Guild Wars 2

I have tried Signet of Malice but haven’t had much luck and always revert to Hide in Shadows. I see that a lot of people like using Signet and I’m interested in making it more effective. What do you run for your Heal?

Also, I have messed around with Vigorous Recovery, Assassins Reward, Shadow’s Rejuvenation, Signet of Malice and Pain Response but it seems to me that they don’t give a lot or benefit. Also seems that Vigorous Recovery only triggers with the use of your Heal ability and not off any other type of healing.
Is there a way to trigger Vigorous Recovery more reliably?
Have you found that any of these talents make a big difference in your survivability? Are certain weapon load-outs better for any of these?

I have mostly run PvE Dungeons but am looking to expand to PvP.

Input is appreciated,

Blood~

You’re right about Vigorous Recovery, “upon healing” (as far as the game is concerned) means when you activate a heal skill, not just any time green numbers pop up. Your best shot at using Vigorous Recovery more is to use Signet of Malice and trait signet cooldown reduction. Assassin’s Reward is pretty powerful but heavily dependant on how you utilize initiative. Many thieves need that healing the most when they’re out of initiative, making AR a poor solution. I haven’t used Pain Response much simply because the 45 second cooldown means it could be blown at an inopportune time and not around when you really need it. Shadow’s Rejuvenation synergizes extremely well with builds that use stealth to reposition constantly and can be a good source of healing, but it doesn’t synergize with my playstyle.

Signet of Malice, however, is reliably amazing once you understand how it can be triggered. Since you get a heal “on hit” SoM will trigger multiple times for a single AE attack, as well as whenever an offensive field (like caltrops or choking gas) applies its effect on a target. SoM isn’t particularly impressive with pistols or even daggers, but is incredibly powerful if you’re using shortbow or sword to hit multiple targets per attack. Additionally, damage fields stack, so it is entirely possible to quickly drop 2+ gas fields on a pack of of mobs and accrue >10 healing ticks per second for a few seconds. Caltrops dropped by dodging with Uncatchable work the same way. The other two thief heals reward a more conservative style of play where you move away or stealth out to prepare for another assault, whereas SoM lends itself to a more constantly aggressive playstyle. If you want health with SoM you have to jump back in and fight for it. It is a fun and rewarding way to play, but can be difficult to adapt to coming from other thief playstyles.

I’ve begun using SoM with S/D recently and trying out Assassins Reward. A.R probably fits snugly beside SoM but I might switch to Pain Response often as well, I’ve used that before and the regen is decent coupled with shaking three conditions was pretty huge for me. I understand it’s 45 second cooldown and the trigger is out of your hands but I used Hide in the Shadows with P.R with HitS for my controlled heal+condition removal while P.R seems to be right about where I need it at that 75% health trigger.