Guild Wars 2

Fear is essentially burn if burn was a CC when we use our fear-damage trait. However… we have almost no access to it. On my Engineer, I can put a 30 second burn that WILL kill you if you do not cure it. Which is ridiculous, atleast give us a 2-3 second, I mean honestly look at Thieves. The ONLY condition we were supposed to have exclusive is not even remotely as good as others. Now I know I’m beating a dead horse by complaining about what everyone else has complained about, but hear me out. Every class should have a condition (And or boon) that is exclusive to them, with different properties and all other conditions should be available in excess for other classes. That would make each class demanded for tournament play, and might even give Necromancer a strong footing in it. I’m thinking both Fear should be exclusive to Necromancer, and Poison should be exclusive to Thief and Necromancer.

Poison Should be achieved BEST through Necromancer and Thief, but everyone has access to it, and some even better. Plus poison isn’t even all that good, since it doesn’t last long enough to actually be very effective, which makes me feel like all those runes in the Armorshop that give poison duration are rather redundant. Instead, I feel like Poison should be the longest lasting condition in the game, I mean, you’re poisoning someone… not nicking them on the leg..

Honestly I feel like Fear, and Poison should both be buffed, and every other condition reworked. If you’re going to make DoTs a primary source of damage, then make them more useful and stand out. So far all it is to be done is spam the living crap out of your opponent and hope they don’t put up retaliation or one of the billion condition cures EVERYONE has. There is significantly less tacticity than could be wished. At the moment, what the Necromancer SHOULD be doing, i.e. Attrition, is far outweighed by what other classes ARE doing. Such as condition bursting. (Looking at Grenade Engineer)

Maybe I just truly miss Hexes… You know, things that actually took thought to use… and were terrifying to receive…

Wont comment on fear, I’m kind of in the middle for buff/not buff.

IMO: Ranger’s should definitely have posion too. A master woodsman would know how to harvest poison from plants/spiders/snakes. As for mesmers, their applications of it are random, which fits with their classes chaos theme. Engineers use elixirs/potions (skilled with alchemy essentially), so their poison access makes sense. All these have a perfectly good reason to have easy access to poison, so I disagree with you saying Necro and Thief should have the best access. I will agree that guardian’s/warrior shouldn’t have access and they do not, so no problems there.

Poison does not need a buff. Poison’s most powerful effect is -33% heal. That is HUGE in a pvp scenario, and fits in with the Necro’s attrition idea. In any group setting, poison’s duration on target easily gets above 20 seconds, and I’ve seen 1 minute plenty of times, so buffing it’s duration would do nothing. In a 1v1 or small group scenario, the short-ish duration just requires you to use it tactically. Wait for your opponent to get to about 50% health, then use it. You’ll have a much better chance of hitting their heal ability then.

In PvE (dungeons and fractals), Poison is a little lackluster because of how little enemies heal and it’s low-mid damage. But, I don’t see this as a problem because poison is easy to apply and use, it’s not like to build your gear or traits around it.

I’m explaining that Necro and Thief have limited access to Poison (Our best coming from Staff 3 and CPC), when other classes have larger access to it, which makes no sense.

I don’t need a strategy guide for application of poison, sir. I’m merely annoyed at the concept of the condition itself, infact I’m annoyed at most of the conditions in this game. Again, if you’re going to make DoTs a primary source of damage, they could’ve atleast made them more… I don’t know… dynamic I’d suppose.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

I’m explaining that Necro and Thief have limited access to Poison (Our best coming from Staff 3 and CPC), when other classes have larger access to it, which makes no sense.

I don’t need a strategy guide for application of poison, sir. I’m merely annoyed at the concept of the condition itself, infact I’m annoyed at most of the conditions in this game. Again, if you’re going to make DoTs a primary source of damage, they could’ve atleast made them more… I don’t know… dynamic I’d suppose.

Necro have perma poison just via scepter 1 just like thief with dagger 1, thats no lack.

I guess you mean scepter andele?

Bull Zooker.1672:

I guess you mean scepter andele?

that would be my guess as well.

but he is still wrong, just Scepter AA chain won’t keep poison up till the end of the next chain. It falls off before you can get another AA chain finished with no plus cond. duration.

