Guild Wars 2

Kasama.8941:

Am I the only one who can see the contradictory between how ArenaNet wants the Thief to play, and how it is actually played? I’m not sure how anyone (other then a Thief maybe) can justify stealth, for the Thief, as being balanced. I mean, how are you suppose to fight a profession that you can’t see for 80% of a fight, and who can easily escape you during the 20% window where you actually do see him? How is this fun to play against?

What did you see that was so contradictory? I always here this “thieves stealth for 60%…70%…80%…90%… of the fight and it’s unfair” Seriously, get over it, get used to it and learn how to combat a thief like many are doing instead of whining about it. Learn what you should do, and what you shouldn’t do. We aren’t just going to sit there, go toe to toe with you and let you stomp us. It’s a L2P issue, not a stealth issue…………………………..

You most likely have auto attack enabled. I had to disable it when I used Hidden Thief. It would auto attack and it wouldn’t stealth. So disable your auto attack and you should be fine.

Assassins Reward is definately a good trait to use on any build. Pain Response is another. The breakdown for Assassins Reward is like this:

At level 80, this heals you for 69 + (0.035 x healing power) per point of initiative spent. Healing is applied in one sum at the end of the skill animation.

So for example, I have +588 healing power. CnD costs 6 Init. This in turn heals me for 89.58 ( 69 + 20.58 ) per init spent. Since CnD costs 6 init, every time I use it I’ll heal for 537. And after that I’ll stay in stealth for 3-4 seconds and get heals from Shadows Rejuv. It’s a great trait to pick up.

But your going with a build that revolves around stealth. You’re gimping yourself by trying to avoid one of the backbones of being a D/D thief.

Looks fine, but your going D/D and you want to avoid stealth except for getting out of a fight? You have to be in stealth to backstab, and backstab will be one of your better attacks. Play around with CnD (#5) and learn to position yourself behind your opponent while stealthed to get off the backstab. You’ll start to really love stealth and see the benefits of it.

Thanks Shoogli! Paralyzation adds a full second to the daze. The other runes are superior sigils of ice and they do stack. I didn’t have those on the pistols for every fight in the video but they are the ones I’m sticking with. Having the Sigil of Paralyzation on the sword is a must. You need that extra second on the daze. The other sigils you can change out for whatever you want really, just as long as you keep the Paralyzation.

Ozii your exatly right. The sigils stack, I’m not certain on the percentage or if any percentage is lost, but I do know having the chill made a difference. The headshot interrupt stops them from using any skills, and it will also stack.

Peccavi.2978:

its a balance thing I havent pvp’d at all but i can say i have a lower level guardian that can go toe to toe with mobs 5 levels higher than he, if i where to do that with my thief i would get smushed. Colin in a live video on mmorpg the other day said they are rolling out a temp fix for culling, then they are going to put in a perm fix.

The game won’t be balanced at those lower levels. You haven’t unlocked the full potential of either char at lower levels to give a fair comparison. Wonder what the ETA is on the culling fix?

That’s what I like about it. It opens up the build to more than just unload spamming.

Interesting change to unload. My problem with unload is that it’s too easy to dodge and takes to long to finish out. Although a majority of the people are too lazy to dodge or just don’t know about dodging…

No… This has been discussed and it’s not a viable option for pvp. Think about it. A thief can CnD (go stealth) multiple times. On top of that, add blinding powder and shadow refuge. So by your idea of (evade all melee/ranged attacks and gain stability), we would be completely untouchable if we just maintained stealth. In fact you could go stand in the middle of the biggest zerg and they could see you in “shadow form”, but couldn’t touch you while you dance around them and occasionally get off a CnD. The cries would really start to pour in then. It’s just not a good idea and completely unrealistic. Sorry to burst your bubble on it. Maybe if you used stealth you would understand that the mechanics behind it are fine. Culling is the issue people are crying about.

Flanking strike worked good for me. Just have to time it right. Might work to add an interrupt to it though.

Makes sense Faeyd, it’s different in the way you have to manage your init. When I first started this build I found I was just unloading every chance I got. While it was fun, it wasn’t effective till I added the S/D and started using unload sparingly.

Login.5102:

Wvw view

4. Is there any other useful skillS besides c&d to use before stealth.

I think what he means here is how one would hit CnD then instantly hit steal to land the CnD right as they steal. Pistol whip would work also. Any skill that has a delay in casting would work depending on what you want to achieve.

What gear are you using? I’ve only ever played P/D as condition but can’t see how you would mix that in with D/P. I’d like to hear more about your rotations and experiences with this build. Do you open up with D/P and switch to P/D or how do you do it?

Now if we could only have 3 weapon sets we’d be sitting happy! S/D is really good and hard to give up. But having some range really makes it more versatile. I’ll be looking into a few different builds for my next vid. Not sure what I plan on going with next.

Until Anet stands behind their system and points out they believe it’s a L2P issue and nothing more (or not) the QQtrain will never slow down

I couldn’t agree more Stiv!

@Lokheit – Yeah, on a fully geared 80 3-6k seems to be the norm for unload. And even 6k is shooting a little high. It’s a fun build but you’re right, spamming 3 and dodging is the base of how pistols/pistol works. That’s why the S/D is off hand. It breaks up the constant unloads and can close gaps that P/P won’t. “(like 0.5 seconds of weakness per bullet, this way you get control over opponents damage and he can’t dodge as often).” That’s a great idea! Would love to see something like this go into effect for unload.

