Curse

Robin_Anadri · Aug 30, 2006, 10:12 PM // 22:12

I was playing around with my necromancer and came up with this build that has turned out to be pretty darned effective.

I actually made a page on GuildWiki for it, my first contribution to that site.

Here are the particulars:

Profession: Necromancer/any

Attributes:
Curses 16 (12 + 1 + 3)
Soul Reaping 13 (12 + 1)
Blood Magic 4 (3 + 1)

Skill Set:
Reckless Haste
Spiteful Spirit {e}
Parasitic Bond
Suffering
Signet of Agony
Plague Sending
optional slot
Res (Res Signet or hard rez from secondary profession)

For the optional slot, consider Enfeebling Blood, Defile Enchantments, Chilblains, Well of Weariness, Awaken the Blood, Well of Blood, Blood Ritual, or Mark of Pain, among others. It truly is a free slot, and should be used to support the goals of a particular situation.

Equipment

* No particular armor set is required. You may wish to use Tormentor's Armor for the increased AL, and Bloodstained Boots if bringing a corpse targeting spell in the optional slot.
* Any Curses requirement weapon set is sufficient, with preference given to weapons that have a chance to halve cast time and recharge of Curses skills. Weapons that provide this as well as having a chance of +1 to your Curses attribute, such as The Stonereaper, are ideal.

Usage

Hold back until your tank has gathered the aggro, then choose a strong target, well positioned in the mob for adjacent effects. Cast Reckless Haste to cause them all to attack 25% faster but with a 52% chance to miss. Follow with Spiteful Spirit, which will then be triggering more often and cause more damage due to the increased attack speed. Cast Parasitic Bond to set up a heal for yourself and provide -1 degeneration, then follow with Suffering to provide -2 degeneration to your target and all adjacent foes. Now, use Signet of Agony to apply 25-second bleeding to yourself, followed immediately by Plague Sending to transfer those 3 pips of degeneration to your target and all adjacent foes.

Quickly cycle through the other targets in the mob, applying Parasitic Bond to each for the degeneration and self-heal. Each time Spiteful Spirit recharges, apply it to another target in the mob to spread more the AoE damage. Any conditions inflicted on you should be strategically sent to groups of foes with Plague Sending.

Counters

The build has no hex removal, and healing depends on Parasitic Bond expiring or ending with hex removal or the death of your target. As the build is heavy in the use of spells, skills that attack spells such as Backfire or Guilt are particularly effective counters. Long cast times for some spells make the build more susceptible to interrupts.

Credit: Me, Myself, and I (a limited partnership.)

(ok, so that was pretty much cut and paste from my wiki page, but you get the idea.

)

Anyway, this build is fun to play and provides a nice amount of pressure while making the monk's job easier since over half the mob's attacks will miss.

Pick Me · Aug 31, 2006, 12:50 PM // 12:50

Seems like a nice fun build. Although, Awakening the blood doesn't seem like a good idea (good on curse side, but Plague Sending and Signet of Agony will take a large chunk of your life away).

Parasitic Bond is your only self-heal? I admit sometimes its all you need, but in some areas, it isn't enough.

Mark of Subversion or Price of Failure should do well in your build (as to fill in your optional slot). Perspnally, I like Blood Renewal.

Robin_Anadri · Aug 31, 2006, 02:11 PM // 14:11

Well this isn't for soloing. It's a pressure/support build for a balanced team. I have found Parasitic Bond to be more than enough self healing, things tend to die well before the 20 second duration (or the hex is removed by one of those pesky Expel mesmers) and *poof* that's 126 heal. More than enough to recover from the sac.

holden · Aug 31, 2006, 02:25 PM // 14:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

Seems like a nice fun build. Although, Awakening the blood doesn't seem like a good idea (good on curse side, but Plague Sending and Signet of Agony will take a large chunk of your life away).

Parasitic Bond is your only self-heal? I admit sometimes its all you need, but in some areas, it isn't enough.

Mark of Subversion or Price of Failure should do well in your build (as to fill in your optional slot). Perspnally, I like Blood Renewal.

p bond is all you need for a self heal. ever. you'll have at least two monks most missions/quests. if you draw any aggro you suck.
that's why Robin said, 'hold back until your tank has gathered the aggro'.

with only 4 in Blood, blood renewal would be a bad choice. mark of subversion as well. the 30 second cooldown sucks anyway.

price of failure would be ok but since the build is looking to support and not all out destroy everything, enfeebling blood would be a nice fit.

