Guild Wars 2

Hi all!

I got a question regarding Dagger/Pistol builds – which one do you think is the strongest, and why? Do you think they serve different roles or should be used in different situations? What runes/sigils are you running and why?

So here are the builds:

Deadly Arts: 6/0/2/0/6
Good condition removal, long immobilize, good burst, free stealth at 25% hp, Improvisation and trickery.

Critical Strikes: 2/6/0/0/6
Very good burst, access to Haste, a bit more health, trickery.

I run Critical Strikes most of the time. I feel it has its place in soloq where there are little organized play and you’ll usually roam between fights and gank people at 50% health. What this build lack are condition removal. There’s none really… What it do offer is insanely good low health burst. Well timed I can almost one shot a mesmer (heartseeker -> backstab -> steal + fire and air proc) or any other squishy profession. I run with Ogre runes and fire + air sigils.

I feel like Deadly Arts are more team oriented. Getting immobilized at 50% health and focused in a team fight is usually the end for most professions. This do require teamwork and focus targeting. Improvisation is one of the main reasons I choose this build from time to time. It is one of the strongest traits in the game imo. I sometimes choose revealed training over panic strike when in soloq because of the extra damage boost while revealed (which is quite noticable). What I don’t like is the loss of presicion… Haven’t played too much around with this build, which is why I am bringing this up here.

So what are the community’s thoughts?

As i said in the other thread, i very very much prefer 60206. The overall DPS is about the same as crit strikes, its just the burst is lower. however because of the weakness, condi clear, and long lasting immob you dont have to spend as much time playing defensively in shortbow, which translates into more damage. you cant really show it on paper, but its there. And now you can actually win fights vs builds you would have no chance at with 26006. Getting a panic strike off on a thief in SR, or a mesmer right before they stealth is also huge and easily translate into more burst than 26006. Not to mention double shadowstep/refuge has saved my kitten countless times. I really think there is no point to run 26006 anymore at all

I actually disagree with your assessment. 26006 is better for teamfights IMO because the burst allows you to instadown people and cleave hard. It offers a lot more damage than 60206, about 5-10% more above 50% health and 25-30% under seems like a good estimate. 60206 on the other hand is much better for 1v1s and side point fighting, and less for teamfights. In teamfights the only purpose is to immob and then shortbow spam because it lacks the spike and has the same sustain as crit strikes in a teamfight. In a side node fight however, it’s much better because vs and engi or ele you can cleanse the burns in stealth while immobing so that your necro/engi partner can condi bomb.

This is an interesting question. I have recently started trying to learn thief, so I am no expert. I have used both builds about equally by now. I find that both have their different benefits.

Panic Strike is really great when it works out but has a lot of rng built in build. Improvision is so strong when it works but it is not reliable at all. Also when bursting I found that backstab dmge is rng. does not crit nearly as much as i would want it to, and does bad damage when it does not crit. The 2 in SA helps out A LOT for surviving and lets this build be a little forgiving. The imob is great when it lands especially in team fights.

As for Crit Strikes, the burst is A LOT higher imo. Your backstabs crit reliably now, and do more dmge when they crit. When coordinating bursts with mesmer, you can “one shot” more targets because of more reliable backstabs. I think the sustain dmge is also higher, unless your forced to play defensively. Even though you loose out on a lot of condi removal from SA, you also have a lot in normal theif build. Hide in Shadows removes the hard hitting DOT condies (burns, bleeds, posion). And shadow step can be used to cleanse if necessary.

If you choose crit strikes you loose some condi clense, free stealth at 25% hp (really valuable imo), random recharges, and the imob ofcrs.
If you choose deadly arts you loose reliable spike dmge, “one shot” potential with cordinated mesmer burst.

It seems like you loose more if you run crit strikes, but imo crit strikes is the way to go if you play theif in tpvp. Yes, you do gain a lot of survivability from panic strike build but it is not your job to survive as a theif. Your job as a theif is to spike down targets, and crit strikes does this better. You have to consider the imob as well, i think in some situations it is completely useless but in others it determines which side wins the encounter. If you could control when it proc’d i would like this better. Panic Strike build is more forgiving but Crit Strikes does the job better.
(keep in mind i have limited hours on thief)

Am looking forward to hearing other opinions on this subject

I think 26006 has better burst but less overall Dow because targets move…

I’ve been really liking 62006. I run rage runes on armor and devourer venom.

10s immob is a pita without a clear.

They are both team oriented, why not try D/p 6/6/0/0/2?
rumors says it is a viable build also but a lot of risk and reward involve, even in S/d works as well.

Your job as a theif is to spike down target

And this, refrain your self for being a Rambo.

Chapell.1346:

Cynda Quil.3520:

Your job as a theif is to spike down target

And this, refrain your self for being a Rambo.

. . .err, what?

66002 or 56003 don’t work so well because of the lack of stability rip. Thief ripping stab is pretty much must have in pvp these days.

The devourer plus panic strike is a 10s immob and usually destroys engi and mesmer as they usually don’t have on demand clears.

I think the best burst with decent survivability is the 56003 but targets can easily escape.