Guild Wars 2

Hey there. I’ve mained a Warrior for a while and decided that it was time to jump to other characters and learn the tricks of their trade so that I can not only play them well, but counter them as well. For example, for Warriors it’s important to know how to time weapon sheathing in order to bait out countermeasures so that you can actually land skills like Pin Down and Backbreaker reliably. For Mesmers it was combos like Torch 4 – GS 4 – GS 2 – GS 3 While shattering and just general clone placement for maximum effectiveness. On Engi there’s the devastating Rifle 4 – Magnet then swapping back to rifle to use skill 5 for massive and almost unaviodable dmg.

I’m going to be honest, as a Warrior I rarely fear Necros unless they start with full Lifeforce. That being said, I would like to learn the optimal combos and little tricks that a noob to the class like me wouldn’t know. I prefer Terrormancer over Power Necros but tips for both are welcome.

What’s the optimal combos? How/when should I use DS? How do I gain Life Force more easily (That’s always the issue I run into in 1v1s)? Are there any little tricks I can use to gain the advantage?

Thanks in advance!

There’s not a lot.

If you run power you can do Dark Path > charge up LB and tap Doom at the same time as DP connects for 3 simultaneous hits to ensure all sigils procc, but this is wasteful and should only really be done on foes like PU Mes that you have to kill quickly before attrition wrecks you. Dark Pact > Double Wells > DS is the dream combo but will basically almost never happen, you can slot a Rage sigil to improve your chances of landing Dark Pact if you want though. Warhorn 4 can interrupt Shelter. Well of Corruption builds life force even tho its not supposed to. Stability is almost last on all your boon removals priorities. You can use Spectral Walk to jump from any height and survive. You can use Wurm and Walk for a shadowstep stomp. If you run Terror you should let Fears run out naturally before using another Fear on top of the previous Fear so the enemy can’t use a single removal to get rid of all your Fears at the same time. Cancel casting Spite sig so the signet appears over your head but doesn’t activate usually baits out a dodge. Random dodging as a Necro is a horrible idea for obvious reasons. Lots of environmental objects give life force like traps in the Obsidian Sanctum, boxes on Kyhlo(yes even the indestructible ones). Life Siphons hit through invulnerability.

That about covers it I think.

What do you typically open with on Terrormancer? I see a lot open with Staff 3 then typically 2. Or is it better to start with Scepter/Dagger? I tend to start with Scepter 2 then go for 5 but the delay on those skills seem to make it so annoying to land reliably. I can land nades on Engi all day but Scep/Dag seem to be really troublesome to land consistently and not doing so is a huge knock on your DPS.

Also, I had this troll D/P teef ambushing me constantly in a duel server and giving me crap for not being able to beat him (I did generally force a SR and camping in stealth to remove condis). As a Terrormancer starting with little to no LF am I supposed to reliably beat D/P teef? I fully acknowledge that I’m not great at necro yet but if I’m supposed to be hardcountering something then I may have a ways to go.

Also, I’ve been running this build because the newly buffed Foot trait seemed pretty solid but maybe it’s better just to have the unblockable marks on staff?

BurrTheKing.8571:

What do you typically open with on Terrormancer? I see a lot open with Staff 3 then typically 2. Or is it better to start with Scepter/Dagger? I tend to start with Scepter 2 then go for 5 but the delay on those skills seem to make it so annoying to land reliably. I can land nades on Engi all day but Scep/Dag seem to be really troublesome to land consistently and not doing so is a huge knock on your DPS.

Also, I had this troll D/P teef ambushing me constantly in a duel server and giving me crap for not being able to beat him (I did generally force a SR and camping in stealth to remove condis). As a Terrormancer starting with little to no LF am I supposed to reliably beat D/P teef? I fully acknowledge that I’m not great at necro yet but if I’m supposed to be hardcountering something then I may have a ways to go.

I barely ever play condi, so I’m by no means an authority on it. I saw the light of zerk necro at launch and never looked back. But if you wanna play it safe as a condi nec, start auto attacking with scepter to procc any possible auto removal and possibly bait out a cleanse before you start stacking up on conds for real. You can reserve staff for when someone gets close and you’ll be having an easier time landing all your marks. Terror isn’t a dueling build so don’t expect to win against equal or better players without 100% DS. If you’re less than 50% DS you’re gonna have a hard time against D/P, best you can do is to try juking them with Wurm and Walk to get away and find a teammate when they’re on you. With Full DS you should be able to kill or force a disengage.

