Guild Wars 2

Sylvari do have way more potential than the other races in the long run simply due to superior biology: A hivemind of sorts, being born as an adult and never aging… All the other races don’t have anything that comes close to it, maybe only the asura if they truly have way superior intellects by default. Charr, norn and human are weak animals in comparison.

Teraphas.6210:

Attaching things to leap finishers shouldn’t be too far outta the realm of possibility.

But I would love to see the sclerite tentacles go limp and droop when you don’t have your weapons drawn undulatingslowly like now. And then when in combat stance they are out and thrashing. Would be awesome

Freud would have a thing or two to say about that…

We Sylvari do not intermingle with animals.

Julie Yann.5379:

Cristobal.8640:

Jski.6180:

The major problem about skill in a gaming world is thakittens still just a game all the skill in the world should not truly effect your pve play because its made to be fun. That what video games are an illusion of having done something hard but in truth you just did a pre program event.

You need to try Dark Souls.

For many of us “Fun” PvE is actually challenging PvE, meaning that it should require skill.

lol..die, die, die again, die some more, die, die, yay! success!, die die die, die again, die some more, yay! success!!, die die die… Brutal game, feels good when you suceed but i can’t count how many times I rage quit.

I like a little of both. I love killing tons of mobs with umpunity cause it makes me feel all powerful but sometime I love really challeging content. I agree that most of GW2 PvE is faceroll easy for hard core gamers but I don’t think all the casuals think it is. Anet is trying to make a game everyone can play and I applaud them for that but their biggest challenge is going to be how to keep the hardcore players engaged.

By making a hardcore server. Just one. Give us something like costume brawl mode but the real deal, give us Guild Wars (pun unintended), and just put some modifiers to all mobs, more damage, more health, less skill delay, more active use of skill, bigger aggro range, more speed, etc. No need to make anything new really, just make a new server, tweak a few things and we’re set.

The Soul of the World has returned.

;)

Galtrix.7369:

People who’ve played WoW, like myself, come to Guild Wars 2 and find that the staff models have taken a huge turn for the worst. I never had a problem with bland looking armor in any other mmorpgs, but then I come to Guild Wars 1 and 2, and they’re all boring. The only exciting armor is the CoF armor, and there are maybe 1 or 2 cool staff models that I kind of like, so I know where you’re coming from. I guess that people that have never played mmorpgs before have not seen really cool looking armor, so they seem to think of the guild wars armor as “cool”. That’s what I think anyway. And I also think Anet should look at Wow’s armor and develop stuff like that… I think that would improve the playerbase a lot.

Not sure if sarcasm…

I agree with Ronah.

A new continent aboveground, with lots of islands and amazing level design. Anet is pretty good at level design so I trust they would get it right. Underwater combat proves the gameplay elements are already there and would only need some adapting.

A new continent solves the issue of having to rework pretty much everything.

Also give us aerial jumping puzzzles (Like fly through rings on a timer, escape a collapsing something in a dungeon, etc).

And then add the equivalent for WvW, new map with airships and awesome stuff.

Story can be interesting too… You could make a technomagically advanced species like the asura that had to flee their own planet, escaping something… They did so by teleporting the last of their cities to our planet. They are fragile creatures, evolved on the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, unable to survive outside the anti-gravity bubbles that their cities maintain. Sadly they cannot create more of this bubbles as they don’t have the resources on this planet. They could lend the other species (the pact) an anti-gravity generator for very special occasions, this would mean that some living story events could include flying and occur on mainland tyria (Probably instanced).
And there would be a story to discover what were they fleeing, probably related to the Mursaat.

Dreaming is free I guess ;(

Julie Yann.5379:

Tachenon.5270:

If the game was loot-rich and the high end materials were plentiful and easy for everyone to acquire, what would become of the botters?

My guess is many of them would disappear cause there would be no point to botting anymore.

False.

Gold selling on ebay will always be a reason.

Jski.6180:

The major problem about skill in a gaming world is thakittens still just a game all the skill in the world should not truly effect your pve play because its made to be fun. That what video games are an illusion of having done something hard but in truth you just did a pre program event.

You need to try Dark Souls.

