Guild Wars 2

Syeria.4812:

kaplis.7195:

i think it needs to be nerfed because i find it silly that i can sit in my Greatsword symbol and the thief just dies without me doing anything else.
also the problem is that there really is no counter without “waiting it out” because most classes don’t have boon removal abilities

Boon removal, low attack speed spike damage, and conditions (I’m fairly certain on this point) are all counters to retaliation. Boon removal obviously completely negates it. Low attack speed spike damage deals high damage to retaliation buffed players without incurring meaningful amounts of damage (as retaliation does flat damage per hit). Conditions (especially those applied in the same manner as caltrops) don’t trigger retaliation.

Really, the only things meaningfully affected by it are high attack speed or extremely low vitality type builds. Necros and mesmers can be completely immune if specced in that manner. Thieves have both the option of traiting into boon removal or the application of conditions without significantly triggering retaliation. Other guardians are more or less unaffected (as they can do it as well). Warriors have the HP and option for low attack speed spike so they have a counter. I don’t play ranger at all so I have no idea on their front. The same is true for me with engineer, but I believe that turret builds can diffuse retaliation damage so engineers should have a counter. It really seems that eles are the only ones truly without a real counter, and their healing abilities may be seen as sufficient mitigation.

Just because people often don’t choose to counter it doesn’t mean they can’t.

The fact that you would need to trait to counter a single boon says enough about it for me – still, you choose to ignore one of my main argument, that of RNG. Guardians and engineers, the two main culprits, typically have many other boons, and quick applications at that. Add that to the fact that (from a thief’s perspective) Steal has a lenghty cooldown, fails often for no apparent reason, and requires a 20 point investment into one of the worst traitline for glassy builds (trickery), and that flanking strike is flat out awful, and, erhm, we have a problem.

aydenunited.5729:

Retaliation only affects glassy builds this way. Same is true of Thief burst, or burst in general.

The issue is that if you make glass cannon builds unviable (meta-speaking – bunkers everywhere = no glass), you literally kill 60% of the game’s possible builds, and variety.

Xae.7204:

Thieves already cried enough to get Retalation nerfed once, lay off the waterworks a bit.

Bunker builds are a hard counter to your class (Thieves), you don’t get to kill everyone, some people get to kill you too.

I’d rather have a game where player skill and reflex > profession picks / trait builds in importance. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Poxxia.1547:

… “the first few stacks” … as in thieves opener, should not have to deal with it?
Frankly … as if haste-based builds are not broken enough you are asking for a passive buff? If anything it is haste-centered builds have to go (imho).

I dislike haste as well. Don’t look at things in a vaccum; we just have to cut the spiral somewhere, and it very likely starts with bunker builds.

JonathanSharp.7094:

Ya….when we designed this, we were thinking that it’s very important to keep “tabs” on the opposing team when you go for an NPC kill on Forest. You want to have 1 “killer” on your team who finishes the NPC while the other people on your team stun/knockback/daze/blind/immobilize/chill/knockdown opponents to keep them from getting the last hit and winning the buff.

Keep tabs on a potential 15 seconds of stealth and the possibilty of shadowstepping over traps, players and whatnot without breaking that? Please.

Seether.7285:

Retaliation, imo, should have been designed more as an active defense system rather than passive damage over time. Retaliation should stack in intensity and it should REALLY hurt if you are attacking someone with multiple stacks of retaliation, obviously the duration should be cut down to justify its increased potency. It’s duration should be similar to that of confusion.

Yes, that’s what I was trying to convey. It needs to be more active, not reactive.

…is a silly boon to have in this game in this current form. Boon removal is typically scarce, while boons themselves are plentiful and easily applied. This makes stripping dangerous boons (notably retaliation) or important ones (protection) a literal gamble.

Bunker builds typically run some form retaliation application, making them not only hard to take down, but actually dangerous, especially for professions with a fast hitting skill or overall low health. One could argue that “not attacking” is the counter to retaliation – and I would agree if most instances of it were only a few seconds long. But this isn’t the case. I’d also add that since you only need one person to hold a capture point from being taken by however many, “not attacking” isn’t exactly a fun thing to do.

“Not playing” is what most players seem to currently do.

