Guild Wars 2

After a large amount of matches as a reaper I admit that I’m a really bad Reaper.
I don’t know what’s my role now that I use the Reaper Elite Specializzation (and had to use it to be at last viable).
I use the Carrionflame build with 2 differences (a try to be more in line with my playstyle). instead of dagger offhand I use the Focus to obtain LF still using the scepter and to remove boons inflicting good damage (I’ve 2k of power). To fill the lesser amount of condi removal (no dagger offhand) I use “Suffer!” instead of the “signet of the locust”.
Then, I really don’t like the Signet Heal and then I use the shout, that have a lower cooldown (expecially when traited) and grant me heal and life force.
I’ve lesser boon corruption than the main build, but I like that more than the other one.
Sometimes I tried the Corrosive Poison Cloud instead of the wurm and I like it why grant me projectile destruction and AoE poison and weakness. I use it depending on the enemy team, expecially why when a enemy see my wurm he kill it with a single burst, leaving me without any defence (I kill always the furm when I see it).

But I really don’t know how to use at it’s best the Reaper.
I tried different ways, different roles, but every time I do lesser than if I was Playing a “meta” class or another that is not a warrior or a thief. (but I think that a good Daredevil can do really great things in a good team)

If I go home any class with range, mobility and condition clean/immunity can kill me easy and then take the point. Mesmer, Ranger, Guardian, Engi, Revenant, ele. I can kill the others, ut if any one of them (I’m talking about high level spvp, not nobbs, I kill them easy) come to close while I’m holding the point (expecially pure ranged classes) I have a limited amount of things I can do. I can’t kill a Tempest. I can’t kill a mallix Herald. I can try to kill the other classes. If they start to kite me I can’t kill them why my mobility is really bad and My ranged attack is really weak (scepter and staff), expecially if they have some condi removal skills. Then when I’m at 50% hp or lesser they come and busrt me down. I can try to defend with the RS but if the enemy know how to fight a Reaper he just know that can simply go away and make me wast time in RS and attack me by range. Then when I remove RS or they strip me away I’m defenceless and easy to kill.
If a Tempest come to close (and if the enemy have one while I hold close they always send it to kill me) I’ve nothing to do aginst him and can only die.

If I go in mid I die really quickly why everyone know that the necro/reaper is the easiest class to burst down why have not a single defensive skill. Then if I’m fighting against a good team that use the Target I play with the Target on my head all the time, finding me always downed when I go mid. And the RS foce me to go in Melee and fight under all the enemy AoE and attacks.
There’s some matches where I really can do nothing in mid why the enemy is good and I’m not able to stay more than 10-15 sec in mid without be downed, simply why I’ve not a single real defence skill.

The only matches where i find myself able to fight is where there’s not a tempest or a revenant and in mid the enemy don’t focus me all the time. And that’s bad…

I feel like I’m the +1 of the team and have a really situationally efficence.

But when I ask everyone say that the reaper is really really strong…

I need help to play that kitten ed specializzation class.

Once you get to higher levels of competitive SPvP, you’ll probably find your best fights are vs other Reapers. This has been my experience.

Reapers are just not that strong atm compared to the most popular meta builds. Druids and Tempests will out sustain you, Dragon Hunters will blow you up, Thieves will easily avoid your attacks (and retreat if they, for some reason, start to lose) and a good Revanent will definitely rock you. Especially condi revs which have near permanent resistance. Even a GS/Hammer warrior can really mess up a reaper as long as they use their CC when shroud is down to take advantage of our lack of stability.

If I run into another reaper, even those using our most “meta” build (carrion frostfire) I usually fair pretty well. That being said, many 1v1’s with other classes I tend to avoid. Balance changes may help us out, but we’ll see.

I don’t think our condi builds are too bad, but our power builds seem to need a boost. Not to damage so much as sustain.

