Curse

xenoranger · May 23, 2006, 01:10 PM // 13:10

Attributes
Curses 12 (11+1)
Blood 13 (9 +1 +3)
Soul Reaping 10 (7 + 3)

[b]Runes[/b}
Major Vigor (or Revenant's Armor)
Superior Blood
Superior Soul Reaping
Minor Curses

Equipment
Revenant Armor (recommended)
Blood Stained Boots (required)
Curses or Blood item that halves casting or recharge time (highly recommended)

Skills

Parasitic Bond (Curses) 5,1,2
Life Siphon (Blood) 10,2,2
Wither (Curses) {E} 10,2,10
== Open ==
Enfeeble (Curses) 5,1,5
Vile Miasma (Blood) 10,1,15
Well of Weariness (Curses) 10,1,5
Well of Blood (Blood) 15,2,2

Averages
Casting Cost: 9.286 Energy
Casting Time: 1.429 Sec
Recharge Time: 5.857 sec

Concept
Apply rapid degen on the enemy. Pile on hexes until they're degenning nice and quick.

Skill Explaination

Parasitic Bond (Curses) 5,1,2
This is a nice little cover hex. Basically, most monks carry single hex removal skills. Because of this, your last hex applied should be parasitic bond. It's my disposable hex of choice and it had that nice HP bonus when it ends.
Life Siphon (Blood) 10,2,2
Adds a -3 degen to the target at level 12. This is how I get a wee bit of health from the degen.
Wither (Curses) {E} 10,2,10
one of my two main sources of degen.At level 12, you have a -4 to the degen, plus the -2 to energy isn't half bad.
Enfeeble (Curses) 5,1,5
This softens warriors that will target you specifically. In addition to that, it's a nice setup for Vile Miasma
Vile Miasma (Blood) 10,1,15
Once you have a warrior suffering from a condition, hit them with this spell. At level 13, they receive a -4 degen to HP
Well of Weariness (Curses) 10,1,5
This isn't degen (persay) but the second function of this build is corpse denial. If your Degen is on a minion master or other death necro, you need to keep them from using Soul Feast or other corpse exploitation skills. Also, you can deny the enemy wells or other possible corpse exploits they may use to their advantage. With Weariness, you can also use this to lessen energy recovery to casters and especially warriors.
Well of Blood (Blood) 15,2,2
Just like Well of weariness, this is another corpse denial skill. Becuase of its casting time, it's mostly used for minion denial. Despite that, the second function of this is to heal party members. At level 13, you have a +5 regen well for 18 seconds.
== Open ==
Generally, I use Shadow of Fear here or some other anti-warrior skill. No matter what you choose to use, this slot is up to you. I just recommend against using skills that are not either blood, curses, soul reaping, or no attribute. I sometimes put Lyssa's balance in there to strip one enchantment from an enemy that may be preventing the degen from working.

Weaknesses

Spinal Shivers
Although the 1.4 casting time is fairly short (compared to what it could be), you don't have a whole lot of protection against a Spinal Shivers interrupter. Especially if Winter is in effect and you're getting hit by a warrior.
EDenail
A casting cost of 9.3 is almost 10, so if there's EDenial (Quickenning Zephir and such) in the area, you're going to have some serious problems, but the high soul reaping aspect was meant to keep your energy high, especially in areas where things die frequently
Interruptions
Although not usually a problem, I find that mesmers and rangers can do a bit of interruption. The low casting time isn't half bad, but the 2 second skills still put you at a window of interruption.
Beatdown
OK, I usually find 3-4 warriors (I use this in Fort Aspen most) will gang up on me. This isn't my idea of fun. Becuase of the double Sup Rune, you do find yourself at a loss for HP. Although you can do without the SR rune, it's very useful to keep that in for Energy Management.
Distancing
This build is meant as a support build, so you need to keep your distance from the fight. As such, when it's brought to you, you can't well defend yourself and are at the mercy of monks.
Hex Removal
Most monks have some sort of Hex removal. If they have Convert Hexes, you're kinda screwed because that skill will strip all hexes and convert it to HP for the target. Using this build goes under the psychology that most monks don't use a multiple hex removal skill, but instead rely on single hex removal.

