Guild Wars 2

My thoughts on this balance patch:
greatsword: They really must have pulled out all the stops here. A 0.06 and 0.11 second aftercast reduction. Fantastic 0.06 seconds faster to your chill and 0.11 seconds to your gravedigger after the chill.
Axe: because extra boon corruption is exactly what necro needed the most.
Blood is power: We don’t need enemies we can now kill ourselves even faster with this 33% cooldown. Now combine this with master of corruption and we can apply four stacks of condition and to our enemy and ourselves ever 13.3 seconds. Which is faster then any transfer skill in the game so now we have synergy with 2 transfer skills instead of one.
Jagged horrors: because Lich condi builds are so overpowered and it is not that actual minion builds synergies with healing the minions.
Conclusion: great job. Couldn’t have done it better
/sarcasm

Well most support skills have this limitation by being a 5 man max skill. Necros are just not guarantueed of their own 20% of the cake which makes it one of the most selfless skills ever.

Supreme.3164:

Rev are not naturally tanky…they have loads of dodges and evades that take practice, loads of it to use properly, since HoT release we never seen a triple/quadruple Rev team steamrolling everything….but we had this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtZFok_D_TI

They may have nerfed chill dmg after 2 seasons of suffering and pleas from the community, but the condi spam is alive and well whether you like to admit or not.

Of that video I remembered that, it’s basically a video of a unrealistic max damage build, where they purposely hide the precast of a blood is power and litterally procced every single proc possible. Even then it took 13 seconds too kill it. soo much killing power.

The removal of dmg on chill is what allowed this burst meta to evolve, chill is already an extremely powerful condition, allowing it to do dmg was a huge blunder and we had no dragon hunters…without dragon hunters, revs would still be at huge disadvantage vs multiple necro teams.

Chill is not an extremely powerfull condition otherwise we would have had more play with it befor reaper but it didn’t.

With removal of all toughness/healing amulet and the inc nerfs to dreagonhunters, any sustain buff to reapers would catapult us back to s1 reaper condi spam meta in soloq, why is that?…Simple : just have couple of MM reapers traited for mediocre condi dmg , add some little dmg from other sources…..and neither an ele or druid would be able to sit on the point ( they already can’t btw)

This is impossible.

Supreme.3164:

DragonHunter is the only spec capable of sitting on the point..with that gone we’ll go back to double condi war/double reapers spamming condis on the point..with nothing that you can do really, who would stand a chance against this condi onslaught?

Just take some more condition removal, a lot of builds lost a lot of condition removal. Most float around the level of pre-hot engi.

We can’t ignore the insta cast unblockable spam of which necros are capable, despite all that is being said in this forum, it’s extremely easy to play a condi reaper at low levels, the more sustain they get…..the more easier it becomes at all levels, it’s a spam and forget gameplay that does not need any more help

Also a lie.

Any sustain buff to reapers not only must be limited to unused trait lines and utilities but also it must have substantial nerfs to necro/reaper overall pressure

Sure buff trait lies that aren’t used but nerf the rest so you get a balanced 5 trait line condi mm reaper hybrid with 5 utilities.

Diovid.9506:

Tim.6450:

Maybe we captured a minion of the deep sea dragon already. The krait orb prevents risen from forming. Sylvary couldn’t become risen as well and they are revealed to be dragon minions.

Krait have been stated to have been driven away from the deeps by the DSD ergo they are not the DSD’s minions.

Also, there’s still no conclusive evidence that minions of one dragon can not be corrupted by another dragon. See Kudu’s Monster and Subject Alpha.

I’m not talking about the krait themelves rather the orb.

Maybe we captured a minion of the deep sea dragon already. The krait orb prevents risen from forming. Sylvary couldn’t become risen as well and they are revealed to be dragon minions.

Well, if you want shroud to scale, just make some skills/traits that regulate the life force drops. For instance a trait could be:
When entering shroud your life force doesn’t drop for 2 seconds.

This means for 2 seconds you have damage immunity in shroud.

You can scale in other ways: a trait that prevents losing more then a fixed amount of life force in a second, skills that force a minimum duration of shroud regardless of life force,… . just some creativity.

However it does not go well with shroud flashing. Which is a legitimate thing to do. However a 1 sec icd may be usefull for unholy sanctuary only.

Anchoku.8142:

If the next elite trait line is under development, the current ones and weapon skills are probably locked down.

On the contrary traits will be modified wit that elite spec in mind, bitter chill eems to imply this.

otetas.9675:

I agree with you, except that im sure when the devs said about splitting was in the sense of not changing how your skills perform, but instead change the coeficients of them. Understand it as a skill that before was doing 2 stacks of bleeding for 6 secs, now does 3 stacks of bleeding for 4 secs.

