Guild Wars 2

~Now i’ve been putting off when I should and would actually release this build, but I think the time is now. I recently completed my Ascended celestial all stat armor.
Please note: Before I was running Celestial gear (Which was my end goal), I was using Knights gear. Which works equally as well, and actually even better due to the extra armor rating 3.1k+

-Build Focus: Life Steal
Sources of Life Steal
-Leeching Venom trait(Spider Venom, Bassilick Venom)
-Shadow Refuge(Field:Dark- Meaning It will siphon/steal life from your opponent)
-Shadow Refuge+Spider Venom combo
-Omnomberry Ghost food
-When dual sigil on 2h weapon comes around :S.S of Blood w. perception on my Shortbow

First Engagement
Start your initial attack at a range that your enemy might not suspect you may attack from: (Long Reach trait)
-Equip Spider Venom
-CnD+Steal Precast—-Sneak attack
-Shadow Strike—Then Move closer in
-CnD—Sneak Attack, etc..

Notes
~Gain extra Vitality and Bonus;s with WvW buffs (Bloodlust/Defense against Guards/Guard Leech)
~I often forget to switch to my stacking weapon, so I put a stacking Sigil on both of my sets.
~Depending on how tough or how much critical chance you want, you can swap your rings between Rampagers’, and Cavelier’s
~This build is meant to survive and sustain some damage

~Please refer to “To Be a Thief” Thread
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/To-Be-A-Thief-1/first#post3639885
And
~“Psychology Of a Thief” Thread
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Psychology-Of-A-Thief/first#post3855072

~Down Below are pictures of the stats I run with Celestial Gear/ And Knights Gear. Essentially they both serve the same purpose, one’s more tanky, the other holds greater H.P

Build Calculator
Updated Traits 10/0/30/0/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQNAqYVlsMp7plOxoJ8PNRw9wpQtpePK7YNrWBaC-zUCBIgBCXEkiIQEFgJqFRjtMsIasKZCp6aYaYROAACghO0he0je0IFg5CjA-w

Original still viable trait setup
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQNAqYVlsMp7plOxoJ8PRRw9wpQtpeKK7Y1KQzuCRF-zUCBIgBCXEkiIQEFgJqFRjtMsIasKZCp6aYaYROAACghO0he0je0IFg5CjA-w

Interesting enough but then my main questions are: Would this be considered a power build or a condition damage build? Maybe even Hybrid? The answer to that goes to my next question of why you went with celestial instead of choosing armor that directly benefits you. Even more interesting is why you have Traveler Runes which tells me, or actually doesn’t tell me where the main damage comes from :p but it looks interesting, I hope we get to see it in action

RedSpectrum.1975:

Interesting enough but then my main questions are: Would this be considered a power build or a condition damage build? Maybe even Hybrid? The answer to that goes to my next question of why you went with celestial instead of choosing armor that directly benefits you. Even more interesting is why you have Traveler Runes which tells me, or actually doesn’t tell me where the main damage comes from :p but it looks interesting, I hope we get to see it in action

Good questions!

~This is my Hybrid build
~Travelers runes, so it can free up a slow for Spider venom (Look at my life siphon sources above)
~I offered a Celestial ascended and Knights exotic alternative. They both hold the similar stat make ups, But I am running with Celestial as a main armor set due to the fact that It gives me extra vitality, rather than pure knights, that gives lower HP pool but higher armor rating. Celestial gear just balances my stats out. On another note. I didn’t want an ascended set that I would just want to have sit in my inventory. So i picked a universal gear setup.

Is this the build you were running when we dueled a while ago?

Reikou.7068:

Is this the build you were running when we dueled a while ago?

I don’t really remember our duel.., Do you remember which gear I was running. Green or white gear?, And if it was my white gear, I have made changes to the build since then.

AIKIJIN d00d <3
I’m liking the stat spread on this build mannn. Might try this outtttt

Shirts.3275:

AIKIJIN d00d <3
I’m liking the stat spread on this build mannn. Might try this outtttt

SHIRTSSS<3
Dope bro!, Tell me if it works for you if you try it out!

