Talk:Soul Taker

DAGGER SPAM DEMONIC FLESH / DARK AURA LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO 174.75.74.198 19:33, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Need to see how well heroes use Dark Aura. Maintaining it on yourself is a bit unwieldy. --DANDY ^_^ -- 21:47, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Hero didn't cast it on me when I was hitting Master of Damage. Bummer. --DANDY ^_^ -- 22:30, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Scythe, Multi attacks

Does the health loss triggers for each foe struck or for each attack? Be careful that some skills make you strike twice simultaneously (forked arrow I think). How does it work with Dark Aura? Can someone check? - - Ruine Eternelle 22:34, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Edit : also is it bonus armor ignoring damage?

All added damage is armor ignoring 213.249.223.66 07:52, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

It's a bit weird, apparently. Scythe attacks on multiple targets, Cyclone Axe and Triple Shot all proc Dark Aura only once. Dagger dual attacks proc it twice, though. --DANDY ^_^ -- 09:39, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

How is that weird? 1 swing = 1 swing, 2 stabs = 2 stabs. 100.15.46.231 01:20, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Because you would expect attacks that hit multiple times, like Twin Moon Sweep, to proc the sacrifice twice. That's not the case. --DANDY ^_^ -- 01:39, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Does it trigger the health sacrifice for each struck foe when using Cyclone Axe ?--Ruine Eternelle 09:44, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

No. --DANDY ^_^ -- 10:09, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

@Dandy You're sure that Twin moon sweep doesn't trigger it twice? That goes against everything we know about twin moon sweep/sun and moon slash.174.75.74.198 14:45, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

No? TMS attacks once, hits twice. S&MS attacks twice, hits once each time. It behaves exactly as expected. - Infinite - talk 15:38, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

Sacrifice or health loss?

The description mentions sacrifice specifically, but a key mechanic of sacrifice is that it is always percentage based. Does that mean that mechanically this skill causes health loss instead? Doesn't have to be, of course, given the amount of inconsistencies introduced with the update. - Infinite - talk 23:49, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

It is sacrifice because it procs Dark Aura. I don't agree that being percentage based is a key feature of sacrifice skills, but this is indeed notable for being the only one that has a flat sacrifice value. --DANDY ^_^ -- 23:57, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

How to get most damage?

I'm trying: Soul Taker, Dark Aura, Masochism, Mystic Regeneration, Mystic Vigor, Aura of Thorns, Conviction (or other flash enchantments), Drunken Master. Dark Aura triggers with each attack and enchantment cast, including flash enchantments which can be used while attacking. And use a sword or axe with a shield, there is no need for a scythe. The damage is good, but you have low defense and are prone enchantment removals. I would suggest some defense set up (like ST rit) before you go into battle.

Edit: failed exhausting strikes seemed to deal very good damage too.--211.76.246.56 01:04, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

From what I have seen :

You get most damage with daggers, as double strikes trigger soul Taker twice. Hence the exhausting assault stuff. dagger spammer build also has short activation times. Consume Corpse and Signet of Lost Souls can help recover the lost energy and health, though Taste of Pain and Soul Feast as stronger self heals. Note about shadow sanctuary : it's a good protection skill, and you can still deal damage with Dark Aura even if you miss with blind.

However it's even more unsafe than sword or axe and gives 8 skills syndrome. I believe axe shield is the second best option, due to Cyclone Axe and Whirlwind Attack, while getting armor boost from shield. Flurry for ias, "I am Unstoppable!" for more armor. Great Dwarf Armor same as iau but can serve as cover ench. -- Ruine Eternelle 07:12, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Edit : yes exhausting assault spam is fun.

Exhausting Stuff

Signet of Lost Souls for small energy and healing. Taste of Pain is another self heal without needing a corpse. Consume Corpse alternative to soul feast that gives energy. Thoughts? --Ruine Eternelle 20:21, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

I don't think anyone needs a self-heal skill to run the first four skills. Heroes take care of the health loss and it isn't at a pace that they cannot keep up with. If you have a BiP in the party, energy management is not highly necessary either. Things should drop dead before you run out of energy with the increased regeneration. Disenchantment skills are an issue, though. As soon as you lose ST or DA you're left to do nothing. I think standard issue dagger spam plus Exhausting Assault out of sequence works best overall, depending on what groups you're facing and how heavily you get stripped. Drop Masochism as its benefits are miniscule. Daggers of Defence may be best for casters in melee range, because health doesn't drop extremely fast and higher armour is always better than higher health. As for the tang, there's not a lot of option to work with. I guess it depends on the two optional skills. Depending on party setup, no optional skills have to be used for additional survival. This leaves utility skills like Air of Superiority. - Infinite - talk 20:51, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

