Guild Wars 2

While you are attempting to cast your Sand Swell and Shades, I’m gonna snipe you from 1500 distance, and vanish back in stealth!

No, but yes, but no, there are some very interesting things coming up, and it’s gonna be exciting to see how it unfolds.

The boonhate is strong in this exp, so it might stir things up a bit compared to how it is today.

Got whole next week free as well (saved up hours for a whole week off) But okay, then I’ll just have to wait and see I guess

Hi!
What time (I know it’s tomorrow) will we be able to test our new elites? I’ve taken the day of from work, and would be nice if I could plan a little ahead :-)
In the morning I hope, would be perfect.
I’m in +1 GMT btw (Stockholm timezone).
Thanks!

Hello gadgeteers!

I’m a little confused about the new update for engineers, as I don’t have enough knowledge about the class to take all the changes in.

I understand they overhauled Explosives and Tools trait lines as well as some changes to how Gadgets work (?).

So I’ve been playing with some variant of the metabattles “Quickness Scrapper”, with durability runes and marauders armor, and want to keep my armor the way it is as I like those runes and setup.

So I was wondering if anyone could be so nice to point out a build for me, as a solo roamer/duo with a thief friend of mine?
And are the new tools traitline worth taking? If so, what trait line should it replace?
I guess Alchemy and Scrapper should be worth taking, as I like how hammer works.
(I’ve also seen people praise rifle, so I’m open to that as well).

Gonna go and tinker a bit with the updates later, but a general pointer would be appreciated <3

I was just thinking about this the other day, and was going to make a thread about it, but you beat me to it.

I’m also all in for making some (most) of the traitlines in trickery baseline, to provide more build diversity/more utilities if they add other options in trickery instead of those who will be baseline.

Hello!

I’ve been playing a bit with CS instead of DA lately (with superior rune of rage for perm fury and +5% damage while in fury, also nice mightstacking with the new traits when you gain fury. You can easly reach and maintain 15-ish stacks of might for a nice boost to power).

I feel like the auto attacks hit for higher numbers, and can get some nasty backstabs as well.

Then there’s the damage modifiers in DA, which is higher then CS on paper.

Anyone else tested/got some feedback on this matter?

Still bugged? They ninja-fixed bountiful theft and posted it at the newest patch update thread:

Thief
Bountiful Theft: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from stealing stability.

You can use your existing character on your current server

babazhook.6805:

I am overall positive about all of the changes and specifically those to the S/x build. These are much more rewarding to use now and work in Core. In fact I have found it works with a number of combos of core lines including ones that drop TR which , IMO means we can even drop TR if we wished in the upcoming expansion and design a wide variety of builds utilizing DE.

There really are no "bad traitlines’ for a s/x build.

The changes to tricks were great as well. I had a build that relied on all tricks for Condition cleanse and this lower cooldown icing on the cake. P/P synergizes so well with RFI . On my boon duration thief, while I lost durations due to the changes , I have really not lost on the Quickness score with the new and improved haste.

Yes, I also tested some core S/D play earlier today (Acr/DA/Tr), it needs some time getting used to the dodge again, but it kinda felt good, and the damage was great!

Also a good idea, as others have stated in other threads, to start getting used to core dodge before our new elite comes out

Also I also kinda like the new changes to Critical, specially the new Assassin’s Fury with the might stacking paired with No Quarter for some nice might stacking.

So here’s a thread where we can discuss the good changes for thief.
Whining and nerfed this nerfed that posts are not welcome here, you can choose from many other posts on the frontpage here.

Let’s welcome some changes to thief:

Sword buffs, yay! (try Acr/Tri/DrD with the newly buffed Swindler’s Equilibrium: Increased bonus damage to 10%, AND: This trait now fully recharges steal when the conditions are met instead of recharging it by 1 second.)
This means you can steal, dodge an attack, and recharge steal right away! (20 sec CD).
Makes for some interesting plays.

