Overall I like reaper. The theme and skills are all solid.
I played a condition build but ran into some problems:
NO LF generation. I literally had 1 skill that generates LF and that was it. Pure condition reaper basically just can’t use RS in long fights.
Chill does not currently work on anything with a break bar. Instead it just lowers the break bar. This renders the GM chill trait completely useless in all boss fights
GM chill trait still needs more damage, especially over 50% health. It is a GRAND MASTER trait, yet it does less damage than even terror which is only a master trait.
RS melts like crazy. I don’t know if it is bugged or what, but my RS bar just plummeted in seconds every time I tried to use it.
Damage for condition necro is still low overall. Made a berserker and killed everything I touched in half the time. Bleeds need to be buffed, and scepter reworked (more of an overall issue, but it applies to reaper too)
Limiting chill to 5 stacks completely ruins all synergy from RS 5+4. Chilling bolts are a key part of that combo, yet only 3 out of the 30 or so chilling bolts actually do anything since you instantly hit the 5 chill cap with 1s chills. It is actually better NOT to combo under the current version since the chills from the field itself last longer.
Also having a second reaper anywhere near you means that chill is always at the 5 limit stack and you waste most of your chills. Please remove this cap, it is destroying reaper.
Liked the reaper overall, but chill needs serious help.
Agreed wholeheartedly with post, and confirmed the issue they mentioned about chill and break bar enemies. Everything I’m about to say is in reference to PvE exclusively btw.
Zerker Reaper seems pretty darn solid. I was killing golems and romping through Silverwaste doing comparably to my other professions in both damage AND survival, at the same time, which is so far unheard of on my necro. I haven’t played it enough yet to know exactly how well it stands, but zerker reaper is either heading in the right direction, or basically there.
Condi reaper is another story. Deathly Chill is still not worth taking. It’s damage is still kinda meh and on top of that it straight up does not work on break bar enemies. If you forgo that trait (And in its current state, why wouldn’t you?) to take Reaper’s Onslaught and get faster AAs in RS (to proc more dhuumfire), you’re barely better off. Dhuumfire really needs a duration buff or something because it’s still just about impossible to get and maintain any significant number of burning stacks. Which wouldn’t be a huge deal, but since burning is without question the strongest condi in the game for damage and a profession’s access to it makes or breaks their condi build (at least in pve), either burning needs to change (and most other condis with it) or necro needs to get better access to better burning. So here’s my ideas on how to help condi reaper.
First things first, to make a better condi reaper overall I’d say Deathly Chill needs to not be a gm trait and move to either major or minor. This will allow reapers to get both Deathly Chill and Reaper’s Onslaught, which will not only give them a new damaging condition to pop that they have better access to, but it will also give them better access to the aforementioned best damaging condi in the game.
Secondly, the break bar enemy problem is a big one, and makes Deathly Chill completely unattractive for any area with mobs that have this. Which seems like it’ll be a huge problem in HoT if the enemies in Verdant Brink are any indication. I have two different solutions for how this could be helped:
-The way chill interacts with break bar enemies needs to be reverted back to its previous form, and just be a condi that does its normal effect and with Deathly Chill, damages. It’s hard to say how well this solution would fair. On the one hand, it would definitely give the damage back and make condi reapers far less hesitant to take Deathly Chill when they’re against non-trash mobs. Not only that, but depending on how exactly the encounters work in HoT, just having chill on the boss may be stronger than putting up the break bar. Damage mitigation seems like it’ll be that much more important, and if so chill is really really good at that, allowing people to kite easier, and making scary attacks have far longer cds. On the other hand, chill works pretty darn well on the break bar, and reapers (and even normal necros) can do a pretty fair amount of it, so taking away our ability to contribute to that could be crippling in this new PvE environment. I guess its up to the devs, who know more about what’s coming, to make that judgment call.
-Have chill both up the break bar AND apply the normal condition effects to break bar enemies. This would solve virtually all problems. You’d get all the power of chills effects, and the damage it would now bring from Deathly Chill, on top of contributing to the break bar, which is great. The only issues I could see being wrong with this is that it could be a nightmare to code (which may or may not be true), or that it might be just too strong, both in PvE and in PvP against the few professions that will have access to break bars.
-Have Deathly Chill apply its damage not in ticks like a normal condition, but once with each application from the Deathly Chill reaper. This is a weird solution, especially since this is a condi damage trait, but I think it could work, and be really cool. First, it solves the break bar problem immediately, and makes it stronger against trash as well. Secondly, it gives reaper and necro something really cool and useful that other classes don’t have, and sets them apart: the ability to burst (albeit barely, but still) with condi damage. Lastly, this fix shouldn’t be that hard to balance, since even with the large amounts of chill necros get, to have a ton of chill applications to burst really hard with this we’d need to invest pretty darn heavily in chills (and therefore lose lot of other useful skills/traits). Plus, it could always be given an icd or have its damage tweaked.
-The last solution, and least likely of all I’m sure, is just making Deathly Chill a gm in another trait line. I know chill is supposed to be a big thing for reaper, but its a big thing for necro too, and I think any necro being able to hurt with a chill is a neat idea.
Any of those solutions (or combinations of them) would do a lot to fix Deathly Chill, and condi reaper on the whole as well, without making it out of control. One thing’s for sure though, even if you disagree with my solutions—Condi reaper is not great (at least in pve), and Deathly Chill is meh at best. Definitely not worth taking over the other two gms by a longshot.
Thats all.
. (would also make it look less low polly)