Is my build viable pve/mission?

I'm still kind of new to Guild Wars, and I only have the Prophecies campaign.
I see alot of guides, and some are hinting that you should manage questing/missions solo, or without henchies.

My current goal is to play with either one friend, and full henchie-support. Or alone with henchmens.

Since there really doesn't seem to be any standard cookiecutterbuilds out there, I've tailored my own build, but it seems to lack behind a bit now.

My build is really what I've managed to snatch up from other builds, and added a bit of my own ideas, of what might work and not. - SS is the only elite I've managed to get so far.

Animate Bone Minion (Cannon Fodder/Machingegunkiller with Barbs)
Animate Bone Fiend (My private Artillery)
Barbs (The only thing that makes me use Bone Minions instead of Horrors.)
Blood of the Master (Keeping the things that take hits instead of me alive is good.)
Spiteful Spirit (I've seen some peps using Deathly Swarm as their only direct damage. I use this. It's a nice screenfiller with numbers in conjunction with Mark and Barbs.)
Mark of Pain (Already motivated this one. Thanks to Bone Minions I will deliver LOTS of hits. Not strong ones. But my curses will react to those hits.)
Dark Bond/Taste of Death (This is what keeps ME alive - and it works great even without any points in Blood)
Ress-Signet (No brainer. Alesia is plainly stupid.)

Motivations:
Currently I use the following strategy;
Enter a mission. Direct my henchies at the first gang of mobs. Put down Barbs and SS. (I use both the fighter henchies, so that's a lot of damage.)
When one falls down, I animate 2 bone minions, and put barbs on my next target.
Hopefully keeping this up untill I have 4-5 Bone Minions alive, I start building Fiends.
Inbetween fights I seem to believe Blood of the Master is enough to keep my army alive.
(I made a mistake when I created the char, so I'm secondary Warrior. Will change this when I reach the ascension.)
When I've got 10 minions up it's a pure panzer-army going through the map.
Single enemies = Barbs+SS = Death
2-8 Mobs without healers = Select one put down SS and Mark, then select another one and put down Barbs, so that my henchies attack the one with barbs and not the one with the Aoe-curses.
2-8 mobs With healers = Barbs+SS on healer, keep him selected, so that the henchies makes sure of the healers demise. Then restart with the other method.
Boss = Barbs and SS. If he have adds, put Mark on him aswell.

Could I make my build more efficient?
The minions do die very fast, and it's the numbers that makes me stick with them.

Barbs+Mark+SS+Lots of hits from 2 henchies and 10 physical minions = Lots of damage AoE.



By the way. I'm trying to do the Aurora Glade mission at the moment.
The killing part is really easy with my current build. (Do I have to mention, I'm doing it alone with full henchmensupport?)
But when I get to the activating the portal-part. Even if I kill the runners, I usually loose. Could someone give me a couple of hints here!? >.<

Yeah, droks armor and ss will do that.

If you put all your points in death magic, your minions will take more damage before dying and do damage without barbs, but it will be slower. If you buy Nightfall, you can use 2 necro heroes and set their skillbars any way you want.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Aurora_Glade_%28Mission%29

In order to help your build we need to know your level, how you have used your attribute points, and your equipment, especially runes.In order to help your build we need to know your level, how you have used your attribute points, and your equipment, especially runes.

I'm 18, when I'm writing this.
Will probably be 19 before I go to bed.
At the moment, I've got:
16 Death Magic.
5 Soul Reaping
7 Curses

I'm using a superior death on my scar (which is death+)
I'm using Drok's armor, all with Minion Master insignias.
Bloodstained insigia on the boots though. ^^
Right now I use a green staff.
It's not for my proffesion ( It's restoration magic ) but the mods are really great, so I'll stick to it, until I can trade it for something equal for a deathnecro.
15 energy
+5 energy if hp over 50%
20% halves recharge
30+ Hp

Right now I just want to reach Ascension, so that I can switch my secondary - to either monk or elementalist.

try running either straight MM or straight curses. set up olias as the other. hes pretty good at both. he has alot of advantages because he can select targets so easily.

