Guild Wars 2

Rate the current revealed Elite Specs from best to worst in terms of how they interest you.

1. Everything else.
-
-
-
9. Dragonhunter.

Yeah, waiting for the full-flavored version of this thread that will inevitably arise after all 8-9 are out.

I have five guards – two are going to become long bow users (have all the mats to make Aether and Wintersbite) and a third might switch for the traps. I have two 80 Necros and neither are going Reaper. Of my three Mesmers, one will probably become a Chronomancer because it’s a pretty good fit to themes I already have for the character.

1. Reaper
2. Chronomancer
3. Dragonhunter

Reaper is same selfish necro we had for a loooooong time but at least now he will be very fun to play.
Chronomancer is a simple must have buff.
Dragonhunter is OK.

1. Dragon Hunter. It offers a lot to existing builds. I’m looking most forward to using this with my hammer/symbol guard. Aoe burning? Yes please…

2. Chronomancer. Every Mesmer build I have ever done had two needed trait lines, and a lot of left over points. The Chrono traits are good for condi builds, shatter builds, phantasm builds… it’s perfect.

3. Druid. I have high hopes, and it’s gotta be better than Reaper.

4. Tempest. I’m not sure about this one at all…. but it’s gotta be better than Reaper.

5.?

6.?

7.?

8. Reaper. Failed at almost everything. Necros needed mobility, group buffs, and better melee cleave. 1 out of 3 is bad.

The shouts will never be used. You need Consume Conditions, You need the movement speed signet, you need Spectral Grasp if you ever want to catch somebody, and you need Lich Form for the people you can’t catch.

…and the Reaper trait line offers nothing to the already existing builds.

The terror nerf, and the separation of staff and scepter into separate builds… it’s a mess. There is no synergy.

Black Box.9312:

1. Everything else.
-
-
-
9. Dragonhunter.

Ezeriel.9574:

1. Dragon Hunter. It offers a lot to existing builds. I’m looking most forward to using this with my hammer/symbol guard. Aoe burning? Yes please…

2. Chronomancer. Every Mesmer build I have ever done had two needed trait lines, and a lot of left over points. The Chrono traits are good for condi builds, shatter builds, phantasm builds… it’s perfect.

3. Druid. I have high hopes, and it’s gotta be better than Reaper.

4. Tempest. I’m not sure about this one at all…. but it’s gotta be better than Reaper.

5.?

6.?

7.?

8. Reaper. Failed at almost everything. Necros needed mobility, group buffs, and better melee cleave. 1 out of 3 is bad.

The shouts will never be used. You need Consume Conditions, You need the movement speed signet, you need Spectral Grasp if you ever want to catch somebody, and you need Lich Form for the people you can’t catch.

…and the Reaper trait line offers nothing to the already existing builds.

The terror nerf, and the separation of staff and scepter into separate builds… it’s a mess. There is no synergy.

i hope for your sake this is a troll post… But nothing really shocks me on these forums anymore. It’s almost like you didn’t read up on it at all.
On topic:
1: reaper
2: chronomancer
3:
4
5:
6:
7:
8:
9: dragon hunter

The same. And my main is a guardian :’(

1: Reaper
2: Chronomancer
3:
4
5:
6:
7:
8:
9: Dragon hunter

Caerbanog.3410:

1: Reaper
2: Chronomancer
3:
4
5:
6:
7:
8:
9: Dragon hunter

Farzo.8410:

Caerbanog.3410:

1: Reaper
2: Chronomancer
3:
4
5:
6:
7:
8:
9: Dragon hunter

I have the same feeling.

1. Chronomancer
2. Reaper
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Dragon Hunter

1. The reaper. The teaser vid “spoke” to me right away… and i usually dont like the class
2. The chrono. The presentation on the twitch stream got me right away, love it.

