nice video! side-note for people who already have power infusions. the difference between the linked build with exactly 75% crit chance by taking precise infusions and a build that takes only power infuisions with an assassin's amulet and otherwise full berserker gear is 1 (one) power, so don't sweat over that ^^
Great point! Once you get to that level of optimization the difference becomes super small. There are so many different versions of gear that are within single digit DPS of eachother.
You make some of the best guides. Very underrated and deserve more attention to your channel. These guides are feeding my altoholism. One of each class besides 2 at 80 now to find what to main 😅
My reaper-themed necro alt can finally retire from flax farming in Verdant Brink! Great guide, explained very well! Always helps when it's a fellow Aussie of course!
Thanks for the guide, I was searching so long for something that fits my playstyle :) Only change Im going to make is using axe/warhorn bc I love the ranged option and am used to these two :D Cant wait to try it out later today :D
I am brand new to GW2 and just got my necro to 80 today. I didn't know anything about anything and chose reaper before I knew about the buffs, lol. Excited to get to play this after I go through the story and such.. still in the core game lol.
I've always been a greatsword reaper player though usually use axe/warhorn. Like the wail for CC and the axe for some mechanics I cant get in to melee range. I have to learn to get better with staff. I was about to switch to harbringer but now that reaper been buffed I think I will stick with it. I found scourge a little hard to play.
Thanks so much! I've always loved watching your guides. They're always the first port of call I go to when I want to start learning a class. Your Power Reaper guide was amazing as always.
Im looking forward to giving this a try. Theres so many "ultimate" reaper guides out there that i just accept it as awesome sauce. Side question from a new player, what is that damage meter at the top, right? Is that an add-on?
Might come back to GW2. Been a necro since beta, sure I have other toons, but necro and then the first advance class in gw2 reaper. Good times....until it was ignored for years and years. :(.
Yep this build is still totally viable. Dagger/Sword is slightly higher damage compared to Staff now but the build will still function the same (plus you have some extra AoE cleave which is nice).
hey ty for the vid! amazing, im a returning player stopped with PoF release trying to get back into the game and was thinking for a new class/main thinking between Spectre thief / Virtuoso Mesmer or Reaper necro and wanna focus more on pve content openworld u got any feedback/suggestions regarding what to pick
Hey :) thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Out of those I'd recommend Reaper for Open World content. It has great damage, simple to play and can grant itself quickness really easily (which is great for solo content). Virtuoso would also be a good choice (I love that build and made a guide on it). However, it doesn't have as easy access to important boons as Reaper does while solo. It will also be a bit more frail. I really enjoy Specter but mostly in endgame group content. A lot of your damage on Specter depends on you having allies around to share venoms so when you're alone it will take a bit longer for your damage to ramp up. Reaper in general feels absolutely amazing for open world.
So for fast gravedigger we just spam 2 as fast as we can? BTW i think i've heard in the past before making my reaper there was or is?! some animation cancel by mashing 2-1 1-2 2-1 on greatsword really fast ?! I never managed to do it if it exists.
Thanks for a good guide. Perhaps you could explain something to me that you and other reaper guide makes have shown. Why do you use great sword 2 before great sword 3 since gs3 gives vuln? Wouldn't 3 then 2 make gs2 hit harder? thanks.
You're very welcome! The main reason is that Gravedigger over the course of a fight does more damage than Death Spiral, so that skill gets a higher priority. In group content, enemies will basically always be capped on vulnerability, so you don't get any extra value from the vuln you provide. In situations here you're not vuln capped (Open World) then it may make more sense to use Death Spiral before Gravedigger.
@@connorconcarne Thanks for the reply. Your response shows that I spend most of my time solo and not in squad, or I probably would have recognized the vuln situation. Makes sense.
A settings guide is on my long list of videos to do :). For a quick win in terms of using ground targets, set your targeting to "Fast With Range Indicator" and select the option to lock your ground target at max range. That way when you hold your button to use a skill you'll see the AOE, then when you release the button it will cast. Locking it at max range means your ground target will never be able to move out of range so you know your skill will always fire.
