Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!
I’m leveling my soon to be Reaper at the moment and I really like to play with Warhorn and eventually greatsword.
As I already have a PS Warrior for Raids, he will be my go to for Fractals – Power Reaper btw.

I know, already read that everywhere, but do you have some actual numbers, how much worse the Axe is compared to Dagger?
Factored in, that 50% of the fight i will sit on that GS and use Gravedigger as a Semi execute.
I’m not really into Daggers – I’m using one all the time now, and the Warhorn is so much joy to play – but is there, somehow, a way to use Axe?

I don’t to aim for Fractals 50+, it’s more for fun. If i ever decide to run high Fractals, I will surely craft myself a Viper set.
So…opinions & help please?

i use axe simply for the 2 spin, and 1 isnt bad either for damage

I played a GS/Axe+Focus build in PvE and Dungeons, it’s funny to play. I prefer to play with a set for melee and a set for ranged fights, making me able to fight in different ways when needed. The axe isn’t really a bad weapon if you use the trait in Spite, but in common fights the dagger is better, expecially if combined with the warhorn. A vampiric build with dagger and warhorn is really strong, for example.
I used to chose axe for ranged fights only, swapping to gs when the enemy come closer, using the focus for the weakness application and the range (but also the warhorn is good for LF and daze, or the off dagger for blind and condition transfer).
I like the axe and can be a viable weapon for ranged fights, also in dungeons and fractals.

You can try a Valkyrie/Marauder/Berserker build for fractal, depending on how much survavibility, critical and ferocity you want, use the trait for more critical rate depending on the vulnerability on the enemy and stay at range with the axe, inflicting good/high damage. The necro isn’t the best dps class anyway, then you can chose how to fight, you will anyway be subpar if compared to more or less all the other classes dps.

Play what you want and enjoy your playstyle. Chose your weapons, make your build and if someone told you that you’re not using the top build you can tell him that it’s a game and this game is made to play whatever you like to play.

I camp greatsword and play axe for ranged and trash fight.. to stack my warhorn’s sigil of cuelty

Sounds very good to me!

And what’s ~ the max Fractal level I can do with that setup?

If you’re going to run greatsword anyway, then a dagger doesn’t do much for you. An axe is useful for those fights where enemies will use various area denial skills. If you have two melee range weapons, you’re either going to get slapped or stand around doing no damage waiting for something to clear.

Using only axe vs. only dagger, dagger does higher DPS. But if you factor in utilities or time spent running to a target, axe’s damage is fairly comparable on a single target but allows you to position yourself.

On the other hand, if you have a room to clear, an axe doesn’t do much for you besides getting a stack of retaliation and swapping to another weapon.

So why not carry both and swap between them? Dungeons and fractals are predictable. A dagger is better on Old Tom but not as good on the thumanova anomaly.

dagger auto- 23k
axe total – 20k
GS total- 26k
—extras—
GS above 50% – about 22k
GS “autoing with gravediger” aka under 50% mode – about 33k
GS under50 mode compensated for 20% dmg boost aka pure value of gravedigger if we could spam it above 50% also = 26,6k
Or rather, to compare apples with apples, this a combine of above, or how it would look if we would gs#2 as auto all time with bonuses – 30k

So axe is pretty strong for a ranged thing, its not like losing half of your dmg. But its not an AOE tempest -.- Maybe you can run greens on ValeGuard with axe
As for rest, its just everything is weak compared to ele/thief, even the almighty im gona finish you mode of greatsword is still weaker than a thief auto.

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Unfortunately the test-golem does not fight back.

While the dps-thief gets two-shotted by many HOT trashmobs, the dps-reaper can solo most HOT champs. It’s all about preferences.

I’d like to see the thiefs dps in a real fighting scenario. It should drop significantly. Ele at least has ranged attacks.

KrHome.1920:

Unfortunately the test-golem does not fight back.

While the dps-thief gets two-shotted by many HOT trashmobs, the dps-reaper can solo most HOT champs. It’s all about preferences.

I’d like to see the thiefs dps in a real fighting scenario. It should drop significantly. Ele at least has ranged attacks.

What an ignorant comment.

