Open world support/DPS viability

[Acale.8726]

Hello,

Been getting bored of reaper and want to mix it up a little, I like the look of the magi support scourge and the sustain/mitigation that it can output. This is something I'm looking to replicate without completely gimping myself damage wise.

So far I have came up with THIS BUILD.

Build breakdown

• Maintains nearly 100% uptime on burns.
• Fairly decent might generation, should plug any gaps for those that have trouble maintaining 25 stacks.
• Decent healing output.
• Maintains res capability. (although not running mercy runes)
• Good barrier application.
• Decent cleanse.

This is not for fractals/raids so being optimal META is not what I'm after.

I know its not running any vitality stats which may hurt ability to spam shade skills, but, as this is for large meta events, lifeforce through nearby deaths has never really been an issue on past scourge builds, I'm also running MH dagger and have spectral grasp which when hitting 5 targets fills lifeforce right up.

I'm looking for gear suggestions as I'm not even sure what I'm looking to do can even be achieved with any sort of great success. Am I spreading my class too thinly? If this is the case, be honest and I'll simply go full Magi/Mercy Runes/Healing effectiveness etc.

Thanks in advance.

[Dadnir.5038]

Cheer up, anything is viable in open world PvE.

[Obtena.7952]

The two things I would change:

1. Move to more supportive skills on the hotbar; Plague Signet, Well of Power, etc ...
2. You don't have problems with LF or health ... I would dump the dagger for Axe.

I wouldn't go so far as to look at Mercy runes; it's too specialized and overkill. If anything in OW, people are a little more mindful of their own capability to stay alive, so I would focus more on providing top notch condi cleansing and stability. Those are the things that allow people to stay in the fight. They can usually handle their health situation.

[phs.6089]

I would change runes to Runes of Mercy if you wanna support, picking up downed quickly is a thing in OWif you go Magi I would suggest to get Zealot Armor, for bit of damage

[Sephylon.4938]

Scourge's burn output is rather low, you're better off focusing on bleed/torment. Condi from enemies in open world is sparse, a single f2 is usually enough to cleanse. If you want better might uptime, try dessicate over grasp and aristocracy runes. On a side note; Max lf doesn't matter as long as you have enough lf regen to cover usage.

[Acale.8726]

@Sephylon.4938 said:Scourge's burn output is rather low, you're better off focusing on bleed/torment. Condi from enemies in open world is sparse, a single f2 is usually enough to cleanse. If you want better might uptime, try dessicate over grasp and aristocracy runes. On a side note; Max lf doesn't matter as long as you have enough lf regen to cover usage.

So DPS wise, would I be better focusing Power or condition?

I tried both, but on reflection, trying to incorporate healing as well as Power/condition damage may be spreading stats too much unless I go celestial which then compromises healing.

[Sephylon.4938]

I'd say power to make full use of dagger, though compared to actual dps builds you'll do significantly lower dps. This game doesn't allow you to hybridize efficiently, best to pick if you want to heal or dps.

[Acale.8726]

Guess its either harrier for boon uptime or full magi then.

Cheers for feedback.

[Sephylon.4938]

Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of receiver's max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

[Acale.8726]

@"Sephylon.4938" said:Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of receiver's max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

Yeah I was stacking boon duration for might stack, wasn't aware 60% would be enough.

With that in mind, would something like THIS suffice?

If allies and myself are not struggling with conditions, I could swap plague signet for blood is power or perhaps have the best of both worlds and run with well of power which offers condition-to-boons as well as might. Both these alternatives should plug any might generation gaps.

Thanks

[Sephylon.4938]

@Acale.8726 said:

@"Sephylon.4938" said:Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of

receiver's

max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

Yeah I was stacking boon duration for might stack, wasn't aware 60% would be enough.

With that in mind, would something like

THIS

suffice?

If allies and myself are not struggling with conditions, I could swap plague signet for blood is power or perhaps have the best of both worlds and run with well of power which offers condition-to-boons as well as might. Both these alternatives should plug any might generation gaps.

Thanks

seems good, I'd put a transference on torch and water on staff, and yeah, I'd swap plague sig for bip or well.

[Acale.8726]

Guess I'll give it a try and see how it works out, thanks for the feedback and ideas.

Much appreciated.

[Nimon.7840]

@Obtena.7952 said:The two things I would change:

1. Move to more supportive skills on the hotbar; Plague Signet, Well of Power, etc ...
2. You don't have problems with LF or health ... I would dump the dagger for Axe.

Hm... The problem is: I played marshals in fractals with scepter, if you wanna have decent barrier uptime, and also do heals, and damage and condicleanses. You will have a lot of trouble, having enough lifeforce (curses/bloodmagic/scourge)

I wouldn't go so far as to look at Mercy runes; it's too specialized and overkill. If anything in OW, people are a little more mindful of their own capability to stay alive, so I would focus more on providing top notch condi cleansing and stability. Those are the things that allow people to stay in the fight. They can usually handle their health situation.