Strengths

Super Degen
With a max of -10 degen, you can hit that within 3 castings. Most enemies that aren't healing can be taken down in 20-30 seconds with a -10 degen.
Interruption
While it is possible to interrupt, you can also use the shorter casting times as a nice way to prevent interruption.
Parasitic Bond
By planning ahead, you can use parasitic bond to give that 90HP boost later. Just spam it. It's what I consider a cheap and disposable curse, but has quite the benefit.
E-Denial
If you catch an enemy with wither and standing in well of weariness, you essentially remove 3 pips from their energy recovery. This means that you can seriously hurt a monk's healing or any caster's casting ability. Most people jsut stand in well of weariness and don't pay much mind to the fact that it's effecting their energy recovery. Plus, Well of Weariness lasts for 46 seconds after cast.
Hex Covering
Again, Parasitic bond is a wonderful hex to use as a cover hex. Most hex removal is 1-2 hexes, so you are playing the odds, and they're in your favor. Still, remember, a Convert Hexes monk can strip all hexes, so you need to be weary of such a monk.

Testing Locations

Fort Aspenwood (Competative mission)
Random GvG

Athenia · May 23, 2006, 02:06 PM // 14:06

I just recently capped Wither AND got a sup rune of soul reaping as a drop. Just because of that I am going to try this build. Thanks for the info!

xenoranger · May 23, 2006, 02:36 PM // 14:36

Honestly, I'm surprised after an hour, no one has torn this build apart.

Hmm.. I must've done something right.

Well, Athenia, I had a few other necro friends of mine test it and they seemed to like it. Try it with Shadow of Fear though. Shadow of Fear is a nice way to support your team while applying a cover hex. And Shadow of Fear hexes multiple targets. That's why I use it primarly.

Lord Oranos · May 23, 2006, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Its a very good build imo, but for that empty slot you can put malaise to max out energy degen to 5(with the well i mean).

Pick Me · May 23, 2006, 07:17 PM // 19:17

Health degen build is a nice start.

However, I didn't see Well of Suffering. This is 15/2/10. Even at level 0, it will cause health degen and be a corpse denial.

For corpse denial, you should use:
Soul Feast 10/1/5. Gains health
Necrotic Transversal 5/.75/0 Teleports to corpse and cause poison (if
anyone is near the corpse, poisoned = health degen)
Consume Corpse 10/1/0 Gain health and energy

Enfeeble reduces warriors effectiveness against you, so you shouldn't be that bad off

As for your extra slot, either add one of the above, or get vampiric touch. 15/.75/2 The cost seems high, but you get to steal lots of life and the recharge time is good. If someone wants to get close to you, show them what happens when they get within reaching distance. Vampiric Touch goes through smiting defenses and protection spells too. Its classified as a skill, not an attack, not a spell. So 55 monks get hit full damage.

xenoranger · May 23, 2006, 07:49 PM // 19:49

yeah.. i thought about some of those. You could drop 1 pt in SR to pump death a little.

Quote:

Well of Suffering:
Exploit nearest corpse to create a Well of Suffering at its location. For the next 10...26 seconds, foes in that area suffer Health degeneration of -1...5.

Well of Suffering isn't a good idea b/c people generally run from it. They see the well and move. I have yet to see a person or AI that doesn't move from Well of Suffering. Also, it's 26 sec max, but only 10 sec min. I'm paying 15 for a 10 sec degen of -1. I don't think the math is in my favor,but I did use that in a corpse denial build of Death/Curses.

Quote:

Malise:
For 5...29 seconds, target foe suffers Energy degeneration of 2 and you suffer Health degeneration of 2. Malaise ends if target foe's Energy reaches 0.

Malise is a good idea though... didn't think about that b/c of the health degen, but with Malise on a monk, I could have them cast their energy out, then shut them down using wither and malise.
hmm.... nice catch.

Quote:

Consume Corpse:
Exploit a random target. You teleport to that corpse's location and gain 25...85 Health and 5...17 Energy.

Not good energy management because you expend 10 energy to cast, but without death, you only gain 5 energy, which means you're loosing energy rather than gaining to cast it. But, it's a good idea if you have a death/curses build for corpse denial.

Quote:

Soul Feast:
Exploit nearest corpse to steal 50...234 Health.

I actually used this in an initial build of this. Worked fairly well, but had to bump down the SR by 1 level to gain any advantage from it. 50 pts of health isn't much in the long run.

