I understand the thematic reasoning for a lot of the design for this specialization – particularly the slow animation frames for high damage numbers trade off. Right now, it feels as though the slow frames are there, but the damage is not; high risk, not so high reward.
The chilling scythe attack on the greatsword 1 skill chain is difficult to reliably hit on many occasions; spotted beetles and teragriffs to name a few. Enemies that have high mobility, specific states to which they can be damaged, or some measure of cc seem to create a lot of down time. I find myself for the majority of many fights trying to recover from a spot where I am unable to reach or hit the enemy. Often times doing so puts me in a position that makes me take more damage than perhaps another weapon set would incur, but without any reasonable damage to justify. I think it would be a fair improvement to see the damage on chilling scythe increased.
I have mixed feelings about gravedigger. Against above 50% hp enemies it seems to get used maybe once or none at all – but against below 50% hp enemies there is hardly a reason to use anything else. Is the idea then, to use all of my other skills to survive until my enemies are below 50%, and then just spam 2? The cooldown becomes so absurdly low that I usually only only have enough time to cast one skill before its up again. If everything else is on cooldown, I usually end up casting Dusk Strike then back into gravedigger and repeat (probably my OCD but it just bothers me to cast 1/3 of a chain and abandon it). Would it be reasonable to increase the cooldown of gravedigger slightly and compensate elsewhere?
I really like GS skills 3-5, and would like to see the cooldowns on some of those skills reduced. On a set which boasts a high risk theme – one could suggests that risk comes with failure, it would be nice to have the option to recover from these failures sooner. This is especially true of the nightfall skill, which is one of the few options reapers appear to have for sitting and tanking on the front line.
I know there is a trait for it but that trait is gravedigger dependent and furthermore limits build diversity.
The reaper shroud is amazing, I like everything about it and my only complaint is that it usually lasts for only a few seconds due to the fact that I’m a light armor class sitting on the front line.
There’s a lot of potential for necromancer’s with this specialization – but I think its important to note that the skills we are given force us – a very squishy and low mobility class – to actively chase danger rather than avoid it. There is little we have to mitigate or reduce this damage compared to other classes that function similarly, so when we are able to dish out damage, it should feel rewarding and effective.