Guild Wars 2

Medium armor, on a thief. A combination of T3 Charr feet, Molten Gloves, Honor of the Waves legs, chest, and shoulders, Rox Quiver, and (hidden) Anonymity Cloak.

Beautiful work! Revin Knight told me about you after you did his, and I was blown away!

The drop rates are odd with BoH. 800+ kills and I only have 250 or so badges. So, what, about 1 in 3 kills will net a badge? So if you kill 150 people in a day, that is around 50 badges, which about falls in line with you.

Your odds of a loot bag, though, seem to improve with the more damage you do to a target.

Actually, all it really needs is body shot being turned into a cripple to make it viable. Weak, but viable. With maybe something done to skill 1. Right now it just lacks utility outside of blind, and the bleed is almost worthless unless you are condition spec.

See, that’s true. It’s more of a THUG or Light Warrior approach than an Assassin. Fortunately, that still fits the theme of Thief. :P

Diversity in thematic preferences are all a part of how awesome the class is. I don’t hate on BS thieves because I know what they go for and what they give up any more then I hate on P/D, or any other variation. Aside from Pistol Pistol, they all have their purpose and play style.

This is a somewhat accurate assessment of what I have in game:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mMkmMc0MzMvLxMMvLxmfx0afczabMc08kij7khA7kir7khA70M7kGL70V7ofD8ofY

*Guildhead is bugging. I do not have hidden killer. I have EXECUTIONER.

I say somewhat, because I do not sPvP, I WvW and PvE.

I have full Berserker’s armor with Divinity runes, Berserker’s rings, Valkyrie earrings and amulet, and Guild Assassin’s backpack. I have 49% crit chance before buffs and 104% crit damage. 14.5k HP before any sort of buffs. Around 3100 attack, 2070 armor.

It’s all about controlling an enemy. Pistol Whip is only good for a surprise gank, or very specific situations like interrupting a rez while downing the rezzer. It’s all about immobilizing enemies, crippling enemies, blinding enemies, and hitting like a truck every step of the way so that they never, ever, get a chance to effectively retaliate or run.

Perhaps, but how does it being an ADD addict’s worst enemy make it, as you said, “It simply does not shine in even some of the most specific situations. You may even contribute a lot to your allies. But you won’t get the reward” ?

If anything, the set offers enough flexibility to adapt to most situations and doesn’t suffer from “I flubbed my initial attacks, now I’m boned” syndrome. And the damage to get the reward. And the support to make an impact in WvW the times I’m actually participating in a zerg. So the entire statement confuses me, all told.

I think getting over 800 kills in just over 5 days of WvW, 70% (ok, let’s be conservative, 60%) of which is in solo roaming shows I get the reward. :P

I also get a kick out of being chased by 5 people for 10 minutes. I call that a win, as well. XD

S/P is far from a typical thief approach, and is greatly underestimated by the masses. In large part due to the number of people who just don’t understand how to use it. When skill 1 hits for 10k in three swings (3k, 3k, 4k) against a squishy, oh yes it hurts.

Been a while since I posted here. In that time, my thief has come into its own:

http://i.imgur.com/45Bis.jpg

Svanir armor in Abyss, Celestial, Ash, and Stream.

I’m personally a Power, Precision, Vitality and Crit damage S/P|SB thief who almost never peruses these boards because it is nothing but a QQ fest. Some is valid QQ, but most is not.

Anywho, my WvW/sPvP playstyle revolves around locking down people and taking their options away to kill them. For all the whining people have about the PW nerfs, PW is honestly the last thing I would be caught spamming anyways, since it’s suicide against a smart player. When paired with Devourer Venom, you can hold someone in place for a maximum of 5 seconds, assuming they don’t use a condition remover. This is a long time to immobilize someone.

For example, a preloaded Devourer venom into charging Black Powder into Steal, blind when Mug hits and target is immobilized. Auto attack chain and they’re crippled and weakened, skill 2 into blind and auto attack again. Skill 4 if they try and heal.

