Power Reaper
Rotation
Single Target Spike
Wells + Spike Bomb
Well of Corruption
Well of Suffering
Grasping Darkness
Reaper's Shroud
Infusing Terror
Death's Charge
Soul Spiral
Life Reap
You may add "Nothing Can Save You!"
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
for movement.Death's Charge
- 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
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
Soul Spiral
Life Rend
Death's Charge
Infusing Terror
Terrify
Infusing Terror
Soul Spiral
Weapon Skills
Gravedigger
Nightfall
Grasping Darkness
Unholy Feast
Spinal Shivers
Chilled
Ghastly Claws
Wells
Well of Corruption
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
Well of Suffering
Try to give your commander cooldown timers for your wells, usually when you are about 10 seconds away from getting Well of Corruption
Always use Well of Corruption
Well of Suffering
Shouts
"Your Soul Is Mine!"
"Nothing Can Save You!"
"Chilled to the Bone!"
"Nothing Can Save You!"
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.