Cynicism aside, the possible fixes:

-Limit the duration of retaliation to 4-5 seconds at most, making it a powerful but not ridiculous counter to glass cannons / fast attackers
-Make the returned damage % based rather than flat
-Cap the possible damage returned from the boon alone
-Remove it from the game at all. It’s not a fun mechanic to deal with and causes more issues than benefits.

*-Disregard the above, add more ways to gain retaliation, but make it stack in intensity, making it more active than reactive. The first few stacks (5-7) should obviously be weaker than currently.

I’d love an anet acknowledgement.

Ascalon raid, the boss dies on my thief’s last downed dagger – we both kill eachother in an epic fashion, perhaps yes, but no rally nor an option to revive is offered to our party. The result is missed loot as we can’t get up to grab the chest.

Why not revive everyone regardless once fragments end? This feels unnecessarily clunky. Add this feature in!

Probably no chance of being compensated, but whatever. Bug fixes come before my selfish loot.

screenshot proof: http://i.imgur.com/b8iR3.jpg

We’ve strongly maintained our spot as a tier 1 WvW server despite a noticeable server-wide reduction in active population. Jade Quarry is THE alternative for those seeking the sensation of high-end WvW action without bandwagoning.

-ESOL Leader
Oxygg

Why make any changes if it’s to meaninglessly increase numbers like that?

Volrath.1473:

Oxygen.5918:

http://i.imgur.com/ROgm3.png

Screenshot sent by a friend when we were duelling. I was the perpetrator. Could’ve been about 6k higher if I had specced into executionner (which I had hidden killer).

yeah man! i can photoshop too

Wasn’t a shop. I’ll do it again if you like. I’ll even film it.

D/D & SB Power Shadow Medic

Role & goal of the build: Support roamer. Assist your team with Stealth, Regeneration, more Regeneration and little puny stabs. You’re pretty tanky with the dodging, so get in there and try to attract attention, moreso than the above. You also hit for much less, but still more than a glass cannon Ele. Ha-ha-ha.

[color=#ddd123][D/D & SB Power Shadow Medic][/color]

P/P & SB Unload roamer

Role & goal of the build: Pew pew!

[color=#ddd123][P/P & SB Unload roamer][/color]

Venomous Aura roamer

Role & goal of the build: Roamer. Assist your team with the utility provided by providing multiple players with Venoms and associated effects, and the Leeching Venom and Venomous Aura traits.

Core traits & equipment: [color=#ddd123][Core Venomous Aura][/color]

With a coordinated team, you could swap out Thieves Guild with Basilisk Venom – the result would be the longest stunning effect in the world, should you share with one or more allies.

You’ll note that there is no Weapon selection, that the Traits are incomplete, and that no Equipment has been selected; that’s because the core of the build lies only in the Shadow Arts line and the chosen Utility Skills. The rest is really up to you, though I’ll show you my personal favourite variants.

Variants:

[color=#ddd123][P/D & SB Deadly Arts Venomous Aura roamer][/color]

Long lasting ranged Bleeds goodness through Cheap Cloak & Dagger into Sneak Attack combo. Good survivability against melee builds, notably other Thieves, through Shadow Strike (note: the build shows Repeater instead as a Dual Skill – this is wrong). Signet of Malice could replace Hide in Shadows as your Healing Skill.

[color=#ddd123][D/D & SB Trickery Venomous Aura roamer][/color]

Deadly Death Blossom Bleeds, Bountiful Theft Boon removal & allied Vigor and Venomous Aura shenanigans make you a lovely team player and fearsome dueller, to the point of having me on the verge of labelling this build as a point attacker as well.

Trait choices include:

-20 (!) floaty points;

-20 into Deadly Arts for 20% additional Condition duration & 200 power, Serpent’s Touch and Potent Poison as your Major Adept for Poison application on Steal and overall longer Poison duration; also provides with the lovely Lotus Poison for literal permanent Weakness and, of course, reduced Venom cooldowns.

-10 into Deadly Arts for 10% additional Condition duration & 100 power, Serpent’s Touch and Potent Poison; 10 into Acrobatics for 100 Vitality & 10% additional Boon duration, awesome Swiftness bonus on Dodge and, as your Major Adept, Power of Inertia if you desire to basically always have 2-3 stacks of Might on you, or Vigorous Recovery if you’d rather keep Vigor up permanently (in combination with Bountiful Theft) for the survivability and, of course, extra Uncatchable procs.

