Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone. Yes i am back and currently enjoying the new patch. Just posting up my thoughts on a build i made and was hoping some others would try it out.

I will be making a stream video too to go over every choice for the build later, but figured id post it up now to start some conversation.

Without further ado, i present signet of suffering condi necro.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-344Z;1kHFC0143J-K0;9;467A;0136156156;4hwl430;0hoHAhoHA2E

So far this build has proven to be VERY strong in a 1v1 setting and team setting. I’ve been seeing a lot of worry condi wouldnt be strong, but i disagree with that after playing around with some things.

I’ll briefly go over trait choices

Spite——

spiteful renewal- decent skill since it does give us some sustain and cleanse.

Chill of death- this talent has been strong since day 1 of necro. It allows controlled bursting and also strips boons.

Signet of suffering- This talent is what makes the build. it is very powerful in terms of giving you a 24 sec stunbreak (plague sig) and a passive one with plague sending. It also allows for more burst since it corrupts boons.

curses——

plague sending- Amazing talent. it breaks stuns, helps cleanse/reduce pressure and helps spike if you time it right.

terror- this trait really doesnt need much explaining. its mainly to spike targets but could also be swapped out for path of corruption.

weakening shroud- this talent is a combination of the old weakening shroud and withering precision. its very strong now since it allows a pretty decent uptime on weakness and allows to deathshroud to spike with bleeds or peel with the weakness.

soul reaping——-

soul marks- this trait was strong already in the old patch build, but now its on steroids since it combines the old greater marks. this helps solve a lot of the life force generation problem with a condi necro.

fear of death- once again could be personally choice. only taking it to support terror since condi duration is hard to come by now.

foot in the grave- finally, FitG originally didnt look too appealing to me until i tried it. it is very strong in my opinion. I say this due to the fact it turns death shroud into a stun break. That is way strong than just gaining stability. Dhuumfire could be swapped out here though for a more glassy playstyle.

Hope everyone enjoys the build. Like i said, ill make a video with more indepth explanation. I will also cover amulet, runes, utilities and sigil choices in the video.

-Zombi

It looks really interesting. I initially though most condi necros would take blood for the oodles of “group support”, but the spite/plague signet condi burst looks scary as hell.

Still the main point, as its been for a while, is that dedicated condition builds in pvp are more similar to burst than attrition, which is also especilly true of rabid engineer. But thats just the way that gw2’s meta for the past year or more has shaped up to be I guess.

Thanks Zombify.

Would you consider dropping offhand dagger for warhorn, given the insane amount of transfers this build has? I always hate playing without Swiftness, and before I could never get myself to give up OH Dagger. Now I think it might be okay… but I guess we’ll see.

Yep exactly what I’ve been using, makes condi bombers and boom spammers sad.

Personnaly I would drop signet of spite for signet of locust. The passive is nice and the active can heal quite a bit + aoe corruption. lso due the lower cooldown you get a bit more might.

Yngvar.7614:

Thanks Zombify.

Would you consider dropping offhand dagger for warhorn, given the insane amount of transfers this build has? I always hate playing without Swiftness, and before I could never get myself to give up OH Dagger. Now I think it might be okay… but I guess we’ll see.

I am currently testing traveler runes again for that exact reason. i think dagger off hand is too strong as good as warhorn is. i am finding i still need deathly swarm transfer even with everything else.

Tim.6450:

Personnaly I would drop signet of spite for signet of locust. The passive is nice and the active can heal quite a bit + aoe corruption. lso due the lower cooldown you get a bit more might.

I tried signet of locust and found its actually not that bad, but signet of spite is just disgusting with the suffering grandmaster imo. usually if i bait out their stunbreaks and get a full fear so i can spite them, i win. Like i said, i plan on going over all the choices you can do with the build. i have several ideas that you guys could try

I’m trying it with Krait runes, since you can proc them pretty consistently with Golem

Welcome back bud, signet builds are definitely hilarious right now.

Couple things. I’ve been running Signet of the Locust instead of Corrupt Boon. It’s a little less boon hate, but AoE boon hate and it’s a decent heal when CC is on cooldown. Also I’ve been running Sigils of Frailty/Earth on Scepter and Frailty/Energy on Staff. Finally, I’ve been taking Speed of Shadows because of the great synergy with Weakening Shroud. I don’t miss Soul Marks because I didn’t take them beforehand.

