Usually i have been an avid D/D user, however, seeing the change they made to Shadow Shot, i decided to give D/P a try, and given how im a theorycrafter, i also wanted to ask the community on the two builds i want to test and try out
Both use D/P and shortbow
Both use utilities Blinding Powder, Infiltrators Signet, Shadow Refuge
Both mostly have the same minor traits:
Blinding powder at 25% health
Stealth last 1s longer
Might for 15s when stealth
2s swiftness on evade
Dodge returns some endurance
Increases dmg 10% when endurance not full
Build 1: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYmiPncy9E+5EB3ji60mqfQm9M4qVB
15/0/30/25
Minor Traits:
Stealing applies poison 10s
Weaken targets whenever you poison them 3s
Major Traits:
Increase Poison duration 33%
Deception skills recharge 20% faster
Remove a condition every 3s in stealth
Regenerate health in stealth
Vigor on healing
Gain 2 ini every 10s
Build 2: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYmiPncy9E+5ExWhdy9woOtpdPwqWtKA
0/10/30/30
Minor Traits:
Crit chance is increased 5% when health is over 90%
Major Traits:
+7% chance to critical hit when hitting from behind/side
Gain 2 ini from stealthing
Remove a condition every 3s in stealth
Regenerate health in stealth
Move 50%faster in stealth
Heal yourself whenever u use a skill that uses ini
Gain 2 ini every 10s
Breakdown on differences:
So basically i read in a thread early, with Black Powder being really strong in blinding small groups of enemies, you will be mitigating alot of dmg when they are in the area, in the chance that you dont have BP around you, Build 1 offers alot of mitigation through 15 in the DA line, where stealing, chain 1 of your Dagger AA and Choking Gas from shortbow will apply poison (which lasts longer by 33%) and applies weakness. Build 2 doesnt have that sort of constant poison/weakness combo
Build 1 also gives faster Blinding Powder and Shadow refuge, no real explanation needed here, more survivability faster, but lacks ini gain from stealth with BP + heartseeker (which hopefully the +3 ini per 10 combo will help)
Build 1 will give vigor on health for 10s (if i remember) on a 15s health, so only a down time of 5 seconds, which allows a lot of dodging, however build 2 has 50% movespeed increase in stealth, allowing more favorable position in backstabs because i decided not to run signet of shadows for the 25% movespeed increase, and the heal from using skills that use ini means that you will be very hard to take down.
I cant decide whether which build would be better. I could take the 10 out of critical strikes line from build 2 and put it in DA, but without the 2nd minor, its not really that strong. If i only had 5 more skill points, life as my thief would be more easier, so whats your opinion?