Alot of damaging conditions have now had their durations increased and stacks reduced. Good!

Unholy Fervor:

This trait has been reworked and renamed Dread. It now causes fear you apply to also inflict 10 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds. It also causes attacks against foes inflicted with fear to deal 20% more damage.

• To make use of the new trait Dread i think it was would be ideal to ask for longer fear durations on necromancer skills or ask that fears be added in with the new ammo system.Currently only scourge makes use of the ammo system.Could staff marks possibly make use of this system now at this point?What about core shroud fear?Thoughts on this?

• Ideally the reasoning for this. Fear is currently not very strong as necromancer unique conditions and requires the use of 2 traits across 2 different traitlines to make it useful in duration or as a Dot condition.

• With the new dread trait I dont see viable use of the dps increase to feared targets from yourself as usually when inflicting fear you are 1 already performing a cast action (reapers fear) (Staff fear) meaning you cant actually do much action to make use of it. Unlike mesmers, thief, guardian, we do not have tons of instant skills that can overlay a casting skill. Currently the way this trait is built seems very wasteful to power builds perhaps not so much to condition builds.

Necos could simply use much more fear uptime .....or

• Perhaps the triat should change to make your next attacks for 2-3 seconds inflict 20% more damage after inflicting fear on a foe and give the necro a unique buff that shows this.
• Or put a unique debuff effect on feared targets that last 2-3 seconds that allows said necromancers with that trait a window to make use of that 20% modifier.

Right now the only spec i see being able to really use it is core as the fear is instant allowing it to be cast at any time without interrupting other actions such as life blast. Reaper fear duration is not only short but ruined partly by after cast and as with staff its ind of the same. You could possibly get one staff mark out during that fear dration possibly 2 or swap and get 1-2 hits in.

Poor use of this modifier.

Thoughts?

It's a very loaded damage trait. From nothing to something this trait increases damage to target by 20%10% = 32%. That it's based on fearing was intentional because fear generally has short duration and low access. I wouldn't forget though that axe and GS both have boon corruption and this trait is in the same line as spiteful spirit. This will wreck face in WvW.

Here is what it used to do, and why axe skills have been boosted by ~10% in the same patch.

Unholy FervorReduce recharge of axe skills. Axe skills deal increased damage to vulnerable foes.Damage Increase: 10%Recharge Reduced: 20%

I think dread only makes attacks you do to the target and not everyone else. Or else this trait could be super amazing with a terror build in raids. I see this as an amazing power trait that makes crazy burst in reaper shroud possible. It does compete with awaken the pain for raids since the consistant dps for more power insome fights wouldd be better imo than some burst.

Axe changes are nice and now there are meaningful picks for all tiers in spite and actually makes some more interesting build options availible. Might even try out power scourge in pvp.

@Svarty.8019 said:Here is what it used to do, and why axe skills have been boosted by ~10% in the same patch.

Unholy FervorReduce recharge of axe skills. Axe skills deal increased damage to vulnerable foes.Damage Increase: 10%Recharge Reduced: 20%

I know the 10% damage got moved onto the base axe and the recharge got moved to another trait which is fine and all im all cool with that. My issue now is that the only real usable part of this trait 10 vuln stack upon fear inflection the 20% damage component is not viably usable with neco itself as the one inflicting the fear. Why not a unique effect or just more vuln infliction upfront upon inflicting fear.

@Justine.6351 said:It's a very loaded damage trait. From nothing to something this trait increases damage to target by 20%10% = 32%. That it's based on fearing was intentional because fear generally has short duration and low access. I wouldn't forget though that axe and GS both have boon corruption and this trait is in the same line as spiteful spirit. This will wreck face in WvW.

True boon corrupt could make this trait shine but the necos base fears simply cant make use of it very well. I wonder if anet realized this when working this trait into mind?

@Lexan.5930 said:I think dread only makes attacks you do to the target and not everyone else. Or else this trait could be super amazing with a terror build in raids. I see this as an amazing power trait that makes crazy burst in reaper shroud possible. It does compete with awaken the pain for raids since the consistant dps for more power insome fights wouldd be better imo than some burst.