It ends up looking like this. I’ve also been messing with runes of the krait. Haven’t decided what I like better though. If Focus 5 had a lower cooldown it would also be viable because focus stacks vulnerability well.

Ashur.6403:

If Focus 5 had a lower cooldown it would also be viable because focus stacks vulnerability well.

I think you mean casttime. Cooldown is fine in my opinion.

Muchacho.2390:

Ashur.6403:

If Focus 5 had a lower cooldown it would also be viable because focus stacks vulnerability well.

I think you mean casttime. Cooldown is fine in my opinion.

Yea i agree with this statement. focus would be pretty crazy with lower cast time.

Ashur.6403:

Couple things. I’ve been running Signet of the Locust instead of Corrupt Boon. It’s a little less boon hate, but AoE boon hate and it’s a decent heal when CC is on cooldown. Also I’ve been running Sigils of Frailty/Earth on Scepter and Frailty/Energy on Staff. Finally, I’ve been taking Speed of Shadows because of the great synergy with Weakening Shroud. I don’t miss Soul Marks because I didn’t take them beforehand.

It ends up looking like this. I’ve also been messing with runes of the krait. Haven’t decided what I like better though. If Focus 5 had a lower cooldown it would also be viable because focus stacks vulnerability well.

Interesting build. i dont think locust is stronger than cb though. you line up a cb with a spite, and things die fast. Also cb still has great utility for clutch situations. I do like that locust would open different rune choices (using travelers currently for the condi duration for a fear break point and movement speed).

Sigils are really up in the air. so many different ones work with this build. those are still good choices

Speed of shadows is interesting but i dont think it outpaces soul marks. unblockable used to be taken for just the sake of making them unblockable (and radius if you had trouble landing marks). having lf generation+unblockable is crazy good imo and too good to pass up.

Still happy to see variations

Love the build then i realized…. God this build looks super slow. give me swiftness or give me death

siestakey.9378:

Love the build then i realized…. God this build looks super slow. give me swiftness or give me death

Travelers runes my friend! warhorn may work too even though dagger is great.. having some success with that since it was mentioned here. Can swap out cb to signet of locust like someone else suggested, but i cb burst is too strong imo.

Also, having technical difficulties as always with my stream so video may be up tomorrow and ill really go into each choice for the build.

So u think it is back to rabid glass canon?

Good to see you back man. I’ve been trying variations of the Signets of Suffering build too and, while I think it’s the strongest condi build right now, it feels very gimmicky. It’s the kind of build that snowballs when a fight is going your way, but it doesn’t have as much means to turn a fight around when it doesn’t as the old Terrormancer did.

One reason for that is that Path of Corruption was a much more reliable way of stripping boons than SoS is. You’re stripping way more boons now, and some of them passively, but you could cast Dark Path when you needed it, and when the boon stripping mattered. You won’t cast Plague Signet when you need a boon strip, you’ll use it as a stun break so you’re probably being pressured and want to run away or heal up afterwards, you’re not in a position to take advantage of the boon strip. And Signet of Spite, well, I mostly use it to guarantee a down, when someone’s burned all their cleanses. At that point I don’t care about stripping boons.

I agree with you that FitG is a necessity if you’re only running Plague Signet as your stun break. I’ve tried to make PS work in the past, and, frankly, it’s no Flesh Wurm. It doesn’t really get you out of danger, its active is annoying as all hell (I like the concept, but when it pulls a random blind as you’re casting Corrupt Boon I just want to punch through my monitor) and severely limits your mobility, especially on Kyhlo.

But having to take FitG means no Dhuumfire, which really helps with our damage frankly. And it also means you can’t go into Blood for Blood Bond and really exploit Signets of Suffering to its ultimate brokenness. I tried it with Blood, and it made me too fragile, since life force generation and max life force went even lower.

And yeah, I feel much glassier in rabid gear, but really can’t bring myself to go back to Carrion because the brand new Weakening Shroud is so much better than Lingering Curse in pvp!

I played a lot of games yesterday, tried 3 radically different builds, and I think the SoS one is the strongest, but an overall nerf from pre-patch terrormancer.

Muchacho.2390:

Ashur.6403:

If Focus 5 had a lower cooldown it would also be viable because focus stacks vulnerability well.

I think you mean casttime. Cooldown is fine in my opinion.

