Guild Wars 2

Sup, guys
I’ve been playing for a while with my fancy S/P build and found it is quite annoying and powerful at chasing, finishing, disturbing, interrupting, completing secondary objectives and killing.
Don’t know if any of you interested of dropping S/D, but i can say that this build is greatly superior to D/P and goes on pair with S/D.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwF_07-R-Fd0;9;49T;0T2;017A;446BLJk6;2KJG4KJG46RT -This is what i’m using at, this is more damaging variant, where you are losing some passive and active aspects of build but i find it as awesome as previous one. (I’m using this atm) (As for after dec10 berserker is very good here)

Here are the vid, with my playing.
http://youtu.be/5_LMTchZASs#t=0m0s
I have to say that is not my best acting, as i was having ping issues while recording it, but it is good source of understanding how S/P works.
Also this is sPvP, not tPvP, but as i said, i had some ping issues, preventing me from playing on my best, while recording these videos. Basically it is result of two days of playing (almost straight up montage).
Good luck on trying, of you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N3X0ECYE-Q&feature=youtu.be
tpvp footage
Top 150 montage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biuBVgNKaoA

My recent experience proved that if opposite team have none of these:
-thief
-ele
-SD engineer
– you can take berserker and be successful with it
(If you team lacks of damage ofc, otherwise – soldier is a better choice for soloQ)

I leaving a request for some S/D thief from EU to add me in friends and play together with TS
I think results will be godlike.
But I repeat, that my S/P Build isn’t best killer (primarily because of soldier’s) But that wasn’t the purpose – CC synergy very good with any sort of damage dealing.

Very niice video man. Makes me want to play my thief more. Keep it up!!

Good music ftw.

Thx a lot, i added HD video, so it is much better quality now)

Nice video. Any chance of ‘normal speed’ version? Very good use of infiltrator strike.

enzone.5924:

Nice video. Any chance of ‘normal speed’ version? Very good use of infiltrator strike.

Only few of them have 1.5x speed because they are very long (spirit ranger one and the fight at Spirit Watch)
Thx for feedback!

I will try this later, however it look pretty fun. Nice Job

How do you deal with retaliation? (The Bane of S/P)
I see the ability to steal two boons with the trickery trait, is it left to that or waiting it out?

OIIIIIO.7825:

I will try this later, however it look pretty fun. Nice Job

How do you deal with retaliation? (The Bane of S/P)
I see the ability to steal two boons with the trickery trait, is it left to that or waiting it out?

Dunno how to answer… So, there are not many classes, that abuse retaliation uptime. Most retal i see is on guards or engi. I’m not that cool to watch for it everytime, but when i see some heavy retal guy, i’m trying to aa him until he has ~12 retal – just steal it.
But don’t know, would you believe me or not, I don’t count retaliation as a big problem, because i have 17k hp and about 6,5k hp every 18 secs (couting regen ticks), covered with 2500 armor and in-and-out tactic. I wonder how that could be countered.

Not a bad video, it’s nice seeing a S/P thief out there. I guess you and I are the only ones who play S/P.

My advice

- Drop the Bow if you can and use P/P for players running away from you. If you have the Damage, it’ll finish them off every time.

One thing I did notice was your dodge rolling was killing your Stealth (it would not stealth/heal you because you dodge rolled too quickly before letting it finish)

In all, I enjoyed the footage. It’s sad that S/P is a lost art and ArenaNet forgot about the “1% Spec” (Pistol Whip) Thieves. They have no interest to fix/love the our setup.

PW needs a shorter start time, badly. ArenaNet should knock off .5sec of the start of Pistol Whip, badly. They did reduce the time from after the start to the animation time, but it still needs help. I just don’t think S/P will ever get the love and attention it truly deserves.

Keep shining S/P!
(here’s the video I made of my S/P Thief., but I ended up not finishing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d83FpkfAOB0)

PS: BTW, to all the whiners about “Stealth is OP!”. Once again this Thief (as I have stated before about this) is killing players without the use of constant stealthing. Thieves just have tons of utility as a Melee class and people are not used to that.

• Daggers are Training wheels for Thieves! STAND PROUD S/P THIEVES!

Crawford.4135:

- Drop the Bow if you can and use P/P for players running away from you. If you have the Damage, it’ll finish them off every time.

