Guild Wars 2

Which one would you guys use for tournament play with a group? Terrormancer is considered meta on metabattle.com but Dhuumfire is considered great (a small step below meta on that site). Which one do you guys prefer? I don’t care about “cancer”, just want the stronger of the two specs for wins. If you answer please also let me know why you chose X over Y and vise versa please!

Since Dhuumfire is pretty much exclusive to condition builds you’d probably pick both traits.

Terrormancer provides more protection from CC, but dhuumfire pushes out more damage faster. I think they’re both really good and you should try both.

Personally I prefer faster damage, causing the enemy to heal up right away.

Here is a dhuumfire variant I created: I call it Fire & Ice (Capitalizes on chill)

Plague form causing aoe blindness + chill + poison is great for point control.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW7Yjc0UUbtN+2wfbCchC6DIAi2I3gJgy4YMA-TZRFwAAOCAq2fIxFBIaZAFPAAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW7Yjc0UUbtN+2wfbCchSyfIGg+ACgoNyNYCA-TZRFwAAOCAq2fIxFBIaZAFPAAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW7Yjc0UUbtN+2wfbCchSygIGg+ACgoNyNYCA-TZRFwAAOCAq2fIxFBIaZAFPAAA

If you feel like you need more mobility; use spectral walk instead but I like the damage mitigation from Spectral Armor.

Terror. Even 46004 is better mostly.

You want to be in good 1v1s, where path of corrupt usualy helps against more current troublesome matchups and the extra fear on CC may help you score a decap.

The other thing you need to push for is 2v2 , preferably with a engie. Basicaly anyone who can provide burning will cause enemy 2v2 to simply melt.

Avoid big teamfights as necro is just to easy to gank. But if you do have to fight a 3v3+ , the fear on CC may help you do more harm and live longer, than a single target 4s burn.
Which is a projectile and can hit a clone, will 90% be cleansed by ele/guard, one of your engie/ele/warri/ranger even bunker guard may already apply burning.

Dhuumfire sux , only few players use it in 1v1 with signet of spite and pray the enemy dies of that combo.

Terror. Dhuumfire got nerfed (it’s harder to apply burning now) and has less defense. People still use it sometimes in tournaments, but it’s a rare sight nowadays. Still not bad tho.

The dhuumfire build generally misses out on the heavy boon corruption that really helps condi necros in the current meta, and it is so very reliant on having a lot of life force to get those shots off. So any time that you’re out of life force that whole trait line is pretty much wasted.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNArYWjc0UdbxNm3webCchSyf4Fg+NDgoly4IMA-TZxHABTs/wAHCgZPBAGVGAgnAAA

Here is a build if you want to play around with dhuumfire, without having to be super squishy like 6/6/x/x/x. Celestial would also work pretty good if we had normal sustain..

But generally terror is better. And the combination of the 2 is wonderful, although high risk

witcher.3197:

Dhuumfire … has less defense.

Are you refering to the extra 200 toughness the 06404 build provides? Not only is that amount negligible, but I would take an extra 30% duration on chilled, weakness and fear instead any day.

Roe.3679:

The dhuumfire build generally misses out on the heavy boon corruption.

Unless you go 6/6/x/x/x.
I assume by “heavy boon corruption” you mean Path of Corruption?

Jelzouki.4128:

Terrormancer provides more protection from CC

The only trait you need for a Terrormancer is Terror, but I’m sure you’re talking about Reaper’s Protection here, so here it goes: Reaper’s Protection is a garbage trait, I can’t believe some people consider it to be “meta”.

The 06404 build provides better defense than 6/6/X/X/X from greater Toughness, Last Gasp (and longer Protection duration), and Reaper’s Protection. These are not negligible defenses.

And you have 6 in Curses in PvP on a condition build because of Path of Corruption, so don’t tell me “64004 .”

