Guild Wars 2

Hey all

Some of you may remember me, some may not. I was a BETA tester and early player of GW2 through half of December but haven’t been on since then. I was really disgusted with the S/D nerfs in November and experimented with other classes for a month before leaving.

My question, then, is has anything changed since mid-December affecting the power level of various Thief builds? I browsed the first few threads here and a lot of people mentioned S/D. When I left it was the least played spec out there.

Thanks

I still don’t see the point of S/D tbh. It has all the positional requirements of a Dagger spec with none of the burst, subpar damage overall, and not enough survivability to make up for it.

As for new things, venom triggers no longer deplete on missed swings (but still do on block/evade/blind/etc..) which is kind of nice, and Shadowshot finally doesn’t root on hit (which is awesome) – it’s helped to make D/P the defacto choice more or less atm.

evilapprentice.6379:

I still don’t see the point of S/D tbh. It has all the positional requirements of a Dagger spec with none of the burst, subpar damage overall, and not enough survivability to make up for it.

As for new things, venom triggers no longer deplete on missed swings (but still do on block/evade/blind/etc..) which is kind of nice, and Shadowshot finally doesn’t root on hit (which is awesome) – it’s helped to make D/P the defacto choice more or less atm.

Well…. that sucks. Before November S/D was the best dueling spec a Thief had.

It had burst, consistent damage, and more tankyness than other Thief builds. The final swing in the Sword 1 chain consistently crit for 3.5k. The other ones hit for around 3k. Tactical strike also dazed (with appropriate runes) for 2.5-3 seconds.

Sad to hear not much has changed.

You can still use it if you’re willing to actually do so.
30 SA and 30 Trickery specs still work fine for S/D.
Oh and if you weren’t aware tripwire and needle trap no longer have broken hitboxes (if it matters at all to ya). So essentially all our skills except for scorpion wire work at this moment now.

If you want to burst someone with a sword you can do so, it’s like people never heard of Haste and mug. You’re just generally less upfront than a dagger, but tbh you can sit in Sword longer imo. Less immediate dependence on the bow. When you can manage close and mid-range positions with Inf strike.

ensoriki.5789:

You can still use it if you’re willing to actually do so.
30 SA and 30 Trickery specs still work fine for S/D.
Oh and if you weren’t aware tripwire and needle trap no longer have broken hitboxes (if it matters at all to ya). So essentially all our skills except for scorpion wire work at this moment now.

If you want to burst someone with a sword you can do so, it’s like people never heard of Haste and mug. You’re just generally less upfront than a dagger, but tbh you can sit in Sword longer imo. Less immediate dependence on the bow. When you can manage close and mid-range positions with Inf strike.

Sword has crappy burst in and of itself – mug and haste are independent and can be used with any weaponset to bring “more” or “better” burst(assuming you go 10 DA for mug).

You can sit in sword longer, generally, because sword takes longer to actually down a target. It still doesn’t hold a candle to D/P IMO.

You can sit in sword longer, because you can remove yourself from immediate frontline danger. Not because of TTK and go back in with that knowledge. Generally if you have 2 ini, you have a way out. With or without Shadowstep. D/ can find this more problematic and switch to shortbow to compensate.

evilapprentice.6379:

I still don’t see the point of S/D tbh. It has all the positional requirements of a Dagger spec with none of the burst, subpar damage overall, and not enough survivability to make up for it.

As for new things, venom triggers no longer deplete on missed swings (but still do on block/evade/blind/etc..) which is kind of nice, and Shadowshot finally doesn’t root on hit (which is awesome) – it’s helped to make D/P the defacto choice more or less atm.

That’s because you take a simple minded approach to pvp (MOAR DPS OR IT SUCKS)….S/D is about CC and does extremely well at it’s job. A good S/D thief is a D/D thief’s worst nightmare with the immobilizes and snares.