The problem is that you subtly changed the function of a skill. The second bleed skill is more bursty then the first one. An easier example would be for instance blood is power pve uses the old version but pvp uses different coefficients. They doubled the might stacks and halved the condition stacks. The pvp version can be classified as a strong support skill with minor damage while he pve version is strong damage with minor support. The case is a bit exagerated but if you do a lot of these small cases you suddenly getbig changes.

The one I dislike the most, that giant crystal in glint’s lair. It was so boring: the only way to damage hims was through a load of mechanics.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

sophiewhite.3149:

Ruru.1302:

sophiewhite.3149:

Ruru.1302:

sophiewhite.3149:

lioka qiao.8734:

I think their survivablity is fine. I’ve had trouble dropping them on my guardian.

I do love landing a moa on a necro in shroud (with my mesmer) with 10% hp left though. It feels so fun to totally ruin their day.

abusing exploits like this is complete bs btw.

Forcing necros out of shroud with moa is not an exploit.

using moa to completely drain shroud and kill all their minions IS a exploit.

Care to explain how an intended, consistent mechanic qualifies as an exploit? It works like this for all transforms.

i refuse to believing killing all your minions is intended. until a dev actually says so.

It works like this for all classes, pretty sure they also stated it’s intended.

engi turrets/gyro stay.

Yasha.5963:

Lol, reaper shroud is massively powerful, it gives the necro very strong aoe cleave with quite a large range that is not blocked by some pillars and comes with stability and a gap closer, among other things.

It is the very definition of what you are talking about in terms of how the HoT specs take away the weaknesses of a class. I imagine the next expansion will give them blocks, evades, invun, perma-swiftness, and stealth as well.

The downsides are that you lose all forms of range, lose an unblockable skill, lose a instant interupt, necro’s longest duration chill skill (chill specialisation am I right),… . There are losses on the board but reaper simply offers stability and a more refined shroud. Death shroud still has some questionable design decisions: sloww aa but procs on that aa, a forced gap closer in a ranged spec ( which is one of your few condi skills),… .

Hooglese.4860:

Necromancer
It’s in a pretty good place I find. Just not perfect.

• Gravedigger: lower cooldown to 6s. Lower cast time to 1s
• Death Spiral: lower cast time to 3/4s
• Grasping Darkness: reduce cast time to 1/2s
• Should be a GM trait in Blood Magic (Unholy Martyr isn’t needed) that grants health/shroud when you corrupt a boon.
• Chilling Victory: either give might or shroud

That’s a lot of greatsword love. Now for that grandmaster. Unless you give life force options to other traitlines we kinda need unholy martyr as bad as it is. It’s still not as good as vital persistence but it is one of the few life force options left. Otherwhise you’re stuck with either no life force or a terrible trait.
Chilling victory nerf? really the condition of hitting a chilled oe isn’t hard enough as it is? For a life force regen below vital peristence?

Silverkey.2078:

• Less life-force how? I removed life force on spectral skills, except Spectral armor which has now more (and is the only one usually used), and you have less marks on Staff but more on other weapons and the trait gives more LF per mark.

You made last gasp exclusive with life froce marks also i’m not sure you will get that much out of spectral armor because people will stop to attack. Also since marks aren’t preplaceable anymore you lose the life force of those popping.

• Less stun breaks: I believe only one less (spectral armor) though since it gives you damage immunity for 2s, that is not really a nerf is it? And there is significantly reduced cooldown on spectral walk. So stunbreaks were clearly buffed overall.

last gasp + spectral were lost as stun breaker. That’s two. Also you expect to compensate for that with forcing every necro to run double spectrals? Seems like a huge nerf.

• nerfed condition transfer: as far as I can see, the only condition transfer I removed is the one on staff. The reason is that I wanted to not just defend yourself but also help allies and condi transfer from all allies to all enemies is weird (what if there are more or less enemies than allies?). And since I increased condition application on the staff, the condi pressure is clearly compensated.

It still doesn’t change the fact that we lost transfers. Which means again extra investment.

Then there is one I don’t understand:

• Corruption less useful: can you be more specific? What in your eyes makes them less useful? I tried to do exactly the opposite.

Let’s start one by one.
Blood thirst: how well does lithany of wrath do for guardians? pretty bad. The quickness and stability (one stack every 6 sec lol) will help but you also lose life force.

Epidemic: what about the debilitating conditions? Also radius reduction. The final thing is that with the old epidemic you reapplied those conditions so longer conditions stick longer which you certainly apply. In open world PvE this is very important because a target is most likely to die when it is in good epidemic range. For the final thing is you miss is that old epidemic triggers your own traits like deathly chill. On top of all this you lose life force.

blood is power: 80% bleed loss and you lost the aoe damage increase from might which is kinda bad considering you are a condi necro aoe is your thing.

