Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, I just hit 80 and decided to go condition simply because I’d rather wait for the crit changes to come and then move to power build.

Can you link me a good standard P/D build?

How about armor? How shall I setup my equips?
I don’t know if I should go full Dire, or Carrion or Rabid, or a mixture… What is most efficient in your opinion?

How about Sigils? I know runes are the Nightmare ones.

Thank you in advance

You can do almost anything with P/D, buildwise, because it’s damage scales up both with conditions as with power – so if you want to try the playstyle you can use, integrate (some) of your current (power) gear.

Is for PvE? Wvw?

The standard is Dire, though Carrion will give more umph, you could experiment with Rabid for Precision and on-crit triggers but those aren’t our (conditions) department.

Usually 30 Shadow Arts and the standard traits, Cloaked, Embrace, Rejuvenation. Then your choice from Acrobatics, Trickery and Deadly Arts. A Power P/D might consider critical strikes, the adept pistol trait looks ok for it. In DA you spec for Poison, reducing your opponents healing is very strong in Wvw/Pvp. You may also want to add it’s weakness on poison trait, aside from being a decent debuff it is another cover condition to protect your bleeds when focussing on condition damage. Acrobatics for the usual goodies, might on dodge, ims in stealth, falling. Trickery usually for the on-steal goodies.

Thanks

I’m mainly thinking of WvW roaming, since conditions aren’t very good for PvE

What is the standard P/D build and equipment for roaming?

lazycalm.5186:

Thanks

I’m mainly thinking of WvW roaming, since conditions aren’t very good for PvE

What is the standard P/D build and equipment for roaming?

Full dire or carrion. Carrion is a lot squishier bu you do more dmg. Dire is pretty much invincible. Traits go 10/0/30/0/30. Grab perplexity runes with sleight of hand, and scorpion wire

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY6YlUmiO3eS7E/5EB3DnaUo694rj1saFoJA-jkCB4iDimWAkkOQ0HwZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYmbDRzkL1CBsYNA-w

You can also use caltrops instead of scorpion wire or shadow refuge. I just prefer it the way it is

Excellent, just what I needed

thanks a lot Carpboy

Do condition pistol dagger thieves rely more on evasion or stealth? This is the way I’m thinking of building my thief initially at 80, but am curious of the play style.

UprightMan.9631:

Do condition pistol dagger thieves rely more on evasion or stealth? This is the way I’m thinking of building my thief initially at 80, but am curious of the play style.

WAY more on stealth. You can build them 10/0/30/30/0 to have a little more evasion. But you miss bountiful theft so theyre about the same. CnD into sneak attack is your bread and butter for P/D. The #3 is also an awesome skill and can be used a lot like a dodge to avoid telegraphed attacks. Warriors are the easiest thing to kill on a P/D because they can literally NEVER hit you between all the blinds, stealthed, evades, and teleports. Most thieves also dont have 3k armor and 17k health, so if they do happen to hit you itll be pretty weak

Carpboy.7145:

lazycalm.5186:

Thanks

I’m mainly thinking of WvW roaming, since conditions aren’t very good for PvE

What is the standard P/D build and equipment for roaming?

Full dire or carrion. Carrion is a lot squishier bu you do more dmg. Dire is pretty much invincible. Traits go 10/0/30/0/30. Grab perplexity runes with sleight of hand, and scorpion wire

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY6YlUmiO3eS7E/5EB3DnaUo694rj1saFoJA-jkCB4iDimWAkkOQ0HwZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYmbDRzkL1CBsYNA-w

You can also use caltrops instead of scorpion wire or shadow refuge. I just prefer it the way it is

The problem here is no Swiftness, no Movement Speed increase and No way to escape a fight unless you use Shadow Refuge.

hihey.1075:

Carpboy.7145:

lazycalm.5186:

Thanks

I’m mainly thinking of WvW roaming, since conditions aren’t very good for PvE

What is the standard P/D build and equipment for roaming?

Full dire or carrion. Carrion is a lot squishier bu you do more dmg. Dire is pretty much invincible. Traits go 10/0/30/0/30. Grab perplexity runes with sleight of hand, and scorpion wire

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY6YlUmiO3eS7E/5EB3DnaUo694rj1saFoJA-jkCB4iDimWAkkOQ0HwZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYmbDRzkL1CBsYNA-w

You can also use caltrops instead of scorpion wire or shadow refuge. I just prefer it the way it is

The problem here is no Swiftness, no Movement Speed increase and No way to escape a fight unless you use Shadow Refuge.

