Mind if someone critique my Frontline dps Reaper build?

[Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267]

I'm rather new to this theory crafting stuff, but I'm curious on how others thought of this. Basically, I wanted to take advantage of the high ferocity buff Reaper got while in shroud decided to make myself tanky enough to endue being in a zerg. I know This build is a bit selfish in the support apartment, but that isn't my goal in the end. Any help is appreciated. http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQJARGjc0QtN2TDu0YxawkCAhsfV8G8DmCpCBxgJFA-jVSBQBP4CAsv9HwjuANcIAgkSQuo8DAPAgEq+zCOCABAOAmf+kf+AzP/8zP/8V+5nf+5nf+5nf+SBExSL-w

[RisenHowl.2419]

Drop the gs for axe/f so you can burst anyone off enemy tag to secure easy rallies while still staying on tag.

 

Well of corruption over power, it's a must take for every necro spec in a zerg.

 

You can run full zerker with DM 2/3/2 and the move speed traits, the only time you want to be in melee range is to bomb in shroud on a push anyways.

 

Reaper is selfish compared to scourge, but you can guarantee downs/secure rallies much easier on a reaper. The class role is different than scourge in a zerg, it's more for the burst potential that you bring reaper.

 

Little dated but:

[Nimon.7840]

I'd recommend not playing deathmagic.

It really gives you nothing. Spite would give you decent might generation. And a pretty hard hitting booncorrupt or a huge dmg modifier.

 

Also 2900 armor is a bit much, you can drop 200-300 of thoughness for more offensive stats or for vitality which will give you a longer shroud uptime.

 

Playing GS over axe/focus (or horn for better inshroud lf generation) is situational. Play what you like here.

 

To get 100% critchance you only need 33% from trait, 20% from fury (allies) so u need 47% critchance.

 

I'd really recommend taking some Valkyrie stats instead of knights, as this would also give you more ferocity

[Anchoku.8142]

Few people really understand what theory crafting is. Look it up.

 

As for your build, I suppose it will work in WvW but do not expect miracles from it. WvW encourages some tankier builds to help deal with bursts. What you have is not unusual. Give it some time and make adjustments to see how they change the performance.

[RisenHowl.2419]

> @"Nimon.7840" said:

> I'd recommend not playing deathmagic.

> It really gives you nothing. Spite would give you decent might generation. And a pretty hard hitting booncorrupt or a huge dmg modifier.

>

> Also 2900 armor is a bit much, you can drop 200-300 of thoughness for more offensive stats or for vitality which will give you a longer shroud uptime.

>

> Playing GS over axe/focus (or horn for better inshroud lf generation) is situational. Play what you like here.

>

> To get 100% critchance you only need 33% from trait, 20% from fury (allies) so u need 47% critchance.

>

> I'd really recommend taking some Valkyrie stats instead of knights, as this would also give you more ferocity

 

DM is nice due to corruptors fervor, it's about 10% physical damage and 20% condition damage reduction and stacks with infused terror for -30% phys/-40% condi damages reuction. It really lets you zerg dive with impunity even with full zerker stats and breaks about even with a tankier spite build, you can stay in the thick of it and AA a little longer with DM.

 

Spite is better if you can survive on a full glass build with it, 10k/20k AAs are absurd for eating a backine up in seconds. But if you're learning reaper or commanding on it, DM is very solid

[Nimon.7840]

> @"RisenHowl.2419" said:

> > @"Nimon.7840" said:

> > I'd recommend not playing deathmagic.

> > It really gives you nothing. Spite would give you decent might generation. And a pretty hard hitting booncorrupt or a huge dmg modifier.

> >

> > Also 2900 armor is a bit much, you can drop 200-300 of thoughness for more offensive stats or for vitality which will give you a longer shroud uptime.

> >

> > Playing GS over axe/focus (or horn for better inshroud lf generation) is situational. Play what you like here.

> >

> > To get 100% critchance you only need 33% from trait, 20% from fury (allies) so u need 47% critchance.

