Scourge Synergy w/ Traits

Scourge Synergy w/ Traits

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Posted by: MethaneGas.8357

MethaneGas.8357

Hello fellow Necros!

So…. today we have had a glimpse at Scourge. In short… it has no shroud, but it does have 5 F-skills, and the essential one if F1 which summons… ghosts called “shades” that combo off-of the other shroud skills. These skills are basically new shroud skills that you can use all the time by expending the life-force you generate.

I also love the dynamic Scourge adds to Necro – your shroud skills are affecting areas around you, but your shades as well… so essentially it makes Necros very versatile. You can kite your enemies and set up your shades in the enemy’s path, then use a shroud skill to affect the enemy without even having to face them… as they’re chasing. You can also target enemies which are in 900 range from you, and gives you realllyyy good area control because no one’s gonna wanna be around your shades. Barrier also seems like a very cool way to make up for lack of shroud, and also add a really nice and unique layer of support too. Anyway, I think this spec has a LOT of potential and #stoked

Personally though, I’m really interested in seeing how these traits below will work with the new shroud and how these synergies will play out. For example:

1) Transfusion – Shroud #4 heals allies around you. You don’t get heals because you’re in shroud… but… with sand shroud you’re always in normal form. So I’m guessing this skill will work off-of skill #5. Summon a field that lasts lasts 6s, pulses 7 times and does damage around you and shades (20 sec cooldown). I’m guessing this is where the healing will happen and you will be able to get these heals from transfusion. It pulses 7 times over 6 secs, so not a burst heal, but a nice heal nevertheless for you as a Necro :P …every 14 secs basically.. because it lasts 6 secs. Hopefully this will be the way it works.
2) Dhuumfire – shroud #1 burns enemies. So will this give your shades the ability to burn on their auto attacks? Or will this just cause AoE burns in the area where you summon shades? Either way, it’s an interesting combo for potential Burn Necro: torch and trait which burns targets that you apply torment to? Lots of burning
3) Path of Corruption. Sand shroud #2 converts 2 condi on allies to boons around you, and around your shades (same target cannot be affected twice by this). 5 ssec cooldown. Path of Corruption synergy with this could basically be a huggee. Your shades cover basically the whole battle and this could corrupt 2 boons in a very large area… every 5 secs O_O …. Yes please.
4) Vital Persistence – Maybe shroud skills cost less to cast? Reduced cooldown? Oh my… the synergy with the above traits.
5) Death’s Perception – do your shroud skills naturally have 50% crit chance, including your shades?

Honourable mentions: Weakening Shroud, Rending Shroud, Spiteful Spirit, Shrouded Removal, Beyond the Veil (protection when leaving shroud, minor trait in Death Magic), Unholy Sanctuary, Life From Death (heal allies and revive them a lil bit when exiting shroud), Unholy Martyr, Unyielding Blast, Foot in the Grave. And ofc there’s a few minors here and there…

All of the above traits have the potential to somehow interact with the new shroud. We will just have to wait and see how.

Last thing! I think I saw the Necro teleport in one of the videos… and this may be a Utility skill which we haven’t yet seen (hopefully). So Scourge will potentially have a teleport. Wurm, new teleport = nice mobility. Add in Spectral Walk and the jukes are real

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Posted by: EremiteAngel.9765

EremiteAngel.9765

The 8 sec CD on the sand barrier is a little worrying though from a PvP perspective.
Meaning even if your shroud is full, you can’t utilise the entire bar to tank anymore.
Will this be enough to survive focus fire?

The spectral armor to shroud combo prob won’t work in this case as it refills shroud but not your barrier. Barrier is still gated behind a 8 Sec CD and only for a Low 2.5k Hp.

Granted the aoe barrier to allies is nice and can be given by shades too meaning we could be a Long range support caster similar in play style to the current kiting core necro

Scourge Demo Weekend Roaming Video:
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Posted by: MethaneGas.8357

MethaneGas.8357

True, you won’t be able to use the whole shroud to tank anymore, and you can’t use Spectral Armour to help with this, or Locust Swarm.

But, you get Barrier from skill #3 (2.5k) and skill #5 (4.5k). There’s also a trait that makes you gain 2k Barrier if you summon a shade near you. We also don’t know what Barrier will scale off of (healing power? or nothing). Also… Transfusion could possibly heal us now as well (but that means taking Blood Magic… >_> ).

