Guild Wars 2

EremiteAngel.9765:

whats TDM and SH?

team death match and stronghold

I think it should give a buff to initiative regeneration during the effect (like another 1/2 per 10second) , otherwise its just our (as Sagat said) utilities and other skills that benefit from it

I remember reading/hearing from somewhere ( i think in the ele specializations) something about how if you are playing auramancer that if you get an aura procc’ed of the traits or a cantrip (Armor of Earth) that it actually acts like your utility version and not a “weaker” version for the purpose of activating traits that activate upon using said utilities

Have any of you heard the same for thieves? Things like Caltrops on dodge (Uncatchable) or Blinding Powder when using steal

Can someone confirm?

Been playing variations of D/P and having tons of fun, what are your guys opinion on DP compared to D/D? With a primary focus on backstab and getting the trait with 100% crit while stealthed, you could forgoe some precision gear to go more vit/toughness heavy gear since you get guranteed crits in stealth for backstab. Any thoughts?

katniss.6735:

It’s popular when you stop failing to use Evasive Arcana.

I dont see how great Evasive Arcana is tbh :S.
And yes i play D/D Ele

showatt.9413:

I can’t believe there are any reason other than daphenoix.

Honestly when a dude/girl post a bunch of video about himself/herself playing a certain class, goes on a murdererous rampage and decimate an entire platoon of people without dying, that class is going to become fotm for as long as they don’t nerf it to kansas.

I Believe you are misunderstanding what D/D does, he doesnt go on a murderous rampage, D/D bunker build is to output consistent damage but have so much survivability, that you outlast an opponent. If you watch closely (well with what ive seen from my own D/D experience and Dapheonix gameplay), we dont get killing sprees in a “platoon of people”, its hard to actually kill someone that is above 50% health in a group, let alone a group of half decent players at full health

D/D was always popular from Beta, different people had different tastes, the prevalent sets were D/D, S/D and staff and people normally stuck to a main set.
S/D saw play because of its potential 3 burst heals, (from attuning to water, water trident and cleansing wave), with aoe potential, it was hard to take down. Staff got out of flavor from the patch.
However, the day D/D went mainstream, was when someone who played an effecient D/D build and actually showcased it on youtube (@dapheonix)
The combos were easier to pull of than S/D (because burning speed into flame grab was faster and hit off an updraft) with short cooldown aoes that are forgiving for slight angle adjustments, retaining survivability in the form of auras, giving more EH to cover up for scepters more constant heals. IMO a 0/10/20/30/10 build focused on auras is alot stronger in terms of survivability and deals just as much dmg than a 0/10/0/30/30 that most D/D are running

Sword 1 chain hits up to 3? Didnt know that, cheers for that, primarily SB is used for me as a utility movement set, with infiltrators arrow and disabling shot, would love to try these out, but will have to lvl my thief alt

Presto.4726:

snip

Main reason for using Shortbow is because it has an amazing teamfight potential with the 15 in DA, with the poison weakness combo in WvWvW, but im guessing your main role with D/P S/D is roaming? What would you do in a defend the keep scenario? Do you just pick off targets?

I can see you forgoing the 20% recharge on Deceptions with the extra control and survivability S/D gives. Headshotting a major skill is an awesome feeling, i feel ya.

Also a question, do you use Withdraw? if you do, would you find it worthwhile to drop a trait for the Gain Vigor on heal?

Incurafy.6329:

I use D/P with 25/15/30/0/0 with Mug, Dagger Training, Side Strikes, Infusion of Shadow, Shadow’s Embrace and Shadow Rejuvenation.

My second set is either SB, S/P or S/D depending on my mood, although I like S/D the most.

That does sound like a killer build, a strong offensive, however im just too used to atleast 15 in acrobatics and Quick Recovery gotta get dem dodges!
How are you finding S/D set? It does seem pretty control/defensive oriented. Last i remember wasnt Flanking Strike a bit clunky to use?

Usually i have been an avid D/D user, however, seeing the change they made to Shadow Shot, i decided to give D/P a try, and given how im a theorycrafter, i also wanted to ask the community on the two builds i want to test and try out

Both use D/P and shortbow
Both use utilities Blinding Powder, Infiltrators Signet, Shadow Refuge
Both mostly have the same minor traits:
Blinding powder at 25% health
Stealth last 1s longer
Might for 15s when stealth
2s swiftness on evade
Dodge returns some endurance
Increases dmg 10% when endurance not full

Build 1: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYmiPncy9E+5EB3ji60mqfQm9M4qVB

15/0/30/25
Minor Traits:
Stealing applies poison 10s
Weaken targets whenever you poison them 3s

Major Traits:
Increase Poison duration 33%
Deception skills recharge 20% faster
Remove a condition every 3s in stealth
Regenerate health in stealth
Vigor on healing
Gain 2 ini every 10s

Build 2: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYmiPncy9E+5ExWhdy9woOtpdPwqWtKA

0/10/30/30
Minor Traits:
Crit chance is increased 5% when health is over 90%

Major Traits:
+7% chance to critical hit when hitting from behind/side
Gain 2 ini from stealthing
Remove a condition every 3s in stealth
Regenerate health in stealth
Move 50%faster in stealth
Heal yourself whenever u use a skill that uses ini
Gain 2 ini every 10s

Breakdown on differences:

So basically i read in a thread early, with Black Powder being really strong in blinding small groups of enemies, you will be mitigating alot of dmg when they are in the area, in the chance that you dont have BP around you, Build 1 offers alot of mitigation through 15 in the DA line, where stealing, chain 1 of your Dagger AA and Choking Gas from shortbow will apply poison (which lasts longer by 33%) and applies weakness. Build 2 doesnt have that sort of constant poison/weakness combo

Build 1 also gives faster Blinding Powder and Shadow refuge, no real explanation needed here, more survivability faster, but lacks ini gain from stealth with BP + heartseeker (which hopefully the +3 ini per 10 combo will help)

Build 1 will give vigor on health for 10s (if i remember) on a 15s health, so only a down time of 5 seconds, which allows a lot of dodging, however build 2 has 50% movespeed increase in stealth, allowing more favorable position in backstabs because i decided not to run signet of shadows for the 25% movespeed increase, and the heal from using skills that use ini means that you will be very hard to take down.

I cant decide whether which build would be better. I could take the 10 out of critical strikes line from build 2 and put it in DA, but without the 2nd minor, its not really that strong. If i only had 5 more skill points, life as my thief would be more easier, so whats your opinion?