Guild Wars 2

I wanna know which one would you chose and why? Having a hard time choosing the two.

Strength, it sells for more on the trading post. I don’t really like either of these runes on Thief.
I prefer Rock Dog or Scholar depending on game type for the damage bonus.
Edit: What is the purpose of your question? Maybe we can help you with rune or build choices.

Strength will always make you hit higher. Pack will always make you crit more often, and offer fury, swiftness and one stack of might to you and nearby allies in combat.

Rune to rune?
Strength increases your maximum damage, with a direct damage modifier. It offers +5% damage while under the effects of might, which is a pretty much a sure thing, and I’m lazy, so call it+5% permanently, i.e. *1.05.
Pack increases your chances of hitting higher, with precision. Critical hits are increased by 50% at least, because that is the base critical damage. That is *(1+0.5). Pack’s bonuses offer 50% up-time of fury, and +125 precision. 50%Fury+125Precision is an average of 15.95% critical chance permanently, i.e an additional *0.1595 of hits will be critical. Those hits will be increased by at least 50% critical damage. 0.1595*0.5=0.07975, i.e. *(1+0.07975).
Pack wins by 2.975%.

It’s not quite that simple though, because damage modifiers stack. That is, two 10% modifiers aren’t +20%. They are +21%. The more modifiers, the more effective each new modifier is. So if you have a build with a lot of modifiers, Strength runes might give you more damage over time as well as a higher maximum hit. If you don’t, or you have a lot of critical damage and or reliance on critical hit-triggered sigils or food, Pack runes might give you more damage over time as well as more critical hits.

No matter the result, the 50% up-time of fury and swiftness will benefit nearby allies as well as yourself, unless they already have 100% up-time on those boons. (The 1 stack of might Pack runes offers is trivial.)

So you see, no one can really tell you what is best without a lot more information - what your stats are, what you’re doing, where you are, who you’re with, what they are running etc. Hopefully this is enough information for you to decide for yourself though.

For PvP/WvW specifically though, I would take either of those runes over the popular alternatives, Ogre and Pirate, because the NPC can keep you in combat when you want out, and enemies can bounce projectiles off it to damage you more, or to hit you when you’re in stealth.

I tend to prefer Pack as I find it’s a universally strong rune for the thief class. Outside of spvp on 20066 sd thief I don’t find strength to be all that helpful on thief. I know other will tell me I’m wrong but I feel strength falls short in usefulness for the thief class in general.

So I quote myself, because I did the math in may before the strength and strength rune nerf:

apocom.3172:

I did the calculation for my guild (6 points in trickery, critdmg: 190%, power 2233)

1. Phase (Fury after steal):
Pack runes:
Effektive power(crit chance basis 30%/35%/40%/45%):
3358/3459/3559/3660

strength runes:
Effektive power(crit chance basis 30%/35%/40%/45%):
3464/3572/3680/3787

2. Phase
pack runes (Fury still active):
Effektive power (crit chance basis 30%/35%/40%/45%):
3358/3459/3559/3660

strenght runes:
Effektive power(crit chance basis 30%/35%/40%/45%):
3034/3141/3249/3356

This is just a basic calculation. With strength runes you have a little bit more might (i think only 2-4 stacks without power of inertia). But sigil of fire and sigil of air will trigger more often/faster with pack runes.

I am testing this quite a while, and without power of inertia and signet of agility I recommend pack runes.

And imo nothing changed. Without power of inertia I wouldn’t touch strenght anymore. Pack is super versatile. I use them in over 95% of the time.

Hi,

First time posting in the super-friendly Thief forum so please be gentle!

I have a similar question but specific to sPvP. Started playing my Thief a few days ago after about 6 months and am using the S/D 20066 build. Yes, I know it’s not meta, but I am playing at a low level and I just prefer the game play over D/P.

So my question is (remembering I am still a Thief noob) which is better (read: more forgiving):-

1. Power of Inertia, Strength Runes and Signet of Agility

or

2. Hard to Catch, Pack Runes and Shadowstep?

Any advice is most welcome.

I have strength runes and I like them, they give quite a bit of might with the right build. I did start using them before the might nerf though, so bear that in mind.