Maybe your bad thief gets 2 shot because he can’t use the 6+ dodges available to the class, not including the built in evade frames on staff attacks.

Zenith.7301:

KrHome.1920:

Unfortunately the test-golem does not fight back.

While the dps-thief gets two-shotted by many HOT trashmobs, the dps-reaper can solo most HOT champs. It’s all about preferences.

I’d like to see the thiefs dps in a real fighting scenario. It should drop significantly. Ele at least has ranged attacks.

What an ignorant comment.

Maybe your bad thief gets 2 shot because he can’t use the 6+ dodges available to the class, not including the built in evade frames on staff attacks.

What an ignorant comment.

Meet me in PvP and I show you how I perform on thief.

You don’t get the point as the guy in the video didn’t when he talked about teef sustain. Just do DS events and go in the middle of the action with your vault teef and with a power reaper. Try to avoid the damage of 10+ mobs attacking randomly while keeping up a perfect dps rotation! LMAO dude! You can’t do that. A reaper can.

It’s the same scenario like trying to fight on node with teef in conquest. You die to random 10+k AOE damage.

What now? Are you going to tell me PvP players are bad on thief or their builds suck and they should run the PvE dps build?

I’m telling you you are bad on thief in PvE if you can’t run staff.

You can’t even run greatsword glass necromancer without getting 2 shot by Axemaster in DS if you don’t know what to dodge.

I mean it takes a modicum of intelligence to know you can actually bother to shoot for the archers instead of being the average kitten who sits on the pile of mobs getting constantly downed by the sniper trails overlapping.

And who balances this game for braindead open world PvE anyways?

You balance for dungeons and raids.

So, if I got this right..
Basically, Necro trades in “some” (it’s like 10-12k roundabout?) for higher survivability in the form of tons of shtload of HP?

And I got it that far, he’s not preferred in Raids, as my buffs are quite selfish and my damage isn’t on par with other classes.
I’m cool with that, as I will craft myself a set of Vipers, Dagger Focus + Dagger (Scepter?) Warhorn for a Condi build – or doesn’t Condi have a raidspot aswell due to low damage?

Tl;dr: it’s still viable to go Power / Condi Reaper for Fractals, whereas I can run the power thingy for Level 50 Fractals? And the Axe is an okay-ish option, if there’s only/mostly single target?
Sorry, if I act a bit dense, I was gone for 3 years now and it seems, that I found a class, to effectively make use of that howler…

Edit: I found no enemy so far, but they have that blue breakbar by now – what would be the most effective option to break that?

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

So, if I got this right..
Basically, Necro trades in “some” (it’s like 10-12k roundabout?) for higher survivability in the form of tons of shtload of HP?

And I got it that far, he’s not preferred in Raids, as my buffs are quite selfish and my damage isn’t on par with other classes.
I’m cool with that, as I will craft myself a set of Vipers, Dagger Focus + Dagger (Scepter?) Warhorn for a Condi build – or doesn’t Condi have a raidspot aswell due to low damage?

Tl;dr: it’s still viable to go Power / Condi Reaper for Fractals, whereas I can run the power thingy for Level 50 Fractals? And the Axe is an okay-ish option, if there’s only/mostly single target?
Sorry, if I act a bit dense, I was gone for 3 years now and it seems, that I found a class, to effectively make use of that howler…

Edit: I found no enemy so far, but they have that blue breakbar by now – what would be the most effective option to break that?

http://qtfy.enjin.com/dps

lol it’s not some 10-12k.

Best necro dps build is condi, it does 22.5k realistic DPS. Power build realistic DPS is around 20-22k.

Ele realistic DPS is 36-39k DPS. Thief is around 36k.

So you do 14-17k DPS less than they do, just for having more HP which you don’t use anyways because necromancers do not tank (chronomancers are the ones tanking), and any damage you might want to absorb is easily avoided via dodging.

P.S. Go condi reaper for fractal, power reaper is garbage anywhere that’s not open world PvE.

In fractals enemies have heightened armor (that caps at 50 but is still higher than raid boss armor) that devalues power damage, and condi necro does not do badly because condi necro also has great aoe via epidemic and a bunch of debuffs that hinder enemy damage on top of corrupting boons off enemies.

