Guild Wars 2

Greetings fellow necromancers. I had an idea to lay out our traits the other night and then assign them grades according to their usefulness. Some of our traits are basically givens or necessary for most builds; some are specific to certain builds; and some, well, some are… well, worthless. What I would like, is an honest, straightforward, realistic discussion about our traits. Obviously, I will give you my opinion, and you can tear it apart, shark style. I grade these scales taking into consideration their level (i.e. adept vs. grandmaster), their usefulness, and to some degree in comparrison with other classes. Ok, so without further ado, here are our traits for Soul Reaping, our signature trait line. Hmmm…..

Minor Traits:
Adept – Gluttony: Increases life force gain from skills by 10%. Ok, we battled to get this increased and after several math errors on account of ANET staff, this minor trait maybe does its job. The only time i notice trouble with gaining life force is when I run a condition build. If i run a terrormancer build, and go 20 into SR, I don’t notice it as much, likely on account of this little guy. I give it a solid B.

Master – Last Gasp: Gain Spectral Armor at 50% health (60-second cooldown). I like this trait, and sometimes go 15 into SR just to get this guy. The protection is kitten, but man I like the LF gain, because usually im getting throttled if this guy kicks in. Good trait, solid A. Better than taking the stupid utility skill, which I would give a D-. This trait = A. The utility skill = D-

Grandmaster – Strength of Undeath: You do 5% more damage if you have more than 50% life force. Ok, solid grandmaster trait, albeit a bit low. I give it a B. I can usually maintain 50% lifeforce quite easily in apower build. I’ll take it. Though I think it should be higher imo.

Major SR traits:
Adept – Fear of Death: Apply fear to foes when you are downed (90-second cooldown). Hmm, I rarely chose this because of the other traits and I usually don’t build around being downed. That said, in a terror build it could be usefull, though I like the cooldown on DS 3 much better than I like this. I Give it a C-.

Adept – Vital Persistence: Life force drains 25% slower while in death shroud. Hmmm, this is an ok skill, but to me demonstrates the weakness of deathshroud at times. Drains slower? who cares, usually it gets bursted anyways, and the extra second does nothing. I give it a C-. It is overshadowed by its sister traits.

Adept – Path of Midnight: All death shroud skills recharge 15% faster. Yep, usually the one I choose especially if I am shroud dancing. Grade = A.

Adept – Spectral Mastery: Spectral skills recharge 20% faster. I have never been a huge spectral fan, and have rarely relied on them in any situation. I give this a C+, and I am sure others will disagree. I just find other builds and utility skills useful. Open for discussion but C+ for me.

Adept – Speed of Shadows: Move 15% faster while in death shroud. OH CRAP HERE COMES THE BIG HIT. Switch to DS and run. that is what this skill is good for. I don’t use it, but I can see it being helpful. C grade. I don’t like it that much because it means im tucking my tail and running.

Adept – Unyielding Blast: Life Blast pierces and causes vulnerability. I find this usefull, and likely the only alternative to Path of Midnight. I give it a B+/A- and second to the aforementioned skill.

Master – Mark of Revival: Create a Reaper’s Mark while reviving someone. Can only trigger once every 45 seconds. No, 45 second cooldown on this kitten trait? no, D.

Master – Decaying Swarm: At 25% health, you become surrounded by a locust swarm. 25% health, i get surrounded by a locust swarm that keeps me in combat, by striking anyone near me, including mobs, thus rendering the swiftness null and void. Useless. It is doing nothing. D.

Master – Master of Terror: Fear you inflict lasts 50% longer. Outstanding trait. Solid A. Great for terror builds, or any build wanting that extra tic on terror. I like this trait and use it for power or condition terror builds. It warrants an A.

Master – Soul Marks: Marks generate 3% life force when triggered. Not bad for an alternative condition build or a staff build wanting to support going in and out of DS. I give it a B. I don’t select it a lot but in large scale wvw fights, I find this helpful and sometimes use it, especially if I go the full 30 points into SR.

Grandmaster - Foot in the Grave: Gain stability for 3 seconds when you enter death shroud. And here we are, the only reason to go 30 points into SR. OUr only real access to stability aside from plague and lich forms, but hey, im sure you minion mancers love those skills I digress, sorry. Anyways, stability, nice to have, but 30 points into a trait line only to get stability? When other classes get it earlier, or in utility skills? Come on Anet, why are you gimping us? I hate building an entire build around this one kitten skill. Oh, but lets give it a grade. As our only stability, I give it a B. However, considering I have to go 30 points to get it, i want to give it a C.

