My take on a Rework: Part 1 - Weapons

Hello Peoples,

This isn't actually going to be a series thing, but this is just my take on what the weapons should be/do to make them all be useful and have their own place.

Weapons necromancer can use:Two-handed: Staff, (Greatsword)Main-hand: Axe, Sceptre, DaggerOff-hand: Focus, Warhorn, Dagger, (Torch)Underwater: Trident, Spear

Staff: I would like this weapons' job to focus on Ranged Utility and Control, As such here are my changes:

• All staff skills would generate 2% life force when it damages and 1% life force when it supports
  • Damage of these skills would be lower as it will be focus more on Utility,
  • Range: 1200 Radius: 300Skill 1 - Instant small AoE ( akin to Mesmer staff 1 in the beta, but AoE), Inflicts Bleed, Poison or Cripple.Skill 2 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that bleeds foes in the area and heals allies inside (Can be triggered by allies).Skill 3 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that Chills and Poisons foes in the area, applies swiftness to allies ( can be triggered by allies).Skill 4 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that removes conditions from Allies and Removes boons from foes, Any foes inside the area when an ally loses a condition gains that condition. (can be triggered by allies)Skill 5 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that applies fear for 1s each second and applies Torment for 3s each second, grants stability to allies. (can be triggered by allies)

Trait: Staff skills now generate more life force ( 4% and 2% respective), and gain a range and radius increase (1500 and 360 respective)

Axe: I would like this weapons' job to focus on ranged power damage, here are my changes:

• range 900Skill 1: attack an enemy, marking them that after a delay deals more damage and applies vulnerability. (akin to revenant's sword skill 1 effect)Skill 2: attack target and all nearby foes with a flurry of ghostly claws, attacks more for each vulnerability stack the target has. ( Gets +1 hit per stack of vulnerability, deals less damage for bonus attacks) - Generates 2% life force for the initial attacks and 1% for each attack gained by vulnerability.Skill 3: Mark: when triggered causes you to link to your target and whenever you apply vulnerability, transfer one boon to yourself from the target. (link duration 5s, 1s internal cooldown)

Trait: Wielding an Axe or Dagger increases your Power by 100, reduces the cooldown by 10% and an extra 2% every attack (1s internal cooldown).

Sceptre: I would like this weapons' job to focus on ranged condition Manipulation, here are my changes:

• range 900Skill 1(chain): attack target, applying bleed, poison and torment in a chainSkill 2: Mark: when triggered roots targets in the area for 1s and applies torment- generates 3% life force per target struck.Skill 3: Drain conditions from Target foe to yourself, Deal damage and gain life force for each condition taken.

  Flip: transfer conditions back to your target while also applying confusion for each condition transferred.

Trait: Wielding a Sceptre increases condition damage by 150 and expertise by 75, Your skill 3 now also steals conditions from and applies conditions to enemies near your target.

Dagger: I would like this weapon to be a strong Melee Option for necromancers, focusing on lifesteal and mobility, here are my changes:

• range 180
• Max targets: 3Skill 1 (chain): Attack target(s) 2x gaining 1% life force, Attack target(s) again applying cripple, Attack targets a final time applying a mark that lasts for 3s, Any attacks against the target steal health ( interval 1s)Skill 2: Drain life from target and nearby foes, Healing you. Damage is increased by 20% if they are effected by a movement impairing condition, healing is increased by 20% if you are not within 130 of an ally.Skill 3: Dash forward, Immobilise target and inflict cripple, ( dash available without a target).

  Flip: Dash away from target leaving a trail of bone that cripples and damages foes that walk on it.

Trait: Wielding an Axe or Dagger increases your Power by 100, reduces the cooldown by 10% and an extra 2% every attack (1s internal cooldown).

Focus: I would like to shift Focus' Focus towards ranged condition manipulation, to better pair sceptre/focus, here are my changes:

• range: 1200Skill 4: Send out a Ghastly scythe that homes in on target(s) and applies cripple, applies torment instead if target is already effected by cripple.Skill 5: Chill target(s) to the core and remove boons, for each boon removed apply Chill and Torment,

  Flip: Remove chill from your foe, instantly causing them to heat up, applying burn(1s) and confusion (2s), conditions already on the target are lengthened by 2s.

Trait: Focus skills now hit 4 additional targets around the initial target, and remove two stacks of stability when removing chill.

Dagger: Off-hand dagger in my idea is being changed to focus more on power and mobility to better pair dagger/dagger, here are my changes.

• range: 900Skill4: throw a dagger at the target, if it hits a swarm of locusts attack the target and two nearby foes, dealing damage and removing boons.

  Flip: Shadowstep to your dagger and rip it from your foe, removing boons and dazing for 0.5sSkill 5: Strike your foe and leap backwards, Pulling life directly from them, healing you for a Portion of damage dealt, Damage dealt increases if the target is not performing an action.

Trait: Wielding an Axe or Dagger, attacks heal you for 5% of the damage dealt, reduces the cooldown by 10% and an extra 2% every attack (1s internal cooldown).

Warhorn: Due to my lack of real "idea" of where warhorn is supposed to fit, My version makes it focus more on control and support, here are my changes.

