Guild Wars 2

It’s situational, not black and white

Sword hits multiple enemies. It does a higher overall DPS to groups. Sure.

Dagger Dagger does higher overall DPS to a single target.

It’s not just bosses that need to be bursted quickly. Sometimes, amidst a group of mobs, you need high priority targets dead.

Sometimes, you need a desired result more than you need overall numbers to beat an encounter.

I would be remiss to not mention that sometimes, sword is better for that same reason.

It’s situational, not black and white.

Hey Gais,
So listen, I’ve been S/D for pretty much ever, before you even I wager. Like before closed beta and whatnot when I was giving advice on how to build this class to the devs at coffee shops. I’ve got all sorts of my own ideas on builds, in fact, I sell them to people sometimes because they are so good. Anyway, I’ve got this friend. He always liked backstabby builds and didn’t know sword existed in this game. Now he’s all like, jumping on dat bandwagon (which is super annoying to all of us S/D proVETswaggers).

Here’s the rub, I’m sick right now and the sun is in my eyes, so I cant access my huge database of amazing S/D builds.

Can you all help him out please? Much thanks. Us S/D pros who have always been need to look out, know what I’m sayin?

#sitdownDDconverts

“And he (warrior) is also ONE OF THE CANDIDATES OF RECEIVING THE BOON PUNISHMENT STYLE OF PLAY”

They didn’t say warriors are the number one candidate

HoTW pants
T3 chest
rawhide mask
T2 shoulder
Duelist gloves
Whisper boots
Dyes: Abyss, Celestial, Midnight Red

I’m in the same situation of starting. I finally have enough laurals to buy an amulet. Can someone explain how you get gear with AR on it? I read that amulets will get an AR infusion sometime. Should I hold off on infusing the amulet I buy? WOuld AR be an offensive, defensive, or utility infusion slot?

I’m between the full zerk amulet, or the zerk amulet with a bit of vitality as the last stat. I’m running 0 / 30 / 10 / 25 / 5 right now. http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mck9ixapVzoqVca

Its a bit different, but it focuses on dodging more than stealth. Infusion of shadow insures I can rotate CnD and backstab continuously. I’ve been thinking about getting Pain Response in acrobatics (30) instead of the 5 into trickery.

Utilities, I like the signet of agility for the precision (which gives me more HP) and condition removal. The other utilities I swap around a lot.

Zatone – 6/10. I may be biased, but i’m not a huge sylvari fan. However, I like the color combo. I am also a fan of headgear of some sort (how would a mask or eye patch look?). Also, the boots stick out to me since the thorns are horizontal while most of the rest is a vertical leaf. They break up the flow a little much for my taste. How did you hide the UI on the character screen?

Love -7/10-Excellent colors. I like your look except for the helmet, a little alien for my taste. Score would be higher with something else in that helm slot.

I would have 3 friends trying this game tomorrow and hooked next week if there was a trial.

Why would there not be one by default?

Hello Folks,

I haven’t played GW2 since moving, back in October. I’ve missed all the events and added content since then. I’m looking to get caught up in where to start and what to do. Every time I log in, I run around Lions Arch, and log back out….

What I’ve done: Played 1-80, did enough dungeons to get all exotics
What I know to do: Map completion, legendary creation, and I want to avoid playing alts.

Due to my connection, I need somewhat avoid group content for now. So,

What has been added for the solo explorer? Can someone give a summary of the last 3-4 months of added content?

Thanks Mates

nice, I’ll play along… I only have time to write out some skills.

1. Impulse – contact fixed joint with hand, impulse into direction of restriction, obtain audible. Increases joint mobility by 40%.
2. Active Release – shorten muscle or ligament, place finger contact on adhesion/taut tissue, lengthen tissue through movement. Obtain 3 winces from the target each pass.
3. Straighten Up! Instantly correct the posture of your target. The effects of this ability last 3 seconds, then the target forgets how.
4. Eyes Glaze Over – prescribe stretches and exercise that would enable better function of target by 500%. Effect: Target dazed for 10 seconds while deciding whether to watch breaking bad or the walking dead tonight.
5. Quick Nods – whenever target beings speaking about second-cousin Bertha’s dog, use Quick Nods to increase the speaking speed of target by 100%. All stories become shorter because no one has time for that shiz

Janesville. Just moved back and I haven’t been able to play for the last few months. I want to get back into the game casually and need pointers on where to start new stuff. Did you guys all gather up on a server?

80 Thief

Does anyone use Dish Networks new satellite broadband (DishNET) released this october?

