Guild Wars 2

Hi are there any good thieves running the D/P panic strike spec and streaming? Don’t mention caed because I find him annoying. Preferably Eu.

Lol.

/message body length must be 15

You know you can mute streams right? So can just watch the gameplay?

Helly.2597:

You know you can mute streams right? So can just watch the gameplay?

and listen to your own music?

And 3 comments already that add nothing to the thread. Not that I expected more.

Konoha.4613:

And 3 comments already that add nothing to the thread. Not that I expected more.

Don’t expect a serious answer when you insult someone in your message and have no idea what spec he runs.

I think Red Levin streams occasionally – and I know he plays Panic Strike from time to time. If you ask him nicely he’ll probably do it. ^^

http://www.twitch.tv/red_levin

Good luck!

The good streamers dont play panic strike D/P. There is sizer which is S/D, caed D/P crit strikes and Magic Toker that is also S/D.

Anyway panic strike plays the same as other builds , I dont know why you are only looking for panic strike D/P…

glock.6590:

The good streamers dont play panic strike D/P. There is sizer which is S/D, caed D/P crit strikes and Magic Toker that is also S/D.

Anyway panic strike plays the same as other builds , I dont know why you are only looking for panic strike D/P…

eurostrike >>> americrit

i honestly have no idea why 2/6/0/0/6 is so much more popular than 6/0/2/0/6 despite the fact that 6/0/2/0/6 is so much better.

Konoha.4613:

Don’t mention caed because I find him annoying.

Don’t mention one of the top thief players that helps/answers many thief-y questions AND streams often? I’m going to make an assumption, but I bet he’d try out the trait and show some gameplay for ya if you asked nicely. Most of the top thief streamers might be willing to stream different traits/weaps if you just ask nicely (either in their stream or on here).

For you:

Don’t have so little patience with a personality that can offer so much advice/tips/etc.

Don’t insult someone in your post asking for help. It may turn some people off.

sinject.4607:

glock.6590:

The good streamers dont play panic strike D/P. There is sizer which is S/D, caed D/P crit strikes and Magic Toker that is also S/D.

Anyway panic strike plays the same as other builds , I dont know why you are only looking for panic strike D/P…

eurostrike >>> americrit

i honestly have no idea why 2/6/0/0/6 is so much more popular than 6/0/2/0/6 despite the fact that 6/0/2/0/6 is so much better.

Because ele’s, guards and engi’s have so much AoE condi clear that people’s personal condi clear and personal defenses don’t have to be used as often, which means in some situations it’s preferable to have the higher dps whereas in other situations it’s better to have the immobilize.

Personally I find the stealth shortbow immobilize adequate, especially when you have quickness or cast from full range to land the immob twice.

One is not better than the other in my opinion, I just find that I’m more effective on crit strikes, especially when the other thief is S/D

Sindrenerr plays Panic Strike and is one of the best thieves on EU.
Chozen Sin is another great thief (imho the best thief in EU) that streams occasionally, and plays Panic Strike as well.

Thanks for all the responses. I’m sorry I offended some of you with my preferences! xD

sinject.4607:

Shockwave.1230:

Because ele’s, guards and engi’s have so much AoE condi clear that people’s personal condi clear and personal defenses don’t have to be used as often, which means in some situations it’s preferable to have the higher dps whereas in other situations it’s better to have the immobilize.

Personally I find the stealth shortbow immobilize adequate, especially when you have quickness or cast from full range to land the immob twice.

One is not better than the other in my opinion, I just find that I’m more effective on crit strikes, especially when the other thief is S/D

if you don’t need the condi clear, then 6/2/0/0/6 is still way better than 2/6/0/0/6.

here’s why:

• power > precision + ferocity.
  with beserker’s amulet, we have a base crit chance of 35%.
  a two point investment into critical strikes brings us to 40%.
  pack runes bring that total up to 46%.
  keen observer puts us at 51% when over 90% hp.
  pack runes 4th effect gives 10sec of fury on a 20sec cd.
  thrill of the crime gives you another 10sec of fury on a 21.5sec cd.
  critical strike’s adept major trait choice can either be: side strike, a constant 7% crit chance when attacking from the side or behind, or furious retaliation,

so, assuming the most ideal conditions possible (over 90% hp, attacking from the back w/side strike, with fury up) your backstabs are going to have a 78% crit chance.
more realistically though, you probably wont have keen observer up so your actual chance is probably more around 73%, which means just about 3/4ths of all your backstabs will crit; not bad, considering they’ll be hitting harder.

compared to fully investing in critical strikes, you’re literally only losing 9% crit chance, since the power increase will more than make up for the lost ferocity.