Yeah, I meant cast time.

Locust is better than both spite and corrupt boon imo: the passive is very useful and the active is AOE boon corruption on a very low cooldwon.

1) what do you think of using the vamp signet as a heal? I find the CD on consume conditions just ruins it for me now

2) I find myself considerably more squishy than I used to be, I’m not sure if this is a result of the game changes to necros or the game changes to other professions, what do you think about running spectral armor for some additional staying power?

manveruppd.7601:

Good to see you back man. I’ve been trying variations of the Signets of Suffering build too and, while I think it’s the strongest condi build right now, it feels very gimmicky. It’s the kind of build that snowballs when a fight is going your way, but it doesn’t have as much means to turn a fight around when it doesn’t as the old Terrormancer did.

One reason for that is that Path of Corruption was a much more reliable way of stripping boons than SoS is. You’re stripping way more boons now, and some of them passively, but you could cast Dark Path when you needed it, and when the boon stripping mattered. You won’t cast Plague Signet when you need a boon strip, you’ll use it as a stun break so you’re probably being pressured and want to run away or heal up afterwards, you’re not in a position to take advantage of the boon strip. And Signet of Spite, well, I mostly use it to guarantee a down, when someone’s burned all their cleanses. At that point I don’t care about stripping boons.

I agree with you that FitG is a necessity if you’re only running Plague Signet as your stun break. I’ve tried to make PS work in the past, and, frankly, it’s no Flesh Wurm. It doesn’t really get you out of danger, its active is annoying as all hell (I like the concept, but when it pulls a random blind as you’re casting Corrupt Boon I just want to punch through my monitor) and severely limits your mobility, especially on Kyhlo.

But having to take FitG means no Dhuumfire, which really helps with our damage frankly. And it also means you can’t go into Blood for Blood Bond and really exploit Signets of Suffering to its ultimate brokenness. I tried it with Blood, and it made me too fragile, since life force generation and max life force went even lower.

And yeah, I feel much glassier in rabid gear, but really can’t bring myself to go back to Carrion because the brand new Weakening Shroud is so much better than Lingering Curse in pvp!

I played a lot of games yesterday, tried 3 radically different builds, and I think the SoS one is the strongest, but an overall nerf from pre-patch terrormancer.

Thanks man. Glad to be back. PoC is still strong with this build for sure. I just prefer the terror burst since our condition damage levels are pretty high now, especially with the curse tree passive. But you can definitely run PoC. I haven’t been throwing off my signets just to boon strip. its more calculated in terms of when can i reach the highest burst combined with the boon strip it offers. The boon strip is icing on the cake imo since the signets get such a low cd. It does at times feel gimmicky like you said though.

I was finding dhuumfire to be too big of a resource hog for not having much condi duration to stack it high. FitG was making duels stupidly easy and allowing me to get out of bad situations since its a second stunbreak. Yes, its no flesh wurm, but it definitely isnt bad. I also noticed my damage barely suffered since i am more so looking for spike windows instead of sustained pressure that dhuumfire would provide from trying to constantly keep it on the target. It was ok spike damage just throwing off 1 blast.

And yes we are way glassier in rabid, but the build really forces you to play it. Carrion gave us burst protection with its high life pool and EHP with life force.

Tissitra.4153:

Locust is better than both spite and corrupt boon imo: the passive is very useful and the active is AOE boon corruption on a very low cooldwon.

It corrupts in an AOE? I didn’t notice that when i was testing. This does make it look like a pretty powerful choice. Definitely gonna play around with that more now. I was just finding that with spite landing AND corrupting to create an extra 2 condi, it was just too much damage for the target to deal with. I am just managing the movement speed with travelers still because it plays nice with terror too.

Faelun.7563:

1) what do you think of using the vamp signet as a heal? I find the CD on consume conditions just ruins it for me now

2) I find myself considerably more squishy than I used to be, I’m not sure if this is a result of the game changes to necros or the game changes to other professions, what do you think about running spectral armor for some additional staying power?

While the CC nerf was pretty harsh, its still a very powerful heal since it also cleanses and poison doesn’t effect it. It just forces you to use even better positioning when using it than before. Definitely is risky to use it while you have someone tunneling you. Vamp signet as a heal would only really work if you had enough people around you. With rabid amulet, you dont get any healing power so it heals only for about 1k.

