Guild Wars 2

Thought I would start a thread to discuss new builds people have tried. Post your builds and any constructive feedback.

1. traits + link
2. utilities
3. weapons + sigils
4. stats + runes
5. 2/3 sentences explaining general play style.

1.
Deadly Arts, Critical Strikes, Trickery
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgcBrAKkBag~

2.
Withdraw, Shadowstep, Assassin’s signet, Infiltrator’s signet, basilisk venom

3.
D/D, air / force or air / night
SB, blood / energy or bloodlust / energy

4.
WvW:
assassins armor, zerker trinkets, Scholar runes

PvP:
Marauder

5.
A DPS build to rapidly down targets. Features perma fury, 14 1/2 second withdraw, quickness on a low cd and some C/C to help with landing a burst.

Observed crit damage of 251% when using ascended armor and under fury in WvW. D/D is in a much better place after patch due to easy access to shorter port cooldowns and a longer steal range.

PvP:

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgcBqAPYBZg~

D/P still going strong. I like Flanking Strike more than Thrill of the Crime, because you also gate Fury and Quickness is pretty manageable. E.g. you can poke a downed body in the back for a Quickstomp etc. It’s really strong, even though the CD is long.

Marauder Amulet, Vampirism Runes.

Withdraw, Shadowstep, Shadow Refuge, Blinding Powder, Basilisk Venom. The usual.

I like the “newer” version of D/P with Blinding Powder better, since it opens a bit more opportunities for rezzing, quick long stealth with Black Powder+Blinding Powder, works as a damage mitigation if you got CC’d thanks to Resilience of Shadows, quickly cleanses a condi from you etc.

The new D/P got better and a lot tougher. Shadow Rejuv plus Shadow Protector grant a nice deal of sustainability and the 17k HP pool allows to survive really well. The new Improv is sometimes okay and sometimes nuts. Getting dazed for 10 seconds isn’t fun, I wager.

Thief build meta just become the even more supreme god-tier meta for thieves. There is no need to look at S/D anymore. S/P might work due to it’s ridiculous damage, but other than that, D/P all the way.

With how jacked up SA is now thanks to only a team oriented minor trait, a nerfed Shadow’s Embrace, broken hidden thief among other useless traits unless you want to run venomshare, thief is effectively now burst or bust, everything else pales in comparison.

Sick of Anet and their burst only mind set. “Build diversity” why did I ever read about anything these @#$%’ing idiots preached about in the past? Why did I ever take anything they said seriously. This game is nothing more than a business and money maker to them, it is obviously not something they are passionate about.

If you’re a burst thief, these changes are great. If you’re condition, well, enjoy being effectively weaker by comparison unless you are a very specific niche team oriented build. Then I guess that’s a slight plus to you, but 11k backstabs pretty heavily outweigh anything a condi thief can bring compared to that.

S/D 8400 crippling strike AA.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-g3RV;1Vwk0-J5V-Fd0;9;4IKM;0147238237;4INl3h;1IBl3IBl35a

That would be my preferred build for thief sPvP, substitute berserker amulet for maurader, intothemists doesn’t have the new amulets quite yet.

Team basilisk venom with a panic strike/trickery build has a lot of potential I think, and the more coordinated your team, the more useful it is.

For pugging solo Q, it will probably turn out that shadow rejuvenation is better than venom share. Especially if you’re facing a lot of condi pressure. If that is the case, infiltrator signet can be swapped for blinding powder for on demand condi cleanse, and subbing withdraw for hide in shadows will also help. If you’re lacking damage, swap improvisation for executioner.

I will be testing flanking strikes and see how it measures up against thrill of the crime.

Enjoy.