I would go with the run of the mill Terror build over the FitG variant. A single stack of stability won’t do much at all most of the time and Greater Marks makes it a lot easier to land marks on moving foes.

Aktium.9506:

BurrTheKing.8571:

What do you typically open with on Terrormancer? I see a lot open with Staff 3 then typically 2. Or is it better to start with Scepter/Dagger? I tend to start with Scepter 2 then go for 5 but the delay on those skills seem to make it so annoying to land reliably. I can land nades on Engi all day but Scep/Dag seem to be really troublesome to land consistently and not doing so is a huge knock on your DPS.

Also, I had this troll D/P teef ambushing me constantly in a duel server and giving me crap for not being able to beat him (I did generally force a SR and camping in stealth to remove condis). As a Terrormancer starting with little to no LF am I supposed to reliably beat D/P teef? I fully acknowledge that I’m not great at necro yet but if I’m supposed to be hardcountering something then I may have a ways to go.

I barely ever play condi, so I’m by no means an authority on it. I saw the light of zerk necro at launch and never looked back. But if you wanna play it safe as a condi nec, start auto attacking with scepter to procc any possible auto removal and possibly bait out a cleanse before you start stacking up on conds for real. You can reserve staff for when someone gets close and you’ll be having an easier time landing all your marks. Terror isn’t a dueling build so don’t expect to win against equal or better players without 100% DS. If you’re less than 50% DS you’re gonna have a hard time against D/P, best you can do is to try juking them with Wurm and Walk to get away and find a teammate when they’re on you. With Full DS you should be able to kill or force a disengage.

I would go with the run of the mill Terror build over the FitG variant. A single stack of stability won’t do much at all most of the time and Greater Marks makes it a lot easier to land marks on moving foes.

The scepter AA tip is useful. I tended to go right for the main skills. As a GW1 Necro player I’m drawn to condi but I guess I can try Power if you have any tips for it. My perception is that everything leading up to it is just filler for the inevitable 1 spam. I know there’s a bit more to it but I like it when my damage comes from a bunch of sources.

BurrTheKing.8571:

The scepter AA tip is useful. I tended to go right for the main skills. As a GW1 Necro player I’m drawn to condi but I guess I can try Power if you have any tips for it. My perception is that everything leading up to it is just filler for the inevitable 1 spam. I know there’s a bit more to it but I like it when my damage comes from a bunch of sources.

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

Aktium.9506:

BurrTheKing.8571:

The scepter AA tip is useful. I tended to go right for the main skills. As a GW1 Necro player I’m drawn to condi but I guess I can try Power if you have any tips for it. My perception is that everything leading up to it is just filler for the inevitable 1 spam. I know there’s a bit more to it but I like it when my damage comes from a bunch of sources.

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

That’s….disappointing.

Well, Terrormancer is highly situational…

When will you land Corrupt Boon? When is the time to enter the fight, land Dark Path and convert boons?
Everything is something that needs to be done pro-actively… You set up your defenses, use a small window of oppertunity and get away again. True combos do not exist, maybe aside from landing a fear after some Condi Spikes

And yes, the Auto-attacks are your friends on every spec… sadly (Scepter 1 for bleeds, Staff 1 for Lifeforce)

BurrTheKing.8571:

Aktium.9506:

BurrTheKing.8571:

The scepter AA tip is useful. I tended to go right for the main skills. As a GW1 Necro player I’m drawn to condi but I guess I can try Power if you have any tips for it. My perception is that everything leading up to it is just filler for the inevitable 1 spam. I know there’s a bit more to it but I like it when my damage comes from a bunch of sources.

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

That’s….disappointing.

You can weapon cancel a lot of the staff attacks, only really worth it on reaper’s mark and putrid mark. These can be dodged easily because the caster’s hand glows on putrid mark, and reaper’s mark the whole staff is waved. Cancelling reaper’s mark looks cool cause you can cast it to where it shows the whole animation. Similarly, dagger 5 can be cancelled if you think your going to miss. Recently I’ve been moving back to dhummfire because you need the damage to kill a lot of classes especially in teamfights. I run double geo double energy on weapons. Spectral Walk and Flesh wurm are still the best stunbreaks in my opinion as well, terrormancer is a kiting build and nothing is more valuable than space in a kiting build.

zapv.8051:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Aktium.9506:

BurrTheKing.8571:

The scepter AA tip is useful. I tended to go right for the main skills. As a GW1 Necro player I’m drawn to condi but I guess I can try Power if you have any tips for it. My perception is that everything leading up to it is just filler for the inevitable 1 spam. I know there’s a bit more to it but I like it when my damage comes from a bunch of sources.

