Scourge - Condi DPS

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Condition damage and Utility

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on July 02, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition DPS and utility build for Scourge. While not the highest DPS build, this build provides decent sustained DPS and bonus AoE cleave with Epidemic. It also provides incidental support for its subgroup by generating Might, cleansing conditions, and overhealing allies with barrier.

Scourge is mainly a utility class and excels in encounters where it can play to its strengths, namely Epidemic and defensive support. It also deals relatively high ranged damage and isn't reliant on Might or healing, which makes it good for roles such as flak kiting at Sabetha.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Torch

X/Warhorn

Utility

Skill Variants

Healing

• Signet of Vampirism is lower healing, but higher DPS than Summon Blood Fiend. Be aware that it will hit the closest enemy rather than your target, so in some encounters it might end up being unreliable.
• Well of Blood is the largest personal heal if you'd rather have safety than damage, and can heal allies without needing a target.

Utility

• Epidemic if you need cleave. Even post-nerf it is a strong skill.
• Trail of Anguish If you need Stability.
• Corrosive Poison Cloud if projectile absorb is needed.
• Sand Swell - 900 range portal, useful for mobility on certain fights.
• Spectral Grasp is a 1200 range 5-target pull.

Never swap out Blood Is Power.

Elite

• Summon Flesh Golem for more CC. It's a fairly large DPS loss to bring, but can be helpful in particular on encounters where the boss is unlikely to stand still long enough for all your pulses of Plaguelands to hit.

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Specializations

Trait Variants

• Use Parasitic Contagion for self heal at a ~15% DPS loss.
• Take Sadistic Searing if you are running any Punishment skills.

Specialization Variants

Taking Blood Magic instead of Soul Reaping is a major DPS loss, but provides more support through minor healing and Transfusion. Should only be considered in training runs or struggling groups where you're desperate for the sustain.

• Blood Bond is higher DPS and offers a tiny bit of group sustain, but if you need Blood Magic you probably need Ritual of Life.
• If taking Ritual of Life, consider using Well of Blood as your healing skill.

Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Scepter
Viper

Torch
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Warhorn
Viper

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Equipment Variants

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Lich gains extra damage in cases where there are additional sources of life force, thanks to the extra vitality. This allows you to spam shade skills more frequently, and it is also easier to obtain that Rune of Superior Rune of the Nightmare.
  • If using Rune of Superior Rune of the Lich you should use (or ascended versions).

Consumables

Food

• • Using (or similar) would be a small DPS loss, but allow you to benefit from the ascended food buffs.

Utility

• or

Usage

Rotation

Opener

1. Manifest Sand Shade Have 3 before the fight starts
2. Blood Is Power Optional extra cast, may get cleansed by allies
3. Plaguelands
4. Blood Is Power
5. Desert Shroud

DPS Priority

After the opener, just use skills as they become available, with the following priority:

1. Desert Shroud off cooldown with Blood Is Power after
2. Devouring Darkness
3. Harrowing Wave
4. Oppressive Collapse
5. Grasping Dead
6. Haunt and Plaguelands off cooldown
7. Manifest Sand Shade making sure to keep 3 shades up
8. Scepter autoattack chain, making sure to get the 3rd attack

Video Example

General Tips

• Use Desert Shroud ⇒ Blood Is Power wherever possible to transfer the self-condis to your target via Plague Sending.
• Don't let Blood Is Power reach maximum charges.
• Try to finish your autoattack chains.
• If using Epidemic, use it whenever there are enemies near the main target.
• Feel free to use Nefarious Favor, Sand Cascade, or Garish Pillar if life force is over capping, or to support your teammates with cleanses, barriers, and CC.
  • Be aware that in very low-pressure encounters, too much barrier can actually end up robbing druids of CA generation.
• The cast time on Plaguelands is pretty long, so it is efficient to "precast" the skill just before the boss becomes vulnerable.
• On encounters where the boss becomes Exposed, you can do a huge amount of damage by lining this up with Plaguelands.
  • Ideally you want Plaguelands to be finishing its 10th pulse as the boss becomes broken, which usually means casting it at the start of the phase, or as soon as you see the defiance bar appears.
• Changes in attributes such as condi damage can change which condis are transferred first via Plague Sending. This is usually not an issue those, since Rune of Superior Rune of the Nightmare will transfer one extra condition, allowing you to do your opening as normal.

