Guild Wars 2

Greetings all,

After trawling through several thief roaming videos and one-shot clips, I have been filled with new hope for Backstab builds.

At the moment, it runs a little something like this -http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVl0MhynYjTwzJw/EHwEkPNnpN7Os8UoTQAyAA-TpBFABC8AAEvMgDHCga2fYhjAAAnAAA

The signets work for easy might and big hits, (10k BS and ~9k HS are possible) the blinding power for an on demand stealth and withdraw for a nice CD heal.

Of course, the build lacks survivability and condi clear, and has definite room for improvement.
Any suggestions to improve the build would be warmly welcomed!
(P.S I PROMISE IT WORKS )
~Squishy

You might like this.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVlsMh+mYjTwsJw/EH8ElPKeiqYXAzWEoPzfIAA-TpRBQBR4QAYsTAQA3fgMlBewRAAAPAAA

I also did this for hilarity.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAWVnsMBdmiVmCGPBkmiFYCbLQtcGUzdwR4KULBEAyAA-TJBFwACOEAI3foaZAAHBAA

Current build is much different and much funnier, but I thought you might get a kick outta these. I slammed a 16k backstab onto a cele yesterday ^.^ Gonna try again, but it was more of a stars aligned kinda kill.

@ Serious Hey there thanks for the response! The top build looks pretty nice, I guess the second is a jumpy smash build?
Sadly a lot of the time the planets don’t align and I’m mopping the floor again. But those big hits

inspired me to play d/d on pvp yesterday
although i got rekt most of the games it FELT REAL GOOD! reminds me of the good ol’ days..
the only 1 i cud one shot was another thief tho..
but o well good times…

It’s a bit different, but signet stab isn’t much of anything new. I’ve been running it for around two or three years now for WvW play, and the occasional sPvP run.

It hits like a truck, and is absolutely tons of fun to play, but it’ll never be a good build the way the classes are balanced and how sPvP promotes tankier builds while cutting down on available power and ferocity.

Better damage will come from more signets, and IS helps on the engage immensely. Comboing teleports is awesome and really takes your foe by surprise when you’re half a mile away and then when you’re on top of them the next second. I’d recommend almost anything over BP for sPvP as you’re missing a stun break and aren’t playing for stealth synergy. You should be popping out of stealth immediately to boost your burst per time and give your enemy less time to react to the burst. No SA penalizes you for stealth, and you’re lacking a stunbreak. RFI, Shadowstep, and IS are best here, depending on your needs/desires. Best damage (in regards to consistency) comes from IS due to the low cooldown and might with a teleport engage you can chain into steal.

Better skirmishing will come from S/D or S/P. Shortbow is definitely the better +1/decap weapon due to the mobility, but the sword offers awesome fighting utility. I heavily recommend it for WvW. I initially played a S/P intelligence sigil concept a while ago when Executioner was in CS rather than DA and took it over HK. Since the split, there’s no need for that, so I can focus on better damage sigils.

Infil Strike is great to pre-cast before engaging → swap to D/D and engage. After the burst, if the enemy is still up or predicts it/attempts to counter, just swap to S/x and teleport back, as the return distance is up to 1200. This gives you some reset potential, condition cleansing, and lets them blow cooldowns. S/D is also a lot better to use while revealed IMHO, and lets you cleave things like minions, turrets, clones, and the likes while packing a lot more CC. I like S/D for the boon strip and evades as well.

Trickster is an amazingly helpful trait to put a DoT cleanse on Withdraw so it consumes cover condis like cripple and chill.

This is my exact build I’ve been playing for quite a while. Note that I primarily WvW.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQRAoY8Yl0MhKnYjTwzJw/EHwEkPNxpN7Os8UoTQAyAA-T1CBAB7pf4SVP67gAUpaInpEEr9HlKAcCFySZVKaYY4IFEwDAIAACwNbz2sNDOv5Nv5Nv55m38m38m3sUACqzC-w

@Keyang awesome! the funnies are insane with some good ol’ fashioned backstabbery.

@Deciever thanks for the reply, the concept of your build really intrigues me. Is there a way to create a budget version?

@Deciever,
I’m totally going to try that out next time I go into wvw. Seems like the insane damage would make it too much fun Got a vid to go with it so we can see it in action?

