Hello,
For those of you who dont want to read all this:
1. D/D or D/P?
2. Glass cannon vs 30 pts in Shadow Arts
And for those who do want to read:
1. here’s a quote from Narcarsis.5739 (Caed):
The difference between D/D and D/P burst potential is minimal, while the trade off for it is huge. While you say D/P has less burst that is actually incorrect, it has a tad bit more, and gets stronger the lower initial health of the target. The only benefit of D/D is a faster and easier combo that is more forgiving on positioning. D/P takes a second to set up, however the damage comes at roughly the same time as D/D (maybe ~0.10 seconds slower). While this is more than enough time to use a stun break (as you can easily do with D/D) it’s a combo that you save until you know the target has no escape. Other combo’s can also kill squishy targets very easily (such as steal/backstab out of stealth). Additionally D/P provides an enormous amount of team utility with Headshot and Blinding Powder, as well as an excellent chase skill (when chilled) with Shadow Shot. Another benefit of D/P is that the stealth is guaranteed, whereas the stealth on Cloak and Dagger can be negated by a skillful player with a blind, dodge roll, or daze.
Full topic: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Caed-s-Thief-Walk-Through-and-Guide-Mini
and here’s something from DirtyBird.6093:
NOW – that being said, i personally play D/D. Its a playstyle choice. The skill level needed to play D/D is much higher as you are reliant on having things to hit to gain the stealth readily and easily. It requires much better terrain choice and selection to win fights. You want to engage combat by NPCs or siege, things you can hit. The reason i play D/D:
1) More fun for me personally, i like the challenge
2) C&D is a good 1/3 of your spike damage that you lose by just going for the backstab.
3) i hate flopping around in a black powder like a fish out of water. its slower in comparison to lurking around and tapping 5.
4) there are a lot of things you can do using the Cloak and Dagger stealth mechanic. I’ve been on top of the lords room with 15+ enemies just roaming around and cloak and daggering off enemies to stay up in there. Ive quite literally won 1v1’s by using nothing BUT C&D (i just wanted to see if i could do it). Constant C&D and when their life dropped low enough, backstab. As well, in team fights you can use a downed player to lure other players out to down them, as well as you can use them as a constant source of cloak that doesnt move.If you do decide to go D/D, always have a pistol to swap out in case you need perma stealth.
Full topic: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/WvW-dagger-dagger-or-dagger-pistol/first#post2305029
So the 2 seem to contradict eachother. Which one is better? Is this really just personal preference? Or does this only matter if you are in high lvl tpvp teams? I do like both playstyles, and I want to decide in which to put more efforts to get a nice return in gameplay enjoyment. Jumper’s sword-dagger evade build is just not my cup of tea. (A potentially steep learning curve is not a problem to me, it is worth it to bite the dust a few dozen times to learn the proper gameplay.)
2. Then…
the somewhat standard roaming or beginner builds usually go like: 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/10/0. (For D/D and D/P ofc.) I took a look at Caed’s backstab D/P build (see above) that is: 25/30/0/0/15 and I thought to myself ‘How the hell do you stay alive longer than 5 seconds with this build?’ Does this only work in well organized teams, where others can cover your butt? Or does it only work with a super-skilled player? I was in a game the other day and the other team had a D/P thief. If he opened on me while I was 70% HP or lower, ha insta downed me with backstab; if I was above 70% HP he also needed one Heartseeker to down me. I never saw him fighting extensively, just popping out of stealth, downing some1 in one second, and then vanish. So is this the playstyle I should be looking for to learn? I dont think you ALWAYS have a situation where you are the opener. And if that happens, you are dead just as quick as you can kill others. However I have to admit that it is quite effective. (If an opener attack instantly takes 65-75% of you HP, thats pretty much a done deal.)
Any constructive feedback is welcome, ty.