Guild Wars 2

Updated (8/13) Build In Another Post Below.

So I usually I’m not one to post on forums, but I thought it would be fun to see this getting abused at least for a little while since there isn’t much else to do with the thief.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYUQNAsaVlcmKOHcS7E95Ex2DfKUe6VgsaPoJOfJA-jwxAYLBRqggYyrIasFyioxqWwUlER1ejioVLEg5JA-e

So basically it’s a S/P sig build, everything zerkers, and heal on crit food, and w.e wrench for fun. And all gambits except Squeamish.

You can pretty much reduce the process to a simple rotation, instead of being more reactionary like our class is built to be.

Scorp Wire ->3x PW -> (he ports) -> Steal -> PW (w/ 2x sig) ->2-3x PW until dead

Breakdown:
1) You’ll want to hit Scorp Wire as soon as you can because burning ticks from the start and his expected behaviors vary a lot if there’s a delay.
2) Make sure the 3x PW is queue’d right after each other (most of the time this will give time for a few AAs before he ports)
3) Hit steal right after he ports. (I’ve tried doing it before and after, but his behaviors and my HP pool tend to be more stable this way.) (an exception is if you are <40% hp by PW#2, you’ll want to mug for the heal to try to salvage the run)
4) Hit PW right after he ports. Always. If you do it before you’re gonna miss out on essential dps. (alternatively you can hit steal while you do this PW)
5) While the post-port PW is winding up hit both sigs (essential for dps)
6) PW until dead. (if you timed it all right, your hp should just barely let you win)

Additional Notes:
-Gambits: Don’t use frailty at first, timing requirements are very strict (sometimes you still die but very rarely when done flawlessly). Taking less damage allows you to mess up the timing on steal and mess up the post-port PW, but no more than 2 strikes.
- Mug is used for the heal more than the buffs, but the buffs give you some minor flex room for mistakes at the end.
- If you spend more time learning his attack behaviors you can probably supplant some PWs with AA chain which can give you more flexibility in the rotation and capitalize on the +10% dmg from crit line.
- You could probably switch out some of the zerker’s for a little more vit or toughness for more leeway. Since with full zerkers you end up having enough time to do one more PW before he ports if he didn’t die by the 3rd one (usually sometimes with full zerkers it can take 4x)
- I tried outlaw potion for wrench but it didn’t seem to enhance my damage from my limited testing.
-Running on 5 gambits, you will die, but if you get the timing down right and use your mug when your health gets low the survival odds go from dying in (1 of 5) to (1 of 10 or 20).

By the numbers:
I usually do each run in 40s (including setup time) and receive 6 bags each time. Each bag nets 8-11s and some odd copper, and occasionally other goodies like lodestones.

But let’s be conservative and say it takes kitten per run and 9.5silver per bag. It’s 20s per 5 tickets so that’s 4s per ticket and 1 ticket per gambit +1 per run.

Per run: (9.5s * 6 bags) – (1 ticket/bag) * (24s/ticket) = (57 – 24) = 33s per run
Per minute: (33s/run) * (1 run/ 45sec) * (60sec/ 1 min) = 44s per min
Per hour: (44s/min) * (60min/ 1 hr) = 2640s =26.40g

Granted you will have to do much running back and forth before you build up enough tickets to farm for an hour straight. And that’s assuming you can get an arena all to yourself for an hour straight. I estimate realistically you can expect 70% of your time to be used in that most efficient way possible with the extra 30% left to reloggin to get an empty overflow/ mistakes and dying. With a low range of 50% for slack farming and 90% for being on a roll.

Realistic Per hour: (26.40g * 70% efficiency) = 18.48g
50%: 13.20g 90%: 23.76g

Chances of nerf:
-Variability in damage and attacks(low): I’m not sure they’ll do much more here because, it’s cutting it really close and this is a max dps setup. If they touch this any more it’ll affect casuals with non optimal exotics faster. If this does happen, quick fixes are gear swaps with more sustain + SS. If dramatic then the d/p setup will be more efficient.
-Reduction in rewards (mod): Anet seems to favor this. Although this just further promotes disparity between the gaming leaders and laggers. Meaning the more casual player base that takes longer to progress will relatively get even less rewards/incentives for this event.
-Direct nerf to thief(high): This is probably the most likely fix even though I’ve observed other professions match this efficiency. Probably some nerf to PW stun and SoM regen. Probably accompanied with a range reduction on headshot.

Closing Thoughts (since I’ve written this much):
A little ridiculous, but I’ve seen a mesmer and a warrior match my efficiency. I actually rotated with a warrior for a while and by the time i was set up it he was just finishing his run. I ran 6 times in the video and died on the 6th run. I hadn’t run into other professions but I’m sure they all have some variants to make this possible.

But w.e, I’ve grown really tired of playing my thief and the game in general (since this is the only class I really have an interest in). Playing off and on tPvP for the past few months, then even stopping that I thought I’d stop with a bang or something. So I had 102g yesterday but I really wanted the Commander’s book but I didn’t want to get broke in case I come back and want to play the markets again. So I figured this out yesterday and now have 54g after buying it. I love min/maxing but hate farming so now that I figured this puzzle out, I hope this will make playing a thief more fun for some others again.

