Guild Wars 2

Few tips and requests:

Understand that roamers are viable.

Don’t roam unless you know how to be observant of the map and realize where you need to be.

Staying alive by fleeing off point will actually help your team. Yes- amazing. Instead of being dead for 10-20 seconds (some hotjoins for that number) and giving other team 5 more points and brief 5v4, leave the point. You hinder your team by dying.

Pushing far is difficult. If you have a 2 cap and can hold each point with ease, keep it that way. Most maps have extra objectives, meaning pushing for a 3rd and possibly overextending can cost you a match. Keep 2 points as often as possible.

All the locations on map that give points/time give the same 1/1 ratio. Mid does not magically give more points. Don’t bum rush mid.

Thats all I got, add if you want. Just seen to much of this stuff to not try to play my part…

No this is not a rage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRnsISBaWjGupB3aGx0YM9NxkDpCo0jMeHA-TJRBwAUuEAkLDA4JA0c/BA

OR

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRnsISraWjGupB3aGx0YMZPxQ6AqYgSOy4A-TJRBwADuEAkLDA4JA0c/BA
?
Why? Also, what would you do to improve it? And why? Preference is ok, but I would like to get a good idea of what I should use. Thanks =D

Didn’t read the posts above me (rushing because laptops are evil) so sorry if this is a repeat:

Going to go over what I see, and then what I think we need.

Main Hands: Dagger, power based like ohmehgad dead power. Auto pounds massive damage, 2 heals you for a bit, 3 is a strong hammer that also roots. Mixed with the well that applies vulnerability and hits hard and the corruption that gives bleed and might, this becomes ridiculous (or might grant signets). Dagger is good. To make Dagger better.
-Reduce auto attack damage by 5% and give Max Targets: 3 to whole chain. (trade off that I would really enjoy unless they want to just give target increase)
- Dagger 2: Increase siphoned health by 25%. D2 seems to be focused on continuing the train.
-Dagger 3: Raise damage by 5-10% and make immobolize last for 5 seconds. (same duration as well of suffering)

Off-Hand Dagger: Good at applying and removing condition, unsure why its on this weapon. Would have given offhand dagger to focus and focus to offhand dagger because that makes sense to me.
- Dagger 4: Replace blind with 2 stacks of torment.
- Dagger 5: As is. Maybe higher bleed stacks OR duration, or both. Don’t want to be too strong.

Main hand Axe: Auto applies vulnerability. Skill 2 generates ton of life force. Third gives retal forever and boon removal in an aoe format. Love this weapon, no changes except a damage increase.

Off-hand Focus: Same as axe. Purpose of boon removal and vulnerability application is obvious and works. Maybe replace regeneration with protection or regen and prot…

Off-hand Warhorn: Skill 4:Instead of cone, make it work just like Axe 3. Aoe, max targets 3. This skill is for lockdown. Skill 5 is clearly for mobility, but it also gives damage and life force.
- Double the damage on skill 5 and gain fury. this belongs in the power section, and this would make it more widely used.

Main-hand scepter: Auto gives 2 bleed and poison. skill 2 gives bleed (2 in spvp, 3 in open world i think). 3 is a power attack that grants a good bit of life force.
-Auto should rotate conditions to give it more “oomph”. First hit grants bleed, second randomly applies a condition (poison, confusion, torment, bleed, or burn), third grants poison and life force. Would increase the pressure and make this a better weapon and no longer camping staff for conditions.
-Replace cripple with immobolize 2.5 seconds.
- Not sure how this skill fits in seeing as this setup is focused on bleeds. Auto gives 1 bleed, GD gives 2 bleeds/3, take away the flat damage on skill 3 and make it give 3/4 bleed(3 in spvp, 4 in open world).

Staff: Auto is LF grant and pierce and Projectile(chance). S2 is bleed and regen. S3 is poison and chill and a poison field. S4 is a blast finisher that transfers conditions. S5 is fear.
-First thing, auto casts every 1/2 second and projectile speed is doubled. Physical Projectile chance is 50 or 100%.
- Staff 3: Base chill duration is 5 seconds. Base poison is also 5 seconds.
- Staff 5: Ethereal field added. Duration of field is 4 seconds. Fear ticks only on initial pop, running through the field afterwards grants 1 bleed every 1 second to all targets in the field (max 5 targets). Reason: Necromancers (yes, I main thief, I use this too) need access to all conditions and staff has access to all conditions without utilities except confusion. This fixes.