Power necro is useless in PvE, don’t bother.

Well, but if I stick to Sub 50 Fractals, do I even have to care, what the Meta is?
That’s why I said, if I ever decide, to hit harder content, I will craft myself Viper Horror gear for that.

Otherwise, I would go with this:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Greatsword/X

I’ve been using axe for a long time, the damage is ok with axe 2 hitting 12k spikes sometimes when i run around. The problem for me is i feel it clunky, maybe because of being a one-target weapon and not being that fast.

I ended up with dagger/focus and staff (all zerker build) and focusing my build more on reaper. I’ve liked the change, the marks are a nice extra aoe dps, i faceroll everything no matter how dangerous is because i can refill my lifeforce with marks and spectral armor a lot faster than using GS.

Zenith.7301:

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

So, if I got this right..
Basically, Necro trades in “some” (it’s like 10-12k roundabout?) for higher survivability in the form of tons of shtload of HP?

And I got it that far, he’s not preferred in Raids, as my buffs are quite selfish and my damage isn’t on par with other classes.
I’m cool with that, as I will craft myself a set of Vipers, Dagger Focus + Dagger (Scepter?) Warhorn for a Condi build – or doesn’t Condi have a raidspot aswell due to low damage?

Tl;dr: it’s still viable to go Power / Condi Reaper for Fractals, whereas I can run the power thingy for Level 50 Fractals? And the Axe is an okay-ish option, if there’s only/mostly single target?
Sorry, if I act a bit dense, I was gone for 3 years now and it seems, that I found a class, to effectively make use of that howler…

Edit: I found no enemy so far, but they have that blue breakbar by now – what would be the most effective option to break that?

http://qtfy.enjin.com/dps

lol it’s not some 10-12k.

Best necro dps build is condi, it does 22.5k realistic DPS. Power build realistic DPS is around 20-22k.

Ele realistic DPS is 36-39k DPS. Thief is around 36k.

So you do 14-17k DPS less than they do, just for having more HP which you don’t use anyways because necromancers do not tank (chronomancers are the ones tanking), and any damage you might want to absorb is easily avoided via dodging.

P.S. Go condi reaper for fractal, power reaper is garbage anywhere that’s not open world PvE.

In fractals enemies have heightened armor (that caps at 50 but is still higher than raid boss armor) that devalues power damage, and condi necro does not do badly because condi necro also has great aoe via epidemic and a bunch of debuffs that hinder enemy damage on top of corrupting boons off enemies.

Power necro is useless in PvE, don’t bother.

Chronomancers only tank in raid. Fractal bosses don’t have the toughness aggro mechanic.

I’ll keep runing my power reaper in fractals ty very much. You are welcome to leave my party if you don’t like it. But i’ll be kitten ed if someone else is telling me what to run over a less than 10% dps difference.

And power/condi necro both have the same debuffs, and same boon stripping ability. The boon corrupting is a +, but half the time it barely matter because you can just strip the boons anyway.

2 things that are not really mentioned in this thread.

1. Single target dps with axe compared to dagger is not massive but let’s not forget that dagger auto also hits 2 targets. While this might not be relevant for all situations it’s still a big difference when it is.

2. You can run whatever you want in fractals as there is no time limit or dps-check you need to pass to clear it with the exception of scale 100 challenge mode. Sure some people might not want to play with you if you play something awful, but every build can be used for fractals. Power necro works fine for all levels of fractals. On a scale of terrible-bad-average-good-optimal, powernecro would land around average to good.

Edit: better sentences

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

Well, but if I stick to Sub 50 Fractals, do I even have to care, what the Meta is?
That’s why I said, if I ever decide, to hit harder content, I will craft myself Viper Horror gear for that.

Otherwise, I would go with this:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Greatsword/X

I pug T4 fractals on an axe wielding power necro (not reaper) most nights of the week and have never had any issues. Maybe once a month someone will comment, but it’s always the person who spends most of the time on the ground so I can’t take them seriously.

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

Zenith.7301:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

What about the horror nerf? That was clearly because of pve.

