Necromancer Build and Use-cases

[oddGo 12]

I have been keeping tabs on one of the people I have been following for a while, Farbstoff. He is a very nice German programmer that likes Necromancer. Due to qT not having time, per there write-up, they recommended folks keep an eye on Condition Reaper benchmarks from Farbstoff. I have not looked into Power Reaper from Brazil too seriously, because the initial findings did not seem to yield strong results. But this caught my attention.

Rotation - Avg DPS Realisitc Buffed: 30 - 30,5K

While this does appear to have some built in ramp-up time, as many of the condition builds do, this was achieved with realistic buffs, as well as no epidemic. That's a pretty big deal, because that is respectable DPS for a Condi DPS class IF it were the case that they also brought Epidemic for heavy/dangerous add fights. 

I would like to have a discussion on fielding this build in a Condi Subgroup-style comp in fights where Epidemic could provide that unique value that seems to be one of the only things Necro has left. The goal is not really to just give Necro a place for that sake of it, but if this DPS is indeed achievable, and it can swap one utility out for Epidemic, I think that has genuinely strong value.

Proposed sub-group: Chrono - Druid - Condi PS - Condi Engi/Condi Ranger - Epi Necro

Fights where this might see the most value:

Sabetha:

The goal is to melt adds with Epi-bounces. heavy anti-Karde set-up with Epi against both turrets and back to Sab when she returns, and Karde takes that 25% bonus condition damage.

Sloth:

Same as before, we melt adds, and multi-bounce if done with caution for full Condi-Mirror setup with two Necros.

Chess:

If the single target DPS of this builds holds up, I see the strong potential for running a full Condi squad. The double of epidemics could mean fast melting of the chess pieces without having to worry about the pulsing slow from the pieces tripping up taking them out due to slower use of multiple cleaving cooldowns from power builds in that pinch situation. We also might be able to make good use out of the Epi-bounce when one of the pieces gets close during that first pass and be able to push out damage a little harder for that section.

We don't typically have too much trouble with either Sab or Sloth, so this might just be an interesting approach for us. Chess I know I have seen some groups favor condition setups with necros for the strategy I outlined, so I would like to give that a go, sounds fun. I gave some thought to other fights, but many of the fights have power biases, and we are already strong on those fights with the setups we bring, so there may well not be enough value in investing into new [condition=>epi] strats to make it worth or while for the time being.

Would others be interested in giving this type of set up a go if we can have some success in reproducing Farbstoff's results reasonably (yes, this is a strong caveat)?

 

[Kintari 96]

I would really like to see Necro (especially GS) be viable, but this build's extreme reliance on comboing has me doubting that it will be any good in raids.

Also, melting adds on Sabetha can be counter-productive, pugs I have been in have deliberately left sappers alive for more throwable bombs.

Taking Epi would mean dropping either a minion utility (less combo finishers), or BiP (less personal bleeding stacks on target).

Not to say I am against getting weird, just stating my expectations for this in a non-golem setting.

[oddGo 12]

Got to do some Golem testing, as well as some messing around with T4 Dailies. Your impression is pretty spot on. I would say in a Raid environment it's easier (due to consistency for many elements) to pull this build off, but it's pretty reliant on a few things you can't necessarily control. Get stuck in GS with a bad swap, lose massive damage. Mis-order, damage loss. RS4 into non-ice or fire field, hefty loss. 

I like the potential for the fights where epi blasts are a strong enough reason to bring the necro. This build gives it the potential to do competitive Condi DPS while bringing that Epi, but for other runs where the epi is just alright, I don't know.

[Maia 85]

I know this is a little ahead of where we are right now, but I ran across another possible use case for a Reaper/Necro build (not listed here) that involves Epidemic. 

Deimos challenge mode: Epidemic is useful to 1) immobilize and kill and Prides and Greeds that try to kill Saul by bouncing condis off the boss (obviously you need other condi classes and rangers with Entangle to optimize this strat, but we typically use those anyways) 2) quickly kill Saul's alter egos that come back to the main platform with the group after the transport phase. 

Mighty Teapot checked the DPS and it's close enough to what they were getting before to work on Deimos CM (see below for link).

I haven't researched all the mechanics of this challenge mode yet, but I believe this strat is pretty powerful because LOD is using it to 8 man Deimos for sells:

 

And Mighty Teapot and [SALT] used it in a recent Deimos CM kill:

(They talk about the strat at 1:22:00 and the kill itself -they wipe a few times-starts at 1:45:00):

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/128433263

 

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by Maia

[Kintari 96]

I haven't watched the video yet.  Do they just go ham on Deimos when they return from demonic realm, and then Epi Saul once Deimos is loaded up?