They have a 10mbps download speed now, but I haven’t heard if latency has improved.

My wireless DSL company has an option of going to 2mbps, but its about $75 a month. I’m in a rural area, but come on, its not THAT rural.

So do I have a viable option between the “new” dishnetwork satellite broadband and my current wireless DSL? Or am I SOL for gaming?

With my current 1mbps wireless DSL:

Ping google.com statistics:
Packets: Sent = 4, Recieved = 4, Lost = 0
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 42ms, Average = 34ms

the 1mbps is actually wireless DSL…upload speeds of .30mbs. i dont think gw2 is even playable.

I moved to a rural area…not many internet options. Currently we get 1mbps download speed… Yeah, can’t do much online.

DishNetwork has a newly launched broadband satellite service, offering up to 10mbps of download speed with a monthly limit of 10GB (and 10 more between 2am and 8am).

Is a 10GB monthly data limit high enough to play GW2 on a somewhat regular basis? I maybe get in 8 hours a week these days…

When you want to sell something, go to a VENDOR and ALSO open the auction house.

Sell to whichever gives you the most money.

Sell everything, salvage nothing, dont craft.

Thats my recommendation for making money…

My recommendation at 80…. use direct damage. Consider the following scenario: you are doing a dungeon with a ranger who stacks bleeds, or a warrior who stacks bleeds, etc. once the 25 bleed limit is reached, your dps is hamstrung. Just go max direct damage and you will never be blunted.
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYUQNAoYVlUmKP3eS4E95Ey2jdqC5J/DkVPDsyqA;TwAg0CnoQygkAJLSOkkItKYYxmjJFA
Weaponset: Dagger Dagger and Shortbow
Utilities:
Shadow refuge – a must for group pve
Signet of agility
Caltrops – this i switch out depending on the situation. Sometimes I grab scorpion wire for pulling, sometimes i grab Blinding Powder, also roll for initiative if i feel initiative starved.
Traits: This is not glass cannon because I spec into acrobatics for mobility and vitality and I grab 5% of precision is converted to toughness.
Acrobatics: Both selected traits can be swapped for vigorous recovery and assassins reward. If you take assassins reward for the healing and pass on quick recovery (2 initiative every 10 seconds), than you may want to take roll for iniative as your first utility slot.
Trickery and Critical Strikes: I would not change these traits.

Armor:
6 Armor Pieces of: Berserker’s Emblazoned (coat, pants, helm, etc) of the Berserker, OR dungeon gear of the same stats. Stats: Power, precision, critical damage.

Weapon Pieces: Berserker’s Pearl (carver, handcannon, needler) OR dungeon gear of the same stats

Accessories: I have 2 “Ruby Orichalcum (amulet, ring, earring) of the Berserker” and 3 "Beryl Orichalcum (amulet, earring, ring) of the Valkyrie. If i did it over, I would buy more Valkyrie items. The stats are Power, Vitality, and Crit Damage. Since our crit rating is already so high, I dont feel I need more precision, so vitality here is better.

With the precision to vitality trait, you can get close to 17k HP (with divinity runes). My build is very close to yours, except I put points into acrobatics instead of deadly arts. More survivability, HP, and it allows you to get your power from the berserker gear.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYUQNAoYVlUmKP3eS4E95Ey2jdqC5J/DkVPDsyqA;TwAg0CnoQygkAJLSOkkItKYYxmjJFA

Rotation:
On Veterans, Bosses, or where direct damage is needed (ALWAYS rotate to stand behind the mob):
Cloak and Dagger, Back Stab, 1 auto attack sequence (4 hits) and repeat. When initiative is getting low, use steal, use item stolen, continue the rotation. If initiative goes to 0, just auto attack. The key for keeping this going indefinitely is the auto attack sequence, as crits will regenerate your iniative and auto attack does huge damage. When the mob is under 33% health, use all initiative for heart seeker.
My usual damage is C/D (3-5k), backstab (3-6k), and heart seekers land for 3-5k. I personally feel this DPS rotation is the highest in the game and is sustainable.
On Groups
Shortbow spamming poison gas, cluster bomb (from melee range)

this thread is ridiculous.

lets nerf useful and good things so other options are used more.

The death blossom build is great for solo. In dungeons though, I find the 25 bleed stack limit is hit too often. After that, your damage is greatly reduced.

Direct damage (backstab build), your damage is never reduced.

1. You can use a racial elite.
2. Doing so will make you weaker than normal elites
3. Therefore it doesn’t matter what race you pick.