The general rule is to swap SoS for w/e when not in combat

There are quite a few builds that work with p/d. I find it more flexible then most.

I myself now use 20/0/30/20/0 though I have used 10/0/30/0/30 and even 20/0/10/10/30. (this gives 3+k armor 20k+ health)

The poison on steal is a good skill out of DA. Dire is my preferred armor of choice and it on my trinkets as well. If I want some more heal or power I switch out a weapon set rather then the armor as it a lot easier to carry around extra weapons.

For the added OOMPH one gets from power I stack might rather then go carrion.

Assassins retreat is my speed rather then using an armor set specced for it or I will sometimes put in signet of shadows for map movement.

Just keep in mind for a condition spec you can toy with all sets of trait choices and find the one you most like. I like my dodges as example over using cnd and stealth and rely on shadow arts for might stacks and the regen more then anything.

As example a Withdraw/RFI/ and signet of agility is one of my favorite choices on the toolbar as I get all manner of dodges on demand.

Once you get your armor set try different combos of traits and find the one that works for you the best. Most any makes a good roamer in wvw and I find too many people who recommend builds do not consider the fact that every player is different when it comes to taste or even the ability to do the twitch at the right time.

As example I can never cloak and dagger on demand as some can so avoid that.

UprightMan.9631:

Do condition pistol dagger thieves rely more on evasion or stealth? This is the way I’m thinking of building my thief initially at 80, but am curious of the play style.

My own relies more on evades and speed. It a personal choice and many would prefer stealth. If you have no issues getting CnD to trigger you would probably rely more on stealth.

Here you go. Have fun.

babazhook.6805:

There are quite a few builds that work with p/d. I find it more flexible then most.

I myself now use 20/0/30/20/0 though I have used 10/0/30/0/30 and even 20/0/10/10/30. (this gives 3+k armor 20k+ health)

The poison on steal is a good skill out of DA. Dire is my preferred armor of choice and it on my trinkets as well. If I want some more heal or power I switch out a weapon set rather then the armor as it a lot easier to carry around extra weapons.

For the added OOMPH one gets from power I stack might rather then go carrion.

Assassins retreat is my speed rather then using an armor set specced for it or I will sometimes put in signet of shadows for map movement.

Just keep in mind for a condition spec you can toy with all sets of trait choices and find the one you most like. I like my dodges as example over using cnd and stealth and rely on shadow arts for might stacks and the regen more then anything.

As example a Withdraw/RFI/ and signet of agility is one of my favorite choices on the toolbar as I get all manner of dodges on demand.

Once you get your armor set try different combos of traits and find the one that works for you the best. Most any makes a good roamer in wvw and I find too many people who recommend builds do not consider the fact that every player is different when it comes to taste or even the ability to do the twitch at the right time.

As example I can never cloak and dagger on demand as some can so avoid that.

I’m trying to figure out what you would put in 20/0/10/10/30. Would this be a power build or a condition / venom build? I’m also guessing you run Shadow’s Embrace, Assassin’s Retreat (since you talk about it above), Thrill, Bountiful, and Sleight. Not sure about what would go into DA though, since if I were to play a power build, I’d run Mug / Dagger Mastery, but if I were to run venoms I’d probably put Quick Venoms and Venomous Strength. o.O?

Carpboy.7145:

Full dire or carrion. Carrion is a lot squishier bu you do more dmg. Dire is pretty much invincible. Traits go 10/0/30/0/30. Grab perplexity runes with sleight of hand, and scorpion wire

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY6YlUmiO3eS7E/5EB3DnaUo694rj1saFoJA-jkCB4iDimWAkkOQ0HwZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYmbDRzkL1CBsYNA-w

You can also use caltrops instead of scorpion wire or shadow refuge. I just prefer it the way it is

Is P/D the only occasion where you would go 30 into SA? I thought that was taboo. :\

EDIT -

Oh wait, it was 30 points into Acrobatics. I’m stupid, ignore that last part.