@Squishy
Budget-wise, you’re looking at the same gear/stats combination, just with exotics (and no infusions), and using a sigil of Purity instead of Generosity. Otherwise the build relies pretty heavily on force/accuracy for crits, and scholar runes for extra damage. The food is cheap except the oils; you can use sharpening stones instead, but I would recommend oils as they bolster the damage substantially.

Unfortunately I have no gameplay footage. Not enough hard drive room to constantly video my play without constantly needing to delete the video and re-record every couple of minutes. I built a new PC with some more forgiveness (and Win10’s playback feature), but have had very limited time to play since building it and haven’t had a lot of good opportunities. Most matchups I’ve had the time to play on have either been my server getting spawn-camped from being heavily outnumbered, or blobbing and surfing the front line for funsies. I hope that when work starts settling down in the near future I can be playing a bit more and posting some info.

Some gear has changed slightly since taking this screenshot, but the damage is quite similar and I haven’t deviated from the core build or gear stat dispersion. Obviously stacks for an additional +100 power are no longer around, but it really doesn’t matter much when you start approaching the 3.5-4k mark. It’s a really fun build, though, and frequently poses a challenge when you fight competent players who react out of the backstab/prevent it or see you coming and can survive the burst. Once you’re out of ammunition the fight becomes a struggle to stay alive long enough to find a good opportunity and hammer them down again. Shortbow resetting and running away is boring :P

Using DA/Trick/DD, executioner, bounding dodger and havoc mastery. I get 7-10k backstabs on most squishy builds, including carrion necro, shatter mesmer, and revenants when they don’t have protection up. I think I’ve had a 9k heart seeker before, not sure. I’ve definitely had an 8k.

So I don’t see why you wouldn’t favour Daredevil for the added survival on top of the damage.

Edit: Also this is in PvP without might or consumable buffs; WvW should hit much higher anyway.

You’d be hitting harder using Vault. It’s got better damage than backstab.

If I wanted the role of staff thief filled, I’d take a dragonhunter. If I wanted a thief, I’d take D/P.

But…But… S/D

@Deciever thank you!! I hope I have enough saved up

@Impact what runes/sigils/amulet are you using? I imagine the traits are standard (and you mentioned most of those anyway)

Squishy.3694:

@Deciever thank you!! I hope I have enough saved up

@Impact what runes/sigils/amulet are you using? I imagine the traits are standard (and you mentioned most of those anyway)

Marauder Amulet
Dagger/Pistol of Air/Blood + Shortbow of Energy and Fire
Runes of the Pack
Deadly Arts: Mug, Panic Strike, Executioner
Trickery: Thrill of the Crime, Bountiful Theft, Sleight of Hand
Daredevil: Havoc Mastery, Escapist’s Absolution, Bounding Dodger
Heal: Withdraw
Utilities: Blinding Powder, Signet of Agility, Shadowstep
Elite: Basilisk Venom

DeceiverX.8361:

You’d be hitting harder using Vault. It’s got better damage than backstab.

As long as this remains true, no point on building around backstab.

The point for building around backstab is the fun in the true assassin hit- and- run style. Otherwise yes we would all be vault spammers.

I’ve never liked specifically building around backstab. That being said, it does get used a lot more with daredevil D/P. With the DA/Trick/SA build, you didn’t try to land it so much; it was more of a "If I need to drop black poweder, I’ll heartseeker out of it before it expires and get a backstab in." Whereas now, it’s faster and less initiative-consuming you use black powder and dodge when needed to gain stealth and a backstab with a 10% damage bonus.

Certainly in PvP, I don’t feel that thief boasts sufficient burst to play hit and run. It needs to pressure as much as it can between bursts.

In pvp thief doesn’t have any “Burst” that competes with meta. Closest is vault spam because it’s the highest damage with low risk due to evading 90% of the time. Though it’s a gimmick and the second someone realizes what you’re doing you get screwed the rest of the fight. But that’s just my general beef with daredevil is it just encourages spam which is not really fun to play at all imo.

WvW on the other hand… there are plenty of buffs possible to take for thief to get the damage high enough for hit and run instakill backstab. Then its just a matter of utilizing the open field as an advantage to get time to position and instakill.