For many of us “Fun” PvE is actually challenging PvE, meaning that it should require skill.

Please don’t be naive.

Anet is filling their pocket with money, mainly through the gem store and stuff of dubious morality like gambling.

If they don’t make an expansion is simply because the psychopaths and the algorithms that make the business decisions realized that a fraction of the effort it would take to make an expansion can instead be used to make false “new content” such as the southsun event and bring lots and lots of revenue.

I bet it was easier to make sclerite skin weapons than it is to make an expansion. Wonder how many cash they make by poor people buying crates haha.

I actually think they look better than GS. Most GS’s including the legendary ones (That we have 3 legendary GSs and 1 of every other weapon should tell you a lot) look like toys to me, not like something that would be useful in melee fight.

Auesis.7301:

All of your “alternative” suggestions give unfair advantages to rich players, WAY beyond the pitiful increase in stats from Ascended gear that makes borderline no difference. No.

This is awful.

My “suggestions” were more like brainstorming than things I would actually like to see in game, the double rune slot is clearly stupid for example x).

I agree with you tho, it would give richc players an advantage.
I think that the best possible option would be to leave gear as it is and never again add anything better. I seriously think so.

Sadly that will not happen, for a lot of reasons… People whining, popular demand, and more importantly = $$$

So could we at least get decent gameplay value of the grind?

Please if you are going to critizice… Excercise some reading comprehension, the core of my suggestion is to change stat bonuses in upcoming gear for things that provide gameplay value instead, and to do the same with infusions.

How? I don’t know, that’s anet job to be honest.

I love him and I really love he takes protagonism, for various reasons:

1.- I’m kittening tired of saving the world, seriously, it’s like video game writers lost all godkitten creativity! Written fantasy suffers the same thing. It’s infantile wish fullfillment, probably something enjoyed by those who use abyss and red dyes x). It’s bad enough we are forcefully dragged into save the world crusade number 99999, at least we don’t get to become gods or ascend or grow wings and whatnot.

The first half of the first Witcher game is good example of a good and mature story.

2.- It doesn’t make sense in canon that you get to be leader of anything.

I actually love sta kitten .

Scepters, on the other hand, save the honorous exception of Meteorlogicus, pretty much all look like crap.

(Posted this on general discussion, this seems a better place for it tho)

I recently heard that anet has plans to make ascended gear. I hear players whining every day about their legendaries not having more stats…

The perfect example of why this isn’t a good idea is found on Lineage 2 and it’s enchant scrolls that made weapons and armors +1 and so on, with a bigger chance of destroying the item on each enchant level.

Do more stats add any kind of gameplay element? No, they don’t. They only serve as a money sink that forces people to spend time and resources (A.K.A grinding) so they can pretty much play their character the same way they used to, against other players that also have to grind the stuff to fight you on equal footing. This is borderline ill-intentioned, it’s cheap and it’s lazy.
Anet of course already knows this and this is why the spvp system works so well, you have a jewel and you have a jewel upgrade slot and that’s it.

I would like to see new gameplay elements on new, higher-end gear instead.

Legendary weapons could give unique skills, for example. Ascended armors could have extra rune slots (Just an idea, not very good for balance but you get the point) and so on. Classes wearing a full set of ascended armor could gain a new “Ascended” skill slot, with new skills that would fit all builds and playstyles being available, etc.
Also change infusions for rune-like items with interesting effects.

Anything but grind that serves nothing, gameplay wise.

Or just get over it and give us the choice to pay 10 gems for one permanent stat increase, at least that would be honest.

Overlays are not mods as they don’t interact with the client in any way. Fraps uses overlay, so does vent if you want.

A different thing would be, say, an overlay that shows ranges from your character as colored aoe circles on the ground. That would require client interaction and thus be ilegal.

At least that’s the way I understand it, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Ftagn!

Farming can be quite fun. I recently spent like a full afternoon planing a route that was perfect.

First I observed and tested the aggro leash range of mobs and got to know wich mobs I could pull together and where. Then I incorporated underwater routes for further pulling, then I examined wich spawns are dynamic (As in, the amount of mob depletes and spawns elsewhere until the lowest possible amount of mobs spawn there) and how to effectively give myself “Double spawns” on two of the spots on my route.

