In Depth Analysis: Rigor Mortis

[Hart]

This thread is intended for analysis of the Necromancer skill Rigor Mortis. The skill is linked to the Curses attribute and has stats of (10, 2, 30). The description for Rigor Mortis states, "For 8-18 seconds, target foe cannot block or evade."

In my opinion, this skill is a very powerful addition to any team which includes Warriors or Rangers as it allows for the negation of any of the major block/evade skills or spells. In typical use one could expect to frequently counter Aegis for the called target, or surprise a monk standing in a Ward vs Melee. Less commonly this skill can be used to counter any ranger or warrior stance which blocks or evades, the mesmer skill Distortion, and the elementalist skills Magnetic Aura and Swirling Aura.

I rarely see this skill used in Tombs or GvG. Part of that is the current Aeromancer trend and the fact that, for the most part, they don't need to 'hit' their target to do damage. However, I'm wondering why people who are running melee builds don't require at least one character on their team to run this spell. What spell or skill do you have in your build that could potentially be replaced by an 8-18 second period of free hits for your warriors and rangers?

In combination with Lingering Curse or Rend Enchantments you provide an opportunity to abuse an unprotected target. In combination with Weaken Armor all your attacks will hit for much more damage. A Well of the Profane followed by Rigor Mortis on the Guild Lord could very quickly spell game over in the Hall of Heros.

I don't want to post a wall of text, so let's see some character/team builds which use this skill to negate the opponents defense, or an explaination of why this skill should not be used in PvP.

[Cantos]

I was going to say it's a bad idea then I sat back and thought about it (and actually read the original post :rolleyes: ) and there are quite a lot of heavily used spells that this would work to counter (that I thought were uncounterable). It's a really good idea. Not something to base a build around, but something to definitely add to any build with a signifigant Warrior or Ranger contingent.

[Zyuu]

ive actually been toying with this and a few other skills the past few days

lingering -> rigor mortis -> barbs -> buffer hex of whatever (all from the necro)

works great with a good quick shot build, and/or warriors with built up adrenaline.. hardly anyone uses convert hexes in tombs lately from what ive seen, which would be the perfect counter for this.. protection monks too wrapped up with conditions and spike prevention

hard to get this together to try it w/o a guild though as a ranger, and if I play monk its so hard to find a ranger capable of making quick shot effective via runes.. I bet two quick shot rangers with this would tear up if they were built properly

Z

[Rizzy]

And ontop of transfer hex... this is why I hate necromancers. D:

[Feau Twenni]

not a bad spell for PvP, however it seems a tad bit situational, you dont wanna be wasting the energy/time for this spell if the target doesnt even have an evade buff, regardless its pretty good

[Sammiel]

not a bad spell for PvP, however it seems a tad bit situational, you dont wanna be wasting the energy/time for this spell if the target doesnt even have an evade buff, regardless its pretty good

Also, generally those that need the skill have other skills that will penetrate passive defences AND add extra affects depending on the defence type being penetrated. So those classes who truly want to blow through these effects already have a way, although it is probably slightly less effective in some respects and more effective in others.

[Hart]

The more I think about it, the more I like this skill on an Axe warrior. The build below assumes that you've got a Hammer W/Mo at your side with Smite Hex in case of Soothing Images.

W/N
Axe Mastery 12+
Curses 8+
Remaining attribute points in Strength.

Eviscerate [E]
Axe Rake
Executioners Strike
Penetrating Blow
Rigor Mortis
Plague Touch
Strip Enchantment
Rend Enchantments

Run to whatever target presents itself and swing away until enough adrenaline has been built up for both Eviscerate and Axe Rake. Switch to called target and use Rend Enchantments. If the target is standing in a Ward vs Melee, use Rigor Mortis. Close range and use Eviscerate + Rake for cripple. If RM has not been used and the opposing team uses Aegis, use RM (surprise!). If you are blinded, crippled, etc. use Plague Touch to transfer those conditions to the target. If the target becomes enchanted, use Strip Enchantments to remove the enchantment - probably Healing Hands, Healing Seed or Mark of Protection if used near the end of targets life.

Combined with a Hammer/Smiting W/Mo using knockdowns and Judges Insight the character above should be very effective. With Rigor Mortis on the target, the Eviscerate/Axe Rake combo works much more often. This is a substantial advantage because the weakness of the warrior's sword/axe combo system is that multiple attacks have to hit, which can be tricky with Ward vs Melee/Aegis. This snare combined with a the massive damage and knockdowns from the warrior can be a deadly combination to even a well prepared opponent.

Has anyone else worked this skill into a full character build?

[Herthbul]

Yes, but certainly not on a Warrior primary. Give it to a caster who has a Necro secondary and have him cast it. A Warrior's energy is low, plus you can just use Wild Blow. If it's Ward Against Melee, then have your caster use it.

[Carcassone]

Nice thinking Hart.


Rigor Mortis is a great skill....


I Hart I have a challenge to you!!!

Why not make a Warrior primary team build for PvP????

What do you think????

[Hart]

Yes, but certainly not on a Warrior primary. Give it to a caster who has a Necro secondary and have him cast it. A Warrior's energy is low, plus you can just use Wild Blow. If it's Ward Against Melee, then have your caster use it.

Well, at most you're looking at an enchanted opponent standing in a ward vs melee who uses a blind on you and gets seeded during the fight. This would suck up 35 total power, which is likely more than you'll accumulate throughout the course of the battle - it would take a warrior 21 seconds to accumulate the extra 15 power needed and the fight simply shouldn't last that long. However, I can't think of a more power-efficient way to deal with this situation; so I'm all ears for alternative suggestions.

