Guild Wars 2

After looking through the forums and the list of builds I’m still confused on what a decent P/D with maybe a shortbow condition build would be. Mainly for PVE and a bit of WvW thrown in. The new perplexity runes look cool although I want to wait until after the patch to see if they get changed. Any suggestions for a good build?

D/P isn’t meant for conditions at all. You have lotus strike which got nerfed down to 1 second of poison, and that’s it for your damaging conditions. Shortbow can’t stack bleeds fast enough to dish out any real damage on any single target, so a D/P condition build would be entirely moot.

Woops, thanks for the input. I meant a P/D build, just switched them in my brain :P

well if i may be as bold as to suggest my own build…

that build’s for sPvP though, you’d probably want to tweak a thing or two (like the token S/D i like to carry, for starters).

my recommendation is stack on power as much as condi damage, because your damage will be basically be 60% condis and 40% raw damage.

if you don’t want/care for a stunbreak, you can bring another venom (i’d recommend either ice drake or spider) on a WvW scenario, or caltrops on a PvE scenario (since on PvE you can expect the mobs to sit on your AoE and eat all the bleeds).

the basic idea is that you want to be close enough to land CnD (or you can shadowstep in with steal halfway through casting CnD), make sure you land your sneak attack (maybe by getting basilisk while in stealth, or by making the enemy spend his dodges), then use shadow strike to go to range, and kite until the stealth debuff goes away. rinse and repeat.

apply venoms as necessary (not necessarily the best idea to burst it all in one go, you might want to trick the opponent into wasting the cleanse before applying torment, for example). make sure you land those poison venom hits when you see the enemy healing. if it’s an ele’s ether renewal, interrupt it with steal, it’ll go on a full CD, giving you 15 seconds where their best shot at healing will be playing defensively on water attunement.

I’m P/D, not bold, so here’s the Cookie-Eating kittenroach build:

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30: IV-Shadow’s Embrace, V-Infusion of Shadow, XI-Shadow’s Rejuvenation
20: II-Power of Inertia, IX-Quick Recovery
20: III-Uncatchable, VII-Bountiful Theft

Hide in Shadows, Shadowstep, Shadow Refuge, Signet of Shadows, Thieves Guild/Daggerstorm

Carrion gear (I’m in 2 Lyssa, 4 Mad King) with an Agony sigil and the 36% pizza to get over the 75% bleed tick mark and 50% condi-duration.

I like starting a head on fight with Shortbow and going from there to feel them out. I use an in-and-out style, using CnD and Shadow Strike with P/D. Use the evade on Shortbow and the teleport too. You need to keep them guessing as to if you’re going in or out. Learn to zerg surf and getting your stomp on in big mix ups.

This is an extremely conservative set up. The init traits make it very forgiving when missing. Some people swear by Cloaked in Shadow (the blind on stealth) instead of the 2 init trait. Assassin’s Reward is an option instead of Quick Recovery. Stealth is your regen/condi removal friend.

I keep a second dagger, switch to Sig-Malice, and pop in Caltrops/Daggerstorm to tear down supply camps fast. Well, not fast, but faster. There is no bloody burst in this build. There’s bleeding. But nada on the bursty.

Plus side, you shouldn’t go bursty pop either.