Guild Wars 2

Okay so, I know people think steal is weak for whatever reason, but I’ve got a build actually based around it, and it works wonderfully. Let me break it down for you all.

10 traits in deadly arts, taking the mug trait. The 5 slot also gives a free “poison on steal” effect. Doing a good 2.5-3k damage on a good steal + poison trickle.

30 points in shadow arts Trait points in
Shadows Rejuvination
Hidden Thief
The last trait can be whatever you like

30 points in trickery Extra initiative to use skills, Stealing gives even more initiative, 30% extra cooldown speed on stealing, Everything about this is wonderful
Traits
Thrill of The Crime
Sleight of Hand
Bountiful Theft

This build is based more around supporting and making full use of steal. You’ll have to get used to when and where to steal specific items from certain classes to make full use of this build. My personal favorite steal item is the warriors.

ALL OF THESE THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU SUCCESSFULLY STEAL FROM A TARGET.

-You steal 2 boons from the enemy target and apply them to all allies in the area
- All allies gain Vigor
- All allies gain fury might and swiftness
- Target takes damage and is poisoned
-Target is dazed for 1 second
-You become stealthed for up to 3 seconds
- You gain a free skill to use against the enemies
- Gain 3 initiative immediately
- Gain Extra might due to Hidden Assassin

You may want to get runes and sigils that focus around power and damage, considering the trains do a really good job of giving survivability, you don’t need any extra.

I recommend you take AoE stealthing skills, it can help you pick up allies and set up for large ambushes. This build also comes with huge amounts of survivability. Its not uncommon for me to never die during a round of pvp Thank you for reading.

What primary weapon combination would work best with this kind of build (with a short-bow in the second slot)?

I use a steal build as well, but is backed by backstabbing…I tried one similar to yours, but found the crit% and damage was too low for my liking. Also, remember to turn off your auto-attack on your 1 button or it will destealth you. What are your overall stats with this build? I assume D/D? Divinity runes?
Have fun!
PS

As a condition based thief, I still use steal and don’t understand why people are complaning about it.
I don’t have as many abilities for steal, but I do have one that gives me 5 initiative so I can use Death Blossom, and the poison one. My main strategy is to spam Death Blossom basically, and stealing gives me another 3 stacks of bleed on the enemy which is awesome. Did I mention my Heal gives me six initiative? and Roll for Initiative gives me another 6. Love playing this build, haha.

I’ve been thinking about a build like this as well, but running S/P instead of D/D. Getting positioning for the backstab is a pain in PvP or WvW.

How viable have others found a build like this? Does it do better in PvE, PvP, WvW?

I run 10/0/0/30/30 kitten P and SB. Steal is basically OP and I like 30 in acrobatics right now for basically no-stop troll-dodge. Running on Kaineng (always outnumbered) has probably made a large impact on the choices I have made – basically super survivable and very mobile.

Purely a WvW small party/zerg flanking build. Rolling with a mix of invader and knights gear – very durable.

Signet of Agility for the condition removal and emergency dodge storage (precision is a bonus), Shadowstep for the ultimate get out of jail free card, and shadow refuge because of the utility during zergs (rezzing and stomping).

Conditions are a joke to this build (inf strike, return on shadowstep, signet, heal, pain response).

But the core is low cooldown steal that does so much with one instantaneous shot:

Oh and steal during daggerstorm is probably broken.

this build works with the last 10 in acrobatics too. it makes you a shadow unicorn. dagger dagger and pistol dagger or shortbow. can work using withdraw / hastened replenishment or signet of malice

Try combining this with Basilisk Venom
Activate it before stealing, steal (enemy gets stoned), position and backstab