Archive:N/Me Prophecies SS Nuker

The SS Nuker is a popular PvE build. It is primarily used in farming groups in Sorrow's Furnace, The Underworld and any area where tanking and rounding up enemies is easily done. With proper tanking and aggro control, an SS Nuker is probably the most devastating weapon against computer-controlled groups of enemies. This build has completely replaced the traditional elementalist nuking in certain areas such as the Deldrimor War Camp.

The core of the build is the elite hex spell Spiteful Spirit, commonly abbreviated as SS. The spell damages the target foe and all adjacent foes whenever that target attacks or uses a skill. The basic principle of the build is to place this hex on as many adjacent foes as possible and simply watch them kill each other.

Beware when facing mesmers in PvP or PvE, since Spiteful Spirit will be stopped in its tracks if a mesmer uses Signet of Humility.

Attributes and Skills
[build prof=necro/mesme curses=12+3+1 bloodm=2+1 soulre=8+1 or +3 illusi=10==skillset][spiteful spirit][arcane echo][desecrate enchantments][sympathetic visage][awaken the blood][spinal shivers][blood ritual][resurrection signet][/build]

Equipment
Ideally, Villnar's Glove as a focus item and the Truncheon from Uderit Ignis as a weapon. (Characters with access to Factions can obtain the 20/20 Curses Wailing Wand from Gertrud or Telamon.) These combine for a 36% chance to halve the recharge time of Curses (including a 4% chance of making it 4 times faster), meaning that SS can be used 4 times in the span of 10 seconds a third of the time, as well as having a 20% chance to halve the casting time of Curse. Also, note that the Wailing Wand uses cold damage, meaning that it will also activate the Spinal Shivers skill, fixing the problem that other collector's weapons have posed. Another great weapon would be the end-game |Wayward Wand from the factions campaign. However, for those who don't have factions, the next best weapon would be the Truncheon from Uderit Ignis. It doesn't have the cold damage needed to activate Spinal Shivers but you can always switch to another weapon.

Usage
The success of this build relies on careful placement of SS on the proper targets. This follows a few steps:
 * 1) The better the tank is at gathering enemies the more successful SS will be. It is not just enough to walk up to the enemies with the master gear and let them pound on you. A good tank who understands SS should make sure they are as closely packed as possible. Computer-controlled mobs tend to surround the tank. He/she should then take a step back so that they are all lined up better. Basically, if two enemies around the tank are more than 90 degrees apart then they will not be hit by the same SS. In addition, the tank should have situational awareness. If there are enemy warriors and enemy casters, it is easier on everyone if he/she takes the warriors to the casters so SS can kill them all together faster.
 * 2) The SS Nuker (conscious of the aggro distribution around the tank), should invoke Awaken the Blood, then Arcane Echo and then proceed to carefully place the first two SS on two adjacent targets.
 * 3) As the SS Nuker regains energy he/she can choose to either invoke Desecrate Enchantments or wait a little longer and place a third SS. If the enemies are non-casters, a third SS is more beneficial, if the enemies are casters (especially slow casting elementalists), then Desecrate is the better choice.
 * 4) To overcome enemy monks, the SS Nuker can choose to use Sympathetic Visage (commonly abbreviated as SV) if the tank is adjacent to the monks and is being hit in melee. SV will drain the monks' energy and they will fall quickly to SS. If it's just one monk and the SS Nuker is part of a bigger team, he/she can choose instead to place Spinal Shivers on the monk and interrupt that monk with a cold damage weapon.
 * 5) Blood Ritual is just used as a quick supply of energy for other party members.

You may also:
 * Swap in Suffering instead of Spinal Shivers for health degeneration.
 * Swap in Putrid Explosion instead of Spinal Shivers (and move some attribute points to Death Magic from Illusion Magic) for a strong finishing move to kill enemies who remain standing after the SS hexed enemies die.

Area Specific Guide Lines
These are guidelines for SS nuking in certain areas:

The Underworld: 55-SS 2-man Team
 * In the Underworld, SS easily dispatches most foes, if the Invincible Monk can stay alive. The only difficuly (in killing) comes with the Smite Crawlers who use Smite Hex to remove SS. They are, fortunately, melee attackers. Therefore, the SS Nuker simply needs to place SV on the monk. In the above build (with 12 Illusion Magic), one SV is enough along with two SS. If the nuker's SV is shorter however, he/she may prefer to echo SV instead to keep the Smite Crawlers' energy down. Smite Crawlers are also equipped with no less than four enchantments, in many cases echoing Desecrate Enchantments can take down an entire group before the first casting of Sympathetic Visage runs out. Another build is to use Suffering to waste the groups' smite hexes, then applying SS and a cover hex to ensure SS stays on the smites for the entire duration.
 * A good complementary skill instead of Spinal shivers would be Conjure Phantasm to help quickly dispatch a single Bladed Aatxe. Another choice (for those who venture deeper), is Mantra of Concentration to allow the SS Nuker to get SS off against the Mindblade Spectres.
 * Another good complementary skill is Power Drain, which is used on the dying nightmares when casting Rend Enchantments. This will give both the Necro and the Invincible Monk enough time to kill the dying nightmare while keeping the monk alive.
 * Reckless Haste also works well with SS. Reckless Haste causes the mobs to swing faster, causing more damage from Spiteful Spirit.

The Ruins of the Tomb of the Primeval Kings:
 * If the tank can successfully hold the aggro of the |Grasps of Insanity, then SS will work efficiently on them. SV can help mitigate some of their damage as well. A good utility skill to bring in place of Spinal Shivers is Enfeebling Blood.

Sorrow's Furnace:
 * In Sorrow's Furnace, SV and Illusion Magic are not as important. The SS Nuker may choose to invest the points in Death Magic for more direct damage dealing or harmful wells. Beware though as wells and Putrid Explosion will use up the corpses needed by the Minion Master in the party. Alternatively, the SS Nuker may invest in Blood Magic and use life stealing skills.

Fissure of Woe
 * In the Fissure of Woe the Shadow Beasts use Spiteful Spirit which makes Inspired Hex an excellent utility skill for this area as it will net the necromancer extra energy if Inspiration Magic is high enough as well as remove the hex from a party member and give the necromancer another copy of Spiteful Spirit to cast. This is especially useful when Arcane Echo is recharging.  The most likely candidate skill for replacement is Sympathetic Visage as this will allow attribute points spent in illusion magic to be reallocated to inspiration.  The loss of damage mitigation from the replacement of Sympathetic Visage is arguably made up for by the additional damage mitigation of hex removal from Inspired Hex as well as the added damage from an extra copy of Spiteful Spirit.