Guild Wars 2

How about staff thief? What tier is that viable in? (I know the season is over, but bronze, silver, gold, plat are good benchmarks)
What about other non-d/p builds like s/d and s/p?

because this skill procs even when steal isn’t on CD, whereas before the recharge did not

I feel like the attack actually lasts longer. Also, when fighting the npcs in the pvp zone, they hit me before I’m done with the attack.

With the trait that causes vulnerability when chilling a for, it appears that the newly updated Haunt skill from the minion, which now causes chill, does not add the vulnerability. Is this a bug? This is very disappointing.
Note: Pls refrain from the minion hate comments. We all know they suck, but was trying something out with them anyway when I noticed this.

Yea if they don’t fix this then it is a clear nerf imho and doesn’t synergize with the thief playstyle at all

My problem seems to be that you can’t move while using Pistol whip, yet the evade frames don’t last nearly as long as the animation/attack itself. How do you get around being a sitting duck?

Thanks for the input. While I do like playing MM and commanding a small army, I am open to other builds.
The big thing with mm is the great condi cleansing. Plus stacking vulnerability helps minions do even more damage.
Also I prefer direct damage over conditions. What higher tier direct damage builds are there?

Hello, I haven’t played in a bit and am jumping on again but have questions:
1) is there a standard reaper meta build for pvp that is preferred over others? (I like to know what I’m up against and maybe see how I can modify it to fit my play style)
2) what necro builds currently help skilled players get to bigger tier pvp ratings, if any at all?
3) does anyone have a moderately successful pvp or wvw ranger reaper-minion build?

Thanks,
I’m still trying to figure out how to be successful with more than my go -to axe-minion build, which I tend to get stuck in silver with (but I like playing it so oh well)

AikijinX.6258:

I have Erased the Youtube link, Due to these impending copyright problems. I apologize for the further delay. I will relink the video, as soon as things are situated on my end with my Dispute.

You toy with my heart

I disagree to some posts above that say acro builds don’t have counters because they do. I’ve run into some builds that just kick butt. Generally for across I find it being aoe’s like marks, traps, and DoT aoe skills like ones eles have. Staff is not a sure-fire win against every build. Most, probably, but there are builds that have less counters out there, not to mention it isn’t even the best thief build.
The thing I find ppl hate about it is that they get frustrated missing so many attacks, even tho they don’t need to hit with many to kill. Also ppl naturally are adverse to change, and am evade build works so much differently than others that you have to change and adapt your play style to win against it. People just refuse to adapt, and those are the easy kills for the thief.

One thing of sb3 vs staff 3 is that with sb, once you are distanced, you can attack your target and deal damage with pretty much all your attacks. With staff 3, sure you create distance, but you have to get back into the thick to deal more damage. To me, this more than justifies staff 3 doing more damage.

They came out with an update about 3 hours ago; in the notes (reply to the original patch notes post) it says vault is no longer affected by quickness. Being out of state currently, I cannot see if it is now working properly; can anyone check?

I beat it in my first pass without dying, thought it was rather easy. I didn’t do the chandelier for the first part either tho; just couldn’t stun him under it. I just threw bloodstone at him and beat him until he died. I was also using a mm necro tho, so that helped.

When is this happening?

Rangerdeity.5847:

for WvW i love a zerker staff ele 4.5k auto attacks 5-6k meteors 4-5k lava font and all the utility in lighting you could ask for then ofc earth and water have their values but zerkers really abuse electric and lighting.

there are plenty of other builds tho all of ele weapons are viable you could roll bunker and go DD for either condi or strength. S/D? sure works just fine.

but if your going to WvW in a large group nothing makes a cataclysmic impact like a staff zerker ele with an obsession with fire.

You may have just convinced me to spend my 80 level book thing on my ele for those times I just feel like zerging around

sweet stuff. I haven’t tried a viper build yet (really like my minions :-) ) What are the tough builds to beat with this or the counters?
Also, a lot of the players in your vid seemed pretty dumb. Do you find 1v1’s more equal when playing better players, or do you still think it swings in your favor with that build?