/Discuss
Has anyone tested. I would love the feedback

Wow super impressed with the layout of this build… once im done getting my ascended dire I’ma have to try this out. looks too fun

ryan.6217:

Wow super impressed with the layout of this build… once im done getting my ascended dire I’ma have to try this out. looks too fun

Thanks my man!, This is a solid build, Invested alot of time into theory crafting it to perform how I want it to perform. I hope you took a look at the different pictures. One with Ascended Celestial and the other Exotic Knights. Thanks for the feedback ^^

Hi AikijinX,

This is Payan, you show me how to play some time ago. i’m really happy that you still have the same sharing spirit. i must try this build!

Best regards my friend, this is what community needs instead of people crying all the time.

I understand that this is a PvE WvW build but im going to toy around a bit with a buddy of mine in the Heart of the Mists since that’s the next best thing to spending actual gold (Gearing my newest 80 soon be sure to check out my siggy soon still a thief at heart though ). A couple things that I’ve been wondering about though. Shadow Refuge is indeed a source of Lifesteal, but it’s usually used as a final trump card. Now, with a normal stealth build, you could get all benefits from Shadow Refuge; you gain the stealth and regen then attack with a powerful stealth attack when you feel comfortable. With though it seems that you have to choose one or the other, stealth or lifesteal (I mean I’m sure you can place it in front of you and shoot through it but that may not always be an option). So my friend, what do you use Shadow refuge for mainly?

Also, obviously you chose Descent into shadows for WvW so it goes without question that you’d go for Power of Inertia as an alternative, but what I find interesting in the Trickery tree is that you chose long reach. Why? I’m not saying you made a poor choice but on paper P/D is ranged but not long range, and you’ll want to be within a decent range anyway to get CnD’s off. So I would think a normal steal range would suffice, not to mention if one went with Thrill of the Crime you’d get bonus condi damage and Fury increasing your crit chance even higher.

Superior sigil of Air I can see for the damage, but why not Superior Sigil of Blood to go with your theme of a vampiric thief? You’ve chosen to invest resources to Precision so that would benefit from it I would think, and add more Health Siphons to your siphon build.

Overall, these weren’t criticisms just questions I wanted cleared up to understand the mentality behind some of your choices. The build looks really innovative, wish necromancers had something like it since they are supposed to be vampire like. Looks really fun, oh and one last thing, Shortbow will get two sigils soon, what is the second you’d plan on using?

AikijinX.6258:

ryan.6217:

Wow super impressed with the layout of this build… once im done getting my ascended dire I’ma have to try this out. looks too fun

Thanks my man!, This is a solid build, Invested alot of time into theory crafting it to perform how I want it to perform. I hope you took a look at the different pictures. One with Ascended Celestial and the other Exotic Knights. Thanks for the feedback ^^

I did indeed look at both!! with your celestial gear you ahve only 17 less armor than my dire/apoth gear set up. healing is obviously a bit lower, but with the life siphon form the venoms this only costs you about 50hp a hit, this is course made up by the increase in raw damage your build has. PLUS you ahve a good 4000 health on my build. impressive how this build ( with the food and guard stacks ) completely out does a focused condi bunker build.

AikijinX.6258:

ryan.6217:

Wow super impressed with the layout of this build… once im done getting my ascended dire I’ma have to try this out. looks too fun

Thanks my man!, This is a solid build, Invested alot of time into theory crafting it to perform how I want it to perform. I hope you took a look at the different pictures. One with Ascended Celestial and the other Exotic Knights. Thanks for the feedback ^^

I did indeed look at both!! with your celestial gear you ahve only 17 less armor than my dire/apoth gear set up. healing is obviously a bit lower, but with the life siphon form the venoms this only costs you about 50hp a hit, this is course made up by the increase in raw damage your build has. PLUS you ahve a good 4000 health on my build. impressive how this build ( with the food and guard stacks ) completely out does a focused condi bunker build.

Is that a dbl post I see?

