Curse

Genome Weaver · Sep 18, 2006, 02:32 PM // 14:32

Sword 12 + 1 + 1
Strength 8 + 1
Death 10

Quivering Blade
Sever Artery
Gash
Sun and Moon Slash
Plague Touch
Necrotic Transversal
Taste of Pain
Rez Sig

What makes this build different is the death skills:

Necrotic Transversal
Spell. Exploit a random corpse. You teleport to that corpse's location and all nearby foes become Poisoned for 15 seconds.

Taste of Pain
Spell. If target foe is below 50% Health, you gain 110 health.

Necrotic Transversal looks awesome for damage, and if there's one corpse in the area (and if it happens to be the one you just created), the teleport isn't random. I'm sure this is too dangerous for most necro primaries, but W/N should be more durable. I'd use Taste of Pain for quick self-heal. Both cost only 5, and are quick to cast.

Has anyone used these successfully in PVE? I've looked through lots of W/N posts, and haven't seen them. I'm not as concerned with the sword skills - they have been debated ad nauseum, and the ones I listed are just the ones I'm using at the moment.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

Yukito Kunisaki · Sep 18, 2006, 02:45 PM // 14:45

If those are your only stats...

then you should be going
16 swordsmanship
9 strength
10 death magic

other than that, I can't think of anything else...

squeezing in either an offensive [tiger stance] or defensive [bonetti's defense] would help ya too...

Rancour · Sep 18, 2006, 02:49 PM // 14:49

Necrotic Transversal is far from "awesome" for damage, but given that the nearest corpse is probably right next to you (and all the melee enemies) I agree that it's fun for some AoE poison; just don't think it'll get the enemies killed. It won't.

Taste of Pain is great, but it's a little dangerous to actually have to wait for your target to be below 50% HP before you can use it. Feast of Death (or whatever it's called, the one that exploits a corpse for a serious heal) is a pretty good alternative. Healing Signet is bread and butter healing; see if you can squeeze it in with an AL boosting skill.

Genome Weaver · Sep 18, 2006, 03:08 PM // 15:08

Fair enough, I can use the superior Sword rune. I could also switch out Sun and Moon Slash for Tiger Stance for 8 seconds of 33% IAS.

I could have been too enthusiastic when I called Necrotic Transversal damage "awesome"

But it could add up, assuming several mobs nearby. Sounds like more fun to me than hacking away at the mobs 1 by 1. It could also take them down to 1/2 hp (or near), which makes Taste of Pain easier to pull off.

I agree that Soul Feast is less dangerous and heals more. But it also costs more (10 vs 5) and requires a corpse (that I haven't already transversed). Taste of Pain heals around the same amount as Heal Sig, takes less time to cast, and doesn't halve your armor. I'm really just looking for something different (but viable, I hope), and more necro skills to use beyond Plague Touch. Taste of Pain helps to justify my investment in Death.