Why Isn't Reaper all that good in PvE?

This is an abridged version of a longer topic about the Reaper elite specialization from the Popular MMO Guild Wars 2. This discusses a minor issue with the elite spec.
This is my first time uploading a video so please be nice.

[@beneteus3833]

so buff spite, this will in general help the tait line and all power necro specs present or future and get rid of the 5% shroud loss per second over the normal 3% per second.

[@shinra05]

got this recommend great video u shgould do more

[@mazethewayfinder9208]

Thank you, I was unsure since I've been away from the game for a month due to the holidays and my obsession with Baldur's gate 3, but I think I'll have to make more content for sure.

[@tactuel]

i love reaper but it always feels so slow playing it :(

[@june_o9]

Reaper used to be my happy place. And yeah I do feel it got weaker in comparison to other Necro specs :/

[@reson8]

Despite the Nov 29th patch, reaper is still fine for open world (like any other class) but in instanced content it really falls below every other power damage spec. It's not that hard to have high shroud uptime, but reaper shroud still decays faster than the other specs and taking damage reduces it more. If reaper was supposed to be bursty, it should be in shroud but it isn't. If reaper was supposed to be a damage spec, it's modifiers (skills and traits) are too low across the board. It reminds me of the huge buff to vampiric presence which is still never taken outside of hscg.

[@deusanti]

My set up is Berserker gear with pack runes and for all my accessories I use marauder for increase Life pool. My Weapons are Axe/focus and Greatsword with Battle and Strength Sigils. I lose the Cleanse on weapon swap but I get longer "Reaper" uptime because the Marauder accessories. You can still output pretty good DPS out of shroud and with the Axe 2 ability you build life pretty fast. I use GS 4 and Well of Darkness on top of me then activate GS5 immediately swap to axe/focus use number 2(by this time full Life usually) and 5(just bring enemies in for my "Reaper" form) when I am out of "Reaper" which allows me to build up Life pretty fast. I maintain the 25 stack of Might pretty much throughout(because of my sigils and I am in shroud very often). It takes a few to ramp up in Might but you can start to see some good numbers. I don't know if there were changes that made it seem better now that it is January 2023 but I just started playing this spec for the first time few days ago. I wish they had made some changes on how to get your "Elite" specs faster. I normally play a thief D/D and SB(I know it is old school) because it is very fun. I just wanted to try a new class for the first time so I boosted to 80 and then with my Expansion purchase went to Meguuma and farmed Hero points just to get the 250 Hero Points you need. I think that it ruins the story but I just wanted to try it out. I think your first and second Elite skills should be easier to get because it is over 4 years old expansions. I understand the EoD Elite being harder to get. because it just came out last year. Well this is my very Limited experience input on this spec so far. I am still learning and I am not saying this spec is the best one but I think it has a good potential in the hands of better players than me.

[@pachilemon4209]

Why is the EoD elite spec harder to get? You can get them in any order. The EoD hp's are also extremely easy compared to HoT.

[@deusanti]

@@pachilemon4209 Heroic points in general are easier to get if you activate the expansion and go there. What I am saying is that since EoD is new I could understand the Developers wanting us to complete the content into EoD expansion. What I want to see is that if you purchased the Expansion you could allocate HP into those skills up to PoF right off the bat in the starting zone and maybe reduce the cost from 250 points to something smaller. Having to complete all your core skills before even allocating points into the Elite skills takes a lot of time. I think allowing players to experience at least some of the Elite Specs that most KZbin Streamers are talking about only can entice a broader audience to maybe trying out GW2. I think even for Veteran players who wants to create an Alt would enjoy playing old content with Elite Specs.

[@pachilemon4209]

@@deusanti I suppose I see your point. However, veterans don't have this problem at all with the number of tomes they receive. By the time they create a new character they're already 80 which gives enough HP to max all base skills and specializations, not even having to do base game hero challenges, and be good to go and do the HP's in PoF and EoD which are extremely easy, getting you 2 elite specs, since each hero challenge there gives you 10 points, in my experience with about 12 alts fully geared. Even easier to level now with the adventure guide. You can also do old content even with old characters with the new specs. Do you mean old content as in the personal story? Because you can do that too. Just level your characters to 80, get the elite spec, and go do that. Plus new players wouldn't even bother with the new elite specs when they're just new, with the majority not buying expansions. If they wanted to try them out so early, they could just go to PvP lobby. Unless you're an altoholic, you won't experience these problems at all, also for new players that want to rush things and get the elite specs without hassle, despite not having tried the base at all. There's a reason why people don't recommend boosting your first character to 80. Ruins the experience a bit. If someone new were to quit the game just because they couldn't get the elite specs instantly, that probably means they don't like the game that much, not having even tried the base class. Sorry for being off tangent but yeah lol

[@deusanti]