This is just another example of where we fall just a tiny bit short.

Sure, you’re thinking what cond build doesn’t have at least some plus duration? The point is we shouldn’t have to invest in plus duration to just be able to maintain poison on a target while only using AA.

Investing in plus duration should allow you to easily maintain poison with AA and throw in a scepter #2 or #3 or both without poison dropping off and if you decided to go all in on duration with runes food and talent points your target should be sopping in poison from just AA spam.

It seems like a common theme with the necro, we just get less for the same investment in a spec than most other professions.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

or one of the billion condition cures EVERYONE has.

Except warriors.

Sorry im kinda hazy and just typed a different thing from what i thought. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Putrid_Curse
Also there is minion death aoe and using the actual staff 1 trough cpc or chillblains (both also applying poison).
Every build that does conditions has to take duration, the fact that necros and engies didnt was fixed in beta events.

It seems like a common theme with the necro, we just get less for the same investment in a spec than most other professions. – Please learn what efficiency means since we are the very definition of it in GW2, the fact that you want to ultra specialize just means you are playing the wrong class for your playstyle.

Andele.1306:

Sorry im kinda hazy and just typed a different thing from what i thought. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Putrid_Curse

most call it clueless but I am fine with you using the word hazy…

Andele.1306:

Also there is minion death aoe and using the actual staff 1 trough cpc or chillblains (both also applying poison).

we are talking about the scepter AA try and push past the haze.

Andele.1306:

Every build that does conditions has to take duration, the fact that necros and engies didnt was fixed in beta events.

Yeah I mentioned that in my post, did you miss that? hazy? bigons.

Andele.1306:

Please learn what efficiency means since we are the very definition of it in GW2,

you just went so deep in the haze here I don’t even know what game you are playing. If we were any where close to efficient there would not be 3-4 classes that do attrition better than us. They do attrition better because they are MORE efficient than the necro “attrition master of GW2”

Andele.1306:

the fact that you want to ultra specialize just means you are playing the wrong class for your playstyle.

I know, I know, hazy right? The whole point was that we shouldn’t have to ultra specialize. I don’t ultra specialize and you have no clue what my play style is do you?

you are so clueless hazey dood.

Ah, the trolls are strong in this one. I opened it up expected complaints was met with it, when Andele attempts to help, the Dredlord raises his sarcastic head from the grave to help his minions :P.

I am going to make one comment and the disappear from this den of horrors.

Fear is the Number one most complained about Condition in the entire game by every class not named Necromancer. We want it stronger, every other class wants it gone. Take a listen to the Mesmer Podcast coming out on Monday. The top Mesmers, hate fear, they absolutely despise it almost as much as we despise thief invisibility.

Bas.7406:

almost as much as we despise thief invisibility.

By we you mean absolutely everyone besides thieves? Right? lol

Bas.7406:

Ah, the trolls are strong in this one. I opened it up expected complaints was met with it, when Andele attempts to help, the Dredlord raises his sarcastic head from the grave to help his minions :P.

Sorry.

I was not aware the spirit had entered me again.

Bas.7406:

Ah, the trolls are strong in this one. I opened it up expected complaints was met with it, when Andele attempts to help, the Dredlord raises his sarcastic head from the grave to help his minions :P.

I am going to make one comment and the disappear from this den of horrors.

Fear is the Number one most complained about Condition in the entire game by every class not named Necromancer. We want it stronger, every other class wants it gone. Take a listen to the Mesmer Podcast coming out on Monday. The top Mesmers, hate fear, they absolutely despise it almost as much as we despise thief invisibility.

So…thief and warrior fear needs a nerf is what you’re saying….? I don’t understand your point here.

Why would top mesmers care about a 1 sec single target interrupt anyway. If you spend that much time picking out mesmer and retargeting, retargeting, retargeting again (you did say top mesmers) just to go into DS to put down a fear, you’re generally already dead to shatter. Most of their attacks are too fast to interrupt with our fear anyway. KDs are much more accessible and chainable than fear too. So really? “Number one ohnoes CC”? I don’t believe you.

I don’t really think mesmers care much about necro fear in particular TBH. War and thief fear have a much better duration. I think this ‘top mesmer’ card is thrown about a bit too much in necro posts to lend credibility to a discreditable idea for the purposes of …I don’t know. Keeping necro weak? Self aggrandisement?