Last Gasp is about the only significant defensive buff of the 3 things you’ve mentioned.
Reaper’s Protection is the worst, I’d rather take Unholy Martyr and Renewing Blast instead.
No I got a better one: I’d rather they bring back Reanimator as a master trait and I’d still take that one over Reaper’s Protection.

flow.6043:

Last Gasp is about the only significant defensive buff of the 3 things you’ve mentioned.
Reaper’s Protection is the worst, I’d rather take Unholy Martyr and Renewing Blast instead.
No I got a better one: I’d rather they bring back Reanimator as a master trait and I’d still take that one over Reaper’s Protection.

lol flow you’re drunk stop it

Reapers Protection isn’t amazing but to say it’s useless is ridiculous – it is especially useful against thieves with sleight of hand – S/D has no way to proc RP from range to avoid it like D/P does and Thieves obviously don’t run around with stability and S/D meta build only has one stunbreak so you can potentially one shot them in a long fear chain

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

The 06404 build provides better defense than 6/6/X/X/X from greater Toughness, Last Gasp (and longer Protection duration), and Reaper’s Protection. These are not negligible defenses.

And you have 6 in Curses in PvP on a condition build because of Path of Corruption, so don’t tell me “64004 .”

I’ll just hide my 6/4/0/0/4 necro over here….

Why do you need burning? 0/6/4/0/4 is much better than 6/4/0/0/4. Dark path is much better to deal with boons and celestial pplz, than waiting for chill of death to happen. You dont need burn. Warrior has burn, engi has burn, ele has burn, guardian has burn …. one of the most comon proffesions in tpvp …. just use transfer condition wih staff 4 or dagger 4 and profit. The only thing better of 6/4/…. is longer condi duration, but with some profesions with many passive condi clears or immunity, in my opinion, isnt much that big deal.

As for Reaper protection, i agree with flow … i would take greater marks any day. With RP you get what? One fear on cc with 60 sec cd, that can fail if hit stability, imunity, blind (so yeah if this happens … it is useless)? Dont forget that fear can also be removed with condi removal spells not just stunbreakers. With greater marks you get bigger marks making easyer to hit stealth targets, fast moving targets or to put more preasure in teamfights. With unblockable thing you can hit engi trough toolkit, interupt/poison guardian heal or those aegis boons or warrior blocks. This would otherwise be miss and also much dmg/cd loss. And probably i even forgot few uses. Not to mention that you can use it 24/7.

flow.6043:

witcher.3197:

Dhuumfire … has less defense.

Are you refering to the extra 200 toughness the 06404 build provides?

No I’m refering to Reaper’s Protection which does help a lot.

Emapudapus.1307:

As for Reaper protection, i agree with flow … i would take greater marks any day. With RP you get what? One fear on cc with 60 sec cd, that can fail if hit stability, imunity, blind (so yeah if this happens … it is useless)? Dont forget that fear can also be removed with condi removal spells not just stunbreakers.

I used to think that as well. But it’s a 3.5 sec AoE fear just because someone CC’d you, even if it was a 1 sec daze. Nec does not have too many defensive things (no vigor/blocks/stability/barely any blinds) – that fear proc is amazing.

And yes, people can use stunbreakers and condi cleanses (however most condi cleanses cannot be used while CC’d), but that’s the point – your enemy has to use a stunbreaker and you did not even use a single skill. And if they won’t break the stun, you can easily overload them with conditions while you still have 2 on-demand fears you can use, and even a Nightmare proc.

Tbh, I used to be poor pleeb who thought reapers protection was useless until I decided to play a good amount of games with it. You realize how stupid good this trait really is. Passive fear procs are broken as they have zero counters, this one is even better due to its 100% proc chance. Couple that with nightmares and you have 2 passive fears that no one can counter. This has literally saved my butt so many times and allowed me to win many 1v2s in my ques.
Idk what cleanse breaks fear, since everything is unusable during its duration except stunbreaks.
Edit: remember that terror with more condis granting the extra damage is stronger than burning making fear the strongest condi and only usable by necros. With reapers protection and nightmare proc, that’s like having 2 equivalents to engis incinerary powder, only stronger. It’s ridiculously good.

witcher.3197:

But it’s a 3.5 sec AoE fear

With Master of Terror and Nightmare runes it’s 3.3 sec . :P

witcher.3197:

people can use stunbreakers and condi cleanses (however most condi cleanses cannot be used while CC’d)

He was obviously talking about an ally’s aoe cleanse.
But just to mention it, you can cleanse yourself with a precast skill like Well of Power. Putrid Mark or Deathly Swarm will even transfer that fear.

