Guild Wars 2

SlimChance.6593:

The fact that everyone thinks I’m joking around, just exemplifies my point with this rune.

Why should condition builds get a rune like this? Let’s make a Power based one that has the EXACT same 6th trait.

Superior Rune of the Nightmare
(1): +25 Condition Damage
(2): +5% Condition Duration
(3): +50 Condition Damage
(4): +10% Condition Duration
(5): +100 Condition Damage
(6): 50% chance when struck to cause Fear 40 fear for 2 seconds. (Cooldown: 90s)

Superior Rune of Reality
(1): +25 Power
(2): +35 Precision
(3): +50 Power
(4): +65 Precision
(5): +100 Power
(6): 50% chance when struck to cause Fear 40 fear for 2 seconds. (Cooldown: 90s)

Shouldn’t be an issue, because there is nothing wrong with Rune of Nightmare. We want a balance in all aspects of the game. Don’t we???

Realistically speaking, I don’t see an issue with that proposed Rune. It would rarely be taken, of course, but the exact same counters (stunbreaks, stability, condition removal) work for both. The only concern would be giving that particular ability to true burst specs, but if they were that interested in it, they would be running the Nightmare runes anyway already.

Can Necromancers use Nightmare runes to a better effect than other professions? Yes they can. Is that any different from Elementalists getting more mileage out of Runes of Radiance than anyone else? Is it different from Warriors getting less benefit from Runes of the Ranger than anyone else?

Might be worth running Spectral Grasp. It’s rarely run, but that means people are less familiar with it. As a plus, it lets you ignore any traps they may have set if it connects.

spoj.9672:

Lich doesnt use the weapon strength of your equipped weapon. It uses a static number instead. Its probably 1000. But theres no way to be 100% certain without extensive testing.

A skill has a power modifier, (aka its power scaling), lich itself has the base value of a staff of the rarity of your weapon

This quote is incorrect. Skills do not have power modifiers or power scaling. They have coefficients. Lich has a static value which is equivalent to the weapon strength you use to calculate damage for other non utility and transform skills. As Blackmoa said. The damage is calculated using power, weapon strength, skill coefficient, armour and bonus modifiers.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Damage

Pretty sure it’s not a “static number” but rather a “static range”.

If it were a “static number”, you would see only two damage values pop up against the same target: normal hit and crit. But, two successive hits, even if they are both crits, with no other difference will usually result in two different values.

Anubis.7058:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Ironically, this means the Leap finisher on Foul Current actually can do something. Since the skill doesn’t actually hit anything, the only combo field we have that it does anything with is Well of Blood’s light field. Which until now was incompatible.

Foul Current actually default self combos for weakness application (aka using it for well drop into current is weaker).

It self-combos, but the combo doesn’t do anything because there is no hit to deliver the Weakness. The same is true with Dark fields and having no hit to deliver the life steal.

Sokia.3710:

sirian.4981:

So far so good. I recently doubled my money by investing in an item that boosts move speed on siege golems(WvW tourney skyrocketed the price).

Wait…..WHAT!? I thought with the NPE patch they also made it to where boosts no longer affect golems. Or was that only for common boons like Swiftness?

I seem to remember reading in one of the patch notes that they removed a lot of effects on golems that you could get from using skills/traits before entering a golem.

I think the big one is Speed/Traveller runes.

And Candy Corn, though that’s less reliable.

Ironically, this means the Leap finisher on Foul Current actually can do something. Since the skill doesn’t actually hit anything, the only combo field we have that it does anything with is Well of Blood’s light field. Which until now was incompatible.

manveruppd.7601:

I tried it the other night as well, and you’re right about rangers: they just pinball you about like crazy and you can’t even hit them. It’s like a hard counter to the build.
Was also kinda disappointed with the damage against warriors. Takes ages to kill them, which really should not be the case with a berserker amulet. Everything else melted.

Most of the Warriors I’ve been facing melted pretty quick. The tankier ones were probably using Soldier’s amulet.

Rangers and S/P thieves seem to hardcounter the build’s first version. I need more experience with version 1.2 to say more.

V 1.2: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNBIhZakjmebrtx1G2bTgLUS3Dxw+C5BEAU2GxBA-TZBCwAAOBAZOEA42fAyTAIcZAA

Swapped points in Curses to Spite, picking up Spiteful Spirit and Chill of Death. Losing Spectral Attunement caused a switch to Runes of the Grove to help recoup some of the lost Protection duration. Runes of Earth are also acceptable, but Grove makes the healing more effective.

