Yeah, I should have said a double dodge. The fact remains that they really aren’t difficult for a necro to deal with even en masse. (hint: Flesh Golem or Flesh Wurm can bait the barrage leaving you to decimate them with AoE bleeds)
No, they reminded me how good condition builds can be. Karka have very high armor and low health. One well-timed dodge negates their only really damaging attack (the spine barrage) and a condition build will always kill them before they get to the next round.
Even the auto-attack is AoE, just piercing instead of circular.
You didn’t even get the fix and you are all too happy already. I recall a LOT of promises. So far don’t actually remember any that were necro related that were kept in any way, shape or form. More often then not there was 180 turn and something completely opposite was done.
And again 9 months later. Better then never but give me a bloody break. It was discussed so many times here its funny. About as many times as reanimator, a bit less maybe.
Really? Promises I remember getting:
Fix and buff to Gluttony: As John said, the next patch did indeed have both a fix and a buff (of doubled effectiveness).
Death Shroud UI change: As promised, we got it! We were never given a time frame on it, just that it was coming soon. We got it about 2 months after the promise was made.
Signet of the Locust buff: Yup, we got it.
Soul Reaping trait line: Guess what? It works now!
Other than that, I can’t recall any promises that were made to us by a dev (not a mod). Seems to me that there has been a very good track record of developers delivering promises they make to fix things.
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Yup, I was getting the proc chance confused with Sigil of Earth. Even so, it’s tough to tell exactly what the cooldown is due to it being an RNG on an RNG. We just know for certain it’s not less than 2 seconds.
Testing can be fairly accurate, but it is impossible to tell for certain (plus it may have been fixed in any number of patches and the wiki was never updated).
I would personally replace the Sigil of Air with a Sigil of Blood. Higher chance to proc (60% opposed to 30%) and a shorter cooldown (2 seconds opposed to 5 seconds, it can proc twice in a single Life Siphon or Ghastly Claws), plus it gives you more sustain. Lower damage, but it does ignore armor.
I wouldn’t call our downed state skills “weak” in any sense of the world. Our downed fear’s worst part is the casting time, but you can still get it off even before a quickness stomp hits you. The #3 hits HARD as well.
We can make exploding minions out of bone or hulking masses of immovable flesh, but gills are way beyond us.
They’re dead. Why would they need gills?
You’re basically naming a super version of Spectral Grasp. The problem with such an ability is that it would be hard to implement and balance. Each pull is a hard CC, meaning you’ll be intermittently interrupting everyone around you, along with setting up AoE based team comps incredibly well.
Perhaps change it to a teleport, then? No interrupts at that point, but equally frustrating with the “you’re not getting away” aspect.
Spectral Grasp would still have its place with the longer range, life force generation, and chill.
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It may be that we need a special debuff for this to work properly. For those of you that play League of Legends, what about a skill that work’s like Thresh’s pull? By that, I mean multiple short pulls that are spaced apart by some time. It would be wonderfully cruel for necros to have a skill where they yank people in, give them a second or two to run, just to yank them right back (perhaps a third repeat in there).
Perhaps a 600 range PBAoE skill that yanks people 600 units closer if they are within 900-1200 units on the necro every few seconds for, say, 6-9 seconds. Those with blinks and other very rapid movement skills could still escape (if timed properly), but those would HAVE to be used for that purpose in order to escape the necro.
Actually, it’s correct for siphoning skills (not traits, though) to scale with your healing power. Life Siphon has a 5% healing power coefficient per pulse and Deadly Feast has a 10% coefficient on each pulse (but, keep in mind, is AoE). Signet of the Locust also has a healing coefficient (though I have not tested to see what it is).
The only skill that siphons health that lacks such a coefficient is Blood Fiend, but that is because minions don’t scale directly with the necro’s stats.
Now, our downed siphoning skills may lack such coefficients, but I doubt it.
Back in the Beta, Well of Blood used to be a Water field. It’s unfortunate that they changed it to Light, though it does allow more to come from it than just healing.
I would look into testing Spectral Attunement with Last Gasp first. Last Gas kitten till a fantastic trait, though.
EDIT: Wow, that was an odd spot for the filter to trip.
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I agree that Invulnerability stomps should not be possible. Mist Form, Elixer S, and Distortion stomp, at the very least, have to go (possibly Endure Pain, but I think that just makes them immune to damage, not CC and conditions. Haven’t seen it used enough to know). Stability stomps can still be stopped via blinds or boon removal/corruption from an ally (or even just killed, if they’re low enough). Stealth stomps are much more difficult to stop, but it can still be done.
As an aside, necros and thieves are the only professions that can start a stomp, teleport elsewhere for most of the channel, then teleport right back for the end of it. Necros require two stunbreaker skills to do so, however, while thieves only need one skill.
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Eles come closest, I think, but even their chill uptime is pretty low. Maybe rangers can do better with axe/alpine wolf/alpine stalker/frost trap?