Keeping a target blind and immobile while dealing out heavy steady damage is my way of dealing with people, and works well. And, since people are so busy QQing about the PW nerfs, nobody expects a Sword Pistol roamer in WvW. There has been at least two occasions where, probably because of the imaginary broken weapon set, I’ve taken on two Backstab thieves and walked away with two confirmed kills because of it.

It’s all about measured actions and removing the enemies’ ability to retaliate while giving yourself escape tools. Those tools being Short Bow, Hide in Shadows, Signet of Agility, and Signet of Shadows.

I am not a stealth based build, however.

If curious, I run a 15/30/0/10/15 build with Mug, Executioner, Fury at 50%, Quickness on Crit, Might on Dodge, and Fury/Swiftness/Might on Steal. The 15 in Power lets me play a secondary support role with shortbow. Gear is berserker of divinity armor 6/6, two berserker rings, two valkyrie earrings, and valkyrie necklace with guild assassin’s pack. 14.5ish HP before buffs, around 3100 attack, 2070ish armor, 49% crit chance before buffs, and 104% crit damage.

My suggested buffs pretty much fall on two items: Pistol Pistol and Basilisk Venom/Underwater Elites

I absolutely do not feel that PP should offer an on demand stealth built in. This would only make it fill a role very similar to Pistol Dagger. However, it does need an escape mechanism, and Body Shot is where it should be. Make it the old Leg Shot, where it applied a short term cripple on demand.

Unload damage should probably buffed by about 5% as well, but no buff to the attack speed of it. It makes sense you don’t hit -as hard- at range than up close, given you’re at lower risk of damage. Less risk should equal less reward.

I would also personally love the stun duration on 4 to be increased from 1/4 second to 1/2 second, but I could personally take it or leave it.

Skill 1’s attack could use a slight adjustment in damage as well, either in raw numbers, or in applying two stacks of bleed instead of one. Personally, I’d favor the double bleed option myself, even though I’m not a condition thief.

Finally, a range boost from 900 to 1000 would be rather nice. It’s a small increase, but right now every option we have is practically point blank.

Now, basilisk venom? It’s a skill that doesn’t always work under water, yet it’s our only underwater elite. A lower cooldown and a shorter apply buff duration might make up for some of it, however. And on the subject of underwater elites, why isn’t Dagger Storm viable for that?

Ayarai.3985:

My norn thief..

What sword is that? HoTW?

Elan Axisaver, Ash legion, representative of Durmand Priory.

Hardest to counter? The hardest thief attack to counter is the one you never saw coming. Beyond that, they are all fairly counterable.

Ultimately, no matter what setup you go with, there will be predictability. You’re using that as an argument against it, but, honestly it’s a moot point. Just as your weapons dictate your fighting style, so does the enemy’s dictate his. I know a dagger dagger thief is going to be evasive and highly mobile, just as I know that unless I take no action to counter it he’s very likely to do moderate to low outright damage (unless I get low on HP), and is probably geared for condition spec which is counter-able with the right utilities. I know a sword pistol thief is going to be a semi-static fighting style that hits wtf hard if I let him get me locked down, and to counter it I need to anticipate when he will make his move. I know a Pistol Pistol thief will attempt to unload all over me, but I know any projectile reflect or blocking skills (dagger storm) will utterly destroy him.

You’re asking for an all round fantastic setup that avoids predictability. Honestly, I highly doubt such a thing exists. Even among the other classes, you have a feel for what they are trying to do to you based on what they have in their hands.

I’ve easily done 4 pistol whips in a row before. If you connect on a player, you really only need two. Init on crit + infil signet. Even without the signet, three is easily obtainable with room to escape.

Remember, like unload in the post above me, you gain ini while doing your skill anyways. There is no fantastic generalist configuration. If you want to do something well, you need to spec for it. Otherwise you just do several things good (and hopefully good enough) that you can actually be a threat.

