Lifetap Volume 1, Issue 47 – Reaper Madness

When I think of the dark art of necromancy, Jason Voorhees is one of the last things to spring to mind. If you follow his story back to the very beginning, it’s true that there is a hint of necromancy involved. Jason’s mother largely takes center stage in the original film as she acts out her revenge for the death of her son who drowned in a lake due to a combination of stupidity and assumed neglect on the part of the camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake. It isn’t until the very end of the film that we see Jason as a reanimated corpse.

What followed were a string of progressively terrible horror films, including my personal favorite, Jason X, in which Mr. Voorhees is put into cryogenic stasis and is later on thawed out on board a space ship. From there things devolve very quickly into the usual hijinks of hacking random strangers to bits, because apparently even space captains are to blame for Jason being stupid enough to fall in a lake and drown in his youth. Did I mention that Jason becomes a cyborg and battles it out with Master Chief for the grand finale? Truly amazing stuff.

Somehow this has become the measuring stick and basis for the future of the necromancer profession in Guild Wars 2. While I will reserve final judgement on the Reaper until I’ve had a chance to play it, I also can’t deny that I’m what you might call less than impressed by the reveal of the greatsword specialization first hinted at back in January.

To be clear, I have long said that the necromancer has needed a second main-hand weapon based on melee attacks to pair with the dagger. There really isn’t a single weapon swap that truly pairs well with daggers, so it has always been a very awkward include in the necromancer’s arsenal. Death Shroud should have always factored in active weapon set to help account for the bizarre weapon lineup, but instead it’s a fancy Endure Pain that is only good for things like stacking Might or some occasional burst damage (another thing necromancer’s sorely need more of).

For example, entering Death Shroud with a dagger equipped in your main hand would turn the first skill into a melee attack. Suddenly the second skill, Dark Path, would make some kind of sense in its present form. Likewise, entering Death Shroud at range with something like a staff or scepter equipped would retain the current Life Blast, but turn Dark Path into more of an escape mechanism.

Even with the questionable setup of dagger as the only melee, axe as the only mid-range, and the remaining weapons all being long-range, I’ve considered the necromancer to be the best profession in Guild Wars 2 up to this point.

What really strikes me for the Reaper then, is the fact that it is what you would expect to see in an elite minion, rather than the necromancer themselves. Necromancers are supposed to be masters of the undead, summoning powerful minions – like the unstoppable juggernaut known as Jason Voorhees – to do their bidding. They manipulate life force, strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, and spread forth the chill of death like a twisted version of Jack Frost. The last thing you would think of for a necromancer is “badass melee with a huge sword”.

In terms of how this fits into the big picture of the Guild Wars franchise, the Reaper does take a divergent path away from the worship of Grenth ala Eve and into the cold embrace of his predecessor, Dhuum. Most depictions of Dhuum feature him wielding a massive scythe and looking like he could take a few smacks to the face with a mace. And I suppose that if you squint enough, beneath the hood it does look a bit like he’s wearing a hockey mask.

All told, the jury is still out on whether the Reaper will be a worthy include in the necromancer’s lineup. Part of me feels the specialization is purposefully running away from the fact that minions are in dire need of an overhaul, rather than addressing the issue head on. The real frustration for me in that regard lies in the fact that minion masters were – at one point prior to launch – a viable approach to playing the profession. Over time, their power and utility was chipped away, and here we stand, ready to boldly strike forth with the awesome power of cyborg hockey slayers.

For more on the Reaper specialization and the upcoming Heart of Thorns expansion, head over to our Guild Wars 2 game page.