Then I got to do it and raged pretty bad once I realized that there is no point, hit diminishing returns in like five minutes. I honestly felt punished for playing smart. Guess I should limit myself to the awesome and epic boss battles, the hardest thing about them being getting there in time and not lagging like @&#!&* after camping a dumb timer on a website. After that it’s just autoattack and watch the epic boss die in a few minutes from all the skillspam.

Then I remembered the first time we took down Antharas, the earth dragon. It took us two weeks of planing and more than six organized parties of twelve players on teamspeak. We had to try different tactics until we could defeat him. Two weeks later, when he spawned again, we had to do it again, with the difference that our enemies where there and we had an epic battle that lasted over 4 hours, with skirmishes going all the way down the Lair of Antharas (A laberynthic, non instanced dungeon that could probably fit all GW2 dungeons inside it).

For me, the only PvE content that comes close to optimum farming in terms of fun is non-speed-ran dungeons, and dungeons are done mostly via exploiting and fullzerk warrior skillspam speedrun nowadays, can’t even find a group that is willing to play them. Hearts are certainly a tedious activity for me, as it’s exploring in a game where everything is spoiled through map markers and achievements and whatnot.

Jumping puzzles are awesome tho, and the little hidden places in the world would make exploration a very interesting option for PvE, if it only gave decent rewards…

The upcoming Crazed Karka Queen will be a test for anet, let’s see if they can make an interesting boss. If it’s killed via zerg autoattack spam it’s not interesting. Oh and please stop making announcements as if the Big Danger that is coming to southsun wasn’t already spoiled by achievements.

Hardcore server is the obvious answer.

With the option of entering “PVP MODE”, kindda like costume brawl but the real deal.
And way more aggressive mobs, increease aggro range and all that
Also high end mobs need to pretty much one shot you.

A good example are the profession practice NPCS on the mists. Make us fight a group of 20 of those guys, mixed classes. That would be some entertaining PvE

Guess we will be forced to play sissy mode forever tho

A.. Hm… Friend of mine used to bot on Lineage 2.

His bot could pvp poorly skilled people, do long quests, sell and buy items, change spot of farming if needed, recognize a lot of situations (Player engaging in conversation, gm approaching, gm watching invisible, etc) and either do a pre-programmed response or let him know remotely.

He once did not log a character with the game client until he was approaching end level.

No, your solution wouldn’t work. Bots nowadays are the closest thing we have to beating Turing’s test :P

All transmuted items should be soulbound… That’s what I thought at least.

EDIT: You are correct, transmuting with a white or a blue makes it acc bound… Pretty interesting!

I’m ok with us necros getting no vigor and teleports, fits the attrition theme… What we need is stability.

10sec cooldown for stunbreak on DS would be pretty OP unless its like a grandmaster trait.

Brujeria.7536:

Im not good at editing pics, but do i qualify?

That’s a mesmer.

Looks good tho

EDIT: My bad, It’s not a mesmer as it’s wielding a dagger… How did you get the mesmer mask with your necro?

The problem with a hundred blades is that since I got moderately good no single warrior has been able to land it on me.

Only when I’m spammed with cc it’s possible, and then you are pretty much kittened… A hundred blades or not.

Twilight Arbor = Golem charges and cleans all deathly blossoms in the path, worm as teleport and fear+chill mark means you can run through all mob without the need of stealth or anything and carry any group if needed. Putrid mark serves as condi removal for allies and so does fetid consumption. Superior tanking and cc and decent AoE allows you to pull and single handedly tank the whole spider room. Condition transfer kittens some bosses pretty bad…

Just an example

How to keep perma retaliaation? Spite 10 trait with Soul reaping DS halving cooldown. A bit of boon duration and you’re set. Add axe’s 3 if you really like retaliation. You also have a lot of blast finishers to combo with WoB.

How to quickly regain health without WoB? I use perma regeneration with healing gear and minions that siphon on hit 132 hp, interesting with aoes and stuff.