10. The dragon hunter. Well the spec is very nice…but the name…
I think the name is an important part of the spec… even if many people dont agree
and thats as generic as it gets. :\

for me its:
1.Reaper
2.Chronomancer
3.Dragon hunter
all are good but i like reaper theme better but there is 6 more so numbers can change

Ezeriel.9574:

1. Dragon Hunter. It offers a lot to existing builds. I’m looking most forward to using this with my hammer/symbol guard. Aoe burning? Yes please…

2. Chronomancer. Every Mesmer build I have ever done had two needed trait lines, and a lot of left over points. The Chrono traits are good for condi builds, shatter builds, phantasm builds… it’s perfect.

3. Druid. I have high hopes, and it’s gotta be better than Reaper.

4. Tempest. I’m not sure about this one at all…. but it’s gotta be better than Reaper.

5.?

6.?

7.?

8. Reaper. Failed at almost everything. Necros needed mobility, group buffs, and better melee cleave. 1 out of 3 is bad.

The shouts will never be used. You need Consume Conditions, You need the movement speed signet, you need Spectral Grasp if you ever want to catch somebody, and you need Lich Form for the people you can’t catch.

…and the Reaper trait line offers nothing to the already existing builds.

The terror nerf, and the separation of staff and scepter into separate builds… it’s a mess. There is no synergy.

It’s funny, because Dragonhunter actually offers nothing to existing Guardian builds. It’s basically going to reward you for using the new longbow, and nothing else. Reaper, on the other hand, is going to work its way very well into both power and condi specs for the Necromancer.

everythings depend on contents…

if they will add just others farming maps only thing matters is mobility and aoe/cleave for drop

if they finally will add an end game istanced content it will depend on the mechanics, encounters etc etc…

so u cant say what is better and what is worse

They don’t need to rework the spec. Guardians already have a spirit bow, using an actual one is straightforward. It’s the same for the “wards” that are just a type of symbol (and it’s ok if they are categorized as “traps”).

The only thing aweful is the “Dragon Hunter” name. Only rename it and everybody will be happy.

i like them all in some way….and we can’t really judge objectively until we actually play them in HoT content…..but for fun:

1) DH…..pve beast, and access to a condi build
2) chrono – gives mesmers more things to do in wvw…and overall a really elegantly designed spec that should be insanely fun to play in all modes
3)reaper….pve beast (damage-wise), fixes some of the general necro problms (just not group support valued in dungeons) can’t see this not being my class of choice for open-world roaming

Trait changes to add vampiric aura in blood magic it is kind of unique(or better to say: suit to profession) support that they adding. Don’t simply link group-support as blaster/booner/fielder.

Theme :
1- Chronomancer (playing with time is cool)
2- Reaper (everybody wanna be the Death itself)
3- Dragon hunter (really poor flavor)

Opened build variety :
1- Reaper (it’s awesome how it open new things to everything existent)
2- Dragon Hunter (There is really high potential here)
3- Chronomancer (+25% passive speed run)

Net gain (from things needed) :
1- Dragon Hunter (1200 range attack, condi build, even higher damage build)
2- Chronomancer (aoe, passive speed run)
3- Reaper (Nothing…)

Utility :
1- Chronomancer (ATM the wells win easily)
2- Dragon Hunter (Long cool down but awesome effect when triggered)
3- Reaper (Hu… well… let’s say we didn’t saw this it’s at an even lower level than ranger’s shouts…)

Weapon :
1- Chronomancer (the shield have really good utility on it)
2- Dragon Hunter (pretty good job on the longbow with interresting damage and utilities)
3- Reaper (The Slowmo Sword. Seriously 0.75 to 1 second cast time on almost all the skill, peeps will try it then it will be forgotten somewhere with the MH axe)

Core mechanism :
1- Reaper (the Knight shroud is exciting in it’s current form… still no news about underwater shroud, thought)
2- Chronomancer (A new way to reset a fight and new boon/conditions, that’s pretty nice)
3- Dragon Hunter (clearly a lack of imagination here)

Overall rating :
1- Chronomancer
2- DragonHunter
3- Reaper

1. chronomancer – the time mechanic!
2. reaper – that unstoppable power and multiple synergies for leeching and debilitating enemies!
3. Dragonhunter. Erm…it’s a guard…with bow…and traps…eeee….yeah.

