Guild Wars 2

I am your messiah. Praise me.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stability

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stun_break

Make a Warrior, equip Wrench.

Ta-da.

Ahhhhhhh, I knew it!

Bambu.4270:

1) Remove Initiative from normal skills and make skills work like in other professions.
2) Remove Stealth from all skills and make it Initiative-only boon.
3) Add ability to attack while in Stealth.
X) Stealth will go off when your Initiative “charges” are off, like a counter, ya’know?

Your numbering…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVGbDEAnDyo

Regarding #3, Backstab is an auto-attack, and auto-attacks have no CDs. How does 7-10k damage repeated instantaneously sound to you?

Helcor.9527:

Galsia.4102:

Helcor.9527:

Galsia.4102:

Helcor.9527:

22,215 in a second. Maybe less. Please explain how to counter this with no reaction time allowed?

Considering he hit you with CnD twice, it had to have been 4-5 seconds. If you’re not capable of reacting at all in that large amount of time, I’m sorry, maybe WvW isn’t the place for you.

Maybe, although I seem to do well against other professions LOL

“Maybe” and “seem to” both don’t sound awfully confident to me.
Perhaps you should consult the Engineer forums for advice with dealing with Thieves, I’m sure they’d be much more accommodating.

I can easily edit those words for you. Guess my confidence has been shaken by all that thief damage ;D So how do i counter this in less than a second im here to learn….

You have no stats dedicated to countering burst. You mentioned in a post before that you run Carrion; Carrion gear offers Vitality, the stat for countering condition damage.

Toughness is the stat which mitigates burst. Since you appear to be aiming for a condition spec, the most popular set to use is Rabid gear, because it offers Precision for procing Incendiary Powder, Toughness for mitigating burst, and Condition Damage for what I feel I shouldn’t have to explain.

A Rabid set equipped with either Nightmare or Undead runes used in conjunction with a bomb spec is a very effective set for combating Thieves.

Helcor.9527:

Galsia.4102:

Helcor.9527:

22,215 in a second. Maybe less. Please explain how to counter this with no reaction time allowed?

Considering he hit you with CnD twice, it had to have been 4-5 seconds. If you’re not capable of reacting at all in that large amount of time, I’m sorry, maybe WvW isn’t the place for you.

Maybe, although I seem to do well against other professions LOL

“Maybe” and “seem to” both don’t sound awfully confident to me.
Perhaps you should consult the Engineer forums for advice with dealing with Thieves, I’m sure they’d be much more accommodating.

Helcor.9527:

22,215 in a second. Maybe less. Please explain how to counter this with no reaction time allowed?

Considering he hit you with CnD twice, it had to have been 4-5 seconds. If you’re not capable of reacting at all in that large amount of time, I’m sorry, maybe WvW isn’t the place for you.

The class balancing patch which altered aftercasts made it worse.
The skill now literally staggers yourself; rooted for skill, step forward, rooted again.

Swap Shake it Off or Berserker’s Stance with the effects of Utility Goggles.

/dreaming

Zephyrus.9680:

I like how only 1 poster noticed S/P thief has no stealth on the weapon set. It’s the only no-stealth thief build except for P/P (ranged).

S/P with SB can achieve permanent stealth. However, this of course can only really be effective outside of combat, which may or may not have occurred to OP. He could have been complaining they’d pop out of stealth, insta-gib them, then go right back to combo stealthing.

Though, who knows, I’d say it’s quite probable OP isn’t exactly the most seasoned WvW player and thus falls prey to the sub-par thief quite often.

Olba.5376:

Ambrecombe.4398:

And that’s without taking into consideration that because of these changes, leg specialist doesn’t work so well anymore with Greatsword, Hammer and Rifle (traited).

The only one of the three that I see affected, not counting weapon swapping, is Greatsword. After all, the ICD on Leg Specialist is 5s, whereas Hammer Shock is 10/12s and Aimed Shot is 8/10s.

Hammer Shock used to immobilize everyone hit by it. Now because of the 5sec ICD on Leg Specialist it only immobilizes your selected target while any others only get crippled; if used without anything selected it immobilizes the closest target and cripples the rest.

And like you implied, Bladetrail on Greatsword.

