Guild Wars 2

edamber.1549:

I’m actually abit scared of the recent patches. Ppl cried about HS spam , it got nerfed. Ppl cried about PW spam, it got nerfed. Now the whiners starts focusing on backstab and LDB, I feel ANET is listening to them and might render the thief a useless class. And as others have stated before, nerfing PW damage wasn’t the right way to go about it.

I don’t see why they would nerf DB. The best thing about it tho is the evade on it with some timing can be used to evade a bunch of stuff when you run out of endurance. Damage isn’t THAT good to get nerfed imo.

Alright. Everything boils down to positioning and the timing on your condition remover/s.
You have to decide if you want to try and dodge the first wave of bleeds or remove them and if he pops Caltraps I would suggest removing them once you’re out of that area.

If you only have one condition remove this is when it gets tricky, now you have to time your dodges well when the thief uses DB. Depending on the thiefs build he can do several things while low on initiative here, I myself use P/P and can still stack bleeds on my target, not as many unless I pop a stealth utility. Point being, the bleed damage from here on until he goes D/D is pretty low so here is when you should unload as much damage as possible imo.

He decides to come close to burn all initiative on DB again, time your dodges for when he’s spinning and if you’re really fast on any knockbacks you can try and time it when he lands to gain some distance, DB has a REALLY short leap so any distance will buy you time.

So basically, have a plan on when to do what, don’t use all your dodges and then remove conditions, that will just screw you over. Don’t stand in Caltraps and use any knock backs wisely. This build is meant to outlast its opponent. Play smart!

EDIT
You can watch my videos down below if you wanna see some bleeding action from my PoV and maybe you can learn a thing or two! The one linked here is a 9 min long PvP montage, in the beginning there’s a link to a shorter one where I duel a Guardian. Good duels!

You’re welcome. Hope you enjoy the build The main diffrence betwene the two builds are that the one im using in the first movie is more stealth oriented and squishier, so I would recommend the build from the shortef guaridan duel clip to begin with

Hello!

I can see why one would get bored by that setup. I would recommend playing either the more normal D/D P/D which I personally think is worse then D/D P/P which i’m running. I bet you also feel quite glass cannony with that HP pool.

The idea behind it is basically the same, spend your initiative on DB, swap weapon in melee with geomancy rune on weapon to apply those bleeds. When using P/P you would want to keep your distance and bleed up with #1 and spend utillitys to either stealth or bleed more with. Headshot heals if they have castable heals or big damage dealing abillitys. With this build, every time you swap weapon you get ini back and also every time you stealth you get ini back. And when you steal you get vigor which makes you even “tankier” when used correctly.

Once you have 80% of your initiative back, go back into melee, swap to D/D and spend all ini on DB and repeat. Very basic and there are plenty of situations where you would have to do differently. This IMO makes for a interesting play style where you have to act on the fly with weapon swaps and stealths to get ini back or Heatshot a important ability or stomp and so on.

The upside to running P/P imo is Headshot, which can save your life if you burn all ini to daze til you run out of line of sight or daze them til they bleed to death.
Black powder is amazing for tanking and kittening backstabbers over in general.
You can also combo from Black powder with HS and gain stealth if needed which has saved me more then often.

You can watch my video down below for some in-game action, a 9 min pvp movie and in the beginning of it there’s a link to my newer shorter clip where I duel a decent guardian, check them out to see how the build works.
Different builds on both videos and they are linked in description.

Amulet is Carrion with Carrion jewel.
1434 passive condition damage.
5/6 rune of the affected
1/6 rune of the krait, since we’re not planing on dying now are we ;P
Geomancy and corruption on both weaponsets.

Good luck =)

You could go with some condition build. You have to work harder for your kills tho ^^ I have a link to the build on my youtube pvp movie down below. I’m running D/D P/P and it works just fine for me =)

TheGuy.3568:

Good duels. I play P/D myself and it plays kind of like that (except I sit on near full initiative half the time lol) But I have to ask shadow refuge in PvP? Usually most players aoe the area or I will dagger storm or pull out my bow and poison the area. wouldn’t blinding power or the initiative signet (which shadow steps you toward him and breaks stun but probably only work with P/D to set up C& D to sneak attack.) Work a little more fluid?

