Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, im currently running d/p zerker for WvW mostly for scouting/roaming to pick off other scouts and 1v1, 2v1. The problem im facing is that in any group fight i get melted instantly and with the coming crit damage changes i was wondering what gear would be better?

i plan on keeping zerker weapons, but i cant decide on if i wanna keep the zerker gear and then go for knight/cava trinkets or if i wanna run full knight/cava gear and trinkets.

any ideas?

You don’t really have much choice, you need a majority of your gear to be zerk unless you are going for a condition build. Our survivability does not come from gear but from stealth, evades, and being aware of the situation.

The problem of you melting is you’re not utilizing the thief correctly. We belong in the shadows, since we lack stability, stealth and evasion is the only thing we can do to mitigate damage.

That said, trait allocation would up your survivability much more than stats choice on armor. 15 in Acrobatics essentially allow you to dodge 3 times, 15 in Shadow Arts essentially allow you 4 more seconds of stealth with Shadow Refuge, and 30 in Shadow Arts is essentially the troll build of “perma-stealth” by reseting and re-engaging fights.

If you’re not a condition build, then you’re usually running zerk/valk/cavalier armor and zerk trinkets. Idk what the nerf to crit dmg will allocate the mixture between these choices but it will still probably be the preferred route.

So there are no builds / setups that would work in a blob? Say p/p soldier or something like that?

Not really,

the problem is we rely on glassy gear to deal anything resembling respectable damage. Unlike Warriors we can just run up to people and continuously bash their face, even in soldier gear.

I won’t pretend I’ve tied everything but imo you can’t be both durable and still deal respectable damage as a Thief. It’s one or the other.

But even my level 50 Warrior in Zerker gear is more durable than my level 80 Valkyrie Thief in a Zerg fight.

Make a build around condition removal. Take every trait, sigil and rune that mitigates conditions.

rogerwilko.6895:

So there are no builds / setups that would work in a blob? Say p/p soldier or something like that?

Agree with what Dee Jay said.
But I want to add it is possible to stay in the zerg, just have to time those 2-3 dodges and hope there’s something healing you…. and try not to be in the front line… Basically sub-optimal to be in a zerg for us.

Signet of Malice + Cluster bomb spam is nice in a zerg…. also Dagger storm (For those that say we dont have stability, this is the only skill xD) is nice. Gear wise you wont much difference in your survivability in a zerg between full zerker and pvt/knight/zerker mix, but you will see a damage difference that you can output…

As far as roaming goes, there’s either condi p/d (i believe, maybe even d/d) and crit dmg d/p or d/d …

:P Both setups for roaming will work just as “well” in zergs as if you were building for a zerg…. since you will be using SB mainly to deal AoE damage… condi build will deal damage from the bleeds from cluster bomb and crit dmg build will deal from the actual damage from cluster….

Also kittenty thing about roaming, it’s not as rewarding (tangibly) as zerging. yaya