Guild Wars 2

4. Dash. 6 initiative 1/4 cast time
Blitz forward, gaining Swiftness and 1 initiative with each successful hit
Damage: 840.
Swiftness: 4 seconds.
Initiative: 1 (max 3)
Range: 600
note: Like burning speed in how it attacks.

5. Deadly Paradox. 6 initiative. 1/4 cast.
Lose all initiative. Gain Quickness for 4 seconds you also gain might and fury for each point of initiative lost.
Quickness : 4 seconds
Might: 6 seconds. (12-15 stacks at full ini)
Fury: 1 second (12-15 seconds at full ini)

It’s a speedy assaulter with plenty of boons so Acrobatics works really well with it. It’s a very initiative expensive set, so everything has to be done with reason and deadly paradox leaves you vulnerable for the power it gives.

update: Dual skills

Pistol/Sword : chain skill
1. Shadow blast 4 initiative
Throw a chilling sword at target area, then shadowstep to it for a pistol blast. You return to your original location after 3s.
damage: 600
chill: 3s
range: 900
combo finisher: blast

Sword/Sword: Flashing blades 4 initiative
Become a tempest of blades causing vulnerability and gaining protection with each hit.
Damage (8x): 808
protection: 0.5s
vulnerability: 7s.
combo finisher: whirl

Dagger/Sword: Lifebane Strike 4 initiative
Immobilize your foe with a cruel slash and follow up with a life stealing strike.
Damage: 84
Lifesteal: 757 (0.15?)
Healing: 620 (0.4)
Immobilize:1s

P/S is a hybrid like P/D in that it hops into melee range for a couple of its skills (3 and 4). It’s hard to escape given that Shadow blast brings you back after 3 seconds and Dash is expensive without landing it on a target but between the presumed body shot change, shadow blast and Dash it can keep a minimum distance.

Sword/Sword can be an expensive kit but it has plenty of boons to take advantage of, making boon duration a good fit on it. Flashing blades is a mobile skill in contrast to Pistol whip but it does less upfront damage. FB’s cleave allows it to potentially get 24 hits in, making that miniscule duration of protection add up. Dash becomes very cheap for the damage it can do if you hit multiple targets as well and Deadly Paradox, speeds up your auto-attack. All-in-all a Sword/Sword gets increasingly effective the more enemies there are.

Dagger/Sword is a bit of an oddity. Heartseeker is cheaper on a general note to use than Dash, so for movement and general damage it’s superior, however Dash hits harder even than the 25% heartseeker, far more expensive however. If you’ve got 3 targets lined up, Dash is great if you can get 3 targets up, but HS has a combo finisher. So you’ll have to see which one works for you. Lifebane strikes main advantage is life steal ignoring armor, and the strong base heal. The life steal won’t crit however.

Seems to me this would play like D/P, with all the same weaknesses and less of the defensive strengths, but that’s just my opinion.

Apparently I’m a little late to this party, but this looks well-balanced and extremely fun. I’d certainly play with it.

Ohhh! Me likey idea! However, I do have some notes for concern.

The first is synergy with other weapons, particularly mainhand Sword and Dagger. The suggested #4 is already implemented to a point, with both Sword and Dagger already having a powerful closer.

Replacement:
Sword Storm: You spin in a circle, hitting foes around you twice.
- Initiative Cost: 6, 1 second channel
- Damage: 327×2 (1.15)
- Finisher: Whirl
- Evade: 3/4 second

Secondly, in my personal opinion is that Deadly Paradox is a bit off-kilter, and has the potential to be unbalanced, even with the tradeoff.

Changes:
- Increase Quickness to 6 seconds.
- Fury & Might resolve after initiative cost. IE: Max 6-9 stacks/seconds of Fury & Might.

The third note of concern is more flavor. Mainhand Dagger/Pistol and offhand Sword? Hehehehe.

Also, what about dual skills? Any thoughts on those?

Suggestion: Sword/Sword
Cross Down: Strike with both swords, dealing more damage if opponent is crippled.
- Initiative Cost: 5, 3/4 second cast
- Damage: 327×2 (1.4)
- Additional Damage: 133×2 (1.4)
- Unblockable

Here’s ones I came up with a while back.

