27 replies to this topic

[Dream Proxy]

Something that I feel deserves a top mention:

chullster, on 26 October 2012 - 09:30 AM, said:

When fighting the risen preist of Balt to get your shards, if you get mark of death on you, it's treated as a condition, so use plague signet to send it back, instantly killing a tough boss.

(screenshot or videos to confirm this would be appreciated, though for now no one has claimed this being false)

- Big thanks to chullster if this is proven to be indeed true.  I'll try and stay on top of this to edit if they ever change this with an update...(if it is, in fact, true)

-------

Did you know?

1)  The staff #4 weapon skill, Putrid Mark, works even better than the off-hand dagger #4, Deathly Swarm, at transferring conditions to your enemies?

You can transfer 3 conditions instantly to a group of enemies with the mark even if you're playing solo.


2)  If you start the Death Shroud #4 skill, Life Transfer, right before you run out of life-force, it will continue to activate even out of death shroud?

3)  After activating Spectral Walk, you can change the utility skill to whatever you want, instantly?

As long as you do so before the 8 seconds of its "teleport" active ability runs out, you can get the full benefit of the movement speed + utility skill you actually want.


This no longer works as of the 10/22/12 Halloween patch   (meanies)


4)  You can switch weapons while in Death Shroud (try it!).  What does this mean?  You can not only adjust the benefits a different weapon may give you (perhaps you have more critical % chance with your staff rather than scepter), but the effects of weapon-swap sigils should still work; such as Superior Sigil of Geomancy.


More Tips:

Credit: Ygnizem

Ygnizem, on 06 October 2012 - 06:02 PM, said:

- You can use the Death Shroud #3 skill, Doom (fear), while casting other skills or being knocked down.
   Same thing with the Flesh Golem ability, Charge (knockdown targets).

When i get knocked down, i enter Death Shroud and use Doom to interrupt the attacker.

- You can use the Death Shroud #2 skill, Dark Path (teleports you toward your target), to escape a tricky situation.

Especially useful if you are Crippled/Chilled, you can outrun your ennemies using this skill on a distant target.

Credit: Xekk

Xekk, on 07 October 2012 - 11:23 PM, said:

Good point, and just to add, as of last test, transfering the conditions works at a range of greater than 1200 units because of the sheer radius of the mark, particular if traited into Greater Marks. That range is enormous. In the current iteration of Blood is Power, it gives 10 stacks of might that benefits the damage of Putrid Mark, which itself can instantly transfer the 2 stacks of self bleed to a foe (which again should benefit from the 10 stacks of might).

Quote

To add to your point, for those traiting 15 or more points into Curses, we get fury for 5 seconds on entering DS. Life Transfer immediately on getting into DS is very nice (as far as necro damage goes) AOE damage with the 20% increased crit chance.

On the topic of this, Life Transfer, Life Siphon, Ghastly Claws and even the downed skill, Life Leech are all channeled skills that benefit from Dark Armor, which gives +400 toughness when channeling. It may not be perceived to be the strongest major adept trait in the Death Magic line, but it is more useful than I was initially led to believe, particularly if you're looking to play defensively.

Credit:  Brayzz

Brayzz, on 11 October 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

Found this yesterday maybe not everyone knows this. Lich and Plague doesn't only increas our HP it increases our other stats too.

- Plague form gives us ~ 2750 Toughness and 916 Power. But there is a bug with the Toughness and the Rune of the Undead, it doesn't increas our Condition Damage in the Plague form.

- Lich gives us 1832 Power and 1016 Precision.

   *As well as stability

Quote

BTw another tip for Plague, you dont need to spam the abilities, Plague is attacking automaticly. With 1-3 you can only choice the attack, If you want to spam only 1 of this just click example 2 and watch on the enemy and other things etc. and don't spam 2..22.2.222.

Credit:  Wicklow

Wicklow, on 16 October 2012 - 12:42 AM, said:

You can even use dark path on things like Mosquitos, rabbits or any white critter that dies from any damage if there are no regular mobs around.  I have used dark path many times in WvW like this to escape

Credit:  Phenn

Phenn, on 16 October 2012 - 04:09 PM, said:

This may already be common knowledge, but...