SaintSnow.6593:

Passive fear procs are broken as they have zero counters, this one is even better due to its 100% proc chance.

They have a lot of counters and zero proc chance if they are on cooldown.

SaintSnow.6593:

This has literally saved my butt so many times and allowed me to win many 1v2s in my ques.

1v2s are only possible if your opponents are a lot worse than you. You won because you outplayed them, not because of a fear proc.

witcher.3197:

I used to think that as well.

SaintSnow.6593:

I used to be poor pleeb who thought reapers protection was useless until …

It’s funny how you make it look like you’ve somehow ascended this state of blissful ignorance I’m in apparently, where I have yet to discover how “awesome” Reaper’s Protection is. But I assure you it’s the exact opposite.
When you get that fear proc off, good for you, but don’t for a second believe that this is better than any other trait you could’ve picked instead.

Flow, if Reaper’s Protection’s so bad in your opinion, why is that every single nec on higher ratings/tournaments take that trait?

flow.6043:

witcher.3197:

But it’s a 3.5 sec AoE fear

With Master of Terror and Nightmare runes it’s 3.3 sec . :P

Check again it’s 1/2, which is 0.5

High ranks are meaningless, it doesn’t say anything about a player other than he was lucky being place in the better team in solo q or that he has a decent premade team in team arena.
That doesn’t change the fact that certain traits are worse than others even if they are used by some players, not every single one of them mind you.

witcher.3197:

Check again it’s 1/2, which is 0.5

Base duration is 2 sec. Master of Terror: +50%, runes: +15%. 2 sec x 1.65 = 3.3 sec

witcher.3197:

flow.6043

With Master of Terror and Nightmare runes it’s 3.3 sec . :P

Check again it’s 1/2, which is 0.5

Rounding error on the tooltip. Tooltips only show 1/4 second increments, but the actual duration can be longer or shorter than that.

@Flow: Yes, it has some counters. This does not make it a bad trait. It creates openings for the necro to act and turn a fight. Openings in situations that are usually a death sentence for Necros. If you are in such situations more than 1/minute, you were going to die in that situation anyway, regardless of what trait you have equipped in its place.

The strongest part of Reaper’s Protection is that it lets you save a stunbreak for later. Yes, you’re CC’d, but your opponents can’t take advantage of it, creating a null situation that on Terror builds goes in your favor due to damage.

SaintSnow.6593:

Passive fear procs are broken as they have zero counters, this one is even better due to its 100% proc chance. Couple that with nightmares and you have 2 passive fears that no one can counter.

Well the first counter that comes to mind is mesmer, ranger or mm necro that can completely bypass the fear procs(lets just hav pet take the proc). The other counter is just begin the fight with stability and get the proc while your immune to them. I run nightmare runes personally for the condi duration and it seems the fear proc only comes in handy on rare occasions, skyhammer in particular stands out XD It also procs on downed players often making it totally useless(unless this was changed or soemthing).

Wow, who would’ve thunk it. Dhuumfire is back in the “viable” rotation. A few months ago a few people would’ve screamed bloody murder about how bad it is.

Reaper’s protection is an incredible trait, just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it bad. How is it that you consider a 3 second aoe fear bad? I can understand wanting to take greater marks over RP, but saying RP is bad is just not true.

zapv.8051:

How is it that you consider a 3 second aoe fear bad?

It’s definitely not the fear itself that I dislike. If i could have 3 sec of fear on my auto attack that would be great. But it’s not, it is a passive proc you have zero control over, half the time it won’t work at all despite being put on its gigantic 60 hour cooldown, and worst of all: it’s a trait. Many people here don’t seem to grasp the magnitude of what it means to sacrifice a trait slot for this.

You might as well ask me why I don’t like Ritual of Life, the trait that creates a Well of Blood after reviving someone. 6k healing, sound good right? Why would you consider that bad? Well I don’t, but I’m certainly not investing 2 points in Blood Magic for a revive trait on a 40 sec cooldown that also creates a widely unwanted combo field and might not work at all if I revive someone in DS.