Vicarious.3047:

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

or one of the billion condition cures EVERYONE has.

Except warriors.

Not quote true, however they do have to give up a lot to achieve it. Truth be told, the warriors shout heal build is by far the best condition removal spam I’ve ever seen, and it works on up to 5 people at once. They can remove 1 condition every 4-5 seconds if they space out their shouts, but it is a specific build and does require 6x runes of the soldier.

There is also this skill, which I never see warriors use for some reason.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Stamina

Its pretty kitten good for non shout heal builds, especially the passive (+33% endurance regeneration, I would kill to have this signet on my necro, seriously), but the warrior mentality has always been “OMG BALLS 2 DA WALL MAX DPS GUISE EVEN IN PEEVEEPEE!” Its why I don’t post on that forum. A little bit of defense goes a long way, IMO, but no one else over there seems to agree.

Also, if anything on the necro is something another class complains about at any time, that would mean it’s an actual strength of the class.

I bet you if I statistically compiled all the pvp complaints it would look something like this.

#$# Stealth
#$ Heartseeker Spam
#$# RTL
#$# Mistform
#$# Mesmer Retargeting
#$# What killed me (Hint: time warp!)
#$# Engie Knockdowns
#$# Engie Invulns
#$# Moa
#$# Ranger Conditions
##$ Ranger Pet
#$# P/D thief conditions

And so on and so forth…gee when do we get to anything Necro…

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

I’m explaining that Necro and Thief have limited access to Poison (Our best coming from Staff 3 and CPC), when other classes have larger access to it, which makes no sense.

I can’t take the “thieves have limited access to poison” statement seriously.

So there’s my argument about thieves having more than sufficient access to poison, between a utility skill that works adequately on most builds, a pair of specialized traits and one exceptional weapon skill.

That said, I do feel like the Necromancer’s poison access could be improved. The auto-attack on scepter could really benefit from a one-second increase in duration (and a corresponding nerf to the attack damage) just to make it possible to keep the poison stack going without a pile of bonus duration. As it is though, the skill is very good at prolonging an existing poison, and only gets better with build investment.

What I find more important is that corrosive poison cloud is not a good skill for stacking poison. It stacks slowly, has built-in hassle because it’s a corruption skill (your build has to deal with the self-applied weakness in some way, so it’s a rather specialized skill), and the base recharge is kind of long. (40 second recharge for base 15 second conditions, if your target is forced to stay inside the field.)
This is not to say corrosive poison cloud is awful, but it isn’t a skill that you can slot just because you want some AoE poison. You have to build around it a bit.

Another way I think you could kill a few birds with one stone is to make Death Shroud somehow have access to poison. Maybe putting a 5 second poison on doom? Or a 1-2 second poison on life blast (Depending on how much life force you have) and make it a little bit hybrid?

Otaking.4675:

Also, if anything on the necro is something another class complains about at any time, that would mean it’s an actual strength of the class.

I bet you if I statistically compiled all the pvp complaints it would look something like this.

#$# Stealth
#$ Heartseeker Spam
#$# RTL
#$# Mistform
#$# Mesmer Retargeting
#$# What killed me (Hint: time warp!)
#$# Engie Knockdowns
#$# Engie Invulns
#$# Moa
#$# Ranger Conditions
##$ Ranger Pet
#$# P/D thief conditions

And so on and so forth…gee when do we get to anything Necro…

A long time back, I watched a pretty enlightening video on MMO game development, and this was something it covered. It said that at any given time you have a lot of people complaining about certain abilities that different classes possess, and these complaints all happen at relatively the same time (no major game or mechanic changes have occurred within the last 3-6 months), you have yourself some balanced classes. Now if you have everyone pointing at a specific class and it revolves around one particular ability with no other classes being called OP in that manner, then you’ve got a problem. Not saying that something can’t be too powerful, even with multiple “OP” classes, as evidenced by some of the nerfs that have occurred, but they still complain about those skills despite being nerfed.

No one has ever complained about anything necromancers can do as being OP.

