Guild Wars 2

I just can’t decide which one would be a better option for PvP and open world: sword/dagger or sword/pistol? Power builds only! (I don’t get this sw condi builds anyway, sw is a power weapon)
It’s not only the question about the damage part when sw/p wins by far, but also the question of survivability.

Edit: one more question for my secondary weapon set: what would be the strongest stats for Short bow: Power or condi?

before staff s/p was the best set to clear groups of mobs.

If you go for a power build keep power stats on your shortbow. Cluster bomb deals insane amount of damages even on power, and choking gas is used to demolish breakbars.

I’ve played s/p for a long time in PvE. The additional evade-frames make even HoT easy. If you take Invigorating Precision in your dps build, nothing short of a 1-hit can kill you. And that is likely dodged by spamming skill 3.

For me s/d was harder to survive with. And I didn’t kill stuff faster. Could’ve been my fault though. Since it’s only 1 weapon difference, I’d recommend testing both builds with an exotic offhand and then deciding.

For pvp I find s/d more enjoyable and more worthwhile. The evade acts quicker and the unblockable damage is killer vs guards and other block heavy specs atm. If you can avoid 1v1ing d/p you can perform to an extreme level of effectiveness. D/p is beatable but your life gets harder when you have to fight it.

For pvp I find s/d more enjoyable and more worthwhile. The evade acts quicker and the unblockable damage is killer vs guards and other block heavy specs atm. If you can avoid 1v1ing d/p you can perform to an extreme level of effectiveness. D/p is beatable but your life gets harder when you have to fight it.

Open world i agree with above sw/p has been the better option for me, mob clear does get insane. For spvp i prefer sw/d you can bunker down a node by being an annoying evasion tank, with solid sustainable damage, your not as bursty as your d/p brethren but you can sit on a node happily duking it out.

sd is better because it has more mobility and unblockable imba atacks

sp is for insta burst quickness fun

Shen Gia.1650:

Open world i agree with above sw/p has been the better option for me, mob clear does get insane. For spvp i prefer sw/d you can bunker down a node by being an annoying evasion tank, with solid sustainable damage, your not as bursty as your d/p brethren but you can sit on a node happily duking it out.

You can bunker a node as easily on s/d main than d/p :p You just need shortbow #3 and dodges ^^

Apologies as I can’t seem to find a build (and I’m returning to GW2 after a couple of years) but can anyone link the s/d and s/p builds? Thank you!

isakura.1862:

Apologies as I can’t seem to find a build (and I’m returning to GW2 after a couple of years) but can anyone link the s/d and s/p builds? Thank you!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsaVn0MBlOhFmCGOBkmilriybDGhPY+5z+uv7mmuAA-TxSBQBXRZgGOCAA4BAkHtAGc/hFcIAewJAIhq/gHdBYRpnZUCuZQA4MA8//3kkEhAEMGA-e

This is what I was running even before August 8th with quite success in WvW. U have tools for most situations as it is and u can go out of combat and change a thing or two if needed to fight others. Ofc, before the buffs to sword it would be challenging against some power DH and super heavy condi(trailblazer) mesmers, but hey, these are counters to every thief most of the time(i know there are things u can do that u dont die and have maybe over 50% ratio to win).

As for sword/dagger, even though lancerous strike hits like a track now its animation and after casts in the set can be quite cluncky to use. Don’t get me wrong, its exceptional against classes like Ele, Guardian and some bunker engineers, but other thieves and rangers will slay you most of the time. Maybe i dont have much experience with s/d, so maybe i am wrong.

s/p is better in open world.

s/d is better in pvp since its recent buffs.

One of the more underlooked adds to the s/x set was the addition of swiftness to #2. This coupled with swiftness on dodge via Acro makes it easier to drop the DRd line entirely and go core if wished.

This can make it much easier to ensure an enemy is boonless wherein the 20 percent bonus to damage off Larcenous kicks in. With the added bonus of 10 percent in swindlers the combined bonus here is some 30 percent to sword.

As such if wanting to stay DrD I would prefer s/p so as to leverage the interrupt off pistol. Given there no interrupt on s/d easily available if going s/d I lean to a core build wherein I would ensure I do all I can to strip boons for that added 20 and 10 damage.

The latter more then makes up for the UC loss with dont stop as swiftness all but permament and you get added condition removal on swiftness app which makes the cleanse on #2 more efficient as it now two condition on use (one tied to movement impairing).

I found when specced UC I would often use a dodge to break an applied Immob rather than just avoid damage. Specced into acro I can break an Immob just using #2 on sword which means I am not really missing that extra dodge all that much.

I hardly play s/p so I can’t add much. I still like CnD into Steal and Flanking Strike is nice directional or targeted, especially with a jump+dodge into Flanking Strike where too many things mess with pathing. S/d w/rifle still allowed some interception and interference but maybe s/p will have a better post up game if you’re going DE. D/p w/SB and Dash is still probably best corner cutter set but for open world and wvw s/d w/SB on acro/da/trick spreads your influence around pretty quickly.

If on that core s/d build, SB #5 into dodge can slide on top of squad pushes or dense mobs in pve and cross a map fast enough if you don’t have Dash.