If you’re a condi reaper, you can’t kill a diamond skin tempest. Don’t bother engaging or challenging a node with a tempest sitting on it. To have a chance you need to be wielding dagger/warhorn and trait death perception. Being a signet build helps because you only have very little time to corrupt boons once you shave 10% off their hp.

Revs are doable since they nerfed their resistance uptime. There are gaps to their resistance boons, and being a signet build also helps here as you can corrupt their resistance. Timely use of condi transfer is important here, you don’t want to be out of condi transfer before they unload. So watch what stance they’re in, you’ll know what they’re trying to do. Dodge their burst, corrupt the right boons, transfer only when you need to transfer. I’d consider signet reapers a soft counter to revs, to a point some revs don’t come to my node when they see me standing there.

DH is doable if you have lifeforce, without lifeforce you’re likely going to die. Fights vs DH show you why the lifeforce design is just wrong. It’s frustrating as hell seeing a DH coming at you and you’ve got zero lifeforce. There are usually objects you can use to los, don’t waste dodges & stab because you’ll need them to get out of traps.

Chronos are just a bad match up all around, although if you’re holding a node you can last long enough to get help. Just don’t expect to kill a chrono solo.

Druids, pretty much one of the best 1v1 class out there. I’ve won fights with them but it’s rare. Your best hope is to last long enough to get help from your teammates. You can’t contest a node from 1v1, but you could last long if you’re holding a node waiting for help.

In team fights yes you’ll be the focus target. Teams that don’t focus on you are bad teams. You best hope you’re with a decent team, and that they’ll assist you by providing you resistance, speed, and cleanses while you kite, spread condi’s, and they cleave it up. Very good chance you’ll get singled, but you hope something good comes out of it because people can put themselves in a vulnerable position when they try to finish you off. Some necros use wurm teleport to get out of heat, it does work. However you can find yourself in a position where you die away from your team, and you’re actually wasting time bleeding away when you should be down on point to get revived or keep a point contested longer.

Getting focused sucks, but warriors, thieves, and DH go down as fast as anybody in team fights. That doesn’t make us getting focused first right, but it may let you sleep better at night.

Reaper’s on the outside looking in when it comes to higher end pvp meta. We still get focused first, we aren’t as bunker as the other bunkers. Teams need to know how to assist reapers or you’ll have a bad time, and your team will likely lose. Good players do know if a reaper is holding a point, they may need assistance every once in awhile. Even when I get into a game, I hope I see at least a bunker ele & bunker mes because without them, your team is going to do badly.

I still like my reaper, I can do well if the team embrace having a necro on the team. But the meta calls for at least one bunker ele, one bunker mes, one rev, and the last 2 spots are often best taken by a scrapper, druid, or another bunker. I know people call reapers too powerful and how they don’t need adjustments, but I do wish people separate their views between pve, wvw, and pvp. Having a reaper isn’t quite optimal at higher end PvP. Doable if you get team assistance, and you certainly can pull your weight as you can handle the popular revs. But having to walk away from a point because a bunker ele or bunker mes is standing on it sucks heh.

Thx guys. Now i know a little more about how to do in sPvP.
I will play my reaper anyway why I really love my necro.

Reaper as a profession is pretty well done save one MAJOR flaw. It fails to perform it’s trademark feature which is holding enemy at close range and not letting them get off the hook till you’re done.

Unfortunately there are 8 other professions and “well done” is hardly the word to describe most of them. Usually it’s either “ridicilously OP” (bunker tempests/mesmers/sustain druids), or “horribly weak” (berserker and daredevil).

There’s also the poor dragon hunter who does have very good burst and more blocks then lego, is pigenholed to 2 working builds – mediguard or trapmedi.

Bottom line here is that all the professions need a look at them and some of them a serioius trait rehaul, because they’re down to one or two builds that can perform reasonably well in pvp, rest being plain suicide.

gavyne.6847:

If you’re a condi reaper, you can’t kill a diamond skin tempest. Don’t bother engaging or challenging a node with a tempest sitting on it. To have a chance you need to be wielding dagger/warhorn and trait death perception. Being a signet build helps because you only have very little time to corrupt boons once you shave 10% off their hp.

