Guild Wars 2

I want to know every thing about sword dagger. As a thief I have been playing d/d for a long time, but have been very interested in s/d. wvw mainly With a sb .

1. What combos are you aiming for with s/d? is it something like #2-#5-#1-#1-#1-#1??

2. Is there any time a s/d thief should use #3? Or is it better to leave this skill alone save in. for a different skill?

3. Is there a common cookie cutter build for s/d like there is for d/d? If so what is it?

4. Does increasing your stun duration through sigil of paralize increase your daze? If so is this something I should be aiming for?

5. Is there any neat tricks you guys have learned about this weapon set?

1) #3 #F1 remove necr mark/trap
4)sigil of paralization on dagger – 3 sec daze www|pve only
5)#4 not totally useless

Login.5102:

I want to know every thing about sword dagger. As a thief I have been playing d/d for a long time, but have been very interested in s/d. wvw mainly With a sb .

1. What combos are you aiming for with s/d? is it something like #2-#5-#1-#1-#1-#1??

2. Is there any time a s/d thief should use #3? Or is it better to leave this skill alone save in. for a different skill?

3. Is there a common cookie cutter build for s/d like there is for d/d? If so what is it?

4. Does increasing your stun duration through sigil of paralize increase your daze? If so is this something I should be aiming for?

5. Is there any neat tricks you guys have learned about this weapon set?

1. Yes i use this combo to open a fight as it leaves with a Stunbreak on demand (Shadowreturn). The follow up depends on how the opponent reacts to it.

2. The first strike removes a boon. I use this to get rid of enemys Stability if he has it on. (Stability makes the opponent immune to daze)

3. There are several builds that work very well, it really depends on how u want to play S/D. I prefer 0/30/30/10/0. Something like 0/30/25/15/0 is very good too tho… there are many traits u can choose to use.

4. Yes, the Sigil makes ur daze last around 2,7 seconds instead of 2. I highly recommend this.

5. What exactly do you mean?

2. Is there any time a s/d thief should use #3? Or is it better to leave this skill alone save in. for a different skill?

The one significant aspect is that 5-1 is better at nullifying a single target. 3 is better at nullifying the attacks of several opponents simultaneously. 3 also takes effect slightly faster than 5-1 if immediacy is a concern.

I remember someone commented somewhere that the return part of 2 didn’t break stealth, so you can do some extra tricky stuff with that.

Most of your dps is from autoattack. The other 4 abilities are there for utility. There is no “rotation” or what have you; you simply have to choose the best ability for the moment.

taking into account S/D is the build I have the least experience with, I’ll answer as best as I can.

as for the first question, it is mostly chaining dazes from stealth and filling the gap with auto attack to max out damage and control.

for number two, the ability has tracking issues so it doesn’t get used much.

for number three, I don’t know of any, but there are several ways to build it, based on whether you want more damage, or more control/survivability. good trees would be shadow arts, acrobatics and crit.

as for four, I think sigil of paralyze stopped working for the daze after its duration got nerfed.

and for five, you ca use a dagger in the main hand of your second weapon set to give yourself a lot of melee versatility. go into stealth with the sword out, then give the enemy a surprise back stab. you get the option of daze, blind, or burst when you go into stealth. a lot is said for making your enemy think about what you are going to do next instead of knowing. just remember to keep a short bow in your bag.

EasymodeX.4062:

2. Is there any time a s/d thief should use #3? Or is it better to leave this skill alone save in. for a different skill?

The one significant aspect is that 5-1 is better at nullifying a single target. 3 is better at nullifying the attacks of several opponents simultaneously. 3 also takes effect slightly faster than 5-1 if immediacy is a concern.

I remember someone commented somewhere that the return part of 2 didn’t break stealth, so you can do some extra tricky stuff with that.

The shadowstep from sword line does not break stealth on the return or the step as long as you don’t hit anyone after using.

For instance, lets say there is a guy whos 1000 units away from you and you are stealthed. Step has 600 range, you will go 600 and still be in stealth. Then you can swap to D/D and use HS to close the extra 400 units.

You can also use shadowstep/return while stomping people and it won’t break stealth.

