Guild Wars 2

i’m practicing backstab thief and stealth. i’ve seen some thieves maintaining perm in-combat (spvp) stealth no probs. i’ve tried everything but still not quite there.

best i managed so far is combo in d/p:
blackPowder(p5)+
heartSeeker(d2)+
goBackInLingeringBlackPowderField+
heartSeeker(d2)

…and recycle. this gives what, 8 sec I believe?

its almost there, but not quite. with my init regen i’m still getting split second gaps between cycles, every now and then. especially s’time i have to wait before starting new cycle, ’cause cant wait for regen while smoke field is expiring, have to go in cycle with about 8 init.

i have all in for init regen, i have
- SA5 trait infusion on shadow +2 init on stealth
- SA trait meld with shadow minor + sec of stealth
- SA10 trait patience regen init while in stealth
- iniflt signet skills 1 init/10sec

now in youtubes and game spectators i’ve seen some of those guys maintain perm uninterrupted stealth, in fact some stack 9sec and more ahead. is this possible? i DONT mean using cooldowns like shadowRefuge or smokeScreen. just in routine, in-combat stealth.

i’ve also tried replacing one heartseeker with shortbow blast finisher, but that’s out of combat and makes no diff (other then team?) heartSeekerX2 or heartSeeker+clusterBomb.

any help? thx

Is this your bug report? Send it to anet to get perma stealth bug fixed.

You can use heartseeker 3 times through the bp field, with luck 4 times.
Going for 3 or 4 times through 1 field gives you more initiatives back to keep up the initiative pool.

gesho.9468:

i’m practicing backstab thief and stealth. i’ve seen some thieves maintaining perm in-combat (spvp) stealth no probs. i’ve tried everything but still not quite there.

best i managed so far is combo in d/p:
blackPowder(p5)+
heartSeeker(d2)+
goBackInLingeringBlackPowderField+
heartSeeker(d2)

…and recycle. this gives what, 8 sec I believe?

Black Powder
Heartseeker
AboutFace (180 turn)
Heartseeker
Heartseeker

All you need is the Init on stealth trait and +1 sec stealth trait to be able to maintain stealth indefinitely.

Zoom and swing your camera view right up above you, then hold a strafe movement key ie sideways or backwards while casting your heartseekers.

This will let you do heartseekers of much shorter jumps so its easier to get multiple ones into the same black powder.

frans.8092:

gesho.9468:

i’m practicing backstab thief and stealth. i’ve seen some thieves maintaining perm in-combat (spvp) stealth no probs. i’ve tried everything but still not quite there.

best i managed so far is combo in d/p:
blackPowder(p5)+
heartSeeker(d2)+
goBackInLingeringBlackPowderField+
heartSeeker(d2)

…and recycle. this gives what, 8 sec I believe?

Black Powder
Heartseeker
AboutFace (180 turn)
Heartseeker
Heartseeker

All you need is the Init on stealth trait and +1 sec stealth trait to be able to maintain stealth indefinitely.

This, although 15 Shadow Arts doesn’t work with the combo and never has.

Ah, ok. Then you only need infusion, the stealth I build up in trying lasted long enough to regain the lost initiative.

thx for all tips. somehow i was fixated on jumping out of field, but you can also jump in, or as wiki (and my trials) indicate, is jumping THROUGH it also a combo?

hs+aboutface+hs works.

i manage 3 hs in single bp field roughly half of the time. another half time my 2nd hs jumps OVER the field (depends on terrain, I noticed better start on high ground). when 2nd hs over shoots, i’m still getting second stealth, but no time to get back in and do it 3rd time over.

this can be somewhat improved by moving a little forward during precasting 1st bp or hs (start ahead of center, don’t shoot over on the way back).

still, whole thing is not reliable for me. you keep doing it and at some point its bound to break and you are exposed with 0 init. it’s also a teaser: fields is about to expire, should you risk 3 init for another hs?

is it me (can be done reliably) or whole thing is a gimmick?

also every now and then strange behavior:
- i see grey heart stealth msg in the center of screen, but no buff follows.
- s’times i have buff, but character is visible.
- hs couple of times jump on the spot (tree barrier?), instead of leaping forward

IMO thief is the easy mode to play.
-first off thief has been called OP by more players than any other class(wonder why lol)
-It has perma stealth.
-It removes conditions on stealth.
-Its one of the fastest classes.
-Deal very high burst damage(10k on average per hit back stab)
-can pretty much retreat into smoke whenever the thief chooses.
-Its the only class players say you have to play one in order to learn to beat it.
-1vs1 almost always wins.
-Only class that says its not OP is thief(of coarse lol)

Very fun class to play at first,but gets to easy and boring later in game(unless of coarse you dont mind always winning,and having overwhelming advantage vs any other class besides guardian)

Its a great class to start with when first learning GW2. because you can engage/disengage fights at will,and the other advantages i listed above.
later on when you get better at GW2 to can really start playing the game by selecting any other class available.

Mordyph.2104:

IMO thief is the easy mode to play.
1first off thief has been called OP by more players than any other class(wonder why lol)
2It has perma stealth.
3It removes conditions on stealth.
4Its one of the fastest classes.
5Deal very high burst damage(10k on average per hit back stab)
6can pretty much retreat into smoke whenever the thief chooses.
7Its the only class players say you have to play one in order to learn to beat it.
81vs1 almost always wins.
9Only class that says its not OP is thief(of coarse lol)

Very fun class to play at first,but gets to easy and boring later in game(unless of coarse you dont mind always winning,and having overwhelming advantage vs any other class besides guardian)

Its a great class to start with when first learning GW2. because you can engage/disengage fights at will,and the other advantages i listed above.
later on when you get better at GW2 to can really start playing the game by selecting any other class available.

1 go back to the beginning of the game and everyone was complaining that mesmer was so op. Once everyone learned how to fight it, most of these complaints died out. We’re suggesting this is the issue with the thief right now
2 perma stealth decreases you mobility by a lot, so thieves don’t use it out of combat. In combat, there’s this wonderful debuff called “revealed” that prevents perma stealth
3 condi removal in stealth is one of the only condi removals a thief has. It is simply there to give the thief a viable condi cleanse just like every other profession. It is not op
4 this is true, but mobility is the specialty of a thief (or at least, that’s what a-net wants)
5 average backstab from a perma-stealth thief is around 6k, not 10k
6 again, true, but part of what defines a thief. It is necessary for the thief to survive to pick and choose his fights
7 it is also the only class where you have to play every other class to beat them. Fair tradeoff imo
8 and 10v10 it is worthless. It has to be good at something
9 every class will defend itself when the “you are op” card is played. You expect us to sit back and let a-net nerf us when we don’t need nerds?
P.S. I have played every class and can say that thief is not op from experience. There are better classes than thief for everything in the game except for 1vx. How is that op? It just means thief is a specialist.

how is it perma stealth when you have to work your rear off to keep it up and invest all your resource (initiative) in it (and commit half of the build with it). wow rogue has perma stealth. gw2 thief was 3 sec buff and one needs to spend entire mechanics to sustain it. this also breaks in dozen of ways (revealeed debuff, missed jump) and leaves you a sitting duck with 0 init.

also, where is 10k backstub? is this spvp? i dont think 10k bs is possible in spvp. maybe in wvw with big gear advantage.

Backstabs aren’t easy to land when the opponent actually turns with their mouse and/or knows they’re fighting a Thief.