I think that he is using the short bow to run away not to chase. With so many teleports chasing is never a problem. At least in my limited experience.

Btw, he is using Withdraw as healing skill.

the video will get better once past the first 3 mins?
Sorry mate but I stopped after the first 3 minutes of video cos for me it’s pointless to show some crap hotjoin action.
If the video will show some tPvP action later, I’ll give it another look, otherwise it doesn’t show any skill. In the first 3 minutes of the video your opponent reaction was so slow that I could play with only my left hand and win.
Overall an enjoyable video of a bad mode against bads

Kolly.9872:

the video will get better once past the first 3 mins?
Sorry mate but I stopped after the first 3 minutes of video cos for me it’s pointless to show some crap hotjoin action.
If the video will show some tPvP action later, I’ll give it another look, otherwise it doesn’t show any skill. In the first 3 minutes of the video your opponent reaction was so slow that I could play with only my left hand and win.
Overall an enjoyable video of a bad mode against bads

I think he is showing the damage potential of the build at the beginning. Later you will find some more complex fights, often outnumbered.

Wow, thx for messages.
@Crawford i don’t think that dropping bow is good idea, because i’m constantly using shortcuts to teleport, cluster bomb blasting, into water fields mostly, but anyway, abd still, bow is a very solid choice in my opinion. That’s why) i’m not sure i understood you clear, about your point of my heal/stealth, i’m using withdraw, as a mobility thing, i’ve mastered that 180* heal. Also build excels on sticking with constant immobilize and stun from PW. Usually i have no problems landing stun from PW after few hours of training. But thanks for your message.
As for your vid, i think you should really finish it. This is what i can’t learn: enough patience to give some amazing montage like yours
I was using all available builds on thief, and sometimes i want try this, or that, but “not today”
@Kolly
Yeah, i guess i should stated that this is sPvP in beginning…
On my comp where i could record in a good quality, i have about 250-500ms delay time (crazy 3g internet), I hope someday i’ll be able to buy new Vcard to record in nice quality at home (and even stream lol). But for your statements, i can parry with that this build carried me to 150 easily, before i went on AFK streak. I think this is because no one else using S/P in such manner, but anyway, I can easily initiate any fight 1v2-3, and roll away in second if it sounds like problem, but in TPvP, at least on my ranks and level people suffer a lot from stun, daze and immobilize in a teamfight, and that is what i can offer to GC (actually i would call this build “locker”). And this is carrying me without tryhard mode.

The practice makes its best, and every i’m finding an opportunity that I haven’t seen before.
I must admit the build is quite OP for me, because it is so hard to catch in 1v1 but this is what thief should be.
Anyway, that was just a build of mine, and i’m lazy to write the guide, better show the footage.

Pistol Whipping Thief here too! Great to finally see some footage of other S/P thieves out there. Have been playing with it for a few months, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot! It is as you say; Players doesn’t expect PW and don’t know how to react against it. Most players don’t know you actually evade while whipping that sword, which I abuse.

I’ve been playing a similar build for a few months, but with berserker gear. I doesn’t really have any trouble unless I’m greatly outnumbered. Looked pretty awesome to have that much survivability packed into one build though ^^

S/P reporting in. Slightly different build ( More drawn from Tessa Avery’s build). I stick with the shortbow as well for combos and for the escape when needed. Love the surviabilitiy, I can last long enough on a capture point if out numbered until help arrives even with full zerk.

Sup dudes, i guess we are the club of sword&pistol, old good pirates!
Don’t know, is it my dedication to play unusual build or just love to stun and daze, but i think that community done well with words of unusability of SP and we even might expect some buffs.
Would be great.

I think later on a week there will be tpvp footage of this)
Stay on line folks

I just like it for the change of pace. I run with my brother in WvW and Spvp and being able to stun lock/daze to get the coordinated spike on a player is pretty rewarding. Nothing stopping the D/P , S/D, etc. community from doing the same I just enjoy the play-style more.

Yeah, its like “well dudes, nerf stealth, lol”
^_^

dDuff.3860:

Yeah, its like “well dudes, nerf stealth, lol”
^_^

Haha, yeah ;p

The only time I use stealth are when I steal it from another thief. The feeling of disappearing, applying basilisk venom, popping signets and spike that thief is just so good.