I really love your guides even though I dont play necro. You always explain everything so easy and understandable. Keep it up. I would love to see a Harbringer guide from you since I am a Revenant main
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it :) A Harbinger guide is definitely on the horizon. The quickness build seems to be pumping after the patch as well.
@@connorconcarne oh I wrote Harbringer xD i meant Vindicator. Somehow I always mix up the class names. Anyway i will enjoy no matter what guide you release
Axe is still behind staff for DPS, although you're only on staff for the mark skills. It's not too far behind though and not a bad choice for a nice ranged option.
Yep, you could sub out Soul Reaping for Blood Magic to perform a similar role as Blood Magic Scourge. It's easier to do it on Scourge because you're also not losing the crit chance from Death Perception. It will work on Reaper in a pinch though.
Thanks so much :) Glad you enjoyed it. I wouldn't bother changing the gear for open world. Berserker works totally fine and with Reaper Shroud you're insanely survivable. For skills I'd swap Blood Fiend and Flesh Golem for the heal shout and elite shout respectively. Means you have to deal with less minion AI in open world. For traits I may swap Soul Marks for Unyielding Blast so you have some extra vulnerability.
My quick rule of thumb is: - Eastern Australia - NA - Central Australia - either - Western Australia - EU That seems to get most people the best results in terms of ping. You could always create 2 free to play accounts (one in each region) to see what gets you the best ping. In terms of the specific server that's only relevant for WVW (which I don't play a lot of) so if you have some potential guildmates on a specific server you want to play WVW with then it's best to be on their server. Typically I just go for the highest populated server I can access in the region I want.
Hard to tell exactly, first thing will be check that you have boons, food and utility. The next thing I would check is that you're doing the rotation fast enough. The Power Reaper rotation is particularly sensitive to how quickly you press your skills to reduce aftercasts and not waste autoattacks. Feel free to post in our discord if you want some more detailed help. You can post a DPS log file there as well where we could really pinpoint what's happening.
You want to get to 75% crit chance and ideally as little over that as possible. Anything that gets you there is fine. Depending on whether or not you have the luxury of legendary armor/trinkets the optimal soultion will vary. Since trinkets are quite easy to acquire from living world maps, I usually recommend swapping those out, if you don't have legendary armor.
@@Wenshenx i tried to link you a gear combination with just exotics, but apparently you cannot put links in comments here. What I came up with on the fly would be full exotic beserker, except for helm, shoulder, amulet and one ring being assassin. That should bring you to just slightly over 75% crit chance (75.14 to be exact). You can also follow the links in the description of the video to the builds on gw2skills and experiment yourself. Just keep in mind that all the equipment used in those builds is set to ascended, so you'd want to swap to exotics to see the numbers you would get. In any case, the build will be fun to play even if the gear is not fully optimized, so don't feel preassured into having to have everything perfect, especially when just starting out. :)
Hey Connor! I didnt know how to contact you elsewhere, but i'm currently working on a beginner gearing + build video for all classes, and wanted to ask you if its okay to link this guide for the power reaper option? Just wanted to make sure that you're okay with that :)
Hey Masel! Thanks for reaching out. Of course I'm more than happy for you to link my Power Reaper guide. I'm looking forward to seeing your beginner gearing and build video. I've always loved your content and guides and am always stoked when I see one pop up in my feed.
Most likely due to people focusing too much on benchmark numbers. Reaper has always had decent damage, a simple and fun rotation as well as being very durable. These recent buffs have eliminated all doubt about Reaper for most people though.
