Guild Wars 2

Lightsbane.9012:

necro needed more access to stability, what it got instead was a traitline that made them into a warrior without the added benefits.

The RS comes with stability, RS 3 specifically. Not only that, but it pulses, has a decent duration, a short cooldown (relative to other stability skills) and an AOE fear that you can activate on demand for an interrupt.

Another thing to note about the reaper spec, specifically the GS:
-Death spiral shows a 2% LF on a 6 hit attack. it generates 2% per hit, which would make it incredibly potent for life force generation in both PvE and PvP thanks to it’s 3 person cleave.
-PvE mobs pile up so it’s easy to hit 3 mobs 6 times each in a single swing which is an easy 36% life force
-PvP it’s easy to either hit a CC’d player, a downed player, and a player rezzing a downed player. If you hit someone trying to rez a downed player, that’s a cool 24% off a single blow.
-Reaper’s grasp also generates life force for each foe it hits. While it’s only a flat 4% per foe, that’s still yet another form of life force.
-Great sword is the only single necromancer weapon that has 2 skills generating life force.
-If you chill the enemy with greatsword, it has a LOT of multi-hit attacks which can generate a lot of life force through chilling force.

The only issue I can see with reaper, is that if condition cleansing stays as potent as it is, it might be difficult to lock an enemy down with chill for long enough to get a real grip before they simply use a leap skill, cleanse, and walk away.

Increase the amount of life force it gives and reduce the cast time to 1.5-2 seconds. That’s all it needs really.

sebradle.7034:

Lily.1935:

Bhawb.7408:

Nyth.3492:

In my eyes the staff is already a pretty good weapon to go with minions. I mean it could use a bit more synergy, but the ability to give them regeneration with #2 is quite good.

Staff is pretty mediocre with minions. Regen you get from a minor trait already, and it doesn’t bring anything else special.

If we did get a minion weapon it’d have to be an off-hand. Honestly though any type of support weapons we get would work with minions, so just a proper support specialization would most likely do more than a “minion” weapon.

Cough cough Ritualist Cough cough

Or Lich even though that name might be a little overdone. Thing is if we got a minion focused elite specialization wouldn’t the new utilities just compete against our current minions.

Elite specializations do two things we know right off the bat:
1. They have their own utility type and weapon for the class that doesn’t already exist within that class, but can support other builds
2.Elite specializations cannot be used with one another

Because we know that it will be a new utility type, it’s safe to assume that we won’t get any more “minion” utilities as parts of elite specializations. However, we might get utilities that happen to create minions (“Rise!”) or traits that happen to make minions more potent (vampiric aura).

If we get more utilities outside of elite specializations, I would expect ones that currently are absent from select sets. IE: Elite well, Elite signet, spectral healing skill, ect.

The only way to conceptually do a minions based weapon would be to have it summon a jagged horror with one of it’s attacks. If you set a specific buff to only be given to minions, it locks the weapon out of too many builds. Weapons need to fit into a wide range of builds as they more or less are what make the true core of the class. Weapon abilities that give a buff to allies accomplishes the goal of being a good minions weapon without being a detriment when all your minions are dead, as it will buff your minions if you’re alone, and buff allies when your with your whole party. However Necromancer doesn’t give buffs to allies, instead it hinders it’s enemies to make it’s allies proportionally stronger.

This means that the only other way to make a weapon minion based would be by making a weapon that centers around debuffing and locking down an enemy so your minions can maximize the damage they do to that enemy. Axe+focus in a way fulfills this role as it’s auto attack applies vulnerability, 3 cripples (and corrupts a boon), focus 4 applies vulnerability, and focus 5 locks them down with chill (and removes up to 3 boons). All of these effects make the enemy easier for your minions to catch and kill.

In reality, the best solution is to simply make axe better at debuffing the enemy. More specifically, buffing it’s auto attack. Maybe change the auto attack into a chain that applies vulnerability->vulnerability->weakness (greatly reducing the damage the enemy does to your minions).

OP I gotta say, your posting structure is very hard to follow. quote someone and post a response in the thread, don’t edit it into your OP without any context, it looks like you’re argueing with yourself.

Also we have no clue on how the reaper will actually preform in game, only speculation based on information we saw 2ish months ago that is extremely likely to have changed by now.

