Reaper - Condi Dread Reaper

A fast-paced Reaper build with strong condi burst, sustained condi damage, and constant CC. This is primarily a 恐惧, 冰冻, and 流血 build. It leverages interactions between the traits 恐惧, 恐惧寒栗, and 致命冰冻 to rapidly stack 50+ 流血, 25x 易伤, 25x 威能, 激怒, and 急速.

This is a soloing build, trading some group damage optimizations for self-reliant boon generation, increased survivability, and some sustain.

The main downside is it provides few boons to allies, though some conditions it inflicts like 恐惧, 冰冻, 目盲, along with corrupting enemy boons and cleansing allies' conditions, are useful to allies too.

Skill Variants

• 蓄意扰乱 - Inflict Torment every time your constant 恐惧s hit an enemy.
• 传播瘟疫 For additional condition clear, which this build sometimes needs against heavy condition enemies.
• 腐化之道 For additional boon corrupt.

Spite Alternatives

In a party or squad with other players providing group 急速, you can change the Spite traitline to Soul Reaping (Burning), Death Magic (Poison + Carapace), or Blood Magic (party life steal + Barrier). These may be more useful in large open world map meta groups, bounties, public Convergences, and similar.

Weapon Variants

We default to double Sword and Scepter/ Warhorn because they stack 流血 faster than all other weapons, and their offhands both have a 恐惧 skill. Sword requires Expanded Weapon Proficiency with Secrets of the Obscure. Other weapon alternatives include:

• Pistol/ Torch: The typical condi weapon set, but doesn't synergize as well with this build. It focuses on 折磨, 中毒, and 燃烧, and lacks all of 流血, 冰冻, and 恐惧. However, Pistol #2 Weeping Shots with Quickness provides good condi burst, and can replace Scepter for an alternate single-target option. Requires Weaponmaster Training from Secrets of the Obscure.
• Greatsword: Loses a 恐惧 skill but gains more AoE 流血 application with 夜幕降临 and the trait 寒冰暗幕, and a strong CC/pull with 黑暗抓攫.
• Spear: Also loses a 恐惧 skill but gains multiple sources of 冰冻, both on the moderately quick autoattack chain and skill 4. Includes a 晕眩, teleport, boon rip, and cleaves 3 enemies. Requires Lowland Spear Training or Lowland Spear Unlock from the Janthir Wilds expansion.
• Staff: Provides burst damage from range, and is the only other weapon besides Warhorn and offhand Sword with a skill, but deals low sustained damage. Not recommended for PvE, but strong in WvW.

Skill Variants

Healing skills

We default to because of its low 16s cooldown, but any healing skill can be used. You could also consider:

• - A bigger heal and condition cleanse, but doesn't generate life force.
• - For group healing and a Light combo field.
• - For passive healing in combat, and group leech when cast on a target.

Utility skills

We default to the following skills because they all provide Fear or Chill:

• - s and transfers conditions.
• - The only utility skill that s. Mandatory, do not replace.
• - Inflicts directly 5 times, and indirectly from 2 times (via Curses trait ), stacking 28 s. Dark combo field. If you replace this skill with something else, also change the Curses trait to or .

Other useful skills to consider:

• - Breaks stun, grants AoE , converts your and allies' conditions into boons, Dark combo field, on a low 20s cooldown. Arguably Necro's strongest defensive utility skill.
• - Alternate stun break, regenerate life force quickly.
• - Alternate stun break, lure attackers off cliffs in WvW then teleport back up while they fall to their deaths.
• - Replaces when underwater. Use on land for even more CC if needed.
• - Additional AoE boon corrupt for some bosses that gain , , or . Dark combo field.
• - Inflicts Poison and Weakness, blocks incoming projectiles, Poison combo field.

Elite skills

is mandatory, do not replace it. It has excellent synergy with . Together, they inflict , , and , and grant , double , and double . Crucially, the skill and the relic are synced to the same 30s cooldown. Note - there is a 2s delay between casting the Elite skill and 's Fear proc. Make sure to remain in range of any target you want to be hit with that Fear.

