Reaper or Scourge ?

I tried both eli specs in PVP lobby and they are nice but I am in doubt to decide which one to focus first xD. Would you guys help me to decide please? Its for PVE content like open world and etc. For exemple.. X is good vs group but not vs bosses, good AOE bad x1 and etc. Appreciate the help.

Reaper is much better in open world PvE. Scourge takes too much time to kill mobs.

Reaper is awesome in pve

Reaper is probably easier to get into over Scourge. Both can excel, but the more simplistic straightforward nature of Reaper lends its-self to open world PvE.

I'm also a fan of Reaper. Scourge worked well for my rp Necromancer until they nerfed the sand shades, and now it's hard to feel effective with it. Since I mouse-move, I can't scatter three shades with any degree of accuracy, so I use one big one and snap-to-target to get it placed. This worked nicely when I could then move my character to a useful spot to fire off the shade skills and cover both ranged and melee; now, I just don't have the coverage.

Reaper flows so well between GS and shouts and shroud, and is so darn tough, that I can just relax and enjoy spinning to win.

Thanks for the help guys I went to reaper now and i do not regret one bit, the dmg is great just by wearing greatsword and it skills and my character is not even full geared, the mechanics are easier and simpler than scourge which requires some more practice. For now I stick with reaper even why i went to the shroud build and I like to jump in middle of group of mobs and kill everything hehe xD.

Further comments are appreciate for those who also needs help to decide between these elite spec..

Scourged has been nerfed to much in pve lately for pvp.... I don't believe it is a viable option and is way to clunky.

Scourge is good for condi builds, reaper is good for power builds.

@Uden Reavstone.3426 said:Scourge is good for condi builds, reaper is good for power builds.

And as I am a fan of power builds reaper is the best option ;).

@otto.5684 said:Reaper is much better in open world PvE. Scourge takes too much time to kill mobs.

That's a damn lie. I've played both for thousands of hours and Scourge's Kill time is comparable. It far exceeds Reaper when in group content. This is however comparing Power reaper to Condi Scourge. Condi scourge has a few weaknesses and is more difficult to use, however its kill speed is only slightly slower against low number mobs. When facing high number mobs, Scourge is superior.

Actually reaper is more fun.

Scourge is still powerful in open pve with a proper gear, if u want a easy life just go full viper+nightmare runes. the really con against it is that get really very tedious/boring playstyle, u feel just pressing keys for nothing sit watching mobs melting. the mobs combat system inst designed to react to conditions spammers at medium range, with Scourge is even possible solo various champs.

The Reaper being mellee class u had should do at least some effort positioning to hit mobs... so basically is:-Scourge if u are too lazy and dont bother with action "feel",-Reaper if u find scourge playstyle too boring.

Reaper is overall stronger. It's better in open-world, pretty good in fractals (scourge is complete garbage in fractals since the burst damage is trash), and probably on par overall with scourge in raids (scourge is good for certain encounters due to epidemic but otherwise it's low DPS).

Thank you, thank you guys, more forward I'm going to try power build scorge and see how it is. This community is the best thumbs up.

The funny thing is when i was going to play necro I always intended to go for scor first cause there are so many necros/reapers and very few scor that I wanted something different, but this thing of nerfing classes and eli specs in PVE kinda discourage the players. I stop playing my supposely tempest elem not cuz of any nerf but because of the annoying chating when charging the prof skills(F1-F2 ETC), I dont want to turn off the chating cuz i like it but really spamming chating EVERYTIME on mount/dismount, no way.

They should think 3x times before nerfing PVE content or try not to nerf too much, if is to nerf PVP, WVW I understand, but PVE... some kind of nerfs end up ruining a certain class making the players stop playing with them, same goes for some 'bugs' like the chating i just mention.

Now that we have build templates why not have both?

I have two Necro's one for WvW and one for PVE both run two different builds one reaper one scourge. My WvW necro has a build for scourge zerg play and one reaper for small sided fights. My PvE necro has a scourge build for fractals and a reaper build for open world.

@Excursion.9752 said:Now that we have build templates why not have both?

I have two Necro's one for WvW and one for PVE both run two different builds one reaper one scourge. My WvW necro has a build for scourge zerg play and one reaper for small sided fights. My PvE necro has a scourge build for fractals and a reaper build for open world.