Necros are a bit light on controls in general. I wouldn’t mind a fear buff on necros. Warriors and thieves can keep their fear. I just want necros to be able to use it, too.

Kravick.4906:

Not quote true, however they do have to give up a lot to achieve it. Truth be told, the warriors shout heal build is by far the best condition removal spam I’ve ever seen, and it works on up to 5 people at once. They can remove 1 condition every 4-5 seconds if they space out their shouts, but it is a specific build and does require 6x runes of the soldier.

There is also this skill, which I never see warriors use for some reason.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Stamina

Its pretty kitten good for non shout heal builds, especially the passive (+33% endurance regeneration, I would kill to have this signet on my necro, seriously), but the warrior mentality has always been “OMG BALLS 2 DA WALL MAX DPS GUISE EVEN IN PEEVEEPEE!” Its why I don’t post on that forum. A little bit of defense goes a long way, IMO, but no one else over there seems to agree.

I was seriously hoping no one would be blind enough to seriously consider suggesting the warrior shout build just so warriors can remove conditions…….

Have you ever actually tried it? I doubt so, cause it’s absolutely horrendous in s/tPvP. Barely adds to survivability aside from the condition removal you’ve sacrificed an entire set of runes and full utility bar to get, and your dps becomes close to ZERO cause warriors have nothing else to get them close enough to deal damage (and rifle/LB are two of the easiest weapons to dodge in the game, unless you suck ofc). Oh yeah, and you can get the shouts to heal, glad I had to give up 30 freaking trait points just to get that 1.5k on each shout, it’ll help me restore my 20-27k health pool in no time!

Also I do use the signet of stamina, I’m so happy I’ve got that ONE condition removal, now I’ll DEFINITELY be able to work my way through the constant applications of slowing condies turning warrior damage output to ZERO……

It is a well known FACT that warriors are horrendous at removing conditions and slowing condies are what breaks the class in tPvP, even the devs themselves have admitted as much (they said if they gave warriors the same condi removal as other classes they’d become an “unstoppable force,” so now we can’t reach any target worth a crap).

But that’s just one of the many reasons I gave up on my warrior in favor of my necro in s/tPvP and far off topic, so I’ll stop there.

Vicarious.3047:

I was seriously hoping no one would be blind enough to seriously consider suggesting the warrior shout build just so warriors can remove conditions…….

Have you ever actually tried it? I doubt so, cause it’s absolutely horrendous in s/tPvP. Barely adds to survivability aside from the condition removal you’ve sacrificed an entire set of runes and full utility bar to get, and your dps becomes close to ZERO cause warriors have nothing else to get them close enough to deal damage (and rifle/LB are two of the easiest weapons to dodge in the game, unless you suck ofc). Oh yeah, and you can get the shouts to heal, glad I had to give up 30 freaking trait points just to get that 1.5k on each shout, it’ll help me restore my 20-27k health pool in no time!

Also I do use the signet of stamina, I’m so happy I’ve got that ONE condition removal, now I’ll DEFINITELY be able to work my way through the constant applications of slowing condies turning warrior damage output to ZERO……

It is a well known FACT that warriors are horrendous at removing conditions and slowing condies are what breaks the class in tPvP, even the devs themselves have admitted as much (they said if they gave warriors the same condi removal as other classes they’d become an “unstoppable force,” so now we can’t reach any target worth a crap).

But that’s just one of the many reasons I gave up on my warrior in favor of my necro in s/tPvP and far off topic, so I’ll stop there.

But the warrior shout build is absolutely wonderful in WvW. The point is to lock down the other zerg with your hammer while supporting your zerg through shout heals and condition removals. My guild runs a dedicated team of people with this build, along with plague form necromancers, with remarkable success.

In t/sPvP, warriors are in a bit of a bad spot, I will agree. But WvW, they’re awesome. In WvW, yes I have run this build on my warrior. It is amazing. Its not a small group build, so obviously it does poorly in structured, but to say that a warrior can’t do something, when it can, even if it is a niche build, isn’t exactly true. There is also no reason that you can’t use 6x soldier runes in PvE while running FGJ and SIO (which is exactly what I did when I was running TA for gear on my warrior several months ago, poison all over the kitten place in there), unless you’re running a specific build that revolves around a particular rune set. You don’t have to be balls to the wall DPS all the time. But as I said, it does require a sacrifice.