And Parasitic Contagion could work well with Scourge as well, possibly. We also didn’t see all utilities – I’m assuming one of them is a tele.
https://youtu.be/vV4dyXVjQIQ?t=23s

If you notice the effect the Necro has after casting this skill, it seems like the Barrier effect, so it’s likely teleport + Barrier.

Necro, Ele, Mesmer, Guardian and Warrior, DR[OHai]
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Posted by: Rym.1469

Rym.1469

When I heard about the mechanic I expected one of the Grandmasters to allow Scourge to open up some functionality some heroes are known for in MOBA games – particulary clone heroes. That being the ability to teleport to/swap places with one of your clones/Shades.

That extra layer of possible enemy bamboozlement could come in handy in PvP and give another layer of skill to creating and placing those shades.

As for the spec itself, my biggest complaint so far is the Elite. It seems to synergize well with one of the grandmasters – however it’s a rather boring skill for an Elite. Pulsing AoE conditions is nothing innovative, especially after the recent changes to Plague. After seeing what Scourge has to offer, I’d gladly welcome the original Plague, not going to lie.

In general it’s cool, but the Elite skill could be re-made into something more interesting I feel.

Pretty good analysis Methane. This spec might be a bit tricky to evaluate due to all the Shroud removal and third part of our traits being related to Shroud. I expect the balance pass to come before the Open Beta for elite specs starts on 18th, so it may adress these issues.

[rude]Antagonistka – Revenant, EU.
[SALT]Natchniony – Necromancer, EU.
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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

It’s almost like a Mesmer Shatter like mechanic. Expect your illusions don’t keep disappearing.

For me the big balance question is if the ‘super shade’ summoned by Sand Savant counts as three Shades for the purposes of F1 skills. It says it counts as 3 for related traits but I don’t know if that applies to other things.

The reason I ask this is because you can’t keep the 3 regular shades up perma. you can drop 3 at the start of a fight but you only get a charge back every 15 seconds and each shade lasts 25 seconds. So after the initial 3 you are down to 1.66 thereafter.

The Super Shade can be kept up perma (25 sec duration 10 sec charge CD). It would make sense to count as three in all situations because the single shade obviously can’t cover as many areas and is less flexible. Plus you give up the +33% Torment damage trait.

Assuming it does you would drop 8 stacks of Torment (6 from super Shade and 2 from yourself) plus 3 stacks of Burning (from Dhumfire) AoE every 4.25 seconds (you are taking Soul Reaping right?). Same would apply to F2-5. Potentially spiking 32 stacks of Torment and 12 stacks of Burning. F5 would be another 14 stacks of Torment.

Add to this the regular BiP and CPC usage plus weapon skills. Pretty solid.

The issue will be LF generation. It didn’t matter with Reaper since you only went Shroud when you were going to spin-to-win.

Its possible something like a Scepter/Torch and Dagger/Dagger setup might be best. You camp Scepter/Torch till your BiP and CPC CDs are up. You pop both of them, weapon swap to D/D, send your conditions over and spam AA to get your LF up (8% LF per chain, 2 sec per chain) and swap back when you can.
Another possibility is staff as the swap with traited Marks. You swap cast all 4 marks (12% LF gain and transfer conditions) then AA (4% per AA,1.3 sec per AA) then swap back when you can.
I prefer the staff because the AA generates uber LF if multiple targets are hit plus some of the marks have decent conditions.

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Posted by: Barucyl.5493

Barucyl.5493

Assuming it does you would drop 8 stacks of Torment (6 from super Shade and 2 from yourself) plus 3 stacks of Burning (from Dhumfire) AoE every 4.25 seconds (you are taking Soul Reaping right?). Same would apply to F2-5. Potentially spiking 32 stacks of Torment and 12 stacks of Burning. F5 would be another 14 stacks of Torment.

Slight correction here, all the shade skill can only affect target once per cast (or per second in F5 case), even if you overlap with your shade. So you won’t be able to get 8 stack of torment, just 6 stacks if GM trait really count super shade as 3 shade cast (I do hope so).

Good thing about super shade is that it has 10 target count, which makes it perfect in raid. It covers the whole team in one go, and makes stacking boons even faster.