Maybe just maybe, they actually balance around all game modes but arent, lets say, the best at balancing?

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

What about the horror nerf? That was clearly because of pve.

Maybe just maybe, they actually balance around all game modes but arent, lets say, the best at balancing?

You mean fear going through the defiance bar? Perhaps because warriors could do so as well and fear locking a boss was breaking fights completely.

Then again, so did Icebow and Thief headshot interrupts, but of course they took much longer to fix those.

Zenith.7301:

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

What about the horror nerf? That was clearly because of pve.

Maybe just maybe, they actually balance around all game modes but arent, lets say, the best at balancing?

You mean fear going through the defiance bar? Perhaps because warriors could do so as well and fear locking a boss was breaking fights completely.

Then again, so did Icebow and Thief headshot interrupts, but of course they took much longer to fix those.

No i mean the jagged horrors.

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

What about the horror nerf? That was clearly because of pve.

Maybe just maybe, they actually balance around all game modes but arent, lets say, the best at balancing?

You mean fear going through the defiance bar? Perhaps because warriors could do so as well and fear locking a boss was breaking fights completely.

Then again, so did Icebow and Thief headshot interrupts, but of course they took much longer to fix those.

No i mean the jagged horrors.

Oh, yeah, the stupid nerf that had no reason to occur as even then necro DPS was still far lower than ele or thief DPS.

Though at the time there was also some grumbling about minion master necros in spvp as well.

Spvp got ranger spirits nerfed into oblivion.

So Hesacon, you tell me, I should just go with what I feel like?
Axe / Dagger + Warhorn & Greatsword should be completely fine then?

I’m not sure, I really want to hit the endgame content someday.. :/

I use a power reaper build in pretty much every gamemode (can do Fractal 100 pretty easily, maybe not as super effective as viper’s) and primarily use it in PvP, not quite as effective in WvW, but works.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/PvP-Dreaded-Power-GS-Axe-Wh/first#post6445956

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

I was deciding to get a crafting profession for my necro (got tailoring done), but not sure about the second one, was thinking about artificing since I see staff/sceptre being used a lot, but dagger looks good too..

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

Are you talking just dagger/warhorn or dagger/warhorn and greatsword vs camping greatsword?

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

I thought that even without quickness GS has better dps then dagger. The CoS (Coefficent per Second) of GS auto is a bit higher then the dagger auto one. So not counting any offhand but GS should always have higher dps then dagger ( so i suppose the higher dps comes from the offhand).

Kinda sad since Anet said in the past that the dagger auto should have higher dps then the gs auto. Though that was true when they said it.

Muchacho.2390:

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

I thought that even without quickness GS has better dps then dagger. The CoS (Coefficent per Second) of GS auto is a bit higher then the dagger auto one. So not counting any offhand but GS should always have higher dps then dagger ( so i suppose the higher dps comes from the offhand).

Kinda sad since Anet said in the past that the dagger auto should have higher dps then the gs auto. Though that was true when they said it.

It’s from the swarm of locust from what i see.

FrostDraco.8306:

I’ll keep runing my power reaper in fractals ty very much. You are welcome to leave my party if you don’t like it. But i’ll be kitten ed if someone else is telling me what to run over a less than 10% dps difference.

I think you should play whatever you like in fractals… And I’ve actually seen a good amount of people prefer Power Necro for the last boss in 100CM.

That said, the difference in dps is a lot more than ten percent IN FRACTALS… Since there is never really a boss where you can’t use epidemic cheese… The only two that I can think of are the last boss in Nightmare and the last boss in Thermanova (if there’s no Mist Convergence).

Alright, this encourages me ALOT to go on with my Necro!

I’ve read quite a few times now, that Valkyries ends up in higher damage than Zerker’s, is that correct?

I have an ascended Greatsword with Zojja stats, so that should be enough, but Howler can be changed to Valkyries anytime and I will craft a new Axe / Dagger anyway.
Some other things, you advice?
Btw, when will “Rise!” and “Chilled to the Bone” be a better pick than Flesh Golem?
(I’m not sure, was “Rise!” an Elite?)

