Guild Wars 2

I think only things we reapers are in need now is a rework or buff on scepter and axe. Because with reaper line the majority of our problems got solved.

A scepter rework would be nice for condi reaper, i felt it was really weak in last BWE. I mostly camp staff and Shroud.

What you guys think?

The scepter need a rework, expecially for the way it grant you Life Force, because it’s only skill to give us LF is situationally and work bad, inflicting only damage and no conditions in a pure condi weapon.
We need Torment in the skill 2 (1 stack of torment for 6 seconds for every condition on the enemy can be very useful, instead of the +8% of direct damage) and also increase by 1-2% the amount of LF it give us.

Weapons like Dagger and Staff give us a incredible amount of LF in a very short time, the dagger can be good but the scepter is really bad, expecially in spvp situations.

The Axe is a single target weapon and need more damage in the AA (40% or higher) and/or a “explosion factor” that make it inflict damage in a little radious near the enemy hitted, something like the pistol of the engi. And a better skill 3 (but in spvp it’s good why convert a boon into a condition, inflict cripple and give retalation, isn’t really that bad).

The scepter need a rework, expecially for the way it grant you Life Force, because it’s only skill to give us LF is situationally and work bad, inflicting only damage and no conditions in a pure condi weapon.

I really really hate your statement about the scepter. The scepter have power damage as well as condition damage, this is not by definition a pure condition weapon. It seem that you don’t want other player to enjoy playing this weapon as a power weapon or an hybrid weapon which is totally possible atm (note that it’s just not optimal). If anything the scepter need better scalling on it’s auto attack, nothing more, nothing else. Feast of corruption may be tricky to use but the AA attack speed is enough to be able to destroy an aegis before using it.

The axe, on the other hand is a total mess as a weapon. It would be 100 time better if it was a melee weapon instead of what it is at the moment.

NB.: Last BWE I played with the scepter and it was totally fine. The reaper is not a ranged specialization, change your habit and use scepter to catch your breath in dire need and then swap to a melee weapon that build LF faster. By the way, soul mark grant you LF, not the staff. If you use the staff without this trait you’ll starve for LF as much as you starve for LF with a scepter.

Dadnir.5038:

The scepter need a rework, expecially for the way it grant you Life Force, because it’s only skill to give us LF is situationally and work bad, inflicting only damage and no conditions in a pure condi weapon.

I really really hate your statement about the scepter. The scepter have power damage as well as condition damage, this is not by definition a pure condition weapon. It seem that you don’t want other player to enjoy playing this weapon as a power weapon or an hybrid weapon which is totally possible atm (note that it’s just not optimal). If anything the scepter need better scalling on it’s auto attack, nothing more, nothing else. Feast of corruption may be tricky to use but the AA attack speed is enough to be able to destroy an aegis before using it.

The axe, on the other hand is a total mess as a weapon. It would be 100 time better if it was a melee weapon instead of what it is at the moment.

NB.: Last BWE I played with the scepter and it was totally fine. The reaper is not a ranged specialization, change your habit and use scepter to catch your breath in dire need and then swap to a melee weapon that build LF faster. By the way, soul mark grant you LF, not the staff. If you use the staff without this trait you’ll starve for LF as much as you starve for LF with a scepter.

You are either in the wrong class forum, have never played necro or are trolling.

Scepter is a pure condition damage weapon. It does less than one stack of non-moving torment in direct damage. a level 60 regens more health per second than scepter inflicts in direct damage.

Scepter is a pure condition weapon that needs a boost in its condition component. It takes so long to build up stacks using scepter that 90% of enemies are either dead or have cleansed your conditions by the time you have put enough on the target to do anything. skill 2 is ok, but the long cast time makes it hard to land for what it does. Skill 3 is completely useless and needs to be redone.

I would suggest skill 3 gains torment, better LF gain, and less direct damage. maybe one stack base, 2 stacks if at least one condition on the target, and 4 stacks if more than 3 conditions are on the target.

Skill 2 can stay, maybe inflict one extra stack of bleed.

Skill 1 needs either an extra bleed stack or decreased cast times.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Dadnir.5038:

The scepter need a rework, expecially for the way it grant you Life Force, because it’s only skill to give us LF is situationally and work bad, inflicting only damage and no conditions in a pure condi weapon.

I really really hate your statement about the scepter. The scepter have power damage as well as condition damage, this is not by definition a pure condition weapon. It seem that you don’t want other player to enjoy playing this weapon as a power weapon or an hybrid weapon which is totally possible atm (note that it’s just not optimal). If anything the scepter need better scalling on it’s auto attack, nothing more, nothing else. Feast of corruption may be tricky to use but the AA attack speed is enough to be able to destroy an aegis before using it.

