Guild Wars 2

You can use a venom about 20 seconds before fight, so it will have like 25 seconds left on cooldown. Same with traps – plant them before fight, so you can use them twice in a very short time for a “trap combo”.

Edelweiss

Fleet Shadow trait from the Acrobatics line doesn’t work.

It does work, but it doesn’t stack with signet of shadows or swiftness.

Increases both out and in combat, but doesn’t give flat value (for example, +1 meter per second), but a percentage. So, this bonus is way less noticeable when you are in combat and while being crippled., because base speed value is lesser.

If you have so big issues with warrior bursting you with hundred blades, or a thief with pistol whip, spec into deep Acrobatics and pick Hard to catch.

Keep in mind, that shadowstep also clears knockdown and immobilize, not only stun. Anyway, you can chase your target and get stopped by his friend, so it makes sense to break stuns.

@Stiv
Worms? About 10 years ago, I used to play them frequently with my friends, usually 5 of us in front of my computer :P Baseball bat was one of the most humiliating move, where “prod” took the first place.

Also, make sure to buy a lot of pirate peglegs, because they break after one 2nd skill use.

@Shadow Phage
AoE effects, both damage and utility, have cap of max 5 targets. The tooltip is just misleading. Venomous Aura changes venoms into AoE utilities.

@Stormy O
You was probably playing with me that time, because I recognize your nick. I planted Ambush trap a minute before you triggered it, so I could instantly plant it again when you came, because it was off cooldown. A moment later, I used Thieves guild to get additional 2 thieves, so there were 4 thieves in total (excluding myself :P). Sometimes I can also use perk Merciful ambush from Trickery tree, so I can have 5 summoned thieves at once, but it’s very hard to execute.

To do my trick (WvW), you need:
- tripwire trap,
- pirate pegleg for 28 karma, from Moriarity’s Hold.

Plant a tripwire trap on an edge of a cliff near jumping puzzle, right after stairs before waterfall (jump platform), and hide behind a rock. There is a good place to hide, so you can’t be seen from afar. When somebody crosses the path and faceplant in snow, run to him with pegleg and knockback him (2nd skill) down the cliff. Painless death guaranteed, if you don’t aim into the water below.

If you have good timing, you can also use Hide in Shadows to stealth and come closer to the enemy without being seen, giving him zero chances to counteract.

In general, use this pegleg to throw people from cliffs, walls, bridges, towers, etc. get creative!

@edit
I forgot to mention shadow trap - you can plant it in the same spot as tripwire trap, so you will teleport in stealth to poor knocked down victim, even from a far distance, allowing you to launch him with ease.

@up
Even if you hit in the air, venom drops.

Vigorous Recovery trait:
Vigor duration doesn’t increase even with passive +30% boon duration from Acrobatics. It should last 13 seconds, not 10. All other boons work fine. I am not sure how about Vigor from other sources, I will test it soon.
@edit
Vigor from other sources (ectoplasm stolen from a mesmer) work fine.

Needle and tripwire traps:
If a thief places a trap, then goes into stealth, and an enemy triggers that trap soon after, stealth will be broken.

If you want to play sword/dagger in PvE, spec into shadow arts for 4 perks. Pick the trait, which makes you blind surrounding foes when entering stealth, and the second trait, which gives you back 2 initiative when using stealth. Cloak and Dagger will work like Black Powder from pistol offhand. I recommend using Ambush trap with this set, because you will also protect your summoned thief from taking damage.

Shadow’s embrace clears 1 condition when entering stealth, and second if not attacking, after 3 seconds.

Mug can crit for over 5k, because there are a lot crit damage modificators in this game. If you don’t have high crit +critical damage, it will hit like a wet noodle, especially on guardians. It is great if you can finish opponent under 5 seconds, so this damage won’t be healed.

About Thrill of the crime – it looks awesome on paper, like mug. If you want to buff allies, you have to teleport into center of raid, which isn’t always a good idea for a squishy_thief (censored shy_t, lol), and it’s only 10 seconds. Personally, I would pick Merciful ambush for free trap with a thief, who can damage and AoE blind enemies, or instinctual response, if playing a glass cannon build.

Yes, I just tested it and must make a correction. Shadow’s embrace removes a condition immediately after entering stealth, what makes it good if you can spam cloaking.

Mug – it hits for like 1,2-2,2k damage at 80 level depending on personal power and targets toughness, can crit. It has cooldown of 45 seconds. Can be dodged, missed or blocked. Valuable only for glass cannons, who go for deep deadly arts or/and critical strikes.

Shadow’s embrace – clears a condition every 3 seconds while in stealth. Entering stealth for over 3 seconds is costly, in initiative or cooldowns. It will waste stealth attack, unless traited into next shadow arts perk, which will give you extra 1 second chance for quick attack – it isn’t helping so much, because enemies are in constant movement, and can smash your face meanwhile.
…
In other words, it sacrifices damage or cooldowns for a single condition removal, unless helplessly camping in shadow’s refuge. I would say, situational trait.