Thanks. What did you think of the modest editing?
Yes, shadow refuge, as Ens pointed out,

Shadow refuge is one of thief’s key utilities in pvp. It has let me cloak and revive teammates countless times (and is responsible for much of my rage when a spamming noob breaks the stealth i give him and gets stomped).

,it has great utility and the combo with projectiles that has a life steal which is neat and frequently used on my part and has a small heal, but with the spec i’m currently running 0, 0, 10, 30, 30 so the heal is pretty nice.

Yes people will AoE the refuge, more then often you can still stay in it and out of the AoE. I rarely use shadow refuge as a pure defensive cool down to hide in. About the initiative signet, i don’t like the randomness in it, aka every 10 sec. I prefer a reliable on demand initiative when stealthing.
I’m trying to stay out of melee range for as much as possible while I don’t have any initiative so that I don’t take unnecessary damage, unless it’s a ranger :P
And when I’m in melee BD can be used as a evade as well which works with that concept.
Hope I answered everything.

@Emerge.9640 Wont let me edit, but i’m running

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Emerge.9640:

Our builds look like they’re very similar.
What’s your build? Assassins reward w/ Signet of Malice and Runes of Vampirisim returns tons of health.

It’s a good build for sure! True that, although personally I prefer the utility that Hide in shadows brings, but yes your right. It heals for a tone!
Any feedback on the video in general?

Eliteseraph.4970:

The editing seems good. You avoided using too many crazy special effects or covering the screen with useless info. I liked seeing when the guardian removed conditions. I didn’t like seeing DB spammed so much. I know it’s how dagger thieves apply bleeds, but there were a couple times there where you drained your init and didn’t have many options. I’m not an expert on D/D, but it seems like leaving yourself with such low init is a bad idea.

Other than that it was a nice short and clean vid.

Thanks for the feedback! I will make another lengthy with these sort of effects and maybe some commentary so i’m glad you liked it =)

You’re right, on occasions I shouldn’t have used all initiative on DB due to bad timing or dodges on his part, I do it to force condition removers and I can still apply bleeds without initiative and gain 3 initiative from weapon swapping and 4 on heal which is 9/10 times used after swapping to P/P and another 2 from gaining stealth so I can get it back on demand.

Ghonta.3958:

I also play condition thief, and yeah, it really sucks that db take so much init, but with caltrops and stealth you can pretty much run away and kite if you are in danger, like Nande was doing. Pretty nice video!

Thanks! =)
Yea, you can usually get away with your utility and wait for your heal, if you cant stealth you could spend initiative on headshot til you can find cover, or black powder for that matter.
And yes, the caltraps cripple is pretty strong!

Dee Jay.2460:

Cool stuff, PvP is actually a lot more fun if it takes a little effort to overcome your enemies.

But then again, most maps wouldn’t work if killing someone would take 30 seconds every time.

Glad you enjoyed it, yeah defo. That’s why I prefer this build and have played it since beta.

You’re right, although if you’re playing as a team you can force conditions removers more rapidly and then go all out and bleed them down quickly.
But yes I know what you mean!

Condimancers even tho I got 2 condition removers I usually end up using them on my own bleeds :p Win some lose some!

Hello!

I ran across this guardian when I was recording the other day and we had two IMO pretty sweet duels and just wanted to show it of and get some feedback on the editing mainly.
Was trying to show what was going on for anyone that maybe doesn’t know what to look for or what’s happening in general.

Hope you enjoy! Leave some feedback =) ty!

Cya til you think the game is easier to learn to play!

New 100 blades! :P Nice play and good build.
Blurried Frenzy so annoying, cant even interrupt the ability. Sigh.

P/P is fine as it is. Works just fine as utility weapon with decent bleeds. It’s not supposed to be a ranged pistol whip :P

Just for the fun of it I’ll fill in the skills for a thief’s rifle as well!

