Guild Wars 2

nice vid. Azure Mesmer requires more video

Stridix.4260:

To test out how good u r in lvl 80 do cof path 2 and see how long u will last during the kiting sequence w/Maggie b4 endboss.
It is not about gear, it is about skills, knowledge of ur character.
Or of course just do pvp.

funny you say that. I never got past 31% with any of my toons except my ele I hit 74

im gonna mess with this today I dont know why I never even thought to try something else in dungeons. My guild does well in dungeons damage wise but I def go down the most, been looking to change that. thanks

bump. lots of views and no advice? id like to know this as well

you know I should probably try that…. ive been using my 25/30/0/0/15 build for dungeons… forever. s/p with sb. hmph. I havent used p/d since the dancing dagger nerf. Maybe ill give that a whirl today

I dont play Necro, though its prob my next class when im done leveling mesmer. I currently have 4 lvl 80s, ive put a good 1200 hours in so far (addictions a kitten) and I think people forget that this game isnt 1 on 1. I know we like to say it is, act like it is and even type like it is, but its not. I use S/P thief and D/D ele mostly for wvw, sometimes my ranger but never my guard. In all my experience, I can say I love fighting Necros for the most part because I just simply crush them. However, with all the Necro killing ive done I had 2 experience which changed my perception of them. First was an actual 1v1 scenario (again these are rare in wvw) and my thief laid a beating on a running Necro. After giving him the business, he was still alive and I guess figured he couldnt run away or he had just noticed me I dunno honestly but he decided to turn it into a fight that ill never forget (obviously). Not only could I not burst him down, but he actually dropped wells onto his location nonstop and made me fight from range, in which he dominated me. Usually I dodge those stupid AoE but how he did it, there was no way to attack him and his silly offensensive defense stopped me. Whatever. Second experience, I fought a combo of 2 Necros and a mesmer that I swear came from hell. I dont like ganking, but 6 then 8 of us went at them and they were a wall of death. no surviving, no condition curing was enough and we just dropped like flies. only our little engi put up a fight. Sorry for the nonsense post im super tired forgive me… point is, Necro isnt trash its just the knight piece of guild wars 2

The only thing warriors are better at than Guardians are PVE up to lvl 40 or so. 100B because enemies dont dodge. Other than that, Warriors have nothing on Guardians. Not saying Warriors arent good because they are, but Guardians are perfect (for as perfect a class can be without being OP). Their ranged attacks arent good in pvp/wvw but in pve theyre great (just as good as rifle or longbow, if not better but thats up for debate). Warriors have more HP and the same defense, but they dont have the ability to keep their HP or remove conditions like Guards do. “Guardian” is honestly a really bad name for the class imo. Warriors can build between offense and defense better than guards, but at full DPS or full Bunker, guardian is far better in both. Warrior seems better to some people because they can drop things with 100b instantly, but thats it. Besides that, the damage is equal with Guardian getting more buffs for his hits. sry for bad grammar, super tired.

im on FOTM 6 and never had a problem with d/d. Again, im not at 10 so maybe thats why but ive never had an issue. Also, d/d ele has a wall. its hard to use, and you can see the potential, but a lot of peopel get frustrated with every battle having so much movement and attunement switching. personally I love it, and it makes me happy I dont see that many d/d eles

I went lvl 1-80 using arcane wave and conjure hammer.

Once I hit 80 I went d/d bunker. I have 4 lvls 80s and its my only toon that can 1v1 a vet karka in pve and 2 thieves at wvw.

Elementalist hands down. Go bunker with dual daggers. It seems ok at first, then once you see just how much havok you can cause, you can use the exact same set up, lose defense and rely on healing and pure dps. While I still prefer bunker Ele, high dps with healing is a monster if used correctly. Honorable mention to mesmer as well, although personally I like Thief

I just put one on my rangers shortbow and I will say it has made her MUCH better. Bloodlust stacks from longbow and than the might boon from shortbow has made my damage crazy. as long as I line up enemies good im hitting 4-10 stacks in a fight easy

I get that. I decided to use fire for d/d and strength for sword/p

Just dropped Sigil of Fire for sigil of Strength…. not sure how I feel about this yet but I just said ehh why not. I have Sigil of Bloodlust on bow, with strength and force on sword and pistol. anyone else do this?

