Guild Wars 2

I’m having tons of fun with s/d and the immense amounts of mobility/survivability vs. standard upfront-damage builds; I’m just having one issue: condition damage

mainly it’s necros/mesmers that stack ridiculous amounts of bleed/torment/etc; though honestly any decent condition player is giving me trouble.

I’ve been looking into Lemongrass (-40% cond duration) and both:
Runes of Lyssa:

• +10% cond duration; generally useless to me
• +90 precision; not really a huge deal but decent offensive bonus
• 10s boon when healing; not bad considering Withdrawl’s 15s cd
• Remove all conditions and gain all boons for 5s on elite skill use; huge benefit given the the relatively short (45s) cd on Basilisk Venom- something I already use.

Runes of Melandru:

• +90 toughness; dont mind the toughness boost at all.
• -25% Condition Duration; stacked with Lemongrass the total -65% cond duration seems to be a huge advantage.
• -25% Stun Duration; don’t mind this at all either.

this comes at the cost of the (imo) much needed offensive boosts of ruby/beryl orbs. I’m worried that ultimately thief (specifically s/d) is hardwired to be massively weak against conditions of any sorts with rather limited condition removal options that don’t come at the cost of offensively being effective.

so is there anything i can do? or am I just going to have to avoid condition players at all times?

edit: my build more specifically is 0/30/0/25/15; s/d+sb; full zerk armor, trinkets, and weapons

What heal skill are you using? Personally I use hide in shadows as opposed to the usual withdraw that people love for s/d, other than that try to utilize IS>SR to remove one and you can use shadowstep>SR to remove 3. I do agree that S/D is very vulnerable to condi spam since they can damage you through the countless evades. Maybe some extra vit would help too.

No, you can’t do anything.

There is no counter for condition spammers. Condition builds are the current meta. I dare say all but guardian are running condition faceroll builds the reason being is that there is no counter for condition damage.

I use Lyssa and basilisk venom for a 45CD full condition removal.

Though after that it really is rather hard to remove them, especially since S/D profits more from withdraw.
Though i considered going for HiS to cure burn, poison and bleeds at least.

I’m currently running a 10/30/0/0/30 S/D and thugh I still have troubles I tend to use inflitrator strike more than lacernous and it kinda helps. I use hide in shadows as well.

It is though a very different build in term of playstile than the common dodge S/D and it still gets countered quite a bit by conditions but you could try to use LS a bit less and IS a bit more, as the cond removal will save you more HP than a dodge would. Ofc it’s very situational and you’ll still struggle but I guess it could help a little.
Just jump in → AA chain → get out. Save LS for gap closing / boon stripping

See how it goes

I would suggest if you are having a lot of trouble with conditions killing you try:

Heal- http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hide_in_shadows
Trait- http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow's_Embrace

This will give you access to on demand condition rip if you can land your CnD’s.

Rune- I highly Suggest Lyssa Runes + BV for the on demand OMG Condition Clear.
If you still have trouble with conditions you may want to add more stealth until you are able to survive.

Alt Rune Coice- Superior Rune of Hoelbrak is another option
+25 Power.png Power
+20% Might Duration
+50 Power
5% chance to gain Might for 20s when hit. (Cooldown: 5s)
+90 Power
-20% Condition Duration applied to you.

Personally I like to play a far point Harasser with Cruuk’s build, but that’s PvP and another story all together since you mention using food. Good Luck!