Curse

jayce · Jan 04, 2008, 12:43 PM // 12:43

this is the first time since the start of GW that i'm actually going to share a build on a forum. while this build is not particularly new by any means, this is a variant that i believe is best all around for dealing with most situations that you may encounter. the setup shown below is what i currently run but it is not mandatory and can be changed to suit your needs.
quote source: 7mb

Quote:

Originally Posted by The GuildWars Manuscripts

Due to the sacrificial nature of their methods, Necromancers must practice patience and self-discipline to survive.

the above quote could have never been any further from the truth. although this build contains no sacrifice skills, situational awareness, patience and self-discipline is of the up most importance when using this build in the field, which is why i rate this build as: Difficulty Level - Masters

despite what some people may think about the necromancer profession, this is a build that does require skill on the player's behalf and not just the skills themselves. you do not have to agree or disagree with this statement or the build. i am just giving my own personal opinion.

strengths:

decent interruption
good top-end spike
good pressure
good heals
decent energy management

weakness:

interruption - primarily, Knockdowns then dazed
energy denial
non-spell-targetable foes

setup:

Total Health 490HP
Total Energy 42

Death Magic 11+3+1
Curses 10+1
Soul Reaping 10+1

Bloodstained Insignia
4 Survivor Insignias
Superior Vigor
Rune of Recovery
20/20 Wand Death and 20/20 Focus Death (optional Death and Curses)

skill selection:

optional 8th skill or replacement:

usage:

you all are probably well aware of how skills 2,3, and 4 are used already. that's the easy part. the main objective is to get your foe below 50% health and keep them there if the battle ensues. deathly chill helps to get the target below 50% faster. how you end up doing so is up to you, as long as you try and maintain a minimum of 10 - 15 energy of your own so that you can benefit from signet of lost souls and taste of pain, while covering the cost of interruption. glyph of lesser energy helps here. this most likely also means that you can't be casting spells like it's going out of style (patience and self-discipline). now for the hard part, spinal shivers. being able to cast this spell on your foe is hard enough because of the 2 second cast time. being able to keep it there is even harder without the use of the most powerful cover hex in the game (parasitic bond). you have no choice in this case but to use putrid bile or vile miasma (if the condition is met) and will probably lose it due to removal. since skills 3, 4, and 5 all deal in cold damage, any one of them can interrupt any skill, but toxic chill remains your best option to do so with its low cost and quick recharge, provided that your foe is still hexed with spinal shivers. you have to remember that any time you interrupt your foe in this manor, you stand to lose 6 energy which is why it is very important to maintain patience and self-discipline to keep your energy from bottoming out.

it is worth mentioning that spinal shivers and toxic chill is all you really need for some light pressure, direct damage and ok interruption capability. putrid bile and toxic chill for some pressure. deathly chill and toxic chill for spike. any one of these pairs will work well against casters. however, when up against physical attackers such as melee, i have an easier time dealing with them with spinal shivers. you will most likely interrupt one or even two of their attack skills while casting your pressure skills. this will usually force them into defense after your spell chain. this is where i look for the opportunity to use signet of lost souls and/or taste of pain depending on my health. this is also the time that i look to interrupt their healing skill, provided that they are the longer casting time skills. you can only TRY to interrupt what you CAN. all other interruption will most likely be cause when your casting skills to keep pressure on your foe. now, provided that you have the energy to continue, then by all means keep the pressure on your foe and let soul reaping clean up your blue bar.

the weakness of this build listed above can be a serious problem if you let them. situational awareness can help prevent knockdowns. assassins are a pain, but usually nothing that plague touch at the right moment can't handle, followed by your own spike skills then pressure if the assassin gets the jump on you. mesmers are also a pain because of their own interrupts and energy denial. usually when they are interrupting, they are not causing you a great deal of damage either. cast your pressure skills when they cast their skills that do not interrupt. which now leads me to the ranger. the most dangerous out of the bunch because their interrupts are usually accompanied with poison. they have the ability to stand there and spam nothing but interrupts, causing pressure and damage but at a slower pace. like the mesmer, your only options are to cast your pressure skills when the ranger reapplys their poison or other non-interrupt skill. while monks generally would not fall into the weakness catagory (unless they are smiting), they are as expected to be the most difficult to kill because of their healing capabilities and ability to remove a hex(es). there is nothing you can do except wait for the opportunity to cast your spell chain. this is usually when the monk is hovering near half health. most likely they will probably be low on energy and you will have a better chance at interrupting them as they make a last ditched effort to stay alive.

