Guild Wars 2

A lot of you have seemingly brushed off Assassin’s Equilibrium, deeming it too short or not “Grandmaster-worthy”, but it seems many of you haven’t looked into traiting 30 into Acrobatics for AE with at least 5 in Shadow Arts to essentially combine both traits into another, gaining stability at 25% health.

Another poster mentioned S/D suffering from the Lyssa rune nerf, but I think that some finnicking around may prove that S/D can once again be a viable format in PvP. Here’s a little build I can see coming out of this, which would do especially well with S/D’s non-reliance on stealth:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQNAsYVl0MpspdPx0J8PRRsfoncFSq/By29gryHAA-TsAg0CnIQShkDJDSSksINKY9x8DA

This is all hypothetical, obviously, but I do see this trait having much greater potential than anyone’s giving it.

Been on this since Day One, at least for WvW. AE is right in the wheelhouse of the S/D Thief that has 10 points down Shadow Arts right now. Since you’re already looking at having Pain Response or Fluid Strikes, it’s only going to involve moving around 5-10 points from elsewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

Maugetarr.6823:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

I’m serious, but thanks for assuming that I’m trolling (for some reason?).

This is the Thief forums. Spitballing or trying to be creative is frowned upon.

Seems like maybe there’s a role in here for Instinctual Response, but you’re giving up some damage for that no matter what, and I know the DPS threshold can be touchy in PvP given limited access to crit.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Maugetarr.6823:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

I’m serious, but thanks for assuming that I’m trolling (for some reason?).

I actually couldn’t be sure because the solution provided still relies on the poor nature of last refuge and will still likely get you killed as the whole reason you get revealed from last refuge is that you are trying to stealth, not trying to avoid CC.

Edit: The second half I took more seriously as new/non-meta builds are always welcome. Next time I’ll explain myself better.

Maugetarr.6823:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Maugetarr.6823:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

I’m serious, but thanks for assuming that I’m trolling (for some reason?).

I actually couldn’t be sure because the solution provided still relies on the poor nature of last refuge and will still likely get you killed as the whole reason you get revealed from last refuge is that you are trying to stealth, not trying to avoid CC.

Generally with S/D you aren’t constantly going into stealth and don’t suffer from mishappeningly gaining Revealed at 25% health. I don’t see it working well with a dagger build, but both S/D and S/P, and even P/P would actually find this useful.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Maugetarr.6823:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Maugetarr.6823:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

I’m serious, but thanks for assuming that I’m trolling (for some reason?).

I actually couldn’t be sure because the solution provided still relies on the poor nature of last refuge and will still likely get you killed as the whole reason you get revealed from last refuge is that you are trying to stealth, not trying to avoid CC.

Generally with S/D you aren’t constantly going into stealth and don’t suffer from mishappeningly gaining Revealed at 25% health. I don’t see it working well with a dagger build, but both S/D and S/P, and even P/P would actually find this useful.

They might, but you are still relying on a minor adept and a major GM trait that relies on the opponent damaging you enough to trigger it. The odds of it being useful during this are also very slim as there will only be a 1.3 – 1.5 (w/ Traveler runes) second window for this to work. Another problem I see with this trait is that it can never really be buffed, or else it would become OP. While 1 second base is far too short, Increasing it to 2 seconds would allow this to be extended to 3(ish) with traveler runes, allowing thieves to cover almost the entire duration of revealed (in WvW at least) turning the right builds into un-interruptable machines leading to more QQ.

I like the idea of the traits that they are adding, especially both of the on-reveal since it promotes more aggressive play. For a trait named assassins equilibrium, I would have liked to see something like “transfer a condition to your foe on revealed” hopefully curbing the-condi meta and increasing the non-SA survivability of thieves. Currently, I think this trait is weaker than cloaked in shadow which lets you reactively avoid both the CC and damage portions of a hit with a well timed CnD.

A very interesting line of though, I think you are not consequent enough with your build though.

I’d suggest 0/0/10/30/30

zerker amulett

sword new sigil of intelligence, dagger +5% crit chance, sb sigil of purification and new sigil of intelligence

the trickery utility combined with 3 guaranteed crits on every weapon swap will make up for any damage loss by far plus your crits will be protected by stability if you do it right

probably scholar or lyssa runes… (edit) forget that pvp traveller runes of course…

There’s no damage with that build. As others said, I think relying on last refuge in this way will provide next to no benefit.

Quick and easy solution to both Assassin’s Equilibrium and Last Refuge.

Take Last Refuge and completely scrap it.
Make Assassin’s Equilibrium the Shadow Arts adept Minor trait.