Marks do really well against them. I usually don’t have much of a problem with them. I usually will drop marks, try to land axe 3, then shadow shroud 4. But use whatever aoe you have at the time. It’s possible,if you don’t have much,that you can’t counter them easily, but you can’t counter every build anyway, so pick your targets. I personally bring staff particularly for thieves but it works nicely against others too

IMO it’s Def that it’s the only viable build. They’re are other builds that work, but not as well and they have lots of counters and neutrals. DP is still squishy, has a bunch of easy counters, and takes a lot of skill to use comparatively; they aren’t OP. people often don’t like playing differently for different situations or paying attention to surroundings at all. Because it’s not a build you can run head on without a thought, ppl QQ, but a good player can force a good thief to run away due to stalemate/wasted time or better often times.

DeceiverX.8361:

TehHobNob.4687:

ich.7086:

100% crit from stealth is on CS now, SA has the juicy Rending Shades now.

I’m now having one of those back in my day moments. Thanks for clearing that up lol.

I’m pretty sure HK has been in CS since before the game even launched o.o

Anyways, marauder is the optimal stat choice for a few reasons:

1.) It just has more stats. Yes, the raw number of stats gained on Marauder/HoT gear when you add everything together is more than the core game ones. It will always net you efficiency; it’s why you lose only 8% damage or so and gain an upwards of 50% more health.

2.) CS is a pretty terrible trait line – especially when considering HK. Daredevil when speccing damage does almost the same amount given its modifiers, while also providing a ton of utility, and Mug with EW in DA provides about the same gains you’ll see on a fight-to-fight basis in PvP environments while netting better burst and self-healing.

3.) Not being allowed to dip into more than three trait lines prevents taking a point or two in SE and ignoring most of DA, so CS is proven to be wasteful since it lacks utility and is only marginally better than DA for damage. Trickery and Daredevil for most builds are pretty much mandatory.

3.) Moreover about CS and HK, There really isn’t much of a purpose to using anything but Vault on a single-hit burst build (since it hits harder than backstab, AoE’s, evades, closes the gap, and costs less initiative than all similar abilities); damage power creep since HoT has AA chains in pretty much everything but P/P and S/P enabling faster damage/burst damage, too so the on-crit reliability for the big backstab and the likes isn’t really a thing anymore. Pressing 1 and saving initiative for utility/defense/Shadow Shot is just strictly better.

4.) Since AA’ing is so potent, the crit chance from Marauder gear is very important to maintain, as do so offsets any need for any use of the Crit Strikes line for PvP/WvW play; for Vault builds, Daredevil runes work fine since it dodges so often, anyways, and again, bursts harder than what Backstab can do.

5.) Things are tankier and passive, so fast-kills from high-power builds usually prove ineffective anyways. Most professions have some sort of passive burst-denial and most professions are very durable as well since they are also typically at-squishiest in marauder gear with either permanent protection/damage reduction of some kind and more baseline health.

6.) They put an ICD on stealth attacks even if they mis in any regard, which also disables AA use, and due to so much free defense, it makes backstab no longer worthwhile since it will rarely land, plus as mentioned the AA chain/s just do more/better damage outside of specialized builds.

So while you’re right in that Valkyrie gear does provide higher DPH potential, it’s ultimately overshadowed in next to every way by Marauder just based on how the game has changed.

This, right here in one post, is the type of post/opinion I was looking for. I hope to one day run into you, in a friendly way, so that you may teach me your ways.

Thanks! :-)

I feel like sword should be a cross between a Dodge and stealth build. I was never a fan of the stealth attack and think it should be more like backstab. Maybe a little less damage but 10 stacks of 7sec vulnerability and/or weakness. Either way it should do much more damage than it currently does.
The evade on flanking strike should be 3/4 second or init cost 3.