Massive buffstream/adjust stream (not sure what I typed anymore XD) but it would make me want to pick my necromancer up again. As is, I can use it well and love it- but my thief has more staying power and burst potential than necro and that makes me sad.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJARWnsIShaWpGeoBzaGB3gM3CO7MyRpDwvCJA-TJRBwAUeCA02fgcZAAXCAA

My preferred tank build. However, moving 2 points (yes, just 2) from Chaos to Domination allows you to grab the trait Empowered Illusion which drastically increases damage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJARWnsIShaWpGeoBzaIR1gMzZfSVIVAKdH2WPB-TJRBwAUeCA02fgcZAAXCAA

Only a WvW player knows the joy of an Omega Golem Zerg.

Only a WvW player appreciates a Mesmer.

Only a WvW player would trade a gank thief for a support mesmer because portal bombing is pretty.

Sounds bad, I know. And this is the only economy based thread home area…thing. Anywho, I noticed that Risen lvl 80 mobs (yes, Orr), drop Heavy * Bag (varies) which go for 5-20 silver each. That doesn’t include other drops. Considering that I run a Thief and that I am also becoming very good at farming mob masses (cleave dmg OP), would this be a good/best way to get money?

Thanks in advance to all Asura Genii who answer.

I am confused as well, but just in case you are serious. Quickness can be acquired 3 ways in this build—- 1)Sigil of Rage, 2)Haste skill, 3) Critical Haste trait. Weapon speed is as fast as dagger with higher cleave but less stealth damage (thank god, else it would need nerf). Taking away its cleave does nothing but nerf the set. It already has highest single target auto attack damage. The only defensive/utility weapon is Shortbow. This set is almost as offensive as P/d or D/d because offhand dagger forces aggresive playstyle to increase survivability and pressure. Maybe you mean d/d? Its become fairly weak, but the backstab is what makes the set keep getting left behind. Not sure if you are serious or trolling (no offense or pun intended), but hope I helped if the former or staved you off with the latter.

I run the old meta (mostly, added a little new meta now that my build is adjusted). Posted below.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAsY6Yl0MpyplOx3J8PNBNBt9wbQE0KAdfki0EA-TZBEwAGOJAJeAAp2fAwRAIbZAA

I wanted to know, is there anyway to add a little more survivability without sacrificing more than 5%~ of my damage? To give you an idea, when I am in full swing my FS/LS combo takes a chunk (noncrit) of 1300-2900 or (crit) 3000-4900. Overloaded (25 might, fury, 25 bloodlust) happens rarely and makes those numbers almost double.

I also wanted to know, AR (assassin reward) heals kind of weakly. If I put some healing jewels on my trinkets (not all ascended yet) would it increase a bunch? In spvp, going full heal doesn’t seem to do much…

Thanks for helping. Looking for this in Pve/Wvw content instead of Spvp. It was just easiest to render build there.

WvW/Pve build is (getting funds to make it more Spvp build, just taking a bit) http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZEQRAsY6Yl0MpyplOx3J8PNBNBt9wbQE0KAdfki0EA-T1yEAB3oEzEtCBcSA4Z/hBeCAhqEUJlH1o+iG6CAwE3KqQQKgIWGB-w

I play Sword/Dagger thief (http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAsY6Yl0MpyplOx3J8PNBNBt9wbQE0KAdfki0EA-TZBEwAGOJAAOCAZLDQ4BA8b/BA)

And was wondering how do I beat pure condition, pure burst, or turret bunker. Pure condition just kites me to death and I can’t drop any of the conditions I need/want to without popping half my Utils. Pure burst has much higher damage than I do (not as much mobility so I have mastered running for my life). Turret bunker…well…. no idea how to win that one.

Thanks in advance.

I am bopping on over from the Thief forum because I feel fairly pathetic. Likewise going to post in Engineer.

