Guild Wars 2

Just wondering what are the best Runes for a Glass Cannon build, im currently using Ruby Orbs, what should I be upgrading those slots into Rune wise? Or do I keep the Ruby Orbs. And for weapons im using 5% crit chance sigils of accuracy on each weapon, I’m being told that they do stack its just a bug on the hero panel that they do not show ? I believe im correct on this?

Keep 5% crit chance or change to 5% crit dmg?

Keep ruby orbs or upgrade to a better rune?

Thanks guys.

for sigils : sigil of bloodlust is the top for glass cannon , sigil of strenght or fire can also be considered

why is everyone so crazy about bloodlust?
Full glass cannon in pve has around 3500 attack, and over 250% total crit damage. To that, 25 stacks of bloodlust is less than 10% boost, while as the 10+% crit rate for 25 stack of preci is well over 10% total damage boost.

6 orbs: +120 Power, +84 Precision, + 12% Crit Damage
6 scholars: +165 Power, +8% Crit Damage, +10% Damage^90% (example)

Runes can add 165 to one stat, 50 to another and have a bonus effect, like the Rune of the Fighter: +165 Power, +50 Toughness and as bonus 10 seconds of might when using a healing skill.

The +10% makes the difference but only if your health is near full and you know best if that’s frequent, rarely or when needed.

So then … Sigil of Perception is better then Bloodlust?

And I could see if you got Sigil of Perception for the extra precision, to make up for the no precision on the Rune of Scholars, with the Scholars giving you all the extra damage?

Would this be a good combo? or is there better ideas out there?

Ichishi.9613:

why is everyone so crazy about bloodlust?
Full glass cannon in pve has around 3500 attack, and over 250% total crit damage. To that, 25 stacks of bloodlust is less than 10% boost, while as the 10+% crit rate for 25 stack of preci is well over 10% total damage boost.

Your wrong, in a general glass cannon build, you will have around 50% crit chance already, + 250 precision adds 11.90% more critical hit chance to that, if you have 250% total crit dmg you will have more dmg OVERALL, or, DPS. However, glass cannons are designed to BURST down in FEW hits (eg. backstab builds), those who build for this are already expecting to crit on the trinity mug+C&D+BS, so in this case its better to invest in power to have higher crits on BS+mug+C&D.

If, for example, the build has 2400 power, 50% crit chance and 250% crit dmg, before adding the sigils, you will get +10.20% DPS with perception sigil; if you use bloodlust, youl will have + 10.42% DPS which is slightly better DPS, only 0.22% more, but your total dmg on that BS combo will be 10.42% higher, not 0.22%.

I recently switched to glass cannon and prefer perception myself. I’m not one that waits for timers to be up etc, and I spend a decent amount of time with my shortbow. More power is great and all but crit chance means the difference between a 2500 shortbow #2 skill or 5000+ damage per shot during siege.

I also use all ruby orbs btw

Rayya.2591:

sigil of strength

Very underappreciated for damage, but it is only going to shine with both boon duration synergy and using both power and condition based damage, so not the right choice for your average glass cannon thief.

Stat stacking sigils dominate if you just consider them raw free stats without taking into consideration the difficulties of gaining/maintaining 25 stacks depending on the situation.

No one’s talking about WvW. Bloodlust is used in sPvP, not WvW. Aside from Bloodlust, Accuracy, Force, Fire, or Air are pretty good. I personally don’t like Strength for burst builds, since it really doesn’t make any sense (especially not on GC thief builds, which is based on a three hit combo). I prefer Air over Fire on D/D builds, since your damage is purely single target anyway.

Fire…. Way to go

skinnyb.5920:

Bloodlust sigils are garbage for WvW.

What, are you going to sit there EVERY time you die and kill 25 mobs just to get your stacks? Then, after you have those stacks, on your way to the fight you get zerged and wash, rinse, repeat.

depends on playstyle
if you go for camps solo /smal group you will need 10-12 minutes to make 25 stacks.
If you run with “the zerg” in your first assault /defence you made 15-20 stacks

I’m happy with Air & Force. I picked air over fire, because I use daggers for single damage. I picked force over bloodlust because I really can’t be bothered with getting 25 stacks.

I use Air and Bloodlust, as its been said Air as its single target damage,

air/fire + accuracy/perception
is what i run on most sets, switching as needed

How exactly are you guys acquiring 250% crit damage? I swear full berserker and max critical strikes and have no where near that.

KrazeyDee.8104:

How exactly are you guys acquiring 250% crit damage? I swear full berserker and max critical strikes and have no where near that.

