Advice for casual non beta player.
My BEST advice: Enjoy the base game. Wait for the first balance patch, if DD sees some good quality changes, purchase HOT.
Other wise, play your ele. Keep in mind that tempest is suppose to be pretty meh in general, but ele has and most likely will always be very good.
It comes down to personal preference.
For me Daredevil is an utter mess.
It has to be differed between staff and Daredevil and also between pve and pvp though:
Staff:
Staff has good damage, better than dagger/dagger actually but nowhere near top of the line compared to other classes/specialisations.
Apart from damage there is not much else and you are definitely NOT an infighter staying close up contrary to what Karl tries to sell.
Also I find it very spammy and not very controled to play it is either spamming (in the worst sense of the meaning of spamming) evades or insta death.
I tried more balanced stat combinations but with those survivability is around the same and damage is completely gone.
Other weapon combinations:
I did not try S/D but read here on the forums that it is nearly as good as the old Acrobatics traitline but not quite.
PvP:
If you want to do PvP keep away from thief. It is very powerful against newer players but as soon as you meet a competent player of any class he will be your hard counter.
Thief is not so much hardcountered by class but more by player skill. New player’s die easily okayish players put up a fight and good players are nearly unbeatable because the thief relies on the other player making errors while you play more or less perfectly.
At the moment one can cope but with the introduction of the real elite specs even meta d/p will be a thing of the past.
I would say: Create a revenant and play shiro, is more powerful, more fun and has aactual animations.
Best regards,
Eleandra
Staff:
Staff has good damage, better than dagger/dagger actually
This is false. D/D still has FAR greater single target dps. Staff is actually higher then swords damage in aoe cleaving situations…. But you know, no blind field, no utility, not worth it.
I followed this thread stating different numbers:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/What-is-Staff-good-for/first#post5569279
I did not verify them though.
But Arachnid even though I do not like his attitude usually checks his numbers beforehand
I followed this thread stating different numbers:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/What-is-Staff-good-for/first#post5569279
I did not verify them though.
But Arachnid even though I do not like his attitude usually checks his numbers beforehand
Dagger auto is slightly behind but you have to account for CnD + backstab damage (CnD = vault cost, half damage BS = greater damage both can be done in about the same vault cast time). Then of course heartseeker which does immense damage after the 25% mark. This combined with weakening charges inability to land all hits all the time put dagger ahead. Or at least should. Without a functioning dps meter in the game it’s hard to tell.
I followed this thread stating different numbers:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/What-is-Staff-good-for/first#post5569279
I did not verify them though.
But Arachnid even though I do not like his attitude usually checks his numbers beforehand
It doesn’t sound like he accounted for the loss of a damaging trait line.
With D/D in the meta build you can have CS, DA and Trickery, which translates to
CS: 5% crit chance increase, 7% crit damage increase, 10% precision -> ferocity, +250 ferocity and extended fury duration
DA: 200 power when revealed, 10% damage on condi enemy, 20% dmg < 50% health
Trickery: Up to 15% damage from initiative, plus the permanent +3 initiative, plus boon access (including 50% vigor uptime access and shortened steal cooldown – both extremely important to DD)
One of these has to go. No matter which one you pick, it is a serious loss in damage or in the case of trickery, utility. Since we give up a grandmaster trait merely by going daredevil, and the minor traits don’t improve damage at all, it’s almost definitely a loss.
Edit: I’d also like to point out that he grossly exaggerates weakening charge. Well, that’s not true, he mentions in passing that it’s almost impossible to land all 3 hits, but that’s a REALLY BIG DEAL when you need all 3 to compete with heartseeker. Also, weakening charge repositions you. If you’re behind the boss to avoid cleaving (as you should be) using weakening charge puts you in front of the boss which in challenging content is a guaranteed down. Or takes you out of the safe zone that you’re supposed to be standing in, such as the little area between the 2 fire circles in the cliffside fractal.
(edited by wolfpaq.7354)
comes to personal preference like elandra said
for me personally, i dont like the staff, but i never liked power builds too much anyway.
now condi d/d is a difference story; the daredevil trait line brough an incredible upgrade to the trickery/acrobatic evasion condi d/d thief in the form of lotus training, escapist absolution, endurance thief and driven fortitude
with it and sigils of energy perma evasion trough death blossom and impaling lotus is posible, plus bleed stacks of 30 and above are extremely easy to achieve, with dire stats you have an amazing survavility, and even if a few hits get trough dodge the synergy of driven fortitude with assassin reward and SoM is amazing and will get you back to full health instantly, besides being a build that works perfectly in both hot and wvw (works too in spvp but with less survavility due to the lack of dire stats)
in the condi department DD is a solid choice, and since arenanet new class trinity for raids now includes condition dps they will have a nice spot as bleed and poison stackers.
what it really needs is a toggle buttom that allows you to exchange your new dodges because Dash is a extremely good tool too for roaming and moving around
(edited by Tora.7214)