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Posted by: Lordrosicky.5813

Lordrosicky.5813

Hello fellow Necros!

So…. today we have had a glimpse at Scourge. In short… it has no shroud, but it does have 5 F-skills, and the essential one if F1 which summons… ghosts called “shades” that combo off-of the other shroud skills. These skills are basically new shroud skills that you can use all the time by expending the life-force you generate.

I also love the dynamic Scourge adds to Necro – your shroud skills are affecting areas around you, but your shades as well… so essentially it makes Necros very versatile. You can kite your enemies and set up your shades in the enemy’s path, then use a shroud skill to affect the enemy without even having to face them… as they’re chasing. You can also target enemies which are in 900 range from you, and gives you realllyyy good area control because no one’s gonna wanna be around your shades. Barrier also seems like a very cool way to make up for lack of shroud, and also add a really nice and unique layer of support too. Anyway, I think this spec has a LOT of potential and #stoked

Personally though, I’m really interested in seeing how these traits below will work with the new shroud and how these synergies will play out. For example:

1) Transfusion – Shroud #4 heals allies around you. You don’t get heals because you’re in shroud… but… with sand shroud you’re always in normal form. So I’m guessing this skill will work off-of skill #5. Summon a field that lasts lasts 6s, pulses 7 times and does damage around you and shades (20 sec cooldown). I’m guessing this is where the healing will happen and you will be able to get these heals from transfusion. It pulses 7 times over 6 secs, so not a burst heal, but a nice heal nevertheless for you as a Necro :P …every 14 secs basically.. because it lasts 6 secs. Hopefully this will be the way it works.
2) Dhuumfire – shroud #1 burns enemies. So will this give your shades the ability to burn on their auto attacks? Or will this just cause AoE burns in the area where you summon shades? Either way, it’s an interesting combo for potential Burn Necro: torch and trait which burns targets that you apply torment to? Lots of burning
3) Path of Corruption. Sand shroud #2 converts 2 condi on allies to boons around you, and around your shades (same target cannot be affected twice by this). 5 ssec cooldown. Path of Corruption synergy with this could basically be a huggee. Your shades cover basically the whole battle and this could corrupt 2 boons in a very large area… every 5 secs O_O …. Yes please.
4) Vital Persistence – Maybe shroud skills cost less to cast? Reduced cooldown? Oh my… the synergy with the above traits.
5) Death’s Perception – do your shroud skills naturally have 50% crit chance, including your shades?

Honourable mentions: Weakening Shroud, Rending Shroud, Spiteful Spirit, Shrouded Removal, Beyond the Veil (protection when leaving shroud, minor trait in Death Magic), Unholy Sanctuary, Life From Death (heal allies and revive them a lil bit when exiting shroud), Unholy Martyr, Unyielding Blast, Foot in the Grave. And ofc there’s a few minors here and there…

All of the above traits have the potential to somehow interact with the new shroud. We will just have to wait and see how.

Last thing! I think I saw the Necro teleport in one of the videos… and this may be a Utility skill which we haven’t yet seen (hopefully). So Scourge will potentially have a teleport. Wurm, new teleport = nice mobility. Add in Spectral Walk and the jukes are real

More than likely they will nerf transfusion and the result will be it is kitten for all necro specs. In fact any of these traits that are too strong with scourge will just get the nerf bat without consideration for necro and repear. This is how anet does things. There is zero chance they were smart enough to design balanced concepts

Character: Henry rank million/Duke Henry
Necromancer/Casual Warrior
[Team] Best WvW guild of all time. EASILY.

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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

Assuming it does you would drop 8 stacks of Torment (6 from super Shade and 2 from yourself) plus 3 stacks of Burning (from Dhumfire) AoE every 4.25 seconds (you are taking Soul Reaping right?). Same would apply to F2-5. Potentially spiking 32 stacks of Torment and 12 stacks of Burning. F5 would be another 14 stacks of Torment.

Slight correction here, all the shade skill can only affect target once per cast (or per second in F5 case), even if you overlap with your shade. So you won’t be able to get 8 stack of torment, just 6 stacks if GM trait really count super shade as 3 shade cast (I do hope so).

Good thing about super shade is that it has 10 target count, which makes it perfect in raid. It covers the whole team in one go, and makes stacking boons even faster.