Breakbar

• Oppressive Collapse
• Your best option without losing DPS are soft CCs such as cripple, blindness, and fear from Garish Pillar.
• Summon Flesh Golem is one of the strongest crowd control skills the necromancer has, but you give up Plaguelands by taking it.
• In emergencies, you can swap to warhorn for Wail of Doom.

Pylon Kiting

Scourge is one of the classes best suited to Pylon Kiting at the Qadim the Peerless encounter. You should make the following modifications to the build:

Skills

• You probably want to change the healing skill to something such as Sand Flare as Qadim will be out of range of the passive lifesteal of Signet of Vampirism.
• Replace Summon Shadow Fiend with Sand Swell so that you can reach orbs quickly.
• Summon Flesh Golem is nice to have as you will rarely be in range to use Plaguelands. This allows you to help CC your pylon, as well as any distortions that aren't taken care of.

Traits

• Sadistic Searing might be a good option.

Other trait options will depend on the amount of sustain you feel you need to keep yourself alive:

• The most aggressive option is to run the Blood Magic specialization as described above. Using Garish Pillar off cooldown should be enough to keep you alive if no orbs are dropped.
• Alternatively (or perhaps in addition to, if you really need the healing), taking Parasitic Contagion in Curses provides a good amount of sustain provided you are able to maintain damage on Qadim.

Gear

• If you are running Blood Magic, you may find that you struggle with life force. In this case it might be advisable to have a Focus in your offhand so that you can hit the boss with Soul Grasp
• If you want to be as safe as possible, you can also use Rune of Superior Rune of Tormenting so give yourself good Regeneration uptime.

Encounter-specific Tips

Spirit Vale

Vale Guardian

• You can use Sand Swell to allow greens to teleport to it.
• If skipping greens, you can help the group by providing barrier with Desert Empowerment and Sand Cascade just before the green hits.
• Epidemic can be used to copy Chill, Cripple or Immobilize to nearby Seekers, keeping them away from the group. With multiple necros you can also "bounce" the conditions from the boss with one Epidemic, then having another use it on the seeker, copying them back to the boss for big damage.
  • If you use Garish Pillar in the middle of the Epidemic cast, you can also copy Fear keeping the seekers away for even longer.

For more information, see our Vale Guardian Guide.

Spirit Woods

• Abuse the Adrenaline Mushrooms as much as possible.
• You can use Sand Swell to allow fast traveling for you and your group.
• Trail of Anguish might be useful if your supports aren't providing Stability.

For more information, see our Spirit Woods Guide.

Gorseval the Multifarious

• Use Epidemic for the adds.
  • You can use Epidemic to clear orbs as well.
• Use Summon Flesh Golem if cc is needed.
• Use your barrier abilities in the cc phase to support the healers.

For more information, see our Gorseval the Multifarious Guide.

Bandit event

• Epidemic can be pretty useful here.
• Trail of Anguish might be useful if your supports aren't providing Stability.

Sabetha the Saboteur

• Epidemic is extremely useful against the turrets and adds.
  • If you save it when the minibosses are active, you can immediately use Epidemic to copy conditions to Sabetha when the minibosses reach 25% health.

For more information, see our Sabetha the Saboteur Guide.

Salvation Pass

Slothasor

• Nefarious Favor converts conditions to boons on an extremely low cd - useful for if you get Feared.
• Take advantage of Epidemic to kill the Slublings. Pay attention to not kill your teammate who is clearing the mushrooms!
• You can place Corrosive Poison Cloud slightly on the boss and to the center of the room.

For more information, see our Slothasor Guide.