1 – Stealthed – Calm shot: Fires a medium damage round that removes 2 boons and dazes your target for 1 second. 1200 range.

1 – Quick scope: 3 combo shot, mediocre damage. Third shot cripples foe for 2 seconds. 1200 range.

2 – Crippling round: (4 ini) Mediocre damage, cripples foe for 4 seconds and reduces healing by 33% for 10 seconds. 1200 range.

3 – Ranged round: (5 ini) Heavy damage, deals more damage the further away you are and damage is increased if target is crippled/slowed. 1200 range.

4 – Tactical retreat: (5 ini) Low damage, fires a flashing round that confuses (2 stacks) targets in a cone in front of the thief for 5 seconds, jumps back during the shot and evades for 1 second. 200 flash range, 150 jump range.

5 – Flesh wound: (4 ini) Medium damage, heavy bleed damage (2 stacks). Adds weakness to your target. 1200 range

There we go! That was fun :P Good or bad idk I would personally like more reliable cripples as a thief! Guess you can tell by now lol!

2 decent guardians defending a node and ressing downed players 24/7, any one else? Not that it happens super often but the frustration when you cant kittening stomp anyone T.T

Good post and I agree. Al tho I don’t feel that neglected yet since it’s only been out what, a month or so? But yes I do agree with you.

Lonja.1034:

8v8 should be gone with. It is too zergy and requires little to no strategy while promoting class unbalance.

False. It’s not a numbers game, WvWvW is. You just have to focus more on your part in general instead of having a team strategy that all of you follow.

I pretty much swap on CD h3h3. Could be the way you are playing the game and not the games fault.

Nargaroth.1482:

I think the game is fine too.. I was angry in the beginning just like you, but once you swallow those tears and learn how to play you will notice the balance

Yeah defo, I could use a few nerfs here and there but overall the game is pretty well balanced tbh. Once you learn the game =)

Um, wont let me edit my post again, but somehow my youtube link linked to something else O_O No idea how that happened. Oh well, changed it back now at least!

I want to say l2p, and someone’s butt hurt. But I have to agree on a few points. Also nerf guardians. God kitten :P

Interesting, my first thought was “Might work decent in sPvP but would not bring that much to the table tournament wise”. IMO I think it’s to all out on ini regen, you can still stack bleeds with stealth utilitys with pistol main (I prefer P/P but P/D seems to be fotm for w.e reason I will never understand) and that brings some utility to your team as well.

I can easily stack 25 bleeds on a target with my build too but with utilitys, blinding powder, shadow refuge that can be used in numerous situations.

Just my thoughts! =)

You could use sony vegas, that’s what I was using to make my video that you can find down below. My fisrt ever PvP movie aswell, you can look at that and see what I did wrong in your oppinion then apply what you have learned to your video

Ya it’s a pretty solid build :P That’s why I said P/P is underestimated :P Headshot is just plain awesome in many situations and doesn’t have a CD and black powder bring sweet utility to team fights and decent defensive ability.

I don’t like the Idea of spending ini on going stealth and putting up Sneak attack bleeds since they are shorter then DB, which means DB is stronger for the same cost pretty much so I prefer the utility of P/P =) I would rather spend a stealth utility for sneak attack or just wait up my ini so I can swap back to D/D for stronger bleeds :P IMO ofc.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Bleed-Thief-D-D-P-P-PvP-movie/first#post305683

My take on bleed thief!

Hello!
So I made this pvp video on my down time when I had no internet a while back and just forgot to post it here really, but here it is! Done a few tweaks here and there but the main idea to it is still the same! Hope you enjoy!

No idea how to properly embed it, gave up.