Demonic grasp: you litterally removed 20% life force from the skill to maybe hit multiple enemies. You can’t even targe itt so you can’t pull the unsespecting fool from a cliff/wall anymore.

corrupt boon: the only decent one if you have the life froce.

lich form: straight up nerf.

Now take blood is power and epidemic. What happens in a world boss event? Well the effects will not stack so that’s a waste.

And in general how are you going to maintain the life force for these effects? You will drain yourself quite fast.

Silverkey.2078:

Finally:

• boon corrupt and death perception nerfed: yes. But this comes naturally because I otherwise increased defenses and damage. For example, currently boon corrupt is what is keeping the necromancer viable in many game modes. Basically, it is an absolutely OP feature (especially corrupt on scepter AA, cmon!) which makes up for the absolutely underpowered rest of the necromancer. So since I buffed (I believe) many things in the rest of necromancer, I need to nerf (as in, make it not OP) boon corrupt. This means the meta necromancer is neither stronger nor weaker, but non-meta builds are more viable.

Death perception is deffintely not OP due to it’s heavy shroud restriction so that one could remain untouched. The assumption that corrupts are very strong to the point to op is only half true. Some skills should never have gotten a standard corruption like scepter but some actually do need it. You need to target those OP skills rather then making almost a rip and then create a corrupting trait.

-let’s see boon corrupt to rip.

-less life force.

-corruptions even less usefull, especially in mass events. Almost unusable see point above.

-death perception nerfed.

- less stun breaks.

- nerfed condition transfer.

-…

Is this some kind of hidden nerf necro wish list? especially condi necro which barely hangs on viability due to boon corrupt.

Tongku.5326:

Tim.6450:

Tongku.5326:

Moa I do not see as an issue at all, all classes are affected by it equally.

Not really, engi keeps his turrets/gyros.

its still negligible even with the turrets and gyros. I happen to play all toons, including engi and mes and I can tell you, moa is sub par in a ton of situations. Most of the time I end up using Signet of Humility on my mes for its passive in certain builds, not for the moa. With Engi, I use the moa on top of hammer 5 in WVW which is quite effective on mellee frontline pushes both for defense and offense, but then again, thats 2 skills combo vs a single well from either nec or mes that does same basic job for the reduced cast times / usage and only 1 skill.

turrets i care nothing about, they are supremely easy to deal with even on a traited engi and if that engi is actually dumb enough to trait for them then he/she will kitten their entire build in both defensive and offensive manner, double that if its a scrapper, its about the most stupid thing an engi could do.

gyro traited hammer scrappers are of course all about the bunker and survivability. they don’t run kits or turrets. while they will survive the moa sometimes because bulwark or stealth can be up, they can’t kill you. if they do pop out of it and kill you then that is purely on you not on them, they do just about the 2nd least DPS in the game whic hanyone can confirm simply by doing it by themselves on the in-game available golems, or by using google and checking out any of the widely available DPS charts / spreadsheets if they don’t feel like testing themselves.

in addition, their survivability with the said gyros up, is still comparible to that of tank build guard / DH, war / berserker, druid and even tankish build tempests. those also survive moa on regular basis and they don’t need any gyros or turrets, that is mostly of off passives.

It is actually reverse for a minion necro, moa destroys all minions and puts them on cooldown.litterally a death sentence. Engies get to enjoy them even when moa’d. This is not hitting equally.

SneakyTouchy.6043:

I think if they toned down the survivability of other classes, particularly the DH, druid and scrapper, the necro wouldn’t have an issue.

It wouldn’t matter, you could still train down the necro at any time. This was a thing in the past as well.

Spartacus.3192:

you’re picked out first to die because if the enemy teams lets you build lifeforce and just free cast from range you’re an absolute beast!

Lifeforce can last very shortly, 100% dropped in 3 seconds has happened. I also think that any class freecasting could be equally dangerous.

If they significantly decrease the aoe pressure necros provide then sure.

What kind of pressure are you talking about?

Tongku.5326:

Moa I do not see as an issue at all, all classes are affected by it equally.

Not really, engi keeps his turrets/gyros.

Lahmia.2193:

To be honest, it kills all summoned AI and removes all forms. Its just we suffer the most because we have more commonly used forms and summoned AI than any other profession.

Gyros and turrets don’t get destroyed.

Silv.9207:

Another thing to change is Corruption Skill set Self Inflicted Conditions.
Basicly no one use that set of skills and they’re not so strong (compared to other classes skills both in effect and cooldown) to need a counter back.
I would like to see that self inflicted conditions removed and added only if you use the trait to reduce they’re cooldowns (removing the other trait self inflicted conditions. Why I have to be blinded when I active my healing skill?). At last that trait can self inflict more stacks/different conditions.

