Guild Wars 2

Hi all, i’m new to this class. Usually i play a mesmer or engie…

With my tanky condi spammer mesmer usually i’m really strong in 1v1/2 contest, almost win every duel, but yesterday i found a P/D thief who defeated me 2 times i a row.. and that’s not possible :P

I’d like to ask to this community which are the most common builds for that kind of gameplay that i would try out to understand… burst condi => stealth => again and again….
plus he was stacking 8-10 mights costantly

I think he had some kind of venoms cause his condition burst sometimes was really high..

I don’t like any kind of squishy builds, and surely he wasn’t..

Could it be something like these 2?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlYmCNXaS6E/5EB3Dni0m6p4riVTBNtJA-TEAgyA

More condi dmg but less defense

or as i think cause he had swift on dodge

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlYmCNXaS6E/5EB3Dni0mqpgm2sTxV5KA-TEAgyA

and in your opinion is P/D easily viable in Spvp or he was just high skilled

I’m not really familiar with p/d in sPvP, but the two most common p/d builds would probably be something like one of these:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlYmCNXaS6E/5EB3Dna0m6p4rjtTBXtKA-TEAgyA
or
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlYmiPXaS6E/5EB3Dna0m694rj1saFoJA-TEAgyA

The might stacks you saw came from Hidden Assassin (25 in Shadow Arts) He might have been running skale venom for extra torment, but the only other venom worth using without venom share or at least leeching venoms is devourer venom.

You put the stealth on steal trait on both of those builds, so I imagine he must have been disappearing into stealth from a distance. That’s a nice trait, but it’s unnecessary with dagger offhand, he probably just used cloak and dagger, then stole up to you right before the attack landed.

If you run a condition spec, he was most likely pretty skilled, since conditions tear thieves to bits. That said, p/d is one of the safer builds a thief can play.

For runes, it’s hard to say, but he probably ran something boosting bleeding duration.

I play mesmer and thief and am mostly P/D right now. My guess is you just played a very skilled opponent. Thief seems to be a class where outcome depends a lot on player skill.. I’m sure I wouldn’t have beaten you on my P/D thief.

Not sure what your build is but maybe you just need some more condition removal.

in my p/d thief against mesmer i tend to have more than 50% win chance against pu mesmer
good mesmers i fought to practice were always put their illusion and went stealth back but if i used thieves guild with venom share and target the mesmer fast he got killed fast with 11 stack of torment, perma stun, 10 stack of bleeding, poison, weakness and vulnerability

p/d must be patient like pu mesmer that’s why is 50/50 chance
the thief has good condition removal while being stealth and has 3 more clones to cnd with so if you stack him with 5 conditions he will stay cloak with cnd twice and wont attack you

the more common builds are with carrion gear
0,0,30,20,20
20,0,30,20,0 or 20,0,30,0,20

if he had 10 stack of might and swiftness so i guess he was using 20,0,30,20,0 build

p/d is not viable in spvp as you cant get point while stealth and move slow so its more cheesy build there. but with venom share p/d thief can tide the fight very fast

i took p/d to extreme and use balthazar runes which give burning on heal which get covered by 6 more conditions when i burst. and got pm a lot by ppl how do i do that with thief

Using a PU mesmer in a duel is pure cheese, but you know that already right? As for your question, he was probably using 20/0/30/x/x like messiah said. Really, if it hasn’t sunk in yet…. stop using PU mesmer in duels and learn a real build.

Cheers!

Edit: p/d is a tanky/bunker build but you can’t bunker a point with it. So it’s useless in spvp unless you find a way to make venom share work for your team.

yes i stop playing PU as its too easy to win and way to easy not to lose in spvp mostly
and after patch it will be a lot more easy
in duels i find more restricted maps which dont allow PU

but i guess its mesmer time for bit more love from anet

Hype.8032:

Using a PU mesmer in a duel is pure cheese, but you know that already right? As for your question, he was probably using 20/0/30/x/x like messiah said. Really, if it hasn’t sunk in yet…. stop using PU mesmer in duels and learn a real build.

Cheers!

Edit: p/d is a tanky/bunker build but you can’t bunker a point with it. So it’s useless in spvp unless you find a way to make venom share work for your team.

you “can” but it requires a few utitlies like CALTROPS, smokescreen/blinding powder and shadow refuge (heals like 4k with sneak attacks 2x)….

a lil trick i learned is u can get 2 sneak attacks per shadow refuge…. soon as you cast shadow refuge which gives aoe blind heals and removes condis…. mash 1 1 1 1 for sneak attack then stop attacking/drop target and roll in 1 second…. u will enter stealth again at the very last moment and get another free sneak attack if you are using carrion/dire u dont have to stay in stealth. i never do unless its a mesmer using a crappy PU build.

Travlane.5948:

Hype.8032:

Using a PU mesmer in a duel is pure cheese, but you know that already right? As for your question, he was probably using 20/0/30/x/x like messiah said. Really, if it hasn’t sunk in yet…. stop using PU mesmer in duels and learn a real build.

Cheers!

Edit: p/d is a tanky/bunker build but you can’t bunker a point with it. So it’s useless in spvp unless you find a way to make venom share work for your team.

you “can” but it requires a few utitlies like CALTROPS, smokescreen/blinding powder and shadow refuge (heals like 4k with sneak attacks 2x)….

a lil trick i learned is u can get 2 sneak attacks per shadow refuge…. soon as you cast shadow refuge which gives aoe blind heals and removes condis…. mash 1 1 1 1 for sneak attack then stop attacking/drop target and roll in 1 second…. u will enter stealth again at the very last moment and get another free sneak attack if you are using carrion/dire u dont have to stay in stealth. i never do unless its a mesmer using a crappy PU build.

You CANNOT bunker a point in high level spvp with p/d, you’re less effective in team fights than a necro or engi, and you have no burst so roaming is out as well. P/D is not viable at high levels but hell you can farm hotjoin with anything.

less effective yes i totally agree. but i more than get the job done unless its 2 v 1 then i need room to play. its quite viable but there is no thief bunker build better than p/d. there just isnt. but the fact about thief being less effective than EVERY other class to bunker? yep i agree. thief are in bottom 2 classes wanted for tpvp/.

Travlane.5948:

less effective yes i totally agree. but i more than get the job done unless its 2 v 1 then i need room to play. its quite viable but there is no thief bunker build better than p/d. there just isnt. but the fact about thief being less effective than EVERY other class to bunker? yep i agree. thief are in bottom 2 classes wanted for tpvp/.

This depends on the spec. For tPvP, thieves only fit into 2 roles: burst, boon steal. Both have a secondary role of res. After the balance patch, probably burst will be the only viable role and quite honestly, I’m not convinced why I’d want a thief vs a burst mesmer.

As for bunker, I think we need to separate defensive from a true bunker. No thief spec is a great bunker. Other classes do that much better. What P/D brings to the table is the ability to engage multiple targets. It is a fun hotjoin spec, but most of the value is for roaming in WvW.