I can’t beat many of the tank-meta D/D Eles (or the new instant 25 might stack lasting forever S/d) despite running Sword/Dagger. I am getting better and went from 2/10 to about 4.5/10 (iffy on 5th win). Any tips on how I can beat you guys? Please? I got WvW, mostly mean Spvp. (ways to think how I can beat you: what kittens you off in a fight against us) I promise this isn’t complaining, I just want to see why I can’t win. And please don’t tell me to L2P or to “catch up with the meta”. Thanks =)

My build (pretty much the old meta) http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAsY6Yl0MpyplOx3J8PNBNBt9wbQE0KAdfki0EA-TZBEwAGOJAAOCAZLDQ4BA8b/BA

Current Thief Metas that I know of (in order, D/d then S/d then P/d)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVlsMpzplPx7J8PNBNBt9wbQI4uGrYGaFAA-TZBEwAGOFAAOCAZLDQ4BA8b/BA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0MpyplOx7J8PNBNh4d4vl1KQ3RL2E-TZBEwAGOFAp2fAwRAIbZACPAAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAqYVlsMp5p1NxpJsPNRMhw9uf98qr2NWEA-TJxCwALOFAAeCAC3fYbZAA

Is a bug, I autoattacked a mob with sword and still couldn’t steal to him. I am wandering if the patch changed Line of Sight ruling and it jerked the steal up? (Yes, there was a door in my way…hush up….)

It is. If they don’t cut off stat swapping you can use Practiced Tolerance in conjunction with Maintenance Oil. PT increases your vitality based on precision, MT increases your precision based on your vitality. It would create an endless loop. =) Hope that helped.

Thieves have very minimal condition removal which means the Condition Engineer is essentially our bane of existence. However, you could http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVlsMpwplOx7J0PNBNBt9EGeI4uGrYGaFAA-TJRJwAAOFAcfCA/KDoa/BA if you want to maximize condition removal. Not the strongest build imo, but it lets you fight Condi Engi a bit better.

Hard as it for players to accept, this game and most class based games are set up like Rock<Paper<Scissors. Thief is a rock to glass builds and boon pumpers, but becomes paper against condition bursters (assuming opponent is scissors).

Valkyrie armor is intended for the Hidden Killer trait, usually associated with Backstab builds because of the burst/survival mixture.
The crowd control is definitely ridiculous BUT the number 3 skill is an evade with a 1/8-1/4 delay in cast and a 1/2 second evade time (half of dodge frame length). If I see ham bow warriors, I know to dodge earth-shaker with the 3, the following swing around with 3 again and a jump dodge forward (just to freak em out ) and then 3 again for the skill 5. You are an evade based damager (the Thief dream without stealth). Just make sure to practice queuing your natural dodge AND your skill dodge.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0MpyplOx7J8PNBNh4d4vl1KQ3HL2E-TZBEwAGODAp2fAwhAIbZACPAAA
without having seen Sizer’s new build, this is the closest I can guesstimate it. Basically, you have a control/heal/boonrip on a 20~ second cool down that lends an extra attack. You get procs from both sigils (they now coexist and work right) that increases your damage back to the old 2/6/0/6/0 (which I still use because I mesh with it better). It increases your dodge uptime if you trade might on dodge for vigor on heal. Or quick recovery, but I would never drop it with this weapon set personally. Basically after Strength Runes and Pirate Runes got a buff, Sizer posted having used this build (I think, I missed memo) and saying the damage was almost the same if not exactly so.

TL;DR? Crowd Control can be dodged repeatedly and the new build gives out the same damage as the old one AND increases survivability and gives access to more boons and another source of control.

Is it odd if I find in most of my fights against other players that I manage to use my utilities in a very minimal manner? I am Thief btw.

I’d like to point out the WvW builds all have offhand dagger…. because pistol is so lackluster….

To let the debate have a little fun—-
S/D I use 0/6/2/6/0… Yes, yes I do. Shadow Embrace removes a condi and lines me up for a lovely daze and stacks 3 vulnerability… Sword/Dagger can still function like a backstab build if you look at it right. Backstab applies massive damage instantly but lets the target respond as soon as its applied( unless basil, but the auto on dagger is weak). Tactical Strike dazes for a bit and applies normal crit damage then the target cannot respond- during that daze time I like to 1) Immobilize 2) Go through an auto attack chain 3) Apply and Use Basil Venom 4) Steal any boons they used to recover 5) Auto chain again… more than likely stomp em silly…if not, repeat steps 0-2/4.