Pick Me · Aug 31, 2006, 03:41 PM // 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by holden

p bond is all you need for a self heal. ever. you'll have at least two monks most missions/quests. if you draw any aggro you suck.
that's why Robin said, 'hold back until your tank has gathered the aggro'.

with only 4 in Blood, blood renewal would be a bad choice. mark of subversion as well. the 30 second cooldown sucks anyway.

price of failure would be ok but since the build is looking to support and not all out destroy everything, enfeebling blood would be a nice fit.

As I said, PB is all you need (sometimes).

Blood renewal is good, even at level 4.

If you place PoF on the same foe that has SS+RH then that's a total waste. Put it on someone not affected by SS+RH (tank has many monsters in his/her aggro field).

If you can stop 1 healing spell or 1 interupt or 1 elementalist spell, then would you consider that a real waste?

I don't draw aggro, and sometimes Monks or Rits are not so frequent (some are afk). I don't trust henchies and if you have 1 or 2 assassins, sometimes they draw aggro to you.

Which means Chilblains is totally worthless, if you stay away from aggro.

Enfeebling Blood is a waste, since monsters will not hit too often for it to be of any use (unless you throw it on rangers, which means you are getting a little too close to their aggro

Pick Me · Aug 31, 2006, 03:41 PM // 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by holden

p bond is all you need for a self heal. ever. you'll have at least two monks most missions/quests. if you draw any aggro you suck.
that's why Robin said, 'hold back until your tank has gathered the aggro'.

with only 4 in Blood, blood renewal would be a bad choice. mark of subversion as well. the 30 second cooldown sucks anyway.

price of failure would be ok but since the build is looking to support and not all out destroy everything, enfeebling blood would be a nice fit.

As I said, PB is all you need (sometimes).

Blood renewal is good, even at level 4.

If you place PoF on the same foe that has SS+RH then that's a total waste. Put it on someone not affected by SS+RH (tank has many monsters in his/her aggro field).

If you can stop 1 healing spell or 1 interupt or 1 elementalist spell, then would you consider that a real waste?

I don't draw aggro, and sometimes Monks or Rits are not so frequent (some are afk). I don't trust henchies and if you have 1 or 2 assassins, sometimes they draw aggro to you.

Which means Chilblains is totally worthless, if you stay away from aggro.

Enfeebling Blood is a waste, since monsters will not hit too often for it to be of any use (unless you throw it on rangers, which means you are getting a little too close to their aggro)

holden · Aug 31, 2006, 04:50 PM // 16:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

Blood renewal is good, even at level 4.

you sacrifice 25% of your health to gain +4 regen for 10 seconds and a bonus heal of 80 when and if you let it end.....i can't call that good but it's just my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

If you place PoF on the same foe that has SS+RH then that's a total waste. Put it on someone not affected by SS+RH (tank has many monsters in his/her aggro field).

i guess it's just what you want in your build. more damage to the monsters or less damage to your team. since SS is doing it's job why bring more damage?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

If you can stop 1 healing spell or 1 interupt or 1 elementalist spell, then would you consider that a real waste?

hell yes. at 4 blood mark of subversion will last 6 seconds and only steal 32 health. 10 energy to cast and a 30 second recharge? stop the spell or not, who cares. the cost is too high.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

Enfeebling Blood is a waste, since monsters will not hit too often for it to be of any use (unless you throw it on rangers, which means you are getting a little too close to their aggro)

weakness will cause attacks to do 66% less damage. as far as I know it affects bow attacks as well. if that's wrong I hope someone will say so.
Enfeebling Blood puts weakness on your foe and all his nearby companions. this is a terrific spell in almost any curses build, especially when the recharge for reckless haste is 25 seconds and it won't always be there when you want it.

Pick Me · Aug 31, 2006, 05:25 PM // 17:25

Hmmm... honestly, I forgot to look at the recharge time of Reckless Haste.

I like using Mark of Subversion or any interupt I have (I'm a N/Me and I have a Rit/N). If I can prevent a monster from stealing life or giving damage from anywhere between 100 to 300 damage, I say that's a good thing (because that is only my opinion.

)

Yes, Weakness affects all ordinary attacks. But it doesn't do anything from skills or buff spells. So swords, axes, hammers, claws, wands, bows, daggers, etc. are affected. But Brutal Weapon, Judge's Insight, Barrage, Penetrating Attack, Crushing Blow, etc. are not. And if you are on one side of aggro, the tank is in the middle, and opposing rangers are on the other side, to affect them with Enfeebling Blood, you will need to get closer (which is not something I want to do). Again, only my opinion.

Robin_Anadri · Aug 31, 2006, 11:28 PM // 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

[snip]Which means Chilblains is totally worthless, if you stay away from aggro.