Gungnir Grimm.7123:

taking into account S/D is the build I have the least experience with, I’ll answer as best as I can.

as for the first question, it is mostly chaining dazes from stealth and filling the gap with auto attack to max out damage and control.

for number two, the ability has tracking issues so it doesn’t get used much.

for number three, I don’t know of any, but there are several ways to build it, based on whether you want more damage, or more control/survivability. good trees would be shadow arts, acrobatics and crit.

as for four, I think sigil of paralyze stopped working for the daze after its duration got nerfed.

and for five, you ca use a dagger in the main hand of your second weapon set to give yourself a lot of melee versatility. go into stealth with the sword out, then give the enemy a surprise back stab. you get the option of daze, blind, or burst when you go into stealth. a lot is said for making your enemy think about what you are going to do next instead of knowing. just remember to keep a short bow in your bag.

I use Infi Strike a lot and never had problems with it… weird.

The Sigil still works, the daze duration of Tac Strike has been nerfed only in sPvP. The Sigil lifts the duration up to around 2,7 seconds. (In WvW & PvE ofc.)

Shizzlenit.7648:

I use Infi Strike a lot and never had problems with it… weird.

The Sigil still works, the daze duration of Tac Strike has been nerfed only in sPvP. The Sigil lifts the duration up to around 2,7 seconds. (In WvW & PvE ofc.)

I was referring to flanking strike, not IS. IS is great. and I thought the tactical strike nerf was global, my bad.

Login.5102:

I want to know every thing about sword dagger. As a thief I have been playing d/d for a long time, but have been very interested in s/d. wvw mainly With a sb .

1. What combos are you aiming for with s/d? is it something like #2-#5-#1-#1-#1-#1??
That works. Also 2-3-5-1, if you can get the stability removed. Sometimes you just go 2-1-1-2-2-1-1-2 Warping in and out with the immobilize which can be useful when Stability is deeply covered, but it can mess up your escape route.
2. Is there any time a s/d thief should use #3? Or is it better to leave this skill alone save in. for a different skill?
Removing Stability and protection, sometimes regeneration or super high stacks of Might. If you have quickness, the 2nd hit is almost guaranteed to hit as well, giving you a bit of spike + the boon utility and evade. Sometimes you just swapped from bow, and haven’t shadow returned when you get hit with some BS, immobilize and don’t have time for 2-2-dodge, so you just Flanking strike the hit for an evade, but it’s rare.
3. Is there a common cookie cutter build for s/d like there is for d/d? If so what is it?
10/30/30/0/0. Mug, Critical haste, Executioner, condt removal on Stealth, Shadow Rejuvenation, slot 1 of SA is pretty flexible. Slot 1 of Critical Strikes as well, Precise vitality/ Fury <50% work fine. Shadowstep as a standard, everything else is actually up in the air. Typically Refuge + SoS though for WvW

You can fool around with 10/30/0/30/0’s, 10/30/0/0/30’s, Mix’s of SA + acrobatics, or remove the 10 in Deadly arts for 10 in trickery at whim. Only thing concrete is that you need Critical Strikes.
4. Does increasing your stun duration through sigil of paralize increase your daze? If so is this something I should be aiming for?
Yup but just in WvW & PvE You can take it or Lyssa. A Sigil of rage on the Off-hand is also useful but you can slap in Bloodlust.

5. Is there any neat tricks you guys have learned about this weapon set?
Shadow Return is ridiculous in it’s reach. Places you figure you’d have to walk back to get to, even with normal shadow steps? Shadow return doesn’t care and will bring you back safe and sound. Infiltrator’s one area, run away, Shadow step, and run. If they pursue, hit Shadow return on either 2 or Shadowstep. Then you can use the other Shadow return, Chasers can basically never get to you because you warp 3-4 times in a row, swap to bow and keep running. This is true for S/P too, so essentially you don’t need Stealth to live. However CnD + Shadow return is useful for a pure clean escape.
There’s enough time to Inf strike, Cnd, Tactical someone Finishing a friend if you notice in time, Faster if you f1-cnd-1. Replacing f1 with Inf Signet when needed.

