Guild Wars 2

With conditions flying here and there, lyssa and shadowstep are the only reliable condition cleaners.
I came up with an idea:
Headshot – transfer one condition on interrupt
Dancing dagger – increase ini cost by one, decrease number of targets to 2 + transfer conditions on damage (so – two targets hit = two conditions transferred)

What do you guys think.
I wish to pick something different than lyssa, but it pigeonholes you to HiS and stealth traits and it is imo laughable.
Any feedback welcome!

Tweaking existing skills are no solution. Anet needs to create more skills. Compare to GW1, GW2 is really slow in creating new skills.

who knows what will happen to lyssa after that runes/sigil patch thats comming up. maybe lyssa isnt even an option anymore after that. does anyone know when exactly that patch is comming btw?

Offhand dagger doesn’t really need stronger condition clear; you already have CnD + a 10 point investment into Shadow Arts. That’s two conditions right there, one if you break stealth early.

We also have access to Poultry soup (either the condition clear on heal, or the reduced duration version), aside from the things you mentioned, which does help with a Withdraw-based build.

I do like the Headshot idea, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of thematic sense, since it rewards timing.

EDIT: regarding the patch, they haven’t even posted the proposed list of changes yet. Patch is still a ways out. Probably March?

Thief could use some methods to condi transfer. We are supposed to fight dirty, between stealing boons and stealth I can’t see a more fitting addition that not only compliments our legacy but also deals with a persistent issue thieves have, which is normal means to deal with the condi meta.

infusion of shadow + hp is the best way to go. even better than shadowstep AND lyssa put together.

lyssa is a joke. well its a 1 time save per fight when u get loaded up with necro marks or engi condi bursts. but then its reapplied. so basically once every 45 secs u drop a few to several conditions with lyssa and BV…which pidgeonholes u already bc BV is the worst stun in game and not neccessarily the elite u always want to run….quite raer actually unless u are in spvp and trying to find small 2v2 or 1v1 fights. shadowstep is great but again once per minute.

with infusion. depending on which build u play there are many ways most thieves dont use.

infusion of shadow + stealth on steal+Sleight of hand+mug+bountiful theft + long range

then put 30 in CS you get a 10 0 30 0 30 build and basically gives u gr8 dmg plus tones of condi removal! works with d/d – d/p – s/d – p/d

basically every 21 secs from steal alone u get:

1500 range gap closer
free backstab
stealth
2 stolen boons
vigor
stun
2800 heal
1500 dmg
2 removed conditions
21 sec cooldown

utilities :

blinding powder
shadowstep
shadow refuge/devourer venom/infil or w.e. you wanna run here

and run whatever elite bc u wont need lyssa runes. other runes will give u MUCH MUCH more effect than a few – condis every 45 secs.

rock dog runes (ogre)
scholar runes
10% hp = mist runes (vamp?)

so many neat options that can help u save yourself.

hope this helps. not sure what kinda build u like running but it can be worked into 4/6 weaponsets and the 2 not working being p/p and s/p. well it can work…just not as well due to no stealth on weaponsets.

Think you mean shadow’s embrace for stealth condi clear?

Anyways I wouldn’t say BV is the worst elite, it’s just not as attractive from a broad view because it’s supposed to be “elite” not weaker than a 10 second cooldown off a warrior skill (skull crack). As far as dueling purposes and runes go (more than just lyssa have proc’s off elite use) its pretty good. Often with whirling axe, stolen skill from warrior, I find myself being kited while I use it. Obviously people know that skill hurts especially from a power thief, so I’ll use BV, jump in, and although it’s not long 1.5 seconds of them soaking up whirling axe is great. As an “elite” skill I’d say its pretty far down the list in strengths, atleast for pvp/wvw. Still it’s got it’s place in a lot of thief builds.

NinjaEd.3946:

Think you mean shadow’s embrace for stealth condi clear?

Anyways I wouldn’t say BV is the worst elite, it’s just not as attractive from a broad view because it’s supposed to be “elite” not weaker than a 10 second cooldown off a warrior skill (skull crack). As far as dueling purposes and runes go (more than just lyssa have proc’s off elite use) its pretty good. Often with whirling axe, stolen skill from warrior, I find myself being kited while I use it. Obviously people know that skill hurts especially from a power thief, so I’ll use BV, jump in, and although it’s not long 1.5 seconds of them soaking up whirling axe is great. As an “elite” skill I’d say its pretty far down the list in strengths, atleast for pvp/wvw. Still it’s got it’s place in a lot of thief builds.

yes sorry. been a long week so tired.

100% . . . basilisk venom is the worst STUN in the entire game. and it takes an elite spot. AND it shows up on your buff bar. AND makes u vulnerable while casting it.

its usefull but devourer venom is much more powerful. the only time BV is used…iswhen DS isnot a good choice and you plan on being in combat morethan 30 secs (soTG isnt a good choice for longer combats). BV is basically the “well im stuckwith this elite bc DS/TG arent optimal here”.

also. it limits your usage ofthe elite when u equip lyssa runes. you can either look at lyssa runes as a bonus when using BV….but if u use it like “i have lots of condis so ill use myelite” then it limits your strategic uses. you can use it as “remove condis” when ur full of conditions or use it when u wanna finish/burst somebody. rarely do both happen at same time.

they need to buff BV so its an actual elite. right now its worse than devourer without debate.

what they should do , in my humble opinion, is…

cast time: instant
stun time : 2 seconds
conditions: cripple 5 seconds
cooldown: 40 seconds

makes it a lil stronger but not OP. this way its 5 secs less CD than devourer and gives a slight bonus with cripple. its actually arguablly on par with devouerer when set up likethat. perhaps a tad…and i mean TAD stronger since its separate conditions rather than multiple of the same so u might get lucky and have 1 not removed.

Considering it is [Petrified] not [Stun] they should make the stun effect indefinite, but allow stun breakers to work as usual. Meaning even with stability, they will be stoned for 1.5 seconds. It works through defiant stacks in pve which are basically counters for stability. As an elite it is rather lacking but I still use it because I can chain certain combos off a lot better with a target who can’t use skills/move.

Travlane.5948:

lyssa is a joke. well its a 1 time save per fight when u get loaded up with necro marks or engi condi bursts. but then its reapplied. so basically once every 45 secs u drop a few to several conditions with lyssa and BV…which pidgeonholes u already bc BV is the worst stun in game and not neccessarily the elite u always want to run….

Lyssa removes every condition. This is actually a somewhat uncommon ability in this game; you can count on one or two hands the number of skills that can do that, and some professions have no access to it outside of this runeset (like us, for instance).

It works best with BV in terms of recycle time, but Lyssa #6 also has really useful interaction with Dagger Storm: it doesn’t remove conditions or grant boons until the channel is over, giving you fine control over the effect in a bigger fight.

Lyssa isn’t a joke, it’s borderline OP. I hope that they forget about it when they do the balance pass on runes.

Interceptor.2653:

I do like the Headshot idea, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of thematic sense, since it rewards timing.

I agree that timing should be rewarded but I’ve found that in this game it isn’t that hard to interrupt abilities. I almost always interrupt something when I headshot someone. Maybe a different activation circumstance would be more skillful.

BV is so bad as a standalone stun because of it’s powerful synergy with stealth-based burst builds.

I actually like the idea of transfering Conditions with Dancing Dagger. But the ability would need some sort of cooldown, probably tied to a trait, because being able to spam that wouldn’t be fair.

But I think it’s imperative the Thief gets some more base-line condition removal options and isn’t solely reliant on Shadows Embrace..