The look of the Reaper and the animations of the skills are all top notch and fit with the base profession. The issue I have with it is that in PvP, they are gonna get hammered. IDK about WvW because I don’t play WvW, but everything is molasses with them and that just doesn’t work in this game for PvP.

Dragon Hunter doesn’t fit as a name with the base profession, but I think that spec will have a definite place in the game as far as the combat goes.

Chronomancer seems the best all the way around. It fits with its base profession and will be totally viable.

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

Ephemiel.5694:

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

Yes but it is even funnier to see People setting the Dragonhunter as last out of 9 Specs without even knowing how the 6 other Specs are themed or working.

Ephemiel.5694:

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

reaper doesn’t bring necro into the pve dungeon meta due to lack of the support skills/buffs valued in instanced party content. many were hoping it would…..we’ll see if the blood trait line rework will.

it makes necro a more effective version of what it was….a damage dealer and a debuffer. sadly, debuffing is inferior to blocks/blast finishers/reflects, in pve content due to mob/boss AI and attack rates. that needs to change greatly for necro debuffs to be valuable outside of openworld or wvw zerg

Arrk.4102:

1. Chronomancer
2. Reaper
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Dragon Hunter

And the name isn’t the only thing wrong with Dragonhunters.

So far?
Chronomancer>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everything else.

That spec seems incredibly broken and mandatory on paper.

Khenzy.9348:

So far?
Chronomancer>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everything else.

That spec seems incredibly broken and mandatory on paper.

I imagine it’s thanks to Alacrity? It’s the equivalent of playing a Final Fantasy game with the spell Haste.

Walhalla.5473:

Ephemiel.5694:

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

Yes but it is even funnier to see People setting the Dragonhunter as last out of 9 Specs without even knowing how the 6 other Specs are themed or working.

It’ll be hard to set a new low that’s as low as dragonhunters.

Ephemiel.5694:

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

Well, if you look at my previous post, I’ve listed out what good and bad for every profession. While Reaper stand out with a cool concept and animation (which absolutely non important things), they got nothing to bring them back from the dead state they are in the actual metagame. Necromancer’s are actually bottom for PvP and PvE, they only stand out in WvW. Reaper sticking to the same flawed design will also stick with the bottom place. Not to mention that Necromancer’s will lose around 15% damage output with the change on core traits. It may seem futile but Necromancers actually give only damage on the table… so…

Dadnir.5038:

Ephemiel.5694:

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

Well, if you look at my previous post, I’ve listed out what good and bad for every profession. While Reaper stand out with a cool concept and animation (which absolutely non important things), they got nothing to bring them back from the dead state they are in the actual metagame. Necromancer’s are actually bottom for PvP and PvE, they only stand out in WvW. Reaper sticking to the same flawed design will also stick with the bottom place. Not to mention that Necromancer’s will lose around 15% damage output with the change on core traits. It may seem futile but Necromancers actually give only damage on the table… so…

Have you played with the Reaper? Have you tested everything out? No.

All you’ve done is listen to what they say about a spec STILL IN BETA and instantly complain about it.

Dadnir.5038:

Theme :
1- Chronomancer (playing with time is cool)
2- Reaper (everybody wanna be the Death itself)
3- Dragon hunter (really poor flavor)

Opened build variety :
1- Reaper (it’s awesome how it open new things to everything existent)
2- Dragon Hunter (There is really high potential here)
3- Chronomancer (+25% passive speed run)

Net gain (from things needed) :
1- Dragon Hunter (1200 range attack, condi build, even higher damage build)
2- Chronomancer (aoe, passive speed run)
3- Reaper (Nothing…)

Utility :
1- Chronomancer (ATM the wells win easily)
2- Dragon Hunter (Long cool down but awesome effect when triggered)
3- Reaper (Hu… well… let’s say we didn’t saw this it’s at an even lower level than ranger’s shouts…)