Last but not least, what’s the easiest way to get my hands on Viper’s trinkets? Is it correct, you can only get them in Raids, or is it just the ascended Version?
+ where does the Staff belong? Mostly WvW & PvP? On Condi or Power?
I think it is better used on a Condi, am I right?

Zenith.7301:

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

What about the horror nerf? That was clearly because of pve.

Maybe just maybe, they actually balance around all game modes but arent, lets say, the best at balancing?

You mean fear going through the defiance bar? Perhaps because warriors could do so as well and fear locking a boss was breaking fights completely.

Then again, so did Icebow and Thief headshot interrupts, but of course they took much longer to fix those.

No i mean the jagged horrors.

Oh, yeah, the stupid nerf that had no reason to occur as even then necro DPS was still far lower than ele or thief DPS.

Though at the time there was also some grumbling about minion master necros in spvp as well.

That nerf had nothing to do with PvP, as the reason why it was nerfed can’t be done in PvP. The “nerf” actually made it better for PvP purposes. In the end MM necro is, and always was, a gimmick at best.

Btw, the nerfs to revenants Facet of Nature, and mesmers Signet of Inspiration were all about PvE, raids specifically. They had some niche use in WvW but that wasn’t the main reason.

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

Btw, when will “Rise!” and “Chilled to the Bone” be a better pick than Flesh Golem?
(I’m not sure, was “Rise!” an Elite?)

Last but not least, what’s the easiest way to get my hands on Viper’s trinkets? Is it correct, you can only get them in Raids, or is it just the ascended Version?
+ where does the Staff belong? Mostly WvW & PvP? On Condi or Power?
I think it is better used on a Condi, am I right?

“Rise!” is just a utility skill. “CttB!” is better against groups of enemies, Golem for single targets such as bosses.

Easiest way to Viper trinkets would be Unbound Magic vendors in the LW maps. Used to be that they were only available from raids but this is no longer true, as the trinkets from LWS are stat selectable into any stat set. The 5th PvP season league vendor would be another option but I suspect you don’t PvP.

Yannir.4132:

Zenith.7301:

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

Muchacho.2390:

Zenith.7301:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zenith.7301:

PvE balance in this game is a joke.

Better than PvP and WvW balance lol.

At least PvE has some semblance of the profession devs’ attention.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Every single nerf in this game, from the nerf to the already useless ranger pets, to the nerf to the already useless ranger shortbow, to the nerf on all revenant skills and energy costs, to the buffs to thieves and lack of nerfs to ele damage output, to the lack of nerf to PS warriors because nobody uses them in PvP.

Every single balance change in this game has been ruled by spvp and WvW whine.

Thief was doing 30% more autoattack damage with their non-meta sword weapon autoattack than mesmer’s sword autoattack, BEFORE THEY BUFFED THIEF AUTOATTACKS.

They only buffed necro axe and mesmer sword auto by 10% despite the fact they’re 40%+ behind other autoattack DPS in this game.

Because pvp.

Robert Gee: " We can’t buff necro axe to be competitive with ele staff or ranger longbow because axe has no projectiles to be reflected".

What about the horror nerf? That was clearly because of pve.

Maybe just maybe, they actually balance around all game modes but arent, lets say, the best at balancing?

You mean fear going through the defiance bar? Perhaps because warriors could do so as well and fear locking a boss was breaking fights completely.

Then again, so did Icebow and Thief headshot interrupts, but of course they took much longer to fix those.

No i mean the jagged horrors.

Oh, yeah, the stupid nerf that had no reason to occur as even then necro DPS was still far lower than ele or thief DPS.

Though at the time there was also some grumbling about minion master necros in spvp as well.

Btw, the nerfs to revenants Facet of Nature, and mesmers Signet of Inspiration were all about PvE, raids specifically. They had some niche use in WvW but that wasn’t the main reason.

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

Btw, when will “Rise!” and “Chilled to the Bone” be a better pick than Flesh Golem?
(I’m not sure, was “Rise!” an Elite?)

