p/p is thiefs most viable set. (Read First)

p/p is thiefs most viable set. (Read First)

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Posted by: yodog.4208

yodog.4208

So before the Q.Q and before walls get punched let me explain.

Let me tell my story, so i log on patch day pumped as heck for feature patch 2, thinking that this was gonna be as good as the last one. Thief received alot of nerfs. More specfically, s/d was GG.
Innocent and blind to the truth I played and played trying to figure out if it was viable, i was wrong.
Fast forward a few days, I began to experiment, i was in deep though if it was still viable to even BE a thief. I considered rerolling ele or ranger because it didnt seem like the class had any hope. I was playing around in a duel server when a thief with double quip was making everybody his kitten. In aw i immediatley swapped to spectator mode to discover this “magical” build.
Needless to say, p/p was the main course of his set, he was a gunslinger with this INSANE burst and great utility, in and out and constantly keeping his oppenent guessing.
(His Build)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqa4Yl0Mp0pdPx8J8PNxLhw1PvXn+t2LCMA-TpBFwACOBAIOIA02fYxRAoaZAAPAAA

I experimented riguroulsy, trying to figure out what was needed to make this even more viable, I ended up with two builds. An anti decap thief which does as much damage as the other build but is less usefull in teamfights. Then there is the slayer build used for being an all purpose burster, able to focus the most dangerous targets in the fight and bring them to their knees.

(Anti Decap)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAqaVl0Mp0pdPx8J8PNxLhw1PvXn+t2LCMA-TJBFwACOBA12foaZAAPAAA

(Team Slayer)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqa4Yl0Mp0pdPx8J8PNRLhw1Qvfveu2PCcA-TZBFwACOBA12fYxBBoaZAAPBAA

Why P/P now?
- P/P has enough burst to trigger the immbolize at 50% Hp which now triggers EVERY 20 SECONDS
-P/P has ranged burst comparable to the new longbow ranger but with more utility and escape
-P/P can engage from stealth and lockdown key targets in team fights and keep constamt pressure from range which longbow ranger cant do.
-P/P with richochet can cause aoe interupts, deny stomps, blind, keep squishies dead for good.

I’m bad and thats good
Yaks Bend
LocknDog- level 80 thief

(edited by yodog.4208)

p/p is thiefs most viable set. (Read First)

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Posted by: yodog.4208

yodog.4208

-P/P also can do more dps than d/d or d/p at ranger and has alot more disengage thanks to blinding powder and swapping into p/p then back into d/d and either leaping into or blasting black powder.
-Can use shadowrefuge offensivley by utilizing darkcombo field with sneak attack(WTF 5x lifesteal + unload = GG)

I’ll most more tips later when i get home, but needless to say this build is SO underated but has tons of potenial. Enjoy

I’m bad and thats good
Yaks Bend
LocknDog- level 80 thief

(edited by yodog.4208)

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Posted by: Arganthium.5638

Arganthium.5638

P/P will never be a good weapon set. It’s not that the attacks are bad or anything (and if the problems that affect it were fixed it would be far and away a strong set), but it suffers from three massive problems that are unlikely to be fixed for the duration of this game:

1. It doesn’t really have a good defensive mechanic (Black Powder is at best gimmicky, and compared to D/X / P/D’s stealth and S/X’s mobility and evasion, it’s incredibly weak)

2. Going off of 1, it has absolutely zero mobility. This is especially damaging for a build that does not have stealth; you can more or less get away with less mobility as a stealth thief but you simply cannot with any non-stealth thief. P/P’s mobility is honestly even worse than P/D or D/X’s.

3. In my opinion, the disadvantage that really kills the build once and for all is its lack of condition cleansing. Glassy stealth builds don’t have much in terms of condition cleansing, but that’s because they are glassy, and in truth glassy melee builds will by design always be better than glassy ranged builds. Otherwise, stealth builds and S/X builds alike have at least a minor source of reliable condition cleansing, whereas P/P’s is at best spotty and difficult to time well and at worst completely nonexistent. Conditions are extremely damaging to thieves, and so that lack of condi cleansing just crushes this build’s hopes of being good any time soon.

Thief|Mesmer|
Theorycrafter

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Posted by: Cam Ron.4170

Cam Ron.4170

Surprised you didn’t pick up the 2 point 10% pistol damage trait

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Posted by: Seabreeze.8437

Seabreeze.8437

I’ve actually been finding a lot of success with my p/p build in WvW, and I’m not even fully geared in exotic stuff yet. Then again, my build relies on critical hits and damage, so my unload skill wrecks the less armored classes. It’s heavily armored guardians and people with retaliation that can be problematic, but in WvW, I’ve usually got allies to lend me a hand.

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Posted by: Hexalot.8194

Hexalot.8194

I’ve actually dropped short bow off hand, replacing it with p/p for my WWW d/p build, and I have no regrets. :-)

Just slot the quickness sigil (rage) into one of the pistols and you get insane dps on your Unload… particularly with the now reduced cast time on the skill from the recent feature patch. Typically I can get a full 3 Unloads off in quick succession during the 3 seconds that quickness procs… to give me damage that rivals and in many cases exceeds the notorious Ranger rapid fire… particularly if I have furious retaliation set up in traits.