With engineers having access to moa morph as well as the increase in the number of mesmers (many of which who also have moa just to counter rampage/lich/MMs) being an MM now is both amazing and horrible. It’s amazing because of it’s newfound synergy, it sucks because your entire utility bar gets put on cooldown very very often.

jagged horrors are fine, they just need to adjust the numbers on jagged horror mechanics and fix some issues that are minion wide as a whole.

1. increase the cap on jagged horrors, the current cap is 8 and you can easily hit that with a good “Rise!” and mark of horror wasting 2 jagged horrors. It’s practically impossible to get 8 jagged horrors in normal circumstances, so the cap is silly. Especially since we don’t have the oldest form of reanimate which had no icd.

2.increase accessibility of jagged horrors through existing means. (have death nova create jagged horrors from non-jagged horror minion deaths as well, reduce the cooldown on the jagged horror created through runes of the lich, ect)

3.Minion AI needs some serious polishing. Too many minion traits and mechanics rely on the minions running up to and hitting the enemy for the minions to afk so much.

4.Transformation elites need to NOT kill all minions. Lich form would be perfect for a death nova build using “Rise!” if it didn’t kill all the existing minions.

If the route without jagged horrors is taken, then a new minion type needs to be designed for the shout. Creating any existing minion with the shout beyond jagged horrors takes away from the existing minion summons. Give it wraiths that chill on attack or apply vulnerability.

as long as D/D cele ele and rampage warriors are allowed to run around with the strength they have, I don’t want to see our life force get NERFED like that for no particular reason.

Not only that, but we generate life force from enemies dieing. If it returned to 50 or 20% out of combat, that entire quality of our life force generation will be meaningless and we will be nothing more than less powerful warriors mechanically.

If ANYTHING should happen, we should always spawn with 20% life force when we start a PvP match or revive after dieing.

It’s been doing this for a long time, I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t been fixed yet.

nekretaal.6485:

The reaper shouts are awful. Was anybody ever excited by any of them?

Oh yeah, one of them is a stun break and might see use because the Necromancer’s competing stun breaks are garbage.

I am excited for “Rise!” as a minion master.

However, tempest shouts and reaper shouts fill very different roles despite both being shouts. Reaper shouts debuff the enemies while buffing you, and tempest shouts either buff allies, or hinder enemies, but never both.

Lily.1935:

How I’d change it is I’d first make the skill one into a chain skill. 1st damage valn, 2nd damage valn, 3rd damage and boon corruption. Second skill would damage at its 600 range but also damage up to 3 targets at melee range as well as become a whirl finisher. This makes it a very good hybrid weapon but still very functional as a power weapon if needed. Making it stronger the closer you get like reverse mesmer gs or ranger lb could give it a unique feel to it. Unlike Life blast which has always been just really really off.

This guy gets it. Boon corruption on the axe auto makes more sense with how it currently functions.

The main reason I’m against axe being changed into a condition damage weapon, is that it’s already established as a de-buff mid-range power weapon. If it’s changed into a condition weapon, everyone who’s built them around the existing concept (or invested into a legendary because of it) will be royally kittened.

Instead, make the axe more rooted into it’s role, and make the scepter more efficient at it’s own. IE; have the 2 skill on scepter extend the duration on conditions already on the foe on top of it’s Life force generation.

Sagat.3285:

striker.3704:

reversing the weapons roles arbitrarily like that makes no sense.

At least power/cele will go dagger/WH and staff condi is stuck with scepter which is a weak link no the best idea but I could see axe being a better condi weapon then scepter with adjustments.

Just buff the scepter then instead of reversing the roles.

reversing the weapons roles arbitrarily like that makes no sense.

I like the warhorn a lot. I’ve been wanting an offensive mid-range off-hand for my scepter, and this fits the bill. Especially since the tempest mechanic works really well with fresh air ele (the build I use).

parasitic contagion does almost exactly that, except it also benefits from all your other damage conditions.

I use DM/BM/Spite for my minion master build. I honestly don’t get CC chained that much with proper kiting and dodges.
-DM gives me durability (protection, corruptor’s fervor, necromantic corruption)
-BM gives me sustain (vampiric, unholy martyr Life force battery)
-Spite gives me damage and boon removal (lots of retaliation and boon corruption/removal)

I’ll probably drop spite for reaper when it releases. Reaper will give access to stability through reaper shroud, so soul reaping won’t be necessary for everyone wanting stability.

