Guild Wars 2

In the interests of strengthening support necro, I think an interesting idea would be to replace the too-buggy-to-use (and probably too-buggy-to-fix) trait Renewing Blast with a new trait tentatively called Dark Bond.

This trait would redirect all damage received by up to 4 allies to the necromancer while Death Shroud is active, but reduced by 75%. So you could effectively tank for other players by sacrificing your own Life Force.

This would give a much greater clutch feel to necromancer support while still offering plenty of counter play. I miss the feeling of throwing out a clutch Aegis on my guardian and I think this would help to bring that feeling to the necromancer.

Necromancer support isn’t bad because of traits, in fact we have really nice traiting for it, its bad because we have not one true support weapon. As long as we are stuck with that, support won’t be able to work.

Renewing Blast is not buggy at all. Why do people keep saying that? Is it difficult to use? Sure! But it works 100% of the time that it should.

Bhawb.7408:

its bad because we have not one true support weapon.

Restore ally cleansing to Putrid Mark!

manveruppd.7601:

Bhawb.7408:

its bad because we have not one true support weapon.

Restore ally cleansing to Putrid Mark!

Ally cleansing was removed?

process execution.8014:

In the interests of strengthening support necro, I think an interesting idea would be to replace the too-buggy-to-use (and probably too-buggy-to-fix) trait Renewing Blast with a new trait tentatively called Dark Bond.

This trait would redirect all damage received by up to 4 allies to the necromancer while Death Shroud is active, but reduced by 75%. So you could effectively tank for other players by sacrificing your own Life Force.

This would give a much greater clutch feel to necromancer support while still offering plenty of counter play. I miss the feeling of throwing out a clutch Aegis on my guardian and I think this would help to bring that feeling to the necromancer.

This is a great idea and I think the potential is there.

Dirame.8521:

Ally cleansing was removed?

Yes, a long long time ago.

I also spent WEEKS chucking it at my teammates’ feet thinking I was being helpful and cleansing them before I found out…

process execution.8014:

This trait would redirect all damage received by up to 4 allies to the necromancer while Death Shroud is active, but reduced by 75%. So you could effectively tank for other players by sacrificing your own Life Force.

LOVE this idea. But… I think having it up whenever in Death Shroud would not be so good. Perhaps just transfer damage from nearby allies for a few seconds upon entering Death Shroud, and cancelling the effect on exit.

manveruppd.7601:

Restore ally cleansing to Putrid Mark!

I didn’t know this was removed either why would they do that? At least let it remove 1-3 conditions from allies without transfer. :/

It was removed because Putrid Mark was a 1200 range full cleanse of up to 5 or 6 targets (don’t remember if it counted you as part of the target limit). It was absolutely too strong, it blew every other condition removal in the game out of the water by miles.

Bhawb.7408:

It was removed because Putrid Mark was a 1200 range full cleanse of up to 5 or 6 targets (don’t remember if it counted you as part of the target limit). It was absolutely too strong, it blew every other condition removal in the game out of the water by miles.

So why not just make it a partial cleanse and/or remove the transferring portion for conditions on allies (if it did transfer those)?

Even as the skill is right now, its one of the best self-removals in the game. Could they potentially have it as an ally transfer or removal? Sure, but it’d have to come at the cost of absolutely gutting its self-transfer/removal.

You say that, but at its current level it’s similar to Deathly Swarm, and nobody is calling that the SECOND best removal skill in the game. In fact they’re neck and neck: Deathly Swarm has a much lower cooldown, but Putrid Mark can also transfer blind. DS is definitely better if you’re immobilised though: the facing bug with marks means it’s hard to even cast them at your feet when you can’t turn.

Besides, one weapon skill in isolation is no way to balance things: Staff is a weapon with very kitten offence, which you bring along for support and utility, so it’s ok for its defensive skills to be better than equivalent skills on other weapon sets.

manveruppd.7601:

You say that, but at its current level it’s similar to Deathly Swarm, and nobody is calling that the SECOND best removal skill in the game. In fact they’re neck and neck: Deathly Swarm has a much lower cooldown, but Putrid Mark can also transfer blind. DS is definitely better if you’re immobilised though: the facing bug with marks means it’s hard to even cast them at your feet when you can’t turn.

