Guild Wars 2

After 1 week of blood, sweat and tears I’m finally stealing my own wallet(due to some graphical bug after using box of fun) from my new armor set from hotw and coe.

Of all stupid P/P ideas I’ve seen, I approve this, it will let P/P thieves still be able to use other utilities while being able to deal decent damage. And also it will make it easier
to prevent retaliation from eating us.

If we waste the current initiative for an unload we wanna use it too.

I was roaming for a couple of hours with S/D two nights ago.

And a mesmer was trying to escape from me, chased him/her across the half map and was unable to catch him/her and my build has great mobility and decent stealth. But the mesmer utilized clones, teleport and stealth to escape. Then I spotted an enemy thief was chasing me. And was basically:
Basilisk > Infiltrators Strike > Daze hide in the shadows with steal and down he went.

Later on also a warrior was escaping from me and the warrior was pretty much immune to cripple, chill and immobilize.

Also fought an ele, took a while to chase him, but I agree they are a bit dull with mobility since the RtL nerf.

So don’t tell us thieves are most broken with being able to escape.

Sure we fought a D/P thief too, but wasn’t unstoppable, he/she was running out of initiative using BP/x1 HS and had to disengage and didn’t come back.

My best advice to everyone is to not go alone in WvW unless you play either thief, mesmer or warrior. I roam alone a lot, but I also sometimes team up with my friends.

And if thief is unkillable how come that they die? All it takes is a well timed stun or the mesmer elite. Sure, the thief many times has control of the fight and is able to disengage at will and reset a fight, so is many other classes, thieves are just specialized in this, same as Warriors are specialized for being one of the best classes for dungeons with a bonus to mobility. If you chase any of them reseting a fight you’re basically drawing a card, either a win card or a lose card, so best is to ignore the disengaging thief and go back to your own business or prepare your utilities and weapons for taking him down, I’m pretty sure all classes have something to counter a D/P thief.

And also a 1v6 against a thief who isn’t fighting, how is that a fight?

Think about WoW, it’s possible to stay permastealthed around people and watch ppl dueling and once their fights ends throw a dagger at the defeated one and gain a kill and escape easily back into permastealth. Why is that never complained about? Instead they just get kitten ed and spam some AoE’s and tries to set up a bleed if they catch him, but heck 140% chance to dodge for 10 seconds.

CollegeDowntime.4187:

We stunned him, but due to Hard to Catch, Shadowstep, Shadow Strike or Shadowtrap and he can avoid any/every stun we hit him with while he dances around in the distance laughing and dancing away.

So he basically was playing a troll build, with all possible mobility.
Ranged is the best way to take down a P/D thief and you need easy access to removing 1 condition as often as possible, a good amount of stuns, ranged stuns and mobility and it’s np. Blind/dodge/block his CnD 2 times, since if he goes for mobility he has low initiative regen.

Power and Precision, get as much crit dmg as you can through
jewels and upgrades. Use ranged weapons, if the fight isn’t too difficult S/P.

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Would knights gear be a good replacement for valk pieces?

In my honest opinion, no. Knight and Cavalier will cut down on your dmg.
Only in emergency cases, I’d place a knight part in head or earrings.

You can get very well-rounded stats without them, while keeping high power.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAsYVlYm6OHcy3E/5Ex2jeuTeqVgmdP4q8tKA-jEzAYLBRyCERAkKAk9EETfKrVxioxqXwUlDpWXC5NIiqdHYSBExyI-w

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Question would the x/30/x/30/x be best for mobility and decent sustained dps? Been looking at going bacl to S/D and Sb off. While running zerker/valk armor and full zerker trinks?

x/30/x/30/x with initiative on weaponswap and 2 ini/10s has great mobility, and leaves you with 10 extra spec points.

0/30/x/25/15 however has 3 extra initiative and 2 ini/10s, and initiative on steal.

Both have highest mobility depending on how you use them.

Grandtomatoe.2045:

Hello!

I am am a P/D Thief and I have noticed that if I try to land Sneak Attack while an opposing thief is in “Dagger Storm Mode” that my attack just does not land.

I stay in stealth and my guy just keeps trying to land Sneak Attack but cannot.

Is this working as intended?

Thank You!

Daggerstorm and the stolen skill Whirling Axe reflect projectiles, and therefor
you will shoot yourself. And since only damaging yourself you don’t get unstealthed.

Yes, S/D and S/P are both playable with very low or no stealth at all.
You will rely on dodging and teleporting, shortbow or even P/P as offset.

(x for wherever you wanna place the last 10 points)
x/30/x/x/30
x/30/x/30/x
0/30/0/25/15

If you aren’t a damage enthusiast
10/0/0/30/30
10/10/0/20/30
0/20/0/20/30

Runes: Runes of Lyssa.
Armor: Full Zerker, Zerker PvT mix or Zerker Valkyrie mix

SB, S/P, P/P and D/D.
For lower level fractals having 30CS is well enough damage-wise.
I mostly recommend full berserk for experienced Fractal runners, having some valkyrie while new to it doesn’t hurt much, afterall you do more dps while alive than throwing rocks.