• range: 900Skill 4: Strike enemies in the area, they are chilled and crippled, any foes moving are also applied with weakness, any foes attacking are stunned for 1s.Skill 5: call forth an army of the dead to chase a foe, if they hit, apply cripple and weakness, if they miss apply swiftness and regeneration to yourself and allies near the army.

Trait: Warhorn skills gain increased range ( 1200) and also heal you and nearby allies for 10% of the damage dealt.

Greatsword: The reaper is a slow moving executioner, and should have a trait that benefits the idea that enemies cannot escape death, here are my changes.

• range - 180Skill 1(chain): Strike your foe(s) applying cripple, Strike your foe(s)applying chill, Strike your foe applying cripple and chill, deals 5% bonus damage if the target is afflicted by cripple or chill.Skill 2: Send out 5 scythes that home in on nearby enemies, this skill's cooldown is instantly reset if all scythes hit the same target, or if any target hit is under 25% health. Deals bonus damage if any target is under 25% health. ( range 600)Skill 3: Channel a beam of darkness through your sword towards your target, making them walk towards you and applying immobilise when the channel ends. ( taunt without auto attack, range 1200)Skill 4: Plunge your sword into the ground, creating a well of souls that when stood in expands, and removes boons.Skill 5: Apply a Mark to your target(s), you deal 5% bonus damage when hitting this target, and if the target moves further than 600 away while the mark is active, they get pulled to you.

Trait: Striking a chilled foe generates 5% life force and heals you for 5% of the damage done, Bonus is increased to 10% if wielding a Greatsword.

Torch: As a torch, it should be a priority to burn things, I felt there wasn't enough burning as you could only burn with skill 5 if you were traited for apply burning when you apply torment, here are my changes.

Skill 4: channel a stream of fire infront of you, any foes hit are afflicted with burn and torment, generate life force each hit, Generates barrier for yourself and allies in the stream.Skill 5: Knock down target and nearby foes, if any of these foes were not burning, apply burning, if they were burning, remove boons and gain life force.

Trait: Wielding a torch increases expertise by 150 and increases your application of barrier by 15%.

Trident: As I have seen on forums before, Underwater skills don't make much sense with lack of life force generation for example, here are my changes.

• range 1200Skill 1: Instant AoE that applies Chill and Bleed, If target is already bleeding, gain 2% life force and 2% damage dealt as health.Skill 2: Form a vortex of death that follows you, enemies in the area each second are afflicted with bleeding, cripple and poison.Skill 3: Charge forward leaving a trail of death that applies poison and bleeding, if you strike a foe with the charge, 2 trails fan out infront of you and gain 4% life force.Skill 4: Place a mark on your target, when triggered causes any conditions on that target to be stripped from it, dealing damage, and seeking out other targets, which then apply the condition and deal damage, If no other targets are within range of the target when cast, the conditions seek their original host, dealing more damage and applying them back to the target.Skill 5: Encase your target in bone making them unable to move and slowly sink while also applying chill as their death draws near, gain 1% life force each second this applies chill.

Trait: Spear and Trident skills generate bonus 1% life force when the target is afflicted with a condition, and you swim 25% faster.

Spear: As mentioned above, Underwater weapons may need some tweaks, here are my changes.

• range 600Skill 1: throw your spear , after impact it explodes dealing damage and applying Vulnerability to target and nearby foes.Skill 2: throw your spear, After impact, place a mark that causes all damage taken by the target to be taken by nearby targets.Skill 3: (range 130), Impale your foe on your spear, stunning for 2s, applying bleeding and vulnerability.Skill 4: Call forth a swarm of rotten fish that apply poison and bleed to your foe, while also giving you and nearby allies swiftness.Skill 5: Impale yourself of your spear, dealing 50% of your remaining health as damage to yourself, Deal damage equivalent to this to your foe, Damage is reduced the further away the target is. (100% of the damage taken at 130 range, 20% at 1200 range)

Trait: Spear and Trident skills generate bonus 1% life force when the target is afflicted with a condition, and you swim 25% faster.

• I am aware that this got a bit silly near the end, I apologise, Please give me your most constructive criticism, and please also try not to say X is fine, or Y is useless as that isn't criticism.

From a WvW roaming perspective.

Staff:As a Staff lover myself, I fully support your Staff Ideas.It retains the original purpose of Staff and enhances it further to make it a lot more useful for both range and melee area denial.Love the pulsing marks idea and the traited changes.

Axe:No comments.

Scepter:Can't say I like the changes you propose.We are losing a lot of boon corrupt potential with those changes.The Focus Condi change you're proposing is more a boon-rip + condi damage weapon.This is IMO not as good as boon corruption.Necros shine not because of burst, but because of the ability to apply a variety of conditions.And a large part of that comes from boon corruption.

Dagger MH:No comments.

Focus:No comments.

Dagger OH:I don't like the changes though I can understand your thoughts behind them.This my fave weapon and I love the utility/counterplay options it currently provides with blinds and weakness and condition transfer and boon corruption.Cast time is currently also sweet and has a multitude of uses.Do not touch my fave weapon with those changes!If your proposal was boon corruption instead of boon rip, maybe.Rants.

Warhorn:No comments.

Greatsword:I like the changes. More soft controls which are much needed for a melee weapon that has no mobility skills.Though again, the loss of boon corruption and blind is painful.