-10 into Deadly Arts for 10% additional Condition duration & 100 power, Serpent’s Touch and Potent Poison; 30 total into Trickery for 100 Condition Damage & 4 seconds off of Steal’s cooldown and, as your Major Grandmaster, a choice between 4 extra Initiative upon using a Healing Skill (Hastened Replenishment) or a short Daze upon Stealing (Sleight of Hand). I personally like the former.

-20 into Acrobatics for 200 Vitality & 20% additional Boon duration, as your Major Adept, Power of Inertia or Vigorous recovery, the incredible Energy return of Feline grace, and as your Major Master, Pain Response if you are facing quite a bit of Condition damage or, otherwise, Quick Recovery for the extra Initiative translating into more damage. Assassin’s Reward could also be considered if you’re looking into more survival against non Condition damage based builds.

-10 into Acrobatics for 100 Vitality & 10% additional Boon duration, as your Major Adept, Power of Inertia or Vigorous recovery; 30 total into Trickery for 100 Condition Damage & Hastened Replenishment or Sleight of Hand.

Regarding your runes, I’m still debating myself between 6x Adventurer for the Condition Damage and the Energy replenishment upon using a Healing Skill and 2x Krait and 4x Afflicted for the Condition Damage and the greatly improved Bleed and Poison duration. Moar testing is needed.

P/D & SB Bleeder

Role & goal of the build: Melee? Ranged? Attacker? Roamer? Undecided? Try this build and do pretty much whatever you want – it goes for the sweet traits of every line!

-Sorry, link is off for whatever reason-

P/D & SB Condition Shadow Medic

Role & goal of the build: Support roamer. Assist your team with Stealth, Regeneration, more Regeneration and a generous amount of Bleeding. You’re somewhat of a tank, so get in there and try to attract attention.

[color=#ddd123][P/D & SB Condition Shadow Medic][/color]

D/D & D/D Death Blossom spammer

Role & goal of the build: Point defender or attacker; also very good for soloing Guild Lords and Forest Creatures. Makes use of high Initiative generation (Steal + weapon swapping) to apply like a million stacks of long lasting Bleed through Death Blossom in combination with too many dodge rolls and Uncatchable to wear down basically any opponent without at least two sources of Condition removal.

Core traits & equipment: [color=#ddd123][Core D/D & D/D Death Blossom spammer][/color]

Regarding the Sigils & Runes, it’s debatable here, but… I like Leeching (~1k life steal), Energy & Adventure because they all provide sustainability, survivability and damage at once (remember, your dodge deals damage through Uncatchable).

If you like bleeding more and dying more, a mix of Centaur, Afflicted and Krait can also be fun for 45% bleed duration. Tack on Agony x 2 for 65%.

Regarding Utility Skills, Caltrops or Ambush Trap could both be replaced with Roll for Initiative if more survivability is needed. The extra Initiative obviously translates into damage as well, but overall less than Caltrops or Ambush Trap would themselves deal.

Trait choices include:

-10 floaty points;

-10 into Deadly Arts for 10% additional Condition duration & 100 power, Serpent’s Touch and Potent Poison as your Major Adept for Poison application on Steal and overall longer Poison duration; remember that between Steal, Serpent Poison and Lotus Strike, we’ll have 3 sources of poison, and increasing that by 33% is nothing to scoff at.

-5 into Deadly Arts for 5% additional Condition duration, 50 power, and Serpent’s Touch and 5 into Shadow Arts for 50 Healing & Toughness and Shadow Refuge for a healthy mix of more Poison application through Steal and durability in dire times.

-10 into Shadow Arts for 100 Healing & Toughness to acquire Slowed Pulse if you hate Bleeding.

-As your Major Master in Acrobatics, Pain Response is just awesome given this build’s limited condition removal tools, but Quick Recovery could yield an extra Death Blossom or two over the course of a long fight with no conditions against you. You change this one up according to what you are facing.

Variants:

[color=#ddd123][D/D & SB Death Blossom Oxy bunker][/color]

This is undoubtably one of the most resilient thief build possible. Sacrifices the second D/D set for a Short Bow, allowing you to spam Disabling Shot in dire times (which works even when Immobilized, would you look at that!) or get places and away with Infiltrator’s Arrow. Made almost exclusively for point defense, though you can deal with Guild Lords and Forest Creatures about as well as the core.