And I’ve also tested the buff to the Assassin’s Signet (you get extra 500 power for 5 secs) I got it as high as up to 3900 power with bloodlust stacks and few might stacks, some nasty backsthaaps right there).

Also thieves guild spawn 3 thieves now, 2 ordinary thieves and 1 DrD with a staff.

What do you like about the update?

Heya.

(this is for WvW purposes).

So I like the idea of applying poison to my blades, and decrease my enemies healing abilities.

I don’t want to go full condi, but hit like a (small) truck and inflict poison to whoever I’m fighting while I still do good damage.

I’ve come up with this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZIQNAoaVn8lClOhdmCGOB8PhlWCz7N0GmDaBgDwCY+E2CfhA-TFDEQBD7BA0v9HcoSIAeCAcnOgGcEAaj2gfp0YLKBBwhAgJKT8n6PkCg0hVA-w

Decent power (2,7k with bloodlust), and pretty good poison duration (78%) with 33% damage increase and extra stacks thanks to Potent Poison (maybe Sup sigil of Cruelty to make up for the loss of ferocity instead? Then power will be at around 2,5k. I have to test further).

I’m compensating the loss of power on runes with high quality food and the toxic sharpening stone for some power and condi duration.

I will apply poison with all my dagger attacks (well, almost all) and when I’m applying poison I will aslo apply weakness a lot (Lotus Poison trait).
I’m doing 10% extra damage to targets with a condition.

The rest is pretty much standard traits, except for the lotus training dodge, which will net me a 10% increase in condi damage and inflict some nice cover condis for my poison (will have to test if I need to choose Bound to compensate for damage loss tho).

Impairing daggers look also like a strong skill with the slow condition, immob and increased poison of course.

I’m going to test this tonight, and give feedback later.

My concerns are the loss of executioner, and power in general as I like to be around 3k power, and if the condi damage is high enough for making the poison worth traiting for without going full condi (which is a no-go).

We’ll see if the harassment of poison will make up for the loss of power.

Marauder’s with a few berserker pieces here and there seems to be working quite well for me at least.

I’ve been tinkering with acro, trick and DD for some serious dodging.

The damage isn’t that bad, you might think DA gives so much to every build making it a must have choice, and I agree to disagree :-P Acro gives 7% damage increase to swords and lot’s of vigor.

S/D Marauder Acrobat

A very annoying spec to play against, with loads of dodges with high vigor uptime.

Keywords:

2,6k power (with bloodlust stacks)
1,1k toughness
2,2k armor
18,5k health
63% critical chance
894 ferocity

Anyways, over to the fun stuff:


35% recharge on steal (this is standard trickery stuff) + 1% recharge every time you dodge (and you gonna dodge A LOT) – gw2skill-info about steal is wrong btw – you get 15% from Lead Attacks and 20% from Sleight of Hand.

Damage increase:
5% Force Sigil
7% (Swindler’s Equilibrium – sword)
15% (if you got 15 stacks of Lead Attacks – keep spamming a skill (spamming “smart”) that uses initiative before combat)

Total: 27% damage increase if all above checks – 12% if you don’t count in Lead Attacks (yes Deadly Arts will give you more damage modifiers – but this build is about dodging and staying alive) while doing decent damage)

Damage decrease:
10% from food
7% from rune
10% from Dash (both physical and condi)

Total: 27% constant damage reduction (since you will dodge a lot – Unhindered Combatant will almost always be active)

Evading attacks benefits:
Recharge on steal (1% pr dodge)
5 seconds of vigor – 1 sec CD – stacks duration
1 initiative and regen for 6 seconds
Gain 546 health (Driven Fortitude)
Remove 1 condition (any)
Removes Immob, Chill and Cripple

Vigor = moar dodges
10 seconds of vigor upon evading an attack
Vigor is 50% more effective
Stealing gives you 10 sec of vigor




http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsYFn8lClOhFmCGOhlriqbBmuAwbDygPYe6v+vH-T1SBQBYRpUGVWAgHAQCV/ZBHBAzoE8KKR0whAYCnAADu/Q+0HEAABwRP6RP6RPakCQ0dWA-w