Keeping the self inflicted conditions on the trait would still make it a backwards designed trait. Even with the idea that corruptions + transfers re a thing you’re 33% cooldown redction makes it harder for transfer skills to keep up. The idea is backwards in itself because what makes transfers good are xtra pressure and a reduction of pressure however the added corruptions only increase the pressure on the foe but do not make it less. So the advantage you get from transfers is limited.
Even by basic trait design the MoC is designed badly. Most traits involving skill sets give a 20% cooldown reductuion and a bonus effect. However MoC gives 20% cooldown reduction and a bonus effect of an additional 13% cooldown reduction plus a negative effect. So in that regards they underperform however the devs are most likely not willing to give another positive effect to corruptions because they clearly balanced corruptions around the trait (looking at you consume conditions).

Sandrox.9524:

Warriors are head on fighters which deals heavy dmg to single target and can burst couple of targets . but targets with stab protection or aegis would be harder for warriors to compete while necros have the option to corrupt those.

Wait but you said yourself boon corruption is dead.

you also have more sustain than warrior if you manage your shroud well.

Also more sustain then warrior? I doubt that.

How do I achive sustain? play with my teammates, managing my shroud and using build which benefit my teammates and me.

That’s an answer that says absolutely nothing.

Sandrox.9524:

Tim.6450:

Sandrox.9524:

Tim.6450:

stability should be a given for any necro because their defense is based around hitting. Condi necro will not suddenly be OP with stability. Condition cleanses are a thing, which is why I had no sympathy of whiners in season 2 because the majority of builds then had less cleanses then the accepted condition food pre-hot engi. I’m not sure about season 3 since I took a break then.

The reason why power necro suffers is because it lacks a role, they don’t synergise well with boon corruption which is basically the only competitve aspect necro has left. Lack of stability and focus fireability combined with lack of a decent ranged option will mean they will be even more simply singled out.

That is why when you add stab jsut to power aspects, power necro will have a role.

with what? Boon corruption is strong enough to be a role on it’s own in a boon heavy meta and is very difficult to replace. What will power necro role be that is relevnt and can’t be replaced easily by something which another class can do better.

When you add stab to the already sustained power necro you can be affective as bunker busting while staying on point. This will make power necros a really somthing to be feared in close range and not some ball you toss around.

if you havent noticed, boon corruption is dead. since Heralds.

And how will the power necro achieve this? with unblockables or what mechanic? With which build? What’s preventing another class like warrior to take this role?

Also sustain and power necro? how do you achieve that especially in group fights?

It’s not that they want to. It is just that with extra skills and almost no downsides there is an inherent advantage to hot builds. On top of that Hot tried to fill in gaps of classes which gives the build most likely something unique and necessairy as wel.

Sandrox.9524:

Tim.6450:

stability should be a given for any necro because their defense is based around hitting. Condi necro will not suddenly be OP with stability. Condition cleanses are a thing, which is why I had no sympathy of whiners in season 2 because the majority of builds then had less cleanses then the accepted condition food pre-hot engi. I’m not sure about season 3 since I took a break then.

The reason why power necro suffers is because it lacks a role, they don’t synergise well with boon corruption which is basically the only competitve aspect necro has left. Lack of stability and focus fireability combined with lack of a decent ranged option will mean they will be even more simply singled out.

That is why when you add stab jsut to power aspects, power necro will have a role.

with what? Boon corruption is strong enough to be a role on it’s own in a boon heavy meta and is very difficult to replace. What will power necro role be that is relevnt and can’t be replaced easily by something which another class can do better.

TheDevice.2751:

General suggestions / reasons

Add more stability and damage mitigation to the necromancer.

Necromancers are made to take damage. As it is a fundamental playstyle of the necromancer; they should not be penalized for it.
If the absence of damage-avoiding mechanics (blocks, immobilizes, evades, stealth) are to offset the greater armor/health stat scaling then there is no reasonable offset to the lack of stability. The lack of damage evasion makes necromancers the most compatible with the stability mechanic.

Protection is also another strong avenue for damage mitigation. If active defenses such as blocks, invulns, steaths, and evades are not allowed as part of the necromacners kit for reasons stated, then the protection boon is the easiest method to integrate into the necromancers traits/skills.

Well since death shroud which is the necro biggest defense (if not only) doesn’t work well in common situations (team fights) and we havn’t really something that works. we either need to supplement the shroud or improve it. If it is proven to not work then you improve. If thematics are preventing you from solving the problem then you either cahnge the thematics or you use some creativity. Giving access to traits that manipulate lif force outside generating can be done to help this. Health manipulation could have worked as well. Protection and stability alone will not cut it.