Well because I dont have time to farm for 600+ HP for both elite spec?

Both are good options for open world so long as you build them right and use the right weapons.Reaper is best focused with power weapons, greatsword, axe, warhorn, or even daggers if you want.Scourge is best focused for weapons with condi and utility like scepter, torch, possibly even staff etc.

Reaper will be easier to get running because its a bit more basic imo and it will prob be easier to learn different mechanics of different parts of the game while playing it.Scourge can take a bit more effort if you are new to necro in general and even I cant play it in every situation where mechanics need to be focused more over damage. But for general open world so long as you build it right you can ease into it.

If you are considering competitive modesReaper is likely going to be the better option if playing solo.Scourge really needs people like another scourge, a firebrand, or a tempest on its back 24/7 to protect it. Solo scourge play in pvp modes is going to be very very difficult.

IF you want both but dont want to do say HoT hero points and instead do PoF hero points because they are easier you can always make 2 necro characters and make 1 a reaper and 1 a scourge and you have both all you have to do is swap toons. Yeah you still have to grind the hero points twice but still PoF hero points if you know where to go + mounts can take you 30 mins or less to unlock a single full elite ;)

Also keep eyes out for hero point trains in the looking for group HoT areas and PoF areas which can speed things up considerably depending on the group and commander

@ZDragon.3046 said:Both are good options for open world so long as you build them right and use the right weapons.Reaper is best focused with power weapons, greatsword, axe, warhorn, or even daggers if you want.Scourge is best focused for weapons with condi and utility like scepter, torch, possibly even staff etc.

Reaper will be easier to get running because its a bit more basic imo and it will prob be easier to learn different mechanics of different parts of the game while playing it.Scourge can take a bit more effort if you are new to necro in general and even I cant play it in every situation where mechanics need to be focused more over damage. But for general open world so long as you build it right you can ease into it.

If you are considering competitive modesReaper is likely going to be the better option if playing solo.Scourge really needs people like another scourge, a firebrand, or a tempest on its back 24/7 to protect it. Solo scourge play in pvp modes is going to be very very difficult.

IF you want both but dont want to do say HoT hero points and instead do PoF hero points because they are easier you can always make 2 necro characters and make 1 a reaper and 1 a scourge and you have both all you have to do is swap toons. Yeah you still have to grind the hero points twice but still PoF hero points if you know where to go + mounts can take you 30 mins or less to unlock a single full elite ;)

Also keep eyes out for hero point trains in the looking for group HoT areas and PoF areas which can speed things up considerably depending on the group and commander

thank you, its more for open world and things like that the pvp, competitive part i rather to leave for warrior and thief who are the king of pvp xD. As a fan of the power builds reaper is the best option, cause i hate taking long to kill enemies.

@ancafr.9274 said:

@ZDragon.3046 said:Both are good options for open world so long as you build them right and use the right weapons.Reaper is best focused with power weapons, greatsword, axe, warhorn, or even daggers if you want.Scourge is best focused for weapons with condi and utility like scepter, torch, possibly even staff etc.

Reaper will be easier to get running because its a bit more basic imo and it will prob be easier to learn different mechanics of different parts of the game while playing it.Scourge can take a bit more effort if you are new to necro in general and even I cant play it in every situation where mechanics need to be focused more over damage. But for general open world so long as you build it right you can ease into it.

If you are considering competitive modesReaper is likely going to be the better option if playing solo.Scourge really needs people like another scourge, a firebrand, or a tempest on its back 24/7 to protect it. Solo scourge play in pvp modes is going to be very very difficult.

IF you want both but dont want to do say HoT hero points and instead do PoF hero points because they are easier you can always make 2 necro characters and make 1 a reaper and 1 a scourge and you have both all you have to do is swap toons. Yeah you still have to grind the hero points twice but still PoF hero points if you know where to go + mounts can take you 30 mins or less to unlock a single full elite ;)

Also keep eyes out for hero point trains in the looking for group HoT areas and PoF areas which can speed things up considerably depending on the group and commander

To be honest scourge can do some nice condi burst and its not really an issue on its part just more so that necro has some of the slowest dps ramp in the game both on power and condi. Almost every other profession ramps its damage up to the burst peek or sustain peek faster than necro does. Reaper is a fun bursty option though have fun with it. Enjoy those juicy shroud crits ;)

I mostly play reaper myself and prefer it in almost all situations be it open world, strikes, fractals, or raids ;)

Get both. Reaper is good enough for most game modes and support-Scourge is ok in group/squad content but neither are really meta for specific content types anymore. Still, if you play them well versus others playing not quite so well, Reaper can have the highest average dps while Scourge can prevent wipes.