-If you’re built tanky, unholy feast (and by extension spiteful spirit) combined with death shroud can really punish them for attacking you even if they have distortion. You’ll get plenty of retaliation duration off their illusions.
-dodge roll the big shatter damage
-channel skills continue to hit even if they stealth in the middle of it. If you have siphoning, you can see the heal numbers pop up on you to track where they are. (this works on them being downed and stealthed too.) This same trick also works with locust swarm+dagger attacks to find a stealthed mesmer.
-build life force at all times, death shroud is your best friend.

I’ve liked the necromancer since GW1 because of minions. The guild wars series is one of the few to do minion master style of play correctly. I can basically make my own mini version of a party!

hell, in GW1 I would often take an entire portion of the map by myself if I got my minion army going, and in GW2 I can almost do the same thing in dungeons! Once reaper gets released I might be able to do just that.

I’m gonna be talking about the corrupter’s fervor/necromantic corruption Minion master build I’m running. http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQDWAS4AXw~
Weapons: axe+focus/dagger+warhorn
Soldier’s stats
Rune of the lich

Physical DPS B+ – While the damage isn’t as high as a true DPS build, it has a very respectable and consistent DPS. You can reliably whittle down even the most bunkery of builds, and squishies who try to trade blows with you and your minions go down easily. This rating goes down to C- if all your minions die.
Condi DPS F+ – This build has some very very low condition damage. You only get it from death shroud, jagged horrors, and whatever your minions happen to transfer. The only reason it isn’t F- is that those transfers can get really silly against condition damage heavy builds.
Control A+ – ample access to immobilize, chill, cripple, blow back and fear. You have plenty of hard and soft CC to really pin down a single player, interrupt key actions, or simply hinder someone.
Mobility C- – You only really have swiftness, but it lasts a long time.
Disengagement F+ – As a minion master you’re slow, you have no access to an on demand condition cleanse, and only one stun break. If someone wants to stick to you and chase you down, they’re probably going to do so successfully. You definitely need to find an ally to help peel you if you’re trying to make any form of a get away.
Sustain vs. Physical B+ – Between the minions siphoning, you siphoning, and being able to choose the range you fight at, this build is quite good at sustaining vs a physical DPS. However, this rating drops down to C+ if they have enough proper physical AOE to kill all your minions quickly.
Sustain vs. Condi A+ – Minions removing conditions, corruptor’s fervor, high health pool, and death shroud makes conditions a non-concern for you.
Team Support Synergy D- – last rites, siphoning aura, and chill increasing cooldown times can really help out your team, but they aren’t the biggest forms of support.
Effectiveness as a Primary Engager A-D– If you have a lot of life force, you can be a great engager by absorbing damage and causing chaos with your minions. If you have no life force you can easily be burst down in a team fight scenario if you aren’t careful.
Effectiveness as a Point Holder/Bunker A- – You should never lose a point 1 v 1. However in 1 v 2 scenarios you won’t be able to survive super high burst like the guardians with invulnerability and blocks can, but can otherwise hold out for a very long time or potentially down someone.
Effectiveness as a Peeler +1’er A– you have a lot of effective ranged soft and hard CC, making you very good at getting someone off your allies back, especially with the intimidation factor of your army. You’re also very powerful in a 2 v 2 scenario.

This is honestly the most enjoyable it’s been for a minion master such as myself for a while now. However mantra mesmers are way too strong atm.

A well that gives protection+retaliation+might+resistance makes more sense for a necro.

Jason King.2647:

We’re working on the minions’ behavior now and will be testing some changes to see how they work. Thank you for your patience, everyone!

2 years is a long time ago my friend.

Cecilia.5179:

I don’t understand why anybody would say that plague could be worse as a well… It loses the self debuff and it really can retain every other aspect of itself. You basically transform into a mobile well. It would gain the potential to pulse healing, protection, and stability as well as a choice of blind/poison or one of the other, less useful pulses. This would make plague a “good” elite skill, especially if it retained its stomping potential.

