Guild Wars 2

Hey pve community, I’m thinking about casually getting into raids to gradually level maguuma masteries for new skins and such. I’m a pvper by trade with some minor PvE experience with the old content, having done every normal dungeon and fractals up to the 30s. I’d probably only do a raid once a week or so, since I’m pretty busy and pvp takes up a lot of my free time.

One thing that always bothered me is that my main (necro) carried a pve stigma in it for various reasons. Do you guys think that reaper would be better?

If so, what are some possible good builds for reaper for raids? I know boon removal is important. I have full ascended berseker armor from pvp drops and I can mix and match ascended trinkets as needed, and I can change the stats on my howler, and I’d like to not have to spend too much extra money changing stats around.

They should be. I can see some of their wells being useful.

Viable? Most likely, yea.

Ideal? Probably not. Lots of classes can strip boons and vuln is super easy to stack with 10 people.

Dahkeus.8243:

Viable? Most likely, yea.

Ideal? Probably not. Lots of classes can strip boons and vuln is super easy to stack with 10 people.

So if I joined groups with it I wouldn’t be instakicked right?

And I don’t see how tempest/chronomancer (the other classes I play) would be all that useful aside from occasional extra healing and alacrity respectively.

nearlight.3064:

Dahkeus.8243:

Viable? Most likely, yea.

Ideal? Probably not. Lots of classes can strip boons and vuln is super easy to stack with 10 people.

So if I joined groups with it I wouldn’t be instakicked right?

And I don’t see how tempest/chronomancer (the other classes I play) would be all that useful aside from occasional extra healing and alacrity respectively.

There’s no guarantee on being instakicked. People instakick viable classes all the time for all sorts of reasons. We’re in a community where a group will sit around in LFG for extra minutes instead of taking a class that would increase kill times by a few seconds.

Chronomancer is amazing for alacrity and time warp is pretty awesome as well. Tempest does beast DPS and can stack a lot of might through fire fields, but isn’t really a must-have for a group like a PS war, chronomancer, etc.

Reaper can make a pretty decent tank/aggro-holder and delivers some good sustain + support, makes him valuable enough for at least the first boss. Can’t exactly say something about the rest of the raid since we have yet to get there.

Hmmm I guess I’ll wait a few days or a week to see what successful builds get metabattleized before I decide on a class and gear.

What general roles seem to be prioritized by pug groups?

The few reapers I pugged with earlier I was thankful to have for their boonstripping, because we didn’t really have any other access to it at the time. I think they are viable, just might not be optimal

The one to Rule.2593:

The few reapers I pugged with earlier I was thankful to have for their boonstripping, because we didn’t really have any other access to it at the time. I think they are viable, just might not be optimal

It’s pretty likely that you did have someone who was able to strip the boons, but just didn’t know what skills to use since it’s not commonly needed. You can get boon strip from:
Engineer – Throw Mine
Mesmer – 1h AA, GS #3, Null Field
Revenant – Banish Enchantment in Mallyx
Thief – #3 on S/D

A necro can still remove boons without the loss of dps that something like a revenant, engi, or thief would encounter, but since a mesmer is already so valuable due to alacrity and time warp, I don’t think this is enough to make them highly valued.

Again, while they’re viable, have some strengths and I don’t think any group should ever insta-kick them…

But, I don’t think there’s ever a situation where you’d pick a necro if you had access to other professions.

vamp aura baby>:D

Blood Magic provides some valuable unique utility, by sharing vamp auras, preventing downed people from bleeding out, and most importantly, being able to teleport downed players to their location. This is great insurance in situations like the vale guardian if a lightning spawns in the wrong third while the AOE field is down. That can be avoided with proper positioning of the boss, but everything can’t always go perfectly. I imagine many encounters will have dangerous mechanics that will make rezzing people difficult, and necros are the only class to provide such utility.

Vamp auras are a modest increase to group DPS and healing.