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

That’s….disappointing.

You can weapon cancel a lot of the staff attacks, only really worth it on reaper’s mark and putrid mark. These can be dodged easily because the caster’s hand glows on putrid mark, and reaper’s mark the whole staff is waved. Cancelling reaper’s mark looks cool cause you can cast it to where it shows the whole animation. Similarly, dagger 5 can be cancelled if you think your going to miss. Recently I’ve been moving back to dhummfire because you need the damage to kill a lot of classes especially in teamfights. I run double geo double energy on weapons. Spectral Walk and Flesh wurm are still the best stunbreaks in my opinion as well, terrormancer is a kiting build and nothing is more valuable than space in a kiting build.

That’s interesting, I guess I never really thought about canceling ground targeted skills. Have you noticed that if you sheath skills right at the end of the animation it actually goes on a shorter CD than if you interrupt it mid cast? I noticed that with Pin Down at least.

Aktium.9506:

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

That’s not true.

@Burr:
I could write a really long list of stuff that probably some veteran necros don’t even know, but reading about them and trying them in game a very different things.
Also, a lot of it comes down to getting a feeling for skill timings and coodlowns.
So imo the best thing you can do is find a good necro in game and have a little sparring session. In terms of getting experience this would probably be the fastest way to get into the necro groove.

flow.6043:

Aktium.9506:

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

That’s not true.

Enlighten me. Now, I said I didn’t have much experience as Condi Necro due to having spent most of my 2.5k hours on Necro playing variations of the same zerker build I’ve used since launch. But from my experiences as Condi most of your consistent damage comes mainly from camping scepter and spamming 1 and 2 every now and then until you feel that the target is ready to chain fear.

flow.6043:

Aktium.9506:

You will be pressing 1 most of the time regardless of what build you use.

That’s not true.

@Burr:
I could write a really long list of stuff that probably some veteran necros don’t even know, but reading about them and trying them in game a very different things.
Also, a lot of it comes down to getting a feeling for skill timings and coodlowns.
So imo the best thing you can do is find a good necro in game and have a little sparring session. In terms of getting experience this would probably be the fastest way to get into the necro groove.

I honestly wouldn’t mind reading them to at least know what to attempt -_-. Also, I almost never see Necros in duel servers and I’m one of those terrible people that run Skullcracker which wrecks pretty much any Necro build that I’ve seen. I have to screw up pretty hard to lose. If I know they’re power I just save my reflect blocks for DS and if they’re condi I just…use Zerker Stance and start with an early Bull’s Charge + 100b which forces them to either use their generally only stun break which means it’s Skull Crack city from then on or they still eat a ton of dmg from the combo. Because of this I feel bad because the Necros never stay long after that.

I see maybe 1 if I’m lucky and they’re often as new as I am.

A few quick tips:

1. Become familiar with all of your utilities. Intimately. Biblically, if you have to. While roaming in WvW, I used to often swap out utilities here and there depending on which class I saw in the distance, because a single utility can be the difference between winning and losing. Well of Darkness, Spectral Armor, Spectral Wall, Corrupt Boon, Plague Signet, Well of Power, and Spectral Grasp regularly find their way onto my bar. Tailoring your utilities to your opponent is often key, in my opinion.

2. Spectral abilities persist in Death Shroud, so if you use Spectral Armor then go into DS, you’ll get 8% damage roughly every second you are still being attacked, while taking less damage since you’re in DS. LF often just floats for several seconds.

3. Power Necro isn’t all about LB. Even if it does the majority of damage in a fight, several components lead up to the ability to use LB effectively: chills, immobilize, LF generation, spacing, etc. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you’re extremely high on LF, your enemy is lower on health, and you can freely start to gun them down. Without LB, you still have combos such as Dagger #3 → Focus #4 → Dagger #1s → DS #3 → DS #1.

4. If you’re a Necro starting a 1v1 with 0% LF against a dueling spec, you’re at a disadvantage. If you duel any Necros starting at 0% LF against your dueling spec, you have an advantage against them. If the dueling community doesn’t let Necros at least start with 20% or so, that seems incredibly silly to me.