RedSpectrum.1975:

I understand that this is a PvE WvW build but im going to toy around a bit with a buddy of mine in the Heart of the Mists since that’s the next best thing to spending actual gold (Gearing my newest 80 soon be sure to check out my siggy soon still a thief at heart though ). A couple things that I’ve been wondering about though. Shadow Refuge is indeed a source of Lifesteal, but it’s usually used as a final trump card. Now, with a normal stealth build, you could get all benefits from Shadow Refuge; you gain the stealth and regen then attack with a powerful stealth attack when you feel comfortable. With though it seems that you have to choose one or the other, stealth or lifesteal (I mean I’m sure you can place it in front of you and shoot through it but that may not always be an option). So my friend, what do you use Shadow refuge for mainly?

Also, obviously you chose Descent into shadows for WvW so it goes without question that you’d go for Power of Inertia as an alternative, but what I find interesting in the Trickery tree is that you chose long reach. Why? I’m not saying you made a poor choice but on paper P/D is ranged but not long range, and you’ll want to be within a decent range anyway to get CnD’s off. So I would think a normal steal range would suffice, not to mention if one went with Thrill of the Crime you’d get bonus condi damage and Fury increasing your crit chance even higher.

Superior sigil of Air I can see for the damage, but why not Superior Sigil of Blood to go with your theme of a vampiric thief? You’ve chosen to invest resources to Precision so that would benefit from it I would think, and add more Health Siphons to your siphon build.

Overall, these weren’t criticisms just questions I wanted cleared up to understand the mentality behind some of your choices. The build looks really innovative, wish necromancers had something like it since they are supposed to be vampire like. Looks really fun, oh and one last thing, Shortbow will get two sigils soon, what is the second you’d plan on using?

Thanks for the questions, I do love to answer, and just give people the thought process behind my choosing of my abilities, equipment, etc. So First

- Now Shadow Refuge is important to this build because it gives the user an alternative life steal source. Yes Shadow refuge is used for numerous situations. I do not denounce that. How I use my shadow refuge is not ONLY just to life steal. I use my refuge to full effect. If I need to wait for a CD, or regen hp, of course I will not choose to life steal through the refuge oppose to just regening in stealth. I usually use my refuge when I know my opponent has nothing left, and are below 50%. I will not use my refuge and shoot into when my foe is above 70%hp that is not wise at all. (Please look at my “To be a Thief” thread down below.)

- Descent of Shadows is always great to have equipped, never know when you have to use your environment to your advantage. Now I chose Long reach trait because it is very valuable. Higher tier thieves know this, Amonatory, Triggerless, etc. We all use Long reach, solely due to the fact that you can attack your opponent at a deceivingly longer range. The one who attacks first is King. So you will always have the better advantage. This trait is great for when you need to chase, or get away. People overlook this trait alot, and that’s what separates the logical high tiered thieves from the power hungry fast to react non thinking thieves. Use your traits to the fullest extent.

-I chose superior sigil of Air and not blood because for one, my Air damage proc’s an extra 1.2k. And pretty frequently. I don’t switch weapons as often when I am roaming. P/D will be my main source of damage, short bow is to get away, or chase. If i were to use a sigil to life steal. I would use Sigil of Blood. Which is ALSO what I will be equipping for my short bow when the 2 sigil on 2 handed weapons update comes around.
-
“To be a Thief” – https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/To-Be-A-Thief-1/first#post3639885

SoLeciTO.3490:

Hi AikijinX,

This is Payan, you show me how to play some time ago. i’m really happy that you still have the same sharing spirit. i must try this build!

Best regards my friend, this is what community needs instead of people crying all the time.

I always try to give back to my community ^^ Tell me whether you like it afterwards. :]

Edit: When 2 handed weapon sigil come around I will be rolling Superior Sigil of Blood, and Perception, as a combo. Not Leeching sigil.

save spider venom til you get target to 75%. you wont get the HP steal and u want the poison to apply kinda close to targets heal

Curious question: Why pick Hide in Shadow over the new Skelk Venom for an obscenely massive heals? CnD would be sufficient enough for condition removal.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Curious question: Why pick Hide in Shadow over the new Skelk Venom for an obscenely massive heals? CnD would be sufficient enough for condition removal.

They both heal roughly the same. HIS gives stealth (which will heal again through Shadow’s Rejuvenation) and only has 30 sec CD. Obviously also has the added Condition removal.

