Guild Wars 2

Hey,

thought about writing down some of the basic builds but i couldn’t think about anything viable.

I would have listed:

• s/d Larcenous Strike
• s/p pistolwhip
• d/p

I couldn’t test much yesterday but looking at the patch notes then the only viable build left for thief is d/p?

What would be your list of viable builds after the patch? (dont post empty lists)

What is with the P/P venom-condition build, it very popular at the moment

d/p seems about it, or p/d, I know some people have had reasonable success with that? Layla Blackbird has a bunch of videos on running it in WvW… But at the end of the day, that’s still a thief running condis (any other condi class will outdo it).

I don’t know, I’m retiring my thief for a bit, It really irks me to have ever sword set have at least one effectively useless skill on the bar.

Black Teagan.9215:

What is with the P/P venom-condition build, it very popular at the moment

like i said i dont had much time to test. will do it later.

But for me p/p venom build does not sound very promising.
It sounds more like it’s popular because it got changed and everyone tests it now.

@liefbread
yeah i think i forgot about the p/d.
And i wonder why they didnt touch the most annoying build in WvW (d/p perma stealth)

crouze.3078:

Black Teagan.9215:

What is with the P/P venom-condition build, it very popular at the moment

like i said i dont had much time to test. will do it later.

But for me p/p venom build does not sound very promising.
It sounds more like it’s popular because it got changed and everyone tests it now.

@liefbread
yeah i think i forgot about the p/d.
And i wonder why they didnt touch the most annoying build in WvW (d/p perma stealth)

Because that’s how thieves are supposed to play obv.

The LS nerf didn’t kill S/D, it’s just as viable before, especially if you use a Sigil of Nullification. D/P is literally exact same, so that’s still viable. The only spec really hit hard was S/P, but I’m theorycrafting an S/P immobilize venom build atm and I think it could still be viable even if they don’t buff Pistol Whip.

P/x and D/D are still as useless as ever.

Incurafy.6329:

The LS nerf didn’t kill S/D, it’s just as viable before, especially if you use a Sigil of Nullification. D/P is literally exact same, so that’s still viable. The only spec really hit hard was S/P, but I’m theorycrafting an S/P immobilize venom build atm and I think it could still be viable even if they don’t buff Pistol Whip.

Let me know if you find something good, with the name Aladdin I’d love to avoid retiring my thief if I can.

He’s the only one I buy skins for or dyes or pamper at all of my 7 level 80’s and I’d rather not walk away from him… But right now I’m kitten ed tempted.

They could just preset this one viable build for thieves and dont let us change it… for traits, skills and armor.

Having only 1 viable build feels so stupid.

There might be a few more builds that are playable … but they are nothing compared to the d/p build.

I’ll test more later and might continue my “state of the thief” topic to talk about what should be changed.

crouze.3078:

They could just preset this one viable build for thieves and dont let us change it… for traits, skills and armor.

Having only 1 viable build feels so stupid.

There might be a few more builds that are playable … but they are nothing compared to the d/p build.

I’ll test more later and might continue my “state of the thief” topic to talk about what should be changed.

Talk all you want, for all the “collaborative development” anet pushes, they didn’t listen to community feedback one bit with the initial statement for this patch.

What am i missing here? S/D is still very viable. Larcenous now just steals 1 boon less. It’s a direct nerf, sure, but it’s not as bad as a nerf as i thought it would get. Be grateful. you still have the decent init costs and the insane damage and mobility. In a week or 2 people will get over it and play it like they always did.

the collaborative development was announced like 1 month before patch? do you really think they add changes that fast?

I think we’d have to wait like 3 more month before the collaborative development shows effect.

And there were some suggestions in the past i made for the thieves that were implemented in previous patches

Heizero.9183:

What am i missing here? S/D is still very viable. Larcenous now just steals 1 boon less. It’s a direct nerf, sure, but it’s not as bad as a nerf as i thought it would get. Be grateful. you still have the decent init costs and the insane damage and mobility. In a week or 2 people will get over it and play it like they always did.

I agree with you that it is still viable, but what “insane damage” ars you talking about? The damage is good but it’s no where near high enough to call insane, lol.

Incurafy.6329:

Heizero.9183:

What am i missing here? S/D is still very viable. Larcenous now just steals 1 boon less. It’s a direct nerf, sure, but it’s not as bad as a nerf as i thought it would get. Be grateful. you still have the decent init costs and the insane damage and mobility. In a week or 2 people will get over it and play it like they always did.

I agree with you that it is still viable, but what “insane damage” ars you talking about? The damage is good but it’s no where near high enough to call insane, lol.

Insane for the amount of repeatable burst on top of the utility it also wields on the same skill press. As far as utility, availability, mobility and sustainability, it’s damage is unmatched by any other skill that can do the same.

s/d has only “decent” damage. the main strength of it was to make the target weaker and yourself stronger by stealing the boons.

playing s/d against something with only a few or no boons and youre just playing a with something decent against something good.

