Given the new legendary short bow, would it make sense to review the skills that are tied to this weapon? As of right now a lot of work has been put into this legendary and it would seem like a good time to simultaneously review the skills it is associated with.
In general I am ok with the Thief skills, but would welcome some feedback here. The Ranger, on the other hand, seems to be suffering from a vestigial over-nerf and general poor design.
Only two of the Short Bow skills have condition damage, and one of them— Cross Fire — has an unusual flanking requirement that doesn’t even allow it to match Scepter (Necro and Mesmer). Shouldn’t this skill at least come in slightly below Necro/Mesmer AA, and and then slightly surpass them when flanking? Why must a skill-shot requirement be met to merely make this a halfway viable auto-attack?
The biggest offender in my opinion, however, is Concussion Shot. What should your average 5th weapon power with 25 seconds of CD do? Does paltry damage and a 1 second daze sound good? Well what about granting a 1 second stun when flanking instead? Comparing this skill to any other 25 second 5th tier weapon skill is absurd. Even Magic Bullet is significantly better.
In general, it would be wonderful to address this weapon which is only used by two classes given the opportunity cost the player base has paid in development time for it.
The last HoT legendary for the foreseeable future should at least have some of its worst skills looked at.
I have used gaming laptops for the last decade, so keep that in mind when I make this suggestion.
It is hard to beat a base model i3 Alienware Alpha for the price, particularly when you catch it on one of the regular sales. Plug it into any modern TV and game— at a friend’s house, at a hotel, wherever— just game. I get about 45 FPS on high settings, It boots up in 5 seconds, and it cost me $380 out of pocket (after rewards points and credit card incentives). It is steady at 55+ FPS at medium settings.
The biggest issue though is that the cooling on this micro PC is so much better than a laptop. After an hour of gaming you will notice the difference compared to a gaming laptop.
I would ignore anyone saying you need an i7, particularly the mobile versions. An i3 with the higher single/dual core performance will beat most mobile i7 processors for this game— sorry but those extra cores are useless for GW2. An i3 at 3.2 to 3.9 ghz is the sweet spot for this game.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
Thy gyro “Fuel System” is basically recharge. I was really looking forward to this as a new mechanic.
What if when you granted Super Speed to gyros, it increased their duration by an equal amount? There is tons of synergy here within the class, and a lot of the super speed we grant is based off of oils/lubricants/electric fields— perfect for giving energy to little gyros!
I also feel that Blast Gyro’s tool belt skill needs to be better given that the skill is a single use AoE damage+blowback. Is there any way Bypass Coating could also be an AoE stun break? This would make the skill much more viable in my eyes, placing the tool belt skill Bypass Coating in a similar realm as the Warrior Shout “Shake It Off”, of course this would need to be instant cast but it already has a similar recharge. Given my above suggestion, it would also make this skill a great refueling tool for Gyros!
Anyways, hope for some buffs to Gyros.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
Regarding the Mordrem Invasion event:
Why are players rewarded/encouraged to tag a few mobs and leave an event, rather than grind it out and make major contributions?
While the reward bug is indeed annoying,, I am far more frustrated by the fundamental design of this event. Players are being rewarded the most for contributing the least. The best rewards (when fixed) will go to those players that spend the most time running between events, and to those players that spend the most time looking at loading screens from WP jumping. Meanwhile, players actually completing events get a consolation prize.
Is there any chance that you can better encourage players to actually contribute for their rewards? This is really disheartening.
Hype Train officially derailed…
I have two suggestions for Spiteful Spirit.
1— Remove the ICD on this trait. If Weakening Shroud can cast Enfeeble without an ICD, there is no reason that Unholy Feast should have an ICD.
2— Upon exiting Shroud, an AOE attack should occur that scales off of the damage incurred while in DS. This trait would ideally have a short but obvious tell, allowing for counter play (dodge/evade) and counter-counter play (fear, immobilize, etc) in order to land.
If done properly, this could be a wonderful trait that also works well in PvP and even competes with other GM traits in this line.
With the new changes, it feel it is important to note a few things. We are much more effective at self stacking might now. Vulnerability affects both condition damage and power damage.
With this in mind, I feel the most effective build may actually be a hybrid build— Carrion armor, Verata’s trinkets. I may switch to this from my traditional power Necro build…
1 Spite
2 Curses
3 Blood/SR
I think this change is a good thing.
Right now, cripple and chill are in a binary state. They don’t have depth; if a target has cripple or chill, they move slower for everything except teleports. There’s no counterplay to that. If you can keep a target slowed and they can’t cleanse it off, then they have no way of dealing with it..
