Axe was designed for MM so I will not quibble. I find it a situational replacement for staff and it works well for solo roaming.
You might consider trading focus for dagger with those traits.
Regarding your traits, replace Death Nova with Corrupter’s Fever. Replace Spiteful Talisman with Bitter Chill and Vampiric Presence with Life from Death.
Tell me what you think.
Reaper’s Onslaught reduces the cool down on Death’s Charge by 2 seconds for each movement impairment condition that expires in shroud (in addition to the current RO).
I’d rather the current RO attack speed increase just effect greatsword in addition to its current effects. It may not make us a meta raid dps class but it may make greatsword more viable in other game modes.
Maybe Relentless Pursuit + Reaper’s Onslaught could do more, together.
For increased greatsword speed, maybe add it to Deathly Chill. RO is shroud-focused.
No problem speeding up greatsword, though, just pulling ideas out of the bag.
(edited by Anchoku.8142)
There are four support builds I use.
1. Traited wells for when groups stack consistently.
2. Transfusion w/ max shroud and shroud skill CD reduction for res’ing and healing loose groups.
3. AoE like shouts, greatsword, RS chills, etc. that provide CC.
4. Minions for drawing aggro.
Tell me what you think.
Reaper’s Onslaught reduces the cool down on Death’s Charge by 2 seconds for each movement impairment condition that expires in shroud (in addition to the current RO).
If not for shroud and shouts, even power builds would have a hard time with Reaper.
The chills, nerfed as they are, still factor heavily in Reaper viability. The trait line is very tightly integrated around shroud, shouts, and chill.
This is just one build of many.
Foot in the Grave is hard to pass up for most builds I use and, even with a condition damage build, critical hits with Death Perception do damage, too.
I do, occasionally, use Dhuumfire when I expect to do heavy AoE condition damage with minimal incoming CC.
I think there are four issues with shroud:
1. It locks out, disables passives, and obscures CD for skills 6 – 0 because it is a transform.
2. It does not scale up in damage mitigation with opponents count like other immunity skills making Necromancer especially susceptible to being focused.
3. It requires charging by hitting, taking hits, or death in addition to an ICD.
4. No other profession has a similar damage mitigation mechanic so balancing it against normal professions in all game modes has proven difficult.
Terror has been dead for years. Necromancer does not have enough access to Fear to make it worth building a Terrormancer. Fear durations are short, the skills are few, and they are on longer cool downs. There are plenty of fear-related traits but they are scattered too widely given the relative ease of cleansing and low impact to an opponent’s health.
Fear is a condition that also works like a control effect so it can be cleared by both condition clears and stun breaks. Terrormancer used to be a power-build variant, if i remember correctly. Adding condition damage through Terror sounds interesting but the reality is that Fears were nerfed
Terror is in Curses, a trait line that focuses on bleeds, poisons, and corruptions. However, consider the rest of the Fear-related traits:
- Terrifying Descent – Curses – proc’s when taking falling damage
- Reaper’s Protection – Death Magic – proc’s when receiving a control effect
- Fear of Death – Soul Reaping – adds duration in a cleanse-happy game and proc’s a Fear when being downed
- Terror – Curses – adds condition damage to infrequent, short-lived Fears instead of corrupting boons on your opponent
- Shivers of Dread – Reaper – proc’s a Chill when an opponent receives Fear and received a 33% Chill duration reduction from 3 sec to 2 sec in April’s Chill nerf extravaganza
The most frequent and reliable source of Fear is shroud (Doom/Terrify/Wave of Fear). After that is Reaper’s Mark. Spectral Wall and corrupting Stability are much less reliably proc’d. None of the Fear sources are frequent enough to develop a build around Fear due to all of the cleansing available.
Necromancer would need another weapon with a Fear on it for on-demand availability. The traits could use a rework, too. Annoying your opponent with a short Fear after taking a major hit is just weak.
