Are curses fine for Warriors?

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

I've talked to some friends and experimented but just want some friendly advice regarding a str/weap/curses build for a Warrior.

I'm just now considering this cause of the efficiency tables from the previous blood thread I made. I'm not saying I'm going to hate blood magic or anything but are curses as useful/useless as people say?

Like ViM combined with the poison/weakness curses alongside the warrior adrenal condition inducer skills = tons of hp/energy?

Thing I'm slightly worried about is, how well this build can tangle with a mob / boss character without a major healer/healing skills for backup.

I see Insidious Parasite and Parasitic Bond for Curses which heal me, and they heal for a chunk too it would seem. [does parasitic bond heal fully should someone remove the hex/die from it because it "ended"?] If so, then maybe a curses build isn't so bad. Just make sure the enemy dies very quickly and the bond heals ya for a small chunk ^_^

I'll post some possible build ideas here once I get the info. Thanks in advance!

Bgnome

Bgnome

Elite Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005

i would not worry too much about sustaining yourself. sure, every character needs survivability, but when would you ever go somewhere without a monk?
besides, with sufficient tactics and a few conditions, you will heal fairly well with ViM. i think the trick is to stack as many conditions as fast as possible.

edit: you know, i don't actually see all that many conditions under curses, just a few condition transfers and weakness. most of the skills there are hexes..

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Chillblains poisons yourself so u can transfer it with plague touch/sending
weakness from enfeeblement

well, from what I can see in conditions:

my build:
dismember
axe rake
enfeeblement
plague touch

4 conditions, owchie

Then there's survival tech. Who'd live longer? A blood magic using Warrior who heals while hurting enemies? Or a curses type who gets mobbed in pve by slammers and he uses Enfeebling Blood + Shadow of Fear

Hopefully, I hope these aren't stupid questions cause I didn't think of making a curses Warrior yet. From previous analysis, blood magic warrior types use their hp to drain hp/gain it whereas curses seems to give you a LOT more offensive options but little to no self-healing. Try as I might, I like lessening the burden on any healers following me or soloing.

Sausaletus Rex

Sausaletus Rex

Death From Above

Join Date: Dec 2004

Curses is a bit suboptimal on a Warrior. It's appealing, no the face of it, you debuff your target and bring the hammer down (Well, no, don't use a hammer. But bring your weapon down in a manner to cause harm, certainly). But the problem lies in those Curse costs. Most are in the 10 energy, 2 second casting time range. Which is absolutely brutal for a primary Warrior. You can't afford more than one or two, casting them take an eternity for a character that wants to swing away as much as possible, and they're all hexes so they can get zapped by hex removal easily, spoiling your work. Not that it can't work, I just find it a bit difficult to make fly.

Oh, and you're an axe Warrior. By law you must carry Disrupting Chop. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Bgnome

Bgnome

Elite Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005

i would go with swords instead of axes. with swords, you can cause bleeding, deep wounds, and crippling whereas you can't cause bleeding with axes. if you are pumping tactics, ViM is really useful, a shield helps, and you could consider bringing healing signet.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Reasons I decided against swords where:

1. I've run into too many problems where enemies won't bleed in pve
2. Axes vs. Swords? Their attack speeds are almost the same, what the axe lacks in possible utility, it makes up for in disruption and raw damage.

How's this? [quite nice for face - to - face fighting]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class: Warrior / Necromancer

Attributes: (cost) '+' indicates Rune attributes
Strength: 10+1 (61)
Axe Mastery: 10+2 (61)
Swordsmanship: 1 (1) [damn leftovers]
Tactics: 5 (15)
Blood Magic: 1 (1) [damn leftovers] ^_^
Curses: 10 (61)

Total attribute points used: 200/200

Skills: [Attribute] (Energy, Cast Time, Recharge TIme)
1) Disrupting Chop [none] (0,0,6) Axe Attack: If it hits, this attack interrupts the target's current action. If that action was a skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 20 seconds.

2) Dismember [Axe Mastery] (0,0,7) Axe Attack: If it hits, this axe blow will inflict a deep wound on the target foe, lowering that foe's maximum health by 20% for 17 seconds.

3) Axe Rake [Axe Mastery] (0,0,7) Axe Attack: If this attack hits a foe suffering from a deep wound, you strike for +8 damage, and that foe becomes crippled.

4) Sprint [Strength] (5,0,20) Stance: For 13 seconds, you move 25% faster.

5) Victory Is Mine!' [Tactics] (5,0,15) Shout: You gain 29 health and 5 energy for each condition suffered by adjacent foes. This is an elite skill.

6) Enfeeble [Curses] (5,1,5) Spell: Target suffers from weakness for 15 seconds.

7) Faintheartedness [Curses] (10,1,5) Hex: For the next 32 seconds, target foe's attack speed is reduced and that foe suffers health degeneration of 3.

8) Plague Touch [none] (5,1,0) Skill: Transfer a negative condition from yourself to target touched foe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think Disrupting is now 4 adrenal instead of 6, someone please elaborate? ^_^

Well, from what's been mentioned, this build will allow any physical attacker type to be reduced to almost nothing [counterable, but still... ^_^] Majority of the skills are only 5 energy [yay] and all 1 second cast time!

4 conditions to feed Victory is Mine! and make my enemies beg for mercy! [evil laugh]

Enfeeble and faintheartedness can be swapped for anti-caster curses as well such as Rend/Desecrate Enchantments [slower cast time but, hey... ^_^] Defile Flesh [yeah, try healing THIS!] Soul Barbs [though it helps when u hex them, it also helps if their teammates try to enchant them, I hope... ]

I'm not expecting a perfect build here [in fact, nobody should ] But the energy efficiency and healing power of this build seems quite good. Also, for pve, swapping out the 6th and 7th skills for Enfeebling Blood and Shadow of Fear should surely help against that STUPIDLY HUGE Ettin Mob in the snow caves that ate me and my party near the end of the BWE. Stupid hard hitting clubs...

Bgnome

Bgnome

Elite Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005

you only have 3 conditions: deep wound, crippling, and weakness.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Enemies in pve/pvp love hitting me with conditions [doesn't everybody? ^_^] So that's where Plague touch comes in.

Shrapnel_Magnet

Shrapnel_Magnet

Pirate?

Join Date: Feb 2005

British Columbia, Canada

Idiot Savants

R/

Also, in my experience, Faintheartedness only hits the -3 Health Regen when you have Curses @ lvl 12. Sure, your attribute calculator and such may have it at 3, but IN GAME, I can say that it isn't so.

I'd take Shadow of Fear over Faintheartedness... more of an area-affect.

And whoever suggested "Chilbains"... Disease spreads to nearby creatures of the same type. So Disease is only useful in PvE, unless you like diseasing your team-mates.

Check out Malaise as a curse as well... it's a nice, cheap, energy stopping skill that can be useful.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

I didn't suggest Chillblains thank goodness...

Faintheartedness is there for the lowered attack speed, the fact that it degens I know is near useless at higher levels...

Malaise sounds good, the degen could be cancelled out by regen of another source I'm sure.

The reason I didn't pick Shadow of Fear was efficiency. Too long cast time. For Warriors, anything past 1 second is highly inefficient save for extreme spells like Rend Enchantments...

In pvp, it's Enfeeble + Faintheartedness, in pve [where mobs exist] it's Enfeebling Blood + Shadow of Fear. Nifty to switch ain't it? ^^