Necro: I think minions need a 15% increase in attack speed (or damage), and 20% increase in health in pvp and wvw. Ignoring all of the other minion issues line tracking, not attacking, etc, this would help a bit too keep them up to date with the power creep. Axe could use a 3person cleave imo, staff marks should deal more damage for the longer cd ones but not by much. Also the staff auto makes me cringe.
For thief: I agree it’s not in a bad place right now, but it would be good to make other weapons as viable as dp. Sword needs help. Dd maybe could use something bit could leave; I’d think buff cnd range just slightly. I’d like to see a stealth on staff 2,3, or 4, but may be hard to do without making it op.
Guardians- I feel like are a bit op with how much blocking, healing they can do while also pumping out the damage. Maybe it’s just me but I feel the team with the most guardians usually wins. Decrease trap damage slightly, no more than 10 percent, and make them visible.
Engi- as annoying as they are I think they are in a good place.
Eles-mostly in a great place. Not sure about one build that cleanses conditions super quickly and heals like crazy, I don’t play it so I don’t know too much about it, but if it has counters then leave it.
Revenants- probably can carefully buff it. I hand run into a couple revs that were really good and gave me a run for my money, so without playing it myself, it could be partially a l2p issue but I feel like it could use some small buffs here and there without going crazy like it was at one point.
Mesmers-I still think it’s crazy how much stealth that have. Stealth plus clones is a bit much imo, and would be like if thieves could use their auto attack in stealth. The rest of it seems pretty much in a good spot tho. Chrono could also take a closer look at, maybe turn down a hair if at all. Maybe less blocks.
Rangers: I feel like overall is in good shape, but a couple aspects could be buffed while others just slightly turned down.

I’ve been running acro/trick/daredevil with staff and was thinking of trading trick for Crit, but the extra init just seems so useful and gives me more dodges/evades. Then it was suggested to me to use daredevil runes. You think crit+other rune combinations work better?

All Matters Fecal.9560:

If you’re looking for 17k hp then you may as well go marauder anyway.

Go back to sleep and come back in the morning

So a lot of people say to go marauder’s (partially) in WvW to get the bit of vitality so you don’t get OHK. Here is my question for you knowlegeable folks. Wouldn’t it be better, to instead go partially Valkyrie instead? That way your Power and Ferocity stats stay up and aren’t slightly lower to get the health. The downside is your Crit % takes a 20-25% decrease, but does this matter much? If you run Daredevil runes you are critting after every dodge. If you are running Shadow Arts, you crit after every stealth. If you run both, well you do both. Doesn’t that make up for it do you think?

On another note, what’s a good hp value to run with in WvW? I was thinking 17k, but not sure at all on that. I want to be able to not die in a second if I get jumped by a stealthed thief.

Choppy.4183:

SlitheSlivier.1908:

I feel like if they nerf that build, they will make a good build (but far from the top) obsolete and the staff will never be used. On another note, I have no problem killing vault thieves. Actually much easier than guardians and mesmers. If you can’t beat them it is prob bc you don’t understand the many weaknesses, aren’t willing to adjust your tactics to exploit them, or just need to learn to pvp a little better.

Lol, so it’s a good build that is actually really easy to kill so if you lose to it it’s an l2p issue? Man, you need to get your story straight.

It’s practically a troll build, the power of which is enhanced by a spammable, high-damage aoe skill that includes an evade for 2/3 of its cast time plus decent escape and gap closing. Combine it with the stealth and mobility of d/p and you’ll only die if you want to. So, yeah, people can kill it as long as you stick around long enough to exhaust all of your evades, blocks, ports, etc. or stay in a fight with an obvious counter.

A simple loss of Vault’s evade, a large reduction on the damage, or an increase to the initiative cost is not an unreasonable nerf to get the risk:reward in better balance.

By “good build” I mean it’s 1 out of 3 thief builds that is viable. Also you can kill new players or those unwilling to dodge and counter or adapt their tactics.
Anyone else can put up a fight. Anyone who learns how to play against it can kill it. I’ve faced mesmers, guardians, necros, and eles that consistently killed me in pvp. A majority? No, but that’s because of all of the people more willing to complain on the forums about a build that seems to counters theirs than finding a way to play against them. Doh.