Equipment Variants

• Dire or Trailblazer can be considered for a more survivable build or a WvW build. Try to keep Bleeding duration at 100%, possibly using 超级蛇妖符文 and 超级痛苦法印 together if necessary. Also keep in mind that Precision is valuable, as it causes Chilling Novas, Bleeding on Crit, and increases Condition Damage as a percent of Precision (trait + utility buff). Try to keep at least 30% Crit Chance.
• Celestial gear is also an option, in every slot - armor, trinkets, weapons. This remains a condition build with the same runes, sigils, relic, and traits as the main build. Though, as above, you may need 超级蛇妖符文 to reach the Bleed duration cap. Also, with Celestial's Concentration stat, we no longer need all five Fear skills to maintain permanent Quickness and Fury. Only three Fear skills are required, so you can experiment with different utility, relic, or weapons.
• Berserker's or other power-based gear is also an option for a power variant of this build. Change the Curses traitline to Soul Reaping for raw damage or Blood Magic for self-healing and 屏障. Change a few condi traits to power traits: 致命冰冻 -> 夺魂灭屠 or 瘟疫增益; 死亡冰寒 -> 唤醒痛苦. Change Scepter -> Axe or Dagger with 超级武勇法印 and 超级冲击法印. Use 超级猎龙者符文 or 超级学者符文.
• For sigils you should prioritize 100% Bleeding Duration, then Condition damage or Bleeding application. The following sigils could also be considered: 超级大地法印, 超级地能法印, 超级痛苦法印, 超级恶毒法印, 超级渴求法印.
• For runes, 超级陷阱师符文 are preferred, but there are some alternatives. Aim for 100% Bleeding duration, then maximum Condition Damage. Try to use the runes where the 5th and 6th runes give 100 and 125 Condition Damage respectively. 超级狂战士符文, 超级唤灵师符文, 超级龙魂使符文, 超级阴鬼符文, 超级蛇妖符文.
• For the relic, 噩梦古物 is mandatory. Without any boon duration in the build, we need five Fears to maintain permanent uptime on Quickness and Fury. Nightmare's AoE Fear on the same short 30s cooldown as "严寒刺骨！" provides that fifth Fear. It also increases the Elite skill's breakbar damage, and spreads more 冰冻 and 流血.

Core mechanics

恐惧 is a key mechanic of this build. Inflicting fear on an enemy grants 急速 and 激怒 to you and inflicts 冰冻 on enemies, thanks to 恐惧 and 恐惧寒栗. Review your sourcess of Fear and use them all aggressively on cooldown. No Concentration or boon duration is needed for 100% uptime on 急速, 激怒, 25x 易伤, and 25x 威能 (from hitting Chilled enemies), as long as you're casting all five 恐惧 skills on cooldown.

冰冻 inflicts 4x 流血 and 易伤 thanks to 致命冰冻 and 破甲冰冻. Besides Fear, there are three abilities, one whirl combo, and two passive traits that Chill (死亡冰寒, 冰冻新星). Use these to fill gaps between 恐惧 skill cooldowns.

Critical Hits inflict 流血 directly from the trait 倒刺精准 and 超级大地法印. Critical Hits against Chilled targets cause a 冰冻新星 explosion that 冰冻s and 流血s nearby targets. Gain 威能 from hitting enemies that are Chilled, hitting enemies that are below 50% health, or autoattacking enemies while in Reaper's Shroud.

Weapon Notes

Sword/Sword

Mainhand sword autoattack stacks 流血 faster than any other weapon with this build, even Scepter. Sword autoattack inflicts 冰冻 on the third attack of the chain. Each Chill inflicts 4x 流血. Sword's autoattack chain takes 2.08s to complete, or 1.39s under 急速 (2.08s/1.5=1.39s). [4x Bleed]/[1.39s] = 2.88 Bleed/second. Offhand Sword also contributes to Bleed stacking by inflicting both 恐惧 and 冰冻, along with 易伤 and 威能. All sword attacks cleave and pierce, hitting up to five enemies, giving a high chance to proc 冰冻新星.

Scepter/Warhorn

Scepter inflicts 流血, 中毒 and some 折磨, and is greatly improved by 诅咒萦绕. This trait increases the base duration of Scepter conditions, enabling Scepter Bleeds to exceed the 100% duration cap. Scepter's slightly slower autoattack chain and lack of 冰冻 application mean it does not stack Bleed quite as fast as Sword. Scepter's autoattack chain completes in 2.4s, or 1.6s under (2.4s/1.5=1.6s). The full chain inflicts 3x Bleed (one per attack). [3x Bleed]/[1.6s] = 1.875 Bleed/second. Lingering Curse also changes skill 3 from single target into an AoE boon corrupt skill . Warhorn is taken for the of .

Alternative weapons

Pistol/ Torch is a condition weapon set that focuses on , , and , rather than , , and . Pistol gains an additional with , but loses the boon corrupt that both Scepter 3 and Sword 3 provide. Pistol's autoattack bounces between three enemies, providing more AoE condi cleave than Scepter's single-target autoattack, but less than mainhand sword's 5-target autoattack. Torch gains some AoE knockdown CC, but loses the crucial offhand this build is based around. However, pistol #2 Weeping Shots with Quickness provides good single target condi burst, and can be used in place of Scepter for that if needed. Both require Weaponmaster Training from Secrets of the Obscure.