Torch:No comments.

Overall:On the weapons that I touched on, I dislike the idea of losing so much boon corruption potential.And the blinds and weakness lost are also life savers for Necros!Too offensive natured, not enough defense/utility though I did note you moved most of them onto the warhorn.Nice Staff and GS suggestion though.

I have a Spear.I have a Trident.Uhh. Trident Spear.

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:From a WvW roaming perspective.

Staff:As a Staff lover myself, I fully support your Staff Ideas.It retains the original purpose of Staff and enhances it further to make it a lot more useful for both range and melee area denial.Love the pulsing marks idea and the traited changes.

Axe:No comments.

Scepter:Can't say I like the changes you propose.We are losing a lot of boon corrupt potential with those changes.The Focus Condi change you're proposing is more a boon-rip + condi damage weapon.This is IMO not as good as boon corruption.Necros shine not because of burst, but because of the ability to apply a variety of conditions.And a large part of that comes from boon corruption.

Dagger MH:No comments.

Focus:No comments.

Dagger OH:I don't like the changes though I can understand your thoughts behind them.This my fave weapon and I love the utility/counterplay options it currently provides with blinds and weakness and condition transfer and boon corruption.Cast time is currently also sweet and has a multitude of uses.Do not touch my fave weapon with those changes!If your proposal was boon corruption instead of boon rip, maybe.Rants.

Warhorn:No comments.

Greatsword:I like the changes. More soft controls which are much needed for a melee weapon that has no mobility skills.Though again, the loss of boon corruption and blind is painful.

Torch:No comments.

Overall:On the weapons that I touched on, I dislike the idea of losing so much boon corruption potential.And the blinds and weakness lost are also life savers for Necros!Too offensive natured, not enough defense/utility though I did note you moved most of them onto the warhorn.Nice Staff and GS suggestion though.

I have a Spear.I have a Trident.Uhh. Trident Spear.

The main issue I have with boon corruption or removal is that corruption is a LOT weaker, Sure you can turn stability into fear etc and make someone use a stunbreak, but for example: Mesmer sword auto attack removes 1 boon on the 3rd hit, Necromancer sceptre at once point corrupted boons on the third hit, Because this was "too strong" or whatever that got moved to skill 3, meaning Mesmers are still better at removing boons, Mesmers as Mirages are also Much better at applying conditions, as torment is just a better bleed and their axe has tons, not to mention sand shards bleeding and conditions lasting 20% longer, so mesmers are better at that too, then mesmers also have survivability by mobility and stealth, necromancers get basically nothing, so if necromancers has boon strip instead of corruption, or boon transfer instead, then they might eventually get access to a suitable amount that can easily handle boon heavy foes they just cannot otherwise, as you cannot corrupt ALL boons ona foe at once, I believe the maximum is 3, whereas you can strip boons with spellbreaker elite every 0.5s.

Edit: I am glad you like the staff idea, I've tried suggesting it a few times, or variants of it, but people either don't comment on it, or dislike it for some reason.

The main issue I have with boon corruption or removal is that corruption is a LOT weaker, Sure you can turn stability into fear etc and make someone use a stunbreak, but for example: Mesmer sword auto attack removes 1 boon on the 3rd hit, Necromancer sceptre at once point corrupted boons on the third hit, Because this was "too strong" or whatever that got moved to skill 3, meaning Mesmers are still better at removing boonsNecro relies on corrupts. Might into weakness, swiftness into cripple, fury into blind... corrupts are part of the base mechanic. The whole "slow" and "has to tank damage" mechanic is built around de-buffing your target.

When you build a necro that ignores corruptions and focusses only on raw damage you will end up as the weakest possible encounter no matter whether you deal condi or power damage just because you have almost no mobility and no "unlimited" damage mitigation like a block or an evade.

@topic:

• Axe does not need changes.
• GS does not need changes.
• Staff does need more utility for power builds. The utility for condi builds is fine.
• Mainhand-Dagger needs a huge damage boost, but ANet can't do that since then it would outperform GS resulting in power reapers just autoattacking and shroudswapping.
• Warhorn 4: cooldown to 20s, Warhorn 5: was once fine, is now horrible
• Focus 4, was mediocre before and is mediocre now, Focus 5: is great (!)
• Offhand-Dagger 4: is okay, a bit unreliable but okay for the potential, Offhand-Dagger 5: either remove the cast time or the delayed hit - then it's fine

@"KrHome.1920" said:

The main issue I have with boon corruption or removal is that corruption is a LOT weaker, Sure you can turn stability into fear etc and make someone use a stunbreak, but for example: Mesmer sword auto attack removes 1 boon on the 3rd hit, Necromancer sceptre at once point corrupted boons on the third hit, Because this was "too strong" or whatever that got moved to skill 3, meaning Mesmers are still better at removing boonsNecro relies on corrupts. Might into weakness, swiftness into cripple, fury into blind... corrupts are part of the base mechanic. The whole "slow" and "has to tank damage" mechanic is built around de-buffing your target.

