Guild Wars 2

Just curious how other thieves feel about Impact Strike. In my mostly WvW experience, I’ve found it an oddity. The damage doesn’t seem that great to actually finish off an opponent, at least in my build. And if you wait until the target has low enough health to make the skill useful, they are going to be down with a normal attack skill.

So, what’s the point of it? Stun you say? Sure, you can get an occasional stun off of it, but so far, 9 out of 10 times, they’ve got enough stab to not worry about the stun. After that, the 2nd attack in the chain will miss because they’ve simply walked away from the first hit.

Anyways, I’m just curious to know what you guys think of it so far. Is it a waste to place on your Elite Utility slot?

My understanding is that IS is used mainly to counter quickness-resses. Seeing as how quickness-res is no longer going to be a thing and BV becoming unblockable, I feel like IS will no longer be taken.

Hmm with BV getting buffed it gives us Thieves more options in terms of build variety. Which is something we lacked. Impact strike has won me many games because it can bypass down state helping me instantly res my team by stomping. But it’s really inconsistent even with my power build because the last hit can crit so i never know if it’ll be an instant stomp or not. But imo it’ll be a toss up between Impact and BV when it gets buffed because both have their advantages.

I see BV useful againts classes like Mes and scrapperand ok for the others but Impact is great againts all classes. BV only has 2 hits anyway so that is something to consider.

The player-dense environment in PvP makes Impact Strike more useful in PvP than it is in WvW. Ressing is a bigger problem in PvP, esp with quick resses and whatnot.

I still think from a dueling perspective Impact Strike isn’t bad. It provides extra burst dps on a bursty class, interrupts, and can be traited to have a 32s cd. It is somewhat unreliable though. Sometimes it feels like the skill can be dodged by sidestepping. And getting blinded on Finishing Blow never feels good either.

In the new meta with Basilisk Venom adding unblockable, and nerfs to quickness-ressing it’ll be hard to say if Impact Strike will still be as prevalent. Nerfs to ressing could make Impact Strike all the more of a kill-securer, as it is still definitely possible at the moment to get ressed before Finishing Blow hits. Or things could take a path as blarghhrrkblah mentioned and Impact Strike loses popularity due to ease in stomping.

i use it as a damage skill it basically 2 free backstab you just run int sigil with it free crits.

Big thing to remember when using it is if you know your going to miss you can always cancel the cast bar an restart it instantly to make it more reliable of hitting. so if they set up a dodge you just set timer to land on end of dodge free win on scrub.

If you are running pulmonary impact, would definitely consider taking impact strike over basilisk venom. The gap close and lack of cast time are both very useful in themselves on impact strike.

However, the basilisk venom buff will probably make it the better choice for non pulmonary impact builds, especially vs bunkers. Though its also noting that the venom will only proc twice, so it might not be so useful on p/p or s/p.

Impact strike is a great skill, but it is very unreliable. You cannot count on a set amount of damage or on not getting interrupted. Which means that in most situations it falls just short of insta stomping.

In those instances where it does work it can really shine though. Come upon a downed teammate getting stomped, steal, backstab, impact strike and the tables have turned. But whether it is still worth it after the buff to BV, Im not so sure.

Pulmonary impact with Impact strike has such amazing synergy I can’t possibly swap it for BV. Even after the buff most classes always have stab, the ones that have block. I don’t see how you could do more clutch plays with BV compared to Impact strike.

The fact that you can start the chain on a different target and swap to the downed guy, interrupt resses, list is long. I also use it very often offensivly in +1s to save initiative for chain lock, if you interrupt with chain 1 and then hold chain 2 for when he casts again that’s 2 pulmonary proccs already and count in the damage itself from Impact Strike.

I’m sorry guys, you all have it wrong.

Top reason to bring Impact Strike is to hear your toon shouting “GET REKT” when stomping enemies.

:D

I use it with two on interrupt sigils in my staff build. With Ruthlessness and Draining you can trigger 5 stacks might on interrupt in the chain as well as firing off 1k+ life drain, the PI if traited for along with damge from the rest of the chain.

Proc on elite skill use runes can also have nice synergy here with things like Mad King.