Power Reaper

August 2023

Introduction

This Reaper build is the go-to choice for players looking to make a significant impact in the current melee meta in Guild Wars 2’s World vs World battles. With its unique blend of area damage, unblockable boon removal, burst damage, Pull’s/Stun’s and sustained pressure the Reaper excels at breaking up enemy squads, disrupting formations, and applying pressure where it’s needed most. While it has its weaknesses in ranged fights, mastering the Reaper’s mechanics and strategic positioning can turn you into a force to be reckoned with on the WvW battlefield. So, gear up, embrace the darkness, and lead your allies to victory as a fearsome Reaper.

Build Fundamentals

Embrace the Reaper’s build, dominating WvW with versatile power. Control battles through AoE pressure, burst foes with “Gravedigger,” and remove boons with “Unholy Feast” Employ “Reaper’s Shroud” for 50% damage reduction. Master crowd control using “Grasping Darkness”. Thrive on surviving with your defences, cautious mobility, and tactical well usage. Wield terror, inflict sustained pressure, and claim victory in the chaos of World vs World.

• Defense: This build offers robust passive defense. Blood Bank Reaper's Shroud "Chilled to the Bone!" Vampiric Relentless Pursuit Soul Eater Infusing Terror
• Low Mobility: Limited mobility skills; rely on Death's Chargefor movement.
• Active Defense: Utilize “Reaper’s Shroud” for 50% damage reduction.
• Infusing Terror: Instant cast upon entering shroud; save for strategic moments.
• Life Force Management: Conserve for “Soul Spiral”; avoid overspending defensively.
• Wells: Coordinate Well usage with commanders or fellow Necromancers. Cast “Well of Corruption” before “Well of Suffering”.
• Boon Removal: Prioritize “Unholy Feast” and “Nothing Can Save You!” in range.
• Single Target: Execute isolated foes with “Spinal Shivers” > “Ghastly Claws” > “Rending Claws”.
• Sustained Pressure: Initiate fights with either greatsword or axe/focus. Use “Unholy Feast” around weapon swaps. Frequent “Reaper’s Shroud” for melee presence.
• CC Tactics: Execute “Grasping Darkness” at range or against retreating foes. Avoid use during enemy advances.Grasping Darkness

Cancel “Grasping Darkness” with Stow Weapon keybind around 0.25s into the cast while retaining full effect.

Build Specifics

As with other necromancer shroud form’s you will gain access to new skills which replace your weapons.  Life force can be gained via nearby deaths, traits or using certain skills such as "Your Soul Is Mine!" Grasping Darkness Death Spiral Ghastly Claws and Soul Grasp

TIP: You can stack/build up life force with other Necro’s whilst out of combat before the fight, simply replace utility skills with minions and summon them, swap back in the skills you need and you will see upon the minions death this will grant you life force (Please note the cooldowns of the skills you swap back in will be effected)

Most organized squads will be coordinating spikes and bombs on enemy groups such as wells, make sure not to use them until the commander calls for them.  Predicting the enemy movement and knowing your abilities is very important for your effectiveness as this build utilizes a lot of varied attacks.  Correct rotation and timing of skills is very important (read your skills tooltips!).

Main Priorities

Staying alive is the most important priority and this can be achieved by dodging combined with careful positioning.  You may rely on your party to assist you with this, be it receiving stability, superspeed, heals and cleanses.

TIP: Be Ready to adapt depending on the situation, this could mean swapping the way you play or swapping build via your sigil’s, runes, gear and traits!

Removing/corrupting boons from single targets and groups of players is your key role.  It’s important to understand how you can achieve this through skill usage.  An example of a single target spike rotation can be seen above top right.

Boon Removal & General Ability Usage

This build’s boon removal is spread into four main areas:

Shroud Abilities

Reaper's Shroud Use as often as possible in melee if you have the life force, particularly when Soul Spiral is off cooldown.  Remember is also gives you 50% damage reduction.

Life Rend  Used to cleave targets in front of you in melee range.