Answers in bold, but lets be cereal 4 and 5 are known from D/D, you know their tricks.
After the first hit you can move during Flanking while revving up the 2nd hit, don’t forget that and it’ll hit more often, never stay idle. If you have no Target selected, the 2nd hit is completely aimable, and Flanking strike will move you to the sides horizontally that you are holding. Someone trying to escape can be hit with the 2nd hit like that, once you know to just Line it up with their movement unselected and aim the 2nd hit into their face, but lol outside of the evade might as well just press 1.

Set is most fun fighting other Sword/sets including Mesmer, Warrior and Ranger.

Oh and Sigil of Nullification is crap regardless.

Infiltrators strike is my favorite skill in the whole game. Basically, you can outmanouver any other profession. I had two elementalists on me(guess what, ride the lightning all the time). They tried to RTL me constantly, but failed, since I tactically placed an infil return circle behind them, and infiltrators strike has literally no range restriction except z-xis. My longest teleports was so long I had to watch the wvw loading screen.

The whole trick is to carefully place your return circle where you know your enemy will walk past. I was fighting some elementalist who tried his d/d combo, but aøways failed because I shadowstepped away. One more thing, Shadowstep utility is great as a backup. It has a range restriction, but is two stunbreakers in one, longer cast range aswell as no need for target.

Also, to escape multiple enemies, place infil strike, walk away from it and wait till you get some distance. Then you stealth, and hit shadow return. This will confuse any enemy, and they wont find you unless they look behind, and if that happens, you have too much distance to be catched again.

Spectre.6452:

My longest teleports was so long I had to watch the wvw loading screen.

….seriously?

What about line-of-sight? Are there any limits to Shadow Return that you can think of? Because I’ve had Shadow Return fail me a few times.

Iohanna.4863:

Spectre.6452:

My longest teleports was so long I had to watch the wvw loading screen.

….seriously?

What about line-of-sight? Are there any limits to Shadow Return that you can think of? Because I’ve had Shadow Return fail me a few times.

Shadow return will not place you anywhere you couldn’t naturally run to. But it’ spretty lenient in that it doens’t require a straight run path in order to work. (Good example is the NW supply camp in the borderlands: You can place a shadow return up top and jump into the camp then return back. This works because it is possible to run back to that point, albeit a much longer path.)

sigil of paralize and rune mesmer stack?

Naighel.7452:

sigil of paralize and rune mesmer stack?

I dont think they do.

Does the paralyzation sigil really give a 3 second daze with tactical strike? I looked it up ingame, and the amount is 15% per sigil. With 30% daze duration increase on a 2 second daze, that gives 2.6 seconds. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, I don’t know. Is it worth it for half a second increase?

These posts are really good.. Just equip berserker, and go with 10/30/30/0/0. Abuse stealth and daze auto alot, use inf strike alot and use 3 for on demand evade, boon removal,… nce u get a lot of practice use it as spike dmg… I can sometimes hit 7 or 8k just with fs… Enjoy the funnest build we have!

heh, I’m going to be making my thief video soon kitten D

I’ve actually came up with a fairly nasty way to keep someone locked down for what I think is 7-9 seconds (if Mesmer/Paralyze Sigil is working correctly in WvW).

Fairly easy combo to do as well.

Thank you all for all this information, I have learned a lot about s/d in a small amount of time. Love when the forums actually work.

That post from naighel has sparked my curiosity.

Does paralyze signit stack with runes of messmer? I don’t see why the shouldnt. And if not wouldn’t runes of messmer be a better choice?

It seems as if Daze duration is rounded up to 3s when you go above 2s. As a result, Rune of the Mesmer cannot improve your daze duration enough to make it go above 3s and see any effect I suppose.

Heck, I wonder if I could get the same effect with the 5% stun duration sigil instead of the 15% one XD But since they are all dirt cheap in the first place …

bomber.1540:

use 3 for … spike dmg

FS does less DPS than auto attack and thieves don’t have cooldowns as such, so it can’t be used as spike damage. If you want to trade a bit of damage for the other stuff it offers, cool, but it isn’t spike damage.