cooldowns by a set percent for chilling foes.

I think the new spiteful spirit could be build defining if it was a blast and had no ICD. I mean DS flash builds are a thing. But we dont really have a grandmaster trait for them. And a flash trait with a blast is the perfect match for that.

I also think we should have some kind of defensive DS trait. We have deathly perception for pure damage. Why not something which grants reflect while channeling in DS. Or 2 seconds of reflect in DS but if you leave DS early the reflect stops so you cant abuse it in flash builds.

Good build defining traits are ones which work well with class mechanics and use active play to reap the benefits. Fresh is probably my favourite one for that. Im also a big fan of traits which give extra effects on blasts like persisting flames. But we dont have blasts to really benefit from traits like that (fix please).

More traits to play with DS is probably the best way to go. As you pointed out most of our build defining traits are the newish DS traits like deathly perception, dhuumfire and unholy sanctuary (if it was a bit better or other traits supported and synergised with it).

And yes I want more chill traits. Im also surprised we dont have a bonus damage on chilled targets trait. I know its a boring type of trait but give us that and more stuff to do with chill please. I actually had an idea for a chill trait the other day. Chill does damage but uses power instead of condition damage to calculate damage. Or for every second your target is chilled they recieve periodic direct damage (basically the same just a different way of doing it).

Another idea.

Deal bonus damage to chilled foes and whenever chill applied runs out. Target recieves damage based on the total duration. If cleansed no damage is dealt.

This would basically incentivize stacking chill for bonus damage. And maxing out duration for large burst when it runs out. But there is also the risk of the more you stack the greater the chance it will be cleansed and you will lose the damage. It has counterplay to avoid the burst on end. But isnt completely negated because there is a small damage bonus while the foe is chilled. Maybe also add some way of forcing the chill to end to get the damage before a cleanse.

spoj.9672:

I think the new spiteful spirit could be build defining if it was a blast and had no ICD. I mean DS flash builds are a thing. But we dont really have a grandmaster trait for them. And a flash trait with a blast is the perfect match for that.

Spiteful Spirit w/ blast + wells = dark/vampiric aura

Please Anet make it happen, synergy would be really cool.

zapv.8051:

As for Terror, the damage needs to go up by more than 17% or master of terror needs to get merged into it. Currently, it doesn’t deal that much extra damage. Mesmer new trait that deals 25% more damage on shatters is a way bigger burst dps, and overtime dps than terror, and it has an extra effect of dealing 50% extra damage when targets aren’t activating skills. It isn’t strong enough to be GM right now.

Strictly speaking it wouldn’t be a 17% buff, it reverts a 17% nerf. Because math is weird, it actually works out to being a 20.5% buff to bring it back up to pre-nerf levels. It does need to do more damage, I just think having it be on-interrupt or something like that to incentivize play that isn’t just trying to stack up conditions then fear someone into a corner for 10s is a bit better.

zapv.8051:

I still think a shared vampiric buff should be the build defining trait of Blood Magic, then the other traits in that line could build off of that. Some kind of support needs to be innate to that traitline (as in included in the minors), or it will always be bad because investment in healing power is only useful if it is also benefiting allies.

I absolutely agree. Maybe have traits earlier in the tree that have ways to apply Dark Aura effects, for example Full of Life applies Dark Aura, SS would give it on blast, and some traits that deal with it, and then have a GM trait where all self-applied regeneration, life stealing, and Dark Auras are shared with allies?

spoj.9672:

Deal bonus damage to chilled foes and whenever chill applied runs out. Target recieves damage based on the total duration. If cleansed no damage is dealt.

I like it. One of the bigger problems with chill builds right now is the lack of damage because of how much you give up to get decent chill.

Also, I agree that the better ways to cause more interesting traits is to interact with the profession mechanic, give extra effects on blast finishers, and also have ways to augment condition application, either with extra effects (like why the hell do Rangers and Thieves get better poison?) or with extra conditions.

Bhawb.7408:

zapv.8051:

As for Terror, the damage needs to go up by more than 17% or master of terror needs to get merged into it. Currently, it doesn’t deal that much extra damage. Mesmer new trait that deals 25% more damage on shatters is a way bigger burst dps, and overtime dps than terror, and it has an extra effect of dealing 50% extra damage when targets aren’t activating skills. It isn’t strong enough to be GM right now.

