Guild Wars 2

Sidizen.9048:

I’m mostly talking about Brazil’s tank build. You know, the OP 100% crit chance tank build that everyone uses in the jungle, but other builds work fine too. How is our survivability in the front lines with Reaper?

You know his build is badly unoptimized for a tank build and you can do WAY better?
(Look up my big build post speal from a few days back on my name, it’s close to max-optimization for this role)

Anyway to the main point, Yes, it’s a thing, i’ve commanded and held front-line positions on even base-necromancer running a similar tank build to the reaper version for over a year now, it’s completely feasible to be the last to die everytime and still do fantastic damage, Give it a try sometime.

I do recommend staying away from knight’s, it’s basically the worst.

Edit: Since WvW died since HoT released i haven’t gotten any major zerg-fights yet (50v50), i can’t 100% say so, but i was tanking most HoT bosses with ease while warriors and guardians next to me were dying instantaneously.

Scott Lockharte.3412:

Sidizen.9048:

I’m mostly talking about Brazil’s tank build. You know, the OP 100% crit chance tank build that everyone uses in the jungle, but other builds work fine too. How is our survivability in the front lines with Reaper?

You know his build is badly unoptimized for a tank build and you can do WAY better?
(Look up my big build post speal from a few days back on my name, it’s close to max-optimization for this role)

I can’t find the post you are talking about, why is knight’s the worst? What do you suggest?

theFoffo.6912:

Scott Lockharte.3412:

Sidizen.9048:

I’m mostly talking about Brazil’s tank build. You know, the OP 100% crit chance tank build that everyone uses in the jungle, but other builds work fine too. How is our survivability in the front lines with Reaper?

You know his build is badly unoptimized for a tank build and you can do WAY better?
(Look up my big build post speal from a few days back on my name, it’s close to max-optimization for this role)

I can’t find the post you are talking about, why is knight’s the worst? What do you suggest?

The build is here….http://imgur.com/a/Uq5K6. And you can find his post if you just look up his postings!

Joxer.6024:

theFoffo.6912:

Scott Lockharte.3412:

Sidizen.9048:

I’m mostly talking about Brazil’s tank build. You know, the OP 100% crit chance tank build that everyone uses in the jungle, but other builds work fine too. How is our survivability in the front lines with Reaper?

You know his build is badly unoptimized for a tank build and you can do WAY better?
(Look up my big build post speal from a few days back on my name, it’s close to max-optimization for this role)

I can’t find the post you are talking about, why is knight’s the worst? What do you suggest?

The build is here….http://imgur.com/a/Uq5K6. And you can find his post if you just look up his postings!

Thank you, I’ve been scrolling though his posts but still couldn’t find it, guess I’m blind :v

Sorry to interrupt.
I am also necro/reaper looking for optimization of all sorts.
Who is this ‘he’ who’ve posted the tank build, and which ‘tread’ or actual ‘post’ is this?
Not knowing who to search for in the Necro forum, needs a lot of scrolling…
Thanks!

DrMORO.4627:

Sorry to interrupt.
I am also necro/reaper looking for optimization of all sorts.
Who is this ‘he’ who’ve posted the tank build, and which ‘tread’ or actual ‘post’ is this?
Not knowing who to search for in the Necro forum, needs a lot of scrolling…
Thanks!

Yo, That would be me, Here’s the actual link since the sites updated now
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vREQJARWnMbCV2gdbC22As3gFrBTKAEy+VxZwRYKkaFEDmUA-TRSBQBk7CAchjAQi0FYw9HQjSQPp+TXU+phDBAAeAABAQAu5Nzm3MwQH6QH6QHa3co3co38mlCQPtWA-e

Click on the “Show skill action” button above reaper shroud, that will show you something near the actual stats inside RS not accounting for crit from vuln (50%), or flesh of the master / corruptor’s fervor, This is extremely close to the maximum optimization you can balance in-between defense/offense.

The actual guide with a lot more information on rotations and a few tricks many may not be aware of with more technical information will be coming sometime later this month, (I’m not the best editor) So watch out for that if you’re interested in this stuff!

If anyone wants information sooner than that just message me in-game anytime they see me online (Add my forum name to the friends-list for finding me) I’ll gladly discuss anything i know about.

Necromancers have always been able to be in the front lines, just don’t go beserker and expect to live. Been doing it for years.

Going full cavalier may seem like a good idea but you’ll need added vitality to live through condi-bombs. Mix in some soldier gear to be more effective too, what point is added crit damage if you’re dead. Yes, even with the Shroud cleansing you’ll still need more defense against condi-bombs.

Consume conditions is a must, in the condition heavy WvW we find ourselves in , anything else just doesn’t compare. Combined with " Suffer" and you basically have two full condi-clears.