Axe changes are nice and now there are meaningful picks for all tiers in spite and actually makes some more interesting build options availible. Might even try out power scourge in pvp.

I dont see reapers fear being really long enough to make use of it as a real burst tool. 1 second baseline fear which is even less with the after cast assuming you land it without it being insta cleared. Perhaps staff 5 into reaper burst could work but even then thats supppppper situational how often are you really going to make that work if you know what i mean.

reaper shroud 3, to fear, to spin. Thats a 20% increase to all the hits from soul spiral while the fear is going on.

Take power scourge. Hit F4, then any multi-hit skill for big burst damage. Also for scourge, if you corrupt stab into fear you get bonus damage durring the fear. Probably going to go axe/warhorn staff power scourge in pvp. WIth all that boon strip + wells theres bound to be a ton of burst potential for power scourge.

@Lexan.5930 said:reaper shroud 3, to fear, to spin. Thats a 20% increase to all the hits from soul spiral while the fear is going on.

Take power scourge. Hit F4, then any multi-hit skill for big burst damage. Also for scourge, if you corrupt stab into fear you get bonus damage durring the fear. Probably going to go axe/warhorn staff power scourge in pvp. WIth all that boon strip + wells theres bound to be a ton of burst potential for power scourge.

You are missing the point fear is 1 second the after cast in from reaper 3 into reaper 4 you might get 2 hits that benifit from the 20% damage the rest of soul sprial will not benefit from the 20% its a 1 second fear soul spirals cast is much longer than 1 second.

@Lexan.5930 said:reaper shroud 3, to fear, to spin. Thats a 20% increase to all the hits from soul spiral while the fear is going on.

Take power scourge. Hit F4, then any multi-hit skill for big burst damage. Also for scourge, if you corrupt stab into fear you get bonus damage durring the fear. Probably going to go axe/warhorn staff power scourge in pvp. WIth all that boon strip + wells theres bound to be a ton of burst potential for power scourge.

But then you can't take Awaken the Pain, which is a big loss.

Also is Reaper #4 better than auto for power?

@Kain Francois.4328 said:

@Lexan.5930 said:reaper shroud 3, to fear, to spin. Thats a 20% increase to all the hits from soul spiral while the fear is going on.

Take power scourge. Hit F4, then any multi-hit skill for big burst damage. Also for scourge, if you corrupt stab into fear you get bonus damage durring the fear. Probably going to go axe/warhorn staff power scourge in pvp. WIth all that boon strip + wells theres bound to be a ton of burst potential for power scourge.

True and i question that in a pvp perspective some times. soul spiral some times wont always lands all the hits and some times i find myself being surprised when i swing one auto attack and cleave 2-3 people for 3-4 k xD but overall i guess yes the spin to win is better. I think if you can land 80% of the hits from soul spiral then yes... ish.. maybe.

the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

@Lexan.5930 said:the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

I think you're all looking at it wrong. Dread is basically worthless for Reaper.

However, it is decent on Scourge. I know, Power Scourge isn't popular, but you do have an instant-cast Fear on a short cooldown. It can be popped during any burst time to get some extra damage out. Of course, once again, we're dealing with the crappy 1 second duration, but having it on a shorter cooldown with no cast/aftercast and no Shroud only restriction will make it better for Scourge than Reaper.

@Drarnor Kunoram.5180 said:

@Lexan.5930 said:the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

I wouldn't say it's worthless but yes it is not as good as it would work for scourge. hitting someone with axe 2 and fear at the same time would be a massive dps burst and will be fun to try out.

Don't forget the Lich 3 fear to spike that potentially Lich auto ko damage =]

@Lexan.5930 said:I think dread only makes attacks you do to the target and not everyone else. Or else this trait could be super amazing with a terror build in raids. I see this as an amazing power trait that makes crazy burst in reaper shroud possible. It does compete with awaken the pain for raids since the consistant dps for more power insome fights wouldd be better imo than some burst.