Funny…I stopped playing this build because it has so many counters that just straight up give me 0 chance of winning. Common mesmer, ele, necro, guardian, and some good rangers and warriors. Not to mention other thieves stalemate it at least. That’s too many players; I find I’m only killing the new players or inexperienced players.

I feel like if they nerf that build, they will make a good build (but far from the top) obsolete and the staff will never be used. On another note, I have no problem killing vault thieves. Actually much easier than guardians and mesmers. If you can’t beat them it is prob bc you don’t understand the many weaknesses, aren’t willing to adjust your tactics to exploit them, or just need to learn to pvp a little better. Or maybe you are running a build which is countered by them, but realize they are probably countered by more. For instance I can’t beat a decent necro with my vaulter and that is just one example.

I don’t see why not if you go perma stealth and bring lots of evades. Just hang out not where they are blasting aoe’s

I still can’t believe ppl complain so much and song want to believe it’s a l2p issue. My minionmaster necro that I play with in pve, wvw, and pvp kills all the Dodgers and d/P just fine. When I play thief, I, particularly the staff dodge (some I’m not good with dp yet and liked the idea of having a beating stick), find trouble with necros, eles, guardians, some mesmers. Basically trouble with anyone able to create aoe and stay in their aoe to fight. That’s at least half the classes. So people like this want thieves to be useless against the rest of the classes too? Then we just lose a class in gw2 that a lot of ppl love playing.
Also, if we are sharing unique abilities (which stealth really isn’t anymore), how about thieves get minions, phantasms, high armor, and high base health and a pet?
D/P doesn’t wreck every other build. It just wrecks noobs (which most good builds do), as well as ppl dining around with very low health (which is the whole risk/point/Balance of a glass cannon)

Criticism: You are looking at this wrong and narrow moved imo. I agree with others that this past screams “idk what I’m doing or how things work, and everyone should play the same play style”. You want there to be no bust classes so criticism: everyone is essentially re-skinned warrior/guardian? Also just because your build can’t defeat 100% of all other builds doesn’t mean you should complain to nerf everyone else until it does. Esp since if you are quick to dodge or specced to survive those bursts, it’s usually an easy kill. I eat burst thieves for lunch on my MM necro, and even the evading staff thieves that kill my minions will die to me usually.

Construction: some classes should be sustain. Some should be bursty. Is the large burst you saw a bit excessive? Probably. But it’s not an issue with the class, but instead the equipment. 1) Anet seems to think that increasing stats affects all stats equally when it doesn’t. Even still most ppl bring those foods and upgrades that increase damage, not defense, then complain when they die and it’s hilarious. Either way, imo, Anet should get rid of food and the upgrades that proc +stat (ie might) so that stats are closer in line with pvp, where it seems a bit more balanced in that respect (being crazy high spikes, even though you could prob bring defensive ones to counter, instead of more damage ones). This would being the numbers to a bit more normal level. But keep in mind you may still get bursted and that’s how it should be.

What’s your build? (If you don’t mind) I’m trying to get better with my thief in wvw.

I wonder if staff dodge does better against eles than condi dd, which tends to lost hard against them.

Thanks! How is it compared to the dd condi dodge build?

I just came back from a long break and am looking for info on the evade builds. Couple things
-can anyone link me to the staff power evade build (I know the condition one)
- how do the two build stack up against each other?
-where are each of them viable?
-how are they vs d/p?

Trying to expand my thief repertoire.
Thanks

It is unclear to me. I’m thinking of purchasing HoT. Does this give me access to all of the season 3 living story quests/missions, or will I then also have to pay for them as well?

Very insightful. Thank you for the information!

I’m moving in a month and my Internet provider doesn’t provide service for where I’m moving to. I’m currently getting 105mbps download and 20 upload. I will be getting 60 download/4 upload.
2 part question:
A) Will this greatly affect my gaming experience/will this game work decently with that?
B) Regardless of that, what is minimum Internet speed I could play on without sacrificing much on gameplay experience?