Revs are doable since they nerfed their resistance uptime. There are gaps to their resistance boons, and being a signet build also helps here as you can corrupt their resistance. Timely use of condi transfer is important here, you don’t want to be out of condi transfer before they unload. So watch what stance they’re in, you’ll know what they’re trying to do. Dodge their burst, corrupt the right boons, transfer only when you need to transfer. I’d consider signet reapers a soft counter to revs, to a point some revs don’t come to my node when they see me standing there.

DH is doable if you have lifeforce, without lifeforce you’re likely going to die. Fights vs DH show you why the lifeforce design is just wrong. It’s frustrating as hell seeing a DH coming at you and you’ve got zero lifeforce. There are usually objects you can use to los, don’t waste dodges & stab because you’ll need them to get out of traps.

Chronos are just a bad match up all around, although if you’re holding a node you can last long enough to get help. Just don’t expect to kill a chrono solo.

Druids, pretty much one of the best 1v1 class out there. I’ve won fights with them but it’s rare. Your best hope is to last long enough to get help from your teammates. You can’t contest a node from 1v1, but you could last long if you’re holding a node waiting for help.

In team fights yes you’ll be the focus target. Teams that don’t focus on you are bad teams. You best hope you’re with a decent team, and that they’ll assist you by providing you resistance, speed, and cleanses while you kite, spread condi’s, and they cleave it up. Very good chance you’ll get singled, but you hope something good comes out of it because people can put themselves in a vulnerable position when they try to finish you off. Some necros use wurm teleport to get out of heat, it does work. However you can find yourself in a position where you die away from your team, and you’re actually wasting time bleeding away when you should be down on point to get revived or keep a point contested longer.

Getting focused sucks, but warriors, thieves, and DH go down as fast as anybody in team fights. That doesn’t make us getting focused first right, but it may let you sleep better at night.

Reaper’s on the outside looking in when it comes to higher end pvp meta. We still get focused first, we aren’t as bunker as the other bunkers. Teams need to know how to assist reapers or you’ll have a bad time, and your team will likely lose. Good players do know if a reaper is holding a point, they may need assistance every once in awhile. Even when I get into a game, I hope I see at least a bunker ele & bunker mes because without them, your team is going to do badly.

I still like my reaper, I can do well if the team embrace having a necro on the team. But the meta calls for at least one bunker ele, one bunker mes, one rev, and the last 2 spots are often best taken by a scrapper, druid, or another bunker. I know people call reapers too powerful and how they don’t need adjustments, but I do wish people separate their views between pve, wvw, and pvp. Having a reaper isn’t quite optimal at higher end PvP. Doable if you get team assistance, and you certainly can pull your weight as you can handle the popular revs. But having to walk away from a point because a bunker ele or bunker mes is standing on it sucks heh.

this is a pretty good quick overview of priority in fights for reaper.
I don’t think the reaper needs buffing or nerfing by any means, but some other builds/classes could be tuned down a bit to match. We’re strong in the current meta, but nowhere near the top and the flaws we do have will keep us from being the top of the meta.

Silv.9207:

Thx guys. Now i know a little more about how to do in sPvP.
I will play my reaper anyway why I really love my necro.

Here’s a vid that shows what reapers have to deal with in sPvP: https://youtu.be/06Zx8NGiZ-s?t=4m50s

It may or may not help you, but since you asked for assistance, figured it won’t hurt. Build details and such in description of the vid. Hope it helps!

I’m trying to work on a bunker buster build to try and have a chance in the meta. All the things you need to properly counter ele and mesmers leave you spread pretty thin, but with the help of someone else moderately offensive I think it could work, with enough boon stripping and cc (condi pressure for mesmers is probably required too). Poison application would be good, but it’s really hard to make that stick in any meaningful way vs an ele. that hems in a lot of the build already.