Dee Jay.2460:

It depends a lot on…

a) what build you’re playing

b) what build the Thief is playing

I’ll list some of the most popular Thief builds and highlight their weaknesses.

1. D/D Backstab Thief, often (but not always) a full glass-cannon.

These are the Thieves that can almost instant-gib other glass cannons, especially if they catch them off guard. Their Steal + C&D + Backstab can deal over 15000 damage in a second.

However they are very susceptible to crowd control. Their combo requires all attacks to connect and so a single stun or knockdown is enough to break their momentum.

I found Hammer builds counter these Thieves quite effectively, but you need to be quick and ideally catch them before their attack combo. A single snare, root or stun can be enough to break their momentum. And then it’s basically over as they rarely have more than 14000 HP.

Generally speaking though, Thieves are very susceptible to CC since they don’t have Stability and often opt to run without a CC breaker.

2. Pistol/Dagger aka. Stealth-Thieves

These are the hardest to beat 1v1, especially in WvW where Stealth skills last 1-2 seconds longer than normal because of rendering issues.

You’ll need to have a lot of condition removal to beat them. I’d also advise using ranged combat since their build relies on a Cloak and Dagger melee attack in order to Stealth. If you deny them the ability to melee you you’ll drop their DPS by 60% because their biggest hit is one they can only execute from Stealth.

The best thing here is to wear them down at range and then go for a Charge + 100 Blades kill once they’re around 50% HP. Also save your Condition Removals until you have at least 5 Bleeds stacked on you (normally right after their Sneak attack).

3. D/D Melee Bleed builds, aka. Death Blossom spammers.

These guys like to spam Death Blossom while kiting you over their Caltrops. Their passive healing can be quite strong as well.

The best choice here is again, to deny them melee range since their ranged weapons are typically quite bad. Get your rifle and keep them at bay.

They too are typically very susceptible to stuns and crowd control so make use of that.

TL;DR – Stuns and CC as well as knowing when to avoid melee brawls are the best ways to counter Thieves.

Singed,

A Thief

Fellow Thief here and hes right about most of his above statements, save for 1… and he left something out. The thing about Thieves having bad ranged weapons is a little ridiculous. The shortbow will tear you apart and will set up a dangerous combo. I use Shortbow and S/D as a thief and its the golden secret people just dont use because d/d thieves are so popular. Thief 3 attack on shortbow evades everything so going shot for shot is a huge risk, even though you have more hp and armor, its a rough battle.
The real danger you need to look out for is Shortbow cluster bomb from medium range, which may make you evade. There are 3 scenarios here, either run left or right and let the bomb miss you, which is the right thing to do. getting hit by it, no bueno, and dodging is even worse. If you dodge it, you lose an evade, will get hit by either sword 2 and steal/mug in either order depending on range. you are now immo and lost roughly 4k health. sword auto attack will hit you for roughly 3-9k damage if all three hits connect. You can use a stun breaker, or evade again. Hopefully they did not sword 2 from a decent distance because they will move back and you will have no evades and Thief will chase you down with shortbow again. If they did not steal earlier during the 2-combo then prepare to get mugged with c&d, with a daze and auto combo again.

im just ranting now sorry… anyway, best way to beat a thief is conditions. Longbow/Sword/Shield. Unused really, but works wonders. sorry for my rant im tired

I dont play Warrior but I play with/against a lot of them. I see GS working well in PVE but for the life of me I dont understand why I see so many in pvp/wvw. So far the best warriors ive seen use a combo involving an axe or mace, or completely ranged me with rifle.

