N/D Dark Aura Teardown continued

Continued from http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/n...t10471401.html

One thing I think no one was paying attention to in the last thread was that Dark Aura can be cast on you by an ally. Its also in Death Magic, an attribute that (ass-pull statistic) ~90% of players have a hero with 18-19 in their build. Given this, the build can be greatly improved with the extra skill slot available, extra attribute points freed up, and the extra +6-7 in Death Magic.

A normal D/N with Masochism can have 12/20s enchanted and do absolutely insane stuff for a short time. Basically taking the normal (already overpowered) PR build and making every swing do +60 AoE damage. If only I could think of a way to speed Masochism's recharge so that it could fuel itself to reach 17s duration and 100% uptime...

What is everyone's thoughts on a N/D build with this change though?

I'm also thinking of of the possibility of multiple N/D or D/N hero builds in a focused team build attempt. Planning on playing around with the idea a bit more this weekend.

Heyyy, I remember that thread. :P

While you are on the topic, I'd like to mention that Withering Aura is also in Death Magic, and that Reap Impurities adds up to 30 AoE damage per target hit. I'd also like to mention that any "Victory" attack, before anyone mentions it, is a poor choice due to the HP Sac.

Masochism can fuel itself at SR lvl 4 (with the proper weapon), I'm not sure what your concerns are about. Elaborate?

The Masochism fueling itself comment was directed at the D/N build, not that N/D one.

Withering Aura + Reap Impurities is a great idea, throwing it in.

My final build for both D/N and N/D appears to be converging to this:

Pious Attack
Wearying Strike
Twin Moon Sweep
Reap Impurities
Pious Renewal
Pious Fury
Masochism
AoHM

I think Soul Reaping alone is enough to fuel the Necromancer (you can max it now + 2 from Masochism), but I can't test as my necro isn't geared for it at the moment.

Overall, the D/N build looks very nice in terms of what it can do. When you don't need /W for SY and the area doesn't make VoS worthwhile, possibly the most effective variant you could run. A free 85 AoE damage every time you use a skill is pretty nifty

N/D armor being a lot flimsier still hurts it, and nothing will ever compare to AP builds, but its certainly respectable and well outside of the joke build range.

That said, there is one really annoying thing about having another character carry the Dark Aura: You don't get to see the damage numbers! This makes me sad