TheDevice.2751:

Siphoned Power: Now adds 3 seconds of Weakness on struck enemy.

That is just plain OP.

Spiteful Renewal: ICD reduced to 3 seconds from 5.

Will it matter it is trait that procks so late and I don’t think it works in the shroud making it too unreliable. lowering the icd might not be enugh.

Spiteful Spirit: Now also makes Unholy Feast unblockable (affects Axe skill as well)

Will this matter down the road? It’s one skill and a trait and won’tstop axe from being bad.

Spiteful Talisman: Instead of 5% bonus damage to enemies with no boons -> Add 3 seconds of retaliation when protection is applied to you (see Reapers Touch change below) / when regeneration is applied to you (if no RT change)

Hey don’t forget pve here. Also the synergy with focus is iffy becaus eyou can’t guarantuee that protection/regen.

Vampiric: Now triggers when enemies are damaged by retaliation.

This could be fun.

Minion siphoning is moved to Vampiric Presence.

Sure drill the minion master into the ground.

Chilling Darkness: Now Crippling Darkness – Blinding a foe cripples them for 2 seconds. ICD Removed.

I’m not sure if cripple is it worth it but fine.

Add stability to spectral armor.

It does solidify soul reaping even harder as necesairy but I don’t mind that much.

Reapers Touch (focus 4): Adds protection to allies instead of regeneration.

I’d rather not focus is an offensive weapon.

Spectral Grasp Overhaul
- Make the hand larger / more visible.
- Initial activation will immobilize enemy on hit and will continue to immobilize for 1 second every second until hand is destroyed (like Binding Roots). Reactivate while holding on enemy to pull them towards you and chill them (ends destructible hand / immobilize effect).

This might make me actually take it.

Add a base amount of damage to all wells, say, 200 damage per pulse.

Will it do anything? 200 is kind low.

stability should be a given for any necro because their defense is based around hitting. Condi necro will not suddenly be OP with stability. Condition cleanses are a thing, which is why I had no sympathy of whiners in season 2 because the majority of builds then had less cleanses then the accepted condition food pre-hot engi. I’m not sure about season 3 since I took a break then.

The reason why power necro suffers is because it lacks a role, they don’t synergise well with boon corruption which is basically the only competitve aspect necro has left. Lack of stability and focus fireability combined with lack of a decent ranged option will mean they will be even more simply singled out.

Leming.8436:

He has litteraly no condi cleanse(if hes not going condi himself)

Staff #4, riposting shadows, ventari, cleansing channel, … .

, and no stability at all, except 1 skill(if he goes dwarven),

and unwavering avoidance which is on dodge.

everything is in shield and evades

staf #3 (block and blind), infusing light, sword offhand #4, … .

Necromancer has 2 evades,

which ones?

Leming.8436:

chills, 2freezes,

revs havechill you know? and what makesfreezesdifferent from other hard cc?

2-shot possibility if he goes full power with his shroud and

You mean life blast? That thing that with 2 hits can’t reach one unrelenting assualt?

litteraly two health bars while everyone else has 1.

2 health bars? Life force is different from health bars. It would be fun to get full healing, use utilities, regen out of combat, does not require multiple skills trait to fuel and doesn’t degen.

Guard has blocks, but blocks, block 1 attack, just like blind

Then you must play more guard. Guard blocks can block multiple hits.

blinds 1 attack, onyly real difference between those is duration.

don’t forget you actually have to hit your foe.

Famine.7915:

Sub par teleport and negligible damage. :/

Sums it up quite nicely.

The map is great. It feels barren without being boring. The hearts surely help this feeling. The jumping puzzle is extremely confusing and would have been extremely annoying without a guide and being to reset parts thanks to being a necro.
The story is great. Marjory seems kinda weird this section. The dragon is cute though.

My major gripes are a new currency which doesn’t fit the wallet and too much breakbars with the jade creatures.

Ssargon.6981:

Rognik.2579:

I have a feeling we’re going to see Vikon again. Mostly because he got a name. Named NPCs are always important.

He’s cute, named, and endearing.

He gon’ die.

Like a certain dragon?

Either way the scene was funny and I like the cowardly charr. He has a head on his shoulders.

Crinn.7864:

Muchacho.2390:

And to name the biggest one, it is the interaction between healing and shroud. Honestly a from that a profession assumes as often as necros do with their shroud shouldnt prevent healing. I can understand that they are hestitatent to change it because simply allowing all healing while in shroud would change the balance drastically. But it is frustrating that regneration (a boon necros actually have good access to) wont do anything half the time not to mentions traits like Parasitic Contagion and blood bond (though in the case of blood bond i think it is a bug since the SoV active works though shroud).

Allowing personal leeches in shroud might be interesting.