FXLEACH.9436:

Anyone here enjoy using fist flurry? How goes the double pulm impact from palm strike? I’ve been trying it in wvw but it’s tough to land.

also does pulm impact work with all interrupts? e.g. would the dragon strike from dragon banner cause pulm impacts when it interrupts?

cheers fellow teefs

I use it from time to time, when you chain all hits it does some seriously damage. I tend to favor Bandit’s Defence over it, tho.
But when I want to go YOLO it sure is fun. If the pul impact crits, I have reaced 2×6k damage which most ppl don’t really expect, and it goes so fast WACK WACK WACK PUL IMPACT X2 target dead.
I think remember I also reached 3 pul impacts since it stacks, hitting all the hits from fist flurry and interrupting a heal with pistol #4, or if it was a wet dream, I can’t recall… :P

And I haven’t tested if other sources of interrupts cause pul impact.. Must. Test.

Nice vid bro, good to have you back. We used to play in the same guild, [ROAM], for a while back.

No, no problems here. I’ve played some D/D lately, and hits when it should hit.

Maybe latency problems on your part? IDK.

Yeah.

Well, engi have soft countered thieves since the dawn of days, so nothing new there.
But thanks for the sympathy, I guess.

Yep. Nice build you posted. I changed my pack runes out for Runes of the scrapper, for more toughness and the 7% damage reduction is nice. Still at 2500 power, with 2400 armor, 50% crit chance and 16k health (17k with Furious Maintenance Oil) .

Fat Disgrace.4275:

A mix of a few stat pieces is better I think then just going full out on 1 stat. As soon as marauder armor and weapon insignias or inscriptions come out I will make this gear
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAWVn8lClOhdPBGmCkmiFYCzLNcGaDzdwS4KULBEA2NA-T1DEABRcIAWUFCCeABJqmiBXABmUO4uOApUi1kSi200AoSwc2fAgDEwDHRA/VNIAACwNvZ28mZzbezb+oH9oH9oHtdezbe0je0SBYuQL-w

Whut? I have crafted 2 exotic pieces of marauders (armor) and I’m on my way crafting 2 more ascended armor pieces in marauders right now. You get the recipe from the master tanner.

Nero.6813:

The worst thing about the action cam is that you can’t do a short distance heartseeker. It’s nice for staff and everything else though.

That’s a bug and will probably be fixed (a dev pointed that out), so might as well get used to not using it.

Healing power scales badly, one of the worst stats in the game. If you want to be durable, spec for armor!
And my mindset: offense is the best defense ;-)

There’s like a sticky for this :-P

Yeah, no.

Backstab is a skill that actually requires some… skill (positioning etc), and it’s one of the reasons why I like it, not just some mindless skill one can spam.

But yes, risk>reward. Maybe up the damage a little, or buff it somehow from traits, as I do agree it should do more damage then, let’s say Vault.

GinghamLion.3614:

How are people liking these runes? They seem to be really great, and I’m thinking about replacing my runes of the pack with them, since I hardly need the swiftness duration with Dash. I use valk armor so the guaranteed crit can be wonderful.

Well, I also changed out my pack runes with these, as it’s great to have some more thoughness and the crit is nice. I traited for TotC instead, and as you said with dash one does not need the swiftness proc and duration from pack. I’ve got mostly berserker armor, but think I’m gonna change to valk my self since no moar guard stacks kinda hurt

No it has not. I use it in WvW. There’s a icon showing that every time you dodge, you get the 100% crit chance on your next attack (within 6 seconds I think).
You don’t even need to evade an attack for it to get the 100% crit chance.

Not available for phone viewing

So the 6th bonus on the ranger works on minions? Interesting. I’ve just began to use minions as they kinda sucked before. Love how they can stand blows now!

