Guild Wars 2

First one is Condi-sustain build. You can hold 2v1s for a while you can 1v1 any class except DH and Mesmer. Perma evades and recent changes to Thief helps this build a lot.

Second is Staff build. Easily the highest damage weapon a thief can have. You can easily melt Eles and Vaulting in the middle of a fight never felt more satisfying. Auto does crazy damage as well.

Shovel Face.4512:

First one is Condi-sustain build. You can hold 2v1s for a while you can 1v1 any class except DH and Mesmer. Perma evades and recent changes to Thief helps this build a lot.

Second is Staff build. Easily the highest damage weapon a thief can have. You can easily melt Eles and Vaulting in the middle of a fight never felt more satisfying. Auto does crazy damage as well.

Can you give a link with a full build for these? I’d love to try them out instead of using the usual D/P. I can’t seem to sustain long enough to kill a target quickly and leave to decap/+1 somewhere else.

Condi-sustain build – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAA

Staff build is literally the same as D/P meta build except you have a staff and u run the trait that gives you 10% damage when endurance not full.

If you go for staff plz dont pick Deadly Arts. Instead go for Acrobatics. You will notice far better survivability. My rotation is Impairing Daggers , Weakening Charge, Steal, Fist Flurry and if my target is low enough I finish with Impact Strike or switch to dual pistols and Unload. Also Bandits Defense is a must no matter what build you play. Its a stun breaker on a rly short cooldown that will add even more to your survivability.

Is acro really that good to take over DA? Does the added sustain help in team fights and +1’ing?

Anomaly.7612:

Is acro really that good to take over DA? Does the added sustain help in team fights and +1’ing?

You will know when you test it. Personally the Acro build I prefer is 3-3-3

Zilvereen.2091:

If you go for staff plz dont pick Deadly Arts. Instead go for Acrobatics. You will notice far better survivability. My rotation is Impairing Daggers , Weakening Charge, Steal, Fist Flurry and if my target is low enough I finish with Impact Strike or switch to dual pistols and Unload. Also Bandits Defense is a must no matter what build you play. Its a stun breaker on a rly short cooldown that will add even more to your survivability.

I’ve been using blinding powder for ages. Is it worth dropping for BD?

Zilvereen.2091:

Anomaly.7612:

Is acro really that good to take over DA? Does the added sustain help in team fights and +1’ing?

You will know when you test it. Personally the Acro build I prefer is 3-3-3

I’d still take upper hand if I’m taking Unhindered in DrD, but I agree, 3-3 is good.

Anomaly.7612:

I’ve been using blinding powder for ages. Is it worth dropping for BD?

I believe yes! First of all “it breaks stuns”

Blocking can save you from a lot of stuff that otherwise would have killed you e.g. Dragonhunters traps and Mesmer’s Gravity Wells etc etc

and also it gives you a counterattack stun-interrupt.

Need more? Its on 12 seconds cooldown.

You forgot d/p, who is the only build that really compliments the thief’s strengths. I mean, let’s face it, I’d take a necro over a staff thief for big damage in team fights, and I’d take a Scrapper over a condi thief any day.

Zilvereen.2091:

Anomaly.7612:

I’ve been using blinding powder for ages. Is it worth dropping for BD?

I believe yes! First of all “it breaks stuns”

Blocking can save you from a lot of stuff that otherwise would have killed you e.g. Dragonhunters traps and Mesmer’s Gravity Wells etc etc

and also it gives you a counterattack stun-interrupt.

Need more? Its on 12 seconds cooldown.

That does sound pretty cool, but the block is really short, and there’s a lot of unblockable attacks in the game right now, but it does look really good. I’ve just never seen a Thief use it and be really successful in ranked, but I think that’s just an issue with ranked and the meta right now, than Thief itself.

Anomaly.7612:

Zilvereen.2091:

Anomaly.7612:

I’ve been using blinding powder for ages. Is it worth dropping for BD?

I believe yes! First of all “it breaks stuns”

Blocking can save you from a lot of stuff that otherwise would have killed you e.g. Dragonhunters traps and Mesmer’s Gravity Wells etc etc

and also it gives you a counterattack stun-interrupt.

Need more? Its on 12 seconds cooldown.

That does sound pretty cool, but the block is really short, and there’s a lot of unblockable attacks in the game right now, but it does look really good. I’ve just never seen a Thief use it and be really successful in ranked, but I think that’s just an issue with ranked and the meta right now, than Thief itself.

It’s just that BP offers so much versatility that it’s hard to let go. But you could give BD a shot: it’s definitely a good skill.