The axe, on the other hand is a total mess as a weapon. It would be 100 time better if it was a melee weapon instead of what it is at the moment.

NB.: Last BWE I played with the scepter and it was totally fine. The reaper is not a ranged specialization, change your habit and use scepter to catch your breath in dire need and then swap to a melee weapon that build LF faster. By the way, soul mark grant you LF, not the staff. If you use the staff without this trait you’ll starve for LF as much as you starve for LF with a scepter.

You are either in the wrong class forum, have never played necro or are trolling.

Scepter is a pure condition damage weapon. It does less than one stack of non-moving torment in direct damage. a level 60 regens more health per second than scepter inflicts in direct damage.

Scepter is a pure condition weapon that needs a boost in its condition component. It takes so long to build up stacks using scepter that 90% of enemies are either dead or have cleansed your conditions by the time you have put enough on the target to do anything. skill 2 is ok, but the long cast time makes it hard to land for what it does. Skill 3 is completely useless and needs to be redone.

I would suggest skill 3 gains torment, better LF gain, and less direct damage. maybe one stack base, 2 stacks if at least one condition on the target, and 4 stacks if more than 3 conditions are on the target.

Skill 2 can stay, maybe inflict one extra stack of bleed.

Skill 1 needs either an extra bleed stack or decreased cast times.

^

I’m much more excited to hear about these changes rather than reaper changes at this point. I can’t wait to see what Robert does with scepter
Also if axe gets reworked and ends up being amazing, Imagine how nice Frostfang would look with the reaper theme??

I don’t think the only things reapers need are reworks to scepter and axe.

They need other stuff too. (Is the GS supposed to be a glass cannon). (Is RS supposed to be low mid DPS and instantly melt). (What is Reaper’s PvE niche?). (What are shouts supposed to be doing, because they do not offer sustain, defense, support or offense). (The heal has a too long cast & the elite still has a too long cooldown) (The sources of chill Reaper has are all low duration & long cooldown. The chill theme isn’t working).

But

Yeah

Axe and scepter and focus being unusable is the biggest issue the reaper has right now

To be viable a build must carry a skirmishing weapon to deal with kiters. Staff will not cut it either. Life blast isn’t available to reapers. The issue has to be fixed or the specialization doesn’t work.

Scepter 1 should apply torment instead of cripple. Scepter 3 should extend the duration of all conditions currently on the enemy when it hits. Hell, make the grandmaster scepter trait change scepter 3 to do this.
Axe 1 should be changed to a chain. Have the final hit apply weakness.

Axe 2 should scale it’s damage based on the number of vulnerability stacks on the enemy, or scale it’s life force generation.
Merge Unholy fervor into spiteful spirit, remove spiteful spirit’s internal cooldown. Axe no longer gets a bonus 10% damage against vulnerable foes. Spiteful spirit gains an additional effect:
Spiteful spirit: additionally, retaliation now deals it’s damage in a small AoE around the source that hit you.

Right now spiteful spirit is honestly pretty bad as a grand master trait, especially if you aren’t running Unholy fervor. There’s no real reason to make them require one another so much yet keep them seperate. The change to the small AoE is to make it more thematic with GW1 spiteful spirit, but to also make the retaliation more effective in general as a deterint from “pile on the necromancer and cc him in a corner” parties.

New master trait in that line:
Cracked armor: if you strike an enemy with 10 or more stacks of vulnerability apply cracked armor to them for 5 seconds. (30 second cooldown).
Cracked armor (debuff): reduce toughness by 300.
While the numbers probably need adjustments, having the bonus damage from vulnerability limited only to axe is hampering. By making it it’s own trait we can have a little fun with it. The reason it’s gated behind vulnerability. . . Well actually there are many:
-thematic with spite (kick them while they are down)
-flavorful in skill functionality (weakening an enemies armor with vulnerability until you break it)
-limits what setups can use it effectively, preventing from being a staple trait like vital persistence.

Thematically, I honestly think Unholy feast should corrupt boons into vulnerability thematically, but that’s just me.

Honestly, there are a million and one ways axe and focus can be fixed up with the new mechanics introduced.

Dadnir.5038:

I really really hate your statement about the scepter. The scepter have power damage as well as condition damage, this is not by definition a pure condition weapon.

