Curse

VishnuOdin · Mar 01, 2009, 01:01 PM // 13:01

I got Livia yesterday, so I've reluctantly given up my MM skills in exchange for curses. I miss my pets already, but I'm finding it difficult to keep a good army rolling with pickup groups. My friends don't mind waiting for me to spawn them but others aren't as willing to do so (not that I blame them).

Curses is at 16 (Superior Rune), Soul Reaping is at 12, leftovers are in Blood. I can see why people said Curses really kick in around 14-16, I could never hit this before because of my Superior Death Magic Rune so I couldn't see how much larger the jump is in damage per tick at this level.

Is Awaken the Blood worth it? The gain seems pretty decent when you factor in Barbs, MoP, and SS. I didn't see it listed in the other thread, I'm still working on collecting a lot of the EotN skills people recommended so I thought it might be a good one to use in the meantime.

Here's my skill bar now;
Mark of Pain
Enfeebling Blood
Spiteful Spirit
Insidious Parasite
Barbs
Ebon Vanguard Assassin
Awaken the Blood
Glyph of Lesser Energy

Thanks!

[edit] I'd like to keep Glyph. I find it really useful during boss fights and solo missions. Eventually I'd like to get the PvP access kit and I think it will help a lot there too. [/edit]

Xenomortis · Mar 01, 2009, 01:33 PM // 13:33

It really isn't. You shouldn't need the Glyph either, but meh. Soul Reaping at 12 should be enough.

Awaken the Blood at such a low spec will only increase your damage output minutely for a very short period of time, making it a waste of time, energy and a skill slot. Replace it with something useful. You can't go wrong with another PvE skill or another useful Curses skill.

zwei2stein · Mar 01, 2009, 01:52 PM // 13:52

[Awaken the Blood] is really bad, slight damage increase is not worth skillslot just like sup rune is not worth lost health. Any other skill put there can increase your overall damage and versatility.

[Glyph of Lesser Energy] is only good at levels under 15 where you can't get enough points for SR. Even long boss fights should not cause you energy issues unless you pointlessly spam hexes long before they expire. And most boss fights should not really last long enough for you to have to reapply hexes on them. If you still want energy management, you want to look into [Signet of Lost Souls]. People commonly run with 8+1 points in SR without any aditional energy management without problems.

PS: you really want minor rune for Soul Reaping in your armor and alternative headpiece with minor curses.

zling · Mar 01, 2009, 02:24 PM // 14:24

[awaken the blood] is only worth it if [spiteful spirit] is your main damage skill, such as the Necro SS Nuker in the 55/SS duo UW runs. otherwise, when you have other damage sources such as [mark of pain][barbs][insidious parasite] than [awaken the blood] really isnt worth it. put [cry of pain] or some other PvE skill in that slot instead

TheodenKing · Mar 01, 2009, 03:43 PM // 15:43

[Mindbender] if you use skills with 2 sec activations, [cry of pain] if you have a mesmer hex in your bar (or a mesmer in your party), [by ural's hammer] for any damage-oriented skillbar where you have room for an extra pve-skill.

Regarding your mm... If you really like playing one, try [Aura of the Lich] (skill description not updated on guru). You'll be able to keep up.

.HunTer · Mar 01, 2009, 04:13 PM // 16:13

Do you have Nightfall?
[Necrosis] is a very good skill

or if you want more damage, [Arcane Echo] + [Spiteful spirit].

VishnuOdin · Mar 01, 2009, 04:32 PM // 16:32

No Nightfall yet, still waiting for my copy of the Trilogy to arrive. It'll probably be another week or two, I ordered off a US site that doesn't ship to Canada so I'm using a middle man to get it. It'll take a bit longer but you can't beat the price, $30US for all three campaigns (wish they sold a bundle for just Factions + Nightfall).

How do you get 16 Curses w/o a Superior Rune? It will only let me max a skill to 12 + 1 (headgear).

Right now I'm sitting at 535h, need an inscription for my focus item so that will take me to 565 (have the core on it already but no recharge mod so I haven't been using it), then I can gain another 20 by upgrading my Vigor Rune to end at 585.

Your right, I find myself using Glyph less and less since I've upped my SR. Once my order arrives I'm probably going to change to N/A.