And yeah, many fights are easiest from range, but there are many fights where melee will come in handy. S/P with executioner for AoE cleave and evade and D/D with hidden killer for single target. However against some mobs there can be plenty of AoE going on, where SB will be more handy. S/D against dredge to take their boons.

Utilities depending on what you need. I nearly always have Assassin’s Signet and Shadow Refuge.

Common builds:
30/30/10/0/0
30/30/0/0/10
25/30/10/0/5
25/30/0/15/0
25/30/0/0/15

I was using 10/30/30/0/0 in my first fractals, was just fine. :p

Lower level fractals are newbie friendly too, the only extra to it is strategies and team work.

This thread covers many builds.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Builds-S-D-builds-for-WvW/first#post2885782

It’s hard to really tell you how to play, since all is up to your playstyle.
But general guidelines:
- Practice initiative management and shape your build around how much you need.
- Practice teleports and combos, there are many.
- Runes of Lyssa along with basilisk venom allows for more build variation because of the full condition removal and boons.
- Watch videos on youtube.

Currently S/D is balanced around sPvP, and is somewhat weak in mobility for WvW.

Here’s a build that looks pretty interesting in my personal opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlHuP3eNfmU

With S/D you have many things on demand.
- But you can’t really strip boons, remove conditions, deal damage or stealth at the same time, because all these things are limited to same cooldown, initiative. Initiative replenishes at 1p/1.33sec + other trait and utility based, to recover a CnD takes 8 seconds naturally, ~5 seconds in a build that grants 2 initiative on stealth.
This sets S/D thief at a much higher skillcap, it requires lot more management than any other class, but it’s also highly rewarding for skilled players, while less skilled players are highly punished.

- Other ways of condition removal is expensive and cases damage to other aspects of the S/D build, runes of lyssa are awesome though.

- Main source of dmg is auto-attack and LS, with the overnerfed Tactical Strike in sPvP and other classes high access to knockdowns, stuns, chills and other disabling CC, LS is most viable, autoattack is limited to not being attacked.

- We can’t land our on demand daze defensively since abilities like Rangers Rapid Fire is front tracking you like in Lineage 2.

I think S/D is fine as it is now, it could use some more polishing, but there is low viable build variation to it currently and other thief weapon sets could use some love.

The link doesn’t work, but I’ve heard of this build before.

I think it’s this one:

Played D/P for a while, but it started to bore me, and tried out D/D for a bit,
liked the slightly improved burst, quick access to stealth and dancing dagger.
Took D/P as offset. But felt meh so picked up shortbow instead.

D/D is viable, but against skilled players it’s a lot harder to play.
Like engineers who blow up their turrets to avoid your CnD and burst
you down in seconds. Engineers are greatly rewarded for countering D/D.

Here’s a compilation of nerfs.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Compilation-of-Thief-Nerfs-V-2-0

And personally I wouldn’t play that build of yours.
25/30/0/0/15 Mug, Dagger Training.

Only spec that has been somewhat buffed is S/D, boon steal on Flanking Strike and also improved and easier to use in pvp. S/P pistolwhip is faster between stun and dmg. And also blind has received a major buff, Skale Venom applies torment instead of weakness. Signet passives also go twice stronger.

hihey.1075:

I mainly thought of this as a counter for D/P thieves – it’s easy to read a “bad” D/P thief, and I thought the best way to punish him (as a mainly D/P thief myself!) would be to interrupt them with P#4 while he is casting is BP.
There are, of course, many ways to counter D/P, but it’s really hard to COMPLETELY shut them down, especially in a 1v1 situation – and this is widely agreed.
Interrupting the BP would be the ideal choice for countering D/P (which really does not fear stunlock heavy builds, since the Blind field would prevent most attempts of stunning).

What about adding this change only to the BP field?

As I said BP>HS is already heavily hurt by getting their HS interrupted,
and I think HS already uses its initiative as soon as the HS animation fires off, and it needs to finish to apply stealth.
just felt like I’ve had 4 initiative left after getting interrupted while in middle of HS anim, however times when I’ve gotten interrupted while in HS precast I haven’t lost initiative. Correct me if I’m wrong

Keep in mind that Blind can be cleansed easily with Shadow Embrace trait. The problem may arise if there are multiple conditions on top of Blind, which will be the case of only a condi Mesmer (torch), who has limited access to blocks (but a good access to evasion, even though it’s hard to find a condi mesmer with a main hand sword) or an Engineer (limited access to block)

And I don’t think picking Shadow Embrace should reward the thief a lot more than than picking something else. It’s already hard to not pick Shadow Embrace, which reduces build variation a lot. And as there are blind fields in the game that applies
blind every second it would just be too much, even when picking Shadow Embrace.

hihey.1075:

Fix #2: change Initiative cost to be “paid” at the start of the skill animation rather than at the end of the activation of the skill.