Play smart and realize that you’re not invulnerable, no matter how tanky you build yourself, it means nothing being focused.

Scott Lockharte.3412:

DrMORO.4627:

Sorry to interrupt.
I am also necro/reaper looking for optimization of all sorts.
Who is this ‘he’ who’ve posted the tank build, and which ‘tread’ or actual ‘post’ is this?
Not knowing who to search for in the Necro forum, needs a lot of scrolling…
Thanks!

Yo, That would be me, Here’s the actual link since the sites updated now
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vREQJARWnMbCV2gdbC22As3gFrBTKAEy+VxZwRYKkaFEDmUA-TRSBQBk7CAchjAQi0FYw9HQjSQPp+TXU+phDBAAeAABAQAu5Nzm3MwQH6QH6QHa3co3co38mlCQPtWA-e

Click on the “Show skill action” button above reaper shroud, that will show you something near the actual stats inside RS not accounting for crit from vuln (50%), or flesh of the master / corruptor’s fervor, This is extremely close to the maximum optimization you can balance in-between defense/offense.

The actual guide with a lot more information on rotations and a few tricks many may not be aware of with more technical information will be coming sometime later this month, (I’m not the best editor) So watch out for that if you’re interested in this stuff!

If anyone wants information sooner than that just message me in-game anytime they see me online (Add my forum name to the friends-list for finding me) I’ll gladly discuss anything i know about.

Hey there! Sorry I didn’t recognize the ‘he’ part. :P
And thank you very much for updated build as well.
VERY interesting indeed!
I think your build is quite close to what I was thinking about.
I will see if I can get closer to something like yours.

Thanks!

DrMORO.4627:

Hey there! Sorry I didn’t recognize the ‘he’ part. :P
And thank you very much for updated build as well.
VERY interesting indeed!
I think your build is quite close to what I was thinking about.
I will see if I can get closer to something like yours.

Thanks!

If you want something close but cheaper, try changing to soldier armor with wurm runes. You loose 100ish toughness or so and about 8% ferocity, but you also gain 500 vitality.

Dawdler.8521:

DrMORO.4627:

Hey there! Sorry I didn’t recognize the ‘he’ part. :P
And thank you very much for updated build as well.
VERY interesting indeed!
I think your build is quite close to what I was thinking about.
I will see if I can get closer to something like yours.

Thanks!

If you want something close but cheaper, try changing to soldier armor with wurm runes. You loose 100ish toughness or so and about 8% ferocity, but you also gain 500 vitality.

Oh jeez, don’t do this, the stat loss is a lot lot higher than the skewed numbers you’re using, And exuberance runes would be a better choice anyway, however i’ve already tried both of these setups extensively over the past year, The only three runes worth using are Pack, Surging, and Scrapper,
and soldier is definitely a loss in damage/defense since it negates a lot of the point of using conversions so extensively to get as close as possible or higher than berserker damage with a defensive build, Whatever you do don’t do this.

Sororita.3465:

Necromancers have always been able to be in the front lines, just don’t go beserker and expect to live. Been doing it for years.

Going full cavalier may seem like a good idea but you’ll need added vitality to live through condi-bombs. Mix in some soldier gear to be more effective too, what point is added crit damage if you’re dead. Yes, even with the Shroud cleansing you’ll still need more defense against condi-bombs.

Consume conditions is a must, in the condition heavy WvW we find ourselves in , anything else just doesn’t compare. Combined with " Suffer" and you basically have two full condi-clears.

Play smart and realize that you’re not invulnerable, no matter how tanky you build yourself, it means nothing being focused.

I have done nothing but roam, dueled, and commanded over many months for a good year overall, running full cavalier and at a time cav/berserk mixed, You do not need as much defense as you’re saying against condi-bombs, Yes it could help if you personally have a problem against them, and yes swapping 25% of the cav for valk and then taking corruptor’s fervor is a certain option and i’d recommend it for people new to all of this, but it is anything but necessary.

Consume Conditions is not as amazing as you’re making it out to be, Soul is Mine is on a very short cooldown with max targets and does just as much, If you’d rather be near-immune to cripples/chill/immobs Sure, go consume conditions, but i’ll argue that the Soul is Mine/Augury of Death combo is better even just for the cast time in most situations.

And you’ll find Suffer almost never works in a actual fight, so IF ANY condi clears, run Well of Power even though most would consider it atrocious, it at-least will do more than Plague Signet or Suffer (both fail in a actual fight almost 60%+ of the time, it used to be the primary complaint of Plague Signet until the cooldown was reduced and people stopped caring as much) and Suffer still needs buffs to actually be useful.

TL;DR cleansing sigil / shrouded removal do more than enough, don’t do this unless you’re worried about what is still a minority in fights, this is exaggerated, most of the damage you’ll take in a zerg will still be power-based.

