Guild Wars 2

Hey whatsup guys. I have a few questions about runes, sigils, and amulets to run this season so I’ll try to keep it simple and all feedback is very much appreciated. Thank you boys.

1st. Using Sigil of Accuracy as my secondary sigil, the best ones I can see to use as my other would be Sigil of Strength, Sigil of Air, and Sigil of Force. What do you guys think would be the best for the most damage output? Or would one not listed be the best?

2nd. I cannot decide on which runes are best to run. The top ones I believe would be the most effective are Rune of Strength, Rune of Infiltration, Rune of Exuberance, and Rune of Eagle. Which ones do you think would be best? Or would a different one I am not seeing be the meta?

3rd. Simple questions. I’ve been very much enjoying Paladin’s Amulet, however, what do you guys think of using Marauders instead?

and 4th. Utility skill wise I’ve been using Shadowstep, RFI, and Channeled Vigor for healing. My final 2 are Bandit’s Defense and Impact Strike as the elite because if timed right they chain together for a nice finishing combo. Is there any other utilities you guys use that you think would be good replacements?

I appreciate all the feedback possible guys. Thank you so much, any and all information helps.

~ Mike, thanks again. Power to the PVP!

I don’t play PvP a whole bunch but what I run is Marauders with Scholar runes, Air/Fire on D/P, Bloodlust/Leeching on SB. Idk about the leeching on SB, that second sigil on SB is up to you really.

Paladin’s isn’t really necessary because Toughness doesn’t do an awful lot for a Thief, Vitality is much more valuable so you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you’re giving up the Ferocity (and so extra damage) from Marauder’s for a stat that’s pretty useless.

Scholar is good in the stats that it gives (Power and Ferocity) and the (6) bonus giving an extra 10% damage when you engage people, which fits your +1 role nicely.

As for utilities, CV, Shadowstep, Bandit’s, and Signet of Agility are probably your best bets. If you want to take Withdraw instead of CV for a little bit of extra cleanse then go ahead, but you’re most likely taking Dash dodge anyway in which case CV is definitely a superior heal IMO. Though I know some people do prefer to run Withdraw regardless. Signet’s extra precision is a nice boost going into a fight but the main thing is that it gives you extra dodges, which means more survivability and in the case of Dash, more mobility. It also has a small cleanse if you need it in a pinch. Shadowstep is a no-brainer, Bandit’s is just an amazing stunbreak on a very short CD, and Impact Strike gives a ton of uses, letting you actually contribute in a group fight (quickly stomping a downed before they get picked up and then moving on) and helps you +1.

That’s the advice I’d give, it’s what I run when I PvP and I haven’t felt like I needed to change it.

I can see your stance on Paladin’s though I would like to hear other opinions on the matter. However, the other runes available to thieves as oppose to using Scholars seem to be a better choice than Scholars itself because even though your initial burst is where Scholars shine, I find myself back capping points taking on 2v1 and delaying cap with 3v1 very often. Does the toughness from Paladin’s really have such a low impact? Anyone else have any Rune suggestions that PVPs with thief alot? As for Sigils I believe I wanted to know which provides the best damage out of Air, Strength and Force. Anyone know which of those provide the best damage output?

I really just want to know out of the Sigils I listed which gives the best benefit or if there is maybe a different sigil I did not list that is the BIS for PvP. That and which runes are the BIS out of those I listed or maybe ones I have not.

I am not super experienced yet as I’ve only been playing for a few months. Even so, I would suggest taking a look at metabattle.com. I’ve used that to give me a start on builds I wanted to test.

When I run dagger pistol I use:
Rune of the scholar
Sigil of air and sigil of fire (they both have damage procs)
Channeled vigor
Signet of agility (I like this for the precision bonus and extra endurance refill)
Bandits defense (mainly for cc break)
Shadow step
Impact strike (I personally like the better than basilisk venom)

Honestly I pretty much always use those utility skills unless I am using a condition build. I will swap out for daredevil and Valkyrie sometimes if I use staff, but a lot of the time will still stick with scholar and marauder with staff. I personally have more success using staff.

That’s just my experience though. I’m sure some more experienced people will chime in.

Signit of Agility doesn’t trump Withdraw. I know that for a fact and metabattle is for starting out, I already tweaked my build over the course of the last few months. I really just want to know out of Air, Stength and Force which gives the best overall damage for PvP. As in which out of the damage from Air, Might stacks from Strength or % damage increase from Force gives the best overall damage increase and out of the runes I listed, which of those do you feel provide the most benefit. I really just want to hear answers from experienced SPvP D/P thieves. I appreciate all of your input though but the questions I just asked are really all I would like to know. Thank you though. Anyone else have any input? I’m sure it would help not only me but any other thief competing in the 2017 tournament.

Signet of Agility doesn’t trump ROI ****

Bump guys COME ON!! Wheres my PvPers at do you guys not want to know the best sigil, rune combo?! The one that puts out the MOST damage while giving the MOST benefit towards whatever else? If anything at all?!