This is a bigger nerf than what it looks like, until.. I see all other classes in the game
getting their cooldowns to full duration when getting interrupted.

And you also have to consider that switching to 2nd weapon set for a thief, doesn’t
give access to 5 new spells or abilities.

Getting 2 CnD’s blinded/dodged/blocked basically leaves the thief with auto attack and utilities til the initiative has replenished. Having interrupts kitten it as well would just make D/D even more squishy and punish all thieves when fighting other good players on CC-heavy classes, unless they play D/P instead which already is punished when BP>HS gets interrupted and is one of the most hated weapon sets currently. CC-heavy classes are already a hardcounter to thieves.

I like the other suggestion. But would prefer if it only drained initiative when blocked or dodged instead (and if pressing BS and initiative reaches 0, reveal). Since we don’t have access to auto attack while in stealth and blind is much more easier to access in the game than block I don’t think blind should apply to this.

Elementalist can do some 10k crits as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD1S_sP90Ao

Warrior A/Sh 16k-20k crits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r4E9N50lTs

Warrior Rifle 20k+ crits (1500 range)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FiSGEhyxM

Guardian 10k+ AoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgYhGde9Qmc

Engineer, really high damage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl6z-RjPUGg

Hammer warrior is great fun.

Full berserker works fine if you go 20-30 points into defense line.
If you wish to have more defense putting some soldier or/and knight is a good way.

Use this order on gear without crit dmg for best results

1: Helmet, Legs, Exotic Rings, Exotic Back = 16 stats per 1% crit dmg
2: Chest and 2H Exotic = 14.4 stats per 1% crit dmg
3: Acended Weapons = 13.4 stats per 1% crit dmg
4: Exotic Earring = 13.3 stats per 1% crit dmg
5: 1H Exotic and Exotic Amulet = 12.8 stats per 1% crit dmg
6: Shoulders/Boots/Gloves = 12 stats per 1% crit dmg
____________________
7: Ascended Trinkets — (Ring = 8.5 per 1%)
8: Orbs —
9: Exquisite Jewels —

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/
if you wanna try stats before you buy.

CnD got you below 90% so -100 toughness. (thick skin)

And yeah, that’s normal for full crit dmg and power main stat dmg combined with a
glass cannon build. He could even reach higher if he used 3-4 signets to gain 15-20 might.

A dodge the moment you saw him loading up CnD from range or Endure pain the moment when Basilisk Venom/CnD hits could have turned the fight. Getting more armor with protection boon can also reduce the backstab dmg to below 5k.

You can study one of these high dmg builds here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onzIWX-AQV8

- I’m sorry that we can’t affort to stay in melee range and must rely on hit and run.
- I’m sorry that we can’t affort to be locked down.
- I’m sorry that stealth builds became less viable in sPvP and we are forced to play perma dodge S/D or S/P.
- I’m sorry that we have spammable leap and blast finisher and a smoke field.
- I’m sorry for all the staff elementalists, mesmers, rangers and warriors who have been too glassy, how can I ever forgive myself for this.
- I’m sorry that it just takes 2 mistakes and sometimes even 1 and I die and I’m sorry for trying to be perfect and accepted by the world by not making mistakes, but it seems to have the opposite effect.
- I’m sorry for loving this class.
- I’m also sorry for being able to counter downed skills.
- And I’m sorry for trolling groups and zergs a lot, using mobility/stealth builds with low damage.

Red Falcon.8257:

I’d go with this:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|1.1g.h1.0.0.0|0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0|1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7|2s.0.2s.0.2t.0.1g.67.1g.67.2s.0|u39b.0.0.a2.u68c|2e.1|0.0.0.0.0|e

When you unload Evis your E.Power will be over 9000 and you’ll hit like a truck.
Also pretty much guaranteed crit on Evis (very important).

Dogged March/Cleansing Ire are good if you plan on your opponent lasting a lot (i.e. anti-bunker), but if you want to blow up people you don’t need them.
At most grab SoS instead of SoM. SoS does the same without wasting 20 traits and a ton of dmg.

Looks powerful indeed, thanks.

Didn’t know about the SoS cond removal, seems I have many options,
It has a bit long cooldown though.

I’ve played thief for about 1300 hours, and had 15k hp and 2500 armor most of the time and that felt really glassy even with stealth and lots of dodging,
what will it feel like on warrior having around 2.2k armor and 19k hp?