By that definition, no weapon on any profession is a “pure” condition weapon. Almost every offensive skill in the game deals at least some direct damage; however, some weapons scale better off Power while other scale better off Condition Damage, and that is how their functionality is defined.

The Scepter scales best off pure Condition Damage builds. You can try to go hybrid if you want, but the relative gains are going to be fairly minor, and ultimately it’s pretty bad either way.

Blaine Tog.8304:

The Scepter scales best off pure Condition Damage builds. You can try to go hybrid if you want, but the relative gains are going to be fairly minor, and ultimately it’s pretty bad either way.

Wrong.

The Scepter scales best off of nothing! The power scaling is horrible & the condition scaling is horrible!

Maybe scepter scaled off conditions well in the past, but that’s not true anymore.

Maybe scepter is the best weapon for condition users, but that’s only because you get 2 weapons and there are only 2 mainhand weapons with damaging conditions.

(Much maligned Feast of corruption’s power scaling is the best scaling that the weapon has. The numbers back this up)

Scepter is hot garbage right now.

I’m really, really hoping that staff gets some tweaks as well. I feel like it only looks ‘acceptable’ because axe and scepter are just abysmal.

nekretaal.6485:

Blaine Tog.8304:

The Scepter scales best off pure Condition Damage builds. You can try to go hybrid if you want, but the relative gains are going to be fairly minor, and ultimately it’s pretty bad either way.

Wrong.

The Scepter scales best off of nothing! The power scaling is horrible & the condition scaling is horrible!

Maybe scepter scaled off conditions well in the past, but that’s not true anymore.

Maybe scepter is the best weapon for condition users, but that’s only because you get 2 weapons and there are only 2 mainhand weapons with damaging conditions.

(Much maligned Feast of corruption’s power scaling is the best scaling that the weapon has. The numbers back this up)

Scepter is hot garbage right now.

You may want to try re-reading the end of my post:

Blaine Tog.8304:

ultimately it’s pretty bad either way.

The Scepter is our condition damage weapon. It’s also pretty bad. These two facts have little to do with each other.

Lynnie.7213:

I think only things we reapers are in need now is a rework or buff on scepter and axe. Because with reaper line the majority of our problems got solved.

A scepter rework would be nice for condi reaper, i felt it was really weak in last BWE. I mostly camp staff and Shroud.

What you guys think?

I had the same problem! It was like, “I don’t remember scepter sucking so much. Is this what it is like to have a good shroud for condis?”

They both are mid range none projectiles weapons, that’s got to have some value right?

BobbyT.7192:

They both are mid range none projectiles weapons, that’s got to have some value right?

It’s like cake icing without the cake. Like if you wrote, “Happy Birthday Friend!” on an empty plate.

I don’t think I play necromancer too much to give proper feedback but condi reaper right now is pretty strong if you do it right.

I used curse(3/1/3)/soul reaping(2/2/3)/reaper(2/1/2) 20% bleed duration, +20% chill duration.
Malice sigil (10% c.duration), toxic focusing crystal (10% c.duration), ele runes (20% burning/chill), pizza food (+40% c.duration): +80% bleed duration, + 80% burning duration, + 100% chill duration and +60% vulnerability duration.
Your soul is mine / blood is power / suffer / you are all weaklings / Chilled to the bone

I played scepter/dagger + staff during beta and this is what I did:
Start staff, skill 2-3, swap weapons, skill 2-5 on s/d, swap to reaper, 5-4-AA till 4 stacks burning. Surely this isn’t optimal for my dps but mobs melted away.

The problem however with this build was the lifeforce starvation others mentioned as well.
Staff was on the low end of generating life force while doing low end damage as well.
Scepter has decent bleed generation for 13-27s/bleed but would only stack to 20-25 if I wasn’t using reaper form, + reaper form turned it into 10-13 stacks. Scepter/dagger overal had seriously abyssmal lifeforce generation.

Your soul is mine was simply a weak heal, healed like 3.5k (on a 19k hp pool) and generated very little lifeforce vs 1-2 mobs. (Imo it should get a buff where for the next 4-6 seconds it generates 5-10% of dmg done while in reaper form as hp).

Shouts have good effects vs larger groups but become less effective vs less targets really fast. Imo the utilitys of a necro are well balanced unlike some other classes.

On the other end of the spectrum, dagger/warhorn + greatsword (berserker) with spite/soul reaping/reaper was drowning in lifeforce.

Setz.9675:

I don’t think I play necromancer too much to give proper feedback but condi reaper right now is pretty strong if you do it right.