EDIT: Soul Reaping 12 (+1+3 AND +1), Death Magic 8 (+1+3 AND +1), Dagger Mastery 10 - switch headgear for casting main enchantments, or give DA to a hero and max out Soul Reaping and Dagger Mastery both.

Jagged Strike

Fox Fangs

Death Blossom

Exhausting Assault

Optional

Optional

Dark Aura

Soul Taker

Run either chain or Exhausting Assault depending on the uptime of the enchantments (spam EA for quick AoE kills. Bring AoE snares for HM on a hero/party member. Use chain when stripped or dealing with single targets). - Infinite - talk 21:14, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Dark Aura can come from external source indeed. Masochism is mostly there to get +2 death magic for dark aura, as well as additional dark aura proc on all spells (if the team has heroic Refrain you get a 20 death magic easily so you can drop Masochism). I'd advocate for low SR to reduce Soul Taker's toll, but this means slightly less energy on deaths and damage from pure attacks . Max health and armor is a must. I know Withering Aura is a good cover ench. I was also thinking about Death Nova as additional cover and damage incase you die. If you can get a BiP sure no need for energy management, but otherwise you need something. - - Ruine Eternelle 21:40, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Also if facing very heavy enchantment removal maybe bring spell breaker/can't touch this. - - Ruine Eternelle 21:46, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

So far this is what I'm using. You need health sacrifice skills for the AI to use Dark Aura on you, unless you micromanage them. Since you only need some small investment in soul reaping (for soul taker's duration) there's actually a huge amount of unspent attribute points, I went for this build with 7 SR, 6 Curses, 11 dagger Mastery, 11 shadow arts. Still optimizing--Ruine Eternelle 11:35, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

I mean, sure, but the whole point of a Necromancer (and also why it is the best profession next to Mesmer) is Soul Reaping being extremely OP. That's basically the only reason to run Necromancer to begin with, so to not spec a lot of points in it seems like a handicap you don't want or need. In any proper team build your heroes and party members can easily keep you alive (you don't need more than 500 maximum health in practically any content of the game, so anything over that amount is extra padding), but you're going to be spamming AoE and running through energy that will instantly refill when the first AoE kills come in. Set up again, repeat, and by then Soul Reaping can trigger again.

I went through a good deal of DoA in HM with heroes just to try this combo and it's surprisingly effective in its core. No need to spread attributes very thinly at all. Call the few disenchantment foes before charging in, heroes shut them down, you start spamming hundreds of damage AoE at a very high pace and groups wipe in seconds. Full energy again to take care of the remaining ones. Simple stuff. - Infinite - talk 14:29, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

new update

Will this still trigger Dark Aura through blind or block? 174.75.74.198 15:08, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

It still does if you miss due to blind. Shadow Sanctuary--Ruine Eternelle 15:49, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

Edit : also if the enemy blocks. Whiptail Devourer --Ruine Eternelle 16:03, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

Illusionary Weaponry...

...differences? Thoughts? Because all I see is an IW variant with far less damage, a health cost, a shorter recharge, and no potential for armor bonus. Am I wrong here? --Ulterion1338 (talk) 14:58, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

I think you are missing Dark Aura.

Without Dark Aura, with 12 SR against 60 AR in theory you deal about 30+19 = 49 average damage (Anniversary scythe customized), not counting mods. Versus 34 at 12 IM with IW. However it scales faster for IW and in end game the AR is so high IW will deal more damage.

Also soul reaping is a bit better than illusion magic. And you can use a ranged weapon. But you are right it's not as good without dark Aura. -- Ruine Eternelle 17:35, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

Effective maps clearing

I have seen it in action and it's a fact that not even elite areas are elite any more. I have seen such areas being cleared in 3 minutes flat. More and more teams include 8 necro/dervishes or necro/assassins. Yseron - 90.65.49.195 14:53, 30 June 2021 (UTC)