I’m still pretty miffed about it; making two weapons weaker for a single, still terrible (for actual combat, it’s still a good escape/closer) weapon. They made up for losing Hamstring by giving Savage Leap a cripple. If they had put something else other than Hamstring/a cripple on the third auto-attack, Leg-Specialist wouldn’t have even been considered for a nerf, but they went ahead and put Hamstring on the auto-attack out of what I assume was because it was a fairly easy swap job.

/swordhaterforlife

There are bonuses to your Critical Hit Chance that don’t reflect the figure displayed in your Hero tab. If you didn’t account for Keen Observer, Superior Sigil of Accuracy, and Side Strike, add on 17% to what you have.

Also, investing in a Superior Sigil of Perception would boost your Critical Hit Chance by 12% (250/21=11.9, but you probably have some fluff Precision not giving you a full 21 that would push it up to 12%).

EDIT:

with 2 corrupted shards (superior sigil of accuracy)

I don’t know for sure that you are, but if you’re using two sigils of accuracy, I just thought I’d let you know you only benefit from one.

Default binding got changed to Alt+F4.

skupuz.6940:

Turbofakitten69:

skupuz.6940:

Thieves are getting nerf (right or wrong; that is a matter of opinion but the nerf is coming). They basically took thieves ability to fight 1vX. Can they still do it? Yes, but it will be 10x harder with the upcoming changes.

Since Ele is the only other class that can reliably 1vX, thief player will probably flock to the D/D Ele and we will see a surge of them in WvW. QQs will continue on the forum and the Ele will get nerf. The FOTM was thief, now it will be D/D ele, then so on. The problem is that after the FOTM is over, the class is left underpowered.

What’s your prediction after the March 26 patch?

How do you know Thief will be nerfed? Are you just guessing or is there detailed info on the patch somewhere?

They will lose their ability to chain stealth thus making it harder to fight multiple targets. It will be in the March 26 patch.

Dagger/Pistol.

WhiteRose.6934:

If you think I’m referring to using your heal in combination with Centaur runes for swiftness, I’m not. When I said “signet for permanent swiftness” I meant our signet that gives +25% movement.

:-) The more you know ~

He likely didn’t understand what you’re talking about because 25% =/= 33%.

Losing 2+ v 1 Thief?

Hit your “F” key over your ally when they get downed.

Unless the Thief hastes, he’s not getting the kill.

Columba.9730:

Thedenofsin.7340:

The counter to thieves in wvw is to go run dungeons. There is no counter

wisest message in this thread.

Israphel Asmodians?

Knowing when to dodge CnD is a great asset, but if the P/D is truly worth his salt, he’d be CnDing off critters and various mobs.

Up until ANet made a blunder with condition duration runes six days ago I ran P/D almost exclusively for WvW. D/P Thieves would always either die or stealth away from the fight.

I’ve been running a 0/10/30/30/0 D/P build for the past five days, but I haven’t come across a single P/D Thief to offer any advice from the D/P perspective.

Corner the market on Crab Meat and Soiled Rags. Nobody will see it coming and you’re bound to make immense profits.

Reminds of when I rage posted about it myself when I got killed by it three times in a hour.

Galsia.4102:

Having Last Refuge swapped with a circle AoE of Smoke Screen for 3-4 seconds with the same radius around the player as Black Powder (100?) keeping the same 90-sec CD would be preferable. Not likely it’ll ever change, but it’d be cool.

C’mon ANet, do it!

Tempest Darqmane.4862:

When I was in spvp the other day I Infilitrator Striked one during RTL and stopped it dead in it’s tracks, didn’t get knocked around as I did it either. Does this always work? Haven’t done it since.

RTL doesn’t knock back. It’s Updraft that Elementalists typically use immediately after RTL that knocks you back. He was either thrown off by having his RTL stop short, or his Updraft was on CD.

Your last sentence ruined it; you almost had it!

Nobody is going to fall for it now.

Run a X/D build in WvW? Enemy in stealth so you don’t have a target to CnD?

What if I told you there’s a plethora of mobs with static AI that you can use to CnD into stealth?

Part of being full glass cannon means you have make use of your mobility skills to completely avoid damage. Putting yourself in a spot where can’t move about will undoubtedly kill you.

