Reaper - Condi Dread Reaper
This is a rough draft. Once adequately written, it will progress to the testing stage, where it can be rated by the community. You can help by proposing changes with a comment.
Focused on: Condition damage
Designed for: Open World
Expansions required: 
Overview
A fast-paced Reaper build with strong condi burst, sustained condi damage, and constant CC. This is primarily a 
Fear, 
Chill, and 
Bleed build. It leverages interactions between the traits , , and to rapidly stack 50+ 
Bleeding, 25x 
Vulnerability, 25x 
Might, 
Fury, and 
Quickness.
The main downside is it provides few boons to allies and is mainly a solo build in PvE. Though some conditions it inflicts like Fear, Chill, 
Blind, along with corrupting enemy boons and cleansing allies' conditions, are useful to allies.
Template Code
Skillbar
Weapon Variants
We default to 
Scepter/
Warhorn and double 
Sword. Sword requires Expanded Weapon Proficiency with Secrets of the Obscure. Other weapon alternatives include:
Staff: provides burst damage from range, and is the only other weapon besides offhand Warhorn and offhand Sword with a Fear skill, but deals low sustained damage.
Greatsword: loses a Fear skill but gains more AoE Bleed application with and the trait , and a strong CC/pull with .
Pistol: gains an additional 
Stun with , but loses the boon corrupt that both Scepter 3 and Sword 3 provide. Requires Weaponmaster Training from Secrets of the Obscure.
Skill Variants
Healing skills
We default to because of its low 16s cooldown, but any healing skill can be used. You could also consider:
- - a bigger heal and condition cleanse, but doesn't generate life force.
- - for group healing and a Light combo field.
- - for passive healing in combat, and group leech when cast on a target.
Utility skills
We default to:
- - Chills and transfers conditions.
- - The only utility skill that Fears. Mandatory, do not replace.
- - additional Chill (5 AoE pulses) and Blind (2 AoE Blind pulses also inflict Chill via Curses trait ). If you replace this skill with something else, also change the Curses trait to or .
Other useful skills to consider:
- - breaks stun, grants AoE
Stability, and converts your and allies' conditions into boons, on a low 20s cooldown. - - alternate stun break, regenerate life force quickly.
- - alternate stun break, lure attackers off cliffs in WvW then teleport back up while they fall to their deaths.
- - replaces when underwater. Use on land for even more CC if needed.
- - additional AoE boon corrupt for some bosses that gain
Protection, 
Resolution, or 
Resistance.
Elite skills
in conjuction with is mandatory, do not replace it. Together they inflict Chill, Stun, and Fear, and grant Stability, Quickness, and Fury. Crucially, the skill and the relic are synced to the same 30s cooldown. Note - there is a 2s delay between casting the Elite skill and 's Fear proc. Make sure to remain in range of any target you want to be hit with that Fear.
Specializations
- Variants
- - inflict Torment every time your constant Fears hit an enemy.
- for additional condition clear, which this build sometimes needs against heavy condition enemies.
- for additional boon corrupt.
Equipment
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
Viper
x6
x6
x12
Equipment Variants
Dire or 
Trailblazer can be considered for a more survivable build. Try to keep Bleeding duration at 100%, possibly using and together if necessary. Also keep in mind that Precision is valuable, as it causes Chilling Novas, Bleeding on Crit, and increases Condition Damage as a percent of Precision (trait + utility buff). Try to keep at least 30% Crit Chance.- For sigils you should prioritize 100% Bleeding Duration, then Condition damage or Bleeding application. The following sigils could also be considered: , , , , .
- For runes, are preferred, but there are some alternatives. Aim for 100% Bleeding duration, then maximum Condition Damage. Try to use the runes where the 5th and 6th runes give 100 and 125 Condition Damage respectively. , , , , .
- For the relic, is mandatory. Without any boon duration in the build, we need five Fears to maintain permanent uptime on Quickness and Fury. Nightmare's AoE Fear on the same short 30s cooldown as provides that fifth Fear. It also increases the Elite skill's breakbar damage, and spreads more Chill and Bleed.
Consumables
Use whatever food is needed to get Bleeding Duration to the 100% cap if needed, then prioritize Condition Damage and Precision.
