Support Scourge (PvE)(need help)

[Ubie.9348]

Hey everyone,

 

So I've made a Scourge Necromancer a while ago and wanted to play Scourge support for PvE like dungeons/fractals/raids and open world events.

First of all I want to say that I know that Support Scourge right now is not in the most optimal spec to be played. (I always choose classes and specs that are "bad" by accident XD but I try to keep rollin with it xD).

I thought by looking at metabuilds it would be easy to choose the right way to play a spec and which gear I should wear but after reading through a lot of forum posts, watching videos and looking at metabuilds itself I got left a bit confused since there are a lot of builds with totally different gear.

I heard people say to wear Seraph's or Plaguedoctor and other times people say to wear Magi and-\or Harrier. (also Shaman, Apothecary and probably even more stuff).

So I've ended up not knowing what I should do at all... :skull:

 

I wanted to ask for your experience in Fractals and Raiding as support Scourge and how you have build your character and do you get positive feedback from people you have played with?

I think that also will be the most updated information from since a lot of guides/forums info is outdated :)

 

Already thx for your comments!

[Anchoku.8142]

Scourge can be tuned to provide varying amounts of support, or none at all. Joining a group with a support-heavy build may not be what your group members want. They may want you playing full dps.

 

If your group struggles with maintaining dps, for example they play a lot of ranged, are downed, or flat-out dead, then add some supporty traits like transfusion and see if it helps your group clear the content. There is no "meta" for support-Scourge because needing it means your group is struggling. If your group only needs a little support, just add enough to get the clear. That could be only a single trait change on a berserker or viper build, it could be a full heal-stat and barrier-spam build, or it could be someone is kicked and an advert placed for a Druid.

 

Don't nerf your dps more than necessary to keep your group's dps up.

[starlinvf.1358]

Plague Doctors is a new stats, so it'll take a little bit of time to get enough practical data on how it holds up in builds. As for the meta builds, theres caveat of they tend to ignore player skill, and assume they're able to do whatever rotation is listed without mistakes. This is rarely true, because Raids involve a lot of movement to deal with hazards, resources stretched, and mistakes are going to be made. As a result, Meta Team Comps are overly specialized on the assumption that certain roles are being carried correctly, thus there is no need to bring alt/support unless a class already does it in its optimal config. IE: DPS Firebrands still have Resolve and Courage tomes they can use can use in a pinch, but will not actively invest in them, since they never should be needed. Kalla is an Alt/Support but still built as DPS, and can replace a Druid for might stacking in fights that require splitting up. Its not that Kalla builds specifically to might stack (which Druid normally does), but is just a function they can get with little to no trade off from their DPS choices. Druid obviously does this better, which is why its primary...... but Kalla can fill that role (as well as Alacrity) for a sub group without having to bring a second, fully support speced Druid.

 

So if its not Benchmark worthy DPS, Support, or Fight specific utility, most Meta build repositories won't spend resources to test/record them. As a side effect, they only list each class's most effective builds, which generally limits it to 3 types...... Condi DPS, Power DPS, and Support.

 

 

This issue could be fixed by more community involvement.... but gearing up characters are Expensive, and tests on PvP Golems can't do odd mixtures of stats. So very few people, outside of a small circle of researchers, are doing testing and sharing their data.... creating an over-reliance on the few that do. People used to just point to meta battle whenever build questions came up, and created an expectation for people to just copy whats on there. Then qtfy gained popularity because of the benchmark data; only to have that become a measuring stick of "how bad players are" in comparison to "what they should be getting". And you'd think ArkDPS would had helped explore new builds and see what works...... but thats not whats its being used for. Upkeeping benchmarks is also a huge effort..... which is why most of the effort is focused on the most viable, best performing options they can find. The reason you don't see much discussion involving "off meta" builds, is Raid meta is only interested in solid carry or speed clearing builds, and would rather throw a player out of a group then consciously make adjustments to a team comp. Most folks are also only interested in clearing for rewards, and copying meta builds are the lowest effort way of accomplishing that.

[Ubie.9348]

@starlinvf.1358

Yeah I get this elitist vibe from this game, there are a lot of combinations possible but only a few of them are "allowed" to be played in raids or t4 fractals. And there is also soo much choice in builds and gear and so low amount of information how to use everything it's mind boggling..

I'm not a too rich player and don't have a lot of time to play this game since work, school etc. so giving me a bit of direction of how to build a character that I like and be able to do all the content would be a blessing. I don't mind grinding a lot for stuff but this directionless feeling bothers me a lot.

This game calls itself a casual mmorpg but it's harder than most mmorpg because it overwhelms you with 10000 choices where 1-2 are maybe viable.

I can do heroic/mythic raiding in WoW and it's easier to get there than raids in GW2 XD

[Hesacon.8735]

You can definitely do some support in a mostly DPS build on scourge, but I wouldn't recommend pure support for the reasons already mentioned.

