Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve been avoiding 30/30/0/0/10 forever. I don’t like the way it plays, and I don’t like the binary nature of the spec.

I was initially running 0/0/30/20/20 P/D conditions pre-patch, but whenever I faced a good team in free tourney, or any team in paid, it seemed pointless – every opponent was either running “As hard to kill as possible bunker” or complete burst – my survivability/conditions spec didn’t have the damage to drop bunkers fast enough, or 1 wrong move against 1 or 2 burst specs and I ended up KD’d and dead before I could break it (or close enough to dead to make the fight moot).

Post patch, I decided to try something different – 10/30/0/30/0 running S/P and SB, soliders ammy with a zerk jewel, crit and precision runes in S/P. It’s got some survivability, some burst, and once people start dropping, a very respectable crit for a thief with 2600 armor. I was running this in 5v5’s for a week, doing very well so I felt very confident, then brought it into a free tourney last night. The second we hit an organized team, it all fell apart – in any big melee, there’s so much AoE, pets, and multi target abilities flying around, my toughness doesn’t cut it, and I Don’t do enough damage to kill people before 7 seperate sources of damage from 3 separate players ends the fight for me.

That leads me to the question in the title – what are people running in paid tourneys post patch? If the answer is insta-gib, I guess I’ll bite the bullet and run it.

I’m a champ shadow running toughness stealth heal spec with valk armor and scholar runes……works well

Evil, it’s not just your spec. The whole game falls apart with organised teams, pure bunkers and burst far as the eye can see. Hotjoin 5v5 is where the fun is.

I know this feeling. I didnt felt well with the one-trick-pony build either. You had no survivability, no condition remove, no mobility and just did your single burst and were useless afterwards.
Thats why I once tried to run this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlUm6Ondy9E/5Ey2jdqCJKOFGlT1p4qiPA;TsAg0Cno4yUjoGLXOukct+YAxkCA

It is basicly a CC+Tiny Burst build. You roam along and support in fights. You have enough HP to take some hits and with Basilisk Venom and Scorpion wire you have 2 Hard CCs to help your team in fights to take out certain targets while still having a halfway decent backstab damage.
The build relies alot on backstabbing back and forth, using your CCs to stab easier. You have condition remove on stealth, so condition specs have a hard time with you and you have 3 dodges to avoid hits. With a weaponswap to shortbow you can extend your dodging even more so you can evade hits while ppl try to focus you down.

You will still have some troubles getting real bunkers down and probatly struggle in different 1v1 fights, but should have enough tools to escape a fight, when its needed.

You can exchange the condition remove on stealth to regeneration on stealth, if you desire additional heal.

I’m also running 0/0/30/20/20. The trick with it imho is to switch often between D/D death blossom and P/D, and use it as a high dodge bunker build. I’m doing alright with it in PuG tourneys, throwing caltrops on a capture point is helpful in winning 1 vs 1s against other bunkers (takes forever though) and direct damage dealers.

It’s of course still not as good as Guardian and Elementalist bunkers, since it requires a lot of active reaction as your defense, and sometimes you’ll just be unlucky and get immobilized one too many times in a row.

But that’s the nature of thief. There is one build to rule them all. Other builds like the above are still viable and still fun, but they do not excel.

Problem with thief “bunkers” is, that you cant keep a spot while you stealth which makes a thief bunker pretty useless. :/

Rocky.8195:

I’m a champ shadow running toughness stealth heal spec with valk armor and scholar runes……works well

hi rocky, how do you find having a really low hp? also what weapon sets to you use? if u dont mind me asking

LiuliRenai.3928:

I’m also running 0/0/30/20/20. The trick with it imho is to switch often between D/D death blossom and P/D, and use it as a high dodge bunker build. I’m doing alright with it in PuG tourneys, throwing caltrops on a capture point is helpful in winning 1 vs 1s against other bunkers (takes forever though) and direct damage dealers.

It’s of course still not as good as Guardian and Elementalist bunkers, since it requires a lot of active reaction as your defense, and sometimes you’ll just be unlucky and get immobilized one too many times in a row.

But that’s the nature of thief. There is one build to rule them all. Other builds like the above are still viable and still fun, but they do not excel.

My main issue with 0/0/30/20/20 is its so focused on stealth and dodging, the quickest ways to lose a point. If you get a couple bad conditions on you, you -need- to stealth to drop them. If you need a second of breather room to open up a gap and restore some HP, you’re going to start losing your point. Getting a stomp off without stealth can be a pain (again, we’re assuming organized teams here – if you’re running an attrition spec like P/D conditions, there’s going to be time for a roamer to respond and make their way to the point you’re assaulting), and by the time you’ve got the stomp off, the point has been neutralized.

D/D is not bad for surviving in the center of an AoE fest…as long as you dodge the kitten out of there the second you don’t have the Init to hit DB. You’re paying alot for bleeds that are just going to get cleansed though. And giving up SB is -alot- to ask – no more on demand poision, no more disabling shot, and no more inf arrow.

There’s also the issue that you basically don’t count as an opponent against a bunker ele – they outheal your pitiful direct damage, and drop your bleeds nearly as fast as you can stack them, which is saying alot since P/D is all about short duration, quickly stacked bleeds.

If you play alone yes, burst spec is useless, but if u have a good team you can shine with burst build. Just remember to use you good point.

PS. A good thief can escape by ALL fight, you need only shadowstep.

Kerishan.8460:

If you play alone yes, burst spec is useless, but if u have a good team you can shine with burst build. Just remember to use you good point.

PS. A good thief can escape by ALL fight, you need only shadowstep.

Its not about a spec being useless, its about it not being fun for me. I don’t want to sit here and think to myself “Ha, your stunbreak is down, I win” or “Whoops, got knocked down, time to shadowstep away and come back in 30s.”