Strictly speaking it wouldn’t be a 17% buff, it reverts a 17% nerf. Because math is weird, it actually works out to being a 20.5% buff to bring it back up to pre-nerf levels. It does need to do more damage, I just think having it be on-interrupt or something like that to incentivize play that isn’t just trying to stack up conditions then fear someone into a corner for 10s is a bit better.

Perhaps giving a benefit on Interrupt that allows for better availability of fear? Something like recharging 40% of the cooldown for Doom if you land an interrupt with it. This discourages players from throwing doom on an already terrified / controlled opponent, but would hopefully not be so strong that players could just chain doom indefinitely.

The idea is that the lower damage of Terror compared to Lingering Curses is made up for in the increased uptime and control of fear. It also makes a Terrormancer have more uses of Doom available to them than someone using Lingering Curses.

Softspoken.2410:

Perhaps giving a benefit on Interrupt that allows for better availability of fear? Something like recharging 40% of the cooldown for Doom if you land an interrupt with it. This discourages players from throwing doom on an already terrified / controlled opponent, but would hopefully not be so strong that players could just chain doom indefinitely.

The idea is that the lower damage of Terror compared to Lingering Curses is made up for in the increased uptime and control of fear. It also makes a Terrormancer have more uses of Doom available to them than someone using Lingering Curses.

That would be sweet, they could simply make it lower the cooldown of any fear skill used to interrupt a foe.

Bhawb.7408:

Some ways to make traits more defining
Note, I don’t think every trait needs to be build defining. Spite for example has 3 GM’s that are all absolutely fine traits, they just don’t end up being build defining really.

“Build defining” is such a strange term, even more so because the devs used it to describe the impact grandmaster traits should have.

Obviously you make some good points in this thread, but certain flaws in traits can just as much be argued without referencing their value to a certain type of build.
Also, most of the time your build dictates what traits you’ll end up taking, not the other way around.
For example: arguably Deathly Perception is the most “build defining” trait we have in the way that the huge amount crit chance you gain allows for having different gear and changes the amount of time you want to stay in Death Shroud. But does that make the trait really build defining? Afterall every build with this trait is simply called “a power build”, in PvP anyway. So if someone plays power in PvP you know they have Deathly Perception, but they don’t say they run a Deathly-Perception-build because mentioning the type of build is enough to imply what Soul Reaping grandmaster choice you’re going with.

It’s just the same for Terror in the current trait system. If you say you play condi everyone will know that you’ve picked Terror. But it’s actual contribution to condition builds isn’t that outstanding when you compare it to other traits, and this is not a matter of how much damage it does. “Terrormancer” just sounds fancy so people started using this term even though there’s no difference to saying “condimancer”.

So yeah, some traits in grandmaster tier are strong enough to affect your choice of gear and gameplay, in that way they are build defining. But that doesn’t make them stronger or better than other traits, and it’s certainly not related to the trait tier they are positioned in because master, adept and even minor traits can have just the same impact on your build.

Hi Guys ,

Nice ideas . I realy like the Vamp Share into blood magic. Spoj idea About Chilling Mechanics into power based builds. And Having benefits If using terror when you interupt with Fear.

I incorporated some of the ideas into my Post : " Necromancer upcoming (Up comming xD) changes." I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Btw I wanted to do à Trait preview ( A Beta Trait line with people ideas) for devs on my topic , but if some one with better English skills wan’t to do it i’ll gladly help.

See you guys , ty for keeping the ideas comming. Feel free to give some feedback on “my” page.

Have not played in ages and seems the necro is in the same spot. Still like the class for whatever reason.

Never actualy thought about from that way.
Its true, ALL we mostly take are CD reductions for the utilities we already decided to take or just weapon improvements for like marks.

It really looks like its why the new trait system looks so meh on necro, while thief will need to be shaved with Thors nerfhammer since its 5x great GM traits in one package.

Bhawb.7408:

Anyway, these are just my opinions. Any other changes you think could happen to make some of our GM traits a bit more build-defining? Do you think we are fine as is? Or do we need to scrap some of our current GMs in favor of new ones?

I had a trait idea myself, something that just feels necromancy imo, exclusive to only necromancers, but not sure if I would called it build defining. It feels like a condition based trait, but would preform like power. I haven’t worked out all the kinks yet with it but I will show you what I’ve come up with so far given the current status of the necromancer:

If Rising Bile and Rotting Flesh had a child, then I think it would probably look something like this in the form of a trait. I believe the radius and range figures are where it should be, but I’m still trying to tweak damage and duration numbers. But based on the concept alone, where in the tier should this trait fall or is it OP and needs scraping altogether?

