Guild Wars 2

when i look at both skills , i see both as defensive based to help flee a fight or to be used in an attempt to be offensive . but then i question which is best . i see threads up all the time in regards to both skills being as some would put it as " op " and then i hear people talk about them in a sense of how they are not at all .

stealth based on thief ability has a stealth ability to increase to 1 second , there is runes that grant stealth , a dagger skill that grants stealth , 2 skill slots that grant stealth , and a f1 trait that grants stealth , after someone is revealed they can’t go back into stealth for a whole 3 seconds , the dagger skill allows a thief to go into stealth much faster than the f1 , and the skill slots but they have to be trait to gain init fast .

now lets look at fear based on a necromancer ,

they have a ds fear for land , a ds fear for water , they have a staff skill that fears , they have 1 and a half skill slots that grant fear the half is optional based on corrupt boon being used on a player that has stability that turns into fear . they have a 2 traits that grant fear , one for rezing and one for being cc, and there is runes that grant fear .

+ sides to stealth – can be used for groups for surprise attacks , can be used to get away from a fight , can be used to reset a fight . can stomp other players when they are downed , can be used to prevent other downed players from being stomped , and can maximize damage during a fight .
- sides to stealth – can be a sitting duck with shadow refuge with aoe attacks that hit a thief ,

+ sides to fear – can be used to kill zergs ( only in etom ) , can be used to change the direction of a zerg when wvw , can be used as a tool to damage other players with , can be used to prevent players from stomping , can interrupt skills ,
- sides to fear – can be turned into stability , can be ignored by break frees , can be by passed with stability .

so what is your opinion on which skill is better .

i know there is more than one class that can use fear or stealth , and that they can be used for wvw uses more than i described .

Stealth I think. Fear only might come close when it is traited to do damage aswell. But only a necro can do that.

You can’t deal damage while stealthed. You can’t force a player off of a node with stealth… heck you can’t cap a node at all while stealthed.

Stealth is very anti-noob. If you’re facing players that turn into grazing cattle when faced with fear, then it’s strong. However, if you fight some one that’s used to how the different classes behave based on the current situation, stealth isn’t nearly as strong.

Fear… is cc… you can smash and bash some one’s face in when they are feared or force them in a direction. That’s far more powerful imo.

Aberrant.6749:

You can’t deal damage while stealthed. You can’t force a player off of a node with stealth… heck you can’t cap a node at all while stealthed.

Stealth is very anti-noob. If you’re facing players that turn into grazing cattle when faced with fear, then it’s strong. However, if you fight some one that’s used to how the different classes behave based on the current situation, stealth isn’t nearly as strong.

Fear… is cc… you can smash and bash some one’s face in when they are feared or force them in a direction. That’s far more powerful imo.

You can’t hit a stunbreak and force someone out of stealth, like to can with fear.

Very different mechanics, pretty hard to compare them.

Fear is both a condition and a control effect so…
– Stun breaks remove it
– Condition clears remove it
– Stability completely counters it
– Berserker stance completely counters it
– Diamond skin completely counters it
– It doesn’t work on people who use evades/invulns/blocks (with exception of greater marks for blocks)
– It doesn’t work if you are blinded
– -condi duration food reduces it
– -stun duration food reduces it
– Death shroud fear and downed state fear require a target, so stealthed people are effectively immune to it
– Staff fear has a distinct animation and a 3/4 second cast time, so smart thieves can see it coming and dodge within their refuge to avoid being feared out
– In any semi-organized zerg you will never fear anyone… ever, due to tons of guardians/warriors spamming non-stop condition clears + near 100% uptime on stability

It’s very strong against beginner players, but becomes very mediocre against players who have half a brain. If I could trade the ability to fear on my necro for the ability to stealth, I would definitely do it.

It is pretty obvious stealth is superior in terms of game play mechanics.

Very hard to compare, especially since only thief has access to them both, and their access to fear is very situational. It depends on what you need/want, and what the enemy has.

Depends on the setting. Pvp? Fear. Pve/wvw? Stealth

Bhawb.7408:

Very hard to compare, especially since only thief has access to them both, and their access to fear is very situational. It depends on what you need/want, and what the enemy has.

Rangers have stealth on Longbow 3 and Fear on Wolf.

Roe.3679:

Aberrant.6749:

You can’t deal damage while stealthed. You can’t force a player off of a node with stealth… heck you can’t cap a node at all while stealthed.

Stealth is very anti-noob. If you’re facing players that turn into grazing cattle when faced with fear, then it’s strong. However, if you fight some one that’s used to how the different classes behave based on the current situation, stealth isn’t nearly as strong.

Fear… is cc… you can smash and bash some one’s face in when they are feared or force them in a direction. That’s far more powerful imo.

You can’t hit a stunbreak and force someone out of stealth, like to can with fear.

Very different mechanics, pretty hard to compare them.

I can play around stealth all day long.

Fear has a limited number of removals/stunbreaks/etc.

It’s a bit class dependent on which is harder to deal with… but once you get used to stealth and know how the classes behave when they stealth it becomes far less potent and stealth has drawbacks.