Always critting, ok.

Lets give player X1000 power and 200% ferocity. 1000*200%=2000 power.
Lets give player Y 2000 power and base 150% ferocity. 2000*150%=3000 power.
Player Y will kill faster than Player X if fighting same target.

I provided some builds. You can do all of the options you listed for gear. Its not always by the names of “rabid”, “dire”, “carrion”.

Aggreeing with Blitz above me for the most part. Thief is one of the best (or best, everyone says so but even Thief has to submit to the Rock<Paper<Scissors) dueling classes.
Thief also has the absolute highest bleed and poison uptimes (high condi damage, reduce heal).
Thief has greatest access to dodges, gap closers, gap openers, torment.
Thief has second lowest survivability (Elementalist has less, but they have many more options that don’t get spammed).
Thief can be group support and a great team waste basket (you must be “good” to play a class with spammable skills because once those skills lose spammability, you die- its very counter intuitive, but it makes sense when you think about it)
Warrior has greatest access to burst skills
Warrior has the best fail-safe nets (you can mess up all day and still come out alive)
Warrior does not have to worry too much on what traits and stats to pick
Warrior has to operate on cooldowns (some are long)
Warrior can support team

I’m running out of seperations, but you get the idea. One is for X, one is for Y. X and Y are nearly equal if skill is equal, but they will never be- so X and Y are not equal. Hope I helped.

Assuming you are more condition based, you will want the build provided above (I would make my own adjustments, but that’s only because my play-style doesn’t fit that one).

If you want a pure hybrid, this build- http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZEQNAoYVlsMpypNPx3J8rNBNRt9EMchg3XxXshaFAA-ThSAABKcqCoRTCtKBN4IAIjeCIM/50+DQp8DgHoQQq/QKAImGB-e

You still get high damage on backstab and high condition damage (you seemed to want to focus on daggers and bleeding). Your focus is to pop bleeds when out of stealth, and apply a backstab when a big pop is needed. (Warrior stances are good examples::::: Endure Pain is damage proof, Berserker Stance is Condition proof)

Imo, you should work on this build. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZEQNAqYVlsMXmKaGN30cayqZ1E/z/5ExEC37mlzrua3YRAA-ThSAABKcKFoRDjPq/U4+DGckAeRfwtKBB4BEwkyvHM/RKAImGB-e

Pistol/Dagger is much more condition effective (and fun imo) then Dagger/Dagger condition. Hybrid d/d is interesting, but far less effective. Give it a shot. =)
This build works great solo, groups it has very little application (you will crit often but weakly)

Assuming power.
Price is roughly same. 30/60 is 1/2. 36/72=1/2.
You will always be mobile in WVW, Seaweed helps. Swiftness on kill helps even more. If you plan to stop moving and camp shortbow (assuming one is in your bag) then Butternut Quash.

Best (which you did not ask for, but is offered) is above:
Sword/Pistol (SWAP) Pistol/Pistol is the best leveling build if you plan to speed/farm mobs. As Thief, always go Berserker (zerker) or Assassin until you get Hidden Killer trait. Signet of Malice gives you HP when an attack lands, Signet of Agility and Assassin’s Signet to increase damage, Signet of Shadow to move quicker, Basilisk Venom just because it is our best Elite.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAsa6al8MpwpdOxxJ8PBA

Different Leveling Builds- Dagger/dagger is made for using backstab which is gained from Cloak and Dagger(CnD). Eventually you will use all 5 of your skills, but while leveling with zerker, 1/2/5 are your best friends.
Pistol/Dagger- Condition Application pure and simple with stealth capability and gap opener.
Dagger/Pistol- Pure power with blind field, easy backstab, gap closer.
Sword/dagger- boon steal, high survival, lower than average (but still great) damage.
Shortbow- Utility.
Hope this all helps.

That moment you play a D/D 0/6/6/2/0 Thief with the purpose of putting players on Cooldown. The whole game later a Mesmer cries at your for being OP despite having only been decapping the dead points…

I’m sure you all have one. I do too, but can’t remember them right now. What are some funny things that have happened to you during a match?