I find 0/30/30/0/10 works well enough on my S/D. The highlights of my build are blind, regen, condition removal on stealth (which is about every 3 seconds in combat).

Dual.8953:

I find 0/30/30/0/10 works well enough on my S/D. The highlights of my build are blind, regen, condition removal on stealth (which is about every 3 seconds in combat).

Don’t forget condition removal from shadow return, boon stripping, an unblockable attack, snares, and immobilize ^.^
-edit Oh and daze ofc lol

Adaneshade.2409:

evilapprentice.6379:

I still don’t see the point of S/D tbh. It has all the positional requirements of a Dagger spec with none of the burst, subpar damage overall, and not enough survivability to make up for it.

As for new things, venom triggers no longer deplete on missed swings (but still do on block/evade/blind/etc..) which is kind of nice, and Shadowshot finally doesn’t root on hit (which is awesome) – it’s helped to make D/P the defacto choice more or less atm.

That’s because you take a simple minded approach to pvp (MOAR DPS OR IT SUCKS)….S/D is about CC and does extremely well at it’s job. A good S/D thief is a D/D thief’s worst nightmare with the immobilizes and snares.

A D/D thief is his own worst nightmare, because he took D/D over D/P for some unbeknownst reason. Of course S/D wrecks a kittentier setup, just the same way D/P (in general) wrecks S/D. The only thing D/D excels at is 30/30/x instagib builds – with those losing favor as more and more players learn how to avoid it, you’re seeing alot less D/D thieves.

Generally, when I’m playing a mid armor/low HP class with no access to an “Oh kitten” button like every other class in the game has, no protection, no stability, kittenty access to regen, and mid-value heals, yes, I focus on damage – it’s what thief was designed to do. S/D’s CC can be kind of good in a highly coordinated team, I suppose, but D/P is just more generally useful across the board – those rare situations where S/D outshines it don’t compare to all the other times D/P is just generally better.

You’re trading great burst, lots of blind, a gap closer with better range,damage and a blind attached, and on demand stealth for…. a 1.5s daze (That does less than a front stab), a broken AND poorly designed dual skill, and the awesomeness that is IS. That’s a very big tradeoff for IS.

“Been Awhile- Anything Changed?”

yeah, there’s no one to play against anymore.

evilapprentice.6379:

Adaneshade.2409:

evilapprentice.6379:

I still don’t see the point of S/D tbh. It has all the positional requirements of a Dagger spec with none of the burst, subpar damage overall, and not enough survivability to make up for it.

As for new things, venom triggers no longer deplete on missed swings (but still do on block/evade/blind/etc..) which is kind of nice, and Shadowshot finally doesn’t root on hit (which is awesome) – it’s helped to make D/P the defacto choice more or less atm.

That’s because you take a simple minded approach to pvp (MOAR DPS OR IT SUCKS)….S/D is about CC and does extremely well at it’s job. A good S/D thief is a D/D thief’s worst nightmare with the immobilizes and snares.

You’re trading great burst, lots of blind, a gap closer with better range,damage and a blind attached, and on demand stealth for…. a 1.5s daze (That does less than a front stab), a broken AND poorly designed dual skill, and the awesomeness that is IS. That’s a very big tradeoff for IS.

This is what I was getting it. S/D HAD exceptional mobility, damage, CC, and slows (back when DD was worth using.) Just wondering if anything had been changed. Guess not.
S/D was a case of “You’re dazed for 3 seconds, here, eat 10k damage worth of autoattack. Your daze is almost up? Let me do it again!” Since the revealed debuff lasts 3 seconds, you could almost permadaze someone while not taking a hit yourself. Combine that with condi removal and healing while in stealth and I guess ANET thought it was too strong.

scratchy.9528:

“Been Awhile- Anything Changed?”

yeah, there’s no one to play against anymore.

Wasn’t a whole lot when I left. 300+ servers, less than 30 full ones. Paid Ques took forever and frees took upwards of 30 minutes to an hour.