5. Energy sigil usage has also been paramount for me on any Necro. You absolutely need to capitalize on your dodge timings, and having an extra dodge on demand is clutch.

6. You’ll get used to landing the AoEs. It just takes time. I went from Warrior to Necro as well, and the cast times threw me off hard for a while.

7. Canceling casts can be very rewarding. Get a feel for what people are dodging, then start canceling those casts.

I’m trying to think of other “tricks”, but nothing paramount is coming to mind off the top of my head. Just don’t be afraid to try things, regardless of what is “the most damage”. You need to set yourself up to do damage without getting killed, first. And don’t forget Scepter #3 or Staff #1. Any life force is good to gain, especially if other things are on CD.

As flow said, your best shot is to probably find some decent Necromancer in game and invite him for training.

There are simply too many variables, especially for Condition Necromancer.

Aktium.9506:

Enlighten me. Now, I said I didn’t have much experience as Condi Necro due to having spent most of my 2.5k hours on Necro playing variations of the same zerker build I’ve used since launch. But from my experiences as Condi most of your consistent damage comes mainly from camping scepter and spamming 1 and 2 every now and then until you feel that the target is ready to chain fear.

The biggest selling point of scepter really is the auto attack, especially the poison on the third hit. So one might think that condi necros auto attack a lot, but if you pay attention while watching PvP/WvW videos you’ll notice that they mostly just use auto attacks to fill the time between the cooldowns of other skills.

(“pro” tip for Burr: auto attacks → chain fair, is not a good skill rotation)

BurrTheKing.8571:

I honestly wouldn’t mind reading them to at least know what to attempt -_-. Also, I almost never see Necros in duel servers and I’m one of those terrible people that run Skullcracker which wrecks pretty much any Necro build that I’ve seen. I have to screw up pretty hard to lose. If I know they’re power I just save my reflect blocks for DS and if they’re condi I just…use Zerker Stance and start with an early Bull’s Charge + 100b which forces them to either use their generally only stun break which means it’s Skull Crack city from then on or they still eat a ton of dmg from the combo. Because of this I feel bad because the Necros never stay long after that.

I see maybe 1 if I’m lucky and they’re often as new as I am.

First of all, I’d stay away from dueling servers. You get to play once every three hours if you’re lucky. The point in learning by dueling is to create a training environment, repeat the same encounter several times and get feedback every time. If you duel on a 1v1 server you get killed, go back to observer mode and learn absolutely nothing.

In case you’re on EU I’ll gladly have a little training session (you can even try me on your skullcracker ;P).

Anyway, just some general pointers then:
A lot of what makes seasoned necro players stand out is their use of Death Shroud. And by that I mean how they incorporate their Shroud timing as a defensive mechanism into offensive skill rotations.
So like Rym said, there are too many variables to just write up some standard skill combos especially because you should play your necro reactively rather than just work through certain sets of skills. A lot of it actually comes down to knowing what build your opponent is using, even something more specific like the personal preferences and style of a player. So based on that you have to know when to play defensively, when to apply pressure, and most importantly when and how you can attack when your opponent exposes an opening.
I know, this might not help you a lot because it sounds rather cryptic, but the ability to read your opponent and adept is probably one of the most important things when playing necro.

So, I’m back after trying Power Necro. The ease of use probably gives even Warriors a run for its money. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I feel so much more fulfilled using Terrormancer but Power does have that appeal of seeing damage numbers popping up constantly.

I feel like the learning curve basically just comes down to dealing with the classes inadequacies. While a well played Terrormancer is to be Feared (heh), if the enemy has a Shoutbow that doesn’t blow all of their removal and spaces it out right good luck beating them. Power is fun but it lacks the mobility of D/P Teef or the support/sustain of MediGuard.

I’ve basically walked away with more empathy for the class. I can see why the devs would have issues balancing because if you have full LF you feel like a god but with none you’re basically a third wheel. One buff too many and we got the Dumbfire problem all over again, but as they are now they have a place in WvW with Wells and that’s it.

Hopefully Reaper impresses me more. If nothing else I’ll be able to enjoy my Greatsaw and Executioner’s outfit.

EDIT:After thinking about it…Reaper on paper seems to be really weak to Warriors. They don’t mind you getting up close and you chilling them just means that skills like Whirlwind Attack are going to hit you a ton of times. That being said they’re team fighters so we’ll see.

