135 replies to this topic

[Anubbyss]

Wondering where your getting almost 25k hp with this setup? When I drop down to 1180 Vit I am barely over 22k not almost 25k.

[takarazuka]

Anubbyss, on 18 March 2013 - 05:45 PM, said:

Wondering where your getting almost 25k hp with this setup? When I drop down to 1180 Vit I am barely over 22k not almost 25k.

I changed that to be more accurate on actual health... I think in terms of effective health which is your health and armor.

[Anubbyss]

takarazuka, on 18 March 2013 - 05:52 PM, said:

I changed that to be more accurate on actual health... I think in terms of effective health which is your health and armor.

Ah I see what your saying. Either way I had previously been running a full power build using axe/focus and pretty much full p/v/t gear. After reading over your very informative writeup I finally made the switch to dagger/horn and the trait setup your using here as well. I've never been big on melee in any games really for most part but I have been having a lot of fun with this build so far. Also switched my armor to the same combination of soldiers/knights and my amulet to ruby at least. Still got some knights weapons and all soldiers jewelry except the amulet but so far it's working out and I'm really enjoying it. Probably switch more ruby jewelry in as I get more used to it and such.

Either way I've never been a fan of condition builds at all and loving what you've come up with here so far over my previous axe/focus power build even in exp dungeons and such. Curious though what you think of using Superior Sigil of Rage on the dagger? The proc rate just to low to make it very useful?

[Phenn]

Anubbyss, on 18 March 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

Curious though what you think of using Superior Sigil of Rage on the dagger? The proc rate just to low to make it very useful?

I can't speak for Takarazuka on this, but I ran with a Rage Sigil for a while. In my experience, it was just too inconsistent to make it worthwhile. I DO run Rage Sigils on my sword/dagger Thief because it turns the slow-hitting sword into a meat grinder. But for the Necro's dagger, which already hits hard and fast, the momentary 3-sec (iirc) spike in speed doesn't add a whole lot.The only time it was particularly powerful was when Quickness proc'd right before I dropped a well WHILE being swarmed with enemies. The increased speed for well pulses helped--a little.

All in all, there are just too many other good options for sigils to bother with Rage. It wasn't consistent enough--the randomness really made it difficult to capitalize on any benefits coming from Quickness.

[takarazuka]

Agree with Phenn here... Rage sigil is just too inconsistent.  I would rather have a flat boost of 5% damage or 5% critical chance.

[Anubbyss]

Thanks for the input makes sense and is kinda what I was thinking. I do currently use a +5% dmg sigil on the horn so guess I'll play with some others on the dagger see what I like most.

[death_is_your_gift]

How do power Necro's - specifically this build - fair in fractals?

[takarazuka]

This build in particular will have difficulty in Fractals due to the amount of time in melee-range it requires.  Once I am done with my axe/focus glass cannon build and feel comfortable with the guide, I will probably work on a similar build to this that would work in Fractals better.

[ArtimiseFlare]

takarazuka, on 22 March 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

This build in particular will have difficulty in Fractals due to the amount of time in melee-range it requires.  Once I am done with my axe/focus glass cannon build and feel comfortable with the guide, I will probably work on a similar build to this that would work in Fractals better.

I eagerly await your fractals version of this build

[takarazuka]

I eagerly await this cold/flu to go away so I can actually be on the computer and play the game without having a massive headache.

[ArtimiseFlare]

Damn man, that sucks and I know the feeling. Hope ya feel better soon!

[Naiyana]

I've followed this thread with interest for a few months now, but haven't yet weighed in. Here's my take on things:

1.) With respect to the build, I breakdown: 0/20/0/20/30. As another poster argued earlier (I think!), the extra points in critical damage seem to more than offset the lost points in power. Also, traited for the 5 second CD on DS (a 30-point Soul Reaping option), you essentially have 100% uptime on Fury (making permanent its +20% critical hit chance). The synergy between the 30 extra critical damage points and perma-Fury is just beautiful.

2.) I find this build quite survivable, even without any toughness and/or vitality gear. For most instances/situations, I roll full Berserker (power/precision/critical damage) slotted with Ruby Orbs. This delivers way more up-front hitting power at very little expense – at least, most times! For particularly nasty encounters - and especially in fractals - I switch to p/v/t armor, but keep the zerker weaps/neck/rings/accesories. For this armor set, I've slotted Runes of the Eagle. This combination of armor/runes minimizes DPS loss while giving a substantive boost to survivability.