Edit: Final build, I’ll try this one out.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR3ejkO5utQGPMxBEMDNsKMPMigoI0HmDA-j0DBYLERzEEAEHQUBwJPLaN7BMBCoLIItBTjVvATVSpW5KQWzAmzQeDLrWKgIWGB-w

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|1.1g.h4.0.0.0|7.1g.h1g.e.1g.h2.0.0.0|1n.9l.1g.9l.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7|2s.d14.2s.d14.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1c.67|u2ab.0.p29.0.f3|6f.1|5x.6e.6c.6i.6m|e

GS
5 415k EP
27 435k EHP
32% dmg reduction

A/Sh
5 850k EP
28 050k EHP
33% dmg reduction

Above the line, dimishing returns.
Below the line, stat gain by choosing crit dmg.

1: Helmet, Legs, Exotic Rings, Exotic Back = 16 stats per 1% crit dmg
2: Chest and 2H Exotic = 14.4 stats per 1% crit dmg
3: Acended Weapons = 13.4 stats per 1% crit dmg
4: Exotic Earring = 13.3 stats per 1% crit dmg
5: 1H Exotic and Exotic Amulet = 12.8 stats per 1% crit dmg
6: Shoulders/Boots/Gloves = 12 stats per 1% crit dmg
____________________
7: Ascended Trinkets — (Ring = 8.5 per 1%)
8: Orbs --
9: Exquisite Jewels —

If you want most possible stat, change items to soldier in order 1-6 til desired vitality and toughness is reachced. Exception with Celestial equipment.

Made a quick full ascended setup following the order and towards my desired stats
and my favourite runes. I’d want 40% crit chance though..
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlUmiPXcS5E/5Ex2je6Tiy9woOtpdFwKA-jEDBYfRE9DggAksAiKAI7RQM9RZt4qIas6aYKXCRaXp2auIa1SBExyI-w

Thanks for your reply, really helpful.

Dogged march and Cleansing Ire seems like amazing option.

As for healing signet I’m still unsure, I’ve always preferred having utility with my heal adding more versatility and situational improvisation to my builds.

For now I’m considering 30/0/20/0/20, it has everything I want, except high enough critical strike chance, which would force me into using Assassin/Knight equipment and lose power or lose other dmg modifiers.

My playstyle is based around keeping sustained dmg and building adrenaline with greatsword and then unloading with axe, so it’s leaning more towards making the best out of a few strikes and burst opponents, rather than performing a high amount of critical hits and do more sustained dps.

I was unable to keep more than 3800 power and 110% crit damage, and at the same time have more than 37% crit chance without fury, so I’ll need to look further into this and find out what my options are.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR3ejcO5utQqQMxBEkCNsKMPMigoIUKmjNE-j0CBYLERzEEQUBBO5ZRrZPBsNoIas6FYqSDpW5CyaGybgIrWKA9UGB-w

full zerk and runes of melandru
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR3ejcO5utQqQMxBEkCNsKMPMigoIUKmjNE-jkCBYLERzEEQUBBO5pIaslRFRjVvATVaI1KXQWzQeDEZ1SBonyI-w

So I decided to level a warrior again and been looking into build options, I like planning things. And I haven’t tested out nor read every trait and utility skill yet, so I’m totally clueless on what’s most viable and what’s not.

• I’m a fan of huge crits but without being too glassy.
• I’m not really into high end PvE nor Zerg fighting.
• I mostly PvE with friends for fun, roam in WvW, do events and stuff.
• The weapons I wanna use and switch between is: GS, Axe, Mace, Shield, Rifle and possibly longbow, and I want to do so without going to a class trainer and respec.
• I want great mobility to get around the map quickly.
• I want to be able to switch between anti-condition or something else awesome while in the field, through traits or utility.
• And I repeat! I’m not searching for a zergling build nor a zerker max dps build, I want something versatile.

Here’s my own build I’ve been looking into, 30/10/0/10/20
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR3ejcO5utQqQMRCAzDjCqoTBoUKmDvUhxA-jEzAYLioZCCEVIwJPl1sngYboIas6FMVpQquEW5CZvh8GEZ1SBExyI-w

Looks like http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magitech_Medium_Armor_Skin
With this http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Falconer%27s_Mask
And these http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Holographic_Dragon_Wing_Cover
And these http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Medium_Fused_Gauntlets

And dagger ! http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zenith_Kris_Skin

Agreed, should be reversed in PvP.

+1 seconds reveal =

S/D – Tactical Strike is broken, can’t be used frequent enough to match its low daze duration which leaves the thief too open to attacks and unable to keep control. Only viable builds are variations of dodgy glass cannon FS builds.
D/D – Only viable for DB and semi-viable for kill spike builds(which has been nerfed too much as well).
P/D – Burst, which was already low took a hard hit.

D/P as a set mostly benefits from Power, Crit Damage, Precision, and slightly on Condition Duration and very minimal on Condition Damage.