to conclude, this is not an easy build to play. sure it's easy enough for skills 2,3, and 4. but when they follow skill 1, it becomes a whole new ball game. i use spinal shivers on almost every target foe i encounter. situational awareness, patience and self-discipline is the key to this build. i've had players make a B-Line past a number of allies and straight to me once they realize what was happening to them. to me thats a very rewarding feeling, especially when i didn't even use the more powerful compliment of necromancer skills. and when you finally kill your first good monk with this, it will be hard pressed to get the smile off of your face.

btw, don't forget to kite

Jayce Of Underworld

RhanoctJocosa · Jan 04, 2008, 12:51 PM // 12:51

pre-veil ownzzzzzzzzz

btw i found this so cute:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayce

and when you finally kill your first good monk with this, it will be hard pressed to get the smile off of your face.

i love you

upier · Jan 04, 2008, 01:06 PM // 13:06

Bloodstained Insignia.
Why?

Sup rune in PvP.
Why?
Which brings me to ...

490hp in PvP.
Why?

Optional Rez.
Why?

1 sec casting interrupts.
Why?

Basically you are playing a seriously weak mesmer.
BUT looks like fun.

(Sorry in the mood to trash some dreams.)

Tyla · Jan 04, 2008, 01:17 PM // 13:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

Bloodstained Insignia.
Why?

Sup rune in PvP.
Why?
Which brings me to ...

490hp in PvP.
Why?

Optional Rez.
Why?

1 sec casting interrupts.
Why?

Just what i was thinking...
gogo ranger for d-shot

Wakka · Jan 04, 2008, 01:22 PM // 13:22

Spinal Shivers is a horrible interrupt and just shouldn be used.

jayce · Jan 04, 2008, 02:04 PM // 14:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by RhanoctJocosa

pre-veil ownzzzzzzzzz

been there, experienced it, done that. i never said that it would be easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

Bloodstained Insignia.

Basically you are playing a seriously weak mesmer.
BUT looks like fun.

you would be surprised. try it and see for yourself. as i stated before, the setup i use may not be in anyone else's best interest. please modify accordingly. but i would not have posted this if it didn't reward me more than it failed me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyla salanari

Just what i was thinking...
gogo ranger for d-shot

d-shot?...what is that again?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wakka

Spinal Shivers is a horrible interrupt and just shouldn be used.

please don't me confused with someone that just doesn't have a clue. i'm not championing the cause of spinal shivers or this build making a breakthrough in the world of interruption or GW.

Jayce Of Underworld

Wakka · Jan 04, 2008, 02:11 PM // 14:11

Quote:

please don't me confused with some that just doesn't have a clue. i'm not championing the cause of spinal shivers or this build making a breakthrough in the world of interruption or GW.

That doesnt even make sense.

Spinal Shivers sucks as its almost random as to what you interrupt. The only time you interrupt is when you deal cold damage so you will only be able to do this the odd time between spells or if your spells deal cold damage. One way to counter this would be to equip everyone in your team (or even just the melee characters) with a cold weapon, but you will find yourself lacking in energy.

Quote:

shot?...what is that again?

[skill=text]Distracting Shot[/skill]

Too much of a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 build for me.

upier · Jan 04, 2008, 02:13 PM // 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayce

you would be surprised. try it and see for yourself. as i stated before, the setup i use may not be in anyone else's best interest. please modify accordingly. but i would not have posted this if it didn't reward me more than it failed me.
Jayce Of Underworld

The problem is that the build breaks so many strategies that are PROVEN to work while at the same time doesn't deliver the excess that would be needed to compensate.

Wakka · Jan 04, 2008, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Also..

Quote:

you would be surprised. try it and see for yourself. as i stated before, the setup i use may not be in anyone else's best interest. please modify accordingly. but i would not have posted this if it didn't reward me more than it failed me.

Bloodstained reduces the casting time for spells that exploit corpses. You have none lol

Mitchel · Jan 04, 2008, 02:45 PM // 14:45

Was this only tested in RA?

dicecube · Jan 07, 2008, 09:14 AM // 09:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wakka

Also..