Keep with minions until 80, if summoning is your most comfortable style. You will want either Blood Magic’s Quickening Thirst trait or the utility Signet of the Locust for 25% movement speed increase. Use power, vitality, toughness or condition damage stat’s for equipment. Critical hit rates and bonuses are small until you hit 80 and can use exotic equipment so precision and ferocity are not recommended.
The rest is up to you.
Each profession should have its own caps on boon and condition stacking. That would flatten the scaling problems so Necromancer and other professions would be less peaky.
The part of shroud that is fun for me is the requirement that it be charged like Warrior’s adrenaline. That, alone, makes it a challenging mechanic; no hits, no deaths, no LF. Compare that to elite skills on fixed cool down no one can influence.
Sure, there are interesting skills associated with the transformation but shroud is not flat immunity skill like Blurred Frenzy so it works like an invulnerability duration that scales inverse to the number of opponents.
Option 1, a full profession redesign to have LF do something aside from a transform, is my favorite.
Vitality is better but remember to only add enough defensive stat’s to prevent being downed too fast because defensive stat’s trade offense.
(edited by Anchoku.8142)
One problem with DS is that almost all of its damage potential scales with power on Life Blast. Life Transfer is also power-based, iirc.
Only Torment and the optional Dhuumfire and Terror do condition damage so bleed builds see a larger dps reduction in DS than power builds.
In addition to the weaker LF generation on sceptre, going into DS is a lot like giving your opponent a respite from damage.
LF on sceptre auto has been on my wish list since the game was released.
This is just my opinion but power is the highest priority, then precision to the cap, then ferocity.
The reason is this: Power provides the basis for crit modifiers. A critical hit automatically adds 50% more damage to the base damage even with zero ferocity. This is why players love Death Perception. Ferocity adds to that 50% but only when the player crit’s.
This is all discounting minimizing the time between completion of internal cool downs for critical hit-based effects and the next crit.
I generally use the same priority for consumables, too.
Although you may not cap crit rate without Death Perception, FitG will help you stay in play while Dhuumfire will add dps to all builds; especially hybrid builds like Viper’s and Sinister
(edited by Anchoku.8142)
Dont do it. Don’t convert your gear to valkyrie. It’s only good on paper, think of all the vulnerability downtimes or kitten groups you gonna get. it’s not worth it for the long run.
Only place you could benefit would probably be raids if your party is decent and if you use the right consumablesbtw. don’t run soul reaping wtf. blood magic is better, lower cd on wells
@OP: Listen to this person, please.
Yes, if you can avoid dieing with berserker, then valkyrie will be a dps nerf. Buffs outside of shroud are not guaranteed. Start with full zerker and add valkyrie trinkets until you can avoid being downed.
Not needing Death Perception also allows either FitG or Dhuumfire for more build diversity.
(edited by Anchoku.8142)
Cast time reduction is my preference. For a low mobility profession, fast counterplay seems fair.
This sounds like a good old idea, though there are some aspects I am not clear on. Thanks for sharing it.
I agree Necromancer could use more movement and action penalties.
However, consider the history for…
Terror,
Dhuumfire,
Vampiric,
Torment
Deathly Chill
I would get rid of shroud and rebuild the profession following examples of normal professions. Necromancer is the square peg profession in a field of different colored round pegs.
Shroud is too different from the rest of the professions so it is extremely difficult to balance across all game modes.
Look at some of the recent posts in the build thread
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Post-Your-Build-Thread
Sad how Necromancer’s supposedly OP second health bar is little more than a glorified curse transform like Mesmer’s moa. All of the older transforms, and Necromancer has 2 shroud and 2 elite, are curses that were clunky even before the HoT power creep.
Signet passives should work in shroud and cool down for all 6 -0 and F-keys should be visible at all times.
SoU needs a drastic cast time reduction.
PS needs a mechanic tweak to prevent the user from being overwhelmed in PvE and WvW.
Wells need another active effect such as reflect and the protection when traited should be doubled in duration.
WoD is horribly weak and needs a large buff while Chilling Darkness should probably be reversed to blind in chill.
