Barbspike: Just for the Hex of it

I saw elsewhere in here some discussion about the elite "Recurring Insecurity" and how it seemed tailor-made for use with Soul Barbs.

They ain't just whistlin' Dixie.

Put this build together yesterday after capping the elite (btw - Morostov Trail and Mourning Vail Falls are a lot of fun to play around in, even with henches.) Then I tested it in Sunjiang Mission helping a guildie. *Poof* Master's Reward. Also played around in Fort Aspenwood and Alliance Battles... this build is just *fun.*

Mesmer/Necromancer

Fast casting - 9 (6 + 3)
Illusion - 15 (12 + 1 + 3)
Domination - 2
Inspiration - 8 (6 + 2)
Death - 1
Curses - 11

Soul Barbs
Recurring Insecurity {E}
Images of Remorse
Wastrel's Worry
Accumulated Pain
Energy Tap
Ether Feast
Consume Corpse / Res Sig

Looking at the skills:

1. Soul Barbs 10/2/20 - for 30 secs target foe takes 26 dmg when hexed or enchanted.

Already an evil little skill. However, when paired with:

2. Recurring Insecurity {E} 10/1/25 - For 10 secs target foe suffers -3 health degen. if hexed again, it's reapplied.

This is *vicious.* The key word here in the hex description is reapplied. Basically, any hex you or your team casts on your target generates the Soul Barbs damage twice. The "or enchanted" bit is a special bit of evil too - if the wammo casts breeze or the boonprot cast RoF on the Wammo, they take a double tap from Soul Barbs as well.

3. Images of Remorse 5/2/5 - for 10 secs foe suffers -4 health degen. if attacking, take 52 dmg.

Cheap hex for the double barb spike, plus brings the degen up to -7.

4. Wastrel's Worry 5/0.25/1 - After 3 seconds, foe takes 15 dmg. Ends prematurely if target foe uses a skill.

Your main spammable hex. Cheap, fast cast, low recharge. The only issue is that reapplying Wastrel's during the 3 second duration (provided target doesn't cancel it with a skill) does not trigger the barb spike again, so you need to watch their skill use and if they're not going to end the hex prematurely renew IoR instead.

5. Accumulated Pain 10/2/20 - Target foe takes 35 dmg, if suffering from 2 or more hexes, they suffer a deep wound for 20 secs.

The coup de grace. Once target's health is down, cast this for the deep wound finishing spike. (35 dmg + 20% max health reduction = usually dead target.)

6. Energy Tap - 5/3/25 - foe loses 6 energy, you gain 2 for each point lost
7. Ether Feast 5/2/8 - Foe loses 3 energy, healed 33 for each

Self explanatory, presumably.

8. Consume Corpse - 10/na/1 - Exploit random corpse, teleport to location and gain 30 hp/ 6 energy

This is for corpse control if you're in Aspenwood/AB facing one of those annoying MMs. It's also a somewhat random escape method in PvE, not reliable and I usually bring res sig when PvEing.

Just wanted to point out that Accumulated Pain should not be triggering Soul Barbs at all since it's a spell and not a hex. Other than that, seems like fun, especially if the hencies or teammates carried hexes.

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I do the following on my Necro, I hope it is of some help:

1- Soul Barbs
2- Recurring Insecurity (e)
3- Faintheartedness
4- Conjure Phantasm
5- Parasitic Bond
6- Wastrel's Worry
7- open
8- open

A little less degen but it's got a bit faster spiking ability. Wastrel won't trigger RI if applied repeatedly (I'm almost 100% sure it doesn't trigger Barbs as well). Parasitic Bond, however, will. So I will like hit with Watrel, wait for it to expire (or get cancelled), meanwhile hit with PB, and then reapply Wastrel. I love IoR but I think up to 1 cast hexes are better for a Barbs spike. Cheers!

That sounds like a good suggestion. How well does it work on your necro? More damage from barbs, of course, less from the illusion stuff (which doesn't really matter.) I wondered if missing the fast casting would make much of a difference. I wanted to try the "flipside build" with my Necro at 16 curses, but she's not even to HZH yet, much less able to cap in Mourning Veil Falls. Project for this weekend perhaps.

I'm pretty happy with it but I should mention I have used it mostly in PvP. I think the value of MM and SS in PvE is a bit too high to match with this. It does drop targets extremely fast tho. And FC doesn't make much of a difference, since all hexes (cept the base one- Barbs) are 1 or less cast. I should probably toss in Cume Pain or smth for a finishing move. It's a fun build but again it doesn't perform better than either MM or SS. Just smth to break the monotony, I guess.

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