Because wells aren’t mobile, that’s why they are wells.

A good elite well could be like:
Well of Thirst: A well that siphons large amounts of health from enemy players, and heals allied players within 600 units outside the well each time it steals health.

Well of weakness: A well that pulses weakness, vulnerability, and cripple.

(not so good but I think it’d be funny)
well of horror: a well that spawns a jagged horror if it hits an enemy. (no icd on the jagged horror spawns, could get super silly with a bunch of enemies stacked on it and death nova).

because our form of invulnerability is more health, so if anything the best way to gain invulnerability is a skill that gives a ton of life force quickly.

Bhawb.7408:

As it is now, the only real solution is fixing their AI. It is a bit of a pipe dream, but unless we get an AI fix or at least a way to bandaid their AI the build will have issues. Dodging might be nice to get them into PvE but they’d still be bad in PvE.

This is the absolute truth really. Minions are honestly in a very good spot trait wise, balance wise, and mechanics wise. The only real issue is their functionality through AI.

Anyone who calls a minion build brainless has obviously not been playing the same game, and has no place in this discussion.

The AI for necromancer minions (the melee ones specifically) get stuck “idle” quite often in combat. This is most noticeable if you use the bone minions utility skill, as they need to be next to the enemy for you to effectively use putrid explosion. This has been going on since launch. I ran a search and didn’t find any threads on this forum about it, so I’m making another one.

I like how I can feel like a mastermind as I control a small swarm of minions to overwhelm my enemies, and really control the pace of a fight. I also like the way I can make my necro look thematically how I like to imagine he fuels his magic.

While I do miss the sheer power my necromancer held in GW1 by minion number and strength, I do enjoy how much more flexible my minion master can be in GW2 while still having a utility bar dedicated to minions. Even if I get moa morph’d and lose all my minions, or accidentally step in a puddle and have my flesh golem collapse, I can still bring some stuff to the table.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

Greetings, after the recent changes and since anet stated they’ll release a balance patch every week or two, i’ve decided to start this thread to constructively talk about necromancer’s balance.
Here i’ll leave a few points i feel important regarding the current balance of the necromancer and a few of my suggestions to get the discussion going, i’ll try to keep the suggestions as close as possible to being made (such as changing stats instead of editing a behaviour) .

What the necromancer is missing

• Projectile reflects, blocks
• Mobility
• Reliable access to stability
• Forms of team support

Issues regarding weapon sets

• Axe damage feels underwhelming

• Focus is rarely used in any pvp scenario as warhorn and dagger are usually better

Issues regarding traits

• Spiteful spirit feels underwhelming, both due the ICD and the “meh” effect, it’ll never compete with the other two GMs as it is
• Lingering curse isn’t worth a GM
• Dhuumfire’s effect is not good enough, either make it apply two stacks or increase the duration by alot
• Of course, chilling darkness.

The necromancer has plenty of team support in the blood line now, and we don’t need mobility, blocks, or projectile reflects. Those are the guardian’s qualities. I’d honestly say the only thing we lack is reliable access to stability.

Axe doesn’t need damage, what it really needs is more identity. It seems like they’re making Axe a sort of support weapon that hinders the enemy, so I think they should expand on that. Some examples:

-change the axe auto attack into a psuedo-chain. Have one part of the chain apply vulnerability, and have another part of the chain apply weakness.
Rending Claws: Same as it currently is, shorter cast time (down to 3/4s cast time)
→
Ripping Claws: A moderate damage single slash that applies weakness (1/2s cast time)

-Alternatively, Make it so Ghastly Claws applies a burst of weakness at the end of the channel in a small AOE, with a ghostly green energy animation to indicate it.

-Focus is a great weapon paired with the Axe as they both have the mainstay of boon removal and applying vulnerability. If Axe is made better focus might be used more often as well. If Focus is really considered so weak, change spiteful talisman as that 5% when the enemy has no boons rarely applies.

Spiteful Talisman: reduce focus skill recharge by 20%, spinal shivers now corrupts boons.

-The ICD of spiteful spirits is only an issue if you run it without the unholy fervor trait, or if you take the speed of shadows trait. It’s obviously designed to be used with unholy fervor, which makes it so that it activates every time you enter DS. Spiteful spirit’s effect is also nothing to scoff at as it gives you AOE cripple, boon corruption, and plenty of retaliation.

