Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone , I just got back to GW2 and trying to decide Necromancer or Elementalist. I have play elementalist up to level 16 now and I find that class might be a bit too many spell . so what’s reaper like in pvp and pve ? specially with the Deathly Chill buff I hear.

my main is PvP

I main Reaper cause I’m a masochist. I love nerf bats and being excluded from dungeons/fractals and, in two weeks, raids.
I also love when dev’s deceive me with great additions to the class, making me buying the expansion and then nerf our nice tools few days after release.

Oh gosh, I main both the Ele and the Necro. Don’t make me choose!

They’re both fantastic fun. Ele’s are great because of how flexible and dynamic they are. Necromancers are great because of they’re just so tremendously brutal. They’re all about ripping into their foes and just tearing them apart. Deathly Chill is really helps round out our condition application, allowing us to be just bursty enough to overwhelm out opponent’s defenses.

I “main” necromancer. Reaper is more a side thing for me and not the my primary focus. the Elite specialization is currently the strongest bet I can go for aside from Minion master IMO so I use it.

Necromancer at its core has quite a few problems still remaining and reaper isn’t immune to those problems. But That doesn’t stop me from enjoying the reaper in the slightest. Its an absolute power house for sure. And their condi build finally feels good.

Reaper’s shroud may lack the range of it’s counterpart, but with higher dps, cleaving, better cc, and pulsing stability, I honestly find it to be an upgrade. Great sword has longer windups and is more difficult to use than the necro’s other weapons, especially in PvP. However, you will find that in spite of the higher skill threshold the weapon is enormously rewarding to use if used well, able to seize players and bring them from ~45% health to 0 in one to two blows from gravedigger. (Be prepared to get juked though.) Reaper opens the way for builds that can spray out vulnerability like water from a fire hose. This coupled with the Decimate Defenses trait allows for 30-50% crit chances for builds that build little to no precision at all. In PvE, this allows you to cut though mobs at or near zerker rate while running a build that still includes passive defenses. (Remember, Shroud size scales up with vitality, not just Lv and one Soul Reaping trait. Vitality also helps out a little with sharpening stones.) As Elite skills go, Lich and Plague both deny you a healing skill, while Lich is now considered Spectral and needs to be traited for to reach full potential, and Plague is useless if you are running all Power and no Condition Damage. Flesh Golem is under-powered if not part of a minion build. The new Reaper elite is quite generally useful, offering an AOE stun on half the cool down of the transforms that has been quite the lifesaver for me in PvP. The trouble with it is that since it is a one-shot deal, it can be juked completely. This means that you have to be very considerate in your timing when using it if you don’t want to waste it.

Altogether, those are the reasons I am playing Reaper for both PvP and PvE. I still need to take it to WvW.

Loving my Mighty-Spiteful-Soul-Stealing-Hybrid Reaper…

I main Necro since launch, despite its shortcomings. I just enjoy the theme and the straightforwardness of the class. Also, Necro was my main in GW1 as well. Although, you can’t really compare the two, the games are too different, but it made sense to me to continue where I left off back then.

I second necro/reaper. I really love the theme and feeling, and reaper is just pure happiness for me.

In solo PvE, reaper is just a beast. I feel like a bulldozer passing through the maps. In organized PvE, things are quite ok, better than they were with core-necro.

In PvP, reaper can spec to be a solo beast or finally join the big team fights and use its freaking awesome scythe to grind enemies into pieces.

There is something about reaper which makes you feel invincible, even if you end up dying at the end… Quite paradoxal…

I main Reaper because I love Necromancer, and Reaper has taken one of my favorite mechanics of Necromancer (Shroud) and improved it massively.

I main reaper because it basically merged a necro with a warrior.

Necro is the first class I played since launch and is the one I played the most. I don’t know why but I just can’t connect to other classes compare to necromancer.

Reaper is everything I want in an MMO class. Tanky, still able to put out good damage, wields a Greatsword (I’m a sucker for Greatsword aesthetic, don’t judge me), gets right up in the thick of everything, enjoyable sustain mechanics with Shroud interaction (I have always enjoyed it anyway), and some baked-in mobility with Reaper’s Shroud.

I literally couldn’t be happier. Not that everything is perfect, but this is what I was hoping to get out of the expansion from an experience perspective.

I like green and black colours! LOL

Cogbyrn.7283:

Reaper is everything I want in an MMO class. Tanky, still able to put out good damage, wields a Greatsword (I’m a sucker for Greatsword aesthetic, don’t judge me), gets right up in the thick of everything, enjoyable sustain mechanics with Shroud interaction (I have always enjoyed it anyway), and some baked-in mobility with Reaper’s Shroud.

I literally couldn’t be happier. Not that everything is perfect, but this is what I was hoping to get out of the expansion from an experience perspective.

This. I’m loving how much melee damage the Reaper can dish out while still being pretty tanky. I love being able to aggro a mob, facetank everything thrown at me, and destroy all of them while my health bar is barely threatened.

