Guild Wars 2

I’m sure this has been asked before, but I couldn’t find it so I’m hoping:

I play a reaper in PvE (no PvP or WvW except on other toons) and mainly use him for fractals and will be using him for the upcoming raids. I like GS and RS, so I’ve been using a build (spite/SR/Reaper) with full zerker gear so gravedigger hits like a truck and my other damage isn’t too bad.

I’ve been trying to figure out whether I should continue with this build, or switch to Viper/Sinister and start using condition damage (maybe switch curse for spite since might/vuln are easy to keep up in groups without it). The biggest thing I dislike is that the GS really doesn’t fit into condition builds all that well compared to weapons like S/D and staff. I do like the condition damage RS1 (Dhuumfire) and RS4+poison field (poison cap) but if scepter does significantly more damage I’m not opposed to switching

TL;DR These are my questions, they pertain to fractals/upcoming raids
1) Is there a significant DPS difference between Zerker and Viper/Sinister or is it negligible?
2) If I should switch to condi, should I take curses instead of spite (for groups)?
3) Damage difference between dhuumfire reaper vs. scepter bleeds? Is it significant enough to warrant not using RS?

Like I said, I like using GS and RS but if the damage difference is significant, I’m fine with switching the builds to make my toon more viable cause I have a good amount of fun either way. I could also have a second set of weapons/armor always available but wouldn’t know the best times to switch between them.

First, for the sake of clarification (just in case a particular person decides to come in here and starts accusing me of spreading lies), I don’t do extensive calculations, spreadsheets etc.etc. to min.-max. my builds. Only quick and dirty napkin math, common sense and ig testing in various different scenarios. I don’t claim that my conclusions are always 100% correct. Please keep that in mind^^

Now to your questions…

1. After testing both Berserker and Viper/Sinister builds for the last two weeks, I am pretty sure that a proper direct damage build wins out big time over a condi build on targets that are easy to melee and with medium/low armor values. The above 50% health damage is still rather mediocre compared to other classes, but the below 50% health damage (aka Gravedigger spam with maxed out crit chance) is very competitive imo. Also, a problem with damage focused condi builds is that you can’t really afford to take Blood Magic, which means you are sacrificing a good portion of our already not-so-great support capabilities.
2. Just a day ago, I was very reluctant to drop Spite in favor of either Curses or SR regardless of the situation, but after a bit more testing I’m not so sure about that anymore. You can read up on my reasoning why I initially didn’t want to drop Spite here if you are interested. The way I see it now, what Spite would offer you in organized, 10 man, group scenarios mostly is: A ton of redundant vuln and personal might stacking, a conditional 5% damage modifier, a tiny bit of extra chill + uncontrollable Boon Corruption and, depending on what GM trait you pick, a 20% damage modifier sub 50% health or situational Boon Corruption and even more useless might stacking for yourself. For a condi build that doesn’t have to worry about might or vuln stacking, this isn’t all that impressive, so it is probably best to go SR/Curses/Reaper in group content where other people have might and vuln covered for you.
3. This is something I’m absolutely not sure about. After testing, my guess is that a Dhuumfire focused build is stronger overall, especially against medium/low toughness enemies, because of the reasonable direct damage RS #1 puts out. I have no idea if this would change much against mobs with incredibly high toughness though (high lvl fractals e.g.). One thing a Scepter/Chill focused build has going for it is that it is much safer to use because you only really go into full melee range to cast your Executioner’s Scythe for the Chill and get a couple of RS auto-attacks off while you are waiting for your cooldowns to refresh.

That’s all I got and I hope it is of some use to you all =P Please correct me if I’m terribly wrong on any of my assumptions.

Skoigoth.9238:

Also, a problem with damage focused condi builds is that you can’t really afford to take Blood Magic, which means you are sacrificing a good portion of our already not-so-great support capabilities.

For a condi build that doesn’t have to worry about might or vuln stacking, this isn’t all that impressive, so it is probably best to go SR/Curses/Reaper in group content where other people have might and vuln covered for you.