You can equip an offhand by itself in your weapon swap if you want keep your main-hand and switch out offhands. For a while there I was running with identical main-hands before I discovered this.

Handy if (like me) you pull out offhand dagger for the condition removal. I rarely use my staff (vampiric/power build), so I can make it work.

Feel free to add more stuff

Edited by xxalucard, 09 November 2012 - 12:59 AM.

[Ygnizem]

- You can use the Death Shroud #3 skill, Doom (fear), while casting other skills or being knocked down.
   Same thing with the Flesh Golem ability, Charge (knockdown targets).

When i get knocked down, i enter Death Shroud and use Doom to interrupt the attacker.

- You can use the Death Shroud #2 skill, Dark Path (teleports you toward your target), to escape a tricky situation.

Especially useful if you are Crippled/Chilled, you can outrun your ennemies using this skill on a distant target.

[Bloggi]

xxalucard, on 06 October 2012 - 03:57 PM, said:

1)  The staff #4 weapon skill, Putrid Mark, works even better than the off-hand dagger #4, Deathly Swarm, at transferring conditions to your enemies?

You can transfer 3 conditions instantly to a group of enemies with the mark even if you're playing solo.

Good point, and just to add, as of last test, transfering the conditions works at a range of greater than 1200 units because of the sheer radius of the mark, particular if traited into Greater Marks. That range is enormous. In the current iteration of Blood is Power, it gives 10 stacks of might that benefits the damage of Putrid Mark, which itself can instantly transfer the 2 stacks of self bleed to a foe (which again should benefit from the 10 stacks of might).

xxalucard, on 06 October 2012 - 03:57 PM, said:

2)  If you start the Death Shroud #4 skill, Life Transfer, right before you run out of life-force, it will continue to activate even out of death shroud?

To add to your point, for those traiting 15 or more points into Curses, we get fury for 5 seconds on entering DS. Life Transfer immediately on getting into DS is very nice (as far as necro damage goes) AOE damage with the 20% increased crit chance.

On the topic of this, Life Transfer, Life Siphon, Ghastly Claws and even the downed skill, Life Leech are all channeled skills that benefit from Dark Armor, which gives +400 toughness when channeling. It may not be perceived to be the strongest major adept trait in the Death Magic line, but it is more useful than I was initially led to believe, particularly if you're looking to play defensively.

Edited by Xekk, 07 October 2012 - 11:41 PM.

[Brayzz]

Found this yesterday maybe not everyone knows this. Lich and Plague doesn't only increas our HP it increases our other stats too.

- Plague form gives us ~ 2750 Toughness and 916 Power. But there is a bug with the Toughness and the Rune of the Undead, it doesn't increas our Condition Damage in the Plague form.

- Lich gives us 1832 Power and 1016 Precision.


BTw another tip for Plague, you dont need to spam the abilities, Plague is attacking automaticly. With 1-3 you can only choice the attack, If you want to spam only 1 of this just click example 2 and watch on the enemy and other things etc. and don't spam 2..22.2.222.

[MorvianWhisperwind]

Brayzz, on 11 October 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

BTw another tip for Plague, you dont need to spam the abilities, Plague is attacking automaticly. With 1-3 you can only choice the attack, If you want to spam only 1 of this just click example 2 and watch on the enemy and other things etc. and don't spam 2..22.2.222.

Have you tested this part? I've read several times the exact opposite thing. If it's true then Plague is much easier to use than I thought.

[Brayzz]

Yes you can test it. Very easy to test^^

[Drekor]

MorvianWhisperwind, on 11 October 2012 - 12:53 PM, said:

Have you tested this part? I've read several times the exact opposite thing. If it's true then Plague is much easier to use than I thought.

I can confirm you do not need to spam it.

[snethss]

Drekor, on 11 October 2012 - 06:59 PM, said:

I can confirm you do not need to spam it.

my mind has been blown.

[Donkulous]

Xekk, on 07 October 2012 - 11:23 PM, said:

On the topic of this, Life Transfer, Life Siphon, Ghastly Claws and even the downed skill, Life Leech are all channeled skills that benefit from Dark Armor, which gives +400 toughness when channeling. It may not be perceived to be the strongest major adept trait in the Death Magic line, but it is more useful than I was initially led to believe, particularly if you're looking to play defensively.

