I have been playing thief for over a year now, and have exhausted many good builds. I played dual pistol thief a few times in sPvP and WvW, but never could find the right combination of damage to survivability. With the new December 10th patch, due to the initiative changes, my build is now downright garbage. I’m not complaining about the patch, as it greatly improved other builds (and nerfed the perma-stealth), but I kind of feel like dual pistol is being ignored because of its unpopularity. So, I am suggesting some revisions.
The Problem:
Dual pistol has a couple main problems, some of which are fixable, others are not.
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Damage:
Vital Shot:Dual pistol suffers greatly in damage, partly because the pistol mainhand’s autoattack is condition based. For pistol dagger thieves that is useful, but for dual pistol, not so much. Nothing can really be done about that, so I will leave it alone.
Suggested Revision: none
Body Shot: useful, stacking vulnerability is nice in a crit based build, but the vulnerability duration is short, and without haste, only one unload can be cast in that time period. Body Shot also costs 4 initiative, which is rather expensive for 5% more damage and an immobilize.
Suggested Revision: Body Shot could be replaced with an Electricity Combo Field. This would mean that A) the initial shot would be a Projectile Finisher and go through its own field, much like black powder does, putting 2x 5 sec. stacks of vuln. B ) Any projectile finisher used over the field, like unload, vital shot, headshot, would stack additional 2x 5 sec. of vuln. C) Blast finishers used in the field would create Weakness, which would help to mitigate melee damage that dual pistol suffers from as well. This revision kind of extreme, but I think it could work.
Unload: Unload is the main source of damage for dual pistol. It is rather expensive at 5 initiative, but with the right traits, it is manageable. The main problem I have with is is that when I try to use it through combo fields, it does not stack the conditions very quickly. For example, I throw down a black powder field, use unload in it, and only stack 1 or 2 blinds for 8 shots. My opponent is in melee range, with 1 blind on him. I’ve wasted much of my initiative suppressing his opening burst, and now cannot place down another black powder, and I die. He has only taken minimal damage from 1 unload.
Suggested Revision: Unload could be changed to a 40% or 50% combo finisher projectile, which would allow for the thief to continually re-apply blind to mitigate more damage while also damaging the target. Unload could also be changed to more damage or less initiative, but not both, as that would be too much.
Headshot: No real problems with headshot. Useful interrupt.
Suggested Revision: I would leave it alone.
Black Powder: Very useful smoke field.
Suggested Revision: Also leave this alone.
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Survivability: Dual Pistol’s main source of damage mitigation is the 900 unit range between the thief and the target. Kiting the target is a must, but Dual Pistol lacks escape routes.
Acrobatics: The December 10th patch nerfed and buffed acrobatics, but it is still not worth the 30 points to grab Assassin’s Reward. Assassin’s Retreat is nice, but only really in PvE and we are talking PvP/ WvW. Hard to Catch is nice too, but on a 30 second cooldown? Not worth it. Quick Recovery is still stronger. Vigorous Recovery is nice too, but the duration is short, and it is not as useful as it once was.
Suggested Revision: Assassin’s Reward needs another buff. Dual pistol is possibly the most initiative hungry of all the thief builds and I still wouldn’t take it. Vigorous Recovery could be buffed, but not too much only maybe another second or two.
Smoke Screen: Smoke screen is a great skill, but the duration is short. Dual pistol needs all the blinds it can get, so moving the duration to 8 or 9 seconds would be best.
Suggested Revision: Increase duration by 1 or 2 seconds.
Roll for Initiative Nice skill. Handy in some situations, but the cooldown is rather long. Dual Pistol needs all the initiative possible, and with the trait nerfs, once you run out, you are pretty much already dead.
Suggested Revision: Decrease the cooldown by 10sec to 50 like shadowstep. That would put it on 40 sec. with 20% faster tricks trait.
This is a rather lengthy list, so not all of the suggestions are necessary. The most important one would be Body Shot, as it would result in a substantial increase in damage and survivability. I hope that you take these into consideration. Thanks
-lizziemonster
(edited by lizziemonster.1593)