Of course if you want to use full berserk and a glass build don’t expect good healing or boons or anything

You are always the first to go down playing as necro no matter what build you bring?

Gotta get better my friend.

Necro is actually the most durable class, moreso than bunker guardians and warriors if you wikitten so.

(^ That is one problem with censorship, apart from the sheer immorality of it, it “fixes” stuff that isn’t even “swearing” and makes stuff illegible)

Here is a piece of advice:

Teach the newbiest of the bunch in groups, more like a school class than a private consultation hotline. Pretty much to avoid what Nemesis said.
Don’t ever give your build away or make a build for someone, this only serves to promote poor thinking and stale the meta, instead, discuss synergies and gameplay with them and let people make their own builds, this is best for all: Thinking a build forces you to get familiar with how it works, so when you get to play it you don’t feel like.. uhh what do I do now….
And a creative player might surprise us all and bring a new build or strategy to the table, many have already.

Lopez.7369:

Cristobal.8640:

3.- DS is also fine, again learn how to use it instead of complaining. It’s only issue is Doom’s bug (doesnt do anything and triggers CD if used right as you enter DS).

This has never happened to me, and I tap into Death Shroud to instantly Doom most of the time I use Death Shroud.

Other necromancers have also reported that it doesn’t happen to them, yet it does happen to me pretty consistently, both in PvE and PvP. I have of course checked issues of range, evades, blocks, etc. I also don’t remember it happening to me at release when I first began to play with the necro… I will tekittenrther.

All right…

1.- The whole necromancer class is built and balanced with DS in mind, other classes probably as well. They will not do what you propose, period.

2.- Minions are fine, you need to get good and learn to use them. They will be even better once the few issues they have are corrected (They will probably be OP after the health buff anet said is coming).

3.- DS is also fine, again learn how to use it instead of complaining. It’s only issue is Doom’s bug (doesnt do anything and triggers CD if used right as you enter DS).

So no, you don’t have a clue and are talking nonsense.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

The summon jagged on mark trait can be made to affect all marks and simply have an internal cooldown :P

Disagree about the first one tho, we already have blood mark on dodge wich allows us to maintain perma regeneration kindda.

ronpierce.2760:

I asked Hamm (PvP designer guy) and he said controlling minions is fine, lack of sunbreaks is fine because DS has fear, and some other stuff. It made me feel very unsure of ANet, it sounded more like too lazy to fix than a genuine “I feel like necros are in a good place”. After asking him a few questions, I don’t feel quite a bright about the future of fixes lol

The minion part is true, controlling them works wonderfullly in pvp. The problem is that it works like total kitten in PvE and WvW, it is somehow understandable that a PvP designer guy might not know or give a kitten about PvE and WvW.

The worm is one of the best stunbreakers in the game, as it is also a teleport to a convenient location (And a lot more things). PvP Guy is also correct with his appreciation of deathsrhoud and fear, deathsrhoud does work like a stunbreaker of a kind in the sense that you can use it to tank a burst that takes advantage of the cc. Furthermore there are traits for stability on deathsrhoud and Runes of Sanctuary synergize nicely with the necro. Fear is incredible once you start to predict a stun is coming instead of reacting to one that already did, this just means a way higher skill req to work.

What PvP Guy might not know is that Doom is currently bugged and will do nothing (but trigger cooldown) if activated just as you enter DS. You have to br like half a second standing there for it not to bug. This kittens PvP Guy’s argument, he should look into fixing it.

mrcrabcore.2781:

Cristobal.8640:

Behold, a true abomination!

this is a pretty epic necro, its what i like to see out there

Thanks! Currently working on The Crossing staff.

(nonsensical words to be 15 characters long)

Behold, a true abomination!

Good stuff.

Have you considering switching your rune set for 6 Superior Mad King? They would give 25% bleed duration total… And I think, since the Lich isn’t very good, that you could put the golem there and have it as a defense mechanism, knockdown on command is good… And with the 6 runes of mad king every charge should proc aoe 3k (maybe a bit more) damage that hits stealth and whatnot. Damage is divided in 16 hits that count akittens for purposes of barbed precision, siphoning and all that. With your build barbed precision should tick twice so… Lots of dps potential maybe?

