[Elite spec Idea] The demonologist/Occultist

[Thornwolf.9721]

The basic Idea behind this spec would be Focusing on dark spells which not only make the user lean toward a demonic power but as well offer a small army of their own to control. The user would be pulling power right out of the realm of torment/the underworld and using the dark forces of both to decimate foes.

Weapon: Main hand focus

Basics of the spec: Summon demons from the realm of torment to aid in your fight against your enemies, or harness the dark powers of the realms of darkness as your own personal play thing and devour the souls of your enemies.

Skills for the Main hand focus:skill 1: Baleful SlashBaleful slash is a four part attack which lashes out with dark claws and fangs to rip and tear at your enemies, Each struck applies vulnerability and climbs in speed as the user continues too attack. The attack speed of this basic attack should be quick and easily maintainable.

Skill 2: Decimate.Open a rift through the reality of the world and summon small bat like creatures for 5s, the bats will fly at the target doing constant damage and feasting on their conditions causing the user to heal for a percentage of the damage they deal and receive benefits depending on the conditions consumed. ( Real good for team fights.)

skill 3: Soul shatterFocus your power and grasp an enemy within the visage of your demonic shadow, rooting them in place and causing them to suffer constant damage for 3s. The damage heals you and siphons life force from the enemy, activate again to cause the binds to explode on your enemy causing them to be flung back and granted five stacks of vulnerability.

Death shroud form: Demon formTake on the form of a demon and obliterate your enemies with your demonic power, offering defenses and burst damage to the user as well group utility for the part.

Skill 1: Gnashing ClawsHarness your hatred and lash out at enemies with fire and brimstone as your claws hurl unholy slashes through the air, cleaving the opponent for a sizable chunk of health as you siphon health from their wounds.

Skill 2: Devour the WeakLatch onto an enemy with your unholy energy and feed upon their weakness, for each stack of vulnerability on your enemy do increased damage of 5% while also healing yourself for 10% more than you would on enemies without vulnerability. At the end of the leeching effect send out a rippling explosion of cascading darkness which runs down the tether and knocks the enemy down.

skill 3: OblivionStrike the ground with a terrifying howl and cause your enemies to be flung aside, the explosion will do a massive amount of burst cleave and leave enemies with a stack of burning and two of vulnerability.

Skill 4: DevestationTeleport to a targeted enemies location and strike at them from behind, upon activation if the enemy was preparing to cast a spell you will interrupt them and force them to take 5% of their damage in true damage. This effect will knock them down and cause them to have vulnerability applied to them, Activate this skill again within 3s to teleport back to the location you cast the spell as long as you are within 100 ft.

Skill 5: Visage of terrorRoar outward with your distorted demonic voice; Fearing all enemies within 50ft for 5s and apply stacks of vulnerability to them.

Utility Skills: Your utility skills should be primarily minion spells as it could cause them to get a proper rework and make them valuable where as now they are ignorable, and somewhat lack luster. This would make them not undead minions but demonic hosts which focus on aiding the spell caster and defending their masters unto death, perhaps even offering some form of interesting side effects for group play.

Healing Utility: DevourSend out shadow tendrils in a 360 degree area that last for 10s, for each enemy hit you will regain 10% health every 2s. The healing of this ability is increased if the enemy or enemies have a stack of vulnerability by 1% for a maximum of 25% extra healing. Should the enemy be fully stacked with vulnerability than the healing received would be 35% every 2s.

Utility 1: Summon shadow nightmareSummon a shadowy beast who assaults the enemy with teleportation physical attacks, The shadow beast causes vulnerability and is extremely hard to hit its whispers sometimes causing enemies to suffer extra vulnerability. Activate this skill again upon summoning the shadow beast to force it to teleport to an enemy location and interrupt their casting, the shadow beast offers health back to the caster as it does damage. https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shadow_Beast

Utility 2: Summon Rain of TerrorSummon A rain of terror who assaults enemies with nightmarish visages of their own demise, The terror will lash out at enemies from a distance with its unholy power. This minion Debuffs foes and feeds upon their conditions granting increased life leech for every condition on the foe; Activate this skill again upon summoning to force the Terror to turn its gaze onto your desired target. The Terror will fear the enemy and cause them to flee. https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Rain_of_Terror

Utility 3 : Summon The hungerSummon The hunger who relentlessly will pursue your foes in exchange for their flesh, this minion constantly applies blindness on its attacks as it feasts on the sight of your foes just as it did kormir long ago. The hunger offers a morale boost for your minions as well constantly buffs you with regeneration and might, the beast feeds on the vulnerability of your feeble enemies and heals you for 5% of the damage done based on how many stacks of vulnerability your enemy has. Activate this skill again upon summoning to cause the hunger to send out a deafening howl that knocks enemies down; The howl provides further increases to the boons of your minions and yourself.