Merry Xmas. Let’s get some answers here before I duel all of you 1v1 and show you how to master the shadows.

I run Marauder armor -Scholar runes. Since I focus on decapping and joining in existing fights to burst a target, I’m almost always at full health when engaging to capitalize with Scholar runes +10% dmg. I’m also selfish and run Flanking Strikes instead of TotC, those extra few hits I can land with 6s quickness hurts a lot with Scholar’s +10% dmg modifier.

Sigils- I have been toying around Sigil of Generosity instead of Fire. Air is still main as always. According to wiki – Sigil of Generosity’s Transferred conditions use the original applier’s condition damage. Meaning that if I get lucky and transfer one of the deadly conditions it could rack up a lot of damage and revert pressure back to the applicator, and condi clear is always welcome on thief – given the condi spam meta.

Utility – I prefer Blinding Powder over Bandit’s defense, having run the latter for almost 6 months, I reverted back to Blinding Powder for PVP. Both are great, but since I focus on sneaking out of fights unnoticed to quickly move to another point, offhand pistol 5 + blinding powder + Heartseeker is a quick 7s stealth escape. Also Blinding powder offers more team utility for stealth ressing if needed, quick blast inside a water field, aoe blind in teamfights, allowing teammates to stealth stomp if needed, etc. etc. The list goes on.

Edit: Generosity is fun vs pesky burn guards and their one-trick pony build. Just transfer all that burning back to them

godmoney.6025:

Sigils- I have been toying around Sigil of Generosity instead of Fire. Air is still main as always. According to wiki – Sigil of Generosity’s Transferred conditions use the original applier’s condition damage. Meaning that if I get lucky and transfer one of the deadly conditions it could rack up a lot of damage and revert pressure back to the applicator, and condi clear is always welcome on thief – given the condi spam meta.

Does it feel like it’s actually transferring often enough to make the rate worth it? I used that and Sigil of Purity in WvW for awhile and found Purity to be more noticeable to me, similar cool down but more chance on it. But, as a non spvp player, from the videos I watch that all of you post here I understand that rate of fire and sources of damage are so different, in the way that something like Scholar Runes and Flanking strikes makes sense in that setting.

I’m asking because there are fights I can get stuck in for awhile that get too close to spvp size and dynamic that my Escapist Absolution build isn’t ready for. I’d like to carry a more meta build some stretches and am wondering if a sigil like that can be legit as a minor condition clear or if you’re using that almost more as pressure back.

@kash

Haven’t had much time to play and test Generosity. Will after the new year.

Yea but I still have the original questions. Out of the runes and sigils I listed which give the best sheet damage and benefit mathematically?

Air, Force, Strength sigils

Eagle, Exuberance, Infiltration, Strength or Scholar runes

I tested all of them and the numbers are to random for me to get a pinpoint meta out of the listed sigils and runes in terms of which are best for DPS. For example. Does the proc from Air give better DPS than the constant buff from Force? Or the might stacks from Strength?

bump……………………………..

Your role as a thief is to burst and +1 that means air>force because you are not there to do sustained constant damage, if you were then force would be a better choice. You need a constant up time of damage pretty much.

Scholar runes > all the others as well since as i said +1 is your role and the initial spike will always have the beneficial 10% dmg bonus. Even without it power>prec>fero until you reach a certain amount of prec then fero scales better than prec.

Also you dropping basi for IS is just crazy due to the amount of blocks in this game, this mean your +1’s will be sloppy and bad. SoA > RFI then last utility is up to you to fit ur playstyle (BP or BD)

kash.9213:

godmoney.6025:

Sigils- I have been toying around Sigil of Generosity instead of Fire. Air is still main as always. According to wiki – Sigil of Generosity’s Transferred conditions use the original applier’s condition damage. Meaning that if I get lucky and transfer one of the deadly conditions it could rack up a lot of damage and revert pressure back to the applicator, and condi clear is always welcome on thief – given the condi spam meta.

Does it feel like it’s actually transferring often enough to make the rate worth it? I used that and Sigil of Purity in WvW for awhile and found Purity to be more noticeable to me, similar cool down but more chance on it. But, as a non spvp player, from the videos I watch that all of you post here I understand that rate of fire and sources of damage are so different, in the way that something like Scholar Runes and Flanking strikes makes sense in that setting.

I’m asking because there are fights I can get stuck in for awhile that get too close to spvp size and dynamic that my Escapist Absolution build isn’t ready for. I’d like to carry a more meta build some stretches and am wondering if a sigil like that can be legit as a minor condition clear or if you’re using that almost more as pressure back.

Swapped back and dropped Generosity for Fire again. It’s just more constant, you know what you are gonna get, higher burst – which is what you are there for. Generosity is good for a laugh once in a while, but it’s very situational. If I do happen to eat a condi burst, the first reaction is to GTFO, not to attack the applicator to try and see if I can transfer a condi back to him.