Actually not all the shroud abilities have that non stacking disclaimer. Basically non stacking only seems to apply to hard CC (Fear) and Barrier (so F3, F4, F5). The Shades attacking shouldn’t have such a limit. Quad stacking 10k barriers or 4 second Fear would be kinda nuts. Stacking some extra Torments and Burning? I would say thats fine.

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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

Hello fellow Necros!

So…. today we have had a glimpse at Scourge. In short… it has no shroud, but it does have 5 F-skills, and the essential one if F1 which summons… ghosts called “shades” that combo off-of the other shroud skills. These skills are basically new shroud skills that you can use all the time by expending the life-force you generate.

I also love the dynamic Scourge adds to Necro – your shroud skills are affecting areas around you, but your shades as well… so essentially it makes Necros very versatile. You can kite your enemies and set up your shades in the enemy’s path, then use a shroud skill to affect the enemy without even having to face them… as they’re chasing. You can also target enemies which are in 900 range from you, and gives you realllyyy good area control because no one’s gonna wanna be around your shades. Barrier also seems like a very cool way to make up for lack of shroud, and also add a really nice and unique layer of support too. Anyway, I think this spec has a LOT of potential and #stoked

Personally though, I’m really interested in seeing how these traits below will work with the new shroud and how these synergies will play out. For example:

1) Transfusion – Shroud #4 heals allies around you. You don’t get heals because you’re in shroud… but… with sand shroud you’re always in normal form. So I’m guessing this skill will work off-of skill #5. Summon a field that lasts lasts 6s, pulses 7 times and does damage around you and shades (20 sec cooldown). I’m guessing this is where the healing will happen and you will be able to get these heals from transfusion. It pulses 7 times over 6 secs, so not a burst heal, but a nice heal nevertheless for you as a Necro :P …every 14 secs basically.. because it lasts 6 secs. Hopefully this will be the way it works.
2) Dhuumfire – shroud #1 burns enemies. So will this give your shades the ability to burn on their auto attacks? Or will this just cause AoE burns in the area where you summon shades? Either way, it’s an interesting combo for potential Burn Necro: torch and trait which burns targets that you apply torment to? Lots of burning
3) Path of Corruption. Sand shroud #2 converts 2 condi on allies to boons around you, and around your shades (same target cannot be affected twice by this). 5 ssec cooldown. Path of Corruption synergy with this could basically be a huggee. Your shades cover basically the whole battle and this could corrupt 2 boons in a very large area… every 5 secs O_O …. Yes please.
4) Vital Persistence – Maybe shroud skills cost less to cast? Reduced cooldown? Oh my… the synergy with the above traits.
5) Death’s Perception – do your shroud skills naturally have 50% crit chance, including your shades?

Honourable mentions: Weakening Shroud, Rending Shroud, Spiteful Spirit, Shrouded Removal, Beyond the Veil (protection when leaving shroud, minor trait in Death Magic), Unholy Sanctuary, Life From Death (heal allies and revive them a lil bit when exiting shroud), Unholy Martyr, Unyielding Blast, Foot in the Grave. And ofc there’s a few minors here and there…

All of the above traits have the potential to somehow interact with the new shroud. We will just have to wait and see how.

Last thing! I think I saw the Necro teleport in one of the videos… and this may be a Utility skill which we haven’t yet seen (hopefully). So Scourge will potentially have a teleport. Wurm, new teleport = nice mobility. Add in Spectral Walk and the jukes are real

More than likely they will nerf transfusion and the result will be it is kitten for all necro specs. In fact any of these traits that are too strong with scourge will just get the nerf bat without consideration for necro and repear. This is how anet does things. There is zero chance they were smart enough to design balanced concepts

The problem with Transfusion is that you have to take Blood Magic. Considering how well Soul Reaping syncs with Scourge there has to be something that can tempt you in Blood Magic.

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Posted by: Barucyl.5493

Barucyl.5493

Assuming it does you would drop 8 stacks of Torment (6 from super Shade and 2 from yourself) plus 3 stacks of Burning (from Dhumfire) AoE every 4.25 seconds (you are taking Soul Reaping right?). Same would apply to F2-5. Potentially spiking 32 stacks of Torment and 12 stacks of Burning. F5 would be another 14 stacks of Torment.