Only real issue I have with Spectral Armor is that the cooldown is excessively long and Spectral Walk just works better as an equipped stun break (even though the return teleport doesn’t break stun, it can get you out of the chain CC), since it has the same life force generation when hit as Armor, lasts longer on said buff, and has a 33% lower cooldown.
Teleports universally make you drop the orb on Spirit Watch. That isn’t necro-sepcific.
However, necros are stuck with Signet of the Locust for any movement enhancement whatsoever while they have the orb.
My minions haven’t been aggroing mobs anymore. That was definitely truthful.
The Bone Fiend gets hit by NPC’s because its mix of stats is very high on the threat calculations: high damage, high toughness, low health. However, because its health is low, it tends to melt very quickly.
They either need to do some rework on it to lower its “threat level” or give it a shorter cooldown, since it dies so quickly.
It was what we expected. The real question is what changes were made that didn’t make it into the patch notes? There are always a few of those.
So now this is the question:
Why something for multiples classes when you can build a unique mechanic fo necros? expecially if this new one will be in our Death Shround, that is OUR speciality, and is not an utility skill.
Do you think to improve it for others like a simple skill or more like a combo?Because they want to keep the number of boons/conditions relatively small (as in, not the ridiculous hex/enchantment system). That means while it might not be super accessible by other classes(fear is only accessible to 3 classes, 2 of which have very limited access), it will still keep the condi # down, instead of every single class getting multiple of their own conditions, basically reinstating the old hex system.
Fear is on 4 classes: Necro, Thief, Warrior, and Ranger. Thiefs have to steal from a necro (or associated enemy in PvE) and Rangers have to have either a wolf or a shark pet. Necros and Warriors are the only ones that can get it on their skill bar (what I believe you meant to say).
I keep seeing ideas for more damage from a condition, honestly condition builds don’t need more damage.
Well, the Devs did say specifically they were wanting a new DoT condition…
I actually really like the idea of the anti-quickness condition someone mentioned. Dealing moderate damage (like poison) and increases cast times by 33% sound good? Call it “Whither” or something.
Of course, this would be horribly devastating on Necros, but it should bring dev attention to the fact our cast times are too kitten long.
I would think a “leeching” condition would be good, healing the Necromancer on each tick for the damage dealt. The damage coefficient couldn’t be that high (10% is probably fine), but it would definitely make necros more of the kings of attrition that we are supposed to be.
One that would be even better for the Necro is one that siphoned Endurance.
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Overall, I like what I heard (especially the possibility of traits getting improved/folded together in the future!). A 5th skill will really help in making Death Shroud feel like a class mechanic instead of the revamped downed state that it is, though a new, unique condition is just bringing back something we were told we would have at the start.
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You do have a point, although in both of those cases, they have skills that get them to max instantly (Mesmers have to use two skills, Warriors just one). Necros have no option on that.
10% life force to start would not make a huge difference to survivability, but it would allow the use of an early absorption of a surprise burst or a quick fear.
Alternatively, allow Signet of Undeath’s passive to apply at all times, not just in combat. Most necros run it in PvP anyway.
Honestly, I feel it would be better if we just started PvP matches with 10% life force. Nobody else has to start without their class mechanic.
For any other game mode, generating life force is stupidly easy before you go into a fight.
Depends, exactly. It’s worth turning on for jumping puzzles and for the Grenth temple fight (You hit F1 with this trait and your damage taken is made up with a single life-force skill, plus a free poison field). For everything else, forget about it.
I prefer Unyielding Blast over Vital Persistence any day. Reaper’s Might is good regardless.
Death Shiver is pretty lame (1 stack of vulnerability every 3 seconds is terrible), and Speed of Shadows is outdone by Signet of the Locust or Quickening Thirst.
Not really a trait bottleneck, as 2 out of the 4 traits you listed are good without it and the other two suck regardless.
I think the first improvement I would like is for the bone minion with the lowest health to be the first one that pops, not the one closest to you.
I think the reason why the rune and sigil don’t stack is because of rounding. the Sigil is +15%, I believe, and the Runes are +33%, so combined, it’s +48%. When rounded to the next second, it’s still the same.
That and Plague is better to be the Blind spam rather than the bleeds. The pulsing Blind greatly increases your lifespan even beyond stats. The bleeds actually hurts your DPS as you can apply better bleeds and regular damage outside of Plague Form.
For a Condition damage necro, you basically want straight Rabid. Keep in mind, though, that this means you are useless versus objects as you can neither crit them, not deal condition damage.
Rune of Undead is the cheapest rune for a conditionmancer. It is mostly due to the cheap production cost, not b/c it is weak or anything.
That and it’s arguably the most effective rune set for a condition damage build.
What I would like to see is something reminiscent of Jagged Bones (Grandmaster level trait?) and more sacrifice skills. Especially Shadow Fiend. They could do so much with Shadow Fiend. I could see having it explode into a large cloud of darkness for a blast finisher and Blind, but no (or low) damage.
The Spiteful Vigor trait, last I checked, did not function at all with Well of Blood. Not when you cast it, not when you stand in it. Never.
