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Reaper - Balanced Condi Reaper

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage and Control

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns buildsSecrets of the Obscure builds

Difficulty:
Easy
This build was last updated on October 21, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Condition Reaper build for PvP taking a more "balanced" approach than Procmancer, opting for extra survivability via either Death or Blood Magic.

The Pistol version continues to be popular in ranked while Scepter is played more at tournaments.


Skill Bar

Staff
Pistol/Torch
Utility


Skill Variants

Utility

Almost always keep Spectral Walk on your bar, but the other two skills can be freely swapped out for any of the following:

  • Summon Flesh Wurm - another stunbreak and some vertical mobility. Being able to disengage to the highground can be invaluable for your survival sometimes.
  • Well of Darkness - pulsing AoE Blind for survivability and Chill to put pressure on enemies.
  • Well of Corruption - unblockable AoE boon removal that could cover an entire capture point on some maps.
  • Corrupt Boon - great burst CD, especially useful against targets that rely on Stability Stability. Can be used both defensively and offensively.
  • "You Are All Weaklings!" - low CD stunbreak with shout synergy. Occasionally seen replacing Spectral Walk in full shout builds with Relic of the Reaper.


Weapons

  • Scepter over Pistol - an equally viable option with better teamfight potential. Scepter with Lingering Curse on Curses is often used in organized 5v5s (tournaments), while the Pistol variant remains popular in ranked because it's easier to survive on it solo thanks to the extra CC/Weakness application.
  • Play either Dagger or Focus offhand instead Torch if you don't own the Secrets of the Obscure expansion, as Weaponmaster Training is necessary for the current set.


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Specializations


Specialization Variants

Replacing Death Magic with Blood Magic is also a viable option:


Equipment

Staff
Sigil
Sigil
Pistol
Torch
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet
Relic


Equipment Variants

Amulets

  • - better defense against Power-based burst damage.

Sigils

  • Sigil of Escape over Sigil of Intelligence - improves your condition cleansing. Getting rid of several non-damaging conditions on weapon swap also increases your chances of transferring damaging conditions with Putrid Mark.
  • Sigil of Savagery over Sigil of Intelligence - makes the stun from "Chilled to the Bone!" even longer when used on Staff.


Runes

  • Rune of Necromancer - offers more damage if you don't need the passive movement speed boost from Lynx.


Relics

There are plenty of viable options here, especially if you're playing a less shout-focused version of the build:

  • Relic of the Demon Queen - improves your healing reduction from Poison and adds more sources to the build.
  • Relic of the Sunless - adds burst damage to your elite skill by creating an AoE field beneath your target when used. Compared to Cerus it has the benefit of always spawning the pool under an enemy so you don't have to worry too much about positioning. The best thing about this relic isn't even the conditions but rather the strike damage it deals over just a few seconds. Fury Fury can make this proc stronger.
  • Relic of Cerus - adds a strong offensive proc whenever you use an elite skill. Enemies under the eye can get hit multiple times, so the value of this relic goes up significantly if you can stun them right under the eye with "Chilled to the Bone!".
  • Relic of the Adventurer - restores half a dodge roll's worth of endurance whenever you heal, improving your survivability. It's like a second Energy sigil.


Usage

General

  • Use "Your Soul Is Mine!" as often as possible, even out of combat. This is crucial for building Life Force (LF).
  • On top of the Stability Stability and AoE stun "Chilled to the Bone!" also applies Quickness Quickness when it strikes an enemy target in melee range. Using this right before entering Reaper's Shroud creates the perfect setup for your hard hitting shroud skills.
  • "Chilled to the Bone!" has a very distinct animation which makes it easy to avoid, if you feel like that's going to happen then stow your weapon to cancel the channeling. This is also great for fake casting - you can use the skill, cancel it immediately with weapon stow (the whole animation's still going to finish, potentially baiting out dodges or other defensive CDs), and send it only on a CD of 5 seconds.
  • Entering shroud procs Weakening Shroud, this is both defensive and offensive by nature. Being able to apply Weakness Weakness even when you're sitting in a CC could save your life, and instant offensive procs could effortlessly add extra pressure to your burst chains.
    • Quickly following up with Death's Charge to corrupt more boons through Path of Corruption is basically a 2 button burst combo that puts heavy pressure on every enemy around you.
    • Entering shroud counts as a weapon swap and as such could proc Sigil of Doom and Sigil of Exposure while on Pistol/Torch (if the sigils aren't on CD) which could then be applied to the enemy target via Weakening Shroud for increased burst and condition variety.
    • The condition transfer from Plague Sending is yet another thing Weakening Shroud could trigger on its own.
  • Ideally try to use Death's Charge inside the field left behind by Executioner's Scythe to combo Frost Aura.
  • Aside from Putrid Mark and Spectral Walk most of the cleansing is tied to trait procs like Plague Sending (when entering shroud) and Unholy Martyr (when leaving shroud, Blood Magic variant). With the Death Magic variant you periodically keep losing conditions while staying in shroud.
  • There's more to Spectral Walk (SW) than just being a stun breaker with a bit of LF management, this skill allows for quite a bit of creativity. For example:
    • Activate SW jump off a cliff while being chased Spectral Recall when your enemies jump after you.
    • Activate SW break line of sight cast "Chilled to the Bone!" teleport back at the very end of the channeling (this makes it harder to avoid and reduces the chance of getting interrupted, although the outcome is going to be a bit luck based).
    • Activate SW Necrotic Traversal (if using Flesh Wurm) Spectral Recall when they catch up to you. This works for stomping downed enemies as well, the channeling isn't interrupted by either of these teleports!
  • For mobility use the following sequence:
  1. Reaper's Shroud
  2. Death's Charge
  3. Exit Reaper's Shroud just before Death's Charge finishes (the ending of DC brings your character to a halt, which can be cancelled by dropping out of shroud early)
  • Pistol-only Vile Blast is a great skill for quickly setting up other skills like Weeping Shots, "Chilled to the Bone!" or a shroud burst.
  • Scepter-only Feast of Corruption is best used on targets that already have several conditions on them to maximize damage and LF generation.
    • "Suffer!" is a great setup for this skill, allowing you to deliver burst damage in an instant.
  • On Staff try to use Putrid Mark AFTER Chillblains for a free AoE Weakness Weakness combo.
  • Putrid Mark and Death's Charge are the best skills to use with Sigil of Intelligence.