During Beta I was fed up with any sort of Bursty-gimick build, so I was playing around with a few builds and stumbled upon this bleed build with D/D & P/P, going all out for as much invis utility, with stun breakers and shadow steps and condition damage.
Me and my buddy was working on this build quite a lot and this is the end product, in my opinion an solid build that fairs well vs every class and is not “cool down” dependent nor cheesy.
You need to play smart tho, this is NOT a run in, spam one key and win build.
Your rotation will generally look something like this:

1. Spend all your ini on Death blossom and get as many bleeds up as possible.
2. Swap to P/P within melee range so your weapon rune will bleed them even more.
3. Spend as many utility skills as you want to go invis and use #1(P/P) from invis which bleeds up your target more, keep your distance and take minimal damage and let your bleeds do the work for you. You can also interrupt heals and kills here which is neat.
4. Wait til you get enough Ini to bleed your target up more with Death Blossom, swap within melee range so your runes bleed them up too.
5. Rinse and repeat!

Build can be found in description.

Might make another one sometime int he future with better highlighs and showing of the utility P/P brings to the table since people seem to underestimate that set quite a lot.

Also sorry for any typos in the actually movie if there are any!
Feedback is appreciated.
Thanks and hope you enjoy it!

Hm, tricky. I don’t think it’s needed tbh, you can still get away with it in most situations. I think having one free stunbreaker seems pretty strong, maybe a bit to strong. We got plenty of utility skills that breaks stuns already.

And I dont really know evat you mean risk vs reward, it’s just all about planing really. If you know the say warrior has bullcharge up and you got one stilen item you better use it so you can stun break with steal or dodge like a boss. Imo

Was okey. If you want to improve you could try and time things to your music, some cute special effects, zoomins etc. Because right now it just feet a few clips thrown toggether you know?

Kerp making them if you enjoy it.

Sure, it’s easy to counter. Still doesn’t justify making it usable on the move.

Would you like to see a warrior running about with 100 blades? Thought not.

Konvoy.6245:

I’ll check out your vid.. i also might make a death blossom build video to show how i build it, which i think is pretty kitten. It’s just the general playstyle of building around death blossom is boring for me ><

You should make one, because why not really. I’ve done some changes here and there to the build from when I recorded that but will probably make another one soon.

That might be because you’re snowed in on DB being your only damage dealer and not playing with your other weapons set and the utility that brings to the table. IMO!

Snuff.4172:

it should be but for reasons other then what you are thinking. Dealth blossom spec sucks long term and is horrid against a good player. It is only good against general noobs, I personally LOVE seeing a death blossom thief engage me…. I evade the blossoms and roll him.

Then that would make him a general noob.

Konvoy.6245:

Hmm fair enough. Out of curiosity don’t you find death blossom spam boring? I mean for me it was fun at first, but after a while i just couldn’t stand being able to spam one button and be that effective. It’s a joke. Unless you’re fighting condition removal build then it’s just frustrating.

It all depends on the player you’re up against, if he’s good he’ll put up with more of a fight and you have to play smart. Cant just really spam all DB on a target and hope he dies cuz he wont, if he’s good. Al tho some class canon builds doesn’t have much to say really.

I can only talk for myself here really but I use P/P when i’m low on ini and it brings a lot of utility and great bleeds with stealth. Headshot being one of my favourite ability out there.
So I hardly just “spam one button” at all. Just look at my pvp vid down below :P.

Devildoc.6721:

you have shortbow for ranged condition damage and honestly more utility.

I disagree, P/P has more utility with headshot and black powder, both can be used in numerous situations with great success, while infiltrators arrow and the dodge really only do on thing each.

Vexus.5423:

No.

I agree, it’s a no.

There’s no need at all to change DB. If you feel like you need more survivability as a backstaber maybe you should consider another build mr glass canon.

Really. just… Sigh >.>

Your P/P suggestion would ruin my ranged condition damage completely. Also Head shot is probably the most underrated and underused utility ability out there. I ALWAYS use it at least once on every enemy in sPvP and tournaments.

evilapprentice.6379:

Its not about being perfect, its about being properly designed. Why would D/D have 3 abilities that are directly affected by power/crit, and one that relies entirely on Condition damage? Should I stack condition damage at detriment to my other 3 abilities? Should I just ignore DB because i’m all power/crit?

