Guild Wars 2

I am running a purely Conditionmancer using Scepter/Dagger mostly for PvE and WvW i dont really PvP much

Which rune is better Undead or Afflicted or Nightmare i cant really decide.

I like Undead because damage is better than duration, the final piece of Affliction is useless, and with the trait that turns toughness into power now ALSO turns toughness into condition damage. You’re getting double benefit for high toughness.

Well, So i suppose your traits will be 10/30/30/0/0 with full Undead Rune Sets?

that toughness to power trait is useless no reason to spec for it or go that far into death magic if you are a condition build i use 5 piece afflicition with 1 grenth for extra cond dmg on a side note (more cond duation>small amount of cond dmg)

I prefer the 2 krait, 2 afflicted, 2 centaur combo =)

does the bleeding cond duration have max capped on it? i was thinking about 2 krait, 2 afflicted, 2 centaur and Rare Pizza Veggie with 40% duration and Spite Traits w/ 30% duration + Rune of Agony +10% more bleeding duration.

2 Pieces of Krait add 15% Bleed Duration
2 Pieces of Afflicted add 15% Bleed Duration
2 Pieces of Centaur add 15% Bleed Duration
Rare Pizza Veggie add 40% Duration
Spite Trait add 30% Duration
Superior Rune of Agony add 10% Bleed Duration

So Total is 125%

@Sandara. Don’t forget 20% from Hemophilia and 33% from scepter abilities (If you use a scepter that is =) for a total of 178%

• Condition duration is always rounded down to full seconds.
• Scepter bleeds cap out in duration at 13 seconds.
• Using 2x Krait, Afflicted and Centaur saves you the trouble of dipping into Spite.
• Longer Condition duration allows for heavy bleed stacking.
• Duration stacking outputs more damage per second than stacking condition damage attribute.
• Superior sigil of Corruption adds up to 250 condition damage increase if you apply it to your staff. Applying it to one hand weapons halves it’s potency!

mmm.. i prefer undead.. with 10 points in spite and hemofilia u’re conditions stand for long time.. rune your main weapons with geomancy and off-hand’s weapon with corruption’s sigil, than with marck of dodge u can easily arrive at 18 stacks of bleeding.. not always duration is better than damage..
my condi necr has
10
30
20
10
0
in this way everything u do inflicts bleeding.. i say this cause healing condition gonna make ur high duration usefull..

By the way, what rune set would be best for power necro?

@ Sandara.1096: I am running a purely Conditionmancer using Scepter/Dagger mostly for PvE and WvW i dont really PvP much
Which rune is better Undead or Afflicted or Nightmare i cant really decide.

imo, nightmare is my preferred choice. the problem is that, beyond the mists, no one seems to have found any nightmare runes yet while afflicted and undead are readily available.

Jayce.5632 – Nightmare ones are from TA tokens and really small chance from chests in explo mode (maybe even story but then its even lower), also they seem to be bugged and give 20% total condition duration not 10%.

My condimancer runs a 15/30/0/25/0 spec and i aim for 5/6 nightmare with whatever will add to more bleeds on the side.
After pure cond damage ive gone for perc/tough on gear, but a few items have perc/power which converts into healing so in general, I do great bleeds with decent healing and toughness to keep me alive for those ‘oh kitten’ moments…

@Sparda Why the geomancy? I always thought the sigil of earth is better, could be wrong. I usually use Earth and Agony in my Scepter/Dagger and Corruption in my staff since i use S/D more than my staff and the 25 stacks buffs will retain when I swap to scepter from my staff. I prefer cond duration cause 100 condition damage = about 5 damage per second per stack. Assuming an average of 100 damage tick, +45% bleed duration (krait/afflicted/centaur) roughly comes up to about 900 cond damage worth (If your hitting for more per tick, then duration becomes even better).

@Jayce What do you mean no one has found the nightmare rune? Most of my condition spec guildies are using them (not sure how many piece), beyond the mist =) They drop in TA, albeit not often but not super rare either.

I use 3/3 afflicted/krait.

With veggie pizza and a 0/30/20/20/0 build i can keep up 20 stacks on 5 targets alone. No need for any more bleed duration (the other 5 stacks are mostly applied passively by other group-members, i’m the only condition heavy build in our setup).