Death Magic Trait
After using a healing skill in combat, your next attack skill causes an Infectious Disease:Deals damage at the end of duration. Spreads to nearby foes. Ends duration if you are downed or if a foe moves out of range.
Damage:2*(2.0) s
Duration:12 s (at Level 80)
Spread Radius:180
End Range:1800
When suffering from Infectious Diseased, your health bubble fills upward in yellow to show projected damage as the duration progresses.

@ Jayce : The problem is Necro doesn’t need more condition overload , or damage … what necro realy lacks behing an attrition class , is someway to sustain through team fights and focused fire. (Even if damage can be looked at i don’t think the mechanic you propose fits in dead magic (our defencive trait)).

I’v also proposed disease as a new condition (with others) to Anet gw2 staff , but if they introduce it i think it’s more likely with the Elite spec.

Bhawb is right that the necromancer doesn’t have a lot of build defining trait and this contributes to boring stale gameplay, but he is a bit optimistic about what ‘build defining’ really is.

Lingering Curse isn’t build defining, it is just numbers. A required trait to make an underpowered weapon playable. It’s boring. That it also works on sigil & trait procs will just result in nerfs.

Ditto with Deathly Perception. That trait while good (although not good enough to ever see use in a Pvp tournament), might change some gear choices but really doesn’t do much to change playstyle. It just makes Death shroud less underpowered for power users.

Neither of those, nor Spiteful Spirit even with a blast finisher and no cooldown really change anything (a blast finisher would make axe less underpowered, but this is just another example of having to take a trait to make a poor weapon viable).

Even foot in the grave merely opens up 1-2 utility skills that would otherwise be filled with underpowered stun breaks.

The following are necromancer’s actual build defining traits. If you don’t want vanilla you have to take one of these.

Unholy Martyr
Terror
Parasitic Contagion
unholy Sanctuary
Death Nova/Necromantic Corruption
Foot in the Grave

Unfortuately, a lot of these are terrible.

Despite reputation, there aren’t enough conditions to make Parasitic Contagion decent (and there is the whole problem of the grandmaster trait not working with the class mechanic, an anti-synergy of defensive traits).

Nor is there enough condition removal to make unholy martyr workable (the trait also has low, only in DS uptime amongst a host of other issues — but this trait could see play if it granted resistance on condition transfer similar to the revenant ability).

Unholy Santuary turns necromancers into leeroy Jenkins, so it is build defining in a bad way.

Death Nova and Necromantic Corruption define your minion playstyle, but minions eat up your utilities have bad AI and no synergy with necromancer weapons or Necromancer death shroud.

Terror gives a spike of damage to your condition necromancer, which is a good thing because necromancers damage over time abilities are much weaker than their reputation outside of a burst.

+1 for necretaal

I think Terror Should remain a core option for necromancer , but giving it a buff when played with skill (like the Idea of CD reduction and merging TerrorM into the trait.)

Parasitic Is nice But 15% is weak in spvp and wvw … just because of the cleanses and the fact it doesn’t work with DS. It can be a decent option in difficult aeras in pve (but seen how easy pve is ftm, i’m not sure you need it). I Think it reamains a strong trait for pve if they increase difficulty with HOT.

I dislike Unholy martyr to be honest … I’d like to see Necro healing behing core or at least UM should allow to have in dead shroud healing. the 10% activation is bad it’s like the mist for from vampiric runes sometimes it just kills you by interupting a key action( Fear (to place a safe heal) ==> (bleed/ poison /vuln/criple on you) Heal ==> interupts heal … get downed.)

Some one gave me the idea of merging UM & US , that would be something decent i think into dead magic. (regen compensate the degen of conditions.)

Spite full spirit is realy nice with a blast on it (and maybe a blind) no ICD (blind give us the active def we lack.) but we lack Blast fields. (wells Auras could be a solution for that EX:make blood well a water field.)

I think like spoj said necro Should have core mechs on Chill.

Defencive skills based on Blinds and our LF. ( zerker stance etc are boring i know.)
==> Regen part of your endurence Bar when you enter dead shroud (no Vigor). Death invigoration ==> nice no ?