Allthough it might seem brilliant to stack up some stacks of confusion to damage the opponent who is trying to hit you, that’s pretty much all you will get, the dps from other sources will be horrible, you wont be able to take benefit from the other utilities from the D/P set if you are going to use #4 a lot, which will cripple your ability to stay in melee range, and with crippled ability to stay in melee range it says itself that you will need to do high dmg while there to make it useful. Hidden killer would be useless since rampager already mains Precision for high crit chance, so your best bet would bet would be the Deadly Arts line.

For optimal use of Perplexity in a hybrid build I’d pick P/P, which benefits from all stats and can keep up constant damage without relying on staying in melee range

For hybrid builds overall I’d choose some Celestial gear over Rampager.

If you don’t have a credit card you can use paypal. Just load money on your paypal account in whatever way paypal supports, then make your purchase..

It’s easy to create a paypal acc and worth it if you want to spend money online.

After the 1 second increase on reveal S/D builds focusing on CnD, auto attack and TS became unplayable.. Even in WvW where daze lasts longer. After the revert in WvW it went back to normal, inb4 they remove the stunbreak on infiltrators strike.

Unlike D/D and P/D, S/D isn’t based around hitting for high dmg and run and restealth, it focuses around staying in melee range dealing sustained cleave dmg. it can’t affort to be stunned or have a gap where the player can put out full burst without any defensive play. And D/P and S/P has a smoke combo field which gives them more defense in melee range, and S/P has a long evade on #3 allthough they are rooted for the duration.

The space between TS daze and restealth is too huge in sPvP.
Currently.
Thief: TS
Target: Dodge
~daze runs out
Target: High dmg and stuns
Thief: Dodge high dmg and stuns
Thief: Dodge high dmg and stuns
Thief: ~reveal wears off
Thief: CnD
Target: Dodge
Target: High dmg and stuns
Thief: CnD, with low hp and escape.

Solutions:

• Increase daze duration
• Fix revealed back to normal
• Make it a stun
• Make TS deal same damage as facestab (frontal backstab) or more to force the opposing player to play more defensively instead of breaking out full burst.

So yeah, only viable S/D currently is variations of FS>LS spam builds.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoIiI2eAAAwTA-jUxAYrAm8KiGbpsIas6aMlLRUtUARMGA-w

150% Base multiplier on critical damage.

100% Gear and build
10% + 5% Runes
10% Food

175% is the max obtainable +% critdmg, only because there is no way to go higher.
If there is no official statement otherwise this would be the cap.

I used to down ppl outside capture points in tournaments and just watch them and let their own dignity demand them to heal themselves and take vengeance, just so I could hit them right before they rally and watch them lying there helpless and out of the game for minutes while I was guarding the capture point.

I was abusing the enemies downed states, if a system can be abused the system is incomplete and what’s incomplete needs to be completed.

“End it” sounds a bit brutal, I’d rather prefer “Give in”, like when someone lies on the deathbed giving up and letting the life sip away without fighting against it.
And it should of course reward the downtaker as well and rally etc. if someone wants to die and respawn with downed enemies nearby it could be seen as a skill issue.
Also I think the skill should be available after 6+ seconds allowing the enemy to perform a successful stomp. Also rally needs an internal cooldown.

Quoting myself on this matter.

D/D is superior:
- When fighting Rangers, Mesmers and Necromancers with pet builds.
- When fighting in a team fight you don’t need to look out for other players combo fields.
- When you fight up on tower or keep walls.
- When you fight near mobs, critters or attackable objects.
- When you fight in 1v2 against a ranged and a melee player.
- When you get rushed by a zerg.
- When you need some extra burst, kill to survive.

D/P is superior:
- In open field.
- Against melee.
- When chasing highly mobile players.
- When hiding from zergs or escaping if the zerg has a good distance.
- Against other thieves.
- When you are in need of an interrupt.
- Also has easy access to stealth, but slow and you don’t always get off more than 1 – heartseeker through BP (7 ini for less active stealth while x/D is at 4 for a successful hit), not everyone can counter it, unlike x/D where everyone has a dodge button.
- Blind is also a powerful tool.

D/P is however more complete as a set, and every single weapon skill is useful.
While D/D has #3 which is rarely useful without being a waste and #4 which is slightly more useful than #3.

so.. 1v1, 1v2, 1v3 – depends a lot. Sometimes even 1v4+ is possible and sometimes 1v2 isn’t possible with both setups.
XvX – D/D is better, it’s quicker doesn’t rely on a combo field which can be overrided by other combo fields.

Zergs – none of them are really effective. D/D however has easy access to stealth while overrun by ppl, and is way much quicker. D/P is better at being passive around zergs and hunting and picking off players and escape before the zerg reaches the place.

I’m using D/D + D/P a lot and sometimes I’m even asking myself why I’m keeping D/P, because of the quick access to stealth and nice spike dmg. And sometimes while playing D/P + SB I wish I’d have a dagger offhand.

D/P is better for resetting fights too, also lets you open up with backstabs out of nowhere which I like most with it.