Weapon :
1- Chronomancer (the shield have really good utility on it)
2- Dragon Hunter (pretty good job on the longbow with interresting damage and utilities)
3- Reaper (The Slowmo Sword. Seriously 0.75 to 1 second cast time on almost all the skill, peeps will try it then it will be forgotten somewhere with the MH axe)

Core mechanism :
1- Reaper (the Knight shroud is exciting in it’s current form… still no news about underwater shroud, thought)
2- Chronomancer (A new way to reset a fight and new boon/conditions, that’s pretty nice)
3- Dragon Hunter (clearly a lack of imagination here)

Overall rating :
1- Chronomancer
2- DragonHunter
3- Reaper

Bold #1 : Net gains (of things needed) : Awesome cleave, useful finishers in form of Leap and whirls, finally a pretty kitten good source of stability, a massive boost to critchance without being in Deathshroud, 2 stuns, AE fear, some group utility in form of easy sustaining of 20-25 vulnerability on up to 3 targets.

Edit : Forgot a 6 second cd (when not traited for DS-CDR) non-targeted dash with a finisher on it.

Bold #2 : It isn’t THAT much slower than other greatswords, it has a low cd whirl that resets when used on enemies below 50% hp (only one of 5 needs to fullfill that condition), pretty low cooldowns that can be even lower with the trait for grave digger and an AE poisoning pull. And 6 seconds of pulsing blind.

On paper the reaper looks fun and it opens up a lot of cool sinergies. The problem is that it doesn’t bring any PVE group utility outside of vulnerability stacks and even at that it doesn’t really outshine warriors or engineers. Don’t forget that engis can also stack might/stealth and warriors buff might+fury and have banner of discipline. As it stands right now you don’t have any reason to bring a reaper over a warrior or an engi.

Sure you get a lot of new toys to play with in spvp and wvwvw but as soon as you try to pug a dungeon with your reaper you will still get the same boot to the face that you used to get as a necromancer.

•The core specializations changes are coming before HoT, elite will come with HoT.

Maybe something special in next week will be like announcing access to those specs in beta in near future – depends on what ‘before HoT’ mean.

1. Dragonhunter
2.
3. Chronomancer
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Reaper

Sorry but :
Bold#1 I get the cleave need from the DS but all the other are the same things we already have. And get real, 25 vulnerability is achievable by any classe without an “elite” specialization needed. It’s even already achievable by the core necromancer. This is only the addition of selfish things.

Bold #2 : It’s 0,25 s slower than the slower auto attack in game which ain’t any of the GS auto attack. Open your eyes, it’s 3 hit every 4 seconds that’s really really slow. I give 1 month to peeps to get tired from this weapon. It won’t be used in PvE because you need burst in PvE, In PvP, it’s the same, nobody will use it because this grant nothing in a dynamic fight. This is a shinny tool but only on the paper. It doesn’t fit the fast pace of PvP fights, I’m sure you can understand that.
Also, gravedigger that you are so found of, even by having it’s cool down reset everytime, it will still be 1 hit per target every 2 seconds.

The only role you can expect of the reaper on a pvp fight will be a point holder. I really hope he will have enough sustain for that.

Oh and even with what you said, the reaper would still be in 3rd place on these 2 bold sentences. Simply because the other specialization honnestly grant things that their core profession lacked to the point it hurt them. I’m only looking objectively to these specialization and this is how they rank from these objective point of view.

Ezeriel.9574:

8. Reaper. Failed at almost everything. Necros needed mobility, group buffs, and better melee cleave. 1 out of 3 is bad.
.

that’s not what necros needed at all. they needed more sustain and more debuffs, and that’s what they got. mobility and group buffs – youre thinking of other professions; likely druid will come in this flavor.

1. Reaper
2. Chronomancer
3. Dragonhunter
4.
5.
6.Tempest
7.
8.
9. Druid
I’m not looking forward for my main to be a Druid. Then again we really don’t know anything about it, but it would have to be amazing for me to give up my lb/sb.