In a more typical situation against an enchanted opponent I believe you would start with rend enchants and go into the axe attacks. You'll likely get the opponent about 1/2 dead before the opposing team does something defensive. The basic defensive options are blinding you, using Ward vs Melee, using an enchantment on the target (healing seed/hands, aegis, sympathetic visage), or using a hex on you (pacifism, soothing images, etc.). You are prepared to deal with the first three eventualities without calling for aid, and with a hex smiter on the team you're prepared for the fourth as well. Even a multi-layered defense which uses Aegis in combination with Ward vs Melee, Dust Trap, and Sympathetic Visage can be negated by this warrior in 25 power (rend, rigor, touch). At 25 power, that's only 7 seconds worth of regen time with your two pips of regen - only slightly more than the combined casting time of rend and rigor, and since plague touch is melee it's time you'd spend running to the target anyway.

I'll admit that I haven't played a warrior in PvP, but I've played the remaining 5 classes in PvP and a warrior in PvE; this seems like it would work. I still need to unlock Eviscerate to test the build, though. If you think the power requirement is too high for a warrior, what build would you suggest for a necromancer playing on his team? Also, how would you change this warrior? Would he still be a W/N, or a more standard W/Mo? Maybe a W/E could take advantage of the nearly guaranteed hit for a knockdown/aftershock combo?

[Cantos]

Yes, but certainly not on a Warrior primary. Give it to a caster who has a Necro secondary and have him cast it. A Warrior's energy is low, plus you can just use Wild Blow. If it's Ward Against Melee, then have your caster use it.

Yeah in a large scale organised pvp sense having a caster do it would probably be best, but saying that you shouldnt have Rigor Mortis on a warrior because they dont have the energy for it, then in the same breath declaring, "you can just use Wild Blow" is ridiculous. A warrior can either have high energy or not, but using Rigor Mortis is still going to be much more effective and energy efficient than spamming Wild Blow for the duration of a Ward Against Melee.

[Herthbul]

You have to realize that while you can remove enchantments and stop them from dodging, you're not dealing damage in that time span, so you're giving him plenty of time to either heal or be healed. That's the primary reason you give skills like Rend and Rigor to a caster. Those spells fit nicely in the downtime between the recharge times of certain spells, whereas for a Warrior, every second not attacking is a second not dealing damage. Plus I have to say having 4 energy skills, only 1 of which is a 5 energy skill, just won't work on a Warrior's energy supply unless you utilize Warrior's Endurance. But even then, you're still not dealing damage which is one of the primary purposes of a Warrior in PvP.

Btw, I said for stances you use Wild Blow. It doesn't work on Ward Against Melee anyway. Ward is the primary reason you carry Rigor anyway, considering it's an effect that cannot be removed in any way.

[Metavirulent]

I'm doing W/N and the strat you describe pretty much fits my setup. I'm using eviscerate, exec strike, disrupting chop, sprint, for great justice!, plague touch, rend enchantments and either rigor mortis or warriors cunning.

Warriors cunning is a bit shorter than rigor's but has 0 cast time which can save you some downtime. OTOH, you are the only one affected. It depends on who else is on your team (another physical hitter or not).

The build has no means to heal on its own so you depend on others for that. You could replace Rend Enchantments by Strip Enchantments but it is less "powerful".

The build can sometimes be effective, sometimes not, depending on what your opponents have prepared for you, what they do and how effectively they coordinate and how much your own team cooperates (and how much support you get).

Some spells still make you look stupid, like Ward against Foes (or other slow stuff), knockdowns, or hexes on you (particularly illusion) which you cannot remove on your own.

What generally makes it still work is that ppl are less preoccupied against warriors nowadays. During preparations, they pack a lot of damage dealing skills and anti-caster skills and just a few basic anti warrior skills to blind you, weaken you, or block/evade you. Then being buffed ontop of that they think that they have you covered and can focus on the real threats. With plague touch, rigor mortis and rend enchantments, you can get back into the game within a few seconds and make them preoccupied again.

It is particularly good against enemy monks as their usual things to counter you will not work out too well.

[Hart]

I just tried this over the weekend, and I'd have to agree with Herthbul - the two second cast time is just too long for a warrior to use mid-combat. I didn't run into any real power issues though; might just be the way I was using the skills or the groups we faced. After a few runs, I ended up with Rigor Mortis on an E/N instead, which worked out better.

16 Earth, 11 Energy Storage, 8 Curses
Ward vs Melee
Ward vs Elements
Obsidian Flame
Strip Enchantment
Rend Enchantments
Lingering Curse [E]
Rigor Mortis
Ressurection Signet

With a two warrior team this build worked well for the most part. As expected, Rigor Mortis gave us the element of surprise at the beginning of the match, especailly vs teams reliant on Aegis or Ward vs Melee. We tended to take our first target down very quickly, taking the first kill in 18 of 23 matches.

The problem became the 30 second recast. Rigor made a big differance for our group, and we basically got a kill every 30s until teams figured out what was killing them. Our hammer warrior in particular said that Rigor made a huge differance for him because his knockdowns always hit, so cripple wasn't needed to keep the target still.

I believe we did well in part because it was difficult for the opposing team to see what caused them to die. The warriors unleashed adrenaline immediately after Rigor Mortis hit and coordinated with the elementalist spike, which usually resulted in a 1-3s kill. I believe that the targets would have to have been looking at their condition bar and waiting for the spell to pop up in order to have identified it. I don't believe that the opposing team had time to identify and counter the hex before the warriors killed their target, and the preplanned defensive enchantments they brought were easily removed with Lingering Curse or Rend Enchantements when they were present.

In summary I now believe that rigor mortis is a must have for any team with two or more warriors because of the signifigant increase in damage it causes when those warriors are faced with a character who can block or evade their attacks as well as the difficulty of countering the skill.

[Keir M]

Fascinating stuff - my thanks to you all.