The Anatinae is a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a young but highly apomorphic lineage derived from the dabbling ducks.
There has been much debate about the dabbling ducks’ systematical status and what ducks belong to the Anatinae. As understood here, the subfamily contains only the dabbling ducks and their close relatives, the extinct moa-nalos. Alternatively,1 the Anatinae are considered to include most “ducks” and the dabbling ducks form a tribe Anatini within these. The classification as presented here more appropriately reflects the remaining uncertainty about the interrelationships of the major lineages of Anatidae (waterfowl).

Dagger Dagger – 15 points in trickery
Use caltops, Death blossom x3, steal, death blossom, roll for ini, death blossom, etc. The caltrops utility is crucial

Shortbow is better for plain ole aoe dps, but death blossom gives you amazing evasion.

Typical for this kind of OP to remain absent when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary of his/her post.

Add caltrops to Stx’s rotation FTW… It’s not just for the insane bleed, but the huge aoe cripple

Well said Tulisin, well said…

You’re hanging it up too early friend…. At 80:

1. The DPS output compared to other classes is fantastic. My Dagger Dagger rotation is extremely high sustained DPS. (4-5k cloak and dagger, 4-7k backstab, x3 auto attack), this is easily 15k + and with the proper traits, you can do it over and over. I cannot understate how hard daggers hit. For AOE, shortbow is king. Every ranged class wants OUR shortbow. 2-4k on every target for clusterbomb, plus bleeds, and spammable. AOE weakness, teleport, etc. Don’t be using death blossom when the SB is so good for aoe fights.

2. In Dungeons on my thief, I survive BETTER than other classes… Why? Stealth. Every time you enter stealth in that rotation, the mobs are focusing elsewhere. Warriors die more than me. Rangers die more than me. Seriously, we have so many tools for surviving (extra dodging, stealth, etc).

I’m not going to say you were doing it wrong…it seems to have tried a lot. When leveling I ran a death blossom spec (for the evasion) and caltrops. At EVERY level in pve, i could take 6+ mobs my own level with out breaking a sweat. At 80, i switched to the tactics i outlined above. If you want to take another shot at this class (which you should, we are better off than many others), PM me and we’ll chat.

Simple Question: What trait line, or specific traits, make the biggest difference in low level PVE.

I’m using mostly dagger dagger, but am also playing with scepter dagger and staff.

The Anatinae is a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a young but highly apomorphic lineage derived from the dabbling ducks.

There has been much debate about the dabbling ducks’ systematical status and what ducks belong to the Anatinae. As understood here, the subfamily contains only the dabbling ducks and their close relatives, the extinct moa-nalos. Alternatively,¹ the Anatinae are considered to include most “ducks” and the dabbling ducks form a tribe Anatini within these. The classification as presented here more appropriately reflects the remaining uncertainty about the interrelationships of the major lineages of Anatidae (waterfowl).

The Anatinae is a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a young but highly apomorphic lineage derived from the dabbling ducks.

There has been much debate about the dabbling ducks’ systematical status and what ducks belong to the Anatinae. As understood here, the subfamily contains only the dabbling ducks and their close relatives, the extinct moa-nalos. Alternatively,¹ the Anatinae are considered to include most “ducks” and the dabbling ducks form a tribe Anatini within these. The classification as presented here more appropriately reflects the remaining uncertainty about the interrelationships of the major lineages of Anatidae (waterfowl).

Wow guys, really….

1. I never said a nerf is coming did I? They have highlighted aspects of the thief that have the potential to get balanced or tweaked in the future.

2. I’m not validating ANY of those threads. Yes I have read them all. Each one is terrible. I’m just saying that there is a disconnect between how ANET is viewing thieves right now and how thieves perceive their own position. I wanted to point out how the titles of these threads, combined with ANETs statement, could have some people screaming for thieves to be tweaked.

3. Anyone who doesn’t think that “Keeping an eye on X”, when X is specifically called out (damage, stealth, defense, etc) will tend to be a bad thing is delusional. Acknowledgement is a step in the direction of getting something changed.

That’s all I’m saying guys. I thought people would like to see this quote. It is FYI.

To avoid more people flipping the kitten out, I removed the aiming bat reference.