1 – Chronomancer
2 – Reaper / Druid
3 – Dragonhunter

2 and 3 are still up in airs for me atm. I’m not going to do the “empty slot” thing like some people are…don’t tempt fate, they could easily make the warrior spec worse then the dragonhunter….

still, my main issue with DH guard (I think i may just start calling it something else even if they don’t change the name) is the clunky integration with the class. if set up right, it could function well..

Same with Reaper as it relates to function, though I enjoy the theme more then i enjoy the LonGuardian. Chrono so far is hands up winner in my book…nice theme, they’re getting much needed changes for the class, and looks overall like a solid support spec.

EDIT: Added Druid. Don’t know much about the class, but based on what I’ve heard, theme and skills sounds like they could be a solid contender for 2nd place. Chrono is still 1st….they just did a real smooth job with giving the Chrono what the mesmer needed, and highlighted a role i enjoy (support).

…Of course, problem is, much of this could change over the course of the beta, and they could easily kill the Chrono’s design, buff Longuardians skills through the roof, and Improve the reapers group dynamics so much that people will want 2 in each group. But at this point thats my list.

1. Reaper.

Was there anything else? Because I can’t think of anything else… Reaper… REAPER. 0.0

-whispers- Reeeeaaapppeeeerrrrr……………….. o.o

Of the three we have so far, and based purely on the info we have right now, this is how they seem to rank according to how I like to play:

1. Reaper
2. Chronomancer
3. Dragonhunter

If I do get the xpac, I can see my necro getting a lot of use from the Reaper elite spec. I don’t really play mesmer, but time manipulation is cool. I am skeptical of the Prayerranger’s effectiveness.

How I expect them to pan out based on what has been speculated so far:
(To clarify, this is the stuff I’m most excited about based on rumor/speculation and the revealed stuff.)

1. Engineer. The core changes, paired with flying drones and a hammer… yeah. Engi elite might be the HoT make-or-break moment for me.
2. Necromancer. This surprises me, honestly. Going to need to nab a chaos greatsword, just in case.
3. Revenant. New profession! I’m all over that, and it seems very interesting.
4. Ranger. I’m really interested to see GW2’s take on the druid.
5. Thief. This will still probably be one of my most played professions, despite being so low on this list. I’m iffy on the speculated rifle, but I do think the core changes are interesting, at least.
6. Warrior. Eh. I love Warrior in PvP, but I’m not terribly curious about their elite spec or anything. They already have access to most of the weapons. I think the more interesting thing to do would be to change up their class mechanic and perhaps how they utilize some of the weapons they already have access to.
7. Mesmer. Just not a profession I am fond of. Chronomancer does look very interesting, though.
8. Elementalist. While the elite spec could bump this up a bit higher, it’s pretty low on my list of priorities.
9. Guardian. Longbow is just uninspiring to me. Most of the Dragonhunter information did not seem particularly exciting. I’ll be interested to hear what people who main guards have to say about it.

Reaper first since i love the concept and the genre it mimics is something im interested in

Then Chronomancer for sounding extremely interesting and having throwbacks to old concept work.

I have no interest in Dragonhunter, but only because ranger style classes dont appeal to me and the current Guardian sits better with me.

Nothing else revealed yet, although only Tempest and Revenant interest me personally.

Walhalla.5473:

Ephemiel.5694:

I love how people keep ranking the Reaper as last, but are unable to even say a reason.

Yes but it is even funnier to see People setting the Dragonhunter as last out of 9 Specs without even knowing how the 6 other Specs are themed or working.

I’d agree that it’s funny, if not for the fact that it’s probably going to be true.

Hmm…I don’t know if I can really rate them, but here’s my brief thoughts:

Most interesting mechanically – Chronomancer

Best stylistically – Reaper

Happiest to see – Dragonhunter

I’m happiest to see Dragonhunter mostly because I feel like this game needs more viable ranged builds.

mistsim.2748:

Ezeriel.9574:

8. Reaper. Failed at almost everything. Necros needed mobility, group buffs, and better melee cleave. 1 out of 3 is bad.
.

that’s not what necros needed at all. they needed more sustain and more debuffs, and that’s what they got. mobility and group buffs – youre thinking of other professions; likely druid will come in this flavor.