If reapers protection was so terrible, then top players wouldn’t use nor complain about it. Yet we do and it’s right up there with engi incinerary powder due to its fairly rng basis, not as much as nightmare proc but still. Yes greater marks is a great trait as well but it all depends on choice.
Yes someone opening with stability on could potentially bypass it but if I see stab go up I almost immediately corrupt it because if they produce any more than 5 boons which most classes can easily churn out, then stability will get masked as corrupt prioritizes it last. As for something like zerker stance being used on opening then this trait is still performing by forcing players to open with there best defense and survival against conditions early while I’m still at full health and life force. They waste their strongest utility due to the obscurity of my passives.
Say what you will but I know that in my solo ques as well as both organized and Yolo team ques, this trait has saved my butt a couple times and allowed me to capitalize on openings.

SaintSnow.6593:

If reapers protection was so terrible, then top players wouldn’t use nor complain about it.

Of course it generates more complaints than Greater Marks (or whatever other trait you’d have instead). The short term impact of RP is a lot more visible as a hard CC, so obvisouly the trait gets the occasional hate like all other chain stuns in the game. And obviously stunning someone would eventually save you from being killed, that’s what stuns do. This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone.
However, the overall effect on fights is weak (if it has any at all). It’s like having the choice between a single 10k hit or 10 small ones for twice the damage. The latter is a lot more subtle and doesn’t have the wow factor of a single big number so no one complains.
The same applies to Reaper’s Protection, people are blinded by what it does when it triggers and at this point seem to completely ignore that there are much more effective trait alternatives. And as soon as few popular players with a “they must know what they’re doing”-reputation use it and a few other players complain about passive fear procs (most of the hate is generated by nightmare runes btw), the whole thing apparently snowballs into a little hype until Reaper’s Protection is suddenly considered meta. But non of this changes the fact that every necro who uses it simply isn’t as strong as they could be.

Thing is, Reaper’s Protection diminishes in numbers in which you fight – which is exactly the problem Necromancers have anyway… They cannot quite handle bigger teamfights in TPvP…

RP is great for 1v1 purposes or even 2v2’s which is greatly favoured by our friends on the other side of the ocean, but if you fall into a bigger fight than that, you can count on it to be pingponged all over the place, and RP is not going to safe you from it, especially not because it is random, and especially not because it is on a long cooldown…

To be fair, I usually slot for Foot in the Grave rather than RP because it gives me control over the CC that is put on me… It is still a large stretch from it being worth it, but the simple fact that you got control against CC’s, granted it is no stunbreak, and that it is safer in teamfights (Ressing in DS and all that jazz) makes it up for it to me…

On the topic though, it has been a while since I ran Dhuumfire, I might change to it again and see it’s potential… The biggest plus I see is casting it from range on contrary to Path of Corruption

OMNIBUS.2913:

Well the first counter that comes to mind is mesmer, ranger or mm necro that can completely bypass the fear procs(lets just hav pet take the proc). The other counter is just begin the fight with stability and get the proc while your immune to them.

Yep, open with stability or keep a stunbreak handy. The number of warriors that open with an Earthshaker on me WITHOUT having popped Berserker’s Stance beforehand is silly. I get not knowing what the other person’s build does, but they seem to not even know what their own skills do!

Re: the OP’s question, since the most effective Dhuumfire build takes Terror anyway, the choice isn’t between Terror/Dhuumfire but between Dhuumfire on one hand and Reaper’s Protection+Path of Corruption on the other. Personally I think Dhuumfire is still viable if you have Close to Death, so you can proc itmore frequently (the extra condition duration from Spite almost makes up for losing the extra fear duration). I don’t like it as much though, cause you don’t have as much condition pressure inside DS. If we could at least still swap weapons and proc Geomancy sigils that’d be something, but bottom line is the constant application of bleeds outweighs the once/10" burning. The PoC/RP build might not be as bursty but it can still down people 1v1 and it’s a lot tougher.

Reapers Protection directly addresses the Necromancer’s greatest weakness and worst match up in a team fight – the s/d thief that comes outta nowhere is usually what gets you killed not the hambow/ele/engi – those guys are avoidable and with good positioning via worm you can escape them

You can not escape a thief or mesmer with good positioning! Read that 20 times and let it sink in!

