Guild Wars 2

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Desert_Shroud

Tell me what that second line of text says.

Furious Demise at least thinks it is. That’s the skill that procs the trait. My guess is that it will be how you use all “when entering shroud” traits.

Maxzero.4032:

Current knowledge for those curious:

https://i.redd.it/uwg4kdtj7cdz.jpg

WoodenPotatos also tweated that Barriers scale off healing power.

According to this, Furious Demise works on Sand Shroud and not the other Shade skills. If that’s true of all “on shroud entry” traits, then that is a huge nerf. 20 second cooldown? Blech!

After thinking about this spec more, I still don’t think it will be any good in PvP.

However, if I were commanding a zerg in WvW? I would want a few Scourges, no question. Why, you ask? Because the Shade skills can hit up to 20 targets with a single pulse. Each Shade skill is a PBAoE from the Scourge and each of his shades, and each with their own target cap. Even a 2k Barrier is an absurd amount of effective health when applied to 20 people.

Alternatively, they could keep one Greater Shade up constantly and hit just 15 people. That’s still rather significant, given the usual target cap of 5.

The Scourge also seems like it will shine in condition-using raid bosses like Slothosaur. Barrier plus a teamwide condition-to-boon conversion every 5 seconds should make it pretty difficult to die in that case.

Tongku.5326:

Lordrosicky.5813:

This will be insanely OP in pvp. The cds are so short

All the new elite specs will be insanely OP in pvp, just like when HoT launched, they need to sell the expantion, once the sales slow down they will all get nerfed.

Except Scourge. Slow damage output plus no survivability tools means the elite spec is worthless in PvP.

Also, notice how they managed to make life force more important as a resource on condition specs, which have a difficult time building life force without Reaper?

Lordrosicky.5813:

Fresh air has always been a counter to necro specs too. With a decent fresh air spec you will get 100-0 ed by auto attacks from an ele. This game will be unplayable from a pvp perspective for at least 12 months after the expansion as the balance will be horrible due to no testing, and then it will take them 12 months to fix it as they only do minor changes every 4 months

And looking at some of the traits, Weaver will bring Fresh Air specs back with a vengeance.

Also, is this item going to work with Season 4 portal scrolls, assuming those are a thing?

Red Haired Savage.5430:

Maybe we’ll get panic for the elite skill. ^.^

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Panic

Looks like you got Aura of Silence instead. This one creates a massive area where everyone (friend and foe) loses all boons and conditions, according to WP (he never moused over it in his preview).

Lordrosicky.5813:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

No Stability, no Vigor, no Blinds, no blocks or other evades granted by the spec.

I don’t see how the Scourge is supposed to survive anything other than another Scourge.

Going to be funny to see how quickly the scourge dies to headshot spam and PI from thieves. Scourge wont cast a skill and will get 100-0ed in seconds.

Take away death shroud and necro is awful because it has none of those things listed.

Balance will be horrible at release as they do balance by two devs duelling on keep on forest.

Pulmunory Impact wont be much of a concern for probably the first month, since all the thieves will be using Deadeye, but yeah, same deal.

Lordrosicky.5813:

Repear will get nerfed so people are forced to buy the expansion to stay competitive

From what info we have on the Scourge, Reaper is still going to be a necessity to be competitive in any PvP format.

No Stability, no Vigor, no Blinds, no blocks or other evades granted by the spec.

I don’t see how the Scourge is supposed to survive anything other than another Scourge.

FJSAMA.2867:

You and your AXE CLONES. Not phantasms, not other wep clones.
Detarget in meaningless for small scale pvp if you can retarget instantly after. Maybe in wvw blobs will be annoying.
Unless it locks like taunt….. Its meh and ppl will get used to it. More of a l2p issue.

Axe clones are still possible to generate instantly through skills like Mirror Images. Retargetting when you have three identical Mesmers adjacent to you is trickier than you think.

It’s worthless in a WvW blob, though, where clones are instantly blown up.

Scourge looks pretty terrible for any PvP scenario. I could see maybe wanting one or two in a WvW zerg, but overall, I just don’t see how this spec really fits anywhere with previewed numbers and effects.

Chalice of Tears is hard?

Finding your way may be tricky, but no part of it is actually hard.

Given that we know Balthazar is going to be a major part of Expansion 2, there is something that ANet really should be doing, but I don’t have high hopes that they are.

That is making each race have unique dialogue and attitudes to the situation. Even if the events are the same, my charr and human characters should NOT be giving the same story when we’re chasing Balthazar. And both of them should be very different from a Norn, Asura, or Sylvari. Really, this should have been happening during Flashpoint as well, but the ball was seriously dropped there.

However, at this point, it’s almost guaranteed that the script is locked in and, if my concern is justified, there’s nothing that can be done to address it.

Question though: will this also hold any Season 4 portal scrolls, if they will exist?

EdwinLi.1284:

ya not easy to solo past this part because of how weak the NPC is.

To survive this you will need to slap on a lot of protective buffs and HP regen on her.

I made it past this fight as a Engineer after 3 attempts because of my Healing Turret and Healing AoE field keeping her HP up and throwing potions to provide her with defensive buffs.