It's not a bad trait - but be aware even though Life Leech is channeled you don't proc Dark Armor when using it. And frankly, the defense you get out of the other two isn't soo great that you'd suffer the stupid jagged horror bs.  Thier like little bone minions that just die and look stupid.

[takarazuka]

Donkulous, on 13 October 2012 - 04:13 AM, said:

....suffer the stupid jagged horror bs.  Thier like little bone minions that just die and look stupid.

Easily the most useless and pointless minor trait I know of in this game.... those things are a waste of a slot and serve no purpose but being in the way.  They either need to have their HP drain removed so they stay alive long enough to matter or be scrapped entirely for something more useful as a T1 minor trait.

[Bloggi]

Donkulous, on 13 October 2012 - 04:13 AM, said:

It's not a bad trait - but be aware even though Life Leech is channeled you don't proc Dark Armor when using it. And frankly, the defense you get out of the other two isn't soo great that you'd suffer the stupid jagged horror bs.  Thier like little bone minions that just die and look stupid.

There was a bug a while back. But I thought that in a recent update it stated that traits now applied when Downed. Pretty sure I saw it in the news somewhere. The jagged horror is near useless. Sometimes it draws aggro for the shortest time which allows for better placement of ground targetted skills in PvE. But in PvP there are comments of an opponent rallying after killing one of these. Other than that, Death Magic does have some attractive major adept traits, but I've tried diverting the 10 points there to SR temporarily and will see how that fares.

[Donkulous]

Xekk, on 13 October 2012 - 06:15 AM, said:

There was a bug a while back. But I thought that in a recent update it stated that traits now applied when Downed. Pretty sure I saw it in the news somewhere. The jagged horror is near useless. Sometimes it draws aggro for the shortest time which allows for better placement of ground targetted skills in PvE. But in PvP there are comments of an opponent rallying after killing one of these. Other than that, Death Magic does have some attractive major adept traits, but I've tried diverting the 10 points there to SR temporarily and will see how that fares.

Yep, saw that update too - first thing I did was retrait into dark armor and check and see if leech would proc dark armor - still doesn't. Likely a bug, but there you have it. We have two channeled downed skills - neither proc dark armor atm. In pve our 50% boost to downed damage and +400 toughness should mean we spend a lot less repairing armor, but it's not working like it should.

[Bloggi]

Donkulous, on 13 October 2012 - 08:38 PM, said:

Yep, saw that update too - first thing I did was retrait into dark armor and check and see if leech would proc dark armor - still doesn't. Likely a bug, but there you have it. We have two channeled downed skills - neither proc dark armor atm. In pve our 50% boost to downed damage and +400 toughness should mean we spend a lot less repairing armor, but it's not working like it should.

There was another poster a while back who described the use of Death's Embrace in a 'power' build. Interesting choice actually. More common is Reaper's Might, which is less situational. But definitely, the combination of Death's Embrace and Dark Armor could save you (or even your entire party from a wipe) in certain cases. Dark Armor is nice with Life Transfer in DS!

[Erhnam]

xxalucard, on 06 October 2012 - 03:57 PM, said:

3)  After activating Spectral Walk, you can change the utility skill to whatever you want, instantly?

As long as you do so before the 8 seconds of its "teleport" active ability runs out, you can get the full benefit of the movement speed + utility skill you actually want.

This one rocks! I hope they dont "fix" it

[Wicklow]

Ygnizem, on 06 October 2012 - 06:02 PM, said:

- You can use the Death Shroud #3 skill, Doom (fear), while casting other skills or being knocked down.
   Same thing with the Flesh Golem ability, Charge (knockdown targets).

When i get knocked down, i enter Death Shroud and use Doom to interrupt the attacker.

- You can use the Death Shroud #2 skill, Dark Path (teleports you toward your target), to escape a tricky situation.

Especially useful if you are Crippled/Chilled, you can outrun your ennemies using this skill on a distant target.

