Guild Wars 2

Looking at the SA tree I am having a rough time really deciding on: Shadow Protector, Shadow’s Embrace, Infusion of Shadow, Cloaked in Shadow, and Shadow’s Rejuvenation.

Comparison between Shadow Protector and Shadow’s Rejuvenation -

Shadow’s Rejuv - (300 * 0.1) + 293 = 323
Shadow Protector - (300 * 0.125) + 130 = 167.5 (or 1675 over 10 seconds)

Between these two it’s tough to try and choose mainly because I am not sure if Shadow’s Rejuv ticks for 3 or 4 seconds after the initial pulse upon entering stealth. I’ll test that later myself. If it pulses 4 times after the initial pulse upon entering stealth for a total of 5 ticks then it’s obviously better. Also, what if I picked up both? I would be a healing machine.

Comparison between Shadow’s Embrace, Infusion of Shadow, Cloaked in Shadow from a defense and offense standpoint:

Shadow’s Embrace is up to 2 conditions over three seconds cured while in stealth.
Infusion of Shadow - 2 initiative returned when using an ability to enter stealth
Cloaked in Shadow - Stealth blinds nearby foes in a 240 radius (The trait triggers for every three seconds of stealth; if a user has 9 seconds of stealth, blind will be applied on the 1st, 4th, and 7th second... little tad bit I didn’t know about.)

So Shadow’s Embrace seems like the wisest choice mainly due to the meta in WvW right now, conditions. If you couple this with blinding powder you can have an on demand cleanse of up to 2 conditions which I think is great. But offers nothing in regards to offense besides helping you take less damage from conditions.

Infusion of Shadow will reduce my HS to 1 initiative cost when I leap out of BP which allows 3 or 4 leaps at a cheaper rate and can increase my stealth duration. This allows easier transition to stealth defensively as well as not hindering my offense by using too much initiative to enter stealth.

Cloaked in Shadow is rather a given and as much time I will spend in stealth it just seems like a simple choice to pick this up. Can a thief have too much blind?

Proposed build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAoa8YlUmiOHfy9E/JFy2jeqCJKuHGVS1U6C6FA-j0yAYrBRTWCNRIQJPl1sXATfQVwioxqXwUlCp6yI7NKiWtMAMLA-w

My choice would be the following:
Shadow’s Embrace (Very usefull in WvW), Infusion of Shadow (D/P is using a lot of init!) and Shadow’s Rejuvenation.
Explanation why not the others:
You also use Hide in Shadows which provides Regeneration. The Regen of Protector does not apply if you already have regen. So there you already go better with Reju. And if we trigger Hide in Shadows we usually need any tick of healing available…

Since you use D/P you have already access to a Blindfield and two Blinding shots. You do not need anymore, so yes a Thief can have to many blinds!

Edit: Oh and I didn’t even notice you are using Blinding Powder as well! Definitely not Cloaked in Shadow…

Good call. I almost thought about using smoke screen instead of Shadowstep mainly for the smoke field + blinding but I need that stun breaker.