How do you use your Death Shroud?

[Alaris]

How do you use DS to team healing?

[shadowhand]

With the Major Blood Magic trait: Transfusion (VI)

It heals everyone around you for 2628 life if your Life Transfer gets off all its ticks.

Personally, I prefer to heal my team with marks and with Well of Blood. But that's just me.

[Alaris]

Speaking of necro healing...

I like being support, but I also really don't want to give up my minions. Is there a good way I can have both?

[shadowhand]

Speaking of necro healing...

I like being support, but I also really don't want to give up my minions. Is there a good way I can have both?

Yes. At least this works for me:

30 Death Magic, Traits II, V and XI
30 Blood Magic, Traits VIII and XII (pick whichever adept trait you like, I'm a fan of "I" because I use staff and dagger/dagger mostly)

and the rest of your traits as you like.

I normally put 10 in Spite and pick III because it's convenient.

Switch between minion skills or wells as it suits your mood/purpose.

Meanwhile you'll be able to tough it out in melee range or at medium range while providing support with your marks and/or wells.

Switch the master and grandmaster traits in blood magic to VII and XI if you bring minions otherwise, keep the ones I suggested for wells.

[Alaris]

I need to run out and walk the dog... but seems to me that your solution requires me to trade off wells and minions. I was hoping for a hybrid rather than switching back and forth skills out of combat.

[sorudo]

i have a hybrid that works really well, i have 10 on blood, 20 on death, 20 on curse and 9 on spite. (can't remember the traits them selfs tho)
keep in mind that this is a lvl 69 character so i don't have it all sorted out, still makes me quite invincible against a group of enemies.

[shadowhand]

I can do either, yes or a hybrid of whatever minions/wells I like.

Ah, that was a bit vague I guess. Sorry, was attacked in game while typing. Anyway what I meant with the previous post is that you can specialize in either minions or wells with that 30/30 death/blood spread or pick a combination.

Normally I use mostly well of suffering and well of darkness with a flesh golem as my elite.

I'll immobilize tough foes (veterans) with dark pact and then switch to staff while dropping both wells.

Then I'll drop marks either at my own feet (still inside the wells) or at the feet of allies/foes that need it. (allies who need regeneration/debuff strips and foes that need killing of course.)

The third utility skill I swap out as necessary but for general pve I like spectral recall.

Now wells aren't always optimal so if I think they won't work, I swap my traits and skills for a more minion heavy build.

What I like about this setup is that I can fullfil more than one role without having to pay for a respec.

[Alaris]

Well, not exactly what I was looking for, but that's probably the best I can get... thanks for the advice.

I like how you don't have to pay for respec when you switch between minions and support, I didn't really think about this option before.

[RD]

I finally have an answer to this after last night.

I like to use it somewhat early in the fight, so there's a chance that I can use it more than once. But what I discovered I really enjoy is using it to help with AOE.

I was playing around with Axe/Horn last night and I love the AOE damage on that set. You've got Unholy Feast (which has an enormous range), Wail of Doom for stuns, and Locust Swarm for some great damage. Plus, my Necro is an Asura, so I have Pain Inverter on him. Life Transfer fits in perfectly here.

What I was doing last night was popping off Pain Inverter, then Unholy Feast, then Locust Swarm, then Wail of Doom. Then I'd switch into DS for Life Transfer. If anything was still alive after it, I'd end DS and pop off any of the regular skills that were back.

[sorudo]

i am actually using dagger/horn as secondary weapon, gives me the ability to hit hard while being able to root them.
and since i use the staff as a primary attack force it's good to be able to keep them off you, in case a powerful enemy overwhelms you use dark pact and switch to the staff, cast chillblains to slow it down while you call a minion out to stay out of harms way.
in case it doesn't attack the minion in one go, cast mark of blood, dodge away and cast reapers mark.

it saved me allot of times, ones even killed a few veterans in one go because they could simply not catch me.