Getting a reliable source of Retaliation should do wonders to help punish Longbow Rangers and Pistol-whip thieves; the two builds I have had the most difficulty against with the first version. Going to test this version now.

It would be nice if professions each had a skill or two that was AoE and would remove stealth (but not apply Revealed!) from those hit. Would help up the play-counterplay of stealth, but wouldn’t completely shut out stealth-reliant builds for a period.

Here’s a question that many Necromancer players are wondering right now:

What was the rationale for leaving the Blood Magic traitline entirely untouched in a balance pass that was looking to improve sustain for Necromancers? I know that what players want varies greatly, so someone will always be upset with what actually happens, but basically everyone expected at least something to change with Blood Magic.

I realize that this is more appropriate of a question for Chapman, but I don’t know if you might have heard some of the discussion or not.

Probably Pack, then, as the 4th rune bonus will buff your minions as well. Vampirism is also a good choice. FYI, you can use Death Shroud during the Vampirism runes Mist Form and still be able to act as normal for death shroud while invulnerable.

So, turns out Blood Fiend’s passive heal scales at 65% with the Blood Fiend’s Healing Power. Feeding it cake (+40 to all stats) boosts the heal from 945 to 971 at level 80.

Dadnir.5038:

Actually the only change on terror damage was a nerf (thank you dumbfire):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-July-23rd-2013
“Terror: Reduced the damage by 17%. Fixed a bug so this trait now checks for the torment condition as well.”

What i like about necromancers patches : QoL, we got ton of that (way to gain LF, reduced CD on spectals, interacting while in DS, buff to warhorn trait…)
Buff to WH trait would actually be the best buff we had from my PoV.

Before the Duumfire patch, it also got a buff that increased Terror damage by 50% if another condition was present.

Only things that need to change on Flesh Wurm are for the Blast finisher and poison to occur at your location instead of the wurm’s. Maybe a cast time reduction for summoning it.

Well, it seems Blood Fiend’s passive heal actually does scale with healing power; just his instead of yours. I’ll need to test it in a level 80 area after I get home from work.

Keep in mind that Firey Greatsword got hefty nerfs, so the value of personal DPS as opposed to group DPS boost has gone up dramatically. You no longer have the FGS covering weaker weapon skills.

Adding tutorials is one thing. I rather like the new “hey, there’s stuff over here!” indicator (although it does need some tuning) and dodging tutorials. Those were good changes to help new players get into the game.

Level-gating everything was not. How did I learn to incorporate new skills into my play before? Well, the prior system was pretty much perfect pacing for that. With weapon skills, I got used to how the skills worked by killing a few enemies and getting an idea through actually experiencing the skill. Then, once I had some experience with the skills I had, the next one unlocked for me to learn about. Simple, effective, and it didn’t treat me like I was still in preschool. Underwater combat was also handled smoothly. I went into a lake the first time, and there was stuff there! Mobility took a little trial and error, but it was simple enough. Perhaps this would be a good spot for a simple tutorial.

So, a lot of the things that are “too confusing” for new players really should have just been addressed in tutorials. The dodging tutorial is excellently done. Easily ignored if you know what you’re doing, easy to find if you’re new, and it does a good job of teaching the mechanic to new players.

Ragion.2831:

Cmon lets be a little serious, this is a ds stun breaker that lasts for 3 seconds (base) with the possibility of a 5 second cooldown that can be achieved in that same trait line . Not to mention that trait line allows for a shorter cooldown on very useful spectral skills, some of which stun break. FIG duration increase is not necessary, like at all.

Ummm…where did stunbreaks come into play? Death Shroud doesn’t break stun, Foot in the Grave doesn’t break stun, and the OP’s suggestion said nothing about breaking stun.

Carighan.6758:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

There are 3 nodes and five players. Either you give up objectives (1 point, plus map objectives) entirely, or somebody is solo. There simply is no way around it. Thus, you can’t balance assuming a capability that not everyone has.

It’s too bad that the game we play doesn’t feature a PvP mode where there is a large pool of players on each side and 3-way combat is possible, so balance could happen based on balance of usefulness instead of a direct balance of power.

Oh. Wait.

