Guild Wars 2

I just want to thank FA, in particular [BURN] [TFS] and [TUNE] for spawn camping in OS for a good hour. Nothing quite says sportsmanship like a 12v1. I look forward to fighting you on more even terms.

Hey there,

So I recently made the jump to a stealthless s/d build in wvw both because I’m sick of the “stealth is op” qq and for something new. I instantly fell in love with 30 points in trickery for daze on steal, and trolololing with all of the teleports and evades. However, I’m at a point where I would really like to fine tune my build, and would like some advice.

Firstly I should state that I’m running zerker weapons / trinks and full valkyrie armor, which I am not sure is the optimal setup for running s/d

I started running 0/20/0/20/30 for feline grace, which led to a very very survivable build. However, I found myself having issues applying enough pressure in 1vx situations. I recently adapted to 0/30/10/0/30 which certainly has the damage the keep strong pressure going, but now I find myself missing the extra evades, and getting downed far more often. I have toyed with 0/25/0/15/30 in my head, keeping the 10% dmg above 6 initiative (but losing executioner) in order to grab feline grace. But I worry trying to get the best of both worlds will ultimately kitten both pressure and survivability. I’m curious: what do you guys/gals run in Wvw when sticking to stealthless s/d and why?

TL;DR: I’m a s/d thief in wvw who wants to keep 30 points in trickery and is having trouble nailing down the rest of the build for downing power while keeping survivability. Thoughts? Critique?

Current setup:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=Vd;4Vwk0-U5BOFd0;9;5T9-T;105A3;314BCNk0;2ytbUytbUn-FvF6-6;2VhVlWqXv21475230C-2q;5F-03k-0B;9;9;9;9;7VT-6l

Well, that is something that I already mentioned in my post. I think it’s a fairly lackluster argument as I am not suggesting that we turn the gw2 mesmer into the gw1 version. I’m merely thinking that the mesmer is and has always been about control and forcing opponents to consider their actions. I find phantasms to be very boring in terms of gameplay. They are essentially pets that do high damage skills on predictable intervals, which isn’t very immersive. I’d just like to see mesmers having the capability to make their opponents think in order to outplay them beyond the “hey there’s three of me” and the wet noodle that is confusion. Nor do I think changes such as these would fundamentally change the mesmer at all, other than having the playstyle be a tad more intricate. Once again, changes like these will likely never be implemented, BUT I am not asking for guildwars 1 back.

Hello my pink butterfly-ey friends,

I don’t have a lot of time to articulate this thought, as I am at work but I was considering an idea on the state of mesmers in gw2 as compared to gw1. I see a lot of complaints from veteran gw1 players about how the gw2 mesmer doesn’t feel like the same class we all knew and loved. While I completely agree with the sentiment, gw2 is a very very different beast, and the odds of the mesmer resembling its earlier incarnation are slim to none. However, I think there are ways to keep the flavor of the current gw2 mesmer, with a dash of the old reactionary based fighting style.

It dawned on me at work today, what if we had conditional phantasms? Bear with me on this. Phantasms in the current form are incredibly boring (in my opinion) and really take a lot of the thinking out of the fight. Sure you have to position them correctly, but asides from that they pew pew and things die. But what if there were conditions to be met in order for the pew pewing to being? Let’s use the Gw1 skill Backfire as an example. In gw1 backfire was a hex that caused the enemy to take damage whenever casting a spell. What if we had a phantasm (such as iduelest) caused more damage than currently, but only if/when opponents were casting a spell? Another example could be the gw1 hex: clumsiness, which caused the enemy to fall over and take damage whenever using an auto-attack. Something like iswordsman would make sense here as it could leap in on an auto-attack and cause a knockdown.

Granted, I know this is all a pipe-dream, but I much prefer the mesmer as a reactionary class as opposed the proactive class it is now. Mesmers our supposed to make enemies consider their actions carefully, and with the current state of confusion we just don’t have the capability to do so. This will likely never happen, but I wonder what you guys think?

[edit] I should make clear that i don’t actually think or mean to suggest that something like this will/should be implemented. I just think it’s an interesting thought.

Sooooooo, pretty nice weather in EB today eh?