The key is a very effective rotation switching between staff and scepter/dagger, with timed rolls and timed switching in and out of death shroud.

That way i can reach about 2150 condition damage while BiP is active (14,5sec/24sec).
Duration alone isn’t important a good rotation can be worth a lot more because it allows you to stack condition damage.

With toughness/prec/cond.dmg armor i have currently 2454 armor and 20800 health. I can only recommend a 0/30/20/20/0 build.

does the bleeding cond duration have max capped on it? i was thinking about 2 krait, 2 afflicted, 2 centaur and Rare Pizza Veggie with 40% duration and Spite Traits w/ 30% duration + Rune of Agony +10% more bleeding duration.
2 Pieces of Krait add 15% Bleed Duration
2 Pieces of Afflicted add 15% Bleed Duration
2 Pieces of Centaur add 15% Bleed Duration
Rare Pizza Veggie add 40% Duration
Spite Trait add 30% Duration
Superior Rune of Agony add 10% Bleed Duration
So Total is 125%

lunartic.3647:

@Sandara. Don’t forget 20% from Hemophilia and 33% from scepter abilities (If you use a scepter that is =) for a total of 178%

Duration does not simply add percentages the percentages actually stack
the scepter auto attack is a base 4 seconds, stacking 30points in spite 3x 15%duration from armor, a bleed duration sigil, hemophilia and the 33% on staff abilitys it works out around 347% this is how you get 13 second bleeds on scepter auto attacks

Very helpful thread, thanks all

I used to run 3x Krait + 3x Afflicted but like others have stated, in PvP condition damage is more important as your bleeds will be constantly cleansed so I switched to 6x Undead.

@lunartic.3647 and Andele.1306

poor choice of words on my behalf and im sorry for that. i was attempting to emphasize the difficult one will have when trying to obtain the runes in question.

note to self: try to refrain from posting when tired.

Purely for WvW:

I ran Adventurer for a while, and those were pretty solid with the 100% endurance on heal. But this was changed to 50%, and was less powerful (though still decent).

I swapped to the 3xKrait/3xAfflicted setup, and I don’t think this has been as strong as I had hoped. Frankly, I’m often doing most of my damage with the Staff and the bleeding damage from MoB doesn’t need to get to huge levels. A mere 25% bleeding duration will get it to 10 seconds.

I’ve used Rune of the Centaur on my Mesmer, and this is also an option for a Necro — the bleed duration is nice, and the Swiftness on Heal gives the Necro in-combat mobility that it often lacks.

I’m looking to swap myself, and here are the WvW options that I’m batting around (focus is on a 30-20-20-0-0 build):

1. 6x Undead — simple, relatively inexpensive, and gives the best pure condition damage with my setup (~250) and a touch of toughness.

2. 6x Orbs — also cheap, and gives a more balanced stat distribution (120 condition, 84 vitality, 84 power).

3. 2x Grenth & 4x “TBD” — This would put Chillblains up to a 6s duration. I also batted around idea to test the focus at 1200 range instead of offhand dagger, and could get Spinal Shivers chill up to 8s utilizing 4x Nightmare with these — instead of trying to stack a bunch of bleeds prior to epidemic, pop a 8s chill then Epidemic that.

Hmmm, i took my Necro into the mists and I couldn’t get the sceptre bleed to longer than 6 seconds, it is actually 6 seconds before i have armour on. Is the bleed duration capped in sPvP?

@lunartic: then.. i think precision is useless.. cause
1) to have high critical chance u should run all your sets on precision.. then with earth’s rune your chance to infert bleeding is 60% of your critical chance ( an average of 50%?? ).. so ain’t too much high.. i agree that 5 seconds are very nice, but running geomancy u stack 4 dots of bleeding for 7 seconds.. and then my sets are all condi/ toughness.. i tank very well meanwhile bleeding does its job..
for my necro i’d prefer condi/vitality and toughness.. but doesn’t exist a set like this.. so i’m happy with condi/ vitality and power ( adn 5% of toughness becomes condi with undead’s runes)..
but, there is a thing that i don’t understand.. doe critical influences skills too or just tha skill number one?? in each case i don’t trust too much of critical set.. if u have 60% of critical chance ( really good), u have 36% of chance to inflicts bleeding with the sigil..
then, for the runes we can speak for a week.. but is really better condi duration than condi damage?? if your target heals fast himself, is better condi damage.. otherwise condi duration does its job.. but i like do high damages and tank better with undead’s runes…
my 50 cents..