Your ideas for elite skills are interesting but there is low-hanging fruit I wish Arenanet would get to work on.
Well, it would punish players for chain-CCing a Necromancer, though the Necro would be recovering, too, or have burned a stun-break, and the ICD on the trait would prevent outright immunity.
Personally, I like the counterplay of this idea. It scales with the number of opponents and punishes face-rollers who cannot wait three seconds.
And Harry found out he was born with with elite wizard genetics, piles of gold, and powerful supporters, like Tarzan and Cinderella did. Necromancer does not have a magical princess story in its future that sees it going from shunned to over-powered.
So far, shroud is a mash-up of second health bar and magical moa transform skills. The miracle I’m waiting for is further integration of shroud with normal skills, utilities, and traits.
Here’s my idea for replacing Soul Comprehension:
Deadened Flesh: Gain Stability when disabled. (1 stack, 5 seconds).
How about Soul Comprehension making the Necromancer reflect subsequent control effects for 3 seconds after being subjected to a control effect?
Take the first one and reflect any others for 3 sec. Add an ICD of 10 sec. This could be split for PvP .
All interesting ideas. The ongoing creep in dps, mobility, and condition resistance have been direct nerfs to Necromancer’s design theme. I do not mind being ‘weak’ as long as there is something that is strong to compensate.
What is Necromancer strong at, anymore, besides solo PvE?
Step 1: make Reaper’s Onslaught attack speed increase affect Greatsword in addition to current effects.
Step 2: Greatsword is now a million times more viable.
I like this. A combination of alacrity and double AA speed would fix greatsword in PvP. Cut damage in PvP, if
The lack of high chill uptime keeping foes near and the short range, slow attacks are greatsword’s main limiters. The whole slow, ponderous but hard-hitting theme is a lie. A PvP skill split for RO make a lot of sense.
Regarding DG’s suggestions,
Making staff AA be a projectile finisher 100% of the time sounds good. Projectile speed should be equivalent to other staff AAs. Rather than making it unique, I would add a 20% chance to corrupt a boon.
Staff 2, MoB, put back the original bleed stack. Condition clearing is much more prevalent than it was after game release and any fool who camps staff for bleeds deserves the result.
I would, however, still want regeneration to generate LF while in shroud.
Personally, I would increase staff’s utility starting with a 5 sec cool down reduction and 1 sec fear duration increase for Reaper’s Mark.
Regeneration should create LF in shroud is a second improvement I would like.
Finally, I would un-nerf Putrid Mark so it transfers conditions from allies, again.
Nice find, Kumouta. There is sure to be a nerf coming.
Greatsword was designed to fill the gap in power AoE weapons that made Necromancer such an awful group member in PvE.
When Reaper came out with its long chills and special chill condition damage, greatsword seemed somewhat viable despite its slow skills. However, when the chills were shortened, greatsword suffered. Changing Chill damage to bleeding meant investing in bleed duration, which put greatsword and chill in direct competition with sceptre.
Greatsword remains primarily a PvE weapon because of its PvP nerf.
I do not know if viper’s horror is a meta build, anymore, since the horror nerf.
Sceptre is a dps weapon while staff is a utility weapon. Maining staff shows your team you will not contribute much to burning down the boss and may not understand the raid mechanics.
Someone should have explained the kick, if you were not frustrating them too much. Raiders are very often rude, impatient, and immature. You must be a newer player to not be used to it in group PvE as a Necromancer.
Slow is a condition that can be transferred or flipped; not all the time but enough to make a difference.
The thing about viper’s, just like every piece of equipment with condition damage as a stat, is that Necromancer is trapped into camping sceptre auto attack.
What Necromancer needs for equipment stat’s is power, ferocity, and expertise, for example. Of course, other professions could make good use of that, too.
Even though berserker Necro is under-powered, it can be tanky in the presence of constant nuisance conditions and attacks. I think that is why it has grown in popularity in PvE.