Really enjoyed watching this guide, good pace and nice explanations. Bit of humor too there as well. Have been Necro main in WvW but now i can probably enjoy it again in PvE as well. Regards, MissBadger
Could anyone help me decide? I'm currently playing Scourge, have some ascended viper gear (armor) but I've been pvping only with Reaper. I've been having a weird experience with Scourge on open world and I've read online that condi builds are not the optimal for fractals. Should I just swap to Reaper? What would be the pros and cons of these two classes in this context? I like both playstyles, it's just a matter of what would be better atm before I get my final pieces of ascended gear (weapons/trinks/runes).
I would say power reaper have always had a place and could be considered top tier basically since its release, even at its weakest point it was still near the top in many mechanic heavy fights and has always been the king of dps in open world, dungeon, fractals because of the absolutely insane opening burst. It just wasnt the tip top dps on raid fights that are just training golems. One of the reasons is because of the self-reliant quickness and might you could easily out dps any build that was meta at the time that might have lost some boons during mechanics
I beat a daredevil in pvp and he told me I'm a braindead player in chat after his death. Made me happy knowing I made a salty person mad over a class I choose since I owned the game lol. I love the play style of reaper personally it has long range/Close range and some nifty teleports to get me out of harms way. I played since HoT with a few breaks over the years.
Never understood why minions would wanna be used in content with heavy aoe they die immediately even with deathmagic...biggest gripe i have with necro is minions seem trash
I still find them very useful when I need a meat shield to help me solo some trickier bosses. When they die they super charge your life force which is great for quite a few necro builds.
In this case it's just an amulet with Assassin's stats. That being the combination of Power, Precision and Ferocity with Precision being the largest stat. You can get them from any stat selectable amulet.
This is a great guide, I appreciate you taking the time to make it.
Thanks so much 🙏 so glad you enjoyed it.
nice video! side-note for people who already have power infusions. the difference between the linked build with exactly 75% crit chance by taking precise infusions and a build that takes only power infuisions with an assassin's amulet and otherwise full berserker gear is 1 (one) power, so don't sweat over that ^^
Great point! Once you get to that level of optimization the difference becomes super small. There are so many different versions of gear that are within single digit DPS of eachother.
You make some of the best guides. Very underrated and deserve more attention to your channel.
These guides are feeding my altoholism. One of each class besides 2 at 80 now to find what to main 😅
Thanks so much :) That's so kind of you to say. Glad to find another altoholic. I'm constantly bouncing around between my 21 different characters.
My reaper-themed necro alt can finally retire from flax farming in Verdant Brink!
Great guide, explained very well! Always helps when it's a fellow Aussie of course!
It was a simple life being a flax farmer, time to go to work haha. Always nice to meet a fellow Aussie. So glad you enjoyed the guide. Thanks so much.
lmao i have my guardian farming there these days. loving reaper big deeps and survivalbility
Thanks for the guide, I was searching so long for something that fits my playstyle :) Only change Im going to make is using axe/warhorn bc I love the ranged option and am used to these two :D Cant wait to try it out later today :D
I am brand new to GW2 and just got my necro to 80 today. I didn't know anything about anything and chose reaper before I knew about the buffs, lol. Excited to get to play this after I go through the story and such.. still in the core game lol.
I've always been a greatsword reaper player though usually use axe/warhorn. Like the wail for CC and the axe for some mechanics I cant get in to melee range. I have to learn to get better with staff. I was about to switch to harbringer but now that reaper been buffed I think I will stick with it. I found scourge a little hard to play.
@@kitchean you have seen the vallun reaper build? i play reaper axe/warhorne to, and im thinking to change u’ve seen the difference ?
rotation guide is really helpful.
Awesome! Glad you found it useful :)
Pog champ! I've been watching your videos for a while and each one seems to hit the mark. Great job!
Thanks so much! I've always loved watching your guides. They're always the first port of call I go to when I want to start learning a class. Your Power Reaper guide was amazing as always.
Im looking forward to giving this a try. Theres so many "ultimate" reaper guides out there that i just accept it as awesome sauce.