Killing the Adds fast will also be required because it is very difficult to make the enemy mobs not focus on the NPC.

Weakness spam also works.

So, the complaint is actually about lag?

Got news for you: Lag kills, regardless of if it’s Power or Condition damage coming in at you. I haven’t noticed a difference in blob v blob kill times since launch of the game.

Now, as far as actually wiping out a blob? That goes much faster now than at launch, but only because of the changes to Ressing in WvW (namely: you have to be out of combat to res a Defeated person) and Rallying (one death=one rally).

I’m going to guess Focus is the next legendary, actually. Gives a serious counterpart to The Minstrel (think I’ve only seen one person with it, which is less than even Rogdort and the underwater legendaries), and there are a lot of cool possibilities for an Orr (or Arah) themed Focus.

That picture shows Orrian architecture. Definitely not Cantha.

As for it being green, yeah. Orr was cleansed during the personal story, remember?

Condi Necros are pretty good there. You will probably need someone to actually try and contest the point (they likely won’t succeed, but they focus on draining the energy from Energy Expulsion), but a condi Necro sitting off point can break them.

Well, undesired for everyone but Reapers, maybe. Reapers crave ice fields like a crack addict.

Only person I’ve seen hacking was moving around while downed. Not teleporting, using Mist Form, or anything (it was a Ranger). They were downed and gliding along the ground at normal walking speed.

Now, this was in WvW, so not entirely relevant here…

Was there a Necro? Transfusion trait can teleport downed bodies.

Corrupter’s Fervor, Infusing Terror…

That’s it on Necro.

Pretty sure Spectral Armor (and Walk) don’t give life force on condi ticks.

Tongku.5326:

Josh.4016:

Let me preface this with I’m still getting the hang of combos in general. This seems like it would pair great with Chillblains poison field if it was reliable. It seems like that or changing/making our blast finisher Putrid mark cause a bleed with enfeeble via the weapon or from the curses talent weakening shroud.

Any thoughts? Just seems like two neglected skills that could really improve the QoL for necro.

heh, I would like it to be just actually able to hit targets more often. As it is now, due to high mobility of oppnents, + buggy terrain travel handling, + evades, reflects, blocks, dodges, invuln, stab, etc. etc. it has become an almost useless skill.

If I wanna catch someone then I am 100x better off using corrupt boon + RS 2 on them followed by scepter 2 or staff 3 rather then necrotic grasp. its just a waste of utility slot.

Necrotic Grasp is the staff auto attack…

For condition transfers, they already do use the original caster’s stats. The only thing that changes with the condition stacks is who they are on when they are transferred. Remaining duration and damage don’t change.

Boon stealing, I’m less certain on. I think it already operates on the same principle, but I could be mistaken.

Or, just don’t spam it unless you want to flash it.

There is never a time when spamming the key for survival is a good idea. Just don’t do it.

They stack, but not quite the way you describe. Damage reductions are multiplicative, so the two together are a 19% reduction, not 20%.

8% 1/second. In teamfights, that’s barely anything. In 1v1, that’s godlike.

As far as “minions have to be attacking,” I haven’t seen anyone blowing defenses against shambling horrors. It’s not much of a difficulty for at least one of the rats to hit a target every few seconds.

Should people be running Rise in PvP after the cooldown nerf? Probably not. While it works better with a support or in teamfights, it doesn’t work so much better to justify the slot on your skill bar. You Are All Weaklings is currently much more effective as a defensive skill than PvP Rise.

If you don’t have a support and/or aren’t teamfighting, then Spectral Armor is 100% better, no questions asked.

Yes, Rise! and Protection work differently, but both still reduce the damage that you, the Necromancer, take by the exact same amount. Both are a 33% reduction.

I never once said Rise! was not overnerfed. Hell, I’m in full agreement on that one. What I did say was that if you have perma-Protection anyway from having a support, then Rise ends up doing more good for you, since the damage reduction from Spectral Armor won’t apply in that situation.

TheDevice.2751:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

It still lasts longer on its damage reduction than Spectral Armor does, generally. It also stacks if you’re getting Protection from elsewhere (and if you have a support, you are). But both Spectral Armor and Rise give the same damage reduction.

I mean, so say you’re right.

Obviously you’re going to take SA then since it has a lower cooldown and a stunbreak?

If you already have perma-protection from your support, Spectral Armor doesn’t do much to reduce damage, now does it?

It still lasts longer on its damage reduction than Spectral Armor does, generally. It also stacks if you’re getting Protection from elsewhere (and if you have a support, you are). But both Spectral Armor and Rise give the same damage reduction.

Only “Shout runes” worth using are Trooper, which have the same range as the shout using it (nothing amazing for Reaper, but Rangers get some stupid range out of them).

Can I just say I’m happy that Ventari, once considered the most worthless legend, is actually getting serious use?

Justine.6351:

axe,

because on-point instant strike 600radius pbaoe 5 target 2 boons corrupted and cripple will help you and your allies more than just pewpew projectiles back into the face of your team mates.

