Guild Wars 2

Well I’ve grown very tired of just using D/D, being a one hit wonder when it comes to PvP/PvE (either I blow up or my opponent does) and then I came across a Thief using D/P.

That got me thinking. I could still keep my BS but I could last a lot longer between stealth and the constant blinds.

Anyone out there that enjoys the D/P build and how would you compare the playstyle to the D/D layout?

I worry that I would have to give up my Acrobatics traits in exchange for Shadow Arts losing some Vitality (we have kitten poor Vit as is).

My main goal would be to pick up Hidden Killer in CS for the BS’s and maybe up to Exposed Weakness in the DA line. I think I would be alright stopping at Dagger Training although. As for the rest, I’ve kicked around the idea of either building my other utility skills to compliment Signets and Might gain on use (to pick up some more burst on BS) or to revolve around my Deception skills with a 20% cooldown reduction.

Looking at a 20/30/20/0/0 build right now.

What are your guys thoughts on the D/P build and would you recommend it over D/D for less burst but more pressure playstyle?

I’m in the same boat… I’ve plaid p/d and d/d and have gotten kinda bored of both them. Was thinking that I’ll give D/P a go :P I understand the general playstyle, but havn’t come across any great d/p-ers to sort of study (seen lots of people fighting what I would consider to basically be grazing cattle though).

Any really good vids/builds/tricks/tips to help would be greatly appreciated

Well, there probably a number of builds you could take. This one for example is pretty popular now in WvW:

It’s a very good survival build, but lacks a lot of the punch of 30 Critical Strikes (-20% crit damage, no 100% crit chance from stealth).

As of today, I’m running this build:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c3RV-FCRw-_0I5V-kd0;9;5TT9;225B45A5;3INV4-NV0G3G3G3G35Bd

Similar, but the lack of quick recovery means less usage of Black Powder which you may or may not like. The obvious upside is that landing backstabs is much more deadly, so you shouldn’t need to jump into stealth as much. As for elites, I swap these around frequently depending on my situation, as they are all quite good.

I also take Cloaked in Shadow instead of Shadow’s Embrace. A tough call, but Cloaked in Shadow definitely helps as you can often get 2 blinds for the price of one even from a distance, and keeps you safer longer when landing your BS.

General Rotation:

Open in shortbow, wear them down. If it’s a 1v1, I’ll usually jump strait away to D/P then…

Black Powder -> HS -> Backstab -> #1 Auto

If it’s a melee class, open with Steal + Black Powder and auto attack them for a bit before they realize they can’t hit you, then proceed to the usual BS rotation.

Once they are low-ish health, if they are squishy just HS them once and they are likely dead. If they are tanky, watch for the heal and interrupt it via Headshot.

If they run, and you can’t seem to catch up to land a solid backstab, you can blow your steal + BS, or Infil. Signet + Backstab to land it. Alternatively if you really need to catch up without a backstab, and the above utils are down, you can use the new and improved shadow shot.

Edit: For PvE, I run Valk Armor, Berserker everything else.

D/D one-hit wonder? Oh, you’re playing the common GC build!

Try this one.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c33V;1Rwk0-N5FOVd0;9;49TT;02;027B34A;44NV0;2JF04JF04y

With Valk/Berserk gear.
____________________
Tanky, and same BS Crits as GC. (BS focused build)

Depending on what armor you use,(I use almost full Valk for more defenses) you need to change your runes. If you use almost full Valk it’s nice to use Eagle Runes for more Prec. If you use Valk armor and Zerker off pieces you can use Divinity.

Lots o’ health and 300tough/300hp = awesome.

And if you REALLY want to run D/P know that to use the build efficiently you have to run at least x/x/30/30/x which ruins your damage a lot. No matter how much Tough/Vit we get we are still quite squishy. (I had 3.2k armor once and got 3 shot easy) We need to make up for our weak armor with burst damage to even out fights, so D/P with those traits is fun for duels and that’s about it.

I can’t remember his name but there was a thread in here for d/p and he had great videos for it. I have over 300 subscriptions on youtube, and I can’t be asked to check all of those for him >.>

Found him/her!