Dahkeus.8243:

The one to Rule.2593:

The few reapers I pugged with earlier I was thankful to have for their boonstripping, because we didn’t really have any other access to it at the time. I think they are viable, just might not be optimal

It’s pretty likely that you did have someone who was able to strip the boons, but just didn’t know what skills to use since it’s not commonly needed. You can get boon strip from:
Engineer – Throw Mine
Mesmer – 1h AA, GS #3, Null Field
Revenant – Banish Enchantment in Mallyx
Thief – #3 on S/D

A necro can still remove boons without the loss of dps that something like a revenant, engi, or thief would encounter, but since a mesmer is already so valuable due to alacrity and time warp, I don’t think this is enough to make them highly valued.

Again, while they’re viable, have some strengths and I don’t think any group should ever insta-kick them…

But, I don’t think there’s ever a situation where you’d pick a necro if you had access to other professions.

Plus the new sigil.

Ayrilana.1396:

Dahkeus.8243:

The one to Rule.2593:

The few reapers I pugged with earlier I was thankful to have for their boonstripping, because we didn’t really have any other access to it at the time. I think they are viable, just might not be optimal

It’s pretty likely that you did have someone who was able to strip the boons, but just didn’t know what skills to use since it’s not commonly needed. You can get boon strip from:
Engineer – Throw Mine
Mesmer – 1h AA, GS #3, Null Field
Revenant – Banish Enchantment in Mallyx
Thief – #3 on S/D

A necro can still remove boons without the loss of dps that something like a revenant, engi, or thief would encounter, but since a mesmer is already so valuable due to alacrity and time warp, I don’t think this is enough to make them highly valued.

Again, while they’re viable, have some strengths and I don’t think any group should ever insta-kick them…

But, I don’t think there’s ever a situation where you’d pick a necro if you had access to other professions.

Plus the new sigil.

Eh, that’s probably a bit unpredictable…

some of the bosses require condi/heavy boonstrip, you will be needed. stop using the word viable, you can play what u want, just find a good group.

VaaCrow.3076:

some of the bosses require condi/heavy boonstrip, you will be needed. stop using the word viable, you can play what u want, just find a good group.

Except you can’t play what you want if you want to get through raids as they’re pretty strict, besides requiring a good amount of skill and coordination.

Everything is viable in a 10 men party.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

VaaCrow.3076:

some of the bosses require condi/heavy boonstrip, you will be needed. stop using the word viable, you can play what u want, just find a good group.

Except you can’t play what you want if you want to get through raids as they’re pretty strict, besides requiring a good amount of skill and coordination.

It’s a game, find a group who aren’t strict. Skill/coordination can be on all builds, its not limited to the one ones posted on metabattle for the sheeple to worship.

VaaCrow.3076:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

VaaCrow.3076:

some of the bosses require condi/heavy boonstrip, you will be needed. stop using the word viable, you can play what u want, just find a good group.

Except you can’t play what you want if you want to get through raids as they’re pretty strict, besides requiring a good amount of skill and coordination.

It’s a game, find a group who aren’t strict. Skill/coordination can be on all builds, its not limited to the one ones posted on metabattle for the sheeple to worship.

Where did I say that? “Playing what you want” still won’t get you through raids, as you’re going to require minimum amounts of DPS and whatnot, so you can’t go in there with a rather defensive team because your damage will be lacking.

Viable? that’s a open ended comment there. Viable is dependent on group communication, group makeup, and whether the group can predict each others actions. There’s a unlimited combination of “viable” options that involve every class and build it simply depends on the team and its makeup.

So do play what you want and more importantly what your good at not just what the “meta” or anyone else tells you what to play. Just be warned if you choose a class that’s misunderstood or doesn’t fit in the current popular builds you may have to dig a bit more to find a good group that can utilize your talents. After all its not the class but the build and ability of the person to play that build that’s important.

Dahkeus.8243:

nearlight.3064:

Dahkeus.8243:

Viable? Most likely, yea.

Ideal? Probably not. Lots of classes can strip boons and vuln is super easy to stack with 10 people.

So if I joined groups with it I wouldn’t be instakicked right?

And I don’t see how tempest/chronomancer (the other classes I play) would be all that useful aside from occasional extra healing and alacrity respectively.

There’s no guarantee on being instakicked. People instakick viable classes all the time for all sorts of reasons. We’re in a community where a group will sit around in LFG for extra minutes instead of taking a class that would increase kill times by a few seconds.