(Pretty tired of this censoring thing, most of the time it acts upon random stuff… Who thought it was a good idea? :/ )

@Cempa

I’m afraid I wont share my build, I think sharing pre-made builds only serves to stale the meta and, well, stop creativity and new builds from flourishing. I’m more than happy to discuss synergies, strategies and whatnot

@LameFox

You are correct, the same is true for the golem charge. If your golem is chasing something on the other side of the map and you have that something targeted, you can have your golem charge it regardless of your own range and LoS. Useful for chasing.

@All

If you use Lyssa runes don’t forge that you get valuable buffs by using a healing skill, this mean it’s convenient to run with the health minion unsummoned and summon it at the begining of a fight to get the buff.

EDIT= I forgot a pretty important deal of info = Popping in and out of DS does not empty any lifefor e and can be done for ever… You get it now? We do have out of combat healing for our minions and we’ve had it since release.

yski.7642:

Also, for condition removal try bringing Lyssa runes. Combines really well with the short golem charge cooldown.

Yes, it also provides all buffs such as stability and aegis for 5sec and allows you to reach 100% fear duration without giver’s weapon, using only food and the trait. No food in pvp tho.

Mad King Runes are like the glassy version of this, providing good aoe damage (That procs 16 times per enemy for purposes of bleed and siphon on hit, deranged stuff… Charge also for some reason deals its damage in like kittens). Siphon and bleed on hit might make it more interesting than Lyssa, especially if you use both staff and oh dagger (2 methos of condi transfer). Beware of retaliation tho, you will kitten yourself badly if you hit something with it.

I actually thought people were whining over nothing as minions do seem to be reactive enough in pvp and that is where I started playing with them… Then I tried WvW as mm. Yeah, fix this kitten please

No, MH dagger is a single target weapon, and it’s the only one we have at that. Everything else including axe has aoe, focus as well via bouncing.

Wells and staff and putrid explosions and charge and life transfer and jesus we have so many aoe stuff…. We dont really need more haha.

I agree with you.

What we need is healing power affecting more stuff such as a traited life transfer and maybe some specific siphoning such as on crit siphon (Wich is useless atm) and more importantly the amount the health minion heals with each hit. (So you can actually get healing power and use it as your… HEALING SKILL!)

It should be a melee aoe weapon, power-conditions hybrid. Flavour would be something like = Charge the enemy with disregard of your own safety, even inflicting wounds on yourself as you attack, use the blood spilled on the battlefield by you and your enemies to your advantage. A Scythe weapon would probably be nicer but still…

1 CHAIN
1.1 Mad Cleave:
Melee AoE – 500~ damage per hit. Inflicts 1 stack of bleeding to foes and one to yourself
1.2 Something ^ Same thing
1.3 Feast in Blood – Melee AoE – 500~ damage per hit, cures up to two stacks of bleeding from yourself and gain one stacks of might per stack of bleeding cured. Might should last roughly what the chain takes to complete, so it can only be stacked if you have boon duration, and not very much either…

2: Spoil wounds: AoE with range 600, like axe 2. Deals damage to opponents based on the amount of bleeding stacks they have (4k on 25 stacks or so with 2000 power) also inflicts poison for 1s per stack of bleeding on your enemy.

3: Gorge on Blood: AoE Melee Range 600, cures all stacks of bleed from enemies, gain 2% lifeforce per stack cured, you are knocked down for one second. Channeled skill. 3sec channeling time.

4: Crimson lake: AoE with the area of Life Transfer’s range. Cure all stacks of bleeding from yourself and enemies, creates an area that lasts for 6 seconds and inflicts the total sum of stacks removed to you and all enemies on the area every 2 seconds. Would need to be seriously toned down for PvE as mobs are stupid and wouldn’t leave the area. Dark Field.

5: Totem of Corruption

This places your greataxe on the ground like a banner and forces you to switch back to your other weapon, it cannot be used if weapon swap is on cooldown… The banner is destructible and lasts for 10 seconds, when it’s up:

Every 2 seconds it will pulse, transfering 2 stacks of bleeding from allies unto itself and providing 1s regeneration for all allies per stack removed, and the opposite for all enemies. Every pulse also deals damage, moderate-to-low amount. When it reaches 10 seconds it explodes, bleeding foes in relation to the stacks of bleed it removed from you and allies and providing a blast finisher. This can happen earlier if it dies from the bleeds it absorbs or enemy damage.