Zilvereen.2091:

Anomaly.7612:

I’ve been using blinding powder for ages. Is it worth dropping for BD?

I believe yes! First of all “it breaks stuns”

Blocking can save you from a lot of stuff that otherwise would have killed you e.g. Dragonhunters traps and Mesmer’s Gravity Wells etc etc

and also it gives you a counterattack stun-interrupt.

Need more? Its on 12 seconds cooldown.

Would you recommend using acro/trick/DrD with D/P as well?

This is definitely not recommended for everyone, but the most success I’ve had on daredevil is running d/p staff. This is nice if you play more defensively/bruiser, looking for fights. You get more combat presence at the sacrifice of vertical mobility, although staff can work around some of this.

You run either DA/TR/DD or Acro/TR/DD with mara amulet. Either one is fine. Shadowstep, bandits defense, signet of agility or impairing daggers, and impact strike. Heal is up to you.

Again, not recommended for everybody, as shortbow is a very good tool, but just sharing what I’ve had the most success with.

still trash in tourneys

Cynz.9437:

still trash in tourneys

Let us keep dreaming please.

On the condi sustain:
Sage>Mercenary and Assassins reward>Upper hand.
Personal taste ofc, but I have not experienced problems with running out of initiative too much and the healing feels more reliable.
Also I would replace mesmer with scrapper, unless the build actually plays much different from my own variant.

Anomaly.7612:

Would you recommend using acro/trick/DrD with D/P as well?

Using staff you lack stealth so Acro is more important because you will always be target of CC effects and due to low armor-toughness you will drop dead fast.

Using d/p the BlackPowder + Unbounding Dodger combo gives you stealth on demand which means you will be less targeted so its up to you if you pick DA for more burst dmg or Acro’s condi clear and partial CC resistance.

Anomaly.7612:

Is acro really that good to take over DA? Does the added sustain help in team fights and +1’ing?

I haven’t tried Acro with staff but I could see how it works. When you vault in a middle of a team fight, you probably evade some attacks and get the proc from upper hand. I just prefer DA because you get more power, stronger burst, a small burst heal, and great utility. And I use BD or imparting daggers depending on comp. so I’m I’m fighting DHs and Mesmers I’ll run BD but if it’s revs and engis I’ll play BD

Cynz.9437:

still trash in tourneys

Do you play in tourneys ? Cause I know I don’t.

I’m with you though. Still hoping for the nerf hammer to smash the power creep.

Shovel Face.4512:

Condi-sustain build – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAAhttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAA

Staff build is literally the same as D/P meta build except you have a staff and u run the trait that gives you 10% damage when endurance not full.

I strongly, VERY strongly recommend using Deadly Arts + Rune of Thorns with a condi thief build. Not only will you get significantly more damage, condi clearing will be less effective (enemy having to clear 2 primary conditions , rather than 1), and you can upkeep 33% heal effectiveness reduction. With the chance of poison on dagg attack trait, you can upkeep at least 6 stacks of poison with death blossom. Relying heavily on bleeds is a mistake. A single clear and all the build-up you’ve ramped is gone. Trust me, you will deal more damage. Also, the damage increase from Sigil of Agony is very, very small. On your S/B: after the nerf, sigil of energy is practically useless. Swap it with Hydromancy or Geomancy, then replace doom with leeching.

All in all, condi thief is <b>simply not viable for high lvl play.</b>
It can be quite useful for carrying bad teams in the earlier divisions, but after those it is simply way too easy to counter. Any ele/druid/scrapper worth his/her salt will outcleanse you easy peasy.

Try this.“http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn0MBdmilOBGOBkmilWCb+EuCfhdXhnQVQLAcAWAA-TpxBQBA4EAYw9HywRAYhlBIwDA4CHCAA”

Shovel Face.4512:

First one is Condi-sustain build. You can hold 2v1s for a while you can 1v1 any class except DH and Mesmer. Perma evades and recent changes to Thief helps this build a lot.

Second is Staff build. Easily the highest damage weapon a thief can have. You can easily melt Eles and Vaulting in the middle of a fight never felt more satisfying. Auto does crazy damage as well.

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Army of Ninjas.1580:

Shovel Face.4512:

Condi-sustain build – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAAhttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAA

Staff build is literally the same as D/P meta build except you have a staff and u run the trait that gives you 10% damage when endurance not full.