I used curse(3/1/3)/soul reaping(2/2/3)/reaper(2/1/2) 20% bleed duration, +20% chill duration.
Malice sigil (10% c.duration), toxic focusing crystal (10% c.duration), ele runes (20% burning/chill), pizza food (+40% c.duration): +80% bleed duration, + 80% burning duration, + 100% chill duration and +60% vulnerability duration.
Your soul is mine / blood is power / suffer / you are all weaklings / Chilled to the bone

I played scepter/dagger + staff during beta and this is what I did:
Start staff, skill 2-3, swap weapons, skill 2-5 on s/d, swap to reaper, 5-4-AA till 4 stacks burning. Surely this isn’t optimal for my dps but mobs melted away.

The problem however with this build was the lifeforce starvation others mentioned as well.
Staff was on the low end of generating life force while doing low end damage as well.
Scepter has decent bleed generation for 13-27s/bleed but would only stack to 20-25 if I wasn’t using reaper form, + reaper form turned it into 10-13 stacks. Scepter/dagger overal had seriously abyssmal lifeforce generation.

Your soul is mine was simply a weak heal, healed like 3.5k (on a 19k hp pool) and generated very little lifeforce vs 1-2 mobs. (Imo it should get a buff where for the next 4-6 seconds it generates 5-10% of dmg done while in reaper form as hp).

Shouts have good effects vs larger groups but become less effective vs less targets really fast. Imo the utilitys of a necro are well balanced unlike some other classes.

On the other end of the spectrum, dagger/warhorn + greatsword (berserker) with spite/soul reaping/reaper was drowning in lifeforce.

What you describe is about 7k dps. Less than half of what a standard ele build does. Your build takes 20-30s to reach 7k dps. Ele builds burst 40k dps then slowly go down to 14j dps.

Not sure how you can consider that strong.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Setz.9675:

I don’t think I play necromancer too much to give proper feedback but condi reaper right now is pretty strong if you do it right.

I used curse(3/1/3)/soul reaping(2/2/3)/reaper(2/1/2) 20% bleed duration, +20% chill duration.
Malice sigil (10% c.duration), toxic focusing crystal (10% c.duration), ele runes (20% burning/chill), pizza food (+40% c.duration): +80% bleed duration, + 80% burning duration, + 100% chill duration and +60% vulnerability duration.
Your soul is mine / blood is power / suffer / you are all weaklings / Chilled to the bone

I played scepter/dagger + staff during beta and this is what I did:
Start staff, skill 2-3, swap weapons, skill 2-5 on s/d, swap to reaper, 5-4-AA till 4 stacks burning. Surely this isn’t optimal for my dps but mobs melted away.

The problem however with this build was the lifeforce starvation others mentioned as well.
Staff was on the low end of generating life force while doing low end damage as well.
Scepter has decent bleed generation for 13-27s/bleed but would only stack to 20-25 if I wasn’t using reaper form, + reaper form turned it into 10-13 stacks. Scepter/dagger overal had seriously abyssmal lifeforce generation.

Your soul is mine was simply a weak heal, healed like 3.5k (on a 19k hp pool) and generated very little lifeforce vs 1-2 mobs. (Imo it should get a buff where for the next 4-6 seconds it generates 5-10% of dmg done while in reaper form as hp).

Shouts have good effects vs larger groups but become less effective vs less targets really fast. Imo the utilitys of a necro are well balanced unlike some other classes.

On the other end of the spectrum, dagger/warhorn + greatsword (berserker) with spite/soul reaping/reaper was drowning in lifeforce.

What you describe is about 7k dps. Less than half of what a standard ele build does. Your build takes 20-30s to reach 7k dps. Ele builds burst 40k dps then slowly go down to 14j dps.

Not sure how you can consider that strong.

Because I solo open world and it felt fine

I would LOVE to see the axe get a better range. I plan on running a reaper with GS and axe/dagger. I would feel naked without a good ranged weapon though. The range on an axe is pitiful. It is a little better on the dagger but it has other problems, like a huge recharge time on the primary skill.

There are two upcoming things I’m looking forward to: reaper, and changes to conditions that make necro condi viable in PVE. I would love to see scepter be improved, at the moment there’s no real reason for me to use it. Ever since I picked up a dagger I haven’t touched axe, seems too weak for me to use. I would absolutely love to run a condition build (or maybe sinister fun) but at the moment it just isn’t worth it.

Part of why I want a stronger axe is I am running a Jory homage build. She is axe/dagger and GS.

Menadena.7482:

I would LOVE to see the axe get a better range. I plan on running a reaper with GS and axe/dagger.