> >

> > I'd really recommend taking some Valkyrie stats instead of knights, as this would also give you more ferocity

>

> DM is nice due to corruptors fervor, it's about 10% physical damage and 20% condition damage reduction and stacks with infused terror for -30% phys/-40% condi damages reuction. It really lets you zerg dive with impunity even with full zerker stats and breaks about even with a tankier spite build, you can stay in the thick of it and AA a little longer with DM.

 

OK first of all, he didn't take corrupters fevor and second: it doesn't stack with deadly strength

And second: that's not how it works, or at least How it used to work. You cannot add up dmg reductions, else you would be able to reach 100% on some classes.

Let's say you would take 1000 dmg and you have 10% dmg reduction, you take only 900 dmg.

Now you add another 10 % dmg reduction, you will now take 810 dmg.

So overall you have 20% dmg reduction but because it's from two different sources, you don't have 20%.

 

>

> Spite is better if you can survive on a full glass build with it, 10k/20k AAs are absurd for eating a backine up in seconds. But if you're learning reaper or commanding on it, DM is very solid

 

Guess it depends on Playstyle. I always pushed together with the frontline. You have plenty of boons and condiremoves and protection in there. If you don't, either your commander was bad and walked into enemy bomb, or your guards are bad.

 

 

[RisenHowl.2419]

> @"Nimon.7840" said:

> > @"RisenHowl.2419" said:

> > > @"Nimon.7840" said:

> > > I'd recommend not playing deathmagic.

> > > It really gives you nothing. Spite would give you decent might generation. And a pretty hard hitting booncorrupt or a huge dmg modifier.

> > >

> > > Also 2900 armor is a bit much, you can drop 200-300 of thoughness for more offensive stats or for vitality which will give you a longer shroud uptime.

> > >

> > > Playing GS over axe/focus (or horn for better inshroud lf generation) is situational. Play what you like here.

> > >

> > > To get 100% critchance you only need 33% from trait, 20% from fury (allies) so u need 47% critchance.

> > >

> > > I'd really recommend taking some Valkyrie stats instead of knights, as this would also give you more ferocity

> >

> > DM is nice due to corruptors fervor, it's about 10% physical damage and 20% condition damage reduction and stacks with infused terror for -30% phys/-40% condi damages reuction. It really lets you zerg dive with impunity even with full zerker stats and breaks about even with a tankier spite build, you can stay in the thick of it and AA a little longer with DM.

>

> OK first of all, he didn't take corrupters fevor and second: it doesn't stack with deadly strength

> And second: that's not how it works, or at least How it used to work. You cannot add up dmg reductions, else you would be able to reach 100% on some classes.

> Let's say you would take 1000 dmg and you have 10% dmg reduction, you take only 900 dmg.

> Now you add another 10 % dmg reduction, you will now take 810 dmg.

> So overall you have 20% dmg reduction but because it's from two different sources, you don't have 20%.

>

> >

> > Spite is better if you can survive on a full glass build with it, 10k/20k AAs are absurd for eating a backine up in seconds. But if you're learning reaper or commanding on it, DM is very solid

>

> Guess it depends on Playstyle. I always pushed together with the frontline. You have plenty of boons and condiremoves and protection in there. If you don't, either your commander was bad and walked into enemy bomb, or your guards are bad.

>

>

 

Kinda dumb to not take corrupter's fervor, it's significantly less damage coming in than unholy martyr offers in healing. I never said it stacks with deadly strength either man, it stacks with infusing terror (RS3).

 

 

Damage reduction is multiplicitive and inverse from 1.0. Armor is ~3% damage reduction per 100. DM adds 480 armor, or about 15% (.85 modifier)

 

Protection: .67

Armor: .85

 

So if you're off tag in the back line (no fb support, happens frequently on reaper when you push in with RS2) it's a 43% self applied damage reduction.

 

 

With infused terror: 54% damage reduction on a full glass build, self applied with DM. And .8 x .8 condition damage reduction= 36%.

 

That's nothing to sneeze at man lol. If I'm running with pugs I use DM, guild group I run spite. DM is very viable once you take into account that you need to add a ton of toughness from your gear to get the same survivability with spite. It's a great choice for someone getting started with reaper

[DeceiverX.8361]

DM is vastly under-valued for its capabilities of tanking in WvW. Shrouded Removal is quite effective since it also removes things like Slow and Fear.

