Here’s my Reaper WvW Frontliner build (work-in-progress):
TRAITS:
Reaper: Augury of Death (adept), Soul Eater (master), Blighter’s Boon (grandmaster)
Soul Reaping: Soul Marks (adept), Vital Persistence (master), Death Perception (grandmaster)
Curses: Chilling Darkness (adept), Master of Corruption (master), Weakening Shroud (grandmaster)
SKILLS:
Heal: Consume Conditions
US 1: “Nothing can save you!”
US 2: “Suffer!”
US 3: Well of Power
Elite: Plague
WEAPONS: Greatsword/Staff
RUNES: Superior Rune of the Traveler
SIGILS: Superior Sigil of Strength and Hydromancy on Greatsword/Strength and Energy on Staff
BUFFS: Lemongrass poultry soup, Potent Superior Sharpening Stone
GEAR: TBA, but you’ll probably want a mix of Soldier’s Berserker’s, Valkyrie’s and Knight’s (for trinkets, Berserker’s + Valkeryie’s and maybe some Captain’s)….as long as you’re maintaining that 3k armor and above 20k health…and you’ll still have high power and high crit chance/damage
NOTES (not organized): I know that the instinct with a shout reaper is to use Trooper runes, or to use Hoelbrak or Melandru runes because it’s a frontliner. However, I chose to use Traveler runes for the movement speed because otherwise, you’ll be slow as hell if you use those other rune sets.
Yes, you could substitute the staff for axe/warhorn or dagger/warhorn (although axe would probably be better than dagger because of the axe 3 skill), and substitute Well of Power for Spectral Walk, and/or you could rely on your zerg for stacking swiftness.
HOWEVER, this strategy is going to be a pain in the kitten for when you have to run back to your zerg for any number of reasons and you’re slow as a turtle. Also, with using Spectral Walk and Axe/Warhorn, you’ll be able to maintain swiftness, sure, but having Well of Power and a staff equipped will be so much more useful to your zerg during fights (WoP being like the necro version of Purging Flames and your staff providing so many useful marks that give regen, put poison/chill on foes, transfers conditions, fear people, which will then chill them and damage them).
I chose Consume Conditions for the heal, because that’s still going to be the best necro/reaper heal as it clears all conditions off of you and heals you for each condition you consume. I chose Plague, because even though that elite shout looks really cool, Plague is going to be one of your main forms of stability along with Shroud 3 (Plague is also going to allow you to chill enemies every time you blind/poison them with Plague 2 skill, which in turn will damage them).
Plague is going to be your most useful choice for an elite skill as a frontliner Reaper because it can be used in so many ways: to escape, to push in with your tag and other frontliners (you’ll want to stay right on or close to the tag…your blind/chill will not only prevent enemy frontliners from escaping you and your tag, but you will also be able to protect your tag from enemy frontliners with your 20-second constant blind), to use as a safe stomp, to protect your backliners from enemy gank squads, to prevent enemies from escaping.
The reason why I chose Death Perception over Foot in the Grave is because yes, FitG gives you a stun break and a few secs of stability, but it’s only one stack of stability and the stability is only applied when you pop into Shroud; it does not pulse. In my opinion, having that 50% increased crit chance is going to be so much more useful, especially when you pop Shroud 3 (each stab stack lasts 3 sec and the stability pulses every second for 8 seconds), then Shroud 2 to leap in and spin on the enemy using Shroud 4; you’re going to be dealing massive DPS with the DP grandmaster trait.
For your attack rotation, I think it’s going to look something like this:
Start off on your staff and throw out your marks as you get closer to your enemy. Once you’re within range of your enemy, pop “Nothing Can Save You!” Then, go into Shroud and use Shroud skills 3, 2 and 4. Then pop out of Shroud, switch to GS (activating your Hydromancy sigil), use GS 5, “Suffer!” + GS 4 (the blind at the end will chill them again) and finish with GS 3 and 2. Use Consume Conditions and WoP as needed to condi cleanse/heal.
Your second attack rotation is going to be more simple, with you starting off on staff again and throwing out your marks, then popping Plague and just staying close to the tag while spamming Plague skill 2 Once the Plague ends, switch to GS and just swing your GS around. This allows you to immediately push in with your melee a second time while also giving you increased toughness/vitality and a chance for your skills to go off cooldown.
Anyway, that’s all I have for now. Let me know what you guys think.
(edited by LionChain.7694)