Build:N/any Jagged Nova
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This build has been archived and is
not updated by the GuildWiki community.
This build is only maintained for historical reference and may contain incorrect or outdated information. Reason: Nerfing of Jagged Bones to a 15 sec recharge. |
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This build provides good damage, degeneration, self-healing, and is energy efficient enough to more than allow Soul Reaping to keep up, even when Hexed with energy degeneration. It is a PvP build, created for the Random Arena but easily modified for Alliance Battles.
[edit] Attributes and Skills
 Necromancer / Any |
Attribute Rank |
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| Soul Reaping | 12 + 1 |
| Death Magic | 12 + 1 + 3 |
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[edit] Equipment
- Armor: You will want one piece of Bloodstained armor for the casting time bonus in summoning minions. The rest should be Minion Master's Armor, as this will further ensure your ultimate power once you have started your army.
- Weapons:
- Adept PvP Dead Staff: Casting time bonuses are important, this gives you a 40% chance to cut your Death Magic casting in half. Given that every skill you use is Death Magic, this is excellent.
[edit] Usage
Wait out the beginning of the fight, do not draw attention. Keep Infuse Condition on yourself once the match starts, even if you don't have minions yet. It's one less thing to get done once you do have them, and that second can be valuable. Cast Death Nova on allies near death, and hit enemies low on health or suffering from Conditions with Vile Miasma. When the first corpse drops, be it an ally or enemy, immediately Animate Bone Minions. Follow this by resurrecting allies if needed. Cast Jagged Bones on one of the minions, immediately followed by Death Nova. Wait until he approaches an enemy, then use Taste of Death to kill the minion and trigger Death Nova, unless you're not in need of any healing in which case you should use Putrid Flesh for the same effect with a Disease on top. The minion will be instantly replaced with a level 16 Jagged Horror.
Every time a new corpse becomes available, once more Animate Bone Minions. Constantly cast Jagged Bones and Death Nova on each of your minions and use them as suicide bombers every chance you get. Each time one dies, it will be replaced by a Jagged Horror. Essentially, you need never run out of minions. If you are low on health, continue using Taste of Death to heal yourself. Make sure you are keeping Infuse Condition up so as to avoid becoming Dazed, saddled with a Deep Wound, or worse.
Whenever you have a spare moment, which will not be often, use Vile Miasma on one of your afflicted enemies. While the Jagged Horrors cause Bleeding with each hit, and Death Nova will Poison, Putrid Flesh will cause Disease, Vile Miasma will do some damage and hex the target with a -4 degeneration for 10 seconds if they have a Condition. This adds up to 15 points of degeneration you can inflict on a single target (only 10 are in effect because of the health degeneration cap, unless enemy receives health regeneration of over 5, in which case it will be calculated from 15) which leads to 20 health lost per second on top of the over 100 points of damage you will deal with each Death Nova.
[edit] Counters
- Extreme spiking can kill you if you cannot react to heal yourself in time.
- Recharge-increasing interrupts such as Diversion can lock out a vital skill and handicap you for crucial seconds. Power Block is especially devastating as all your skills come from the Death Magic line.
- Knockdown can keep you from refreshing your army and yourself. If they can keep you down, they can finish you off.
- Being the first to die will make you useless for the entire fight, as you can't contribute much until you have a corpse. If you do die first, hopefully someone will resurrect you and you'll quickly gain access to another corpse.
- Skills like Putrid Explosion or Malign Intervention could exploit corpses before you have a chance to use them, but these are rare to encounter.
- Nature's Renewal, while unpopular in Random Arenas, can make things much more difficult by increasing the time you need to enchant your minions.
Be good at selecting minions, or get good at selecting minions, or don't try this build. The most powerful counter to this build is a player who can't manage it.
[edit] Variants
- You could swap out either Vile Miasma or Putrid Flesh for Deathly Swarm to allow for a more flexible build that is slightly less reliant on having a minion. However, overall damage once minions are obtained will suffer somewhat because of this.
- A Major or Superior Soul Reaping rune could be used, but is mostly redundant. It's unlikely you'll be below 2 energy when any given corpse drops, and you really only need that instant 15 in energy to summon the minions. After that, Jagged Bones and Soul Reaping should be able to keep you fuelled.
- While not strictly necessary, Flesh of My Flesh is an excellent option for resurrection, given this build's ability to heal itself quickly. With a cast time only slightly longer than Resurrection Signet, it's viable even in arenas.