Guess I play S/P because I really enjoy the set. I never found it particularly weak, but the recent buffs to steal and PW was a welcome buff

Tried the build and it was acutally quite fun. However, I would really like to see how this build performs in tpvp.

It’s nice to not have people raging about blind, stealth and evade spam when you kill them :-) Next thing we know is raging on the cc the build provides.

Superkav.5012:

Tried the build and it was acutally quite fun. However, I would really like to see how this build performs in tpvp.

It’s nice to not have people raging about blind, stealth and evade spam when you kill them :-) Next thing we know is raging on the cc the build provides.

Oh yeah, they rage a lot, but not on CC you do, but on constant teleporting and in-and-out tactic, when they just can’t do nothing on this onslaught coming to them, when they are just preparing.
I’m recording some tpvp highlights, but actually, i find it very common to win 1v1 against any class (except bunker guard – kitten that kitten), so i’ve decided to pull off some epic moments, demonstrating the real challenge for me as a thief, but so far, i guess, i have quite enough material to make 8 min footage of what i can do (want ~14 minutes).
So, i may have some free time during the weekend and will show the result to you, guys.

It is very nice that i see more S/P nowadays, i can even feel my own impact on the community))

That sounds great. Looking forward to it ;-)

S/P has always been good. people ran away from it when they nerfed the PW damage, but the set itself has always been quality

Edit – just took a gander at your second build and its the same set up I use exactly, except I use force instead of paralyze sigil. interesting though, I may give that a whirl. I use that build for all weapon sets except p/d

Azure.8670:

S/P has always been good. people ran away from it when they nerfed the PW damage, but the set itself has always been quality

Edit – just took a gander at your second build and its the same set up I use exactly, except I use force instead of paralyze sigil. interesting though, I may give that a whirl. I use that build for all weapon sets except p/d

Sigil here is a personal choice, i’ve took paralyzation because it expands attack frame for pistol whip, aswell as prolongs the stun of BV, and hopefully increase daze duration on my daze skills.
But i haven’t tried other choices, i might consider that 5% crit is a very solid choice for a build not investing in precision, but sitting on high amount of power and fury.
As for force sigil, it seems to straightforward for me, like bonus i would never be able to notice.

Some people asking me about my gear choice, i run soldier with knights jewel on various reasons:
-Very well rounded stats, with good survivability and damage
-You should not worry about GC at all, You are the counter to them.
-You can facetank damage long enough to finish your AA chain
-You can outlast warrior on a point (If it is good healing signet warri in the field – just pass it, not worth the time)
-You are able to win 2v1 and 3v1 (vs baddies), even if they are pushing like you are the last 5 points they need to get rank 80
-You are not spamming skills, so people dying can’t complain on stealth or evades.
-You can run through the battlefield and not lose your balls from aoe (even though, rushing to the mess is always a bad idea)
-You can BV+res teammate under 2 charachters damaging you
-You can finish ppl of from 60-70% hp (GC ones) or 30-40 % hp (balanced guys), from over 3600 distance in 3 secs (it is daze+immobilize), to counter it, opponent require something more than just a straight stunbreaker.

-You are not able to kill good bunker guard solo (but who can?)

TL:DR i should say that once i’ve dropped zerker i lost the feel of mashing my buttons to dish up damage bedore i die. Now all skirmishes are about reading your opponent’s mind, and it brings its benefits to me.

Thanks for the video, I had been wanting to see S/P in action. I’m getting bored with my current builds so I’ll give it a shot.

I didn’t see any evidence to say it’s better than D/P though. I think D/P + SB is still our best kit but I know everyone has their own opinions.

Cheers!

dDuff.3860:

Sup, guys
I’ve been playing for a while with my fancy S/P build and found it is quite annoying and powerful at chasing, finishing, disturbing, interrupting, completing secondary objectives and killing.
Don’t know if any of you interested of dropping S/D, but i can say that this build is greatly superior to D/P and goes on pair with S/D.

So here are the build
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwV0-7-R-Fd0;9;4JJ;0T27-17;546BLok6;2KJG4KJG46Rc – this is somewhat condition clearing build, as you have all your skills and traits, aswell as runes and sigils synergize with each other.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwV0-7-R-Fd0;9;49T;0T2;017A;446BLok6;2KJG4KJG46RQ – this is more damaging variant, where you are losing some passive and active aspects of build (e.g. weakness on target + condition clearing every 45 sec instead of 36), but i find it as awesome as previous one.