I dont see how this is even a debate. I could See this as Mesmer vs Guard vs Thief. But Ranger? Really? I have an 80 Ranger and all but come on man REALLY?? Yes a Ranger can beat a Mesmer, but if we’re talking about 2 elite players, theres no build or weapon set out there that a Ranger cant nullify with any of his weapons or just a few utilities. Mesmer is literally built to kill you 1 on 1. Its the wizard version of the thief, its meant to kill you before you can properly respond to its actions, except in this fight the Ranger can know exactly whats going on and still lose. Mesmer with sword/x will kill any Ranger build. And what is this talk of Rangers with GS? If I see a Ranger with a GS ill leave him for last and kill all his friends first while he pokes me with that overgrown nonsense. Ranger has childs DPS with that bad boy. Only thing I could see a ranger doing is traps with axe/torch and hoping the mesmer messing up with his key combinations

funny to me because if I had to pick 1 “balanced” class it would be the thief.

Eles are stuck using d/d bunker
Guards are stuck being a bunker again. The Vigor on crit nerf destroyed altruistic healing crit builds.
Necro has more cons and pros, as good as the pros are.
Engis I wont include in this because I dont think people have truly conquered what they can do yet.
Warriors are the closest things to balanced besides Thieves. People say War is great, people say War sucks, sounds balanced to me. Good at everything, has weaknesses that hold it back, makes it fair.
Mesmer is far from balanced. OP to some, just too damn annoying to others. Great class though.
Rangers.. Played a Ranger for 80 levels and forgot theyre even in the game.

Why is thief balanced? Awesome damage in both pvp/wvw/pve but can die from a brisk breeze. The best of thieves can die from a random AoE they didnt see coming. You know those D/D eles that are so annoying but dont do a lot of damage? they kill thieves without noticing. Thief only seems OP because people get terrified when they see someone with a dagger turn invisible. To me that means .. im getting backstabbed, let me do something about this, or theyre going to run. You know that shadow refuge thing all the thieves use? We’re stuck in there for a few seconds, you know how easily it is to kill us? people just dont think. I can go on about weapons and such this and that but its not worth it. Think of it as a 2d fighter… There are certain characters that seem cheap until you take the time to learn them (M.Bison). Oh and for the record, when a thief uses a sword… thats when I worry. All the backstab talk is cute and all with the 2,2,2,2, yea whatever it works but just about every class has a good way out of that (retaliation and confuse is the worst enemy to this). BUT, most people complaining are Warriors running around with a Greatsword and Rifle and cant stand it that the guy with the twig for a weapon can kill him, its ridiculous. Until 100B gets nerfed, I wont stop complaining about the PW nerf. Mind you, im fine with the nerf as all it did was open my eyes to how great the swords auto attack and 2 lock down is. To each is own, I just want my s/d build back. Sorry for the rant and bad grammar im tired.

Cheers- Tyr out

?? They fixed the end of path 1 for arah? I completed it last night and couldnt get the tokens… =\

Mjk.7562:

That was very embarrassing video. 3 botton mashing, not even preloading cnd before steal, shows how glasscannon thief is still easygoing on nowbies and low leweled underequiped stuff. This is exactly why i dropped my exotic thief and made bunker d/d elementalist, love to stomp thieves:D

I did the same exact thing. Funny thing is, now I feel even more overpowered than I did as thief. Weird, not sure which class I prefer at this point. I still think Guardian is the best class though, just not enough people use him with berserker to realize how OP he can be

MithranArkanere.8957:

The game doesn’t seem to track very well things like condition damage and I’m sure it can’t track more complex things like damage avoided with interruptions, stealth, crowd control and the like.
Such stats would only mislead players into thinking those number are what really matters, when they are not.

What matters is the results, which is simply less player defeats and more monster kill in less time, to ‘clean’ as much of the dungeon in as little time as possible.