Pistol Whip Haste burst roamer

Role & goal of the build: Roamer. Go around and assist team by using the element of surprise to deal a massive Quickness Pistol Whip burst, crowd control and finisher. The Short Bow is used for moving between points of interest.

Core traits & equipment: [color=#ddd123][Core Pistol Whip Haste burst][/color]

Regarding Utility Skills, the choice is entirely yours for the third.

Regarding your Elite Skill, the desire to use Basilisk Venom will dictate that you will go for Residual Venom as your Deadly Arts Major Grandmaster. Panic Strike is otherwise recommended if you plan to go for Thief Guild or Dagger Storm instead. These two choices both provide more damage than the former at the cost of bits of crowd control. Do not understimate the power of a Quickness-Dagger Storm combo.

Trait choices include:

-As your Major Grandmaster in Deadly Arts, Residual Venom is used if you plan on running Basilisk Venom as an Elite Skill. Otherwise, Panic Strike provides a reliable and long lasting Immobilize effect that’s fairly hard to skip.

GW2 Forums intro:

I spent some time writing up a compendium of thief builds for my guild because the majority of them love to spread misinformation in guild chat. It’s not being read so much up on my forums, alas, so I thought I’d slap it where there’s a little more activity. If you’re looking for something different than the D/D BS bore-a-thon, this is probably the right place to look at (though it’s here anyway for information’s sake). These are my take on these builds. There are probably better versions of them. I give a lot of freedom anyway.

Note that the formating may be all messed up. I don’t really care. I’m sure you can make sense of this.

Actual post on the ESOL boards:

[center]Thief builds compendium[/center]

I’ve been wanting to write a compendium of trendy thief builds for quite a while now. As the guild has seen an important number of thieves join the ranks as of lately, I figured it’d be finally worth getting it done. Arena Junkies’s most popular guide also happens to be obsolete as well… But it sucked in the first place anyway because it was written by someone that wasn’t me. So sit tight, read through, pick your poison, and go kill stuff. If you have ideas or comments , PM me or contact me in game. If you wish to export this resource, just make sure you give credit where it is due (read: me) or I’ll violently shake my fist in the air.

[center][img]http://www.guildwars2thief.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/gw2-theif-class.jpg[/img][/center]

D/D & SB Backstab burst roamer

Role & goal of the build: Roamer. Go around and assist team by using the element of surprise to deal a massive burst of hardly avoidable Dagger/Dagger damage and crowd control. Heartseeker finishes off low health targets. The Short Bow is used for moving between points of interest.

Core traits & equipment: [color=#ddd123][Core D/D & SB Backstab burst][/color]

Regarding Utility Skills, Assassin’s Signet is a good choice to make your Backstab deal stupid amounts of damage. Unless you’re running a Signet build (see below), pretty much anything you like works. Freedom is nice.

Trait choices include:

-5 floaty points;

-5 into Deadly Arts for 50 additional power and Panic Strike or Residual Venom as your Major Grandmaster

-5 into Trickery for 2 seconds off Steal cooldown and 3 more Initiative

-As your Major Master in Critical Strikes, Signets of Power for the [color=#ddd123][Signet build here][/color], Side Strike for a tad more damage, Practiced Tolerance for a tad more survivability or Critical Haste for some RNG Quickness.

-As your Major Adept in Trickery, Flanking Strikes for a tad more damage, Thrill of the Crime for area of effect boons goodness or Long Reach to get your Steal in faster and less predictably.

http://i.imgur.com/ROgm3.png

Screenshot sent by a friend when we were duelling. I was the perpetrator. Could’ve been about 6k higher if I had specced into executionner (which I had hidden killer).

It should be “rechages one of your utility skills”. This way you could play around it by using one, stealing, then using it again. It’d add a nice factor. No thief utility is game breakingly strong either, it’s the perfect class to have that.

You have to stand in it to stack the stealth, still. It’s just that you no longer lose those stacks when you leave SR’s aoe. Awesome stuff

Combat logs aren’t representative of anything. They are wrong many times.

Zunhar.4079:

Last time I checked (in the beta), initiative actually regenerated at a rate of .75 initiative every 1 second. In other words, every 4 seconds that goes by you gain 3 initiative. The official website is incorrect in that fact (we also start with 12 base initiative, not 10). Please correct me if I’m wrong anyone or my info is outdated.

It’s a strange number with 3 decimals IIRC. Regardless, I clarified the tooltip.