Here are the vid, with my playing.
http://youtu.be/5_LMTchZASs#t=0m0s (on some reason i don’t know how to fix that it starts form 22 minute )
I have to say that is not my best acting, as i was having ping issues while recording it, but it is good source of understanding how S/P works.
Also this is sPvP, not tPvP, but as i said, i had some ping issues, preventing me from playing on my best, while recording these videos. Basically it is result of two days of playing (almost straight up montage).
Good luck on trying, of you are interested.

Hey man, you have some solid builds there, but I do have some questions. On your first build you take quick venoms, but you are only using basilisk venom and no others. The main reason I see that as a weird choice is because your using Lyssa runes. Lyssa runes have an internal cool down of 50 seconds and if I remember correctly basi venom had a 36 second cooldown when traited. That means you will only be getting 1 proc from every 2 basi uses if you use it within 14 seconds of it coming off cd (and we are assuming you are doing this since you traited for it) which is kind of a waste of your runes. I would recommend you take ogre runes instead for your first build (but don’t let me tell you how to live your life/play the game if you enjoy playing that way)

Another thing to think about is taking the assassins signet. It’s passive is strong, but it’s active only lasts for kittens and, in my opinion, works better for skills like backstab or heart seeker. The active will only last for 5 of 9 hits of pistolwhip. Since you are traited for initiative regen, might stacks, and reduced signet cooldown I would highly recommend you try out the signet of agility. It seems to synergize well with with the idea of your build and it’s very helpful in team fights! It clears condi on you and your allies and it gives you endurance back.

Overall you have some solid builds and I rather enjoyed your videos. Keep up the good work man
~Rand X Al Thor

pantsforbirds.9032:

dDuff.3860:

Sup, guys
I’ve been playing for a while with my fancy S/P build and found it is quite annoying and powerful at chasing, finishing, disturbing, interrupting, completing secondary objectives and killing.
Don’t know if any of you interested of dropping S/D, but i can say that this build is greatly superior to D/P and goes on pair with S/D.

So here are the build
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwV0-7-R-Fd0;9;4JJ;0T27-17;546BLok6;2KJG4KJG46Rc – this is somewhat condition clearing build, as you have all your skills and traits, aswell as runes and sigils synergize with each other.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwV0-7-R-Fd0;9;49T;0T2;017A;446BLok6;2KJG4KJG46RQ – this is more damaging variant, where you are losing some passive and active aspects of build (e.g. weakness on target + condition clearing every 45 sec instead of 36), but i find it as awesome as previous one.

Here are the vid, with my playing.
http://youtu.be/5_LMTchZASs#t=0m0s (on some reason i don’t know how to fix that it starts form 22 minute )
I have to say that is not my best acting, as i was having ping issues while recording it, but it is good source of understanding how S/P works.
Also this is sPvP, not tPvP, but as i said, i had some ping issues, preventing me from playing on my best, while recording these videos. Basically it is result of two days of playing (almost straight up montage).
Good luck on trying, of you are interested.

Hey man, you have some solid builds there, but I do have some questions. On your first build you take quick venoms, but you are only using basilisk venom and no others. The main reason I see that as a weird choice is because your using Lyssa runes. Lyssa runes have an internal cool down of 50 seconds and if I remember correctly basi venom had a 36 second cooldown when traited. That means you will only be getting 1 proc from every 2 basi uses if you use it within 14 seconds of it coming off cd (and we are assuming you are doing this since you traited for it) which is kind of a waste of your runes. I would recommend you take ogre runes instead for your first build (but don’t let me tell you how to live your life/play the game if you enjoy playing that way)

Another thing to think about is taking the assassins signet. It’s passive is strong, but it’s active only lasts for kittens and, in my opinion, works better for skills like backstab or heart seeker. The active will only last for 5 of 9 hits of pistolwhip. Since you are traited for initiative regen, might stacks, and reduced signet cooldown I would highly recommend you try out the signet of agility. It seems to synergize well with with the idea of your build and it’s very helpful in team fights! It clears condi on you and your allies and it gives you endurance back.

