Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure how many of you have tested the 30-Acrobatics trait Hard to catch.

The way it’s described it sounds like an automatic Shadowstep + Swiftness on a 1 minute cooldown. But obviously that isn’t all that helpful.

Does anyone have any personal experiences with the trait? Is it worth while? Is it reliable? Does it warrant running without a dedicated stun-breaker etc.?

I havn’t used it in PvE or WvW, so I don’t know how it would fair in more open ground warfare, but I absolutely hated it in sPvP, you had zero control over when it triggers, and even less control over which direction you are teleported.

as well as http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phase_Retreat
But 60 sec cd – totaly useless

It sounds cool, but I can promise you from toying with builds in sPvP matches that it is more of a disorienting liability than anything useful.
Besides, it doesn’t take much to pop the real Shadowstep and go somewhere you would much rather be.

OK i have used it….aaand it’s not worth it.First because it procs from Fear and Daze.I want it to protect me from 100b,BS ,PW and similar bursts,not from a casual Daze from a thief sword for example.Anyway.The other problem is that you stay stunned or knockdowned e.t.c when it procs.Thats to say the least “not well thought”.The third problem is that it Shadowsteps you very random.Lets say you are knocked down from an Ele and he sets a powerful AoE(don’t know the name,kill me but i only play thief),so the trait shadowsteps you away…..again somewhere in the AoE circle.Funny ain’t it?

Absolutely the most useless grandmaster trait there is.

Clovis.7386:

Absolutely the most useless grandmaster trait there is.

I don’t know – Rangers have some real contenders for that title.

Useless both in PvP and PvE. It can also teleport you under map and make stuck.
Maybe give some idea how to fix it, or replace with something else? But without any cooldowns.

That trait is worthless. I tried it some time ago and I’d step away but if i remember right it wouldn’t cure the effect I was in, I believe it was immobilized. So I’d shadowstep away but shadowstep (a stun breaker) doesn’t cure immobilized (its considered like crippled, not a stun). So, it shouldn’t have triggered in the first place. Whatever the exact situation I found it worthless quickly.

That and the fact that it triggers when you’re not expecting it. Sometimes you don’t want to exit the fight at that time. If you’re still sticking with 30 acro I take whatever for 1st (vigor on heal 4 me), cripple remove for 2nd, and heal on init use for 3rd. The other GM (3 init on weapon swap) is not worth it IMO.

It would most likely just mess up my rythm and get my killed.

If the direction you ShadowStep to isn’t 100% level from your starting position, you can end up in the ground (stuck) or you could not move at all. This on top of not controlling when it pops, which direction it sends you, and the fact that it doesn’t cure whatever made it pop (fear/knockdown) makes this trait more harmful then helpful 99% of the time.

Edit: Compare this to the mesmer version (Master Trait)

- Mirror of Anguish When disabled (by stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, sink, float, fear, or launch), you mirror the disable back to the source. This effect can only trigger once every 90 seconds

I use this trait when I am doing P/D in WvW and it’s worth it only there and for that spec. I wouldn’t use it as a melee based Thief or in sPvP. For P/D -WvW though it is actually really good. I would never use it in place of Shadowstep, but having both makes sure Shadowstep is up when you really need it.

I stopped using it for a while since it does kill you at times and noticed many more deaths due to stuns/kd with shadowstep on CD then when I use it so I went back after a couple days.

In case you are wondering, the way it can get you killed is by insta porting you out of your own SR. For instance, you pop SR, a ele drops a stun field on it and H2C ports you out of SR revealing you. Happens rarely since you usually would have blown H2C from something before SR in the fight.

I could see it working ok for P/D, but something melee like S/D, D/D, or just about anything else it’s probably not worth it as you’ll need to be in melee range and this could easily hurt more than help.

It’s annoying as hell. I do not deny that it has gotten me out of a pickle or two, but it really takes some getting used to. First time I was ‘wtf why am I over here’. After awhile you get used to the randomness and just flow with it, but I didnt miss it when I switched it out.

I only use it in the Marsh Fractal in case I get KDed by a trap or so..other than that not worth it