Guild Wars 2

Any suggestions? Been playing around withe s/d for a bit now but am still confused as to what this evasion spam build with it is all about.

Bump. No one has any suggestions?

evasion sucks for thief, only pistol whip has any decent evade and it plants you very firmly in one spot. s/d isn’t used for the evade, it’s used because they tried to give thief a fighting chance vs some really OP classes in recent patch…but they didn’t actually want thief to have a REAL chance, only think they had one so they won’t whine as much…

Skip this part if you’re only interested in the build

Meridian.8730:

evasion sucks for thief, only pistol whip has any decent evade and it plants you very firmly in one spot. s/d isn’t used for the evade, it’s used because they tried to give thief a fighting chance vs some really OP classes in recent patch…but they didn’t actually want thief to have a REAL chance, only think they had one so they won’t whine as much…

People just love whining, don’t they? Loads of bullcrap in that quote. Really.

Lately I have been running S/D very successfully, PvE as well as WvWvW. Especially in WvWvW that boon steal mechanic is just godly. Combined with a well timed flanking strike your enemy won’t stand a chance. I’m having a blast.

Admitted, it took me some time to get really used to the sword skills, but it was definitely worth it. The sword has a blind, a daze, a shadowstep and a shadowreturn (stunbreaker). It cripples and weakens your foes with the final strike of the auto attack and still deals good damage, especially considering that it is PBAoE. And as I have already mentioned, evade + boon steal = godly. The evade can also be used as a small gap closer.

And that is just the sword. Combined with an offhand dagger, steal, shadow refuge, shadowstep and a shortbow you’re the king of movement, stealth and AoE. Especially if you go with Dagger Storm. I’m ever so happy I gave it a try.

On a sidenote: I’ve been taking a look at the class forums these past days and the general consensus of each class forum is: “qq my class is so bad and haz so many bugs, the devs ignore us!”
It’s like a big black cloud is hovering over the class forums spitting out self centered emo crybabies that want their class to never ever having trouble at anything and being god. Seriously.

The build

But enough offtopic. As for my build: Complete Berserkers gear except for earrings, they’re valkyrie. Runes of the pack (haven’t really decided what I want to go with finally, but as of right now they suffice).
Fire sigil on sword, rage sigil on dagger and sb. The latter is also subject to change

Traits:
0
30 (VI, X, XI)
25 (I, VIII)
15 (III)
0

Utility skills as I have mentioned already: Hide in Shadows, Shadow Refuge, Shadowstep, Signet of Shadows (feel free to change if you don’t care about the movespeed), Dagger Storm.
You can get rid of all the stealth stuff and go for even more mobility and initiative regen, but I really like stealth as it gives me time to recover, especially in WvWvW. Shadow Refuge is also very helpful in general.

Build works well in PvE (Dungeons, Fractals) as well as WvWvW.

Thanks Roter I’ll give it a try!

My personal choice is 0/30/0/30/10
Take the init regen traits, including on using a signet and Vigor on healing 20% dmg on targets with <50% HP
Take the roll back healing ability and off you go.
The rest is pretty much your choice.

Personally I’m running 0/30/0/20/20. It’s a “custom build” based off of Jumper’s build (which I think is something like 0/30/0/25/15 or something…).

In Critical Strikes take traits II, VIII and XI. Executioner is one of those traits you want in roughly any build, and the other two are there for some signet synergy. Since you’ll be using signets a lot, might as well grab some bonuses.

In Acrobatics you want III and IX. You’ll be using the low cooldown Withdraw as a heal, so you want the vigor on heal. IX is for more initiative. This build requires a lot of initiative.

Finally, in Trickery, you want V and VII. Steal lost its damage “punch” in the last nerf, so this build turns it into a utility. Since the points in trickery also go a long way to adding more initiative and steal cooldown, this essentially turns your steal into a low cooldown shadowstep that gives you fury, swiftness and steals 2 extra boons from the enemy (just for boon-ripping overkill).

