Whats wrong whit you
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Ye Infiltrator’s signet .Even more of a useless ability in PvE.1 initiative in 10 seconds.Thats huge! And breaks stun and shadow step to your opponent. Thats another smart way to go against mobs.
Signet of Malice is good one tho.
A 30s CD (24s traited) remove stun skill is useless? That’s new to me.
Fact is, from all I tried the signets are the best Thief utility skills currently. They aren’t the best in ALL situations but once you get the corresponding trait, their short CDs make them really stand up and you feel like taking more of them.
- Signet of Malice : best PvE thief heal in the game. Low CD, insanely low CD traited (12s) and passive heal when you don’t take too much damage.
- Assassin Signet : 30s CD stun break. Passive Initiative regen isn’t bad when not needed either.
- Signet of Agility : passive effect isn’t that good but it’s an AoE condition removal (yes, it removes one condition on you and every team mate around) on a short 30s CD again. And of course the killer bonus feature is the full endurance refill.
- Signet of Shadow : passive effect isn’t that important in most dungeons unless you run some timed even like collecting bombs. The passive is kinda addictive though. Active effect isn’t bad as team support. There are specific situations where an instant cast ranged AoE blind can save you pain (like those tentacles that pop out of the ground at the worse possible moment?)
- Assassin’s Signet : the only weak signet for PvE. Very few fights need the burst it provides in the first place and the small DPS benefit isn’t worth much. I’d only use it in the rare fights that revolve around hitting static items where you cannot crit anyway.
All the good signets are on a 30s CD which becomes 24s with trait. 24s CD stun removal? Yes! 24s CD AoE 1 condition removal? Heck some fights really could use that one. 24s CD full endurance refill that also removes one condition in the process? Count me in!
Other utilities that help :
- Shadow Refuge : if you take it as a way to fix mistakes, it got too long of a CD to really be effective and you shouldn’t ideally get in that situation in the first place. If you take it as a tool for long stealth for the situations that warrant it on the other hand it’s a very good one.
- Shadowstep : situationally awesome. Really. Some fights or events REALLY make this one shine and it should just be put in your bar when it’s warranted
- Smoke Screen : one of the best underrated utilities of the thief. I do use it as soon as it get’s effective. Traited it’s even better. It’s usefulness also spikes in places you need long stacking stealth (Smoke Screen + Cluster Bomb spam)
- Calltrops : very good to proc Signet of Malice. Second best AoE skill we got but kind of needs condition gear to be damaging. Some situations call for this one specifically but not much.
- Scorpion Wire : very situational but can be useful.
- Smoke Bomb : too long CD for what it does. It’s very bad to save your life for normal situations (how many times some mob focused me and killed me right through stealth because it doesn’t break channels?). Too long CD to be used as a blind applier (signet of shadows does it better and ranged) I only use it in places that only require long stealth.
- Ambush Trap : DPS bonus from the melee pet is nice, but honestly her survivability is bad. And the random scorpion wire she casts really get in the way at times
- Venoms : since the advent of the venom share trait, Arena Net felt the need to nerf ever single venom into uselessness. The way conditions stack, if a venom is good solo, it’s OP shared, if a venom is good shared, it’s weak solo. The only good venoms are the poison one to proc more life leeches and the immobilize one cause that condition plain rocks. The elite is situationally useful only. Myself I use it as a bonus condition removal skill + aegis on a 45s CD XD
- Other traps : all useless
- Roll for Initiative : too long CD for what it does : need stun break take signet, really need the immobilize removal for some reason ? Take Withdraw. And there’s never really the need to take it for 6 initiative
- Haste : I tried using it and, honestly, the stun break isn’t bad, the bonus attack speed is cute. But in the most dangerous fights, the long types, that small burst of attack speed is meaningless. The instant loss of all dodges and 4s of no endurance regen really puts you at a lot of risks. The only safe usage I found for this one is to improve shortbow 1 spam at times because if I only do shortbow 1, I don’t lack initiative and so I can use shortbow 3 to evade instead.
(edited by Moderator)
A 30s CD (24s traited) remove stun skill is useless? That’s new to me.
Common man , lets be honest ,how many times stun breaks are that much of a demanded in PvE.Who would take such an useless utility in his slot.In PvP ye , its awesome , to keep on your opponent and stun breaks are critical but PvE? its 1 in 100 situations that this skill is needed.And if you wanna kill yourself you can always use steal.And there are far better ways to regain initiative.That was Infiltrator’s strike btw not Assassin’s signet.
Fact is, from all I tried the signets are the best Thief utility skills currently.
You must’ve tested a lot then ,Or you do not know the meaning of utility.
- Signet of Shadow
Another great skill for PvP , another useless skill for an utility slot in PvE.I think you all agree whit me , speed is not necesary .And the activation , a blind.Common I don’t even need to argument about it.Addictive? sure. Useful? no.
- Assassin’s Signet : the only weak signet for PvE. Very few fights need the burst it provides in the first place and the small DPS benefit isn’t worth much. I’d only use it in the rare fights that revolve around hitting static items where you cannot crit anyway.
Again another great skill for bursts in PvP another useless skill for PvE.What you need bursts for in PvE lol ,the health on mobs is too big to be useful. And the passive is so slim, its barely even noticeable.
Singet of agility
I’ll have to agree that this is a decent utility and the heal is great too.Now thats all that goes for signet use in PvE.Other than that you must be kidding me.Even traited , useless.
Well, let me tell you the places where such skills ARE very useful. In fact, I’ll only give you one place : Solid Ocean.
All the mobs in that phase spam knockdowns and cripples. And they are all vulnerable to blind. All the signets are useful there.
There are no utilities in the thief arsenal in that map that are more useful than packing Infiltrator Signet, Signet of Agility and Signet of Shadows.
But then again, I’m using the signets for their activation effect and not their passives which isn’t probably the kind of people referenced in the first post. The only signet I really take for it’s passive at times is Signet of Malice when I plan to use a lot of AoE :
- calltrops
- pistol whips
Scrap that.Very Debateable but we’re talking about dungeons so its irrelevant.
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