Guild Wars Guru

Self-sufficient MM

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N
Nivrax Deathbringer
Ascalonian Squire
• #1
Profession: Ne/
Name: Self-sufficient MM
Type: PvE
Category: It`s MM so I think damage dealer
Attributes: Death Magic 12 + 3 + 1
Blood Magic 9 + 1
Soul Reaping 9 + 1Skills Set:Animate Bone Fiend (Death) (2nd version - Vampiric Horror (Death)) Blood of the Master (Death) Taste of Death (Death) Aura of the Lich (Death) {Elite} (2nd version - Flesh Golem (Death) {Elite}) Blood Renewal (Blood)
  • Dark Bond (Blood) Consume Corpse (Death)/Putrid Explosion (Death) Res skill (eg. Ressurection Signet) (2nd version -Death Swarm (Death)) Summary: This build is MM that can spam BotM with "max" rate (3 secs), sacrifcing about 25hp while maintaning 10 Fiends/Horrors and automaticly healing that amount (even tanking!), no Monk needed (I have monk too and i know how irritatin can be MM spaming BotM sacrifacing 100hp and thinking i can heal him. Yes, i can but it drawns my attention from the rest of party and drains lot of energy.) 1st Version is good to do misions and quest with people. First I`m trying to create an army of 10 Fiends. At about 5 Fiends is good to use other skills than "Fiends". So I cast AotL followed with Dark Bond, both will last about 50 secs. It making the hp to about 200 and if u have minions, cut the "normal" dmg to 1/8 (!!!). To maintain army u must spam BotM of course, making minions nearly industractible, and with AotL u will sacrifice only 1/4 of normal "price". Blood Renewal also takes less hp from sacriface, then giving you fast regen of about 5 "pips" and near full healing when it ends. When you have 10 Fiends its a waste of corpses to leave them to vanish, thats why you can use CC to heal/regen energy or Putrid Explosion for some serious armor-piercing damage. If you are likely to die (happens rarely to me), use Taste of Death.
    This build is also great if you want to have Explorer Title, because you can go explore solo to early areas of the game (like first areas of Kryta, Northern Shiverpeaks and Ascalon lands) and rest with henches. For "easy" areas just replace res skill with death swarm to help you making first corpses. In some areas where you have less corpses (eg. most enemies are undeads) better idea is to take Flesh Golem instead of AotL and Vampiric Horrors instead Fiends. The 2nd version is good only at low-lvl enemies, becouse the health losing by BotM can be replaced only by big dmg done by Vamps, enemies with high-armor just dont give you enought hp. For rest (harder) places i recomend 1st version and players/henchmen).

    Notes & Concerns: This build works perfectly as long as you have enchaments on yourself, so if an enemy can strip/rend etc. your enchant put your minions first to fight or cast Blood Renewal onto AotL (enemy will take down only fast-recharge BR, and will heal you too ). Also watch out for AoE spells, like Searing Heat or Dragon`s Breath, becouse the can very fast destroy your army. And remember to have AotL always on, otherwise you will run out of health very fast. Vigor Rune isn`t needed, becouse the less hp you will have the less you will sacrifice.

    Credit: Myself (and guys that gives me piece of advice that AotL makes you sacrifice 1/4 of orginal amount)

    PS. I should add the sreens with weapons sets later. Anyway, its Wand 20/20 from collector (or en+5 while hp>50%, cast 20) and skull focus hp+30 Death +1 chance 20 (Bortak should be better, but i haven`t tried it).
    • P
    Pick Me
    Forge Runner
    • #2
    Nice build.

    But, when I think of self-sufficient, I think you can handle yourself solo. Then I think your first trick then would be your first corpse. But I assume you mean with a party (even if it henchies).

    Does Soul Reaping and Consume Corpse give you enough energy to continually maintain your army?

    I didn't see Death Nova in your skill set. So I guess Taste of Death only serves as a self heal. That would reduce your army by 1 each time (or just about).

    I think it is a nice build though.
    N
    Nivrax Deathbringer
    Ascalonian Squire
    • #3
    Selg-sufficient means that in party I dont need additional healing from monk, Blood Renewal is enough. Taste of Death its a "last call" skill, when I`m at about 20hp. And this Necro can solo in "easy" areas without henchies, before doing 55hp necro I even solo farm near LA (at Maguma I need 1 warrior hench to draw attention and die for corpse ), the Death Swarm is to made first corpse. These both skills give me more enrgy than i need (spaming BotM takes same energy as it will regen, rest skills regain energy from Soul Reaping), thats why someties i`m using Putrid Explosion instead of CC.
    P
    Pick Me
    Forge Runner
    • #4
    Oh, I see.

    Lol, become a Monk secondary and get vengeance. The "temporary" ally will be alive for 30 seconds, then die. Giving you energy and a new corpse to exploit, I believe.

    All of the monks I party up with want to waste energy and time healing me when I use Blood Renewal. I even say "I'm casting Blood Renewal". So they see my health drop, and all of a sudden out comes healing breeze.

    I play a SS/Blood necro/mesmer. I use SS + blood ritual + blood renewal. So I don't use Aura of the Lich nor do I summon minions. Instead I help the party with wells and SS. I heal self with Parasitic bond and blood renewal.