Now, I have not run Spiteful Vigor with Well of Blood at all in the last 4 months, so this may have been changed in a patch.
Well, if it’s a thief and they’re not dodging, they’re probably out of endurance :p
I don’t think it would be as bad in WvW if the Line of Sight with tower/keep walls wasn’t so wonky (the whole “if your feet and your target’s feet can’t see each other, you don’t have LoS” thing). Really that issue is bigger concern for WvW.
I’ll still run Epidemic, because the opportunities to use it are still high, but with the whole dodging/blocking/invulnerable thing now ruining it too, they need to cut the cast time.
If the damage increased like it is supposed to, it would be even better.
So I’ve seen this mentioned in a few places now, but I just tested it in Heart of the Mists and open world PvE, and I’m definitely seeing a damage increase. Are there more details I’m missing?
I was just going off of the wiki which said there was no damage increase. I never tested it with steady weapons myself, which is the only way to really tell.
Feats of Corruption has Power scaling of 1.1. For reference, the third attack in the dagger chain is a 1.2 ratio. Since the Life Force increases with each condition on the target (usually will be 3 or 4 conditions when you use it), it does all right. If the damage increased like it is supposed to, it would be even better.
Really, it works quite well with where it is.
Signet of Undeath is fantastic. Shortest recharge on a revive skill and is the only non-elite one that revives multiple people. A lifesaver in some dungeons (Arah especially, lots of us don’t have the luxury of having a bunch of pro Arah runners in a routine group) and very, very in-demand in PvP.
Signet of the Locust has an excellent passive and the active isn’t too bad.
Since those are the only signets we have, I’m not sure why people say our signets are all terrible. :p
Signet of the Rage is monsterous. Period. Necromancer has nothing like it. Also, Drarnor, there has to be an internal cooldown, as when I channel and get 8 crits, I only end up adding 3 bleeds.
No cooldown, just RNG. I’ve done a Ghastly Claws channel and gotten 4 bleeds out of 5 crits as well as no bleeds out of 6 crits. It’s a 66% chance on each crit to cause bleeding, not 66% of your crits cause bleeding.
Yeah, Radiation Field I see as a failure of design, personally. Racial skills are supposed to be inferior to profession skills (see Battle Roar and “For Great Justice” for a very clear example), but Radiation Field is better than the profession skill it mimics. Swapping the range and cast times would be a good start.
This isn’t saying that CPC is a bad skill (it is niche, though), just saying that they failed with making the racial skills inferior.
Toxic Landing and Quickening Thrist are both pretty bad. The rest of our traits aren’t bad on their own, they either have better options or are related to skills that aren’t worth it (like Signet Power).
Toxic Landing isn’t bad, just niche. If I go to open Temple of Grenth, I always equip it as you are practically garunteed to take falling damage in there. Throwing it on in jumping puzzles is good too.
Quickening Thirst is pretty bad as most dagger builds are running either Spectral Walk or Signet of the Locust.
How to make Necromancer relevant:
- Remove internal cooldown on “Barbed Precision”
Hasn’t had a cooldown since early beta. Just saying.
Signet of Spite and Spectral Armor are both worthless.
Signet of Spite has been discussed above.
Spectral Armor isn’t so much worthless as it is horrendously outclassed. Spectral Walk gives the same stunbreak and a longer duration “gain life force when hit” buff on a shorter cooldown. The Swiftness and teleport it gives you can let you avoid far more damage than the 6 seconds of protection you get from Spectral Armor.
Now, the trait for Spectral Armor is fantastic. 50% is a great point to get protection, since necros still have a good amount of health left at 50%.
Reaper’s Precision is decent in axe builds, since you generally are alternating between Axe 2 and Life Blast for attacking. You aren’t causing bleeds, so Hemophilia is useless (well, you’re causing 1 second bleeds). You are usually out of range for Weakening Shroud, you aren’t causing blinds, so chilling darkness is worthless, and let’s not even get into Toxic Landing. Really, the only contender for this spot in an axe build is Terror, but you usually don’t have much condition damage if you’re running an axe, so Terror probably isn’t worthwhile.
Well, looks like I’ll have to hope they get Givers weapons fixed for me to run my 100% condition duration build again. Laaaame.
WvW, it’s best used to yank defenders off of walls. Dark Path is best to punish those Wall of Reflection guardians (’port them into your zerg and see how long they live)or to use on a mob for an escape.
What do I expect? Condition duration runes get fixed so they work again.
What do I hope for? Death Shroud UI improvement and fixing Spiteful Talisman.
Really, that’s about it.
One thing to note is that we really aren’t as buggy as a lot of folks say we are. We used to be, sure, but the vast majority of those bugs have been fixed, leaving only a couple I’m aware of (minions have become a lot more reliable, but still don’t always attack, and I don’t think the “no healing in death shroud” has ever gotten a response as to if it is intentional or not. Death Shroud lockout is a rather new bug that we know started after the January patch)
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