Other skills I sometimes use include:

Verata's Gaze
Nice Anti-MM skill. Have to drop SR and pump Death to 5, but it works.
Rotting Flesh
Even at lvl 1, this does a nice degen. And if you get the enemies contained in an area where they can't touch you, you're safe from being infected.
Weaken Armor
Good for softening your target even more if you have warriors attacking them
Spinal Shivers && Shivers of Dread
Nice interrupt if they're trying to heal themself
Soul Barbs
Punish them for enchantment healing and hurt them as you apply new hexes
Reckless Haste
Actually, I find the 43% miss rate keeps warriors off me fairly well.
Insidious Parasite
Not optimal, but good for a wee bit of life stealing as they attack
Faintheartedness
Slow + Degen... nuff said
Defile Flesh (20% Sacrifice)
Except for the sacrifice, it does nice work of keeping them from healing
Malign Intervention
With little in death, the unbound minion won't be much of a hazard, but it does prevent effective self healing
Barbs
Another way to help warriors by increasing damage dealt to enemy
Vampiric Swarm
Long casting time, but decent health stealing. Easily interruptable and not very useful in the long run
Strip enchantment
Remove their attempt to protect themself and be healed for it
Rend Enchantments
Not recommended against monks, but nice way to remove enchantments preventing degen
Oppressive Gaze
Since you use weakness to start vile miasma, just use this for energy stealing
Awaken the blood
Empower your curses and blood magic
Gaze of Contempt
Remove enchantments once they hit 50% so degen can take it's course

Since i'm an N/me, I use Lyssa's Balance to strip enchantments. It's one of the more effective enchantment removal skills in GW.

Ultimate Sacrifice · Jun 07, 2006, 11:22 PM // 23:22

Did you notice your attributes are off?

Ole Man Bourbon · Jun 08, 2006, 04:38 AM // 04:38

I disagree that people run from WoS. Smart ones do, of course, but you'd be surprised how many people think they're standing in either theirs or the enemy's WoB.

WiLdFiRe111 · Jun 08, 2006, 04:57 AM // 04:57

Surely Life Transfer would be a better elite for a degen necro?

FyrFytr998 · Aug 13, 2006, 07:26 PM // 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiLdFiRe111

Surely Life Transfer would be a better elite for a degen necro?

When I do Alliance Battles. I run a Degen Necro with life transfer. While the -8 degen is awesome. The 30 second recharge can be a pain at times. Another reason I run it over Wither, is due to the fact that it is one of my main means of survival along with life syphon.

I may try an mix my build with the original posters and see what comes of it. Right now I'm N/Ele with alot of degen and Ward of Melee and Armor of Earth. Good combo when they try bashing you 1 on 1.

Once people get advanced in the game. They either go SS or MM all the time. Forgetting that when they first made thier characters. It was as a degener/life stealer that they cut thier teeth as a necro. Blood Magic is very powerful with the right build.

Hella Good · Aug 13, 2006, 08:24 PM // 20:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiLdFiRe111

Surely Life Transfer would be a better elite for a degen necro?

Actually OoB would be way more suited. Just do the Siphon/Faint combo and follow it with Enfeeble/Vile Miasma. Toss in PB to cover and heal and spread around the love... What I was playing just now. I think Wither only works in the Wither/Malaise combo, and wells are a bit excessive here.

I was using smth like:

1- Siphon
2- Faint
3- PB
4- Enfeeble
5- Vile Miasma
6- OoB
7- Distortion
8- Res

13 blood, 12 curses, 8 illusion, rest in reaping (think its like 9?)

Good deal. I know it's kinda standard but I rly dont see much worth in Wither as an elite and nrg management elites work wonderfully in hex heavy builds.

mortalis doleo · Aug 13, 2006, 11:25 PM // 23:25

wither and malaise (and im surprised nobody stressed this), are bad skills. when you put it on a monk or any other spell caster, all he has to do is switch to a weapon set that has a minus to his energy (-5 sword, or just no weapon at all), and the hexes will be removed...

I would go, like stated, with offering of blood so you can keep spreading degen throughout the enemy team.

unless you're doing AB, that open slot should be res sig...

other than the bad elite choice its a decent degen build.

edit: since you are running a high regen build, you should either bring order of pain (if your GvG team has 3-4 melee characters) or blood ritual...

Captain Krompdown · Sep 01, 2006, 04:03 AM // 04:03

when this guy was developing this build, he was in my alliance. i beat this build down relatively quickly with my n/w. A few well-placed heal sigs, a couple of vamp skills, a life transfer now and then, and spinal shivers...end of "near perfect" degen build.