Terror/Reapers Protection/Master of Terror/Nightmare Runes
That is SYNERGY – Necromancer has no better option for that you will notice other classes have great synergy in traits – example steal traits for thief

If you argue that greater marks is better than reapers protection you are absolutely clueless sorry

Narkodx.1472:

If you argue that greater marks is better than reapers protection you are absolutely clueless sorry

That statement alone makes you the clueless one.
Also, you make it look like Terror + RP is the only trait synergy we have, which of course it isn’t.
And @ s/d thief being our greatest weakness: that’s a clear l2p issue, because they are not. If you’d lose without a passive fear proc you’re simply a worse player than your opponent.

flow.6043:

Narkodx.1472:

If you argue that greater marks is better than reapers protection you are absolutely clueless sorry

That statement alone makes you the clueless one.
Also, you make it look like Terror + RP is the only trait synergy we have, which of course it isn’t.
And @ s/d thief being our greatest weakness: that’s a clear l2p issue, because they are not. If you’d lose without a passive fear proc you’re simply a worse player than your opponent.

You do not pvp there can be no other explanation to this

Greater Marks improves 4 skills on 1 weapon set
Reapers Protection is always good regardless of weapons or in ds

S/D Thief and Mesmer actually are your biggest weaknesses in a team fight because they will be getting you from off the point! Who are they going to focus not the warr/ele/guard they will focus you! thief mesmer never have stability and almost always get there opener rejected because of reapers protection that is what it is for!

I do not need reapers protection to win a 1v1 this is not the discussion

offtopic – you have a fetish with the staff man I get it I saw your video – you really should not be talking about my skill level since you still click your skills

Please just stop. There’s no need for you to get personal and you’re just embarrassing yourself at this point.

flow.6043:

Please just stop. There’s no need for you to get personal and you’re just embarrassing yourself at this point.

Not really – Just Pointing out some facts

You opened with something about being clueless for having an opinion about two traits and one being obviously inferior than the other
Then you said something about me needing to l2p because s/d thief is not hard counter

So I followed it up with saying that you do not pvp – can’t find you anywhere on leader boards – gw2score still shows people who were at one point in top 1000 but not anymore like myself – You should pvp if you make comments about it
Furthermore I stated why you like greater marks so much – a quick forum search will find your “staff build” – with a video that shows you clicking skills

Nothing personal just pointing out facts

I almost wonder how much of this discussion is motivated by pvp and how much by WvW. Would make a big difference in people’s opinions, I’m sure.

Roe.3679:

I almost wonder how much of this discussion is motivated by pvp and how much by WvW. Would make a big difference in people’s opinions, I’m sure.

This SHOULD be a PvP discussion – the OP is talking about tournaments and using metabattle website which is tPvP focused

In WvW where you can camp staff from the safety of range I can see how GM is useful and potentially better than RP

sPvP involves tiny circles which you must be near or on in order to win – so close proximity to enemies usually means you will rotate into staff and switch out you will rarely camp staff because you will rarely be safe enough to just pew pew from range with no repercussions

RP shines in these situations because as a Necro we want to be at range and safely blow people up but only a fool will allow this – Thief/Mesmer will come and get you!

Sleight of Hand/Basilik Venom get rekt by RP – that is all I need it for
It however works against pretty much everyone – opponents won’t always be prepared to counter RP like using stab or zerk stance – your opponents will always want to stun/control you

Flesh Worm is good enough against the other classes in order to re-position and heal but not against thief who will blink to you and chase you endlessly

What do you think Roe? I know that you PvP but I know you prefer power right?

Narkodx.1472:

If you argue that greater marks is better than reapers protection you are absolutely clueless sorry

Narkodx.1472:

You opened with something about being clueless …

k

Narkodx.1472:

Furthermore I stated why you like greater marks so much – a quick forum search will find your “staff build” – with a video that shows you clicking skills

Well if you must know, that video is over a year old and just serves the purpose of a damage sample. I was recording on a laptop so I didn’t have my regular mouse with me which has all utilities double bound to it. Clicking some skills was a mere convenience at the time.

