Thief burst: Steal into backstab.
Steal ~1500 damage.
Backstab: (2255*2.4*952.5/1924)x(1.10*1.15) = 3389.3
Crit: 3344.2*1.873 = 6348.2
Total burst damage: ~7848
If taking executioner and below 50% health: 7617.8+~1500 = ~9118
Mesmer Burst:
Mirror Blade: First hit, 2225*0.7*1047.5/1924 = 848, 2nd hit 886.1.
Crit 1st = 1588.2 2nd = 1659.7
Mind Wrack: (2225*1.15*1047.5/1924)x(1.045*1.3) = 1892.5 per clone (1 clone shatter)
Crit = 3544.7
However IP doubles that to 7089.3
Total mesmer burst: 10337.2
Now there’s a few things to mention.
1. I have no skill coefficient for mug so I chose 1500 as it’s what I was doing on the light golem at 2180 armour, it should do a couple of hundred more.
2. This is done against a 1924 armour target (so zerker/marauder light armour class) so numbers will vary.
3. This doesn’t take into account follow up damage nor other procs like fire/air, panic strike, daze on steal etc.
4. The thief meta build doesn’t pick up it’s burst damage bonus while mesmer does.
5. We’re assuming thief engages with all initiative for max lead attack bonus.
6. We’re assuming mesmer is in melee range and no other target for GS to bounce to but mesmer and target.
7. Mesmer gets not activating skills bonus.
So what’s the point in this? It’s just to show how close they are in burst really. If thief actually picks up executioner they do on average 2.3k more damage on crit on targets below 50% health and hit almost as hard as a mesmer if all mesmer hits crit. This is if all the stars align but what if they don’t?
Thief:
Steal ~1500 damage.
Backstab: (2225*2.4*952.5/1924)x(1.10*1.05) = 3053.4
Total damage = ~4553
Total damage with executioner = 5513
Mesmer:
Mirror Blade: First hit, 2225*0.7*1047.5/1924 = 848, No 2nd hit, wanders off onto something else.
Mind Wrack: (2225*1.15*1047.5/1924)(1.0451.15) = 1674.1 per clone (1 clone shatter)
Damage + mesmer wrack = 3348.3
Total damage = 4196.3
So what went wrong?
Well thief lost about 11% from initiative and backstab didn’t crit. Mug can’t crit so not missing much there.
Mesmer though, well target was attacking so bye bye 15% modifier on mind wrack. Non of it crit either so goodbye lots of damage and there was a 2nd target nearby so the mirror blade hit them instead.
Generally though whether thief burst is successful lies mainly on if backstab crits.
Mesmer it requires a lot of things to crit, both mirror blades and both mind wracks to out burst a thief. If any one of them fails to crit it’s on par with thief burst with executioner. If only half the attacks crit it’s just above thief non executioner damage but well below a crit backstab with executioner. If it all fails to crit it’s the worst of both.
TLDR: Thieves should start using their executioner trait then they really will burst as hard as mesmers.
Edit: Typos and missed the 1 might to thief, ty Shockwave.
(edited by apharma.3741)