Curse

Checka · May 30, 2006, 05:12 PM // 17:12

Hi, this is my Necrobuild, maybe we can talk about it and discuss its pros and cons, im not english but i hope u can understand me.

1. Awakening Of Blood
2. Arc Echo
3. SS
4. Reckless Haste
5. Bone Minions (for energy management death at 0)
6. Decrase Ench (Tyria)
7. Defile Ench (Cantha)
8. Rez/PoF/Barbs(if there is a mm or rangers/warriors in your team)

16 Curses
13 SR
4 Blood

The main use of this build is echo+ss and reckless haste, to support that u cast the decrases as much as possible if u have time when ss is recharging, help the mm or the group by casting pof or barbs on important targets. energy managment comes from the minions and the high SR, providing u nearly endless energy in pve. U will see a very good damage in less time. i hope u like it, maybe u can help me tweaking it. so long...

xenoranger · May 30, 2006, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Hi, this is my Necrobuild, maybe we can talk about it and discuss its pros and cons, im not english but i hope u can understand me.

Awakening Of Blood
Hmm....you have no blood to awaken. Yes it empowers curses, but not long enough with your 4 levels.
Arc Echo
Why? it makes no sense to use Arcane Echo on SS. Mainly b/c Arc Echo costs about as much, and spaming SS isn't very useful (from my experience)
SS
SPiteful Spirit is a great skill, but you don't need your curses at 16 to use it well.
Reckless Haste
Nice who this of sets their ability to hit, but the haste is the problem. High curses may seem like a good idea, but consider that even at 41% (Curses 11), you still have a nice chance of avoiding damage
Bone Minions (for energy management death at 0)
15,3,5... consider a mesmer catches you and interruipts you. You loose 15 energy. Especially if that's your last 15 energy, 15 is too much to pay for a difference of 11. I'm sure you can find better energy management in inspirations.
Decrase Ench (Tyria) & Defile Ench (Cantha)
Personally, I'd go with 1 or the other. Having both seems like a good idea, but remember that it's a conditional skill. You're depending on them to have an enchantemnt. If they don't, you're not going to use this skill and wasted a slot for something more useful.
Rez/PoF/Barbs(if there is a mm or rangers/warriors in your team)
Always helpful

Attributes:

16 Curses
Few curses really give reason to go above 11. I'd keep it 12 or under, even with your rune bonuses, otherwise you're getting diminishing return.
13 SR
here, I usually have about 11. Mainly b/c it saves me 20 attrib points that can go elsewhere. I mean, consider that you get 11 back when something dies... that's 1 energy more than you need for most of your skills.
4 Blood
What blood? You're just supporting Awaken, so I wouldn't dump anything into blood. Awaken seems like a good idea, but it's best used when you have a blood/curses mix. Either add more blood skills or drop this to zero.

Listen, I'm no expert, but from what I can see, it's a concept that could work. Consider also that you have no HP management. The best curse in the entire game is Parasitic Bond. It costs 5 to cast, takes 1 sec to cast, and recharges in 2 sec. Low cost, but high yeild of HP after 20 seconds or if the enemy dies. It looks like you're thinking in the box, well, I recommend reading the skill descriptions and thinking outside the box.

BTW, all you need is a power block mesmer to hit you, and you're shut down. All those curses go away. It's a hard hit to take, but that's why you cross class as many skills as possible. Variety prevents being 100% shut down. (just, don't stretch yourself too far).

Dr Ripley · May 30, 2006, 06:01 PM // 18:01

I second that (Parasitic Bond is by far your best friend). Also, you may want to take Ether Feast into consideration as well. Sometimes a simple skill like EF can do wonders to a build lacking hp management...

Death Snapper · May 30, 2006, 07:58 PM // 19:58

Using your energy correctly arcane echo and SS really do work well together. I dont know about you guys but when I do that I can cast both SS and the echoed SS, and then again for both when recharged. having 4 SS on a group of enemies at one time really does some damage.

I have not tried the minion thing, but it seems like using some of the mesmer energy managment skills would probably work better. Also thats the thing about soul reaping on an SS, SS usually kills alot of the group at relatively the same time, so by the time it gets you energy you may not need toooooo much more than what you have already, which ofcourse I know is why you have the minion, but the minion seems like you would need to go through all the hassle of keeping it alive until you need alot of energy.

Although I have not tried it and if used right it might actually work really well, im not sure about it. Gotta try it tonight though lol

ikickedbutt · May 31, 2006, 04:22 AM // 04:22

bring auspicious incantation to use on the echoed SS, works good.

xenoranger · May 31, 2006, 12:16 PM // 12:16

I jsut find that the 15 cost of SS when casted every 5 sec or so isn't very useful. Plus, you recover 5 energy in roughly 5 seconds (at 4 pips), so it's not very cost effective to spam SS unless you're going to just wait it out. Besides, that, I don't find the 10 sec recharge time to be too bad. I can usually apply SS and wait for the recharge. It's not half bad.

Evilsod · May 31, 2006, 03:04 PM // 15:04

I've given up on Awaken the Blood. So what... its an extra 4 damage, the problem is AtB is almost always an extra 100 damage when it gets Shattered, which happens ALOT.

