Curse

mazza558 · Mar 17, 2008, 08:15 PM // 20:15

Build/Attributes:

(Death is 12 + 2, Soul Reaping is 12 + 2 + 1)

Description

I designed this build to have near-perfect synergy between its skills. Not only in how it performs, but skill timings, etc. I designed it so that there is never a time during battle when you're not activating a skill. This build is effective in nearly all PvE because it can perform 3 main functions:

AoE Cold Damage (110 x number of nearby foes) / Single-target armor-ignoring damage (around 70 depending on SS rank)
Typical Minion Mastery (up to 9 minions)
Condition Removal with no downfall

(note that the last 2 functions are dependent on each other)

The build is powerful because, like the Burning Arrow ranger, its skills all have their own distinct purpose (except the condition removal, which requires 2 skills to remove any downfalls). It is also powerful due to the effect of high Soul Reaping on the build's skills. SR in this build not only powers energy management through its nature, but it increases the energy and health gain of SoLS, and increases the free energy and health gain of Foul Feast. It also provides the offensive edge of Icy Veins to dish out large amounts of AoE damage.

By cutting damage spells down to 2, the build can then focus on its secondary purpose - a Minion Master. With 9 Bone Fiends, even at 14 Death Magic, this is still a very powerful army which can easily be maintained through Soul Reaping. Blood of the Master can also be spammed with no health loss, due to the massive health gain from Foul Feast and SoLS.

By cutting out the extra minion skills from a conventional Minion Master, this build can then focus on a third function - condition management. By using the combo of Infuse Condition and Foul Feast, your Minion army provides a way of removing conditions from the party whilst healing yourself, and then healing your minions to counter any degen from these conditions.

The best thing about the build is that even if the minion army is wiped out, you can soften up the opponents using Icy Veins and Necrosis. This is where the build excels beyond a conventional MM.

All these factors combined make this build very fun to play without getting bored. You can switch between roles on the fly, from support to damage, depending on the exact situation, and that's what makes it so fun.

Usage

*Aim to build the Minion army as soon as possible. Soften up foes by using IV on various targets and Necrosis to finish them off.
*ALWAYS use SoLS whenever it's recharged and when a foe is below 50% health.
*Once you have an army built up, you can now begin to siphon off conditions from party members as they come, making sure IC is up - this relieves pressure from the monks.
* SoLS + Soul Reaping provide 25 energy every kill (up to 3 times in 15 seconds), enough to raise 3 new Fiends for free. Extra Energy from SoLS in between this is enough to spam IV and Necrosis.
*Foul Feast only costs 2 energy if used correctly (you gain 3 energy).

Counters

*Strip of Infuse Conditions prevents you from using Foul Feast safely
*Non Fleshy areas will slow the group down and you might want to run something more offensive (e.g use Rising Bile or Curses etc).
*Areas with only a few (powerful) enemies will not be as effective for this build.

____

Thanks for reading, tell me what you think!

Chthon · Mar 17, 2008, 09:11 PM // 21:11

You get an A+ for photoshop skills, but a D- for the build.

Abedeus · Mar 17, 2008, 09:16 PM // 21:16

You are trying to do too many things at a time.

Arkantos · Mar 17, 2008, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abedeus

You are trying to do too many things at a time.

Spam IV and necrosis, keep infuse condition up, use foul feast on party members with 2 or more conditions on them, animate bone fiend when enemy dies, use signet of lost souls on enemies with <50% health, res when necessary.

Seeing as you'll be spamming IV and necrosis most of the time, you aren't trying to do too many things at a time.

Moloch Vein · Mar 17, 2008, 09:48 PM // 21:48

I'm smiling in D Minor.

Turbobusa · Mar 17, 2008, 10:19 PM // 22:19

I'd use bone minions for minion wall and to be sure infuse conditions is always working. I wouldn't use IV in HM also, way too much affected by armor to me

mazza558 · Mar 17, 2008, 10:26 PM // 22:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

You get an A+ for photoshop skills, but a D- for the build.

I didn't use Photoshop (or the GIMP).

Calista Blackblood · Mar 18, 2008, 12:33 AM // 00:33

funny cos he cant count 12+2 and 12+1+1,neither of them equal 15

arcanemacabre · Mar 18, 2008, 02:33 AM // 02:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazza558

I didn't use Photoshop (or the GIMP).