Skelk venom is 50% longer cooldown than HIS, shares similar healing. You may also proc a heal when you’re already full.

Not a great argument on my part, but HIS does seem a much better choice even if the build focuses on leaching.

I would have loved skelk venom heal, but the CD was very abit too much to handle.. Plus the stealth on HIS is unbelievably useful

Zach.3264:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Curious question: Why pick Hide in Shadow over the new Skelk Venom for an obscenely massive heals? CnD would be sufficient enough for condition removal.

They both heal roughly the same. HIS gives stealth (which will heal again through Shadow’s Rejuvenation) and only has 30 sec CD. Obviously also has the added Condition removal.

But that’s not really a concern when you’re constantly leeching isn’kitten

Skelk venom is 50% longer cooldown than HIS, shares similar healing. You may also proc a heal when you’re already full.

Even if you are full, that proc still deals damage, right?

Not a great argument on my part, but HIS does seem a much better choice even if the build focuses on leaching.

Thanks for the answer, but has anyone actually ran with the Skelk Venom with this build?

The cost of acquiring all the items in this build prevents me from testing this myself.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

The cost of acquiring all the items in this build prevents me from testing this myself.

First off, Aikijinx I really am enjoying this setup. The stat mix you put together sings with this build. I also could not invest in the Ascended Armor and Trav. Runes. I put together my own version of the build using pieces I had access to, I ended up with very comparable stats. Please let me know if you have any tweaks or recommendations to the changes I made.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQNAqYVlsMp0pFNx7J8PNRw9wpQtpePK7YNrWBaC-zkzAYLEkWAxaRjgARVwIMgEBAqASCsIasFzioxqqXUtmBTlC45DWAAEAazjezjmUAmLMC-w

UltraVylence.7320:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

The cost of acquiring all the items in this build prevents me from testing this myself.

First off, Aikijinx I really am enjoying this setup. The stat mix you put together sings with this build. I also could not invest in the Ascended Armor and Trav. Runes. I put together my own version of the build using pieces I had access to, I ended up with very comparable stats. Please let me know if you have any tweaks or recommendations to the changes I made.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQNAqYVlsMp0pFNx7J8PNRw9wpQtpePK7YNrWBaC-zkzAYLEkWAxaRjgARVwIMgEBAqASCsIasFzioxqqXUtmBTlC45DWAAEAazjezjmUAmLMC-w

Thank you my friend. Yes this build does come with quite a cost, but as long as you have money for atleast knights armor then you should be fine, the trinkets parts will only come with time. And yes the Trav runes are expensive as well that too will come with time, and your build is quite interesting, i will have to test this out myself.

The hybrid experiment I’m testing (brought here by the newer hybrid thread posted earlier https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Thieves-are-meant-to-be-hybrids-O/first#post3886269 ):

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|a.5q.h1n.8.5q.h1.d12.0.d12|5.1q.h1.0.0.0|5q.71m.5q.71m.5q.71m.5q.71m.5q.71m.5q.71m.d16.d16.d16.d16.d16.d16|2v.d13.2t.d13.3t.d16.1h.67.1h.67.2w.d12|0.u63b.u46b.0.a4|30.1|57.5b.5c.5g.0|e

Add the following stats for WvW rank bonuses and bloodlust sigil:

power: 350,
condition damage: 100,
vitality: 250,

full dire is so much better and cheaper

Mooncow.6847:

full dire is so much better and cheaper

You must think this build concentrates on condition. That’s where you are wrong. Look at the build description. This is hybrid.

Hey man.

After the update, do you still use travelers runes? I used to run your build when I got sick of D/D, and wanted something else. People don’t really expect the life leech, pretty funny.

Do you sometimes feel “cheap” running this? I mean, you are an pain in the kitten with this setup, haha.

mompen.7952:

Hey man.

After the update, do you still use travelers runes? I used to run your build when I got sick of D/D, and wanted something else. People don’t really expect the life leech, pretty funny.

Do you sometimes feel “cheap” running this? I mean, you are an pain in the kitten with this setup, haha.

Yeah man this setup is very surprising to people. But Yes i still run travelers runes. They’re too good not to run. I need to because I need every utility i have equipped.