Guild Wars 2

Here is a build that has a high potential to be one of the go to thief meta build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAWVn0MBlOh9OBGPBkmildCb+A+AvgeThtwVYLAUbaTA-TJBFABE8AAA4CA8fZgd2fAA
and a variant of it for ppl who do not own HoT:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsYVl0MhSnYvTw4Jw/EH7ElfK2iro/WzwPsDgarNB-TJBFAB/XGAgTAwO7PQwDAAA

You can role with a d/p and that is probably the best weapon set, but this trait and amulet/rune setup can work with any weapon really so i used the ones i prefer in the links.

You will have high pressure and damage as long as you have fury on (you have 195% crit dmg with fury on, which is more than a marauder amulet), and although your burst is lower than the standard marauder + power rune build you more than make up for it with defensive stats that allow you to actually stay in a fight and trade some blows and not just run away like a kitten.

Another benefit is very strong and consistent condi removal especially chill so you can comfortably solo reapers, also 3/3 utility skills are stun breakers so you should never get wombo combo killed while cc’d (especially not if you run the acrobatics line it is insane for sustain post pach, try it drop dd for it and play a couple matches).

Save shadow step for when you actually need to stun break/retreat, use role for initiative when you need initiative mid fight (and don’t want to pull out to wait for it to regen), and haste is best used with just auto attacks.

You should be the one who starts a fight (picks a target) for your team since you are always running with critical strikes (more dmg vs targets above 50%) and quickly bring down ppl to a uncomfortable hp amount. Another reason for you starting a fight is to draw out cc from the enemy since you can always easily escape and it is highly unlikely that you are going to die on the spot, you are a thief but you are also a brick wall in disguise (if your team mates give you protection you are golden).

Seems pretty nice. I like the idea and Staff is definitely designed to be more of a brawler weapon similar to a Warrior so on paper, I think the build is solid. I might give it a shot later and see how it plays.

Looks pretty nice. I used to use wurm runes a lot after the June 26 patch. I’d take Flanking Strikes over TotC though. You already have swiftness from Dash and perma fury in CS. One might stack is not worth more than an extra Haste.

It looks good.

Haste seems kind okittenward (Why was this censored? 0.o) though. You already have enough fury from CS and quickness only gives you value if you auto-attack with staff for it’s duration. There is no benefit from it when using Vault or Weakening Strikes.

Signet of Agility for a substantial critical hit chance increase and condi removal and endurance regen on demand or Bandit’s Defense for a block and stunbreaker on 15 second CD seem to provide more value with staff.

If you went with that, then Bountiful Theft for boon steal and 10 seconds of vigor on a 20 second CD would seem like a stronger choice than Trickster.

If you really wanted to keep Haste, Flanking Strikes over Thrill of the Crime.

This is mainly about the DrD build.

First of all, you’re really losing a lot of damage potential when you partner CS and Trick together since CS doesn’t benefit from Steal’s low CD while DA is the best trait line to go with Trick.

Second, IMO, that’s just way too many stun breaks. For the build with DrD, all you need is Bandit’s Defense + Brawler’s Tenacity and you have all the stun breaks you’ll even need. And due to the low BD’s CD, you can even use it as a block when necessary. With BD, you can open up two slots for more useful utilities.

Third, Shadowstep has such a long CD for condition removal — you can use Scorpwire 3 times, removing 3 conditions before Shadowstep even goes off cooldown. Scorpwire also has an additional tactical use when necessary. For gap closer, Steal has lower CD than Shadowstep. For creating gap, it’s cheaper to use either Dash, Debilitating Arc, or even Weakening Charge. So of all the other options, the I don’t see why would a DrD build take Shadowstep.

Lastly, Haste, it has a potential but it’s not something I would bring myself. There are other better choices IMO.

However, I can see this may work well if I am teamed with a Chrono since alacrity will make these builds work flawlessly. Other than that, it’s hard to imagine that this build will work without a Chrono since it has a lot of long CD issue.

Tried it out a few games. It’s working pretty well so far. It allows you to fight on point more than the typical marauder/scholar build. It also helps tremendously with the main plague of thieves, DH traps. Dmg is better than I thought it would be, although eles aren’t really killable with this build.

I made a few adjustments tho. I run D/P, flanking strikes instead of TOTC, impacting disruption instead of escapists absolution when playing comps with fewer than 2 condi classes, and signet of agility instead of haste. I imagine having quickness on demand to get off impact strike is nice, but signet of agility adds a lot of staying power with the extra dodges.