If someone wants to chat about the difference between defensive stats, I’m game, talk to me.

Scott Lockharte.3412:

Consume Conditions is not as amazing as you’re making it out to be, Soul is Mine is on a very short cooldown with max targets and does just as much, If you’d rather be near-immune to cripples/chill/immobs Sure, go consume conditions, but i’ll argue that the Soul is Mine/Augury of Death combo is better even just for the cast time in most situations.

And you’ll find Suffer almost never works in a actual fight, so IF ANY condi clears, run Well of Power even though most would consider it atrocious, it at-least will do more than Plague Signet or Suffer (both fail in a actual fight almost 60%+ of the time, it used to be the primary complaint of Plague Signet until the cooldown was reduced and people stopped caring as much) and Suffer still needs buffs to actually be useful.

Do you run in NA or Europe? Which Tier do you run in?

My server, IoJ, jumps between tier 6 to tier 8. We go up against servers with much higher WvW populations than ourselves. For Reset last night there was a maximum of 30 players on the map against a full map cap blob. I’m use to fighting outnumbered fights, not even ones. Thats why i throw in the extra defensive stats.

Suffer has never failed me, has always worked to get me out of hairy situations. Are you not hitting the 5 person cap every use? It’s the only way it really does anything great. Consume conditions is our best heal, even at it’s 30 second cool down. a Full condition clear in a condition heavy pirate ship meta is a life saver.

Boils down to different strokes for different folks. It seems like in your zerg situations that you’re primarily kept up by those around you, it’s not always so easy to have that situation.

Scott Lockharte.3412:

You use that build in front line wvw? I cant see how it would be very effective, mainly its not stacking -condi duration, nor is decimate defenses at all useful against a zerg because of all the cleanses (they supposedly have). Also sigil choice is really questionable. I dunno what tier youre in, but if it works, right on.

Why would you take golem over plague or cttb in zerg fights?

Also i wouldnt take SoL. With a porper group/zerg you dont really need the 25% movement bonus. Yeah the healing is nice but i think an other shout or maybe a well would be more useful.

Scott Lockharte.3412:

Oh jeez, don’t do this, the stat loss is a lot lot higher than the skewed numbers you’re using, And exuberance runes would be a better choice anyway, however i’ve already tried both of these setups extensively over the past year, The only three runes worth using are Pack, Surging, and Scrapper,
and soldier is definitely a loss in damage/defense since it negates a lot of the point of using conversions so extensively to get as close as possible or higher than berserker damage with a defensive build, Whatever you do don’t do this.

The exakt raw stat dfference by doing what I suggested is:
2449->2380 power
2622->2368 toughness
1000->1490 vitality
231%->222% ferocity

Plus the 7% less damage loss but that is mostly absorbed by the added vitality, what really hurt you is often at further range anyway. I was wrong though, it was a 200ish loss of toughness.

Point was that this is a fair kitteneaper than cavalier/scrapper (the runes being the big cost and soldier gear you can easily get) while maintaining most stats, not min/maxed or optimal. A variant.

In regards to the build itself, I’ve tried it and is not so sure about it. Stellar when boss fighting due to so much voulnerability and maintaning RS or when being able to roll over enemy zergs in RS, not so great fighting equal or larger zergs that require damage both in and out of RS due to the time the fight lasts. But its decent as a deep penetration frontliner, would have been perfect if it only had a teleport with the effiency of Judge Intervention.

Dawdler, so can you post what exactly(?) you are running atm? And is it for PVE and in the jungle or more PVP and WvW?
I am intrigued by what Scott has put together but like you I see the cost being an issue for one. Runes on my server are 13g50s each so yea, to just “try out” it could be a bit costly for sure.
I do heaps of solo PVE, map completion and such and am trying to farm the HP in HoT but man some of the mobs are stinkers for sure. So any build/gear setup that can help ease the pain a bit is very welcome in my book!!
Do share mate.

Oh, and for the flamers out there, I do realize the OP is about front line zerging and all but can’t hurt to ask someone to share what is working for them and why in general gameplay as well. This thread is tad less lame than some of the others in terms of information and help!

Joxer.6024:

Dawdler, so can you post what exactly(?) you are running atm? And is it for PVE and in the jungle or more PVP and WvW?

Its the exact build as posted above, just with wurm runes on soldier armor. Trinkets are still cavalier (already had so many various trinkets) as is weapons.

Its excellent for PvE, WvW I am as I said still a little iffy about. Good zerger, mediocre PvP roamer though its easy to cap T3 camps, need it on the new border lol. Got to remember to test axe/focus instead of greatsword.

Thanks for that! I think I was going to run Soldier but was still unsure. May give it a look into as well but so far Scott’s build working pretty well but a tad more health never hurts!!