Slight correction here, all the shade skill can only affect target once per cast (or per second in F5 case), even if you overlap with your shade. So you won’t be able to get 8 stack of torment, just 6 stacks if GM trait really count super shade as 3 shade cast (I do hope so).

Good thing about super shade is that it has 10 target count, which makes it perfect in raid. It covers the whole team in one go, and makes stacking boons even faster.

Actually not all the shroud abilities have that non stacking disclaimer. Basically non stacking only seems to apply to hard CC (Fear) and Barrier (so F3, F4, F5). The Shades attacking shouldn’t have such a limit. Quad stacking 10k barriers or 4 second Fear would be kinda nuts. Stacking some extra Torments and Burning? I would say thats fine.

I guess you’re right, it’s not stated in F1, looks like it can get quite interesting how these traits interact.

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Posted by: Ravezaar.4951

Ravezaar.4951

Wasnt there a big barrier on our New heal skill aswell ? think I saw a 4k+ Heal and a 4k+ barrier

Underjordens Furste 80 Necro Piken-server
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Posted by: Sigmoid.7082

Sigmoid.7082

Wasnt there a big barrier on our New heal skill aswell ? think I saw a 4k+ Heal and a 4k+ barrier

Yep it’s there.
4k on heal
2.6k on f2
4.5k on f5
2k on F1 of teaited when summoning.
Some more from one of the other utilities.

Only wondering if your super shade counts as 3 for summon traits so grants 3x the barrier.

Also if F1 has no target cap then you can do about 2.0 coeffa of damage every few seconds. Pretty strong damage. Grevious stats has power and conditions main and precision and ferocity secondary. Should be good for this stuff.

(edited by Sigmoid.7082)

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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

Wasnt there a big barrier on our New heal skill aswell ? think I saw a 4k+ Heal and a 4k+ barrier

Yep it’s there.
4k on heal
2.6k on f2
4.5k on f5
2k on F1 of teaited when summoning.
Some more from one of the other utilities.

Only wondering if your super shade counts as 3 for summon traits so grants 3x the barrier.

Also if F1 has no target cap then you can do about 2.0 coeffa of damage every few seconds. Pretty strong damage. Grevious stats has power and conditions main and precision and ferocity secondary. Should be good for this stuff.

I would suspect the super counts as 3 shades for that trait. Since it specifies traits.

I can’t see how Viper isn’t BiS. Bleed, Poison, Torment and Burning. Condi duration is so critical for this build.

Due to the Adept Talent giving condi->expertise (which you will use cause Torch is awesome for condi) you will probably either switch a few pieces for Sinister or swapping Malice for Bursting. A quick play around with build editors seems to put the full Viper, Scourge expertise trait, food and crystal at 99-100% condi duration. So it seems you can replace Malice for Bursting no problem.

For those wondering Torch abilities (off aurorapeach video) is:

#4
Harrowing Wave
3 × 3 sec Burning
3 × 3 sec Torment
16 sec CD (12.8 traited)

#5
Oppressive Collapse
3 × 6 sec Torment
Knockdown
20 sec CD (16 sec traited)

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Posted by: Kam.4092

Kam.4092

Wasnt there a big barrier on our New heal skill aswell ? think I saw a 4k+ Heal and a 4k+ barrier

Yep it’s there.
4k on heal
2.6k on f2
4.5k on f5
2k on F1 of teaited when summoning.
Some more from one of the other utilities.

Only wondering if your super shade counts as 3 for summon traits so grants 3x the barrier.

Also if F1 has no target cap then you can do about 2.0 coeffa of damage every few seconds. Pretty strong damage. Grevious stats has power and conditions main and precision and ferocity secondary. Should be good for this stuff.

I would suspect the super counts as 3 shades for that trait. Since it specifies traits.

I can’t see how Viper isn’t BiS. Bleed, Poison, Torment and Burning. Condi duration is so critical for this build.

Due to the Adept Talent giving condi->expertise (which you will use cause Torch is awesome for condi) you will probably either switch a few pieces for Sinister or swapping Malice for Bursting. A quick play around with build editors seems to put the full Viper, Scourge expertise trait, food and crystal at 99-100% condi duration. So it seems you can replace Malice for Bursting no problem.