I run this build most of the time;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZUQNAsYVl0Mp0pdPxwJ0PRBNhwVNvD/tsWB68YQA-T1SEABIcCAQZ/RPgTKRA4IAMwDAARVV0SJ4SKvSUtC20E4whAIAACQIxJGYoTcoTcoTsJOxJOxJOxyAQNBA-w

It may not be optimal, but it gets the job done, and it gave me more damage than with pack before the might nerf. You can get 12-16 might stacks which is 300+ power (plus the extra 5% modifier) when in S/D depending on how much you roll around like a nut while attacking, and the perception sigil gives 11% crit chance when fully stacked. Comparatively, taking pack and bloodlust would give me 250 power and an extra 6% crit chance with potentially 100% fury uptime instead of the 55(ish)% from thrill of the crime. Secondly, I have to get hit for the extra fury to proc, which doesn’t really sit well with me.

That being said, when I run 5/6/0/0/3 D/D strength is good but definitely not optimal. I haven’t changed as I still get 5k backstabs on warriors in WvW and my current gear gives me 83% crit with fury so taking pack would be kinda redundant, and scholar I’ve yet to test. If you took bloodlust instead of perception, pack would probably be better.

TLDR: It depends on your build and what you want to achieve. Pack is a much more versatile rune at half the price, but strength can give you more damage with the right traits/food.

Hey Rav, welcome to thief forums!
If you’re going to be running S/d in pvp I’d recommend going with this setup as some of the things you asked about are best combined.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0Mp0pdPxwJ8PNBNB5dY+SZ0KAdfko0XA-TpBFwACeAANOEAl2fYxRAoaZAAnAAA

Lots of utility, good damage, fair amount of condi clear and really fun to play.

I use both.

I have 2 sets:
My full zerk ascended is full strength (used for Dungeons; solo/group).
My half & half zerk/assassin ascended is pack (used for WvW or EotM).

Rav.9475:

Hi,

First time posting in the super-friendly Thief forum so please be gentle!

I have a similar question but specific to sPvP. Started playing my Thief a few days ago after about 6 months and am using the S/D 20066 build. Yes, I know it’s not meta, but I am playing at a low level and I just prefer the game play over D/P.

So my question is (remembering I am still a Thief noob) which is better (read: more forgiving):-

1. Power of Inertia, Strength Runes and Signet of Agility

or

2. Hard to Catch, Pack Runes and Shadowstep?

Any advice is most welcome.

It’s not as simple as 1 or 2. In fact, in this case I would advise going for a mix of those 2 options.

Never hard to catch. It can port you into the middle of the fight from the outskirts, into a cc, into burst, and it can interrupt your flow. Furthermore, if you did get ported somewhere you really don’t want to be, you’re still disabled and vulnerable. You need to take a moment to recognise where you are, factor those new conditions in, and react to that instead of just the cc effect.

I always say pack runes. I’ve used them since before they were even considered in the meta, back when everyone was lyssa and ogre, and since the rune update months back they’ve been my permanent rune set.

Signet of agility is great both at higher level to deal with even 1v2 scenarios and avoid a lot of damage, as well as serving as a panic button for beginners. Concern dodged too much? Reset your endurance. So I’d definitely recommend this.

Shadow step is great for beginners too. In fact you’ll probably wonder how you can play without it once you’ve run with it for a time. I personally don’t use it, favouring the shorter cooldown and to-target port of infiltrator’s signet, but for a beginner I would recommend shadow step.

Thanks Ario and Impact for your kind replies – shows what the say about “kitten teefs” isn’t always true!

You are right about Hard to Catch. I tried it for a few games but I was just getting really confused as to how the hell I ended up being where I suddenly found myself – thought I’d been spamming one of my teleports or something.

I think I will try what Impact suggests as coming from the least mobile profession in the game I just love Swiftness.

Edit: “kitten teefs” – d_amn is too rude?

The only reason I don’t use infil signet over shadow step is because 1) shadowstep is a dual stun break and clears conditions so in my mind it’s superior to the signet. 2) generally when I stunbreak I prefer to go away from the person hitting me so I can reposition but that’s just how I play, but most of the time I recommend it to people over the sig just because I find it to have more utility but that’s, again, just my personal experience.