Of course not, that's clearly Illustrator

Anyway, I like the build, and I've run something similar, just takes a little getting used to. Not as effective as a pure MM, though. But fun, and you certainly won't be bored.

mazza558 · Mar 18, 2008, 07:49 AM // 07:49

Not even Illustrator.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calista BlackBlood

funny cos he cant count 12+2 and 12+1+1,neither of them equal 15

Oops. Fixed.

mazza558 · Mar 20, 2008, 08:55 PM // 20:55

Hmm... I think the main problem with a Death/SR build is that there aren't really many useful skills for this kind of build. Necrosis and IV do the vast majority of the damage, and the Biles are okay but have a slow recharge. This was the reason I added an MM ability - there's nothing else to use. Maybe other PvE skills?

I'm more inclined to take something like this now:

Icy Veins
Necrosis
Putrid Bile
Putrid Explosion
Consume Corpse
???
Signet of Lost Souls
Res

gizzt · Mar 21, 2008, 02:24 AM // 02:24

Build seems well put together, id suggest going 16 Death magic at the cost of health, because the MM part of your build will have its potency increased by 50%. and going 13 SR.

Maybe you could add Ebon battle standard of honor in there to increase the dmg of your minions and ranged party members by +15.

gl

arcanemacabre · Mar 21, 2008, 09:49 AM // 09:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazza558

Icy Veins
Necrosis
Putrid Bile
Putrid Explosion
Consume Corpse
???
Signet of Lost Souls
Res

That is very similar to what I ran when EotN was first released to try out Putrid Bile a little. I think I actually ran Bone Minions with it just to fuel my energy (without having a dedicated MM on the team). It's kinda fun, but also not terribly effective. I do like the string of numbers popping up when something died. Would be eeevil with EoE thrown in.

You could go with some utility like Great Dwarf Weapon, or throw on Ebon Vanguard Assassin, Pain Inverter, Technobabble, etc.

Olim Chill · Mar 21, 2008, 12:03 PM // 12:03

I suggest building up your Sunspear rank to bolster Necrosis (rank 8 at least). As for as the empty slot, you can always insert another direct damage skill like Deathly Chill or Bitter Chill.

mazza558 · Apr 12, 2008, 05:02 PM // 17:02

I've got a new version in the works, which does away with Foul Feast and Infuse Condition and features the combined might of Consume Corpse, Bone Fiends and Putrid Bile.

The concept was to take the "exploitation" of corpses to the limit. I found that with areas with lots of corpses, I wasn't using them all, as I didn't have the energy to create bone fiends after battle. The solution was to alternate between consume corpse and bone fiends. The end result was an extremely powerful and versatile build that combined infinite energy, IV nuking and a powerful MM.

I also exploited the fact that bone fiends tend to focus on one target at a time - this means I can cast IV and putrid bile, and the fiends do the killing - resulting in a big explosion.

I'll post the full build when I think it's ready. I've just played through the Ebon Vanguard part of GW:EN in just under 2 hours, which is faster than my Mind Blast nuker did it.

Batou of Nine · Apr 24, 2008, 09:36 PM // 21:36

Well its not bad but imo it does 2 roles at sub par rates.
You do moderate dmg, and moderate MMing.

If you insist on keeping both roles, id sub in a few things to concentrate on one aspect more then the other depending on tastes/situations/etc.

Something like:
Dmg Focused: [icy veins][putrid bile][rising bile][necrosis][animate bone minions][blood of the master][signet of lost souls] [generic res]
- Overall descent AoE dmg, most require deaths or timer, is also required for an MM, allowing them to bring up an army fairly fast, however not as supportive or strong.

MM Focused: [icy veins][putrid bile][animate bone fiend][animate bone minions][blood of the master][veratas sacrifice][signet of lost souls] [generic res]
- Limited dmg via 2 skills, subbed in a couple skills to allow stronger MM army with a bit more support to them.

completely changes your builds, but still.
Just my opinions

cheers.

AOTT · Apr 25, 2008, 12:07 AM // 00:07

Batou said what I was thinkin'.

$hade. · Apr 25, 2008, 02:28 AM // 02:28

Interesting build. I wouldn't say it's a D- or anything. It certainly is viable.