Guild Wars 2

So for my next section of the Bifrost, they have me farming endless amounts of gathering nodes it seems. I was curious, how can I do this rapidly? I have the gathering maps, and I have a thief that’s almost level 80. I know that they can move around pretty quickly. Is there a build that allows for REALLY fast travel speed on a thief?

There are skills and boosts you can use to up your out of combat running speed. For thief I believe there is a +25% bonus when you have the Signet of Shadows skill on your utility bar.

IIRC there are traits you can use as well. Hidden Thief will give you a 50% boost so long as you are in stealth, but that only applies if you also have the Meld With Shadows slotted (both are in the Shadow Arts line).

So slot the signet and other skills that pop stealth, work those two traits in. You’ll have a base +25% and then pop stealth whenever you have it so you move even faster until the stealth wears off.

Something to look into, and others will likely have some other useful suggestions.

Teleport via Short Bow skill 5, with the trait for extra initiative.

FWIW, the easiest way to get full time 33% movement speed is to use a druid, as they have a passive trait that grants it to them.

Revenant heralds can also get constant swiftness, and a properly traited Daredevil can use dodge to give himself near-constant swiftness.

There are all sorts of fast travel alternatives for thieves. One easy one is to use Superior Runes of Speed, which grants a perma speed boost plus gives longer duration on Swiftness. Plus triple dodges, shadow stepping, a signet, and using your F1 strategically to leap to foes.

Alternatively, you can use my method: do anything else in the game besides farming materials. Sell or salvage & sell everything you don’t need for Bifrost and use the funds to buy the mats you need. For me, that’s both faster and more fun — even when I’m in the mood, I can’t spend more than 15 minutes just gathering.

Speed bonuses don’t stack, and there’s a cap on how fast you go, so hidden thief’s speed bonus really only works in combat since your base speed is slower in combat.

You can take the signet still, though I prefer using
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unhindered_Combatant
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Expeditious_Dodger

This will be permanent swiftness with the occasional dodge.

Combine this with a shortbow and shadowstep, and you can go pretty fast.

In order to reduce the chance of being slowed down by enemies I take:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hard_to_Catch
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Don't_Stop

For utilities besides shadowstep, I also take either blinding powder or shadow refuge. The former is good for on-demand stealth, while the later allows you to sneak past crowded areas. I also take haste for the occasional quickness so I can gather faster.

Finally I take the trickery line to increase max initiative so you can use shortbow to travel even more.