I am confused OP. Isn’t the ability to cleanse, convert, or transfer the condition counter play?
Moreover, wouldn’t the ability to leap at maximum distance and ignore all such snares lack any such counter play that you so passionately defend? You are basically saying that snares should be countered by cleanses, conversion, transfers, leaps, teleports and -duration.
I think you are wrong, and so are the devs. Counter play already exists.
Prioritize chest then legs from ascended armor boxes, as these are more expensive to craft.
If you go with medium armor, make sure it is a class that can benefit from healing power and condition damage. I recommend Engineer because Healing Turret, regeneration, and water field blasts/leaps are in every build just about. Also, there are plenty skills with conditions attached. Bombs, grenades, rifle, dual pistols— these are all viable in many aspects of the game. Having Settlers as just one piece of this should be fine (I really like celestial armor and Verata’s trinkets for Engineer personally….).
I always felt that all forms of heals should apply while in Death Shroud but at 10% to 20% effectiveness. Ideally we would start with Death Shroud applying a -90% reduction to incoming heals and see how that works, potentially ending up at 15% (-85%) to 20% (-80%) values.
This means that some of the better heals available to Necromancers (Transfusion) would be slightly more useful, and that Regen and ally heals are no longer exercises in frustration.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
Thanks so much for the information!
I just started the Winter’s Day reward track. Does all of my progress and the track itself disappear if I don’t finish the Winter’s Day reward track by the 13th (the end of Winter’s Day), or am I allowed to finish out the track and then it disappears?
Ahh yes, I did forget the Flesh Worm (which I only ever use in PvP).
I am guessing I just feel much more annoyed by stuns/CC on this class…
Having played other classes, it just seems like they retain vigor, aegis, blocks, evades, mobility, immunity, reflects and absorbs while being able to use their stun breaks when needed. Whereas on this class, you are often choosing to use Spectral skills to generate life force, or for Specral recall, and thus sacrificing your stun break for an effect that is supposedly a replacement for everything we lack (vigor, aegis, blocks, evades, mobility, immunity, reflects and absorbs).
One thing that has always annoyed me about this class is the recharge on our stun breaks. I understand the value of Spectral Armor and Spectral Walk, and that given the secondary and tertiary effects they offer that the recharge is largely balanced against these. However, as a class with little to no mobility, no stealth, no blocks, no evades, no immunity, no reflect, no vigor, no projectile absorb, and limited access to stability why do we have the longest recharge on stun breaks?
Elementalist: 25 seconds
Warrior: 25 seconds
Guardian: 30 seconds
Thief: 30 seconds
Ranger: 40 seconds
Engineer: 40 seconds
Necromancer: 50 seconds
I mean, I have to trait 20% reduction just to equal the Engineer and Ranger untraited…
An old complaint: I find it more annoying that for most content in this game things like vigor, evade, block, reflect, projectile absorb, aegis, and combat mobility are far more useful than Deathshroud… which apparently is so good it precludes this class from any such ability.
A new complaint: Why are we the only class in the game with stun-break skills no shorter than 50 seconds in recharge? Deathshroud is apparently the answer.
I have been having the exact same issues. No idea why, and it seems to be isolated to GW2 so far.
I really like it when people knock the High Viscount of Candy Corn off of his gooey candy patch, right when mellee is about to DPS him and my Necro is about to Lich burst him for 200k.
Man, that sure looked cool though!
Not only is this new system odd and punitive, but what the heck happened to the conversion rate? Just the night before I could exchange 100 gold for 643 gems. Immediately after this “UI” revamp 100 gold (If I could buy this increment) wouldn’t even get me 500 gems.
This is over a 20% reduction in the gold to gem conversion ratio that happened over night. I don’t think I have ever seen a 12 hour change this drastic in the gold-for-gems market.
My suggestion for Siege Disabler:
Initial 10 seconds of disabled effect on siege.
Followed by 20 seconds of -of triple recharge on skills.
Followed by 30 seconds of double recharge on skills.
If a player wants to spam Siege Disabers they can, but rather than completely locking an attacking force out for 45 seconds, they will instead slow them down (which was the desired effect).
I wouldn’t mind for Axe AA to have a narrow cone cleave, something like a 15 degrees arc, 2 targets cap, and 600 range.
Do you guys read your in game emails?
“Congratulations! You’ve recieved a tournament reward chest. Visit the Battle Historian during the next match to receive your reward. Unclaimed rewards will be forfeited by the end of the next match.”
