Curse

br0thergr1m · Oct 02, 2006, 05:14 PM // 17:14

I know N/W have a bad rap… I know they don’t “fill” the role of tanks, but I wanted to combine my favorite Necro elite (Aura of the Lich), with a character that uses more melee. I’ve read dozens of posts of “meleemancers” so please don’t send me to a link. Rather I’d like to know what you would tweak with this build. This is strictly for PVE. I got the base of this build from wiki, so I can't take any credit, but I have thrown out a number of skills for others. Again let me know what you think.

Death 12+ 1
Blood 8+1+2
Sword 9
Soul Reaping 4+1 (I’ve thought about making this a superior…but I think I need the life for melee)

Equipped

I need a sword with a Pommel for defense I’m thinking.
Off hand…I’m debating either a shield or an Item that ups my Blood.

Skills

Aura of the Lich {E}: This is what makes my character more on par with a warrior’s armor. Note not the same…not tanking, not agro finding etc. With elite I manage more of the “dark bomber” aspect. This elite makes me very concerned with any type of degen…plague sending I think can remedy that. Always cast this unless I am less than 50% health.

Blood Renewal: This skill combined with Aura of the Lich is superb. The sacrifice is so low it’s silly not to keep this running. Also negates nearly any degen that is cast upon me.

Dark Aura: The Sac…do shadow damage adjacent foes…this is where the power is coming from. Must be close to do this “thus melee range.”

Touch of Agony: Combines with Dark Aura

Dark Pact: iffy on this one…I can use it when I’m not in the Fray for cheap sac cost with Aura of the lich…but it does nearly the same thing as ToA
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^^ is what I am fairly solid on…what I want to use….Below I’m wanting more advice on what to put in.
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Sever Artery: I’m debating on what sword tech to use. I don’t want it to be too energy intensive, as that for my ToA and Dark pact are used for. I picked this due to the fact that it is using Adrenaline, and its debilitating nonetheless. Bleeding plus spiking can add up. What do you guys feel should be a good sword tech with this build

Necrotic Traversal: Ok…I know this skill is going to raise eyebrows…but here is my thinking. Tanks aggro, tanks fight etc, I’m back with the casters putting on my buffs hitting with a few spike skills from the backline etc …or I run up and bomb I don’t know I’m still thinking this out. Once a foe goes down, boom I transport into the thick of things and using this skill. Obviously I wouldn’t do it with low energy but being able to Teleport into the middle, and start Aura bombing I think would be a very fast point blank AoE effect. Aura of the Lich covering me damage wise, with Blood Rit at the ready. I’ve debated using Consume Corpse as well…but the 10 energy is a bit much…I’d rather get there and start bombing, with more energy and more hp. What about the “random” corpse you say? Well I thought that if I brought along Soul Feast, (consumes nearest corpse for HP) I could slightly (note slightly) control where I randomly travel to.

Soul Feast: As explained above, can help me limit where I'm traveling to, gives me hp, and limits those nasty Necros from raising corpses as well.

Anyway…the Warrior aspect was made so once I’m in the middle, I can obviously do this with a staff, I just figured since bombing deals with being adjacent, I could put to use a good sword skill. Tell me what you guys think I'm curious.

Pick Me · Oct 02, 2006, 05:47 PM // 17:47

Consume Corpse gives you more energy back than you use casting it. Also, poison isn't all that great.

Sword at 9 and only 1 attribute seems to wasteful to me. Since the majority of your damage is coming from Death and Blood, I would suggest that you boost both of these and drop sword.

Bleeding only is too slow, if you were to add gash, then sever artery would be fine.

This is just my opinion. If your build works for you that great. Enjoy.

holden · Oct 02, 2006, 06:42 PM // 18:42

dark aura will cause monsters to flee the 'aoe' damage. no good for pve.

but if you must try it and if you have factions, drop dark pact and get wallow's bite.

dark aura, touch of agony/wallows bite or dark pact does enough damage you shouldn't worry about any sword skills.

consume corpse is an ok skill but in pve there are many, many minion masters. if you steal one of their corpses with consume corpse or soul feast, he'll let you know about it. i would.