Guild Wars 2

I’m thinking it’s probably thief? Looking to run supplies where they are needed and out run folks when the kitten hits the fan so to say.

Yes, Thieves probably have the fastest active travelling speed but you’ll have to spam Inflitrator’s Arrow constantly. I think other classes can reach comparable travelling speeds via passive buffs alone. They might be a better choice.

Does anyone have a passive signet like ability like thieves that constantly grants 25% speed boost?

As a thief I feel un-targeted Heartseeker spam is the fastest. For some reason it feel like Inf Arrow puts me in “combat speed”. Just my observation though. Either way, thief is king of mobility.

Thieves are good for mobility.

Passive 25% runspeed signet.
Infiltrator’s Arrow (though the range on it is kind of dinky, so you need to spam 2 or 3 in a row to leap ahead a decent distance)
Heartseeker spam without a target moves you a few jumps.
Shadowsteps are fun and speed you up if used right. There is a signet that shadowsteps. Cooldown is longish though.
Sword mainhand gives you a ‘step into melee range & ’Steal’ will do the same. Use them on random 0hp creeps (bunnies, racoons) to warp to them.

If a thief has their abilities up (like when running supply) they can zip along pretty quick. If your cooldowns are off (like when fighting and then realizing you need to GTFO) you’re going to get your squishy kitten mashed to pulp.

Edit: OH .. and if you’re looking for the BEST option I’ve seen for mass running supplies it has to be a couple Mesmer’s chaining portals. Saw a group basically hop from keep to supplies lightning fast.

Air attuned Elementalist with movespeed traits/signet is also very fast.

Thief. Properly spec’ed for initiative gain and mobility, of course.

I like guardian.. 10sec symbol buff with 15sec cool down
25sec buff with 60sec cool down.

it’s not 100% but it is pretty easy to keep up. How often can you run for 35sec and not get into combat…

Warrior can have 100% swiftness uptime and can switch between GS and Sword for leaps. I’m not sure how it compares to thieves, but I get to places before anyone else.

Zin.6170:

Warrior can have 100% swiftness uptime and can switch between GS and Sword for leaps. I’m not sure how it compares to thieves, but I get to places before anyone else.

Judging by test races, thief wins slightly in the beginning, but we pull ahead over time.

Warriors have the best sustained mobility with Sword/Horn.
Thief comes in only slightly slower.
Elementalist is probably the next, but they aren’t terribly safe to scout with.

Like others have said, an ele with One with Air and Signet of Air can move really fast.

>.< OP all the class have all the same stuff. You haven’t noticed? Look a little bit more all classes have about 3 ways of granting 33% speed.

I can outrun mobility thieves with my ele.

Air spec with D/D (Ride the Lightning!!) and perma swiftness.

Thieves are more slippery though. Stealth = speed + snaekyness

My observations are that thieves are faster than my perma swiftness engineer. So I think they’d be a good supply running class.

Yeah, i play a Engi, this is what i noticied. I was chasing down a thief , he rounded a corner (i was running Speedy Kits) and when we rounded the corner he had put a ridiculous amount of space between us.

Dwok Immortalus.2763:

Zin.6170:

Warrior can have 100% swiftness uptime and can switch between GS and Sword for leaps. I’m not sure how it compares to thieves, but I get to places before anyone else.

Judging by test races, thief wins slightly in the beginning, but we pull ahead over time.

Warriors have the best sustained mobility with Sword/Horn.
Thief comes in only slightly slower.
Elementalist is probably the next, but they aren’t terribly safe to scout with.

I’ve not raced any thiefs, but I run a full speed build. I use 6/6 rune of speed, greatsword, and sword/horn.

I’ve noticed even in the initial burst, I can not be caught. You do sword leap, bulls rush, dodge, dodge, sword leap, weapon switch, GS rush, whirlwind, dodge, weapon switch, and sword leap.

I cover a huge amount of distance in that time. I don’t have stealth though, which makes a thief slippery, but then again, I use the break immobilize trait.

Thieves have the most mobility, period.

There are major areas people are discussing, marathon chases, short distance chase, and close range combat.
Thieves are the best at all of these. If you think otherwise, the thief you are comparing to, is really bad.

