Guild Wars 2

Was just bored and wanted to play around with thief specs to see if I can come up with the best 1v1 dueling spec possible. This would be used with the Carrion Amulet:

http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/?lang=en&code=3ck2g07m7u7omqn2i0a0uu0999cj7jdjljojs

P/D + P/P with 10/0/30/30/0 with Potent Poison, Slowed Pulse, Shadow’s Embrace, Shadow’s Rejuvenation, Vigorous Recovery, Pain Response, Hard to Catch.

Basic gameplan is to keep poison and bleeds up on your opponent at all times while using stealth a lot to get regen, condition removal, and letting you use sneak attack as much as possible. P/P is there mainly for the blinds…vs melee builds I’ll basically sit in blinding powder and blind them. I was also considering D/D on the second set for LDB, but decided against it since it’s so easy for people to kite you.

Pretty sure this wouldn’t win vs the top 1v1 specs (necro, ranger, ele), but I think it would be pretty strong vs most burst/hybrid builds.

Thoughts?

If anyone is interested in seeing some videos of this build, google “Teldo Power Rifle” on youtube. It’s a classic build, and I found Teldo’s videos to be pretty good.

I run this build with scholar runes, elixir s, toolkit, and utility goggles and it’s alot of fun to play. Theres many ways to combo, whether it’s with net shot+analyze+throw wrench, or overcharge shot+utility goggle+jumpshot, or a mix/match of the two.

With the new buffs to toolkit, another thing I’ve been doing is comboing with the magnet. You can use box of nails, pull someone into the nails field from 1200 range, then switch to rifle to do your standard burst. It’s quite nasty if your opponent doesn’t have access to stability.

The thing I love about this build is that the cooldowns are all pretty short, and you almost always have combo option available. Elixir S, throw Elixir S, Box of Nails, and the Toolkit 4 block gives you some pretty good escape options.

The big drawback to this build is that it sucks in most 1v1’s. Pretty much any class with stability/some way to escape your CC’s will crush you. Unless you run elixir C or something, condition builds will destroy you also. If you’re going to 1v1 someone with this build you almost always have to find some way to even the odds, like finding a cliff or something to clip off some of their HP with your autoattacks/net shot first before engaging, otherwise you will probably get facerolled.

Lord Aargadon.4135:

Ive nabbed a lot of thiefs in WvW with the 1200 range buff to magnet. I just use magnet, prybar, net shot, shotFUN blast, overcharge shot and grenade barrage. Most theifs are too brittle(it is called a GLASScannon afterall, not a squishycannon) to handle that and maybe a little more.

If preparing to take one on, use Big ’ol bomb or glue bomb combo with smoke bomb, either stealths you or roots em in place inside a blindfield, then magnet them inside of your bombs radius. This can be pretty difficult to pull off as you can imagine, so practice it a few times on mobs to get a feel for it.

I just tried out that magnet ability on toolkit…that thing is amazing for stopping people from escaping.

ShaunZ.1098:

Yeah, best to just ignore them. They faceroll the keyboard and become invisible anyways.

Haha, that’s actually kind of easier said than done to be quite honest. I don’t know if I have bad luck joining games or something but I’m personally finding there to be quite a lot of thieves in the games I’m in.

Then again I haven’t pvp’d that much yet so it’s probably just a statistical blip with my low game count.

SoulstitchMMO.1396:

Nope. On my thief when I want to escape. I escape. A good thief that is spec’ed right is impossible to stop.

Good to know, thanks for the quick response! I guess I’ll just adjust my gameplay to avoid fighting thieves so I don’t waste my cooldowns on a fight I can’t finish.

Hi, I just recently started playing an engineer in sPvP, and I was recently in a game where the other team had several thieves. I currently run Teldo’s power rifle build (10/30/0/10/20), and I ran into this scenario several times:

- Engage thief, after I use elixir s after getting stoned/immobilized, I then cc him with overcharge shot and net shot so I can burst him down.
-After taking some damage he uses shadow step + infiltrator’s arrow to get away, then uses either hide in shadows or withdraw, and by this point I don’t really have a way to catch up to him.

I was wondering if there’s some utilities/tactics I could use to prevent him from escaping this way? Is there any way to stop him from shadow stepping?