Honestly If I where to make a change to necro it would simply be access to vigor. The nerf to Sigil of Energy hurt.

Actually siphons is in effect for a while (or at least the necro related ones) and as expected it didn’t change much.

Tadsoul.6951:

Im sorry I was so bad at explaining spectral attunement properly.
Spectral attunement end early if you fall below 30% lifeforce and i changed that percent thing.
I don’t know if that will change what you think

Concepually I’m fine with this, but the numbers will matter seriously here.

At one point I think that teleports need a counter (which isn’t another teleport) at the other hand telporters are most likely frail and are not a good matchup already against DH.

Tadsoul.6951:

@Tim
spectral attunement reduces the amount of lifeforce you gain. You can use all the lifeforce generating abilities that you want.
for example One attack with necrotic grasp generates 4% lifeforce but since you are under the effect of spectral attunement instead you only generate 1% lifeforce.

Ok, that number -400% actually says your life force regen is (100%-400%)*"life force gained" which would result in -300% “life force gained” which is negative. So you would lose life force instead of gaining it.I think you meant -75%.

The reason for the shrouded removal move was to make certain pairs of traits.

I got that later you basically try to make a shroud flashing build with spectral attunement + shrouded removal + foot in the grave. You clear a condi, gain stab,gain resistance, gain protection and reduce damage when you take damage by reducting a part from your life force. You even can go further in blood magic and heal up a bit. It will fail because with a 75% drop in life force regen it will be nighly impossible to actually flash shroud since you need to use skills worth of 40% life force to enter on cooldown or you wait with gaining life force for a least 7 seconds and then gather life force which is downright suicidal. Let’s not forget that the enemy is bashing in your life force as well. So for at least 7 seconds your opponent deprived you from any life force gain. You could try save up but then you have to prolong your flashing of the shroud. So either you deprive yourself from life force (which fuels ironically SA protection) or you artificially extend your shroud flashing.
I could be mistaken and you didn’t aim for a shroud flashing build with SA but then I don’t see how the trait is really a help.

Tadsoul.6951:

putrid defense I think you misunderstood. It doesn’t use corrosive poison cloud it creates a poison puddle on the target, it also has a 1 second recharge so you can effectively perma poison someone if you crit them consistantly.

I know, the problem is you need at least 50% crit chance investment for a defensive skill. This makes that a lot of builds can’t actually use it. On top of that you need to actually hit your foe. For a defensive skill this is bad. Thiefs will drop you to half before you can even gat a hit in, guards will block you for ages while doing damage, cc will stop the trait when you need it the most, weakness -_-, … . When you finally get that hit in you didn’t crit. It seems better as a heal denial skill.

death magic trait line toughness, and defenses Thats why i moved foot in the grave to the death magic trait line. Stability give you defense vs cc and being hard to cc makes you tough.

fair enough.

dark path i forgot to mention is suppose to be changed to ground target

Still not good for a condi necro.

focus necromancers have a lot of traits for minions but not many way to create minions. Now if you want to be a minion mancer you are going to use minion utilities but with some of these changes you might notice you get enough minion to make the minion traits worth taking. Other reason include so it can bounce vs single targets when your not within the bounce range, similar to mesmer greatsword #2

The first reason wouldn’t work because minion utilities work better with it’s traits then wells. So you are better of swapping your wells for minion utilities because the synergy with your minion traits is better. The second reason I can actually see as a good improvement.

Mark of blood. staff is a hybrid weapon. Hybrids weapons like mesmer scepter, warrior sword, longbow, theif shortbow, pistol all have low cooldown skill that hit moderately hard. staff has a long cooldown #4 but it needs it low cd skill that can hit hard… mark of blood

For a hybrid weapon staf does poor condi damage.

Tadsoul.6951:

well of power this skill convert 2 condition per pulse.

This can turn out to be very ugly. It can possibly shut down condi builds for a few seconds.

Tadsoul.6951:

well of darkness Target area pulses. Damaging and blinding foes. recharge 35 damage: same as corruption everything else is the same as the current skill

Some damage won’t save it.

spectral grasp speed up projectile

still trash.

Spectral walk also Removes chill,cripple and immobilize upon activation

This might help the skill.

Lifeblast attack speed .9 (this includes the aftercast) power scaling reduce to .9

If this applied some bleed this would be perfect.

Dark path cast instant range 900 radius 240 damage scaling .9 15recharge chill and bleed are applied in radius around user

I’m still not sure why a shroud which is clearly ranged, needs to go close to use one of it 5 abilities. Just make the teleport an optional skill, you might seperate some chll to that teleport.

life transfer 30recharge also applies blind per hit

This is actually good. It might not even needing the recharge reduction.

