Guild Wars 2

I’ll admit I’m not really one to dive into PvP much if at all. Its not my cup of tea and I’ve never cared much for the game type as a whole. Though I am interested in balance of our profession and I’ll always be keeping an eye on the PvP scene as I am somewhat interested in spectating the game type. Seeing my profession shine in PvP is important to me even if I’m not personally taking a part in it.

Listening to the complaints the necromancer community has about the Necromancer and by extension the reaper I’ve been thinking allot about Stronghold. I don’t think the necromancer will ever be good in conquest. We have too many weaknesses there and struggle getting from point A to point B with out decent gap closers.

So I was thinking. An a good Foe will often leave a necromancer be after burning through their DS while they go to recover. Then return to finish the job when they’re healthy and ready to go. Well, the necromancer wants them to stay with them. To continue the engagement for as long as possible. And I think the Reaper does this far better then the Necromancer does currently. But they could still leave if they want. But then I though, although in Conquest there isn’t much of a disadvantage to leaving a necromancer to go recover, but in Stronghold this could be devastating!

Our Roll in Stronghold is actually fairly solid in theory. If we have the right tools we could easily and quickly wipe out enemy NPCs far easier than any other profession I’ve seen so far. Our ability to scale up against a higher number of foes makes us rather Ideal to go full offense on the enemy strong hold. Our damage would increase, our defenses and AI isn’t worth as much as a player. If a player does decided to try and take you on while you’re attacking their NPCs you might actually have an edge over them. If everything goes well that is. This is still all speculation.

In this engagement the Enemy will lose far more if they retreat then if they stay and stick it out. Forcing them in a situation where they’ll have to fight against your damage and attrition abilities to defend themselves. And this seems to be the perfect role for us to play. I think we’ve been geared more toward Stronghold then Conquest and I think our strengths against higher numbers, if done correctly could easily make us one of the most useful Professions in Stronghold. We aren’t fast and we can’t force our opponents to stay with us as long as we might like. But we can put them on a clock. And that might just be more valuable.

I think that Reaper definitely has a place in stronghold, although who knows if it will fill that place well enough to be competitive. If they make DM and BM respectable trait lines you could theoretically see a defensive, supporty, debuffy type of Reaper support your own NPCs and still be dangerous to the main targets. Skills like Nightfall and Gravedigger will bring some good DPS, and maybe a Reaper can bring enough support and damage to get doorbreakers through while still scaring off enemy players.

It will be hard to tell until the game actually launches and the meta settles in. But Stronghold in general seemed much more necro friendly to me. So much life force is everywhere that it’s hard not to be better for necros.

Besides w/e class gets the defiance bar, we will probably be one of the top classes for mist essence capping. While we will only be able to hold 3 stacks of stabil with RS #3(4 for a bit with boon duration) the fact it pulses every second makes it so its harder for boonrips to catch us unless they time their rip+follow up cc right after we gain a stack.

Stabil with high stacks is also very good, but one boonrip can take that off. So unless teams are running no boonrips specifically for stab then high stacks would win-out.

Papish.5806:

Besides w/e class gets the defiance bar, we will probably be one of the top classes for mist essence capping. While we will only be able to hold 3 stacks of stabil with RS #3(4 for a bit with boon duration) the fact it pulses every second makes it so its harder for boonrips to catch us unless they time their rip+follow up cc right after we gain a stack.

Stabil with high stacks is also very good, but one boonrip can take that off. So unless teams are running no boonrips specifically for stab then high stacks would win-out.

That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that at all.

And the only thing that can directly counter that kind of stability use is boon corruption that instantly turns the stability into an interrupt, hint hint wink wink.

Bhawb.7408:

And the only thing that can directly counter that kind of stability use is boon corruption that instantly turns the stability into an interrupt, hint hint wink wink.

Or traited Steal

I’m sticking to Epidemic Condi Necro. But might try out how Reaper skillset works with that, especially long chills dealing damage.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Bhawb.7408:

And the only thing that can directly counter that kind of stability use is boon corruption that instantly turns the stability into an interrupt, hint hint wink wink.

Or traited Steal

I’m not going to lie though, I always found that to be one of the corniest traits/set ups. Just literally ignores mechanics and goes for the moon. I’ve learned to live with it I guess, at least ours pulses…

Pro:

Stronghold has easily kill able NPCs, which generate life force.
NPCs “bunch up” and can be AOE’d down easily.
Killing NPCs is very important for protecting or assaulting gates.
Puling Stability in reaper shroud can be good or gathering supply and for channeling mist essence

Cons:

Emphasis on mobility puts slow reaper at a severe disadvantage
Gamemode isn’t conquest: Ranged units can snipe down the reaper without having to engage
Tons of z-axis teleport spots puts anybody who doesn’t have these at a huge disadvantage
Little support for NPCs (aegis & especially heals are especially powerful).

Also: if pulsing stability on every reaper proves to be a big advantage for channelling, then that aspect will get nerfed without compensation for the loss elsewhere.

Verdict: Reaper will be ok in Solo Q as a sort of one-trick pony for lord rushes. In groups that are actually organized and good, the limitations of the build will prevent it from seeing use.

I can see reaper being useful for defence and for hero pushes. Pushing a hero as a reaper vs anyone without range is easy since due to all the % damage reduction stacking you will be essentially immortal. Between 50 and 86%+ total reduction on incoming physical damage.

Traits I see being useful. Are transfusion for the spin2win aoe heal, mark of evasion for regen on dodge and deathly invigoration for a supposedly buffed aoe heal on entering shroud. Throw is some weakness here and all over and its not bad.
Reaper/spite/blood magic or
Reaper/ soul reaping/ blood magic

After playing again last night, I think we’really in the hands of the devs right now as far as stronghold goes. If they make good changes to blood magic and death magic, we might be able to heal up the door breakers and provide protection and keep them alive long enough to get through. Plus if they actually buff CPC to destroy projectiles, you could actually actively guard them with CPC and nightfall, and then use CPC in the lords room to bring down damage by 35%, and there is a real role there for support and taking on the lords room.

That’s a lot of “ifs,” though. Would be nice if it happened, but if not, it’s hard to imagine reaper having a role that a staff ele or guardian or shoutbows already fills in support, and defense/roaming wise, I think our lack of mobility hurts a lot.