Guild Wars 2

In my experience it’s really only worth it to 1v1 other thieves. My exceptions are when I know for a fact that they are a glass cannon build or way under my skill level. Of course I break this rule every now and then to troll people off point or keep a point with evade spam, but you shouldn’t have to do that if you have a good team.

+1 for this, Hotjoin is even more of a joke than it should be.

My favorite is when someone on the losing team tells you you’re bad and then switches to your team…

I don’t play wvw so I can’t speak about that. However I’ve been using it in pvp and having much success, this could be because all the new builds and players but I feel like it is a great option for a more team-oriented power build. Spaming AOEs, weakness and finishers like nobody’s business. I don’t see it becoming meta though because S/D is much more smooth and efficient for that role.

Arcaedus.7290:

Basi venom + staff 2 steal (mug and daze) impairing daggers+ staff 5 is a really mean opener! :O

Take out the basi venom in that combo because its a waste of a stun when you have daze on steal. I dont use impairing daggers either, but I agree this combo surprised me how quickly I could down someone, but this is also taking advantage of a bug in staff 2+steal that allows you to stay still. So we will have to wait and see if this combo sticks around.

What heal skill are you using? Personally I use hide in shadows as opposed to the usual withdraw that people love for s/d, other than that try to utilize IS>SR to remove one and you can use shadowstep>SR to remove 3. I do agree that S/D is very vulnerable to condi spam since they can damage you through the countless evades. Maybe some extra vit would help too.

Marduh.4603:

Crimes.5317:

S/D combo: throw gunk>inf strike= good times

and 1 sec immobilize – 1 tick Throw Gunk – 600-700 damage.
Compared with other Stolen Skills Throw Gunk useless garbage.

You can get 2 or 3 ticks from that combo since you throw it before the IS. 2 or 3 conditions + 1.2k-1.8k. AOE damage (or more from condis) is not useless garbage. Sure it’s not the best stolen item but it has its uses, especially in team fights.

S/D combo: throw gunk>inf strike= good times

Xsorus.2507:

B ) Attempt to burst them and then have to down them twice because of freaking OP res spirit.

Gee, you mean someone resetting the fight on you is annoying?

Yeah sure I can reset whenever, but that means I have to leave the point which basically is a lose for thief and everyone knows it. They can however stay on point with an extra life, and if there is 2 spirit rangers you can just forget about downing them.

I can’t even enjoy tpvp anymore because there is always 2-4 spirit rangers in every single match now, Thief is the only class I play, I have basically no counter to them unless I A ) sit there with my SB attempting to whittle down all of their spirits (which by the time I finish one spirit their team mate usually shows up) or B ) Attempt to burst them and then have to down them twice because of freaking OP res spirit. (again which can take a while and gives them time to wait for backup). This is if I even survive their constant pressure damage. This build is most definitely OP.

I read somewhere that the 6th scholar rune is only worth it if you can stay above 90% hp for 25% of the fight which isn’t hard to do if you run full glass build, if you are looking for a more balanced build then I would go for Lyssa, Divinity, Wurm, or Orbs.

Edit: BTW Rage is garbage even with 100% fury uptime.

I thoroughly enjoy this build, however it has an extremely high skill ceiling, more than any other thief build IMO. This build is meant for players that have a true understanding of game mechanics and all other classes and builds to be used at it’s full potential.

I have to agree with Jumper on this one, for the fact that you’re gimping your damage so much to have a support build when another class would fit that goal better. Sure your build will do more damage over time since you will survive longer, (also giving your opponent plenty of breathing room to pop their heal, re-cover boons, and call for backup) but I don’t see the point when you could invest in CS and have the burst damage that can down someone at 50% hp almost instantly.

10/30/0/0/30 S/D + SB full zerk is the build I use, same boon steal abilities but will hit like a truck, it can absolutely ruin a bunkers day, letting you cap that point that much faster and potentially winning the match. Sorry to be biased but for me CS is just too good not to take for competitive play.

But hey, if you can make it work, more power to ya!

style.6173:

Sword really isn’t that great. Sure, a great player will be dangerous with it (as with any weapon set), but it still isn’t as strong as d/d or d/p.

Doggie.3184:

Sword has some awesome survival, annoyance and agility now. It has no burst though and still has difficulty taking down some sustain builds.

Running full GC S/D build I rarely lose to D/D or D/P in tpvp unless they catch me off guard at 50% health while fighting someone else.

Sword/Dagger is on par with D/D spike now, maybe even better because you don’’t have to rely on stealth and can steal boons. Or maybe I’m just one of those good players XD.

Epic Beast.5189:

Nilgoow.1037:

I am pvp rank 72 and currently number 1, 4 and 9 on NA leaderboards (I have 3 accounts). P/P is probably the best.

not sure if ure serious or trolling can u explain your opinion?

^ I second this, I have never seen a Thief use P/P in tpvp but then again I’m not as experienced as Nilgoow claims to be (although I don’t see your name on the leader boards.)

From my experience most Thieves either go D/D or D/P in tournaments for the highest burst damage possible with backstab, fulfilling the role of roamer and able to down enemies almost instantly.

Personally I use S/D, while others make the claim that the damage is too low (Yet Flanking Strike does slightly less damage than Backstab + a built in evade) I find it much more sturdy and highly underrated for tpvp, I have about 50 tourny wins using it.

First post here! Just some thoughts I had to improve Thieves non stealth abilities, specifically traps. Keep in mind mostly speaking in context of pvp and wvw.

Let’s face it, currently our trap skills are just lackluster compared to the mobility and stealth options we have for utilities. Why waste a utility on a trap when you can go with the tried and true SR, SS, and SoS.

Traps triggering are bugged currently and their size pales in comparison to rangers 120 radius traps. If their size were increased or changed to a radius like ranger’s (and they actually trigger correctly) would alone increase the viability of traps.

On top of that our traits for traps, well there’s only 3 of them and:

Corrosive Traps: pretty bad even for 5 stacks of vulnerability they only last 5 seconds.

Merciful Ambush: an ambush trap when your downed will basically do nothing for you besides prolong your death against a skilled player.

Master Trapper: your basic 20% cooldown reduction

Personally i need more incentive than that to get rid of my life saving shadow refuge or shadow step. One of these could be a Grand master trait.

My suggestions:
Explosive Traps: Traps deal additional damage (slightly weaker than mug damage)

Trap Artist: Gain 2 initiative when you use a trap skill.

Call for Duty: Place an ambush trap when you use a heal skill. (this thief would only last 10-15 seconds)

Thoughts?