User:Vethana/Reaver

Play Style
On the surface Reavers have many similarities with the Shaman class, playing almost as a "Dark Shaman" with some aspects of a Warlock tossed in. They harness dark energy into their physical attacks and can be formidal melee opponents. They also use twilight magic, a perverted weaving of the elements together practiced by followers of the Old Gods, to cast spells from afar. Reavers can absorb energy to self-heal to some degree but lack the healing powers of Shaman in favor of enhancing their damage. The greatest difference comes in the mental energy Reavers wield. Shaman use their totems to buff their allies, Reavers use their mental abilities to debuff and confuse their opponents. It is this array of abilities that truly causes Reavers to be regarded with suspicion. Reavers supplement their attacks with devastating mental assaults, casuing their foes to face terrifying hallucinations, turn on their allies, and eventually become unable to function - easy prey for a skilled Reaver.

Reavers wear mail armor and dual wield one-handed weapons. They do not use shields. Reavers can equip wands or ranged weapons, generally using them to supplement their own abilities. Reavers open combat with a potent mental assault then finish their weakened enemies off at range with spells or up close with deadly weapon strikes.

Chaos
The Chaos tree enhances the physical attacks of a Reaver for those who like to get in close and dispatch their foes face-to-face. Reavers harness volatile chaos energy to fuel a relentless assault that can leave even the most formidable opponents a bloody ruin. Chaos Reavers hit hard and fast, their energized weapons carving through enemies while using their mental and magical abilities only when ambushed or to aid them in exceptionally difficult fights.

Disruption
The Disruption tree focuses on enhancing the mental powers of a Reaver. While the other two trees specialize in doing as much damage as possible, Reavers who train in Disruption simply focus on weakening their enemies until they are no longer a threat and can be easily dispatched. Disruption abilities go beyond mere curses, driving their targets into the depths of madness. Often the death that follows soon after appears as a blessing to the shattered victims.

Twilight
The Twilight tree is for those Reavers who prefer to let their twisted magics do the work. Their mental assaults are not intended to break an enemy, but simply distract them long enough for the Reaver to launch their array of spells. Perfected by the Twilight's Hammer (who lent the school its name) twilight magic involves the fusion of various elemental magics and further enhancing it with dark shadow energies. Though this magic is difficult to learn, those who master its use have frightning power at their command.

Abilities
Below is a small sampling of Reaver abilities.
 * Chaos Strike (Chaos) - Chaos Strike is one of the most powerful attacks in a Reaver's arsenal. The Reaver imbues their next weapon swing with an intense amount of raw chaos energy.  The strike cuts through any resistance it encounters, physical or magical.  It ignores any armor or resistance rating.  Even more powerful, the strike shatters any magical wards its victim has raised to protect themselves.  Paladins fear Reavers on the battlefield, for their Chaos Strike can penetrate even the divine protection of the Holy Light.


 * Nightmare Slice (Chaos) - A Reaver who suddenly finds themselves outnumbered will wrap their weapon in dark energy. The next strike will cause the victim to suddenly be siezed with their worst fear and lash out in panic at the closest target apart from the Reaver.  This attack is considered a taunt and will pull the aggro of its target.  Though most will quickly realize their mistake, Reavers take advantage of the momentary turmoil and slip away to a safe distance.  Once the Reaver's foes recover, the Reaver is already unleashing their next assault from afar.


 * Shadow Charge (Chaos) - Reavers prefer to surprise their enemies, preparing an opening mental attack before launching into melee or magical combat. Foes don't always cooperate, however, and Reavers keep a few tricks up their sleeves for inopportune situations.  Shadow Charge is an instant attack the Reaver unleashes when they do not have time to weave mental energies.  The Reaver shifts into a being of chaos energy and charges through their opponent with enough force to stun them in place.  The Reaver re-materializes on the other side of their opponent and instantly whirls, firing a chaos-charged bolt from their ranged weapon before the enemy can recover.


 * Hallucination (Disruption) - The Reaver causes a frightening hallucination to appear in the mind of their opponent. To the victim, the hallucination appears real and they will focus all their energy on fighting off the imaginary foe.  This causes the victim to ignore the Reaver, slashing wildly at empty air.  The hallucination lasts until the spell fades, not even physical pain can break the hallucination's hold on the mind.


 * Confusion (Disruption) - Confusion is a mild Disruption ability, temporarily disorienting the target. Those confused lose track of what they are doing and often take some useless, if not counter-productive, action before regaining their senses.  (Examples:  An enemy mob running off in the middle of combat to attack a nearby critter; a healer switching targets to cast a spell on a target already at full health; when no other option is available the confused victim simply stands and stares blankly for a moment.)


 * Insanity (Disruption) - Insanity is probably the most twisted ability at a Reaver's disposal. It shatters the mind of its target, causing them to go completely mad.  Beyond the edges of sanity, the afflicted literally turn on themselves and will hack and claw at their own bodies.