Bloodstained reduces the casting time for spells that exploit corpses. You have none lol

the only skill he listed that uses a corpse is consume corpse
but that isnt exploiting.. does consuming a corpse count as exploiting?
TIA

Kale Ironfist · Jan 07, 2008, 11:05 AM // 11:05

Consume Corpse 'exploits' a corpse, so yes it does benefit from it. The difference is that CC is listed as an optional skill in the first post, so Bloodstained Insignia should be listed as optional, and not the preferred setup.

Wakka · Jan 07, 2008, 11:41 AM // 11:41

Yes fair enough, he does state Consume Corpse under optional but to be fair its really a waste of a skill.

The only time its useful is for corpse control in GvG/HA, it has no use in RA/TA other than a poor-self heal that is way too conditional.

dicecube · Jan 07, 2008, 10:58 PM // 22:58

either this build is inferior to other necro builds or im playing it wrong
OP: can u post a video of how to play this build

jayce · Jan 07, 2008, 11:19 PM // 23:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by dicecube

either this build is inferior to other necro builds or im playing it wrong
OP: can u post a video of how to play this build

sure, but will take me about a day or two. i will try to include both cases when you are under attack from a single foe and when you are contributing to an attack with the aid of an ally. i should be able to record a battle just fine, but i don't think i can post it public because i won't be able to edit out a player's name. if private messages are ok, then we should be set but im not too sure on that if someone else wants to clarify that for me.

there are, by far, more effective builds in an necro's arsenal. this one takes some getting used to, because its a lot harder than normal necro builds. when im finished with the video, i'll repost here so that anyone who wishes to see how i used it will receive a pm from me with a link to the video, again provided that its ok to do so.

Jayce Of Underworld

Longasc · Jan 07, 2008, 11:43 PM // 23:43

Jayce, you could try it in random arenas/AB. There it might even shine.
Where do you want to use it? HA? AB? For sure not GvG.

Where else than AB/RA would people NOT cry bloody murder and remove spinal shivers from their monk?

And without spinal shivers, you will not kill a monk. Deathly Chill costs 10 energy and in PvP you will run out of energy. I see some potential for ABs.

I will give your build a test run, but I tell you, your introduction was more a fairy tale and confusing! You might get some style points, but it is more detracting!

P.S.: Spinal Shivers will cost you energy, too. Argh. Why not just let a RANGER do the job???

And finally...: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:N/...c_Chill_Spiker

The PvX Wiki build is similar, and I must admit, I do not like it either.

jayce · Jan 08, 2008, 12:38 AM // 00:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longasc

Jayce, you could try it in random arenas/AB. There it might even shine.
Where do you want to use it? HA? AB? For sure not GvG.

Where else than AB/RA would people NOT cry bloody murder and remove spinal shivers from their monk?

And without spinal shivers, you will not kill a monk. Deathly Chill costs 10 energy and in PvP you will run out of energy. I see some potential for ABs.

I will give your build a test run, but I tell you, your introduction was more a fairy tale and confusing! You might get some style points, but it is more detracting!

P.S.: Spinal Shivers will cost you energy, too. Argh. Why not just let a RANGER do the job???

And finally...: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:N/...c_Chill_Spiker

The PvX Wiki build is similar, and I must admit, I do not like it either.

i mostly run this in aspenwood. although it can be ran in AB and RA. GvG? heavens no. i only enjoy watching GvG and HA. i think that they are rather political atm and i don't have a lot of time to get involved either. while i did not go into great detail about the use of the build, i also feel that i should not really have to considering that this build would require you to have some experience to a greater detail from playing as a necromancer. it is not for someone who is just now coming to terms (beginner, intermediate) as playing as a necro. the build you referenced looks ok. in fact, i've been on the receiving end of it at some point or another. but if they don't kill you after the chain, they are almost as good as dead because their heals won't be good enough (only 64 compaired to 226). i've been a fan of the necromancer since GW first went live. i've tried countless builds as pretty anyone who has been playing that long. but this build is one that has actually given me a sense of satifaction because of the difficulty associated with it. to me, it really is quite fun to play, especially knowing that there are far more effective ways to reach the same end result.

Jayce Of Underworld

Legendary Shiz · Jan 08, 2008, 12:45 AM // 00:45

Your health makes me LOL IRL

jayce · Jan 08, 2008, 04:00 PM // 16:00

the video showing this build in use is now ready for viewing. anyone who wishes to see it, just contact me via pm and i will reply with a link for viewing, in which contains footage vs some elementalists. i will also try and record another video that includes dealing with some melee characters sometime today or tomorrow.

Jayce Of Underworld