• Axe does not need changes.
• GS does not need changes.
• Staff does need more utility for power builds. The utility for condi builds is fine.
• Mainhand-Dagger needs a huge damage boost, but ANet can't do that since then it would outperform GS resulting in power reapers just autoattacking and shroudswapping.
• Warhorn 4: cooldown to 20s, Warhorn 5: was once fine, is now horrible
• Focus 4, was mediocre before and is mediocre now, Focus 5: is great (!)
• Offhand-Dagger 4: is okay, a bit unreliable but okay for the potential, Offhand-Dagger 5: either remove the cast time or the delayed hit - then it's fine

one main thing is necromancers DO rely on corruption, not Conversion, so they can have boon corruptions but not have condition conversions ( e.g. condis to boons like well of power), but because I already had the idea that necromancers use their enemies life against them, such as Boons they have being removed and given to the necromancer as you're effectively stealing their life, corrupting boons wouldn't benefit that as much as just stripping them. I mean the idea could change to Corrupt boons , but they as a thematic standpoint shouldn't have any conversion of condis to boons, as that is more mesmery, in gw1 mesmers could convert their health into a "safety threshold" where if they took damage past that they would instead heal. However if we go back to GW1 regarding necromancers they relies on a mix of hexes and conditions, In GW2 there "are" hexes, but they are exclusive to a single NPC in the living story season 3, Who coincidentally is a necromancer, but they use a Mesmer hex (Logic idk), so the boon corruption could be there but then hexes would need to be added in to keep thematically, otherwise it's just a worse boon strip,

If it wasn't clear in the Main post I'll just sum it up here for anyone who wants a "TL;DR"

Staff - Utility/condi/power mix like it is now but "better"Axe - range powerDagger ( main and offhand) both power and mobility in melee range since I feel dagger/dagger fits better than dagger/focus,Scepter and Focus Both condition and range since as mentioned it fits thematically better that two caster weapons are the same instead of one caster and one melee being the same despite having no correlation.Greatsword: No movement but more "pseudo-taunts"Torch - more burning and a bit of barrier so it ties in better with the "Scourge torch" instead of Scourge holding a torch.and underwater because No-one ever goes underwater, we have a skimmer.Warhorn: Kind of like a shout but not shout thing

I apologise if “bumping” is bad- i would just like more people to say what are the issues, as seen earlier in this ghread some people have issues with changing some weapons, but others are fine. I know there is a VERY high chance this wont amount to anything however if we can all agree on some changes fhat sound balanced maybe Anet sill have a look at changing some things.

@Kuulpb.5412 said:

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:From a WvW roaming perspective.

Staff:

As a Staff lover myself, I fully support your Staff Ideas.It retains the original purpose of Staff and enhances it further to make it a lot more useful for both range and melee area denial.Love the pulsing marks idea and the traited changes.

Axe:

No comments.

Scepter:

Can't say I like the changes you propose.We are losing a lot of boon corrupt potential with those changes.The Focus Condi change you're proposing is more a boon-rip + condi damage weapon.This is IMO not as good as boon corruption.Necros shine not because of burst, but because of the ability to apply a variety of conditions.And a large part of that comes from boon corruption.

Dagger MH:

No comments.

Focus:

No comments.

Dagger OH:

I don't like the changes though I can understand your thoughts behind them.This my fave weapon and I love the utility/counterplay options it currently provides with blinds and weakness and condition transfer and boon corruption.Cast time is currently also sweet and has a multitude of uses.Do not touch my fave weapon with those changes!If your proposal was boon corruption instead of boon rip, maybe.

Rants.

Warhorn:

No comments.

Greatsword:

I like the changes. More soft controls which are much needed for a melee weapon that has no mobility skills.Though again, the loss of boon corruption and blind is painful.

Torch:

No comments.

Overall:

On the weapons that I touched on, I dislike the idea of losing so much boon corruption potential.And the blinds and weakness lost are also life savers for Necros!Too offensive natured, not enough defense/utility though I did note you moved most of them onto the warhorn.Nice Staff and GS suggestion though.

I have a Spear.I have a Trident.Uhh. Trident Spear.

That has never worked out.Since release people have been going "If they just nerf X about Necro, Necro can finally gets buffs over all", which always resulted in said nerfs, without any compensation.

What did Necro get in return for Epi being nerfed by 50%?Scourge already lost about half of it's ability to corrupt since it launched with no compensation too.Necro lives and dies by it's ability to corrupt, providing it's overwhelming cover conditions, which is why it often struggles to find a place in PvE since launch.

The reason Mesmer is allowed to keep all those things, like Boon removal on AA while it got nerfed off Necro, is because Anet loves Mesmer, while not understanding Necro at all, not because one of them was a corrupt.Mesmer skills are just bloated like crazy in general with what they do for no reason.

As for the ideas themselves, a lot of it seems a bit over complicated/loaded for no reason as well, although I do like a lot of it.Don't see a reason to turn Dagger offhand into a power weapon just to pair it with Dagger MH though. All it needs is a slight bump in damage somewhere, and it's in a solid place as condi weapon without any rework necessary.

@Asum.4960 said:

@Kuulpb.5412 said:

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:From a WvW roaming perspective.

Staff:

As a Staff lover myself, I fully support your Staff Ideas.It retains the original purpose of Staff and enhances it further to make it a lot more useful for both range and melee area denial.Love the pulsing marks idea and the traited changes.

Axe:

No comments.