(edited by Hexalot.8194)

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Posted by: HNL.4216

HNL.4216

try using smoke screen instead of blinding powder. it offers more utilities and it has shorter cd.

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Posted by: DeceiverX.8361

DeceiverX.8361

Said this earlier regarding ranger RF buff QQ:
Unload used twice hits harder than RF in the same amount of time.

P/P hurts. It’s biggest shortcomings are mobility and the lack of condition cleansing, though.

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Posted by: Jayden Ennok.3687

Jayden Ennok.3687

P/P can be very nice in wvw until the enemies remember you and equip reflect. Well, I am speaking from T9 pov where everyone knows everyone :P

Underworld Vabbi 1.5yr

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Posted by: Faeyd.5094

Faeyd.5094

I can see a lot of folks moving to P/P at the moment and I get it… On all my power builds my secondary set has always been P/P for remote drilling of opponents etc.

I know there are specific counters, but I am playing my old LB ranger at the moment and P/P thieves are dieing at 1k range before they can get to play which just makes me feel bad.

Tiger

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Posted by: kabeo.9638

kabeo.9638

Have something changed with how sigil works or you just wasting them because they all still share one cooldown?

Certain Death – Thief / Storm Psyche – Elementalist / Xavi Na Shezbaernon ~ Necromancer
Leader and only member of Zero Abilities [zero] @Blacktide

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Posted by: Faeyd.5094

Faeyd.5094

They certainly changed it so you can proc both a while back… unsure of last few changes though… may have reverted it.

Tiger

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Posted by: kabeo.9638

kabeo.9638

They certainly changed it so you can proc both a while back… unsure of last few changes though… may have reverted it.

oh shoe… god knows how many other important changes i have missed… :p

Certain Death – Thief / Storm Psyche – Elementalist / Xavi Na Shezbaernon ~ Necromancer
Leader and only member of Zero Abilities [zero] @Blacktide

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Posted by: Tringsh.2380

Tringsh.2380

I wouldn’t say it was most viable, it’s certainly become a LOT more fun though! =D Thief still needs a major sort.

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Posted by: Hexalot.8194

Hexalot.8194

I can see a lot of folks moving to P/P at the moment and I get it… On all my power builds my secondary set has always been P/P for remote drilling of opponents etc.

I know there are specific counters, but I am playing my old LB ranger at the moment and P/P thieves are dieing at 1k range before they can get to play which just makes me feel bad.

Ha… well you must be facing some dull kitten thieves (or maybe its the Rangers I’m fighting who are dull kitten), because p/p has become my number one troll weapon on Rangers. :-D

Once rage sigil procs on my Unload , it’s hilarious watching Rangers go through panic motions as they realize their “I win” button can’t save them this time. I rack up 20k damage on all these “flavor of the month” zerker Rangers easily in the space of 3 secs with guard stacks, blood lust stacks and power food.

I’m not gonna just run up to them with pistols out though… that’s why I use it as my secondary weapon set.

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Posted by: Faeyd.5094

Faeyd.5094

So you wouldn’t kill my ranger then you’d need more damage / procs / luck / RNG support from the game.

I’ve used a P/P signet build off and on for giggles and harvesting Karma… it ain’t anywhere as good as my ranger at the moment.

Tiger

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Posted by: Hexalot.8194

Hexalot.8194

So you wouldn’t kill my ranger then you’d need more damage / procs / luck / RNG support from the game.

Well… sounds likely you’re not running the glassy build all the other bandwagon LB rangers are then.

In that case, I’m not particularly worried about you being able to kill me either.

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Posted by: Sir Vincent III.1286

Sir Vincent III.1286

Why P/P now?
- P/P has enough burst to trigger the immbolize at 50% Hp which now triggers EVERY 20 SECONDS
-P/P has ranged burst comparable to the new longbow ranger but with more utility and escape
-P/P can engage from stealth and lockdown key targets in team fights and keep constamt pressure from range which longbow ranger cant do.
-P/P with richochet can cause aoe interupts, deny stomps, blind, keep squishies dead for good.

I found a big stick next to a pile of poo…in your logic, the poo is viable.

http://sirvincentiii.com ~ In the beginning…there was Tarnished Coast…
Full set of 5 unique skills for both dual-wield weapon sets: P/P and D/D – Make it happen
PvE – DD/CS/AC – If that didn’t work, roll a Reaper or Revenant.

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Posted by: Vecuu.2018

Vecuu.2018

My alternate spec or WvW is a P/P spec. I actually prefer to run 0/6/0/4/4

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAqaVl0Mpyp9Ox0JsPNBPhs9gEB8MazODeD-T1AEAA5DAAOBA/RAAA-w

The concept is for high amounts of vigor, might, and fury, to drop opponents quickly. I achieve maximum crit rate while I have fury up (don’t remember exactly, I think it’s near 80% in Exotics with Ruby Orbs), gain might on dodge and might on crits. Thrill of the crime assists in getting the initial fury, while Furious Retaliation helps give me enough fury to finish someone off.

I swap out Ricochet for Bountiful Theft for duels.

I choose to run it as a no stealth build, and have had great success.

Jaded [Jade] – Darkhaven Server
Jaded.boards.net – Your future home

(edited by Vecuu.2018)