Rezzet.3614:

Dahkeus.8243:

Can other classes hit on top of walls (like staff eles) or is this an engi-specific issue?

this is engi specific issue

This is not a engi specific issue, as thief shortbow 2 and 4 also don’t hit enemies.

Where do you get the reaper hood? Many nice looks here!

babazhook.6805:

Experimental being the theme.

Shaminator.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVl0MhimYpTw7Jw/ELNFF3AcABQ3S9Abwc5v+vPA-TVyCABUq+DAHBA80Hc8JAgQlgcp8L99H04BAQxhAgUATK2C-w

The heal from the defender block should be around 4700.

Variant.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVl8MhimYpTw7Jw/ELNFF3AcABQ3S9Abwc5v+vPA-TVyCABUq+DAHBA80Hc8JAgQlgcp8Tq9H04BAQxhAgUATK2C-w

SOM and dodge oodles of heals.

Damage will be low so work needed. (not enough condition types)

Hey! I like the idea of the defender rune, but I cannot see a way for you to block an attack? Correct me if I’m wrong. Maybe slot in bandits defense?
Edit: saw that the rune gives you 5 secs of aegis after using a heal. I would still try with bandits defense tho, for a more reliable source of block

Sir Vincent III.1286:

mompen.7952:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

mompen.7952:

So I’ve tinkered a bit with this one:

The Exuberance Thief:

(WvW roaming)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVl0MhSnYvTw7Jw/EHwEkPNxpN7Ls8UoTQAyAA-T1CFABVfEAWTLQw7P02DAAgTAwVKBRSJSSKvSTXwCHCAVU/hUAUszC-w

It has high HP (20k with foods) and runes/food that utilize a high HP-pool.

Rest of the setup is pretty standard, but you may notice no shadowarts, whuut?
All my tricks remove conditions and have reduced CD’s and my sigils remove conditions. Sigil of generosity is (?) the most expensive sigil in the game atm, but very worth it. Always funny to transfer burn stacks back to guards/engi’s.

It has good power, very high ferocity meaning your crits hit pretty hard (Hidden Killer for guaranteed crit backstabs) and a high HP-pool. After guard stacks getting removed this is crucial.

You might survive against condition damage but just watch out for other ‘zerker because with that base toughness and without stealth, you’re an easy kill.

So maybe fill in with some soldier trinkets? Or even soldier chest/legs.

Not necessarily. You can compensate your weakness with superb playstyle. You just need to watch out for them.

yeah, np then will try and give feedback

Sir Vincent III.1286:

mompen.7952:

So I’ve tinkered a bit with this one:

The Exuberance Thief:

(WvW roaming)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVl0MhSnYvTw7Jw/EHwEkPNxpN7Ls8UoTQAyAA-T1CFABVfEAWTLQw7P02DAAgTAwVKBRSJSSKvSTXwCHCAVU/hUAUszC-w

It has high HP (20k with foods) and runes/food that utilize a high HP-pool.

Rest of the setup is pretty standard, but you may notice no shadowarts, whuut?
All my tricks remove conditions and have reduced CD’s and my sigils remove conditions. Sigil of generosity is (?) the most expensive sigil in the game atm, but very worth it. Always funny to transfer burn stacks back to guards/engi’s.

It has good power, very high ferocity meaning your crits hit pretty hard (Hidden Killer for guaranteed crit backstabs) and a high HP-pool. After guard stacks getting removed this is crucial.

You might survive against condition damage but just watch out for other ‘zerker because with that base toughness and without stealth, you’re an easy kill.

So maybe fill in with some soldier trinkets? Or even soldier chest/legs.

Khazik.8052:

mompen.7952:

So I’ve tinkered a bit with this one:

The Exuberance Thief:

(WvW roaming)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVl0MhSnYvTw7Jw/EHwEkPNxpN7Ls8UoTQAyAA-T1CFABVfEAWTLQw7P02DAAgTAwVKBRSJSSKvSTXwCHCAVU/hUAUszC-w

It has high HP (20k with foods) and runes/food that utilize a high HP-pool.