Hmm, I see what you mean. I wonder if I should imply that – no one sane would think that the trait reduces your actual initiative generation. I’ll think about it.

They are the same in essence (I’m not changing the traits, after all), but vastly more normalized. The old tooltips had 5 different ways of indicating that some of them had a cooldown. I made that to be one. I also solidified certain terms, clarified that conditions weren’t improved by the % increase talents, and more.

Don’t listen to the crybabies. Pistol Whip doesn’t do 100b levels of damage,… but you can chain it almost infinitely with the right traits. Mines go for 16k, I don’t know about everyone else’s. If you can’t melee, use 2pistols and you’re fine still.

Your best tool to mitigate damage is your brain. Use it.

Cris Croix.2370:

Have you tried testing these out in PvP(Heart of the Mists)? Numbers will vary between builds, so your best bet is to try it out yourself on target dummies/sparring bots. HotM allows for free respecs and grants level 80 while youre in there: a perfect staging area!

I’ve done it for some, but for, say, Mug or Leeching, it gets hard to calculate the exact formulas. For basically anything with numbers, actually. I figured someone would know here!

Atrixer.9275:

Don’t even get me started on trick shot spam.

Yeah, trick shot, the most dreaded ability in the game.

press V

15 char

Necronin.9680:

Daecollo.9578:

Necronin.9680:

I realize that. The post would just be better placed in the other forum is all. More relevancy.

Not really, it needs to be here, its obviously a huge issue for players since they die in one hit to thieves.

First off no thief can kill someone in 1 hit. Full glass cannon builds take about 3 seconds if spec’d correctly and that only happens if the other player is caught off guard. Honestly tho if someone is looking for help against thief’s, why wouldn’t they ask there question or look in the player helping player forum. Just trying to help. And not let you waste a post to forum trolls.

http://i.imgur.com/ROgm3.png

Same with summoned thieves; they use the old lotus strike that weakens instead of poisoning.

I like seeing that. I play an alternative build, and often top all the FOTM’ers, and never lose to one (or two, at times!) thief glass cannons. I think it’s a L2build issue.

http://i.imgur.com/ROgm3.png

Someone randomly whispered me this after I killed them. I guess they didn’t like it.

I don’t think the crit ones do stack. Regardless, you wouldn’t really want to when sigil of air is so kitten. Air/crit or Fire/crit are pretty much the ways to go if you’re a crit build. Agonyx2 works well for bleed. (those do stacks!)

Acrobatics

-

Expeditious Dodger: Dodging grants you Swiftness for 2 seconds.
Feline Grace: Dodging returns 40% of its Endurance cost.
Fluid Strikes: While your Endurance is not full, your attacks deal 10% more damage.

Descent of Shadows: Taking falling damage releases Blinding Powder. You also take 50% less damage from falling. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
Power of Inertia: Dodging grants you 1 stack of Might for 10 seconds.
Vigorous Recovery: Using a Healing Skill grants you Vigor for 10 seconds.
Assassin’s Retreat: Killing a foe grants you Swiftness for 10 seconds. This effect can only occur once per second.
Master Trapper: Traps recharge 20% faster.
Fleet Shadow: While Stealthed, your movement speed is increased by 33%.
Fleet of Foot: Dodging removes Cripple and Weakness from you. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
Pain Response: Being struck while your health is [at or] below 75% grants you 10 seconds of Regeneration and removes Bleed, Poison and Burn from you. This effect can only occur once every 45 seconds.
Quick Recovery: You gain 2 more initiative every 10 seconds.
Assassin’s Reward: Using Initiative heals you for [X] per point spent.
Hard to Catch: Being disabled grants you Swiftness for 12 seconds and Shadow Steps you away from the source. This effect can only occur once every 60 seconds.
Quick Pockets: When weapon swapping while in combat, you gain 3 Initiative.

-

Trickery

-

Kleptomaniac: When Stealing, you gain 3 Initiative..
Preparedness: Your maximum Initiative is increased by 3.
Lead Attacks: Your attacks deal 1% more damage per point of unspent Initiative.