Kravick.4906:

But the warrior shout build is absolutely wonderful in WvW. The point is to lock down the other zerg with your hammer while supporting your zerg through shout heals and condition removals. My guild runs a dedicated team of people with this build, along with plague form necromancers, with remarkable success.

In t/sPvP, warriors are in a bit of a bad spot, I will agree. But WvW, they’re awesome. In WvW, yes I have run this build on my warrior. It is amazing. Its not a small group build, so obviously it does poorly in structured, but to say that a warrior can’t do something, when it can, even if it is a niche build, isn’t exactly true.

Was this thread not about sPvP builds for the necro?

At least that was my impression (since fear duration in WvW shouldn’t matter all that much in such large groups) so when I commented I was solely referring to sPvP warriors.

So I do agree warriors are great in WvW and their shout builds are also great, I personally run a hammer/shout build myself, but my statement about warriors not being able to do something was in fact true from the perspective I was thinking and commenting in.

Vicarious.3047:

Was this thread not about sPvP builds for the necro?

At least that was my impression (since fear duration in WvW shouldn’t matter all that much in such large groups) so when I commented I was solely referring to sPvP warriors.

OP was about fear and how it needs better damage co-efficients. As far as what you quoted, yeah I didn’t read that, so I suppose my reply was out of context then. My fault.

I’m okay where this thread has gone. Basically it’s another thread whining about Necro, but slightly more directed whining.

Bas.7406:

Ah, the trolls are strong in this one. I opened it up expected complaints was met with it, when Andele attempts to help, the Dredlord raises his sarcastic head from the grave to help his minions :P.

I am going to make one comment and the disappear from this den of horrors.

Fear is the Number one most complained about Condition in the entire game by every class not named Necromancer. We want it stronger, every other class wants it gone. Take a listen to the Mesmer Podcast coming out on Monday. The top Mesmers, hate fear, they absolutely despise it almost as much as we despise thief invisibility.

People complain about our fear? Really?! I guess condition builds would warrent a complaint, but I barely even use mine givin’ im using a meleemancer build

I’ve been using my variant on the Terror build in both PvP and WvW, and I think it’s the best condition-burst tool in the game. To demonstrate, I’ll show some numbers from my build when I set up to burst:

Terror ticks: 1100
Bleed ticks: 110
Axe 2 channel: 3.5k

So with 5 bleeds on the target, chaining into a 4 second fear, that’s slightly over 10k unavoidable damage (after they use their stunbreak) plus Barbed Precision and Earth Sigil procs.

If you’re a purely condition based Terror build:

Terror tick: 1400
Bleed tick: 140

We’ll do 9 bleeds for this calculation because of using scepter over Axe. So in total, that’s also over 10k damage, plus bleed procs.

You can put this on a 32s cooldown with the Staff Mastery trait. So I don’t think Fear is gonna get a buff.

Bas.7406:

Ah, the trolls are strong in this one. I opened it up expected complaints was met with it, when Andele attempts to help, the Dredlord raises his sarcastic head from the grave to help his minions :P.

I am going to make one comment and the disappear from this den of horrors.

Fear is the Number one most complained about Condition in the entire game by every class not named Necromancer. We want it stronger, every other class wants it gone. Take a listen to the Mesmer Podcast coming out on Monday. The top Mesmers, hate fear, they absolutely despise it almost as much as we despise thief invisibility.

/runs off to figure out how to put more fear on build >:D

But yea, the damage isnt the reason I use fear, on a power mancer anyway.

koopatroopa.5360:

Bas.7406:

Ah, the trolls are strong in this one. I opened it up expected complaints was met with it, when Andele attempts to help, the Dredlord raises his sarcastic head from the grave to help his minions :P.

I am going to make one comment and the disappear from this den of horrors.

Fear is the Number one most complained about Condition in the entire game by every class not named Necromancer. We want it stronger, every other class wants it gone. Take a listen to the Mesmer Podcast coming out on Monday. The top Mesmers, hate fear, they absolutely despise it almost as much as we despise thief invisibility.