When I read “ranking” I though you were talking about something like GW1’s challenge rankings.
That could be actually nice. Get to the end killing more enemies in less time (skipping enemies would get you less score), and you get to the top of the ranking, and the first 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to 10th in the World (server) get a reward at the end of the month, and ANet can also check on them to see exploits the people encouraged by the ranking may be used to do faster killings.
Then, to see the ranking, check the website or talk to the ‘host’ NPC by the door of the dungeon.

this is a great idea

Auum.3410:

So my first level 80 was a guardian, my second 80 was a warrior, and my third 80 was a ranger. I then played around with Ele, Engi, Mesmer and Thief. Keep in mind I only play PvE.

Now, I am well aware that all classes can be specced to fill various roles, but I found the guardian a little boring (for support), the warrior a little squishy if i wanted to melee dps (which was also limited in dungeons due to various AOE’s), the Ranger was OP but 1 button win boring, I wasn’t much good with the Ele and again it was squishy, the Engi also got boring due to the lack of weapons/skins, the Mesmer was also meh, and I couldn’t get the dps out of the thief that I would have liked while again also being very squishy.

The Necro on the other hand seems perfect. Only level 15 at the moment, running a D/D & Staff build and love it. Great mix of targeted AOE effects (meaning some skill required) as well as CC as well as in your face single target damage, keeping minions up also takes a bit of concentration. My mate played one early on and was constantly complaining about getting whomped by mobs in the class quest, but so far I haven’t had any trouble at all. At level 13 I solo’d a lvl 16 vet which was great fun.

Here’s to Necro’s!

Ranger is OP? Are we playing the same game???? I mean, if you stay at your level zone and use longbow…and bears..than maybe I can sorta somewhat understand… But levelign a Ranger and going to zones 5-10 levels ahead of you and in dungeons… No way is Ranger OP… barely even good. Guardian on the other hand can kill things 5 levels ahead of him easily. meh, to each his own

Ill make this one short.

Something that would make Dungeons even more interesting would be an end ranking. So for example: after collecting tokens from the dungeon, there would be a menu for us to view that shows the list of members in party. We would get to see how much damage each person did, how much healing they did, who died the most, who died the least, who took the most damage, who did the most conditions, who revived the most, who hit the most targets. Such stats would not only make dungeons more competitive and fun, it would also help show how each class and build effects dungeons. A good example of this is with my guild, where I believe Rangers are absolutely worthless in dungeons but my guild mate refuses to believe me and says Mesmers are a waste in a dungeon. Thats just one example and use, but I def think this would be a great feature no matter how you look at it. Sorry for bad grammar I just woke up lol… thoughts?

I still think it will be better to use the rune set up for 45% longer boon duration.. but I havent tried it yet. So far im loving this build though

people quitting the game over ascended gear is AMAZING to me. Yea, they said they didnt want to make the game a grind like WoW, but when people complain that there isnt enough content in a game… thats “free”… and they try to do something about it people still complain. Its a lose lose for Anet. Stop complaining. I completely understand your exotic gear isnt top tier anymore but you know what? congrats, we have more content to work with. IF you truly love the game youll understand its required to make the game live, just stop being a baby about it

I think the OP is making a joke. If hes not, well, then you did not play thief correctly. My thief with pistol whip will hit for 5-11k, can use it 4 times in a row, also use haste and signet of assassination, mug for another 5k, and auto attack for 4-9k by the time my warrior will start his second 100b. Plus I can move if I want more freely, have a build in evade, and can escape much easier. Oh yea, and thats not counting doing more damage from the back.

yea… And warriors with full zerker do a lot of damage, they also die like insects. Run Arah, high level frac or CoE with that set up. My guild does CoE with 3 thieves using shortbows and s/p… survive better than any other class there and dps almighty. With that, DPS is also DPA… Damage per action. When my thief “escapes” its by switching to shortbow and using 3 attack which evades everything and keeps me attacking. Yea, warrior is good but doesnt outclass the thief at all

my main was a thief…Im used to nerfs.. trust.