Hey, I used this a few weeks ago before getting bored and swapping to S/D, Enjoy!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlUmiOXaS+E/5EB3Dna0m6p4ritTBWlPA-jEDB4MCiUAA0Cg0HQZSFRjtgJI1MRr8JsKZER1KlYGzDRziO1CBsYNA-w

Swap Shadowstep for caltrops if soloing camps.

>>I’m trying to figure out what you would put in 20/0/10/10/30. Would this be a power build or a condition / venom build? I’m also guessing you run Shadow’s Embrace, Assassin’s Retreat (since you talk about it above), Thrill, Bountiful, and Sleight. Not sure about what would go into DA though, since if I were to play a power build, I’d run Mug / Dagger Mastery, but if I were to run venoms I’d probably put Quick Venoms and Venomous Strength. o.O?

Condition build. The 30 in trickery maximizes conditions. DA was to get Mug and then Improv along with posion on steal and the weakness.

10 in SA was to get shadows embrace and 10 in acro for swiftness.

I would then use uncatchable , sleight of hand and bountiful theft. I used this with the scavenger set so conditions were over 2200.

Venom Build video I use

Its mainly for Lols, but you can do other Condition P/D builds that are stronger and very hard to bring down.

>>Venom Build video I use
Its mainly for Lols, but you can do other Condition P/D builds that are stronger and very hard to bring down.

Under the right conditions (pun intended) those all venom builds with aura can be fun. I find you have to pick and choose your spots.

I will often use it to great effect just outside a keep when we siege a place. Load it up and wait for people to leap out to take out a ram or for people to try and run through your group to get into the keep.

5 people with all those venoms can be nasty.

For a truly LOL moment use improv, steal to the target after loaded with venoms and get lucky with them all recharging. He will hate you.

Terravos.4059:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBj4pEnMzNA

Venom Build video I use

Its mainly for Lols, but you can do other Condition P/D builds that are stronger and very hard to bring down.

Hi. Your build references exotic Dire jewelry. Could you please provide some details? I cannot seem to find a source for these.

Alwyyn.9835:

Terravos.4059:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBj4pEnMzNA

Venom Build video I use

Its mainly for Lols, but you can do other Condition P/D builds that are stronger and very hard to bring down.

Hi. Your build references exotic Dire jewelry. Could you please provide some details? I cannot seem to find a source for these.

I believe you can gear Dire jewelry off NPC’s in the Cursed Shores Area, but it’d be easier to just look on the Auction House under Trinkets, search for level 80, There is a couple named pieces that sell pretty cheap that you can get.

Do u guys think its worthy to get a set of perplexity runes right now, with the changes around the corner? Or should I wait and save my money?

kitten i missed this thread and P/D dire/apoth is my jam!!!!

This is what I’m running when I’m specced for conditions.

• You don’t need Infusion of Shadow because of the recent buff to initiative regeneration (land those Cloak and Daggers!).
• Poison is for debuffing the enemy and make their healing less effective, and it’s a nice burst.
• You don’t need Shadow Refuge. Just time CnD so that every time you leave stealth you get new stealth to heal up. You’ll also stack might so when you engage again you’ll deal even more damage.
• Swap Hide in Shadows with Withdraw if you feel you have enough stealth. The short cooldown works really well with the Acrobatics trait line.
• Use caltrops/evades offensively and defensively.
• Condition duration isn’t that long, but you can reapply bleeds and torment with ease, so I chose to get runes focused on defensive stats (they actually have your conditions tick for more per tick, but shorter duration).
• You can stack 25 stacks of bleeding and a few seconds of poison on 5 people with ease.
• Sigil of Hydromancy can help you stack bleeds; drop caltrops (utility, not evade) and swap to short bow while you’re in the middle of the group. Then drop Choking Gas and Shadowstep out. Watch it stack for those three seconds and /laugh.

Have fun!

Edit: There’s a myth that you deal more damage with Carrion than with Dire gear – that’s not true. Dire actually have your conditions deal more damage per tick than Carrion, this because of the food/crystal. Your CnD will deal more physical damage, but that’s not needed. Condition builds is all about attrition. Just bleed them dry and play it defensively in the beginning. You have a ton of blinds, health and toughness – which means that you will be very, very hard to kill.

Lamuness.3570:

babazhook.6805:

There are quite a few builds that work with p/d. I find it more flexible then most.