Scepter:

Can't say I like the changes you propose.We are losing a lot of boon corrupt potential with those changes.The Focus Condi change you're proposing is more a boon-rip + condi damage weapon.This is IMO not as good as boon corruption.Necros shine not because of burst, but because of the ability to apply a variety of conditions.And a large part of that comes from boon corruption.

Dagger MH:

No comments.

Focus:

No comments.

Dagger OH:

I don't like the changes though I can understand your thoughts behind them.This my fave weapon and I love the utility/counterplay options it currently provides with blinds and weakness and condition transfer and boon corruption.Cast time is currently also sweet and has a multitude of uses.Do not touch my fave weapon with those changes!If your proposal was boon corruption instead of boon rip, maybe.

Rants.

Warhorn:

No comments.

Greatsword:

I like the changes. More soft controls which are much needed for a melee weapon that has no mobility skills.Though again, the loss of boon corruption and blind is painful.

Torch:

No comments.

Overall:

On the weapons that I touched on, I dislike the idea of losing so much boon corruption potential.And the blinds and weakness lost are also life savers for Necros!Too offensive natured, not enough defense/utility though I did note you moved most of them onto the warhorn.Nice Staff and GS suggestion though.

I have a Spear.I have a Trident.Uhh. Trident Spear.

the dagger was so : Dagger/Dagger could be power and sceptre/focus could be condi so for Power your would be a bruiser and for condi you would cast spells,

@"Kuulpb.5412" said:This is a lot to unpack but ill go ahead and put what i think below

Staff: I would like this weapons' job to focus on Ranged Utility and Control, As such here are my changes:

• All staff skills would generate 2% life force when it damages and 1% life force when it supports
  • Damage of these skills would be lower as it will be focus more on Utility,
  • Range: 1200 Radius: 300Skill 1 - Instant small AoE ( akin to Mesmer staff 1 in the beta, but AoE), Inflicts Bleed, Poison or Cripple.The auto attack really does need a rework here but im not sure if i agree with rng condition application.Skill 2 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that bleeds foes in the area and heals allies inside (Can be triggered by allies).Add torment to this maybe with 2 chargesSkill 3 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that Chills and Poisons foes in the area, applies swiftness to allies ( can be triggered by allies).I think this just needs 2 charges no boon application tbhSkill 4 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that removes conditions from Allies and Removes boons from foes, Any foes inside the area when an ally loses a condition gains that condition. (can be triggered by allies)This feels more like support than control and what about the self utility here this is a major condition xfer skill for alot of necro players this is one of the most sensitive skils on the staff that would be the most questionable to change.Skill 5 - Mark: When triggered creates an AoE for 3s that applies fear for 1s each second and applies Torment for 3s each second, grants stability to allies. (can be triggered by allies)Remove the torment from this and increase the base fear to 2 seconds or give it 2 charges with a delay between uses.

I dont know how i feel about the idea of allies triggering some of these marks. Specifically the more offensive ones. While they might not seem like issues in pve there are situations in pvp and even some in pve where you want to precast marks and leave them down if allies could just step on them and make them go off its a massive loss of control for the necromancer using the staff. Remember your idea here is utility and control not support. Allowing allies to set off all the marks i would consider more as a support than control. ITs not a bad idea but its certainly a loss of control for the necormancer and the ideas seemed geared more toward lesser support than utility/ zone control.

Lastly if you really want this weapon to be more of a control / utility weapon simply give every current mark in the game 2 charges that would give it more than enough control to handle zone controlling the battlefield while providing insane utility to the caster and allies on their team

Trait: Staff skills now generate more life force ( 4% and 2% respective), and gain a range and radius increase (1500 and 360 respective)

I don't like this trait soul marks should be left as is even more so if you plan to spread "marks" out to other weapons like you call out below ;) Marks on other wepaons would make soul marks really shine hard.

Axe: I would like this weapons' job to focus on ranged power damage, here are my changes:

• range 900Skill 1: attack an enemy, marking them that after a delay deals more damage and applies vulnerability. (akin to revenant's sword skill 1 effect)So we get an even slower axe attack? Cant say I agree with this either.

Skill 2: attack target and all nearby foes with a flurry of ghostly claws, attacks more for each vulnerability stack the target has. ( Gets +1 hit per stack of vulnerability, deals less damage for bonus attacks) - Generates 2% life force for the initial attacks and 1% for each attack gained by vulnerability.

This is very confusing and sounds like it would be difficult to use. The current version of axe is perfectly fine here I dont suggest any changes from the Ghastly claws we have now its a strong power hitting burst skill.

Skill 3: Mark: when triggered causes you to link to your target and whenever you apply vulnerability, transfer one boon to yourself from the target. (link duration 5s, 1s internal cooldown)

A mark here is not a bad idea buy my suggestion would beSkill 3 works as it does now and leaves a mark at your location that when triggered cast "Unholy Burst"

Trait: Wielding an Axe or Dagger increases your Power by 100, reduces the cooldown by 10% and an extra 2% every attack (1s internal cooldown).

Remember that axe and dagger traits do not go togetherAxe and focus traits go together and this would be be better in pvp as a trait but objectively worse in pve as a trait as the current trait provides 20% cd and 10% damage for foes with no boons. In pvp people will always drown in boons but in pve most AI foes will be boonless a good portion of the time. I dont suggest changing it unless you go with something that fits both well most people wont suggest you change that trait. Right now the pvp option is bitter chill and the pve option is Spiteful Talisman try to make your new trait ideas meet and be functional in both game modes if you can without destroying them on one side or the other.