Last but not least, what’s the easiest way to get my hands on Viper’s trinkets? Is it correct, you can only get them in Raids, or is it just the ascended Version?
+ where does the Staff belong? Mostly WvW & PvP? On Condi or Power?
I think it is better used on a Condi, am I right?

“Rise!” is just a utility skill. “CttB!” is better against groups of enemies, Golem for single targets such as bosses.

Easiest way to Viper trinkets would be Unbound Magic vendors in the LW maps. Used to be that they were only available from raids but this is no longer true, as the trinkets from LWS are stat selectable into any stat set. The 5th PvP season league vendor would be another option but I suspect you don’t PvP.

Bullcrap.

PS warrior already provided a larger group DPS boost than druid, mesmer, and revenant by far.

PS Warrior virtually boosts the group’s damage output by around 24%+, while having higher personal DPS than emsmer and druid.

And PS warrior was the one support class not nerfed.

What a coincidence that PS warrior was the only spec not used in spvp that people were rampantly complaining about (as opposed to mesmer quickness share and alacrity uptimes; spvp had a hate campaign for chronomancers and revenants early on).

The nerf to facet of nature was directly tied to the high resistance uptimes they could afford to WvW groups as well as the whine about revenant damage due to their boon uptimes (which is how revenant got hammered into irrelevance with nerf upon nerf to its offensive capabilities).

Guardian virtually bring perma prot to the group via hammer and Anet has not moved to place any limitations on that, since perma prot specs with hammer are not a stable of pvp.

Nor have they made serious efforts at reducing the effectiveness of staff on elementalist, the only ranged weapon in the game that outperforms melee weapons. Again, because staff is not a meta spvp weapon.

Muchacho.2390:

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

I thought that even without quickness GS has better dps then dagger. The CoS (Coefficent per Second) of GS auto is a bit higher then the dagger auto one. So not counting any offhand but GS should always have higher dps then dagger ( so i suppose the higher dps comes from the offhand).

Kinda sad since Anet said in the past that the dagger auto should have higher dps then the gs auto. Though that was true when they said it.

After a few tests on the dps golem I found that Dagger auto was slightly higher dps than Greatsword auto (about 1 second ahead on the 1mil hp golem). However, Greatsword dominates dagger when you add Gravedigger and Nightfall into the mix.

So, basically – best DPS for that spec would be using Dagger + Warhorn and switch to a Greatsword at 50% and spam gravedigger?
Thanks for your research btw!

And Yannir: is it the Black Ice Band / Earring or Bloodruby Band / Pendant I want to go for?
Yeah, Pendant & 2 Earrings, but do those 2 bands differ in any way?
Does it take long, to get those?

And still, the question still has time tho, Valkyrie’s or Berserker’s?

Thanks everyone, that’s so much good input here, highly appreciate it all!

Think I will stick to my PS Warrior for Raids and use my Reaper then for everything else

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

So, basically – best DPS for that spec would be using Dagger + Warhorn and switch to a Greatsword at 50% and spam gravedigger?
Thanks for your research btw!

And Yannir: is it the Black Ice Band / Earring or Bloodruby Band / Pendant I want to go for?
Yeah, Pendant & 2 Earrings, but do those 2 bands differ in any way?
Does it take long, to get those?

And still, the question still has time tho, Valkyrie’s or Berserker’s?

Thanks everyone, that’s so much good input here, highly appreciate it all!

Think I will stick to my PS Warrior for Raids and use my Reaper then for everything else

Greatsword is superior even above 50%, because you can use gravedigger every 8 seconds.

Dagger doesn’t break 23k DPS. Axe sits somewhere around 20-21k. Greatsword does around 24-25k and can be pushed to 28k optimized.

Zenith.7301:

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

So, basically – best DPS for that spec would be using Dagger + Warhorn and switch to a Greatsword at 50% and spam gravedigger?
Thanks for your research btw!

And Yannir: is it the Black Ice Band / Earring or Bloodruby Band / Pendant I want to go for?
Yeah, Pendant & 2 Earrings, but do those 2 bands differ in any way?
Does it take long, to get those?

And still, the question still has time tho, Valkyrie’s or Berserker’s?

Thanks everyone, that’s so much good input here, highly appreciate it all!