Have you tried a straight up MM with fiends? As in forget about curses, and bring energy management skills. Personally, I find the damage from fiends to be way more than enough. Whatever they hit goes down fast enough with or without barbs or mark, especially when you're playing with henchies. Try it without curses and bring some direct damage skills if you want, and I think you might find more or less the same results but minus the hassle of applying curses all the time.

If I skip curses, what do you suggest I put in instead?
I've already made som changes.
Not to the curses though.
I just swapped minions with horrors.
I found it more appropriate for my energymanagement.
25 energy per fiend is kind of steep with my 50 energy.
It eases a little with Claude as a henchie with his Blood Ritual.
But with both Horrors and Fiends, I could amass an army semi-quickly, and both of the minions still hit hard.
- and trying to produce a Fiend, then a horror, and after that another fiend - and so on actually helped me keep enough energy to spam Blood of the Master during combat until corpses dropped.
(I'm just telling you of my experiences, please share yours and tell me if there are more efficient ways.)
Well of Suffering and Deathly Swarm seem two good candidates if I switch out Curses. Also, I'm considering trying to get Aura of the Lich as a new Elite.

The problem with your build is that your attributes are spread out far too much. You have a nice idea going but it won't work simply on one char. While your build might work early on, I would like to see it work in a lvl 24+ area, a straight up MM is a much better idea and your minions will live longer and be harder to kill

[skill]Animate Bone Horror[/skill][skill]Animate Bone Fiend[/skill][skill]Blood of the Master[/skill][skill]Deathly Swarm[/skill][skill]Aura of the Lich[/skill][skill]Blood Renewal[/skill][skill]Dark Bond[/skill][skill]Ressurection Signet[/skill]

I ran that build when I only had Prophecies. I was pretty hard to kill (I could tank better than most warriors) and was able to heal my minions pretty easily. However my problem was that I didn't have any energy management skill so once Soul Reaping ran out, I couldn't really do much.

Could you please motivate Blood Renewal?
Is it because you have Aura of the Lich?
Hmm..
Like I said, I'm up for suggestions.
But as for now. I don't have any skills past Droknar's trainers, and SS.
I need to get past Aurora Glade to be able to get further now ><

Alright, where to begin.

Your build is newbish. However, that is hardly surprising, since you're a newbie. It's got the standard newbie mistakes. Also it's clear that you have been thinking about what you're trying to do, so props for that. And at least you're not running Blood Magic.

Your Soul Reaping investment is way too low. Generally speaking, you need a level 20 to create a decent "dual-classed" build. Since you effectively have no second class (W) that's not a problem.

Most decent builds for general PvE look one simple way - Max one inherent attribute, max primary attribute, throw leftovers in something else.

SS is an extremely powerful elite. Running it at 7 Curses is a waste. You don't have any Death elite that comes close.

Run 16 Curses, throw all the rest in Soul Reaping.

Why is your Soul Reaping too low, you might wonder. Think of it this way. For a level 20, and really for a level 19 as well, a Bone Minion is two things - an energy battery or a bomb. You cast it for 15 energy, when they both die you return 2xSR energy. at 5 SR, it costs you 5 energy to cast them. At 10, you gain 5.

Running Fiends at 5 SR is catastrophic. That's a luxury for a dedicated MM. You also mention the bone minions tend to die fast, well, that's what bone minions do.

If you want to use bone minions, I would setup your build reverse. Run:

Curses 16 - SR 10 - Death whatever's left (shouldn't be a lot, right)

Spiteful Spirit - Insidious Parasite - Faintheartedness - Parasitic Bond - Mark Of Pain - Barbs - Animate Bone Minions - Resurrection signet

This way the minions provide you with energy, and they still will hit some to trigger Barbs/MoP.

The other way is to go dedicated MM which is really the easiest way to complete Prophecies.

Death 16 - SR Rest (maybe Blood 3-4 or so)

Dark Bond - Animate Bone Fiend - Animate Bone Horror - Death Nova - Taste Of Death - Blood Of The Master - Rez - Optional

Blood Renewal:

Good self-heal (if you have enough points into Blood Magic.
Good cover enchantment, when enchantment strippers are around.

To get further, you need to walk to Ice Caves, then complete mission, then do Iron Mines of Muldune, etc.