Short duration chases. Did you know that! Thieves can instant teleport to max targetable range within about 1-2 second. And then return to the original spot anytime within 10 seconds. (somewhere round 4400 range if i did the math on the 4 skills right, and i’m not talking about infiltrator arrow)

Running the Marathon. This is the only area where another class may have a chance, but infiltrator arrow wins by a long shot (literally). If the thief is using their CDs properly no other classes can match their travel speed.

Close range combat. Haha, yea well this: 4 instant teleports, 3 dodge rolls, 25% base movement, infiltrator arrow, and this is leaving out invis because that is more survivability than mobility.

Notes: Only thieves can chase thieves. If you run from a thief you are going to have a bad time. Heartseeker spam, really? If you think heartseeker is good for mobility, that is the problem. You are comparing noob thieves to good other classes. It would be like comparing a 3 year old swimming to Micheal Phelps.

Race me any time, you will not have a good time.

Edit: If you caught a thief, grats. You got killed! Only time you catch a thief is when they want to get caught.

This game has to much build and player skill viable’s to say witch is fastest in all truth. Every player will have a different play style and experience with each class as most all have scouting builds for different things.

As a scout/caper I can out run any Thief with both my Ele and my Engineer,Ele alone with perma air swiftness rune swiftness and passive speed I have yet to be caught when scouting. My engineer running with perma swiftness in combat speed bonus rune bonus and out of combat bonus with the attack and HP to take down any 1-2 classes or another scout 1v1 plus bonus solo caping ability.the speed is fine to chase any thief(not as fast as pure marathon ele)but I have in combat speed bonus and can keep whoever I’m chasing in combat(thus making them slower and me faster)I haven’t had anyone get away from me yet thought a good week of 6 hour scouting.

there was a decent thief that managed to get right outside the uppermost keep(server keep) before I killed him outside the archway in front of the guards(felt kinda bad T.T)but he was slightly slower then me still he made good use of stealth and 50% fall dmg.

TL:DR Ele,Thief,Engineer are the same speed overall when set up right each with a strong point.
Engineer is great counter scout and solo caper/distraction.
Thief is great scout for all fields with the stealth for get a ways and easier to play in case of a encounter in a fight and simple scouting builds.
Ele is a great supply runner scout with group swiftness/100% solo swiftness and ride the lighting burst speed but more on the squishie side.

Banjax.6573:

Does anyone have a passive signet like ability like thieves that constantly grants 25% speed boost?

D/D Elementalist with 20 in arcane

15% constant movespeed from wielding a dagger

10% from being in air attunement

Combined that with the dashes from fire attunement and air attunement [ride the lightning kitten] you have somone with nearly as much mobility as a thief

I can keep swiftness up 100% on my guardian and my ele.

for guardian just pop save yourselves! and retreat! on cooldown and keep using the staff number 3 skill.

for ele just have arcane wave, a staff, air attunement, and glyph of elemental harmony for the heal skill. cast the number 4 on staff, the number 6 heal, then cast the number 5 on staff and use arcane wave to blast finikitten, and you can keep swiftness rolling 100% uptime.

for both it can help to have boon duration food buffs but it’s not necessary if you are good about using the skills on cooldown.

Merrill.3540:

Thieves have the most mobility, period.

There are major areas people are discussing, marathon chases, short distance chase, and close range combat.
Thieves are the best at all of these. If you think otherwise, the thief you are comparing to, is really bad.

Short duration chases. Did you know that! Thieves can instant teleport to max targetable range within about 1-2 second. And then return to the original spot anytime within 10 seconds. (somewhere round 4400 range if i did the math on the 4 skills right, and i’m not talking about infiltrator arrow)

Running the Marathon. This is the only area where another class may have a chance, but infiltrator arrow wins by a long shot (literally). If the thief is using their CDs properly no other classes can match their travel speed.

Close range combat. Haha, yea well this: 4 instant teleports, 3 dodge rolls, 25% base movement, infiltrator arrow, and this is leaving out invis because that is more survivability than mobility.