People complain about our fear? Really?! I guess condition builds would warrent a complaint, but I barely even use mine givin’ im using a meleemancer build

It is an instant cc with no ability to know when or that it’s coming, and even the short ones can hurt or can push you into more damage. If you don’t have your stability or stun break ready it essentially hits you every single time. I think Oscicat pointed out in the recent mesmer podcast that it’s frustrating because Necro’s have 3 ways to do it on short CD’s, and that because it’s only for 1 to 2 seconds that stun breaking it is not always smart because you may need it again. He said warriors you can just stun break and keep going, but Necro’s will use one than let you stun break and than do it again.

Bas.7406:

I think Oscicat pointed out in the recent mesmer podcast that it’s frustrating because Necro’s have 3 ways to do it on short CD’s, and that because it’s only for 1 to 2 seconds that stun breaking it is not always smart because you may need it again.

Hmmm 3 ways?? Maybe its because I didnt sleep well but I can only think of staff 5 and shroud 3, aside from the reactive traits of course. What am I missing?

I thought the true power of fear was making people fill up their gas tanks while stocking up on canned goods, bottled water, and toilet paper.

Kilger.5490:

Bas.7406:

I think Oscicat pointed out in the recent mesmer podcast that it’s frustrating because Necro’s have 3 ways to do it on short CD’s, and that because it’s only for 1 to 2 seconds that stun breaking it is not always smart because you may need it again.

Hmmm 3 ways?? Maybe its because I didnt sleep well but I can only think of staff 5 and shroud 3, aside from the reactive traits of course. What am I missing?

Reaper’s protection, down state fear. Nightmare runes too. Maybe Fear of Death if that necro’s a bunker in a premade.

EDIT: also corrupting stability, no reason for mesmers to complain about that though.

Kilger.5490:

Bas.7406:

I think Oscicat pointed out in the recent mesmer podcast that it’s frustrating because Necro’s have 3 ways to do it on short CD’s, and that because it’s only for 1 to 2 seconds that stun breaking it is not always smart because you may need it again.

Hmmm 3 ways?? Maybe its because I didnt sleep well but I can only think of staff 5 and shroud 3, aside from the reactive traits of course. What am I missing?

I was referring to the reactive traits. I think he is talking about the one on CC. I will say if you want to hear another classes view of Necromancer. On the most recent Mesmerized podcast, Oscicat spends a good 15 minutes talking about Necromancers.

He essentially said 1v1 he has no problem, but once you get two or three with the Necro they become the most annoying class to face. My favorite part was when the hosts were like seriously a Necro? He goes, a good necro is incredibly difficult to burst down. They have the three fears, the cloudy thing that means they won’t let you get away, and if you get two of them in a 10 man group BLINDS EVERYWHERE!!

But the best part is that he runs a highly mobile two ele’s/thief/Mesmer havoc squad, and he said that the toughest thing to remember is that any fight with an Necro Squad is a fight to the death. You have to go in knowing you either have to kill them or forget the fight because their teammates aren’t running it’s a battle and they are ready for it so you better be. He mentioned that alot of times you can get a squad to run from you which makes it easy to pick them off, but not Necro’s their teammates know they can’t run so they will lock down and fight it out. You can kill them off one by one, but they ain’t going anywhere!

OK, I was hoping there was another fear I could dig out somewhere heh.

Kilger.5490:

OK, I was hoping there was another fear I could dig out somewhere heh.

Corrupting Stability is a ton of fun for conditionmancers.

Softspoken.2410:

That said, I do feel like the Necromancer’s poison access could be improved. The auto-attack on scepter could really benefit from a one-second increase in duration (and a corresponding nerf to the attack damage) just to make it possible to keep the poison stack going without a pile of bonus duration. As it is though, the skill is very good at prolonging an existing poison, and only gets better with build investment.

What I find more important is that corrosive poison cloud is not a good skill for stacking poison. It stacks slowly, has built-in hassle because it’s a corruption skill (your build has to deal with the self-applied weakness in some way, so it’s a rather specialized skill), and the base recharge is kind of long. (40 second recharge for base 15 second conditions, if your target is forced to stay inside the field.)
This is not to say corrosive poison cloud is awful, but it isn’t a skill that you can slot just because you want some AoE poison. You have to build around it a bit.