last thing: augment condi duration by 10% and then other 15% doesn’t mean that ur final condi duration is 25%, but it’s 1, 26 higher——>26%

@Sparda I do run all toughness/precision/cond dam armor/weapon (I use carrion accessories with “rare” rabid crest, but that’s a lil overkill) + 300 precision from trait. Most, if not all (i need to check) ur cond damage skill have some initial damage that critical will affect. According to the wiki, 100 condition damage only comes up to 5 damage per second per stack, which equals to about 5% duration increase (i’ll assume a humble 100 damage tick). For the most part, damage and duration don’t clash except when it comes to runes/sigil, and like i said above, i personally prefer condition duration over condition damage since no 6 piece runes can give you 900 condition damage (as opposed to the 45% duration from cen/krait/aff; let me know if i did a bad calculation). Yes ppl can cleanse, but i can also reapply fast (while your cleanse is on cd). Don’t forget i’m also using epidemics so “everyone” needs to cleanse. But well, that’s just my opinion, some may say different.

PS: Not sure if its additive or multiplicative, but if you are right, that makes condition duration even better, doesnt it? Oh, and yes the sigil does proc pretty often, try it in the mist =)

It s multiplicative XD anyway mate.. With a bit of hands ’s moltiplication , i nave to agree with u.. Better the 3×2 runes than the 6 undead ’s runes… But about to have high prec.. Ain ’t agree..I think is better tanking than have high chance to crit.. I try to explain my point of s view.. So.. If u are a DPS u gain a lotta by have high prec.. U ree i guess.. High critica dme makes ur damage huge.. But just to have 60% to inflict one second of bleeding.. I prefer vitality ten thousen times XD go in wvw With 27k of life… When average is 19k.. U can go 2vs1 and kitten both.. Agree with u that epidemic makes me come XD.. Anyway.. I repeat.. For nrcro, the ultimate set is condizioni/vitality/toughness.. We need to tank meanwhile bleeding and epidemic blow up enemies.. And epidemic blow is the strawberry on the pie :-)
sorry For grammatical errors But writing from a smartphone is impossibile!! XD

i run 3/3 of rune of soldier and forgot the other but it had healing/vit and power

@Sparda I do have 25k (25,278 to be exact) hp in WvW with the current setup, not too far from ur 27k. I do not care too much about the 1 sec bleed from Barbed Precision, that’s just a bonus. The precision is more for the 5 sec bleed proc from Sigil of Earth, and the extra crit damage u get since all our abilities (including bleed abilities) have some initial direct damage on it (that is affected by precision). Also dont forget i’m a Staff/Scepter/Dagger Necro so the precision will help the mark damage too. And yeah they all add up. Also from what i have observed in actual fights, too many ppl react too quickly and cleanse themselves as soon as they see the first bleed on themselves, putting their cleanse on CD too early (Also some ppl dont cleanse, yes too many clueless ppl or ppl trying to save their cleanse cd). I always start with my staff (which gives minimal bleed stacks), and by the time i swap to my scepter, these guys have their cleanses on cd.

I wont argue your point preferring vitality more than toughness since you have a different playstyle but i personally value toughness more since we have a high hp base (like the warrior) and yes im aware that toughness doesnt mitigate cond damage. I have deathly swarm, well of power and epidemics on my bar so i actually do not mind cond on me. Ppl do overestimate the number of condition build players in wvw (Either not many or ppl are just hitting diff targets). Also i run in organized group and use Plague for group charge opener (with my tanks in group) or to survive longer and pull out (when it’s not on cd). In a normal 2pugsvs1 i have no problem taking them down most time (not saying everytime and also not saying im awesome, necro is just op at that)

In the end, it all comes down to ur playstyle and who ur playing with. The best spec for anyone is whatever ur comfortable with =)

I use undead runes on rabid armor (rabid weapons also). Unbuffed my character has 1481 condition damage atm (can get it slightly higher if I use different gems). Buffed my character has 1943 condition damage. My bleeds do 140 damage per second and tick 11 times from scepter. With BiP it goes up to 157, and with full might stacks it goes up to 183, in WvW I’ve had brief situations were it can reach 192.

