Guild Wars 2

I roamed for about half a day on Scourge alone in WvW.
Main aim was to engage random classes in 1 vs 1 impromptu encounters.

• On a side note, Scourge seems to go down a lot faster in WvW when outnumbered or focused compared to Reaper. If I get to work the Sand Swell into my build, perhaps it wouldn’t be that bad when outnumbered.

My thoughts for WvW solo roaming only:

Stats I tried

• Marauders was too squishy and doesn’t synergize well with Scourge traits, skills and torch
• Celestial was decent against classes that doesn’t have good access to constant regen. I tried a Axe/Dagger + Dagger/Torch build. Killed a couple of daredevils and deadeyes. Failed badly against spellbreakers. Not enough damage output to out-pressure their regen.
• Trailblazers was decent all round against most classes I fought. Standard Staff + Scepter/Torch. From deadeyes to spellbreakers to first gen elites like Chronos and Daredevils. I was really happy it was strong enough to also down decent D/P Staff Daredevils even in my clumsy button smashing stage.

• Deadeyes, despite their 1500 range, was not as terrible as initially feared. I could get in range most of the fights even on a Scourge that had zero gap closers (was fighting without Sand Swell that is currently disabled). Won a few and lost to a few, but with more practice, it is a winnable fight I feel. Really glad as they were the class that I feared most when the 2nd Gen elites were revealed.

• General Opening Rotation against most melee classes involved F1 cast Sand Shade on self, F3 for barrier > F2 if enemy comes in with boons or condi.
• General Opening Rotation against most range classes involved F3 for barrier > get in range > staff marks > F1 + F2 or F4 on enemy

• Scourge has very decent condi management. We are no longer reliant on transferring the condi which good enemies used to negate. We can clear it using F2 or traited barrier. I won against a few condi Chrono Phantasms with Scourge when I would struggle in the past with Reaper. Consume conditions is no longer a must.
• Scourge has very decent boon removal, especially against melee classes. Traited F2 is immense. 2 boon removal on 4 sec CD. Works against range foes too. You need to predict movement and position your shade well, then chain F1 + F2 to remove boon and do some burning.
• Scourge struggles more against Range classes but doesn’t feel un-winnable. Deadeyes, Druids etc., feels like we can give them a good fight with proper use and placement of the Sand Shades.
• More practice needed to manage the F1-F5 skills better as the traited low CD gives Scourge a lot more defensive/offensive options.

Skills, traits, weapons:

• Torch is decent, but I wish Torch 5 was castable without having to face the enemy. Opens up a lot more possibilities that way.
• Nourishing Rot trait gives very nice LF generation and keeps it healthy against most foes.
• I took Sand Flare (healing), Trail of Anguish (stun break), and will take Sand Swell (portal) as well.
• All on very decent CDs with traited Sadistic Searing and gives your F1 a decent burning boost too.
• The Elite skill Ghastly Breech is decent against melee foes, but terribly useless against range kiting foes. I’m unsure if I will use it as a Flesh Golem seems to be a better all-round option for a Scourge.
• I tried Sand Savant and Demonic Lore. I would side with Sand Savant for now as Scourge damage potential seems decent even without Demonic Lore. Sand Savant makes it a lot easier to burst catch foes in the AoE effects.
• I used the standard condi Soul Reaping 2-2-3 and Curses 2-2-1 line.

Overall thoughts

Scourge was actually a lot more fun to play than Reaper. It was definitely harder and requires more APM given that we now have a whole new set of F1-F5 that we can use to interact at all times with our other weapon skills and utilities. But definitely more flexible and interactive. I felt a lot more in control of the Scourge’s defenses and offenses. I really like it.

The lack of gap closer was not as bad as initially feared. Having an AoE 900 Range Shade that is able to do some condi damage and activate our F2-F5 skills goes some way in making up for that. It requires good prediction and placement of the Shades against range kiting foes though and needs practice. I do wish the radius was larger, and the casting range longer. Would make it a lot easier to catch a Range kiting foe in its area of effect. Looking foward to implementing the Sand Swell into my build, which would go a long way against these range foes.

The lack of stability was also not as bad as initially feared. The low CD on our F3 barrier and our ability to trade damage even when stunned (our F2-F5 skills can be casted even when stunned) makes up for it. I even took down a decent D/P Daredevil who was utilizing headshot a few times!

The lack of shroud wasn’t felt at all TBH. The low CD F3 barrier and all the interactive F2-F5 skills really shines. I love F2 the most. It is amazing. Traited 2 boon removal, 2 condi removal. Negates blind, immobilize etc. almost on demand with its short 4 sec CD, and activates your Sand Shade to strike its foe too with some nice traited burning.

I’m impressed and excited for the new out-of-shroud interactions with the F1-F5 skills for solo-roaming in WvW. It feels like I can make do without shroud after all.

I agree with more or less everything here, doing alot of duels and solo roaming myself. Still vs some range dps we are having a harder time with no real gap closers… tho was easier first evening when Sand Swell was working, porting straight on a Ranger or Deadeye gave alot in how that fight turned out.

Dont really miss Shroud either, and I like how now when u CANT rely on that “o-shiit” button its a more skill-based gameplay.

Id say I played mostly with Trailblazers, tested Shaman aswell (has the stats I want) but I want Condi Dmg to be “main” stat so hopeing for some new Gear-Stat here.