Check out this guide. Even though it’s supposed to be for “support” thieves, the guide pretty much covers everything you need to know for any kind of thief in dungeons.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Kirin-s-Guide-for-Aspiring-PVE-Support-Thieves/first

ajlee.2607:

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/engineer-condition-build-pistol-alchemy-5935.html

That’s a good build that stacks a lot of conditions on the enemy. The only thing that racks up glory is a good winning team.

Hey, thanks for the reply. That looks like a really simple and fun build to play. Do you find having only elixir B for swiftness gives you enough swiftness uptime? I’m just really used to either having speedy kits or the 5 skill on medkit for tons of swiftness.

I just started playing engineer in sPvP as an alt out of boredom. Does anyone know a good build for racking up glory with an engi?

Try gw2lfg.com. I’ve found it very helpful in finding Arah groups.

Milennin.4825:

I wouldn’t mind a closer waypoint if they shut the door to him while he’s in combat.

I agree with this solution as long as they remove the ridiculous reset conditions during the fight. Since the door is closed, there should be no more reason to have him reset if people are far away/stealthed/etc, since there’s no way in that case you’d be able to exploit it anyways.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve done Lupicus now, and I think overall he’s probably one of the most interesting encounters in the game. My only gripe against him is that if you’ve never had any experiences with Lupicus’s reset conditions, you would have no way of knowing why he’s resetting. They should either 1) implement Millenin’s solution, or 2) make it clear somewhere exactly what causes him to reset.

From someone who mains thief:

Nerfs:

1) Steal: Using steal should cancel out whatever skill you were using before it. Steal+CnD is really cheesy, and feels more like a bug/exploit than a real game mechanic. Steal should also not apply venoms. This will people to actually work to get in close to someone using D/D.

2) Heartseeker: Reduce range from 450 to 200. This should reduce QQ about heartseeker spammers in hotjoins.

3) Haste: This skill needs to go. Quickness + initiative system is just way too good. Replace this with something else that will give thieves boons or something, or maybe another condition removal.

Buffs:

-If the nerfs above are implemented, then CnD and Pistol whip damage should be restored to what they were before they were nerfed. Pistol whip will not be overpowered if haste is gone, and CnD will not be a problem if the Steal + CnD combo no longer works.

1) Shadow Shot: This skill needs to just execute a lot faster than it does currently. The reason people don’t use this is because it’s way too slow. Making this better will make D/P actually viable.

2) Flanking Strike: Fix the tracking on this.

3) Body shot: Speed up the animation for this. This will make Pistol mainhand sets alot more viable.

Hello,

Today I ran into the weirdest chain of events today in Arah Path 4. I am from the US, on an EU server. I was the creator of the instance. My party was just finished killing Simin, when suddenly these things happened:

1) I noticed I was no longer in the party. I could not talk in party chat. I could, however, still whisper one of our party members, and I could still see them all inside the dungeon. We were all inside the dungeon, and even though I saw their characters, they were all green (non-party). From my old party’s perspective, it said I was still in the party.

2) When I logged out to character select, and tried to go back in, I got a network error. I restarted my client, and was outside of Arah at this point with no party.

3) For about 2 min, I could not communicate with my EU party members, but I could communicate with my NA friends on my list. I asked one of my NA friends to invite me to a new party. As soon as he invited me and I joined, I got the popup to go into Arah. I went in, and it was the same instance.

4) Apparently my actions in #3 booted my old party out of the dungeon. Thankfully, I was still inside the same instance, and I told my old party to disband, and I would invite them into a new party.

5) My NA friend left the party, and we finished the rest of the dungeon. From this point forward, I did not see any character dialogues from that point forward, while the rest of my party did.

6) After I killed the shard boss, I got the dungeon rewards (shards of zhaitan, silver, exp), but when I checked my achievement, it didn’t register.

The screenshot I provided is unfortunately not that much proof, but as I was pressing print screen I forgot to save my other screenshots to a file. So I only ever got the last one I took. However, if you look at the upper right hand corner, it mentions the Seers. If any backend devs are reading this, if you could check the database/file that stores achievement data, you’ll see that I am still missing path 4.

Thank you for all your hard work in making this a fantastic game. I hope this report will help you in making it better.

I will join. I’m EU currently , and I only have Arah path 4 left before dungeon master title, but I will help out others on paths 1,2,3 if needed.

I am on Gunnar’s Hold. Arah was not bugged there as of yesterday.