“We’re also keeping an eye on Thieves, both in regards to damage output and sustained defense through stealth.” – JonathanSharp

This is just the kind of thread ANET is looking at right now.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Quick-update/page/3#post354773

“We’re also keeping an eye on Thieves, both in regards to damage output and sustained defense through stealth.” – JonathanSharp

This would indicate ANET would find this thread laughable.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Quick-update/page/3#post354773

JonathanSharp:
“Keeping an eye on something means we’re watching it, seeing how it plays out, and making sure we don’t make knee jerk reactions (nerfs or buffs).
Having said that, Dagger/dagger Ele needs help. Some defensive Ele specs are too good. Some of their sustained damage is too low, while some spike builds are pretty rough. Keeping an eye on it means we’re not going to nerf/buff it without thinking very carefully about it – that’s what my first update was about.
We’re also keeping an eye on Thieves, both in regards to damage output and sustained defense through stealth.
We’re also looking at the balance for all the downed skills for all classes. Some are riding the high end of the power curve, while others feel weaker in comparison.
Anddddddddddd we’re also looking at buffs/nerfs to all classes as apropos – I’m just not listing every single one. For many classes this means that we want them to have different builds that are equally viable, and making sure that no single build outshines all others in efficacy. Also, this means that JUST BECAUSE I DIDN’T SPECIFICALLY CALL OUT YOUR CLASS in a post, that DOES NOT MEAN WE’RE NOT LOOKING AT IT.
Communication in-and-of-itself is a complicated thing, and the inherent complication of human communication is further exacerbated when it’s done via a web-based medium. We’re trying to do our best to communicate with you, so please understand that just because I say “keeping an eye on something”, that doesn’t mean we are nerfing X from orbit with a Nerf nuke – as it’s the only way to be sure. It simply means we’re keeping an eye on it.
/salute

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Quick-update/page/3#post354773

Then I look at the first page of the thief forums and see the following thread titles:

“What’s your highest backstab hit?”
“Thief base hp too low”?
“So exactly how much damage can a burst thief do against…”
“28.3k damage on steal”

So before you title your next thread, consider how people might view it when happening across the thief forum for a casual read.

Wolf: Jacob

/15chars

ruby orbs /10chars

Mix in Valkyrie items in your trinkets (power, vitality, crit damage)

I am all berserkers with 3-4 valkyrie items. i hit like a truck and have 16.5k hp.

I have no problems in dungeons – in fact, our mobility and stealth makes it so I typically die less than other classes

Could he have had an offhand dagger on weapon swap (P/D)?

Otherwise, he could 1. hide in shadows 2. blinding powder 3. ambush trap 5. shadow refuge….

Thats it really. Either he rotated through these abilities with a dagger offhand or he was using an exploit.

Also, between each stealth he would have the “revealed” debuff for a few seconds and it would have prevented him from using stealth

Thieves cannot be invisible “all the time.” Thus your points are moot.

If you were in WvW, people have used exploits to be invisible and it is not just thieves.

As a fledgling ranger, I too am interest in specific pet choices for different situations.

All I know is
Bear = tank
Jaguar is good for stealth attacks
Birds are good for swiftness and bleeds
Dogs are good for CC
Lynx – has an activated bleed attack as well as the “maul” of all cats, so is this the highest damage dealing pet?

Thanks not very much knowledge….

I would re-roll and name my character

xxXDrizztXxx DualWieldPro

And I would still use LB/SB

painful to read, but i think you’re asking for PVE builds?

This build focuses on bleed stacking via Death Blossom. I recently helped a guildie with this build. He was having trouble at level 60 and was leveling very slowly. Within 10 minutes of trying this build, he was sold and has since gotten 80 in no time.

Get 15 points into trickery for the extra initiative and initiative return on steal. Other trait lines are less crucial but I recommend 15 into acrobatics after trickery.

For your utilities you need caltrops, hide in shadows, roll for initiative, and 1 more of your choice.

1. Pull mobs so they are grouped together. If there is a ranged mob AND melee mobs, bring the melee mobs to the ranged one.
2. Drop caltrops
3. Use deathblossom three times
4. use steal
5. use item that you stole
6. death blossom again
7. roll for ini
8. do more death blossoms
9. hide in shadows
Alternate weapon: short bow. You can switch to it and kite any time after you stack your bleeds.

You can use other moves if you wish after the initial death blossom stacks bleeds, however, with the evasion added to DB, it’s pretty good. With this tactic, you can fight 5 things your own level at once.

Crafting: i didn’t do any crafting. i personally think this is a time AND money sink. I made enough money just by selling all materials to buy all my exotics in a week at 80.

Armor: anything with condition is nice, but just equip the best item you can as you get them. When you hit a major level landmark (40, 50, 60) etc, look for yellow items on the trader that you can afford. I would recommend at least getting good daggers every 10 levels or so.

