Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!

Lately I have created my own build and played around with it alot. In this thread I am offering you a guide through the build. It works very well for me, however it may not be a great build for you. It has it’s weaknesses and cannot be used in any PvP setup. Therefore I recommend you only playing this if you like it, when you think your allies are good enough and your enemies can be killed by you. Anyway, let’s just jump right in!

The build

To start off you can find the whole build in the editor right here. As the title suggests this build heaviliy focusses on bursting your enemies down. However the main adventage to other traditional burst builds is that this build offers more evades, CC and boon removal.

Below I will justify my trait choices

Deadly Arts
This traitline is very high of utlity aswell offering you some great offensive capabilities. This is the main reason why I chose it over Critical Strikes. It offers you higher poison uptime aswell as an extra 10% damage, all from the minors. For the major traits I take:

• Mug: This is the best trait you can find here. Since we are not doing condition damage the other 2 traits are invaluable. Mug however offers you extra burst damage aswell as healing.
• Panic Strike: Giving your enemy immobilize makes it easier to land your hits, meaning it will be easier to bring your enemy down to 0. Revealed training could also be an option if you manage to work in Cloak and Dagger in your rotations, however I felt it was not effective enough.
• Executioner: 20% extra damage while your target is below 50% health is huge. This is very crucial in finishing off your enemy. I’ve heard people suggest taking improvisation. However this is uneffective since I am only using 2 different kind of utlity skills. Therefore there is only 33% chance some of my skills will recharge.

Trickery
This traitline is pretty standard in any build. The extra initiative is valuable and cannot be missed. Then again there is another damage modifier. For the major traits I take:

• Thrill of Crime: This is the only source of fury you have next to your rune. Therefore there is basicly no other option here.
• Bountiful Theft: Both components of this build are very important. Vigor is good for any build around, as it improves your survivability. The boon stealing is also great. Trickster could be an option if you run this build with Withdraw.
• Sleight of Hand: Lowering the recharge of your steal to match the cooldown of Impairing Daggers is a blessing. Next to that it’s another free interrupt on your enemy.

Daredevil
The minor traits here are great. It offers you some extra healing every few seconds, but also gives you more endurance when you steal. For the major traits I take:

• Brawler’s Tenacity: Since you are running with 4 Physical skills, the reduced cooldown is more than welcome. These skills are also part of your burst. This means you will be able to burst down your enemy more often.
• Escapist’s Absolution: One of your very few condition removals. This is definetly a trait that cannot be missed.
• Unhindered Combatant: This trait offers you swiftness to travel around the map faster. Next to that you can cleanse alot of movement conditions making the fight alot safer.
  
  Sigils and Runes

For my sigils I chose sigil of Air and Blood for the S/D. This will give you more damage aswell as more survivability. Another option would be to swap out one for sigil of Generosity if you feel like you do not have enough condition removal.
The runes on your shortbow are pretty much in an open spot. I prefer running at least Sigil of Energy to make sure I can escape a situation easier.

For my Runes I picked Rune of Rage. This will give me much more Fury uptime which is highly required. The ferocity it gives me aswell as the 5% damage bonus are very good aswell. Other options here would be Rune of the Pack or Runes of the Eagle.

A few combo’s/tips

1. Impairing Daggers -> Steal (Before ID is done casting) -> Fist Flurry -> Palm Strike. This will result in a very high burst. With this you are able to deal up to 14K damage in total within 2 seconds while your target is immobilized.
2. If your target is low you can start using Impact Strike. While doing this you can first cast Infiltrator’s Strike to make the landing of it easier aswell as a steal after the immobilize runs out.
3. When you are expecting an enemy to heal up you can Cloak and Dagger, move behind the target and use your stealth attack to interrupt. This can also be used on enemies who are ressing an ally.
4. Do not spam Flanking and Larcenous Strike! This will drain your initiative and waste alot of damage potential. Rather foresee your enemies actions and use it to evade burst and/or steal boons like stability.