I actualy have plenty of ideas for defencive traits that make sence.

But our Main problem i think for ideas is blood magic.
Our Main problem actualy is surviving 1vX

I’ve always thought a really sweet build-defining trait would be like:

Dark Aura: When you take damage while in Death Shroud, you pulse 392(0.1) damage around yourself to nearby foes. 1 second ICD.

Personnally, I think terror is and have been build defining since a long time already. The issue here, is that trait itself is too strong. We can argue for age that it’s damage are mediocre or whatever, the fact is that it’s free damage paired with a problematic CC.

I think, Necromancer would have been more healthy if Terror (inflicting damage on feared foes) was something like Chillblain (inflicting damage on chilled foe). Why?
- Because chill, even if really anoying, is less harmfull than a hard CC (fear)
- Because ton of other profession can overide your chill (making it less likely to open up to rant from players)
- Because there is very few things that are immun to chill.

Actually, close to death is build defining. This is our bread and butter for DD spec.
Path of corruption define our corrupt build but ain’t really build defining, he is just kittenefull addition.
I’d also say that Vampiric master is the core defining trait for minionmancer (I would hardly play any minon build without this trait, but maybe I’m wrong)
Death nova should be core to any minion bomber build. The issue here is that either damage are ridiculously low or our minion generation output is poor.
Unholy sanctuary is way to weak to define anything.
Unholy martyr a grandmaster trait that is weaker than Mender’s purity a mesmer adept trait. This trait ain’t build defining it doesn’t give any material for any build.
Vampiric ritual may be our vampiric defining trait, execpt that he need optimal condition to be usefull and the long CD on well totally kill it’s potential.
Death perception is the DD shroud build defining trait.

If, I had to propose something as defining traits :

Spite (Damage/weakening trait line)
Keep Close to death which is fine as it is.
Replace parasitic contagion by a trait that double chill duration and inflict vulnerability when you chill a foe.
Replace Dhumfire by a trait that build frenzie each time the necromancer hit a foe while in DS. (like risen abomination. Obviously frenzie would wear off as soon as you go out of DS)

Curse (condition/precision traitline)
GM trait that replace Terror. Chillblain, chilled foe also take damage overtime. You do x% more damage against chilled foes.
Keep new lingering curse
Keep new Parasitic contagion

Death magic (Minion and defensive traitline)
Change Death nova. This trait should create a low life, low survivability minion whose only purpose would be to reach the necromancer’s foe and then explode, inflicting some damage, poisoning and having a chance to remove a boon on foes in range as it die. ICD reduced to 2 seconds. (only minions create by this trait explode. These minions are created on foe death and minion death)
Add to Unholy sanctuary an aegis when entering DS.
Keep Necromantic corruption (I feel it’s ok that this traitline have 2 minion traits)

Blood magic (support/survival trait line)
A trait which would replace Unholy martyr. This new trait would simply share any boon you grant yourself while in DS.
A second trait that would replace Vampiric ritual. This trait would share any heal received from Necromancer’s siphon. (With this they could, at last, upgrade vampiric)
A third trait would replace Fetid consumption by something that would, perhaps, heal the necromancer each time he gain life force with a 1 second ICD.

Soul reaping
Keep foot in the grave.
Keep Death perception
Change Dhumfire to apply torment instead of burn.

Rising Dusk.2408:

I’ve always thought a really sweet build-defining trait would be like:

Dark Aura: When you take damage while in Death Shroud, you pulse 392(0.1) damage around yourself to nearby foes. 1 second ICD.

Thats free power, not build-defining.

Shiki.7148:

Thats free power, not build-defining.

So is Terror, and yet it defines the entire condi Necro meta. Something that can cause a lot of DPS pressure in DS would encourage tanking in Death Shroud with a good power stat. You could see a very interesting pressure build defined by my suggestion rising from having that trait.

Rising : Terror actualy Should defines the necro , but actualy it’s just a no choice option to be honest. Our condi presure behing nerfed after dhumfire , we mainly take it as that extra Dps. Core mechs involve somethings that make the class feel unique. Like interupts on Mes doing extra presure if you succesfully interupt , like bloking / burning on guardians , etc .

Rising Dusk.2408:

Shiki.7148:

Thats free power, not build-defining.

