Guild Wars 2

I really wanted to play a swashbuckling type of thief, using sword/dagger as the weapons. However, the sword/dagger combo for the thief seems to have gotten the short end of stick or long end of the shaft. Do you think Arena net is going to make some changes to this particular combo to make it more usable or is it doomed to see very little play? This is speaking from a PvE perspective, haven’t tried any PvP so I don’t know if it works better there or not.

There isn’t a lot of incentive to go with sword dagger

The combo ability isn’t all that functional as it will move you according to your positioning and not your targets and doesn’t hit even remotely hard enough considering the cost.

Sure it rips a boon, but so does Sigil of Nullification. Now if it stole boons and gave them to you or there was a trait to do this, this might be worth the reduced damage output, or ripped 2 boons or blinded them, dazed them, or whatever. But as it stands it is very short end of the straw, as if your looking to do damage you have to rely upon the auto attack.

It just lacks consistency is my biggest issue with it. If they could make it actually land most the time then it wouldnt be so bad. The ripping idea is a good way to give it some flavor as well. It needs one of three things to put it in the right spot. More damage, buffs, or debuffs. Right now yea its not worth while. I have recently fell in love with D/P for my melee damage.

If you want to play sword/dagger in PvE, spec into shadow arts for 4 perks. Pick the trait, which makes you blind surrounding foes when entering stealth, and the second trait, which gives you back 2 initiative when using stealth. Cloak and Dagger will work like Black Powder from pistol offhand. I recommend using Ambush trap with this set, because you will also protect your summoned thief from taking damage.

What exactly are you looking for in S/D? In PvE it let’s drop in and out of combat and recover from stuns with ease. It has a stealth that will let blind or daze your foe for long enough to get 3 free hits, it has a ricocheting cripple that deals decent damage (especially in 2v1 situations) a wide attack range, and Flanking Strike is way less apt to fail in PvE making it a viable dodge with some practice reading enemy tells, and a quick way to strip pesky boons. I think its only real issue is the pathing on Flanking Strike. It needs some way to adapt to moving targets.