R.E.P.O.’s Reaper can be a surprisingly dangerous foe, considering its simplicity. Little more than a screaming scarecrow that swings its arms out in front of it, this monster has a nasty habit of knocking weapons away and leaving semibots defenseless.

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This article discusses the basic traits of the Reaper, how to fight it, and when it’s probably best to just avoid a confrontation altogether.

A Gnome staring creepily at the player with a toothy smile.

The Basics of the Reaper

The Reaper is a monster that looks like an evil scarecrow or straw doll, with bladed arms that swings wildly when aggressive. It has 250 Health, deals 10 damage per hit, and requires 9 Strength to lift. It detects via sight; some players have reported that it can also hear semibots, but this didn’tseemto be the case in testing. If it can hear, it doesn’t seem to be a major factor in whether it is likely to notice you.

The Reaper only has two methods of attack, both of which are melee strikes. Its main form of attack is toswing its arms wildly straight ahead of it, as it walks forward at a steady pace towards a target it is aggressive towards (screaming while it does so). Its second attack is a crouch slash that it will use if it sees a player hiding under something, with a similar range and rate of attack compared to its standing slashes. While these attacks deal a fairly low 10 damage per hit, they are quick, allowing it to hit a semibot that’s within range multiple times per second. Getting hit seems to slightly slow a player, making escape more difficult.

A Reaper looming over a crouched player.

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The Reaper’s attacks tend to knock weapons and other items in front of it away, often disarming a semibot that’s trying to attack it. This is one of its biggest threats; it can make it fairly tough to fight a Reaper alone, once it has turned aggressive towards you. Luckily, it also has a major weakness: its attention span is very short, and you can quickly turn it passive again by breaking line of sight and briefly hiding. The Reaper’s slashes can damage valuables, but it doesn’t seem to intentionally target them.

An angry Headman charging the player.

Subjectively, the Reaper could probably be considered a “Medium” difficulty monster, with tough creatures likethe Trudgerepresenting a bigger threat (in most circumstances).

When passive, the Reaper stomps around at a volume that can be a bit hard to hear until it’s already too close, sounding like rustling hay or leaves. The Reaper screams fairly loudly while attacking.

A Reaper, passive standing near the player.

Fighting the Reaper

Attacking the Reaper from the front is typically a mistake. While catching pretty much any monster by surprise is usually ideal,mostcan at least be knocked down by awell-timed frontal attack.This isn’t the case with the Reaper; it’s basically impossible to hit it with a melee weapon or whack it with an item from the front while it’s swinging its arms. The only way to realistically fight a Reaper straight on is with guns or explosives.

If fighting the Reaper with a crew, you can have whoever it is aggressive towards keeping their distance and drawing it into a spot that allows the rest of the crew to easily attack from the sides and behind. Be careful, as the Reaper can move a bit faster than you might expect and has a bad habit of locking a semibot into a slightly slowed state as it deals its hits, making it hard to escape once in range unless you have the Stamina to sprint or jump away. While itcanjump after you, the best way to avoid hits is usually to get into an open room with many obstacles and then duck and/or jump over them. This way, itneedsto either hop or navigate around obstacles to reach its target, which is going to be much slower than if it was allowed to just charge forward to get its prey.

A R.E.P.O. Monster Orb being held by one player and observed by another.

If alone, the only truly consistent way to fight theReaper(assuming you don’t have firearms or explosives) is to make sure it’s passive and thenambush it. This approach, which you can obviously also take with a team, is pretty simple even if it’s already noticed you, because its attention span is so brief that you only really need to get a short distance away, turn a corner, and then hide to turn it passive again. Then you crouch and approach it from anywhere but the front,whacking it with a melee weapon or an item. If you use an item, choose onethat isn’t too fragileand is of at least amedium size, with the community favorite for this approach being theClown Doll, as you can also honk its nose three times to turn it into an explosive if things get too dicey.

Requiring9 Strengthto lift, smashing the Reaper against the floor and walls if your team has the total Strength required is an easy way to shut down this fight, assuming you’ve progressed enough to get the necessary upgrades. However, an update is coming out soon that will greatly weaken this strategy, as it is introducing a mechanic that will cause semibots who hold monsters for too long to explode. This approach won’t be made completely non-viable (at least according to the developers), but it remains to be seen how it will compare to other approaches.

Choosing Your Battles

The Reaper certainly isn’t invincible, but it’s also easy to underestimate. In relatively open areas, its constant slashing can catch a semibot on low stamina in a deadly loop of taking hits, with the bot unable to get the momentum it needs to escape. At the same time, this straightforward attack pattern is also a weakness; areas with many places to duck or ledges to jump to can make it difficult for the monster to close the distance and start hitting its target.

Avoiding the Reaper isn’t especially difficult if you’re not looking for a fight. This monster has a short attention span; anecdotally, it seems the community is currently of the belief it has the shortest in the game once you break line of sight, and that seemed to be true in testing. Getting even a moderate distance away when it turns aggressive and then hiding will often mean it quickly goes back into a passive state and starts to wander again. You probably willwant to avoid fighting the Reaper if other monsters that can significantly alter the overall danger of a room are also present, likethe Peeper. Alternatively, you can always lure it somewhere a bit more your speed andthenstart the fight.

As with all but the weakest monsters, theReaperis going to drop amonster orb when it dies. This is a fragile orb worth a random amount of money that roughly scales with monster difficulty, seemingly between aboutsix to eight thousand dollarsin the case of the Reaper, based on testing. Keep this in mind if you choose to fight it, as the value of a monster orb should factor into the value of the resources you expend to kill monsters (although there are times when the safety and convenience of removing a threat justifies spending more than you’ll earn in the kill).

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