Otherwise I’ve been wondering if maybe decap engi can find a spot in bunker meta these days. Don’t need to bust the bunkers as much as just move them off the point.

Mega Skeleton.8259:

I’m trying to work on a bunker buster build to try and have a chance in the meta. All the things you need to properly counter ele and mesmers leave you spread pretty thin, but with the help of someone else moderately offensive I think it could work, with enough boon stripping and cc (condi pressure for mesmers is probably required too). Poison application would be good, but it’s really hard to make that stick in any meaningful way vs an ele. that hems in a lot of the build already.

Otherwise I’ve been wondering if maybe decap engi can find a spot in bunker meta these days. Don’t need to bust the bunkers as much as just move them off the point.

Agreed, reaper is one of the better professions, but not the best. However, I think it’s in a pretty good place in terms of build diversity, as there are a lot of different builds with different playstyles, many of which can be competitive in the right hands.

This is basically the counter-build I’ve been running for a while: it focuses on taking away the thing that the other team does best, whether that be power dps, condi, or healing/sustain.

I’ve usually done well using a cele terrormancer/frostfire build (no signets, running YSiM, spectral wall, WoC, spectral armor and CttB). In higher level PvP, this build does require a lot of coordination to pull off, though.

Pros:
1)Insane LF generation w/ soul reaping (spectral mastery, soul marks)
2)Good condi pressure, condi transfers and weakness spamming via curses (w/ auto plague signet, terror, weakening shroud) and staff / oh dagger. reaper spec for stability & deathly chill on fears
3)Tons of CC (as long as the enemy doesn’t have resistance/diamond skin)
4)Very good sustain w/ high protection uptime and decent LF pool, toughness.
5)Fairly good mobility for a necro by using traveler runes (helps a bit with boon/condi duration as well)
6)Works decently well against bunker mes/druid due to all the unblockable attacks, CC, boon corruption and chill.
7)Great for preventing enemy rezzes, not terrible for rezzing teammates: Staff marks and WoC/spectral wall can provide lots of CC while I move in to rez/stomp.
8)Works well in teamfights, can also win 1v1 against most builds (quite versatile).

Cons:
1)Doesn’t match up well against 2 popular meta builds (DS eles, condi revs): (possible to beat ele, but it takes a long time and I have to time skills perfectly), condi revs are more of an even matchup, but they probably have a slight advantage.
2)Mostly condi-oriented: this goes along with #1, but I sometimes also have issues fighting necros with plague signet and/or druids in team fights.
3)Lacking in burst: like many reaper builds, it’s not the best build if you are down late and need to stage a comeback. Works pretty well for rushing lord on FF though.
4)Weak against chain-CC: Spectral armor is my only stunbreak, and its on a 40 sec CD. Reaper’s shroud and elite shout can be lifesavers, but a smart opponent knows when to interrupt me.
5)Healing is very limited: Although it has decent sustain, this is an attrition build, so I am also wearing down as the fight goes on. Usually, if played right, my enemy drops before I do, but not always.

I do pretty well against druids 1v1, but DS eles are definitely my toughest opponent. I use axe mh, as 2 skill (if timed right) can help bring the ele below 90% for a fear chain and poison/chill burst, and unholy feast (3 skill) can remove protection/stab if I get lucky or time it right.

Matches have been getting tougher lately due to bunker meta and diamond division, so recently I’ve been swapping out dhuumfire for death perception when I see multiple eles on the enemy team, which has been helping my build stay relevant.

got facerolled by a druid earlier in a 1v1 so maybe i spoke too soon…

Thx all!
I will try some of your builds now :-D

1) Build
90% meta, rest u can always counter build enemy. Focus is totally ok pick.
Utilitys its hard to beat locust+plague, so you always only pick 3rd utility which is stunbreak/cleanse if possible. Armor, wurm, well of power, rise are my top spots, suffer is so-so…

2) Gameplay and matchups
Get gud, rev druid scrapper dh guard other necro even mesmer and sometimes eles, all those matchups u can win or lose. Theres lots of tricks for each specific 1v1, the more you learn the more you win.
Actually necro is probably 2nd best thing behind revenant, so dont give up, sky is the limit. Im too lazy to write list, ill just highly recomend u watch some noscoc on twitch.