For those wondering Torch abilities (off aurorapeach video) is:

#4
Harrowing Wave
3 × 3 sec Burning
3 × 3 sec Torment
16 sec CD (12.8 traited)

#5
Oppressive Collapse
3 × 6 sec Torment
Knockdown
20 sec CD (16 sec traited)

It’s nice that Torch 5 has Knockdown for a Powerful Breakbar attack. I also like that both skills add Conditions, and the Cooldowns aren’t too bad either. Did you happen to see the Range on the Torch skills?

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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

Wasnt there a big barrier on our New heal skill aswell ? think I saw a 4k+ Heal and a 4k+ barrier

Yep it’s there.
4k on heal
2.6k on f2
4.5k on f5
2k on F1 of teaited when summoning.
Some more from one of the other utilities.

Only wondering if your super shade counts as 3 for summon traits so grants 3x the barrier.

Also if F1 has no target cap then you can do about 2.0 coeffa of damage every few seconds. Pretty strong damage. Grevious stats has power and conditions main and precision and ferocity secondary. Should be good for this stuff.

I would suspect the super counts as 3 shades for that trait. Since it specifies traits.

I can’t see how Viper isn’t BiS. Bleed, Poison, Torment and Burning. Condi duration is so critical for this build.

Due to the Adept Talent giving condi->expertise (which you will use cause Torch is awesome for condi) you will probably either switch a few pieces for Sinister or swapping Malice for Bursting. A quick play around with build editors seems to put the full Viper, Scourge expertise trait, food and crystal at 99-100% condi duration. So it seems you can replace Malice for Bursting no problem.

For those wondering Torch abilities (off aurorapeach video) is:

#4
Harrowing Wave
3 × 3 sec Burning
3 × 3 sec Torment
16 sec CD (12.8 traited)

#5
Oppressive Collapse
3 × 6 sec Torment
Knockdown
20 sec CD (16 sec traited)

It’s nice that Torch 5 has Knockdown for a Powerful Breakbar attack. I also like that both skills add Conditions, and the Cooldowns aren’t too bad either. Did you happen to see the Range on the Torch skills?

101.50 onwards after Feast of Corruption (why do people keep thinking this is a new weapon skill?)

I think she cast #5 first but its so fast I don’t know if its a PBAoE or target-able. #4 is a wave you send out.

Current knowledge for those curious:

https://i.redd.it/uwg4kdtj7cdz.jpg

WoodenPotatos also tweated that Barriers scale off healing power.

(edited by Maxzero.4032)

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Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Current knowledge for those curious:

https://i.redd.it/uwg4kdtj7cdz.jpg

WoodenPotatos also tweated that Barriers scale off healing power.

According to this, Furious Demise works on Sand Shroud and not the other Shade skills. If that’s true of all “on shroud entry” traits, then that is a huge nerf. 20 second cooldown? Blech!

Dragonbrand |Drarnor Kunoram: Charr Necro
http://www.twitch.tv/reverse830
I’m a Geeleiver

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Posted by: MethaneGas.8357

MethaneGas.8357

Pretty good analysis Methane. This spec might be a bit tricky to evaluate due to all the Shroud removal and third part of our traits being related to Shroud. I expect the balance pass to come before the Open Beta for elite specs starts on 18th, so it may adress these issues.

I agree that the worst thing about Scourge is its Elite… which is kinda like a different version of Plague. I did see one thing that I found the most interesting – you actually DO enter shroud with ability #5. 20 sec cooldown – Enter Desert Shroud, gaining barrier, etc. So I’m 99% sure that this ability will trigger on-shroud traits, like Drarnor said. So potentially, with Foot in the Grave, this could be a free stun-break and stability since it has no cast time.. and could set us up to use our heal skill without interruption.
But yeah… 20 seconds is pretty nasty. Howeva’ with Vital Persistence, this goes down to 16 seconds, which is not too bad and not TOO far off to what we have now… considering that Necros don’t go into shroud exactly every 10 seconds anyway (you enter shroud, stay in there for 5-10 secs, exit shroud, wait 10 secs, enter shroud again)… so technically, 16 sec cooldown on the new shroud, or even 20 secs aren’t THAT far off to how frequently we enter into it now.

