Guild Wars 2

How does the “Unblockable” attribute of Shadow Shot work?
I have been using my thief a lot lately and have been trying to improve my performance on small scale fights. So I am still quite new to many thieves tactics.
However, I’d really want to ask you how does this skill work?
I tend to run around perma stealthed in order to target the most appropriate target before engaging an outnumbered fight. Sometimes, it appears that the target I need to pick is a Guardian, who of course has Aegis on.
Technically, if I use Basilisk Venom and then use Shadowshot on them, they should get petrified, as the “Unblockable” Shadow Shot should bypass their Aegis and hit them, making BV to proc. However, I have NEVER managed to get this to work.
Moreover, why don’t I shadowstep to my target when I hit them with Shadow Shot? Sometimes I clearly see the damage coming out from my target but I will not move to them.
If anyone could answer these questions I would be really thankful to them. Right now I find Guardians the only profession on which I can’t start a fight properly, I always end up wasting too many resources for landing the first strike.

This is wierd. Shadowshot is supposed to teleport you to your target unless he evades the attack. If it doesn’t work as you write it here, it is clearly bugged. Why don’t you do some more testing? If your conclusion remains the same, raise this issue to the admins.

I believe that the unblockable part is more a ‘quickfix’ than a real asset of the skill. It was implemented to prevent proyectile ‘reflections’ from producing weird results.

For example, when you shadowshot someone that had proyectile reflection, it would turn the proyectile to you, and for all effects, it was like if they fired the proyectile themselves. Result: they teleported to you instead of you to them. That was -cleverly- used by some thieves to ‘reverse pull’ some Mobs and players (frecuently mesmers) to themselves.

In order to deal with that, Anet made the skill ‘unblockable’, thus, preventing the proyectile from returning… But from your post, I suspect that the skill is not truly ‘unblockable’ but sort of ‘unreflectable’.

However, I’d need further tests on the subject.

In fact, the blind is unblockable but the damage are not.
Other bug, you can “override” Shadow shot with any skill with a cast time, allowing you in exemple to Backstab someone at distance. If you are stealthed and press quickly 3 → 1, you will ported to target (or anyone standing between) and immediately backstabbing it. I think this skill has two part, one being the shot and the other the “shadow strike” (as listed in combat log), and only the first is unblockable, the damage.

ich.7086:

In fact, the blind is unblockable but the damage are not.
Other bug, you can “override” Shadow shot with any skill with a cast time, allowing you in exemple to Backstab someone at distance. If you are stealthed and press quickly 3 -> 1, you will ported to target (or anyone standing between) and immediately backstabbing it. I think this skill has two part, one being the shot and the other the “shadow strike” (as listed in combat log), and only the first is unblockable, the damage.

BUT if it is Unblockable, why there is not a single guardian who gets petrified when I use it paired with Basilisk Venom when said guardians use Aegis?
I’ll try the Shadowshot-Backstab combo as soon as possible, looks really interesting.

hihey.1075:

ich.7086:

In fact, the blind is unblockable but the damage are not.
Other bug, you can “override” Shadow shot with any skill with a cast time, allowing you in exemple to Backstab someone at distance. If you are stealthed and press quickly 3 -> 1, you will ported to target (or anyone standing between) and immediately backstabbing it. I think this skill has two part, one being the shot and the other the “shadow strike” (as listed in combat log), and only the first is unblockable, the damage.

BUT if it is Unblockable, why there is not a single guardian who gets petrified when I use it paired with Basilisk Venom when said guardians use Aegis?
I’ll try the Shadowshot-Backstab combo as soon as possible, looks really interesting.

This is just a guess, but maybe venoms are only triggered on abilities that do damage.

For example, a steal with Sleight of Hand wont trigger BV, but a steal with Mug will.

Venoms only trigger on damage yes.
Like the one above me pointed out with steal, shadow shot (the unblockable projectile part) doesn’t do any damage and won’t trigger basilisk.

The only weird part is

Moreover, why don’t I shadowstep to my target when I hit them with Shadow Shot?

This would be a bug..

Gwalchgwn.1659:

Venoms only trigger on damage yes.
Like the one above me pointed out with steal, shadow shot (the unblockable projectile part) doesn’t do any damage and won’t trigger basilisk.

The only weird part is

Moreover, why don’t I shadowstep to my target when I hit them with Shadow Shot?

This would be a bug..

So, as the “bullet” part of shadow shot does not deal damage, not only I would not apply Venom on my enemy if he has Aegis on, but said Aegis will not be removed by it, too. Am I mistaken?
Simply put, there is NO way to apply basilisk venom on a Guardian who has Aegis on as a PD/SB thief, correct?

As for the second part, I’ll try that a bit more. MAYBE it did not work because we were not on even ground, because I remember using it when a warrior was running upside a slope.
Will update this thread after I collect more info. For the time being, many thanks to everyone who helped me figure out the Venom thing

As far as I understand it, the bullet part is a non damaging move that applies blind and teleports to target and is unblockable, however the melee hit follow up is not unblockable, thus getting absorbed by blocks / Aegis.

To break a guardian’s aegis without breaking your own stealth, use headshot. This will remove his aegis at the cost of taking away your basilisk venom. If you reallly want to get that stun in, you could invest 30 points in Deadly Arts to make venoms last two strikes instead of one. Or take Bountiful Theft.