Notes: Only thieves can chase thieves. If you run from a thief you are going to have a bad time. Heartseeker spam, really? If you think heartseeker is good for mobility, that is the problem. You are comparing noob thieves to good other classes. It would be like comparing a 3 year old swimming to Micheal Phelps.

Race me any time, you will not have a good time.

Edit: If you caught a thief, grats. You got killed! Only time you catch a thief is when they want to get caught.

I’ve been trying to get my thief up to speed with my warrior, I’ve just not been able to do it.

Perhaps shadowstep is bugged and only giving half the range listed, but even then I don’t think I could keep up.

What exactly are you doing that makes your thief faster than a warrior with the rotation I listed above?

P.S. I’m not looking at a chasing roll, I’m talking about getting in between points.

I’ve been trying to get my thief up to speed with my warrior, I’ve just not been able to do it.

Perhaps shadowstep is bugged and only giving half the range listed, but even then I don’t think I could keep up.

What exactly are you doing that makes your thief faster than a warrior with the rotation I listed above?

P.S. I’m not looking at a chasing roll, I’m talking about getting in between points.

My full speed run rotation is as follows.

Skills: Signet of shadows of course, Shadow step, and Infiltrator’s signet. (you can spec certain traits to reduce recharge time and increase initiative regen.

Dodge (with swiftness trait)
Sword pistol(2) click something far down range and activate
Steal Click something far down range, activate
Shadow step (same)
Dodge roll
Weapon swap
Infiltrator arrow x2
weapon swap
dodge roll
(10 seconds have gone by)
Sword Pistol (2)
Infiltrator’s signet (targeted at something down range)
weapon swap
Dodge roll
Infiltrator arrow x2 (depending on initiative recharge)
weapon swap
(20 seconds have gone by)
Sword Pistol (2)
Steal (Target down range) (this is assuming you have points in trickery)

You can also use Withdraw by turning around and using it (I don’t get this fancy but it would increase your speed)

By now you should see the rotation, use cds to make up for lack of initiative. This is by far faster than any other class.

Note: You don’t want to hit anything with the teleport skills cause it will put you in combat. Target something just on the edge of view. Also note you can go up/over a lot of terrain with the tps and arrow. The best example of this is “wall running”. You can get high up along a wall with a lot of impassible running terrain, and then use your tps and infiltrator’s arrow to run along it. People have a real hard time chasing.

You should also see the instant gap closer i’m talking about. Sword (2), Shadow step, Infiltrator’s signet, and then steal. You can also toss the experimental teleportation gun in there for an extra 1500. But all classes can use that so I don’t really count it.

ele is probably the fastest. Safest probably not though.

10% from 5 air
25% from 10 air
10% from signet of air
15% from windborne dagger in uh, I think 20 arcana?

Get a staff and D/D. switch to air (swiftness with elemental attunement) press 4 to get more swiftness. Change to D/D and then ride the lightning. Use glyph of elemental harmony for additional swiftness as desired.

You can also speed up nearby yaks as you move on through with the staff or attunement swapping.

Merrill.3540:

I’ve been trying to get my thief up to speed with my warrior, I’ve just not been able to do it.

Perhaps shadowstep is bugged and only giving half the range listed, but even then I don’t think I could keep up.

What exactly are you doing that makes your thief faster than a warrior with the rotation I listed above?

P.S. I’m not looking at a chasing roll, I’m talking about getting in between points.

My full speed run rotation is as follows.

Skills: Signet of shadows of course, Shadow step, and Infiltrator’s signet. (you can spec certain traits to reduce recharge time and increase initiative regen.

Dodge (with swiftness trait)
Sword pistol(2) click something far down range and activate
Steal Click something far down range, activate
Shadow step (same)
Dodge roll
Weapon swap
Infiltrator arrow x2
weapon swap
dodge roll
(10 seconds have gone by)
Sword Pistol (2)
Infiltrator’s signet (targeted at something down range)
weapon swap
Dodge roll
Infiltrator arrow x2 (depending on initiative recharge)
weapon swap
(20 seconds have gone by)
Sword Pistol (2)
Steal (Target down range) (this is assuming you have points in trickery)

You can also use Withdraw by turning around and using it (I don’t get this fancy but it would increase your speed)

By now you should see the rotation, use cds to make up for lack of initiative. This is by far faster than any other class.