@@pachilemon4209 I know it seems like it is not really that big of an issue but since the game is kind of old. I was just throwing ideas out there to see if we can bring in new players to game with even purchasing Expansions. Right now most Streamer content is dealing with the Elite specs so when a new players come into the game and realize that they need to spend next month grinding the Core Specs before even getting to try the Elite specs it can be deterrent for them to even consider purchasing the Expansions. I think it would be more New player friendly if they can purchase the expansion and then be able to allocate HP into the Elite Spec of the Expansion Purchased. I understand it being easier for Veteran Players and I agree the Core Gameplay is important but I think it is not as important as getting more and more players to purchase Expansions. In EoD you hardly see many players like you do in HoT for instance. I think GW2 can be bigger than it is. We could ask ourselves if that is a good thing or bad thing to have influx of many new players but for me I just want more and more players because that increases the number of players for all content. I remember seeing three to four 60 man Zergs running around all over WvW almost every day for instance. That is long gone now. I also think influx of new players would increase excitement for the game. Sounds weird maybe but When I see people asking for help in chat it makes me feel like the game is fresh and alive with excitement. I need to stop writing fricken novels. Sorry.

[@Mehdi.A]

Plays reaper , dress it as wood fairy :)

[@NinjaMonte1990]

Yeah. Wish theyd give tempest ele some more stability . All we can do is hope.

[@eurasiacentertutorials9518]

We are getting buffed, a bit at least. Some think we may get buffed even more based on feedback.

[@gailbrookhart1777]

i do feel like Reaper isn't the class it used to be. That makes me sad. Reaper was my primary class but I feel like I had the rug pulled out from under me. And, oh yeah, the intro to this video from Lord Hizen: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXaudmOQjLCkmsk

[@DoctorSargeMD]

Very informative. I was about to return to the game after years of not playing and I was leaning towards Reaper, but now it seems I dodged a bullet.

[@gagegang6421]

Dealing with someone who doesnt know signets of suffering cause signets to have full effectiveness in shroud. Not exactly perfect information.

[@AnDi-tx2xh]

Would not suggest you listen to every youtuber. Its easy to just theory talk. You can look up reaper, has been used to clear Harvest Temple CM and if you build it right in open world its a total beast ^^ Take it from a reaper main ;)

[@Boxedwaffle]

look at hizen's cele reaper build.

[@AnDi-tx2xh]

@@Boxedwaffle it's fantastic, runs great even in exotics

[@beneteus3833]

Reaper is viable, but its the weakest of hte elites for nerko - its still better then core necro - so buffs to reaper would actually be good, this build is also almost completly reliant on beeing in melee which Scourge and Harbinger are not, while doing more dmg then Reaper. an while "signets of suffering"is nice for solo play and open world its not what you take for group play. so i wouldnt take that comment at full value. expecially considering he is wrong about what the trait does. it gives you signets in shroud but not at full value, its acutaly about 133% effectiveness while also reducing hte cooldown of any signet you used outiside of shroud. - So the Trait is realy good for solo play another thing is that reaper looses shroud when taking dmg in shroud, which can screw you out of dmg on certain fights like Boneskinner (considering Anet nerfed your dmg reduction while in shroud from 50% to 33%) and managing lifeforce is definitly harder on reaper then the other elites, since you also use up more life force per second while in shroud - that is defnitly something they could get rid off making you loose the normal 3% rather then 5% per second So if you want to play Reaper you 100% can - just know that for group play there are better nekro builds you can play.

[@deathstar6998]

I think the problem with reaper is that its a hard balancing act, on the one hand if you make their damage more consistent than they are going to be problematic because they can combo you to death both in and out of shroud, and since shroud is a 2nd healthbar you become this immortal problem thats hard to deal with. On the other hand I can see the frustration in that without the damage in normal form you loose out on so much of your usefulness.

[@pinnacull]

I do not think that having a modifier affecting your damage for 1/2 the time is a bad thing necessarily, as long as the damage while they're active is good. That makes for a higher skill cap by having to keep in mind all of the modifiers in order to do your maximum damage. The problem is that even when all of reaper's modifiers are active, its damage still sucks. Reaper's burst is worse than nearly every other power spec, by a decent margin. Bladesworn, vindicator, dragonhunter, virtuoso, daredevil, chronomancer, catalyst, soulbeast, spellbreaker, holosmith, weaver, scrapper, and deadeye, all have better burst than reaper. And on top of this, the class gives nothing to the group at all, besides decent cc. It doesn't give boons or utility, and definitely doesn't give damage (compared to other classes). I'm saying all this but maybe reaper's lacking burst could in part be due to not all modifiers being active.

[@attinger117]

Reaper feels like a God when you’re playing solo because of all the easy access to self boons and how easy it is to regen life force. I can solo legendary bounties with Reaper. But when you transition to group content and all those boons are covered by your support anyway…. You don’t feel as powerful. Reaper is basically a spec designed to be selfish. And it’s also easy to play. It just doesn’t have the utility or raw dps to be useful for top tier group comps.

[@Morvagor82]

Vallun runs Spite 132, Soul Reaping 112 and Reaper 213 with Signet of Undeath doing legendary bounties solo.

[@jasminej9553]

There are guides of how you can stay a long time in shroud. If you want damage without shroud, ask Anet to remove shroud from the spec so you don't have access to a 2nd health bar and have more direct dmg.