DPS
- Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
- / / /
- / /
Defense
Farming
- Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
- /
- (and variants)
Usage
Core mechanics
Fear is a key mechanic of this build. Inflicting fear on an enemy grants Quickness and Fury to you and inflicts Chill on enemies, thanks to and . Review your sourcess of Fear and use them all aggressively on cooldown. No Concentration or boon duration is needed for 100% uptime on Quickness, Fury, and 25x Might, as long as you're casting all five Fear skills on cooldown.
Chill inflicts Bleeding and Vulnerability thanks to and . Besides Fear, there are three abilities, one whirl combo, and two passive traits that Chill (, ). Use these to fill gaps between Fear skill cooldowns.
Critical Hits inflict Bleeding directly from the trait and . Critical Hits against Chilled targets cause a explosion that Chills and Bleeds nearby targets. Gain Might from hitting enemies that are Chilled, hitting enemies that are below 50% health, or autoattacking enemies while in Reaper's Shroud.
This is a condi version of Power Dread Reaper, and plays and feels almost exactly the same, except it does condi damage instead of strike damage.
Weapon Notes
Scepter/Warhorn
Scepter inflicts large amounts of Bleeding and some 
Torment, and is greatly improved by . This trait increases the base duration of Scepter conditions, enabling Scepter Bleeds to exceed the 100% duration cap. And it changes skill 3 from single target into an AoE boon corrupt skill . Warhorn is taken for the Fear of .
Sword/Sword
Mainhand sword autoattack inflicts Chill. Offhand Sword inflicts Fear, Chill, Vulnerability and grants Might. All sword attacks cleave and pierce, hitting up to five enemies, giving a high chance to proc .
Alternative weapons
Staff can be considered as an alternative weapon. It provides burst damage from range, and is the only other weapon besides offhand Warhorn and offhand Sword with a Fear skill, but it deals low sustained damage. This weapon is useful in big open world meta events or WvW Zergs, but Sword/Sword is more effective at stacking Bleed due to its cleave and pierce.
Greatsword lacks access to Fear which may cause gaps in Quickness uptime. But it gains which, when combined with the Curses trait , can rapidly stack Blind -> Chill -> Bleed. is also a strong AoE pull that group together many monsters, or damage breakbars.
Pistol usage requires Weaponmaster Training. Pistol is a condition weapon, but focuses on Torment and 
Poison, rather than Bleed or Chill. Pistol gains an additional Stun with , but loses the boon corrupt that both Scepter 3 and Sword 3 provide. Pistol's autoattack bounces between three enemies, providing more AoE condi cleave than Scepter's single-target autoattack, but less than mainhand sword's 5-target autoattack.
Damage
Rotation Opener
With our opener we're aiming for two quick Fears from Spectral Ring and the weapon skill. Open from 900 range or closer with Sword/Sword:
- on top of enemy
- ->
- ->
If using Staff:
- on top of enemy
If using Greatsword:
- on top of enemy
Close to within melee range, then cycle through Fear and Chill skills:
- Weapon Swap to Scepter/Warhorn
- Enter
- -> : Double tap for a quick AoE Fear. Use on cooldown. Killing a mob reduces its cooldown by 50%, so in large packs it's almost spammable.
- -> : Ice Field + Whirl Finisher spreads massive amounts of Poison and Chill.
- -> -> : autoattack in Reaper's Shroud for a few seconds for Crits to cause a explosion and to allow Fear cooldowns to reset.
- Exit Reaper's Shroud, attack with Scepter (single target) or Sword (AoE) until Fear cooldowns reset, then repeat the rotation.
Defense
Defense mainly comes from constant Fear disabling enemies, and permanent Chill increasing their ability cooldowns.
- Sidestep and walk or dodge out of enemy attacks.
- Constant Fear prevents incoming damage.
- Permanent Chill reduces the rate of incoming damage.
Weakness prevents critical strikes and causing glancing blows (50% of normal damage).- Blind causing the enemy's next attack to miss.
- is as a second health bar and has a natural 33% damage reduction.
- provides Stability and further reduces damage taken.
- Use in condition heavy fights. If more is needed, run , , and/or the trait .
- provides Stability, Stuns, and Chills.
- All Sword skills heal a little bit, along with Warhorn 5.
- If using Staff, cleanses your conditions.
- If using Greatsword, spreads AoE Blind.
Crowd Control
Breakbar damage happens naturally by cycling through the Damage rotation. The strongest breakbar abilities are and . Omit those from the damage rotation if needed to reserve them for active breakbar phases, but both are on relatively low 30s cooldowns and generally don't need to be conserved.
Ratings
Comments
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