Merciful Ambush: Reviving an ally creates an Ambush Trap at their location. This effect can only occur once every 20 seconds.
Instinctual Response: Taking more than 20% of your health as the result of a single strike grants you Stealth for 2 seconds and Blinds foes within [X] range for [Y] seconds. This effect can only occur once every 60 seconds.
Uncatchable: Dodging releases Caltrops at your initial location for 4 seconds.
Flanking Strikes: Attacking from from behind or the side of a foe deals 5% more damage to them.
Thrill of the Crime: Stealing grants Fury, Swiftness and 1 stack of Might to yourself and allies within [X] range for 10 seconds.
Long Reach: *Your Steal has 300 more range.
*Bountiful Theft: Stealing grants Vigor to yourself and allies within [X] range for 15 seconds. Two boons are also removed from your target and granted to yourself and allies within [X] range for their remaining duration.
Trickster: Tricks recharge 20% faster.
Initial Strike: Strikes with your first Weapon Skill Slot have a 7% chance to cause you to gain 1 Initiative.
Ricochet: Pistol attacks have a 5% chance to also affect an additional target.
Hastened Replenishment: When using a Healing Skill, you gain 4 Initiative.
Sleight of Hand: Stealing Dazes your target for 1 second.

-

Wewh, here it is. Some mistakes / inconsistencies might have slipped in, so feel free to comment on those as well. And stuff.

See ya

Critical Strikes

-

Keen Observer: While your health is [at or] above 90%, you have an additionnal 5% chance of critically hitting.
Opportunist: Critically hitting has a 20% chance to restore 1 Initiative. This effect cannot occur more than once per second.
First Strikes: While your Initiative is above 6, you attacks deal 10% more damage.

Furious Retaliation: When your target reaches 50% [or less] health, you gain Fury for 10 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 45 seconds.
Signets of Power: Activating a Signet grants you 5 stacks of Might for 5 seconds.
Side Strike: Attacking from behind or the side of a foe have an additionnal 7% chance of critically hitting them.
Concealed Defeat: When you are downed, you create a Smoke Screen. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
Pistol Mastery: Pistol attacks deal 5% more damage.
Practiced Tolerance: 5% of your Precision is added to your Vitality.
Ankle Shots: Critically hitting a foe with Pistol attacks has a 60% chance to Cripple them for 3 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
Signet Use: When activating a Signet, you gain 2 Initative. Signets also recharge 20% faster.
Combo Critical Chance: Dual skills have an additionnal 5% chance of critically hitting.
Critical Haste: Critically hitting a foe has a 10% chance to grant you Quickness for 2 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 30 seconds.
Executioner: Your attacks deal 20% more damage to foes [at or] below 50% health.
Hidden Killer: While Stealthed, your attacks always critically hit.

-

Shadow Arts

-

Last Refuge: When you reach 25% [or less] health, you release Blinding Powder. This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 seconds.
Meld with Shadows: Stealthing effects on you last 1 additionnal second. [Okay, this one is hard; you need to convey that even if you are already stealthed, you’ll benefit from an extra second, an effect that is easily seen when using Shadow Refuge]
Hidden Assassin: When Stealthing, you gain 2 stacks of Might for 15 seconds.

Master of Deception: Deception Skills recharge 20% faster.
Slowed Pulse: When you have 5 or more stacks of Bleed, you gain 10 seconds of Regeneration. This effect can only occur once every 30 seconds.
Shadow Protector: Your Stealthing effects also grant Regeneration for 5 seconds. [Tricky tricky here; “your stealthing effects” can also include allies; yeah, this is one of those where it’s somewhat implied within the skills themselves rather than the traits]
Shadow’s Embrace: Stealthing effects on you remove one condition from you instantly and one more for every 3 seconds that you remain Stealthed thereafter. [wewh… somewhat kitteny, but fairly clear]
Infusion of Shadow: When Stealthing, you gain 2 Initiative.
Cloaked in Shadow: When Stealthing, you Blind foes within [X] range for [Y] seconds.
Power Shots: Shortbow and Harpoon Gun attacks deal 5% more damage.
Hidden Thief: Stealing grants you 2 seconds of Stealth. [it should also disable your auto attack, kitten This trait is kinda kitten because it doesn’t, so you often end up wasting the “from behind” effect of your stealth skills and the stealthing effect in general]
Leeching Venoms: When triggering a Venom, you also steal [X] health from affected foes. This effect can only occur once per strike.
Patience: While Stealthed, you gain 1 more Initiative per second.
Shadow’s Rejuvenation: While Stealthed, you gain [X] health per second.
Venomous Aura: Using Venoms also applies their effects to allies within [X] range. [okay, this is far from my best; help me here!]