Why not go curses/reaper/blood magic for a scepter/chill build or soul reaping/blood/reaper for dhuumfire build? Curse offers nothing little to dhuumfire builds (lingering curse does not work in reaper shroud) and soul reaping little to scepter builds (scepter auto attack is comparable to dhuumfire (since ingering curse does not work in reaper shroud).

One thing a Scepter/Chill focused build has going for it is that it is much safer to use because you only really go into full melee range to cast your Executioner’s Scythe for the Chill and get a couple of RS auto-attacks off while you are waiting for your cooldowns to refresh.

If you run scepter/dagger and scepter/focus you can perfectly maintin 100% uptime while being at 900 range.

Tim.6450:

Why not go curses/reaper/blood magic for a scepter/chill build or soul reaping/blood/reaper for dhuumfire build? Curse offers nothing little to dhuumfire builds (lingering curse does not work in reaper shroud) and soul reaping little to scepter builds (scepter auto attack is comparable to dhuumfire (since ingering curse does not work in reaper shroud).

You could do that, but I think Blood Magic is a rather subpar choice for DPS focused condi builds. If you want to run BM in a DPS build, I’d rather just go for power. The trade off in power builds for picking BM over e.g. SR is far better than it is in condi builds, imo. On your second point, this is the reason I initially didn’t pick SR and Curses together and took Spite instead (check the link in my previous post if you want), but after I refined my rotation a little bit more I changed my mind on that matter. I’m basically dropping in and out of Shroud constantly in my current build, so I spend a not insignificant amount of time on Scepter.
Edit: Also, something I forgot about earlier, you really want to use Soul Spiral in a fire, ethereal or poison field (if you pick CPC e.g.) whenever possible to get that extra little bit of condi application going from the whirl finisher. So going into melee range is not just about the Chill and Burn up-time for me.

Tim.6450:

If you run scepter/dagger and scepter/focus you can perfectly maintin 100% uptime while being at 900 range.

That’s true I guess, but I personally run a Scepter/Dagger set-up with Sigil of Geomancy (just a Scepter in the first set and an OH Dagger in the second set), very similar to the Axe/Torch Geomancy set-up condi Rangers are using, to maximize my bleed stacking. I don’t know if this is optimal, but it works very well with my rotation.

When I read the forums of other professions they say the same thing about vuln and might. Someone has to actually apply the vuln and not rely on everyone else and I think we’re the best for it since it synergizes so well with chill.

Also, in terms of condition damage, I haven’t found any reason to use bleeds or scepter because as soon as I switch to RS the stacks fall off. So I’ve chosen to only use chill/poison/burn as my condi damage and run a hybrid build of valk gear w/ rune of elementalist and sinister trinkets. I feel it’s a perfect middle ground and that no matter the scenario I’ve still got answers.

How does a dagger build compare to greatsword for damage? I am running full zerk and was using GS to start out in HoT but eventually switched over to dagger/WH. Still running blood/SR/Reaper and it just “feels right.” I am trying to decide if the damage is actually comparable or if I am just more comfortable with dagger because the GS is still unfamiliar. Gaining LF seems to go very well with dagger/WH, seemingly better than with GS. But does that matter so much from a damage perspective? Survivability for reaper is pretty amazing for running pure zerk. Most stuff can be all but face-tanked, even several of the HP champs.

William Bradley Knight.2609:

How does a dagger build compare to greatsword for damage? I am running full zerk and was using GS to start out in HoT but eventually switched over to dagger/WH. Still running blood/SR/Reaper and it just “feels right.” I am trying to decide if the damage is actually comparable or if I am just more comfortable with dagger because the GS is still unfamiliar. Gaining LF seems to go very well with dagger/WH, seemingly better than with GS. But does that matter so much from a damage perspective? Survivability for reaper is pretty amazing for running pure zerk. Most stuff can be all but face-tanked, even several of the HP champs.