Sceptre: I would like this weapons' job to focus on ranged condition Manipulation, here are my changes:

• range 900Skill 1(chain): attack target, applying bleed, poison and torment in a chainNot bad a 3rd condition here would be nice instead of 2 bleeds and a poison.Skill 2: Mark: when triggered roots targets in the area for 1s and applies torment- generates 3% life force per target struck.Great idea turning this skill into a mark actually however i dont agree with the removal of its cripple and bleed. The skill is strong when it lands. In alot of cases cripple is stronger than immobile because of the duration it last.Skill 3: Drain conditions from Target foe to yourself, Deal damage and gain life force for each condition taken.
  Flip: transfer conditions back to your target while also applying confusion for each condition transferred.

I dont like this skill, Way too much risk for what probably wont be enough reward not to mention. ITs a neat idea but im just thinking about how this idea wont work in pve when a boss has 99+ bleed 99+ torment 50 burn.. etc. you cant even think about using this in any end game pve event or any serious pve content you would kill yourself every time you used it.

Do not change scepter 3 its fine as is. Not to mention the traited version is pretty overloaded as it is now which make it a pretty strong skill.

Trait: Wielding a Sceptre increases condition damage by 150 and expertise by 75, Your skill 3 now also steals conditions from and applies conditions to enemies near your target.But the current trait already provides 200 condi damage and increases conditions applied by that weapon by 50% which is much more than 75 expertise (5% condition duration) keep in mind you are already having to hold the weapon to get the bonus so you cant even say, "now the 75 expertise applies to all conditions you inflict" because it wont with the way you worded it here even still 5% vs 50% on your main condition applying weapon is not a contest. Conditions inflicted while in shroud will not count as holding a scepter as that core shroud's weapon is counted as a staff

From a critical feed back perspective the current trait is miles better in both condition damage and condition duration application.

Dagger: I would like this weapon to be a strong Melee Option for necromancers, focusing on lifesteal and mobility, here are my changes:

• range 180
• Max targets: 3Skill 1 (chain): Attack target(s) 2x gaining 1% life force, Attack target(s) again applying cripple, Attack targets a final time applying a mark that lasts for 3s, Any attacks against the target steal health ( interval 1s)

An effect like this is a good idea but might be too strong to be on an auto attack generally once again this starts going down the support line of things as you say "Any attacks" I take this in the idea that anyone can hit the marked target and steal life from them. But you called out life steal and mobility not support.

Skill 2: Drain life from target and nearby foes, Healing you. Damage is increased by 20% if they are effected by a movement impairing condition, healing is increased by 20% if you are not within 130 of an ally.

I dont understand why you made the healing increase condition based on something like not being near an ally. No that 130 range is not that big a deal but still why....I will say that i like the increased damage from movement impairment over the current bleeding one.

Skill 3: Dash forward, Immobilise target and inflict cripple, ( dash available without a target).

Flip: Dash away from target leaving a trail of bone that cripples and damages foes that walk on it.

Your scepter mark Idea should have gone here. Cast a mark that immobilizes foes and grants life force when triggered.

Trait: Wielding an Axe or Dagger increases your Power by 100, reduces the cooldown by 10% and an extra 2% every attack (1s internal cooldown).Already covered this above but because we are talking about dagger here.If you want dagger to be about mobility would the current dagger trait not make more senese as it provides bonus movement speed.

Focus: I would like to shift Focus' Focus towards ranged condition manipulation, to better pair sceptre/focus, here are my changes:

• range: 1200Skill 4: Send out a Ghastly scythe that homes in on target(s) and applies cripple, applies torment instead if target is already effected by cripple.

The current skill i better as it provides significant life force vuln and healing on hit with 2 charges no stack of torment is going to outdo that.

Skill 5: Chill target(s) to the core and remove boons, for each boon removed apply Chill and Torment,

Flip: Remove chill from your foe, instantly causing them to heat up, applying burn(1s) and confusion (2s), conditions already on the target are lengthened by 2s.

I dont understand this to be honest focus is a power utility geared weapon. I dont think these changes make it condition worthy.

Trait: Focus skills now hit 4 additional targets around the initial target, and remove two stacks of stability when removing chill.The focus trait is worked in with the axe trait so you have to reconsider some things here. Also another reason why this probably can become a condition weapon.

Dagger: Off-hand dagger in my idea is being changed to focus more on power and mobility to better pair dagger/dagger, here are my changes.

• range: 900Skill4: throw a dagger at the target, if it hits a swarm of locusts attack the target and two nearby foes, dealing damage and removing boons.
  Flip: Shadowstep to your dagger and rip it from your foe, removing boons and dazing for 0.5sThe condi transfer is better to be blunt lots of skills on necro currently put self conditions on you and this skills as it is today is a good way of sending those conditions to the target. You would be removing a condi xfer, and a blind by doing this. I cant say I agree with the first half mechanically.The second half is a very interesting option though. IT might actually be a solid addon to the skill though i think you need to pick 1 not both. Either daze or remove boons Or make some requirement like if the foe no boons then they are dazed or something like that.