Only reason I suggested Chilblains was to Plague Send the poison to the group of foes. With the high cost, low poison duration and uselessness of the adjacent enchant stripping, it's not a very *good* choice for the build.

Jetdoc · Sep 01, 2006, 07:44 PM // 19:44

Some suggestions...

1. I know that you wanted to make this a generic Necro build, but honestly having a Mesmer secondary with Arcane Echo would improve this build 100%.

2. Signet of Agony/Plague Sending is a nice touch to this build, but Sufferring and Parasitic Bond is a bit overkill, IMO, and would tax the energy of this build. I would personally focus more on spreading the SS love, which will kill your enemy much quicker than the extra 2-3 pips of degeneration you're trying to stack.

3. I think Awaken the Blood is well worth its cost in this build, even with the dual sacrifices - those sacrifices add up to a whopping 30% with AtB, which is easily countered/healed.

Consider making the following tweaks and I think you've got a very nice build...

Curses 15 (11+1+3)
Blood 11 (10+1)
Soul Reaping 11 (10+1)

Spiteful Spirit (E)
Arcane Echo
Reckless Haste
Signet of Agony
Plague Sending
Awaken The Blood
Flex Position
Rez Signet

A nice concept, and a very nice deviant from your normal SS build!

Senketsou · Sep 04, 2006, 05:12 AM // 05:12

I agree with jetdoc... You dont wanna kill your damage dealer on the other team... If your stacking hexes to deal aoe damage to the other team massivly, you dont want it to die before everything else... I would suggest putting spiteful spirit, reckless haste, and mark of pain on the target that your tank is attacking... except have him switch off to a weapon he doesnt meet the req. for so he isnt hurting the target any more, in which case the damage being dealt to all those around your target with ss on is getting nearly double the damage, so your main damage dealer is still alive.... just my opinion, if it makes any sense to anybody

Hella Good · Sep 04, 2006, 06:08 AM // 06:08

I think you are trying to achieve too many things with this build and altho it seems like an interesting mix and match, I don't think it is more effective than Echo Spites. You are by all means entitled to not wanna play the classic stuff and I respect that. But from a dps perspective this build is inferior to Echo Spites. And dps is rly where the bottom line is.

Robin_Anadri · Sep 07, 2006, 07:22 PM // 19:22

True, true.

Tonight, I'm going to play with dropping Suffering and bringing Enfeebling Blood and Oppressive Gaze (while running AtB) to see if I can crank the DPS up, but I don't know that it will be successful at coming up to Echo Spite DPS.

ubermancer · Sep 07, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin_Anadri

True, true.

Tonight, I'm going to play with dropping Suffering and bringing Enfeebling Blood and Oppressive Gaze (while running AtB) to see if I can crank the DPS up, but I don't know that it will be successful at coming up to Echo Spite DPS.

Not much in the PVE metagame matches SS's DPS.

You can try Suffering->Arcane Echo->Feast of Corruption->Desecrate Enchantments->Defile Enchantments->(2nd) Feast of Corruption for an AOE damage chain that has a cool habbit of killing things.

Hella Good · Sep 07, 2006, 11:19 PM // 23:19

He is talking about not echoing SS, using it only once and then following it with Enfeebling Blood + Oppresive Gaze under ATB. It's pretty much the same amount of nrg but I'm not sure how the dps is going to compare to the echoed version.

Termil · Sep 19, 2006, 11:47 PM // 23:47

For AB I used your basic build and it works real well. My secondary is Ranger. I replaced the Rez Sig with Troll Ungent for self heal and added Storm Chaser for getting away or getting to that next cap shrine. I use the Troll Ungent just before Signet of Agony or right after Plague Sending. Can't really tell which is the most effective time for it.

Thanks for the inspiration.

cloudbunny · Oct 01, 2006, 09:04 AM // 09:04

I like these kind of builds that not only go for most possible damage but pack more flexible utilities. The AtB+reckless haste+Arcane Echo+SS combo is very hard to beat for AoE dps. But it takes up 4 slots and do not let you do much else. My style of play is a bit different, I like being able to switch tactic from battle to battle, so I like other variants. At the moment my favorite is this one.

Reckless haste
Spiteful Spirit
Desecrete Enchanments
Parasitic bond
Insidious Parasite
Barbs
Spinal Shiver
Rebirth

Pretty nice when going with henchies. Spinal shiver lets you interrupt those high damage bosses. Insidious Parasite gives extra damage + heal. Barbs do wonders with henchies, or even better with spirits/minions. I can handle most pve things with this build, Big crowds, single super tough bosses. Not maximum dps but more utilities.

Regards,
Cloudbunny