Sounds good though guys thanks for the advice

@Tyber… I really…REALLY… like that set up. Im going to try that in a few hours…I will def let you know how it works out

With that said, in regards to the OP… I couldnt disagree more. Ele in both pvp and wvw is beast mode. Im extremely happy so many people think the ele sucks and is underpowered that way Anet wont nerf them and less people will use em. out of my 4 level 80s, my ele is the only one that can solo vet karka and non group event champions. My ele is my only toon that can fight 2, or 3 on 1 in wvw and win or survive.. Actually thief can survive as well. My guardian can fight 2 on 1 but hes more set for 1 on 1 battles, I need to do something about that eventually. PVP we got weakened but can still roll with the big boys no problem. Ele is weak with our best builds when it comes to pure damage, but thats not what ele is built for. We are like welterweights, we hit hard and fast but not with knockout power against buff builds. Save for engi/guard tank builds, we have no equal on the food chain…. except BS thieves, they are too powerful to not be given credit. sorry for bad grammar half asleep

MindlessRuff.1948:

People here must not have come across any good GS damage warriors, they can be the scariest thing to face if they play well, the key to knowing if they are good or not is seeing if they blow frenzy right away or work down your endurance and utilities before unleashing the burst, its quite an adrenaline rush.

is this.. youre not serious right? Any warrior using a greatsword for pvp/wvw is an easy kill for a d/d ele. it has one powerful attack. one. not only is it stationary and have an (I believe) 8 second cool down, it takes seconds for it to do full damage. So they knock you down by using bullrush. only knocks you down if you are moving. Lets just say you, strangely, somehow, get knocked down by one of these GS warriors… you know exactly whats coming. quickness, 100b. Guess what? when youre knocked down you can teleport behind them or use mist form and they lost quickness and 100b. They have nothing left but auto attack or to switch weapons, which by now you should have already started your onslaught of knockdowns and condition damage.

If you are losing to a GS warrior as a d/d ele 1 on 1 than you seriously need to consider playing another class. Now an axe or mace using warrior with rifle alt… thats a little more dangerous, but still extremely easy.

Real challenge is tank necros that rely on poison and berserker guards with high healing

umm I I might upgrade just so I can wear this hat and make a vivi asura… Is there any available picture of this hat in game? I Want to see the skin !

Im thinking mesmer is going to be my next class, still cant decide between mes and Engi. Are there good Melee builds out there? Im trying to avoid the typical GS route I usually see if possible. thank ya

ok I have a question. Im currently using Orbs for prec/crit/power in my armor but im thinking of using runes to add length to boons like my Ele uses. 2 Runes of major water, 2 superior water, 2 superior monk. for WvW/PVE that gives us 45% more time with each boon. Also I decided against using symbols heal all allies because with GS/Staff there arent enough symbols I actively use…unless I switched staff for hammer. Instead I use the trait to give might on criticals, and I usually hit a good 7 stacks or so per fight. So im thinking with longer boon duration I will accumulate much more might and regeneration. Also, im thinking of using Save Yourself if the boon duration helps with this build. Thoughts?

still not at 100% how I want my trinkets and armor to be, but ran this build with my guild and it worked amazing. Not ready yet for solo action, but def got the attention of my dungeon buddies…thanks

I def need more toughness. Ill have to mess with this… somehow im not surviving, but I def see the potential. thanks for vid

…I def need help with this. While I see a lot of potential with this, I feel like im taking so much damage (in pve)… not sure what im doing wrong. Though I will admit im rusty with guardian, I dont evade or move anywhere as much as I do with my other toons. Can you post a video of fighting Karka? and your exact gear plz

I use the same set up but ive been having trouble picking out equipment stats. mind linking whaqt youre using? sounds like you have berserker but with a mix of other stuff

I do CoE all the time holler at me. Easy dungeon, usually start with path 3 then do 1, I hate path 2 though

I agree with almost everything OP stated… with a few minor cents to add.

Most of us can stand to play other classes, we just love the ele. I find other classes fun as well, I simly prefer ele because its so unique, with engineer right along next to it.

As for the conjure weapons, thats a serious problem that there is no answer for. Theres really no way to change them and not make them either worthless , or OP. I used to think that the conjure weapons should work on the fly similar to the engineer weapon kits, but with how the ele works he’d just be too powerful. If you could make a proper build out of the conjured hammer, ele would steal all of the guardians spotlight… seriously.

