Guild Wars 2

I’ve been trying out both and though atm I am favouring D/P for the blinds I’m wondering if learning how to effectively use S/D would be better.

I’m probably too tanky with my D/P build anyway as I’m not full zerker (off the top of my head this is the build I’ve been running http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl8Mpyp9Ox7J8PRBNBt9wfQI8MMfRrA0VSA-TZRBwAUOBAnLDwb/BAHCgHPBAA)

Also as a second question, what is the thief role in sPvP…bearing in mind I’m still learning so only doing hotjoins, but I try to cap uncontested points rather than join in any protracted battles. If I am in a group fight I try not to get in the middle, but stay on the periphery and jump in quick with hits/blinds and/or rez/stomp

Edit: noticed i hadn’t changed the utilities)

You about have the right of it as far as thief’s purpose. You have the mobility with shortbow/shadowstep to punish people for not leaving bunkers and quickly tilting 1v1s into 2v1 and then quickly getting to where you are needed next.

As for build I think regardless of s/d or p/d you want the beserker amulet. I’m not sure if you meant to say “s/d” when you posted your build but that looks pretty close to the meta s/d build.

I hope you just didnt list your utilities though. Signet build only works with the cheesy signet of might one shot attempts. You probably want to grab shadow refuge at the very least, even if you are not a stealthy thief. Also pick up withdraw or hide in shadow for the heal.

Most d/p go either 2/6/0/0/6 or 0/6/6/2/0 if you dont feel comfortable without the shadow arts. Most s/d is 2/0/0/6/6 with you traits except pick up vigorous recovery instead of fleet shadow in acrobatics and swap to withdraw heal for high vigor uptime.

Personally I like the d/p, the pistol off-hand offers blind field for fighting melees and safe stomping and the s/d just doesnt have the satisfying crunch of a backstab.

Glhf!

Thanks for the reply. The utilities are supposed to be; infiltrators signet, roll for initiative and shadow refuge (though switch that one out for blinding powder sometimes). I’ve used withdraw for a long time, however, I’ve been playing about with SoM recently.

Also that build I’ve been using for d/p. Though I can survive I lot better when trained into acrobatics, I sometimes don’t have the hitting power I would like, I guess that’s to be expected though.

i kinda see lots of s/d in pvp these days and less d/p

I play WvW but maybe you can relate, i’ve been doing some build testing about this and i have to say going 2/6/0/0/6 is pretty amazing but you WILL lack survaivability big time.
So I ended up switching from valk armor to zerk armor and going 2/0/0/6/6 with signet of agility and i have to say the stats are very similar to what you get in valk with crit strikes instead of acrobatics BUT the survaivability is very much improved thanks to the vigor uptime and mainly feline grace. Also pain response helps a bit and i’ve been using hard to catch which, while it’s quite annoying being pretty random it did save my life more than once.

So I’d say full zerk with acro-trickery traits. Give it a try, i play wvw and it’s different but i think it might work for you too.

Also I don’t really like SoM cause you WILL be anyway really squishy and beside the fact that some blind/block can completely negate your health regen you kind of need an extra “get out of there” card. But yeah that’s probably more needed to survive wvw ganks you might be alright

S/D is better than d/p in my opinion. Sizer would agree. Main problem with d/p is that: random shots will kill you. Stealth does not negate dmg, while evades do. What is more d/p relies more on luck due to backstab mechanic.

One of the best tactics with S/D is moving in with sword teleport with precasted skill 3, dealing dmg, escape with sword return.

It’s all about to you man Urejt got it right in my opinion but there is more to it then that. Play what you love simple as that <3 master yourself master others.

With D/P you cannot clean condi!

execullent.8560:

With D/P you cannot clean condi!

What? Are you serious? Just run x/6/6/x/x don’t evade buffing stealth just because others don’t like it.

Sagat.3285:

execullent.8560:

With D/P you cannot clean condi!

What? Are you serious? Just run x/6/6/x/x don’t evade buffing stealth just because others don’t like it.

2/6/0/0/6 – standart D/P
SA dont use in PvP

execullent.8560:

Sagat.3285:

execullent.8560:

With D/P you cannot clean condi!

What? Are you serious? Just run x/6/6/x/x don’t evade buffing stealth just because others don’t like it.

2/6/0/0/6 – standart D/P
SA dont use in PvP

That mentality tough….oh well not everyone thinks like that in pvp

Ok so I tried out S/D tonight, but ended up back to D/P quite quickly. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m used to dp and just need to practise or what.