here’s some more reasons why it’s better:

• condition duration increase goes well with condition damage from trickery.
• condition duration also contributes to the team more by making your poison, weakness, vulnerability, immobilization, blinds, etc. last longer.
• panic strike gives thief an incredibly threatening 3.25sec immobilization that synergizes with burst extremely well, easily trapping enemies that would want to escape.
• revealed training makes you hit like an absolute truck after your backstabs, making you incredibly deadly as your burst is now effectively extended by revealed training.
• deadly arts also synergizes with trickery in that is makes steal even stronger through serpent’s posion, mug, lotus poison, and improvisation.
• critical haste is out performed by sigil of rage + sigil of air
• critical strikes’ adept minor and gm minor are only active for a small portion of fights, since you need to be above 90% hp and have >6 initiative for them to work, respectively.
• executioner averages out to only be a 10% damage increase, since it doesn’t do anything until the enemy is below 50% hp, making it near useless against tanky builds that can easily sustain themselves past 50% hp.

since the reality is that you’ll most often only have either executioner or first strikes working and not both, the actuality is that the two average out to be a relatively inconsistent 10% damage increase, whereas deadly arts’ exposed weakness offers a much more constant 10% damage increase, since thief always has ways of easily applying conditions on every single weaponset.

I don’t find panic strike as good as executioner vs Ele and Engi (guardian too), because their personal defenses or condi clear make the immob moot most of the time.

My role is to play finisher and with those builds so heavy in the meta I like executioner. I also like critical haste for that role.

I think panic strike can be better a lot of times vs zerker classes and sometimes necro when condi xfer isn’t available, but I feel confident enough in the critical line. I think panic strike is terrible vs S/D thief which is another reason I don’t run it, but it is strong vs critical d/P if you catch me without being able to port to another enemy or with shadow step on cd.

If cleansing and personal defense abilities weren’t as prevalent then I’d like panic strike strike better. As for the extra raw power damage of panic strike, it’s value diminishes when you’re around a guardian, ele, or warrior and you’re picking up might stacks from them or via shortbow.

I’ve tried Panic Strike, and I can say the match up vs Ele/Engi/Necro is easier than Crit Strikes. Sure you may not be able to hit has hard, but you have good condition removal due to Shadows Embrace, resulting in a better Win Ratio due to better sustain. Also the Improv trait gives you a second chance of regaining deception skills (Shadow Refuge, Shadow Step), which is big if you get off that RNG. With this said, Critical Strikes requires a higher skill cap, because you don’t have Shadows Embrace to make up for your mistakes when you get hit by massive conditions.. The immobilize from panic strike shuts down Engineer/Elementalist/Necro really well in small skirmishes/team fights if you coordinate it after their defensive cool downs. The immobilize cool down is on the same timer as Steal, so it is nearly always up for any engagement. I honestly think Panic Strike brings more in the Celestial Meta, to keep up with the sustain. Critical Strikes is still good if played right, but you have to play it on level similar to Caed to be effective against this meta, which is why Panic Strike is better in most situations. Counting dodges, landing steals, knowing when to burst, interrupting key skills, and awareness. It doesn’t matter which 2 of the builds you play, because you won’t be as effective if you don’t pick up the concepts I stated in the previous sentence. So really it comes down to preference and based on the situation.

CS builds dont have a higher skill cap – against a decent engi/ele, you simply won’t win. With CS, there are some things that just you can’t do. It’s like going against a necro with a condi engi… you just can’t.
With Panic Strike, the matchup against an Engi is not “that” impossible.

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

I’ve tried Panic Strike, and I can say the match up vs Ele/Engi/Necro is easier than Crit Strikes. Sure you may not be able to hit has hard, but you have good condition removal due to Shadows Embrace, resulting in a better Win Ratio due to better sustain. Also the Improv trait gives you a second chance of regaining deception skills (Shadow Refuge, Shadow Step), which is big if you get off that RNG. With this said, Critical Strikes requires a higher skill cap, because you don’t have Shadows Embrace to make up for your mistakes when you get hit by massive conditions.. The immobilize from panic strike shuts down Engineer/Elementalist/Necro really well in small skirmishes/team fights if you coordinate it after their defensive cool downs. The immobilize cool down is on the same timer as Steal, so it is nearly always up for any engagement. I honestly think Panic Strike brings more in the Celestial Meta, to keep up with the sustain. Critical Strikes is still good if played right, but you have to play it on level similar to Caed to be effective against this meta, which is why Panic Strike is better in most situations. Counting dodges, landing steals, knowing when to burst, interrupting key skills, and awareness. It doesn’t matter which 2 of the builds you play, because you won’t be as effective if you don’t pick up the concepts I stated in the previous sentence. So really it comes down to preference and based on the situation.

