Scourge - Power Scourge

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Overview

Power Scourge brings extremely high power damage with good spikes and sustained damage potential, along with the usual Scourge boon corrupts.

Skill Bar

Axe/FocusHealingUtilityElite

Staff

Skill Variants

Utility

Ranged boon corrupt and barrier.
For extra lifeforce and stunbreak.
Defensive mobility and situational utility.

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

suited for melee ball style

Equipment

6x

Superior Rune of the Scholar

18x

Mighty WvW Infusion

Consumables

feast option with additional power and ferocity.

Variants

Stats

A full Berserker's set will give higher effective power at the cost of health and armour, there Marauder can be added to regain health and a bigger life force pool.
Marauder and Cavalier's can be switched around to fine tune defensive values.

Sigils

- higher effective Power than Bloodlust but vulnerable to Weakness.
On Staff

Runes

Reasonable damage and high self sustain if kills are frequent.
High damage and might uptime

Food

Higher damage if you can guarantee 25 might stacks.

Usage

Elite especialization basics

This is how the shade mechanic works: if you have no active shade () in the world, all your F2-F5 skills will proc around you. If you do have an active shade, all your shade shade skills, and related traits, will only affect the active shade area, not you.
Therefore, depending on you group playstyle, you may not want to place a shade at all, and behave yourself like a mobile shade, doing damage while in melee, and benefiting from the barrier and cleanse. However, being able to 900-range spike can be superior if coordinating shade cooldowns, and knowing when and where to place your . The self support aspect of the shade skills is mostly irrelevant, since you run with dedicated supports in WvW zergs.

Shroud

All of your shade skills will proc the strike of (F1), whichs means you want to instantly use then, as soon as you land your F1, to maximize damage. All of then hit up to 10 targets due to .
Shroud traits proc as if the shade skills counted as that shroud skill. All of then proc .
Traits that proc on going in/out of
- , ,
and can be used before landing a shade, for extra barrier and cleanse.
will continue pulsing if a new shade is summoned at the location of the new shade so there should be no worry about repositioning shades when needed.
Shade usage order (with enough life force)
- Using F1 ⇒ ⇒ ++
- Not using F1 (on melee) ⇒ ++

General

Scourge brings strong damage through his shade skills, barrier access and boonrip.

Positioning, reacting fast and timing your dodges well are key. You don't have evade skills nor immunities like other classes, and your support classes won't be able to babysit you all the time.
The weapon sets and combinations aren't an agreement. Axe/Torch for example has strong melee pressure, whilst Axe/Focus has an amazing single target spike. The way you choose between weapons is going to be based mainly in your playstyle and in what your group want you to focus on.
Both your shade and wells skills are really important and shouldnt be used mindlessly. Coordinate these with your group to maximize its effectiveness.
- and are a significant part of your damage and boonrip outside of weapon skills and shroud. Try to cast then along with to benefit from the modifiers from Soul Reaping spec. Place then on top of the enemy group, along friendly and your team pressure.
will be used for the group barrier share before and during extended engages.
is the only stunbreak in the build. Don't waste if for the stability of the swiftness it gives. Can be also used when pushing melee for the boonrip trail it provides, but its not encouraged.
is going to be dropped if the enemy is hard commiting into a melee push, to panic disrupt then. Can also be used offensively on melee, to stack AoE fields on top of the enemy stack and lock then down through corrupts and conditions.

Axe/Focus

is one of your most powerful melee skills, try to use it as often as possible for AoE boon corruption and extra damage on low targets.
a strong life force generator and high single target damage skill. Useful for a quick downed cleave.
is a rather strong filler for single target damage.
deals even more damage on targets with boons. Try to land it on squish foes, like weavers and scourges. It's also a boonrip, not a corrupt skill.
Try to land on downed bodies, to ensure the projectile will connect, granting some life force and Vulnerability stack.
- Spike combo: ⇒ ⇒

Staff

Staff auto attacks are low impact and its abilities relatively long cooldowns, so the best use of the weapon is to use its cooldown skills then swap out as soon as possible.
Use and to build area condi stacks.
deals very good damage and removes conditions. Should be used along with shades and wells.
Interrupt key skills with the fear of .