3 replies to this topic

[Azure]

This is a build that I have had stuck in my head for a while, focused on the usage of Death Shroud in order to gain various boons and effects that you can get from entering an exiting Death Shroud. That being said, the traits that effect you upon entering and exiting Death Shroud are scattered across the various Necro specs, and so this build could easily change roles from bunker to DPS to support or whatever.

http://gw2skills.net...zP/8zPXKAIWbB-w

This Build is normally intended to work as a condition bunker build, with aspects of Terrormancer tacked on for more burst, more CC, and simply because the placement of Traits that effect fear is extremely convenient for this build. The only times you should stay in Shroud is when you are casting Tainted Shackles, Dark Path to catch up to someone, or to use Doom. While Corruptions may seen like an odd choice, this is part of the reason why taking Shrouded Removal is important, as it will nullify the conditions that you have applied to yourself. Although Master of corruption may seem like it has better synergy with this build since it has several corruption skills, your condition removal relies upon small fast bursts of removal rather than one big clear all at once, making applying multiple conditions to yourself instantly impractical. Another somewhat strange concept is not using Death Shroud specifically as a stun breaker due to Foot in the Grave. Having one stack of stability per 7 seconds and an additional stun breaker should make up for having to use Death Shroud entrance for utility and offense. I am sorry if I have been rambling on and on about this build for a bit, but if you are here than it probably means that you have stuck with me throughout this. Any thoughts on this build would be appreciated, especially on the choice of condi vs power, sigil choice, and necromancer vs nightmare runes. Thanks for reading

[matthen]

Azure, on 13 July 2015 - 01:57 AM, said:

Any thoughts on this build would be appreciated, especially on the choice of condi vs power, sigil choice, and necromancer vs nightmare runes. Thanks for reading

I was hoping someone else would respond to this. I used to run a tanky condi necro quite a bit, but now I mostly run power/DPS. I enjoy the more active power/DPS play style... so I guess that sort of answers your first question.

For sigils on a condi build.... You have four typical choices: (1) increase the intensity of your conditions (Sigil of Corruption, Sigil of Bursting, Sigil of Geomancy); (2) increase the duration of your conditions (Sigil of Malice); (3) increase the diversity of your conditions (Sigil of Torment), or (4) increase your defense (Sigil of Energy). Sigil of Doom fits in two of the above categories.

I don't have a lot of firm advice on which of those sigils to choose. However, in my experience, you will get more out of a Sigil of Torment than you will with a Sigil of Malice. This is more about having an extra "cover condition" than the actual torment damage. You are almost always going to end up with lots of bleeds on your target. The more conditions you stack on top of those bleeds, the harder those bleeds will be to clear. Sigil of Torment will give you an extra condition to cover your bleeds without using Tainted Shackles, which has a long CD. The extra cover condition will probably net you a longer effective  condition duration given all the condi-clears out there.

Personally, I run geomancy/energy on my staff and torment/corruption on my scepter-dagger. With Mark of Evasion as a minor in the blood tree, you can dodge (applying bleeds from the mark) right before swapping to staff (applying bleeds from Geomancy, and getting the endurance back). This keeps your condi pressure high, as you move from your more offensive scepter/dagger set to your more utility-oriented staff.  The idea is to get your opponent more focused on clearing conditions than actually fighting you, especially as you go on the defensive.

Regarding runes on a condi build... I run perplexity. While confusion does nice damage on a condition build, it is (again) more about covering my bleeds than actually dealing confusion damage.

This is slightly less viable now that Path of Corruption is competing with Terror. However, you can still interrupt with Doom, Reaper's Mark, and Corrupt Boons (on stability). Plus, you get the occasional random confusion procs from getting hit.

The other reason I run perplexity runes is that they make the condition necro a little more fun to play, as it adds another tactical wrinkle to the build.

I'd post a specific build, but I don't really have one that's been flushed out and thoroughly tested using the post-patch traits... and its not a really high priority for me. I did spend a couple of nights stomping bads on a curses, blood, soul reaping build... but bads are bads, so no trick there.

Good luck.

[Azure]

Thanks for the sigil advice and rune suggestions. One of the reasons I thought I might need extra bleed duration is because of the missing 30% condition duration from spite, which I have been noticing rather often on my signet condi necro. However, torment could be a very good choice as a cover condition to protect my fears and bleed stacks from clearing. As far as runes go, I hadn't even considered perplexity, and although I am garbage at interrupting, I think I will give it a shot and see how it goes, although I might give in to my love of Necro runes and take them anyways for more takiness and burst ( does fear do partial ticks?). I would also love to fit blood in here, but I tallied up all of the traits for death shroud entrance and exit and went with specs with the most traits. Even if I could find enough reason to choose blood, I don't know what I would give up for it. Soul Reaping is basically required due to speed of shadows, death magic has some amazing defensive buffs, and curses offers the best shroud dancing offense. All this being said, I still need to test this some more, and I am thinking about having the shroud dancing necro replace my power necro for PvP, but I'll have to see. Thanks!

[matthen]

Oh... and if you go Torment, you will need to up your crit chance... probably with rabid gear.

Also, it was pointed out to me that the condi clearing now applies randomly. Torment and confusion will still act as a covers, but not in the same way as before.