Sneak attack is pistol mainhand, not P/P specific – P/D is massively superior primarily because Unload is a useless skill for a condi Build (in addition to no way to gain stealth and the delicious sneak attack), which pistol mainhand Screams loudly.

Speaking from a PvP standpoint, there is very little mixing and matching of condi/direct damage for thief (maybe other classes differ, I don’t know). Attrition specs work for other classes, but not so well for thief. We can’t win a war of attrition because our main survival mechanic (stealth), stops us from capping points. I can survive a -long- time in my build by milking my stealth, but I give up the cap point to the other team, and that just doesnt work.

Yes it is! It’s about your sense of perfect weapon set. AL tho I understand you and why you are questioning this. Thing is, if you make every weapon set have a clear role there in the end will be one build that’s superior to another and I don’t think that’s what anet wants.

Also I have to disagree on P/D being better for bleed builds, imo P/P does a lot better, with headshot for daze/interupt and black powered for occasional “tanking” while waiting for ini. I don’t wanna go into melee more then I have to when waiting for ini really. But yes I don’t really need unload for condition builds but it’s nice to have but very situational.

Yes I agree that it’s a kitten that we cant really hold or cap a node while utilizing stealth but we where never supposed to act as node holders now were we :P

Or just go with some sort of condition remover! I give a kitten about pistol whip and it should get nerfed. Vs good people in tournament it’s pretty hard to keep conditions up on people tbh so I have a hard time understanding why you’re having massive problem with it.

Also the evade is slightly shorter then a dodge if i remember correctly.

Agree with above. Did you guys consider that they deliberatly didn’t make a perfect weapon set so that players could come up with new/different and interesting builds?

Also I could not disagree more on hs and cnd not being used as condition thief, I would rather use 2 hs the one db when someone is about to die. Still does decent dmg.

Also p/p is a awesome set to swap to when your out of ini imo, and worls perfectly with a condition build. Sneak attack is boss! Rest of the weapon set is full of great utility that are super situational.

I would just cry if p/p became another burst build. Thiefs do have enough of imbalanced burst. We do NOT need ranged burst.

Basicly I think the sets are fine the way they are, they don’t have to be a perfect to be good and that opens up options for interesting builds.

Al tho I dislike dancing dagger, kitten expencive cripple!

It’s not useless at all, it removes conditions! PPlus you can combo with it to get regeneration. You should really look into the abilitys before you start claiming that they’re useless.

Headshot not worth it? Are you for real haha, I cant count how many times I’ve used it to daze people to death while bleeding or interrupted cast heals so that they die a few seconds after. Al tho the ini cost is pretty high for it, but they way i’m using it it should defo stay at that cost :P

I guess it compliments my bleed build a lot. I’m rarely ever use Unload, only to combo with regeneration pretty much.

P/P is perfectly fine for condition builds, i’m using D/D & P/P.

You can check the gameplay out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKHdpbyNpVU&feature=plcp

And the build is in the description!

Check my youtube video out, i’m running D/D & P/P bleed build. Build in description! Cheers

Anyone else having to log on there mail and go through that process every time when you’re logging in?
It’s getting on my nerves :P

Right, i’m just going to get to the point straight away, I’ve been playing bleed thief for quite a while and you should check the pvp movie/video w.e you wanna call it out.

I’m using D/D & P/P. And you can apply a bunch of bleeds with pistols without spending Ini, just utility stealths. The build is in the description on youtube there!

I’ve tried using D/D and SB but I prefer the utility from P/P + the additional bleeds you can stack with P/P. Headshot is awesome for interrupting heals and just for daze.

Cheres and gl

Pretty sure Attack increases bleed aswell slightly. I bleed people for 120

Just gear, that doesn’t happen i sPvP so yeah. Gear and levels :p

Y u leak hidden secret =(

What they could do instead is add a trait somewhere that changes steal and makes it meduim range instead of melee without the teleport at all, or maybe roll hou back instead. A return telepor seems way to strong combined with the rest of the mobility we have.