 

That said, OP's build is kind of poor.

 

CF is absolutely necessary for blob play to justify DM as a whole. Deadly strength is BiS for the DM Major, and I'd opt into more toughness running Cavalier armor with Marauder weapons as those give more precision, and switching to Scrapper runes because power+toughness is your better synergy and there's just more free DR both in and out of shroud. Don't worry about 100% crit chance as a frontliner because it literally will not matter. With Fury (from allies) you'll still have 90% crit chance.

If you do this, switch all the infusions to power.

 

Force is a wasted sigil. You're not stacking damage modifiers like thief or warrior, and you're not in PvE where other people will be giving you tons of damage modifiers, either. Accuracy is a more consistent/outright better DPS (this puts you to 97% crit chance and makes you better without Fury if it's corrupted - which it will be) along with Blood/Fire, and Energy and Hydromancy are solid for frontlining as well. Food should be Might-on-Dodge or Mussels/Oysters. Might-on-dodge is undeniably the best food in the game and lets everything survive way too well to not take.

 

There's no point in taking Staff if you're not using Soul Marks. Either drop GS for A/D or A/F and run Soul Marks, and use the staff primary, or swap out staff for them. Take GS if your group dives a lot, take staff if you play pirate ship. Imho Speed of Shadow is a waste 90% of the time because you're already in shroud when you engage and thus waste the defenses (and you should have perma-swiftness from your allies as well, plus it's another easy pre-engage corrupt into cripple for any situation you don't have it, but I'll leave the decision to you if you want something else.

 

Most of your play will be spent in non-GS. Play CV over Soul Eater if you want LF or DD if your blob runs necro-heavy. SE is good for duels because GS is a decent dueling weapon for necro, and that's about it.

You're not a scourge. Don't take Well of Suffering. Either Suffer into condi-heavy blobs because CC's heal animation speed is horrible, or NCSY to actually kill people since everyone runs around with permanent block uptime and maxed boons.

 

Don't take Chilling Nova. The damage is terrible for the cooldown and Relentess Pursuit is a lifesaver because it'll clear out cripple and immob faster between your Shrouded Removal ticks and make enemy scourges less effective and prevent you from getting kited while in shroud.

 

That said, frontlining a reaper today is silly. Its build paths for defense got hurt pretty badly and the LF/VP nerfs will always keep you in a deficit of LF for shroud in large-scale. Condi Scourge and to some extent even BM/DM core necro is a stronger frontliner with the better LF degen.

[RisenHowl.2419]

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> DM is vastly under-valued for its capabilities of tanking in WvW. Shrouded Removal is quite effective since it also removes things like Slow and Fear.

>

> That said, OP's build is kind of poor.

>

> CF is absolutely necessary for blob play to justify DM as a whole. Deadly strength is BiS for the DM Major, and I'd opt into more toughness running Cavalier armor with Marauder weapons as those give more precision, and switching to Scrapper runes because power+toughness is your better synergy and there's just more free DR both in and out of shroud. Don't worry about 100% crit chance as a frontliner because it literally will not matter. With Fury (from allies) you'll still have 90% crit chance.

> If you do this, switch all the infusions to power.

>

> Force is a wasted sigil. You're not stacking damage modifiers like thief or warrior, and you're not in PvE where other people will be giving you tons of damage modifiers, either. Accuracy is a more consistent/outright better DPS (this puts you to 97% crit chance and makes you better without Fury if it's corrupted - which it will be) along with Blood/Fire, and Energy and Hydromancy are solid for frontlining as well. Food should be Might-on-Dodge or Mussels/Oysters. Might-on-dodge is undeniably the best food in the game and lets everything survive way too well to not take.

>

> There's no point in taking Staff if you're not using Soul Marks. Either drop GS for A/D or A/F and run Soul Marks, and use the staff primary, or swap out staff for them. Take GS if your group dives a lot, take staff if you play pirate ship. Imho Speed of Shadow is a waste 90% of the time because you're already in shroud when you engage and thus waste the defenses (and you should have perma-swiftness from your allies as well, plus it's another easy pre-engage corrupt into cripple for any situation you don't have it, but I'll leave the decision to you if you want something else.