In PvP or WvW where your bleeds rarely ever fully tick out, its much better to stack damage, especially if you’re using epidemic like you should be because duration doesn’t affect epidemic bleeds it just transfers over remaining durations. There is just too much aoe or self condition removal to say duration is better, its obvious it isn’t.

The only time condition duration is better is if you’re running dungeons with no one else using bleeds.

@lunartic: of course the best set is that u feel more fun..
my opinion is only one.. vitality is always usefull.. precision is usefull just to have 60% to infert bleeding.. ok, that’s great, but i prefer my geomancy sigil!!

but, as i told you, speaking about the runes, i have to agree with you.. undead one is worse than 2 afflicted+2centaur+2 krait..
and, about it.. does the recipe of krait and centaur exist??

@Sparda Not sure about the centaur but krait is crafted by armorsmith, 1 ori ingot and 1 putrid =) btw i just realized ur wearing the power/cond/vit gear, I am giving up vitality for toughness (survival stats), not precision. And giving up power for precision (offensive). Not fair to compare precision and vitallity. =)

@Chuiu You made a good point but i personally think it’s situational. In a zergy situation like keep defence/attack yeah. We usually do not ride the zerg (again we might have diff definition of a zerg) we run our own group and avoid the zerg direction. Duration is especially good against fleeing enemies =) In a perfect world everyone will cleanse at a perfect timing when they get x amount of bleed on them, ppl cleansing the group will have all their teammates within range. In reality it’s usually too early or too late, its not easy to catch the perfect timing especially with ppl right at your face melee-ing on you. Every dodge roll is an extra second of x stack (x tends to be higher when u stack duration) of bleed on you. Worse if you turn back and run or stunned, snared, etc =) The theory sounds good but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on if ur the attacker or the defender) it doesnt always work like how ppl want them to be. Cleanse with lower cd usually only take 1 off you (which may not be bleed). Multiple condition cleanse usually has higher cd. Unbuffed, i have 1309 so i do literaly 8.6 damage per stack per second less than you do (comparing unbuffed) but assuming you dont use the 2/2/2 rune combo i have at least 30% more duration than you do.

But yes, it’s situational depending on ur playstyle so it may work for you. Note that i’m almost always in a tight guild group in wvw. I think most of our opponents will want to be doing something other than cleansing when im dotting them up cause they prob have other direct damage class in their face. I’d think ppl will always prioritize direct damage dealer up in their face before trying to cleanse my dots off.

PS: Duration works better against short base duration bleeds more than high base duration bleeds. I dont care too much about adding an extra 30 seconds to a long base duration bleed, its more to increase the short base duration bleeds.

yeah lunartic.. surely i’ll go precision instead powa.. but.. i cannot!! XD
anyway, if i arm up my main and off weapon with a sigil like earth one, the chance to inflict ( like in this case ) bleeding augments?? or the second sigil is useless??

then, the tale about " is better geomancy than earth" is a little useless… cause depends by your fighting style..
i use a simple combo to inflict 10 stacks of bleeding, without attack ( run in your enemy face, dodge with marck of dodge, are 2 stacks, yeah is bugged, swap weapon, 4 stack for geomancy, than go DS , cast enfeebling blood, 1 stack, yewah is bugged, go skill number 3 and 2.. total= 10 ).. then i’l complete rotation.. now, if u arm up earth sigil u cannot do this.. u’ll never spend granmaster’s trait for cast enfeebling blood when in u go DS.. but u’ll stand far and ranged.. i prefer go near my enemy, make him bleed and see him die against my eyes ( imagine a deeply and scary laugh!! mwahahah ).. joking of course.. but stand near i can control better the battlefield.. and 2v1 are easier..

when u go in wvw.. so, u should have a party that play as a single man to use this tattic, or u have to risk sometime and skill like mark of dodge are useless
but i feel a spectral/ DS power critcal build is better for a bit of situation.. in each case i love my build and once a bought another krait and afflicted superior rune, i finished it.. so cute!! _