Tainted shackles 40recharge torment: 10seconds boons converted: 1 damage: xxx pulses 3 immobilize: 2seconds damage: xxx unblockable radius: 600

Sure solidify necro’s boon corruption only role even further. I rather have it have criple to keep the enemies in the perfect range.

Weapon skills
_ reaper’s touch_ now creates a jagged horror on the first bounce

Why? focus is clearly offensive.

Mark of blood increase damage by 300%

Why?

Enfeebling blood now generates lifeforce per foe hit

Finally.

Also I miss something against focus fire. Unless you hope life transfer to save the necro which will most likely fail. I do think I see where this supposed to go though. Mainly defenses with flashing support while fixing some synergy issues .

Tadsoul.6951:

General changes
jaggd horrors now lose 250 health per second
Regeneration should heal through shroud.

Tadsoul.6951:

Deathly armor when struck apply chill in the area. Reduce recharge the lower your health is. chill: 3seconds above 75%: 20recharge above 50%: 15recharge below 50%: 10recharge Radius: 240

I’m not a fan of this one. It is a very specific type of defense (cooldown manipulation) will in a lot of cases just fail because it requires a hit. It also just scream reaper. I down’t want reaperfy core necro. I do like the closer to death mechanic. I would replace this with a life force on getting hit with more life force or lower cooldown when being closer to death trait to ease the requirement of soul reaping.

Beyond the veil apply protection in the area when you exit shroud. Protection: 2seconds radius: 360

I suppose some group utility would be fine.

adept
Reaper’s protection (Hesacon.8735 idea) When you are stun… (cced).Cast well of power.

This is a solid trait strong standalone effect, synergy with other trailines and good with the theme of death magic: defense.

Spectral attunement When shroud is recharging redirect a portion of damage taken to your lifeforce instead.You gain less Lifeforce while shroud is recharging. lifeforce -400%

If I’m reading this right it would that if we try to recover any life force even by accident (like death nearby or landing that weapon skill) we will actually drop in amount instead. For what? Another drop in life force when we get hit with protection type of damage reduction? That is just way to silly.

shrouded removal Gain resistance and lose a condition when entering shroud. Lose a condition every few seconds you remain in shroud. resistance: 2 seconds Conditions removed: 1 interval: 3 seconds

I see some boost to moving it to master and I see some shroud flashing support but I’m not quite sold about it. I don’t see why it suddenly needed to be switched with reaper’s protection.

Putrid Defense Take less damage from poisoned foes. When you critically hit a foe create a poison cloud at the foes location. poison: 2 seconds duration: 2 seconds pulses: recharge: 1 radius: 180 note: doesn’t create a poison field

A defensive skill requiring hits a crit no less. this is just asking for being bad. It is super niche and death magic is already packed with minions.

Foot in the grave Gain stability and break stun when you enter shroud. Gain stability every few seconds while remaining in shroud Stability: 3 seconds interval: 8 seconds Break stun

Why move foot in the grave to death magic? It sits solidly in soul reaping especially with speed of shadows.

Tadsoul.6951:

Blood magic
master
Transfusion
Grandmaster
Unholy sanctuary apply regeneration to yourself and nearby allies every few seconds while in shroud. Heal in the area when you exit shroud. Healing: 747 regeneration: 3 seconds interval: 3 seconds radius 360

And you missed the greates thing about unholy sanctuary. It’s auto-shroud. It allowed an aggressive playstyle with shroud which is required for shroud flashing builds.

Barbed flesh Your next attack applies bleeding when you gain regeneration. 3 recharge bleeding4: 5 seconds

And where do we get this regeneration from? staff,focus? Not really the condition damage type of weapons. dodging? not the dodging type of class. Allies, WoP? Very inreliable. Also very gimmicky synergy with 1 trait. certainly not grandmaster worthy.

vampiric rituals (in addition to its current affects) Whenever you cast a well create a shambling horror. These minion live for 21 seconds

Honestly this is just place ran dom stuff and hopes it fixes wells.

(because soul reaping is effected) Foot in the Grave (replacement) Vital focus (Rename possible) Gain Lifeforce when you weapon swap 10recharge Lifeforce 10%

This is just trash.

Cobrakon.3108:

Every Class Should Be Able To Kill Every Other Class In 1v1. That’s how you balance all classes.

poor selfish classes.

I think guardian torch saw some play when burning was stackable.
Warrior warhorn was a vital component of celestial shout war.
Necro axe I think never saw any serious place.
Mainhand ranger axe also saw some play in condi ranger.
I suppose engi offhand pistol was something I saw once in a blue moon.

Hesacon.8735:

If you doubled the damage or attack speed of Rending Claws it would become meta instantly. Dagger already barely beats it on DPS.