[@Rampage9739]

Reading all the comments gives me an aneurysm, these people are the reason why we don't get an actual buff. Spite is a fairly outdated trait line, it need to be refreshed to be better, death perception change was just plain stupid and they should just revert it: you have the sub-par damage of a quickness support and on top of that you have to flank what a joke

[@Zvone8989]

"reaper was used in HT cm" what a bunch of morons, ye it was, prolly couldve used someone else and dealt 2x its dmg, instead of memeing so idiots can have a stupid excuse why a spec thats meele has 31k dmg(and thats with damn thief runes flanking) with no other benefits for the group

[@pepperonipony1751]

I'm sure other specs can dish more dps in pve, but when it comes to solo viability I love Reaper. I simply do not hesitate to jump in first against anything. I stand in the fire, I don't dodge, I just live in shroud and live at 25-35% overhealth the full fight. There's legendaries and some bounties where there's mechanics that make soloing not viable (like the ettin that grabs you and throws you at another player, unless there's no other player and then he just holds you forever ^^). And this is with full 'zerkers gear. I feel like Reaper might be a bit OP if it could be a massive solo tank and stand toe-to-toe with the other elites on pure damage? I should really play around with the other specs for comparison though.

[@Rampage9739]

You're clearly trolling and don't play the spec at all, if you tank with your shroud then you literally deal no damage and unless you're planning to make the bosses kill themselves out of boredom you really shouldn't do that. Also there are plenty of open world builds that are better than reaper, but sure let's pretend that it's fine

[@pepperonipony1751]

@@Rampage9739 Not trolling, play the spec every day? Minion master reaper just sits at full health and kills everything. Is it 30k dps? No. Will it solo multiple champs without being downed? Yes. Give it a try! There's tons of videos on youtube about it.

[@AnDi-tx2xh]

GW2 is not all about big numbers. Suuure reaper ain't the best but its super easy to pick up and if you build it right you can have insane sustain. Glass cannon damage ain't good if you die in 5 seconds. For me the strongest class is the one I know best and if that is reaper then so be it :)

[@LoliLikesPedobear]

And in raids your sustain is negated by sheer number of incoming damage, melee cleave is not complemented by higher numbers for your movement losses and benchmark is low. You hardly profit from raid buffs as much as other specs to boost your meager putout too, as you already have quickness and might stacking in your kit. I want my power necro viable, not scoffed at and sitting at 25k at best.

[@Rampage9739]

The game doesn't care about how you feel. Reaper is garbage and it's a fact sadly, it bothers me that my favorite spec can't at least be distinguished from a quickness dps because people have the weird concept in mind that reaper is fine for whatever reason. And it's not just about numbers, necro needs more QoL updates and weapon choices, buffing staff the last patch was okay i guess but i'd really like to see dagger/focus having an actual role instead of just existing

[@AnDi-tx2xh]

@@Rampage9739 if big numbers is all you care about then reaper ain't for you. However i think this kind of attitude is preventing new people from playing something they like. Most people will spend 90 % of their time in the open world. Reaper excells at open world activities. Raid wise i'd rather have an experienced reaper then a noob mech. As mentioned above, reaper has been used in harvest temple cm and was right up there with soulbeast and mech. Its easy to stand in front of a golem that does nothing be fully buffed and write down some silly benchmarks when in reality there are so many factors that go into a good raid experience. Lets stop bashing on reaper and look at the things its good at. You dont need 40k dps to clear most raids. You're fine with 25 30k if people know the tactics. They are slowly improving reaper. 29th of nov will buff it a bit

[@darwinmabazza6314]

Please don't take this game seriously. It's a waist of your time. They will nerf you everytime. It's called nerf war2. They give you skills and they will nerf you everytime. Please tell the world. It's not GW2 it's nerf war2.

[@Neptun547]

Reaper is one of the best in PVE(Open world) ,and able to make raids + CM, Strike + CM, Fractal's. All about how good you know your specialization ^^

[@Zvone8989]

people like u are the reason why statics and high kp groups are a thing

[@Neptun547]

@@Zvone8989 Bro i write Reaper is able to do raids ,cm's fractals coz im doing this on Necromancer all specs ,and other classes. If you think that why people want high kp you are wrong or you are toxic uss fak.

[@Zvone8989]

@@Neptun547 go see a doctor, im sure he can prescribe u something clown

[@eutha6]

Reaper is easy mode- there is a reason why it is the choice for afk farmers-I use it for story mode and when things get tough, I just use a power reaper minion build and never die-currently using celestial build no pets and also never die.

[@darwinmabazza6314]

Please don't take the game seriously. It's a waist of time. They give you skills and they nerf you all the time. They make it sound like it's your problem that you make good build. Crafting armor is a joke coust they nerf you everytime. Please don't waisted time her not good

[@eurasiacentertutorials9518]

Wrong.

[@MysticScribe82]

I'm not sure you quite understand how MMO's work...

[@darwinmabazza6314]

It's just I been playing 8yrs. The storyline is good. Phath off fire 🔥 is asome. Phath off fire Ride is osome. Hart of thorns is fcking crap. The point is nerfing everything is not good. Nerfing skills is not good. You can only play so long and know that's it's not worth your time.