Death's Charge Use after dropping wells to leap towards the enemy or simply to re-position if needed.

Infusing Terror  Make sure to use this in shroud for added damage reduction and stability.  Make sure to trigger the flip skill Terrify before the 6 second duration of Infusing Terror ends

Soul Spiral A spinning whirl-finisher that damages nearby foes with added poison on each strike.  Use this in shroud to add further damage to your bomb.

Weapon Skills

Gravedigger Perform a slow whirl finishing attack that deals huge damage and recharges faster if it hits a downed or low-health foe.  Use to Cleave down’s or to simply burst targets to create opportunities for your team.

Nightfall corrupts a boon on up to 5 targets per pulse.  Can be used offensively however it is favoured to be used as a defensive tool when the enemy is pushing into your group.

Grasping Darkness  As mentioned previously use at range or against retreating foes. Avoid use during enemy advances.

Unholy Feast corrupts a boon on up to 5 targets in a 600 radius around the necromancer, also deals good damage. Enemies struck below 50% hit points get hit with an explosion for addition damage.

Spinal Shivers is a single target ability that applies Chilled to the target and removes up to 3 boons, dealing extra damage for each boon removed. This ability can hit very hard when removing 3 boons and is excellent for spiking down single targets especially when combined with Ghastly Claws.

Wells

Well of Corruption The classic boon corruption tool of necromancer – used since the dawn of the game! This skill corrupts one boon per second on up to five targets at range.

Wells are ranged pulsing area attacks, this means to get maximum value out of them it’s very important to place them correctly. Specifically try to place your wells slightly ahead of your enemies instead of where they are at the exact moment you start casting so that they run through them and get hit multiple times instead of being able to easily run or evade through them.

Dropping your wells when your commander calls for them is an important priority for this build.  The two wells you will be running are: Well of Corruption and Well of Suffering,  Save your wells for the call, one or two wells randomly thrown out won’t do anything.  If every necromancer in the squad uses their wells at the same time, the damage and boon corruption will have huge impact on the fights outcome as it will not only deal significant damage but also enable your damage dealers.

Try to give your commander cooldown timers for your wells, usually when you are about 10 seconds away from getting Well of Corruption back. Wells are a very a important cooldown and this information will allow your commander to know when the squad is ready to unleash another bomb.

Always use Well of Corruption before Well of Suffering as it has a longer cooldown and because it is always best to corrupt boons first then deal damage.

Shouts

"Your Soul Is Mine!" Try and use your heal skill for when your group is pushing into the enemy in order to gain further life force.

"Nothing Can Save You!" Damage foes around you, converting their boons into vulnerability. Your next few attacks become unblockable. Deal additional damage and gain additional unblockable attacks when striking foes within melee range.  Use this off of cooldown in melee range.

"Chilled to the Bone!" Chill all enemies around you in a 600 radius, gain stability and quickness dealing additional damage with increased stun duration  when striking foes in melee range.  You can use this when needed for either the stability or to crowd control the enemy, you may wish to use after your unblockable shout "Nothing Can Save You!" to make this attack also unblockable!

The key in executing your important task of removing boons from your opponents is swiftly chaining key abilities together. You can see a list of standard combos in the rotation segment of this page.

The core concept behind ability usage is rotating between weapon skills to keep as many of them off cooldown while also being on the appropriate set depending on priority.

Your commander is likely to call for specific abilities so don’t just spam them off cooldown. Removing boons randomly won’t really do that much – it’s very important that all players use their boon removal at the same time not only for maximum effect but also so that damage dealing players are able to capitalize on the vulnerability of your enemies when they have their boons removed!

Swapping weapons often almost off cooldown will maximize your corrupts, sometimes you may camp a certain weapon set a bit longer depending on the current positioning of the fight. Try to judge how the fights are going and adapt.

Alternatives

Adding the trait line Soul Reaping (bottom, top , mid) instead of blood magic could be an option for more damage, but you will feel alot squishier in this heavy melee meta.