Edit: as of 8/13 the patch seemed to changed Quagan’s behavior so no more Crowd Favorite but it’s still doable. He also seems to teleport more, and prefers killshot more than volley/aimed shot so it’s easier to interrupt.

I pretty much worked out a new build which is just as quick if not a few seconds quicker. It’s only 4 gambits though. I’ll make a new post soon.

Threads like this gets it nerfed.

Am sorry gets nerfed what? He did not cheat nor abuse any bugs. He simply uses his class spec / utilities / weapon set to complete a challenge. Food buffs are allowed so that’s fair game as well.

Thanks mate. Really helped me out on this one.

What i did though is i called the thieves before entering the arena for extra DPS and also picked up the grove buff (HP Regen) from the emissary below. I didn’t need the food with that and kept my HP above 70%.

Eithera.1548:

Thanks mate. Really helped me out on this one.

What i did though is i called the thieves before entering the arena for extra DPS and also picked up the grove buff (HP Regen) from the emissary below. I didn’t need the food with that and kept my HP above 70%.

Ohh, I threw thieves up there just cause, you really don’t need it. And since its on a 3min timer it’s useful only once every four runs. Those buffs are nice but at least for me the disappear after the first run :/ .

At any rate glad to see it’s working for you.

Edit: and now there’s a new patch, so let me take that back for a moment.

Updated Build and Strategy:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYUQNAsaVlcmKOncy5E+5Ex2DfKUe6VgsaPoJOfJA-jwxAYLBRqggYyrIasFyioxqWwUlER1ejioVLEg5JA-e

So for this new strategy all I did was remove Crowd Favorite from gambits bringing it down to 4 gambits and switched out SoA and Tripwire for IS and SoS. And once again his behavior is a little more random and quick paced but still manageable.

IS (sig) -> 3x PW -> SoS (while queuing another PW) ->(he ports sometime around here) -> steal (while still queueing PW) -> AS (for ini) -> PW until dead

1) So the big change is that they made him prefer kill shot more often which is deadly but just forces us to PW more to avoid it, so now it’s all about ini control.
2) Steal is used for the port now.
3) IS gives you extra dps at the beginning, and a quick port which you must combo to 3 immediately after you enter to interrupt his first shot.
4) SoS is for ini control to keep up the PW spam and give you compounding dps boost as he gets around 50% there.
5) AS is final burst to make sure you kill him before the second port. If not try to use 2 or if IS is up pop that again.

By the numbers:
Since we’re only doing 4 gambits now we get 5 bags instead of 6. So that is an addictional 83.33% factor of the previous values but that’s still not shabby gold. And it still takes about 40s to down him so not much change there.

Final Notes:
Go forth thieves and steal more gold, we’ll probably continually get nerfed but don’t let that be an excuse to be poor.

Edit: You probably should switch out SoS for SoA, after a few more runs I realized you don’t really need that for the blind buffer.

Great guide, similar to what I had been trying but I’m getting faster kills with this and it is all much safer than on my mes.

Dunno why I’m dying about half the time. Getting hit by his kill shot even while spamming pistol whip. There’s a d/p thief I’m rotating with that seems to be killing him very fast using heartseeker for last 1/4 health.

I IS in to him and should have enough initiative to pull off 3 pistol whips but occasionally he’ll sneak in a kill shot here and I’m done. Also occasionally I’ll run out of initiative and then I’m done for.

@Kabuki

I found that the blind from signet of shadows gave me enough breathing room to make the runs consistent.

Maybe check your traits and food, I’ve died many times because I forgot my food buff. And check to see that you’ve queued up the PWs, or adjust the timing of the first PW (so that they queue up right before he attacks). I suspect attempts he attacks on an internal timer, regardless of dazes/stuns but I haven’t tested this out much.

Or you can try hitting mug for the heal, then using 2 for the port.

All else fails try d/p. I’ve actually switched to that since it shaves like a couple seconds off. It’s just not as brain dead to max it’s efficiency, ie. not hitting 5 if he is still blinded to max ini (unless he tries to volley) /timing HS for right at 25%. I found it a little more squishy until you learn when to place BPs. But it is possible to do crowd fav again with d/p I just haven’t been able to consistently do it, I still need to try squeamish and see if it’s more efficient trade off of extra time for one bag. Although, once you have S/P down you can pretty much go braindead and cycle through the rotation, barring anomalous behavior.

I’d just like to point out that 2x Sigil of Force is overkill as they don’t stack so you’re essentially losing a Sigil.

I would suggest Sigil of Force + Sigil of Accuracy or Battle or Might or even Frailty if you’re super poor.

Esplen.3940:

I’d just like to point out that 2x Sigil of Force is overkill as they don’t stack so you’re essentially losing a Sigil.