Bandit Trio

• As a fully ranged class, you are an ideal candidate to throw kegs when Narella spawns.

For more information, see our Bandit Trio Guide.

Matthias Gabrel

• Nefarious Favor converts conditions to boons on an extremely low cd.
• Epidemic is not needed, so you could take one of the following:
  • You can use Sand Swell to teleport out for poison or corruption.
  • Plague Signet is a stunbreak, but more importantly it can pull a huge number of Poison stacks onto you, which you can then transfer to Matthias for extra damage.
  • Spectral Grasp is very handy if you are struggling with cc - if you stand inside the sacrifice's hitbox then the skill will multihit them.
• Matthias will be moving about constantly, which can make Plaguelands unreliable. Given the importance of breaking the sacrifice, Summon Flesh Golem may be the better option.

For more information, see our Matthias Gabrel Guide.

Stronghold of the Faithful

Siege the Stronghold (Escort)

For more information, see our Escort Guide.

Keep Construct

Keep Construct takes extra power damage, so Scourge is very suboptimal here, however:

• Epidemic makes killing projections a breeze.

For more information, see our Keep Construct Guide.

Twisted Castle

• Trail of Anguish is worth taking to reduce general annoyance from the various White Mantle CCs.

For more information, see our Twisted Castle Guide.

Xera

• If you are at full health, then barrier will prevent you from being downed while standing on the buttons on the "puzzle towers".
• Nefarious Favor converts conditions to boons on an extremely low cd.
• Use Epidemic to kill adds and shards.
• If Xera is not close enough to shards for Epidemic to hit, then drop a Manifest Sand Shade on each one you want to clear and use Desert Shroud.
  • In an emergency, you can also Epidemic off one shard to others once you've build up some conditions with Desert Shroud and other shade abilities.

For more information, see our Xera Guide.

Bastion of the Peninent

Cairn the Indomitable

• Corrosive Poison Cloud can be positioned such that it hits the boss while blocking (some) projectiles.
• You could also bring Trail of Anguish to provide some Stability to prevent the float from missing a green.

For more information, see our Cairn the Indomitable Guide.

Mursaat Overseer

• Use Epidemic to kill the scouts as they move in - make sure they are in range. If you will not be able to kill a scout before it turns into a soldier, hold Epidemic for when the soldier moves into the group.

For more information, see our Mursaat Overseer Guide.

Samarog

• Spears can be killed with Epidemic or by dropping your shades on them.

For more information, see our Samarog Guide.

Deimos

• You can drop a shade on the hand kiter to provide some barrier if you are worried about them.
• When returning from split phases, the dark Sauls do not clear conditions so you can immediately use Epidemic on them to copy conditions to Deimos.
  • If they are taking a long time to die, you can then Epidemic back off Deimos. This can be particularly useful when the second miniboss splits in four.
• Otherwise, Epidemic can be used to kill Prides and Greeds. Be aware that there are a lot of valid targets for epidemic to hit, so you may wish to wait until the Prides are fairly close in the hopes they are prioritised.

For more information, see our Deimos Guide.

Hall of Chains

Soulless Horror

• Coordinate with the player knocking the Tormented Dead away regarding when they want you to use Epidemic. Being too early or too late can be a disaster.
• You can use Epidemic at the start to kill wurms, but make sure you have it ready for when the first Tormented Dead spawns.
• If you use Garish Pillar as you cast Epidemic it will copy Fear to the Tormented Dead, keeping them away from the group and giving the knocker more time.
• Corrosive Poison Cloud can be very useful in the challenge mode, as wurms will constantly respawn and their projectile attacks are very painful - as wurms will be constantly dying your life force shouldn't suffer from dropping Signet of Undeath either.
• Spam Nefarious Favor to clear condis from the group.
• Wall RNG means that the boss may be constantly moved out of Plaguelands. Given that failing the CC is an instant wipe, Summon Flesh Golem is quite useful here (as long as your knocker doesn't mistake it for a Tormented Dead}}.

