I don't know what to do with my Scourge...

[Verdis.8472]

I started building my first ascended set as Zojja's for my Reaper, but I think i'm enjoying the Scourge gameplay more. I just don't know what to do with it. I don't particularly want to start crafting a condi set and i'm generally not a fan of the sceptre gameplay. Is there any decent dagger focused build for scourge? I'm trying to have fun with it and just play the game but my mind keeps drifting to forum posts because i don't wantt o make the wrong build decisions. I'm using Staff as my second set and while it's weak DPS wise I like being able to set down all the marks plus my shade/F5 to play from a distance for a bit. Though i'm thinking Axe/x might be better. OR maybe neither are better because power is worthless with Scourge? I don't know. I'm seeing some posts about tank builds that use the blood tree. Is that a viable thing? I'm looking for tips for all game modes, not just PvE.

[Renita.7824]

Power scourge is very weak since the first set of bug fixes. Vipers is the way to go. You could turn your berserker gear into vipers in the mystic forge or craft a new set of gear and turn it vipers in the forge. Crafting vipers is a bit more expensive than doing the mystic forge recipe. Or you could get the gear with pvp/fractal/raid currency. I love my scourge and have 3 sets of gear for her.

[Verdis.8472]

That really sucks to hear because I love how the close range works so well with the shades damage pulses. I'm not sure i want to go back to Reaper because I hear it's just a shadow of its former self now. How is core Necro doing power wise these days?

[Sephylon.4938]

>How is core Necro doing power wise these days?

worse than reaper

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

I have a Dagger/Horn Scourge Build that I use in WvW and so far I had so much fun with it. There's so much burning in this build, it's crazy. It takes a bit of practice to manage all the cooldowns, but once you find the synergy, it's a fun build.

 

[burning Sands](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhZ6koXoqXssXw6GgtXssMYTfgAw1SfsmWfrUDhjwqC-jViAABB8AACc/hjU/BgzAAO6DyQJ4BHCArU+9g5PA-w "Burning Sands") - the point of this build is to rotate Manifest and Punishment to maintain a constant burning on target(s). Use F-skill when necessary. Normally I only ever use F5. The Dagger/Horn is for mobility -- dagger #3 for immob, horn for cripple+swift.

 

I have 3 Necros; my Main: Scourge (this build), a [Power MM Reaper](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhQDbkhGaqx+awrGYvxC1gJFAKZpMqXQN4SFHCHhtQA-jVyAQBqQ3wpU/Rg7PcElfKw8XAeAAA4gAMhLAoEsiHBASBM2QL-w "Power MM Reaper"), and a [Hybrid Reaper](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhWD7kZTo1Gs6GwcTgeTsYMYx7wh4RkaJEFqVR/sAw2C-jlSAQBTV3AbVCGtLAAAOCAdVdFBcQAKwDAAVqUcWlfMZ/BA-w "Hybrid Reaper") (WIP). So far, I love my Scourge build although my MM Reaper is fun too.

[Obtena.7952]

You're not going to get a single build for all game modes that you will be happy with. If you want to even be decent, you have to choose the build specific to the game mode and swap between it for WvW and PVE. If you don't really care about being all that good, you can play what you like.

[Verdis.8472]

Ok I've started working towards the Condi DPS raid build with the Viper's gear. Just one more question: What's the main way to generate LF in this build? I've noticed you can play the build with a single weapon set, so would it make sense to maybe have dagger/warhorn as a second set for LF? I don't know if that would severely hamper DPS. Viper's has power/precision stats so that would work with dagger.

[Renita.7824]

So, for open world I often throw on staff with the lf trait because of the range, lf gen, and I like the look. For open world you can easy get away with a dagger in your weapon slot, but warhorn is not necessary unless you just want it for swiftness. For purely max dps purposes (like in raid). Wearing only torch/scepter equiped in opposite weapon slots allows you to weapon swap on cd for increased dps from both the bleed sigil(geomancy) and the ability to use your torch skills on cd. There are certain fights like Mathias, sloth, and the first boss in wing 5 when wearing dagger offhand makes sense to throw condis back at the boss. Also if you can't be in melee of the boss often enough to make use of the swap damage then again, dagger offhand can make sense. You will gain most of your life force from your scepter 3 and torch 4 so make sure to be using them off cd. On fights with adds you will be overflowing with lifeforce and can and should be using your f skills more liberally. On pure single target fights you should only use f5 on cd and fear (f4) for tight cc checks. Only f2 or f3 in cases of emergency in most pure single target fights.

 

Again in open world play whatever you like. You seem to like dagger so go for it.

[Verdis.8472]

I never considered having two of the same weapon in both slots! What a time to be alive!

 

I'll probably just focus my efforts on the condi sceptre stuff. I just spent my only ever BL ticket on that shifting sands dagger, so I think I was trying to justify my purchase more than anything. Similar situation with the staff, I just built Azimuth and it looks great on my toon. I'll probably have that as a secondary like you said, although double torch does sound tempting.

[Prophet.1584]

> @Verdis.8472 said:

> I never considered having two of the same weapon in both slots! What a time to be alive!

>

> I'll probably just focus my efforts on the condi sceptre stuff. I just spent my only ever BL ticket on that shifting sands dagger, so I think I was trying to justify my purchase more than anything. Similar situation with the staff, I just built Azimuth and it looks great on my toon. I'll probably have that as a secondary like you said, although double torch does sound tempting.

 

You don't actually need two of the same weapon in both sets. on set 1 use main hand scepter and on set 2 use offhand torch. the game recognizes them as a set and lets you "swap" on CD normally. it lets you proc the geomancy sigil often without needing to make multiples of the same weapon.

 

How raid optimal is viper scourge or reaper since the last set of changes?

[Renita.7824]

> @Prophet.1584 said:

> > @Verdis.8472 said:

> > I never considered having two of the same weapon in both slots! What a time to be alive!

> >

> > I'll probably just focus my efforts on the condi sceptre stuff. I just spent my only ever BL ticket on that shifting sands dagger, so I think I was trying to justify my purchase more than anything. Similar situation with the staff, I just built Azimuth and it looks great on my toon. I'll probably have that as a secondary like you said, although double torch does sound tempting.

>

> You don't actually need two of the same weapon in both sets. on set 1 use main hand scepter and on set 2 use offhand torch. the game recognizes them as a set and lets you "swap" on CD normally. it lets you proc the geomancy sigil often without needing to make multiples of the same weapon.

>

> How raid optimal is viper scourge or reaper since the last set of changes?

 

Its optimal for sab and wing 5. I have killed every boss except deimos and wing 5 many many times in my statics on my scourge. You can be extremely effective on add fights. The only fight i do really poorly on is sam. Kc is not the best, but its honestly not as bad as you think. If you can epi an add full of condis onto the boss at the start of every burst phase its pretty ok, but that can be hard to coordinate so I just do it when the opportunity happens.

 

Scourge is fine on deimos, but my statics just havent been able to get a kill yet.

 

My personal proof that scourge is fine is that we kill bosses and i am not usually last in dps. And sometimes i am first.