I am pretty sure deathly swarm can transfer blind it was bug fixed long time ago…

I wouldnt say DS is better for immobilize. For example if you oppnent immobilizes you and goes behind you DS doesnt work due its facing requirment. Putrid mark however can be cast behind you (the full 1200range), though it may be a little hard due the kamera but binding the look behind you key helps.^^

I never said it should be nerfed. I never said it was OP. But that doesn’t mean its not one of the best removal skills in the entire game, because it is. It is a conditional full cleanse on a far lower CD than other full cleanses. And just because people underestimate Swarm doesn’t mean it isn’t, also, an extremely strong removal.

Keep in mind both Deathly Swarm and Putrid Mark can be total cleanses if they hit 4 times.

Muchacho.2390:

I am pretty sure deathly swarm can transfer blind it was bug fixed long time ago…

It consistently misses when I’m blinded, happened to me hundreds of times, including recently. A few times I hilariously got blinded while the swarm projectile was in flight, which I thought was impressive! :p If it’s supposed to transfer it then it must be bugged. I’m happy to jump into a hotjoin server and test it just to make sure though.

I wouldnt say DS is better for immobilize. For example if you oppnent immobilizes you and goes behind you DS doesnt work due its facing requirment. Putrid mark however can be cast behind you (the full 1200range), though it may be a little hard due the kamera but binding the look behind you key helps.^^

Ah, actually, if you cast DS while immobilised YOU ACTUALLY TURN TO FACE YOUR OPPONENT! Don’t know if it’s a feature or a bug (probably a bug), and I didn’t know either until someone posted a video of themselves doing it a few months ago, but it works. You can only do it if you’re not pressing any directional keys while casting though.

As for marks, it’s kinda weird: when you’re moving, yes, they don’t require facing and you can cast them behind you, like you said. But when you’re immobilised, for some reason you NEED facing. You can only cast them within your front 90 degree arc, and sometimes I have trouble casting them even at my feet because your front arc is so narrow there. The only reliable trick I’ve found: move the mouse cursor to your skillbar or over the target display, so it defaults at casting at your feet. I have no idea whether they’re supposed to need facing all the time (so the way they work when you’re moving is bugged), or if they’re supposed to not need it (so they’re bugged if you’re immobilised), but they can’t possible be working as intended.

Bhawb.7408:

I never said it should be nerfed. I never said it was OP. But that doesn’t mean its not one of the best removal skills in the entire game, because it is. It is a conditional full cleanse on a far lower CD than other full cleanses. And just because people underestimate Swarm doesn’t mean it isn’t, also, an extremely strong removal.

Well that was kinda my point, that Deathly Swarm is, in fact, almost as good as Putrid Mark, despite the fact that a. it has a lower cooldown, so you’d expect it to be proportionately weaker, and b. it’s on an offhand weapon, giving you the flexibility to combine with with a high damage mainhand if you so want to, whereas Putrid Mark is on a low-DPS 2-handed weapon focussed on support and utility, so you’d expect it to offer more support and utility than DS.

I’m nt saying that Putrid Mark isn’t stronger, after all, you can trait it to be unblockable, it can transfer blind, it does more direct damage, and it can hit up to 5 targets instead of 3 (resulting in more conditions transferred off you). But it’s not so much stronger as to justify a 38% longer recharge (when both untraited), and the fact that it’s part of a weapon with mediocre damage. Staff is supposed to make up for its crappy damage by giving allies regen, giving them a poison field to combo with, fearing enemies off of them, and Putrid Mark was similarly originally intended to provide ally support by cleansing them. Instead of toning down the skill and retaining the ally support, they just removed it altogether and made it selfish, and incongruous with the rest of the weapon set. It sucks.