Necro is not well set up for this style of play with the bonus damage mechanic you included here. For example Warrior has a skill like this but warrior also has dependable cc skills to make sure a target wont be using a skill. Mesmers are the same mesmers have the slow condition and tons of cc to lock a target out of using a skill so that they can take advantage of something like this necro has fear which by default are short durations and cause your target to move away from you. You would need to over tax to actually land the not performing actions as the only way necro can promise that a foe wont use an action is by inflicting it with fear. But then they are moving away from you while you are trying to hug them to land this skill. Ok so now you need to immobilize them but to do that it means you have to run another weapon or use the main hand dagger but now you dont have ease of access to fear... do you see the issue here. I suppose you could death shroud and cast doom but now you need to drop shroud immobilize and then still get close in which a foe may break said fear or you miss your timing.

I suggest leaving the skill alone and simply turning Enfeebling Blood into a mark.

Warhorn: Due to my lack of real "idea" of where warhorn is supposed to fit, My version makes it focus more on control and support, here are my changes.

• range: 900Skill 4: Strike enemies in the area, they are chilled and crippled, any foes moving are also applied with weakness, any foes attacking are stunned for 1s.You made a always Daze on hit turn into a chill if it hits, and stun for a shorter duration only IF 2 other conditions are met. Once again this is a loss of control not a gain of control.I cant say I support this idea.For control and support i propose this. Foes hit by your cone attack are dazed 2s, You and nearby allies gain Dark Aura.

Skill 5: call forth an army of the dead to chase a foe, if they hit, apply cripple and weakness, if they miss apply swiftness and regeneration to yourself and allies near the army.

Once again you removed control from the necromancer and gave it to the target. The target can choose to get hit or dodge which in sense controls what happens. You took always swiftness and turned into maybe swiftness.

My suggestion for control and support. The skill works as it does now and always grants swiftness. This skill now also grants protection to you and nearby allies.

Trait: Warhorn skills gain increased range ( 1200) and also heal you and nearby allies for 10% of the damage dealt.Warhorn 1200 range is a bit silly imo. You have 2 skills on this weapon which when abled as support skills will not do much damage. Thus healing everyone for 10% of that damage is not better than the 50% increase duration on the current warhorn trait. You would better off be supporting with increased duration on the effects even with your proposed ideas than trying to get 10% healing from skills that wont do much damage in the first place.

Greatsword: The reaper is a slow moving executioner, and should have a trait that benefits the idea that enemies cannot escape death, here are my changes.

• range - 180Skill 1(chain): Strike your foe(s) applying cripple, Strike your foe(s)applying chill, Strike your foe applying cripple and chill, deals 5% bonus damage if the target is afflicted by cripple or chill.Ok you added some more chill back to reaper not bad so far but this is a bit insane

Skill 2: Send out 5 scythes that home in on nearby enemies, this skill's cooldown is instantly reset if all scythes hit the same target, or if any target hit is under 25% health. Deals bonus damage if any target is under 25% health. ( range 600)Not sure how i feel about this tbh but it sounds like it would be clunkySkill 3: Channel a beam of darkness through your sword towards your target, making them walk towards you and applying immobilise when the channel ends. ( taunt without auto attack, range 1200)Taunt on a weapon skill is not gonna happen i hate to say and this is not better than the current skill.Skill 4: Plunge your sword into the ground, creating a well of souls that when stood in expands, and removes boons.This skill pretty much already exists as the current version.Skill 5: Apply a Mark to your target(s), you deal 5% bonus damage when hitting this target, and if the target moves further than 600 away while the mark is active, they get pulled to you.This idea is not so bad though it trades the aoe cc that is currently there for a single target cc and small damage increase

Trait: Striking a chilled foe generates 5% life force and heals you for 5% of the damage done, Bonus is increased to 10% if wielding a Greatsword.

Flat out not better than Soul Eater the only thing that changed was the mechanic trigger and reaper chill even with these changes to greatsword will still be minimal as its reaper chill application has been nerfed countless times. (scourge cripple application is 10x stronger than reaper chill application) simply because scourge maintains it better on its foes and reaper struggles to maintain cripple or chill on a foe unless they stand in reaper 5

Not to mention does this now have a cool down? You also removed more control i just realized this has not 1 mechanical trigger but 2 to make the most of it not only does a foe not only have to be chilled you also need to be holding a greatsword which means in reaper shroud form you will never get 10% as that weapon is counted as a hammer not a great sword.

Torch: As a torch, it should be a priority to burn things, I felt there wasn't enough burning as you could only burn with skill 5 if you were traited for apply burning when you apply torment, here are my changes.

Skill 4: channel a stream of fire infront of you, any foes hit are afflicted with burn and torment, generate life force each hit, Generates barrier for yourself and allies in the stream.Skill 5: Knock down target and nearby foes, if any of these foes were not burning, apply burning, if they were burning, remove boons and gain life force.

Trait: Wielding a torch increases expertise by 150 and increases your application of barrier by 15%.The amount or the duration its not very clear

Trident: As I have seen on forums before, Underwater skills don't make much sense with lack of life force generation for example, here are my changes.