One tip I give is that you learn what is corrupted in what (wiki ) and the basics of the boon removal priority (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Necro-Boon-Removal-Priorities/4252200).

flow.6043:

you’ll notice that they mostly just use auto attacks to fill the time between the cooldowns of other skills.

It goes without saying that you use skills like Scepter 2 and Dagger 5 when they’re off cooldown aside from more situational skills, but even if you call it filler you’ll be pressing 1 just as much as in a power build.

Aktium.9506:

flow.6043:

you’ll notice that they mostly just use auto attacks to fill the time between the cooldowns of other skills.

It goes without saying that you use skills like Scepter 2 and Dagger 5 when they’re off cooldown aside from more situational skills, but even if you call it filler you’ll be pressing 1 just as much as in a power build.

Perhaps that came accross wrong.
What you’re thinking of here is something like: Grasping Dead + Enfeebling Blood, then auto attack for 10 seconds, Grasping Dead, aa for another 10 sec, rinse/repeat.
However, if you really rotate through all of your weapon skills, utility skills, Death Shroud, weapon swap to staff, back into DS, back to scepter/dagger, and so on… you’ll barely get to auto attack at all. I’ve seen fights that are over a minute long without a single auto attack hit from scepter.
And it’s really not that different for power builds. Life Blast definitely gets a big share in a necro’s skill rotation because a homing and long range attack is a rather reliable source of damage. But how often do power builds really get to use their dagger auto attack? It’s definitely something you want to use, but getting in range isn’t always easy, or downright impossible against some opponents.

I can share some of what I’ve been taught.
-Open 1v1 fights with staff 3. Chill/poison limits their options at the first move.
-Cast staff 5 on top of yourself or in places the enemy is guaranteed to be. For example, if you put it on top of yourself before fighting a d/d ele or a thief, they cannot safely rtl/shadowstep into you.
-Count your enemies’ dodges and make sure that Signet of Spite will not miss when you cast it. Fearing with ds 3 then using it works.
-You can bait dodges by delaying your ds 3 when you enter ds.
-It usually helps to save corrupt boon for stability
-Use your condi transfers wisely. Never waste staff 4 and dagger 4 can be used for the blind, but it is also best saved for condi transfers. For example, if a p/d thief applies 10 stacks of confusion to you and you send it back, they’re in big trouble.
-manage your life force. As a condi necro, your options for ds generation are staff 1, scepter 3, and spectral skills. Spectral armor is an excellent source of life force IF your foe hits you. Don’t be afraid to use staff 5 if you have to, but most 1v1s won’t require/allow you to.
I’m not a great player, but the person who taught me is. Hope these tips help!

flow.6043:

I’ve seen fights that are over a minute long without a single auto attack hit from scepter.

Those fights wouldn’t happen to be against Thieves and Medi Guards where you’ll be focusing more on trying to survive than killing would they?

Aktium.9506:

flow.6043:

I’ve seen fights that are over a minute long without a single auto attack hit from scepter.

Those fights wouldn’t happen to be against Thieves and Medi Guards where you’ll be focusing more on trying to survive than killing would they?

All kinds of fights really.
On a somewhat related note, I use a hybrid setup with an axe instead of a scepter. So I actually try to avoid the auto attack if possible, and believe me it works. If I didn’t have the auto attack at all it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Cecilia.5179:

I can share some of what I’ve been taught.
-Open 1v1 fights with staff 3. Chill/poison limits their options at the first move.
-Cast staff 5 on top of yourself or in places the enemy is guaranteed to be. For example, if you put it on top of yourself before fighting a d/d ele or a thief, they cannot safely rtl/shadowstep into you.
-Count your enemies’ dodges and make sure that Signet of Spite will not miss when you cast it. Fearing with ds 3 then using it works.
-You can bait dodges by delaying your ds 3 when you enter ds.
-It usually helps to save corrupt boon for stability
-Use your condi transfers wisely. Never waste staff 4 and dagger 4 can be used for the blind, but it is also best saved for condi transfers. For example, if a p/d thief applies 10 stacks of confusion to you and you send it back, they’re in big trouble.
-manage your life force. As a condi necro, your options for ds generation are staff 1, scepter 3, and spectral skills. Spectral armor is an excellent source of life force IF your foe hits you. Don’t be afraid to use staff 5 if you have to, but most 1v1s won’t require/allow you to.
I’m not a great player, but the person who taught me is. Hope these tips help!

