Please note that im not a PvP player, I only play PvE, and most of the time is just open world questing/roaming/DE (playing solo, no dungeons/fractals)
I returned from a long break a few days ago and I’ve been levelling a few classes to 7-15 to have a look at them. I have found the thief quite powerful and interesting so I have a question:
Can I get some kind of perma-stealth? In order to be able to easily skip moves (for example exploring caves or trying to reach nodes/PoIs/map completion/whatever). I played a burglar on LOTRO and loved this
I’m level 15 right now, using Sword/Pistol or Dagger/Pistol (dagger seems more bursty, but sword gives me cleave), and shortbow (helps to me to tag mobs in events)
How is the thief at higher levels? Is it easy to tag mobs in DEs for loot/farming?
The easiest and laziest way to stack stealth is to sit in a shadow refuge. Leaving before the full duration will reveal you, but staying gives you about 8 sec of stealth. The most efficient way to solo stack stealth is to put a shadowscreen first, blast it with shortbow 2 until it’s gone, move your way through the mobs, and put a sr (shadow refuge) when stealth is about to end. If you’re having trouble you can respec and spend 3 points in shadow arts for longer stealth.
Thief is a good pve class, with the 2nd single target dps and an insane burst. For dungeons they are wanted in trash-heavies path like cm or arah. For open world, they are great for soloing content, but tagging in DE isn’t that efficient with a thief, their range weapon is kinda weak.
Hope this helps.
If you’re on EU and need help to get into dungeons, pm me.
Is the bow that weak at tagging during DEs? It has served my well at low levels, does that change at 80?
Thief bow is fine for tagging, it’s what I used on my thief when the Scarlet invasions were here. It’s just not good for doing damage in a general sense. It’s a utility weapon.
Bad@Ele: Alaric Von Manstein
Bad@Thief: Kiera Gordon
Sea of Sorrows, a server never before so appropriately named.
You can do pretty much everything while in stealth ( except attacking, obviously), but remember that stealth doesn’t equal to out of combat, be careful to no blind/ damage a foe when stealthing. And yeah, bow can tag things, but not as much as a staff guard, and the damage is low.
If you’re on EU and need help to get into dungeons, pm me.
As mentioned above, for full stealth put 3 points into shadow arts for longer stealth. Make sure to always have a pistol offhand equipped as well as a shortbow for blasting. For heal/utilities use hide in shadows, smokescreen, blinding powder, and shadow refuge. Drop a smokescreen and blast it 5 times, when you see your stealth about to run out use shadow refuge. Once stealth is low again use pistol 5 blast it twice with shortbow, then use blinding powder in it as well. (blinding powder is a blast finisher and gives 3 seconds of stealth)
Also thief is actually the highest single target damage class in game, not 2nd.
you can’t press a button and stay stealthed forever, but there are many tools you can use to stealth on demand if you just want to ignore combat. you can always use cloak and dagger (dagger 5) on an inconspicuous bunny or sparkfly, or you can use smoke fields, or shadow refuge/blinding powder.
but you shouldn’t really require permastealth to avoid combat altogether.
Also thief is actually the highest single target damage class in game, not 2nd.
pretty sure eles have a higher burst right now.
They dont. http://gw2dps.david-reess.de go compare both in optimal party compositions, or even non optimal party compositions. Thief will still be higher.
that’s a group scenario, and that’s DPS, which is different from burst. burst is high damage over a short period of time, DPS is sustained damage over time. a fresh air ele can burst for more damage than a thief, but after that, yes, they’ll do less damage.
You can permanently stealth using Patience (trait X, I believe) in Shadow Arts, d/p, hide in shadows, and blinding powder. Toss in shadow refuge if you mess up.
Using pistol 5 gives you a smoke field, and using heartseeker gives you a leap finisher. Currently, you can leap three times through your pistol black powder (4 times if you shorten your heartseeker and if you have the extra initiative from Trickery). Cycle through your 5222 combo, and stagger blinding powder/hide in shadows when you’re low on initiative. If you stagger well, you can maintain stealth indefinitely.
You can permanently stealth using Patience (trait X, I believe) in Shadow Arts, d/p, hide in shadows, and blinding powder. Toss in shadow refuge if you mess up.
