Guild Wars 2

Hello fello Guild Wars members, I just purchased the game a couple of weeks ago and have got my Thief to lvl 40, been doing a lot of wvw with some pvp.

The main question that I have is that I have encounter against other thieves in PvP and wvw were using somee kind of stealth damage build, that basically killed me before I could see them. I was wondering what the traits are that I could also do this along with which sigils and such to use to work with the build.

I have tried the build on my own but noticed the I reappear when I use heartseeker ability. Currently use D/D and shortbow for wvw and pvp. If there any question on how I do my gameplay or anything let me know and I will reply asap. Thanks for the tip the future.

You future wvw and PvP player,
Zero

In WvW there is rendering bug that prevents you from seeing other thieves as soon as they leave stealth.
The ability most of them use to do damage is stealth attack on default button 1 – backstab, that does double damage from behind.
They go usually 30/30/0/0/10 in trait trees, taking everything that boosts damage.
This build is specialized in large burst but you might find yourself bit underwhelming to consider yourself being wvw and pvp player – this particular d/d backstab glass cannon build does not contribute to any existent pvp play at the moment and probably never will, as it is only able to perform rather risky chains with single target damage once every around 40 seconds, and might even be a target of a groundslamming nerf due to all the (mostly unrightful, imho, complaints)

But it is still fun and like they say – you better try everything yourself

Once you successfully attack and deal damage to your opponent, you lose your stealth. There are “combo’s” that utilize the stealth mechanic, such as the Shortbow #1 attack has a attack where, if you’re in stealth you immobilize your opponent for 3 seconds. The dagger #1 skill has an ability where if you attack your opponent whilst in stealth, it does an increase in damage; if you hit your opponent from behind (hence the “backstab” you read on these forums) it does x2 the amount of damage it would of done.

So what you’re really witnessing is the “backstab build” that many Thiefs (unoriginal thiefs) use. The combo works by using the ability “Cloak and Dagger” which when you attack your opponent, it stealths you and causes vulnerability to your opponent. “Steal” is where it really helps.

Steal can be used half-way during an animation of an ability and it will not interrupt the casting. So people use C/D (Cloak and Dagger) and quickly use steal on the opponent. This allows you to get close to your opponent, hit your opponent (with the Mug trait) then do the C/D. Doing it this way, you can stack the damage together increasing the overall “burst”. So now you’re in close, used C/D, you’re in stealth", so people quickly get behind you (usually you’re automatically behind your opponent when you steal as long as you do not have “Melee Assist” checked on your options, then hit with Dagger #1 and you got a backstab.

And that’s, the backstab combo. Using your other traits and skills help increase the intensity of the build, so Devourer Venom skill will help keep your opponent immobilized for you to get the backstab in easier etc.

Though, this “combo” will be getting nerfed soon. Sorry for the long post, I want you to understand the build (as it looks like you don’t understand the mechanics of it) rather than just tell you what to do and leave you in the dark when you do it wrong.