Necro and it's elites are meta for random PUGs.

@"ugrakarma.9416" said:Actually reaper is more fun.

Scourge is still powerful in open pve with a proper gear, if u want a easy life just go full viper+nightmare runes. the really con against it is that get really very tedious/boring playstyle, u feel just pressing keys for nothing sit watching mobs melting. the mobs combat system inst designed to react to conditions spammers at medium range, with Scourge is even possible solo various champs.

The Reaper being mellee class u had should do at least some effort positioning to hit mobs... so basically is:-Scourge if u are too lazy and dont bother with action "feel",-Reaper if u find scourge playstyle too boring.

That's a matter of opinion on fun. As for ease of use, this is completely false. Reaper is much much easier to use as it both has superior recovery as well as its defenses are just shored up a bit better due to the scourge's nerfs. If you use Sand Savant its a bit easier, but you lose a lot of field control and potential out of it and I would only recommend it to someone who struggles with aoe placement. But if you do decide to take Demonic lore you effectively get a massive amount of field control which is invaluable in mobs. The fun factor for me is based on how much personal engagement I must put into each of them. With reaper my engagement is lower as the options I have are much more linear with my approach. Each option hits hard and can clear trash just fin, but the lack of a diversity of approach quickly leads me into a faceroll strategy which I do not favor as a caster type player. I prefer the higher engagement and challenge that glassy casters provide me which is why I tend to favor a more glassy necromancer design in other games. My favorite being GW1 necro followed by Diablo 3. Scourge is not glassy per say when compared to other glassy classes like Elementalist or Thief. But when compared to reaper or core necromancer it is much more fragile. It forces me to be cautious in situations and use my field control as well as manage my energy. I probably would engage more with other classes if they had an energy mechanic as difficult to use as scourge, but without it it leaves them feeling shallow. Which this especially includes reaper.

So yeah, fun is subjective. Reaper I personally find much too shallow and facerolly for my personal taste while scourge forces my active participation in the game.

Played both. Scourge takes far too much effort to play compared to Reaper. Which I am doing a lot better with. Plus also far more survivable with almost no ramp up time compared to Scourge.

I have two necros just to I could have Reaper and Scourge. Reaper is my favourite for PvE, Raids, Strike Missions and T4s, and with the latest nerfs to Scourge, I changed my Scourge necro to core necro for WvW, which is FAR tankier and better at fights of attrition than Scourge.

Well we can see that 98% preffer reaper over scourge hehe. Like I said arenanet should think 10x before nerfing classes for PVE, if they nerf PVP is understandable but PVE... and I hope they can fix the chatting for tempest-elem asap cause i stopped playing mine and I am seriously thinking making a necro as my main because again like I said I dont want to turn off the chatting because I like it.

@ancafr.9274 said:Well we can see that 98% preffer reaper over scourge hehe. Like I said arenanet should think 10x before nerfing classes for PVE, if they nerf PVP is understandable but PVE... and I hope they can fix the chatting for tempest-elem asap cause i stopped playing mine and I am seriously thinking making a necro as my main because again like I said I dont want to turn off the chatting because I like it.

I just wish that Core necro had a purpose and use in PvE, I like the different shroud. But its simply too underpowered. Whereas the Core only for several other especs is still useful.

@ancafr.9274 said:Well we can see that 98% preffer reaper over scourge hehe. Like I said arenanet should think 10x before nerfing classes for PVE, if they nerf PVP is understandable but PVE... and I hope they can fix the chatting for tempest-elem asap cause i stopped playing mine and I am seriously thinking making a necro as my main because again like I said I dont want to turn off the chatting because I like it.

Its a bit of an apples & oranges comparison, though. Scourge is more of a support-oriented spec, whereas Reaper is a more fully DPS-oriented spec. So that should also factor into your decision.