SA IV – Remove 1 condition every 3 seconds, first is removed when you enter stealth.
SA VI – Cloaked in Shadow, AoE blind.
SA X – Patience, regen more initiative while in stealth.
SA XI – Shadow’s Rejuvenation, heal while in stealth.
SA 15 – Meld in Shadows, 1 second longer stealth from stealth utilities and CnD.
SA 25 – Hidden Assassin, 2 might every 3 seconds.
AC VI – 50% More movement speed while in stealth.
CS XII – Hidden Killer, 100% Crit Chance when you ambush someone from stealth.

That should be all traits that have an effect on stealth.

If you want to instagib or get instagibbed, this post is not for you.

If you however want to sustain yourself through long fights and want to be hard to take down it’s worth looking at.

If you want best possible defense at a low impact of your damage, using soldier armor and jewelry in the right slots is the best way. Soldier jewelry and some of the armor pieces can be obtained from temples. Weapons and leg armor however can only be obtained from dungeons or WvW badges. The goal for a lot of thieves is 15k hp and 1400 toughness.

Here’s the order where it’s profitable to switch crit damage parts for soldier or other stats. Above the line has expensive crit dmg and below the line it’s profitable to pick crit dmg.

1: Helmet, Legs, Exotic Rings, Exotic Back = 16 stats per 1% crit dmg
2: Chest (+2H weapons)
3: Exotic Earring
4: 1H weapons
5: Exotic Amulet
6: Shoulders/Boots/Gloves = 12 stats per 1% crit dmg
____________________
7: Ascended Items
8: Orbs
9: Exquisite Jewels

In my builds I aim for them being easy to play, cheap to create, good stat balance and highly customizeable, and room for many different ways to use utilities and abilities.

A good starter setup D/P 0/20/30/20/0, not too expensive, tanky and has decent dmg.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYm6O3cS5E/5ExmieuTuHG1pNtTBXtKA-jEzAYLBRKCIZBiIAk8W0a2LgthioxqXwUlCp6yI7NGyq7IyCBMaBA-w

There is however a big advantage of having 100% crit chance from stealth, but will cost you some defence and initiative regen, but you can trade a lot of your critical chance for vitality since your main damage source will be backstab anyways. You can basically switch every berserker piece to valkyrie and obtain high vitality while keeping high damaging backstabs. I always choose to stick to 15k hp / 1.4k toughness

A backstab build 0/30/30/10/0.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYm6OXcS5E/5Ex2je6Tiy9woOtpdFwKA-jEzAYLBRCCIZBiKAk8W0a2Lg9hioxqXwUlCp6yI7NESdHSzSBExYA-w

I like this build best with scholar runes, which requires me to change the gear a bit.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYm6OXcS5E/5Ex2je6Tiy9woOtpdFwKA-jUzAYLBRCCIZBiKAk8ia2LgpvkVcLiGreBTVCoLjsyMpejioVLFQEjBA-w

And I also recommend Wish’s builds, D/D but can be played with D/P as well.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Post-Your-Build-Thread/page/3#post2426220

His builds are made through careful calculation and optimization and provides you with the best Defence:Damage

MH and OH Axe
MH and OH Club
OH Sword
OH Torch
Greatsword
Longbow
Rifle
Crossbow
Buckler
Staff
Focus
Scepter

evilapprentice.6379:

If you were targeting the ground, why would your other ranges be unaffected? It doesn’t effect other ranges, why only leaps? In addition, it’s inconsistent. You can angle your camera in such a way that your leap goes a reduced distance…then, without moving or touching your camera in the slightest, your very next leap will go full distance. If you were aiming with your camera, you should get consistent results – perhaps it does work as you suggest, and Anet has taken over a year to fix the issue (that wouldn’t be new for Anet), but I’m still convinced it’s a bug.

What other ranges are you talking about?

All ranged skills can be free-aimed on the ground, which reduces the distance they travel since they hit the ground, same with non ground targeted leapfinishers, however, leaps causes the character to enter a fixed animation which resets other animations including aim, so with a bit of lag or early press the 2nd leap can go straight forward and full distance since it’s using the reset aim that the leap animation set, and follows the characters direction no matter where you point the screen, this would be the real bug if something is a bug. :p

evilapprentice.6379:

What direction you angle your camera shouldn’t effect the distance your HS travels – it doesn’t effect other ranges, so why should it effect HS? Camera angle isn’t “Targeting”, because your character always performs actions in the direction they’re facing, regardless of camera angle. In addition, if it was an intended effect, it would always happen at a particular angle – as I’m sure you’re aware, it doesn’t.

It’s not a bug, since you can target where your abilities should go using the right mouse button and your camera center, so targeting the ground that way is the same as targeting a player at close range which makes the leap finisher travel over a shorter distance. Thief is not alone with this.