Grandmaster - Near to Death: Death Shroud recharges 50% faster. Ok, I am sorry, I have never chose this. IF im going 30 points in, its for our only stability. I can’t live 5 seconds more to go into a mediocre mechanic. Death shroud is interesting but not amazing, unless totally built for it, and if im building for it, it better have STABILITY! THus, near to death gets near to a C with a fabulous D+.

I like the SR line, mostly because it has +crit damage and a few good DS skills that balance a power build as well as a condition build. NOt a bad trait line, but it can frustrate me, especially concerning stability.

As with all of the effective grades these are my opinions on regarding the traits. Feel free to disagree. I choose my traits depending on builds, but I find that a lot of our traitrs are just placeholders and I never choose them. They are just filling text space.

Giving Near to Death a D+ is just grading it on your own personal idea about how good it is with your play style. Shroud dancing for perma fury or some of the other things we can trait DS to do on activation or deactivation is a lot better than you are giving it credit for.

Adept – Gluttony: C- , most of the time you can hardly notice the amount. Your best chance is BiP (11% from 10%) or when using spectral armor/walk which give a nice bonus as total.

Master – Last Gasp: Solid A. Because of it’s timing. At 50% is when you are going to need it, protection for the rest of the fight and your force pool filled if used right.

Grandmaster – Strength of Undeath: C++ , more than 50% should be a bit lower.

Adept – Fear of Death: C. Duration should be a bit higher.(all our fears in general +1/2s min.)

Adept – Vital Persistence: D. Who cares if it’s 4% or 3%? Make it 1% or take it out of my trait line for a 2s swiftness every half a min.

Adept – Path of Midnight: B+ . Good trait for shroud dancing and fear builds.

Adept – Spectral Mastery: B++. Good for spectral builds(there are some good ones). I always use it on my bunker to reduce the cooldown of SArmor.

Adept – Speed of Shadows: C+. You don’t really need the speed on DS, you have a teleport that chills the target and not so useful in getting aways, ’cause of no vigor or stability.
Adept – Unyielding Blast: B+ indeed, good trait.

Master – Mark of Revival: C+. Cooldown is too long and fear too short but it can save your ally once in a while.

Master – Decaying Swarm: C- 25% is a bit low, but it can help filling your LF Pool and giving you a critical swiftness. Combined well with SA and gluttony.

Master – Master of Terror: Until our fears become actual fears and not 1s rollback this trait gets a C- from me.

Master – Soul Marks: B+ just because you get fill your whole pool with just 2 marks on specific situations.

Grandmaster – Foot in the Grave: C- . Pretty much same as gluttony, you can hardly notice this trait AND it costs 30 points. 3 seconds? It is like casting 2 life blasts and a terror, no thanks.

Grandmaster – Near to Death: B++. This trait can do miracles for shroud dancing, and it WILL save you in certain situations more than Foot in the grave, only reason it doesn’t get A is because of the 30 points.

There are many more traits that I would like to give a slap in the face and quite a few that I would applaud ANet for.

Gryph.8237:

Master – Mark of Revival: Create a Reaper’s Mark while reviving someone. Can only trigger once every 45 seconds. No, 45 second cooldown on this kitten trait? no, D.

Master – Decaying Swarm: At 25% health, you become surrounded by a locust swarm. 25% health, i get surrounded by a locust swarm that keeps me in combat, by striking anyone near me, including mobs, thus rendering the swiftness null and void. Useless. It is doing nothing. D.

I don’t quite agree with these. I don’t choose Mark of Revival, because I’m not a fan of “On reviving” traits, but it’s obvious that what it’s for is nice. Combine this with Greater Marks and you have a nice zone to keep your ally safe from meddlers while you revive them. Not effective on stability stomps, but stops quickness and stealth stomps nicely. It’s a C or C+ at least.

Decaying Swarm – Your example is kind of confusing. How have you been dropped past 25% health, are still near mobs, and not already in combat?

The major idea of this trait is that if you get swarmed, you’re now generating life force pretty rapidly. Swiftness is still increased speed when you’re in combat, and can help you make a break for it after a quick cripple / chill on your opponent. B for me, since it’s meant for melee / close up roles and doesn’t fight with the other traits (For staff without other LF generators, terrormancers / control freaks, and combat medics) for that role.

Mark of revival is pretty awesome. It’s won me more fights than any other trait except maybe protection on wells. It’s situational, but in that situation, it’s amazing.