Overall you have some solid builds and I rather enjoyed your videos. Keep up the good work man
~Rand X Al Thor

Man, all you’ve said seems very legit.
As for your first statement, i didn’t know that it has ICD (now i understand why it didn’t work everytime) so anyway i swapped this build for the second one
As for AS, while i agree on it passive that it is really good, the active part that i’m using for bursting is somewhat irreplaceable, because if i pick agility (7% crit chance) on a part when i use it for 5 might stacks – i lose that crit, while with AS i just lose 30 power and my PW (5 strikes) still do 15% more damage. It is a personal choice here i guess.
But may be i’ll try sigil of paralyzation, if it isn’t have proper and adequate impact on the build, i might take sigil of force and equip signet of agility, this would somehow save the damage and add precious crits, as a precision is a “go to” stat in this build.
So thanks a lot for the suggestions you made, i might review my build and meet new opportunities.

Hype.8032:

Thanks for the video, I had been wanting to see S/P in action. I’m getting bored with my current builds so I’ll give it a shot.

I didn’t see any evidence to say it’s better than D/P though. I think D/P + SB is still our best kit but I know everyone has their own opinions.

Cheers!

I should say that while D/P is a very solid set, it is really inferior to S/P because of the way it can be countered – you know, headshot on d/p thief while he is preparing for HS out of BP (or even in midair) – completely outplays it, because if interrupted thief don’t go into stealth and just wasted that 7 ini into the garbage, while i have a lot of toughness and space for mistake, D/p hasn’t any, because i use inf+steal (effect is like stun for 2 secs), and then go to PW that completely destroys thief.

I played a few matches with it and it was a nice change of pace. It felt really weird using soldiers haha. I might use SoM instead of withdraw on this build though. It is harder to get the heal off but it cuts down on retal’s damage and you get more healing/sec + might from traits.

In a 1v1 s/p might have an edge over d/p but assuming a d/p thief needs to be comboing bp+hs to do any damage is a bit off. For the perma stealth builds you’re right but 10/30/0/0/30 d/p really doesn’t (and shouldn’t) use that combo very often. It’s more about autoattacks and blinding/interrupting then.

However, what I was trying to say is that d/p+sb is overall more effective (IMHO), even if it loses in a 1v1 vs s/p.

Again, thanks for the video. I’ll keep playing this a while.

So this is tpvp footage of this build.
I was tweaking it a bit, but nothing really serious.
So have fun!

BAM!!!
I’m still progressing in leaderboards (+100 ranks everyday) ~200 atm.. So you guys, who those who interested in ratings can really try this for carrying into tops.
If someone interested i can record gameplay from high tier – S/P POV.

No, no, no. Don’t put any viable S/P builds online! I don’t want my beloved setup to be nerfed.

Anyway, I use trickery 30 as well, but 30 in acrobatics too. This gives my high initiative gain to chain stun while having a better dodge availability. Instead of sleight of hand I use flanking strikes to compensate my loss of damage.

Also Power of inertia together with bountiful theft and Shadow trap gives me about 10-15 might stack.

My second weapon was D/P but I changed it to D/D yesterday to see if it has a better synergy.

Well done, I love 5:40-6:08ish (Where you were tracking down the Thief) very well played.

Dduff liked this build thnks for sharing it And Can you make a similar stun /daze build to suit Pve/Wvw purpose and a vid also of you using it in pve and wvw plz….

gj! very nice S/P montage in tpvp! when Anet see this another very good thief montage agian… they gonna nerf this thing again! cuz many Q_Q crying and complaining about the OPness of thieves? /shrug sigh…

This is… really awesome. The amount of skill you display at that speed is truly impressive. If I were your opponents, I would be totally dizzied by the amount of shadowstepping going on… not to mention the barrage of dazes. Wow.

I think it’d be awesome if you did a video with commentary, that slowed or freeze-framed some fights or something. Or not, just with a voice over commentary explaining what you’re doing and why.

Either way, this is very entertaining!

Pawstruck.9708:

This is… really awesome. The amount of skill you display at that speed is truly impressive. If I were your opponents, I would be totally dizzied by the amount of shadowstepping going on… not to mention the barrage of dazes. Wow.

I think it’d be awesome if you did a video with commentary, that slowed or freeze-framed some fights or something. Or not, just with a voice over commentary explaining what you’re doing and why.

Either way, this is very entertaining!