AtB would absolutely not compete with Dread if Dread put a universal debuff on an enemy. Party-wide damage boosts always, always, always supercede personal damage in meta PvE value (see Chronomancer). Unfortunately, anet killed Grace of the Land, so they seem determined to not do the only thing that would add any level of class roles or unique build playstyles into GW2 (unique buffs and debuffs for classes). Dread will never be any more than a PvP meme most likely given its arbitrary placement alongside AtB.

@Drarnor Kunoram.5180 said:

@Lexan.5930 said:the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

Awaken the Pain and Chill of Death both give higher overall damage and higher burst potential.

Dread is a bad trait. There are zero builds in the game that would not be better off wither either of the two traits Dread competes with.

Yeah, I shouldn't have said "decent on Scourge." I should have said "almost usable."

@Crinn.7864 said:

@Drarnor Kunoram.5180 said:

@Lexan.5930 said:the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

Yes yes. Awaken the Pain good. Dread is bad - They just wanted something to tinker around with there, bless 'em.

Dread is not that bad as "idea" but anet did make it in the wrong way. The solution is to make the Spite trait Dread like the Warrior's trait from Strenght line Peak Performance. So necro can get a personal or party buff that once someone fear an enemy you get increased damage for X seconds. Maybe an internal cooldown just to avoid stacking the buff too much would be reasonable.With this change you could use fear boost your dmg do dps, than chain another fear just at the end of the last buff to get again more dmg, if done right this could make fears usefull once again. Plus if the buff was for party too you could really make ppl want to have a necro in party for that dps increase. I don't think would be wrong with necro having that as party buff since almost all classes have some form of support as dmg buff and this would totally fit the Anet view of Necro.

@"NecroSummonsMors.7816" said:Dread is not that bad as "idea" but anet did make it in the wrong way. The solution is to make the Spite trait Dread like the Warrior's trait from Strenght line Peak Performance. So necro can get a personal or party buff that once someone fear an enemy you get increased damage for X seconds. Maybe an internal cooldown just to avoid stacking the buff too much would be reasonable.With this change you could use fear boost your dmg do dps, than chain another fear just at the end of the last buff to get again more dmg, if done right this could make fears usefull once again. Plus if the buff was for party too you could really make ppl want to have a necro in party for that dps increase. I don't think would be wrong with necro having that as party buff since almost all classes have some form of support as dmg buff and this would totally fit the Anet view of Necro.

Turning it into a party buff might be a little much (we don't need another GoTL type buff), but I do like your idea of making applying fear trigger a buff on you instead of trying to string together a very short condition for damage burst (when the longest fear you can apply without boon corrupts is 3 seconds, which isn't even from Necromancer itself, there may be issues with getting sufficient results with this trait).

Why is this trait not in Soul Reaping... Thats sad...

@Drarnor Kunoram.5180 said:

@Lexan.5930 said:the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

some one who gets it thank you!!!!!

@Crinn.7864 said:

@Drarnor Kunoram.5180 said:

@Lexan.5930 said:the fear to spin is a burst combo for reaper which is a nice option if your fighting in melee and the opponent has used up their dodges, or you can fear them long enough. For longer fights and raids awaken the pain will be better for the consistent damage

Crinn I kind of hoped you might comment on this as a fan of necro, do you think there is anything they could do to this trait to make it compete with the others its its tier? Or do you think it will always be a worthless thing? Like I feel like this trait has potential but its function was just not fully thought out or was drastically better then cut to about 50% before being pushed to live.

I kind of think that dread exist more for the vuln stack it apply than for the increased damage on feared foe. To make it competitive with the 2 other master traits, it would be better to get rid of the damage increase component, lengthen the vulnerability duration to 10 seconds (PvE) and maybe add a small extra effect like:

• a 3-4 second blind or slow
• a boon ripping effect (no corruption)
• sending back a condition

As it stand it's worthless in PvE and underwhelming in PvP/WvW.