Curse

Siren Danica · Aug 24, 2005, 02:39 PM // 14:39

Or does it suck?

This skill is a favorite of mine and I can't figure out why it rarely shows up in anyone's build suggestions.

I've been using it as far as I've gotten so far (Bloodstone Fen), and it seems to work great. At level 18, I've got a distribution something like this:

Curses 9+2
Death 7+1
Blood 8+1
Soul Reaping 6+1

In battle, I'll typically hit the foe with SB first. It lasts for 30 seconds, and all hexes and enchancements deal additional 15-27 damage in that time. If a tank is beating on the foe, I'll soften it up for him with Weaken Armor (hex). Then Mark of Pain (hex) deals damage to surrounding enemies while hitting the target foe with more damage.

Finally, I'll suck some life from the foe with Life Siphon (hex) while gaining health myself. After the foe goes down, if there are nearby enemies, I'll use Putrid Explosion to broadcast some damage. Or, if there's already a corpse nearby and a foe is almost gone but stubborn, I'll use Putrid Explosion to finish him off.

But admittedly, I'm only talking about PvE, have only played this game since the beginning of August, and this is my first online RPG, therefore I might not know what I'm talking about.

So if I could be more effective please give advice.

Forboding Angel · Aug 24, 2005, 02:53 PM // 14:53

Well you are playing as support and in that respect I like your build. If you go into pvp with 2 wars and an illusion mes you could really make some people have bad days.

My necro is primary damage dealer. If you are not in a guild I suggest you join one when you start pvping because with a build like yours you need people working with you otherwise what you'll end up doing is just pissing your target off instead of killing him.

For that matter, my guild needs another necro. We have about 30 ppl and TS is required. We can help you thru the game and teach you the ropes etc. Go to themagicgathering.cjb.net and post on the forums if you're interested.

P.S. Ego's get checked at the door.

BTW forgot to mention. When you have a chance, replace siphon with life transfer (elite) and you will do some serious damage.

Epinephrine · Aug 24, 2005, 02:57 PM // 14:57

I pretty much think it is mediocre or even edging on crappy. It does 26 damage I believe at your 11 Curses, so you deal about 78 damage with it if you land 3 more hexes on your target, as you described. I guess 76 damage is ok, as it does bypass armour, but it is hardly whopping damage for the 2 seconds of casting time and the 10 energy, and it only affects one target. It can't be used again for 20 seconds, so it's pretty much limited to an opponent or two during a PvE encounter. Compared to the damage coming off your Mark of Pain it is laughable - the Mark of Pain is putting out that much damage in an area in 3 weapon hits - with some meleers going it is ludicrously effective. A Deathly Swarm at level 11 does 63 damage to 3 targets (so is dealing about 19 damage per energy rather than 7.6), and can be used repeatedly during combat. A Shadow Strike could do about 80 damage to a target for the same cost and heal you 40 life, making it much more efficient. A Desecrate Enchantments would be a little more expensive, but deals damage in an area, and with foes who use enchantments can deal a pretty good spike of damage. In a build that was planning on using a lot of quick 5 cost hexes I can see how Soul Barbs could be useful, but it would be a pretty specialised build - probably a mesmer/necro or necro/mesmer type build - it will never really allow you to spike damage, as the damage is in small parcels and infrequently, so is of limited usefulness in PvP, but in PvE you might be able to take advantage of it in the right build.

Neo-LD · Aug 24, 2005, 03:15 PM // 15:15

Well Crappy Skill + Crappy Skill + Crappy Skill could = decent combo.....

Soul Barbs target, bury it with anything (parasitic bond ftw) and then repeatedly slap it with wastrels. If they get rid of wastrels by casting, good you can reapply it earlier for more damage via SB. If they dont good they take damage when wastrels ends. I guess you could add more hexes that do similar things with SB like diversion and level ~3 conjure phantasm...

Putting so many crappy skills together makes for a dubious build, but maybe just maybe itd work. Thats just about as good as it gets for SB though.

If you beat anyone with that you deserve a cookie.

gou · Aug 24, 2005, 03:20 PM // 15:20

soul barbs plus all the quick 5 energy hexes happens to be one of my favourite setups for a more no-brainer PvE experience, stuff like parasitic bond and wastrels worry

oh and spiteful spirit sits so well in that skill bar let me tell you

Jake · Aug 24, 2005, 03:48 PM // 15:48

I think it's better for like.. a prot monk or something that spams quick enchantments (RoF, Guardian, Boon, etc.) rather than you actually hexing.