(I’ll never get what the dev’s fascination with their sPvP is. The teams are way too tiny to be in any way balanceable. 8, minimum. 12 would be better, something 15-20 ideal on slightly larger maps but still 3 nodes.)

Of course WvW exists, but it is also, by its very nature, impossible to balance around. Side numbers are uncontrolled, equipment is all over the place, as are traits due to uplevels, and occasionally, Champions can be dragged into fights. By its very nature, it cannot be balanced.

And that’s good! I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Carighan.6758:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

While true, and something I’m fine with, you can’t go making something that a profession cannot do at all that important to the game. Making something important that everyone can do, but others can do better? Fine. That encourages diversity. Making something important that some professions simply cannot do? Not so much.

Interesting. Team Fortress II for example would like to disagree with you, having very valid hardcounters in it’s class-setup, leaving classes like the Heavy completely exposed to a Sniper at long range with no way to retaliate.

And? It balances fine.

Team Fortress 2 is also not balanced around a conquest game mode, but rather a capture the flag/kill count. Having certain required things be supplied by just someone is fine in that mode, because you don’t have to go solo. In GW2 PvP, that isn’t the case.

There are 3 nodes and five players. Either you give up objectives (1 point, plus map objectives) entirely, or somebody is solo. There simply is no way around it. Thus, you can’t balance assuming a capability that not everyone has.

Inter-player reliance should happen, and it should involve complimentary builds and play. It should not involve relying on mechanics someone just cannot have. Chose not to have is one thing. Cannot have is another.

Ehecatl.9172:

Adding on to what Ryu said, the two strongest condition cleanses a ranger has are Empathic Bond and Signet of Renewal, which merely pull the conditions to the pet. This sets you up for Epidemic, which will turn their own condition cleanse into an even bigger condition bomb.

If a necromancer does manage to close the distance there isn’t much a ranger with a sniper set up can do to survive.

Soo, what you’re both saying is that Power necros are hopeless against longbow rangers? Or that Rangers try to fight at sub-1200 range?

Yes, if a necro can close the gap, a Longbow ranger will have some difficulty. Then again, what profession is this not true for?

Again, I’m happy for a Ranger’s current power level. The only thing I am saying is that reflects cannot become as important to bring as condition removal and the game be balanced. While everyone has dodges, self-healing ability, stunbreakers, and condition removal available to them, not everyone has reflects, or even projectile blocks.

Barbed Precision is a 2 second base bleed. The thing with that trait is that those bleeds are almost guaranteed to run their full course and the trait has no cooldown.

What a lot of people do is go with a mix of Dire and Rabid. For example, I went with Dire armor, Rabid weapons, rings, amulet, and back, and the Dire+Rabid trinkets. I have a 37% crit chance without food (pre-Borderland’s Bloodlust buffs and Fury), which is enough to reliably proc sigils and traits.

While it is a team game, ability to handle yourself in a solo fight is still important in PvP. Dodging, removing conditions, and breaking stun are all things that can be balanced around as an assumption because everyone has access to those.

All I’m saying is that your initial comment of “everyone should bring reflects, just like they bring condition cleanse” wasn’t well thought out, because not everyone has that option.

Just to be clear, I like that the Ranger got buffed. It needed it and it’s finally a threat class. Every class should be considered a threat in PvP.

Not a bad trick for PvE/WvW, but I expect it to get patched eventually. Thoughts?

Zenos Osgorma.2936:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

The damage dealt by each skill on Ranger Longbow is exactly the same as it was pre-patch. Only thing that’s changed is how quickly the damage comes.

@Zenos Omega: Making Reflects as important to bring as condition cleanse has one major, major problem: Necromancers. They’re the only profession with zero projectile reflection ability. They also have no methods to block the attack or destroy the projectiles. If Reflects became as important as condition cleanses, Necros would have a really tough time justifying a spot on a PvP team.

yes and i know it sucks but each class has somthing they are good at and somthing they can’t do as well as the next class.

While true, and something I’m fine with, you can’t go making something that a profession cannot do at all that important to the game. Making something important that everyone can do, but others can do better? Fine. That encourages diversity. Making something important that some professions simply cannot do? Not so much.

Imagine if boon stripping was made that important. Eles, Rangers, and Warriors have no methods of doing that, so how would they compete?

The damage dealt by each skill on Ranger Longbow is exactly the same as it was pre-patch. Only thing that’s changed is how quickly the damage comes.