TL;DR version → your judgement is probably clouded by a lack of experience, you can see a more detailed summary below.

I’d like to know what you are basing this off.
Regarding tpvp necros suffer from having to play both spectral walk and the summoned wurm to reposition effectively.
Necros never played the role of bruisers, their survival ultimately came from condition hate and positioning.

You say necromancers needed more sustain but that is inaccurate, what you are talking about is a new way to play the necro that makes proper use of sustain. At the moment hps (healing per second) is not a key element to necro survival because necros lack the tools to make use of it.

Mind my words, i too would like to see a bruiser necro and the expansion will hopefully achieve that but then again what will you do with the extra tankiness if you take ages to move between capture points ?

Moving on, how can you say that necros needed more group debuffs ?
More group debuffs are nice, look at the unblockable aoe shout that makes your attacks unblockable and turns 2 boons into vulnerability, that’s a nice addition, but was it needed ? I mean more is always nice but this isn’t something crucial to necros, if you played this game for a while you can’t honestly say that a point in the necro agenda was to gain more debuffs.

Pve argument ? You say necros didn’t need more group utility or meele cleeve ? This is plain wrong.

I’ll be the first to say I liked both DH and Reaper more than Chrono. But this may be because I love to duel main a tactical skirmish trap ranger (getting more of this with DH) and a rushdown reckless warrior. Thank you reaper mode!

1) Reaper
2) Dragon Hunter
3) Chronomancer

eh, reaper comes in last for me.

As much as it looks cool and flashy and new, all it does is give necro more of what it already had, which is damage. Necromancers need party support and have been asking for party support from the start. Unless the blood magic trait line rework is godlike, I can’t see HoT fixing any of the necromancer’s core issues. I also feel that reaper will not be viable in pvp unless perpetually in shroud due to how slow, lumbering and easy to evade their attacks are. Anyone who PvP’s even a little will know that quick attacks and mobility are key to winning. Reaper will just be swinging at air most of the time in a pvp match against reasonably sensible opponents.

Chronomancer looks cool, not gonna lie. Alacrity will be game changing for every aspect of the meta.

Dragon hunter just seems meh. The whole traps thing looks awesome but to me the style of the traps given promotes a melee play style, contradictory to them using a longbow (unless they change the traps to be deployable at range). There’s also the name, which some may say is just a name, but to me having a bland and generic (there’s nothing “high concept” about calling someone that hunts dragons a dragon hunter, just fyi) name is a turn off

My main is Guardian,so I consider Dragonhunter the best for now.

But I will of course try out the Warrior spec,Druid and Thief spec.

I also like to play Engineer because it is fun,but unfortunately the spec is going to use Hammer,and I don’t like Hammers so much because of the low attack speed (but their skins are great and I use them from time to time on my Warrior just for fun)

The Dragonhunter has some good damage traits, and a high damage long ranger weapon, along with an attempt to add more condi. Overall I love the traits, love the new F1-F3 (still want to hear if F3 will block melee or just ranged, I hope it’s just ranged), and love the new weapon. I think the heal trap is kinda useless. The elite trap is kinda lackluster compared to the Chrono, the only benefit is that if you set it up early you may get it off cd before it goes off. I think they may see some use in Conquest on the points or Stronghold to lock down the center, maybe at stack points in dungeons, but are kinda meh besides that. The traits have nice synergy with themselves, but I think the guard only has access to two other knockbacks (hammer and shield/shield skill on revive). I really see a potential for bigger damage spikes with Big Game Hunter and the lb. Honestly, I really just want to make my guard a spear thrower.

Chrono: Honestly, of the 3 I think they are getting the biggest “this is a direct upgrade trait line”, especially for WvW with the movement minor. So far it is the only one to just gain a class mechanic with a 4th shatter, which can allow double heals (if you take the meh well) or double (or triple with the shatter recharge signet) elites/shatters/utils. Gains access to a double block/phantasm generation, and superior in every way version of Engi shield 5. The wells are are pretty long cd, and the trait for them is weak, but can provide some powerful buffs, I can see having maybe one or two. Plus the elite is just a break bar/stability melter. Also it promotes 3 different mesmer playstyles, clone shattering, interrupts, and phantasms. I really hate my mesmer, so I can’t comment on much besides that though.