Scourges stability isn't very good. It's one stack, that's gone very fast. I wouldn't focus on that.Providing very good condition cleanses and some barrier.

[phs.6089]

@Acale.8726 said:

@"Sephylon.4938" said:Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of

receiver's

max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

Yeah I was stacking boon duration for might stack, wasn't aware 60% would be enough.

With that in mind, would something like

THIS

suffice?

If allies and myself are not struggling with conditions, I could swap plague signet for blood is power or perhaps have the best of both worlds and run with well of power which offers condition-to-boons as well as might. Both these alternatives should plug any might generation gaps.

Thanks

There are no Zealot ascended trinkets, don't ask why, i dunno either

[Sephylon.4938]

@phs.6089 said:

@Acale.8726 said:

@"Sephylon.4938" said:Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of

receiver's

max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

Yeah I was stacking boon duration for might stack, wasn't aware 60% would be enough.

With that in mind, would something like

THIS

suffice?

If allies and myself are not struggling with conditions, I could swap plague signet for blood is power or perhaps have the best of both worlds and run with well of power which offers condition-to-boons as well as might. Both these alternatives should plug any might generation gaps.

Thanks

There are no Zealot ascended trinkets, don't ask why, i dunno either

can't you pick that stat from mist trinkets?

[phs.6089]

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@phs.6089 said:

@Acale.8726 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of

receiver's

max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

Yeah I was stacking boon duration for might stack, wasn't aware 60% would be enough.

With that in mind, would something like

THIS

suffice?

If allies and myself are not struggling with conditions, I could swap plague signet for blood is power or perhaps have the best of both worlds and run with well of power which offers condition-to-boons as well as might. Both these alternatives should plug any might generation gaps.

Thanks

There are no Zealot ascended trinkets, don't ask why, i dunno either

can't you pick that stat from mist trinkets?

Oh right, forgot about those.But full zealot, missing that vitality, wont magi trinkets with zealot armor do better?

[Sephylon.4938]

@phs.6089 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@phs.6089 said:

@Acale.8726 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Just str/aris runes is enough to keep 25 might with big shade out. Boon duration isn't as necessary to necro whencompared to other classes, since they can stack multiple boons at once.EditAlso keep in mind that barrier is capped at 50% of

receiver's

max hp. T1 and 2 health classes running glass won't benefit much from your barriers if you stack healing power and you'll prob be over capping them, leading your barriers to go to thin air. (Though it's most likely people will be running pvt gear in open world)

Yeah I was stacking boon duration for might stack, wasn't aware 60% would be enough.

With that in mind, would something like

THIS

suffice?

If allies and myself are not struggling with conditions, I could swap plague signet for blood is power or perhaps have the best of both worlds and run with well of power which offers condition-to-boons as well as might. Both these alternatives should plug any might generation gaps.

Thanks

There are no Zealot ascended trinkets, don't ask why, i dunno either

can't you pick that stat from mist trinkets?

Oh right, forgot about those.But full zealot, missing that vitality, wont magi trinkets with zealot armor do better?

depends on your lf regen. if your lf regen can keep up with your lf usage, what's the point of higher lf?editalso it just occured to me lws3 maps have trinkets you can pick zealots on if you don't want to do fractals, pvp, or wvw.

[Acale.8726]

I intend to tweak it if it's required the need to do so, if I find myself running low on LF when in large scale combat, I will swap out Zealots piece-by-piece until I find myself at a stable LF pool amount. This build/post was me simply trying to get some input and narrow down the vast options available when playing DPS/support hybrids to best accomplish the way I want to play. Given that scourge can do quite a few things I tried to dip into many of its potential pools, DPS/heals/barrier/might/RES'ing as possible.

Whether it is META/viable is not my goal with it. So If that means going full magi, I will, but from my previous run as a scourge, LF was not hard to come by as I do META events mostly, as you well know, LF from nearby deaths is pretty substantial. Couple this with dagger MH spam/spectral grasp/spectral Armor/undead signet/desiccate etc

This build is not with the mindset of playing Raids/Fractals and if it was, I'll make a Magi set and rune mercy runes.

[Obtena.7952]

@Nimon.7840 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:The two things I would change:

1. Move to more supportive skills on the hotbar; Plague Signet, Well of Power, etc ...
2. You don't have problems with LF or health ... I would dump the dagger for Axe.