If you do not raid, berserker works very well in PvE. You will have the most build variety going power.
You can use viper’s for fractals but it is not necessary. Viper’s is best for bosses that melt slowly.
The core areas of the map where your personal story begins have many new adventures to help you explore, learn, and level.
You will be rewarded for everything you do from logging in, to finding a new area of a map, to harvesting… Literally everything, even going up a level, gives rewards.
So go do anything and everything you run across.
It’s funny hearing the different opinions on greatsword. Playing Wvw where a guy claimed it was OP because of how much damage it did.
Paper calculators and game theorists.
You die.
100-0.
You know you will die 10 second before.
You cant cast or move.Every single time you need to heavily outplay someone and it takes too long to kill. Its not a unique feature to kill someone after the blow CDs.
If we win, were too slow to capitalize on it.
Instantly die in 1v2, great.Theres simply too much random dodge and randomly ups im dead moments.
Its not worth playing necro and it isnt fun.
Dev’s would say, “Ltp.”
I say, “Why beat a dead horse? Everyone knows Necro needs an escort or three.”
I thought they buffed and normalized all of the projectile speeds a while back.
It was a shock to me just how much of a difference the cool down reduction made in replacing staff with axe. Of course, there is the 10% damage increase from Unholy Fervor but 20% icd reduction seemed like it made axe worth trading with staff.
I have been using axe, purposely, in PvE for different builds (except condi damage) and found it adequate but barely so. The reason is the trade off in trait lines (specializations).
For adequate dps, traiting axe in Spite is necessary. However, with Reaper for AoE power dps, Spite forces a trade between Soul Reaping and Blood Magic, both of which are very useful in end-game PvE. Staff’s trait, though, is in SR so there is less conflict with power-reaper builds (S-SR-R or BM-SR-R) and more AoE utility.
Drop Reaper and you can build SR, BM, and Spite around axe but you lose the sustain of shouts. It becomes glassier.
Swap SR for DM MM and entrust dps to minions. This is a traditional MM build where intensive use of shroud is abandoned in favor of keeping minions alive until you want them dead.
Axe is tied to a zero sum game making it non-meta right now. If it is not traited, Ghastly Claws and Unholy Feast lose their CD reduction, which makes axe a poor trade for staff and its trait in Soul Reaping.
(edited by Anchoku.8142)
What If raid composition had a yolo mode and was determined by automated matching like PvP solo queue? Raid experience could be measured by account and profession. Composition could follow a bell curve ensuring one highly experienced player for each new raider.
I use copper fed all the time. Rare equipment goes to BLTC if it is a weapon or salvaged if it is armor.
Put salvaging tools in a shared bag slot for easy access across your account. Forge a Mystic salvage kit or use a master salvage kit if you do not have gems for the silver fed, which is not nearly as useful as the copper fed.
Life Blast at short range is good but can be easily dodged at range
Dark Path fails far too often to be useful at anything but short range and still often fails due to pathing.
Doom is good as an interrupt and soft CC like a pseudo stun, though I wish it were more potent.
Life Transfer is also good. In PvE, the heal with Transfusion is the best group utility that Necromancer has, bar none.
Tainted Shackles is weak for PvP. It requires both the Necromancer and the opponent to allow enough time for it to complete for a little damage and conditions that are cleared easily. In PvE against bosses, it is utterly useless because they ignore its bind, which does little to break bars, and the damage is not worth wasting time on.
I main Necromancer. It does well in PvE against AI but not so well against real players in PvP and WvW. Have you thought about your intended game mode?
Arenanet tries to make all professions capable of all traditional “roles” but you will find a lot of discussion on equality in the forums.
Overall, the professions are roughly capable, though they may play differently. Thief defines mobility, which you are interested in. Give it a shot and see how you like it.
The map follows an event chain on a timer. Be there early, perhaps very early, before the event chain resets and use LFG to get into a populated map. Guilds may force a new map of their own, too.
Holiday events also decrease player count so please bear it.