Greatsword lacks access to which may cause gaps in uptime. But it gains which, when combined with the Curses trait , can rapidly stack -> -> . Greatsword's autoattack inflicts on the third attack. It takes 2.88s to complete, or 1.92s with (2.88s/1.5 = 1.92s). [4 Bleed]/[1.92s] = 2.08 Bleed/second, slower than Sword autoattack chain, but faster than Scepter. Though Greatsword auto can hit up to 3 targets, potentially proc'ing on them, spreading AoE Bleed faster than single-target Scepter but slower than 5-target Sword. Finally, is a strong AoE pull that groups together many monsters, or damages breakbars.

Spear also lacks access to but includes a on its autoattack chain. Its autoattack chain completes in ~2.4s, or 1.6s under Quickness (2.4s/1.5 = 1.6s). [4x Bleed]/[1.6s] = 2.5 Bleed/second, slower than Sword but faster than Scepter. Spear also hits 3 targets, potentially proc'ing . Spear has an additional Chill on its fourth skill and on its third skill. Spear requires the Janthir Wilds expansion and either Lowland Spear Training or Lowland Spear Unlock.

Staff is the only other weapon besides Warhorn and offhand Sword with a skill. It provides burst damage from range, but it deals low sustained damage. Sword/Sword is more effective at stacking due to its faster attack speed, cleave, and pierce. Not recommended for PvE, but useful in WvW zergs.

Damage

Rotation Opener

With our opener we're aiming for two quick Fears from Spectral Ring and the weapon skill. Open from 900 range or closer with Sword/Sword:

1. on top of enemy
2. ->
3. ->

If using Staff:

1. on top of enemy

If using Greatsword:

2. on top of enemy

Close to within melee range, then cycle through Fear and Chill skills:

4. Weapon Swap to Scepter/Warhorn
7. Enter
8. -> : Double tap for a quick AoE . Use on cooldown. Killing a mob reduces its cooldown by 50%, so in large packs it's almost spammable.
9. -> : Ice Field + Whirl Finisher spreads massive amounts of and .
10. -> -> : autoattack in Reaper's Shroud for a few seconds for Crits to cause a explosion and to allow Fear cooldowns to reset.
11. Exit Reaper's Shroud, attack with Scepter (single target) or Sword (AoE) until Fear cooldowns reset, then repeat the rotation.

Defense

Defense mainly comes from constant disabling enemies, and permanent increasing their ability cooldowns.

• Sidestep and walk or dodge out of enemy attacks.
• Constant prevents incoming damage.
• Permanent reduces the rate of incoming damage.
• prevents critical strikes and causing glancing blows (50% of normal damage).
• causing the enemy's next attack to miss.
• is as a second health bar and has a natural 33% damage reduction.
• provides and further reduces damage taken.
• Use in condition heavy fights. If more is needed, run , , and/or the trait .
• provides , s, and s.
• Sword skills 1, 3, 4 heal a little bit, along with Warhorn 5.
• Scepter 3 and Sword 3 can corrupt boons on enemies. Use them to remove , , or on powerful enemies.
• If using Staff, cleanses your conditions.
• If using Greatsword, spreads AoE .

Crowd Control

Breakbar damage happens naturally by cycling through the Damage rotation. The strongest breakbar abilities are and . Omit those from the damage rotation if needed to reserve them for active breakbar phases, but both are on relatively low 30s cooldowns and generally don't need to be conserved.

• Sword - 1.5 seconds of .
• Warhorn - 1 second of .
• Utility - 2s of .
• Reaper's Shroud ⇒ - 1 second of .
• Reaper's Shroud - 1.5 seconds of .
• Elite skill - 2 or 3 seconds of , plus with .

Use whatever food is needed to get Bleeding Duration to the 100% cap if needed, then prioritize Condition Damage and Precision.

DPS

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• 盘装牛肉仁当 / 碗装松露拌饭 / 碗装爆炒蒜蓉甘蓝 / 锦鲤蛋糕
• 大师调谐水晶 / 协调冰柱 / 激狂调谐水晶

Defense

• 辣酱扇贝
• 碗装柠檬草贻贝意粉

Farming

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• 生日爆破枪 / 令人愉快的生日蛋糕大餐
• 薄荷怪异莓棒
• 锐磨颅骨 (and variants)