Heizero.9183:

Incurafy.6329:

Heizero.9183:

What am i missing here? S/D is still very viable. Larcenous now just steals 1 boon less. It’s a direct nerf, sure, but it’s not as bad as a nerf as i thought it would get. Be grateful. you still have the decent init costs and the insane damage and mobility. In a week or 2 people will get over it and play it like they always did.

I agree with you that it is still viable, but what “insane damage” ars you talking about? The damage is good but it’s no where near high enough to call insane, lol.

Insane for the amount of repeatable burst on top of the utility it also wields on the same skill press. As far as utility, availability, mobility and sustainability, it’s damage is unmatched by any other skill that can do the same.

S/D… burst?

Incurafy.6329:

The LS nerf didn’t kill S/D, it’s just as viable before, especially if you use a Sigil of Nullification. D/P is literally exact same, so that’s still viable. The only spec really hit hard was S/P, but I’m theorycrafting an S/P immobilize venom build atm and I think it could still be viable even if they don’t buff Pistol Whip.

P/x and D/D are still as useless as ever.

In my experience so far, S/D no longer counters boon heavy builds, as it was designed to do – anyone boon reliant cant put them up much faster than you can strip them, even with a 60% chance to remove a boon on crit once every 10s.

It still functions, but the original intent of the skill seems to have been neutered – which would be fine if they offered another way to play thief, but instead they buffed venomous aura and left venom’s as is.

Even if you get S/P to work within the confines of an immobilize heavy spec, it still got nerfed into obscurity yesterday, and can be added to P/P and D/D in the “Why bother” category.

Heizero.9183:

Incurafy.6329:

Heizero.9183:

What am i missing here? S/D is still very viable. Larcenous now just steals 1 boon less. It’s a direct nerf, sure, but it’s not as bad as a nerf as i thought it would get. Be grateful. you still have the decent init costs and the insane damage and mobility. In a week or 2 people will get over it and play it like they always did.

I agree with you that it is still viable, but what “insane damage” ars you talking about? The damage is good but it’s no where near high enough to call insane, lol.

Insane for the amount of repeatable burst on top of the utility it also wields on the same skill press. As far as utility, availability, mobility and sustainability, it’s damage is unmatched by any other skill that can do the same.

… but S/D doesn’t have burst, it has sustain… what are you talking about?

Play with the Traits a bit..you will be in for a surprise =)
I play a D/D SB Condition Thief.. lots of dodge, decent stealth, nice and healthy.

It’s not the best..but it’s really fun.

I use x/30/x/x/30 for power builds and x/00/x/x/30 again for condi builds…

s/p is great, I notice the pw,, but it doesn’t affect my play. It’s my go to for power builds. I liked SD for a while, but just missed my interrupt(s).

the other builds still work. d/p countered by anything that messes up the 5+2 combo(forcing utilities over the initiative), s/x countered by superior positioning, and d/d and p/p are still viable.

This is a wvw insight. I don’t know if that matters. Some of the players there are fodder…

I’ve been trolling people with p2’s new immobilize recently. The results are hilarious in zergs, just target outliers, call target, and spam immobs!
Warriors. LOCKDOWN.
Eles. LOCKDOWN.
Thieves. LOCKDOWN.
it’s amusing to immob til a few people land on them to stop their escape totally.

I don’t normally condone this type of shameless spamming, but it’s funny, and added a new dimension to p/x.

I guess my rant is to say if you play well you can make it work in wvw, be it roaming or zerg surfing, or small mans.

I was toying with a 30/30/10 build tonight utilizing devourer venom to hold targets still for a pistol whip, just curious if it could be done. While it’s far glassier than I’m anywhere near comfortable with, I don’t lose all my condi removal and it can be fun to glue people down, the sheer amount of tackle the build has is great, but it’s definitely a poor “all around” build for roaming and such.

I am testing the following at the moment: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAsaVlYmiO3aS0E/5EB3jiC1n6pgsjVTBNtJA-ToAg0CnIKSVkrITRyisFNKYWC

It is not strong for 1v1 fights and needs to team with a good damage class like warrior.

Using s/p mainly for control: Infiltrators strike for gap closing and condition remove, headshot for interrupts and black powder for the blind.

Rarely using pistol whip for an increased damage spike because the damage is not that much higher then the auto attacks and the auto attacks cripple the enemy. The evasion is handy when you have to jump into a teamfight to burst a target down.

Using basilisk venom and devourer venom to prevent the enemy’s movement and the spider venom for some extra damage / life leech and heal reduction.

Using steal for some extra damage / heal when needed but mostly when the target has some buffs that rly should be removed / stolen.

No stealth, no extra health and only a few condition removals are tha bad things about the build.