They were pretty clear about this.
Everyone was sent one of these emails from ArenaNet after the last tournament round. They also sent one this tournament round and probably will for the next two.
“Congratulations! You’ve recieved a tournament reward chest. Visit the Battle Historian during the next match to receive your reward. Unclaimed rewards will be forfeited by the end of the next match.”
It really doesn’t get clearer than that, and all you had to do was read your email in game. There isn’t anyone to be angry at but yourself.
I do however hope that you can receive your rewards somehow through customer support. Good luck, and I hope you can retroactively get what you have earned.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
[TAG] is an awesome guild, and one of the leaders in Darkhaven WvW. While I am not in the guild, I can vouch for their players and the capability that they bring to the battlefield. This would be a wonderful guild for anyone that wants to make a name for themselves.
Darkhaven is a Bronze league server that could use some active WvW players, and the great part about this tier of WvW is that a small group of organized players can make a HUGE impact.
Come on over to Darkhaven and make a name for yourself.
I see HoTR a lot in WvW— their players are quite skilled and very friendly. This guild always makes a large impact on the battlefield and is well respected.
[HoTR] would be a great guild to join if you would like to play WvW and make a difference. Darkhaven server is battling for Bronze, and the nice part about this league tier is that even just a few well coordinated players can make a large impact.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
I went with Wupwup for my Staff ele. If you can only craft one staff, why not let it work with either Heal, Zerker, or CondiPower and letting you adapt easily obtainable trinkets for WvW, Fractal, or open world builds?
When I saw the Pristine Fractal Relic was required for the ascended vine back piece, I was incredibly distraught. Because of this one requirement the entire thing felt unobtainable.
I too had a terrible experience early on with Fractals, and constantly found myself having to deal with rude comments about both myself and fellow players that had the audacity to try and learn the mechanics of a Fractal during a respective dungeon run. Why didn’t we just use youtube? Why did the Fractal dungeon take 90 minutes rather than 20 minutes? Why did you bring a Necromancer? Noobs.
It was toxic and off putting.
But you know what happened? After I was bummed out about this requirement I returned to the Fractals of the Mist starting area and joined a casual group using the LFG tool. I met some nice people in there, and had a fun (and rather quick) run at the dungeon culminating in 1/5th of the necessary Pristine Relics for my sought after item.
I have also run several more fractals since then and am finding myself enjoying them enough that I would do them even after I have enough Pristine Relics for the vine.
For all those that are frustrated about this, I think there are a few things to remember:
1- Fractals has had its difficulty and reward structure revamped since a lot of us last played.
2- The LFG tool is very handy and a lot of talented dungeon players can be met in there.
3- You might sometimes have a bad experience, but more often than not you will meet good people online.
4- Ignore snarky comments and be sure to follow the lead of experienced players. You don’t really need someone shouting commands at you and you can figure out most of the mechanics by observing others in these Fractal dungeons.
5- Almost all players are in full exotic nowadays, and most are probably in a mix of Ascended/Exotic gear. When Fractals came out, a lot of players were using green and yellow gear and this made the dungeons particularly difficult.
I am not opposed to having other options for purchasing a Mist Stone— in fact I think it is a great idea to have WvW be a second avenue for this. However, I also feel that players should give Fractals a shot and be sure to run with at least a few fellow guild mates for the best possible outcome.
I remember people complaining about the WW Pick when it first came out. They were annoyed by the fact that it had a chance to produce sprockets, which at the time were selling for 7-12 copper. The nerd rage was palpable!
I would consider doing that, but I would like to use the same build while zerging and I would eventually like to become a commander on my necro. I just dont know if that would give me enough survivability or is ds/plague enough?
In your initial post you said that you wanted to roam, solo camps, contribute to a zerg, and 1vX. You need damage for that, as well as enough toughness/vitality to not hinder your world.
However, in this post you are saying that you want to command with the same build. I feel that a commander needs to over emphasize durability and I would never use the same build to solo camps and well-bomb as I would to lead a zerg.
If your goal is still to roam, solo camps, 1vX and contribute (damage?) in a zerg, then aim for:
- 2900+ power with Sigil of Bloodlust stacks/food
- About 40% crit chance
- At least 40% crit damage
- 2600+ armor
- 22,000+ hp
I run stats similar to this and can do all of what you listed quite well. However, if your goal is to command, I would aim for:
3,300+ armor
2,500+ hp
Both builds would use totally different trait lines as well, with a command build maximizing sustain.
