Guild Wars 2

In preperation for the preview weekend for elite specs, I’ve brewed up a possible Scourge build for PvP. In fairness, I have no beliefs it will do fantastically at anything but lower ranks.

The build is intended to contest points until a +1 is available. It should be able to survive any but the most heavy CC builds that wish to fight on point for quite some time.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQRBIhdGtJNiQtNYnNwYZooBxRsqzPIAKBA-TJxHQBhY/BAcSAkXZgA+EAAA

Missing pieces are obviously Scourge traitline, but also Sand Swell and Ghastly Breach.

Scourge traits chosen will be Abrasive Gift, Desert Empowerment, and Sand Savant.

So, what does this provide?

This should actually provide decent sustain in a build. Barriers are available frequently, letting the normally lackluster Signet of Vampirism passive actually heal you up in combat. Once you get the +1, the active can help you spike down your chosen target. Lacking Consume Conditions is not a problem due to low-cooldown cleanses (talking 4 and 8 seconds here, plus possibly another three when you manifest sand shade on its 10 (8?) second cooldown). Plague Signet is there for a low-cooldown stunbreak and method of dealing with condition bursts.

As for the Barrier strengths, this build should be doing the following (assuming chat code values are correct):
Note: Values are given in a range to account for Last Rites healing power increase as you get low on health.

Sand Cascade: 3156-3384. 8 second cooldown
Desert Shroud: 5882-6071. 16 second cooldown
Sand Swell: 2649-2874. 35 second cooldown, but probably multiple times per cast.

Manifest Sand Shade is one I’m less certain on, as we don’t yet know if the Greater Shade applies the normal strength Barrier from Desert Empowerment, a triple strength Barrier, or three normal strength barriers. There is an important distinction between the final two in how they interact with Abrasive Gift. We also don’t know how the Greater Sand Shade interacts (or doesn’t) with Vital Persistence. At minimum, you should be looking at about a 2k Barrier every 10 seconds and, if the best interactions are there, a 6k barrier every 8 seconds.

In addition, Desert Shroud with Transfusion should heal you for 4935-5561.

Another odd thing about this build is that it actually has on-demand Vigor! Using Dagger 3 into F2 provides you with 11.5 seconds of Vigor (assuming you have the Shade up). If your opponent inflicts a few bleeds of their own, you’re actually looking at perma-Vigor on a Necro. Fancy that!

Ghastly Breach is present to primarily act as a defensive skill, as the pulsing Slow ought to drastically cut incoming damage. It can also be used to go for the kill, should the opportunity present itself.

Dagger, of course, was chosen for its rapid life force gain. This is vital due to your reliance on the Shade skills for survivability. It also comes with another healing skill of its own on a short cooldown, letting you keep Signet of Vampirism on passive mode for longer.

Finally, one should not count out the fact that a Greater Sand Shade will entirely cover a point. Drop it on the center and every time you use any of your F skills (and you will be using them a lot,) that’s a damage strike, Cripple, and Torment. Also, it means you have an AoE Fear covering the entire point on a 12 second cooldown. Warhorn gives you an extra daze, but Garish Pillar is probably going to be your prime interrupt.

Runes and sigils are honestly a personal choice (though I like the extra defense Grove runes provide), and if desired, Quickening Thirst can be swapped for Ritual of Life if you want to take on a more supporting role. Offhand dagger can also be swapped for Focus for more single-target boon rip and more life force at a cost of blind and weakness (plus condition clearing).

I think this build should be able to handle most 1v1’s and potentially even stall a 2v1 that’s light on hard CC. It can also make a decent showing in teamfights if need be, since it does have some supportive ability.

I wonder if barrier decays by percentage or by fixed value. I think it will really affect when you apply barrier, and if you stack barrier at all.

I would think that when it decays, it’s by percentage, since all barriers seem to vanish in the same timeframe anyway. However, applying a new barrier should reset the decay timer.

Imagine torch and punishment skills in here

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAY3IMwFKYbGAtwsIK7+F-TxhAQBR7gAwtjAAEV/xmKBr2+DA4BAASlfAA-e

I can see potential. Not sure on the choice of Unholy Martyr, though.

We also don’t know how the Greater Sand Shade interacts (or doesn’t) with Vital Persistence.

[&BpKvAAA=].Base shade doesnt seem to be affected by VP so doubt it will be. Unless its a change they made for the release build.

Using Dagger 3 into F2 provides you with 11.5 seconds of Vigor (assuming you have the Shade up).

Probably wont need to cast a shade to do this since the effects happen around you as well. Think mesmer shatters.; everything happens around you and the shade. Though bear in mind F2 is a conversion not a removal, meaning it is completely random as to what gets converted. Any more than 2 conditions and there is no guarantee you will hit what you need.