Moonshank and Claws of the Desert would both match the gold trim you’re using.

mattbitts.7490:

P.S: why does everyone put so many points into CS traits? I really don’t like them. Would I be just shooting myself in the foot by not traiting there and going with the 20/0/30/20/0 way? Only thing I see in CS line is stats and from what I hear that’s a “no-no” to trait that way…

Primarily for the Executioner trait. Thieves also only have two Fury generators. One of them, Furious Retaliation, is in Critical Strikes.

Also, the more Precision you have, the more your crit chance proc sigils/runes/food go off.

Junkpile.7439:

10 badge of honor/ring is fair

Well, considering the Exotic Invader’s Ring costs 396 Badges of Honor, I’d say fat chance at that exchange rate.

If it were to ever happen, try 500-650, or possibly even more.

TheGuy.3568:

P/D (as you know) has weak access to blind. The most your looking at is http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Shadows and blinding powder.

Cloaked in Shadow.

The following skills that most commonly/are in a P/D build now apply blind:
Cloak and Dagger
Shadow Refuge x5 (pulses)
Hide in Shadows
Last Refuge (Adept Passive)

I play both a P/D Thief (Venoms) as well as a glassy GS/A&S Warrior.

Once in a blue moon on my Thief a Warrior will get the best of me at a very inopportune moment with the Signet of Rage > Bull’s Rush > Frenzy > 100B combo, which in my opinion, is the best chance a Warrior’s got. If that combo fails for whatever reason, it’d be best to make like a tree and leave, then return when you got your CDs back.

If you’re up against a D.A./venoms thief, they’ll for sure be activating Devourer’s Venom to keep you from running; assuming you’re running Mobile Strikes (which you should be) counter the snares with Rush, Whirlwind, Shield Bash, Eviscerate and get out of there.

If you’re up against a Trickery thief, they’re probably running any of the following utilities: Signet of Shadows, Caltrops, Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge, or Shadowstep.
Aside from the innate 25% increased movement speed which they will undoubtedly be running, only Shadowstep should really pose as a deterrent to you getting away. However, given their limited options for snaring (Dancing Dagger), a Warrior’s quick movement bursts should be able to outplay Shadowstep.

That’s just what I’d try to do. Maybe someone else may have better advice.

Farming tears.

DuckieGirlie.8972:

…I’m a PvE person…

Well then, surely someone who proclaims themselves a PvE enthusiast must have a Mad Memoires: Complete Edition, no?

oZii.2864:

Galsia.4102:

That leaves your last two armor runes/OH Dagger sigil to fill.

Seeing as you’ve got 20 points invested into DA, you should be running Spider Venom as one of your utilities. In order to get the most out of it, using a Superior Sigil of Venom (10% Poison Duration) and 2x Runes of the Orrian (28 Cond. Dmg, 15% Poison Duration) will bump its base 6 second duration up to 11 (11.1 exactly; 85% increase) seconds. If you were to use the Mad King Rune (10% Cond. Duartion, 25 Power; 80% increase) as previously suggested, your Spider Venom would only get up to 10 (10.8; rounded downed to 10.75) seconds; a huge waste for coming so close to the full value.

This is good post and good info. I feel like trying to push your poison duration up with a rune is kind of a waist. If you proc all 5 shots on the venom you would hit about a minute of poisoned which is good but also max. With the cd reduction on venoms then I would definitely run spider as by the time it wears off if the enemy doesn’t have condi removal up it will be off cd again…

Well, you also have to take into consideration Choking Gas and the projectile combo that applies more poison.

Though, I don’t even use this set up myself; I’m equipped with Apothecary gear and am more focused on my survivability. Just thought it may be effective if you’re using Carrion armor/aiming to be more offensive.

OdinBudd.5298:

ChonieRanchito.1270:

My plan is to get 2 of each rune for the +15% bleed duration on each set. I know sigils do not stack but I was not sure if runes do or do not.

I feel silly asking this, but do the sigils that give a 10% boost to condition duration stack? So 2 sigils would equal 20% condition duration?

EDIT: Also, is there a 100% cap on condition duration, meaning anything above 100% is a waste?

Thanks for any help here, wiki is a little less than helpful!

Yes, condition duration sigils on the same weapon-set such as Agony and Venom will stack together supplying you with a 20% increase.

Going above 100% is ineffective. When I initially built my p/d spec I accumulated 120% in added condition duration and did not receive effects from the last 20%.