I myself now use 20/0/30/20/0 though I have used 10/0/30/0/30 and even 20/0/10/10/30. (this gives 3+k armor 20k+ health)

The poison on steal is a good skill out of DA. Dire is my preferred armor of choice and it on my trinkets as well. If I want some more heal or power I switch out a weapon set rather then the armor as it a lot easier to carry around extra weapons.

For the added OOMPH one gets from power I stack might rather then go carrion.

Assassins retreat is my speed rather then using an armor set specced for it or I will sometimes put in signet of shadows for map movement.

Just keep in mind for a condition spec you can toy with all sets of trait choices and find the one you most like. I like my dodges as example over using cnd and stealth and rely on shadow arts for might stacks and the regen more then anything.

As example a Withdraw/RFI/ and signet of agility is one of my favorite choices on the toolbar as I get all manner of dodges on demand.

Once you get your armor set try different combos of traits and find the one that works for you the best. Most any makes a good roamer in wvw and I find too many people who recommend builds do not consider the fact that every player is different when it comes to taste or even the ability to do the twitch at the right time.

As example I can never cloak and dagger on demand as some can so avoid that.

I’m trying to figure out what you would put in 20/0/10/10/30. Would this be a power build or a condition / venom build? I’m also guessing you run Shadow’s Embrace, Assassin’s Retreat (since you talk about it above), Thrill, Bountiful, and Sleight. Not sure about what would go into DA though, since if I were to play a power build, I’d run Mug / Dagger Mastery, but if I were to run venoms I’d probably put Quick Venoms and Venomous Strength. o.O?

Carpboy.7145:

Full dire or carrion. Carrion is a lot squishier bu you do more dmg. Dire is pretty much invincible. Traits go 10/0/30/0/30. Grab perplexity runes with sleight of hand, and scorpion wire

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY6YlUmiO3eS7E/5EB3DnaUo694rj1saFoJA-jkCB4iDimWAkkOQ0HwZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYmbDRzkL1CBsYNA-w

You can also use caltrops instead of scorpion wire or shadow refuge. I just prefer it the way it is

Is P/D the only occasion where you would go 30 into SA? I thought that was taboo. :\

EDIT -

Oh wait, it was 30 points into Acrobatics. I’m stupid, ignore that last part.

Shadow arts is probably the most popular line, At least for WvW. Whoever told you its taboo needs a kick to the face

Anything with offhand dagger, and D/P will put at least some into SA (unless making a max DPS build). The only weapon you wouldn’t is with S/P

Yeah, I messed up, but people have already started to respond to the messages, so I edited and included the “Ignore the last line” XD It was Acrobatics that no one puts 30 points into.

Geiir.7603:

• Condition duration isn’t that long, but you can reapply bleeds and torment with ease, so I chose to get runes focused on defensive stats (they actually have your conditions tick for more per tick, but shorter duration).

Don’t exist, only conditon damage, sigil of bursting and corruption will increase the damage per tick.

• You can stack 25 stacks of bleeding and a few seconds of poison on 5 people with ease.

You can not, especially not without increasing condition duration – sneak attack applies 5 stacks for 4 seconds and without increasing duration the wear of before applying the next 5 stacks.

• Sigil of Hydromancy can help you stack bleeds; drop caltrops (utility, not evade) and swap to short bow while you’re in the middle of the group. Then drop Choking Gas and Shadowstep out. Watch it stack for those three seconds and /laugh.

Caltrops works only against NPC’s – and works very good against them I might add. But sigil of hydromance takes the place of sigil of doom which is a good source of poison (you don’t have many sources of poison)

_Edit: There’s a myth that you deal more damage with Carrion than with Dire gear – that’s not true.

No myth, sneak attack scales with power. More power == more damage and best of all, you don’t need buffs up all the time to have that boost. The crystal buff also (a)does not compensate the loss of that power damage and (b) crystals buffing durations help more. A completely condition focussed build will also be utterly powerless against some opponents.

You do loose toughness though, which is the most important passive defensive attribute for an attrition build.

Here you go, latest updated video about my D/D – P/D build with P/D – P/D, for all situations, with this builds I’ve downed +50 champions solo, and trolled uncountable number of players:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hevr7MY2u0

frans.8092:

Geiir.7603:

• Condition duration isn’t that long, but you can reapply bleeds and torment with ease, so I chose to get runes focused on defensive stats (they actually have your conditions tick for more per tick, but shorter duration).