I would feel naked without a good ranged weapon though.

Axe with a better range isn’t a good ranged weapon.

It’s still the worst weapon in the game.

nekretaal.6485:

Menadena.7482:

I would LOVE to see the axe get a better range. I plan on running a reaper with GS and axe/dagger.

I would feel naked without a good ranged weapon though.

Axe with a better range isn’t a good ranged weapon.

It’s still the worst weapon in the game.

I dunno, I’ve been playing around with the Axe for the last few days just for a change of pace and it isn’t that bad under certain circumstances. The skills all fundamentally make sense and Unholy Feast is downright cool, it’s just their numbers that are lacking.

Increasing the range is a decent start. I just hope Anet takes it a bit further as well.

Axe going to 900 range makes it strong enough for its range but I still have a problem with vulnerability. I’d take it off of axe, entirely, and put something else in place of it.

nekretaal.6485:

Menadena.7482:

I would LOVE to see the axe get a better range. I plan on running a reaper with GS and axe/dagger.

I would feel naked without a good ranged weapon though.

Axe with a better range isn’t a good ranged weapon.

It’s still the worst weapon in the game.

I did not say it was a good weapon, just that it is ranged better than a melee weapon.

Blaine Tog.8304:

nekretaal.6485:

Menadena.7482:

I would LOVE to see the axe get a better range. I plan on running a reaper with GS and axe/dagger.

I would feel naked without a good ranged weapon though.

Axe with a better range isn’t a good ranged weapon.

It’s still the worst weapon in the game.

I dunno, I’ve been playing around with the Axe for the last few days just for a change of pace and it isn’t that bad under certain circumstances. The skills all fundamentally make sense and Unholy Feast is downright cool, it’s just their numbers that are lacking.

Increasing the range is a decent start. I just hope Anet takes it a bit further as well.

Absolutely. It’s fun to play.

Why a fun to play weapon is not allowed to be good, forcing all necromancers into boring staff is a great mystery.

I personally find staff to be one of the more fun weapons in the game.

Blaine Tog.8304:

I dunno, I’ve been playing around with the Axe for the last few days just for a change of pace and it isn’t that bad under certain circumstances. The skills all fundamentally make sense and Unholy Feast is downright cool, it’s just their numbers that are lacking.

Increasing the range is a decent start. I just hope Anet takes it a bit further as well.

I’ve playing with Axe for a loooong time now (maybe a year and a half or so), both in PvP and PvE and it’s absolutely fun to play with. But funny =/= viable so I really welcome that 900 range upgrade and I hope there are more buffs on Tuesday patch.
Maybe I’m a weirdo, but I like to play with funny things and try to optimize them instead of playing whatever is more op at the moment if that thing is not funny

Ithir Darkleaf.7923:

Blaine Tog.8304:

I dunno, I’ve been playing around with the Axe for the last few days just for a change of pace and it isn’t that bad under certain circumstances. The skills all fundamentally make sense and Unholy Feast is downright cool, it’s just their numbers that are lacking.

Increasing the range is a decent start. I just hope Anet takes it a bit further as well.

I’ve playing with Axe for a loooong time now (maybe a year and a half or so), both in PvP and PvE and it’s absolutely fun to play with. But funny =/= viable so I really welcome that 900 range upgrade and I hope there are more buffs on Tuesday patch.
Maybe I’m a weirdo, but I like to play with funny things and try to optimize them instead of playing whatever is more op at the moment if that thing is not funny

Same here.

Anchoku.8142:

Axe going to 900 range makes it strong enough for its range but I still have a problem with vulnerability. I’d take it off of axe, entirely, and put something else in place of it.

I am actually against the removal of the vulnerability on Axe 1, simply because it works well with decimate defenses trait from reaper. I know we get a lot of vulnerability from shroud, but that Axe 1 vulnerability would help keep it up while out of shroud.

But it doesn’t work well.

The vulnerability stacking from axe is pathetic. (Not enough stacks, too short duration, too long cast time.

nekretaal.6485:

But it doesn’t work well.

The vulnerability stacking from axe is pathetic. (Not enough stacks, too short duration, too long cast time.

Personally, I think the Axe autoattack should increase the duration of all vulnerability upon the target by some small amount each time it hits (or perhaps only on the downswing, I dunno). That would make the Axe user a serious threat over long durations, because if left to his own devices, the damage against you will slowly and inevitably rack up, but at the same time this would take some time so you wouldn’t just suddenly find yourself at 25 Vuln.