Utility 4: Dimensional RiftRip open a hole in space and time thus causing our realm to become connected to the realms of darkness for 20s, In this time vast arrays of demons will pour forth to aid you in your plight as well will the rift occasionally launch AoE pulses of sustained damage. While standing within the rift your attacks will deal increased damage and you will gain extra stacks of "Demonic Fortitude" , In this time your Demon form will become stronger as will your minions and their life leech will be doubled. Activate again within the 20s of use to close the rift and pull all of the enemies caught in the area straight to the center, causing them to be knocked down and suffer from five stacks of burning,vulnerability and torment.

Spec specific buff (Similar to Kalla's fervor.): Demonic fortitudeDemonic fortitude is a passive spec buff that is not effected by boon-strip as it is not really a boon, As you fight and deal damage to enemies you build up demonic power which fortifies your tissues and body to withstand more punishment. The longer the battle the more powerful you become as you feed upon the suffering of you enemies; Demonic Foritidue increases your health,toughness and power while also increasing crit chance and damage by 5% per stack. The buff can stack 15 times

Minor Trait 1: Fueled by deathAnytime something dies near you, you will regain health and life force as well gain a stack of demonic fortitude.

Minor Trait 2: Demon lordYour minions will grant stacks of demonic fortitude when reactivated to use their utility skills, for each minion you have activated at a time you will gain 10% more toughness and health.

Minor trait 3: Fallen oneYour demon form gains a passive AoE aura that does small damage ticks to all who are within the immediate range of you, ( 10- 20 feet) As well periodically will reflect damage back to the caster while you are in your demon form.

Trait Line one: The top row of traits will be primarily focused around Demonic Fortitude and increasing its effects to be more potent, Increasing is longevity while being out of combat and even causing it to decrease cast times on specific skills. Each one would be focused primarily on making you more capable of taking damage while redirecting it back at the attacker, thus making you the living incarnation of Torment.

major Trait 1: Defiling auraYour demonic fortitude now increases your resistances to conditions as well their longevity upon you, At fifteen stacks of demonic fortitude you will begin to redirect conditions back to their casters. This can only proc once even 20s, but in that time all conditions will be sent back to the original caster for the duration remaining on their timers as well feed into your life leech.

Major Trait 2: Corruption IncarnateWhen entering demon form consume all conditions upon you and regain health based upon the amount of conditions consumed, Demonic fortitude will begin to proc stacks of torment upon attackers as they apply conditions to you. When you loose demon form send all conditions cast upon you back to the caster with increased damage, as well received five stacks of regeneration.

Major trait 3: "Not even death can save you from me"Upon death your demonic fortitude will explode and splinter to each enemy nearby, if no enemy is nearby then all the splinters will strike at the one who killed you and haunt them with your visage. After a 10 -20 delay the demonic power will explode upon your foe, doing a decent amount of damage (A rough 10% base) With increased damage for each condition on you, as well putting each condition you had upon you on them for the remainder of their timer.

Trait line 2: This trait line should be focused entirely around the minions and their capabilities in combat, this paired with death magic and soul reaping would make you an extremely viable minion master with their capabilities augmented to make them that much stronger.

Major Trait 1: Hounds of hellYour minions gain increased movement and attack speed, and share in your demonic fortitude stacks thus making them more powerful than before. They as well will feed upon YOUR conditions that you currently have on you and heal you for each condition consumed off of you, this cannot proc more than once every 10S but each minion can consume a stack of conditions and heal you based on what they consume.( Vulnerability of course will heal for more.)

