Guild Wars 2

So I am fairly new at this game (3 characters maxed only, and I only do PvE), and I am currently leveling up a necromancer. What is the ‘best’ build for a Reaper if I am going to use it mainly for HoT content, metas, dungeons and fractals?
I have been searching this forum, and I found out that the community prefers either power or condi for reapers. But I saw some posts that power reaper is too weak at the moment, and some posts say that condi isn’t good anymore because of recent nerfs or something. So either way, the community is split in two in this matter. Can I hae your opinions on what build I should go for? If what I am doing is just (as listed above).
Thanks.

Reaper is probably the biggest easy-mode currently in-game. In solo running it just basically steamrolls everything, making /dance emotes from time to time just to show some effort put into gameplay. It is true, that in low-difficulty content (dungeons) it is better to pick a more burst-based class like tempest, berzerker or some other kamikaze, but in higher difficulty (Raids, fractals) i’ve never seen anyone complain about a good condition based reaper.
Wchich brings us to the actual builds. Best reaper ATM is a condi reaper. A viper reaper to be specific which brings us to some problem for OP.
One cannot simply walk into Mordor… Viper armor and weapons are locked behind HoT content, specifically- Auric Basin. If you’re aiming at exotic gear that is all you need to know. Ascended gear is far worse.
First you obviously need to complete your set of ascended armor and weapons (either craft the viper stat which i dont recommend or use mystic toilet to change stats on previously crafted piece), which is either massive goldsink via crafting or even more massive rng via fractals/world bosses/wvw. Next step are trinkets… and you sir, will not be happy to hear about this.
There are 2 possible asc trinket sets. Those are viper and sinister. Viper trinkets are obtainable only in raids (except for amulet but i will also point that out soon) and you will not be friendly welcomed on raids without them (paradox). Sinister trinkets are “easier” to get – you only need to buy Living Story Season 2 pack from gemstore, and finish EVERY **** ACHIEVEMENT to obtain the trinkets. Later on you can buy a copy of those for bandit crests in silverwastes but only if you finished specific meta-achievement. And some of those are extremely painful to get. Same goes for viper amulet – finish all achievements in last 2 HoT story missions (good luck with migraine and avoiding the kitten rocks/orbs while gliding).
Either way, you need to do some content, sometimes hard one if you want to play as a condi (dont bother with rabid/carrion/dire/whatever stats). If what you said about being new at this game is true then i would recommend a power zerk reaper because it is easier to gear up and still great in pve as i stated before.
TL:DR
Start with berserker power reaper and slowly build up your game-breaking condimachine
Link for berserk build with all possible changes/descriptions etc:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Greatsword/X
And here’s one for condi:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Viper_Horror

I really like the condi-viper build, but yeah, getting that ascended cloth armor was a pita. Then you can convert the stats over to vipers at the mystic toilet. One good thing is that, the price of black diamonds crashed(I got it when it was like 2g each ><). As for the trinkets, there isn’t really that much difference in DPS between exotics (look for Brazil’s ascended vs exotic vid in YT). Weapons are a no brainer, you need them.

As for damage, I was able to get around 7.7K on the DPS golem with no added buff/debuff. The build was curses 3-1-3, spite 3-1-2, and reaper 2-2-2.

Power is more fun and not as OP. Much more satisfying to play imho. I shelved the condi reaper because as expected, it was too easy, and I wasn’t even running the chillproc meta build and instead played Dhuumfire curses…

“Best” build is really a variety of builds that are better suited for different types of content and game play.

Generally, power is most effective. Your defense is primarily shroud. Learn to use it often and very well. Reaper Shroud is better than Death Shroud.

Minions are your easy button. They auto attack and also hold aggro for defense.

Main hand dagger is a fine weapon for short range power. Even if you have greatsword, dagger is still excellent.

There is no one build that is the “best”.

Different builds will perform better either for different content, or different playstyles. Instead of trying to get a consensus for anything the “best”, you should probably try to find whatever you enjoy the most. Look at what Necro and Reaper offer. Test out some things that interest you. By then you’ll probably be able to build something that suits you, but if you still need help then that would be a perfect time to come here and ask for options.

In my case, I was having trouble finding a build for thief that meshed well with me. Eventually, after a lot of experimenting, I found a certain style of pistol/pistol that I’ve been able to stick with for a long time.

Power reaper builds are fun and versatile, and a lot cheaper than the condi (viper armor) build. You should have no problem doing all solo PvE content (including HoT zones), other PvE events (metas, world bosses, etc.), dungeons and fractals. I went with full berserkers armor/weapons/trinkets (exotic armor/weapons with some ascended trinkets, working on ascended weapons for kicks), but another option would be Valkyrie’s armor, particularly if you group up a lot (you don’t need added precision if you always have the precision buff plus 25 stacks of vulnerability up with the Reaper trait that converts that to 50% crit chance).

There are several fun power builds that can be interchanged depending on your situation or preferred playstyle:

Reaper/Death Magic/Blood Magic – minion build with lots of life steal, great for solo in the HoT zones, high mobility with dagger equipped, my personal favorite (with gs and axe/dagger)

Reaper/Death Magic/Soul Reaping – minion build with emphasis on staying in shroud, lower mobility without BM unless you sacrifice a minion for the speed signet

Reaper/Spite/Blood Magic – uses shouts/wells instead of minions, good mobility with a dagger equipped

Reaper/Spite/Soul Reaping – shroud version of the above

You can mix/match these weapon sets with a power build:

Greatsword – slow, but Gravedigger crits are so sweet when the mob gets below 50%
Dagger/warhorn or focus – good for building life force
Axe/x – ranged that does ok damage, great when you want to be lazy with a minion build
Staff – low damage but best range, good for tagging in zergs (world bosses, meta events)

I carry all of these weapon sets and switch them out when needed.

I don’t see any need to get ascended armor unless you plan to do high level fractals and raiding, in which case you will probably want a condi (vipers) build anyway for that content.

Power for open world, condi for fractals/raids

Didn’t read through everything the others posted, but I assume/hope they covered everything properly

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Power for open world, condi for fractals/raids

Didn’t read through everything the others posted, but I assume/hope they covered everything properly

One cavieat to this. Power reaper will perform better in situations where you need to carry. Vipers will have more DPS however, but the survivability of that build is as bad as a theif’s.

I’ve played zerker, then vipers for a few months, and recently switched back to power zerk/valk.