Azraelle.1683:

> mostly D/D that seem to stealth faster/longer, do higher DPS and also take less DMG than I do…
lol srsly? d/d is the most squishy build with very little access to stealth compared to d/p. If you can’t survive in d/p & valkyrie then you should probably switch to guardian/necro.

They both have their benefits.

D/D is superior:
- When fighting Rangers, Mesmers and Necromancers with pet builds.
- When fighting in a team fight you don’t need to look out for other players combo fields.
- When you fight up on tower or keep walls.
- When you fight near mobs, critters or attackable objects.
- When you fight in 1v2 against a ranged and a melee player.
- When you get rushed by a zerg.
- When you need some extra burst, kill to survive.

D/P is superior:
- In open field.
- Against melee.
- When chasing highly mobile players.
- When hiding from zergs or escaping if the zerg has a good distance.
- Against other thieves.
- When you are in need of an interrupt.
- Also has easy access to stealth, but slow and you don’t always get off more than 1 – heartseeker through BP (7 ini for less active stealth while x/D is at 4 for a successful hit), not everyone can counter it, unlike x/D where everyone has a dodge button.
- Blind is also a powerful tool.

D/P is however more complete as a set, and every single weapon skill is useful.
While D/D has #3 which is rarely useful without being a waste and #4 which is slightly more useful than #3.

As the ppl said above, toughen up your thief and outplay the other thieves or get more offense and hope to K.O. the other thief before he kills you.

As you have low toughness, backstabs will hit you hard and you will find it significally much harder to recover from them. And since you have 15 points in SA, which you
probably traited for infusion of shadows you have low condition removal.

I play a balanced build, and I haven’t yet taken any successful backstab above 8k, I don’t
doubt it’s possible under the right conditions from a 30/30/0/0/10 signet thief,
but ~7.5k is the average I take from generic and average GC D/x thief.
While I can hit around 10k on them myself.

On a glassy level 80 mesmer:
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/94567/demege.jpg

The build I have currently:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlYm6OXcS5E/5Ex2je6Tiy9woOtpdF4KA-jE0AYLBRCCARBiKAm8SW2TQM9h2GQ7DERj6FMVJiuEV5GItLs9WQ2bosKFQEjBA-w

I either use SB or D/D as offset, on one of the daggers I have sigil of intelligence,
which gives me 100% crit chance on CnD when I swap to it in the middle of combat, followed by a 100% crit chance backstab. Maybe there are better options, but I like it
this way those times I feel I need this little burst.

Against necromancers I do my best to avoid their damage and swap to shortbow to
keep constant pressure on them. This way I’ve been able to kill many necromancers
that I haven’t been able to take down in melee.

Put mouse sensitivity pretty high and comfortable.

Cloak and Dagger and hold the right mouse button and aim the screen towards the
monster run above 90 degrees around the monster strafing, then land your backstab.

Successful backstab area (it’s a crocodile from above ! ):

My current WvW/PvE and sPvP, I’m not really a fan of the other starter
hood so tried making something using this one instead. :p

Daendur.2357:

Rissou.7213:

I dont see a d/d thief fight 5 people and kill them all, but a d/p can do that

in which universe you can kill 5 ppl ?
there is a problem that every weapon set has and it is called “downed state”
i can down someone in a 1 v 5 fight, without a d/p build but i won’t perform the stomp.
no one can, against semi-decent players.

Doesn’t even require semi-decent players.

“THAIF!! RAN RAAN!!! WEIT WE 5 PPL, KILL THAIF SMASH SMASH SMASH WER IS THAIF?!?!? OH NOO DOWNED APPLEVEL, WEIT WER IS THAIF?!? BETTER RESS QUICKLIE, WATT IS DIS?!?! BLIND!?!? SMASH SMASH HAHAHAH DEDD THAIF!!!! /laugh /laugh /laugh /sit”
logging GW2 forum
“O MY GAD, THAIF OP!! ARINA NET PLISS NURF, HE KIL APPLEVEL 1v5”

And yeah, I find D/D as a broken weaponset as well it’s limited to #1 #2 and #5 and 4 way too situational. It requires a bit more skill than D/P but at the same time there are situations where D/D perform better than D/P.

Putting your whole armor PvT will give you less stats than spreading PvT properly,
using this order when switching to PvT will be more rewarding.

1: Helmet, Legs, Exotic Rings, Exotic Back = 16 stats per 1% crit dmg
2: Chest (+2H weapons)
3: Exotic Earring
4: 1H weapons
5: Exotic Amulet
6: Shoulders/Boots/Gloves = 12 stats per 1% crit dmg
____________________
7: Ascended Items
8: Orbs
9: Exquisite Jewels

Here’s my current setup
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAoa4YlYm6OXcS5E/5Ex2je6Tiy9woOtpdFwKA-jUzAYrBRTQAIOwUhIm8UWzeCithioxqXwUlI6SUlbg0uweDlVpAiYMA-w

Usually aiming for 15k hp and 1400 toughness, but I mostly play with 20 points in
acro so would be a waste to buy new gems.

