Does any of you play a Support Thief with Venom Share in WvWvW? I´d like to try it but im not sure if its good or not.. Do u play on Condition with Venom Share or something else? Please let me know
I don’t play it, but I once was in a group with a thief playing it. For zerging there are other builds you should use, since there is great condi-cleanse. But for small scale roaming its awesome when engaging other groups, since the condi-pressure is pretty big and they often use their condi-cleanses becoming free-kills for condi specs.
It’s good, but you need a disciplined group to take advantage of it. In addition to running Venom share, you also need to make sure that you have:
Venomous Might
Leeching Venoms
condition clear from your group (because yours will be limited)
So now you’re giving away venoms, stacks of might, and life leech (true damage + healing) to everyone. Some mix of Carrion and Dire is desirable here, and the spec works well with either P/D or D/D as your main weaponset. Works well even in small groups of 3-4.
it gets a tad annoying having to position yourself to max the number of people you share with, especially if they’re moving around all over the place. and there’s a pretty big gap of time inbetween uses where you’re not really doing anything.
contrary to what i expected, it’s actually half-decent survivable, but since you’re relying on those other people to help with condition cleansing, you’re in a fickle spot if they aren’t delivering that.
but it’s nice when you see your venoms work on all of the team… i wish the cooldowns were lower and the sharing area was larger… and that there was a venom that somehow removed conditions.
Well. I think in PvE it’s not good because you know all classes can apply conditions.
But in PvP it’s good for attack other player with ambush playstyle.
Just apply stealth to yourself, go near teammates that attacking opponent and apply venom. Oh and if you choose Torment do not choose immobilize as those are conflict to each other. (why you will apply Torment with immobilize when Torment’s effect is better when that opponent is moving?)
This ambush thing will mostly guarantee to give a down to opponent.
I could forsee the following scenario playing out depending exactly how changing traits on the fly works in WvW
12 people in a tower need to take out siege against a group of 20. There three thieves in the group.
Thieves retrait to venomshare. They load up 5 venoms on toolbar (10 might) and group accordingly sharing with all on team. Team heads out loaded with venoms for that initial push and the thief retraits to a more survivable build.
The team headed out has about 30 seconds to engage but the initial attack will hit hard.
^ Problem there are the venom utility cooldowns. I think it might make more sense to load up one or two strong venoms (like Devourer or Spider, which don’t need condition damage to be effective), and then switch to the new damage reduction on stealth trait, since it’s in the same slot. There are multiple options for granting stealth to party members, and 50% reduction is absurdly powerful for an initial push. It’s basically an AOE Iron Hide that isn’t limited to a tiny AOE around a ram.
Overall venoms are not worth it in any game mode. They are pretty much a short duration fire and forget on a proportionally long CD. Not only that they are only worth using when you equip 5 specific traits out of all 7. Would never recommend them.
Venomshare is pretty potent solo as well, as a condition build with thieves guild. For kicks, I made some changes, and people pretty much melt from condition overload if they have no clears or limited clears.
^ Problem there are the venom utility cooldowns. I think it might make more sense to load up one or two strong venoms (like Devourer or Spider, which don’t need condition damage to be effective), and then switch to the new damage reduction on stealth trait, since it’s in the same slot. There are multiple options for granting stealth to party members, and 50% reduction is absurdly powerful for an initial push. It’s basically an AOE Iron Hide that isn’t limited to a tiny AOE around a ram.
Good thought. I expect we are going to see a lot of changed tactics in Wvw with changing traits on the fly. Using that AOE damage reduction to get through a wall of AOE into stonemist or past some chokepoint is going to be so handy. That skill looks better and better from a group play perspective.
That said my own example was assuming the thief did not join the initial push but joined in a few seconds later. Basilisks might be considered in a share as well with 5 players getting 2 strikes each of it. Or skelk with your team getting 5 heals on hit.
Any trait that provides benefits to the group on any class are going to see a refinement in tactics.
Has any confirmed whether or not Venomshare is shared with NPC guards in places like camps in WvW. ?
I tried defending a camp on my own against larger numbers and out of curiosity traited for full venomshare while in the camp. I could not really tell if the guards acquired it.
Edit:It occurred to me this was rather easier to check then I thought. I just went into a camp and loaded venomshare while in range of the Supervisor and yes , the might stacks leeching and all the strikes were shared.
Venoms have pretty decent utility. I command on my thief and have a special commanding build (actually two, but what ever). I run either ptv gear with 20/0/30/20/0 for the venom share and high defense/ attack damage. I have might on venoms and I can personally put venoms on my party, and get my power up to 3900 (not 100% sure that’s the exact number but it is high) because it’s already sitting pretty high with no might. The catch is I don’t crit. Also, you can run full dire with a 0/0/30/20/20 build with venom share to get tags on a lot of people. Then you run caltrops and drop them in the middle of the Zerg to cripple basically their entire Zerg and tag more people. So yeah, venoms have good utility.