I’ve endured years of necros being not so great (pvp) so I never take for granted just how amazing Reaper is.

I didn’t play the first GW so when I chose the necromancer, I thought I had the ability to reanimate dead enemies – you know, the typical stuff necros do.

But I was endeared by the profession from the dopey appearance of Lich and summoning/creating bone minions that look like distant cousins of Asura.

I still do despite everything because critting Gravedigger is the most satisfying thing you can do in a game.

I mained necro before HoT. Like other comments, I’m sucker for GS. I play valk/soldier reaper in PvE. However, I can not for the life of me play any power build as a reaper or necro in PvP. Been experimenting builds, grabbing build templates from meta, or just creating them before HoT but I could not win a single 1v1 in PvP. I discovered I am better at condi necro running nightmare and rabid. When HoT came out, I became a condi reaper, don’t know if you can call it a condimancer but it does what I want it to do. I don’t remember the exact traits im using. Staff & s/d with YSIM, Corrupt Boon(or corropsive poison cloud if I see 2+ rangers), Rise, Suffer. Still using nightmare but switched over to Carrion since Rise is so good (also has the reduced shout trait).

TL;DR: Super tanky and does dmg. Can 1v1, 1v2, and 1v3 but atm can’t do 1v4+.

I mained Necro and now main Reaper,why?
Well because its the best class there is,I don’t care what anyone else says,I just love my reaper and enjoy playing it very much.It doesn’t even matter if I just grind sw,i just enjoy it allot no matter what i do.This is the only reason i bought this expansion.I don’t even have any other characters and i don’t plan on making any.
Reaper Master Race.

The correct response here would be “try them both and play what you want” which I do believe to be the best answer.

But to answer your question, I play reaper because it looks kitten it feels kitten too. The 100% crit chance is good too and you can take hits like no one else can.

I main Reaper to compare builds with Necromancer builds. I main Necromancer because I know how it works better than several other professions, because that toon has maxed bag slots, and because the endless harvesting tools are soul-bound. No other character can carry so much equipment and still have gobs of bag space.

I briefly maxed at 11 sets of armor (10 in bags) in addition to a variety of weapons and trinkets but 9 was more normal and have been salvaging down to only 6. Will salvage more, soon, as I continue cutting back to make room for some 4-stat armor.

I farm to support crafting and other expensive hobbies.

I have mained a necro since BW1 and I still love it to this day. I have tried many builds over the years and I am currently in love with my chill/condi reaper that just got a nice damage boost. There is just something so satisfying about tagging something with chill and walking away only to get loot a second later from full pack mastery.

I have one WvW power well bomber necro, 1 power reaper and 1 condi reaper, and although I have one of every other class, nothing grabs me quite like the necro/reaper.

I main Reaper because it’s fun. Have said it ever since I played them during beta weekends. The class is just fun to play, more fun than baseline necros.

Reapper is kind of lame and too easy to play, but that RS spinning skill, chill dmg and RS autoattack burning are just too good to pass up.

I main reaper because my thief is now a walking joke.

Kadin.2356:

I main reaper because my thief is now a walking joke.

If your Thief is a joke, I’d have to say that evasion spam isn’t very funny. I’m not sure you’re going to be able to take that act to Carnegie.

Then again, I’m not sure you played an evasion Thief. I just know I dueled one for what might have been 8-10 minutes out in WvW before he reset the fight after almost dying, switched up at least one utility, then I ended up screwing up my health/LF management.

Anchoku.8142:

and because the endless harvesting tools are soul-bound.

You can actually convert them to accont bound ones. This was changed long time ago and anet offered even a gem refund if you bought multiple sets and didn’t want them.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/infinite-gathering-tools-soulbound

Here are reasons I went reaper on my necro. This is just for reaper specifically. If you wanna know why I play necro it would be a lot more in depth.

- Pulsing stability in shroud. Necro went from having the worst sources of stability to having a really good pulsing stability in shroud which requires no utility skills, weapons, or traits to have. I mean it requires reaper but it’s baseline on the spec instead of requiring a specific trait.

- Dash leap finisher in shroud. Really good mobility compared to other necro options.

- Stun + ice field in shroud. Necro didn’t have either of these before. The ice field can be used to get frost armor which has 10% damage reduction.

- Good traits like Decimate Defenses and … Decimate Defenses!!

Other than that, I just like necro a lot and reaper added more reasons to like it.

kubetz.3058:

Anchoku.8142:

and because the endless harvesting tools are soul-bound.

You can actually convert them to accont bound ones. This was changed long time ago and anet offered even a gem refund if you bought multiple sets and didn’t want them.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/infinite-gathering-tools-soulbound

Great tip, thank you!

Reaper cos Reaper lol.
And I love the whole necro/Reaper theme xD

Currently, I’m running my Reaper as a zerker with staff/GS. Considering going valkyrie.
I’ve still got good survivability (dodge often, use shroud, use cc and kite things with chill when necessary) and I seriously melt stuff. It’s great aoe. I’ve been able to hold down event positions by myself that would normally take a few people. It’s a very active playstyle, and I never run out of options.

