Guild Wars 2

Hello thieves. I wanted to go back to the thief (which was my main) after patch, since dagger/pistol is not the “only way”. Other thing that i dont like condies, so pistol/dagger is not something for me (too cheese and easy to play). Always was fascinated by sword/dagger builds, seen them quite a few lastly, but after trying myself, those builds have many flaws. Firstly to deal with this condispam meta you need to go into shadow arts and this stealth skill isn’t as much rewarding as others. Tried to go seizer stealthless, but every condi bunker could kill me (other thing in pvp i can do much with this build, not that i’m a pro) and every 1vsx fight ended same. I’m maining dd ele and can do 1000x more, taking camps included. Tried many builds, but every one misses something.

Can someone give me advise of a build, tell the limitations, or s/d spec is just weaker then others? Used 2/0/6/0/6, 0/2/6/6/0, 0/6/6/2/0 and 2/0/0/6/6 builds, every is just mediocore and has it’s weakness.

As you said stealthless is hard to go in WvW, sure it does have tons of evades and movility but it’s not as forgiving as other builds.

Imo S/D is something that should be kept in PvP, I also tried it in WvW but I didn’t like it at all.

P/D is the best build for wvwing at the moment (I agree it is cheesy), D/P is gimmicky but also works, D/D is outdated, but also works. I’d use S/P as an off set if I’m going D/P or D/D first set, other than that, I don’t like sword in wvw.

S/D is awesome in wvw , but not with acro , run the 2/0/6/0/6 . check out Amonatory’s youtube for reference.

Yes it’s a tpvp setup but I love it in every single way in either tpvp or wvw, if you play it with the slightest bit of brainpower and remember what you can and can’t fight. As with any build you need to know what your capable of and what limits you.

The build requires you to have a different mind set. The current thief “meta” (rather refer to cheesy) builds are build around giving chase to your enemy and bailing power if stuff get’s hot (stealth leaps etc.). Sword gives you the capability to actively defend an objective or control a fight to your own set rules. Adding the fact that this setup might have the biggest gap closing initiation (great for picking off back liners in zergs).

It’s an awesome build if learn how to play it.

In 1 vs x, you either fight players below your skill level or use cheese to win. Anything else and you die.

You only need 2pts in SA for shadow embrace if condis give you troubles. That’s what I use in every build for wvw. -condi duration food is useful too if you don’t mind limiting your build to it.

You can try S/D with D/P secondary, will work wonders for your survability. D/P is considered gimmicky only cos of the 5222 combo. Yet, it is probably the best weaponset thieves have as every single skill has its use.

If you want something different, you can try power P/D, it’s quite fun to play and most people will think you play condi so they’ll condi cleanse etc :P . Nice build https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Build-Oscuro-s-LRB/first#post3835366

I won’t give you sword builds since you seem to have tried quite a few already. There is simply none that will win fights all the time. If you want to play sword, give it some time and practise, you’ll get better.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

If you want something different, you can try power P/D, it’s quite fun to play and most people will think you play condi so they’ll condi cleanse etc :P .

You also see P/D used as second set on S/D. While perhaps more effective on a condition build, P/D does quite well with Power.

what about S/P then?
I’ve been called a hacker a couple times already when I’ve single-handedly flipped over a 250/250 camp with 12ish lv82 veterans and two defending players… poor things!
I honestly think all of the builds have use. I LOVE S/D, it’s really hard to play but once you get the hang of it it’s great. D/P is a gimmick, but nevertheless a very potent one, and so is S/P. D/D is fine too, and the only thing I don’t really like would be P/D…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAoa8Yl0Mp3plOxwJ0PNRPBtVA8+JNZKdXjfsWA-T1BBABAcSA2T/Q07PolyvHeCAcq+DaKBJFgeCjA-w

I am going to be trying this in a sd build as soon as I can round up the gear. The high hps (23k before applied fortitude) should compensate for no condi cleanse in shadow arts and the armor is decent.

The two points in the critical line might be swapped out for Shadows embrace in SA or mug.

Sword is fine in WvW once you’ve ‘mastered’ it.
Understand it doesn’t have quite the burst that Dagger mainhand has from backstab or heartseeker, unless you run that as your secondary set.

S/P has all the blinds and interrupts in addition to pistol whip that D/P has besides the access to stealth.

Thanks for the replies. So as I thought about it. I’ll try out more that 2/0/6/0/6 build, videos looks nice, pain is low vitality, but going with the gear is sacrificing dmg. I’ll try something like this (tried before, but maybe not enough).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0Mp0pdPx8J8PNBNhwdtSz8O83yaFA-TlCBABYpEDgTAQe6DKa/BtUewwRAYjDBAEPAgKV/5MlgECo8YA-w

Stealthless builds are only working with fast fight or with other person to roam, so the shadow arts is obligatory (for condi migitation). Going 6 in acro takes much dmg from build, but makes it more evasive, critical strikes – pure offense, trickery makes nice balance between (and poison is too good when dealing with high regen targets). Rune of the pack synegies with thrill of crime making perma fury and swiftness uptime. I will think about taking pistol/dagger in offset, but i just like shortbow for utility/escape mechanism. If that wont work i’ll eventually become that cheese p/d just to learn how to cloak’n dagger well (or get back to my “destroyeverything” ele).