Using pistol 5 gives you a smoke field, and using heartseeker gives you a leap finisher. Currently, you can leap three times through your pistol black powder (4 times if you shorten your heartseeker and if you have the extra initiative from Trickery). Cycle through your 5222 combo, and stagger blinding powder/hide in shadows when you’re low on initiative. If you stagger well, you can maintain stealth indefinitely.
but you can’t really move while doing so, which is what OP is asking for, i think.
You can permanently stealth using Patience (trait X, I believe) in Shadow Arts, d/p, hide in shadows, and blinding powder. Toss in shadow refuge if you mess up.
Using pistol 5 gives you a smoke field, and using heartseeker gives you a leap finisher. Currently, you can leap three times through your pistol black powder (4 times if you shorten your heartseeker and if you have the extra initiative from Trickery). Cycle through your 5222 combo, and stagger blinding powder/hide in shadows when you’re low on initiative. If you stagger well, you can maintain stealth indefinitely.
but you can’t really move while doing so, which is what OP is asking for, i think.
You can move while doing this. Hide in shadows and blinding powder can both be used on the move, and 5222 can be used anywhere; you can also aim your last heartseeker in the direction you want to go. Doing the rotation right gives you 7-12 seconds of motion before you need to lay down another black powder.
You can permanently stealth using Patience (trait X, I believe) in Shadow Arts, d/p, hide in shadows, and blinding powder. Toss in shadow refuge if you mess up.
Using pistol 5 gives you a smoke field, and using heartseeker gives you a leap finisher. Currently, you can leap three times through your pistol black powder (4 times if you shorten your heartseeker and if you have the extra initiative from Trickery). Cycle through your 5222 combo, and stagger blinding powder/hide in shadows when you’re low on initiative. If you stagger well, you can maintain stealth indefinitely.
but you can’t really move while doing so, which is what OP is asking for, i think.
You can move while doing this. Hide in shadows and blinding powder can both be used on the move, and 5222 can be used anywhere; you can also aim your last heartseeker in the direction you want to go. Doing the rotation right gives you 7-12 seconds of motion before you need to lay down another black powder.
eh, i feel you spend more time setting up your stealth than actually moving. it’s like sitting on a symbol of swiftness for its full duration so you can walk 10 seconds, then stop, do it again, repeat.
that’s a group scenario, and that’s DPS, which is different from burst. burst is high damage over a short period of time, DPS is sustained damage over time. a fresh air ele can burst for more damage than a thief, but after that, yes, they’ll do less damage.
Ele is both better burst than sustain. Thief doesn’t have “burst” per se since there’s no period where they output massive damage but they do have a period where they output above-average damage for an extended period of time (while they have initiative). After that initiative runs down their sustained DPS drops considerably.
The one thing that is true is that if you look solely at single-target DPS, thief actually is #2 out of the three classes that can accurately be classified as single-target DPS only.
that’s a group scenario, and that’s DPS, which is different from burst. burst is high damage over a short period of time, DPS is sustained damage over time. a fresh air ele can burst for more damage than a thief, but after that, yes, they’ll do less damage.
Ele is both better burst than sustain. Thief doesn’t have “burst” per se since there’s no period where they output massive damage but they do have a period where they output above-average damage for an extended period of time (while they have initiative). After that initiative runs down their sustained DPS drops considerably.
The one thing that is true is that if you look solely at single-target DPS, thief actually is #2 out of the three classes that can accurately be classified as single-target DPS only.
eh, i feel you spend more time setting up your stealth than actually moving. it’s like sitting on a symbol of swiftness for its full duration so you can walk 10 seconds, then stop, do it again, repeat.
except the setup is even longer.
The setup takes around the same time. 5222 is the only thing limiting your speed, and even then, it’s not that long.
Mind you, throwing down a shadow refuge or blasting a smokescreen takes even longer to set up, and doesn’t offer permanent stealth. This is the fastest way to stealth indefinitely.
Lastly, presumably, you won’t need to stealth for the entire time you’re moving. Just use this to stealth past areas with tons of mobs. You don’t need permanent stealth anywhere, not even on Cursed Shore.
