Guild Wars 2

Recently condition builds have become much more popular in both WvW and sPvP. So the question is, do you think thieves have enough condition removal to compete with these other builds?

We are among one of the best condition removal classes in this game.

I can agree with you only if you rely on stealth. If you are a non stealth thief, you are going to run into trouble because our non stealth condition removals are on long CDs, or are useless without teammates. Shadowstep has a 50 CD and signet of Agility has a 30 CD and only cure one condition if no allies are nearby. And then withdraw and roll of initiative only cures cripples, chill, and immobilizes. So without steal our class gets messed up by conditions.

You forget about infiltrators strike spammable immobilize with Condi removal.

Ya but that’s only one condition for 5 initiative . It really isn’t worth it.

shadow return from infiltrator’s strike: 1 condition
shadow return from shadowstep: 3 conditions
signet of agility: 1 condition per nearby ally (up to 5)
trait into it: 1 condition per 3 secs of stealth
Bowl of Saffron-scented Poultry Soup: 1 condition per healing skill

That’s more than enough.

Like I said, if a thief heavily relies on stealth then there is no problem, but thieves who want more of a challenge are are trying to use less stealth. As stated before infiltrator’s strike is not worth it, Shadow return has a long CD. I roam a lot so I don’t have allies nearby so Signet of Agility isn’t that good.
Any good condition class can stack a crap ton of conditions on you the second you cleanse.

I got it. I got it… You need to roll a warrior.

I can see that’s the only thing that will satisfy you.

I love playing the thief, I like a lot of the mechanics of the thief, including stealth. But I find it boring and repetitive just cloaking, getting to full health and then backstabbing or auto attacking with the sword. Imo it doesn’t take a lot of skill to do that so I wanted to try a build that doesn’t rely on stealth.

shadow return + Hide in shadows is enough condition removal for the most part. Perplexity runes are just OP and probably will be nerfed.

I’ve been playing a build that doesn’t rely on stealth since before larcenous strike was buffed and it’s a lot of fun.

I’m afraid there is not much condition cleanse available on the thief unless you spec into SA.

Even if you play sword main hand, the cleanse from shadow return is quite neat but it’s not intended to be spammed X times in a row to clean a spite signet from necros. Shadowstep has a very long CD, altough it helps, conditions get reapplied so fast it doesnt help that much. Signet of Agility doesnt clean 5 conditions if there are 5 allys nearby, it still cleanses only 1, but 1 on each ally.

I would love to see steal remove condis

Ya it would really help if on steal you transfer two conditions on you to your enemy and steal two of their boons.

Azawrath.7304:

Ya it would really help if on steal you transfer two conditions on you to your enemy and steal two of their boons.

I could see that on Bountiful but it might make it too strong, it’s already very strong.

AikijinX.6258:

We are among one of the best condition removal classes in this game.

SA Thieves have among the best condition removal in the game.

If do you don’t have points in SA, your condition removal is lackluster.

Inf strike/SR is a good tool for mitigating minor/slow condition stacking…which isn’t the current meta. The current meta is burst conditions, 3-5 in less than 2 seconds. SR does little for that.

Shadowstep is ok, but it’s also a stunbreaker. Blowing a stunbreaker just to cleanse some conditions can be a misuse of the skill, and lets not forget that you’re going to have to end up exactly where you initiated the Shadowstep from if you want those conditions gone.

Pain response is actually fairly strong, except that it triggers then you hit 75%, instead of when you have 75% and at least one of those conditions on you.

Lyssa runes and BV are almost a requirement to survive when you get swamped with 6+ conditions in 2 seconds.

i would LOVE to see a little lower coldown on our stealth-heal, since that would solve a lot of condition problems… but i already see ppl complaining even more about ‘perma stealth’ lulz. i’d be glad to have its regeneration component removed and in exchange 5-10 seconds lowered cd.
just compare other heals to ours – passive condi removal for guardian (mostly also traited down to 32 sec and it heals like 2times more than hide in the shadows), warrior signet is op as kitten + mending has the same base heal than HiS and lower cd+also 3 condi removals, mesmer has higher basevalue+illusion bonus(and also just 20 sec cds), necro also has lower cd + ALL condis removed, and finally ranger and engi heals arent that bad either.

Jahiliyya.7095:

shadow return from infiltrator’s strike: 1 condition
shadow return from shadowstep: 3 conditions
signet of agility: 1 condition per nearby ally (up to 5)
trait into it: 1 condition per 3 secs of stealth
Bowl of Saffron-scented Poultry Soup: 1 condition per healing skill

That’s more than enough.

You cannot rely on utility-based condition removal in tPvP right now. The CDs are far too long; you need to be monitoring and stripping conditions on a near-constant basis.

Sword SR is really not a reliable strip since there’s also a whole lot of area denial going on. Regardless of how fast you spam it, it’s not going to help if it’s just porting you right back into the AE mess you’re trying to cure.

Cure-on-stealth is arguably the most reliable way to go, with Hide In Shadows for emergencies when dots really stack up. Shadowstep is a nice backup but honestly more useful right now for getting the hell out when you’re stunned/rooted in a bunch of AEs — not for porting back into them for the cure.

WvW’s an entirely different animal. As a thief, you should pretty much always have the option of simply getting the hell out of dodge if things get too hairy, which negates the need for frequent condition stripping anyway.

Thief is one of the strongest professions against condition builds (depends on the build you’re running though).

• Remove one condition every 3 seconds while in stealth.
• A heal that remove the 3 most dangerous conditions.
• Shadow step that removes conditions.
• infiltrator Strike removes one condition and is spammable.
• Signet of Agility remove one condition.

But thief is suppose to be weak against conditions. Just look at our hp. Our goal is to kill our enemy before he can put enough devastating conditions on us.

But thief is suppose to be weak against conditions. Just look at our hp. Our goal is to kill our enemy before he can put enough devastating conditions on us.

i lol’d . tell that a necro spamming wells and marks around, or a mesmer with perma stealth

Azawrath.7304:

I can agree with you only if you rely on stealth. If you are a non stealth thief, you are going to run into trouble…

Azawrath.7304:

Ya but that’s only one condition for 5 initiative . It really isn’t worth it.

Azawrath.7304:

Like I said, if a thief heavily relies on stealth then there is no problem, but thieves who want more of a challenge are are trying to use less stealth.

The problem here is not that the Thief doesn’t have a “worth it” condition removal, rather after you acknowledging that the meta is shifting to condition build that you still insist on using your ineffective build.

The solution to your problem is there, now ask yourself if you are willing to adapt.

infiltrator’s strike>shadow return removes 1 condition and singet of agility cures condition for each nearby allies 600 radius. see how i managed to remove his conditions to me by using 2>2 Sword and signet of agility.