Guild Wars 2

Hey all, so yeah I just hit level 80 and I guess the way I play this game is going to change.

For all my levelling, I’ve relied extremely heavily on D/D conditions, using caltrops and my traits allowing for fantastic initiative regen via stealth and healing. I love my build and have tried many others, Backstab, Pistolwhip, you name it, but I don’t like them. I especially don’t like Pistolwhip.

Anyways, when I first started this game, I never thought I’d be into PvE, as I have always been so PvP orientated.

Thing is, now that I am level 80, I want to explore different areas of the game. I’ve done lots of questing and sPvP but I’ve not done a single dungeon, or taken a step into WvW yet, but now I’d like to.

So I was thinking stick with my normal Carrion armour that I’ve used so far right? Cause I’d like to make my condition build work in WvW and if it doesn’t, I’ve seen those amazing WvW vids with P/D by Wild Bill and that build relies heavily on conditions too.

But then I am like, well, what about dungeons? Like I said, I’ve not done a single dungeon before – are there any condition-based builds that work well in dungeons? I figured in dungeons our primary wep is short bow and our number 2 ability does stack bleeds and I can set the poison field down too?

Idk, I need armour that can work for both dungeons and WvW and farming =/

Can anybody help?

EDIT: Is buying exotics off the TP even the best way to get my exotic set? I can get a full Carrion exotic set for 80 for like 11gold, or should I be getting my exotic set through crafting/karma? I hate crafting xD

If you want to combine dungeons, farming and pvp then condition d/d set will be the best choice for a start.
You can buy exotics for dungeon tokens. As for stats condition damage and one defensive stat on every piece will do (though as a condition build i will suggest to prefer vit over tough)

D/D works well in dungeons? I know Death Blossom has an evade as it’s my primary skill but I had heard so many people saying Thief gets killed in 1 hit in dungeons and that we need to use shortbows to keep safe. Thanks for the advice!

If you got your own resources to craft exotics then yeah ofcourse it’ll be cheaper for you, if not probably wont be. I tried crafting my first own exotic chest and it ended up costing me quite alot of gold as to the 3g 50s price it was set to at the time. Only had about half of the mats i needed, so yeah i wont be doing that again. xD

As to your thief build question, just look around there is alot of different builds. I personally like my S/P for both PvE and PvP, i run with 5/15/10/20/20 and stack Vit, Pre,Pow and Crit Dmg on my gear and trinkets. Blind/Daze in dungeons, keeps your party alive.

Someone will probably come along and tell you im doing it all wrong and you should only focus on maxing one or the other. I say to that /sigh. Go with what you feel utilize your play style the most!.

P.s iv yet to die in a dungeon. Dont forget to evade!.

Glog.4275:

If you got your own resources to craft exotics then yeah ofcourse it’ll be cheaper for you, if not probably wont be. I tried crafting my first own exotic chest and it ended up costing me quite alot of gold as to the 3g 50s price it was set to at the time. Only had about half of the mats i needed, so yeah i wont be doing that again. xD

As to your thief build question, just look around there is alot of different builds. I personally like my S/P for both PvE and PvP, i run with 5/15/10/20/20 and stack Vit, Pre,Pow and Crit Dmg on my gear and trinkets. Blind/Daze in dungeons, keeps your party alive.

Someone will probably come along and tell you im doing it all wrong and you should only focus on maxing one or the other. I say to that /sigh. Go with what you feel utilize your play style the most!.

P.s iv yet to die in a dungeon. Dont forget to evade!.

Thanks for the response mate. I just really dislike the feel of S/P the fact it roots you and the swords look so big, doesn’t feel very Thiefy to me lol, I prefer to be flipping about all over the place, although the blind is real nice.

Yeah I probably won’t be crafting any time soon. I am just a little bit confused as to what stats to have on my Gear, I’ve always used Carrion armour but might need to put more Vit/Toughness on for dungeons or something.

I just don’t want to make a mistake as 11g is quite a lot to me.

For Dungeons you really want to have a ranged option at all times. The Shortbow is good but so is Pistol/Dagger or Pistol/Pistol.

In fact, if you’re running a condition build then Dagger/Dagger + Pistol/Dagger might be your best choice since both evolve around Condition Damage.

Carrion gear is the most obvious choice since Condition Damage, Power and Vitality will all prove useful to you. I’d like to add that a little Toughness isn’t too shabby either. Not worth stacking but even a little gives quite a substantial damage reduction. However the 300 Toughness you get from the Shadow Arts tree might suffice.

But…and this is quite a big deal in PvE…what really limits Condition Builds in PvE is the Bleed stack limit. One Bleed Necro in your group could seriously kitten your DPS on Boss fights.

One dedicated Bleed build will often occupy close to 15 Bleed stacks by itself. Other group members may be adding Bleeds of their own meaning you’ll reach the 25 Bleed cap very quickly. It shouldn’t really impair your progress but it will limit your performance.

As for PvP, Bleed builds, especially Pistol/Dagger, are really good in small controlled situations like sPvP etc. I can frequently 1v2 with my P/D build, something that’s hard to do with your classic D/D setup.

But things are different in WvW. With so much stuff going on you generally have very small kill-windows. That’s where D/D burst really pays off. You might have more fun with P/D Condition Builds when ganking people in the Jumping Puzzle but in big Zerg fights….D/D burst builds will net you far more kills.

Dee Jay.2460:

For Dungeons you really want to have a ranged option at all times. The Shortbow is good but so is Pistol/Dagger or Pistol/Pistol.

In fact, if you’re running a condition build then Dagger/Dagger + Pistol/Dagger might be your best choice since both evolve around Condition Damage.

Carrion gear is the most obvious choice since Condition Damage, Power and Vitality will all prove useful to you. I’d like to add that a little Toughness isn’t too shabby either. Not worth stacking but even a little gives quite a substantial damage reduction. However the 300 Toughness you get from the Shadow Arts tree might suffice.

But…and this is quite a big deal in PvE…what really limits Condition Builds in PvE is the Bleed stack limit. One Bleed Necro in your group could seriously kitten your DPS on Boss fights.

One dedicated Bleed build will often occupy close to 15 Bleed stacks by itself. Other group members may be adding Bleeds of their own meaning you’ll reach the 25 Bleed cap very quickly. It shouldn’t really impair your progress but it will limit your performance.

Thanks for the great response. D/D + P/D/Shortbow seems like the perfect combination for me then as I also use these sets exclusively in PvP!

I am going to buy the Carrion set Maybe I should find some accessories that have a bit of Toughness on them.

The bleed limit is indeed extremely annoying and I can’t for the life of figure out why they’ve implemented that, I have faith it will be raised in the future though.

Anyways, I’m not one of those DPS nerds (anymore!) I don’t mind if my damage is being reduced because somebody is running a condition build too, as long as the boss dies in the end.

Thanks again!!

EDIT:

Thx for the WvW advice, I will be heading in there as soon as I sort my gear/builds out.