I’m starting this line up mostly to show that the strongest 1v1 build by far lies with P/D condition builds. There are many variations on it, but the outlasting capability of this build is just over the top, and the ability to not only take on multiple opponents by abusing stealth repetitiously, and healing through so many sources, makes me wonder why this build is essentially not being abused to all hell.
If you’re currently running a typical dagger spec and feeling squishy, tired of feeling weak once haste is down, or just having trouble understanding that there are indeed builds out there that make thief superior to just about every class in a 1v1…I encourage you to check out my first video here of when I first specced P/D and was still getting used to the mechanics and playstyle…#2 is coming soon and it’s going to have all sorts of goodness
Notes :
-I’m using DS instead of TG so that people don’t think I’m being “cheap” all the time.
-I am not claiming this to be professional tier play, just showing you that even with my first few hours of swapping this spec and a little bit of familiarization with the style yielded amazing results.
-All done in hot-join.
It seems he just uses Auto attack! He is very squishy and he fights lone players so I’d say a roamer solo player….If 2 players look your way you are dead.
P/D is, by far, my favorite spec and I’m pretty sure it will eventually outpace DD and SP as the most popular spec.
I strongly disagree with your trait choices. All those points in Deadly Arts and you only use spider venom? No cloaked in the shadows (blind on stealth) from shadow arts? Power of inertia over fleet shadow?
I suppose this is an endorsement of how diverse play styles can be in this game.
Most of the condition damage is coming from the bleed from the auto-attack, the other venoms are not necessary. The utility skills are built to increase survivability. Spider venom is ultimately there to be a wound poison (heal buffer) because without it certain classes can “Stale-mate” in 1v1 using this build (defensive traited classes like other thieves running this build, guardians, etc).
Don’t see why you feel cloaked in shadows is a requisite for this build to work. Ideally in a 1v1 if you stealth you’re going to get the next jump on them after being in stealth for a few seconds and a blind is not really necessary IMO. And I do run Power of Inertia. It’s right there in the beginning of the video if you watched it.
The points in Deadly Arts are quite well spent. It’s a solid power boost and gives you breathing room while in stealth regaining health to ride it out without worrying about your bleed stack/poison falling off before you continue attacking. You use CnD a lot in this build so letting your opponents “bleed out” is huge. Not to mention the CD decrease for spider venom to keep it up more often, an applicable venom from stealing (which you use frequently), increased poison duration for both your spider and steal poisons…yeah there’s no way you’d convince me the points in DA are wasted. You could trade Potent poison for venemous strength though, I’ve flopped between those.
@Cempa
Totally wrong. Try the build. It’s definitely not squishy.
Is P/D viable without going far into Trickery? I want to do that build but am going to do shadow/acro instead and get some condition armor. I just don’t really like the trickery abilities that much but I’m sure having 30 points in it gives a nice dmg boost to P/D.
I just started something similar to this in wvw and I had a lot of fun, and actually was able to escape the zerg while taking down someone. Not even at level 80 yet.
Yeah, I use this pistol/dagger build too. I remember hearing about how others say it’s such a bad set, but I think it’s fantastic. That sneak attack with the main hand pistol is just incredible, and the offhand dagger stealth is a very reliable way to pull off stealth constantly as long as you practice hitting with it.
…yeah there’s no way you’d convince me the points in DA are wasted.
Consider being more open minded, especially if you’ve only run this spec for a few hours.
I currently run 25/0/30/15/0. Our trait lines are very similar but the trait choices are almost entirely different. I think you’re overvaluing self-healing and undervaluing condition removal and a frequent, free AoE blind. Moving faster in stealth is amazing, you’re much more likely to get out of danger as well as get to your opponent when they move. I’d be surprised if most of your targets stay in one place after a CnD, especially since your not using Devourer venom (which you should consider since you traited quick venoms). You talk about your spec and 1v1, you should be 3v1’ing, no joke.
Wild Bill plays very similarly to me, but better, check his videos out.
…yeah there’s no way you’d convince me the points in DA are wasted.
Consider being more open minded, especially if you’ve only run this spec for a few hours.
I currently run 25/0/30/15/0. Our trait lines are very similar but the trait choices are almost entirely different. I think you’re overvaluing self-healing and undervaluing condition removal and a frequent, free AoE blind. Moving faster in stealth is amazing, you’re much more likely to get out of danger as well as get to your opponent when they move. I’d be surprised if most of your targets stay in one place after a CnD, especially since your not using Devourer venom (which you should consider since you traited quick venoms). You talk about your spec and 1v1, you should be 3v1’ing, no joke.
Wild Bill plays very similarly to me, but better, check his videos out.
still seems lackluster to d/d deathblossom +caltrops combo, especially in TTK and AOE functionality.
Killing your target faster can equal more survivability as well if you think about it.
Just my opinion though.
And for wvwvw, I tried a condition build, while it surpasses all the other builds when you are able to engage (surprise) a small number of players (~5) that are bunched up, but overall in the scheme of things still lackluster compared to crit+stealth heavy build, now a days I will shadow enemy zergs or friendly zergs, once zergs collide I sneak around the rear of the enemy zerg, drop shadow refuge+caltrops on the most bunched group, a few cluster bombs and dagger storm toward my zerg, rinse and repeat. This alone completely changes the tide of a fight.
That’s a WvW video. Not really impressive. You can 5v1 with any weapon spec. I’ve done it with D/D very often.
sPVP is really the only way to show off skills or the ability of a build. You don’t have as high of stats and it’s more based on player skill or build.
This isn’t a criticism, just a question: Are you mostly using auto-attacks for damage? Doesn’t that get boring? I mean, I didn’t see you use your 3 or 4 skills at all… maybe the occasional Cloak and Dagger. Is it boring?
I have been messing around with a similar build for the past few days in sPvP. It is very easy to get a high score and very rarely die, however I am not sure how viable this would be in a tournament. For me I take a thief to a tournament for burst / roaming, not for outlasting an opponent while slowly bringing them down, there are better classes for that, whichis a bit of a shame really because it is a fun spec to play
I use P/D as offhand for my D/D condition build.I really don’t what you mean with “abusing stealth”.ANY player with kiting abilities and understanding of the PvP will completely negate your chance to land C&D due to lack of gap closer in this setup.
Without stealth you are dead meat,you don’t have stealth condition removal trait,neither you remove cripple with dodge…
You don’t have Caltrops in ANY form…
Sorry dude,nice video editing,you picked up selected fights to show something ,but in reality this isn’t good enough,let alone overpowered!
Ss Ninja- Rank 50 Asura Condition Thief (The Bulgarians [BG])
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