3.) For weapons, I keep 2 sets of daggers/warhorns handy. For the first set (both dagger & warhorn), I slot Superior Sigils of Perception. This lets me build quickly to 25 stacks of perception (+250 to crit chance!), which - considering the survivability of the build - I'm typically able to maintain throughout an entire instance. Once I've maxed out the perception stacks, I switch in my alt set (Sigil of Accuracy for dagger; Sigil of Force for warhorn). At this point, with perma-Fury from reduced DS CD, I'm in the 80% critical chance range in full Berserker gear (quite a bit less if slotting p/v/t gear).

The versatility & survivability of this build is probably its greatest strength, but I've found that re-allocating points and re-thinking gear for pure DPS makes the most sense in a majority of situations. Keeping that more defensive armor set handy is definitely a good idea for situational reasons, though.

Thanks for the continued updates and ongoing conversation, and for letting me contribute my two cents!

Edited by Naiyana, 08 April 2013 - 05:22 PM.

[HighlyGenericUsername]

Naiyana, on 08 April 2013 - 05:13 PM, said:

I've followed this thread with interest for a few months now, but haven't yet weighed in. Here's my take on things:

1.) With respect to the build, I breakdown: 0/20/0/20/30. As another poster argued earlier (I think!), the extra points in critical damage seem to more than offset the lost points in power. Also, traited for the 5 second CD on DS (a 30-point Soul Reaping option), you essentially have 100% uptime on Fury (making permanent its +20% critical hit chance). The synergy between the 30 extra critical damage points and perma-Fury is just beautiful.

I think 0/25/0/20/25 might be better; the 25 point minor trait in curses is amazing. In a group situation you can count on burn, bleed, poison, and vulnerability being on 100% of the time for 8% more damage. Weakness, chill, and cripple would make it 14% but less often. I didn't could immobilize, confusion, etc. since the duration on those are usually very low. You can get a maximum of 22% though if you strike while the enemy has every condition on them.

You would be losing either 5 second death shroud recast or 3 seconds of stability when entering death shroud, but I think that's an acceptable loss for what you're getting in return. You could also drop 5 points from blood magic and probably wouldn't notice too much, or even put 10 into spite for pierce on life blast.

Also something to consider for strait burst is war horn offhand so you can use locust swarm during lich form. The 10 locust swarm attacks can go from ~170-200 damage per hit all the way up to 700 during lich form.

Edit: Also I didn't really read all of this thread, so I'm assuming the pretense here is power necromancer without using close to death? It's something I've given quite a bit of thought to, so sorry if I'm mistaken.

Edited by HighlyGenericUsername, 13 April 2013 - 10:46 PM.

[Phenn]

HighlyGenericUsername, on 13 April 2013 - 10:40 PM, said:

Edit: Also I didn't really read all of this thread, so I'm assuming the pretense here is power necromancer without using close to death? It's something I've given quite a bit of thought to, so sorry if I'm mistaken.

Actually the goal of the OP and original build was to maximize dagger damage and proc vampiric heals as often as possible with wells and warhorn. So Close to Death is a critical component of the original build. Taka does have an alternate build concept going that focuses on other trait lines, and that's worth checking out.

[Asparagus Reflex]

Thanks for the great write up and build, both seem awesome!!!

However, I mainly WvW; I skimmed through the thread and am wondering if this build would preform well in that area of the game.

[Jin Kane]

I have been using exactly the same build for a month now in wvw, this build is not viable for soloing or small group fights, it requires extreme skills for such activities and even if one had the skills, still against pro thieves like "Yishis", there is no hope. (at least couldnt see solution with my current skills). BUT! this build is a power house, not for asian way of ninjas/lone wolf superheros... This build has a power similar to a nuke, a damn farm machine. I am currently in Piken's Square. The fights are quite lively here. In some places like narrow bridges etc, you farm without worry. Dropping wells near to each other and switching back to staff for some more aoe dmg and then when possible, going for more kills with death shroud. Just saying, if you like farming bunch of poor fellas, this build is for ya!

Now my question, there is no specific info on what nourishment to use but I use master maintenance oil for some extra precision and omnomberry ghoust for some more precision plus vampiric passive. However I am not sure whether the vampiric trait and omnomberry ghost passive stacks or not?