I think you overstate the Sword Pistol serviceability issues. You have steal, regardless of build, and want to use it for the thrill of the crime buffs anyways. You also have a root skill built into 2.

Without investing even so much as devourer venom for the immobilization, all you need to do is tap pistol whip and immediately afterwards steal. The dubiously hard part here is making sure you’re actually in steal range before you hit pistol whip or you just potentially killed yourself.

If they move partway through your PW, immediately step into them with IS and repeat. Or, if the situation calls for it, invert the order of steal and infiltrator’s strike so you can hit someone, then escape ridiculously easily. Keeping in mind you’re invulnerable for the duration that they may be able to attack you when rooted in pistol whip.

I know I regularly employ it in sPvP and WvW with Infiltrator’s Signet, Signet of Agility, and Devourer Venom. In small skirmishes you can put someone down so fast they don’t even get a chance to retaliate.

Quickness on Crit trait and a Quickness on Crit Sigil recommended, so you have no reason to socket Haste and give up your endurance.

Cannot stand the look of the feed bags we have for face masks on leather, but the boots? Fine by me. Also, in before puss in boots.

There’s also the Flame Legion helm, Inquest helm, and Order of Whispers helm where it completely removes our horns, and just makes it look ridiculous because of it. :\

Too skinny and it looks like it is starving to death, I agree, but there’s a body type one thickness above minimum and it looks fine to me. In and out of armor. Certainly more fitting of a thief or ranger, anyways.

Been running SB and S/P. In skirmishes, can lay down massive poison fields or shell bridges, then when the mixup happens single out someone for execution before return stepping back to safety. When acting as a long range scout, with the 25% passive speed buff and caltrops for escape, you can stay nearly untouchable but have the offensive skills to really ruin someone’s day if they press matters.

Sword+Pistol with the quickness trait and a quickness rune on the sword all but guarentees that on any one fight you will be doing your pistol whip combination at lightning speed without having to resort to using haste.

Even let me drop a necro and warrior who insisted on engaging me in a fight. Was even gonna let them get back up and live, but they kept trying to attack me. Had to put the warrior down three times. -_-

Elan Axisaver, representative of the Durmand Priory, thief of Ash Legion. Wielder of bone swords and sparking bows and guns.

My Charr on the roam. Let the Iron legion hide behind their tanks, shelling the enemy’s position. It just makes it that much easier for me to slip in undetected.

There is a trait that refunds ini on crit 20% of the time, as well as a trait that increases passive initiative regen by 1/10 seconds and yet another that gives you 15 base ini instead of 12. There is also infiltrator signet which also adds 1/10 sec passive regen. Not that you should go so extreme in that direction, however.

Crit and power supposedly works well, and I heard bleed on crit weapon sigils work wonders too.

Rifle and a change up to main hand pistol skill 2 (perhaps the original leg shot cripple) would be ideal. Right now our ranged options are limited. SB for condition aoe mobility and pistols for single target damage, except the utility of SB currently blows pistols out of the water for anything beyond flavor. An assassin with a rifle sniping at people also seems to fit the theme.

I’m using a sword pistol setup and abusing the heck out of the partial invulnerability it permits. However ultimately our survival is hinged on timing your attacks. If you don’t think you can interrupt a big hit, it is extremely important to get away before the hit connects. If you can blind them, do so. If you can stun them, do so. Essentially, 90% of our damage mitigation should be based on outright damage avoidance.

That said, I’m running a full berserker armor and weapon set, with power vitality crit damage jewelry. While I am uncomfortably low on hp right now, I know when I’m done getting my equipment at full 80 exotic I’ll be at a comfortable 16k or do hp. I say comfortable because even with less you can take the occasional hard hit and a few minor ones. I also suggest a generalist armor rune setup like Rune of Divinity, which offers +10 to all stats and 2% crit damage for every piece of armor with that rune. It’s a passive way of boosting HP, power, precision, and toughness.