Guild Wars 2

Took a break from my condi-thief. Hopped on my other power thief and I run S/D.

Currently got Sigil of Absorbtion slotted (Steal Boon on interrupt). Thing is, I don’t feel like I am getting much use out of it, as my current power build doesn’t have a whole lot of interrupts. There’s Basilisk Venom, Steal, and Bandit’s Defense. If I somehow land CnD, I have an opportunity I guess. . . I never really use the off-hand dagger on this build, feels like a waste of ini.

If I have Air sigil slotted on my dagger, what would you recommend I grab on my sword?

Just use the boon removal on hit. More consistent boon hate adds up fast.

Oh, if it’s not pvp might consider quickness sigil for burst?

Do you mean Nullification? Which removes a boon on hit? That’s a good idea!
But quickness is a good idea as well, as it’ll let me steal boons faster for a short while.

Hmm… Decisions decisions… Both are cheap so I might as well experiment.

Absorption is really good on S/P, but rage is great for S/D too. Sword auto really benefits from quickness more than the others I find.

Air/Air (Superior/Major have separate cooldowns, same proc damage)
Air/Blood
Air/Fire

All add some burst. Is you’re S/D this will probably be a lot of your DPS, since you’re generally not getting in a lot of autos.

Air/Rage works on S/D, but also great on S/P

For S/P, also consider
Air/Draining (I think this is ~1500 life steal on interrupt with no CD?)
Rage/Draining

i use full condi removal. feel like i dont have enough to rip off condis

Woaden.9425:

Air/Air (Superior/Major have separate cooldowns, same proc damage)
Air/Blood
Air/Fire

All add some burst. Is you’re S/D this will probably be a lot of your DPS, since you’re generally not getting in a lot of autos.

Air/Rage works on S/D, but also great on S/P

For S/P, also consider
Air/Draining (I think this is ~1500 life steal on interrupt with no CD?)
Rage/Draining

Already got a pistol with Drain on it, so I got that covered. Really liking Air/Rage so far, the sword auto does quite a bit of damage actually if they only get the opportunity to land, something quickness helps with for an initial burst. Fights can drag on for a while though…

Prepping CnD into Steal isn’t a bad opener and a few seconds of auto attack under quickness leaves you with more to do once you have to mess with your initiative again. I’m using Magnanimous Oil along with Furious Maintenance Oil for Vitality because my dailies gather materials for it anyway, that concentration actually makes the quickness infused auto attack seem like that’s how sword should feel already.

I’m on DA/TR/DD by the way with scholar runes and mostly marauders and vipers I think still, so the quickness covers most of what’s happening upfront.

Honestly, I’ve been playing with S/D with Rage and Air sigils all day, and I absolutely LOVE it. I rip boons all day, dodge all day, and have a lovely 2100 leap range (IS + Steal), so good to attack a zergs backline as you just bypass everyone. When you start getting focused, you still have IS(on return) or Shadowstep.

I am even faring better in duels! I actually had a really cool duel today against another S/D thief, it was great. We spun around, dodged, ported around, danced and sung campfire songs in the daytime. In the end I got rekked thanks to mistakes being made. Neither of us stealthed, which was refreshing.

So yeah, duels are fun now!
… Unless I am against a D/P Thief, then I am royally screwed, but I can live with that, since I can always run away just as fast as they can! Mostly… Point is, I am having more fun with S/D than I had with D/P.

Don’t think I will remove the Rage sigil, that extra burst JUST manages to down a player before I have to pull out or get rekked by everyone who wants to get the thief who can’t stealth away(It happened a lot today because I got too eager).

EDIT:
I say duels but it’s mostly just those times when I end up fighting people 1 on 1, nothing official, just me getting jumped or me jumping people. Not like those actual duels people use to have outside north SM where they line up and fight in turns… Or was it south-west SM?

Rage is indeed amazing for S/D’s initial burst!
Personally I landed on using a Sigil of Strength. The might stacking accompanied by the Rune of Strength almost makes it feel like our good old ‘Power of Inertia’ is back again.
I’d say it comes down to playstyle, I usually get into long fights so the Might Stacking pays off more than the brief Quickness from the Sigil of Rage. But they’re both good options for sure! Though if you’re not running Strength Runes with the Strength Sigil, the added damage is a bit lackluster.

Anyway, good to see that you’re having fun with S/D!

Quickness on thief is vastly underutilized. In a build that uses boon duration, I slot up flanking strikes in over TOTC simply because all I really get out of TOTC is that longer fury as swiftness comes from UC in an all I need amount and the Might is not all that significant. Adding in Haste and trickster traited I get 20 seconds quickness off those two traits alone. Throw in rage and you can really pump out added damage.

My own take on it via sigil however is that it not worth it unless you get some boon duration and unless you couple it with another source. On a 30 second ICD it is not accessible enough to ensure it there when needed.

If your style has you swapping weapons a lot you might look at an on swap like hydromancy. This dependent on when you swap and where. As example if you tend to swap at range and then engage with #2 it not as useful.

Otherwise i would look at nullification as suggested by others or one of Purity or generosity, the latter preferable. Stealing boons even as you transfer a condition off yourself just works.

If you do go with some added boon duration (and i prefer generic over boon specific) then go with rage/strength and take FS over TOTC. If you want to optimize damage boosts , I find longer lasting quickness in conjunction with might sources is better at it then longer lasting might duration and the generic durations also add to other boons. (it lovely on a steal plasma).

In such a build do not overlook Haste on your utility bar. In sum total you will get a quickness source from haste totally under your control as to when to use it, that haste off FS which a bit less under your control as to when it kicks in and then the rage haste which is much more a bonus when you happen to trigger it. This goes a long way to addressing the seeming “slowness” of a s/x build. Going this route allows for highly accessible quickness that has long durations between cooldowns and is fun as heck.

I really like Rage, atm. Even 3 seconds go a long way in an initial encounter, and considering how easy it is to escape with Sword, I don’t really feel particularly threatened unless I overstay my welcome.

I might consider a condi-cleanse sigil of some sort later, though. I have so many ways to cleanse though…

I don’t find S/x slow in the slightest. S/D I find it kinda faster than regular D/P. The only thing I am sacrificing is stealth, blinds and on-demand and interrupts, and considering the mobility I have and ease of escape, I don’t feel like I need stealth unless I am up against another D/P Thief, then I’ll be in some real trouble…

I encounter a lot of fights I can’t really win, but I blame that on a lack of experience than the weapon-set. I would probably do better with D/P, but I don’t really enjoy it as much as S/D.

I might consider adding some wanderers and burl trinkets down the line though, experiment a little.

Sword? Was that a typo?

Famine.7915:

Sword? Was that a typo?

No.

if you decide on s/p sigils of Rage and Agility combo very well