Guild Wars 2

Ok, so I’ve mostly been playing s/d in spvp and I wanted to change to d/p trickery, most meta builds I found are running either ogre, privateer or strength. The question is, why? Your only source of might for strength runes is steal and the on hit proc, which as a thief I’d rather not do very much, and it basically makes you dependant on stealing other’s might stacks, which is harder on d/p as you have no LS.

As for ogre and privateer, I understand the point, but are the summons actually any good? Can someone explain the reasoning for these runes? Basically, I don’t really like the on hit procs for d/p, as unlike s/d you don’t have that much sustain in a long fight.

From what I can tell, it seems like scholar runes might be a better choice(power, ferocity and extra damage on opening burst, which is kinda the point of d/p), or maybe even runes of the pack.

Scholar works pretty well, I think Shad was running those runes in one of the recent ESL weekly cups on a 6/0/2/0/6 D/P panic strike build (not that you really need his endorsement, but it probably means it’s a solid choice). I know Caed used Ogre for a long time too. I like pack runes myself for the extra crit chance, but tbh as long as the rune has power on it it’s really just personal preference after that.

As for might stacks for strength, I’m assuming they use the might on signet use trait for that set (critical strikes II) with infiltrator’s signet? With the cooldown on steal with 2/6/0/0/6 (which is what I assume you’re running) being 22 secs, with 45% might duration you’d have 14.5 secs of might on steal plus whatever duration you got from the signet, which should be more than enough to reliably get the extra damage from the runes.

People use Strength because it gives a higher “flat” bonus damage than Ogre (5% vs 4%) and are more reliable than Scholar (being above 90% HP is not easy for a D/P thief).
Not many people use the trait which gives Might on Signet use.
The Parrot from Pirate runes hits like a truck, even 2 hits from it would compensate any damage gained from Scholar/Ogre/Strength runes (but the drawback is that it’s not well suited for teamfights, and the raw bonus damage from other runes are more suited for the role a DP thief covers, being it the one of the istant damage spike on weakened or fleeing targets).

i luv using ogre rune on my d/p trickery… sometimes rune of scholar is better… for example while fighting a staff necro, phantasm mesmer or turret engie ogre rune is better i think cuz summoned rock dog will just step on necro’s well same to mesmers if i go invi… illusions will just goin to attack rock dog and same to turrets as well

and as a non SA D/P Thief (very lack of condi removals) u know how hard fighting a condi necro with all wells casted near him so let the rock dog step on it and rock dog a bit tanky has more hp than summoned parrot rune of privateer