Bhawb.7408:

striker.3704:

I honestly thought you weren’t ever gonna do that since you were saying MM is 1 v 1 focused and taking reaper conflicts with that, but no complaints here.

I won’t be using Rise! for that reason, but I think Reaper (without taking any of the utility skills) will be just fine. Greatsword will likely be a nice weapon, Reaper Shroud will probably be a major improvement over Death Shroud, and the traits should be really nice.

My guess is Reaper MM will be a straight improvement over Soul Reaping MMs, and whether or not they will be worth using over Spite MM will depend on how any trait changes happen, how much damage GS/RS do, and if Axe is made less garbage.

The spite line, especially the parts focused around Axe, will need a lot more love to make it worth taking over the stability offered by the soul reaping and reaper trait lines. While the spite line offers more damage boosting than the other two lines through might and boon removal, and gives the best “mid range AOE soft CC” capabilities (spiteful spirit, reduced cooldown on unholy feast, keeping access to tainted shackles for the immobilize) the complete lack of stability for MMs can be a real hindrance.

The GS/RS will most definitely be the kings of close range damage. There is no doubt about this. The dagger auto isn’t even really that strong, it’s just fast and generates plenty of life force. The real draw for dagger is the life siphon 2 skill which can act as a low cooldown secondary heal skill, especially when used while at around 80% health, and it also lets you keep your warhorn which gives locust swarm.

If anything, I’d say it depends on how well the GS can lock down with chill. Dagger+warhorn gives cripple, immobilize, swiftness, and a passive 25% speed boost with quickening thirst. This makes it really good at keeping pace with your target. If the GS can’t lock down the enemy well enough with chill, then that high damage simply won’t matter.

Either way, reaper looks hella fun to me.

Bhawb.7408:

I’ll definitely be Reaper/Death Magic/Blood Magic for MM. The cool thing about Reaper is that its bruiser-styled trait line (mixed damage and defense), so full-damage builds can go Spite/Soul Reaping or Blood Magic/Reaper or Curses/Soul Reaping/Reaper without having any trait line devoted to defense, yet fully defensive builds have Death Magic, Blood Magic, Soul Reaping, and Reaper to choose from, without being forced to take much/any offense.

I honestly thought you weren’t ever gonna do that since you were saying MM is 1 v 1 focused and taking reaper conflicts with that, but no complaints here.

Currently I’m running death magic/blood/spite as a minion master using this build:
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQDWAS4AXw~

As of right now, the spite tree is there to increase my boon removal and give me some might when my enemy is at low health. However, I don’t really get to see the benefits of this tree all that much, so I’ll be glad to drop it for reaper.

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQDWAR4Btw~

Here is what I’ll be running after reaper drops. I’ll be dropping dagger+warhorn for greatsword, so quickening thirst won’t be useful to me. Without dark path, I won’t get enough access to bleeding to make good use of blood bond, making ritual of life a default choice here.

I’m taking soul eater because in my build siphoning with the dagger+warhorn is my extra health recovery method. with the great sword having additional siphoning on top of vampiric and vampiric presence, even those slow hits will recover some health. Between cold shoulder and corruptor’s fervor, I should be incredibly tanky.

I feel like there should be an elite well that has a base effect that siphons health for you.

You can already get 3x siphoning with wells, so drop a well of suffering, hit with death spiral, and you’re gonna get a lot of health and damage.

certain builds do accomplish the goal of attrition, I think MM is the easiest example of this post patch.
-unholy martyr gives you a LOT of life force generation, meaning you’ll stay in death shroud for a very long time in fights, making extended battles in your favor
-with vampiric aura and vampiric, you can get a lot of siphoning in shroud using life transfer, with the added bonus of minions siphoning too. This is excluding the very noticeable amount of health you gain from your channeled damage spells through this.
-you have ample access to cripple and chill, making it easier to lock down enemy players
-conditions have very little effect on you with necromantic corruption

It honestly really does win extended fights.

I think that the only real issue the necromancer has, is that not enough of his attacks apply those soft CCs (cripple, chill) anmd we’re now getting a spec that applies chill on auto attack. We should wait it out and see how the reaper plays out before righting it off.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Out of curiosity, do minions attack your target if you summon them mid-battle? Or do they still randomly run off and check their instagram?

