Guild Wars 2

I hate meta, so the moment i hopped on thief in spvp i went and started looking for my own build. After 2-3 days of trial and error (and incoming specializations to ruin my fun) i got my own kitten tanky trapper condi thief that works and works well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAoY4al8MptplOxvJ8PNhTBxVA8uFjIGdvhkmBA-TpRAABsVGAgHAQg7PQyBBIjjAgFnAAA

How it works:
This is a very in your face build that tanks by outhealing damage done to you, and mass evading. It’s also equipped with solid mobility and shadow trap for instant return to defended point so you can protect it without camping it.

Damage is done with bleeds & poison, and to that end d/d is your main weapon set, and leaping death blossom main attacking skill.

Steal is a big thing, so it’s set on minimum cooldown. Steal from ranger or a warrior in bigger fight and your survival goes way way waayyy up (heartseekers on water field from ranger, or whirling axe into mob of ppl/minions with whirling axe for awesome hp gain. Steal from a necro and you can fear opponents off point for some small decap advantage.

now what is that venom doing in elite you ask since this builds has 0 venom traits? This is your panic button heal! Notice that mad king’s rune this builds uses. When you use an elite, you’ll do hunter’s call on up to 3 targets in large area. Combine the number of hits you get off this with signet of malice (boosted by settler’s amulet heal stat) and well….it’s a life saver! Untraited it’s only 5s faster then rune’s own cooldown, so close enough but you must be vary of that 5s wait after basilisk venom goes off cd.

Now about cc and condition defense. As for cc you got your trusty steal, and 3 stunbreakers – shadowstep provides 2 of them and shadow trap is your last one. Don’t forget blinds on 2nd weapon set and that you can DOOOOOODGEEEEEE!

condies are cleansed in 3 ways – one is shadowstep, other is pain response in acrobatics, and lastly stealth, which both weapon sets provide (though at a steep price).

Also never forget your traps, they are your friends!. Needle trap let’s you set up a nice opening for death blossom spam, and it’s on far shorter cd then devourer venom would be.

And shadow trap – there are the “viable path to target” moments but if that’s not in the way…oh boy what fun! Insta teleport to it’s spot across miles and the surprised enemy who thought he’d get a free cap! Not to mention those 10 stacks of might push your condi damage even further;>

I’m not saying build is perfect, especially given the short time i had to set it up, but it works for me!

Just for my own curiosity, what is the advantage Thrill of the Crime over Bountiful Theft?

swiftness. for mobility

Ah, understood. I saw you had swiftness on dodge, but I guess it lacks in uptime :-P

Ps. Would Sigil of Water be a decent alternative to Sigil of Frailty?

yeah. Used that before and had no complains. Fraility is there to just give bleeding some cover, so some 1 condi cleanse skill won’t kill your whole effort. But you can that with cloack and dagger too, so go for it

can you showcase this build?

I wonder! You still think this will work after the update on tuesday?

You and me both strategist…

Adam Jensen voice: I never asked for this.

And i don’t record videos, so can’t showcase it.

interesting stuff.

but why would you wanna use d/p over SB as your 2nd set?

shadowshot for gapclosing; just use HS
interrupt from headshot is good
smokefield from BP for stealth; just use CnD – i feel stealth opener [BP+HS] are not really necessary with this type of build and are not worth the switch with CnD at your disposal.
blinds from BP and shadowshot; full acrobatics should be good enough – good for stomps though but thats not worth one full weapon set imho.

could you please elaborate on this?

Actually i just changed that second weapon set to Sword/Pistol over the initiall set and over SB.

Now as for reason – the 2nd set was chosen for it’s ability to catch a running enemy, and possibly provide extra survival/condi cleanse. The d/p was chosen for shadow shot and pistol offhand. And that expensive but targetless stealth for condi cleanse.

Now i replaced that with sword/pistol ,because sword #2 is the best catch with it’s immobilize, a both engage and disengage option rolled into one, and an ini based condi cleanse without stealth – as point holder you can’t abuse stealth, or you’re giving them the point for free.

Additionally #2 + pistol whip will let you net some nice healing, and headshot is always there for all the interrupt needs in the world.

There is little to no offensive power in this build’s sword/pistol, but it still proved great for harassing and taking down snipers at forest of nilfhel mid, and getting some nice stomps even away from point.

Once the specs roll in i might use shadow arts for some venoms to be used as means of condi pressure for that sword/pistol and party play, who knows.

I was experimenting with cele amulet too, for some more direct damage power, but results weren’t satisfactory – my thief was too squishy compared to settlers. I know it sounds weird on paper, but that’s the practice. Though more matches might change that (better skill with my thief).