I’m not sure where your math is but dagger auto attack is still 60% percent stronger the axe auto in pure damage. bareley does not cut it. I ‘m not even sure axe will be meta if they doubled the auto because dagger isn’t even close to meta.

Well removing a core trait line is actually the worst thing you can do. The first reason is because the new mechanic can be similar to the old one. Take reaper for example with your example we would have to remove soul reaping. However reaper still needs life force, cooldown reduction on it’s shroud skills,… . So the reaper line has to address these issues leaving little room to diversify. So reaper basically became soul reaping 2.0 in terms of traits. So much for a new way of playing.
Second issue is that in terms of diversity trait lines are actually balanced. In other words pure on traits there are equal amount of HOT trait combination as non-hot combinations. I could explain the maths but it is a bit long but you can quickly write out the trait line combinations yourself since what traits you pick don’t matter.
Third issue is that you just created a second elite spec which you are practically forced to take for the same reasons you just said which could be considered a downgrade in build diversity.

KrHome.1920:

Well, given the “right balance” Hot builds wouldn’t be OP.

If Anet decided to balance core specs, there would be no need to turn class mechanic traits into elites.

You suggestion is not adressing causes but symptoms.

Not really, if every skills/trait had around the same power elites would most likely still come out stronger, because more options->better options->power creep. Especially because the only thing elites lose is triple core line combinations.

Biklen.5490:

I expected custom saved builds…NOT this…Let the video speak for itself. Enjoy the salt & send me some in game when you get a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqHNgCt1qQs

~BalougaPOD

So much salt because a lack of reading comprehension skills and baseless speculation.

So pessimistic think of it at being halfway. It’s the most difficult part too.

really condis are so OP…. In this meta? Around 3 out of 9 classes actually have a relevant condi build but sure condies are so OP.

xBlack.4897:

Tim.6450:

Also the argument that PvE does it goes not up, should the pvp legendary be buyable on the trading post?

Jokes aside, you’ll gain a little ammount of money from pvp alone that may get you to your leggy back someday, so no need to pve if you don’t want.
I got my ascension back during 2nd season so i’m fine with how things are i guess.

Sure the money from pvp will get me to my gift of fortune in 8 seasons. Right now people say 250 matches is the average to legendary. So if you reach legendary in that amount of matches you will get less then 115.15 gold from matches and league rewards. So yeah not really that feasible with pvp only.

Zero.6592:

Was there even a single DH in the ESL? I don’t remember seeing any.

So what? ESL defines what is balanced? A format so specific that what less then 1% plays it? Let’s not also forget they have different rules then in normal pvp.

Struct.7453:

So your saying just play DH and win? Ha, you know the trap trick only works the first time. If you don’t learn then its natural selection…

It’s not that simple, trap still work: area of denial, interupt, forcing defensive skills and don’t forget the healing. Let’s not forget dragonhunter can also pull and push people in and out traps.

I don’t understand the 1k fee to make a pvp prestige related lengendary. I really don’t. When your most limiting factor for a pvp backpiece is a pve requirement then you’ve lost me. Also the argument that PvE does it goes not up, should the pvp legendary be buyable on the trading post?

Signets in shroud is a must but honestly I’m not looking forward to it because I don’t want to pull even more condies with plague signet. We also need to look at our movement speed traits then .

Looking at the utilities while in shroud yeah no issues with that.

Healing all the way and balance afterwards. It is a bad practice which is a problem for the necro and the healer. The last one is unacceptable in my opinion.

Noble.2670:

i defiantly agree that we should be able to see our skills while in Shroud, and it defiantly sounds like a coding issue, however anet has proved quite a few times they like to take the easy route with a lot of things they do, you’ve only got to look at balance as an example, they would rather remove amulets then address fundememtal issue’s with certain profession skills, leaving the rest of the game (looking at you wvw) broken and unbalanced.

Amulet removals are actually the pvp team making some corrections because the balance team does not address the issue. Meaning it’s not taking the easy path rather make do with what you have.

I have to disagree with the healing point tho, I feel like being able to heal in shroud would be a little to strong, you said it yourself, we are in shroud 30-40% of the time, being able to heal our HP while tanking in shroud 40% of the time would be incredibly strong and require some massive fine tuning. I’d still welcome the change tho

O also! Hey Marin!-X seven

Considering classes are either blocking,evading or (half)-immune for the majority of the fight and they receive healing while doing that, I don’t see a problem with receiving heals in shroud especially when we are one of the poorest defensive classes in group combat. Also I rather have healing in shroud and nerfs afterwards since it is not only a nuissance to us but to the healer as well.

Muchacho.2390:

Honestly i would rather run reaper shoud without the reaper traitline then the reaperline without reaper shroud.

Who wouldn’t? The majority of reaper traits are trash.