Wow dude thanks for good words, i’m trying to be good at thief.
As for your suggestion about commentary – I’m on recording stage – getting some good material to show and might consider adding commentary to it, but basically this comments will be all about picking the right target and tactics to play against certain classes builds.
Because, as you see i’m actually not so diverse in what i’m doing.

All that you should know to play succesfully this build – what is the right target to sit on, because S/D thief is not hard to outplay and counter, but it requires so much time to cover all its evades and stuff, so you’d better sit on this mesmer, which is the easiest class to deal with as S/P thief.

But still, i’ll think of your proposal

deepkumar.1230:

Dduff liked this build thnks for sharing it And Can you make a similar stun /daze build to suit Pve/Wvw purpose and a vid also of you using it in pve and wvw plz….

this build works fine in wvw also, you can go full zerker if you brave and want to roam ,change for signet of shadow between fight to be faster. hard to play 1vX.

i went for hybrid build with carrion/rabid jewels to get more condition dmg with seconds set of p/d. i basically start with p/d to soft the target and catch him with pistol whip (crit chance 45% (65%) and crit dmg 65% )

messiah.1908:

deepkumar.1230:

Dduff liked this build thnks for sharing it And Can you make a similar stun /daze build to suit Pve/Wvw purpose and a vid also of you using it in pve and wvw plz….

this build works fine in wvw also, you can go full zerker if you brave and want to roam ,change for signet of shadow between fight to be faster. hard to play 1vX.

i went for hybrid build with carrion/rabid jewels to get more condition dmg with seconds set of p/d. i basically start with p/d to soft the target and catch him with pistol whip (crit chance 45% (65%) and crit dmg 65% )

1v2 is doable with well timed shadowsteps (#2); but more is hard yeah.
Hybrid build too with more acrobatic and less crit strikes. I have P/P as second set now (testing trial)

Gwalchgwn.1659:

messiah.1908:

deepkumar.1230:

Dduff liked this build thnks for sharing it And Can you make a similar stun /daze build to suit Pve/Wvw purpose and a vid also of you using it in pve and wvw plz….

this build works fine in wvw also, you can go full zerker if you brave and want to roam ,change for signet of shadow between fight to be faster. hard to play 1vX.

i went for hybrid build with carrion/rabid jewels to get more condition dmg with seconds set of p/d. i basically start with p/d to soft the target and catch him with pistol whip (crit chance 45% (65%) and crit dmg 65% )

1v2 is doable with well timed shadowsteps (#2); but more is hard yeah.
Hybrid build too with more acrobatic and less crit strikes. I have P/P as second set now (testing trial)

So dudes, i’m gonna bring this thread up again and again!
1v2 is extremely easy except when you have freedom to pick your target – just try to avoid dodgers (ones that have 90%+ vigor uptime), except S/D thief, when you are trying 1v2 try to focus him first – this will push him out of combat for a certain time and gives you a chance to disengage.
As for mirror matches – with S/P thiefs – I’d suggest for you to w8 until his shadow return is over – or before thief use his inf. strike – thats the chance for you to get him down.
As for wvw, i’m using the same very build, but stats are a bit tweaked around berserker and soldiers: 2/3 soldiers+1/3 zerker. Results are amazing!

I’ve tried balanced condi build with venoms, but it didn’t give me any good results, so i came to a conclsuion that S/P is all about stacking power+precision.

P.S. I’m progressing in LB and now ~top130. – i was climbing from 90% because i wasn’t playing since new solo q and these results are quite impressive at least for me)
I know it is not that cool for those who are higher, but i’m progressing non stop, so for you guys i should say that as long as you are improving your S/P mastery – you can be competetive and reliable player even in current S/D thief meta. Rumour said that S/D going to be shaved/tweaked somehow.
So the time of S/P users are coming. Be ready for it!
Regards!

Awesome videos, awesome skill. Thanks for posting. I think you should start listing some tips/tricks now :P

Good video, this build is quite fun while you don’t face any foe who has retal(aka guardian)
I disagree with some points you did, I don’t think this build is better than D/P and even less than S/D.
Btw good music.

dDuff.3860:

So the time of S/P users are coming. Be ready for it!

I truly hope it isn’t, i like being special with my S/P and P/P setup now :P It’s amazing to see how ppl don’t know how to react when they see the 2 builds that are least used on thief.