Hm... The problem is: I played marshals in fractals with scepter, if you wanna have decent barrier uptime, and also do heals, and damage and condicleanses. You will have a lot of trouble, having enough lifeforce (curses/bloodmagic/scourge)

OH yeah, if you aren't Soul Reaping, that's for sure true. I think the suggested build is traited in SR though. Frankly, there are lots of things I would do differently from the OP, but it would require more work to explain it and post the build. His posts indicate a direction I wouldn't necessarily go down, so I didn't think it would float to explain with that depth.

I wouldn't go so far as to look at Mercy runes; it's too specialized and overkill. If anything in OW, people are a little more mindful of their own capability to stay alive, so I would focus more on providing top notch condi cleansing and stability. Those are the things that allow people to stay in the fight. They can usually handle their health situation.

Scourges stability isn't very good. It's one stack, that's gone very fast. I wouldn't focus on that.Providing very good condition cleanses and some barrier.

True, and that's something that could be swapped on demand because it's a hotbar skill. Once someone gets more knowledgeable with the OW contents, they will know when to make such swaps.

[Acale.8726]

@Obtena.7952 said:OH yeah, if you aren't Soul Reaping, that's for sure true. I think the suggested build is traited in SR though. Frankly, there are lots of things I would do differently from the OP, but it would require more work to explain it and post the build. His posts indicate a direction I wouldn't necessarily go down, so I didn't think it would float to explain with that depth.

If you would be so kind too, I'm all ears. I'm not so arrogant that I believe my way is the only way. I started this thread and its intention is to explore different paths other than the well travelled META ones. If there is something I can learn from your experience, please post a build, I'm sure I can deduce the gist of its primary intent from the gear/trait/utility selection if you do not wish to give a detailed breakdown yourself.

Thanks

[Obtena.7952]

I thought I had this nailed for an answer, but I realize I struggle because it's difficult to actually envision a situation where a support Necro is a really significant team member in OW content.

In a zerg, the sheer volume sort of ensures a level of success, that's the way it's always been. Therefore, I don't think going to make a huge impact with a support-focused build. I think the BEST you're going to do there is ensure you are doing the most DPS while not burdening others with going down and throwing barriers. The build I recommend in that case is just a Scourge DPS build with some healing power. I'm showing a build here that is nice because that you go into super sustain mode by flipping from Parasitic Curse to Lingering Contagion. If you didn't like the Condi angle, you could slip back to a dagger/warhorn, go spite and Zerker/Cleric mix

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArfWn0ICV3gd2AW9Cs9iFhBTvumXDsRBgy1DgaKkF6VA-jRhAhAA6DgU/ZU5X9+DwKBBA-e

I think the most significant impact a necro support does will be for meta, bounty or small group events. I'm still on the fence with how much Healing power you go and how good Blood traitline is but that's what you asked for. I'm thinking if you are around 1000 HP, that's probably more than enough. This is where the rezz traits makes the difference.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAodWnE9CV9id2AO9Cs3gluBTvnOUTqTPgBQAg6DMCKUA-jBxhABKoE8E1fAV5HA6DAA-ehttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArfWnE9CV9id2AO9Cs3gFhBLKAUueA6z186fdqIkDuBA-jhxXABkoPAg9BGS9HEU+BjSwGXYgUAPKNC-e

The last build is the one I would most likely try here; it's easier to get fewer wasted stats focusing on Condi damage.

[Acale.8726]

Have no preference regarding damage type, happy to play either condi or power.

Last build looks interesting, I'll give it a try. Luckily I have every gear stat imaginable.

Thanks!

[Acale.8726]

@Obtena.7952 said:The last build is the one I would most likely try here; it's easier to get fewer wasted stats focusing on Condi damage.

Swapping from soul reaping to curses has opened a few other avenues. With that in mind and out of curiosity, would you max duration for all conditions at 100% (50% base + 50% lingering curse) or 80% (30% base + 50% lingering curse). The reason I ask is that from what I can tell quite a bit of the condition damage comes from bleed (also torment), if you max condition duration at 100% for all, you waste the 20% bleed from curses barbed precision.

Cheers

[Sephylon.4938]

@Acale.8726 said:

@"Obtena.7952" said:The last build is the one I would most likely try here; it's easier to get fewer wasted stats focusing on Condi damage.

Swapping from soul reaping to curses has opened a few other avenues. With that in mind and out of curiosity, would you max duration for all conditions at 100% (50% base + 50% lingering curse) or 80% (30% base + 50% lingering curse). The reason I ask is that from what I can tell quite a bit of the condition damage comes from bleed (also torment), if you max condition duration at 100% for all, you waste the 20% bleed from curses barbed precision.

Cheers

Lingering curses only counts towards the conditions the sceper puts and does not count towards condi duration stathttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lingering_Curse

[Acale.8726]

Guess I have misunderstood that skill for years then. Lesson learned.