So using shadow step correctly is very important to get out of danger and for removing conditions.

liefbread.9513:

crouze.3078:

They could just preset this one viable build for thieves and dont let us change it… for traits, skills and armor.

Having only 1 viable build feels so stupid.

There might be a few more builds that are playable … but they are nothing compared to the d/p build.

I’ll test more later and might continue my “state of the thief” topic to talk about what should be changed.

Talk all you want, for all the “collaborative development” anet pushes, they didn’t listen to community feedback one bit with the initial statement for this patch.

we mentioned everything earlier in the Patch preview thread before the new patch even came up and talked to them of why NOT to touch larcenous, they seem to only care for boon tanks..

“oh, spam larcenous….waste all of that initiative…its pointless because by the time you get your initiative back to spam again, ill have ALL the boons back again…lol…”
they killed s/d larcenous builds forcing your hand on specific trait setups.

“oh you cant stun me as long to get finished with your Pistol Whip due to the stun change that seemed to mindlessly hit an undesired skill to a nerfbat…thats too bad! but ya know what?…Mesmer S/X skill 2 can still woop anything…..without using a utility skill.”

“OH!!! wait!…P/D got a buff….”
“what you talkin about Bill?!”
“they gave a nice touch for support…but its an insignificant immobilize and eats up way more initiative than it used to… "
“steven, your still dense…the build needs more survivability, P/P and P/D still not as successful against the meta….D/P”

basically P/X needs MORE survivability
D/P needs to be a META ALTERNATIVE
P/P needs a FULL overhaul
S/D needs to be reverted because the LS never needed to be touched, (im assuming they just skimmed over our PATCH PREVIEW replies in suggestions and reasoning)
S/P – Pistol whip is rubbish now….by the time you stun + the aftercast OF that stun theyll walk away during the flurry, you shouldn’t have to put in Devourer Venom to hit your target, and respectfully, i highly suggest they do further testing before they change a stun effect unless they know its going to kill other builds in the way they were NEEDED to be used before a patch…IE pistol whip stuns your target for just enough time in the previous patch…you killed it now anet….STILL S/P needs an overhaul for more supportive rolls.

conclusion = D/P woops all the builds, and this is the reason people are always fussing about thieves….let us use other builds

Venoms…and all other conditions need a rework as opposed to raw damage…
need to have a rework…its OVERDUE.

some REALLY good recommendations in this thread and i highly recommend everyone posting an opinion on it. “link”: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Shared-Venom-Spec-Suggestion/first#post2936061

BUGS reported months ago and STILL NOT REPLIED BY STAFF:

Heartseeker: still shoots you in a different direction than your intended target, and at times lodges you under the map

Disabling Shot Shortbow : STILL majority of the time just makes you bunny hop in place. dont worry, youll get hit after you touch the ground…because you didnt move an inch.

Nothing has changed for thief after patch. A strong build got nerfed and nothing of importance was buffed to change the meta for thieves. S/ d still prob best spvp build and d/p still best wvw.

crouze.3078:

I am testing the following at the moment: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAsaVlYmiO3aS0E/5EB3jiC1n6pgsjVTBNtJA-ToAg0CnIKSVkrITRyisFNKYWC

It is not strong for 1v1 fights and needs to team with a good damage class like warrior.

Using s/p mainly for control: Infiltrators strike for gap closing and condition remove, headshot for interrupts and black powder for the blind.

Rarely using pistol whip for an increased damage spike because the damage is not that much higher then the auto attacks and the auto attacks cripple the enemy. The evasion is handy when you have to jump into a teamfight to burst a target down.

Using basilisk venom and devourer venom to prevent the enemy’s movement and the spider venom for some extra damage / life leech and heal reduction.

Using steal for some extra damage / heal when needed but mostly when the target has some buffs that rly should be removed / stolen.

No stealth, no extra health and only a few condition removals are tha bad things about the build.

So using shadow step correctly is very important to get out of danger and for removing conditions.

We seem to both had about the same idea. I theory crafted that a shared immob venom would compensate the loss of pistolwhip’s stun. However not long after I tried it out I changed my S/P back to a S/D. With 30 in shadow arts it seems silly running a non-stealth build…I also went for residual venoms so siphon venom would trigger more (and even exponentially with shared venom)

Like i said i dont use pistol whip that often.
And i think after the huge nerf to the s/d boon remove, the s/p is equally good.
But s/p needs bountyful thief to remove stuff like stability so he can interrupt with headshot and stuff.

Ye, but I just took /D off hand for the cloak and dagger, not for FS/LS combo. Although I’ve been thinking today at uni. LS unblockable part would work nice with the venoms since they are wasted on a blocked attack. Precast FS and attack with LS. You lack a gap closer with mug though (counts as attack and hits the enemy if you do a precast LS with steal)