…Necro has barely any projectiles.

And for roaming, castrating your damage output for slightly more burst corruption is a terrible idea.

No, condi roaming, you go Scepter, all the way.

Silv.9207:

I would like to see the self poison removed by the skill 3 and also the boon corruption. instead put a Leap with 600 range that when hit your target immobilize it.
that will make it useful to flee fomr dangers or to catch an enemy.
That will probably never happen but i can still dream.

The skill 2 need his casting reduced. In sPvP is impossible to use it when you need and hope to end it. It’s a channel-to-the-enemy skill, then is interrupetd by the enemy CC or if the enemy go in stealth, go back an obstruction or flee away.
I’d like to see it more like the Axe skill 3 but that heal for every enemy hit. The dagger is more a single target weapon but that should resolve different problems in the PvP area.

Dagger 2 doesn’t care if the enemy stealths during the channel or not. No channel skill does.

Unlike most, it doesn’t even care what your facing is once the channel starts.

Lucky Charmz.5089:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Aftercast on Inspiring Reinforcement makes it impossible.

Sorry if I’m a noob, but what do you mean by aftercast? When I do it the path hits at least twice once when I put it down and once again at the very end after surge is done. I just can’t decifer all the numbers in between.

Aftercast is a period of time after the skill has gone off, but you are locked out of starting a new skill. Typically, this is for smoothing animations out, though there are some skills in the game where the aftercast is not the full length of the animation (Gravedigger is a notable example).

Basically, once you finish casting Inspiring Reinforcement, there is a short period (I believe it’s about .3 seconds) before you can start the cast of Surge of the Mists. That delay ends up making it impossible to combo them as you hoped.

Aftercast on Inspiring Reinforcement makes it impossible.

Stronghold suffered from the fact ANet didn’t push it at all. They should have actually had tournaments with it instead of “We’ll see what the players compete in” and then only hosting Conquest tourneys during the “trial” period.

After all, why bother playing and getting good at a mode that never will get you actual rewards?

This would have increased attention and given opportunities for iteration on the mode. Instead, they just put it out there and let it fail.

Looks like an excellent list. Can’t wait to free up space in my inventory/bank.

When did they change minions? I never saw it in patch notes.

EDIT: So, after some tests, I have learned that not only do Bone Fiend, Shadow Fiend, and Flesh Golem still heal out of combat, but they will even regenerate health IN Combat.

Test methodology: equip Necromantic Corruption trait, then use a Corruption skill with one of the minions selected to watch. As I move around, I see the health bounce from 100% to 99%, then almost immedietly back to 100% while the conditions continue to tick. No players were around to heal them.

TLDR: Flesh Golem, Shadow Fiend, and Bone Fiend, the only minions that don’t have sacrifice actives, heal out of combat just fine. The ones that do have sacrifice actives do not regenerate health ooc.

Nothing has changed, except apparently giving some health regeneration to the non-sacrifice minions while in combat.

I can agree to most of this. 25% HP is a bit too low, and 180 radius is slightly too small.

50% proc and maybe 240 radius would be fine.

Not exactly. They stack, but multiplicitively, not additively.

That is, Protection reduces by 33%, then Rise reduces by 33% of the remainder for a total reduction of ~55%.

Yeah, Shroud needs a cooldown. Necros just need actual defenses to supplement it.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Redfeather.6401:

I like how conditions in guild wars 1 did health degen and not damage ticks. And health degen was capped. Too anyone who plays revenant, but never played guild wars 1, health degen is like energy for revenant. It shows pips.
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Health_bar-poison.png

edit: For GW2 it could be implemented and only the players have the degen cap, and pve mobs/objects/etc would have no cap.

The lack of anything but an absolute cap is mirrored by the lack of anything but an absolute cap on direct damage. Assuming a less-than-absolute cap on condi damage, why should direct damage not also have such a cap?

Technically, there is still a hard cap on Condi damage, but I’ve never seen stacks getting anywhere near the cap of 1500 stacks. Not even on world bosses.

Zaoda.1653:

Surely Ventari’s tablet could work underwater though – I mean if necro’s can have wells underwater… surely pulling a ventari tablet towards you, wouldn’t be impossible?

I definitely don’t understand why Jalis isn’t available underwater though. Ok, so the ground targeted skill that gives stability wouldn’t work underwater, but that skill could just be disabled, or used differently underwater. Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Necro wells originally required traiting to become ground-targeted. Now that functionality is baseline, but them being PBAoE’s was around beforehand.

More specifically as to why Ventari can’t work underwater is because all of the skills are based on the tablet specifically. You can’t move the tablet underwater, so the entire legend falls apart in function.

Ventari isn’t available because the tablet really can’t work underwater.

Glint and Jalis, however, have no good reason as to why they’re not available. Ground target skills aren’t even an obstacle once you consider Necro wells (which are now usable underwater, but only as PBAoE).

That said, not every utility skill is available underwater. For example, I don’t think any traps can be used there.

It helps when you’re Red team, because then the capture ring helps to hide Plaguelands :p

EDIT: This thread was really a much better fit for the Necro forum, rather than PvP forum.