Guild Wars 2

If S/D and S/P have their third abilities swapped?

S/P used to be popular, back at the launch’s days. However, we barely see anyone running this setup today. Despite being a decent weapon setup, S/P doesn’t offer our best defensive mechanic: stealth.

And neither does P/P! Perhaps that’s the main reason those are not considerable viable in the competitive scene, unlike D/P, S/D, D/D and even P/D (it’s farly good, but since Eles / Guardians and Rangers are soo good at removing conditions, it’s not optimal for taking those down. Still decent against all the rest).

And how do we “fix” it or at least, make some change to bring these specs on par with the others? I came with an idea, may not be the best, but imo, it would do wonders for P/P and S/P users.

It’s very simple: we kill the batman swap Flanking Strike with Pistol Whip!
“BUT HOW WOULD IT FIX ANYTHING YOU MORON?”
Now now, of course that wouldn’t be everything! Flaking Strike is in need of a small adjustment.

“Evade and stab your foe in the back twice. First strike removes 1 boon.”

The first strike is superb, and the boon removal even more! But what’s the point of the second strike? It does as much damage as the sword auto attack. My friends, that’s my suggestion:

“Stab your foe in the back twice. First strike removes 1 boon, the second applies stealth.”

There you go, Cloak and Dagger on steroids, but harder to hit. And I’m sure everybody would be happy to trade the evade for stealth. If anything, increase the initiative or make it slower, and then we have a real skill shot.

“But what about P/P?”
Well, like I posted on another topic, P/P is easy to “fix”. Just make Body Shot a blast finisher to combo with Black Powder.

Overall changes:
S/P now have acess to stealth, but doesn’t have any bursty skill (but would be the “best” weapon set, imo)
S/D gets Pistol Whip (change the name :^T )
P/P now have acess to stealth.

What do you guys think? Seems fair and balanced?

daze+ burst + stealth +evade on weapon skil -no
atm
S/D miss burst
S /P miss stealth
D/D // D/P P/D miss daze
P/P miss evade and stealth ( but have range)

regarding body shot -blast finisher, no
blast is aoe stealth / aoe might / aoe regeneration
this would make P/D thieves to change for P/P , and hey i don’t need C&D to stealth anymore , i drop smoke field 6 initiative, i use body shot (1 initiative) – sneak attack …2 hits , smoke field /body shot.
you just need to pick 3 out of those : infusion of shadows /patience/ initial strike /infiltrator signet /quick recovery , to become real imortal

It doesn’t matter to me either way, but I think they’re fine the way they are.
S/P has a lot of upfront CC, and S/D has less but requires a bit more finesse.

Yes I would mind. As a S/P user, I love the fact that I can get by without using stealth at all and I also love pistol whip regardless of the negative feedback it seems to get on here.

Rayya.2591:

daze+ burst + stealth +evade on weapon skil -no
atm

Guess I forgot to mention PW evade. In any case, removing the evade from it would make it only fairer. After all, Infiltrator’s Strike is there, if you need to disengage.

Rayya.2591:

regarding body shot -blast finisher, no
blast is aoe stealth / aoe might / aoe regeneration
this would make P/D thieves to change for P/P , and hey i don’t need C&D to stealth anymore , i drop smoke field 6 initiative, i use body shot (1 initiative) – sneak attack …2 hits , smoke field /body shot.
you just need to pick 3 out of those : infusion of shadows /patience/ initial strike /infiltrator signet /quick recovery , to become real imortal

About the aoe concern, SB also has a blast finisher. So it doesn’t seem like game break change. The point is, this spec wouldn’t be cheap (in terms of initiative). Black Powder alone costs 6 initiatives and Body Shot 3. If we, lets say, change Body Shot to 4~5, you’d spend 10~11, just to stealth, leaving you with 4~5 (if traited). 2~3 less than the usual HS+BP combo (against 5 from C&D), but hey, it’s ranged!

Whoa stealth on flanking strike?
I should’ve read the full topic.
kitten that kitten, no kittening way will i put up with that kittening bullkitten on my motherkittening S/P I will kitten up the town if that kitten happens to my kitten

ensoriki.5789:

Whoa stealth on flanking strike?
I should’ve read the full topic.
kitten that kitten, no kittening way will i put up with that kittening bullkitten on my motherkittening S/P I will kitten up the town if that kitten happens to my kitten

This.
Flanking Strike doesn’t need Stealth.
It needs an evade animation that doesn’t cause the ability to outright miss AND put you out of range of your target. S/D shouldn’t have to rely on Ini-based/Cooldown-based immob’s just to get marginal use out of it.