This build is definitely squishy and like previous necro builds, need good positioning just to have some impact. I attribute it to the power creep all classes got and switching to rabid (at least for this build). Seems like the game is even more bursty now haha.

spectral armor has always been good and definitely could be used. I find i have no trouble staying up with the utilities im running, but maybe you could swap out corrupt boon or sig of spite for it. I do really miss wurm and im tempted to swap cb for it….

Infect.2738:

It corrupts in an AOE? I didn’t notice that when i was testing. This does make it look like a pretty powerful choice. Definitely gonna play around with that more now. I was just finding that with spite landing AND corrupting to create an extra 2 condi, it was just too much damage for the target to deal with. I am just managing the movement speed with travelers still because it plays nice with terror too.

Yep, technically so would SoU if anyone used it, but the Signet boon corruption works on anyone who is affected by the signet, making SoL AoE boon corruption. Also worth noting that SoL had its base healing increased by 20% due to Bloodthirst being made baseline, so its a pretty nice secondary heal.

And a range increase! You wouldn’t think 120 radius is a big deal, but it feels significantly better.

Its kind of funny that we both came up with the same build haha. I wanted to try a condi signet necro after patch and so far it is looking really strong. The only I did different was swap corrupt boon for flesh wurm just for an escape. Really solid build!

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

Its kind of funny that we both came up with the same build haha. I wanted to try a condi signet necro after patch and so far it is looking really strong. The only I did different was swap corrupt boon for flesh wurm just for an escape. Really solid build!

Condi Corruption with CPC! Remember!

i play more that 20 games with this build and i go back to power i die faster before can do some stack on enemy and golem is useless in 70% time when i use chase skill on enemy he dont do anything only runnig around and dont attack

Pecar.1236:

i play more that 20 games with this build and i go back to power i die faster before can do some stack on enemy and golem is useless in 70% time when i use chase skill on enemy he dont do anything only runnig around and dont attack

Hmmm maybe i can offer some advice. This build, like most condi builds of the past, requires good positioning. Yes it can cheese someone, but against good players you still need to position smartly. This is extra important due to the cc nerf. While i still think cc is better than SoV (unless youre trying to go more offensive), its risky to use while being tunneled by enemies.

As for golem, you can run plague too since he appears to be very buggy once again. Pro-tip though: dont summon him right away. wait to summon him until you think you need his charge for like interrupting a res or heal.

What this build is good at is blowing people up very fast when played right.

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

Its kind of funny that we both came up with the same build haha. I wanted to try a condi signet necro after patch and so far it is looking really strong. The only I did different was swap corrupt boon for flesh wurm just for an escape. Really solid build!

haha yea its a fun build man and wurm is still really good! i run it sometimes too.

Nice build, have a question though:

If Plague Sending requires you to crit a target to trigger, and CC’s (with the sole exception of taunt) prevent you from attacking, how are use suppose to use it to stunbreak out of CC’s?

Foefaller.1082:

Nice build, have a question though:

If Plague Sending requires you to crit a target to trigger, and CC’s (with the sole exception of taunt) prevent you from attacking, how are use suppose to use it to stunbreak out of CC’s?

Pre-set pulsing effects like Locust Swarm or wells.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Foefaller.1082:

Nice build, have a question though:

If Plague Sending requires you to crit a target to trigger, and CC’s (with the sole exception of taunt) prevent you from attacking, how are use suppose to use it to stunbreak out of CC’s?

Pre-set pulsing effects like Locust Swarm or wells.

Tainted shackles also works if you read them well enough

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Foefaller.1082:

Nice build, have a question though:

If Plague Sending requires you to crit a target to trigger, and CC’s (with the sole exception of taunt) prevent you from attacking, how are use suppose to use it to stunbreak out of CC’s?

Pre-set pulsing effects like Locust Swarm or wells.

Also, popping DS with Weakening Shroud traited, I would assume.

manveruppd.7601:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Foefaller.1082:

Nice build, have a question though:

If Plague Sending requires you to crit a target to trigger, and CC’s (with the sole exception of taunt) prevent you from attacking, how are use suppose to use it to stunbreak out of CC’s?

Pre-set pulsing effects like Locust Swarm or wells.

Also, popping DS with Weakening Shroud traited, I would assume.

Correct. which is easily doable due to FitG trait.