Rest of the setup is pretty standard, but you may notice no shadowarts, whuut?
All my tricks remove conditions and have reduced CD’s and my sigils remove conditions. Sigil of generosity is (?) the most expensive sigil in the game atm, but very worth it. Always funny to transfer burn stacks back to guards/engi’s.

It has good power, very high ferocity meaning your crits hit pretty hard (Hidden Killer for guaranteed crit backstabs) and a high HP-pool. After guard stacks getting removed this is crucial.

Hey that looks pretty interesting, I’m gonna play around with that tonight. I’m on the tablet so I can’t see what armor or runes you have selected but I like the stats and utilities.

Yeah, it’s with Rune of Exuberance, hence the name of the build ^^ It gives vitality, plus converting vitality to precision (5%) and power (7%). With furious maintenance oil you also gain +100 vitality plus converting all your vitality to ferocity. Lot’s of HP: lot’s of ferocity.

Maybe rune of wurm is also a good alternative, you get even more crazy ferocity, but loose some power.

So I’ve tinkered a bit with this one:

The Exuberance Thief:

(WvW roaming)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVl0MhSnYvTw7Jw/EHwEkPNxpN7Ls8UoTQAyAA-T1CFABVfEAWTLQw7P02DAAgTAwVKBRSJSSKvSTXwCHCAVU/hUAUszC-w

It has high HP (20k with foods) and runes/food that utilize a high HP-pool.

Rest of the setup is pretty standard, but you may notice no shadowarts, whuut?
All my tricks remove conditions and have reduced CD’s and my sigils remove conditions. Sigil of generosity is (?) the most expensive sigil in the game atm, but very worth it. Always funny to transfer burn stacks back to guards/engi’s.

It has good power, very high ferocity meaning your crits hit pretty hard (Hidden Killer for guaranteed crit backstabs) and a high HP-pool. After guard stacks getting removed this is crucial.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

mompen.7952:

Gray.9041:

daredevil staff’s the best thing I’ve seen so far, but I’m hoping at least some of the new weapon skins will be melee staff skins – especially now that Nevermore’s clearly a caster staff.

Hey yo, does anyone have a picture of this new DD staff? Tried to Google it with no luck. Maybe someone else is a true ninja-googler and can help me out

Look here: https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/c6757Glamour-590x331.jpg

Source: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/meet-the-daredevil-thiefs-elite-specialization/

Oh wow, it was that easy Blush thanks tho! I read that article earlier, but didn’t think of the staff as a new one.

Gray.9041:

daredevil staff’s the best thing I’ve seen so far, but I’m hoping at least some of the new weapon skins will be melee staff skins – especially now that Nevermore’s clearly a caster staff.

Hey yo, does anyone have a picture of this new DD staff? Tried to Google it with no luck. Maybe someone else is a true ninja-googler and can help me out

Kallist.5917:

Im going to have to go with the Guild Pillar. That blade on the end just screams Melee weapon.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/0/04/Guild_Pillar.jpg

Yeah, I will be testing this as well. I haven’t seen the new staff skin yet, but Guild Pillar is long and with a blade on the end, noice.

Cool builds guys!! Love experimenting on builds that are a little different ;-)

@Bruno: Yeah, wow. 90 heal pr initiative spent. I’ll have to see..

@Woaden: Yeah, I’ve gotten some nasty backstabs at me.
By changing out the weapons to Valk, I get 15,2k health (also changed utility food to Furious Maintenance Oil, for +100 vit, and some added ferocity.
With guard stacks this would get me to 18k health.
Sucks to rely on guard stacks all the time tho.

Edit: Also tried changing out DA to CS, for added precision and ferocity and Hidden Killer for that guaranteed backstab.
I love executioner tho :-P

Sir Vincent III.1286:

@OP: 2k toughness and 12k HP made me cringed. You’ll take so much damage that there’s no amount of healing power will keep you alive.

