Corpse exploitation

Definition
Many necromancer skills target corpses. In Guild Wars parlance, these skills are said to "exploit" a corpse to achieve their ends.

Idiosyncrasies of Corpse Magic

 * Both dead enemies and dead allies may be used as targets for these spells. Because of this, it may be useful to make use of an ally's corpse before that ally is ressurected.


 * Any given corpse can only be used one time. This means that you may be competing both with enemy and allied necromancers to make use of corpse-based magic.  If teaming with other necromancers, do your team a favor and communicate about the spells you will each be using.  Likewise, when fighting in areas where enemy necromancers abound, it is often useful to carry a fast casting corpse spell to prevent your enemies from using them against you.  You may also wish to take advantage of equipment that allows you to cast these spells faster.  These include Bloodstained Boots and weapons or focus items that grant bonuses to casting speed for death magic (or blood magic if using Well of Blood or Well of Power).


 * You can begin casting corpse spells with multi-second casting times about 1 second before there is a corpse available. Paying close attention to the health bar of your opponent and casting just before his death may help you prevent the other teams necromancer of the use of a corpse.


 * Once exploited, a corpse becomes visually darkened to make it clear that it is no longer useful.


 * It is not necessary to directly target a corpse to make use of it. In general, if you do not have a target, the corpse closest to you will be used.  If you have an enemy or ally targetted, then the corpse closest to your target should be used.


 * You must be within standard casting range of the corpse of a corpse when you cast the spell. You will not run to the nearest corpse to get close enough.  Attempting to cast corpse-based spells when too far away from a corpse will result in an "invalid target" message.  No power will be lost, however.


 * Several types of opponents do not leave corpses around to be exploited. These include shadows, wraiths, skeletons, golems, and minions.  Relying on corpse-based magic will put you at a distinct disadvantage when facing these enemies.

Blood Magic
Well of Blood, Well of Power

Death Magic
Animate Bone Fiend, Animate Bone Minions, Animate Bone Horror, Consume Corpse, Necrotic Traversal, Putrid Explosion, Well of Suffering, Well of the Profane