Panic strike is simply better, simply put.

you have more damage on CS and that is all, as long as u crit ( which is really the crucial part imho) Panic strike build delivers pretty much the same dps as a CS with added benefits ( more sustain, more condi clear, impro procs, weakness etc..).

there’s no reason to not play panic strike over CS aside being a faget, like levin says.

hihey.1075:

CS builds dont have a higher skill cap – against a decent engi/ele, you simply won’t win. With CS, there are some things that just you can’t do. It’s like going against a necro with a condi engi… you just can’t.
With Panic Strike, the matchup against an Engi is not “that” impossible.

If you play Critical Strikes properly you have a chance at winning a 1v1 with any other build depending on how you play the match up. The same cannot be said for Panic Strike, in fact it isn’t even close. The amount you gain from going to a Panic Strike build is negligible compared to the damage loss. You gain 1v1 potential against a very select few builds, and lose it for the majority of others, as well as minimize your team fight presence.

I’ve always been an advocate of playing what you feel is more fun, but to say Panic Strike is better comes down to a case of ignorance. It’s easier to play, yes – but in reality the situations where it’s actually more effective or efficient are minimal. I don’t really comment much about it because I couldn’t care less about what people play but I do think that spreading misinformation to the community is a bad thing. Does Panic Strike work? Yes. Is it better than Critical Strikes? Only if you don’t know how to manage initiative, condition clear, blinds, endurance, or when to pressure/kite. Overall Critical Strikes is better if you know how to play it.

-Caed

Narcarsis.5739:

hihey.1075:

CS builds dont have a higher skill cap – against a decent engi/ele, you simply won’t win. With CS, there are some things that just you can’t do. It’s like going against a necro with a condi engi… you just can’t.
With Panic Strike, the matchup against an Engi is not “that” impossible.

If you play Critical Strikes properly you have a chance at winning a 1v1 with any other build depending on how you play the match up. The same cannot be said for Panic Strike, in fact it isn’t even close. The amount you gain from going to a Panic Strike build is negligible compared to the damage loss. You gain 1v1 potential against a very select few builds, and lose it for the majority of others, as well as minimize your team fight presence.

I’ve always been an advocate of playing what you feel is more fun, but to say Panic Strike is better comes down to a case of ignorance. It’s easier to play, yes – but in reality the situations where it’s actually more effective or efficient are minimal. I don’t really comment much about it because I couldn’t care less about what people play but I do think that spreading misinformation to the community is a bad thing. Does Panic Strike work? Yes. Is it better than Critical Strikes? Only if you don’t know how to manage initiative, condition clear, blinds, endurance, or when to pressure/kite. Overall Critical Strikes is better if you know how to play it.

-Caed

Shots fired, EU thieves are bad. Except Sizer of course. lol

I disagree that critical strikes is out damaged by deadly arts in a team setting. I’m not sure about a 1v1 setting because I haven’t paid enough attention to it, but the difference is clearly noticeable in 2v2 or greater fights that the high crit chance, quickness, and executioner deals more damage. I especially disagree when your fights involve someone who can might stack.

sinject.4607:

Shockwave.1230:

I disagree that critical strikes is out damaged by deadly arts in a team setting. I’m not sure about a 1v1 setting because I haven’t paid enough attention to it, but the difference is clearly noticeable in 2v2 or greater fights that the high crit chance, quickness, and executioner deals more damage. I especially disagree when your fights involve someone who can might stack.

you are then, objectively wrong.

i don’t mean “it just feels stronger”

i mean mathematically, you are wrong.

6/2/0/0/6 with dagger training and/or revealed training will pretty much always out damage 2/6/0/0/6.

Why are you bringing up revealed training in a thread specifically about panic strike? Your off topic m8 and irrelevant. cs will outdamage panic strike build. maybe not revealed training, but rt is NOT the subject of the thread

sinject.4607:

Shockwave.1230:

I disagree that critical strikes is out damaged by deadly arts in a team setting. I’m not sure about a 1v1 setting because I haven’t paid enough attention to it, but the difference is clearly noticeable in 2v2 or greater fights that the high crit chance, quickness, and executioner deals more damage. I especially disagree when your fights involve someone who can might stack.

you are then, objectively wrong.

i don’t mean “it just feels stronger”

i mean mathematically, you are wrong.

6/2/0/0/6 with dagger training and/or revealed training will pretty much always out damage 2/6/0/0/6.

I think you’re missing context. In a team scenario I’m not the only one pushing someone down to 50% health to trigger executioner.