Guild Wars 2

From reading the forum, it seems like D/P is the current meta and preferred over D/D. I am still levelling, and so far, i find D/D more effective. I am curious why people generally like D/P over D/D.

Stealth, in particular, seems way easier to achieve using D5 vs Smoke field and leaping through it a bunch (spending all of your initiative in the process).

That’s because D/P has easier access to stealth whenever u want , lot of access to blinds , good gap closer. and its easier to play than d/d

D/P > D/D in pvp because D #5 (CnD) is not a reliable source of stealth, if people dodge, block, blind you, get invul, etc… you will lose 6 initiate and will still not be invisible so you are pretty much kittened
Not to mention that pistol off hand gives you a interrupt skill and a blind fild wich are very good in pvp

D/D has great initial burst (Steal —> CnD —> Backstab) but its #4 and #3 skills are rarely used, sure you can do a clutch evade or throw a dagger at someone with 5% trying to run, but mostly they’re seldom used.

D/P finds a use for every skill. You also get stealth on demand like others have said, and #5 is a smoke field so you can blast it for aoe stealth, or if you have the black powder utility skill you can lay down #5 then black powder and then heartseeker for instant 9secs of stealth if you don’t have the initiative or time to leap through the field 3-4 times.
The ondemand interupt is also good to stop people from stomping/ressing/getting off high damage skills. You can even use it to counter other thieves if they try to leap through their own blinding powder.

Walker.3056:

D/P > D/D in pvp because D #5 (CnD) is not a reliable source of stealth, if people dodge, block, blind you, get invul, etc… you will lose 6 initiate and will still not be invisible so you are pretty much kittened
Not to mention that pistol off hand gives you a interrupt skill and a blind fild wich are very good in pvp

everything this. once D/D-5 whiff’s, you’re put into a more cautious/defensive state if your build is relying on stealth. Unless you’re working some Death Blossom condi or evasive build, D/P is just all around more reliable at negating attacks.

And P/D? Whats their Pros Cons

Kizare.7950:

And P/D? Whats their Pros Cons

cons:
- bad auto attack, not even really good with condi builds
- cant just backstab randomly if you need to attack somebody who is in stealth
- people see the projectiles of your sneak attack
- bad for power builds (a personal con for me as i prefer power)

pros:
- ranged
- sees use in condi builds due to #2, #3 and #5

against d/p you have the advantage of being ranged but the blinds hurt you ven more than being D/D and d/p has quite some gap closers

against d/d you have the advantage as you can use #2 to kite, but if they hit c&d the blind is harder to deal with

Kizare.7950:

And P/D? Whats their Pros Cons

Preface: I run P/D currently, but I’m also not the most 1337 teef ever, so while this is experience not theory crafting, take it with a grain of salt:

Pros:
On demand stealth from #5
Ranged attacks
Condition Stacking (From stealth #1 puts 5 stacks of bleed, bleeding auto attack, #3 puts on Torment)
Gap maker from #3
Passable burst (From stealth #1 is a pseudo unload)

Cons:
Only mid range; easy to escape
No gap closer(except steal)
Can be dodged (If #5 misses you’re in trouble)
No Group stealth
Two dead skills (#2 and #4 are so rarely used I usually forget I have them)

It’s a very fun build; I use steal/improv to recharge my utilities, stealth, stack some additional bleeds, then use #3 to get back out of melee. Creates a nice short burst with plenty of conditions left behind for fun, but it’s not something I’d advertise as the ‘strongest’.

Edit: Never noticed that #2 is an immobilize; makes it slightly more viable, but most everything else holds true!

D/D has cheaper+faster stealth with decent damage making it solid for high damage against NPCs. In a PvP environment it has a lot of problems however.

It’s stealth is melee, doesn’t have stealth-on-demand (has to run HiS/BP/SR) so it’s rather footsloggy in combat. The CnD blind blanket is a real threat too. It doesn’t have the pressure that D/P3 has either.

All in all: D/D has significantly more counterplay than D/P and is one of the easier Thief sets to beat (or at least stalemate) in a 1v1.

However, it is much easier to play than D/P and weak enemies might not know how to beat it. So in a low skill environment D/D works a lot better than a higher skill one.

Lygon.4896:

D/D has great initial burst (Steal —> CnD --> Backstab) but its #4 and #3 skills are rarely used, sure you can do a clutch evade or throw a dagger at someone with 5% trying to run, but mostly they’re seldom used.

D/P finds a use for every skill. You also get stealth on demand like others have said, and #5 is a smoke field so you can blast it for aoe stealth, or if you have the black powder utility skill you can lay down #5 then black powder and then heartseeker for instant 9secs of stealth if you don’t have the initiative or time to leap through the field 3-4 times.
The ondemand interupt is also good to stop people from stomping/ressing/getting off high damage skills. You can even use it to counter other thieves if they try to leap through their own blinding powder.

Pretty much sums it all in a bundle.