Crits with zero +crit damage do 150 % of the damage of a regular attack (50 % bonus). When you hear someone say that they do “250 % crit damage” they don’t mean that they have +250 % from stats, but that their overall crits have a x2.5 modifier, meaning they’re running roughly +100 % crit damage from stats. The cap is somewhere around +110 % for a total of 260 % if you want to get crazy with it, but most people don’t stack it to max.

Tulisin.6945:

KrazeyDee.8104:

How exactly are you guys acquiring 250% crit damage? I swear full berserker and max critical strikes and have no where near that.

Crits with zero +crit damage do 150 % of the damage of a regular attack (50 % bonus). When you hear someone say that they do “250 % crit damage” they don’t mean that they have +250 % from stats, but that their overall crits have a x2.5 modifier, meaning they’re running roughly +100 % crit damage from stats. The cap is somewhere around +110 % for a total of 260 % if you want to get crazy with it, but most people don’t stack it to max.

Ah I see, appreciate the explanation.

skinnyb.5920:

Bloodlust sigils are garbage for WvW.

What, are you going to sit there EVERY time you die and kill 25 mobs just to get your stacks? Then, after you have those stacks, on your way to the fight you get zerged and wash, rinse, repeat.

I cant agree that it’s garbage, but I do think people overvalue the Bloodlust sigil in WvW. Maybe if you always follow a zerg in WvW, but I have sigil of energy on my shortbow, and I main Sword / dagger (sigil of fire / +crit dmg). I find the gain 50% endurance when swapping weapon in combat pretty valuable, that plus 15 in acrobatic will give you double the dodge attempts in a “oh crap” moment.

I hear people are putting bloodlust sigils into junk weapons, stacking 25 on trash mobs, and then equipping another weapon with a different sigil, thus getting the benefits of both.

Drawback is when you’re downed you gotta do it all over again, but it’s worth it to have an extra buff up at no sacrifice…

I just put a bloodlust on one of my short bows and switch to the short bow whenever I down someone in 1v1 or if I dagger storm in a large crowd and they start to get wiped. I usually end up with 10-13 stacks before I die. If I do end up with a 25 stack I just switch to my other short bow that has endurance regen on it.

Basicaly if your in WvW use your bloodlust weapon whenever you are taking over supply camp and stuff and you’ll get a large stack fast.

So, to get to the second part of my question.

Keep the ruby orbs or get a set of runes

Rune of the Scholar?

i use air /force on my daggers and then bloodlust on my shortbow. if your team wins a fight you can get 20 stacks in just that one fight. also as a burst spec thief you will spend most of your time using your shortbow and only use your backstabs for when target is less than 50 % so you get the 20 % dmg bonus as well. this is because you are very easy to kill ad will always be one of the first targets chosen. for runes i use 5 scholar 1 divinity. i spend almost no time above 90 % hp so i found this gives me better overall damage

Akumetsu.8591:

i use air /force on my daggers and then bloodlust on my shortbow. if your team wins a fight you can get 20 stacks in just that one fight. also as a burst spec thief you will spend most of your time using your shortbow and only use your backstabs for when target is less than 50 % so you get the 20 % dmg bonus as well. this is because you are very easy to kill ad will always be one of the first targets chosen. for runes i use 5 scholar 1 divinity. i spend almost no time above 90 % hp so i found this gives me better overall damage

I agree counting on 6/6 runes of scholar is unreliable, more than half the way you will drop below 90% of your health after few secs when facing enemies. I do see it as great for roamers that look for small encounters, personally, I run 6/6 divinity.

I’m running Ruby Orbs on my thief. I say its a matter of style as to how you kill. My main hand dagger gives me chance to gain might on crit, combo-ed with a nourishment(forgot the name) that gives 100% might gain upon using dodge/endurance and +40% endurance gain, I get the most of my might as it doubles my power.

If you really want recommendation I say Orbs or Divinity.

Lockon.5312:

I’m running Ruby Orbs on my thief. I say its a matter of style as to how you kill. My main hand dagger gives me chance to gain might on crit, combo-ed with a nourishment(forgot the name) that gives 100% might gain upon using dodge/endurance and +40% endurance gain, I get the most of my might as it doubles my power.

If you really want recommendation I say Orbs or Divinity.

from a cost / effectiveness perspective, orbs will be the way to go. I got my runes before the back in October, so the price was not as high as they are now.

kcy.3824:

So, to get to the second part of my question.

Keep the ruby orbs or get a set of runes

Rune of the Scholar?

Ruby orbs are fine, really.

Scholar will be worse than ruby orbs, unless you’re above 90%. If you know you’re at (almost) full health most of the time, then go for it.

Divinity if you don’t mind spending over 40G on a marginal difference (slightly less damage, but a little more defence)