Reaper PvP

I am Spiritus a reaper main who has consistently played at high ranking PvP (typically around plat 3) current rating this season is 1711 (rank 11) as of writing this. I have been asked many times after matches, just when I'm standing around in Hotm or by people who recognize me in what build i would run and even though it isn't too off meta. The build is below. (also i am typically fine talk about reaper more in game if more questions are raised)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAndRnk0At0g10A+0A0biFcBDaAEAOATZhmQVI+KuFDjA-jpBHQBC8BAQwTAQ+KDEwjAA62fAAHCAA

This build hasn't changed since i first started to play it, some things i run for personal preference and others are because i just think they are better options / more consistent.

Starting off are the weapons: Axe / focus and great-swordAxe is self explanatory and you don't need another opinion / input on how good of a weapon for power reaper it is. Focus is the unique one for most reapers as many go war-horn for the daze and swiftness / cripple / LF gen. This is a more personal preference that i feel in my own opinion is more consistent of a offhand to use.

Starting off we have LF generation 1.5% per impact to a max of 10 for the war-horn that's great no doubt about it but you need to hit many targets to make it worthwhile and caps at 15% LF gained if you hit the cap. War-horn on the other side is 3% per hit to cap at 12% which yes is lower. So you ask why take on a weapon that has lower LF gen if you are claiming it has better LF gen. 1: it can be used at 1200 range instead of 210. 2: Its more consistent to get the cap while war-horn is not. 3 Its safer to use as you don't have to put yourself in as much danger. The cripple to vuln comparison isn't worth the argument as both are strong / can be generated by other means. Finally no 4: This is the big personal preference in that it just does more damage. I usually hit 2k per bounce on enemy targets while yes isn't a giant amount of damage it still shouldn't be ignored while war-horn typically only hits for about 500.

Focus 5 which is the corrupt 3 boons at 1200 range vs the daze. This is the big argument which usually defines which side of the fence people are on which is typically the war-horn side. Personally i found the daze to situational of when to use it. Warriors, sometimes guardians, engi sometimes and sometimes necro. Those are the only class i warrant to use the war-horn for and they are just for key skills like blocks, heals or big damage tells. Compared to the corrupts which is huge against war, guard, rev, ranger, engi, ele, necro, mes aka anyone who has boons and typically hits for at least 5k when used correctly. so 5k damage which procs other abilities which often half health anybody over a daze which isn't always needed is why i choose focus.

(TLDR for the focus I prefer it more personally and find it more consistent).

Now that the big speech is done its now onto GS. This weapon doesn't really need an explanation over staff but for those still adamant using staff gs has more damage, high utility which can almost compete with staff and forces people to use defensive cds which staff doesn't.

Sigils on weapons:Courage and compounding on axe - focus:Courage cant be swapped off as it provides LF gen / Healing and free might.Compounding is a personal preference through consistency though agility could also work

Annulment and Intelligence on great-sword.Intel cant be swapped off as you want the critical hit when doing a gravedigger swing (the poke is multiple hits so only the first 3 will crit while the final 3 go back to rng).Annulment is a consistency opinion again through agility could also work if it isn't used on the axe/focus. If agility is also being used then options open like doom and exploitation.

WEAPON CHOICES AND REASONING ARE DONE YAY!

Utilities time:Well of blood, Suffering, Corruption and Power with CTTB (elite).Well of blood because a 6k heal with a pulsing heal on-top of that isn't something to ignore and the condi meta is gone now so consume doesn't need to be used 100% of the time anymore.Suffering is for the damage, Corruption for boon strip and Power is for the stun break stab mixed with condi cleanse.CTTB doesn't need an explanation as its an obvious choice.

Traits:Spite-Blood-ReaperSpiteful talisman is the one trait i run differently to most people because of the use of focus. Spiteful renewal could be used but i prefer the more aggressive play style.Blood this trait line is as standard as it comes.Reaper: running soul eater over chilling victory. Soul eater is more consistent and provides both healing and LF gen and works even if you are cced and just makes all the great sword skills have a shorter cd which is nice. Chilling victory has an icd of 2 seconds and requires the target to be chilled which isnt 100% of the time in my experience.

TRAITS AND UTILITIES DONE.

How i actually play reaper the big question people actually ask and want answers to.I typically go as a team-fight assassin / roam to fights asap to spike people down. Meaning i sit on the edge of the team-fight initially spiking the target down (I am usually the one targeting as I know who is the weakest for me and people typically jump on the target if they see them spike down to 50% health quickly). Once the target is low i then charge in if i have LF (typically i want at least 25% but 50% is the safer option. Through the corrupts of going into shroud plus the dash damage and spin typically the target should get downed. Your job is then to cleave down that body and you force the enemy to either leave that person for dead thus giving your team a numbers advantage or try to res them allowing you to get even more cleave damage. (The safe option for the enemy team is to forfeit the downed person as I've created many team-wipes by enemy teams trying to res through quickness enabled gravediggers.) Once down bodies are created and you have won the team fight I run off to the next point that has a fight going on or where the fight will be. Using the shroud dash is the main form of mobility for Necro and the way to use it is shroud, dash and leave shroud just before the end of dash as to propel you a little bit more forwards otherwise you stop dead and sometimes de-sync backwards a little.