Another way I think you could kill a few birds with one stone is to make Death Shroud somehow have access to poison. Maybe putting a 5 second poison on doom? Or a 1-2 second poison on life blast (Depending on how much life force you have) and make it a little bit hybrid?

CPC is a great skill, but only because it has a lot of synergy with Death Nova, Bone Minions, Chillblains, and Putrid Mark.

Those skills stack together very well, and can still be broken apart (meaning you don’t have to use them all at once). You don’t just stack poison, but you stack poison and weakness in tandem. Using minions to finish Chillblains or CPC, or using Putrid Mark to finish CPC or Death Nova fields, is a very effective way to keep both poison and weakness up on lots of targets. And because so much of it is pulsing, cleansing is of limited value because the effect will just get put right back on. Finally, because you’re often using multiple stacking poison fields the poison duration ramps up relatively quickly and scepter is decent for maintaining that duration until the inevitable cleanse.

Is this super-awesome? No. But it’s not bad, and there’s definitely some interesting synergy there.

Bas.7406:

You can kill them off one by one, but they ain’t going anywhere!

Kitten freaking straight!

The way my team (we use a necro in almost every team make up we’ve got) sees it is that running is for cowards and turning your back on a fight just to save 5 points is shameful!

Except our thief, he does what he wants….

Ofc that’s just what we tell ourselves so we don’t end up leaving behind our necro, it’s not necessarily true lol

PinCushion.7390:

Softspoken.2410:

That said, I do feel like the Necromancer’s poison access could be improved. The auto-attack on scepter could really benefit from a one-second increase in duration (and a corresponding nerf to the attack damage) just to make it possible to keep the poison stack going without a pile of bonus duration. As it is though, the skill is very good at prolonging an existing poison, and only gets better with build investment.

What I find more important is that corrosive poison cloud is not a good skill for stacking poison. It stacks slowly, has built-in hassle because it’s a corruption skill (your build has to deal with the self-applied weakness in some way, so it’s a rather specialized skill), and the base recharge is kind of long. (40 second recharge for base 15 second conditions, if your target is forced to stay inside the field.)
This is not to say corrosive poison cloud is awful, but it isn’t a skill that you can slot just because you want some AoE poison. You have to build around it a bit.

Another way I think you could kill a few birds with one stone is to make Death Shroud somehow have access to poison. Maybe putting a 5 second poison on doom? Or a 1-2 second poison on life blast (Depending on how much life force you have) and make it a little bit hybrid?

CPC is a great skill, but only because it has a lot of synergy with Death Nova, Bone Minions, Chillblains, and Putrid Mark.

Those skills stack together very well, and can still be broken apart (meaning you don’t have to use them all at once). You don’t just stack poison, but you stack poison and weakness in tandem. Using minions to finish Chillblains or CPC, or using Putrid Mark to finish CPC or Death Nova fields, is a very effective way to keep both poison and weakness up on lots of targets. And because so much of it is pulsing, cleansing is of limited value because the effect will just get put right back on. Finally, because you’re often using multiple stacking poison fields the poison duration ramps up relatively quickly and scepter is decent for maintaining that duration until the inevitable cleanse.

Is this super-awesome? No. But it’s not bad, and there’s definitely some interesting synergy there.

Excellent points. I think that I agree CPC is a good skill, but you need other skills to take full advantage of it. In your example, CPC was part of an area-denial suite that had a few other poison fields included.

My intention in my first post was to say that if you decide you want to add poison application to your build, just taking CPC won’t suffice. This is compared to a thief taking shortbow or spider venom, or a ranger taking an off-hand dagger or viper trap. Both of these classes have focused “Take this skill for poison” choices, whereas the necromancer tends to get theirs bundled with other things. (Minions, chill, weakness)

I’ll admit this probably isn’t a huge cause for complaint. After all, the things poison tends to be bundled with are kind of great! But I must assert that Necromancers don’t have solid access to poison without moderate investment in other things at the same time, in comparison to thief / ranger which can have solid access to poison for very minor investments.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

“Every class should have a condition (And or boon) that is exclusive to them”. I’m thinking both Fear should be exclusive to Necromancer, and “Poison should be exclusive to Thief and Necromancer.”
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Loving that double standard. /slow clap.