Edit: I realise staff may seem like a subpar choice, but I didn’t feel comfortable limiting myself to melee range on the HoT maps. Events like the legendary wyverns can be really sticky if you don’t have a ranged weapon to attack with from a safe, not-on-fire patch of grass.

I don’t really have one main but with my Necro it is my favoured specialization along with Blood and Death magic (though I only run them together for fun…), because it is extremely fun to play Reaper with GS. Looks awesome, can stay in melee through extraordinary situations… undervalued qualities.

I mostly main Reaper now in wvw after maining Guard for years. I really like it’s small-medium fight potential to deal huge numbers and conditions even with a power build, though I’m still having trouble using RS effectively in big zerg fights, even with gear to break 3k toughess (with death).

Reaper feels like a monster. I also like being able to max vuln and chill for instanced content as well as being able to destroy defiance.

If i join to a melee wvw team there are minimum 2 reapers

Because I want to be versatile.
Zerk Reaper + Condi Necro !
I have GS, dagger, warhorn, axe, scepter, and staff in my bags ^_^
I switch when needed.

If you specialize in PvP then I’d probably go for the Necromancer/Reaper. They’re the caster equivalent of a bruiser, with lots of health and durability and very direct traits and skills.

Elementalists are powerful, but they suffer from low health and durability and require a lot of finesse to play. If you’re getting stuck on how very many skills Eles have at only level 16 then it might not be your class.

Basically, I’ve always played my Necro as a melee character, I find the ranged combat, especially the staff, boring. Since Reapers excel at melee combat I’m obviously going to play one.

The second reason, Greatsword.

I main it because they turned the thief into a gimmick/spam class that finds its only viability in pressing the same button over and over again by abusing the initiative mechanic or overtuned ratios on a few select abilities (looking at you in particular, bounding dodge) instead of a resourceful killer with a lot of tools (and his wits) at his disposal.

I main it because it can spec for damage and not instantly die.

I main it because its condition cleansing options are not horrible.

I main it because it’s mobile, fast, and consistent against almost any opponent.

I main it because the theme is really solid and brings a unique and refreshing feel to the game and games in general.

The problem with ele is that it has an extremely high skill cap. Ele can dominate pretty much any game mode and situation, so long as you have a Piano Grade 5 and memorise every single attack tell. The horror can be allieviated by taking a staff build, in which you pretty much stick to Fire element except for the option of combo-ing an attack from Earth as you open combat. Then you just need to learn to dodge and you can pretty much dominate, though mainly in PvE and WvW zerging.

Because my other (ex) main was a warrior, and God knows I won’t be playing that kitten again for ~6 months. I leveled a new warrior specifically for HoT, got the elite spec fully done, and then hated the state of the class so much that I rolled a second (third total) necro to play instead, because my other 80 necro was a charr, and I wasn’t super fond of his animations.

I’ve always loved necro. I took a chance on warrior with the xpac and it backfired massively. However, I learned a lot about ANet in the process and now know exactly where to put my money and my efforts.

Necromancer with a Greatsword… nuff said

PS: actually I woundnt mind heavy armor too. Light just doesnt do the Reaper any justice

Junkpile.7439:

Reapper is kind of lame and too easy to play, but that RS spinning skill, chill dmg and RS autoattack burning are just too good to pass up.

“Low quality trolling since launch” – spot on my man

I main Reaper cause I can take down a Warrior,DD Ele and a Condi Necro… something that I never really could on my old Power Necro (talking about good skilled versions ofc)

Because ele sucks now.

pepsis.5384:

Necromancer with a Greatsword… nuff said

PS: actually I woundnt mind heavy armor too. Light just doesnt do the Reaper any justice

Try the new Bladed set.

GW is all about appearance and themes. Necromancer is the only theme/appearance that is interesting, and it has a lot of armor options.

I love the theme, and in WvW roaming, it’s a joy catching and tearing apart a thief, Mesmer, or Nike warrior, classes and builds who are just about dipping their toe in the water then gtfo.

For PvP, reaper i find enjoyable because compared to base necro, I’m pretty much an immovable object between a 6 second stunbreaker and the stability from RS. I only wish GS AA was a little faster and gravedigger was a 1 second cast time, because the 3,4, and 5 are wonderful.

Golgathoth.3967:

I realise staff may seem like a subpar choice, but I didn’t feel comfortable limiting myself to melee range on the HoT maps. Events like the legendary wyverns can be really sticky if you don’t have a ranged weapon to attack with from a safe, not-on-fire patch of grass.

I ended up in a legendary wyvern fight with greatsword and dagger/warhorn equipped without the chance to switch to a ranged weappon. That was painful XD

I main reaper, because it is the most fun I have had in game for some time. Silverwaste is more fun, too, with her ^^

Though he fades in and out as my main, I love my necro because I can gear full zerk and still face tank (thank you Death Shroud and Blood Magic).

’nuff said right there.

I main Reaper because Condi Reaper runs circles around Condi Necro.