Elxdark.9702:

Good video, this build is quite fun while you don’t face any foe who has retal(aka guardian)
I disagree with some points you did, I don’t think this build is better than D/P and even less than S/D.
Btw good music.

Of course you are free to think that!
But may be you would change your opinion when i say that soldier amulet is what bringing it on 1v1 vs thief, GC ele, SD engi, and some other classes that require being coward and joining fights when no one sees them. You can just phew-dissapear and a second later unleash sword onslaught on them.
Because D/P and S/D require zerker amulet to be effective and it is quite hard to deal damage for them, when you are locking/dazing them constantly on top of being heavy armored – you are not eating these backstabs for 8k, even if you let them go into stealth. As for S/D it is quite clear that blinding field is a counter to their tactic.
I should admit that S/D is a hard matchup everytime, but, not impossible, if you time steal (key ability in this build) it becomes much easier.
After all, this is not 1v1 build really – (but i’m not losing 1v1 situations) – it is mostly for teamfights – locking crucial guys and making them vulnerable for your GC.
If i want to have a bursty thief, i’d go something other, but this is about controlling (trolling? :P ) and reading your opponent’s mind.

Your second video- the tPvP one uses music that makes it unavailable in some countries.

enzone.5924:

Your second video- the tPvP one uses music that makes it unavailable in some countries.

Is it available without music?
Uh dunno what to do -_-

dDuff.3860:

enzone.5924:

Your second video- the tPvP one uses music that makes it unavailable in some countries.

Is it available without music?
Uh dunno what to do -_-

Nope, not available at all because of the music. At least in Germany

Hey, I’ve been running almost the same build as you for a while, rare thing to see s/p thieves in tPvP or WvW!

Some differences are that I use furious retaliation instead of signets of power, as I feel the fury is real helpful on getting the finishing damage on targets that you get to low health, without the burst of dagger it can be hard to effectively finish people especially when they try to run and you’ve burned all your shadowsteps to land pistol whips.

I use sigil of air and sigil of accuracy on the sword and pistol, and a berserker jewel in the soldiers amulet, so that with the signet of agility passive and the precision from Lyssa runes I get a crit chance at 43%, which I feel is a comfortable amount considering the fury uptime and amount of survivability the set up gives. Sigil of air procs pretty often when you’re hitting pistol whips and auto chains, and gives an extra 1k ish unexpected burst to your attacks which can be great. I’ve finished people who were at 5-10% just by doing 1-2 headshots and having the air sigil proc.

Some things to consider are taking shadow trap in place of shadow step, this can allow you to bunker home point and still be at the mid fight, or lay it at far point and jump to there for a quick decap if the other team leaves home point to help at mid.

Also using hide in shadows can be more beneficial than withdraw if you’re getting knee deep into the group fights, with the amount of condi spam thrown around you can never have too much condi removal, and it means you don’t have to depend on shadowstep or Lyssa runes elite proc so much.

If you do take withdraw, consider doing 10 into acro to get vigorous recovery instead of the 10 in deadly arts, as this syncs so well with the low cooldown of withdraw and with the agility signet gives really good dodge uptime.

What I love about this build is that it rewards timing and reading your opponents moves, waiting for them to pop stability and then removing it with steal, locking them down with stuns, and having infiltrators strike/shadow return ready to get out of range to avoid the bursts. It also discourages skill spam, as using pistol whip after pistol whip will devour your initiative, robbing you of the 10% from first strikes and the potential 15% from lead attacks.

enzone.5924:

dDuff.3860:

enzone.5924:

Your second video- the tPvP one uses music that makes it unavailable in some countries.

Is it available without music?
Uh dunno what to do -_-

Nope, not available at all because of the music. At least in Germany

The only thing i can suggest is using proxy to watch it, sorry dude=\
I’ve deleted one song already, but i don’t want to leave it without music=(

@Jakare thats something about overforming build. I don’t really need an access to stealth because i’m fine using shadow return all the time, but as for dropping points, i guess when you are playing around steal mechanic it is worth traiting at max. So dropping 10 DA is not a good idea IMO.
Anyhow thats my own experience and i’m fine on using it in top100 leaderboard matches. You can be successful at something more suitable for you.

P.S. Vol. 3 from top 150 is coming.
Stay in touch!

Good build. Good play.