Narkodx.1472:

So I followed it up with saying that you do not pvp – can’t find you anywhere on leader boards – gw2score still shows people who were at one point in top 1000 but not anymore like myself – You should pvp if you make comments about it.

Just so I get this right, you’re telling me to play pvp when you haven’t actually played yourself in ages?
Btw, leaderboard rankings and games played don’t say a single thing about a player, but maybe check the EU ladder next time as well:

flow.6043:

Narkodx.1472:

If you argue that greater marks is better than reapers protection you are absolutely clueless sorry

Narkodx.1472:

You opened with something about being clueless …

k

Narkodx.1472:

Furthermore I stated why you like greater marks so much – a quick forum search will find your “staff build” – with a video that shows you clicking skills

Well if you must know, that video is over a year old and just serves the purpose of a damage sample. I was recording on a laptop so I didn’t have my regular mouse with me which has all utilities double bound to it. Clicking some skills was a mere convenience at the time.

Narkodx.1472:

So I followed it up with saying that you do not pvp – can’t find you anywhere on leader boards – gw2score still shows people who were at one point in top 1000 but not anymore like myself – You should pvp if you make comments about it.

Just so I get this right, you’re telling me to play pvp when you haven’t actually played yourself in ages?
Btw, leaderboard rankings and games played don’t say a single thing about a player, but maybe check the EU ladder next time as well:

My clueless comment was an in general comment directed at no one – you followed up with a clueless comment directed at me in particular – so once again you were the first to start the personal attacks

Do you still click your skills? I hope not since you somehow made it to the top 200 – Not a real question

That information is outdated I play daily and I am no longer on crystal desert but yeah

Narkodx.1472:

since you somehow made it to the top 200

Just fyi, that “highest rank 8” was actually last week, I’m more often in the top 50 than anywhere else if I play daily. But like I said, ranks are completely meaningless.

Narkodx.1472:

That information is outdated I play daily and I am no longer on crystal desert but yeah

The suspense is killing me! Please tell us what rank you currently have.

flow.6043:

Narkodx.1472:

If you argue that greater marks is better than reapers protection you are absolutely clueless sorry

That statement alone makes you the clueless one.
Also, you make it look like Terror + RP is the only trait synergy we have, which of course it isn’t.
And @ s/d thief being our greatest weakness: that’s a clear l2p issue, because they are not. If you’d lose without a passive fear proc you’re simply a worse player than your opponent.

You started it all buddy – I did not refer to anyone – You specifically referred to me

flow.6043:

Narkodx.1472:

since you somehow made it to the top 200

Just fyi, that “highest rank 8” was actually last week, I’m more often in the top 50 than anywhere else if I play daily. But like I said, ranks are completely meaningless.

Narkodx.1472:

That information is outdated I play daily and I am no longer on crystal desert but yeah

The suspense is killing me! Please tell us what rank you currently have.

How can you in the same post say that rank is meaningless than ask me what my current rank is?

Narkodx.1472:

You started it all buddy

You can’t be serious -_-
I was one of two people on this thread who said Greater Marks is better than Reaper’s Protection, but sure… general comment directed at no one.

I would say terror is mandetory for a condi necromancer. So i would rather ask the question if it is worth to take dhuumfire in a condi build.

Necromancer’s greatest weakness is a single stun every 60 seconds?

Even if the enemy opens with a stun like that, I find it hard to believe that is true – especially when I look at my personal experience…

Then again, I am a FitG fanboy… let me ramble on

GoogleBrandon.5073:

Necromancer’s greatest weakness is a single stun every 60 seconds?

Even if the enemy opens with a stun like that, I find it hard to believe that is true – especially when I look at my personal experience…

Then again, I am a FitG fanboy… let me ramble on

Necromancers greatest weakness is a combination of bad positioning/focusfire/stun lock – which can happen more often than every 60 seconds

They are all intertwined – if you are in a bad position it usually means you are gonna get focus fired with stun/immob and burst

For those reasons Nightmare Runes/Reapers Protection/Flesh Wurm/Spectral Walk are all used in meta builds – even power builds will use worm/walk

Those skills are our best options to mitigating those weaknesses and as much as we attempt to be in great positioning at all times there are classes Thief/Mes who do not care about your positioning and WILL come get you

That is how I see it

Err, so would you say the worst defense is against being stunned or being bursted?