@Lopez-??????

Planning on getting Bifrost and Twilight. I am on my way to getting map completion with Mesmer who will have these weapons.

Current price for both- I think its around 6000 gold together, right? Haven’t checked in forever.

Materials for both:
2 Bloodstone Shards
500 Obsidian Shard
2 Gift of Exploration
2 Gift of Battle
500 Globs of Ectoplasm
144 Mystic Clovers
500 Vials of Powerful Blood
500 Powerful Venom Sacs
500 Elaborate Totems
1000 Crystalline Dust
500 Vicious Fangs
500 Armored Scales
500 Vicious Claws
500 Ancient Bones
200 Icy Runestones(200 gold)
Superior Sigil of Nullification
Superior Sigil of Blood
250 Incandescent Dust
250 Luminous Dust
250 Radiant Dust
20 gold for the Recipes (Gift of Energy, Color, Metal, Darkness)
Gift of Zhaitan (500 Arah Tokens)
100 Opal Orbs
100 Unidentified Dyes
The Legend
400 Artificer, Chef, Weaponsmith, Armorsmith
500 Orichalcum Ingots
250 Mithril Ingots
250 Darksteel Ingots
250 Platinum Ingots
250 Cured Hardened Leather Squares
100 Onyx Lodestones
Gift of Ascalon (500 Ascalonian tokens)
Dusk

TL;DR- posted rough price and the whole crafting list to get these items. Which is the better, please help =(. I am omw to getting 100% map completion, probably will get some of this.

Have fun.
/morechars+15

Avead, you confuse me a bit. Thief has to be outplayed on all weaponsets except Dagger SA or Sword Acro. Even Pistol Dagger is easy to bring down. Shatter mesmer gets the same problem, dodge the big burst and you screw us hard. Fun fact, a warrior running full zerk or a guard (heavy armor, should tank imo) can hit much higher much quicker than these 2 “Zerk Eaters”. Mesmer has very low mobility, not sure if you have played one. Necro gets more mobility, and thats something ( no offense intended necs, it just is true). Anywho, my 2 Cents here. Enjoy rage. I am tired of bunker meta, but at same time- it showed me how to exceed what I thought what my dps and skill limits were. So yea…eating bunkers all over the place these days XD.

Does this work?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRnsISjaWoGWoB3aGp1gQdViSPJXAKbDqGA-TpRAwAguAAAeAAbOEA02fAxRAQdZAA

It matches my playstyle pretty well, but are there any improvements? Right now its for SPvP and WvW (trying to get close to it there, kinda difficult). Also, would it be viable in Fractals/Dungeons? Managing to win 2v1s (or more if they cluster to each other, reason I made this build was because that frustrated me). Anywho, Suggestions and comments plz. Thanks.

@Esmee- My Mesmer ~~~~http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRnsISha2oGeqBzaGp1gQ9WqSPJXAKbDqGA-TpRAwAgOCAAuAAIOEAeeAAO3fQdZAA

I haven’t really Engineered but it looks like ~~~~ http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpmq1WxyKseNSiBNqDE6A8iCI6OMu8C-TJRBwAiLDAb/BAXAgEPAAA ~~kind of. It varies a bunch, but that was one I couldn’t do a thing to move. Aggravating to the extreme.

Surprsingly, AFK Turret Engineer. I saw an engineer with nothing but auto attack from mortar and having all 4 turrets up whole time. Kind of frustrating defending mid at that point. Khylo has a very good choke zone at one point that also lets Mortar reach pretty far to support.

@Jakkson- have to disagree, mesmer is doing extremely well. I have been messing around with the hybrid shatter/condi mesmer and have achieved surprisingly destructive results. I agree with chain stun, fighting a Mace/Shield Hammer Warrior with full physical utilites, confusion on interrupt and 50% crit chance on stun is ridiculous. My tip from mesmer to mesmer is analyze what your own clones do, and when you notice heavy pressure try to spam clones and then mimic they’re activity while you do. Especially effective on Condition Mesmer using staff and/or scepter because the attack from your illusions is just as effective as your own ^^. Class balance is extremely difficult so I agree with the OP part- Engineer is the current one. They may argue otherwise, but a Bunker Turret engineer is almost impossible to move without doing a 2v1, even when AFK at some points too =(.