I was using Consume Corpse the last time i was in FoW, purely because i was getting annoyed at the sodding Beasts spamming it... Minions does sound like quite a good idea though, i'll have to try it.
As i don't have Reckless Haste (no Factions) i use Enfeebling Blood. Great for using on groups of warriors, no drawbacks either, using both would obviously have some nice outcomes too, they barely ever hit and do sod all when they do.
I also dropped Arcane Echo, high energy cost and most things die quickly anyway if they're grouped together with only 1 SS on them (and the rest of the team).

Parasitic Bond is a very nice skill

Zura · May 31, 2006, 03:22 PM // 15:22

i dont see that much problem with awaken the blood, you dont need full blood magic if you get yourself with a nice high % increase on enchantments. this means all of your curses are increased as well...

xenoranger · May 31, 2006, 03:43 PM // 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilsod

I also dropped Arcane Echo, high energy cost and most things die quickly anyway if they're grouped together with only 1 SS on them (and the rest of the team).

Another reason I don't echo SS

Checka · May 31, 2006, 03:56 PM // 15:56

dunno whats going on with your energy but i always have enough to echo ss and spam the decrases ench and others things, if u do the miniontrick quite often, u have nearly unlimited energy in pve.

xenoranger · May 31, 2006, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Consider...

SS => 15
Arc Echo => 15

With Vilnar's Staff and non-Scar Armor, I have 45 Energy.
Considering a 2 sec casting time on each skill,

Arc Echo -> SS -> Arc Echo's SS

That burns 45 right there (15+15+15).You regen (@ 3 pips) 1 energy per second. That means in the 2 seconds casting time between each, you regain 6 energy. Now you're at 5 energy. You're wasted. If you have 4 pips on energy regen, you gain8 energy between casting. But without a battery or some energy management (besides SR), you're burning the 15 quicker. Once things start dying, it's easier to manage, but the cost of 15 per cast is pretty steep.

So, if you never have energy problems, I'd like to know your secret. Even with Inspiration magic stealing Energy, you can't cast the chain that quickly.

zulu123 · May 31, 2006, 06:51 PM // 18:51

Forgive me if i have misunderstood, but are you using the bone minions purely for energy management purpoises so you gain 13 energy whenever they die?

I have a slight improvement to your build that could help you with the energy management:

1. Awakening Of Blood
2. Arc Echo
3. SS
4. Reckless Haste
5. Spirit of Failure
6. Desecrate Ench (Tyria)
7. Defile Ench (Cantha)
8. Rez/PoF/Barbs(if there is a mm or rangers/warriors in your team)

16 Curses
10 Illusion
Rest in SR

Since you are using SS, reckless haste on warriors/rangers anyways, slap on Spirit of Failure too. At Illusion attr of 10 you should get +4 energy everytime they miss which should be like a huge percent of their attks with both reckless haste and spirit of failure. This change would make the build so that you have a constant input of energy while the fight is on and not have to wait for anything to die for soul reaping.

Checka · May 31, 2006, 09:56 PM // 21:56

good idea i will think about it, thx.

xenoranger · Jun 01, 2006, 12:16 PM // 12:16

Should almost replace Barbs with Parasitic Bond as a cover hex just in case. Or remove the Descrate/Defile (one or the other). This way you can reduce chance of hex removal.

Beat_Go_Stick · Jun 01, 2006, 07:15 PM // 19:15

Arcane Echo isnt bad....you just need to cast it about 10-12 seconds before battle so you still start the fight with practically full energy. starting a fight with 2 SS' on your bar makes every fight go faster than fast. Me? I don't bother with it...with a 20% recharge wand and a 20/20 offhand, it's a natural Arcane Echo often enough as is.

Here's the one I've been running....

Curses 16
Domination 10
Soul Reeping 9 (REEEEEEEEEEEEP DEM SOULS!!!)

Spiteful Spirit [e]
Reckless Haste
Enfeebling Blood
Backfire
Overload
Unnatural Signet
Parasitic Bond
Res Sig

I have to say the ability to just destroy spirits outright is invaluable in Factions...

Ole Man Bourbon · Jun 02, 2006, 05:17 AM // 05:17

Parasitic Bond is not optional. It's one of the best skills in the game because it's the perfect cover hex and heals on top of it. I don't like Awaken the Blood because it wastes mana (another SS would be much better than +2 lvl).

xenoranger · Jun 02, 2006, 04:55 PM // 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ole Man Bourbon

Parasitic Bond is not optional. It's one of the best skills in the game because it's the perfect cover hex and heals on top of it.

One of????

Try THE BEST SKILL IN THE GAME

Cost effective, fast casting, quick recharge, HP benefit (no matter how it ends), & Excellent cover hex. Whoever's responsible for Parasitic Bond should be promoted.

I have yet to see a curses build without that skill. Far too invaluable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ole Man Bourbon

I don't like Awaken the Blood because it wastes mana (another SS would be much better than +2 lvl).

Agreed
Trust me on this one... Awake is either stripped (in most cases) or the +2 levels doesn't change much with most skills. On top of that, you increase any sacrifices (none in this build, but whatever) and it just doesn't do anything that's worth keeping it on my skill bar.

hyro yamaguchi · Jun 03, 2006, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Just an idea but SS + revealed hex (inspiration magic)

TheLordOfBlah · Jun 04, 2006, 01:14 AM // 01:14

# SS isn't very useful (from my experience)
# SS
SPiteful Spirit is a great skill, but you don't need your curses at 16 to use it well.

Bit of a contradiction there isnt it?