Kills two birds with one stone, getting rid of a broken minor trait, and putting AE in both the trait line and trait level (adept minor) it deserves.

Then all they have to do is make a new Acrobatics GM Major trait.

Dakota.4591:

Quick and easy solution to both Assassin’s Equilibrium and Last Refuge.

Take Last Refuge and completely scrap it.
Make Assassin’s Equilibrium the Shadow Arts adept Minor trait.

Kills two birds with one stone, getting rid of a broken minor trait, and putting AE in both the trait line and trait level (adept minor) it deserves.

Then all they have to do is make a new Acrobatics GM Major trait.

That would be an incredibly powerful 5-point adept trait, don’t you think?

A thief at 25% health with stability is meaningless. Also last refuge has a considerable cooldown, not something you can rely on in the midst of a duel.

I’d rather have them scrap last refuge, put Infusion of shadow (2 initiative upon entering stealth), and come up with a valid adept major trait for SA to replace it. Heck even put AE as that replacement and just come up with something good for a GM acrobatics trait like successful evasion of an attack removes 2 conditions with a 15 second ICD or something. Its a GM trait, it should fill some big shoes especially for a playstyle that focuses less on stealth and more on evasion/positioning.

what if they make (Assassin’s Equilibrium) .
activate on gaining stealth not coming out

so it worked like cloaked in shadow. blinds on stealth

it would be more reliable
reviled time would be the cool down
and blinds / dazes from the sword coming out of stealth would not over lap as much making the stability useless

Viking Jorun.5413:

Dakota.4591:

Quick and easy solution to both Assassin’s Equilibrium and Last Refuge.

Take Last Refuge and completely scrap it.
Make Assassin’s Equilibrium the Shadow Arts adept Minor trait.

Kills two birds with one stone, getting rid of a broken minor trait, and putting AE in both the trait line and trait level (adept minor) it deserves.

Then all they have to do is make a new Acrobatics GM Major trait.

That would be an incredibly powerful 5-point adept trait, don’t you think?

1 second of stability that can only be triggered after A) Going into stealth and Successfully landing a hit and C) Timing both A and B perfectly so that the stability is still up when the applicable hit lands? Nope, not incredibly powerful at all for a 5-point trait. Having this stability actually block a hit boils down to pure luck. And a trait that only works on pure luck is still less effective than most 5-point traits out there, but I’d still happily take it as a replacement for Last Refuge.

NinjaEd.3946:

A thief at 25% health with stability is meaningless. Also last refuge has a considerable cooldown, not something you can rely on in the midst of a duel.

Think you misunderstood me. Not a trait that grants stability using Last Refuge’s mechanics. Completely taking Last Refuge out and pretend it never happened, and just putting AE in its current form in its place.

Dakota.4591:

NinjaEd.3946:

A thief at 25% health with stability is meaningless. Also last refuge has a considerable cooldown, not something you can rely on in the midst of a duel.

Think you misunderstood me. Not a trait that grants stability using Last Refuge’s mechanics. Completely taking Last Refuge out and pretend it never happened, and just putting AE in its current form in its place.

If that’s the case its still pretty bad. Just like hard to catch, its too clunky to work with and not worth a GM trait (H2C used to be GM, still not worth it even as a master). Also many people have pointed out the incredibly obvious, why get stability and soak up CC when you can evade its effects and the damage that comes with it? I mean you’re already in acrobatics.

BTW I was replying to OP, sorry for misunderstanding. It would be suitable as a 5 point adept SA minor trait, but only reason I say that is because Last refuge is bad and anything beats it. In either case, both AE and LR are both highly unreliable and like you said, boil down to pure luck. Minor traits shouldn’t have drawbacks, and revealing yourself just to soak up cc is a drawback imo.

NinjaEd.3946:

Dakota.4591:

NinjaEd.3946:

A thief at 25% health with stability is meaningless. Also last refuge has a considerable cooldown, not something you can rely on in the midst of a duel.

Think you misunderstood me. Not a trait that grants stability using Last Refuge’s mechanics. Completely taking Last Refuge out and pretend it never happened, and just putting AE in its current form in its place.

If that’s the case its still pretty bad. Just like hard to catch, its too clunky to work with and not worth a GM trait (H2C used to be GM, still not worth it even as a master). Also many people have pointed out the incredibly obvious, why get stability and soak up CC when you can evade its effects and the damage that comes with it? I mean you’re already in acrobatics.

Yes, it is still pretty bad. But it’s still much more useful than Last Refuge, a trait that actively contributes to getting you killed. And by replacing Last Refuge with it, it would move it to the Shadow Arts tree where it is much more appropriate for a trait involving stealth. And by making it a minor trait, you wouldn’t even have to waste points on it.