Note: You don’t want to hit anything with the teleport skills cause it will put you in combat. Target something just on the edge of view. Also note you can go up/over a lot of terrain with the tps and arrow. The best example of this is “wall running”. You can get high up along a wall with a lot of impassible running terrain, and then use your tps and infiltrator’s arrow to run along it. People have a real hard time chasing.

You should also see the instant gap closer i’m talking about. Sword (2), Shadow step, Infiltrator’s signet, and then steal. You can also toss the experimental teleportation gun in there for an extra 1500. But all classes can use that so I don’t really count it.

Yeah, that is pretty much what I do on my thief. I’ve just found it not as good and reliable as on my warrior.

First, steal doesn’t port me at all unless I’m in range of my target. Perhaps I’m missing something here.

Second, sword 2 has an effective 15 second cooldown and requires me to have something targetted in my line of travel.

Third, having a target available to target down range isn’t always possible. Non aggressive mobs require a click to target for me.

If swiftness stacked with other speed increases, I’d be all over the thief, but I just find it unreliable and not as fast overall as the warrior. Chasing is another story, because it is also easy to get out as a thief.

Anyway, I’m gonna get back into WvW on my thief and try to improve mobility.

Merrill.3540:

Notes: Only thieves can chase thieves. If you run from a thief you are going to have a bad time. Heartseeker spam, really? If you think heartseeker is good for mobility, that is the problem. You are comparing noob thieves to good other classes. It would be like comparing a 3 year old swimming to Micheal Phelps.

Race me any time, you will not have a good time.

Edit: If you caught a thief, grats. You got killed! Only time you catch a thief is when they want to get caught.

There is no way inf arrow is faster than Heartseeker for movement. For one, inf arrow for whatever reason seems to put you into combat speed even if you haven’t fought anyone. Heartseeker (for travel) costs less init and also scales with init regn from stealth or whatever. Every time I stealth I get faster regen and more heartseekers which is when you need it most anyway. Inf arrow in no way compares.

Can we please arrange players from all eight professions, each in their favorite running spec, to meet up, say, at the Gendarren Fields waypoint right outside LA for a race kittenaches Vigil Keep waypoint first by running? This would be awesome.

~MRA

(edit:) btw, ‘kittenaches’ was once ‘who | reaches’.

thief in short to the longest distance by a mile lol tho no thiefs seem to be able to keep up with me so maby just not many out there that can fuly utilize their traits/utility

Helathir.3647:

thief in short to the longest distance by a mile lol tho no thiefs seem to be able to keep up with me so maby just not many out there that can fuly utilize their traits/utility

You seem really confident, perhaps you can shine some light on why you are faster than other thieves?

my spec is not common and it makes me able to move faster than most cookie cutter spec theifs and same goes for my utility lineup that compliments it

Banjax.6573:

I’m thinking it’s probably thief? Looking to run supplies where they are needed and out run folks when the kitten hits the fan so to say.

I might suggest Ele since they have multiple ways with multiple weapon sets (and traits) to achieve perma swiftness quite easily (33% move speed) and if they’re using Staff they have a number of GTAoE’s they can throw down behind them to slow/stun anyone trying to catch them and any Ele can equip a number of defensive skills to protect them as they run.

Elemental Attunement trait gives you Swiftness when you switch to Air and then Windbourne Speed (Staff 4), then hit Glyph of Elemental Harmony (heal skill) while still in Air and you have a lot of Swiftness. With 15-20 points into Arcana trait line you’re Attunement Switching CD is down far enough that you can Switch back to Air attunement for more Swiftness before your initial stack has even run out. If you want even more swiftness, use the Utility Skill Arcane Wave into a Static Field (or Eruption in Earth attunement works as well).

That’s not even counting things like Zephyr’s Speed, Zephyr’s Boon, and One with Air traits. I can achieve perma swiftness and I don’t even have those. Also another interesting tidbit – Windbourne Speed will clear any movement impairing effects like Crippled, Immobilized, and Chilled so if you’re being chased and they try to slow you, you can clear it without wasting a cleanse.