Aurora Glade Tip:

1) get 1 crystal and kill group that has their crystal.
2) get 2nd crystal and then kill next group quickly.
3) keep killing crystal runners until only the Demigorgon (or whatever his name is) is left. Kill him and get bonus.

I will be on tonight after appx. 1800 hours P.S.T., I would be more than happy to work with you a little on your build, and even do the mission/bonus with you if you'ld like. IGN Shiishii Momo.

Quote:

Thank you so much, all of you.
I feel as if I've learned something now

As for now, I've changed my build a bit.
I'd be happy to get some help/cricism for it.

[skill]Animate Bone Horror[/skill][skill]Animate Bone Fiend[/skill][skill]Blood of the Master[/skill][skill]Dark Bond[/skill][skill]Signet of Capture[/skill][skill]Deathly Swarm[/skill][skill]Taste of Death[/skill][skill]Ressurection Signet[/skill]

Attributes: 16 Death, 10 Soul Reaping, 4 Blood
Level: 20 (Got to it yesterday )
I hope I got it right. ^^
Well, I was thinking of getting Aura of the Lich for the Signet. (Maybe one of the Verata-powers until I get it though)
If I get Aura, I will change Taste of death into Blood Renewal.
What do you guys think?
By the way.
If I go Monk when I can change my second proff.
What should I change for the most profficiensy?
I was kind of hoping of being able to make a MM-build that can solo a bit.
What kind of areas would a MM be able to solo by the way?
Currently I've found out that east of Beetletun are farmable by a MM.
Just kill one or two Lynxes to start building your army.

When doing missions, Claude is really helpful because of the Power of Blood buff.

I just got a complete set of Droknar's armor too.
Slapped a Superior Death Rune on the scar and a Bloodstained insignia on the boots. ^^

I'm having a tough time deciding what to add on my armor.
It's either Tormentor's or Minion Master's.
What runes by the way? I'm thinking attunement right now.

As for the weapon.
I'm not totally sure I've understood what a "great" weapon is yet.
Until now I've used a green Restorative Magic staff.
I got it for free from a friend. The mods really helped me a lot.
But now I've switched to a bonestaff, from the collector in Snake's Dance.
What now I ask?
I've added a wrapping of Enchantment as for now - If I decide to go Aura.. ^^

Help please?

It seems that your build is combining Spiteful Spirit Necromancer with the standard Minion Master. My 2 cents on this would be to choose one or the other. Here are two builds that I use that might point you in the right direction.

[skill]animate bone horror[/skill][skill]animate bone fiend[/skill][skill]blood of the master[/skill][skill]aura of the lich[/skill][skill]rotting flesh[/skill][skill]dark bond[/skill][skill]heal area[/skill][skill]rebirth[/skill]

Death Magic --> 12+3+1
Soul Reaping --> 10+1
Healing Prayers --> 8

[skill]arcane echo[/skill][skill]Spiteful Spirit[/skill][skill]soul barbs[/skill][skill]Insidious Parasite[/skill][skill]Desecrate Enchantments[/skill][skill]enfeeble[/skill][skill]blood ritual[/skill][skill]resurrection signet[/skill]

Curses --> 12+1+1
Soul Reaping --> 12+1
Blood Magic --> 3+1

Your skill bar was not as strong as it could be because you were spreading your attributes too thin. You had to commit a reasonable amount of attribute points to death and curses at the same time while still having to put some into soul reaping for energy management. These skill bars allow for the maximum amount of damage possible using the attribute lines given. Try them out and feel free to adjust them to your own playing style.

It's hard to read everything, and find where it becomes obviously bad advice

Anyway, your original build was perfect. Your base attributes should be as close as possible, something like 13 curses, 10 death magic and 9 soul reaping.

The green staff is better than the collectors one.

Thanks Brian.
Although, I have already changed my MM build a bit, and it does look kind of like the one you suggested. So I guess I'm on the right track.

There is a question I have though..
It's about the SS build.
I've tried a pure SSbuild, but I just end up dying before even taking one enemy down. I'm pretty screwed if I just meet one enemy at a time.
If I face groups it is kind of ok, since they probably scatter after a few seconds.
But after that, I die. >.<
I was concidering trying that 55 necro build with ss for a while.
Maybe still make a build for it for farming purposes.