Uncatchable – leaving caltrops every dodge, which last for 4 seconds in a very small radius. They cripple for ~1 second (for every second spent on them), are visible to enemies as red circles on the floor. Bleed damage is pitful, so it isn’t even worth mentioning. Can be leaped or dodged over. Easy to waste, not always needed – very situational.

They shouldn’t remove a stat because you are getting destroyed by a thief using it. Tricks that totally counter “pistol whip + haste” are:
- stability+moving,
- shadow’s return,
- some invulnerability cooldowns, which I don’t know by names,
- your personal skill.

You can predict when the thief is going to start this combo. He won’t always start it right from stealth behind you, without any signals. Few times I managed simply to dodge it, and that single lucky dodge totally ruined his entire damage output – resulting in wasting entire endurance, initative, and his death a moment later.

All tier 1 traits are weak, and all first tiers of armor runes are weak. This comes by design. It’s easier to balance.

If you don’t like it, pick backfighting. This very situational trait saved my life a few times in PvP, just like descent of shadows, which is also a very situational tier 1 trait.

@Red Falcon
Not everybody played during beta.

This tactic takes ~10 seconds of building stealth to be cloaked for the next 20 seconds. I wouldn’t call this effective, unless you play it with your friend, who also can spam blast finisher on smoke screen. It has very occasional use, because most of the time you just need more firepower and active support. You can’t capture nor defend bases in stealth.
Still, +1 for bringing it to attention.

What do you expect from tier 1 trait?

Stealth stops auto attack, but a projectile which is already in mid-air, breaks it 0,1 sec later.
Short bow projectiles are slow and bounce between enemies, so it’s very hard to control them – don’t use short bow with this trait.
Pistols are a bit better, but this bug also happens very often, if you don’t pay enough attention.

Auto attack with ranged weapons break stealth, so turn back to enemy before hitting steal, what will stop auto attack for a while.

None of them. They all deserve to die.

I don’t think Signet of Malice is any good in PvP. It just heals, zero utility. It might be useful with some strict ranged builds, but as soon as you will get targeted by a group of people or a very good player, you will regret it.

Ok, I’ve already found a working skill calculator, here is my build. Make sure to check all tabs:

http://tinyurl.com/btls8v5

How the fight looks – if it is 1vs1, I keep my opponent in semi-stunlock, using C&D whenever I can to apply 2sec daze and blind. If it’s a steady melee fight, I can C&D every 3-4 seconds, where every stealth enter gives me 2 stacks of might and small AoE blind.
Assassins Reward works really well with high initiative regeneration from Infusion of Shadow and Quick Recovery, healing me like I had passive Signet of Malice. I have max stacks of “sigil of superior life +250 healing” almost all the time, because I don’t die. Auto attack is very important, because it can keep weakness up for the whole fight.

About bigger teamfights – mostly I open them with short bow spam of AoE poison and weakness. Also, at the beginning I apply to all teammates Skale Venom if possible. Otherwise, I apply it to Thieves Guild mobs. When I see a teammate downed, I shodowstep with Shadow Refuge. If there are some durable enemies who just refuse to die, I switch to sword and use tactic explained in 1vs1. If the objective is lost, I simply run like nothing happened.

I don’t have to max deadly arts and precision to deal damage. Of course, it takes a bit longer to kill somebody, but I have a feeling of better fight control.

About running away – dead thief can’t dps. It’s not like I run away whenever dropped to 50% hp. Dying for your squad might be honorable, but it isn’t effective at all. Thiever are effective in this way by a definition.

Instagibbing undergeared and underleveled newbies while having level 80 with full exotics and glass canon build shouldn’t be a problem anyway.

It won’t work, because cloak and dagger break stealth.

I am not using any cookie cutter and I feel being strong somehow. Running with sword/dagger + shortbow, build for 30 shadow arts, 30 acrobatics and 10 deadly arts. Using runes or Rata Sum + enchant on weapon, what increase weakness duration by 30% + 10% from deadly arts. Added Scale Venom for permanent weakness with venomous aura trait.

What does it give to me?
I can counter every glass canon build I ever met in sPvP yet. Not only thieves. And if I can’t kill somebody, I just run away with shortbow or infiltrator’s strike. Also, I cannot be insta gibbed by any burst,thanks to extra toughtness and vitality.

So, no – instead of complaining, learn some new builds and stop reading these dumb guides from “pros” with one week game experience. PvP isn’t only around damage and big numbers, it’s also around tactic, utility and support.

Thief isn’t a ranged class, it’s a class that combine range and melee by using some tricks.
Shadow return won’t happen to stealth, because it would be OP, and you should know it.
Just swap weapons when going to fight in melee, but honestly, pistol or short bow aren’t that bad in close range.

