Guild Wars 2

Well hello there

I tried checking for a build topic about acrobatic thief in a fencer style on the forum using the research but could find none so i posted one here
This build is about behing evading hits and using quick but damaging strike while keeping yourself unreachable the same as a fencer fight.

How to run it: While dagger/pistol rely on stealth to deal its damage this build rely on pistol whip and infiltrator in order to hit. As a general rule you will be teleporting to your target to immobilize it before using pistol whip but you will quickly run out of initiative if you constantly spam it.

To avoid this situation use roll for initiative once you run out of it but try and burn time down using your dodge between strike to build might up while allowing your initiative to come back in. Thing is if done right this build will be evading strike about 80% of the time at least because you will either be using pistol whip and evading, doing a backward barrel roll and taking a distance, or dodging around (this build has a very good endurance regeneration rate + you can recover all endurance using the signet so you will be able to dodge way more often then the other player would)

While you may think that using a backward dodge will hinder your dps keep in mind that you can always teleport back to the target using infiltrator or steal. While condition can be a problem you may use infiltrator to clean that nasty 25 stack or activate your signet to cure it while recovering your endurance. The elite is somewhat of a questioning because as much as we like basilisk venom between the time you use it and the cast time of pistol whip the guy will have long broke out of stun so i subjest using thieve guild instead of whirl as your elite because it both mess up the ennemy mind but also cause a tons of crowd control blind and a fairly good amount of damage.

Con:

1. This build may have issue fighting against well and staff necro bunkers because its based on melee fighting and cant dodge the necro marks

2. No stealth at all, this build relies entirely on teleporting and evading so if caugh in the middle of a zerg you better hope you got your long range evade ready. However its quite easy to position yourself toward the exit then double backward flip using both roll for initiative and the healing roll to cover a large distance. Using sword dagger and shortbow can help fix that issue.

Pro:

1. Likely one of the build with the most dodge in the game (Eat your heart rangers i can dodge and evade twice as more then you do)

2. Quite a good amount of damage due to pistol whip wich can easily take down a lot of your target health and will cleave trought a mob well. People tend to dodge but you will still damage them quite a bit before they get out of the attack range. You also got the lovely blind from pistol 5 to help finish up downed targets.

3. condition removal is spammable at will and you may teleport in and out of combat

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQNAsaVlYm6OXcS4E95ExmCfKUdG48l9MuKXB-jQCBYfDRkgAkuIQ0HIZmFRjtypIas6aYKXER12bFRrWKgIGGB-e
IN PVE:

While this build doesnt proc any actual party utility (thieve never realy proc any anyway) you may sometime make yourself usefull by shifting the signet of assasination to shadow refuge smoke wall and other stuff depending on the encounter. If you got a party wich can easily party proc the 25 might, assasination signet still gives you a somewhat decent bonus to power but you may consider switching it to a party utility.

Because running thief doesnt always mean wearing black clothes and a dagger while behing invisible.

Asuna Lightspeed, spvp/pve thief and acrobatic spec lover

With the lack of stealth and backstab I wouldn’t use Scholar Runes. These runes are designed better for a stealth backstab as you need to be above 90% health for the damage bonus and as a thief that’s typically only the beginning of the fight. Instead try Ogre, Divinity, or my personal favorite Lyssa. The only thing with the Lyssa runes is that you’d probably want to use Basilisk venom elite for the shorter cool down.

Well long as basicaly the runes are damage oriented were fine. Your supose to run this build as glassy geared as possible (who needs armors… we got evade!) and in the worst case you may trade a little precision for vitality from using valkiry but if you actualy good enought as to nearly never getting it it will be of minor consequance weither you got 16k hp or 13k.

what about strenght rune? Might duration power increase and bonus damage when on might doesnt sound like such a bad idea. Ogre would be a + in pvp im not so sure in pve.