Under normal circumstances, Guild Wars 2 Necromancers have a pretty decisive philosophy of not getting involved in melee. It makes sense, after all. These folks know what death can do, and they’re quite happy to dispense it from the back lines. But there’s always that one who decides to wade directly into combat with a two-handed sword, a horror movie monster under your control. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet the Reaper.

You probably should fear him, honestly.

That “horror movie monster” bit isn’t purely a joke, as one of the major inspirations for the spec was monsters from games and movies like Pyramid Head and Jason Voorhees. Even by the standards of other greatsword wielders, the Reaper’s attacks move slowly. The catch is that they have several skills and tricks to spread the Chill effect, and when those sword attacks connect… let’s just say that there’s a reason this specialization is the Reaper instead of the Gentle Back Massager. Check out the full reveal post when it goes live today, and take a look at the brand-new screenshots and video down below.

Source: ArenaNet press release