@OP- If a target is extremely tanky, probe them a bit. If conditions tick for a small amount, then its just high amounts of Vitality. If power does little, then Toughness is the problem. Thats why I run Hybrid. The only way to beat them with Mesmer if they stun spam is to try and stack as much confusion in a short time as possible then use one stun break (Decoy is great for those, make sure to cancel auto attack when you do) and repeat. Also, counter CC works well. I always run GS or X/Pistol just for that. Or Staff 5 occassionally blinds, or dazes. Thieves are made to hard counter any glass build- just remember, they use resources extremely fast. If they use a utility, minimum downtime on any utility (even traited) is ~28 seconds IIRC. Initiative will burn fast as well- Swords will spam either 2 or 3, not much you can do if they do both. Backstabs are difficult as well, they will chunk you to pieces. Having the same problem with rangers, trying to find space in my build to wreck them. Mesmer and Necromancers have the absolute lowest mobility. We get a total of 3 teleports (ILeap, BLink, Phase Retreat) I think. Swiftness is not gained through any natural build except boons, which is extremely weak in a dueling capacity thus far. I am working on that next. =) The trick with shattering is to not hit your big shot right away, but rather to find a way to lock the target down first. A good method I have found is to use F3 first, then if you are doing Might on shatter, use F4 (full proc for both is easy (for GS 2, then 4, then dodge then switch sword after shatter to do Sword 3, Pistol 4, dodge, )6 clones pump out really quick). Should have Vigor, will have one dodge clone left then you can use the utility that shutters out 2 more clones then use F2 or F1 per preference. And then you have used only 1 utility and if the target is not dead, they either played safe or skilled OR used tons of utilities. I found that most glass builds are best roaming home and mid with the EXTREMELY RARE moments of pushing far when you notice that it is absolutely empty. The loss of team members is common. Not much to say. Hope some of my post helped. It was probably all over the place, sorry. ^^

Edited: Needed spacing and a few punctuation errors. My bad.

Found Fleshreaver sigil. Venom share confirmed as OP because I can now make a MM army on thief lol =P

Everyone knows P/d thief and Sizer thief are the new metas. Someone on Thief Forums mentioned something like this, but I am unable to find the thread. Kudos to them for the idea though.

P/d and shortbow, Pirate runes, Carrion amulet, Corruption sigils and agony for pistols and venom for shortbow.

6/0/6/2/0 (Venom might, cooldown, and residual———— Shadow embrace for condi removal, leeching venom, venom share———-reduce trap recharge)

Hide in Shadows, Ambush, Spider Venom, Skale Venom, Thief Guild

The idea is to get your parrot up, get your thief from ambush up (maximum, 8 second cooldown between them) and then venom share. Use guild if its off cooldown. The condition pressure is insane from what i’ve been able to test. Downed a full bunker Warrior in 1-2 seconds (had stealth, so that was fast) and then again in 6-7 seconds (no stealth). At your peak burst, you can have 2 thieves from ambush (it doesnt have duration- so toss is down where you plan to stay and then hang out, toss again in fight), 2 theives from guild, and 1 parrot. Thats 6 beacons for conditions and near permanent poison. Condition pressure aside, thats also 4 mobs (all the thieves) with personal stats, parrot (don’t know if it gets them from you or its own personal stats), and you. Anyway, there you go. Thanks for the idea again person from thief forums.

Not a Ranger, but Thief (yes, get mad- but I don’t stealth that hard anymore unless I’m crossing nodes). Got raged at and reported as well because I know how to hit someone when they are in stealth…I also knew (checked before I decided on team) he was Rank 15…I’m 67…..just saying

You approach Far Point because your team has managed to cap 2 out of 3 points for 10 seconds. An opposing player is winning a 2v1. You:
A) Assist your teammates so they don’t die
B) Assist your teammates so you don’t lose 10 points and they are out of play for 15 sec
C) Watch
D) Wonder why you are all at Far

True story here, choice was C. I was Mesmer beating up a Warrior and Necro (later found out War was rank 12 and Necro was 34, added them to group- AP under 2000 for both) and a Staff Elementalist just stood there. Watched. Let me heal up. Then proceeded to say lets duel. I killed it, ran off to mid.

