Guild Wars 2

100% agreein with Jstereo, daze is a beach to deal with, especially when i can get most targets to 65-70% health before i even use C/D —> Tactical strike, preventing them from doing anything for 2 seconds i’ll probably get them down to 40% or so, and the perfect finish would be using tripwire cleverly and bursting using elite/haste. If you try to run i have shadowstep which will close the gap AND immobilize IMBAAAAAA

Vexus, the problem with the Sigil of Int. is that it only grants critical for the first attack, which would only be the pistol shot, i think a +5% crit sigil would work better. Interesting play-style though, but i do wonder how viable it is against stability and dodging in general, always been skeptical of pistol whip builds.

One more thing about Shadowstep—

if you get knocked down, shadowstep out
if you get pushed back, shadowstep out
if you get immobilized, shadowstep out
if you get moa’d, oh wait.. moa is OP.

everytime you shadow step back in, immobilize your target 1 second??? if i wasn’t a thief i’d say this is more OP than heartseeker but most ppl don’t know how to dodge that’s why they say hs is op.

Hey classic, good to hear from another S/D thief. One issue I see in your utility skill choice —-- why pick Shadow Step? You already have it on 0 cooldown in your sword

in my opinion, S/D’s strong points are:

1. Shadowinstep…. say good bye to silly condition necros or any condition spec for that matter.. Great for chasing because of the 1 second immobilize, great for that escape because of shadow return breaking stealth. Works awesome with a 12 initiative build. I also run a trap build so i like to shadowstep in, set my traps, lure a couple idiots on me, and step out leaving them in confusion and giving my teammates an opportunity to wreak havok

2. Auto attack has great sustained dmg, and great conditions in daze/blind/cripple, couple with Haste utility skill and i will shut down any profession better than when i use Haste with dag/dag (which has more burst dmg but the target can usually escape pretty easily from melee range without crippling/dazing)

3. C/D might not synergize well with sword, but it is an awesome escape mechanism and a confusion mechanism. great for stomping downed enemies as well. Who said stealth is all about break-stealth damage?

4. dagger cripple is awesome because it bounces between targets, i’d much rather have dagger offhand than pistol offhand because pistol seems a little 1v1 oriented to me. With dagger skill 4 I can pop Haste and drop around 6 throws in 2 or so seconds, all of them bouncing in between targets for around 700-800 each (no crit), absolutely KILLER in team fights on point, where everyone gets their ankles and hearts broken.

Dag/dag will provide you insane burst from autoattack/HS, but really? Thieves have more utility than you think

Comments? good in competitive pvp? does shadowstep and return cost too much initiative to be competitive? is Sword dps too weak compared to dagger mainhand? Or is it great? let’s get some ideas going

Definitely would be outbursted/dmg’d by a dagger thief, but often i feel like the thief profession has so many CC capabilities that it should be employing. My priorities in a 4+ man fight would be to tripwire and steal for buff granting and stealing, this along with 3-4 npc thieves give a huge support to my side of the team.

My downed teammates are usually thankful when I do clutch Dodge (for swiftness) —> Shadowstep —> Tripwire (opponent trying to finish teammate off falls on butt) —> Thieve’s trap (for blinding powder) —> Revive

That’s one problem, I feel the thief doesn’t have as many knockbacks as other classes, that’s why i love tripwire because it is one of the few skills that i can use as a thief that will drop an opponent.

A lot of thieves i see in sPvP games nowadays will be running dagger pistol, d/d, but few choose to use the sword..

Sword skills
1. basic attack is insanely annoying due to cripple/weakness. Once the target is crippled, unless they have condition removal, they won’t be running too far, great for elementalists and rangers.. decent damage as well.

2. Shadowstep (winstep) costs 3 init at first, immobilizes the target (enough time for you to begin a cripple chain), while casting again costs 2 init and removes 1 condition; returns you to your starting location. I use this skill to harass melee classes, as i’m stepping back and forth at least 2 to 3 times each skirmish, removing a ton of conditions from condition dmg specs. Great for chasing and dodging, this skill.

3. this skill is the “Dodgestep” as i like to call it, good damage but costs 4 init. I’d rather use that on skill 4.

4. Skill 4, the dagger crippling/ninja star skill. Costs you 4 initiative, bounces in between targets and does decent dmg as well as cripples. Great for chasing and group fights, kind of breaks everyone’s ankles if they’re close together.

5. Cloak and Dagger. A Whopping 6 initiative to use, this skill is your last resort to GTFO the fight and save yourkitten

I run these weapons with a 12 initiative, trap/steal build, very powerful as my capabilities are endless with all the movement disables from traps and sword, as well as the bursting capabilities given to both myself AND my teammates of the stealing spec (i advise thieves to look into the steal specs for pvp!!)

I also use a shortbow for the lack of mobility from sword/dagger.

Obviously be running thieve’s guild and thieve’s trap.. they are amazing together.

feel free to give feedback