 * Twilight Blast (Twilight) - The Reaver concentrates and unleashes a powerful blast of pure twilight magic. The intense magical energy requires a long cast time and any victim should either interrupt the cast or get out of range.  The blast is so powerful it mentally stuns the target.  Beyond merely silencing them, Twilight Blast is a momentary ability wipe for its target.


 * Expulsion (Twilight - The Reaver temporarily allows their body to absorb all damaging energy of a certain type (if struck first by a fireball they will absorb only fire damage, etc). The Reaver still suffers the damage inflicted by any subesquent attacks but stores the energy within themselves.  Once the Reaver has stored enough (after a set amount of time) they can expel the stored energy from their bodies in a powerful aoe blast doing damage equal to the amount absorbed to any caught in Expulsion's radius.  In addition to magical energy Reavers can use Expulsion to store the force of physical damage which they unleash in the form of an aoe stun (the more damage absorbed, the longer the stun lasts).


 * Twilight Rain (Twilight) - Twilight Rain is an aoe spell similar to a Mage's Blizzard or a Warlock's Rain of Fire. The Reaver causes twilight magic to fall on a group of their enemies.  Twilight Rain is slightly less powerful then similar spells but has an added benefit; those caught in the radius of the spell are overtaken by a deep, unrelenting fear and run in circles in panic, easy targets for the Reaver's allies.  In addition, the fear is so disorienting that those affected must take a moment to regain their bearings after the spell ends.

Starting Experience
Reavers start on a massive iceberg floating just south of Northrend. It is learned that this has been the location of the Scions of Hate, a secretive faction devoted to the Old Gods. Here, isolated on a remote outpost fully ignored by the rest of the world, they have been training their elite Reavers. The iceberg has been carved with a network of chambers and passages, converted into a veritable floating fortress in the frigid ocean. The player starts in a small camp secluded in a hidden alcove where it is revealed that they, along with the rest of the camp, have recently gone renegade from the Scions. The reasons for this are not revealed, leaving it open to interpretation why they may have done so or if they were in fact instructed to in order to later insert themselves into the Horde or Alliance.

The quests revolve around using their abilities to find a means to escape the iceberg as well as defeat the forces of the Scions who are hunting the renegade Reavers. One of the members of renegades remarks that this combat against their former brethren is perhaps the greatest test of their abilities, making sure that only the strongest will leave the iceberg alive. After making their way throughout the frozen fortress and procuring means of escape the conclusion involves the renegades launching a daring assault on the powerful Chaos Engine at the heart of the iceberg. The chaos energy unleashed causes the iceberg to melt enough to weaken and destabilize. The Reavers escape and manage to make their way to the island of Zul'Dare which they set up as their new base of operations and naming themselves the Scions of Vengeance.

Once on Zul'Dare the players perform a series of quest chains centered around building a new settlement and fending off the native inhabitants. Once the Scions of Vengeance have managed to construct a home for themselves the players are sent to either the Undercity or Ironforge to make their case for joining the Horde or Alliance.

The players are still in a phased world and must perform a chain of quests to prove themselves before being allowed to re-join their faction and entering the world proper. These quests deal with handling unsavory situations within the city for the racial leaders. This is both a test of their loyalty while also offering the leaders a practical solution to some tricky problems. They will be able to distance themselves from their involvement should any actions be revealed; they can simply blame the player.

Overall the starting experience is longer than that of Death Knights though this is offset by the fact that Reavers start at an even higher level.

Extras
Similar to Death Knights, Reavers start with many benefits as a hero class. Reavers start at a high level. (Higher then DKs, but I'm not sure what would be a good level to pick. 70?  Does it make sense to have them head to Northrend right away?  Well doesn't make sense for DKs to go to Outland right away either I guess.  80?  Seems kind of high.  I don't know.  What do you want from me, I can't do everything!)

Reavers start with a full set of uncommon gear and will replace it with a full rare set by the end of their starting experience. Reavers also get their own mount. Though they get it later in their quest chain (just before attacking the Chaos Engine) Reavers receive a flying mount along with Expert riding skill, Flight Master's License, AND Cold Weather Flight already trained. Their mounts are the Chaos Doomwing, Nerubian fliers captured from Northrend by the Scions of Hate. The renegade Reavers use these to escape the iceberg as it falls apart after the energy of the Chaos Engine is unleashed.

Also similar to Death Knights, Reavers start with a high level of First Aid already trained. Additionally, Reavers may train into a similar level of any of the primary professions complete with any trainer-learned recipes for that profession. These professions are learned from an NPC during the Reaver quest chain on Zul'Dare. Players can choose to unlearn and re-train different professions as long as they remain in Zul'Dare. However, once the player leaves to their respective racial faction city (Undercity or Ironforge) they will enter a new phase and the NPC will disappear preventing Reavers from continuously being able to cycle through professions at a higher level once they enter the game world proper.

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