Guild Wars 2

Don’t mind playing a squishy Necro? The good news is (barring pre release nerfs), condimancers/hybrids might be playable again.

The Pros
Terror + Shivers of Dread + Deathly Chill makes staff five scary
Reaper Shroud 1 brings Dhuumfire back from the grave (pun intended)
Three condi transfers AND Signet of Spite
Enough Chill to hit 100% uptime if you really wanted to

The Cons
Melee
Squishy
No boon hate
Stunbreak missing (probably have to drop a utility for this)

Possible Changes
Switch Staff for Greatsword and replace fear/staff traits
Wear rabid armor/jewels and die to DS eles

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7YnMbClbit2AO2A0bilgBLeIuEjiUXhpwvKKBEAaAA-T1BIAB4pEEgnAwtq/8x+DAp8z3LCws6GAA-w

THIS BUILD IS NOT OPTIMIZED
I just wanted to show the new potential of condimancers.
I basically haven’t played for over a year because I got too emotionally invested in necro. Accordingly, Runes and Sigils are not terribad but could probably be improved. My knowledge of the specific shortcomings of the class (with respect to the present meta – if changed at all) also suffers, so if 90% of all build can cleanse through these conditions while chilled, I’m sorry.

Thoughts?
Comments?
Concerns?

On the issue of stun breakers, with both the staff and off-hand dagger equipped, you may have enough condi cleanse to get away with switching suffer with you’re all weaklings.

Anyways, here is my idea of a great sword variant, it’s basically Nemesis’ old hybrid necromancer build with some changes to traits (obviously) and skills.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhWD7kGRodTscTwzGgeTsUMYx7wh4SkqJMFuVRBgvVBA-TliEABefQAO4IAA3+Dto+DwaG6+CAAoSQAeAAYp8bDdAAA-w

I’m not that good at deciding optimal sigils and runes myself, so I just placed ones that are fun to use. (fact: sigil of mischief works with chilling darkness, it’s like the sigil was made for us!)
Warhorn is just a personal preference, off-hand dagger will be just fine.
I think with hybrid builds, reaper’s onslaught would work better once they get it working properly while deathly chill is best for pure condis. However, in group fights, we shouldn’t rule out blighter’s boon regardless of the build.

You can run a normal condimancer and still maintain enough chill-time. You don’t have to go full ham on chill to “reap” the benefits.

I’m not sure this would work out well. No vitality to boost lifeforce pool, only 2k toughness; you wouldn’t live long enough to get anything done. You’d also be instantly melted by any longbow ranger. Perhaps it would be better to use a mixture of carrion and rabid gear.

Reaper terrormancer will definitely be a thing! Just a question though: is the build calculator accurate about damage? Deathly Chill seems REALLY weak!

manveruppd.7601:

Reaper terrormancer will definitely be a thing! Just a question though: is the build calculator accurate about damage? Deathly Chill seems REALLY weak!

It gets doubled next beta.

Hmm… hard to say without trying it, but I think that would actually make it pretty decent! Core terrormancer atm has just a tiny little bit too low damage to be OK (due to us losing Path of Corruption on the same tier as terror), but an extra 200 chill damage, if we can maintain decent uptime for it, might just push it up to being decent!

I haven’t done PVP in awhile, but looking at that build…

#1: Relentless Pursuit is really good. If you’re going to be chasing people in reaper’s shroud with dhuumfire, you want their debuffs to be as minimal as possible. Chill is no good if you’re chilled, too.

#2: Stunbreaks are necessary, especially since Doom is no longer available as a counter-stun. My gut tells me to just go with Spectral Armor for protection + life force generation, but without testing I’m not sure it is better than Spectral Walk. Spectral walk has swiftness + reverse teleport, and currently this build has no speed boosts. I know it is relying on chill, but swiftness is still good.

Another consideration is “You are all Weaklings!”. It causes AoE weakness, so it will reduce damage, and it can also stack some might (5 + 3 per target hit). The main reason to take YAAW over Spectral Armor is the cooldown: 30 seconds vs. 50 seconds. Though with weakning shroud you’ll already be inflicting weakness, so protection can work in conjunction with it. Guess you’ll have to test it out to see what is better. But seriously, stun break, or be a pinball. As for which skill to replace, either “Suffer!” or spectral grasp. Immediately I’d replace suffer (and likewise go with plague sending as major adept), since spectral grasp is an interrupt + life force + longer duration chill, but depending on how often you are outnumbered/condi’d up suffer might be better. Preference applies here.

#3: I am really hesitant to go with a build that frail in PVP. At weakest, I’d go with a sinsiter/carrion hybrid. With carrion armor you’ll have a 34.7% crit chance, which is enough for sigil of tormenting and weakening shroud, and barbed precision’s bleed is meh in the first place. You need that extra durability to make sure the conditions have time to tick.

That is all for now. I’m really out of practice, and aren’t confident on any other changes. But other things to consider testing are:

Sigil of Ice over Hydromancy. Yes, hydrmancy works on command and in an AoE, but sigil of ice works at a distance, and doesn’t require a weapon swap.
Traits other than Chilling Darkness, as I am still not sure it is worth it in this build. Terrifying descent can make for some interesting combos, and Plague Sending as an extra condi transfer is always good, especially if you replace “Suffer!” with the stun break.

Traits other than Chilling Darkness, as I am still not sure it is worth it in this build.

It actually works well with the build because of RS#2. With the change to that ability, now working like a regular leap and stopping at the target, it allows you to AOE chill every 6(5) seconds while in shroud and greatly improves sticking potential to stack burns with dhuumfire as well as the extra damage from the chill condition and might generation from chilling victory and damage reduction from cold shoulder. Its the easiest way to constantly apply chill.

Because of that i would actually be tempted to take sigil of chilling on staff instead of the tormenting sigil. Would give you a 70% chill duration when using staff. Its a better boost and lets your chills get off an extra tick from the damage trait. Also ice over hydromancy on staff. Because of all the chill duration it should last about 3.5s on 10s ice.

I’ve made a few changes based on what you guys have posted.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7YnMbCtbi12Au2A0bilgBLeIuEjiUXhvwvKKBEAaAA-TViBABqfEAA4BAkz+DAqbgT1fcUJYEXAAvU+h9BBAA-w

It’s pure condi now, so you lose some DPS and have to run from diamond skin eles. I also put the stunbreaks in and took out extra fear duration (it wasn’t giving an extra tick on any skills). Chill is more heavily emphasized in the runes/sigils. Lastly, a whole bunch of vitality and toughness got tagged on with rabid, rabid+dire and givers.