@Zenos Omega: Making Reflects as important to bring as condition cleanse has one major, major problem: Necromancers. They’re the only profession with zero projectile reflection ability. They also have no methods to block the attack or destroy the projectiles. If Reflects became as important as condition cleanses, Necros would have a really tough time justifying a spot on a PvP team.

Bhawb.7408:

Your minions shouldn’t be dying much except in big AoE fights if you’ve built right.

Naturally, discounting Bone Minions which should be dying all the time.

flow.6043:

Afya.5842:

Then what did that update do?

Locust Swarm:
Fixed a bug which caused this skill to have incorrect skill facts and duration when traited with Banshee’s Wail.

Before the patch you’d only get 13 ticks with Banshee’s Wail. Now it’s 15.
“Skill facts” always said 10 regardless of traited or not.

“Skill facts” said 15 when traited before.

Few things wrong with your statements:

1. Terror has been in the game since early beta weekends. The trait actually got nerfed in the Dhuumfire patch by moving up to master tier from Adept.

2. No Vulnerability applications on Necro have seen any nerfs at all since launch.

3. Terror damage was reduced by 17%, not half.

Afya.5842:

Then what did that update do?

Locust Swarm:
Fixed a bug which caused this skill to have incorrect skill facts and duration when traited with Banshee’s Wail.
Added a range indicator for this skill.

“range indicator” in this case refers to the tooltip.

Also, thankfully, how they “fixed the bug” was making the skill match the tooltip rather than making the tooltip match the skill.

foste.3098:

Blind him so he misses the stun of the pw, allowing you to move away or take the trait that gives retaliation on death shroud and watch him die in the middle of his 333 spam (retal only works if you are geared for power).
Immobilize also works well, use it after he casts infiltrators strike so he has to port back to remove it – after that he will want to infiltrate again to get to you, dodge it and he is out of initiative – procede to melt face.

You have to take the advantage of s/p disadvantage, which is the inability to be mobile (in comparison to thief weapons) and heavy initiative costs so avoiding infiltrators strike/basi venom is the way to win.

Thank you. I will try to keep these tips in mind as I fight them in the future.

manveruppd.7601:

Where the hell do you get your candy?

…Hell…

SPESHAL.9106:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Also notable is the ability to flash death shroud right before death to double-up on the DS entry traits.

As for how many times it procs, typically two or three times a match. Considering that’s usually two or three kills my opponents didn’t get, I’ll count that as good.

Flashing DS near death to double up on certain DS procs actually seems like a nice use – kudos. However, because it doesn’t proc at a certain health level and requires an actual KB (plus it has a cooldown), I just wonder if you’re playing with fire trying to gauge it this way.

One question…if you’re stomping out of DS and you receive a KB mid stomp, does the insta-switch to DS stop the stomp? I suspect it does, but if it didn’t, then I think this aspect of the trait would be more useful.

Also, if it’s proccing 2-3 times per match, are you saying that it actually changed the result of the fight or did it just prolong your death a bit longer.

The hard part I’m trying to get around is…“Who has any meaningful bit of LF left when their health is near death?”. It’s just so counter-intuitive to how you should play a Necro that’s it’s weird that THIS is what they came up to buff the trait.

The double-proc is not something I aim for, it’s a “well, Unholy Sanctuary is about to proc, might as well double up on entry benefits.” Not a goal, just a perk.

Annoyingly, yes. If Unholy Sanctuary sends you into death shroud, it does interrupt the stomp/revive. But, also thanks to the trait, you can continue the stomp/revive when you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

If you read my first post, I said that I only actually got downed once in the six matches. If it was proccing 12-18 times over the matches and I only got downed once, well, I’ll let you figure that one out

Three words: burst life force. This build is capable of gaining sufficient life force rapidly, then sustained life force for several seconds after DS entry.

Fair enough. Really, a lot of runes can work. I need to try out Runes of the Grove for more Protection, for example.

Adrenaline gain has only been nerfed on Berserker Stance. Rifle and off-hand Axe saw improvements in their generation.

However, the OOC decay does happen too soon. Before it was so slow as to be meaningless, but now it just means you never get a full bar in PvE. This may be the real source of your feeling that it builds more slowly, as you’re always starting from zero.

Runes of Hoelbrak seem like a waste on your build, since the only source of Might is themselves. Tried Melandru instead?