You can exchange sets pretty fast, with S/D in first, replacing the SB on second for a pistol will switch you from S/D + Sb to S/D + P/D, and vv. Or swap Sword and Pistol and keep the Sb.

You can either swap weps as needed or you could try to give up sb. Sure bow is excellent for mobility and escaping, and it took me few weeks to get used to having no bow as secondary. Now I use it only for zerging, any smaller scale fights and I feel naked with bow. For me it just doesn’t have as much use as other sets. I like P/P and that has mobility of a dead turtle xD and no stealth either. I think relying on sb for escapes just limits the options. Especially with sword, I can utilise terrain and mobs to escape. I won’t outrun my enemies but they often run in opposite direction then me :P

For even numbered fights S/D is viable but it becomes tricky when trying to fight outnumbered because stealth is really dependent on Cloak and Dagger and enemy conditions can prevent this (Aegis, Blind, etc.)

As someone who’s played 2/0/6/0/6 for the longest time I will honestly say it’s not nearly as good as it used to be. Since the crit dmg nerf I’ve had to swap so many trinkets and stats just to get enough dmg to even do much of anything. This build still works, but it’s just not very bursty like it used to be. But it all comes down to knowing the weapon set, even if you’re bad with it at first you literally just have to stick with it until it becomes natural and thats when the fun begins.

I believe you just need more practice, I run s/d 2/0/0/6/6 in wvw and rarely have problems with anyone 1v1, you have a lot more condi cleanse than u realize, take sig of agility + inf strike, and shadow step, use inf strike to remove the more painful condi… learn to evade properly as a lot of condi skills still need to hit you in order to apply said condis… the only time I really have trouble on this build is if im outnumbered. I only have one stealth skill with the build and that is cloak and dagger so when I have more than one focusing on me it tends to get a bit trickey lol

Spyder.9713:

I believe you just need more practice, I run s/d 2/0/0/6/6 in wvw and rarely have problems with anyone 1v1, you have a lot more condi cleanse than u realize, take sig of agility + inf strike, and shadow step, use inf strike to remove the more painful condi… learn to evade properly as a lot of condi skills still need to hit you in order to apply said condis… the only time I really have trouble on this build is if im outnumbered. I only have one stealth skill with the build and that is cloak and dagger so when I have more than one focusing on me it tends to get a bit trickey lol

And that’s what i have said. 1 v 1 is nice, had no bigger problems (except condi shout warrior – healing like…..). The problem is unbalanced fights, you cant dodge from 2-3 persons at same time, there comes stealth, but sword with stealth is little bit meh. Sword as a weapon is made to make constant pressure with high dps, but not burst, going into stealth drops pressure of sword. Thinking about it that second weapon set comes in – pistol dagger with sneak attack from distance, thanks to that you still make pressure, but play more defensively. I’ll try that.

yes I seen where u said 1 v x, it is hard but not impossible but that is for anybuild u run… that is where it becomes a lot more xp v xp, as I can easily crush 2-3 noobs but if you throw some xpienced players into the mix it becomes a lot harder… but trust me don’t give up on it bro practice makes perfect… once you start to feel it im sure you will fall in love with the build, I hated s/d when I first started playing cause im use to how assassins worked in other mmo’s where u are stealthed the whole time till u unload on a hapless victim, but once I practiced with s/d I fell in love with it and would rather run it than any other build atm anyways as far as outnumbered if they have xp I would often lose even on my full stealth d/d burst so best of luck to you!!

S/D is great in WvW. It’s lovely for zerg skipping and if you’re in zerk gear you crit upwards of 4k for many hits.

I’m advocating 2/6/6 as a great s/d build. Pick up executioner and you’ll see some nice damage spikes. I’ve had a lot of success with it for roaming and duels.

2/0/6/0/6 used to be great but like Amon mentioned, it lost the damage potential. 2/0/0/6/6 is great for PvP but its too evasive in wvw. You spend too much time dodging and not enough time throwing punches. Its meant to hold a point, not quickly kill. 2/6/6 gives you a good constant critical % for sigil + omnom procs, which is great damage, along with exec. I have some vids down below that show some of the movements.

S/D is horrible. Worse than P/P

AikijinX.6258:

S/D is horrible. Worse than P/P

Care to elaborate?

Zach.3264:

AikijinX.6258:

S/D is horrible. Worse than P/P

Care to elaborate?

Auto attack is poor, #2 is near useless, #3 lacks damage, #4 is probably the best in the whole set, #5 reveals on impact.

-And if you havent figured out the troll in this post i am sorry for the time wasted.. Q_q.. I crei…. crei evrytiem…