Don’t exist, only conditon damage, sigil of bursting and corruption will increase the damage per tick.

The Rune of the Undead adds more toughness and make 5% of your toughness into condition damage, so yes they actually add damage. The reason I chose Sigil of Agony was to get even numbers on my bleeds. Bleeds tick per second, so it doesn’t matter if you have 5 3/4 seconds of bleed, you will only get 5 seconds. I noticed that my overall damage increased by using Sigil of Agony instead of Corruption.

• You can stack 25 stacks of bleeding and a few seconds of poison on 5 people with ease.

You can not, especially not without increasing condition duration – sneak attack applies 5 stacks for 4 seconds and without increasing duration the wear of before applying the next 5 stacks.

This is done by using Caltrops; either trait, utility or both. I do it all the time on my thief, and it’s hilarious to do against small groups / mini blobs. Try Caltrops, Shadowstep and Choking Gas in combination and you’ll see.

You can’t do it with Sneak Attack alone since they apply bleeds for 6 seconds, therefore it’s very hard to get above 5 stacks using Sneak Attack alone.

• Sigil of Hydromancy can help you stack bleeds; drop caltrops (utility, not evade) and swap to short bow while you’re in the middle of the group. Then drop Choking Gas and Shadowstep out. Watch it stack for those three seconds and /laugh.

Caltrops works only against NPC’s – and works very good against them I might add. But sigil of hydromance takes the place of sigil of doom which is a good source of poison (you don’t have many sources of poison)

I find that Caltrops (if used correctly) works wonders against human targets. A thief drop Shadow Refuge? Bad idea when I’m around.

I was thinking about using Sigil of Doom, but I find Hydromancy to be way more powerful, especially against players. If timed right it can change the tide of battle in your favor.

I usually run Spider Venom, so poison isn’t that much of a problem.

_Edit: There’s a myth that you deal more damage with Carrion than with Dire gear – that’s not true.

No myth, sneak attack scales with power. More power == more damage and best of all, you don’t need buffs up all the time to have that boost. The crystal buff also (a)does not compensate the loss of that power damage and (b) crystals buffing durations help more. A completely condition focussed build will also be utterly powerless against some opponents.

You do loose toughness though, which is the most important passive defensive attribute for an attrition build.

The added survivability you get from using Dire instead of Carrion weighs up for the power loss. Fights as a condition Thief is all about attrition, therefore it’s more important to stay alive than adding physical damage.

Yes, some builds will be nearly impossible to beat, but then I just run away or fight long enough for both to just /bow and go fight someone else.

You can’t get condition duration from crystals, only condition damage, precision or power. Condition duration comes from food.

I’m at least having tons of fun and rarely die. Even if I’m surprised by a blob I’ll get away (most of the times). This build is really hard to kill and very annoying to fight against.

Geiir.7603:

You can’t get condition duration from crystals, only condition damage, precision or power. Condition duration comes from food.

Can’t get it cheaply, you mean. Toxic Focusing Crystals do add 10% condition duration.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlYmaNncS6E/5Eh3jvOWzqVgmdP4q81KA-TsAAzCrIKSVkrITRyisFNCYtwsCA

Basically you outlast and kite the enemy while putting some good DoT out. The combination of poison and bleeds is great and the few seconds of immobilize keeps your flow together especially for targets like guardian or engi or ele that you rather keep out of the fight while you kill their ally.

PVE similar just run full dire gear with other condi kitty litter that boosts your condi dmg well beyond 1800. I don’t use condi builds outside pvp so I couldn’t tell you any true variation of this without simply lying. Best of luck! (oh, and don’t bother with d/d condi.. its TERRIBLE).

Interceptor.2653:

Geiir.7603:

You can’t get condition duration from crystals, only condition damage, precision or power. Condition duration comes from food.

Can’t get it cheaply, you mean. Toxic Focusing Crystals do add 10% condition duration.

Nowhere close to Potent Master Tuning Crystal and Bowl of Garlic Kale Sautee. Those two in combination with Dire gear is just amazing imo.

I don’t think he was trying to compete with condition damage, the post was likely directed at the fact that you CAN get condition duration from crystals.