Damage is just fine:

I take it that it’s stealth builds you are looking for

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoalYm6OXcS5E/5Ex2je6Tiy9woOtpdFwKA-ToAg0CnI4SxljLDXSuscNKYCB

Good offence and defence, tweak it however you like (10 acro can be moved to deadly arts for mug for instance). And as off-set shortbow or S/D.

Some of my combos:
Infiltrator’s signet + steal/shadow shot = 1800 gap closer

An execution combo:
Stack 4 stealth in BP > Basilisk Venom > wait for 8 might > pop both signets = 18 might > backstab > heartseekers and/or auto attack.

Blackpowder>~switch to SB~>Clusterbomb x3 = aoe stealth.

There is much to this build, you have to play and personalize after what you want. :P

And a casual high dmg D/D build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlUmaPHfS6E/5Ey2jeqCJK/DklODaqlA-TsAg0CnI4SxljLDXSuscNKYZxECA

CnD > Steal while channeling > Backstab > Heartseeker / auto attack

This one is cooler.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlUmiO3eS5E+5ExmieuTuHO1oNtTBWtKA-jwzAYLioRiCAZBiIAm8W0a2LgtBGN2+AgeBTVmUdZkVuA2dAvxyqdHQA-e

3079 attack
46% crit chance
83% crit dmg
1408 toughness
15k health pool

-Fluid Strikes
+7% more crit chance from behind

And for 100% crit chance BS enthusiasts
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlUmiO3eS5E+5Ex2jeCAiy9wpGtpdFwKA-jgzAYLioRiCAZBiIAm8W0a2Lg9hioxqXwUlJVXGZlLgdHwbEZ3hyKA-e

Edit: improved them a bit 1% more crit chance.

Ballistics aren’t hard to script and how far a projectile goes before hitting
ground in a certain speed is common physics knowledge.
The biggest problem would be the amount of work to overhaul all projectile
systems and balance them for realistic speed and distance.

And ground targeting codes would be much heavier since they’d do more
than just check if the distance between A and B is below 900, unless
ground targeting had its limit removed and would enter a new mode mode
turning the reticle for instance yellow when it goes above 900, and the projectile
would still only fly 900 unless affected by ballistics, would be good for clusterbomb,
can’t think of anything else that would be affected by this since most ground targeting
abilities are more or less fixed, like runes, drop supply box, dragons tooth etc.

There are already some ballistics systems in the game; siege weapons.

What disturbs me more is that Engineers can throw their nades up at us while
we stand on high spots on the walls. While we can’t even reach the ground right in front of the wall with clusterbomb.

1500 range thrown and 900 range shortbow ~shrug~

I think they should introduce some ballistics system to the weapon sets,
when firing downhill the range should be increased.

Yski posted this vid w/ build yesterday, personally I wouldn’t play it but looks like fun
for bursting down people quickly with D/D.

Otherwise, the classical x/30/30/x/x might be the build for you.

example.
CS: Fury, Prec to Vitality, Hidden killer.
SA: 2 ini on stealth, blind or cond removal, shadow rejuven.
10 for whatever you want or need.

And low initiative traited non-boon theft thief says no as well.

I want to be able to use all skills on my weapon set, instead of just #2 #5 #1, the recent
1ini increase already made it hard to put in a FS>LS when needed.

There are several ways to set yourself up.

• Full Berserker if you want highest possible dps, works good in 1v1 unless the player is fully prepared and is able to counter you which may lead to a quick death.

• Valkyrie and Berserker, and some Cavalier jewelry if you value crit damage for 100% crit chance backstabs, cavalier will however drop your power. This is a nice way to get some defense while keeping your high dmg backstabs and let your good access to fury make up for your crit chance loss.

• Soldier + Berserker/Valkyrie if you wanna gain the most stats and balance.

From 1-6 pieces have expensive crit damage, which makes them a good trade for soldier instead.

1: Helmet, Legs, Exotic Rings, Exotic Back = 16 stats per 1% crit dmg
2: Chest (+2H weapons)
3: Exotic Earring
4: 1H weapons
5: Exotic Amulet
6: Shoulders/Boots/Gloves = 12 stats per 1% crit dmg
____________________
7: Ascended Items
8: Orbs
9: Exquisite Jewels

In balanced builds most thieves agree that 15k hp and 1400 toughness is what to aim for. If you play a balanced D/P build properly you can play a whole evening/night in WvW and never die. But there will also be players you wont be able to kill, same with glasscannon builds though..

And for runes, divinity if you want to gain the most stats and defense, scholar if you wanna perform high opening backstabs, rune of the eagle if you wanna buff your ability to execute players, rune of the wurm is also a decent option, runes of lyssa if you want a nice condition removal and gain all boons my favourite for non stealth builds.
Beryl orb or Ruby orb are also viable and cheap options.