Effectiveness against other classes

• Warrior: Highly effective. With this build you can evade their burst while bursting them down. Just make sure to pull off a bit when they activate their Endure Pain.
• Guardian: Uneffective. Guards, or rather Dragonhunters will counter you. Do not engage with these in a 1v1! Your shadowstept will still act like you ‘move’ through their traps meaning that you will still be hit, and their block disable you effectiveness alot.
• Revenant: Not very effective. Revenants are soft counters to this build. They do have adventage however it is not a lost fight. I still however recommend not fighting them solo. A small tip is to never start a fight with stealing them. Most revs run Eye for an Eye, applying taunt when you CC them. This will mess up your burst.
• Engineer: Effective. Altho these fights are not very easy, most of them can be won rather fast. Scrappers are highly predictable, so if you time your burst right, you got them.
• Thief: Highly effective. Locking a thief down is one of their greatest nightmares. it is not uncommon to bring them down from 100 to 0 in a matter of seconds.
• Ranger: Hard but not uneffective. In these fights their beasts are you main enemy aswell as their CC. Try to burst quick and disengage again. The effect of surprise is your greatest ally in these fights.
• Mesmer: Effective. Chronomancers and mesmer can’t handle very sudden quick bursts. They have overall good defensive options, but when you find a small gap to CC/burst them, they are all yours.
• Necromancers: Highly effective. This seems like a weird one, however I have found that necro’s and reapers are one of the easiest to beat. This is most likely since you can jump in and out of the fight alot with quick bursts. Just don’t stand too close when they go in Shroud.
• Elementalists: Effective. Altho it might take you a little bit longer, they are not hard to beat. Your boon removal is of great use here. The trick is to get them to about 75% health and then burst them. In alot of cases this will kill them or at least give you the oppurtunity to sustain them to death. One quick tip is to not start a fight with Impairing Daggers as they will often have Diamond Skin. Bring their health down first and then use it.

This was basicly my build. If you have any questions about the builds I would be glad to hear them. Please note again that I am not claiming this is the best build around, but I have noticed it can be rather effective when used in the right composition.
Have fun guys!

Greetings, Fvux.

I’ve been running (almost)this build since HoT and im ruby now. Burst is nowhere close to the D/P but I like the survavibility.
Since you are not doing dmg when you are dead …..
My differences:
Impairing Daggers → Bandits defence – its an awesome low cd stun breaker.
Rune of Rage → Runes of the Pack – personal choice
Thrill of crime → Flanking strikes – better burst potencial.

Anymoify.8132:

I’ve been running (almost)this build since HoT and im ruby now. Burst is nowhere close to the D/P but I like the survavibility.
Since you are not doing dmg when you are dead …..
My differences:
Impairing Daggers -> Bandits defence – its an awesome low cd stun breaker.
Rune of Rage -> Runes of the Pack – personal choice
Thrill of crime -> Flanking strikes – better burst potencial.

It indeed is lower burst than D/P, and the survivability is why I chose to make this I also like bandit’s defense, however that will make it much harder to land my first flurry and lower my brust by about 5K damage. However indeed, personal preference

So I switched back to ID and made 15 pips in ruby… xD lovely.

Using something like this, but with D/P at the moment. It’s a very good build.

You said something about lacking damage. Perhaps switch the runes up? Rune of Rage is definitely not the most optimal setup imo. Scholar would probably do better.

Midi.8359:

Using something like this, but with D/P at the moment. It’s a very good build.

You said something about lacking damage. Perhaps switch the runes up? Rune of Rage is definitely not the most optimal setup imo. Scholar would probably do better.

D/P gives more burst, simple as it is, however you are spending large time in stealth, which I see as a negative.

When it comes to runes, I did not do the maths. I personally just like Rage. As I mentioned in my first post, it can indeed be replaced. Scholar is hard when you play with sword, but with dagger its an option.

I don’t spend a large time in stealth the way I play. Usually just dodging around as I use signet of agility instead of impairing daggers. I have access to it if I need it though.

I think most of my initiative is spent either on gap-closing, interrupts, or SB hops.