No, hardcore PvPers will perfectly learn dodge animation of every class, so it won’t be even a slightest problem.

They disappear after 4 seconds, cripple and bleed for like 1-2 secs for each second spent on them, and have much tighter radius – it’s reasonable. If this trait would drop the same caltrops, everybody would be forced to pick this trait and never use Caltrops skill.

To be honest, if you play without exploiting this trait, you won’t feel any difference. It’s still useful, for example: if you see somebody comming to destroy trebuchet in Battle for Kyhlo, simly jump at them and backstab or whatever. You won’t suffer any serious injuries, but free stealth attack + blind may be devastating.

meldor.3109:

The Greater Trait: Hard to Catch make you teleport inside geometry in multiple areas in SPVP.

Battle for Khylo and the Ship map is where it happen the most.

Confirmed, this trait teleports through walls, ceilings, and can put a player out of map without chances to return. Only help is to quit game and reconnect, because nobody can kill the thief, and the thief cannot damage anybody. Especially annoying in Raid on the Capricorn, when it teleports player under map when triggered around stairs to cannon, and in other places.

This trait in its current state isn’t an option for a competitive play.

Sliding down a sheer hill isn’t that healthy, so taking multiple damage portions probably isn’t a bug.

I though only blinding powred is on 8 sec cooldown, not fall damage reduction. I will check this soon.

@edit
I believe this source is correct, so no need to test by myself:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Talk:Descent_of_Shadows

Heartseeker has very limited range, so you could just be slighty out of range. Also, probably you can interrupt it by spamming, so damage misses because of next leap… at least flanking strike works like this.

Full glass cannon thief probably has the lowest defense in this game. They will try to take you by surprise, but if they fail, you should CC and eat them with ease. They will slaughter anybody who is confused and not expecting what is comming.
High risk – high reward.

But also, you got probably outgeared and the thief had some orb buffs.

PS: glass cannon thieves don’t use any stuns, just clear damage.

Pawstruck, if you want to stick to this game, do these things:
- Learn thief class. Yes, you can be a backstabbin’ ninja or even a rogue-tank.
- If you don’t want to be a ninja anymore, pick another class or spec.
- Stop looking at this game like it is an expansion of WoW and adapt.

This class is just fine, I am tearing people like nothing on battlegrounds, just by using some unique nad unpredictable tactics.

There is no “the best” combination, it’s YOUR story, be creative. Someone can fight well with daggers, another thief feels great with shortbow, etc. It’s not like you must spec into something or go die.

My opinion wasn’t constructive, because there is nothing to ,,construct". Questioning this moves effectiveness is not necessary.

I think, that our discussion is over, so it’s just up to reader whose opinion to agree with. Thank you for your feedback.

It’s not like devs aren’t playing this game. If Flanking Strike was designed to be hard to land in PvP, it is meant to be. By using some tactic, you can improve this moves effectiveness by a mile. Another good example is using warrior’s Hundred Blades with Bull’s Charge. This is perfectly clear for me, and I will keep using FS in PvP as a viable move, knowing its pros and cons.

Mrbig.8019:

sad stories tell that every enemy with half a brain will avoid this move by simply moving on his side.

I can’t understand people nowdays, really.

All melee skills in this game can be avoided by movement, unless crippled, rooted or stunned, but nevermind.

First strike, which strips boon, is instant.
Dodge cannot be avoided, because it isn’t even an attack.

But your enemy can avoid second strike (damage), because you don’t have cripple on auto attack, nor on another skills, and your teammates don’t have it either. Not to mention 2sec root from infiltrator’s strike… oh, wait.

Maybe you smash too many buttons, and your keyboard is overflowed, not responding to movement action? I had a similar problem some time ago, but in another game.

http://www.pchelpforum.com/xf/threads/keyboard-overflow.21089/
PS: post made in link above isn’t mine.

It’s good as it is now. Btw. heartseeker is very easy to dodge, because people spam it in chains. Also, it only does some damage, and very short range leap, nothing else.

Flanking Strike is awesome in PvP, especially 1 vs 1.

First of all, it removes boons. So, if you duel a greatsword warrior with 11 stacks of might, one flanking strike removes it… lol. Same goes with regeneration. If you remove their regeneration, you hurt them even more, am I right?

Second, you can dodge with it while being rooted. Both away from target, and in melee range.

Third, it’s an endurance free dodge.

How about visibility? Caltrops are marked as a large red circle, but traps are probably invisible to enemies.

I used to troll some people from FR server. Just picked some shadowsteps, stunbreakers and short bow for teleport – they were chasing me for like 20 minutes in number of +10. They finally caught only because I lagged to death.

You can teleport only there, where you can walk by foot, but without jumping or falling – even from very small height, like a pile of boxes.

Me too: 1234567