Few General Questions?

Currently i am using a necromancer but lately i joined these forums and i was wondering if anyone could answer a few quesetions for me

1. What does everyone mean by 20/20 and other terms for items, offhands and stuff? I familiar with in game talk but not this stuff? What does it mean by that? If there is a "terms and slang" kind of thread can anyone direct me to it?

2. Can anyone take a look at my current Necro build? It works pretty well for me but I'm not sure if there are better ones?

N/M my change when i finish ascencion (was too lazy to do desert quests - finished sanctum cay, went straight to ice caves of sorrow) to N/Mesmer

Curses 12+3+1
Blood 12(I think) +3
Soul Reaping 5+1

I may remove the Blood sup rune as I always find myself a bit short of health? Any advice bout it?

I currently only play prophecies so if anyone wants to advise me on skills, keeping it to prophecies only skills would be nice

Skils:
SS
Mark of Pain
Life Siphon
Insidious Parasite
Vampiric Gaze
Order of Pain/Blood Ritual/Ressurection depending on situation
Unholy Feast
Desecrate Enchantments

Weapon:
Vilnars Staff - got it for free from some rlly nice person - neva have parted with it though how effective it is I dont know. I quite like it as i never find myself short of energy

Any advice on my build, an ideal weapon or focus would be nice

Thx in advance

As for the first question: Staffs, bows, hammers and some more weapons use two hands. But wands, swords and axes use only 1 hand. That leaves the other hand open for a shield or an item a so called "offhand focus" which gives more energy just like a staff.
It can also give a chance of 20% to cast spells twice as fast and 20% to make them recharge twice as fast

1. a 20/20 item(usually a staff, wand or offhand) refers to an item that gives 20% HCT and 20% HRT. thats a pretty common name for an item with those stats, its the same term everyone uses in game.

2. I suppose your necro build is alright, but i think you would benifit more from echoing SS on a few targets, also mark of pain it really only useful in a B/P group or with minions. its just not reliable otherwise.

also about those 2 superiors. having 2 is always a bad idea (excluding 55s). only use one if you absolutely need to reach a breakpoint, but never use 2.

^2 superior is often used when saccing a lot, such as BiP builds or even MMs

I would change unholy feast,it cost a lot and requires you to expose yourself.

Quote:

also having 2 sup runes helps alot with MM (as long as you have Dark Bond )

1. 20/20 refers to a caster's item that has 20% chance to halve the casting of a spell and 20% chance to halve the recharge of a spell.

2. It looks like an alright build but i agree, maybe sub out Mark of Pain for Archane Echo. Also id take off the sup blood rune.

BiP's qualify as 55s in my book. any good BiP runs at 55 or 1 life, but it really isnt a good idea to confuse a new player so much with build that he wont need for a LONG LONG time.

I can swap to Vilnars Claw if necessary as i do oro farming now and then and have picked it up b4, but what focus should I get? Also is it "easy" to solo the desert missions as i always find that everyone in all the mission areas seem to be farming (elona reach,etc.).

I can swap to Vilnars Claw if necessary as i do oro farming now and then and have picked it up b4, but what focus should I get? Also is it "easy" to solo the desert missions as i always find that everyone in all the mission areas seem to be farming (elona reach,etc.). I have seen a Blood Is Power build done b4 and have tried it with my 55hp build. It worked OK but got pretty tough at parts