Thing is there is a difference between functional speed and what is the fastest possible at least for a thief. Sure, you can slot shadowstep, roll for initiative, use steal and other CD’s that will make you cover the most ground in the fastest time but you have to be able to actually fight at any point along the way.

Helathir.3647:

my spec is not common and it makes me able to move faster than most cookie cutter spec theifs and same goes for my utility lineup that compliments it

It almost seems fictional.

bcbully.7289:

>.< OP all the class have all the same stuff. You haven’t noticed? Look a little bit more all classes have about 3 ways of granting 33% speed.

Ever play a Mesmer? Our only mobility skills:

Focus → Temporal gate -- 10s of Swiftness on a 25s CD
Blink → 900 range teleport on a 30s CD

…we really don’t get anywhere fast. Our spear gives us excellent movement underwater though.

The windborne dagger trait for ele’s is broken it does NOT apply any speed buffs. The fastest from my experience is a d/d ele, perma swiftness If trained correctl, mist form, lightning flash, ride the lightning. So far no one has been able to catch me in WvW (I have kited and escaped from groups of 20) if I run this spec, not even thieves.

No one can seem to keep up with me either lol

Nobody mentions ranger, the one class you would expect to be super fast Loooool what a joke.

Yeah, rangers are actually laughable when it comes to moving. I love mine and have learnt to live with his comedy slowness, but what were ANet thinking when they designed this class?

I am now convinced that Lord of the Rings would have been a 120 page paperback were Aragorn not leading the way.

Thief followed by elementalist.
25% base speed, 33% speed after dodging (3x), when I steal I gain 33% speed. Then to cover some ground faster than 33% run speed: heartseaker spam outjumps any permanent swiftness. Then you still have the shadowstep and other ports.
No one is outrunning my thief.

Ele is the fastest if only specced a little bit for it.
Second is Warrior.
Thief only has the initial burst but is still spending the same resources they need to attack to keep up with other classes.

A-net from the beginning advertised thief was going to be the most mobile class. False advertising so far if you ask me.

Burrid.4739:

Thief followed by elementalist.
25% base speed, 33% speed after dodging (3x), when I steal I gain 33% speed. Then to cover some ground faster than 33% run speed: heartseaker spam outjumps any permanent swiftness. Then you still have the shadowstep and other ports.
No one is outrunning my thief.

Wrong… Wrong…Wrong…

25% base speed from signet DOES NOT, DOES NOT stack with swiftness.
Dodge roll swiftness is lol what 3 seconds.

Wrong… Wrong…Wrong…

25% base speed from signet DOES NOT, DOES NOT stack with swiftness.
Dodge roll swiftness is lol what 3 seconds.

WHERE did I say they are all stacked?! My thief has nearly perma swiftness, but tons of other tools to cross distance very fast.
Ignorant people read and believe what they want..

Knyx.5926:

Ele is the fastest if only specced a little bit for it.
Second is Warrior.
Thief only has the initial burst but is still spending the same resources they need to attack to keep up with other classes.

A-net from the beginning advertised thief was going to be the most mobile class. False advertising so far if you ask me.

Burrid.4739:

Thief followed by elementalist.
25% base speed, 33% speed after dodging (3x), when I steal I gain 33% speed. Then to cover some ground faster than 33% run speed: heartseaker spam outjumps any permanent swiftness. Then you still have the shadowstep and other ports.
No one is outrunning my thief.

Wrong… Wrong…Wrong…

25% base speed from signet DOES NOT, DOES NOT stack with swiftness.
Dodge roll swiftness is lol what 3 seconds.

Ele is the only class I haven’t played, what do they have that makes them faster than a warrior?

I can see perma swiftness and ride the lightning, but warrior has basically both of those and more. What am I missing?

Zin.6170:

Ele is the only class I haven’t played, what do they have that makes them faster than a warrior?

I can see perma swiftness and ride the lightning, but warrior has basically both of those and more. What am I missing?

Lightning flash, mist form, burning speed.

