Guild Wars 2

Hello folks,

I’m a pretty bad necromancer, and I’m sometimes playing this build in pvp for fun:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBHhZ6kZTocTsbTwzGgeTsgLYQXtAQLIuK2FDjUph2wzC-TZBFABkittenAY4IAAwDA4/yAFt/AA

I run axe, because Reaper Shroud is melee, and I feel like I would be kited to much if I ran dagger or GS. However, every power reaper I see, especially in WvW, seems to be running either dagger or GS.

Is there something really bad about axe that I don’t know of? I mean, the auto does decent damage and is fast enough to proc the on crit sigils often enough, the #2 gives you a lot of lf if you time it right, and the #3, while having a cast time that is unnecessarily long, is sometimes very useful because of the boon corrupt. What am I missing?

For PvP its kinda bad cause it deosnt have enough dmg/utility, but its the best WvW option because as you said reapers “safely” cleave with Shroud while doing ranged pressure with axe.

It’s just because in wvw you need burst potential. Axe does not offer burst, the damage is lackluster, it’s slow, it is easily avoidable, and suffers from many terrain and LOS issues. Generally I think it’s paired with warhorn which offers some util and sustain but again is lackluster in comparison to other options.

Dagger is fast reliable damage with some soft CC and extra sustain.

GS is just huge burst potential, offers sustain with the #4 (through area denial) has CC .

Staff is pretty much always a required weapon in WvW. Lots of situations will need a melee weapon while you are out of shroud, in these situations axe is terrible.

For example, with dagger or gs you can trade blow for blow with a thief whos trying to auto spam you, but with an axe he’s going to los most of your skills by circling you.

Need to mention, GS is a very very slow weapon. It takes pretty good timing to land the big blows but when you do, it’s awesome.

TLDR
Axe deals zero damage. And for the range kiting potential – Anet intoduced brokenant on oct23 so theres another full melee class with perma chasing ability.

Its only seldom taken since GS is even worse.

note that sustain has been powercreeped so much, the once medium mehish autoatack is now really low, theres a lot of sh13t that outheal it even in zerker vs zerker.

The proc sigils have been nerfed. Good and long overdue move.

The lifeforce generation is also low since its a clunky sidestepable skill.

Theres only 2 builds that have “i want axe for it” in them.
A valkyre vuln stacker since its our only reliable vuln source.
And a corrupters favor defensive build, since each vuln stack counts on its own and with aoe cripple – it is the easiest weapon to maintain the buff.

If axe gets its 4th redesign and death magic its 3rd, and Anet doesnt megafail again, then it might be a solid pick for poor base necros.

Thanks everyone! I’ll give dagger another try then. I don’t think I can get rid of the warhorn though, so maybe not GS, even if it looks magnificent.

I run A/F and D/Wh in pvp and my kill average is about 15/game. My win rate is about 70-80%. Those are really the only good weapons for a power reaper. GS is slow and clunky, doesn’t hit too often because enemies can just walk off the vital #2 which has a massive wind-up animation. Staff just doesn’t work with a power build.

You can see my build here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/A-power-build-for-PvP/first#post6142651

I only play reaper for pvp so I can’t help you with other game modes.

I would take dagger over the axe, but either of those are better than the sluggish gs

I have to defend the axe a little…

Krysard.1364:

For PvP its kinda bad cause it deosnt have enough dmg/utility, …

The auto attack doesn’t. Ghastly Claws and Unholy Feast both have good enough utility to make up for their mediocre damage. (Although they’d be great candidates for a whirl and blast finisher)

Krysard.1364:

…but its the best WvW option because as you said reapers “safely” cleave with Shroud while doing ranged pressure with axe.

Unless Ghastly Claws is off cooldown, you’d be doing way more damage by randomly hitting 5 targets in a zerg with Necrotic Grasp.

Sorel.4870:

Is there something really bad about axe that I don’t know of? I mean, the auto does decent damage and is fast enough to proc the on crit sigils often enough…

Fast enough? Maybe. Decent damage? No, terrible damage, and it doesn’t even cleave.
On top of that, the only utility you get here is 1x vulnerability per hit, which is way too little when you’d have to account for the huge drop off in damage. Also, considering that anyone who’s ever used an axe probably had Spite, the vuln application from that specialization alone is stronger with any other skill rotation anyway.
In short, the only reason for using Rending Claws is because everything else is on cooldown.

dank.3680:

… suffers from many terrain and LOS issues.

As opposed to what other weapon?

Flumek.9043:

The lifeforce generation is also low since its a clunky sidestepable skill.

Still better than the scepter’s and dagger’s lf regen.

Flumek.9043:

Theres only 2 builds that have “i want axe for it” in them.
A valkyre vuln stacker since its our only reliable vuln source.
And a corrupters favor defensive build, since each vuln stack counts on its own and with aoe cripple – it is the easiest weapon to maintain the buff.

Like I said above, Spite traits stack vuln a lot better. Are you saying that there’s a valk/axe build that doesn’t use Spite?
Also, there’s definitely no such thing as a corrupter’s fervor build. Either you have minions or you don’t use Death Magic. Basically, you might as well pretend that any non-minion DM trait doesn’t exist.

Dont worry flow, the corrupters fervor build sucks
Just something i messed with new amulet. The argument was more IF death and axe were good, then they actually work non clunkily together unlike most our stuff.

It’s kinda like Ventari Revenant – not necessarily bad on paper, with simple design that makes sense, but powercreep kills any reason to look at this option.