Also, Speed of Shadows reduces shroud cooldown by 30%, so this could reduce this cooldown even more, possibly. IF both traits work like this (which they should, since sand shroud #5 is technically a shroud), then this could bring down the cooldown to something like 11 or 12 seconds – basically same as our normal shroud. On top of that we’d get the AoE pulsing field around us for 6 secs, barrier… etc. so we’re gonna be super annoying for melee attackers. And Foot in the Grave would become a nice low cooldown stunbreak. * fingers crossed *

We will also get some kind of portal that apparently lasts 20 seconds which could actually be pretty nice (it also corrupts boons haha).

ALSO: The trait where we get boons we corrupt – if we corrupt stability, we get 2 stacks of stability for 5 seconds… so we will have an indirect way of having stability.

Necro, Ele, Mesmer, Guardian and Warrior, DR[OHai]
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Posted by: MethaneGas.8357

MethaneGas.8357

Got it figured out!!! ALL on-shroud skills will trigger off of Desert Shroud skill (our #5 shroud skill). This skill puts you into a shroud (basically an aura that you have, you get Barrier and you pulse out condis and it lasts 6 secs). ALL on-shroud traits will trigger on this skill, and all of the traits that buff you while you’re in shroud (Deathly Perception, Shrouded Removal, Unholy Sanctuary, Unholy Matryr) will now work while you’re in this new Shroud form for 6 secs.

Example with Deathly Perception – when you press F5, you’ll be in Sand Shroud for 6 secs. For these 6 secs, you’ll have 50% crit chance. Keep in mind you can still use your weapon skills, utilities…. etc. Does this open up a interesting possibilities for power Necros now?

Example with Unholy Sanctuary – when you press F5, you’ll get the heals for 6 secs. When you’re hit and are about to die, instead of the game putting you into Deathshroud or Reapershroud, you’ll be put into Sand Shroud – you’ll get the barrier and all that AoE.

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Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

I don’t think it opens up many new possibilities, really. Guaranteed full crit channel on Axe 2, I guess, which wouldn’t be bad burst.

For all of the other “in shroud” traits, though, this is a massive nerf. Plus, Vital Persistence is only a 15% reduction, so it’s a 17 second cooldown if it works that way.

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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

I don’t think it opens up many new possibilities, really. Guaranteed full crit channel on Axe 2, I guess, which wouldn’t be bad burst.

For all of the other “in shroud” traits, though, this is a massive nerf. Plus, Vital Persistence is only a 15% reduction, so it’s a 17 second cooldown if it works that way.

Speed Shroud can also give you an extra 30% reduction for 45% total or 11 sec CD.

Also heard about some of the minor traits. The adept minor is just access to Scourge. The grandmaster is 5% damage reduction per shade out. The major is still unknown.

(edited by Maxzero.4032)

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Posted by: Drarnor Kunoram.5180

Drarnor Kunoram.5180

I don’t think it opens up many new possibilities, really. Guaranteed full crit channel on Axe 2, I guess, which wouldn’t be bad burst.

For all of the other “in shroud” traits, though, this is a massive nerf. Plus, Vital Persistence is only a 15% reduction, so it’s a 17 second cooldown if it works that way.

Speed Shroud can also give you an extra 30% reduction fir 45% total or 11 sec CD.

Also heard about some of the minor traits. The adept minor is just access to Scourge. The grandmaster is 5% danage reduction per shade out. The major is still unknown.

Maybe. We don’t know exactly how Speed of Shadows and Vital Persistence will work with Shade skills.

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Posted by: Maxzero.4032

Maxzero.4032

I don’t think it opens up many new possibilities, really. Guaranteed full crit channel on Axe 2, I guess, which wouldn’t be bad burst.

For all of the other “in shroud” traits, though, this is a massive nerf. Plus, Vital Persistence is only a 15% reduction, so it’s a 17 second cooldown if it works that way.

Speed Shroud can also give you an extra 30% reduction fir 45% total or 11 sec CD.

Also heard about some of the minor traits. The adept minor is just access to Scourge. The grandmaster is 5% danage reduction per shade out. The major is still unknown.

Maybe. We don’t know exactly how Speed of Shadows and Vital Persistence will work with Shade skills.

While there will be changes I think, at least for these two traits, its fairly straight forward in this aspect.

My interest will be on two things:

Does Vital persistance affect LF costs for Scourge (since there is no LF decay).

Does Sand Savant Shade count as 3 Shades for F1 purposes like it does for trait purposes.