Side question from a new player, what is that damage meter at the top, right? Is that an add-on?
once again --nice and simple to follow guide delivered
[SC] Westet must be over the moon now
Might come back to GW2. Been a necro since beta, sure I have other toons, but necro and then the first advance class in gw2 reaper. Good times....until it was ignored for years and years. :(.
It's a great time to come back to GW2 if you're a Reaper enjoyer! It's easily one of the top DPS builds right now.
a really nice clear explanation of everything thanks
Thanks so much!
Is this build still viable? I'm looking at snowcrows and such and theirs looks different. but this one you have told us the rotation which i like.
Yep this build is still totally viable. Dagger/Sword is slightly higher damage compared to Staff now but the build will still function the same (plus you have some extra AoE cleave which is nice).
@@connorconcarne I actually just tried it out and It's awesome and quite easy to use! Thank you man!
it's viable and apperently getting better patch after patch
@icata12345 Is there an actual link to it on metabattle or anything like that do you know? I can't seem to find it off youtube.
@@doomsayr_x type snowcrows power reaper there is build and rotation
Finally! Someone who knows how to explain things in a cogent manner! Can I use this build for WVW Zerg? Thank you!
hi thank you for your video, what relic do you use with this build thank you
Relic of the Fireworks is your best choice here.
hey ty for the vid! amazing, im a returning player stopped with PoF release trying to get back into the game and was thinking for a new class/main thinking between Spectre thief / Virtuoso Mesmer or Reaper necro and wanna focus more on pve content openworld u got any feedback/suggestions regarding what to pick
Hey :) thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Out of those I'd recommend Reaper for Open World content. It has great damage, simple to play and can grant itself quickness really easily (which is great for solo content). Virtuoso would also be a good choice (I love that build and made a guide on it). However, it doesn't have as easy access to important boons as Reaper does while solo. It will also be a bit more frail. I really enjoy Specter but mostly in endgame group content. A lot of your damage on Specter depends on you having allies around to share venoms so when you're alone it will take a bit longer for your damage to ramp up. Reaper in general feels absolutely amazing for open world.
Great guide and I love that your explanations are easy to understand no confusion
Thanks so much :) So glad you enjoyed the guide.
So for fast gravedigger we just spam 2 as fast as we can? BTW i think i've heard in the past before making my reaper there was or is?! some animation cancel by mashing 2-1 1-2 2-1 on greatsword really fast ?! I never managed to do it if it exists.
Thanks for a good guide. Perhaps you could explain something to me that you and other reaper guide makes have shown. Why do you use great sword 2 before great sword 3 since gs3 gives vuln? Wouldn't 3 then 2 make gs2 hit harder? thanks.
You're very welcome! The main reason is that Gravedigger over the course of a fight does more damage than Death Spiral, so that skill gets a higher priority. In group content, enemies will basically always be capped on vulnerability, so you don't get any extra value from the vuln you provide. In situations here you're not vuln capped (Open World) then it may make more sense to use Death Spiral before Gravedigger.
@@connorconcarne Thanks for the reply. Your response shows that I spend most of my time solo and not in squad, or I probably would have recognized the vuln situation. Makes sense.
Do you have a settings guide? I am new to gw and playing reaper. Still figuring out what key bindings to use and how to proper target with the AoE
A settings guide is on my long list of videos to do :). For a quick win in terms of using ground targets, set your targeting to "Fast With Range Indicator" and select the option to lock your ground target at max range. That way when you hold your button to use a skill you'll see the AOE, then when you release the button it will cast. Locking it at max range means your ground target will never be able to move out of range so you know your skill will always fire.
yeaaah that was a huge change and helped, still experimenting with lock snap target@@connorconcarne
I really love your guides even though I dont play necro. You always explain everything so easy and understandable. Keep it up. I would love to see a Harbringer guide from you since I am a Revenant main
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it :) A Harbinger guide is definitely on the horizon. The quickness build seems to be pumping after the patch as well.