#Fleshgolemtrending

Yes and Yes, it depends on the time of day, the number of warts on their back, and what their mood is.

I never have any problems with the shadow fiend, bone fiend, blood fiend, or flesh wurm being summoned mid battle, just bone minions and flesh golem.

TheLastNobody.8319:

striker.3704:

That ICD is necessary for SOV imo because it would otherwise be too strong.

I’m sorry but how is it necessary? It’s only 400 heal when you get hit and doesn’t work while in DS. It’s just a funnier version of warrior’s healing signet right now.

without that icd the active would end up being a huge burst in PvP for both healing and damage and would be quite OP. in a 1 v 1 scenario, if you got in 25 small hits within 6 seconds, that’s a potential 9800 HP healed (13800 if you also include the base self heal) and 5025 damage before healing power and power are taken into account. At minimum using dagger and warhorn you can at least get about half those hits in that time easy.

400 healed per weaker hit would also be ridiculous without an icd on the passive. You would end up healing more health than damage done to you by any class that uses a multi-hit attack (such as axe 2 skill), which is a big no-no in game design as it can grind the match to a halt.

I’d say if anything, make the passive siphon from the foe when they hit you instead of just healing you. So instead it might deal, lets say 200 damage to the enemy and heal you for 400 instead of just 400 base.

Skoigoth.9238:

For PvE I use SoV (as I did pre-patch), but more as an additional damage skill than a heal skill. The passive heal is still terribad. It really should be changed to “on hit” rather then “when getting struck by a foe”. The ICDs on both passive and especially on the active effect still somewhat cripple the skill. You´ll pretty much never be able to reach Vampiric Mark`s full potential. I think either the duration of Vampiric Mark should be increased to maybe 10-12s, or the ICD on it should be removed altogether.

Imo what they should´ve done instead of nerfing our only good heal, leaving us with a bunch of substandard/mediocre heals, is buffing WoB, SoV and BF a bit more, giving them more utility/situational usage (like the Thief heal skills e.g.) so that they can somewhat compete with CC.

Honestly “when being struck” is better than “on hit” because if the enemy blind spams you or CC chains you, you aren’t screwed out of a heal.

That ICD is necessary for SOV imo because it would otherwise be too strong.

Bhawb.7408:

The biggest problem with MM is still AI, and wonky interactions.

This is the biggest issue right here. If minions consistently and competently attacked the proper target, minion masters would be a LOT stronger.

the axe already applies vulnerability on auto attack, generates a bunch of life force on it’s 2, and converts a boon+applies cripple in an AOE on it’s 3. For all intents and purposes it already accomplishes all that.

I use blood fiend in my minion master build. Honestly the 10 stacks of vulnerability aren’t that big of a deal.

Shadow.7843:

Thank you for all the replies
It seems that a lot of people choose Tranfusion instead. What if I use Well of Blood as my healing skill; would Transfusion still be preferred or should I go for Vampiric Rituals?

If well of blood is your only well, you’d still get more benefit out of transfusion. I’d only say vampiric rituals is worth it if you run a full wells build.

Yes, unholy martyr+necromantic corruption is a fantastic life force battery. If you want a high ammount of survivability, or run death magic/blood magic/soul reaping (giving you a more powerful death shroud) then the extended time in death shroud would be worth it.

However, in AOE heavy dungeons you should consider transfusion instead to help your allies more.

I had a lot of fun with my MM build, it’s great! Really tanky and has a lot of option.

However, I feel as though mesmers are way stronger now. Their shatter burst feels so much stronger in comparison to other classes I fight. As of now it’s the only thing I really find difficulty fighting.

I play a necromantic corruption necromancer (corrupter’s fervor):
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-38c3-0-sHFE0z3VI-K0;9;4896;0037257058;4Xw0;3F-03F-036i
Soldier’s gear
Rune of the lich
Sigil of frailty and sigil of peril for axe+focus
Sigil of leeching and water for dagger+warhorn

This build has:
-high sustain from life stealing
-lots of condition mitigation
-good single target damage
-lots of CC
-decent mobility for a necromancer
-a good amount of boon hate

This is mostly for sPvP, I feel in dungeons you would probably wanna run a more damage focused build that uses death nova.