The necro should hold the axe through telekinesis with both hands glowing a little green, first skill would be like the axe spining on its axis and hitting the necro as well…

*All damages mentioned are with 2000 power.

Bhawb.7408:

Cristobal.8640:

Moa 1v1 hasnt defeated me yet, it is pretty mean in say 2good v1 or 3v1, but I think this is true for all classes and builds. If you really are concerned about it (As in you see mesmers on the enemy team using it constantly) then my advice is to run half minions up and summon the other half after the moa. What Bhawb said is not necesarily true, a proper minion master something hybrid can bunker very well and can take out bunkers very well as well so it can be a pretty high value target.

Problem being that the majority of MM builds, even hybrid ones, have high HP and toughness. You aren’t going to burst down a 22k+ almost 3k armor target very easily, at best you are shutting down an MM for 25-30 seconds (and even then, more like 15 seconds for hybrids), and you aren’t going to get a down. On the other hand, any glass cannon is a guaranteed down, and Guardian/Ele bunkers are most likely going down.

I did put in the caveat; glass MMs, which are rare. Otherwise, you’re priority is behind any glass the mesmer can get (because they go down easier) and guardian/ele bunkers (who get totally shut down). They just are far more viable targets to use in a team situation.

I’ll take your word for it, I certainly dont have any experience on pvp as a mesmer.

Moa 1v1 hasnt defeated me yet, it is pretty mean in say 2good v1 or 3v1, but I think this is true for all classes and builds. If you really are concerned about it (As in you see mesmers on the enemy team using it constantly) then my advice is to run half minions up and summon the other half after the moa. What Bhawb said is not necesarily true, a proper minion master something hybrid can bunker very well and can take out bunkers very well as well so it can be a pretty high value target.

DPS doesnt not instagibb your minions, this is a misconception from PvE and early builds of the game (Do check the patch notes!) Only pretty high dps aoe will kill your minions (This is why rangers and engies are the weak point of this kindda build) and certainly not all of them. The worm should be in a place your enemy can’t easily access, the golem can use the charge to interrupt and escape an aoe even if you aim it well enough, the health guy has 20k hp traited… And I don’t have to tell you what will happen to you if you focus your damage on the minions instead of the necro.

Oh and did you missed the part where I explained how to give area chaos armor to all of your minions? This is good against AoE.

Between death shroud, cc and insane healing you can expect to be able to hold pretty easily without minions until they are off CD, btw.

And dont forget the possibility of practically permanent retaliation… that’s pretty good too.

If you are really concerned add well of blood to the spectral wall and blast for area retaliation and chaos armor and watch them kill themselves. You can produce 4 blast finishers= Putrid Mark, Bone Minions x2, Worm.

I Actually did thought about staying silent… But information must flow. The worm surely is kindda OP:

Hits for 1300 at 1200 range
Allows you to teleport
Stunbreak
Projectile Finisher
Blast Finisher
Gives 10% lifeforce
Actually also aoe poisons on traverse.

You want to count all the skills from other classes that try to do half of what the worm does and kindda fail at it?

And let’s not get into terror/mm hybrids, you think a thief can burst? Meh. Meh with the advantage of necro burst being kindda unavoidable if you do it right. It’s pretty kitten hard to pull it right tho.

So yeah you are like a tank that heals itself like a sick kitten (roughly 3500 every 6sec if you wish, more if you are dumb and sacrifice all for healing). You also have probably the best CC in the game and the best defenses against conditions (You turn them into something good for you!)… Dunno, people saying necro is bad need to take a good look at the skills and the traits and start to play smart.