@@connorconcarne oh I wrote Harbringer xD i meant Vindicator. Somehow I always mix up the class names. Anyway i will enjoy no matter what guide you release
Axe wasn't buffed enough to replaced Staff? I really enjoy Axe/Focus & GS in the open world.
Oh second question: Is there a Blood Magic option for Reaper like with Scourge?
Axe is still behind staff for DPS, although you're only on staff for the mark skills. It's not too far behind though and not a bad choice for a nice ranged option.
Yep, you could sub out Soul Reaping for Blood Magic to perform a similar role as Blood Magic Scourge. It's easier to do it on Scourge because you're also not losing the crit chance from Death Perception. It will work on Reaper in a pinch though.
ty nice guide!
so what changes shiould i make gear/skills to go solo open world with that build ?
Thanks so much :) Glad you enjoyed it. I wouldn't bother changing the gear for open world. Berserker works totally fine and with Reaper Shroud you're insanely survivable. For skills I'd swap Blood Fiend and Flesh Golem for the heal shout and elite shout respectively. Means you have to deal with less minion AI in open world. For traits I may swap Soul Marks for Unyielding Blast so you have some extra vulnerability.
Which server do you recommend for AUS players?
My quick rule of thumb is:
- Eastern Australia - NA
- Central Australia - either
- Western Australia - EU
That seems to get most people the best results in terms of ping. You could always create 2 free to play accounts (one in each region) to see what gets you the best ping.
In terms of the specific server that's only relevant for WVW (which I don't play a lot of) so if you have some potential guildmates on a specific server you want to play WVW with then it's best to be on their server. Typically I just go for the highest populated server I can access in the region I want.
Do you have a build for Untamed? I failed to get any newer review on the class and I am sick from playing a kiting condi soulbeast.
let's goooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! time to be the edgelord I've always wanted to RP as
I do enjoy RP walking as a Reaper through the capital cities haha.
Nice build, why staff for 2nd weapon set? same traits/skills for open world?
Staff has great utility and damage. Ranged. Blast finisher. CC. Life force regeneration. It’s a great weapon
Where do you get the assassin's amulet?
Excellent explanation.
Just help me with one thing:
- i try that rotation with the same gear but I only get 27k max.
- what am I doing wrong?
Hard to tell exactly, first thing will be check that you have boons, food and utility. The next thing I would check is that you're doing the rotation fast enough. The Power Reaper rotation is particularly sensitive to how quickly you press your skills to reduce aftercasts and not waste autoattacks. Feel free to post in our discord if you want some more detailed help. You can post a DPS log file there as well where we could really pinpoint what's happening.
Is it still viable after the newest patch? Would like to explore other professions beside my main for open world gaming :)
Absolutely. Power Reaper is still exceptional. One of the best builds for solo open world.
Wonderful video as always! Keep up the good work
Thanks so much :) I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Is it better to get 2 Assassin's pieces in the armor or one in the amulet?
You want to get to 75% crit chance and ideally as little over that as possible. Anything that gets you there is fine. Depending on whether or not you have the luxury of legendary armor/trinkets the optimal soultion will vary. Since trinkets are quite easy to acquire from living world maps, I usually recommend swapping those out, if you don't have legendary armor.
@@couchchannel I have neither honestly I'm still new to the game so I'm talking about like exotic armor and maybe ascendant trinkets
@@Wenshenx i tried to link you a gear combination with just exotics, but apparently you cannot put links in comments here. What I came up with on the fly would be full exotic beserker, except for helm, shoulder, amulet and one ring being assassin. That should bring you to just slightly over 75% crit chance (75.14 to be exact).
You can also follow the links in the description of the video to the builds on gw2skills and experiment yourself. Just keep in mind that all the equipment used in those builds is set to ascended, so you'd want to swap to exotics to see the numbers you would get.
In any case, the build will be fun to play even if the gear is not fully optimized, so don't feel preassured into having to have everything perfect, especially when just starting out. :)
Nice build, THX.