Thanks for the answers and skill tips!

silavor · Mar 01, 2009, 05:50 PM // 17:50

You can't permanently get 16 curses without a superior rune, but a lot of builds don't really require speccing that high. Most people just run 12+1 or 12+1+1, because more health is always a good thing and the damage you lose is pretty minimal.

Konig Des Todes · Mar 01, 2009, 06:18 PM // 18:18

Awaken the Blood is worth it on some builds, but not all. With your build, I'd say no since it's Blood Mastery, and you'd only have it for a short time in regards to the recharge with that set up.

Calista Blackblood · Mar 01, 2009, 06:35 PM // 18:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by .HunTer

Do you have Nightfall?
[Necrosis] is a very good skill

or if you want more damage, [Arcane Echo] + [Spiteful spirit].

No just no..Many reasons why this is bad

OP: [awaken the blood] is not worth the slot on your bar.

Moloch Vein · Mar 01, 2009, 07:35 PM // 19:35

Awaken The Blood is just a really good example of how Arenanet hates necromancers.

Costs 10, casts in 1, recharges in 45. Can only be kept up indefinitely at higher than 12 Blood Magic, and even then, is a prime target for stripping. Gives +2 to two N schools at the price of 50% more sacrifices.

Now go and compare that to Glyph of Elemental Power.

zwei2stein · Mar 01, 2009, 08:11 PM // 20:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moloch Vein

Now go and compare that to Glyph of Elemental Power.

Which does not see more usage than AtB.

+2 is very weak effect for taking place of skill that could be used with great effect for something else than just boosting other skills slightly.

Even [Signet of Illusions] falls short - and it is essentially up to +16 to all attributes.

cataphract · Mar 02, 2009, 08:31 AM // 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calista BlackBlood

No just no..Many reasons why this is bad

I've never had any problems with Echo+SS and Necrosis.

Redvex · Mar 02, 2009, 11:46 AM // 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by cataphract

I've never had any problems with Echo+SS and Necrosis.

Yes but inot better than
[Insidious Parasite] and [Pain Inverter]

Anwyn · Mar 02, 2009, 12:40 PM // 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by cataphract

I've never had any problems with Echo+SS and Necrosis.

Yeh, me neither, but it's not the "uber leet" way to do it don't you know... ;D

Glints Bane · Mar 02, 2009, 04:34 PM // 16:34

waste of a slot.

Voodoo Rage · Mar 02, 2009, 07:29 PM // 19:29

If you are casting [Mark of Pain], [Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support] should definitely be on your bar.

And add in [Technobabble] FTW!

I LOVE this skill, especially with a bringing along Zenmai or Anton as a critical barrager. By the time the daze wears off, the entire enemy mob has been shutdown for a solid 5 seconds (or even longer with a some silencing spears in the group) which is HUGE.

Redvex · Mar 02, 2009, 08:56 PM // 20:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voodoo Rage

If you are casting [Mark of Pain], [Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support] should definitely be on your bar.

And add in [Technobabble] FTW!

I LOVE this skill, especially with a bringing along Zenmai or Anton as a critical barrager. By the time the daze wears off, the entire enemy mob has been shutdown for a solid 5 seconds (or even longer with a some silencing spears in the group) which is HUGE.

Wow 5 second dazed in pve?
Useless as the other conditions.
Dazed is useful for some boss or particular situation, and bha + epidemic is more effective
[Signet of Corruption] or [Mindbender] may be a valid alternative
In any case the 3 pve skills that necromancer must have are
[Mindbender] + [Pain Inverter] + [Necrosis]

Osi Ri S · Mar 02, 2009, 09:04 PM // 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by cataphract

I've never had any problems with Echo+SS and Necrosis.

Ive never had problems running ele skills on my warrior. its PvE so not having problems with a build doesnt make it good.

Personally, i think Necrosis is awesome, but Echo+SS is trash.

Xenomortis · Mar 02, 2009, 09:08 PM // 21:08

[Necrosis] is purely a filler skill, it deals nice reliable damage, nothing more.
[Mindbender] isn't godly and nothing to get worked up about - The necromancer has few skills that take an age to cast and a 40/40 set makes up for it.
[Pain Inverter] is very useful against powerful bosses though. Worth getting, but not always bringing, because it has a short duration and irritatingly long recharge.

However, a necromancer should have [Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support] available to them to run alongside [Mark of Pain]. That doesn't mean they should always bring it though.