Chronomancer is amazing for alacrity and time warp is pretty awesome as well. Tempest does beast DPS and can stack a lot of might through fire fields, but isn’t really a must-have for a group like a PS war, chronomancer, etc.

I have never encountered that situation in over two years of playing. In fact, we’re more in a community that is more hesitant to kick other players from groups than any other game I’ve played. That’s a good thing.

Really shouldn’t be joining a PUG group for raids anyways.

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Really shouldn’t be joining a PUG group for raids anyways.

I guess it wouldnt be the end of the world if I found a casual pve guild that was cool with me never repping just do this content from time to time.

No, you need faster classes. Necro will lack speed against first boss.

FogLeg.9354:

No, you need faster classes. Necro will lack speed against first boss.

What do you mean by “lacking speed”?

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

FogLeg.9354:

No, you need faster classes. Necro will lack speed against first boss.

What do you mean by “lacking speed”?

I think he means the green circle, but only need a few people to step on it.

Reaper sustain in pve is insane with the amount of life force reaper can generate now. It can provide constant dps without having to worry about your hp unlike other classes that needs to pause their dps in order to perform active healing/defense. Also with curses reaper can do corrupt boon every 5 sec. Blood magic provides decent amount of group healing plus prevents downed state groupmates from dying fast(game changer). In hot maps my necro will probably outdamage most classes not because of skill damage but because of the shroud mechanics not needing to retreat during combat. My condi reaper can solo the rampaging champion in VB pretty quickly so hopefully that will translate its performance in raid.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

VaaCrow.3076:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

VaaCrow.3076:

some of the bosses require condi/heavy boonstrip, you will be needed. stop using the word viable, you can play what u want, just find a good group.

Except you can’t play what you want if you want to get through raids as they’re pretty strict, besides requiring a good amount of skill and coordination.

It’s a game, find a group who aren’t strict. Skill/coordination can be on all builds, its not limited to the one ones posted on metabattle for the sheeple to worship.

Where did I say that? “Playing what you want” still won’t get you through raids, as you’re going to require minimum amounts of DPS and whatnot, so you can’t go in there with a rather defensive team because your damage will be lacking.

You imply that playing what you want means “does no dps atall” so again, op play what you want find a group of people who arent kittenheads, and have fun.

VaaCrow.3076:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

VaaCrow.3076:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

VaaCrow.3076:

some of the bosses require condi/heavy boonstrip, you will be needed. stop using the word viable, you can play what u want, just find a good group.

Except you can’t play what you want if you want to get through raids as they’re pretty strict, besides requiring a good amount of skill and coordination.

It’s a game, find a group who aren’t strict. Skill/coordination can be on all builds, its not limited to the one ones posted on metabattle for the sheeple to worship.

Where did I say that? “Playing what you want” still won’t get you through raids, as you’re going to require minimum amounts of DPS and whatnot, so you can’t go in there with a rather defensive team because your damage will be lacking.

You imply that playing what you want means “does no dps atall” so again, op play what you want find a group of people who arent kittenheads, and have fun.

No, but it includes such builds.

Let me clarify what “viable” means:

Will a reaper always inferior to another profession in a raid group?
– No. If you already have your other utility covered (PS Wars, Chrono, etc.), then a reaper can fit in and do respectable damage.

Will you ever want a reaper instead of another profession?
– Probably not. If you need boon strip, a mesmer can do it better. Vuln is easy to stack. Vamp Aura is the only really unique group buff it’s not really much of a selling point on its own.

Dahkeus.8243:

Let me clarify what “viable” means:

Will a reaper always inferior to another profession in a raid group?
– No. If you already have your other utility covered (PS Wars, Chrono, etc.), then a reaper can fit in and do respectable damage.

Will you ever want a reaper instead of another profession?
– Probably not. If you need boon strip, a mesmer can do it better. Vuln is easy to stack. Vamp Aura is the only really unique group buff it’s not really much of a selling point on its own.

We found that Reaper was the best class suitable to Anchor Vale Guardian at least due to the fact they can get toughness without really giving much up and have crazy sustain by default. On top of that they have a good amount of CC and other things to offer.
That being said, we didn’t look further yet, so I can’t say all too much about how good Reaper’s abilities are going to be at Gorseval and Sabetha.