Think I will stick to my PS Warrior for Raids and use my Reaper then for everything else

Greatsword is superior even above 50%, because you can use gravedigger every 8 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE5dbF3J90o

Dagger doesn’t break 23k DPS. Axe sits somewhere around 20-21k. Greatsword does around 24-25k and can be pushed to 28k optimized.

Pretty much this. Grave digger and nightfall pull ahead of dagger by a heavy margin, and should be used when not on CD, especially to break the 3rd GS auto.

Dagger is easily 23k

But GS is 22k with a very bad rotation, but can be pushed to 24-25 with a better one. 28k is min maxed, like hardcore.

For the record my statement about Dagger being better was from a pure auto attack damage perspective. Greatsword is definitely superior, not only because of Nightfall and Gravedigger, but also because it can naturally proc Chilling Nova on cooldown (and Deathly chill – the current best damage grandmaster trait ironically).

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

So, basically – best DPS for that spec would be using Dagger + Warhorn and switch to a Greatsword at 50% and spam gravedigger?
Thanks for your research btw!

Alt-weapon for dagger doesn’t contribute a lot to DPS. Warhorn has a hard cc for break bars and some AoEness. Focus can strip boons and stack vulnerability. Dagger can transfer conditions and corrupt boons. So it’s very much fight dependent.

You also have to remember that Axe has something dagger and greatsword don’t have – range. Some fights are hostile to melee for a variety of reasons (AoEs, bosses that teleport) and axe will outperform either weapon because it’s always hitting and you’re not chasing an enemy.

And still, the question still has time tho, Valkyrie’s or Berserker’s?

Depends on your crit rate. With 50% crit rate from vulnerability, Valkyrie would technically be the same as berserker’s, but never higher. But do your enemies have a full stack of vulnerability for your preferred game mode and party composition?

If you’re taking Valkyrie’s for the vitality, marauder’s is a better choice for DPS while still getting vitality.

Alright, then I will aim for full Zerker, as i prefer it over the “situational same dps” thing.
Plus, I can put it on a Mesmer, if I ever level up one after that Reaper!

I won’t take Valkyrie/Marauders for survivability, Necro definitely has more then enough imo

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Greatsword/X
Is that one fine, or should I change sth around?

Lahmia.2193:

Muchacho.2390:

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

I thought that even without quickness GS has better dps then dagger. The CoS (Coefficent per Second) of GS auto is a bit higher then the dagger auto one. So not counting any offhand but GS should always have higher dps then dagger ( so i suppose the higher dps comes from the offhand).

Kinda sad since Anet said in the past that the dagger auto should have higher dps then the gs auto. Though that was true when they said it.

After a few tests on the dps golem I found that Dagger auto was slightly higher dps than Greatsword auto (about 1 second ahead on the 1mil hp golem). However, Greatsword dominates dagger when you add Gravedigger and Nightfall into the mix.

Well if thats really the case the numbers on the wiki are not correct. Because going with those numbers and taking the 10% damage difference of GS and dagger into account (note here bcause of the damage formula you can simply mulipliy the GS CoS with 1,1 to get compareable values), the CoS of GS auto is a bit higher. The difference is maginal however (GS is 1.375 and dagger is 1.3725). In fact is is so maginal that you probably wont notice any difference.

And my tests are more inline with the wiki numbers (mainly the sequence time because the coefficent itself can be calaculated form the skill tooltip and the damage formula).

Also i dont know your setting for golem tests. I suppose with a CoS difference that small and since there are things like crits, procs etc and imprecise time meassurement and not a sufficent number of tests, a result like yours is possible.

Muchacho.2390:

Lahmia.2193:

Muchacho.2390:

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

I thought that even without quickness GS has better dps then dagger. The CoS (Coefficent per Second) of GS auto is a bit higher then the dagger auto one. So not counting any offhand but GS should always have higher dps then dagger ( so i suppose the higher dps comes from the offhand).

Kinda sad since Anet said in the past that the dagger auto should have higher dps then the gs auto. Though that was true when they said it.

