Guild Wars 2

You know, the other day I was looking at my skills and couldn’t elp but feel disappointed by our elites. In the case of a human only 2 of the elite skills feel at all desirable (Thieves Guild/Dagger Storm) Basilisk Poison has occasionally peeked by interest but for the most part not a thing.

I was thinking what if we had a Elite version of Shadow Step that would allow us to travel the vertical aswell as the horizontal. Since its Shadow step we’d need a target so that would prevent exploits such as using it to get places your not supposed to be.

This would give a nice boon to the thief class such as allowing us to get onto Ramparts in keep sieges where defenders stack up on them and blast the hell out of us (without us having to resort to SB) since we do not have all the time/anytime stealth it wouldn’t be a issue like in some games where a thief would sneak in and then stealth and move around killing defenders.

Just a thought of something that might be enticing.

It is called “ink shot” (underwater skill).

Well first of all this would break a great many areas that are balanced for people not being able to…well…fly. There’s a reason you can’t get up there. You’d drop down and take the keep without having to ‘siege’ anything.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Thief’s Guild elite gets nerfed. And to hear a thief player say that Dagger Storm is disappointing when its an 8s evade/reflect that also grants stability while throws out bleeding/crippling daggers is just ridiculous.

I’m not trying to come across as an kitten or anything but elites are not meant to be game-breakingly awesome. They’re just stronger than other skills and that’s why you only get one.

Redscope.6215:

Well first of all this would break a great many areas that are balanced for people not being able to…well…fly. There’s a reason you can’t get up there. You’d drop down and take the keep without having to ‘siege’ anything.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Thief’s Guild elite gets nerfed. And to hear a thief player say that Dagger Storm is disappointing when its an 8s evade/reflect that also grants stability while throws out bleeding/crippling daggers is just ridiculous.

I’m not trying to come across as an kitten or anything but elites are not meant to be game-breakingly awesome. They’re just stronger than other skills and that’s why you only get one.

Daggerstorm doesnt evade.

For the OP, unfortunately games get dumber and dumber. So no, you wont see climbing like in DAoC.

Okay a few things to clear up.

I suggested it as per shadowstep. So if there are no defenders on the walls or mobs on high places or heck high places just out of range…the skill doesn’t allow you to get anywhere that a enemy isn’t already. So you can’t really use it to circumnavigate a keeps defenses, because a defender which you would need to get up onto the wall, should try to kill you after doing such.

I also never said Daggerstorm was weak, quite the opposite infact by refering to it as “Desirable”

Also when refering to Elites as stronger skills, do you believe that Basilisk Venom Qualifies?

xero.2097:

Also when refering to Elites as stronger skills, do you believe that Basilisk Venom Qualifies?

Yes. It has the shortest elite cd in the game by far and can be reduced even farther, is affected by traits(cooldown reduction, sharing, leeching, might) and can be shared to allies via traits. That is pretty strong. It doesn’t have a place in every build, but neither do all other elites.

Personally, I use it in a modified version of Jinzus’ backstab spec (http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/64152-jinzus-burst-backstab-build/), prime it along with skale venom for might, cloak and dagger+steal, signet, backstab. All traited to give might. Hits hard and keeps the opponent still long enough for me to guarantee a backstab from behind. It’s a bit of a glassy spec but allows me to run a knights amulet with beserker jewel for 19+k hp and still hit extremely hard on my burst while not being all glass.

If your worried about positioning why not just use Devourer Venom?

You get more hits off with it, its a even shorter CD, can get it way sooner, lasts longer.

The only rationale I can see for a interest in Basilisk Venom is because you’ve already used up all your utility slots for your build, but I am curious why not devourer venom?

xero.2097:

If your worried about positioning why not just use Devourer Venom?

You get more hits off with it, its a even shorter CD, can get it way sooner, lasts longer.

The only rationale I can see for a interest in Basilisk Venom is because you’ve already used up all your utility slots for your build, but I am curious why not devourer venom?

Did you check the build? It’s for the increased percentage on burst+might+vulnerability(stacking with cloak and dagger). The reason using basilisk over devourer is because the other 2 utility abilities are needed. This way, you get 2 venoms giving might+signet(150%dmg) giving might on backstab which comes out to 10 stacks of might. + vulnerability + 150% dmg. On most targets, if you land the C&D/Mug + backstab + heartseeker, they are hard pressed to recover from it or dead mainly based on crits. All of these abilities are on the same cooldown as well, so your burst is up every 45s to more or less 1 shot a target. If you are focused, you can switch to shortbow spam on the outskirts until a target is called, spike them and get out before focus. The build is not meant to be a thief standing in the fray as you are not durable enough in really any spec to play the class that way. Targets need to be chosen, clean kill and either stealth stomp or get out and shortbow/dancing dagger spam any opposition trying for the rez and depend on a haste ranger or stability bunker/mist form ele for the stomp

Also, the cooldown on all venoms are the same, 45s, untraited.

This build is a sPvP burst backstab build. It really doesn’t apply outside sPvP.

It is also very useful in S/P builds for pistolwhip. It opens up your utility slots for more useful abilities or you could also bring along devourer venom for 2 immobilizes, making your pistolwhip much more likely to land the full duration even without haste.

Also, one other point I’d like to add but the forum code will not allow me to edit my post for some reason. The other main benefit of basilisk venom is that it is a complete shutdown of the opponent. It cannot be broken. Nearly all sPvP opponents worth their salt will have a stun break in their utilities or abilities (breaking devourer). Basilisk completely disables your opponent, which is why the duration is shorter on it than the immobilize on devourer venom. Basically, this allows you, in most situations to guarantee a backstab for increased damage. This allows greater versatility when attacking a target in terms of angles you can take since you know you can get their back while they are petrified.

This is in addition to how it works in the build posted.

Anyways, it is completely up to you on which abilities to take. If you don’t fancy basilisk or it doesn’t work in your build then don’t take it. This was just to illustrate that the elite is not useless and can be very powerful when used correctly in regards to build synergy though it is not as versatile of an ability that can be worked into nearly any build like thieves guild.