Guild Wars 2

Out of all professions, thief might just have the worst time dealing with conditions. Probably the closest prof is ranger, but thief is worse. I’m wondering how people deal with conditions? Or is your plan to kill the opponent before they get a chance, and if they do you’re screwed?

Both healing skills only cleanse certain conditions, and most traits only cleanse movement impairing conditions. Only things that cleanse reliably are 1 condition every 3 secs while invis, and shadowstep, which is on a 60 sec cd and is usually better used for other things. And signet, I guess.

Anyway, list your style below.

I’m an S/D thief so I’m generally fine with the stealth trait and my 2 in a pinch.

This is something bothering me since I’ve changed my build around recently to use Shadow Arts. I guess they want to mix around our frail survivability skills.

Hide in Shadows is a powerful condition remover but when that’s down you have you can use Shadow Arts trait that removes conditions when you stealth. Although if you want to use the stealth to heal you traits you can’t get both.
So when building defensibly you can only get 1 or the other. I actually love Signet of Agility but melee Thief is cursed with Signet of Shadow (and it’s awful active) and I can’t really use Agility in PvP unless I’m condition build.

I like using Signet of Malice in PvE and only have Agility to remove conds so I end up moving my traits around for certain areas in fractals for if I need cond removal or healing more. .-.
With backstab build it’s kinda tricky to balance healing, cond removal and speed.

Shadow’s Embrace and the #2 sword skill remove my conditions,

If I was limited in points to spend in SA, Shadow’s Embrace would be my choice, I think, Shadow Protector doesn’t ‘stack’, limiting your use of stealth, or the effect of the trait.

Here I was thinking thieves have it easy removing conditions. Shadow’s Embrace is so kitten good. Maybe less so in sPvP, but I don’t suppose thieves need to hold points like a bunker much.

Ofcourse BS builds will get it hard. Any non-BS thief have no probs in condition removal. Actually i think thief is one of the top prof at this. For example S/D users can remove conditions allmost all the time.

Sword #2, hide in shadows, roll for initiative, is even a trait to remove conditions while in stealth… i wouldn’t say thief have it hard in this area…

And how many damaging conditions (burning, bleeding, poison, confusion) can you remove underwater? You have two options afaik hide in shadows and signet…

the trait that cleanses a condition for every 3 seconds ur in stealth is incredible, I use deception utilities and shadow step also cleanses along with sword #2. I cleanse conditions easier on my thief then I do on my necro.

p.s. i avoid underwater combat so cant comment on that area

Well dont go underwatter, problem fixed. By going stealth heavy ( D off hand or D/P) you can remove conditions every 3 seconds when in stealth, that means 2 conditions removed during stealth duration. Ofc you must sacrifise smth for it. In perfect world I would have 4 major traits in SA tree and would go for 4,5,6,11. However now im stuck to 5,6,11 or 4,5,11. I find 5 a must in any SA build since that provides you most benefits in stealthy play style – being able to roam in battle looking for kill and attracting as little atention as possible, by being in stealth constantly between kills and not losing your initiative becouse of that.

Underwater combat is fracked up anyway, so let’s not go there (near useless elites for many classes, forced to pick 3 out of like 4-5 utilities…).

Thieves have more then enough condition removal, depending on how you trait/which utilities you take/which weapons you use. It’s pretty balanced for most classes, in that no class gets a lot of free (not dependent on weapon/traits/utilities) ‘cleanses’, and typically, the more tanky you build, the better you are at ‘cleansing’ conditions. Glass Cannon/full offense builds will only get 0-few condition removals while full on bunker tanks can get upwards to 1 ‘cleanse’ every 3-5 seconds (thieves can remove 1 every 3 seconds, eles can remove 3-4 every 4-5 seconds, guardians/necros…more).

Shadow’s Embrace from the Shadow Arts trait-line is one of the best condition removals in the game, in my opinion. You basically have access to it without any long CD to worry about. If you shoot it up to 30 Trait Points, you can even make your stealth regenerate your health while it’s removing conditions, by combining it with Shadow’s Rejuvenation.

Can’t really say I have any reason to complain about our ability to cleanse ourselves.

I usually go pve and in terms of condition removal, I usually go for a Shadow’s Embrace (10 points into that trait line) + Hide in Shadows, Shadow Step/Return (It saves you from tight situations and if you get knocked down) and a Signet of Agility ( For that extra precision, you also get to remove a condition for allies and it is only 30s cooldown). By bringing an offhand dagger ( I go for dual daggers) , the #5 skill will also allow a condition removal.

I run this for dungeons or fractals where the conditions are numerous.

Let’s see here…
Signet of Agility refills endurance and removes a condition for yourself and nearby allies.
Sword skill 2 is a shadow step, immobilize, stun breaker and condition removal.
Hide in Shadows, which is already a powerful heal and an unconditional stealth, removes all DoT conditions.
Withdraw, which has very short recharge and can be a quite handy mobility tool used properly, cures any movement related conditions (the same goes with Roll for Initiative although it has a longer cooldown).
Shadow Step, which is already our (in most cases) best Stun Breaker utility, removes 3 conditions on return (which most thieves I’ve seen haven’t utilized).
And lastly we have Shadow’s Embrace, which essentially makes any thief with off-hand dagger immune to conditions. It removes one condition upon entering stealth and will remove at least one more if you don’t break stealth. Apart from Cloak and Dagger it also makes all of your stealth utilities, heals and traits remove conditions.
And if you’ve still got problems with conditions or can’t use the trait for whatever reason, you can equip a full set of Runes of Lyssa to turn your Basilisk Venom into a 50 seconds recharging full condition cleanse, as well as giving you all boons.

To be good at cleansing conditions on a thief, you need to trait as such, and use a dagger OH (or sword MH). You’re restricted, but it’s possible!