Major trait 2: Show no mercyYour minions become enraged when you go below the health threshold causing them to do more damage in defense of their master, their attacks become AoE cleaves and do 15% more damage increasing to a maximum of 20% more when you fall lower in health. Their life leech is increased by the same amount as they attempt to save you from death, but should you fall your minions will explode alongside you for a damage blast of 10% health for each minion who died.

Major trait 3: LegionUpon attacking an enemy you have a chance to summon additional minions to fight for you; These minions consist of anything from small shambling horrors to minor margonites , These minions are effected by the same buffs your regular minions are as well will "Show No mercy" proc upon them. They last 15s and each one has a potential to be a ranged or melee fighter, they have less health but have the potential to offer harder hits than your normal minions. https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Margonite , http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shambling_Horror

Trait line 3: This line of traits is all about Demon form and the power it wields; This trait line makes you more of a demon than a summoner of demons and creates opportunities to potentially stay in demon form for the entire encounter if used properly.

Major Trait 1:Demonic bloodDemon form offers more damaging effects from its skills with each applying stacks of varying conditions on-top of its normal damage, these conditions range from burning, poison, torment, chill and bleeding. Additionally each of your minions begin to spread conditions of varying degrees ( Example is that your shadow beast will apply chill and bleeding as well as vulnerability.) You as well have increased crit chance as well a larger pool of life force to play with 20% increase on both.

Major trait 2: Mist bornWhen entering demon form you and your minions will now become stealthed for a small duration (10s), and receive five stacks of stability. Upon gaining stealth you gain a new spec buff called "Ambush", your first strike will always critically hit and apply five stacks of bleeding, vulnerability and burning. Your minions also gain "Ambush" But do not apply the stacks of conditions, and instead can knock the enemy down should they be sent for them. You loose stealth once they attack.

Major trait 3: Upon black wingsWhile in demon form you gain increased movement and attack speed, the cool-downs of your skills are halved and you are able to use more abilities to your leisure. Your utility bar becomes active within demon form while traited with this ability giving you access to all of your utilities, As well your Dimensional rift now lasts 30s and has increased damage. Minions spawned from the rift have increased up-time and get the benefits of your regular minions, Should your close the rift the damage will now be increased by 5%.

thank you for reading, Please feel free to share your thoughts.. Im sorry it's so long.

[Manpag.6421]

@Thornwolf.9721 said:The basic Idea behind this spec would be to remove the necromancers current minions from the game and bring them back as an entire spec

...aaand that's where you lost me. What you're suggesting is thematically appropriate and quite appealing, especially since we have the Sigil of Demon Summoning and The Binding of Ipos, which fit that general trope. However, you have to keep in mind the remit – and limitations – of an elite spec. I'm not saying Anet will never deviate in future, but as it currently stands elite specs:

• Allow a profession to use a weapon they previously couldn't/in a hand they previously couldn't
• Subtly or drastically change the unique profession mechanic (So, for Necro, shroud)
• Add 4 new utility skills and one new elite skill

Obviously some of what you have suggested fits this, but minions will not/cannot be removed. You can't lose your ability to summon minions even if you take an elite spec. I think if they were to go in this direction, the key would be Shroud. They've proved that they can split it into skills with Scourge, so demon summons could be more like mobile, killable, shades – though that rules out a demonic shroud, which would frankly be pretty cool. Unless, of course, some aspect worked like the Mirage's Ambush skills, where doing something (in their case, evading) turns a skill into a different one temporarily. It would feel a bit messy, though.

I also don't know how I feel about mainhand focus. So far no elite spec has allowed use of a weapon in a hand that other professions couldn't previously access, and foci vary so much in design the attack animations would be ridiculously hard to make, I should think. I'm fairly convinced the next necro e-spec weapon will be sword, which given some of your skill names would not be inappropriate, especially if they used them at range like they do axes; that would be unique. I don't think we will ever see mainhand foci, torches, or shields; they just don't make sense to be used in that way.

[Thornwolf.9721]

I suppose so but We can hope that they take into consideration everything, The only reason I said remove the current minions was because I dont often see them used and even when they are they are negligible at best. They took out the guardians tomes and they returned to us in the form of an elite spec so I just figured Id toss the idea of the minions having the same treatment.

[Manpag.6421]

@Thornwolf.9721 said:The only reason I said remove the current minions was because I dont often see them used and even when they are they are negligible at best.