If I were you, I’d drop down Sand savant for Feed from corruption, especially in sPvP. I believe that the boons that feed from corruption will provide you will overwhelm any benefit you could gain from sand savant.

I mean… That’s almost free access to aegis, protection and stability, which is huge for survivability.

I’m gonna cut right to the chase

You don’t have the LF generation tools to be an effective support in any capacity. You have Ghastly Claws and that’s it. You can’t rely on being able to enter melee without getting eaten with dagger&warhorn, and you can’t rely on being struck with double Spectral Armor. The second Spectral Armor is kinda ehhh because the entire idea is to use Barriers to never let your health actually get touched in the first place.

Dump Unyielding Blast and the daggers, take Staff and Soul Marks, take Blood Bond. Staff is boring, you’ve been playing with it for years, but you will have so much more access to your F-row skills it’ll be crazy. If you can’t slam your F-row skills you’ve got no pressure because no Dhuumfire and you’ve got no survivability because you’ve got no condi cleanse and no barrier and no hard CC other than Warhorn 4.

If you want to stick with Dagger, think very strongly about Spectral Grasp and Dessicate. These skills generate exceptional amounts of Life Force. Getting people into your Sand Savant range is going to be so important and Spectral Grasp does that. There’s always boons to strip on melee players and you can always use Cripple on them, and Dessicate does that.

Sigmoid.7082:

We also don’t know how the Greater Sand Shade interacts (or doesn’t) with Vital Persistence.

[&BpKvAAA=].Base shade doesnt seem to be affected by VP so doubt it will be. Unless its a change they made for the release build.

Using Dagger 3 into F2 provides you with 11.5 seconds of Vigor (assuming you have the Shade up).

Probably wont need to cast a shade to do this since the effects happen around you as well. Think mesmer shatters.; everything happens around you and the shade. Though bear in mind F2 is a conversion not a removal, meaning it is completely random as to what gets converted. Any more than 2 conditions and there is no guarantee you will hit what you need.

Two things:
1. Sand Savant dumps the ammo mechanic for a proper cool down, so Vital Persistence may work.
2. Having shades up increases your boon duration. Without a shade, it’s only 10 seconds of vigor.

@Sarrs: If you are contesting the point, dagger-warhorn outstrips staff life force by a ton and actually puts out damage. Wail of Doom is better CC than Reaper’s Mark even with traiting, having longer duration and a shorter cool down, plus being unaffected by Resistance and conditions cleanse. Sand Savant is also necessary for higher barrier uptime and covering the entire point. You don’t carry all that much boon removal in this build, so Feed from Corruption is probably not that great.

You can certainly do a variant with staff and more punishments, but you lose out on necessary stunbreaks and kill pressure. Also, the melee range of punishments really doesn’t synergize with staff well.

Two things:
1. Sand Savant dumps the ammo mechanic for a proper cool down, so Vital Persistence may work.

We have never seen the trait being used so we don’t know this. I’m going to assume it still has charges but you can only have one shade up but still 3 charges. Again it’s weird that the base version wouldn’t work with a trait but a trained version would.

Sigmoid.7082:

Two things:
1. Sand Savant dumps the ammo mechanic for a proper cool down, so Vital Persistence may work.

We have never seen the trait being used so we don’t know this. I’m going to assume it still has charges but you can only have one shade up but still 3 charges. Again it’s weird that the base version wouldn’t work with a trait but a trained version would.

Why would it have charges when you can only have one up anyway? Especially when the cool down is so short compared to duration? Plus, I think in WP’s video where we first saw it, greater shade had a proper cool down.

It could potentially be a bug that VP isn’t reducing the charge count. Anyone know if the traits for axe or physicals on Warriors affect the charges of those ammo skills? I haven’t tested.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

I can see potential. Not sure on the choice of Unholy Martyr, though.

I have concerns about UM, too, but I was not sure if Transfusion would be desirable.

On the runes, I dithered between burning and torment duration, too. I would really like to mix some sinister equipment in as well.

Thanks for the kind review

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Sigmoid.7082:

Two things:
1. Sand Savant dumps the ammo mechanic for a proper cool down, so Vital Persistence may work.

We have never seen the trait being used so we don’t know this. I’m going to assume it still has charges but you can only have one shade up but still 3 charges. Again it’s weird that the base version wouldn’t work with a trait but a trained version would.

Why would it have charges when you can only have one up anyway? Especially when the cool down is so short compared to duration? Plus, I think in WP’s video where we first saw it, greater shade had a proper cool down.

Watch WPs video around 01:50:00 and you can see when he slots sand savant manifest sand shade still has a count and therefore charges.

Why have charges? Benefit from casting it with traits probably.