So is Terror, and yet it defines the entire condi Necro meta. Something that can cause a lot of DPS pressure in DS would encourage tanking in Death Shroud with a good power stat. You could see a very interesting pressure build defined by my suggestion rising from having that trait.

The difference is, that Terror needs you to commit to conditions and as many fears as you can possibly cramp on your Necro, while your idea would do nothing more than people taking the trait and popping DS for free damage. If it was, let’s say, pulse damage based on your healing power, or based on your power, or based on your conditions, or based on the amount of condis on the enemy etc., it could be considered somewhat “build defining”. But the way you worded it? No. Because it doesn’t get better with anything you can actually use to make a build, like stats, sigills, runes, skillsets, traitsetups…

Shiki.7148:

The difference is, that Terror needs you to commit to conditions and as many fears as you can possibly cramp on your Necro, while your idea would do nothing more than people taking the trait and popping DS for free damage.

The number in parenthesis is a power coefficient, and since it’s power damage it’d scale with critical chance and critical damage as well. This damage would be pathetic unless you fully committed to power damage, just as you so astutely recognized with Terror and condition damage/duration.

Abimes.9726:

Rising : Terror actualy Should defines the necro , but actualy it’s just a no choice option to be honest.

In principle I agree; we’re a pretty awful condition class without Terror.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Shiki.7148:

Thats free power, not build-defining.

So is Terror, and yet it defines the entire condi Necro meta.

Except it doesn’t. It really is just a damage buff, it doesn’t change your gameplay at all.

I’d like to point out again that “build defining” is something that the devs shouldn’t have said in the first place. All that did is confuse people and put an artificial and pointless value on traits, especially since the specialization system will no longer mean that grandmaster traits need higher point investments and are therefore supposed to be stronger than lower tier traits.
Just accept that there are “boring” traits like damage buffs and coodlown reductions, but that does in no way invalidate their importance to some builds.

flow.6043:

Except it doesn’t. It really is just a damage buff, it doesn’t change your gameplay at all.

A damage buff can be build defining. If it pushes your damage (or your ability to do X) to a level where you can legitimately create and run effective builds based on the presence of that trait, it is by definition build-defining. It doesn’t have to change the way the class plays to be build-defining, it only needs to legitimize a certain approach that would otherwise be blatantly inferior either to other builds in the same class, other classes’ builds, or both.

I feel like there’s a semantic misunderstanding here and it’s really not a big deal what we call it, but certain traits by their existence make certain builds work, and that’s ultimately what the OP wanted discussed here (I presume).

Damage buffs can be build defining. I would call Death Perception build defining, as it literally defines what a DS power build is in PvE, without it that build simply would not exist. It also heavily influences the playstyle, you play completely differently without DP than you do with it.

Terror I don’t actually feel is build defining anymore. For a while it was, because you would purposely use it to influence your build decisions and built in such a way that you had as many fears as you could get on top of strong burst damage. This isn’t the case anymore, you simply take it because you have to, and accept that it will deal some kind of damage over the course of the fight. It doesn’t really influence many other decisions in your build besides taking Master of Terror (which would still be good for CC increase), and it doesn’t make a big difference in your playstyle. It CAN be build defining, and it used to be, but it just isn’t anymore.

Some of the traits that could define a build just can’t because they lack the appropriate skills to use them. Take the warhorn for example. Why even have this in curse at all? Considering that curse is almost exclusively for condi builds this is extremely out of place for this. Now, if the skill wail of doom was changed to its original function to fear on use we could see more use with Banshee’s wail and terror. Warhorn is already a decent weapon for power and the fear wouldn’t hurt those builds any with the ability to also cripple. And it could also be good for a terror condi build which otherwise would be using the exact same weapons as a lingering curse necro.

The Dark aura thing is something we already really need. And having a Grandmaster trait in Curse that isn’t so xenophobic to everything besides condi would be good.

Part of the reason why the current Necro has no real defining trait is because most of them are "DS miscellaneous utility builds.

Signets have zero synergy.
same with Corruption.
Wells require all sorts of painful traiting to run them seriously.
Spectral skills are almost as painful and much more niche.
Minions are just plain dumb.
Staff is popular by process of elimination of other weapons.
Scepter demands 100% build focus.
Vampiric is a figment of someone’s imagination.
Fear/Terror was nerfed to mediocrity.

The only builds Necro has are power, condi management, and MM variants of Death Shroud, the real defining build.