Guild Wars 2

I know it’s on the strong to OP side in PvP, but does anyone have an intuitive sense that it just isn’t adequate in PvE given that Thieves are so squishy and lack good damage mitigation like pets or good regeneration? It seems to be designed to work more in an offensive capacity with any defensive benefits being an afterthought.

I kinda wish it lasted twice as long, dropped aggro, and/or applied confusion to all mobs in a given range, or something in PvE only. It just needs more oomph as a survival tool IMO.

Blinds and Dodges/Evades are more powerful in PvE

Try offhand pistol #5 skill
3 points in acrobatics with SoA gives you “burst” of 3-4 dodges
Pistol Whip is good for evading as well

I never use stealth during PvE. It’s not really necessary unless you’re trying to skip something. I know a lot of people trash P/P, but I have zero trouble killing absolutely everything in PvE.

Thieves have access to spammable evades, use them.

oxtred.7658:

Thieves have access to spammable evades, use them.

What, Black Powder?

Evades. Withdraw, acro traitline, vigor on heal for timed dodges. Pistolwhip for long wind up attacks/ repeatable rotations/ trash mobs. Dagger 3 when you feel adventurous at lupi p1.

But blinds are a cool thing also.

The defensive benefits from stealth come from shadow arts. Blind on stealth, and so on, are perfectly good traits but many players want pure dps from their traits instead.

There’s also Dodge.

Einlanzer.1627:

I know it’s on the strong to OP side in PvP, but does anyone have an intuitive sense that it just isn’t adequate in PvE given that Thieves are so squishy and lack good damage mitigation like pets or good regeneration? It seems to be designed to work more in an offensive capacity with any defensive benefits being an afterthought.

I kinda wish it lasted twice as long, dropped aggro, and/or applied confusion to all mobs in a given range, or something in PvE only. It just needs more oomph as a survival tool IMO.

It’s fine. I used it constantly during the final fights of the last 2 living story chapters, and it helped keep me alive and kicking. And as anybody can tell you, those bosses are no pushovers with their near 1-shot mechanics.

What, the living story bosses are hard now?

i find it great to stealth around the champions and veterans with tons of their little friends that guard JP/mini dungeon chests

I find stealth quite useful defensively in PvE. Especially with Shadow’s Rejuvination and Shadow Protector traits equipped. I use DP a lot in PvE and generally use stealth offensively for the most part, while using Black Powder for general defense. But when a situation gets tough stealth is extremely useful for giving yourself some needed breathing space and regaining some health before returning to the fight.

In any challenging fight you will need to rely on more than just evades or more than just blinds. You will need to combine different defenses to stay alive and I see stealth as a very capable tool in my bag of defensive tricks. But unlike blind or evade it does need trait assistance to be useful defensively. On it’s own, without traits, it is a useful as a defense, but not as much as blind or evade. With traits it can be just as effective if not better in some situations.

Stealth resets mobs aggro in solo. You can’t stealth, even CnD+backstab may reset some bosses. In groups, sitting in stealth doing nothing is leeching a spot. Don’t rely on stealth in pve except for trash skipping.

oxtred.7658:

Stealth resets mobs aggro in solo. You can’t stealth, even CnD+backstab may reset some bosses. In groups, sitting in stealth doing nothing is leeching a spot. Don’t rely on stealth in pve except for trash skipping.

I thought they changed the way mobs react to stealth, so that they do not reset anymore. At least not straight away.

When I fight mobs solo I find they stay where they were last attacking me then resumes once I de-stealth.

Rin.1046:

I thought they changed the way mobs react to stealth, so that they do not reset anymore.

Correct.

They probably forgot to include lupicus in that, then.

They “fixed” Stealth to not drop threat, which never made even the slightest bit of sense.

oxtred.7658:

What, the living story bosses are hard now?

Compared to normal PvE bosses…yes.

Jana.6831:

Rin.1046:

I thought they changed the way mobs react to stealth, so that they do not reset anymore.

Correct.

what they did was to make the reset not instantaneous. but if you let more than a few seconds go by, they will reset.

I run around daily cutting trees and harvesting stuff.
When I stealth, the mob chasing me stops running towards me, but remains facing me. Once stealth expires it comes for me again.

Black Frog.9274:

Jana.6831:

Rin.1046:

I thought they changed the way mobs react to stealth, so that they do not reset anymore.

Correct.

what they did was to make the reset not instantaneous. but if you let more than a few seconds go by, they will reset.

Yeah but I’m pretty sure that’s because they have a designated spot they have to be, so if they run farther than area x they’ll return to their spot, if they can’t find an enemy within x seconds they return as well. You can try this with an yellow mob, they will still be mad at you after you leave stealth.

Edit (oh my one day without edits would be sooo great):
Just tested it in gendarren, CnD isn’t enough to reset, SR is.