I’ll admit upfront that I am not the best at the power rotation on necromancer. However I’d like to give you guys my perspective on what I’ve found and tested with this past build update. These tests are for the prospect of raiding and Here is what I’ve found. Most of this will be apparent.
Spite, Soul Reaping and Reaper are the best possible combinations you can achieve, no surprise there. I did however do testing with Death, Blood and Curses to make sure that there wasn’t an alternative I didn’t think about. Regardless of which I chose though, the intended DPS boosting specializations are still the best options.
Axe offers a minor increase to damage as compared to dagger, even untraited and traited it offers the best consistent damage in its tier. Although Camping axe auto will offer you a decrees in damage only using Ghastly claws seems to be the best way to boost your dps.
Focus offers Minor improvements to DPS but not enough to be noticeable in a practical situation of you choose to remove it in favor of something else.
Greatsword Lags a bit, due to its skills lacking real major damage modifiers. The Gravedigger is still okay to use, though you don’t want to get caught using its auto attack as this will be a DPS loss of close to 5-8%.
Reaper’s Shroud with Auto attack Dhuumfire is the best Auto DPS you can get and you should maintain shroud to keep the uptime on this as long as possible while Gravedigger and Ghastly claws are on cool down.
Wells proved to be ineffective for their cooldown, offering little for damage boosts while disrupting the flow of combat a bit too heavily. Signets proved to be too weak in their current state even with the New Signet of suffering trait. Shouters were not tested though their results would have likely been similar to wells.
Minions proved to be the most effective in terms of DPS though traited it was a DPS loss with both Soul reaping and Spite being sacrificed. Although keeping them on the field offered passive DPS the advantage with most was their activated abilities didn’t interrupt the flow of combat. While I have yet to test rise, I feel it could be a decent substitute for some of the minions. Shadow Fiend, Flesh Wurm, Bone fiend, Flesh Golem, and Blood Fiend where the ones I’ve tested, as Bone Minions had the weakest DPS of the bunch.
Lich Form proved to be a DPS loss in comparison to the Flesh Golem as its DPS was consistent and Lich’s DPS was still weaker than camping in Reaper’s shroud autoing. Although I enjoyed the changes to Lich, It is not comparable to what is already there.
Spiteful Spirit offers a minor DPS boost for above 50% compared to close to Death, though the Argument can be made for either of them in a raiding situation.
Vital Persistence is still the best Master trait in Soul reaping. Even though you won’t likely be using skills in reaper’s shroud much the Extra vitality, minor as it is, is still an increase to the total shroud pool and it will have a minor impact on your control abilities which makes it the most valuable of the 3. Even in its nerfed state it is still leagues superior to the other too.
Speed of Shadows Is what I took since the minors didn’t really offer much. The Loss of that recharge on speed of shadows is very noticeable and cause a hit to the over all DPS. Although the removal of movement impairing conditions does help the active defenses of the reaper, this isn’t an area we particularly needed aid in while raiding.
In conclusion, the Power reaper has taken a net loss in DPS in this last patch, of I want to say 3-5%, perhaps more. The Changes to Soul reaping don’t remove it as a required specialization while still nerfing them while the change to Signet of Suffering proves to be ineffective at improving the quality of life of the power reaper. Power reaper still lags behind in DPS compared to Condi Reaper which is leagues ahead of it. Condi will remain Queen for the foreseeable future. With Scourge around the corner even without Deathly chill getting nerfed in the future the Scourge will likely have a far higher DPS output than Condi Reaper, Relegating it to a more defensive set, which is not desired for PvE due to its lack of Party support and DPS. Reaper needs a major balance pass on it as well as an overall improvement to core specializations to shine as a heavy damage dealer.
Well, this has been my perspective on a potential Power reaper. I’m sure I got some things wrong, as other’s might be superior in build testing than I am. Though if you have something different, please be polite and share your own results.