Reaper

[Ristretto]

The soul reaper perk needs some serious changing. Not starting with a ranged weapon makes most bosses impossible unless you find one. most blessings and all human friends became something you have to avoid because they will prevent you from getting any souls (if the lightning, thorns, chain, generosity, blowback, powerhoof, morning star or bohlt blessing get a kill you dont get a soul from it making them all useless). the soul count wears off too quickly making you either have to skip over most of the level or just not get the bonus stats you cant even get blessings most of the time or take the time to gather items because you will lose your soul combo plus half of the time you lose it while a soul is coming to you because it just spins around you instead of coming straight to you. using magic or ranged attacks except for when fighting the boss is pointless because whats the point of starting with a perk thats only bonus is you can steal souls if you arent going to get any souls yet using melee on most late game enemies is nearly impossible without dying plus the soul reaper weapon does less damage than the basic sword.

[gonzo191]

While I don't hate the Soul Reaper perk (it's on the bottom of my to play as list though), I don't love it either but I do agree with some issues you've listed.

Originally posted by Your Saviour David Bowie:

The soul reaper perk needs some serious changing. Not starting with a ranged weapon makes most bosses impossible unless you find one.

This is so true but I don't feel like it's not the perk's fault per se but rather that there are too many bosses that float in the sky. Out of the 6 bosses as v1.4, there are only 2 which are grounded 90% of the fight. I feel like all bosses regardless their phase should have a moment of being grounded or have a ground attack which doesn't take forever to trigger (I'm looking at you Medusa). My rule of thumb is if I've not gotten a ranged weapon by the first boss just restart.

Originally posted by Your Saviour David Bowie:

most blessings and all human friends became something you have to avoid because they will prevent you from getting any souls (if the lightning, thorns, chain, generosity, blowback, powerhoof, morning star or bohlt blessing get a kill you dont get a soul from it making them all useless).

Agreed, which is why I feel there needs to be a setting of playing with friends or not in the options menu. Frankly I don't like them as I mostly play melee builds and take blessings which proc on melee kills and avoid all passive blessings which kills enemies.

Originally posted by Your Saviour David Bowie:

the soul count wears off too quickly making you either have to skip over most of the level or just not get the bonus stats you cant even get blessings most of the time or take the time to gather items because you will lose your soul combo plus half of the time you lose it while a soul is coming to you because it just spins around you instead of coming straight to you.

I don't I think I've ever had any issue with the 10 second timer on soul absorption. To me, it just means you got to go fast while attacking while surveying the land at the same time without being too reckless. In short you have to master melee first to make the most out of this perk. When it comes to picking up/equiping items/blessings simply stop whenever you reach a multiple of 5 since you only get the random boost then. Also just jump into the soul when it's flying towards you, you shouldn't need to do this but because of that orbital nonsense you have to.

Originally posted by Your Saviour David Bowie:

using magic or ranged attacks except for when fighting the boss is pointless because whats the point of starting with a perk thats only bonus is you can steal souls if you arent going to get any souls yet using melee on most late game enemies is nearly impossible without dying plus the soul reaper weapon does less damage than the basic sword.

Since I find the SR perk to be more of a melee build I tend to take only melee-based equippables and refuse to use ranged unless cornered. So items like emerald pendant, orcish talisman, emerald bracer, golden feather, dark feather, bonebreaker gauntlet, crystal skull and demonic prayer beads are usually my go to. For rings I gravitate towards poison ring (beware of the poison it inflicts), emerald ring, ruby band, obsidian ring or orcish ring (the only time I'd use these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ things).

Whew, that was lengthy. I'll end by saying this, if you like playing as melee but want a ranged weapon for bosses no matter what, then I'd play as the Vampire and avoid this perk altogether. It's way more fun and more reliable, plus if you play it like a melee build you get to become the most powerful build in the game with just a few blessings. I was unstoppable at 300+ health by the 3 area and ended at 689 health nothing could stop me and I was 1 shotting everything and 1 cycling bosses (oh hey Cuboid, 6 hits later...dead) it was magnificent.