I may be too late to add to your decision, but I would avoid full Knights. You really need to aim for around 600 ferocity in a power build to make those critical hits worth while— ideally hitting at least 40%+ crit rate and 40%+ crit damage, which is 190% when you add base crit damage.
I prefer 2xBerserker weapons, Berserker Helm/Gloves/Shoulder/Boots, Valk armor and legs, then Trinkets as Knights with 1 or 2 soldiers mixed in. Again, this is for WvW power build with 30/10/0/0/30.
I don’t understand why this is the only rune that grants a +45% duration to a specific boon. Most of the other Runes that previously enhanced a particular boon are are at 30% (for example Earth-> Protection, Dwayna-> Regeneration, etc), and a select few were dropped to 10%.
What you are seeing is a market that we previewed Rune of Strength and expected similar buffs to other Runes. Well, it turns out that we were shown one of the two best Rune changes and everything else was kept stagnant or made arguably worse.
EDIT— Just to add, I don’t think Rune of Strength needs a nerf, but I do think that the others were under buffed and should be brought up to par. At the very least, the 45% specific boon duration should become standard…
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
It’s funny that this Rune adds 45% Might duration while almost every other Rune that focuses on a specific boon adds 30%. The fact that this ALSO adds 7% damage in the presence of the easiest to maintain boon is icing on the cake.
Odd that they previewed Rune of Strength and it happened to be one of the two best buffed runes along with Rune of Exuberance. I think a lot of people, and thus the market, were expecting other runes to receive a similar bump. Instead a lot of other runes remained stagnant in comparison.
Ahh thanks for that link. I can see what he meant about Burning not scaling well with condition damage.
That said, I am pretty happy with that build being condition based. Power does no damage while channeling Ether Renewal, and Ether Renewal happens to be used pretty often in WvW situations mainly for the cleanse. I can usually keep Burning + 5 stacks of bleed on a target with just light pushing, and spike to 15 + Burning + Poison— this is why I use Lightning Flash in the build depending on the situation, mainly to land a gambit of immobilize→Churning Earth→ Lightning Flash if the immobilize is broken and they try to get out of range.
Does Bleed + Poison + Burning stack well with Condition Damage?
I use this build. I will sometimes switch Signet of Fire for Lightning Flash or Mist Form depending on the situation.
Perma Protection.
3.5k armor with Rock Barrier up.
Rock Solid (Stability) + Ether Renewal every 15 seconds if needed.
25% passive speed.
2k+ condition damage with average in-combat might stacks.
I have found that Loaf of Saffron Bread is invaluable. Stabilized Armor, Protection Injection, and Saffron Bread provide -77% damage while stunned or knocked, on top of your base armor reduction. Combine this with AR and you have one nasty engineer to deal with.
Even after the nerf to AR, Saffron Bread will stack an additional -20% condition duration. I will probably readjust my runes to Anti Toxin at that point for -94% Condition Duration at 33% hp… what nerf?
We may see a slight rise in demand from wardrobe completionists, but I expect this increase to be so minor compared to the size of the GW2 market that it will barely make a difference to skin prices.
Let’s hypothesize that in the entire game a grand total of 10 players actively seek to complete the wardrobe list and have a means to do such. And lets also hypothesize that increased player awareness on these skins also happens to add a meager 20 players who desire a specific skin and have a means to afford this lone purchase. Well, what you have just created are 30 players seeking skins with 4-22 items worth of listed supply. What happens to all of the moderately priced skins like Dreamthistle, Zodiak, etc? It doesn’t take a masters in economics to figure that out.
I don’t doubt that there are plenty of skins waiting to be placed on the TP. But this little scenario I proposed above could see scores of wardrobe completionists and hundreds of single-skin seekers competing for a limited supply of these items. But even if just 30 players in the entire game actively seek out these skins then the price will spike.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see what happens to the skin market. Dyes are dead as far as I am concerned, and the real opportunity here was in the insanity of over-speculation.
Consensus seems to have been reached on 1/2 of the question. But what about skins?
I feel that these have the potential to increase significantly. First, there will be a market for those that “gotta have them all.” This is a market that currently does not exist in PVE.
Also, depending on the UI, you might be able to preview skins that you do not own. This would effectively increase demand as awareness of older skins would sky rocket among newer players and returning players. Ever wonder why people are manipulating the buy orders on skins in order to put it on the front page of the tp? It’s primarily to allow people to right click on the skin, become aware of it, and then desire it.