4) – Riposte (4 initiative)
Block the next attack and retaliate with a weighty slash, weakening foes in front of you. Regain initiative if not attacked.
Damage: ~600
Weakness: 6s
Range: 150

5) – Javelin (3 initiative)
Hurl your sword to the target location with increasing velocity, crippling foes it passes through before it hits the destination. Deals more damage to targets further along the trajectory. Cripples for longer further along the trajectory.

Damage < 300: 400
Damage 300-600: 450
Damage 600-900: 500
Damage > 900: 550
Cripple < 300: 3s
Cripple 300-900: 5s
Cripple > 900: 7s
Combo Finisher: Projectile
Range: 1,200

-> Flashing Blades (3 initiative)
Shadowstep to the thrown sword, blinding foes at the origin and destination.
Blind: 5s
Radius: 120
Range: 1,200
Breaks stun

Sword MH:
Eagle Eye (5 initiative)
Twirl and evade, attacking in rapid succession at foes around you while reflecting projectiles.
Damage (4x): 900
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Evade: 1/2s
Range: 130

Dagger MH:
Float (2 initiative)
Bounce back, evading attacks.
Evade: 1/2s
Combo Finisher: Leap

-> Sting (3 initiative)
Pounce forward, dealing heavy damage with both weapons at once to adjacent foes to your target. Each hit returns some endurance.
Damage (2x): 800
Endurance gain (2x): 10
Combo Finisher: Leap
Range: 450

Pistol MH:
Explosive Powder (4 initiative)
Leap backwards and fire a large cone of explosive shot over your prepped sword that burns foes in front of you. Parry incoming attacks.
Damage: 250
Burning: 3s
Block: 1/2s
Range: 450

Those are some interesting suggestions. Would love to see some new skills/wpns for thief and for all classess at overall

Old topic, but since we’re all commenting…

Both of these skills would incredibly OP, you could use 5 > 4 > 5 until you had 25 stacks of might, switch to D/D, then burst them down with the old CnD > Mug > BS combo with 25 stacks of might.

I think that they sound cool as a concept, but in reality, they’re just far too powerful. I do however agree that we should get an off-hand Sword and I really do hope that it becomes a reality in the future.

Incurafy.6329:

Old topic, but since we’re all commenting…

Both of these skills would incredibly OP, you could use 5 > 4 > 5 until you had 25 stacks of might, switch to D/D, then burst them down with the old CnD > Mug > BS combo with 25 stacks of might.

I think that they sound cool as a concept, but in reality, they’re just far too powerful. I do however agree that we should get an off-hand Sword and I really do hope that it becomes a reality in the future.

Both of the suggested skills have a cost of 6 initiative, and the 4th skill can only give you a maximum of 3 initiative, so I’m not sure how successfully you could spam 5 -> 4 -> 5.

NO ROOT!!!!!!!!!!!

Incurafy.6329:

Old topic, but since we’re all commenting…
Both of these skills would incredibly OP, you could use 5 > 4 > 5 until you had 25 stacks of might, switch to D/D, then burst them down with the old CnD > Mug > BS combo with 25 stacks of might.
I think that they sound cool as a concept, but in reality, they’re just far too powerful. I do however agree that we should get an off-hand Sword and I really do hope that it becomes a reality in the future.

I updated the OP with a couple of dual suggestions don’t know how they’ll sound

Im missing the persons name but someone suggested a change to Paradox that sounded pretty cool to me, 6-9 max stacks of might, 1 stack for each point of initiative taken over the initial 6. It sounds cool to me but I have one qualm and it’s the same qualm I have with my original suggestion. Are they really strong enough? Deadly Paradox is a “lose all your initiative” mechanic with a minimum of 6 initiative. No matter when you use it, Deadly paradox deprives you of all the utility of your weapon skills. While quickness isn’t solely an offensive buff, is the effects gained strong enough to justify losing all utility skills? Thief isn’t some other prof we don’t get more skills on weapon swap so using paradox could backfire really hard if one good stun lands on you. You’ll stun break and find yourself crying for initiative if you don’t RFI or blow signets. I’m wondering if (either version of Paradox) is strong enough for the trade-off, the might is 6 seconds either way, even if it’s a lot of might someone can easily strip it from you. What I like about the other suggestion is 6s of quickness does give it a bit more stand-alone power without a Mesmer,necro, bountiful theft thief or S/D thief coming in and saying “nice try”.

Oh, I didn’t see the 3 initiative limit, so that’s better, but I can still see potential for abuse with might on stealth and initiative regeneration through 25 points in SA and #5.