Scourge - Condi Scourge

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Open World, Open World General, [[|]] and [[|]]

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 05, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

Condition Scourge is a slow and steady build that deals damage mainly through Torment and Bleeding. It is very sturdy thanks to its barriers and condition cleanses, and is extremely easy to play. The build can also have good sustain.

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Skill Bar

Scepter/Torch

X/Warhorn

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Staff - low damage but can be taken instead of Warhorn to sacrifice CC for its utility.

Skill Variants

Utility Skills

• Epidemic - even after several nerfs, it remains a really good option to do AoE damage.
• Corrosive Poison Cloud - destroys projectiles.
• Spectral Armor - can replace Trail of Anguish to give up the Stability for life force generation.
• Desiccate - boonstrip and damage.
• Plague Signet - amazing condi transfer but beware of its passive when playing in groups.
• Spectral Grasp - great CC or pull to cleave trash mobs.

Elite Skills

• Summon Flesh Golem - tanky CC buddy.

Minions

Minions provide extra bodies for defense but will drastically lower DPS. If taking minions, it is advised to keep Blood Is Power and Signet of Undeath.

• Summon Blood Fiend
• Summon Shadow Fiend
• Summon Flesh Golem

This still provides 3 minions, one of which has extremely high health and is good for CC.

Specializations

• Parasitic Contagion - greatly nerfed with End of Dragons, but still provides decent sustain.
• Eternal Life - trades a bit of damage for superb life force generation.
• Abrasive Grit - when you need more condition cleanse.

Death Magic

Death Magic can be taken if using the minion variant to trade a large amount of damage for an increase to minion health and personal defense.

• If you ever need a lot of defense, use Death Magic with Putrid Defense + Dark Defiance + Corrupter's Fervor for permanent Protection and large increase to your toughness. This synergyses with the variant rune Rune of Superior Rune of the Undead. This is normally not needed as scourge is already relatively tanky.

Blood Magic

Blood Magic can be used when playing in groups and doing very hard content. This massively lowers your damage, but makes you great at reviving downed players. Do not use this specialization when playing solo.

• When doing this, change your healing skill to Well of Blood.

Equipment

Ascended gear is not required. You can use Exotic gear with the same stats.
This set uses gear that is similar to Build:Scourge_-_Utility_Condi_DPS, which makes it a great option for general PVE

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

Variant Equipment

• If you can afford the luxury of a gear set tailored for open world, use full Trailblazer. This trades 10-15% DPS for a massive increase to health and defense. You can also consider Rune of Superior Rune of the Undead for even more defense at a slight damage loss.

Gear

• Celestial - lower damage than Viper's and Trailblazer's, less defense than Trailblazer's, but in exchange the healing power makes your barriers bigger. Generally not recommended as the points into ferocity are completely wasted, and the points into boon duration won't be doing much either since this build has very little access to boons, only a bit of fury and might. This set is also not useful for most content outside of open world.

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Trapper - use 5 of these + 1 black diamond to very closely mimic Rune of Superior Rune of the Nightmare while you work on getting Nightmare runes.
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Lich - less damage but more defense plus a pet.

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy - defense

Consumables

Food

• Any ascended food is superior to any other food you could use. Steak for power, flatbread for conditions. Budget versions of these foods exist and are acceptable.
• - farming
• DPS
• - budget DPS
• - defense

Utility

• (and variants) - farming
• , - dps
• - dps if using gear with high toughness

Usage

Damage

This build is extremely easy to deal damage with. Simply follow this priority list.

1. Always have at least one Shade manifested. This is extremely important, because you gain concentration and expertise from Sand Sage and defense from Blood as Sand, and inflict damage from Manifest Sand Shade. Using any Shade skill causes existing Sand Shades and yourself to strike nearby enemies with Manifest Sand Shade for free. Manifest Sand Shade doesn't reset your auto attack chain.
2. Use Nefarious Favor which deals great damage thanks to Sadistic Searing.
3. Use Blood Is Power anytime you can transfer the self-inflicted conditions. The easiest way to do this is to cast Blood is Power and Desert Shroud at the same time to trigger Plague Sending, but any condi transfer will work.
4. Use Grasping Dead and Devouring Darkness off cooldown; try to use them together as they have the same cooldown. Interrupt your auto attack chain to cast them.
5. Cast Oppressive Collapse and Harrowing Wave any time they're off CD. Preferably, use Harrowing Wave when not at full life force for more value. If you're near your target, Oppressive Collapse will also give you Might.

• Cast Plaguelands off-cooldown. This is your highest damage skill, so position it carefully.

Opener

1. Manifest Sand Shade
2. Plaguelands
3. Nefarious Favor
4. Blood Is Power
5. Desert Shroud
6. Grasping Dead + Devouring Darkness
7. Harrowing Wave + Oppressive Collapse

The Rune of Superior Rune of the Nightmare will transfer the self-inflicted Poison of Plaguelands (comes from Master of Corruption) and Nefarious Favor cleanses the Bleeding. Then, Desert Shroud triggers Plague Sending to transfer the self-inflicted Bleeding from Blood Is Power (and the Torment from Master of Corruption.

Priority

1. Maintaining at least one Sand Shade up.
2. Nefarious Favor
3. Devouring Darkness ⇒ Grasping Dead
4. Harrowing Wave
5. Oppressive Collapse
6. Scepter auto attacks.

Note that Devouring Darkness requires to enemy to aready be suffering from conditions to inflict Torment. If that is not the case, this skill does nothing and should be delayed.

Sustain

• Nefarious Favor converts your conditions into boons, and Desert Shroud can be used to transfer them in emergencies.
• If you have trouble surviving, you can trait Parasitic Contagion.
• If you are downed, don't give up. Life Leech might keep you alive while your conditions finish the enemy. Fetid Ground is also quite strong.

Crowd Control

• Garish Pillar - 1 second of Fear
• Oppressive Collapse - 2 seconds of knockdown
• Charge (necromancer) - 1 second of knockdown, but hits multiple times against big enemies.

Video Examples

• vs. Champion Avatar of Balthazar.
• vs. Champion Mushroom Queen Newborn Mushrooms hero challenge in Rata Novus. This fight was done with full trailblazers with undead runes and Death Magic traitline.