You can even use dark path on things like Mosquitos, rabbits or any white critter that dies from any damage if there are no regular mobs around.  I have used dark path many times in WvW like this to escape

[Phenn]

This may already be common knowledge, but...

You can equip an offhand by itself in your weapon swap if you want keep your main-hand and switch out offhands. For a while there I was running with identical main-hands before I discovered this.

Handy if (like me) you pull out offhand dagger for the condition removal. I rarely use my staff (vampiric/power build), so I can make it work.

[Dream Proxy]

updated the OP and included some other helpful tips people have mentioned

[Bloggi]

Another thing I noted about wells, although I am not sure if this is working as intended...things like Well of Suffering and Corruption for example, are supposed to make 5 hits, as stated on the tool tip, but I'm getting more hits than that. If you are traited into making wells ground targetted, we get up to 6 hits for each well. If on the other hand we are not traited for it, we get up to 7 hits for each well.

So for the very offensive necros that like to get up close and personal and use wells, they stand to gain a little more mileage out of their wells than the ones who use wells from range.

[Dream Proxy]

I'm not sure if this was just an oversight on my part before, but it seems death shroud has been adjusted to give you that "free hit" i mentioned in another thread.

Ex:

I have been fighting lupidus from the arah exp dungeon on a daily basis, and noticed that even when i was near the end of my life-force (while in death shroud), a 10k hit from one of his projectiles does not affect my actual health-- it only knocks me out of DS.

i could've sworn it didn't work like that before, but after testing it in a lot of boss fights, i'm sure it works like that now.

^ the only problem is that it only benefits you if you need to avoid a slow, big damage hit, and are out of ways to dodge.  so it's still not worth it (as of now) to go into a death shroud build.

also, I am now under the impression that going into death shroud can save you when you are marked for death, as long as you do so before it goes off.  this may have just been a fluke or some type of coincidence though.  i thought that maybe the way the game works it doesn't register while your lifeforce bar is out instead of your health bar, but i could be wrong.

Xekk, on 26 October 2012 - 03:25 AM, said:

Another thing I noted about wells, although I am not sure if this is working as intended...things like Well of Suffering and Corruption for example, are supposed to make 5 hits, as stated on the tool tip, but I'm getting more hits than that. If you are traited into making wells ground targetted, we get up to 6 hits for each well. If on the other hand we are not traited for it, we get up to 7 hits for each well.

So for the very offensive necros that like to get up close and personal and use wells, they stand to gain a little more mileage out of their wells than the ones who use wells from range.

if you think about it, there are other reasons ground-targetting isn't worth the major trait slot.

well of darkness-- your usually going to wanna use this to protect *yourself*, so not having it ground targetted is helpful as it gives you the instant circle of blindness around you.

well of power- same concept, substitute blindness protection with changing your conditions-into-buffs

well of blood- same concept, healing

well of corruption-- possibly the only one worth casting far away for the AOE pulse or two before the monster simply walks out of it, but to be honest i don't really like it

well of vulnerability (whatever its called) -- another one that could be worth it, but its really too weak for a far-away cast-- it's much more worth it when you can guarantee an enemy will be inside it the entire duration

Edited by xxalucard, 26 October 2012 - 09:20 AM.

[chullster]

When fighting the risen preist of Balt to get your shards, if you get mark of death on you, it's treated as a condition, so use plague signet to send it back, instantly killing a tough boss.

[Dream Proxy]

chullster, on 26 October 2012 - 09:30 AM, said:

When fighting the risen preist of Balt to get your shards, if you get mark of death on you, it's treated as a condition, so use plague signet to send it back, instantly killing a tough boss.

seriously?  does this also work during the temple of balt meta event?

95% of me says your just kidding :/

Edited by xxalucard, 26 October 2012 - 01:19 PM.

[Bloggi]

xxalucard, on 26 October 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

I'm not sure if this was just an oversight on my part before, but it seems death shroud has been adjusted to give you that "free hit" i mentioned in another thread.

Ex:

I have been fighting lupidus from the arah exp dungeon on a daily basis, and noticed that even when i was near the end of my life-force (while in death shroud), a 10k hit from one of his projectiles does not affect my actual health-- it only knocks me out of DS.

