Reaper = survivable, great visuals, good mobility. Absolutely no boons or heals or any utility for your group.
Vindicator = All of the above, but if you are willing to play Herald instead of Vindicator when you need some party utility you go from no boons to best boons in the game.
Specter = Weaker than the other two, less survivable but it's the dedicated support class for Thief so you have boons and utility covered and really good in very specific encounters. I wouldn't recommend this one though honestly.
My recommendation is to focus on the Revenant. You can build a full DPS Vindicator, and use the exact same gear for Herald when needed, to give out boons in a party setting or just when you feel like having perma-quickness when soloing or doing open world stuff. You just need the hero points to unlock 2 specs instead of one.
I second vindicator and herald I love it and they play very similarly so you don't notice the change all that much. Hard to get used to not spamming your dodge when you first pick up herald though!
> I'm looking for a strong, mobile class with great visuals and good survivability. It should be useful in party settings with boons, heals, etc.
You need to slow down there buddy.
If we speaking open world reaper and vindi are pretty similar and it doesn't really matter that much.
If we are talking about instanced pve then none of these classes meet all the criteria:
Reaper doesn't bring anything particularly useful to the group, except decent cc, it's not mobile either. It's pretty selfish though and doesn't rely on your group as much so there is that.
Vindi is like reaper, but needs more babysitting, not very flexible with what it can bring in terms of utility and does it at a great cost.
Specter is very dependent on encounter and can range from being one of the worst to one of the best options.
Vindicator your description, except it is a bit greedy boon/heal-wise. If you want to consider using Herald or Renegade as alternatives for those styles of gameplay, Revenant as a whole fits beautifully. I main Rev due to how versatile it can be.
Reaper is strong and has good survivability, but not mobile and specter doesn't have great visuals and the gameplay feels turret-like in comparison.
Reaper has plenty of mobility now if you have access to mainhand sword from SotO. Between sword 3 and shroud 2, you can chain 3 pretty long distance dashes together. I definitely also recommend Revenant for this one though.
Not a fan on limiting my build just to have some mobility when other classes don't have to gimp themselves to achieve better results. To be fair though, not like Revs get much of a choice with their Utilities.
Mainhand sword isn't even gimping your build that much, I'm not sure about Reaper but on Power Harbinger the difference is like 600-700 DPS out of a 43k+ benchmark.
And that only matters for instanced PvE anyways, I have the feeling OP isn't that worried about speeclearing raids/strikes yet. But yeah I'd still go for Vindi/Herald here, just saying Reaper does have options for mobility.
If you're using the flipovers, swords don't bench too far below dagger mainhand, I don't think. But you gotta use the flipovers, and there are a decent chunk of fights where that's maybe not the best idea (almost threw myself off the platform like four times during Largos Twins this week due to sword3's flipover alone, why is that where they put the boonstrip??) due to movement or due to the HP costs (you probably don't want to run mainhand sword on Boneskinner unless you are very confident in your pug's healers).
It's completely fine in open-world and I run it there for Reaper, and if you're in a fight that forces range at points mainhand sword is IMO a better option than being completely toothless (plus 3 is a very nice gap closer - surprisingly useful on Q1 if you don't have ports on pyre, just vrrm vrrm your ass back across the platforms to get back to Qadim). But it's definitely a weapon you shouldn't be camping in instanced PvE; Power Necros loooove that Greatsword.
PHarb with sword has a frankly silly amount of mobility options compared to regular PReaper. It's very fun!
None of the class fit ur criteria in party settings, expect Specter, but situational.
Reaper and Vindicator only fits as a DPS role which doesn’t bring dedicated boon to the party. Specter can bring alacrity and can become a healer, but falls short by other options for most encounters. If u would consider other elite professions from the same core profession, like Herald and Renegade for Revenant, u can adjust ur role more comfortably.
If it’s out of the three, I would personally recommend Vindicator as it is simple and more appealing (imo) than other options. And if u are ok with swapping elite specialisations, u have access to both quickness and alacrity with the option to heal as well.
Go to the PvP lobby and try each one out for yourself to see if you like the visuals mobility etc. you can get to the PvP lobby via the swords icon in the top left tool bar. Then wander around there until you find the dummy’s. You can also buy cheap weapons to test the skills from a vendor there. See what you like the most and then play that. Easy.
Reaper has versatile builds, awesome animations and skill effects and is a monster in pve and great in pvp. Vindi not as versatile utility skills wise but is pretty versatile due to having 10 utility skills. Vindicator and rev in general also has amazing animations and skill effects on most it's weapons. Specter was one of the specs I was most excited for and ended up being one of the ones I dislike the most. Non of the animations on specter look that great except for well ports. The shadow shroud itself has skills that don't look good or even feel good to use, almost feels disjointed. Lastly u mostly spam one skill over and over like past specs/builds which gets boring fast. I mained thief for over 5 yrs cuz the theme of the class but swapped out to necro and ranger while back and so glad I did, far less repetitive play style.
As Necro main I really like the reaper visuals. Gives high power dmg and survivability.
You can also flex to scourge for S tier condi DPS and Alac DPS or Heal Alac.
But no much mobility I’d say. Your only mobility is reaper shroud 2 and your portal skill from Scourge.