And 2 Aura’s to cc the opponent when they attack you.

Engi can have perma Swiftness an double Speed in Combat, it is not so mobil like a thief but he is also good.

Ilesyt.7084:

Zin.6170:

Ele is the only class I haven’t played, what do they have that makes them faster than a warrior?

I can see perma swiftness and ride the lightning, but warrior has basically both of those and more. What am I missing?

Lightning flash, mist form, burning speed.

And 2 Aura’s to cc the opponent when they attack you.

That somewhat closes the gap, but the warrior still has more. Is there anything else?

With warrior you get perma 33%, 15 sec cantrip with a condition removal, a full cleanse and more dodges with stam sig, a charge and leap, invuln, you can spec less falling damage for shortcuts, a ranged aoe cripple + immobilize with traited bladetrail, and of course they can just turn around and faceroll a chaser. You can even slot fear bomb, more mobility, or plenty of other fun options while still retaining your base mobility since none of your slot skills are needed for it.

Of course thief stealth and shadowsteps can help a lot with escaping zergs. Being squishy kinda sucks when you do get caught (especially since you’ll be low on initiative) but having a passive 25% gives you more flexibility than relying on your elite and a specific weapon you might not want to fight with though you will be slower overall. Shortbow for skill mobility is nice because it’s your aoe weapon for the zergs anyway, besides being an all around good weapon to fight with. Whereas a warrior runner has to give up their only good ranged aoe for sword/horn which is passable but definitely not that amazing when you’re forced into a fight.

That armor, hp, and attack on war goes a long way IMO, but there are definitely advantages and trade offs either way. I just wouldn’t go ele unless you like to squish when someone looks at you. I pick them out of full groups of 5, stomp, and loot before going down on my war. Imagine solo ele.

In short for max speed and fighting prowess go war.
For getting out of sticky situations with ninja skills at the cost of some run speed and alot of physical survivability, but retention of aoe hijinks go thief.
To dispense badges to the enemy go ele.

note: There may be another warrior run build involving slotting a banner that will let you forgo the warhorn, but you’ll have to trait higher in tactics to keep max longbow range. Tactics war is however plenty useful at the sieges and may offset some of the tradeoffs while still being able to run effectively. I haven’t tested such a build for running yet, but I’ll do that today.

Stiv.1820:

As a thief I feel un-targeted Heartseeker spam is the fastest. For some reason it feel like Inf Arrow puts me in “combat speed”. Just my observation though. Either way, thief is king of mobility.

I use to use heartseeker to move around but you don’t really have full control of where you’re going sometimes it will bug out and my character will turn 360 and i didn’t turn him or have a target and yes I do not have auto targetting enabled so now i stick to infil

An important consideration is also what each class gives up to attain this, which is being ignored.

Saying you run fast but requiring specific weapon loadouts and specific utility/elite skills you wouldn’t otherwise want to use isn’t much help unless you enjoy constantly swapping those around.

I know engineer and some elementalist builds (especially staff) can easily get perma swiftness without making sacrifices. I know for thief shortbow is a pretty standard weapon for one of the slots anyway, but the 25% movespeed is on a signet that is otherwise virtually useless.

Zin.6170:

Ilesyt.7084:

Zin.6170:

Ele is the only class I haven’t played, what do they have that makes them faster than a warrior?

I can see perma swiftness and ride the lightning, but warrior has basically both of those and more. What am I missing?

Lightning flash, mist form, burning speed.

And 2 Aura’s to cc the opponent when they attack you.

That somewhat closes the gap, but the warrior still has more. Is there anything else?

The fact that you can do it every 15 seconds (burning speed and RTL have 15 secs cd). And if you’re being chased: Aura’s will either chill or shock the followers. And Ride the lightning goes really far.

Then there’s a skill in earth (forgot the name) that will immobilize the opponent and drag you towards him if you’re close enough.
As for traits: Zephyr’s boon and Elemental attunements are the only traits you need for perma swiftness.

Is there anything a Warrior cannot do better than everyone else?

as a thief i am able to keep up with a movement speced war while still using some initiative to attack I am shortbow 0/0/30/30/10