There are several other reasons that I am not listing here, but regardless, I feel skins could go up in value— particularly skins that are no longer available or those that cost 2-5 black lion tickets.
I wish you luck on your investment! With that said, I have made lots of gold on skins in this game and decided to stay far away from Scarlett’s weapons during the last event. Here are my thoughts:
-First, they were over-farmed.
-Second, they are of a weapon type that is underutilized in both PvE and WvW outside of Engineers— a class which tends to shun skins due to the effect that kits have.
-Third, the TP has been a mess of over speculation for quite some time and the price rise on this item was not from people wanting to “use” the skin.
-Fourth, you gotta go with your gut on aesthetics, and both of Scarlet’s weapons looked like crap.
Ascended will come at some point in the future. In the meantime, I logged on for about 20 minutes over the weekend and made over 100 gold from this dead profession.
For Fire Aura, a blind once per attacker with an ICD that was equal to the aura’s duration (so attacking foes are only blinded once per aura application) would fit with the Fire theme.
it’s still noticeably weaker than whatever/30 water/30 arcane because the signets (+prot) don’t provide the same level of defence as cantrips.
Most builds are noticeably weaker than a meta build that has existed since month 1…
Haha— Thanks!
Good luck with your character. Signet of Air becomes a really awesome skill with this type of build— it gives you a permanent 25% run speed, a stun break, and an instant-cast aoe damage + blind that also grants 4+ seconds of protection.
One downside is that Fire Shield is possibly the worst of all Auras. The burning is a really low duration and the might stacking with it is not as good as it would seem because of the ICD.
It works well. I assume you are using 20/0/30/20/0 given what you wrote in that post? I prefer 20/0/30/0/20 because you can get permanent protection with Arcane VIII while attuning to earth, and the additional boon duration from arcane is key.
I also prefer Scepter/Dagger with this setup for might stacking and run Rune of Earth. You basically have full time protection and 25 stacks of might.
I made a post about this over in the Bugs forum. Thanks for taking the time to test and confirm it guys.
I was advised to post about this bug over here in the bugs forum, rather than the class forum.
Spectral grasp had its Life Force raised from 10% to 15% this patch, however it no longer receives any benefit from Specral Attunement which should add an additional 5% life force upon casting. Previous to this patch, Spectral Grasp would add 10% or 15% with the Spectral Attunement trait. Currently, it adds 15% and remains at 15% after the Spectral Attunement trait has been slotted. This value should logically be raised to 20% when affected by this trait.
Methodology for testing: Enter PvE, activate Spectral Grasp with and without Spetral Attunement. I have heard that this also affects sPvP from another forum poster, but have yet to personally test that.
Spectral grasp had its Life Force raised from 10% to 15% this patch, however it no longer receives any benefit from Specral Attunement, which should add an additional 5% life force upon casting.
Previous to this patch, Spectral Grasp would add 10% or 15% with the Spectral Attunement trait. Currently, it adds 15% and remains at 15% after the Spectral Attunement trait has been slotted. This value should logically be raised to 20% when affected by this trait.
Methodology for testing: Enter PvE, activate Spectral Grasp with and without Spetral Attunement. I have no idea how this is working in sPvP, but please please please remember to check both parts of this game…
Well actually it’s crit chance not crit damage though…
What I listed with Knight’s/Runes of Divinity and Celestial trinkets/rings/ammy is total Critical Damage with 30 in Soul Reaping. Remember, you have 50% base critical damage. 100% (plus 50%) critical damage is a good goal to have if you go hybrid, but I would aim for at least 120% (plus 70%).
I can’t recall the exact numbers, but Critical Chance roughly sits at 100% (110%) in Death Shroud with with Furious Demise active, 90% with it inactive, 40% outside of Death Shroud and 60% with Furious Demise pulsed. When you combine that with solid condition damage on a class like the Necro (somewhere around 700 with food/tuning stone), good things happen.
This is perhaps the only class that a hybrid approach is arguably better than a pure Power/ Crit or Condition build.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
—Armor/Trinkets—
I wear full Knight’s armor, and recommend Greater Runes of Divinity or ruby orbs. For trinkets, I use full celestial. Why do I do this? Simple. As a necromancer, you are perhaps the only class that will always have multiple conditions and power based skills vying for use, and the hybrid approach to Power and Condition is insanely underrated on these forums. I also have about 130% total critical damage, which means that the criticals not only come regularly but hit hard. With food and tuning stones, condition damage is roughly 700 if I recall correctly and stack solid damage on top of your power/crit.