3) Rotations
Once youre gud, win every 1v1 and always +1 next kill/point after. Kills over point, never “stay at home and defend” reaper, always “push far 1v1 even if capped” reaper if enemy decaps your open node youre 4v5 on other 2 sides of map.
Only leave double bunkers alone, those you leave -1 outnumbered to someone who can, sometimes even necro can troll them.
2v1 = insta run or insta die , DONT tell poeple to help you if youre half dead. Respawn and win 1v1 again, often you insta decap with point pressure.

So TLDR,
Use good build,
l2p counter each enemy – its worth it – only diamond skin is hardcounter with no counterplay,
Rotate like DPS not support.

First of all, Reapers are fantastic & possibly an A+ class in Stronghold.

You’ve got durability damage and CC in pretty much any build. That means you’re an ideal class for defense (killing door breakers while outnumbered, CCing bosses, & winning channel fights) and summoning bosses.

I’m less impressed with Reapers in Conquest. Anybody with a ranged weapon has a big advantage over you & you not have enough damage to overtake the top bunkers plus Diamond skin & Mallyx are a problem.

(I’d like to see anet finally buff focus boon removals & change diamond skin from a flat effect to an effect that produces resistances)

But this is a team, not 1v1, game and if you get paired with an Aura share tempest (and the tempest on meta battle is not an aura share tempest), then you will wreck face even outnumbered.

nekretaal.6485:

First of all, Reapers are fantastic & possibly an A+ class in Stronghold.

You’ve got durability damage and CC in pretty much any build. That means you’re an ideal class for defense (killing door breakers while outnumbered, CCing bosses, & winning channel fights) and summoning bosses.

I’m less impressed with Reapers in Conquest. Anybody with a ranged weapon has a big advantage over you & you not have enough damage to overtake the top bunkers plus Diamond skin & Mallyx are a problem.

(I’d like to see anet finally buff focus boon removals & change diamond skin from a flat effect to an effect that produces resistances)

But this is a team, not 1v1, game and if you get paired with an Aura share tempest (and the tempest on meta battle is not an aura share tempest), then you will wreck face even outnumbered.

I’d like to point out an additional thing with being paired with an aura tempest. It really does wreck face. Reaper alone is a force to be dealt with in teamfights, but having those auramancers just amplify the pain train and turn you into a full on 2v4 or 2v5 area of denial facewrecking machine.

I had a good dream team premade once that ran: 2x Reaper (condi meta), 1 Tempest, 1 Scrapper, 1 Shatter Mes.

Since many people assumed the mes to bunker, instead they were running glass cannon mes, we had an advantageous comp over most premades that were not running the 2x rev 2x mes 1x tempest comp.

tempest+reaper running auras can replace the spot of 1 rev and 1 bunker mes in meta

scrapper runs harass/point holder/pusher, mesmer walks in as damage augment and rotate with either of the reapers on team depending on changing need of burst vs. condition pressure.

It worked very very well in medium tiers. Against anything NOT that bunker ESL meta, it was amazing. If you can find an auramancer to duoQ with, I highly recommend it.

Try this is you are having trouble.

I don’t exactly want everyone copying my build…. cuz it will get nerfed…. so you will have to decipher this on your own…. but this is a really nice setup.

Lots of sustain, dps, condi clear, boon strip, unblockable attacks, and life stealing.

Play a cele build, really strong and competitive, easy to play, and forgiven

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhZ6kGRozGsyGw2GgeTsgLYxXxv4YkKN0GiWQXtAwCA-TpBGwAGOEAh2fAwDAgZZAEnAgDHBAA

Stop using focus, it is bad.