Because to be fair, a Thief/Mes combo is not as strongly used as lockdown, but moreso because of the burst… And RP does not grant you protection against these bursts at all

In my honest opinion, Necromancers have the most issues sustaining themselves regardless of what is thrown to them, since we “only” got DS as a defensive mechanic… The things you listed are only that much better in 1v1’s and 2v2’s because anything higher will, side Flesh Worm, be rendered useless…

Terror over Dhuumfire, easily.

Reaper’s Protection should never get picked over Greater Marks if you have a staff equipped, especially with how often ele/eng/guards/war are throwing out blocks like candy.

You can’t say “Reaper’s Protection is bad” because it isn’t. If you THINK it’s bad… an opinion is simply an opinion.
I, personally, have been using Reaper’s Protection for a very long time – before it crawled its way into the meta and I wouldn’t use it if I thought it was bad. In other words, it’s MY opinion that the trait is better than Greater Marks.
Greater Marks has its benefits, and it really depends on your playstyle and what you as a player personally like and value more. Both traits are very good, imo.

As for Terrormancer vs. Dhuumfire… I think a good Necro could be equally strong with both. Dhuumfire provides burning and condition duration, but then you will miss out on some of the other defensive traits if you also go 30 into Curses. If you DON’T go into curses, you miss out on some excellent traits, like Path of Corruption, which actually might not be a huge deal if you have corrupt boon. If you go 30 in Spite and 30 in Curses, you’ll basically be “glass condi” and will be squishy but will have high damage. If you go with a Fear oriented build and not Dhuumfire, you will have much more defense, and the damage will undoubtedly still be high. Personally, I’d go with a fear oriented build.

Narkodx.1472:

What do you think Roe? I know that you PvP but I know you prefer power right?

I do play condi necro in pvp when it suits the team comps (basically, multiple enemy engis for me to nom) and I always take reapers protection, because I find it very valuable in pvp. As much as it can be a crutch which I will admit, it can also save me when I need to be fighting on point or I’m getting focused or whatever. I can see the point that it is passive and uncontrolled and not liking it for that reason, but it is still a very good trait.

That being said, I wouldn’t ever bother taking it in WvW where I roam as condi. I find dhuumfire much better due to there being more space, more available life force, etc, hence my previous comment about pvp vs WvW.

I love Greater Marks but I would never pick it over RP in the current meta. It does help you kill those bunker guardians faster, and you spread more conditions in team fights, but it really doesn’t make up for your greater vulnerability against CC, especially in 1v1 situations. I don’t see it, unless your role in your team is to mostly stay in team fights, and in the fringes of team fights at that, so you can flesh wurm out of there quickly if opened on by a thief/mesmer combo. Or you’re just constantly sitting on top of your own bunker guardian so he can heal you. I dunno, I confess I don’t like the passive fear procs from RP (and especially not from Nightmare runes, since in team fights they can proc from some useless little damage from aoe and get wasted instead of hitting someone who’s focussing you), but in 1v1 and 2v2s they give you so much more flexibility to play aggressively. I’d say that if you were going to drop RP for something it would be FitG. I don’t think it’s as good, but at least it fulfils the same role, which is making sure you’re not flat on your back with your hands off the keyboard while the enemy is bursting you down. The trouble is a lot of the time you can’t see the stuns coming, especially from stealthed thieves. If DS (F1) was actually a stunbreak (or you had a trait that turned it into one), FitG would actually be better than RP, because it could get you out of trouble rather than just prevent you from getting into it.

manveruppd.7601:

it really doesn’t make up for your greater vulnerability against CC, especially in 1v1 situations.

Any 1v1 you can win with RP will be won with any other trait more easily.

manveruppd.7601:

If DS (F1) was actually a stunbreak (or you had a trait that turned it into one), FitG would actually be better than RP, because it could get you out of trouble rather than just prevent you from getting into it.

You make it look like RP has a similar effect to stability. But it doesn’t, you’re still getting stunned. At best it protects you from follow up damage. And by “at best” I mean almost never. So in that sense FitG is a million times better.