Guild Wars 2

The idea behind this build is to dagger/pistol 3 to shadowstep into the enemy and blind them, hack away until poison is applied, dodge, pistol 5 to heartseeker into stealth, dodge behind them, steal then backstab, then dodge again and try it all over when initiative is back up.

My question is, will the general idea work? Is this build the best way to do it? Basically playing a theif since launch and my playstyle hasn’t meshed well with what seems to be intended (ie, i stink).

Anyway, here’s the build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQRAoa6IoI4UkUk6pgsjVrAN7UcVuC-jECBYLDimEJ00IBK5pIaslhFRjVtATviIq2boIa1A-w

Alrik Vas.3507:

The idea behind this build is to dagger/pistol 3 to shadowstep into the enemy and blind them, hack away until poison is applied, dodge, pistol 5 to heartseeker into stealth, dodge behind them, steal then backstab, then dodge again and try it all over when initiative is back up.

My question is, will the general idea work? Is this build the best way to do it? Basically playing a theif since launch and my playstyle hasn’t meshed well with what seems to be intended (ie, i stink).

Anyway, here’s the build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQRAoa6IoI4UkUk6pgsjVrAN7UcVuC-jECBYLDimEJ00IBK5pIaslhFRjVtATviIq2boIa1A-w

I feel like it just wouldn’t do enough damage to kill someone. The combo sounds good in theory, but targets will be moving and dropping their counters, and a dodge might not be enough to avoid a burst. Does the initiative regenerate fast enough for an escape after the combo, and could you HS stealth —> steal and save another dodge?

I don’t know. I’ll see what others say about it.

i think i t will be good against zerk melee classes
but as you find yourself against more tankier or bunker builds you’ll start to feel the pressure of low initiatives combine with low health and armor pool

your dmg is average with low crit dmg

test it yourself and tell us

Rather than your traits try using 10/30/0/0/30 or 0/30/20/20/0, I swear by both those trait setups. Your overall rotation is fine, it’d probably fit with the first trait setup the most (that setup is more about gap closing and keeping blinds up vs the 2nd more about continually stealthing through BP+HS). I wouldn’t put dodges in your standard rotation, you’re not playing an acrobatic s/d thief! Dodge when you need to avoid a big hit. If you have trouble with initiative with either build then you’re not autoattacking enough.

messiah.1908:

i think i t will be good against zerk melee classes
but as you find yourself against more tankier or bunker builds you’ll start to feel the pressure of low initiatives combine with low health and armor pool

your dmg is average with low crit dmg

test it yourself and tell us

I was thinking the same. What are the good damage builds? Do they ususally revolve around dodging or staying stealthed?

The the rest of the feedback, I’ll need to do testing. Unfortunately, i’ve been playing this build in one shape or another for a while and it hasn’t worked, i’ve tried higher damage builds, higher survivability builds etc and they’re fun, but I know i’m not playing them right or i’d be having more success. I only recently started to get really focused on coming up with a plan, rather than just trying to win by reacting constantly, i had the luxury of being more opportunistic in the past because i ran with a group, but now i’m stuck solo.

Mainhand dagger builds rely on stealth and blinds but it’s good to put a little bit of dodging into those builds either with vigor (10/30/0/0/30) or the 15 point trait in acro (0/30/20/20/0). Not that it’s required though. Sword/dagger relies much more on evades and hardly any stealth or blinds.

Yeah, i see what you’re saying. Won’t be on until much, much later today, but looking at the builds, they’re both pretty nice. 98% critical damage seems pretty good.