Reaper: It will shine in PvE open world to no end. WvW I can see it having it’s place. It may do well in dungeons, but in PvP I don’t think it will be too useful. Perma chill on the aa is really strong. 0 cd spamable high damage skill on <50% hp enemies is crazy, along with the ability to cd every other skill. Perm 12 stacks vuln, pulsing blind, and a 5 man pull. Dang that’s nice. DK, looks like it can keep itself perm going if there’s trash to be killed, has a useful closer with whirl/leap finishers, stability, and a super spike. Also the Reaper can “close” 1200 gap (DK 2 —> GS 5); very useful. Honestly, it makes me think of a Dynasty Warriors muso attack. Able to kill hoards of little guys with no real effort. Shout heal is only “good” vs. 5 targets (compared to consume conditions with 3 of them on you), then it’s half the heal vs. half the cd. Only reason you’d take this is for extra LF or the faster cast time. I’d say 2 shouts are really nice, one is okay for MM, but I think I still may rather have a minion slotted there. The elite is also a nice AoE 2s stun. But I can’t see these getting a lot of use in PvP besides some organized groups, that makes sure the Reaper is always part of a 2v2 or 3v3. The traits are pretty solid (Chilling Nova seems like too short of a duration and/or too small of a radius) and seem like they can augment a coni or power necro, not so much a MM though. But with the other changes to the core necro the Reaper may also be a good life stealer. But even with all these cool things, I’m still really luke warm about the spec. Comparing it to the necro, you can get piercing 4-5k crits in DS from a range of 1,200. Yeah the DK will do a bit more damage, but it will still take 2 hits to kill a light armor, low hp profession, but now you need to be in 170 range. It also seems like it will be heavily countered by an interrupt (thief, mes, or war), high evade (thief, mes, or ranger), or anyone that is good at keep their 600+ distance while using ranged attacks.

TLDR: Of the three I’m most excited to play DH. Least excited to play chronomancer (mostly because I hate my mesmer). I don’t think I’ll stay a reaper on my necro (in PvP) because I feel like the reaper may have gotten the short end of the useful stick with slow melee stuff, in WvW though I may stick with it.

It also seems like it will be heavily countered by an interrupt (thief, mes, or war)

More access to stabs and blinds should help us with this.

On topic

1. Reaper : Cool as and the mechanics are very useful. It does a good job at opening things up for necro.
2. Dragonhunter: Gives guard some nice new tools as well as how burning works now they have condi builds finally.
3. Chronomancer : Maybe since it was the first one but i wasnt a fan and the new spec doesnt seem to do much for the class. It has some nice tools but nothing massivly new.

1. Reaper – New Death Shroud and Greatsword appear to be incredibly fun to use. Best trait design out of any of the Elite specs thus far. Complements existing trait lines in exciting ways. The new armor piece isn’t much to look at, but the GS skin is quite nice.

2. Dragonhunter – Incredible trait synergy with all core specializations. Longbow looks very fun, and the new Virtues are much more exciting and active. I’m a huge fan of traps, which haven’t been very viable in this game, and I’m excited to see how these stack up to something like Guild Wars 1 traps. The new armor and weapon piece are also incredible.

3. Chronomancer – Doesn’t really have the exciting, game changing features of the other two specializations. Whereas the other two come across as “Guardian Version 2” or “Necromancer Version 2,” the Chronomancer is basically “Mesmer + 1.” Basically, it’s an upgrade rather than a change, and I find that comparatively poor design when stacked up against the fantastic Reaper and the interesting Dragon Hunter. I’m still absolutely excited to try it, especially because of its increased mobility and synergy with Shatter builds, but it comes across as more ho-hum than the other two Elite Specs. I’m also going to take the stance that it offers very mediocre skins.