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Posted by: Rym.1469

Rym.1469

There are more traits on current Necro that conflict with Scourge than don’t, so I believe all of this will be adressed in the upcoming balance pass.

I was wondering why didn’t ArenaNet opt to make Shade skills a kit you would swap to. That would make it closer to Shroud and potentially solve some trait issues stated above. We would have 4 skills in the kit, while the first skill could be some sort of low-cooldown skillshot, lowering cooldown of Manifest Shade.

I still have a silent hope that we will get some Shade – Scourge positioning traits (e.g. “After using an utility skill, active Shades send a renewing wave to your location that Regenerates allies and Cripples enemies”) and/or teleporting to /swapping positions with active Shades a la Meepo from DOTA2/HotS Samuro/GW1 Ritualist. The new mechanic is cool, but I think that not putting such traits in the game doesn’t explore the full potential behind the Scourge.

The “mobility” theme we heard of is strangely…not here. We have the portal-lite utility and the thorn-walk, but is that it? I hoped that aspect wouldn’t be just on utility skills we might not even use, but possibly on traits or baseline.

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Posted by: Brujeria.7536

Brujeria.7536

I don’t think it opens up many new possibilities, really. Guaranteed full crit channel on Axe 2, I guess, which wouldn’t be bad burst.

For all of the other “in shroud” traits, though, this is a massive nerf. Plus, Vital Persistence is only a 15% reduction, so it’s a 17 second cooldown if it works that way.

Speed Shroud can also give you an extra 30% reduction for 45% total or 11 sec CD.

Also heard about some of the minor traits. The adept minor is just access to Scourge. The grandmaster is 5% damage reduction per shade out. The major is still unknown.

I highly doubt that. The #5 skill is the only skill that makes sense for transfusion, they wont give us transfusion on a 11 second cooldown if the same skill gives a big barrier, especially when both of these effects scale with healing power. that just wont happen. Well, maybe they change transfusion in the upcoming balance patch? We will see.

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Posted by: Sigmoid.7082

Sigmoid.7082

The “mobility” theme we heard of is strangely…not here. We have the portal-lite utility and the thorn-walk, but is that it? I hoped that aspect wouldn’t be just on utility skills we might not even use, but possibly on traits or baseline.

With the portal I wish we could see the range tooltip and potentially how many hanged it has for people to move through it. But it does last 20s and it is a teleport so you can Z-axis with it.

One way it could be used is to prevent barrier for decaying to far. Barrier seems to tart decaying after 2s and is gone 6s after that. You could hop every few seconds to prevent the decay and gain even more barrier.

It can be traited to grant your next shade burning and remove condition because it grants barrier. Looks like a very very useful skill and far more mobility than we had before. I know everyone will try a build with this, flesh wurm and spectral walk to do some odd jukes.

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Posted by: Rym.1469

Rym.1469

Actually, wait a second.

I re-watched the official Scourge introduction material and noticed something that might suggest teleporting to Shade locations, if it’s not the new Portal.

https://youtu.be/vV4dyXVjQIQ?t=24s

Here, go frame by frame. Clearly teleporting behind the mob to the second Shade location. Can’t say if it’s the new utility or not, since I don’t recognize animations yet.

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Posted by: Ravezaar.4951

Ravezaar.4951

Actually, wait a second.

I re-watched the official Scourge introduction material and noticed something that might suggest teleporting to Shade locations, if it’s not the new Portal.

https://youtu.be/vV4dyXVjQIQ?t=24s

Here, go frame by frame. Clearly teleporting behind the mob to the second Shade location. Can’t say if it’s the new utility or not, since I don’t recognize animations yet.

Well if thats the case, if u have 3 Shades up wich one do u port to ? thats where it dosent make sense to me.

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Posted by: Sigmoid.7082

Sigmoid.7082

Actually, wait a second.

I re-watched the official Scourge introduction material and noticed something that might suggest teleporting to Shade locations, if it’s not the new Portal.

https://youtu.be/vV4dyXVjQIQ?t=24s

Here, go frame by frame. Clearly teleporting behind the mob to the second Shade location. Can’t say if it’s the new utility or not, since I don’t recognize animations yet.

Thats sand swell the teleport skill. It doesn’t involve moving to shades or anything it just teleports you to target location and creates a portal between the two that when used grants barrier.