People probably won’t listen to you because all they want to do is hit 1-5 and hope the Shaman dies, but if you hit your strafes rapidly while keeping relatively stationary his direct damage, agony applying, AoE Flame Blast projectile will fly right over your shoulder. Dodging can be saved for his AoE Firestorm or you could just run out of it easily enough. You could essentially get by the entire fight without even dodging once.

Aether the Nob.9172:

So is there any axe main hand build that would be a good WvW solo roamer? Or is axe not good for WvW in general?

Axe/Shield.

Assuming you’re running the build Lofat suggested, having the following will put your bleed duration up to 100% and your poison duration to 60%:

2x Superior Rune of the Afflicted: 15% Bleed Duation, 28 Cond. Dmg
2x Superior Rune of the Krait: 15% Bleed Duration, 28 Cond. Dmg
20 points in Deadly Arts: 20% Condition Duration
Rare Veggie Pizza: 40% Cond. Duration, 70 Cond. Dmg
Superior Sigil of Agony: 10% Bleed Duration

That leaves your last two armor runes/OH Dagger sigil to fill.

Seeing as you’ve got 20 points invested into DA, you should be running Spider Venom as one of your utilities. In order to get the most out of it, using a Superior Sigil of Venom (10% Poison Duration) and 2x Runes of the Orrian (28 Cond. Dmg, 15% Poison Duration) will bump its base 6 second duration up to 11 (11.1 exactly; 85% increase) seconds. If you were to use the Mad King Rune (10% Cond. Duartion, 25 Power; 80% increase) as previously suggested, your Spider Venom would only get up to 10 (10.8; rounded downed to 10.75) seconds; a huge waste for coming so close to the full value.

If you want to max out your potential, I’d get an additional dagger with a Superior Sigil of Corruption for an extra 250 Cond. Dmg.

Honestly, I was just thinking their downed fear should be a PBAoE because of how useless it is as a single target.

Remove exploration of Tyria from map completion. I don’t WANT to pve and I see no reason why it’s a requirement.

Replace Last Refuge or even flat-out remove the Lv5 passive trait in Shadow Arts; I wouldn’t miss it, nor do I think anyone else would.

Last Refuge #1 Thief killer worldwide.

Well, that certainly explains why I’ve felt that 30% of my condition duration wasn’t working correctly… because it wasn’t!

Well, I guess it’s time to swap out some runes and/or sigils.

Having Last Refuge swapped with a circle AoE of Smoke Screen for 3-4 seconds with the same radius around the player as Black Powder (100?) keeping the same 90-sec CD would be preferable. Not likely it’ll ever change, but it’d be cool.

I was fighting a Warrior and they used Stability so they couldn’t be interrupted while they stomped me. Please fix this bug.

Sounds stupid doesn’t it?

sorrow.2364:

Galsia.4102:

sorrow.2364:

I’d suggest you to go for some Emerald jewels.
Vitality without Toughness is worthless.

’Cause Toughness helps a lot against condition damage, amirite?

What do you mean with your post?
Do you really think that stacking vitality and having no toughness is a good way to gain survivability?
Thieves have lots of skill and traits (mostly in Shadow Arts) to clean up conditions, but they have almost no way to mitigate the damage.

I’m saying having just Vitality or Toughness isn’t worthless. If you aiming for the highest survivability, then yes, it would be better to have both. However, they’re not useless on their own; they each mitigate different types of damage.

Necromancer.

/15char

sorrow.2364:

I’d suggest you to go for some Emerald jewels.
Vitality without Toughness is worthless.

’Cause Toughness helps a lot against condition damage, amirite?

The satire is strong with this one.

Two thieves can stealth Magg the entire duration with the Black Powder + Clusterbomb Combo-Field along with Shadow Refuge, Blinding Powder, and Smoke Screen (to be used with Clusterbomb) for their utilities. One Thief, if spec’d correctly can hold it for quite some time, but not indefinitely.

I didn’t choose the thief life.

The thief life chose me.

Shomaruki.7395:

While you at work if you get a lunch break find me a post where a mesmer can down people in 2-3 seconds before going back to stealth.

Not really trying to stir the pot, but you did ask for an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HtG-9QkjbvI#t=235s

Albeit, the player did not stealth upon downing the player, though he did do so before initiating to gain a surprise advantage.

I was the only Thief in my group, but I can tell you, just having one Shadow Refuge helped A LOT. If you had two Thieves, I think it’d be cake walk.