Salamander.2504:

I’ll just quote another user in a different thread, who I think made a reasonable suggestion to modify axe:

Sigmoid.7082:

All it needs is damage coefficient changed from 0.7 to 0.85, range on #1 and #2 increased from 600 to 900, and #2 be a whirl finish and #3 be a blast.

This. I also thought #2 damage should be increased am additional amount because the whole thing is really easily dodged. But that may be asking too much.
Really have a trait or two synergize with vulnerability better would help too. Ex: grant yourself fury and/or might when your target reaches 5 stacks of vulnerability.

Slithe Slivier/Varic Mortel

Why is that?? That kinda messed things up more than I thought if its true

I’m new-ish to a thief ankitten ot that great. I like playing d/d (did like s/d too…) but am thinking of moving towards d/p, you know since that’s all the rage right now. My problem is I don’t really know how to play d/p (or really d/d well for that matter). I’m mostly going for WvW here. Again, since sometimes people miss it: I am asking for WvW help. Also, I have not yet played since the new update.
-Can someone pls, link me to a good build that I can start with (and maybe modify as my playstyle fits)
-Can you please explain how to play it a bit. More specifically when to use which skills, when to go in stealth, when to shadowstep in/out during a fight, and any specific tips and tricks for certain situations.
This would be great and I hopefully one day can add to the glory (???) of thieves. Thanks.

misterman.1530:

I am finding that the Minion Master is very effective in WvW. For the first time, I can jump into a 3v1 battle and, even if I lose, I can hammer down at least one. With my spec, I appear to be able to sustain Death Shroud almost constantly. My fears do damage. My marks are unblockable. All in all, very sustainable. Plus with the right food and the Applied Fortitude (so sad it is not going to be in HoT), I am over 32K HPs.

Food isn’t going to be in HoT?? I hope thats what you mean. I’ve always thought having to buy food for extra bonus is stupid and should just be incorporated into stats.

I run shadow fiend instead of wurm. More mobility esp of the fight moves, plus the blind is nice to have.

Zin.6170:

Bhawb, what do you think of rune of the privateer? Does the summon get all the stuff from our trait lines?

I use privateer runes! I feel noobish for it but it gives you one more creature to attack your target…even if it doesn’t get the buffs. I love my parrot. However bawb may be right in that there are better alternative. The might is nice tho too.

I realize I may get shot in the face for saying this but…have you tried playing it with axe instead of dagger? I haven’t played post-patch yet, but I usually play with axe/focus and stack the vulnerability. That way your minions hit harder as well and you don’t have to be right up in the fray, only very close by. The biggest difference is that due to trying to keep vulnerability up, I don’t pop Shroud unless it fills up or I need to.
Definitely a different way to play that has worked with me, but unsure how it compares

Can someone tell what was said for those of us stuck at work and couldn’t see the stream?

What is the most effective way to solo camps in wvw as a thief? I apologize for the noob question. Also, is there any Eredon Terrace thieves looking for an apprentice to teach the finer tricks of the trade? I could use a mentor. .

When is this happening? Both them telling us what is going to change and actually making changes

Thanks, this helps a lot!

My thief is at level 80 and I’m getting all the equipment for him. I just have a few questions (numbered for easier reading and replying). Pretty much I’d like a comparison of d/p, d/d, and s/d.

To preface, I am really more interested in d/d SA build (similar to nightblade’s) and s/d (dodge based/acro) because I hate the thought of having guns in this game, but i’d like to see how it compares so I know when I face them. Also, I’m mostly refering to WvW roaming.
So when answering, keep in mind I will mostly be doing WvW with it, roaming around either by myself or in a small group.

1) Is d/p greater in every situation that d/d and s/d?
2) In general, do you personally, in your opinion, feel d/d or s/d is better for wvw roaming, and why?
3) Where does d/d shine over s/d and d/p?
4) Where does s/d shine over d/d and d/p?

Thanks for helping a fellow thief out. I’m hoping to get good with him and help my server out. But I’ll try not to kill anyone who helps me out here ;-)

Lamuness.3570:

How much are you actually hitting with these crits? Like a backstab does how much?

Wondering the same thing as well as survivability.