For more information, see our Soulless Horror Guide.

River of Souls

• You won't be able to contribute much damage on the river, so taking Blood Magic might be helpful to pick up anyone who gets downed.

For more information, see our River of Souls Guide.

Statues of Grenth

• Barrier is handy to prevent damage from taking greens at the Broken King. You can drop your shades on distant players to provide support without endangering yourself.
• Keep using Epidemic at the Eater of Souls encounter - the spirit horde hurts more than you'd expect.
• DO NOT use Oppressive Collapse, Charge (necromancer), Wail of Doom or Fear on the eyes, as they will overwrite the Daze from orb detonations. Basically just avoid all your CC.

For more information, see our Statues of Grenth Guide.

Dhuum

• You can use Nefarious Favor at every Greater Death Mark to convert the Torment.
• Sand Swell can allow you to break shackles very quickly by teleporting away from the group - you can even try to pick up the mechanic deliberately by staying as close to the middle of Dhuum's hitbox as you can (without ending up in front of him).
  • Before shackles begin appearing at 60%, you can also use Sand Swell to help with bombs - either by using it yourself or providing a portal for the player with the bomb. This will allow the bomb player to greed for DPS by staying on the boss for longer without endangering the group. If you are providing the portal for another player, make sure you quickly take the portal back so you aren't standing next to the bomb when it explodes.
• If Greater Death Mark is about to happen, you can delay Devouring Darkness to immediately start stripping boons from Dhuum.

For more information, see our Dhuum Guide.

Mythwright Gambit

Conjured Amalgamate

For more information, see our Conjured Amalgamate Guide.

Sorting and Appraisal

For more information, see our Sorting and Appraisal Guide.

Largos Assassins

• A lot of attacks apply Chill and Slow at Largos, so make liberal use of Nefarious Favor
• Both bosses like to move about a lot, making Plaguelands Unreliable, so Summon Flesh Golem may be the better option.

For more information, see our Largos Assassins Guide.

Qadim

• You can use Garish Pillar to Fear any lava elementals that get too close to Qadim in the burn phases.
• Epidemic is useful not just for clearing elementals, but for dealing with the additional destroyers that spawn in the second phase, and can even be used to epi between the two wyverns once they on adjacent platforms.

For more information, see our Qadim Guide.

The Key of Ahdashim

Cardinal Sabir

• Epidemic is useless in the normal mode of this fight, but incredible in the challenge mode for clearing the wisps that spawn on the platform.
• Corrosive Poison Cloud could be taken to provide some extra safety once wisps start spawning below 40%.
• While you could bring Summon Flesh Wurm to skip the shockwaves, the DPS gain from retaining your Violent Currents is usually outweighed by missing the extra DPS from Summon Shadow Fiend.

For more information, see our Cardinal Sabir Guide.

Cardinal Adina

• Corrosive Poison Cloud could be used to protect your group from the hands in the split phase.

For more information, see our Cardinal Adina Guide.

Qadim the Peerless

• Epidemic could be taken if you are having trouble with the distortions in the final phases.
• If you don't trust your group to provide Stability, do it yourself with Trail of Anguish

If you are pylon kiting:

• You will need to take Sand Swell to pick up orbs.
  • The range feels very short when there is magma between you and the drop location - you will probably need to step outside your pylon slightly to ensure your safety, so don't be too slow.
• As you can't reach Qadim with Harrowing Wave while at the pylon, you could take offhand focus instead of warhorn to generate some extra life force with Soul Grasp
• Make sure to keep a shade on Qadim at all times as your shade abilities won't hit him otherwise.
  • If you do this, be sure to also use Spinal Shivers once Qadim starts eating pylons, to keep stripping his boons.
• You have a few options to sustain yourself - what works best will depend upon you and the speed of your group:
  • You can run Rune of Superior Rune of Tormenting.
  • You can take Parasitic Contagion.
  • You can run Blood Magic and spam Garish Pillar on yourself.

For more information, see our Qadim the Peerless Guide.