Forboding Angel · Aug 25, 2005, 07:50 AM // 07:50

well look at it this way. If you have a mesmer with you helping out with hexes the low damage adds up. Hell with my n/me I cast conjure phantasm every 10 secs and I'm only a secondary. Mesmer will hex the target many times over so the extra damage actually does go a long way in the long run. Throw all that shit on a healing monk and they are in a world of trouble.

Shadowstalker · Aug 25, 2005, 11:54 AM // 11:54

I am new to PvP but on the third battle I fought I used a hex build necro. I died a few times, but one on one I lured a w/m out of a group and proceded to hex him and steal health from him. Neither of us could kill the other for about 2-3 minutes, but i would life siphon(no elites yet) another person or two and then keep on messin this dude up. I got lucky when i had a fighter henchman come and hit him a few times. So on soul barbs... can it in pvp. but dont give up on a hexmaster. Its not a tank, but if you partner up with one, you can tear through a lot of baddies. :P

Epinephrine · Aug 25, 2005, 04:13 PM // 16:13

I won't say it's useless, just mediocre. In the right build it could deal a lot of damage, but I'd say that unless you were going in with a team build that you could depend on it isn't a very good spell. Trying to take advantage of it on your own spells will be difficult.

rii · Aug 25, 2005, 04:27 PM // 16:27

I find it impractical to stack that many hexes on someone to get decent damage out of this. getting lots of people hex stacking would get good damage eventually, but its just not as effective as hitting them in the face with an axe.

JYX · Aug 25, 2005, 04:34 PM // 16:34

depends on the size of your...

...

...axe...

...

-.-'

and what enchants they got, who you happen to be targeting, what stances they got running etc etc.

Forboding Angel · Aug 25, 2005, 06:16 PM // 18:16

You could also use some mesmer stuff to remove the hexes and deal damage that way. This is a team type of build tho so keep that in mind.

Paine · Aug 25, 2005, 06:22 PM // 18:22

suxx.. ZZZZ ...next?

octaviancmb · Aug 25, 2005, 06:32 PM // 18:32

Well...It can add a bit more punch to Water spells, so for E/N's or N/E's it's worth trying. And with the added utility of the Water element, a Curses/Water character is a valuable asset to any PvP group. I'm going to give it a try.

cmb

Phades · Aug 25, 2005, 06:55 PM // 18:55

If the effect of soul barbs was a spirit, then it would be useful in most any situation. However, having it as a single target call to mass stack hexes and begs for convert hexes for removal, which would probably clean up the damage caused by soul barbs in the first place.

kriuq · Aug 26, 2005, 02:51 AM // 02:51

I tested it, wastrels triggers soul barbs even if they have a wastrels still on them.

Spura · Aug 29, 2005, 11:37 AM // 11:37

When I was stupid and probably drunk I tried soul barbs and mass hexing and it sucks. It sucks in pve because targets die so fast and rarely get enchants, you never get any real damage done. You will waste 40 en worth of hexes just so 5 sec later some warrior kills that monsters. Waste.

In pvp it is a big waste as well. Best use ever is E/N with water/curses. And even that sucked.

Nash · Aug 29, 2005, 02:19 PM // 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Siren Danica

So if I could be more effective please give advice.

Yes. Make a totally new build. Seeing as this is PvE, I'd focus on either a life steal spammer, or a minion master.

Louis Ste Colombe · Aug 29, 2005, 02:40 PM // 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epinephrine

I won't say it's useless, just mediocre. In the right build it could deal a lot of damage, but I'd say that unless you were going in with a team build that you could depend on it isn't a very good spell. Trying to take advantage of it on your own spells will be difficult.

I'd overall agree... And it's also true that given anyone energy pool, it's difficult to get more than 3/4 hexes on anyone in the limited time Soul last.

However, if your team got a few fellow hex stackers, you can pile up way more than 3/4 hexes, and then it contributes significantly to your damage. Mesmers come to mind.

There are also a few funny cases when it would counter some enchant spammer critter (since it work on enchants too....). More funny than really usefull, but hey, still fun

Louis,