>

> Most of your play will be spent in non-GS. Play CV over Soul Eater if you want LF or DD if your blob runs necro-heavy. SE is good for duels because GS is a decent dueling weapon for necro, and that's about it.

> You're not a scourge. Don't take Well of Suffering. Either Suffer into condi-heavy blobs because CC's heal animation speed is horrible, or NCSY to actually kill people since everyone runs around with permanent block uptime and maxed boons.

>

> Don't take Chilling Nova. The damage is terrible for the cooldown and Relentess Pursuit is a lifesaver because it'll clear out cripple and immob faster between your Shrouded Removal ticks and make enemy scourges less effective and prevent you from getting kited while in shroud.

>

> That said, frontlining a reaper today is silly. Its build paths for defense got hurt pretty badly and the LF/VP nerfs will always keep you in a deficit of LF for shroud in large-scale. Condi Scourge and to some extent even BM/DM core necro is a stronger frontliner with the better LF degen.

 

Agreed, everything but two:

 

Well of suffering is crazy good, 4k+ unblockable ticks on 5 targets is hard to say no to lol

 

And you can definitely Frontline on reaper, I command on one:

[DeceiverX.8361]

I forgot they made WoS unblockable. It's probably more worthwhile over NCSY at this point because of it, though I still think Suffer is one of the best shouts reaper has and it works incredibly well when fighting in group environments since it lacks a cast time or animation, enabling mid-dodge cleanses, and deals damage and chills, which sets you up with Cold Shoulder.

 

My experience with frontlining reaper as a commander or major squad player since VP has been that I'm usually pin-sniped once they learn I'm leading, and thus need to be part of a secondary pushing force. At that point you can benefit a ton more with a plethora of more supportive tank builds. RShroud just doesn't last long enough when 40 people are trying everything they can to burn you down.

 

Even in your videos there's a group of preliminary engage from warriors/guardians in GOTL burning enemy SB bubbles and AoE's, and the second fight you're generally outnumbering FLUX (I'm not criticizing your play or commanding job btw - you had low casualty counts and kept your cool - it's just a big restriction on reaper in particular when commanding with a smaller group of 30 into even numbers or perhaps a slightly larger force where getting snagged is easy).

 

[RisenHowl.2419]

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> I forgot they made WoS unblockable. It's probably more worthwhile over NCSY at this point because of it, though I still think Suffer is one of the best shouts reaper has and it works incredibly well when fighting in group environments since it lacks a cast time or animation, enabling mid-dodge cleanses, and deals damage and chills, which sets you up with Cold Shoulder.

>

> My experience with frontlining reaper as a commander or major squad player since VP has been that I'm usually pin-sniped once they learn I'm leading, and thus need to be part of a secondary pushing force. At that point you can benefit a ton more with a plethora of more supportive tank builds. RShroud just doesn't last long enough when 40 people are trying everything they can to burn you down.

>

> Even in your videos there's a group of preliminary engage from warriors/guardians in GOTL burning enemy SB bubbles and AoE's, and the second fight you're generally outnumbering FLUX (I'm not criticizing your play or commanding job btw - you had low casualty counts and kept your cool - it's just a big restriction on reaper in particular when commanding with a smaller group of 30 into even numbers or perhaps a slightly larger force where getting snagged is easy).

>

 

Agreed, that's the hard part about tagging up on reaper. If you're getting focused or have trouble reading where the bomb will land it's not a good class to command on lol

 

The big advantage for me is fight control, I know that when I push we will have downs to sit on because I can personally put them there. It's something I wish I could do effectively on a fb, but offensive fb builds don't have the burst capabilities required

 

I'd love to run suffer, but wos makes up 20% of my damage on average and I can't see dropping SA or woc, having 8%/s LF generation while in RS is huge for surviving through a push

[Anchoku.8142]

Wells and marks are still as powerful as ever in choke points. The old N in GWEN is still meta.