The builds listed aren't solo builds, they're for when in you're a party with things such as healers to support you to make sure you don't die. I'm assuming you're trying to take on mobs alone because you shouldn't be dying half as fast as you say you are.

On that SS build Brian personally I'd drop soul barbs for either Price of Failure, Reckless Haste or Defile Enchantments.

If you really wanted to try doing a hybrid minion master with curses, look into minions (at 16 death magic) then running the leftovers into soul reaping and curses (moreso soul reaping) and then bring hexes like [skill]Barbs[/skill] and [skill]Mark of Pain[/skill].

Hmm.. Could someone explain more or less how an SS build works?
I just stand there behind my party and throw curses?
It usually takes a lot of time to kill a small mob for me using SS.. I jsut don't get the synergies I think.. :/
Like I said, I play with henchies and not players.
Although I will get heroes now that I am installing Nightfall.
Are there any interesting additions from Nightfall by the way?

Since your secondary is W, your SS build will not be as powerful as it would be with /Me, but it will still kick enough for it to be viable in Prophecies.

The casting order is something like this:

Center group target - Enfeebling Blood
Target 1 - SS, Parasitic Bond (might prefer to use this on a caster)
Target 2 - Insidious Parasite, Parasitic Bond (MUST be cast on a melee target)
Target 3 - Faintheartedness, Parasitic Bond (should be cast on a melee target)

Rinse and repeat until death occurs; reapply weakness condition as needed.

Note; This is only the most basic idea.

At 16 Curses Parasitic Bond will heal you for 1126 each time one of the curses end. This also makes the spell an excellent cover enchantment. Combined with Insidious Parasite, this makes for quite decent survivability.

If you have got Nightfall, you will be better off running N/D for your MM build. Synergy - Dark Bond and Infuse Condition with Mystic Regeneration at Earth Prayers 8.

Forget all Verata's spells actually making it into your bar save in special circumstances. They have all been nerfed into oblivion.

So you say that Verata's Sacrifice isn't good for healing?
Hmm.. Or do you mean that Heal Area and Blood of the Master is better if combined?
I will soon reach the ascension, so I will probably switch to N/Mo.
Or should I wait with switching and become N/D?

Are there any new mm necroskills in Nightfall that I should take note of?

When I'm playing MM I ALWAYS go with an Heir to the Master build (N/D) I find it the most effective thing in the world, goes something like this

[skill]infuse condition[/skill][skill]dark bond[/skill][skill]mystic regeneration[/skill][skill]signet of lost souls[/skill][skill]Order of Undeath[/skill][skill]animate shambling horror[/skill][skill]animate bone horror[/skill][skill]blood of the master[/skill]

Elite skill of your choice. With an Heir to the Masters build, you dont need Vampiric Horrors if you trigger Mystic Regeneration, which gives you the most awesome long lasting heal there is.

Verata's Sacrifice is a standing joke in the Death Magic line. A minion maintenance skill with a 60 seconds recharge that will after a while be unable to counter natural minion degeneration.

It's constantly referred to as the worst nerf to a skill in Guild Wars history.

This skill set up has been posted elsewhere on the forums, but is extremely effective at putting out high amounts of damage.

Death 16 (12+3+1)
Soul Reaping (7+1)
Curses (10+1)

Parasitic Bond
Mark of Pain
Glyph of Renewal {E}
Bone Fiends
Bone Horrors
Blood of the Master
Taste of Death
Generic Res

Because of the long recharge on Mark of Pain, you can selectively use the glyph to counteract this and have them available almost constantly for use on separate targets. It's best to watch the target most of your minions are attacking in a mob and then throw up mark of pain on that target covered by parasitic. As you reach the minion cap, the damage can be incredibly powerful.

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Well, in a way the cap on minions was understandable. Minion masters pre-cap could get an army so huge no other character was comparable. However if I am correct Verata's Sacrifice is the only case where ArenaNet has actually taken a skill, once a cornerstone in many player builds, and destroyed it to the point where it literally is not usable anywhere, for anything.