    But like I said, I like your build.
    xenoranger
    xenoranger
    Wilds Pathfinder
    • #5
    Actually.. what I do is I use a self sufficient build where my first attack is on a tiger or other lvl 5 creature. Then that becomes my first minion.

    good build, except for enchantment strippers
    N
    Nivrax Deathbringer
    Ascalonian Squire
    • #6
    Cowering AotL with Dark Bond/Blood Renewal is enough for most of strippers. Worser is degeneration. And when combined both... like Jade Scarabs - thats horrible.


    And i find out that with N/R this build can be improved for "defending" situations (oro, defending Thunder Keep etc.) by adding Favorable Winds instead of one skills (works only with 1st version of course).
    h
    how786
    Ascalonian Squire
    • #7
    Newbie BOTM question: just how long does the drop in max health last? When does it reset to full?
    How786
    xenoranger
    xenoranger
    Wilds Pathfinder
    • #8
    Quote: Originally Posted by how786
    Newbie BOTM question: just how long does the drop in max health last? When does it reset to full?
    How786 it's a max of 25% sacrifice. So, it's all pending on what you have for minions. All Vhorrors, and it recharges pretty quick. Also, if you use life siphon and other HP stealing skills, it's pretty good. Alternative, you can use healing prayers to heal. but the issue there is that you find yourself with an energy management issue.

    V Horrors are the best b/c they attack for 10-18 damage (on average) which you get as HP. Frequency is about once every sec.

    Just remember a major point wiht BotM... it heals all allied minions. If you are in a team with other MM's, you can actually sacrifice yourself to death using it.

    5% initial sacrifice
    2% sacrifice per minion

    the formula works like this....

    5% + 2%*10N = S

    S = Sacrifice required
    N = Number of Necros set to MM

    Essentially, 4 MM's requires a 85% sacrifice (5 + 2*10*2)

    Although Aura of LIch helps reduce the cost, you still have to worry about healing minions. Minion healing is super dangerous. Especially since you can sacrifice to death using BotM. Just... be mindful of minion count before using BotM. And, remember that it heals not only your minions, but also the minions of other friendlies. An example of this is Vizunah Square. When you have 16 people in 2 parties, you can actually find yourself healing the other party's minions.
    h
    how786
    Ascalonian Squire
    • #9
    Great, detailed info Xeno. Thank you.
    Perhaps I missed it in your reply but when will my health return to its normal cap if using BOTM? Does it go back to normal right after combat?
    How786
    xenoranger
    xenoranger
    Wilds Pathfinder
    • #10
    There's no perfect answer to that. It's a 25% sacrifice (max). So, consider your max health. The more HP you have, the harder you are to heal.. on the reverse, the less HP you have the easier you are to kill by Degen and spike. Aura of Lich is good b/c it cuts the sacrifice in half. Meaning you only Sac 13% (it rounds up) rather than 25%. At the end of combat, your health will always regerate, but if you want tot keep minions alive, you need to sacrifice almost incessantly. With every sacrifice, you need to wait 15 sec before you can do a natural regen.

    Really, no perfect answer.
    G
    Glipher
    Pre-Searing Cadet
    • #11
    Quote: Originally Posted by how786
    Great, detailed info Xeno. Thank you.
    Perhaps I missed it in your reply but when will my health return to its normal cap if using BOTM? Does it go back to normal right after combat?
    How786 BotM doesn't reduce your health cap, just sacrifices health, which must be naturally regenerated/healed to return back to full.
    N
    Nivrax Deathbringer
    Ascalonian Squire
    • #12
    Quote: Originally Posted by xenoranger
    Aura of Lich is good b/c it cuts the sacrifice in half. Meaning you only Sac 13% (it rounds up) rather than 25%. Quote:
    Originally Posted by how786
    Perhaps I missed it in your reply but when will my health return to its normal cap if using BOTM? Does it go back to normal right after combat? AotL cuts the sacrifice even to 1/4. If you have 10 minions and 400hp it means you are sacrificing 100hp/each BotM without Aura. With Aura you take half damage (sacrifice IS dmg), instead of 25 its 12,5% (I heard it DOESN`T round up, if you take 10 hits of 0,1 dmg while having 1hp - you will die, although you still see same "0" - the engine is just very precise), and you have got 200hp. So you will sacriface 200hp * 12,5% = 25hp. You can use BotM each 3,5 seconds (2 sec recharge, 1 sec cast + time beetween spells). In this time Blood Renewal with 5 pips of regen will heal you for 35hp, so you don`t need to worry (unless you are attacked) about loss of hp with sacrificing if you just keep Blood Renewal and Aura running at all time.

    Thats all about if you are talking about regainng health back to maximum. If you thought it will decrease you maximum hp (like Exhaustion decrease energy) - then read Glipher post.
    xenoranger
    xenoranger
    Wilds Pathfinder
    • #13
    Only Deep Wound works on health (similar to exhaustion) to cut the max you can have. Even then, Deep Wound is a condition. Other than that, sacrifices work like self inflicted damage. Hench the reason you can sacrifice to death.