I can’t figure it out. 2 classes have easy( mesmer and engi) self-access to stealth and any combination of classes that has a smoke field and leap/blast finishers can get it. Heartseeker spam doesn’t make since (especially on Haste) because dodge rolling once cancels 2 (haste 4 or 5) of them and reduces Thief initiative by a large amount which leaves them vulnerable. No cooldowns makes Thieves consistently use hard hitting combos which require large initiative. Boon stealing is only because of the meta. Dodge spam means Aoe or field of some kind.

So confused. I try to be a better player than any of those (Dagger/Dagger Shortbow) and have managed to figure out a lot of other classses since I play all of them and I personally think I am doing alright (fully nullified a Mesmer and Hammer/Greatsword Warrior recently though Hambow is a problem). Just need clarification. Makes me sad when I use Heartseeker once or twice in a row (target below HP threshold means they receive much higher damage and its the best gap closer for most fights) and get raged at. Hope that makes sense.

What is the current WvW tier 1 set of worlds? (BG is up there I think, but its full) I am looking to do some hardcore WvW but don’t know which worlds are at the top.

On said world, what is the biggest/most-active/most-friendly (most importance is from right to left) guild?

If I plan to record videos of my gameplay and post it on youtube (not twitch tv), what is a good program?

If I do world completion, will I have a good portion of the supplies I need to grab Incinerator?

I love Thief/Mesmer class for the amount of stealth and general trickery, which one should I main?

What is the best map to “gold farm” so that I can buy materials to make Incinerator/buy precursor for Incinerator?

What is the precursor for Incinerator?

Thanks in advance =).

How does one (without opening up half a million tabs on the interwebs) go about flipping the TP for gold? I desperately want to get a legendary weapon, but I don’t have the time or energy (or ability to hold onto the materials) to build one….I was also told the cash flow from TP flipping escalates quickly…Thanks in advance.

So, I want to just do a little prove/disprove/opination on some things (I main Thief and Mesmer(yes both)).
Most thief players want the stealth handicap and few builds can do without. So yes, worst players will pick this, Warrior, or Guardian first. No offense to any of these classes. They just sound like the stereotypical easymodes.
As a thief, I hate hambows (I d/d…can’t seem to do well else, asked on s/d…still can’t do a thing with it other than steal all your boons then load em up with condi) oh…and I hate AI that will defend a player more than they do because pathing is stupid.
To the “HS SPAM”, sometimes it is quicker. Example, a downed player has 10% hp…dont use finisher, just one shot with Heartseeker. Thief will do worse than cripple a team if they are terribad- they will feed 5 points to the other team while keeping it 4v5…
X/D is viable because the offhand stealth with one click and no cooldown is fantastic.

As mesmer, all these comments mean nothing to me because Phantasms. Yes, Phantasms. I toss a berserker with my 214% ferocity and all crit chain (yes, whole whirl is crit) and just knock peeps down. XD Couldn’t resist the alternate perspective. This post has no purpose.

TL;DR? Yea, don’t bother.

Tips on how to use this please? Also, traits and why? I really want to figure out this weapon-set because its the only one I have left until I completely understand Thief (I main Thief and Mesmer, got Mesmer mastered so much…on that note- did you know that mesmer can still stealth with Decoy even if they have Revealed…funny right?)

I know Auto is cleave
2 is a gap close/condi clear
3 is evade/boon-steal
4 and 5 are from my off-hand dagger set that I love, so those are fun.
How exactly do you play it though? Can’t seem to beat many players without making this hybrid boon-steal/condi-power…

Is it possible to get ascended armor/weapon drops from mobs or just recipes for them? Also, can someone list ALL the supplies I need to make Incinerator along with what Crafting Disciplines I need to craft it? Oh, and what is the best way to get gold?

Peow peow.2189:

If you dont think thieves do the most dmg then any class in this game you are lying to urself. Hop off the thief bandwagong and play a hard class like engi or ele

Not to be rude (as per signature) but do you mean condition or power damage? Its already been proven by someone using real numbers (and I have experimented gameplay wise) that Elementalist has the highest burst potential and rotation. So pure power damage goes to Scepter/Dagger Elementalist.