Good engies and rangers will be your bane tho. Anything else on equal skill will die pretty easily up to 1v3. Most warriors/guardians/eles for instance cant dish enough damage to counter your healing if you play well. Good thieves (The rarest thing nowadays) will provide, I think, a fair challenge. Common thieves will be a joke. (Forgot to mention that pure dps warriors will kill you if you let them dps you, wich isnt really a problem as pure dps warriors are pretty kitten bad and easy to kill kite or whatever)

Good mesmers I wouldn’t know as I havent tried pvping non-high-as-I-can-be, and I kindda need to be lucid to fight them. Most mesmers I dont think play very good so they die easily enough. Maybe I’ll get good enough to know wich one is the mesmer when I’m high tho…

Last tip: Worm smart positioning in WvW + Cliff + Melee enemy or group + fear = hilarity ensues. This is not like the spectral walk trick as it doesnt require your enemy to be an imbecile. He will need mad prediction skills to know this will happen and dodge out of harms way, if you give him the time to do so… (Traverse is automatic and so is doom (Albeit bugged atm, doesnt work unless you wait a few miliseconds when you enter DS, but it triggers the CD… pretty lame).

last tip for real this time: Use shadow’s fiend skill as your opener, it being a minion makes it very kitten unreliable so pretty useless as a blind, unless you use it as your opener. Enough people will waste their opener if you do so. The other use it has is as part of a burst, kindda like an “ATTACK!” order or something. Just dont expect to use it as an interrupt or anything too crazy.

There’s plenty more stuff to discover so experiment and try to deviate a little from the standard builds and you might find yourself surprised.

I tried a build very similar to your own, still using it under some variations.

Some tips:

Use the flesh worm: This is your stun breaker that is also a blast finisher and 10% lifeforce gain, and a teleport. What is so great about this? This is what prevents you from dying to well executed bursts and ccs, such as the roots you mention. When its not doing that It does roughly 1300 damage per hit at a range of 1200 (Projectile finisher), from a place that is highly difficult to access (So it doesn’t get killed and also puts you in that vantage position once you necrotic traverse) You will find the good spots in spvp with practice.0

And the blast finisher bit: Combine this with any well for blindess, or my personal favourite (And a mindsodomization by itself). When in trouble, put down a spectral wall. The first thing that will happen is that you and your minions get protection, and your enemy gets 10 stacks of vulnerability. The second thing is that you will teleport and activate area chaos armor for you and all of your minions. A hundred blades you say? Here, warrior, have some of this.

Try to save the above mentioned for when you can’t fear away the burst, or DS tank it.
The worm is arguably the best minion for all things pvp.

A few more notes of interest:

- If you run focus and staff the chills should suffice to let your minions close distance and engage, if they dont, MH dagger and its root is your friend.

- Grandmaster trait on soul reaping that halves DS cooldown is good, very kittening good, it will increase your survival a lot and it can be nicely synergized with two things, spite 10 trait for permanent retaliation (Nasty kitten) or/and blood magic 20 deathly invigoration to AOE heal roughly 700 with healing gear, every 5 seconds. In addition to the perma regeneration you should have and the health minion this pretty much translates in: Most builds wont even have the dps to bring you down, you can stay there and tank them. * Currently testing if bloodthirst + vampiric master outshine this, it probably does for most situations.

The rest of stuff is secret :X

No… Money sink is good.

And it’s purely cosmetic so its not like you HAVE to grind for them.

Also what is this about dyes and the gem store? I have two 65~ characters and through pve I’ve goten celestial and a few other expensive dyes…

“Awareness of the Master”

Your minions gain X % chance of evading out of an aoe, they roll for this chance every Y sec (Less time for wvw maybe) they are standing inside an aoe or a red circle. There is also a CD on succesful evade.

X and Y are to be determined and fine tuned by the great balance minds of Anet.

“Volition of the Master”

Non sacrifice-on-skill minions gain a small chance of using their skills by themselves. Skills used this way have their own cooldowns (Probably longer?) and do not interfere with the player commanded ones. Minions also speak to you on occasion.

First one is actually pretty mandatory for balance and to make the build viable in environments it isn’t.

Second one is just candy and honestly not at all necesary. I know the bone fiend would root itself and this would annoy the player but honestly that comes with free will right?
Waiting for the golem to knockddown on its own and then commanding it to do so again would probably be pretty broken though.