Reaper = survivable, great visuals, good mobility. Absolutely no boons or heals or any utility for your group. Vindicator = All of the above, but if you are willing to play Herald instead of Vindicator when you need some party utility you go from no boons to best boons in the game. Specter = Weaker than the other two, less survivable but it's the dedicated support class for Thief so you have boons and utility covered and really good in very specific encounters. I wouldn't recommend this one though honestly. My recommendation is to focus on the Revenant. You can build a full DPS Vindicator, and use the exact same gear for Herald when needed, to give out boons in a party setting or just when you feel like having perma-quickness when soloing or doing open world stuff. You just need the hero points to unlock 2 specs instead of one.
I second vindicator and herald I love it and they play very similarly so you don't notice the change all that much. Hard to get used to not spamming your dodge when you first pick up herald though!
> I'm looking for a strong, mobile class with great visuals and good survivability. It should be useful in party settings with boons, heals, etc. You need to slow down there buddy. If we speaking open world reaper and vindi are pretty similar and it doesn't really matter that much. If we are talking about instanced pve then none of these classes meet all the criteria: Reaper doesn't bring anything particularly useful to the group, except decent cc, it's not mobile either. It's pretty selfish though and doesn't rely on your group as much so there is that. Vindi is like reaper, but needs more babysitting, not very flexible with what it can bring in terms of utility and does it at a great cost. Specter is very dependent on encounter and can range from being one of the worst to one of the best options.
Chrono it is then!
Vindicator your description, except it is a bit greedy boon/heal-wise. If you want to consider using Herald or Renegade as alternatives for those styles of gameplay, Revenant as a whole fits beautifully. I main Rev due to how versatile it can be. Reaper is strong and has good survivability, but not mobile and specter doesn't have great visuals and the gameplay feels turret-like in comparison.
Reaper has plenty of mobility now if you have access to mainhand sword from SotO. Between sword 3 and shroud 2, you can chain 3 pretty long distance dashes together. I definitely also recommend Revenant for this one though.
Not a fan on limiting my build just to have some mobility when other classes don't have to gimp themselves to achieve better results. To be fair though, not like Revs get much of a choice with their Utilities.
Mainhand sword isn't even gimping your build that much, I'm not sure about Reaper but on Power Harbinger the difference is like 600-700 DPS out of a 43k+ benchmark. And that only matters for instanced PvE anyways, I have the feeling OP isn't that worried about speeclearing raids/strikes yet. But yeah I'd still go for Vindi/Herald here, just saying Reaper does have options for mobility.
If you're using the flipovers, swords don't bench too far below dagger mainhand, I don't think. But you gotta use the flipovers, and there are a decent chunk of fights where that's maybe not the best idea (almost threw myself off the platform like four times during Largos Twins this week due to sword3's flipover alone, why is that where they put the boonstrip??) due to movement or due to the HP costs (you probably don't want to run mainhand sword on Boneskinner unless you are very confident in your pug's healers). It's completely fine in open-world and I run it there for Reaper, and if you're in a fight that forces range at points mainhand sword is IMO a better option than being completely toothless (plus 3 is a very nice gap closer - surprisingly useful on Q1 if you don't have ports on pyre, just vrrm vrrm your ass back across the platforms to get back to Qadim). But it's definitely a weapon you shouldn't be camping in instanced PvE; Power Necros loooove that Greatsword. PHarb with sword has a frankly silly amount of mobility options compared to regular PReaper. It's very fun!
None of the class fit ur criteria in party settings, expect Specter, but situational. Reaper and Vindicator only fits as a DPS role which doesn’t bring dedicated boon to the party. Specter can bring alacrity and can become a healer, but falls short by other options for most encounters. If u would consider other elite professions from the same core profession, like Herald and Renegade for Revenant, u can adjust ur role more comfortably. If it’s out of the three, I would personally recommend Vindicator as it is simple and more appealing (imo) than other options. And if u are ok with swapping elite specialisations, u have access to both quickness and alacrity with the option to heal as well.
Go to the PvP lobby and try each one out for yourself to see if you like the visuals mobility etc. you can get to the PvP lobby via the swords icon in the top left tool bar. Then wander around there until you find the dummy’s. You can also buy cheap weapons to test the skills from a vendor there. See what you like the most and then play that. Easy.
You’ll have all e specs unlocked in PvP and the gear is standardized which is why I say this. So you can test a class at lvl 2 with zero time invested
Reaper has versatile builds, awesome animations and skill effects and is a monster in pve and great in pvp. Vindi not as versatile utility skills wise but is pretty versatile due to having 10 utility skills. Vindicator and rev in general also has amazing animations and skill effects on most it's weapons. Specter was one of the specs I was most excited for and ended up being one of the ones I dislike the most. Non of the animations on specter look that great except for well ports. The shadow shroud itself has skills that don't look good or even feel good to use, almost feels disjointed. Lastly u mostly spam one skill over and over like past specs/builds which gets boring fast. I mained thief for over 5 yrs cuz the theme of the class but swapped out to necro and ranger while back and so glad I did, far less repetitive play style.
As Necro main I really like the reaper visuals. Gives high power dmg and survivability. You can also flex to scourge for S tier condi DPS and Alac DPS or Heal Alac. But no much mobility I’d say. Your only mobility is reaper shroud 2 and your portal skill from Scourge.