I was running 2/6/0/0/6 with barbarian and hoelbrak, but have changed to 2/0/0/6/6 (still with D/P). I find atm while still learning I need the extra survivability of acro. Looking to move to zerker soon, then finally drop acro

P/P with a “gunslinger” build. My win % may go down 1 or 2 points but idc it’s the build I have tons of fun playing.

I’m curious why people go 6 in Trickery instead of 6 in Deadly Arts for D/P ? The extra initiative is nice but your giving up some nice dmg modifiers and high weakness uptime for it. What am I missing?

Depends on what your team needs.

S/D if you need to engage in fights more, D/P if you need to provide spike dmg and interrupts. Both have high mobility to utilize.

Trickery gives you vigor, and a 20 sec cd daze that pierces stability through boonrip, the extra initiative adds to mobility and also the use of skills. 5/6/0/0/3 is quite close to 2/6/0/0/6, but that daze and boonrip with stability as highest priority adds a lot more counterplay than 4secs of weakness every 15+ sec does, while keeping quite close to same dmg as DA, and that vigor combined with Dagger autos let’s you dodge quite a lot too.

Cyrill Faust.9340:

I’m curious why people go 6 in Trickery instead of 6 in Deadly Arts for D/P ? The extra initiative is nice but your giving up some nice dmg modifiers and high weakness uptime for it. What am I missing?

They refuse to buff stealth as they believe it is not “good” for pvp they rather have a higher chance to burst quick claiming it helps you gain experience and blah blah blah……

Frankly unless you have s/… you should go in SA this glass zerker mindset is pollution against diversity.

That’s an interesting perspective Sagat. Whenever I see a D/P SA in PvP, I look at them as free meat as a fellow 26006 player… They die quick after a basilk → daze combo.

panicbutton.1053:

That’s an interesting perspective Sagat. Whenever I see a D/P SA in PvP, I look at them as free meat as a fellow 26006 player… They die quick after a basilk -> daze combo.

One-trick pony combos are useless once you get use to them just like shatter mesmer,fear combo,axe war….I don’t let the same mistakes kill me everytime.

Unexperienced thieves and war are my favorite class to fight. Stealth is best used when you pick target and hunt your foe not opposite and get ambushed. 2/6/0/0/6 hunt like that but then again that’s crit vs crit when it comes to condi vs crit I’m very interested in those fights.

If you are good with that it’s skill based not “the build” it prove my theory of thieves succeeding with that build consider them selves better than others.

Sure, it is a one trick pony but what does a SA dp build have over trick DP? If the answer is condi clearing, you shouldn’t have to worry about that in PvP if you’re keeping someone blind.

Your role is to relocate fast, and take down targets as quick as possible.

panicbutton.1053:

Sure, it is a one trick pony but what does a SA dp build have over trick DP? If the answer is condi clearing, you shouldn’t have to worry about that in PvP if you’re keeping someone blind.

Your role is to relocate fast, and take down targets as quick as possible.

For the game sake stop trying to push people into a specific build let them choose what they want and they know what they are getting when choosing it anyway.

SA gives initiative regen,blind,cleansing,regen,tank….. it’s mostly for people who like to get pressure of them for a while.

In the pvp matches I join I seem to see more good condi thieves than crit ones or maybe the crit ones are somewhere evading the massive fight because I will take down a thief trying to finish a team mate as soon as I see him and will target too.

Sure you can run SA in PvP but what are you achieving that I’m not as a trick DP? Going trick will bring more utility to the team rather than popping into a selfish shadow refuge every 45 seconds, risking the lose of a point. Trick has more damage potential along side a deadly daze. Trick DP should not have an issues fighting a condition build if played correctly so that’s probably why you’re seeing a zerker mentality.

I always felt like SA was meant for WvW where you’re more able to get outnumbered in most cases. You can take your time in WvW, but in PvP time makes the difference.

panicbutton.1053:

Sure you can run SA in PvP but what are you achieving that I’m not as a trick DP? Going trick will bring more utility to the team rather than popping into a selfish shadow refuge every 45 seconds, risking the lose of a point. Trick has more damage potential along side a deadly daze. Trick DP should not have an issues fighting a condition build if played correctly so that’s probably why you’re seeing a zerker mentality.

I always felt like SA was meant for WvW where you’re more able to get outnumbered in most cases. You can take your time in WvW, but in PvP time makes the difference.

Tell that to the corpse of thieves trying to fight on point in aoe conditions or the ones that my team will always go kill first if they’re not on the point.

This is not going anywhere it is not about cleansing it’s tricking your foe ironically. That build is more fitting for s/d then d/p.