Thank you for your responses.

I’m hoping either rangers or eles get tweaked today in the patch and make the decision easier :P

Greetings ranger community -

I am playing around with an elementalist and a ranger as alts (both around level 13). Obviously they are very different.

On the elementalist, you use 15 abilities to kill one mob.

On the ranger, I auto attack shortbow and use the CC as needed.

I’m playing around with all weapon sets and I like the idea of the ranger, but I just seem to get bored.

How much does the ranger change as you level and gain traits?

Absolution.2851:

Thanks Nef for the heads up, last night I switched to D/D just to experiment and its working rather well.

I’m at lv50 now and I’m spec’d 0/20/0/20/0. Is my crit supposed to be really low?

I can’t speak to using backstab under level 80. I should have been more specific in my post… I was talking about endgame PVE, notably dungeons.

When leveling, my favorite and most effective build utilized grouping enemies together, dropping caltrops, and using deathblossom. I put 15 into trickery for this, as you can then steal for another deathblossom. YOu can then either stealth and watch them tick down or use roll for ini and do more deathblossoms. This is IMO the best build for leveling because it is effective for killing multiples, whereas direct damage daggers are slower and you kill one at a time.

At 80 you start grouping and doing dungeons that are difficult. With the stack limit on condition damage, I switched to the single target direct damage build.

The other classes had bugs fixed….that’s not the same as an all out buff.

Pistol whip could be nerfed and i wouldn’t care, as long as pistols in general (unload) were buffed.

Absolution.2851:

Strange, for PVE I’ve been using S/P and Pistol Whipping my way to victory. I tried D/D but it seems the damage is just so poor versus the AOE that I have with S, and the survivability of S/P.

Then again, this is just a new class for me. Any feedback would be great.

The damage of D/D is amazing and is higher than pistol whip on single target.

CnD (3-5k), Backstab (4-8k), auto attack sequence (2-5k). That is up to 18k in 5 seconds, without haste. Compare that to your numbers of pistol whip without haste on single target. With the proper traits, you can do this sequence over and over….it is sustainable. This is quite possibly the highest sustained single target dps in the game, imo.

The major reason S/P is a good is because it is pbaoe. However, shortbow completely dominates S/P in aoe fights, and should be used as such.

D/D and Shortbow is my preference

For a better and more in depth discussion of DD and S/P, see “The Shadow”s post here. A third of the way down the page

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/65757-thief-huh-what-is-it-good-for/

I have a similar build but do not use death blossom except for very specific situations.
For AOE damage, i use shortbow exclusively. Auto attack and cluster bomb and poison cloud are > DB.

When on a boss, vetern, or wanting single target damage I do this rotation with DD.

CnD, backstab, full auto attack sequence, repeat. It’s higher direct damage.

Allow me to summarize:

1. The thief class is ruined because we can’t go “all power”
2. Everyone is stacking toughness and we can’t kill them
3. 10k backstab burst is to be avoided as viable because it “doesn’t feel good” and it’s "
way to easy"
4. Guardians are immortal
5. Warriors aren’t even worth talking about as they are wrecking trains
6. Neco DOTS kill you in no time
7. You stand no chance against rangers because their damage is sincere
8. Engineers are both immortal AND godlike
9. To prove the OP otherwise, you must roll a thief and get the picture

IDK……

If you think about it real hard, steal does even more damage.

Well, here is the jiggidity… Steal can give you 3 initiative. Thats half of a cloak and dagger and a full back stab cause back stab is free.

So half of a cloak and dagger could be 3k and a full backstab could be 8k, well thats like steal doing another 11k.

Therefore, I would like to add this 11k to the damage done by the stolen item making steal do 39K damage.

Now, if they are in WvW and someone is level 1, imagine how much mroe this could be. I mean, it could be like 50k. This would one-shot any grey mob in the game, including rabbits.

This is how i went.

I bought Berserker’s Emblazoned (Coat, pants, etc) of the Berserker for my 6 armor slots (or inserted dungeon armor from Arah or CoF with the same stats) – power, precision, crit damage

Trinkets I mixed in valkyrie items (my crit was high enough, valkyrie gives power, crit damage, and vitality).

If you want power, precision, and crit damage then you wont be able to get any gear from karma vendors… they dont have those stats.

Importantly, I spec’d into acrobatics to get more vitality and mobility. I feel going the berserker route is too glass-cannon if you don’t work on vitality a little bit. I have 16.5k hp atm and will probably shoot a little higher.