Actually I’m using the carrion build, with eventually some changes depending on the enemy team.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7Yn0ICd2gV2AmbC0biFcBD6qFAWAxVxu4YkKN0GiWA-TJxHABA8EACe/BjKDEwFBAA

For example if the enemy team have 2 or more tempests I frequently change from Dhuum fire to Death Perception, to make my RS skills crit and granting me the chance to take the tempest under that 90%hp with RS5+4, inflicting poison and then exit the RS and convertiong the enemy boon in conditions with signets.
It frequently work, but not always. And anyway if I’m facing a tempest I really hope to not be alone on the point.

Celestial is good but I don’t like it, don’t make me feel a good damage dealer.

The focus can be really good, I tried it a lot. But I prefer the Dagger offhand to transfer conditions, increasing the damage against condi users.

zapv.8051:

Stop using focus, it is bad.

Any more info then “its bad?” A quick heal on 4, and using the right tree a 3 boon rip, 11 second 3x vulnerability, and 8 second chill. That isn’t bad at all.

jokesonme.4082:

zapv.8051:

Stop using focus, it is bad.

Any more info then “its bad?” A quick heal on 4, and using the right tree a 3 boon rip, 11 second 3x vulnerability, and 8 second chill. That isn’t bad at all.

Focus is not THAT bad (used to be better), but WH i soooo good you want it no matter what. Unblockable CC, LF generator, blind removal, swiftness, cripple, ez procs…

Silv.9207:

Actually I’m using the carrion build, with eventually some changes depending on the enemy team.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7Yn0ICd2gV2AmbC0biFcBD6qFAWAxVxu4YkKN0GiWA-TJxHABA8EACe/BjKDEwFBAA

For example if the enemy team have 2 or more tempests I frequently change from Dhuum fire to Death Perception, to make my RS skills crit and granting me the chance to take the tempest under that 90%hp with RS5+4, inflicting poison and then exit the RS and convertiong the enemy boon in conditions with signets.
It frequently work, but not always. And anyway if I’m facing a tempest I really hope to not be alone on the point.

Celestial is good but I don’t like it, don’t make me feel a good damage dealer.

The focus can be really good, I tried it a lot. But I prefer the Dagger offhand to transfer conditions, increasing the damage against condi users.

Carrion is bettee, but as cele you’re unkillable while still doing a great job, so its a good choice for learnig how to play

Focus is bad for several key reasons:

Reaper’s touch(f4) has an average cast time and is a slow projectile, it is weaker than comparable skills from other classes like mirror blade, and ray of judgement. If it gave an offensive boon, like fury, or might it would be much better. Overall, this skill is below average, but not terrible.

The real problem is Spinal Shivers (f5). The effect is great, but on a 1.25 second cast time it will rarely land and you will often be interrupted. Furthermore, you get the same effect from a trait with no cast time that procs at 50% health. This is the same reason gs isn’t a pvp weapon, it is too slow for effective use against players that no how to use cc and dodge. If its cast time got reduced significantly it might be worth it.

@Silv, I apologize for misreading your initial post. The problem with dagger in the current meta is that it doesn’t provide the lf regen or swiftness of warhorn. It is still a decent weapon, but the skills on warhorn are more generally useful. If one of the two skills on dagger granted lf regen, the weapon would probably see more use. Additionally, a buff to enfeebling blood would be a buff to weakening shroud, which might help curses.

I noticed a few other things about your build that you could also change. For one, your running the same sigils on both weapon sets. Now that shroud counts as a weapon swap, you never want to do this because you can leave shroud and swap weapons to get 4 on swap effects in a short time. Your also running a lot of condition removal, probably too much. If you actually make use of all of that, you aren’t positioning and dodging effectively. Running more than optimal probably means your sacrificing something and relying on it too much as a crutch.

Remember to maintain range with this build, that’s why most people take flesh wurm. Break stun and 1200 range teleport on a 32 second cd is one of our two best stunbreaks.