Build: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:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on April 18, 2025.

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 Dread, Shivers of Dread, and Deathly Chill to rapidly stack 50+ stacks of 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.

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Skillbar

Scepter/Warhorn

Sword/Sword

Utility

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 Nightfall and the trait Chilling Darkness, and a strong CC/pull with Grasping Darkness.
• Pistol gains an additional Stun with Vile Blast, but loses the boon corrupt that both Scepter 3 Devouring Darkness and Sword 3 Gorge provide. Requires Weaponmaster Training from Secrets of the Obscure.

Skill Variants

Healing skills

We default to "Your Soul Is Mine!" because of its low 16s cooldown, but any healing skill can be used. You could also consider:

• Consume Conditions - a bigger heal and condition cleanse, but doesn't generate life force.
• Well of Blood - for group healing and a Light combo field.
• Signet of Vampirism - for passive healing in combat, and group leech when cast on a target.

Utility skills

We default to:

• "Suffer!" - Chills and transfers conditions.
• Spectral Ring - The only utility skill that Fears. Mandatory, do not replace.
• Well of Darkness - additional Chill (5 AoE pulses) and Blind (2 AoE Blind pulses also inflict Chill via Curses trait Chilling Darkness). If you replace this skill with something else, also change the Curses trait to Insidious Disruption or Plague Sending.

Other useful skills to consider:

• Well of Power - breaks stun and converts your and allies' conditions into boons.
• Spectral Armor - alternate stun break, regenerate life force quickly.
• Spectral Walk - alternate stun break, lure attackers off cliffs in WvW then teleport back up while they fall to their deaths.
• Spectral Grasp - replaces Spectral Ring when underwater. Use on land for even more CC if needed.
• Well of Corruption - additional AoE boon corrupt for some bosses that gain Protection, Resolution, or Resistance.

Elite skills

"Chilled to the Bone!" in conjuction with Relic of the Nightmare 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.

Specializations

Variants

• Insidious Disruption - inflict Torment every time your constant Fears hit an enemy.
• Plague Sending for additional condition clear, which this build sometimes needs against heavy condition enemies.
• Path of Corruption for additional boon corrupt.

Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Scepter
Viper

Warhorn
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Viper

Sword
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x6

Infusion
x12

Relic

Equipment Variants

• Dire or Trailblazer can be considered for a more survivable build. Try to keep Bleeding duration at 100%, possibly using Rune of Superior Rune of the Krait and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Agony 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: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Geomancy, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Agony, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Malice, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bursting.
• For runes, Rune of Superior Rune of the Trapper 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. Rune of Superior Rune of the Berserker, Rune of Superior Rune of the Necromancer, Rune of Superior Rune of the Renegade, Rune of Superior Rune of the Sunless, Rune of Superior Rune of the Krait.
• As for the relic, Relic of the Nightmare is by far the strongest relic for this build, both in PvE and WvW. Nightmare's AoE Fear on a relatively short 30s cooldown helps maintain Quickness and Fury uptime, increases "Chilled to the Bone!" 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.
• / / /
• / /

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 thanks to Dread and inflicts Chill on enemies. 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 Deathly Chill and Bitter Chill. Besides Fear, there are three abilities, one whirl combo, and two passive traits that Chill (Chill of Death, Chilling Nova). Use these to fill gaps between Fear skill cooldowns.

Critical Hits inflict Bleeding directly from the trait Barbed Precision and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth. Critical Hits against Chilled targets cause a Chilling Nova 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.

Weapon Notes

Scepter/Warhorn

Scepter is greatly improved by Lingering Curse, including changing skill 3 from single target into an AoE boon corrupt skill Devouring Darkness. Scepter inflicts large amounts of Bleeding and some Torment. Warhorn is taken for the Fear of Wail of Doom.

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 Chilling Nova.

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 Nightfall which, when combined with the Curses trait Chilling Darkness, can rapidly stack Blind -> Chill -> Bleed. Grasping Darkness 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 Vile Blast, but loses the boon corrupt that both Scepter 3 Devouring Darkness and Sword 3 Gorge provide. Pistol's autoattack Vicious Shot 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:

1. Spectral Ring on top of enemy
2. Hungering Maelstrom -> Gormandize
3. Devouring Visage -> Consume

If using Staff:

1. Spectral Ring on top of enemy
2. Chillblains
3. Mark of Blood
4. Reaper's Mark

If using Greatsword:

1. Grasping Darkness
2. Nightfall
3. Death Spiral
4. Spectral Ring on top of enemy

Close to within melee range, then cycle through Fear and Chill skills:

1. "Chilled to the Bone!"
2. "Suffer!"
3. Well of Darkness
4. Weapon Swap to Scepter/Warhorn
5. Wail of Doom
6. Devouring Darkness
7. Grasping Dead
8. Reaper's Shroud
9. Infusing Terror -> Terrify: 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.
10. Executioner's Scythe -> Soul Spiral: Ice Field + Whirl Finisher spreads massive amounts of Poison and Chill.
11. Life Rend -> Life Slash -> Life Reap: autoattack in Reaper's Shroud for a few seconds for Crits to cause a Chilling Nova explosion and to allow Fear cooldowns to reset.
12. 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.
• Reaper's Shroud is as a second health bar and has a natural 33% damage reduction.
• Infusing Terror provides Stability and further reduces damage taken.
• Use Consume Conditions in condition heavy fights. If more is needed, run "Suffer!", Well of Power, and/or the trait Plague Sending.
• "Chilled to the Bone!" provides Stability, Stuns, and Chills.
• All Sword skills heal a little bit, along with Warhorn 5.
• If using Staff, Putrid Mark cleanses your conditions.
• If using Greatsword, Nightfall spreads AoE Blind.

Crowd Control

Breakbar damage happens naturally by cycling through the Damage rotation. The strongest breakbar abilities are "Chilled to the Bone!" and Executioner's Scythe. 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.

• Sword Devouring Visage - 1.5 seconds of Fear.
• Warhorn Wail of Doom - 1 second of Fear.
• Utility Spectral Ring - 2s of Fear.
• Reaper's Shroud Infusing Terror ⇒ Terrify - 1 second of Fear.
• Reaper's Shroud Executioner's Scythe - 1.5 seconds of Stun.
• Elite skill "Chilled to the Bone!" - 2 or 3 seconds of Stun, plus Fear with Relic of the Nightmare.