Returning Player - Interest in Necro / Reaper

[Sevans.4619]

Hey everyone,

I'm a launch player returning from a pretty long hiatus (over a year since the last time I played with any sort of fervor) and I've returned with the desire to play Necromancer or Reaper.

I primarily play WvW and I've been attempting to run a glassy Reaper with only moderate success. It's been great in small group fights but I'm having some difficulty surviving against things like revenants and warriors.

I'm just here to ask for some advice on how to properly play this class. I was a ranger main for a very long time and the sustain via heals and mobility on that class is insane by comparison and I'm feeling like a sitting duck when I don't have shroud up to chop things to bits.

How do you sustain against bursty classes until the next heal? What (if any) passive methods of healing do you use to stay topped off? Do you have any general tips for playing? Videos or streamers to watch?

Thanks in advance and if anyone needs more details about what I'm running to help steer me in the right direction, I'll be happy to provide that.

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

Thing is that the key to sustain on reaper lies in the management of shroud.

Technically speaking, while you are in shroud you can not die. So the whole idea is that you want to be in shroud as often as possible. When you’re in shroud as often as possible, your abilities outside of shroud can come off cool down as your in shroud.

For example, I use skill A. skill A gives me 100% life force and has a 20 second cool down. I then enter reaper shroud...I stay in reaper shroud for 20 seconds. I return to normal mode. Skill A has come off cool down so I can now use it again.

I just have to wait for shroud recharge (which is 10 seconds)

That’s super simplified, but you can see that sustain comes from the idea of having life force, spending as much time in shroud as possible and then surviving for 10 seconds outside of shroud before entering shroud again...ideally you build your life force within this 10 second window.

Nobody likes death magic...but inside death magic is unholy sanctuary. A trait people have no idea how to properly use...but when used correctly it massively boosts your sustain. Think about it, with the idea I lined out in this post.

You use skill A to get life force. You enter shroud for 20 seconds. You exit shroud to use skill A again. But this time Player Bob smacks you with a strong ability. UNHOLY Sanctuary kicks in and places you in shroud. You stay in shroud for 20 seconds. You leave shroud and unholy sanctuary has already past 20 seconds on it’s cool down, which means you just have to survive 10 seconds in order to do the process all over again. In other words, Unholy sanctuary is a godly reset button, that buys you time to resustain if things went south.

Now I’m telling you this as a solo reaper roamer, with one of my proudest achievement winning a 1v8 in borderlands using these methods of sustain.

Now since you talked about warrior and revenant, you have to realize that these classes hard-counter power reaper. Revenant has unlimited access to kites and gap closers...can you beat them? Sure...but only if you play smart. Conditions usually counter rev so if you are playing hybrid you have a better chance at winning.

Against warrior, you can win, reason is because warrior is a class of attrition. They beat you by counter attacking every mistake you make. So bulls charge=dodge...they follow up with arc slice ...teleport away with wurm. Cripple and chill...slow them down...if you make one mistake and let even a single burst ability hit you, they will run with that until your dead.

[Xxnecroxx.4039]

unless you are dead hard on playing necro, play another class, you will find a lot more success and wont need to worry about nerfs EVERY. SINGLE. PATCH. or if you like being a boon corrupt bot, then necro is for you

[law.9410]

Naru streams necro, he's 100% pvp though. Here's some advice from a core condi necro who is still learning:

1. aggression = life force = sustain!
2. be preemptive. Spectral walk for example is just okay if you use it as a 'oh kitten' button, but godly if you use it preemptively. I would say as a whole, necro requires the most game knowledge. You also need this knowledge so that you know when to leave shroud!
3. Be very frugal with dodges. Necro is very honest defensively as you've realized.
4. CC chains. It is possible to corrupt a warriors rampage reactively before he can use a single skill! The stability continues to pulse so you can corrupt it multiple times: aka something like: corrupt boon -> scepter 3 -> go into shroud for another corrupt! Against all classes you can also do something like shroud corrupt stab -> shroud 3 -> staff 5 -> spectral ring. Man fear necro is the most fun!
5. Understand your matchups, I hate to say this but necro isn't a versatile class, or at least at my current skill level it's not! As Justice said, warriors are rough, though I still beat a lot of warriors with agression!
6. imho if you're going the condi route go Spite, Curses, Soul Reaping.

[Sevans.4619]

Thanks for the advice so far! Keep it coming!

Warrior is definitely a pain for me. I feel helpless against roaming core warriors; I just need to find one to practice against.

Is a core condi necro a viable option? I loved the old terrormancer and I think something like that would be pretty amazing to play so long as it's not totally gimped.

[Xxnecroxx.4039]

@Sevans.4619 said:Thanks for the advice so far! Keep it coming!

Warrior is definitely a pain for me. I feel helpless against roaming core warriors; I just need to find one to practice against.

Is a core condi necro a viable option? I loved the old terrormancer and I think something like that would be pretty amazing to play so long as it's not totally kitten.

it is worse than kitten, the only real condi build there is for necro is spam boon corrupt on someone getting constant boons, other than that play another class. honestly just play another class in general unless you want to be a boon corrupt bot