Shroud burst rotation example

  1. Infusing Terror
  2. Death's Charge to your target
  3. Terrify
  4. Executioner's Scythe
  5. Soul Spiral


Pistol burst combo example:

  1. Harrowing Wave could serve as an opener as it has a very low cast time and doesn't really require setup, but it could also be used after Vile Blast.
  2. Vile Blast to set up Oppressive Collapse (OC), which has a much more visible animation and would be harder to land. Note: OC in general works best against slowed/stunned targets - the AoE ring spawns under your target the moment you press OC, so enemies with Superspeed Superspeed or mobility skills could even escape the ring before the skill finishes. If they manage to leave the ring in time they'll avoid the CC.
  3. Oppressive Collapse
  4. Weeping Shots


Scepter burst combo example:

  1. "Nothing Can Save You!" for unblockable attacks.
  2. Oppressive Collapse
  3. Harrowing Wave
  4. "Suffer!"
  5. Feast of Corruption


Top Streamers


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 7 votes.
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5 stars
Ethan gave this build 5 stars • October 2024
Still the best way to play necro, but since the meta has shifted away from bunkers, towards the faster paced spike builds, the build tends to struggle against the more common match-ups, and struggles severely without a dedicated support. One of necromancers biggest issues as a whole is that it can hold its hp up for a long time, but struggles to recover it once it's gone. Has a lot of strengths to cover that weakness though, high cleanse, highest boon corrupt/rip in the game and high fear uptime
2 stars
Gw2 so dead gave this build 2 stars • October 2024
this build really out day and cant playable this meta...if u want win just go spear wb or spear chrono this 2 can ez farm any nec build . now every MAT WAT team run wb + chrono wituout any nec....
4 stars
Atteh gave this build 4 stars • September 2024
After the spears update and Janthir Wild, this build is strong but I'm no longer sure it can fall under "meta." While a lot of people run it, it just doesn't have the damage potential of something like Spearbender, Spear Virt, or even Spearbreaker. It's still a strong, balanced build with a niche in team fighting by providing a ton of AoE CC, but definitely weaker now with the spike builds.
5 stars
StygianRat gave this build 5 stars • July 2024
Absurdly strong teamfighter that also hardly has any losing matchups 1v1. Hard carries teamfights with perma chilling and weakening enemies along with good hard CC and poison to deny rezzes, while also being able to take pretty much every 1v1 in the game except against vindi.
5 stars
Hanz gave this build 5 stars • April 2024
Tbh I too prefer Procmancer most of the time because it still has higher carry potential, but this is generally seen as the more competitive version of Condi Reaper now after several nerfs targeting the procs. I also end up switching to this in harder games because Procmancer can get bullied much harder without a support when facing high damage specs like Vindi. I think both can be 5 star builds in different scenarios, but right now this is the more popular version in both ranked and group play.
4 stars
NobodyKnows gave this build 4 stars • April 2024
Feels like a generally worse version of procmancer. Definitely not a bad build, and this is a well made guide (which is the primary reason for bumping up the rating), but it feels like losing the strengths of the procmancer build in return for covering the weaknesses/making it a bit easier to play isn't super worth it. Maybe useful as a variant build in games where proc is hard countered, but otherwise just feels a bit underwhelming (unless I'm suffering from symptoms of skill-issue)
5 stars
PsydeON gave this build 5 stars • April 2024
Very slippery and hard to kill, with great dueling capabilities thanks to Shroud and pistol, as well as good AoE control from afar through Staff. Particularly good against Scrappers, who you out-sustain, and thieves (Shroud 5 works even against stealth). It struggles when dueling classes with multiple dashes and blocks, such as Dragonhunter and Warrior (even with "Nothing Can Save You"). Ranger outranges and can be annoying to close the gap against

Comments

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