Above 50% hp, for 1 or 2 targets, dagger/warhorn is sligtly better. vs. 3 targets gs sligtly win.
below 50% gravedigger gravedigger gravedigger dead

I said it in the other thread but I’ve seen bleeds on single target (pug setting) in the 6-7k range, so I don’t think it’s entirely worth it to just disregard bleeding over staying in RS for burns rather than just go condi scepter. That and if you rely on RS 1,4 and 5 for condition damage you are giving up a huge chunk of damage from bleeds, Torment (scepter 3, that’s 7 stacks under most situations) poison (CPC and scepter third hit string), chill uptime (Suffer / Dagger blind if you take that trait / Chill to the bone for example) and basically any other utility.

I just don’t see going RS for dhuumfire as worth it considering how much you have to give up to maintain those burn stacks.

It takes way more to keep bleeds going. All I do is throw down CPC, go into Reaper Shroud and hit 4. Then auto attacks cause the burn/might/vuln. Even in Hybrid gear (Valk armor w/ Sinister trinkets) poison is ticking 2.5k, burn is ticking 1.5k and chill is around 800 on top of dmg from the actual melee attacks.

In order for bleeds to be relevant you have to continuously attack with scepter aa. Otherwise, the minute you switch they diminish. That said it only works for me because i’m hybrid. If I was to go full condition then I would agree. My condi is burst, yours is sustained.

i burst 7-8k poison ticks too though with CPC + RS4 using Viper armor/weapons and sinister trinkets, I think that counts as a hybrid in terms of stats since I have quite abit of power as well. I haven’t felt like I’ve needed defensive stats at any point on necro, but that’s more of a grey area and I respect the use of toughness or vitality if that fits your playstyle more.

This is entirely my opinion, i don’t know if its correct so people don’t hate on me, kay?!

1- I always prefer to use condi builds over power because of 3 reasons:

- in a power build if you are not hitting your target you are not dealing damage. While in condi builds if you are not hitting your target because it is on a rampage mode that punish meele attacks for a couple seconds or something, your condis will still be ticking.

- Power builds need to go through target’s armor before actually hit it, so we are talking about damage reduction, which is super high in high lvl fractals. While cond build go straigth to target’s health ignoring any armor it has.

- In most of cases Power build’s damage start to decrease over the time, let’s say 20~40 seconds. While in condi builds it only gets stronger, so nearly to no downtime in dps.

2- For group content i’d advice to always take curses. Spite is more like a self-sustained line and selfish. Your group can provide you might and you will still be able to stack vulnerability on RS#1.

3- I think the dhummfire build is stronger in damage and the ramp up is way shorter than scepter build. Only reason to pick an entirely scepter build is to play safe from distance.

Just my opinions and experiences there. Hope i could offer something helpful.

Sigfodr.9576:

William Bradley Knight.2609:

How does a dagger build compare to greatsword for damage? I am running full zerk and was using GS to start out in HoT but eventually switched over to dagger/WH. Still running blood/SR/Reaper and it just “feels right.” I am trying to decide if the damage is actually comparable or if I am just more comfortable with dagger because the GS is still unfamiliar. Gaining LF seems to go very well with dagger/WH, seemingly better than with GS. But does that matter so much from a damage perspective? Survivability for reaper is pretty amazing for running pure zerk. Most stuff can be all but face-tanked, even several of the HP champs.

Above 50% hp, for 1 or 2 targets, dagger/warhorn is sligtly better. vs. 3 targets gs sligtly win.
below 50% gravedigger gravedigger gravedigger dead

You know if your target has tons of health at one point you’ll have to stop gravedigger spam and use some utilities to help your group and stuff, which is a huge dps drop.

Sigfodr.9576:

Above 50% hp, for 1 or 2 targets, dagger/warhorn is sligtly better. vs. 3 targets gs sligtly win.
below 50% gravedigger gravedigger gravedigger dead

So for champs, it would be near ideal to open with dagger and then swap to GS below 50%? Unfortunately I cannot give up staff as a secondary because sometimes you just gotta have some range.