Conquest PvP - Heal Scourge Build

[Hiin.5137]

INTRODUCTION

Hi, just want to share my newest build so our Necros (esp Scourge in PvP) get more love from the community and hopefully discussing where I can improve the build.

I have been playing this since last 3v3 Mini Season (a slightly different version with Mender's Amulet and Staff) when sometimes people laugh at my attempt to play Scourge in PvP and asked me to play Reaper or Core Necro instead. (I love Reaper also but want to try something new but not liking Core Necro. I feel so clunky...) I did get into top 250 for 3v3 and the title because of some luck at matchmaking RNG and still trying to get good with Conquest, but in the right hand and more tweaks hopefully this can be a more successful attempt to shower some love to Heal Scourge.

THE BUILD

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSABc2h/lNwkYRsHmJm6XbvOA-zZh8UaUBkpIIhJQGDBdMA

WEAPON/SIGIL CHOICE

AXE - FOCUS

Your main ranged weapons. Picked for spike single target damage- boon corrupt/removals (Axe 2, Focus 5). LF generation too I guess but usually I get more than enough from Eternal Life. This is one of the main, important source of what chip damage you have using this build :)

Sigil of Exposure and Sigil of Intelligence picked so you have better spike damage, especially because the amulet choice (Marshal) only give limited Precision.

DAGGER - TORCH

Your main melee weapons. I was playing with staff in 3v3 but has since taken a liking in dagger due to the extra sustain provided by Dagger 2 while standing in points in melee range (which was not a problem in 3v3, but in Conquest you will need to duel on points sometimes). Torch is taken for the Torch 5 CC. This is also good to help to cleave downed enemies (Torch 4 - Dagger 1).

Sigil of Energy and Sigil of Purging picked so you have better survivability in this setup.

AMULET/RUNE CHOICE

MARSHAL AMULET - RUNE OF THE FLOCK

I first started with Mender's which will give you the extra survivability but after some tries in Conquest, I decided to use Marshal to boost whatever chip damage we have in this build. That said, I find the extra Vitality and Health from Rune of The Flock is important to keep my LF bar threshold up so I can spam more heals/barriers.

SPECIALIZATION CHOICE

BLOOD MAGIC - SOUL REAPING

I find both are indispensable to this build.

Blood Magic provides the bulk of Healing capabilities (Ritual of Life, Vampiric Presence, Last Rites, Transfusion). Life from Death might also be taken but I find Vampiric Presence is more stable. Vampiric Rituals might also works if you like Wells as utility skills.

Soul Reaping is taken so you have enough LF to spam heals/barriers. This also will lower the cooldown of shades skills. Speed of Shadows is taken for occasional life-saving manoeuvre provided by Shade 5 (I find it useful when there are Rangers in enemies team so I can escape from Binding Roots + get extra barriers) and because we do not use Staff we have no use of Soul Marks. Vital Persistence because I need the extra Vitality but I guess Fear of Death might works too, especially if you have Spectral Ring as utility skill. Eternal Life is essential because you will need the LF to spam barriers/heals. With this, you will get 20% LF at the start of battle so you can begin with Shade 3 to give barriers in your surrounding allies or use Shade 5 freely to gain Swiftness needed to move around points when out of combat (due to Speed of Shadows trait).

SCOURGE

I take Herald of Sorrows because I like Harbinger Shroud as my Shade 5, which will provide massive amount of barriers every 25 secs. I usually bunk in points anyway with this build and use Shade 5 on melee range so the boom after 3 secs usually will catch my opponents in time if they keep contesting the points (instead of perhaps 1-2 pulses then evade from the usual Desert Shroud)

Sand Savant, so you can share your barriers with more allies and have bigger Shade 5 to blast enemies.

UTILITY SKILL CHOICE

I find myself changing quite a bit depending on the opposite side composition, but generally, I like to take Serpent Siphon for extra barriers/Poison to weaken heal from enemy bunkers/boon corrupt. Especially good again Mesmers, which I hate because sometimes I get burst down without knowing.

Sand Swell for the extra mobility in and out of points when in battle and extra barriers/boon corrupts.

Trail of Anguish for Stun Break and Stability.

Someone might want to take Wells if they liked them or Corrosive Poison Cloud if enemies have a lot of Thiefs/Rangers for the projectile hate or Spectral Ring for extra CC perhaps.

CLOSING

That's it! I hope you enjoyed reading the rationale to this build and perhaps try them in PvP to see how it works. Let me know your thought and perhaps give suggestion to help me improve this attempt to make Heal Scourge more viable in PvP.

[KrHome.1920]

That's some adaptation of the raid support healing scourge which I also tried in pvp. For me it turned out to be way too squishy. The moment your opponents know what's going on you are heaving a hard time surviving a focus because your self sustain isn't that great to say the least.

I've ddropped the build pretty quickly for pvp due to the lack of a tanky amulet. It can work on minstrel gear in wvw.

[Black Storm.6974]

Scourge healer is very bad in PvP. Unfortunately It is actually impossible to make a decent PvP build for it.

There is not enough survivability, when placing Shades you have to choose between die near your shade and die without any defence away from your Shade. You will usually end up wasting the support you should offer to your allies, just to survive a bit more.

Only ArenaNet can fix that. I feel like the best way to do that could be to change how Shades work, again.

[Lysico.4906]

horrible, horrible build you are all over the place and scourge is bad for pvp

[Hiin.5137]

Vallun is making a video of a pretty similar Heal Scourge.

With planned balance patch this build might get more play and I am excited!

[Hiin.5137]

Support Scourge is doing good. Lost Protection trait on Wells but Wells of Darkness buff is nice. The shade rework really helps with placement. I was playing more comfortable compared to yesterday before the patch - and I guess must be extremely annoying to my opponents. I find the new GM trait Blood Bank is actually quite useful, as you will usually overheal as Support Scourge - although I miss Transfusion revive-teleport. Signet of Locust is actually fun to use as second heal skill, and with Dagger 2 heal have good synergy with Blood Bank. The patch opens up a lot of build flavour for Support Scourge i.e. Staff vs Dagger - Blood Bank vs Transfusion - Utility choices etc.