 

If you spec literally nothing into healing power, the barrier and condi cleanse in scourge can still be very helpful as many classes struggle with condis. Blood magic is surprisingly good as well. Divinity runes can help with support and are seriously underrated on scourge. I use the following build in T4 fractals and nobody ever complains:

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRUQNAnfGn0ICt2gd3A83glcBDKA0AWBTXhlQSQvwuYjsA-jhCFQBA4EA4TNB6T9HBcEAa5hAIE7PkG9AJR5HfUCSgHAQAgDgzbezPPw5nf+5nfeN/8zP/8zP/8zPfQAlD-e

 

You can go more DPS in it, I just choose not to because similar gear functions as my wvw build and I'm too lazy to swap gear.

[Tobias.8632]

The problem is that healer scourge is so niche that every single different use for it requires a different build. You need to take into account your access to life force to decide whether to take stats with vitality or toughness or neither, you need to take into account whether your boon output is going to matter or not, if you're playing with a chronomancer then concentration is worthless to you, if you don't have a chrono then suddenly plaguedoctor has value because you can supply might to your group. One main underlying problem is that transfusion is an extremely weak heal, even flipping all my legendaries to healing power it only heals for like 700 per tick and the cooldown is still kinda long, compared to the insane sustained and burst healing that most other classes like druid, ventari rev, or auramancer can do it's like sure scourge is great at rezzing people from downstate but you'd get more group dps by having people never go into downstate in the first place with a stronger healer. Barrier output also isn't enough, you get like 2k on your shade placement and 2k on that one shade skill and then a decent bust barrier with your heal skill and that's it.

 

tl;dr scourge support is still a meme don't do it

[Conqueror.3682]

Apothecary is used in WvW for the toughness. But if you wan to try to do support, and do reasonable dps you can try a mix of viper and plaguedoctor.

 

The idea is to give support in the form of barriers and give might to your teammates, Oppressive Collapse can give up to 18 stacks of might in a single blow when you are hitting a boss with many conditions, blood is power gives little stacks of might, but with 21 seconds duration.

 

I have never seen Scourge as a healer in the form of healing, but more of a damage mitigator because is the spec with the most barrier management in the game, i mean, i have done [this build](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArfWnE9CN9iV3AW9Cs9iFjBjqJEFqV6r14aeN6nFAOAA-jxh0ABBcCAMTJIUK/A4BAsq6PwoPos9HWHgA4rf9rf9rftB41v+1v+1v+1v+1vGA-e "this build"), still dont tested yet, but you can put sand flare, manifest sand shade and sand cascade at the same time in an ally and you will give them a barrier of 8800 hp, which is more than 50% of max hp for some professions, you will put that same amount into yourself too, so, combined with Sand shroud you will have a barrier of 14k hp.

 

You can give some support in the form of might stacking while in full viper, but is hard to maintain permanent might withouth concentration. Im really optimistic with a full plaguedoctor build and really want to test it to see if i can maintain alive my pertners while in a fractal or fighting a boss elsewhere.

[Shagaliscious.6281]

I run grieving armor, cele weapons and trinkets on my scourge, and I play a transfusion scourge for PVE events. Doing DS meta, I always go with the boss group, I get over 500k healing every boss fight, no one ever goes double down with me there.

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

@OP

 

You make a lot of good points OP, i share most of them. Now if it's direction you need, i'll happily provide you that.

Your direction should be legendary gear, starting with armor set. If you like offmeta like me, then this is the best goal and reward you can get - one set of gear, that has all stat sets that you can switch for free with a snap of a finger.

 

Now how to get that set? Certainly not by raiding. Raiding is by far the most costly and nerve-wracking method. You'll either bash your head against the wall with Pugs, or join a raiding guild where you're welcoming line will be "Hi. Got full ascended magi druid? No? Start building it!".

 

What you wanna do is go spvp learn the ropes if you haven't and grind ranked games. It is the fastest, cheapest, meta and kiss-ass free method to get that legendary armor. No bowing down to any guild or dealing with cancerous pugs. Even if your team hates you, next game you can get different ppl without lfgs and other disasters.

 

Also you can participate in daily automated tournaments and often walk away with 5g or better if it's a normal day and it's morning/noon. Rewards for doing ranked are big, fat and will help you get the ball rolling for buying/getting rest of materials needed for crafting that lege armor set.

 

Next goal should be a trinket set that will let you change stats. That would either be bloodstone trinkets from Bloodstone Fen or mist accessory set you can buy in spvp, WvW or Fractals. The latter has PoF stats selecetable (Bloodstone don't), but item for it's resetting is far more costly.

 

Also if you need blood rubies - say hi to spvp again. Bloodstone Fen reward track will give out 50 blood ruby box at end as a selectable reward. Also both spvp and WvW reward tracks give guaranteed 2 mystic clovers throughout their course.

 

 

Once you finish these two up feel free to go raiding. If any guild or pug give you trouble - fk'em. You already got legendary armor set on your own, so what's to lose if you don't see things their way?