This is the manner in which it was intended to work, I suspect. If memory serves me right, a while back Jon Peters did comment about how people currently find the necro weak, but once people master when and how to use DS, then the necro actually becomes strong, even to the point he fears they will be overpowered. Now there's going to be *a lot* of debate over that statement, but that was the point he appeared to be making.

xxalucard, on 26 October 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

if you think about it, there are other reasons ground-targetting isn't worth the major trait slot.

well of darkness-- your usually going to wanna use this to protect *yourself*, so not having it ground targetted is helpful as it gives you the instant circle of blindness around you.

well of power- same concept, substitute blindness protection with changing your conditions-into-buffs

well of blood- same concept, healing

well of corruption-- possibly the only one worth casting far away for the AOE pulse or two before the monster simply walks out of it, but to be honest i don't really like it

well of vulnerability (whatever its called) -- another one that could be worth it, but its really too weak for a far-away cast-- it's much more worth it when you can guarantee an enemy will be inside it the entire duration

Agree, although it depends on playstyle and situation. It is far easier to use wells without ground targetting than it is. Essentially, dive into melee range, drop wells and rip in with dagger MH. I prefer a more defensive playstyle and having wells ground targetted is more beneficial at least for the way I play. On that note, there are usually plenty of frontline allies in just about every spot we visit, plus the preponderance of big bosses that hardly ever move (yet can be downright deadly if you get too close), making it viable to use ground-targetted wells. Nevertheless I truly suspect that the 'extra' hits from the wells in either of these two circumstances is a bit of an oversight, and expect it to be 'fixed' eventually.

[Ygnizem]

Some of you may have noticed it but still good to know:

- Dagger skill #2 Life Siphon doesn't require you to face your target while channeling it (just face your target when pressing the skill button then you can run away while casting the skill)

- The Spite minor trait "Siphoned Power" (Gain might when hit and under 25% health) also works in Death Shroud BUT no need to be under 25% health, it works everytime ! (certainly a bug).
Everytime you get hit in Death Shroud, this trait gives you 1 stack of might.

[snethss]

This one may also be obvious, but you can cast Corruption on downed foes.

[brickforlife]

You can interrupt skills by hopping in and out of death shroud, this especially helps with warhorn 4 because blasting it longer doesn't make it better. As long as it's on for half a second and it hits you hop in and out of death shroud to maximise damage.

[chullster]

xxalucard, on 26 October 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

seriously?  does this also work during the temple of balt meta event?

95% of me says your just kidding :/

Yes it works, saw it posted on the offical forums, the person was asking if a bug or not, so I tried it out. Took a couple of tries until the preist would put his mark on me, and thought I missed it at first as I went downed as I pressed the signet, then I rallied on his death.

Mark of death is considered a condtion, so send it back.

I even have the screenshot on my home PC (at work right now) with him dead, signet on recharge and someone asking "how we kill him?" as he was at 70% health when he died.

[Dream Proxy]

chullster, on 02 November 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

Yes it works, saw it posted on the offical forums, the person was asking if a bug or not, so I tried it out. Took a couple of tries until the preist would put his mark on me, and thought I missed it at first as I went downed as I pressed the signet, then I rallied on his death.

Mark of death is considered a condtion, so send it back.

I even have the screenshot on my home PC (at work right now) with him dead, signet on recharge and someone asking "how we kill him?" as he was at 70% health when he died.

If you could supply the screenshot or video as proof i would very much appreciate it.

as for now i'll take your word for it and update the OP until someone can counter this statement (with some sort of proof of the opposite being true)

[chullster]

xxalucard, on 09 November 2012 - 12:56 AM, said:

If you could supply the screenshot or video as proof i would very much appreciate it.

as for now i'll take your word for it and update the OP until someone can counter this statement (with some sort of proof of the opposite being true)

Found it, though not exactly hard evidence as I don't fraps when playing.



Like I said it's been posted on offical forums, that's where I saw it, so either it isn't a bug or Anet is fixing it.

Btw, last time I saw the temple open it was done without me using the signet as he wouldn't put mark of death on me.

Edited by chullster, 16 November 2012 - 07:29 PM.