What is the current state of Necromancer?

More specifically,good ol' Power Reaper.I really really don't understand,I've searched through reddit,through this forum and can't come to a conclusion.People either say that Reaper is a powerhouse,or that it's subpar in every game mode,from PVE to WvW and sPVP.So,what's the deal with Reaper?Sorry if there are similar threads,couldn't really find them.

troll?

its been discussed over and over and over again. just the first two pages on this profession forums contain about 5 threads discussing your question.

short.pve: on its own medium to good.medium being cm fractals and raids (a player on another profession with the same level of skill and armor WILL do everything better and can do more at the same time. and therefore reaper is not really "wanted", although it is very possible to do any content as a reaper just fine and in a comfortable amount of time).good being open world, events, meta events, tagging mobs, looting

spvp: hits hard once you outmanouver your enemy. also hits hard, when babysitted by support. downside is... you get hit just as hard or even harder, because you dont have that many possibilities to avoid getting hit (compared to every profession/elite, that is not reaper).

roaming: similar to spvp. difference - you can still kill zerg-sheeps slacking behind or cathcing up to their zerg.

group wvw: can wreck things with a good group-setup. dangerous in ("hardcore") coordinated groups.

zerg wvw: depends on the skilllevel of the zerg. exceptional coordination of a guildzerg might be able to crush things with power reapers. everybody else should stick to scourge (very subjective!)

It's dead. ArenaNet screwed this profession over and over, there is nothing it can do that a different profession can't do better. Necromancer overall needs a revamp to make it worth a damn again.

@Aetatis.5418 said:spvp: hits hard once you outmanouver your enemy. also hits hard, when babysitted by support. downside is... you get hit just as hard or even harder, because you dont have that many possibilities to avoid getting hit (compared to every profession/elite, that is not reaper).

Agree to this. With reaper buff and and huge scourge nerf, i can even see 2 reaper in a team now in ranked pvp. Untargeted reaper can create a havoc and 2 reaper is devastating. Scourge feels awful now that it is squishier and its damage output is pathetic now with dhumfire nerf. Sand savant nerf is also another heavy nerf which makes scourge busted and reaper is more favorable.

Im all about rework necro now that Anet's balance with number changes clearly doesnt work with this flawed necro design.

Speaking from a wvw perspective, I'm constantly out dpsing the scourges on my power reaper (maruader/wurm rune, zerker weapons).

Reaper is in a good state at the mo. Could be better sure, but needs more QoL rather than more damage in ny opinion. Especially compared to the PoF specs. Their QoL makes ALL of them so much easier to play.

If you love the theme then play Reaper. If you don’t really care about the whole black knight thing then play another class. The above comments are right by saying most other classes do our jam better or easier.

From other professions's point of view: "Reaper is to strong against player because it hit like a truck! In PvE it's to weak to play with us, we can do everything better than a reaper."From necromancer's point of view: "Geez! How come we are still bottom of the barrel when it come to power damage??!!"

So I guess we could say that the reaper's current state is that it is still the e-spec that look the coolest but appart from that it's not outstandingly good.

Reaper is in a solid enough spot in spvp that it’s enjoyable to me. I started out with spellbreaker, core ranger, soul beast and core guard but have liked the reaper the most so far. The aoe cleave, theme, aesthetics, support (if you run blood magic although going to try a more selfish build next with soul reaping) are all what I enjoy most about it. Sure they lack heavily on defensive side so positioning is key and understanding what your opponents can/can’t do to you.

Reaper is viable

Reaper is:-fine/good in spvp-at the bottom of the DPS list in pve-okayish for roaming (solo or small group)-but sux in big zergs as it can only cleave downs. But you don't contribute much for your zerg winning. It's way too vulnerable without stability. That's why you see up to 0 reapers in T1 zergs

Open world Reaper rocks hard. Spectral Grasp + recently buffed gs skills (#3) + reaper shroud (#4) and you're cleaning the house hard and fast. Obscene amounts of free crit + build in solid defenses (infuse terror, Rise!, Blighter's Boon) mean you can pick a lot of less standard gear stats and still kick some major ass (stuff like Valkyrie, Crusader, Cavalier, Marauder etc gear).

Generally he has best access to free stats of all necro specs and that means a lot of builds paths. Can tank, can clear big mobs fast, can solo boss (to a reasonable degree, some things you just can't take on as a necro).

Also while not as good as scourge at it, he is still an awesome reviver, that can save a lot of lives in open world boss events, and his raid top dps build includes blood magic line, which is the one providing this functionality.

A reliable youtuber who raids pugs with a power reaper, just to debunk people who think reaper is kittens when it comes to raid

@"Ghostt.1293" said:A reliable youtuber who raids pugs with a power reaper, just to debunk people who think reaper is kittens when it comes to raid

What you dont see is how long it takes to get a group, how many join him know of him. No one is saying necro cant do the raid, just that it cant do it anywhere nearly as easily as any other, provides less than all others. That doesnt mean its balanced.

What does that video prove?

Pugging Reaper is very frustrating, because you don't have great damage, and can't help carry your team, so you wipe a lot. Then you get abused by the other frustrated players who know you can't help carry or do good DPS. (Then at one point the flesh golem nearly gets the team wiped)

Actual Quote: "this class is very very bad." "After that wipe I would have accepted a kick."

It proves that pugs are horrible players who get out dpsed by a reaper while thinking they're better than a reaper. Though most people already knew this hence preference for guild/static runs amd high kp requirements for pugs

@Nimon.7840 said:Reaper is:-fine/good in spvp

No Reaper is fine/good in low gold and below. It underperforms in high level as it is completely incapable of engaging more mobile classes, and oh right the entire rest of the meta is more mobile than us.

@Crinn.7864 said:

@Nimon.7840 said:Reaper is:-fine/good in spvp

You meant like our whole class? XD

I didn't even want to mention scourge. Reaper can at least do a little bit solo. But scourge is a sitting duck asking to be babysitter the whole time