Edit: Only problem for me is, I can’t play during peak hours because of lag issues.

Please add me. I’m always looking for Arah groups.

I’ve been trying for the same goal. Only have path 1 and 4 left before I get the dungeon master title. You’re lucky you have a guild who will run with you.

I tried Path 1 with PuG’s yesterday. It was just impossible, had two groups leave on me. And now with Arah bugged, I don’t even know when I’ll have another chance. The problem is people expect Lupicus to be like any other boss, and ragequit after only a few tries. The only encounter I really disliked was the minefield in path 2…they were quite obnoxious when you are trying to get past those technicians with channeled stuns.

Good luck with path 4. I’d like to know how long it takes you to do it with a good group.

The title pretty much says it all. Me and a few other people are trying to get into Arah Explorable, but it seems like every server’s Arah is bugged. Is anyone’s Arah not bugged right now? If so, what server are you on?

Already using it.

I highly recommend this guide if you’re new to dungeons:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Kirin-s-Guide-for-Aspiring-PVE-Support-Thieves/
Everything you need to know about thief tips/tricks in dungeons is in there, regardless of whether or not you want to play a support thief.

Build-wise, I just get 15 in Deadly Arts for Lotus Poison, 15 in Acrobatics for Feline Grace, and everything else in whatever traits boost my dps for the weapon-set I choose.

Roll warrior or guardian. No class is “needed” in this game, but warriors and guardians are by far the most sought after classes.

Hey, thanks Pinch and Dee Jay for the insightful feedback.

Dee Jay, the thing is, 25 Deadly Arts has 10% more damage if your enemy has a condition, which is a given on any weapon set I use. Of course, Acrobatics also gives 10% on dodge, which is about just as good. Not to mention that all the 20 point acrobatics traits are incredibly good. I agree on your assessment of the Deadly Arts tree…it’s really too bad since the stats for that tree is terrific. I think I will take your advice and go with 15/30/0/25/0.

Pinch, if I was going to go for a P/D variant, would you take points off critical strikes for trickery or something? 30 in critical strikes just seems give more DPS/trait point for just about any weapon set, including mainhand pistol sets, and while I love the trickery traits in PvP I’m really not a fan of them for PvE. 15 in Deadly arts for Lotus Poison and 15 in Acrobatics for Feline Grace are absolute must haves for me, and I don’t see where else I would compromise.

I’m trying to come up with a build for general PvE/Dungeons using P/D and D/D + Shortbow as my primary sets. I mainly play with PUGs in dungeons, and I switch between P/D, D/D, and Shortbow depending on what the encounter is/what the group needs.

Here’s what I’m getting for the two builds:
Deadly Arts: Sundering Strikes, Dagger Mastery(if I put 25 points in)
Critical Strikes: Pistol Mastery/Side Strikes depending on set, Critical Haste, Executioner
Acrobatics: Power of Inertia, Quick Recovery (if I put 25 points in)

My dilemma is that I don’t know if the additional dps I get from the extra 10 points in Deadly Arts offsets the additional dps I gain from having more initiative with Quick Recovery. I like the acrobatics 20 trait much better than the 20 deadly arts, but I like the deadly arts stats much better.

Does anyone know how to beat Leurent and the three nightmare court knights on TA explore F/F without exploiting their leashing mechanic to pull them one at a time? Every group I do this path with use the leashing trick, but I’m wondering if there’s a way to actually do this fight legitimately. A straight up encounter seems suicidal, since even one hit from one of the knights is pretty much game over unless you have something to counter knockdown, and there’s no close by waypoints so you can’t just zerg the encounter.

100% agree with this. I have a total of maybe 2-3 hours a week to play, and I don’t want to spend 30 minutes of that time just finding a group. This is especially true for story mode dungeons. Plus, the whole idea of spamming “LFG” in map chat is just inelegant. At the very least, you could create a separate chat channel dedicated to people looking for dungeons, so the map chats don’t get bogged down with LFG requests.

I still don’t quite understand exactly how a dungeon finder would hurt hardcore players. I mean, if you play “hardcore”, couldn’t you just join a “hardcore” guild and run with them? How exactly would a dungeon finder hurt you in any way?

Awesome guides, should be stickied. Looking forward to TA. Also, why did you decide to not do story mode guides? Did you think they were too easy?