Even as Guild Wars 2’s expansion, ‘Heart of Thorns,’ doesn’t have a release date yet, every week, ArenaNet has been giving fans peaks at the new elite specializations coming to the MMO when the expansion finally does launch. Elite specializations are meant as new, and radically different, ways to play the character professions already in the game, each centered on a new weapon being made available to a class unable to use it before.
The chronomancer mesmer, a spell caster with a shield, and the dragonhunter guardian, a heavy-armored soldier with a longbow, have already been revealed. But today ArenaNet pulled back the curtain on the next elite specialization, the reaper necromancer, bringing a greatsword to the dark arts summoner.
The reaper is “at home in battle when surrounded by as many enemies as possible, cleaving through hapless foes for life-force sustainment. Once the reaper has enough life force, they can transform into a devastating avatar of destruction that leaves enemies frozen in terror.”
Inspired by the slow, but deadly, monstrosities of horror films, the reaper focuses on chilling and fearing enemies. And while the cast times for the reaper’s moves are fairly long, each one packs a devastating punch, the character now also given shouts to deal damage to entire groups of enemies at once. If that wasn’t enough for you, the first minor trait for the specialization actually allows you to turn your greatsword into a terrifying scythe.
For a full breakdown of the thought process behind the development of the reaper, be sure to check out ArenaNet’s in depth post. In other Guild Wars news, ArenaNet recently made waves when they posted a video of a hacker’s characters being deleted.
What do you think of the horror movie-inspired reaper? Let us know in the comments.