After a few tests on the dps golem I found that Dagger auto was slightly higher dps than Greatsword auto (about 1 second ahead on the 1mil hp golem). However, Greatsword dominates dagger when you add Gravedigger and Nightfall into the mix.

Well if thats really the case the numbers on the wiki are not correct. Because going with those numbers and taking the 10% damage difference of GS and dagger into account (note here bcause of the damage formula you can simply mulipliy the GS CoS with 1,1 to get compareable values), the CoS of GS auto is a bit higher. The difference is maginal however (GS is 1.375 and dagger is 1.3725). In fact is is so maginal that you probably wont notice any difference.

And my tests are more inline with the wiki numbers (mainly the sequence time because the coefficent itself can be calaculated form the skill tooltip and the damage formula).

Also i dont know your setting for golem tests. I suppose with a CoS difference that small and since there are things like crits, procs etc and imprecise time meassurement and not a sufficent number of tests, a result like yours is possible.

Did you factor in dagger auto speed?

ElvisMcRanft.8569:

And Yannir: is it the Black Ice Band / Earring or Bloodruby Band / Pendant I want to go for?
Yeah, Pendant & 2 Earrings, but do those 2 bands differ in any way?
Does it take long, to get those?

Yeah those. Only the icons are different so doesn’t matter which ones you go for. But I’d say Bitterfrost gear is easier to get. I farmed the map with 6 characters for 1 day and got an earring for my troubles. I didn’t exactly start from 0 though. You get around 50 berries from a single run. And you need 300 + the unbound magic.

The test was done on a 1mil golem with 25 vuln, and I had 25 might and fury. No food.
I didn’t use any traits that might favour either weapon (so no Chilling Nova, Deathly Chill, vampiric or vamp aura etc.)
Dagger killed 1 second quicker using purely auto attack. Add quickness into the mix and dagger still wins.

As I did say in my previous message: this was done purely to see which AUTO attack damage is better. Overall, Greatsword is the far better dps weapon.

Plus greatsword also hits more than 2 targets, which is pretty kitten relevant in many encounters.

FrostDraco.8306:

Muchacho.2390:

Lahmia.2193:

Muchacho.2390:

FrostDraco.8306:

Shaogin.2679:

I use power reaper in every game mode and do just fine. In Fractals, should have no issue with going greatsword/axe-warhorn. From what I’ve seen recently, camping greatsword is more dps than swapping between greatsword and dagger. May be wrong on that but I’m pretty sure that is what the consensus has been lately. With that said, you can then easily swap out dagger for Axe and use it when, for whatever reason, you can’t fight in melee.

It has been proven that without quickness, dagger pulls ahead (barely), and with quickness GS is leagues more dps. Which is why all power reaper benchmarks use GS now.

I thought that even without quickness GS has better dps then dagger. The CoS (Coefficent per Second) of GS auto is a bit higher then the dagger auto one. So not counting any offhand but GS should always have higher dps then dagger ( so i suppose the higher dps comes from the offhand).

Kinda sad since Anet said in the past that the dagger auto should have higher dps then the gs auto. Though that was true when they said it.

After a few tests on the dps golem I found that Dagger auto was slightly higher dps than Greatsword auto (about 1 second ahead on the 1mil hp golem). However, Greatsword dominates dagger when you add Gravedigger and Nightfall into the mix.

Well if thats really the case the numbers on the wiki are not correct. Because going with those numbers and taking the 10% damage difference of GS and dagger into account (note here bcause of the damage formula you can simply mulipliy the GS CoS with 1,1 to get compareable values), the CoS of GS auto is a bit higher. The difference is maginal however (GS is 1.375 and dagger is 1.3725). In fact is is so maginal that you probably wont notice any difference.

And my tests are more inline with the wiki numbers (mainly the sequence time because the coefficent itself can be calaculated form the skill tooltip and the damage formula).

Also i dont know your setting for golem tests. I suppose with a CoS difference that small and since there are things like crits, procs etc and imprecise time meassurement and not a sufficent number of tests, a result like yours is possible.

Did you factor in dagger auto speed?

Of course i did. CoS (Coefficent per Second) implies this. CoS is calculated as the sum of all coefficents divided be the sequence time (also auto speed with aftercasts).