Guild Wars 2

So I’ve read many posts calling for a buff to d/d. I agree with them, and after a bit of theory crafting came up with this revamped trait.

Currently
Cloaked in Shadow – Shadow Arts
Gaining stealth blinds nearby foes. Release a blinding powder when you take falling damage, and take less damage from falling.
Damage Reduced: 50%
Blind (5s): Next outgoing attack misses.
Number of Targets: 5
Radius: 240

Proposed
Cloaked in Shadow – Shadow Arts
Gaining stealth blinds nearby foes. Remove a boon from your foe and damage them when striking them when revealed.
Blind (5s): Next outgoing attack misses.
Number of Targets: 5
Radius: 240
Damage: 200(1.0). Does not critical hit. (this is debatable but even a modifier of 1.0 is pretty strong)
Boons removed: 1
Internal cooldown: 3 seconds

I feel like shadow arts is quintessential d/d game play, and I’m sad that it hasnt seen much use for such a long time. Coincidentally this buffs all builds that stealth, but I think it is best utilized on d/d for one reason; cloak and dagger requires you to be in melee range (unlike d/p resets) and d/d hinges on landing CnD. It is a decent buff to d/p but that means dropping deadly arts, which imo is a fair tradeoff considering how good mug, panic, and improv are for that build (or any build really, but I think d/p relies on it the most). Same for s/d that its a fair tradeoff, but I think s/d could maaybe drop DA. As for p/p, I think its actually a pretty big buff considering how many times you can blind someone while shooting through your smoke field. Anywho, I’m sure SA needs some more love before anyone would consider dropping DA for it, but this is imo a good first step in that direction.
Waddya teefs think.

edit: changed from remove a boon and damage on blind to hit when revealed, increased icd to 3 seconds.

1. I do believe d/p would benefit much more. Not only by having the offhand pistol blind field, but also thanks to the blind on shadowshot, wich is a spammable skill and already gets a lot of hate for its damage. And, in any situation where you would use SA over DA on d/d you could also use it for d/p. Access to stealth is just as easy if not better.
2. To even consider this the icd would need to be much higher or offhand pistol thieves would probably become the ultimate class for boonstripping. Our job is damage, the few boonstrips we have are a nice sideeffect but shouldnt be our main goal, especially without sacrifing a lot of damage.

What if your proposed effect would proc on reveal instead of blind? Cloak and dagger is more likely used to set up a backstab, while d/p stealth is very intiative-heavy for just that one purpose and is usually used for opening attacks or emergency stealth, so it wouldnt benefit that weapon set as much. Also it would help the s/d theives, who already got a boonstrip but no blind, turning that weaponset into an actual anti-boon utility.

Yeah that makes a lot more sense. I didnt think shadow shot spam would be a problem, and in most cases it wouldnt imo. It would still generate more hate for the skill though and could result in a nerf.
So alright, on reveal with an increased icd.

Instead, why not make CnD blind baseline, replace Concealed Defeat with the falling damage mod along with the Deception cooldown reduction, and replace Cloaked in Shadow with a new GM.

Zodryn.4216:

Instead, why not make CnD blind baseline, replace Concealed Defeat with the falling damage mod along with the Deception cooldown reduction, and replace Cloaked in Shadow with a new GM.

That a good idea. There no reason to take concealed defeat now as it is and that would help in that regard but I still think SE has to be moved . There really few if any builds going SA that would not have to take SE so any traits in that poistion would not be used.

If merciful ambush was combined with one of the other traits (shadow protector as example) SE went to meld with shadows trait and Meld with shadows dropped down to merciful ambush spot than that reshuffling with your own idea could work.

The question then becomes what needed in a GM trait that would make it a valid choice over Rejuv. VA is already very niche so it should not be a niche trait.

before they buff anything on thief they must make sure any possible d/p build gets 0 benefit out of that buff

Zodryn.4216:

Instead, why not make CnD blind baseline, replace Concealed Defeat with the falling damage mod along with the Deception cooldown reduction, and replace Cloaked in Shadow with a new GM.

+1

MidoriMarch.8067:

Zodryn.4216:

Instead, why not make CnD blind baseline, replace Concealed Defeat with the falling damage mod along with the Deception cooldown reduction, and replace Cloaked in Shadow with a new GM.

+1

If people take SA they go for SE – so I’d say: Make SE baseline as for now all other options are lost – I don’t think any of the 2 other traits are to be found in any build.
Shadow protector is also a trait that can well be deleted as it’s completely useless.

Anyway, like I said somewhere else: The traits are merged in an unfortunate way; Makes no sense for me to get Hidden Thief although I’d love to have fleet shadow. Someone who plays D/P can’t really get the falling damage trait. I’d rather have these traits unraveled again.
That being said – I don’t think it would take much effort to redesign SA into something useful – problem is that most classes now have the “rez allies faster” as minors in some of their lines – so they probably want to keep it like that (I hate that actually, I don’t want trinity, I don’t want to be a healer – power to those who want to but don’t make all of this baseline).

babazhook.6805:

The question then becomes what needed in a GM trait that would make it a valid choice over Rejuv. VA is already very niche so it should not be a niche trait.

Take the -50% when stealthed trait into GM again.
I redesigned SA in another thread, with 3 playstyles in mind: Ninja Nurse, Assassin, Venomshare.