And Spectral Sanctuary could work as a name. My WvW version I’m calling Grenth’s Zealot :p

Dagger life force gain is completely unchanged. All that changed is that the auto now hits two targets instead of one.

I’ll actually have to try out Spiteful Vigor, since the biggest build counter I’ve found is S/P thieves with Pistol Whip. Retaliation is very nice against them.

Also, discovering that you can use death shroud while in the Vampire runes Mist Form helped me pick them in the first place.

Last night I was testing a new build on my Necro in solo que and the one build I just could not seem to beat was a S/P thief. I just could not make any headway at all against the frequent headshots and pistol whips. Utility-wise, I know he was using smoke screen and blinding powder. No signets.

I know the build has weaknesses, but I’m not sure which ones I can exploit. Any suggestions?

Terror was in the game since beta.

Also, Path of Corruption. Awesome addition.

It’s a much better trait than you’re giving it credit for. Really, the only issue is that it’s a “build around” trait, but some of the necessary support just isn’t there (primarily due to death shroud blocking siphon traits and Regeneration). Still, I’ve got a build that uses it and is seeing some success. I just need to practice with it more.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say no to a buff at all. But I would hope that the ways to support the trait were made available first.

I really feel that Spectral Attunement is a necessary component of the build. The longer duration of Spectral Armor/Last Gasp and Spectral Wall especially are important. Remember: Spectral Wall grants 5% life force (5.5% with Gluttony) every time an enemy comes in contact with it, so fighting a melee opponent by running through it constantly does wonders to keep you high on life force. This is not a bug, it’s just not in the tooltip. It got added to Spectral Wall when it got changed to apply Fear.

The real counter of the build (and really, a weakness of necros in general) is S/P thieves. Between Headshot and Pistol Whip, you accomplish nothing.

Tricare.2946:

Solandri.9640:

The duration on these boons is fixed, instead of a copy of your own. And might happens to be fixed at 10 sec.

Not true if you run might boon duration the might the pet gains goes up from that trait. In the build I posted about, each attack with the axe gives 17 1/4 seconds of might to the pet.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Might-build-WvW-video/first#post4400417

He means that regardless of the duration of the Might stack you get, the base duration the pet gets is 10 seconds. Doesn’t matter if yours was 3 or 30 seconds base, your pet gets 10.

You are aware that before this patch, adrenaline decayed to 0 when out of combat, yes?

Varezenem.2813:

I have question. Why do you use TU over HS?

Mobility. Troll Unguent keeps ticking regardless of what you do. Standing in a small area for Healing Spring in WvW, you accomplish very, very little as a roamer.

Yeah, I couldn’t tell if you were joking or just being incredibly dense there.

Still, the total lack of condition builds even in solo que right now is confusing, given the buffs Mesmers got in that area.

Okay, just played a couple of solo que games and lost both times (both were close, though). Took me a couple fights to get into the difference, and all I can really say is that his build hates Thief+Ranger. Especially Rangers that run those stupid rock dog runes.

1v1, this build seems to be able to handle anything, though I still haven’t seen a condi build save one possible Mesmer (I kept getting these single torment stacks in that match). Actually, even numbers period and this build does really well. Against multiple highly evasive foes, however, it doesn’t hold up long.

Fiorrello.8126:

Condi warrior is pretty fun. All you have are burning bleed and depending on your sigils poison. In exchange you get huge uptime on all of them.

Hit someone with 10 stacks of bleed, burning and poison instantly and watch their health bar drop.

Forgetting Torment?

NeXeD.3042:

Yeah generosity would be cool I really just mean the leeching sigils, not the health steal on swap, are kind of not optimal for a build that spends a lot of time in ds.

The way I see it, sustaining death shroud alone is not enough. When you’re not in death shroud, you need to get in your healing, too. Sigil of Blood heals for more than Sigil of Water (discounting ally heal)and adds in a damage kicker besides. This plus Consume Conditions plus Life Siphon decent health sustain. Sigils are the least important part of the build, however.

Flumek.9043:

How are feeling when facing a condition build? (necro, engie, hambot axebot & dd ele too)

Wasn’t aware Axebow or DD ele were condition builds :p

Strangely, I haven’t run into any yet. I was predicting a bunch of at least condition Mesmers to be in hotjoin. The other necros I ran into were all on my team. While I don’t have evidence, I would think they won’t be a problem, since I’ve done fine against condition builds using only Consume Conditions for a cleanse in WvW.