How on earth do you get about 130% critical dmg with knights gear when I as a full berzerker in every slot with ruby orbs and full soul reaping don’t?
50% base 30% SR, +10% weapons, +12% runes, + 31% trinkets/rings/amulet/back. Thus 130% TOTAL crit damage, like I posted.
As for the OP… you asked for experiences with this format. Try my suggestions or don’t, there’s no sweat off my back. You will likely be shocked at how effective it is when there is a balance between condition damage and power/ctit on a class like the Necro.
Things is scepter is also fine on a power build. It has a decent damage base on #1, a pleasant attack speed and #3 can hit really hard.
Bingo.
(edited by Julius Seizure.4985)
I have run a both a 20/20/0/0/30 and a 10/20/10/0/30 build for several moths, full spectral traits, and Knights for armor. Here are some thoughts that may help. Please note that I play PvE and WvW, so my armor is different and I can’t say how that relates to SPvP.
—Traits—
Spite:
On both of my two builds (Spite 10 and Spite 20) I have found Spiteful Talisman to be a great tool. It increases life force regeneration/time and reliability on Reaper’s Touch while reducing the cast time on Spinal Shivers. This is a great trait, and as you stated above this build really emphasized Life Force regeneration. I notice that you opted for Retaliation on entering Death Shroud— and I would only take this trait with boon duration and reduced Death Shroud cool down, neither of which you have. On the (Spite 20) build, I also have taken Axe Mastery like you.
Curses:
I have taken the exact same 2 traits that you have from Curses. Sometimes I will swap out Weakening Shroud for Reaper’s Precision or Toxic Landing for boss fights and WvW settings.
Death Magic:
For the 10/20/10/0/30 build, you obviously take Greater Marks.
Soul Reaping:
Unyielding Blast is a MUST have for PvE and zerg based WvW. I only ever swap this out for Speed of Shadows for roaming/skirmishing in WvW or certain boss fights in fractals that emphasize mobility. Trust me, the first time you hit 5 targets for 4k+ critical damage in a dungeon you won’t turn back. Spectral Mastery is obviously also a must have for this build. And as for the Grand Master… Deathly Perception is what you want. 100% critical on Life Blast and Siphon Life? Umm, yes please. If I know that I am facing a foe with a lot of CC, only then will I employ Foot in Grave.
—Weapons—
I hate to say it, but Staff is pure garbage without Greater Marks. It just is. My 20/20/0/0/30 build uses Axe/Focus and Scepter/Dagger. This build stacks weakness better than my 10/20/10/0/30 build, but also retains solid AoE damage and mediocre personal cleanse with the Dagger off-hand. I will also use this build for group settings where I am the only source of Poison and we are fighting a boss with a heal, as you can now keep poison up permanently with your basic attack chain.
Obviously, staff stacks great AoE conditions/damage, grants regneration, and has a second full cleanse/condition transfer. It can combo weakness and poison as well.
—Armor/Trinkets—
I wear full Knight’s armor, and recommend Greater Runes of Divinity or ruby orbs. For trinkets, I use full celestial. Why do I do this? Simple. As a necromancer, you are perhaps the only class that will always have multiple conditions and power based skills vying for use, and the hybrid approach to Power and Condition is insanely underrated on these forums. I also have about 130% total critical damage, which means that the criticals not only come regularly but hit hard. With food and tuning stones, condition damage is roughly 700 if I recall correctly and stack solid damage on top of your power/crit.
—Slot Skills—
Err… Spectral. I personally use Grasp/Armor/Walk. I take Grasp over Wall because I find the guaranteed 16.5% Life Force every 24 seconds to be invaluable for LF generation, and a little known boost is that the chill duration is upped by taking Spectral Attunement.
Walk and Armor are both stun breakers, but you will find their REAL benefit to this build comes from the Life Force on Hit, which remains while in Death Shroud. It’s truly beautiful when used properly.
The necromancer skill Reaper’s Touch is not receiving any cooldown bonus from Spiteful Talisman, a trait located in Spite (II). I have not had time to test whether the range boost is being applied.
I seem to have noticed another bug with the Necromancer. Reaper’s Touch does not receive any cooldown bonus from Spiteful Talisman, the trait located in Spite tier (II). The cooldown should be dropping from 18 to 14.5 seconds after taking the trait, but this boost is not being applied and the skill always keeps the 18 second countdown. But at least the tool tip updates… Meanwhile, Spinal Shivers does receive the cooldown bonus.
I have not had time to test whether the range enhancement works with Reaper’s Touch.
Can this get fixed at some point?