Here’s the beauty of the build:
-Axe+focus applies a lot of vulnerability which keeps corruptor’s fervor up and allows your minions to deal more damage. It also helps lock down enemy boons as you can remove up to 5 at once (spinal shivers+unholy feast+spiteful spirit)
-Unholy martyr draws conditions off of minions, which means that you constantly trade conditions with your minions, generating a LOT of life force. This makes necromantic corruption+unholy martyr a life force battery! Even if all your minions die, you still can generate that life force from allies.
-Vampiric aura works on minions, so you still get the maximum effect even if there are no players around. This also still heals you along with the regular vampiric trait.
-Last rites gives you plenty of healing power, so you don’t need to invest in healing power to make the siphoning strong.
-Since you get a free unholy feast from entering death shroud and protection from leaving death shroud, flashing shroud is a viable option, and since you generate a lot of life force in death shroud, staying in it is also a good option, giving you freedom to choose based on the situation.
-Mark of evasion alone gives you enough bleeding to proc blood bond by itself thanks to the condition duration from your runes of the lich. Even then, if the jagged horror that spawns from you lands a blow, you are also very likely to get the proc from only one dodge, letting you use your dodge aggressively in some situations.

Bhawb.7408:

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

Almost guarantee it won’t work on minions.

It does in fact work on minions! Not only that, but it both heals them and you at the same time!

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

striker.3704:

I understand why it only applies to axe, but gating the damage boost behind cripple seems like poor design to me.

Or gating it behind Vulnerability?

yeah that’s what I meant. If it’s gonna be limited by vulnerability, I’d like to see the damage boost changed from 10% to 15%.

I understand why it only applies to axe, but gating the damage boost behind cripple seems like poor design to me.

A maintained 2 stacks of bleeding on yourself honestly isn’t that bad, idk why people say the skill is kill now because of it.

The Minion command skills are the most effective way, it also helps to open a fight with an enemy selected and to hit them with a single target attack.

I’d replace the wurm since reaper shroud has built in stability.

No? Death nova is typically the “must” for minion masters of the current three grand master traits, as the 10% chance to remove a boon on hit is incredibly underwhelming and unholy sanctuary is for non-mm builds.

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

First of all , as for soldier ( PVT ) gear , I’m a MM necro ( planning to become a Reaper at HoT release ). I will use Blood Bond, Vampiric Presense & Transfusion ( Will get Death and reaper trait trees as well ).
I will use both Staff and Greatsword, in order to benefit from Blood Bond as much as possible ( Proc ) , are there any ways beside these to achieve that ? Mark of blood/Evasion , 2 sigils of geomancy ?
According to https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/June-23-Specialization-Changes/first , What is the CD of Blood Bond trait ?

As for Vampiric Presense , it says that You and allies near you siphon health with attacks , are minions considered allies or not ( they are not in Reaper’s Touch skill as they don’t get the regeneration ) ?

depending on the rune set and other factors, getting those bleed stacks won’t be that difficult.
-Runes of the lich: extends condition duration and it also creates a jagged horror reliably for you. That jagged horror applies a noticeable bleed on hit.
-Rise!: creates multiple jagged horrors, meaning many more chances for the threshold to be hit. This only applies in fights with 2+ opponents and after HoT hits.
-Death nova: creates a jagged horror when you kill an enemy, and makes your jagged horrors that die apply a nice poison AOE.
-Necromantic corruption will have your minions take conditions from you and transfer them to your enemy. If you fight a condition damage heavy player like a mesmer, engi, or another necro, you could get those 4 stacks of bleeding on the enemy without actually applying the bleed yourself.
-Unholy feast: Since this skill will now convert boons on enemies into conditions, you could consider using Axe+offhand dagger before HoT releases since you won’t be using great sword until then. Offhand dagger has, of course, bleeds as well.

Minions are in fact considered allies. Reaper’s touch will actually bounce to them if there is no ally in range. It’s just that in 90% of cases you or another player will be too close to the enemy for it to prioritize minions. So theoretically yes it will if there aren’t allied players around. The real question is if the additional siphoning the minion’s get heals you or themselves.