What modes do you play? You can't go anywhere in PvE without seeing necros swarmed with minions. MMs are one of the most viable open world necro builds, and the whole of Death Magic is based so heavily around them soaking up damage for you, they are pretty integral. But PvP and WvW, yes, they're a minority.

[Thornwolf.9721]

@Manpag.6421 said:

@Thornwolf.9721 said:The only reason I said remove the current minions was because I dont often see them used and even when they are they are negligible at best.

What modes do you play? You can't go anywhere in PvE without seeing necros swarmed with minions. MMs are one of the most viable open world necro builds, and the whole of Death Magic is based so heavily around them soaking up damage for you, they are pretty integral. But PvP and WvW, yes, they're a minority.

Well I dont see why people can't have them both, this spec adds a variaty to the minions. Hell both trees could tie well together so you could have demons, undead and whatever else I suppose and that would automatically buff the older pets because they would be placed under the same effects as the demons. So I guess it fixes the whole problem in of itself.

[derd.6413]

@Thornwolf.9721 said:I suppose so but We can hope that they take into consideration everything, The only reason I said remove the current minions was because I dont often see them used and even when they are they are negligible at best. They took out the guardians tomes and they returned to us in the form of an elite spec so I just figured Id toss the idea of the minions having the same treatment.

guardians had only 2 tomes both of which were elites. (and to my knowledge they didn't have any traits associated with them) both were replaced with new skills

[Thornwolf.9721]

Well still this could work, both for current and the new minions... thanks to you guys I see that and I did not even think about it before lol.

[Thornwolf.9721]

Gonna necromancer this thing, so ya'll can see it.

[Tinker.6924]

A necro by a necro...

I'm not sure I like some of your specifics. I love the idea of a demonic-energy empowered necromancer. I think of fire and brimstone where you just unleash demonic fire and burn people along with Fear spells. Maybe some little imp minions. Allow transforming into a Demonic Lord with bat wings and horns. Possibly with some soul-leach spells or resource. Maybe give the spec a bump on the spectral skills.

[Thornwolf.9721]

@EmmetOtter.8542 said:A necro by a necro...

I'm not sure I like some of your specifics. I love the idea of a demonic-energy empowered necromancer. I think of fire and brimstone where you just unleash demonic fire and burn people along with Fear spells. Maybe some little imp minions. Allow transforming into a Demonic Lord with bat wings and horns. Possibly with some soul-leach spells or resource. Maybe give the spec a bump on the spectral skills.

could be cool~ I like the suggestions

[Methuselah.4376]

I have enjoyed reading through your suggestions, very creative! I don't agree with replacing base minions but I like the addition of demonic minions. However, I think what you suggest, while fun, is SUPER OP and would effectively render every other necro spec obsolete. While that is usually the case when a new spec comes out, Anet eventually evens out the playing field. Hopefully they will also learn not to do that for the next expansion and just give us something that is well balanced and doesn't render other specs obsolete. Personally I am still hoping for a Ritualist elite spec.

[Thornwolf.9721]

@Methuselah.4376 said:I have enjoyed reading through your suggestions, very creative! I don't agree with replacing base minions but I like the addition of demonic minions. However, I think what you suggest, while fun, is SUPER OP and would effectively render every other necro spec obsolete. While that is usually the case when a new spec comes out, Anet eventually evens out the playing field. Hopefully they will also learn not to do that for the next expansion and just give us something that is well balanced and doesn't render other specs obsolete. Personally I am still hoping for a Ritualist elite spec.

Of course this is just a basic rough draft, Id never assume they would use all of it. And in one of the comments above I stated they could have our current minions just be bolstered by the new line, so you could have both and mix match as you choose. (I doubt we will see this at all honestly) and I am hoping necromancer get Rit as an E-spec too though.. some people are pushing for revenant.... which... eh doesn't gibe with me..

[Fractured.3928]

I'd still rather the Necromancer to feel more....like a Necromancer before it does a Demonologist. But I very much do like the ideas.

[Thornwolf.9721]

@Fractured.3928 said:I'd still rather the Necromancer to feel more....like a Necromancer before it does a Demonologist. But I very much do like the ideas.

Thank ya, I agree but I mean to me the necromancer here has never felt like a necromancer. More like an occultist if anything.