Other than that, I agree. Staff is great for everything except for small fights and 1 on 1… and scepter has so much potential but in the end its just awkward. Focus sucks.

We need to be able to use more weapons… swords, axe, something.

PvE and WvW. I like the input Bleeds, good shiznit! Ive been running around with hammer/GS forever and I jus want to do something different. Def want to keep one of them, but id also like to use a 1 hander me thinks.

I searched but this board is too massive with Guardian love (this is the only forum that doesnt cry) to find this. Id prefer using sword and focus and one of the 2 handers. My Guard has been rotting while my thief and ele get all the love and im tired of it!!

Ive been following you awhile and I just have 2 questions. 1, how do you have 18-19k hp? I use the same setup, power tough vit on all armor, same runes, sapphire trinkets…only difference is I use the karka earring/trinket and dont have triforge (yet). my hp sits around 16k.

Also, I read in a previous post how this build destroys thieves. While that is partially true, its not 100%. This build works well against backstab D/D thieves, but I also play thief using s/d and s/p and I will say they work well against this ele (and all bunker) builds. s/p head shot and sword auto attack are devastating. You stated that thieves only escape is invis and predictable shortbow escapes but that also is wrong. Shadow step is 1200 range and talented thieves use this to run away and come back. While I have not lost to a thief while using your build (thanks!), when I play as my thief I havent even come close to losing to an ele.

^!! right? I appreciate what everyone is saying but is there anywhere to find out for sure?

anyone know this answer to this

cant find this online so I gotta ask here where the real men are. Cant decide if I want to get a legendary with my thief or ele and I love them both dearly.. my main question is, if I get bolt/incinerator with my thief will the enemy see my footsteps in wvw??

I dont feel thief is OP at all. Thief seems OP because in the right situations, he can kill you almost instantly and that will make anyone rage. However, this game has kind of a rock paper scissor formula. Thieves has trouble against bunker Ele D/D, guardians, and mesmers. Personally I find Guardians easy to kill, just time consuming but thats whatever. The only class I feel that is OP is Mesmer. ive found myself using my Ele more and more because they get more respect than the thief does for killing. Stupid as that sounds, its true. btw, Necros and Engis are on the come up…just watch.

engineer is that closest thing to that

does this work? im currently not logged in to try it but im curious. Ive been using Force/battle sigils in my daggers.

I cant agree YET that DD is the only viable build, only because I think someone will come up with a great Conjure Weapon build soon. I got to level 80 using Thor hammer build before the conjure weapon buff so im not sure. But yea, DD and maybe S/D are it.

a thief losing to a warrior is just terrible. Literally, walk up to them because they have nothing that can one shot you even at glass cannon (which I roll on my thief) Cloak and dagger them and proceed to do whatever you want. either let them waste their evades and use shadow refuge to wait or burst them down with d/d, s/d (which I prefer even with nerf) or s/p. You can even take it a step further and invis, use trip wire on top of them, haste and use 2 pistol whips then cloak then backstab. If they are using a greatsword its almost an instant win because you should know their attacks. Everything is to get you cornered/knocked down for 100b. if they knock you down and they actually try to use that, shadow step behind them and destroy. with your trait set up you should heal for full life prob every time u use shadow and half when u go invis (didnt look at ur traits number selection, but at a brief glimpse it seems thats the route you took). Warrior is a beast but against Thief and Ele he has a serious problem currently. Thief has a lot more problems against Guards and Mesmers

Mesmer is still OP. sorry to burst bubbles, and im sorry for people that were trying to get legendary greatswords and now wont use the greatsword. I really am. with that said, my thief has been screwed over in every single patch to the point that ma main weapon set of sword/dagger is worthless. 50% damage reduction to Dancing Dagger? nerf is one thing, basically removing a skill is another. Keep complaining, Mes is still OP and we can cry our way into 1v4 fights and still win