Hey Connor!
I didnt know how to contact you elsewhere, but i'm currently working on a beginner gearing + build video for all classes, and wanted to ask you if its okay to link this guide for the power reaper option?
Just wanted to make sure that you're okay with that :)
Hey Masel!
Thanks for reaching out. Of course I'm more than happy for you to link my Power Reaper guide. I'm looking forward to seeing your beginner gearing and build video. I've always loved your content and guides and am always stoked when I see one pop up in my feed.
@@connorconcarne same, your guides are on point!
Cool, I'll link it then :)
About how much of a DPS loss is it if I use signet of spite instead of you are all weaklings?
Not sure the exact DPS loss but it shouldn't be too far behind. Honestly in actual encounters you may not even notice the difference.
idk why reapers were always shunned. any activity i did i was always top dps, even before the update
Most likely due to people focusing too much on benchmark numbers. Reaper has always had decent damage, a simple and fun rotation as well as being very durable. These recent buffs have eliminated all doubt about Reaper for most people though.
what relic?
Fireworks Relic is your best choice.
is this build still viable or did things get changed / nerfed?
Power Reaper is still an exceptional build so no need to worry.
@@connorconcarne if i wanted to put a relic on which one will best
Is the greatsword better then dagger/focus?
Yep, Greatsword is your most important weapon on Reaper. It will be substantially better than dagger/focus.
@@connorconcarne Thanks!
Really enjoyed watching this guide, good pace and nice explanations. Bit of humor too there as well. Have been Necro main in WvW but now i can probably enjoy it again in PvE as well. Regards, MissBadger
Thanks so much MissBadger! So glad you enjoyed it. It's always so good catching you while I'm streaming as well. Thanks for always popping in.
Could anyone help me decide? I'm currently playing Scourge, have some ascended viper gear (armor) but I've been pvping only with Reaper. I've been having a weird experience with Scourge on open world and I've read online that condi builds are not the optimal for fractals. Should I just swap to Reaper? What would be the pros and cons of these two classes in this context? I like both playstyles, it's just a matter of what would be better atm before I get my final pieces of ascended gear (weapons/trinks/runes).
That depends on the boss.
Ai for example ( in 100cm ) favors condi.
I play reaper and tried scourge, I couldn't keep up with the mechanic. But to answer your question I have seen some scourge do well in fractles.
What is berserk gear?
Berserker's gear is the stat combination with Power, Precision and Ferocity as the stat attributes. With Power being the largest of the three.
@@connorconcarne thx 🙏🏼
I would say power reaper have always had a place and could be considered top tier basically since its release, even at its weakest point it was still near the top in many mechanic heavy fights and has always been the king of dps in open world, dungeon, fractals because of the absolutely insane opening burst. It just wasnt the tip top dps on raid fights that are just training golems. One of the reasons is because of the self-reliant quickness and might you could easily out dps any build that was meta at the time that might have lost some boons during mechanics
I beat a daredevil in pvp and he told me I'm a braindead player in chat after his death. Made me happy knowing I made a salty person mad over a class I choose since I owned the game lol. I love the play style of reaper personally it has long range/Close range and some nifty teleports to get me out of harms way. I played since HoT with a few breaks over the years.
Never understood why minions would wanna be used in content with heavy aoe they die immediately even with deathmagic...biggest gripe i have with necro is minions seem trash
I still find them very useful when I need a meat shield to help me solo some trickier bosses. When they die they super charge your life force which is great for quite a few necro builds.
Is assassin amulet pvp only? dont know how to get
In this case it's just an amulet with Assassin's stats. That being the combination of Power, Precision and Ferocity with Precision being the largest stat. You can get them from any stat selectable amulet.
Great video 🇦🇺
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed it.
Finally my reaper is powerful again! 😆
and they nerfed him again ._.
2:10
:D :D
impossible for me to remember
Right, these rotations are way to much for me to remember.
@@old-school3805practice and you will succeeded