I love Deceptive Evasion for all the reasons levitas states, as well as for general disorientation of the enemy (I’m in stealth a lot) also sharper images is a must in my opinion. The 20 points domination is all personal preference. I use it for the condition removal on torch skills so I don’t have to use as many util slots/runs or sigils to have adequate condition removal. That being said if you account for condition removal a condi build would still work fine without the 20 in dueling, but I believe 80% condition duration is the magic number for burns if you are interested in that sort of thing, but im not sure.

Still for shatter a mixture of knights valkyrie and cavalier gear will help. Also as stated above osicat is definitely worth watching. Sorry about the mispost.

Also Vash is worth watching, he tends to run full zerker or close to. He has some video guides as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEbLzhQsjJI

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsf7alwzKqHTTqGb9IhpH9O4AnkiS/6SKwduB-j0DBINJDrZQ0UAw0CKjUHBKHqIaslgRrKKIVXhVJLyqbYKYJVHDwcbIamcpWIgFzBA-w

What do you think about something like this? Still testing and playing around with it. With some quick trait swaps it’s still effective with a staff. I usually run staff sword/focus in zergs. Im still on the fence about losing deceptive evasion. Thanks for all your input thus far!

Hex

Hey there,

I’m back with an update, and of course more questions. A big thank you to all who have contributed so far.

I tweaked my build and this is what I’ve got so far.

Giver’s Sword of Earth/ Giver’s Torch of corruption
(will likely switch earth to doom due to low crit chance)
Giver’s Scepter of doom / Giver’s pistol of corruption

Rabid armor / trinkets (currently all exotic while I regear)

20 (V, IX)
20 (II, IX)
30 (IV, V, XII)
0
0

I’m running with Ether Feast, Blink, Decoy, and Null Field.
Edit: I should add that I run with null field instead of arcane thievery in order to stack confusion with iduelest or for a combo field for prestige blast

Dropping the staff for the pistol has definitely given me more burst / steady application of bleeds due to sharper images, but at a loss of a huge amount of survivability provided from the staff. I feel like in 1v1 I have a much higher ability to get the stomp, but in group fights / 1vx I’m still having trouble keeping the pressure on.

So I suppose here are my questions: Thoughts on the build? Is it truly worth losing sharper images to put 20 points into inspiration for +200 condi damage? I also find myself torn between three weapon sets: staff, scepter/pistol, and sword/torch. They all seem to function in a condition build just fine, but I’m having a hard time striking a balance between condition pressure and killing power.

Please let me know what you think?

Hex

The scepter certainly lacks the reliable snaring and burst that the sword can offer, but how do you feel loosing out on the torment/confusion stacks? Though the block can be difficult to land, torment hits like a truck when specced for conditions.

Perhaps I’m just used to the insane burst from shatter gameplay, but I find myself wanting more burst because in 1vx I feel like I cannot pressure an opponent who is trying to rez a downed teammate enough to prevent the rez. I’m fond of the damage over time play style, in fact I prefer it, I just don’t feel like I have adequate stopping power right now. It could certainly also be an issue of skill.

Hey guys and gals,

I recently made the jump from shattery-goodness and took fancy to running a condition build in wvw (roaming and small-group play). Currently I’m running 20/20/30/0/0 with scepter/torch & staff; full rabid gear. The build itself is great fun and hugely survivable, however I find the damage to be a tad lackluster. This is usually a non-issue in 1v1 situations where I can simply outlast most opponents and whittle them down with conditions, but in 1vx or small group settings I feel as though I’m not applying enough pressure. This could be because I have yet to acquire a new set of ascended gear for condition dmg, but I have been toying with the idea of swapping the staff for s/p for. I know that the staff is excellent for applying conditions, but I’m beginning to wonder if the on-demand damage from ileap to BF and on demand bleeds/confusion (using null-field) from iduelest would give my build the extra oomph it needs.

TLDR; In a condition build running in WvW is it worth losing the condition damage and survivability provided by the staff for the greater burst capabilities of a sword/pistol set?

Thanks!

/Hex

Tip of the hat to the nsp thief I dueled by Greenlake tower. It was a great, albeit frustrating, fight haha. Sorry to cut things short, had to log off.