I would suggest Sigil of Force + Sigil of Accuracy or Battle or Might or even Frailty if you’re super poor.

They do stack, at least last time I checked. Actually just checked again in the mists they at least work for pvp. Is it different in PvE, and is there some documentation on this somewhere?

I’ve been using d/p set up with 4 gambits, and I’ve found it to be more reliable than s/p pistol whip spam.

Kill time is usually 35 seconds, traits are 25/30/0/0/15, taking mug, dagger training, furious retal, critical haste, executioner and thrill of the crime. Using assassins signet, infiltrators signet and signet of agility but agility can be swapped out for smokescreen if you’re having trouble keeping black powder on him. Signet of malice for heal, basi venom for elite. Candied dragon roll is good for extra life steal food, or otherwise any damage boosting food.

Keep in mind that his kill shot will not be absorbed by smokescreen, he has to be blinded.

Rotation is activate basi venom as you’re going in, Shadow shot, steal for buffs, one auto attack rotation, black powder, two auto attack rotations, black powder, usually at this point he teleports (if not just drop another black powder and auto attack), infiltrators signet and black powder, 2-3 heartseekers.

You will still get hit by about half the shots of his volley as the black powder doesn’t pulse fast enough to continually blind his shots, but if youre getting too low health, consider taking smokescreen as this will absorb the volley shots.

Jakare.6807:

I’ve been using d/p set up with 4 gambits, and I’ve found it to be more reliable than s/p pistol whip spam.

Kill time is usually 35 seconds, traits are 25/30/0/0/15, taking mug, dagger training, furious retal, critical haste, executioner and thrill of the crime. Using assassins signet, infiltrators signet and signet of agility but agility can be swapped out for smokescreen if you’re having trouble keeping black powder on him. Signet of malice for heal, basi venom for elite. Candied dragon roll is good for extra life steal food, or otherwise any damage boosting food.

Keep in mind that his kill shot will not be absorbed by smokescreen, he has to be blinded.

Rotation is activate basi venom as you’re going in, Shadow shot, steal for buffs, one auto attack rotation, black powder, two auto attack rotations, black powder, usually at this point he teleports (if not just drop another black powder and auto attack), infiltrators signet and black powder, 2-3 heartseekers.

You will still get hit by about half the shots of his volley as the black powder doesn’t pulse fast enough to continually blind his shots, but if youre getting too low health, consider taking smokescreen as this will absorb the volley shots.

umm 35 secs is kinda long…should be around 20 secs per kill. maybe this will help::

same traitline 25 30 0 0 15
Mug / dagger dmg
furious retal / rage quickness on crit / executioner
swift fury might on steal

dagger / pistol (both zerk) sigil of rage sigil of force
full zerk armor (i run 11k health)

sig of malice
ambush
scorp wire
smoke screen
thieves guild

Order:

1) shadow shot
2) smoke screen
3) ambush while slightly moving forward so it triggers
4) Black Powder Shot
5) Auto attack (use thieves guild first if u have it)
6)Scorp wire after his first teleport
7)Keep BPS up and use steal for health or incase of another teleport.
8) HS HS and hes dead when u get him at 25%

Tips:

1) I like to run 25 stacks of bloodlust as it makes each run about 15 secs instead.
2) can use improvisation if you like to use haste to make it around 12 secs
3) BPS …use it about .5 secs AFTER the last one ended….it will keep up

PS: dont wrry about what other people say. BPS keeps up fine….. ill make a video if you need to prove it. but just trust

Did they Stealthbuff him further or are the Servers just soooo laggy now? I die a lot more often since yesterday. Was farming him with D/P easily before – 2.6k Power, 114% Critdmg, 5% DMG Sigil. 25/30/0/0/15.

Switched to S/P now and keep spamming #3 (especially when he does his chain to interupt) and #5 against his Killshot. But his Killshot comes trough so often even when my Blind field was up for ~1-2 seconds and he was clearly standing inside of it.

Sometimes he even doesn’t have a cast time for Killshot at all and I’m just dead.
Mhm must be lag, or? I farm at minimum settings with subsampling (I’m usually able to run @ Maximum with ~60 FPS), switch servers regulary and check my ping outside of GW2 for packetdrops, invalidated packages and ping spikes but I can’t catch anything …

Just did 250 tickets on him an hour ago. No change as far as I can tell, still teleports on the dot, no insta kill shots. It was pretty laggy yesterday, I can tell you that.

i feel d/p is best for this. safer…faster….no downtime as usual….

Happens all the time today as well … basilik -> steal -> blindfield -> has blind -> death -> combatlog: hits you with killshot hits you with aimed shot. And I dont even SEE his killshot channeling and no frameskip or whatever happens. I just wonder if I’m the only one experiencing this …

d/p gets about 14-16 second kills, 10-12 second gambit/boss queue time for one kill every 24-28 seconds taking into account kill time/skill recharge/queue time (number of criticals pending). The only limitation (that you can control) being how fast you can queue.

There is also 0 risk of dying once you figure out the (one) skill rotation that counters his 3 different skill rotations.