For PvE, the scourge will be as fine as anything else for open world or story. However for anything else the scourge is still in favor of condition damage and still lacking a meanigfull mean of support.
Might stacking is definitely a meaningfull mean of support alongside barrier, epidemic, and dps.
Everybody and it grandma can might stack except the necromancer so it’s a relief to have some improvement in this area but you definitely won’t use a scourge to replace a PS warrior.
Barrier have an horrible design for PvE, and especially for raids. It might have some use if you could maintain them but whatever you do with the barrier that the scourge have you will still need a druid backup with it’s godsend grace of the land.
Epidemic is not a support skill per se. Epidemic is a pure dps skill that need your allies to support you so that you can land optimal damage. It’s the same as a meteor shower for elementalist.
As for dps, first it is not a mean of support and second it will be balanced around the standard of the necromancer nothing more nothing less. In the end, it might become more userfriendly to do damage with scourge in raid but that’s all. You can expect an optimal condi build at 30-32k which is average and a power build at 26-27 k which is below average.
It’s almost useless in PvE but the most valuable support that the scourge provide is it’s condition management. Corruptions and condition cleanses is where the scourge shine, barrier is a mere toy that don’t really have a place in raid or PvE as a whole.
You want to give a place to the necromancer in raid? It’s easy, there is absolutely no need for an elite spec for that. You just need a single change to rending shroud and make it reduce toughness from your foes by 180 making it drop a league in defense. Just that would be enough to grant necromancers a place in raid.
You want to fix necromancer’s low power damage? A first step would be to apply the increased damage to foes affected by vulnerability from unholy fervor to all skill while the trait is equiped instead of just axe skills. Put the axe cool down duration on spitefull spirit and change unholy fervor to do that and it would already help a lot.
Want to give some sustain to other as a necromancer? Change parasitic contagion so that it heal you and up to 5 allies around you each time you inflict on yourself a condition by using a corruption or by drawing it from neaby allies. A useful trait that have synergy with the mechanism of the necromancer and the other traits of the line while sneakily giving support to your allies. Is this asking for to much?
Three changes that absolutely do not affect the balance of the game, do not add any power creep through elite spec but yet give the necromancer the tools to find a place in PvE raids. Is this really so difficult to understand? I’m just focusing on what’s needed not what’s unneeded and that we already swim into to the point of drowning like corrupting boons.
The lingering issue of the core necromancer is what’s toxic to the necromancer, it feel like anet only know how to add more and more of the things that the necromancer don’t need in high quantity. If you look at the last 3 patch note and dagger, you see :
- 1st patch note : Dagger 2 heal for 100% more while bleeding
- 2nd patch note : Dagger 2 heal for 100% more (PvP only)
- 3rd patch note : Dagger 2 heal for the same amount as in PvP.
More heal! more heal! more heal! does it resolve the lingering issue of this skill? Nope. The necromancer don’t need “more”, the necromancer need well though balance changes. Dagger 2 needed either a slow effect on hit or a longer range or the 2 but not more heal.
I see the thing going in the wrong direction each time. The scourge go in the wrong direction when it come to support for PvE. It’s just obvious. However, I agree that giving it proper support would be a power creep, that’s why I believe that the work need to be done to the core necromancer.
No core profession should be balanced around an optional elite specialization.