I tested a lot of semi pure attribute combinations in WvW.

Apothecary: You can survive for a decent time, unless heavy focused, the support is okay, the shade cast time really limits a lot of things, you have some problems coming to “aid” people quickly with no mobility, 900 range and that cast time, for the sake of transfusion. You have a very hard time against long ranged foes / rangers / deadeyes. Even deadeyes are supposed to be less mobile, you will never touch them, unless they make a mistake.

Celestial:
Ok overall. You feel the loss of toughness, even with apothecary gear you got hit for perma 3k deadeye hits, this makes it worse. The damage is better, and you can adapt to situations better. You wont survive if you are focused by 2 or more players, you can down people in such a situation, if they dont pay much attention, but you will die in the process.

Dire / Viper / Trailblazer condi mash ups:

Very strong burst damage if people dont know what to do in combination with terror. Against decent foes with condi remove your damage will suffer a lot. You usually dont survive a thief / deadeye or a warrior / spellbreaker. Holosmiths are easy, most likely because people havent figured out how to include condi cleans into their build. If you can do your thing without getting noticed you can burst really hard, much like a burn guard.

In the best case its still the old necro problem: hard focus = dead in no time. In the worst case the defensive value of the shade skills are worth very little, the condi clean is always good, but the barrier is a waste of lifeforce without healing power.

Overall i think the payoff for picking defensive stats / healing power doenst pay off, you wont survive hard focus anyway. Against soft focus you do somewhat alright. The damage is all very bursty. No real long condi application.

Great review, EremiteAngel! Thanks for your hard work.

Yours, too, Brujeria and Ravezaar.

Holosmiths are easy because most of them don’t understand that they can still use non-holosmith utilities. They will improve soon, once they realize Elixirs still exist.

i personaly prefer Full celestial

turned my scourge into a God on the battlefield… gives some insane sustain while barely nerfs your overall dmg…. 1st time i did not had to fear roaming thiefs…

againts warriors its a sustain war…

yea Spellbreaker imho is the Strongest of the New Elites, and if u not prepared the specced “counter” -skill can really hurt u, also there Balance stance with pulsating Resist together with there new Uber-Heal.

Range dps like Ranger,DH,Deadeye can shut us down hard… placement of Shades + future gap-closer in portal is crucial . Scourge is strong in melee tho, even without a “Shroud” as old, its imo by far strongest Necro variant in close quartes just due to the pressure we now have.

and to clarify not saying we should Melee old foes but a target that stays on Scourge to long is not gonna make it, with the exception of Spellbreaker.

Ravezaar.4951:

yea Spellbreaker imho is the Strongest of the New Elites, and if u not prepared the specced “counter” -skill can really hurt u, also there Balance stance with pulsating Resist together with there new Uber-Heal.

Range dps like Ranger,DH,Deadeye can shut us down hard… placement of Shades + future gap-closer in portal is crucial . Scourge is strong in melee tho, even without a “Shroud” as old, its imo by far strongest Necro variant in close quartes just due to the pressure we now have.

and to clarify not saying we should Melee old foes but a target that stays on Scourge to long is not gonna make it, with the exception of Spellbreaker.

Agree, its durable thief. very annoying

Reflecting more on the past demo weekend:

Scourge Offense

I would say that Scourge is very much similar to Burn guards and Burn engineers in that the burns can stack hard and fast and if you’re not wary, you can go down very quickly.

Just like Burn guards and Burn engineers, knowing how a Scourge stacks most of his burns goes a long way in defeating one.

The Scourge depends greatly on stacking burns mostly via the Shades and, less so, the radius around the Scourge himself (depends on F5, corrupting stab to fear and a couple punishment utilities). Foes can play to counter that and it would greatly limit the Scourge’s damage potential.

Just like how we know not to attack a Burn guard when he is blocking to prevent the burn stacks from overwhelming us, or that when we see an engineer with the incendiary icon, we should be dodging his subsequent burn attacks because he probably plans to stack burns on you + Moa.

Based on the above observation, I would say that the Scourge isn’t OP for 1 vs 1 roaming fights in WvW where there are no real points to fight on and many enemies and builds can kite Scourge hard. I think the ability to burn burst opponents is essential for a Scourge as it is extremely difficult to catch a kiting foe, and when you do, you only have that one chance to burn him down. A strong burn burst is needed or we would be just bags to range kiting foes. And even then, if the range kiting foe has decent condi clear, we would still struggle.

Scourge Defense

What struck me the most was the usefulness of F2 condi-cleanse + traited boon corrupt and F3 barrier.
I thought more about it and realized this was the exact build and playstyle I and many others used on Reaper back before the nerf to SoS when they took away our 30% shroud CD reduction.

• Remember the 7 Second Reaper Shroud cooldown? It allowed us to ‘flash’ shroud as a defensive option. This is now the same function as the 6 seconds F3 Scourge barrier.
• Remember the 6 Second Reaper Shroud 2 dash that corrupted boons traited? This is now the same function as the 4 seconds F2 Scourge skill. And I always dreamed of pairing shrouded removal with this Reaper Shroud flashing build. Now it is given to us on the Scourge. And much better.

Both similar cooldowns, even better on Scourge in fact.
This is the exact CD timing and play-style that most of us ‘Shroud Flashers’ loved.

No wonder I felt totally at home with the Scourge.