With a Berserker, you can afford to have those stats only because there’s a possibility that you can down your opponent — however with your build, that’s not a possibility — you’re basically just prolonging the inevitable.

If you can’t kill them, they’ll just keep pressing you until you run out of options and run away.

That’s so true.

I get like 16k with guard stacks tho.
Tried with S/P, SoM, IP, Assassins Reward (AR sucks btw) It heals up pretty fast, one pistol whip and 100% hp from under half.
But, I’m so squishy :-/

BrunoBRS.5178:

i was expecting S/P, SoM, IP, and assassin’s reward. the ultimate self-healing thief build.

Yes, well I originally tried with SoM and IP, without S/P tho. Not a great success, as it wasn’t healing me for enough on D/P. Not enough sustain to survive the big blows.
Will give S/P a go :-)

vespers.1759:

Cynz.9437:

why would you even stand in his caltrops….

Hard to move when perma rooted.

He has two needle traps, one on his utility bar and one on heal. That’s the only immob.
24 seconds CD, and 30 seconds CD on heal.

WASD

https://vid.me/upBW

So this is just to show you the regen possibilities in stealth with this build.

You get from half to full HP with BP→HS-HS.

Thoughts?

Hey!

Edit: I’ve updated the title so people can ask for build advice/or post a build they want to try/experiment on and we can leave feedback to it.

(this is for WvW purposes – solo/duo roaming)

Zealot Thief by me

This one needs more work. Too low hp and or armor.

-

Shadow Cleric by Woaden

“You’re not going to be setting any DPS records, but you’ll bring quite a bit of party buffs and heals, and you will have decent white damage”

-

Black Water Druid by Woaden

“Also, if Shadow Cleric you bring a lot of blinds and poison/weakness while you brawl in between healing.
With Darkdrood you bring lots of weakness debuffs and a bit more personal condi clear.”

-

Shadow Duelist by Sir Vincent III

“This one is a bit bunker but has more power for better damage output.”

-

The Exuberance Thief by me

It has high HP (20k with foods) and runes/food that utilize a high HP-pool.
Rest of the setup is pretty standard, but you may notice no shadowarts, whuut?
All my tricks remove conditions and have reduced CD’s and my sigils remove conditions. Sigil of generosity is (?) the most expensive sigil in the game atm, but very worth it. Always funny to transfer burn stacks back to guards/engi’s.
It has good power, very high ferocity meaning your crits hit pretty hard (Hidden Killer for guaranteed crit backstabs) and a high HP-pool. After guard stacks getting removed this is crucial.

-

alicatrawz.9567:

ill be using the guild pillar.

I had the scythe staff skin dropped on 1st halloween.

Sold it for 33g a week later to gear my main.

so. SO much regret.

… Ouch :-P

On another note, you think staff prices will get higher after HoT now that thieves (well, those who want to play DD) buy staves, and druids? Guess not, I mean. Staff is a very common weapon used by a lot of classes.

BTW, here is a list of all (?) staves:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gallery_of_staves

cakeonroof.7385:

mompen.7952:

So, when HoT comes out, what staff skin will you choose? I read that someone stated that a big staff is better (pun intended), as it makes the animations better.

Post a picture/link to it maybe as well

If you’re into the big black staff, go for shadow.

Kek! Yeah, will check that out. I have dagger/pistol/shortbow in shadow, so maybe I’ll follow my trend on that theme.

So, when HoT comes out, what staff skin will you choose? I read that someone stated that a big staff is better (pun intended), as it makes the animations better.

Post a picture/link to it maybe as well

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gallery_of_staves

Or change out the entire acro trait line since it will be useless when daredevil comes with some passives when you are ‘revealed’, like regen, aegis or superspeed. And maybe some damage modifiers, like ‘your next five attacks while revealed cannot be blocked’, or ‘gain quickness for 5s while revealed’.
I don’t know, alot of classes gain almost a direct counter to stealth, while we gain nothing in return.