• range 1200Skill 1: Instant AoE that applies Chill and Bleed, If target is already bleeding, gain 2% life force and 2% damage dealt as health.Chill on auto attacks is not gonna happenSkill 2: Form a vortex of death that follows you, enemies in the area each second are afflicted with bleeding, cripple and poison.Skill 3: Charge forward leaving a trail of death that applies poison and bleeding, if you strike a foe with the charge, 2 trails fan out infront of you and gain 4% life force.Skill 4: Place a mark on your target, when triggered causes any conditions on that target to be stripped from it, dealing damage, and seeking out other targets, which then apply the condition and deal damage, If no other targets are within range of the target when cast, the conditions seek their original host, dealing more damage and applying them back to the target.But what triggers the mark? Remember standard marks do not work under water so its not the same situation as a mark/trap being stepped on.

Skill 5: Encase your target in bone making them unable to move and slowly sink while also applying chill as their death draws near, gain 1% life force each second this applies chill.

Trait: Spear and Trident skills generate bonus 1% life force when the target is afflicted with a condition, and you swim 25% faster.

Spear: As mentioned above, Underwater weapons may need some tweaks, here are my changes.

• range 600Skill 1: throw your spear , after impact it explodes dealing damage and applying Vulnerability to target and nearby foes.Skill 2: throw your spear, After impact, place a mark that causes all damage taken by the target to be taken by nearby targets.Skill 2 here already had aoe cleave i dont understand the reasoning for this change.Skill 3: (range 130), Impale your foe on your spear, stunning for 2s, applying bleeding and vulnerability.Skill 4: Call forth a swarm of rotten fish that apply poison and bleed to your foe, while also giving you and nearby allies swiftness.You kind of just flipped skill 3 and 4 for no real reason to be honest not to mention this is a power weapon no reason to be throwing in all these conditions thats what the trident is for.Skill 5: Impale yourself of your spear, dealing 50% of your remaining health as damage to yourself, Deal damage equivalent to this to your foe, Damage is reduced the further away the target is. (100% of the damage taken at 130 range, 20% at 1200 range)This idea is not so bad its actually kind of cool however some things make me curious like can it still crit with your critical damage etc. but i do like the idea of this skill its one of the few skills you came up with that feels necro ish and can replace a skill thats not all that good on the spear weapon itself.

Trait: Spear and Trident skills generate bonus 1% life force when the target is afflicted with a condition, and you swim 25% faster.Traits dont exsist for these skills and its probably better to just overload the weapons than try to make traits for them as there are not many places you can fit underwater traits in the game now most classes dont focus on traits for underwater weapons unless combined with a land weapon or made in a broad general statement

• I am aware that this got a bit silly near the end, I apologise, Please give me your most constructive criticism, and please also try not to say X is fine, or Y is useless as that isn't criticism.

While I understand you only covered weapons here im surprised you did not cover core shroud and reaper shroud while they are terrestrial skills (profession mechanics) the slots of the skills do take up the weapon bar and core shroud is counted as a staff weapon while reaper shroud is counted as a hammer.

That said you have some solid ideas here but some ideas are far out of place.Good ideas would be moving marks to other weapons which would really make the trait soul marks shine much like guardian symbols.

Your ideas for control though are out of place.In areas you said you wanted to provide control you actually remove control from the necromancer by adding mechanics that make it twice as hard to trigger the control effects or allow the control effects to be determined by other players or foes in general. You also start to throw support ish ideas in my opinion in the wrong places where support is not specified

Like the warhorn one is a prime example right now is a 100% promised 2s daze on hit. You made it so that for it to cc a foe they not only need to have weakness applied but they also need to be attackingThe skill 5 you removed 100% promised swiftness for no swiftness if the foe chooses not to doge an AI hit or kill the AI's summoned before they can do anything which denies you both swiftness and weakness application. You pretty much removed control from the necromancer and this is just one example

Keep in mind that not everything needs to change and that some times no change on some skills/ traits is better than trying to make up something new. There are some traits that already fit your idea goals that exist right now that you changed into things that dont fit the goal you posted.

Just to say point of view on this because I only have my view:

My changes were as follows: Dagger/Dagger becoming more mobility and power with focus changing to condition for the purposes of a cater being condition/spells and a dagger stabbing people, The dagger boon rip and daze/stun is just a weaker thief F1, since thief F1 can: do damage heal you stealth poison give you boon steal boons stun and guve you an extra skill.

The dagger 5 works off the dagger 4 daze

The warhorn change states an area, by this i meant a 900 radius around you i probably should specify, so tou get increased area but lower cc duration.

And my control was more applying hindering effects to enemies or helping allies in a more you control the people not so much battlefield,Regarding mark triggers I assume it would be damage and not like an actual ground targetted mark except for staves, and the triggered by allies would be if the condition is met, so the remove condi mark would only “trigger” if you or an ally had a condi in it. Otherwise it would stay dormant, i guess my idea was a mix of Symbols (duration effect) and Traps (Effect on trigger), Any changes in this I said were about Utility i meant as could be used in a way other than damage, and the greatsword changes were so you felt castery while also reap-y.

However despite these being my intentions I don’t know how well they came across, so thank you for replying.

Edit: the “army” isnt an actual ai npc its a visual replacement for the slow movin g hand necromancers usually get.