Highest Condition Damage (not management( Necromancer) or clearance (Guardian)) belongs to Engineers who can stack Confusion, Bleeding, Vulnerability, Poison, and Weakness with ease. No offense.

Thief can go hybrid the best. That might be what you were trying to refer to. A hybrid condi/power thief can do it best (theoretically) but in practice a Hambow (Hammer/Longbow) warrior can outpace us really quickly both in terms of mitigation and distribution of damage. 6 stacks of bleeds and Immobolize followed by fire field and blind shot then a stun, knockback,stun usually kills what they targeted. Except bunkers….probably got carried away here. Anyway. Hope I helped someone today with wall of text. Courtesy of TLDR…

TLDR: Thief has the highest/second highest (almost a tie) hybrid damage. It does not have the best condition damage, mitigation, or management nor does it actually have the highest/most-efficient power burst.

Thanks guys =D. I used the build provided for d/p as meta. Then I noticed a funny moment (I used necromancer for a while, so each condition makes me think way too much…). That funny moment became an awesome build in which I have managed to land a backstab that has hit (unbelievable amount) 12,341 on a squishy mesmer. In spvp. Thanks again for the meta- made me reread traits in trickery and critical strikes a bit more =). +1’d the people who put thoughts forward to help me get a working build again. =)

Not sure if serious?

Doesn’t really answer your question, just more of a psychological take on things (had a chance to think about it having had similar experiences and a little break from the “action”).

Most people get upset when they lose and they can’t understand how or why because they ,most people, just want to win. Its fairly undeniable that Warrior is among the most-forgiving-classes/OP/easily-mastered but then so are most classes to others. Anyway- the player using Warrior probably noticed how hard it was to lose as one and rolled one so he could feel empowered- natural reaction to losing is to want to be a winner, right? Then you come along and make him (assuming him since I don’t have details and its easier to reference) lose once more. His reaction is to share his feeling because suddenly he is losing. He doesn’t want to lose anymore so he calls his “thief buddy”. Besides that, I don’t really have an answer.

Edited: Seemed a bit rude at one point, which as my signature says, is unintended. Hope this is kinder.

Why you no apply 25 stacks of confusion and torment when I use you? Why you no hit all opponents in 1800 range with 99,999 damage? Why you no make me invulnerable when I enter and refill all my health? Why you no let me stay forever in stealth? Why you no show people stealth OP? I DEMAND THAT STEALTH BE OP! Do it….

I can’t really run a backstab build in spvp (team queue mostly) anymore because it just doesn’t do enough damage. =( I can do more damage than a backstab by dodge rolling twice with caltrops traited and getting 4-8 stacks of bleeding for those 4 seconds (revealed).

Anyone have a good backstab build for spvp please? Would really appreciate it. Doing signet doesn’t work as well anymore and I can’t seem to synergize s/d or s/p. Will post p/d build below (which you can advise on if you want, though I am interested in getting a d/x build back).

6/0/6/0/2
Venomous Might, Quick Venoms, Residual Venom
Shadow’s Embrace, Leeching Venoms, Shadow’s Rejuvenation
Uncatchable

Hide in Shadows, Infiltrator’s Signet, Caltrops, Skale Venom, Basilisk Venom
Krait runes, corruption and agony sigils, carrion amulet. P/d and d/d.

Playing an Spvp match (team arena) for background. I queued alone because I can’t stand yoloQ anymore. My team was diverse (minus the 2 decap engis) but theirs was 3 hambow warriors, a hammer m/s guard, and something else. (Guard was a guess, can’t think of anything else that explained the regen due to my limited time on Guardian)

I am running a Terromancer- Condition Necromancer that uses Fear for quick bursts (mine are usually 1.2k/sec). I go against a hambow warrior that has completely used Hammer (5 then 4, then F1, then 2 and 3 …) and is losing because I tossed out the Spectral Wall in the corner he had. He complained about my perma fear build. WHAT? Just wondering, anyone else find this funny?

TL;DR? Hambow complaining about being cornered by a Terromancer.