As utilities you’re running Withdraw, Infiltrator’s Signet, Signet of Malice and Roll for initiative. Also common to use Basilisk Venom with Runes of Lyssa for that extra full-boon/full condition removal every 45 seconds.

It’s late here, so I can’t honestly be bothered going into details, but I’ll post some extras tomorrows if you need.

Meridian.8730:

Ignorant rambling

L2P.

Thanks for the build. I’very been thinking about trying something like this. I may give it a shot. I also agree with you about the whiners being annoying. I post on the mesmer forums a lot, and I noticed that people over there tend to be very thoughtful and creative. Even after the major confusion nerf, people were upset for 2 days, then they were making new build.

I appreciate the same sort of optimism and creativity on here.

creativity is NOT .. i repeat is NOT .. copying other players builds

Hurtappl.6405:

creativity is NOT .. i repeat is NOT .. copying other players builds

Awesome add to the conversation. I’m sure your expertise helped everyone.

As to the original question, I like Roter’s message. You will just need to decide between 0/30/25/15/0 or 0/25/30/15/0 depending on whether you prioritize damage or surviverability more. (I prefer damage in PvP and surviverability for WvW)

I’m not sure who that is meant to criticize, but I think that copying someone else’s build can be a good starting place that leads to individualization and tweaking, which is a creative process, and ultimately leads to separate builds. Being creative doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel. People in other fields follow this same model, which is why we don’t see a lot of modern cave art…we start by copying, then we change things.

As to the originality of the s/d build posted here, I don’t know…I’m assuming the poster wasnt trying to rip someone else off. Even if they may have done so unintentionally or accidentally created a very similar build to another popular build…

i understand what creativity is! really i do, I also understand what it is not and there are to many thiefs in this game that play the cookie cutter builds and dont try anything untill ppl say it is OP.. i feel like im surrounded by.., nah i wont say it

I think the word you’re looking for is kittens;). And I get some of that frustration, but it also has to do with the fact that certain thief builds are just sooo much better than others, and so it almost forces people to play those cookie cutters. In either case, s/d is certainly not a fotm, so I think your criticism is misplaced here.

it used to be flavor of the didnt exist.. but now everyone thinks they are pro at it LOL.. second i use a build that is based around my gear that im sure nobody else does.. i i eat up those so much better cookie cutter builds.. me and my friend spend lots of time theory crafting between eachother to make our selves more powerful and push limits.. we dont come on here asking for a guide from someone who just started playing thief or a weapon set and thinks they are BEST..
thats what im sayin

im not trying to be rude to anyone who wants to learn.. but there is a line between learning and straight copying.. i spend alot of time watching youtube videos or fighting enemies that are tough to increase my game play but i never ever ever have copied someone elses build.. its disgusting to me!

yup…totally disagree, copying is a great starting place, and its a good way to get to know the meta, and get to know intricacies of combos…I didn’t personally come up with 3 heart seekers through blinding powder, but I use it when running d/p.

I also agree that copying a build is a poor ending place…after copying a bit you should learn stuff about your own play-style. When looking at other builds, you may then start to adapt them iimmediately to your own preferences. The posted builds are then really about combo ideas and play styles.

Builds are not trivial to develop and test in this game. Except, to some extent in pvp. In wvw, though people who are new to the game may read around about survivability then decide to invest everything they have into clerics gear…only then do they realize that its not really a sound investment on a thief. The premade build helps get started, before tweaking.

I think its great that you are constantly trying to develop new things, but you also have to understand that people enjoy different aspects of the game. Personally theory crafting and strategizing are my favorite aspects of the game…which is why I loved gw1 and recommend you try it, if you like that aspect of the game-it was much better for that). Other people are twitch gamers, who just want to get out there and start killing stuff. they will be at a disadvantage if they don’t fully understand their builds, like a race driver who knows nothing about cars. I suppose you’re right, that those people aren’t being creative. But sharing and discussing builds is IMO part of a creative process too.