These are all good tips, I knew most of them but some I wasn’t sure if this was just me making nooby assumptions.

I’m getting mixed messages on the auto attack situation. I did find myself not using them much because as a Warrior player you rarely do more than one combo due to our fast weapon swaps and that habit carried over. Scepter 1 does seem pretty crazy strong with Terrormance though so maybe that’s why my bleed stacking power seemed so much lower even with being on top of my enemy when wep swapping.

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’m getting mixed messages on the auto attack situation.

If the opponent allows you to, absolutely smother them with auto attacks. Applying so many conditions (Especially with sigil procs) is huge. Scepter AA is one of the best in the game for a reason. Should you overly rely on it? Absolutely not. I’m a fan of opening with an AA chain, or Staff #3 then Scepter AA. It allows you a quick glimpse of the enemy’s removal, and if they’re willing to blow it early. Sometimes they’re even willing to interrupt/CC you right off the bat before you even begin a proper rotation. Those fights usually end in my favor.

As for Power Necro, it’s definitely a lot more straight forward. I forego crit from stats on mine and opt for more defenses and bring a lot of stun breaks (I swap between Death Perception and FitG). I solo/duoqueue primarily, and a build like that works out fairly well. You can duel well enough, and have moderate survivability with DS against 2-3 if you time your rotations and stun breaks effectively.

flow.6043:

Aktium.9506:

flow.6043:

I’ve seen fights that are over a minute long without a single auto attack hit from scepter.

Those fights wouldn’t happen to be against Thieves and Medi Guards where you’ll be focusing more on trying to survive than killing would they?

All kinds of fights really.
On a somewhat related note, I use a hybrid setup with an axe instead of a scepter. So I actually try to avoid the auto attack if possible, and believe me it works. If I didn’t have the auto attack at all it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

As a longtime user of Axe/Focus instead of Staff on Power Nec, I’d say Axe is a bit of a special case because of the awful auto attack. When I use Axe I mostly get it for Axe 2’s life force generation and when I switch to it I mostly do something like Focus 5/Axe 3 > Focus 4 > Axe 2 as an opener so I’ll get some quick life force to enable early DS. I’ll use the auto on Axe to fish for sigil proccs if I’m close to getting someone down and they’re low.

The best, most generic advice I can give:

Condi – Kite like a champion. Know your teleports, and don’t waste your fears and corruptions until they will count.

Power – It’s all about your life force. Play aggressively, but don’t get yourself killed.

You will be focused, so you have to have the tools and skills to properly deal with it.

Learn to flash DS. If you get CC’d in a bad spot, shift into DS, hit 3, then immediately shift out. It can be done in a fraction of a second, and gets your foe off of you so you can recover. It’s also good for proccing Fury, if you’re specced into curses.

Tainted Shackles deals a big spike of damage when the immobilize procs, so always try to keep in range for that. You don’t need to remain in DS for it to finish, but Dark Path really helps get the full duration off.

Corrupt Boon as soon as you see someone use a big stability skill. You’ll bring them to tears as it transforms into Fear.

Deathly Swarm can transfer 9 (!) conditions off of you if it’s able to bounce. So consider letting those bleeds tick a couple more times if you know you’ll be able to get a better shot off.

Conditions in general should not be cleansed/transferred too soon. Let them build up, then when you feel they’re at about their peak, send them back with Dagger 4 or Staff 4 or Plague Signet, or just eat them all with Consume Conditions. You’re tanky enough to survive letting them build up a bit.

In open world pve, always bring Epidemic if you’re a condition build. Never let it off your bar. One press of a button can send out a total of 125 bleed stacks, which all operate according to your stats.

Life Transfer doesn’t actually deal that much damage to a single target. Only use it when there’s multiple targets. It is, however, pretty nice for proccing bleeds from barbed precision.

In sPvP, when guarding a point, feel free to pre-place some marks. Put Mark of Blood in a choke point to bait out your enemy’s dodge, and put Chillblains and Putrid Mark on top of each other. Very often, people will assume you put the dangerous marks first, and dodge through the mark of blood only to be hit by a ton of chill, poison, and weakness. Always save Reaper’s Mark, though.

You can judge if you’re within 600 range for Life Blast and Doom to be stronger by looking at the range indicator on DS4 and 5. If you’re in range for those, then DA 1 and 3 get better.