-

“400+ hours on my thief and I still don’t know what most of the traits really do!” That’s because half of them are worded pretty poorly, and the other half flat out lack information. I have therefore decided to try and assist anet by offering my perspective on how a normalized description of thief traits could (should?) be written. Note that I lack the values for many traits, and so, they will be replaced by (X, +…) until someone posts the actual formulas for me to fill in on that. I also found many similar effects or conditions to be worded differently for no apparent reason (notably cooldowns) and so I wanted to normalize those as well. All of this ain’t gospel of course, but I personally like them, and hopefully you guys will as well!

The pattern I will (mostly) follow will be the following:

Skill description = (1) Condition / trigger + (2) effect & value + (3) disclaimer (situationnal).

The conditon or trigger is basically what causes or enables the trait to function.

Examples include: Reaching a certain % of health; using a certain weapon or skill type; being effected by a number or type of conditions.

The effect & value are, well, what you gain from the trait and how much of it.

Examples include: A boon; a damage bonus; cooldown reduction; combo field; a duration.

The disclaimer is something to consider, that will in most cases prevent the effect.

Examples include: A cooldown; a maximum number of targets; range* or area*.

*sometimes

I also try to avoid the passive stance for non-passive skills (like, 20% CDR) to avoid convoluted descriptions. After all, you are the actor, not the acted!

So, anyway, without further due, let us proceed… enjoy.

-

Deadly Arts

-

Serpent’s Touch: Stealing Poisons your target for 10 seconds.
Lotus Poison: Poisoning a foe also Weakens them for 3 seconds. [I feel the “also” is necessary to mesh the poisoning trigger properly with weakness; you could remove it, but you’d lose some sweet prose]
Exposed Weakness: Foes with a condition take 10% more damage from your attacks. [here, the term “attacks” does not include conditions and their respective damage; the
older tooltip could lead one to believe that conditions would indeed see a 10% increase from this trait when it isn’t actually the case – I also use “foes” here instead of “target” because you aren’t necessarily targeting what you are damaging, notably with a Short Bow, though also with a Sword or Daggers, which could be a tad confusing if you saw the same numbers dealt to your non-target in the case of Trick Shot, for instance]

Back Fighting: While you are downed, your attacks deal 50% more damage.
Corrosive Traps: Traps also apply 5 stacks of Vulnerability for 5 seconds to triggering foes.
Mug: Stealing deals [X Base + Y Power Scaling + Z Level Scaling] damage to your target.
Venomous Strength: Using Venoms grants you 2 stacks of Might for 20 seconds. [here, it could be argued that it would be unnecessary to add “using”; Venoms by definition have to be used to provide an effet, but I like the word for clarity here]
Potent Poison: Poison you apply lasts 33% longer.
Sundering Strikes: Critically hitting a foe has a 40% chance to apply 1 stack of Vulnerability to them for 5 seconds. This effect can can only occur once per second.
Dagger Training: Dagger attacks deal 5% more damage.
Combined Training: Dual Skills attacks deal 5% more damage.
Panic Strike: Striking a foe [at or] with less than 50% health Immobilizes them for 4 seconds. This effect can can only occur than once every 60 seconds.
Residual Venom: Venoms last for 1 additionnal strike.

-

Mug: How much damage?
Improvisation: Can it roll an Utility Skill type you do not currently have equipped, therefore wasting said roll?

Shadow Protector: Also affects self, but this is unspecified.
Shadow’s Embrace: Also removes a condition instantly, but this is unspecified.
Cloaked in Shadow: How long does the Blind last for?
Infusion of Shadow: You can benefit from this multiple times when using or gaining any effect that provide you with Stealth despite already being stealthed; the tooltip is unclear and appears to actually require stealthing.
Leeching Venoms: How much health is leeched?
Patience: How much Initiative?
Shadow’s Rejuvenation: How much healing?

Power of Inertia: How long does the Might last for? How many stacks of it?
Vigorous Recovery: How long does the Vigor last for?
Assassin’s Retreat: How long does the Swiftness last for?
Feline Grace: How much Endurance is returned?
Assassin’s Reward: How much healing?

Instinctual Response: How long does the Blind last? How about the Stealth?
Uncatchable: How long do the Caltrops last? What do they do?
Long Reach: How much is the range increase?