Targeting wise I go typically in this order: Firebrand - Scourge - Reaper - Rev - Core Guard - Holosmith - Scrapper - Ele - Ranger - Mes - Thief - WarIts a list of whats easiest to takes the longest to kill typically. This isn't a set it stone list that cant be deviated from but more a rule of thumb for what is the easiest to kill to the hardest in team-fights.

If more questions are asked ill try to edit them in / answer them + if I'm asked in game ill try to help as much as possible. This isn't a "you have to run this and only this build" but its what i run / how i run it build that i figured I would try to share.

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If you are running more than 1 shout you are not really running blood wells at that stage so the build changes completely. (augury of death is only useful when running shout reaper which is again another type of build to run not blood wells. Relentless pursuit just isn't worth it in my opinion and if you are that concerned about chill and immobile then running a soul reaping build variant would be a smarter choice for the stronger trait.

Rune of chrono is used primarily with axe in mind but its also useful when the GS is in play when in melee range of someone. You drop a well under them and quickness into gravedigger and they often cant avoid it.

If you want other runes then strength is basically the only other option. Barb amulet and knights just don't work as they don't have the stats you want as paladins does their job better. Again with saying Reapers onslaught and death perception is going into a different build which is a soul reaping typically spectral variant not blood wells.

Close to death in pvp is never close to viability or usefulness compared to spiteful spirit. And spite is taken for might stacking, proc of "Chill of Death" and spiteful spirit.Bloodmagic + soul reaping means you have no might generation so you will get out damaged consistantly by the enemy reaper if they are running blood + spite or spite + soul reaping and in a necro v necro fight its not who is more tanky but who corrupts better / can do a stronger burst in a cc period.

Soul reaping + blood has no boon corrupt as you are limmited to axe 3 and gs 4 at that stage unless you take annulment as well which is no way near enough boon corrupts to survive fighting anything. The might stacking from soul reaping seems to be just once per weapon swap so it could be bugged.Also i would like to reinforce the fact that reaper isn't a bunker and it hasn't been since HoT at the very start. Anet keeps pushing it to be more burst heavy with a shorter and shorter shroud. Ive played against reapers using reapers onslaught and they struggle to get any LF needed for the fight to have a chance and they are usually dead without being able to scratch me.

End of the day play what you want but the options you are running I wouldn't recommend as you hamper yourself way to much running the amulets,runes and having no offensive trait line (Curses or spite). Also Im talking about my blood wells build that i run personally and people have asked for not necro builds in general.

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What you keep talking about though is other reaper build varietals not actually blood wells reaper.

Don't like quickness? Fine swap to a different rune just realize that reapers who use it have stronger burst potential.CC skills on necro are fear corrupts, pull, elite stun, fear from shroud, and stun from shroud.Knights and Barb you are stuck with 3 stat choices of power, prec and either vital or toughness as the main stat so you lose damage there as well instead of paladins for a tank amulet.If you run spec armor then you will most likely give up boon of suffering so less damage but can be worked around, if you also take pull then you either lose the corrupts or stun break with condi cleanse but most likely you will just take one of the options so still losing out on damage.

What im saying is and what your not trying to follow is yes there are other builds out there which are meta. Spectral reaper being one of them but its not the one im talking about. Im trying to talk about blood wells reaper what i run, what small changes that could be made for niche moments and how I play it. Will it work for everyone? No. Does it work for me yes. Reaper is in a lucky spot right now of it being very easy to players to pick up and have fun with but to do well with it the options you have get reduced to a certain pattern. Reaper is lucky to have multiple trait-lines that can work (Reaper, soul reaping, blood, spite and curses) while many classes don't have that luxury. Ive played old-school power proc-mancer as a reaper and had fun with it as an example which is spite and curses. Does it work? well yes but i wouldn't bet on it when playing in a ranked match or AT against people of an equal skill rating to me.

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Im talking about what i run which is blood wells and not reaper builds in general yes.

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Blood wells reaper is simply just a reaper that runs spite/blood and use mostly wells. His variant is a chrono runes build that takes advantage of quickness for axe 2 burst. Is being around for awhile. The other variant is ditching well of suffering for spectral armor. Healing well can be changed for consume condition. Runes can be changed to strength. Sigils is whatever. Amulet is generally paladin of sort.

A build stops be a blood wells reaper when you ditch well trait/blood line or you take less than 2 wells. The purpose of the build is to provide some sustain via blighter's boon and blood life steal/protection and high rezzing potential via ritual of life. As well as cleave and teamfights with wells, especially corruption well. You can go for more damage with chrono rune or sustain for strength rune; but it follows the general principle.

Amulet, rune, sigils and traits for why they are used. Swapping out trait lines turns the build into something different. I tried to give options for what could be changed around but overall what varies isn't that much. Amulet typically its demo, marauder or paladin. Amulet its chrono or strength, sigils i gave the other options i think would be viable. Healing skill can be changed but I don't think its 100% needed anymore. Build wise blood wells reaper is typically having multiple wells with the blood magic grand-master to get the most viability out of it. Spectral reaper you use soul reaping for and typically spectral utilities (1-2). Shout reaper has shouts for obvious reasons and plays around that. Or a mix-match reaper build which is what you are trying to describe which doesn't need the chrono rune as you don't run enough wells to warrant it.