I strongly, VERY strongly recommend using Deadly Arts + Rune of Thorns with a condi thief build. Not only will you get significantly more damage, condi clearing will be less effective (enemy having to clear 2 primary conditions , rather than 1), and you can upkeep 33% heal effectiveness reduction. With the chance of poison on dagg attack trait, you can upkeep at least 6 stacks of poison with death blossom. Relying heavily on bleeds is a mistake. A single clear and all the build-up you’ve ramped is gone. Trust me, you will deal more damage. Also, the damage increase from Sigil of Agony is very, very small. On your S/B: after the nerf, sigil of energy is practically useless. Swap it with Hydromancy or Geomancy, then replace doom with leeching.

All in all, condi thief is <b>simply not viable for high lvl play.</b>
It can be quite useful for carrying bad teams in the earlier divisions, but after those it is simply way too easy to counter. Any ele/druid/scrapper worth his/her salt will outcleanse you easy peasy.

Try this.“http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn0MBdmilOBGOBkmilWCb+EuCfhdXhnQVQLAcAWAA-TpxBQBA4EAYw9HywRAYhlBIwDA4CHCAA”

This build is just to waste the enemy’s time and not actually kill people. I usually go far at start and stall that person while my team takes care of mid. I’ll bail when I feel extremely pressued like in a 1v2. If you rotate your skills properly you will literally never die, because you will constantly be evading. However, u can kill with only bleeds. Revs, Druids and Necros are easy bait. Engis I usually can last a while before I feel to pressured.

Shovel Face.4512:

Army of Ninjas.1580:

Shovel Face.4512:

Condi-sustain build – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAAhttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn8lCFmilOBGOBkmiFqiqLBCgDYO77+w37CGySA-TpRAQBR7EA4hjAAAeAAc4QA0j9HiYZAA

Staff build is literally the same as D/P meta build except you have a staff and u run the trait that gives you 10% damage when endurance not full.

I strongly, VERY strongly recommend using Deadly Arts + Rune of Thorns with a condi thief build. Not only will you get significantly more damage, condi clearing will be less effective (enemy having to clear 2 primary conditions , rather than 1), and you can upkeep 33% heal effectiveness reduction. With the chance of poison on dagg attack trait, you can upkeep at least 6 stacks of poison with death blossom. Relying heavily on bleeds is a mistake. A single clear and all the build-up you’ve ramped is gone. Trust me, you will deal more damage. Also, the damage increase from Sigil of Agony is very, very small. On your S/B: after the nerf, sigil of energy is practically useless. Swap it with Hydromancy or Geomancy, then replace doom with leeching.

All in all, condi thief is <b>simply not viable for high lvl play.</b>
It can be quite useful for carrying bad teams in the earlier divisions, but after those it is simply way too easy to counter. Any ele/druid/scrapper worth his/her salt will outcleanse you easy peasy.

Try this.“http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVn0MBdmilOBGOBkmilWCb+EuCfhdXhnQVQLAcAWAA-TpxBQBA4EAYw9HywRAYhlBIwDA4CHCAA”

This build is just to waste the enemy’s time and not actually kill people. I usually go far at start and stall that person while my team takes care of mid. I’ll bail when I feel extremely pressued like in a 1v2. If you rotate your skills properly you will literally never die, because you will constantly be evading. However, u can kill with only bleeds. Revs, Druids and Necros are easy bait. Engis I usually can last a while before I feel to pressured.

I respectfully disagree. A d/d condi build is simply incomplete without poison. Never rely on a single condition – it makes you a one trick pony. I understand that the point is to survive as long as possible, but the build I provided (with poison) allows you to live longer than otherwise. Why? Because you can ramp up more pressure. The more condition pressure you apply, the better you will survive, because your opponent will probably have no choice but to recover by slightly disengaging (e.g. ele rotates to water). If you only bleed, your opponent(s) will laugh off your conditions with ease, and resultantly be 100% on your kitten, completely on offense. By forcing them to shift more to the defensive, you can survive much longer. The extra init from Trickery means little – you can still upkeep almost constant evades without an extra death blossom.

Also – how does sigil of energy/bursting/agony help you “waste the enemy’s time”? Again, all 3 of them are practically useless. Vigor from energy makes little difference (you already upkeep with acro), bursting dmg increase is very insignificant, and agony increases bleed duration by 3/4 seconds, not enough for another tick but still makes barely any difference for ramping up intensity.

Lastly, and I quote: “if you rotate your skills properly you will literally never die, because you will constantly be evading.” This is completely incorrect. There is a reason that Death Blossom’s cast time is longer than its evade time – so it can be counterplayed. You are extremely vulnerable in the time that you are still casting deathblossom but not evading anymore – a decent engi will toss a field or slick shoes to knock you down, a war will whirl in for a knockdown, mesmer will broadsword knock, etc. etc. Essentially, you are still really tanky, but anyone with at least one stun can counterplay. So yes – you can die.