@Faeyd – Glad you enjoyed it! What issues were you having in PvP with it? The combo I use goes something like this: Unload, Unload, wait for heal and headshot, switch to S/D, #2 (infiltrators strike), #3 (flanking strike is very underated), then finish off with auto attacks if needed.

@Stiv – I suppose you could replace S/D with D/D in this build and it would do just fine. I’ll have to make a D/D vid soon.

It seems you put a lot of thought into it. It’s one way to look at it but it seems that a change like this would mean a complete revamp to the class in its entirety. While I can see the thought process behind this, I don’t think ANET will be willing to make such a huge change to stealth mechanics. I don’t think we will get nerfed. They will fix the culling and the thieves that once used culling to their advantage will either respect or reroll because the P/D build won’t be as easy mode to them anymore.

Played mostly P/D and SB before. It’s a nice break with some burst if you don’t mind losing the SB.

Yeah Conner, Thief is a blast to play. P/P-S/D keeps it interesting.

Awesome, I’ll give it a go!

It’s the Anonymity Hood you get when you first create your character. That is, if you chose the hood. You can transmute it I hear but I haven’t tried. If you’ve already lost/sold/destroyed yours, try this out.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/58988-thief-hood-sollution/

If it works, let me know.

Haha, that’s great Faeyd, glad you enjoyed the music also. This build is fun in WvW. I found I was sticking with the pistols most of the time but being able to go S/D at will made it much more versatile and fun. I was getting 9-10k crits on the lowbies but maintaining 4-8k on 80’s. Try it out in WvW and let me know how you do.

It’s a fun build to play with good damage/survivability. I wanted to get away from the P/D for a while so I came up with this build.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDYuN2BFsqc

Good use of your SB, well done!

For condition you leave crit out. Your damage is going to come from bleeds, not burst. Even at maxed out power/crit, your sneak attack isn’t going to put much of a dent on your opponent. It just lacks the damage to do that. It’s focus is on the bleeds. Crits aren’t going to help you in a condition build with the D/P setup. Try out 0/0/30/20/20 if you’re looking at straight up condition with good mobility and good regen.

Go P/D if you don’t want to run D/D for conditions. Lots of good P/D info and builds out there. I run 20/0/30/20/0 with much success.

I’ve been experimenting with PP/SD for the past few days. 0/30/20/20/0 Lots of survivability and packs a good punch. Gives you some good ranged and allows you some up close damage also. Can burst most things down with the pistols and switch to S/D in group fights for CnD use.

Blackfox.5062:

What skill traits are you running?

There’s a link in the vid description

It’s all in the timing. My warrior can sit there, bust a few singets, hit kill shot and crit for 20k from a distance with one shot. CnD + Steal + Backstab takes some good timing to pull off and land. Don’t think it’s an exploit.

Try a P/D build. It lacks burst but has great survivability in 1v1/2/3+ situations, and crazy bleed damage if you have the patience to experiment and learn it. I posted my P/D vid earlier. It has the build along with gear/runes/sigils if you want to give P/D a shot.

Thanks oZii. I switch shadowstep in sometimes in place of venom/shadow refuge. If we only had room for one more utility we would have it made!

Thanks, I can see how 1v1 I wouldn’t really need shadow refuge or blinding powder but I like to 1v2 and 1v3. They seem to serve a better purpose in my build than venoms. I’ve tried different elite skills and switch between daggerstorm and thieves guild but find that daggerstorm works best in groups when there are ranged. Don’t get me wrong, it’s come back to kick me in the face a few times but for the most part fits better with my style and works how I want it. Upscalers? Neo, half the people in WvW are upscalers, there are plenty of ‘non upscale’ peeps in the vid. I’m sure you have your own style on your thief, as I have mine. You have any vids of your style to compare?

Make sure and use your Cloak and Dagger (#5) if they’re up and in your face. It will give you some time to reposition, heal, backstab, or get out. You can also stack stealths if you need to. CnD then heal, you’ll be stealthed for a little longer if you get into something you can’t handle.

OptimistPrime.9283:

Nothing is wrong with stealth. People need to get better with handling it.

I couldn’t agree more. I find so many people come charging in only to get hit with stacks and stacks of bleeds and then turn and run away. By this time, it’s already too late for them. On the other hand, there are people out there who play it smart, are aware of their surroundings and can give it a good shot by playing smart and not attempting to rush in and treat me like a pve mob.

People should time their attacks, pay attention to stealths, and make the thief work for it.

Im sure if you took a look at every skill from every profession and calculated it with ‘possible’ buffs via traits/foods/etc, you’d find plenty of other things to nerf too.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Gear is Carrion (Power/Vitality/Condition)

Runes, I run 2 of each – Afflicted/Krait/Centaur for the +condition damage and bleed duration

Sigils are Agony and Bloodlust

Just wanted to throw this out there for some entertainment. Some fun roaming footage I took of a few 1v2/3/+. Before anyone starts with the “P/D is OP” argument… I don’t care… It’s fun and I’ll play it till they nerf it, then respec to something else… Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaWdQaAJiE4