Guild Wars 2

Zero Day.2594:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Sorry Zero, wrong Runes…it is a common knowledge that the best Rune for that purpose is Rune of Air. It’s a rune made specially to do that since the rune is useless in combat scenario.

And use Channeled Vigor when traveling for more endurance.

Also, you need to swap one of your skills to Haste for faster crafting. HiS + Haste can rupture the space-time continuum due to its ridiculous crafting speed.

Yeah made the modification. Here’s the update:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAVFn8lClOh9OBWOhlqiy7COhAo7BY+63+xH-TpwHQAy9HAPBAA

Much much better.

Dash – Dash – Dash – CV – Dash Dash

Zoom zoom

I’m currently theorycrafting a DD D/D Condi build.

What I found out is that, if you’re going to be choosing Lotus Training or Bound, it’s necessary to take Acro (plus Channeled Vigor)…else those traits will be severely limited on use.

Here’s what I have so far: DD White Lotus

The basic combo in this build is to start with SB:
→ use Infiltrator’s Arrow on top of your target
→ blinds them
→ swap to D/D
→ procs Sigil for bleed
→ Death Blossom
→ Dodge
→ Death Blossom
→ Dodge
→ Caltrops
→ Impairing daggers
→ depending on the timing, you can swap and drop a Choking Gas

However, I’m still contemplating to use P/D and Dash instead for better effectiveness, but I never like the P/D playstyle.

Where’s the 10% buff on Withdraw?

Withdraw: This ability is now a trick. Increased the recharge of this ability from 15 to 18. Healing (both base and healing power) coefficients have been increased by 10%.

Sorry Zero, wrong Runes…it is a common knowledge that the best Rune for that purpose is Rune of Air. It’s a rune made specially to do that since the rune is useless in combat scenario.

And use Channeled Vigor when traveling for more endurance.

Also, you need to swap one of your skills to Haste for faster crafting. HiS + Haste can rupture the space-time continuum due to its ridiculous crafting speed.

DD + Acro build only if you are using Bound as part of your DPS, otherwise there’s no point in taking Acro.

Shadow.1345:

Vault is perfectly fine the way it is. It does do a lot of damage and has that much needed evade frame at the beginning but this move is still difficult to land because of the velocity and very obvious animation. You have to usually lead your target to get it to hit and your target doesn’t always go where you think they are going because of sudden direction changes and just targeting where they are is too slow. This is how a skill like this should be and how power creep on abilities should work. The more rewarding the skill is the more difficult it should be to successfully perform. Plus the whole risk part evens out because it is easy to CC the thief in the air, where stunbreaks don’t work, leaving the thief very open to damage.

The very reason I carry Scorpion Wire. It has 3 uses; 1) to perfectly hit with vault, 2) to perfectly hit with Fist Flurry, and 3) it’s my interrupt skill.

Vault deals so much damage, I won’t lie, but I don’t agree that it should be nerfed.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Staff Auto attack: 215, 254, 516. Takes 2.1 seconds, so it has a DPS of 469.
Sword Auto Attack: 284, 284, 462. Takes 2.5 seconds, so it has a DPS of 412
Dagger Auto: 198, 302, 302. Takes 2.1 seconds, so it has a DPS of 382

In practice, this is not accurate. I tried both dagger and staff and the time on staff’s AA sequence is longer than 2.1s.

The staff attack animation goes like this:
(animation)-strike-(animation)-strike-(long animation)-strike-(after cast delay)

- each animation is 1/2s long and the long animation is 1s long with 1/2s after cast. Total of 2.5s attack sequence.

While the dagger animation is like this:
strike-strike-strike-(long animation)-strike-(after cast delay)

- the first 3 strikes happen in roughly .75s, but let’s just give is a round number of 1s and the long animation lasts for 1/2s and the 1/2s after cast. Total of 2.0s attack sequence.

I’d rather see a reduced cooldown on all types. 25% CDR per Steal should be reasonable.

Urejt.5648:

Are u sure staff is better dps than dagger? dagger autoatacks are 1/4 sec while staff is 1/2 sec and lower base dmg!

Staff AA is horrible; dagger still has the best AA.

This is my Jungle DD build. Very tanky and deals a lot of damage. Bound is also a source for DPS.

Same thing I did, I solved that issue by rolling a couple more Thieves.

My main is a Brawler (DD, Valk+Soldier set), the second is a Carrion Condi set, and the last one is High Crit Assassin set.

Thief PvP meta will definite require a buddy system.

Zero Day.2594:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

I’ve seen some Thieves wields both.

I personally like Bolt.

Yeah I kind of want to go for bolt because that way both my rev can have it and if some miraculous update comes along and fixes thief, the thief will have it as well.

I actually had all the mats to make Bolt at one point but I opted on making money instead. :P

Maybe I’ll try again to make one through crafting.

meepeY.2867:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Ok I just noticed that they added 1/2 sec evade on Vault.

Do you guys found something in-game that were not part of the Release Notes nor in the Wiki?

It wasn’t in the Release notes as it was included in the Post-BWE3 Change list for Daredevil.

It wasn’t official, thus the wiki wasn’t updated. So it’s a nice surprise.

Miaze.8631:

Vault is obviously overtuned. It hits 8,5k into a marauder character and I have less dodgerolls than the vaults thief can hit. Also he can set it up with step or steal so this is really bad in my opinion. It should require more initiative or the damage should be lowered alongside with evade being removed from the skill.

That’s what happens to anyone not carrying toughness stats…a risk they are willing to take — it’s the Vault’s fault.

I’ve seen some Thieves wields both.

I personally like Bolt.

Doggie.3184:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Doggie.3184:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Action Cam is not for Thief IMO. It’s unreliable and it makes my game play messy.

However, with my Ranger (and perhaps with other ranged professions) it is working flawlessly.

One thing I would like to see is the ability to chance the crosshair — the dot is nice but I prefer a circle.

Depends on YOU personally. For me I feel 100% faster, a lot more accuracy and response time, easier movement, etc. I am using Staff and P/P though so haven’t tried it with D/P exploit play a whole lot if that’s the reason it suffers for some. I did however find heartseeker more reliable for dropping target and creating distance w/o accidently flying in wrong direction. Now if they’d just fix my one need for it I’ll be happy.

I used Staff+P/P too and vaulting with ActCam on is messy. I can’t vault to the right to force my target to turn, for example, while facing my target since I have to move the camera. In general, ground targetting is a mess.

In comparison, the game Smite has the best Action Camera because while the crosshair remains at the center, you can move the ground targetting along the line between you and your target. Less clunky and less messy.

It doesn’t take much to turn your camera toward the location though. I have pretty high mouse sensitivity and camera speed so I haven’t had a problem with aiming vault any direction or doing a full 180 to retreat.

Yeah, it might take time to get used to it and I like the fact that it’s optional.

Yuki Aburame.5283:

Would really like the elite skill “Impact Strike” to be a 2 hit combo instead of a 3 hit combo. Would make it so much more useful (depends on cast time of course) and fun to use (more flow).

Yeah, I’m still figuring out how to implement that skill in my play style…it seems out of place.

Ok I just noticed that they added 1/2 sec evade on Vault.

Do you guys found something in-game that were not part of the Release Notes nor in the Wiki?

Nocta.5274:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

For the same initiative cost, CnD+BS will be replaced by Vault.

Faster execution without reliance on stealth and you can do 2 vaults in a row for a huge burst plus the damage from Bound.

I don’t know, but —- Thief may not be good at 1v1, but I’m pretty sure that they can be a good alternative to a Rampage Warrior with a bunker Guardian support.

Yeah, but rampage warrior is even more outdated for this meta as we are, so I don’t see the point.

It is pointless to those who are hopeless.

Doggie.3184:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Action Cam is not for Thief IMO. It’s unreliable and it makes my game play messy.

However, with my Ranger (and perhaps with other ranged professions) it is working flawlessly.

One thing I would like to see is the ability to chance the crosshair — the dot is nice but I prefer a circle.

Depends on YOU personally. For me I feel 100% faster, a lot more accuracy and response time, easier movement, etc. I am using Staff and P/P though so haven’t tried it with D/P exploit play a whole lot if that’s the reason it suffers for some. I did however find heartseeker more reliable for dropping target and creating distance w/o accidently flying in wrong direction. Now if they’d just fix my one need for it I’ll be happy.

I used Staff+P/P too and vaulting with ActCam on is messy. I can’t vault to the right to force my target to turn, for example, while facing my target since I have to move the camera. In general, ground targetting is a mess.

In comparison, the game Smite has the best Action Camera because while the crosshair remains at the center, you can move the ground targetting along the line between you and your target. Less clunky and less messy.

Clear.8512:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Clear.8512:

Have you tried using “Impacting Disruption”? I have not had time to test it and not sure how good the damage is when you interrupt someone esp seeing in spvp people will panic and spam their heal button allowing for some easy interrupts.

Good players don’t panic though.

Fair enough, have you tried using “Impacting Disruption”? I have not had time to test it and not sure how good the damage is when you interrupt someone. Would it be worth taking over escapist absolution.

This really depends on how you play your Thief. Each has their own appeal to some build. For instance, I rather take Staff Mastery for more burst damage. The 10% extra damage added to Vault is too hard to pass up.

It really comes down to whoever put the most pressure first. So if I can put my opponent into defensive mode, then I’ve already won. It’s the risk I’m willing to take.

However, to other Thief player, they like to interrupt and cleanse condition, which are fine, but like I said, it depends on the player how they play their Thief.

Action Cam is not for Thief IMO. It’s unreliable and it makes my game play messy.

However, with my Ranger (and perhaps with other ranged professions) it is working flawlessly.

One thing I would like to see is the ability to chance the crosshair — the dot is nice but I prefer a circle.

Clear.8512:

Have you tried using “Impacting Disruption”? I have not had time to test it and not sure how good the damage is when you interrupt someone esp seeing in spvp people will panic and spam their heal button allowing for some easy interrupts.

Good players don’t panic though.

bliss.4305:

Sorry but I had to stop after seeing your duels with the Warrior and shortly after Necro. My conclusion:
Build is bad, opponents are bad, you are bad.
Don’t take it personally, thief & daredevil are both in a bad spot. But this video contributes to nothing of significance in terms of high-end pvp gameplay or the viability of thief in the pvp scene.

You don’t get it. The video shows a P/P build can go toe-to-toe with a Warrior that is hitting like a truck. This information shows that one of the major factors of the Thief is not the build, but how you play it.

The necro was bad, I agree.

For the same initiative cost, CnD+BS will be replaced by Vault.

Faster execution without reliance on stealth and you can do 2 vaults in a row for a huge burst plus the damage from Bound.

I don’t know, but —- Thief may not be good at 1v1, but I’m pretty sure that they can be a good alternative to a Rampage Warrior with a bunker Guardian support.

babazhook.6805:

Right now I run DD/DA/SA build in WvW with trappers runes while using staff with PP as an alternate. Unhindered combat the traited dodge.

What I wanted to do was ensure I used Staff mastery over escapists absolution so as to ensure good condition cleanse while at the same time having stealth access for the hook attack where INI not burned off. (a steal using hidden thief that hits just as your hook strike hits is a rather nice knockdown on steal.)

I am really liking it. It has excellent escape and pursuit potential. dishes out crit damage even without the CS line or fury and really leverages that knock down on the hook attack well. The available stealth allows you to get right close up to those more difficult creatures in the expansion areas and get a full chain of attacks off. ( i just wish so many were not immune to knockdown). Both Channeled Vigor and Withdraw as heals also provide stealth which can really turn a battle around in your favor.

I was at 202 skill points left as yet unspent and earned enough on the weekend to fully spec the line. I found the best way of doing this was getting the easy hero points in the new areas (6 in the first area can be soloed by a thief quite easily) and then playing WvW as I usually do using up my birthday bonus for exp gain there.

No Trick – Just Stick

Tora.7214:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Tora.7214:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

nikdik.1934:

If you use shadow refuge, you can capture the point and not aggro any of the enemies. You will be in stealth long enough to get the point and escape.

Of course, this won’t work for the challenges that require fighting a champion to get the point, but I thought I would share this for any of my fellow thieves to make the grind to DD a little easier.

This won’t work in some HP where it requires you to have met a certain mastery level (like that HP in a poison cloud). Also there are HP where you cannot even interact without meeting a certain mastery level.

So yeah, use this trick where applicable.

Actually, that poison close hp, the point itself isnt inside the cloud, so if you blink directly into it or glide on it you can pop sr and get it. Thats how i did it

You’re probably talking about a different one because the one I’m talking about is inside a cave filled with poison cloud.

aaah if you mean the one at the second map then, where you have to endure the meat for 1 min, there is also a 2 ways to do it without masteries

1: if you are a low hp class like thief unequip everything to be at your lowest, use a regeneration booster and a mango pie, quickly go down, pick the meat and go back up, once your hp gets full again (thanks to the pie and booster) consume the meat, since the regen from the buff is a flat amount and the dmg you recive is %, you will have enough regen to wait heal the dmg and survive the minute

lol, now that’s a good trick…very slick.

Here’s my DD/CS/Acro Thief (minus some DD traits and skills – still working on it).

Just plowing through PvE.

Ohoni.6057:

Hardcore DD don’t use Trickery.

That’s a pity, Trickery adds a lot to the class.

The profession is even better without it. DD/CS/Acro is the best build ever. So much damage — end fights quickly.

Tora.7214:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

nikdik.1934:

If you use shadow refuge, you can capture the point and not aggro any of the enemies. You will be in stealth long enough to get the point and escape.

Of course, this won’t work for the challenges that require fighting a champion to get the point, but I thought I would share this for any of my fellow thieves to make the grind to DD a little easier.

This won’t work in some HP where it requires you to have met a certain mastery level (like that HP in a poison cloud). Also there are HP where you cannot even interact without meeting a certain mastery level.

So yeah, use this trick where applicable.

Actually, that poison close hp, the point itself isnt inside the cloud, so if you blink directly into it or glide on it you can pop sr and get it. Thats how i did it

You’re probably talking about a different one because the one I’m talking about is inside a cave filled with poison cloud.

Hardcore DD don’t use Trickery.

nikdik.1934:

If you use shadow refuge, you can capture the point and not aggro any of the enemies. You will be in stealth long enough to get the point and escape.

Of course, this won’t work for the challenges that require fighting a champion to get the point, but I thought I would share this for any of my fellow thieves to make the grind to DD a little easier.

This won’t work in some HP where it requires you to have met a certain mastery level (like that HP in a poison cloud). Also there are HP where you cannot even interact without meeting a certain mastery level.

So yeah, use this trick where applicable.

That necro is bad.

Claiming that Guild Hall was quite a rush. Pew pew all the way.

Either the Thief is good or you’re just a really really bad Revenant.

During the last BWE, the answer is “no”…since I didn’t see any changes to Improv from the patch note, it’s safe to assume that it’s still a “no”.

However, you can easily test this yourself.

SolarDragon.7063:

I have a thief. I’ve made many posts about how awful thief has had it for quite a while. (Far too long) Because it’s true. Honestly, my reaction to being nearly one shot by the trapper when I wasn’t blocking was “Huh, traps are actually good in general now. Yay thief”. However that DOES NOT EXCUSE having overpowered abilities either.

You have yet to disclose what is this overpowered unblockable staff skills. I’m sure you paid attention to your combat log, how else would you know the amount of damage you’re taking.

Now, if there’s an actual counter to massive damage through a block apart from “Don’t use block it’s bad now trololol” which is lovely to make an entire part of the game irrelevant (yes, revealed is similar but once again, no excuse for bad design just because it already exists), then feel free to actually point it out.

Um, dodge, evade, blind…you want more? Thief counters it all the time — since you said you have a Thief, you should have known this since Thief has no block except for Bandit’s.

Also, god forbid any class than thief uses stat sets without toughness! Obviously the build is bad! Oh wait I was blocking and that’s meant to stop most attacks of that magnitude.

Um no. Like you know, there are skills that are unblockable. So your build is already flawed.

SolarDragon.7063:

But when a daredevil can do 15k damage to me in about three staff attacks WHILE I’M BLOCKING, there’s something a little wrong about the class. Sure, have unblockable things (Steal for one, and Mug should crit). But don’t have them be able to do that much damage through blocks.

The real problem is, why are you taking 15k damage? Ever considered perhaps that you need to rethink your build? So maybe even if the attack is unblockable that you would take less damage?

I’m not really sure what “staff attacks” you’re talking about, but take 15k damage from 3 attacks says more about your build than the staff attacks.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

I wonder if it triggers on Trapper’s Respite…that would be really cool.

No reason it shouldn’t. It fits perfectly with Wanderer stats and trying to gather all the boon duration possible. You don’t get the + 45% might duration from Strength or Aristocracy, but an instant 11 Might (or 21 in the case of Shadow Pursuit) for 8+ seconds is amazing. A build like this could be nasty with all that easy might access. You should expect around 2325 power, around 22145 health, 2589 armor, and 67.33% boon duration. That makes each Trap grant 11 or 21 might for 13.25 seconds with 5 stacks lasting over 16.5 seconds.

Wow, that’s ridiculous.

I didn’t had a chance to see all the changes in game yet, but dang that look ridiculous.

BrunoBRS.5178:

if you know something about programming, it’s like the vault had a write-lock on the player position, and will only free it up again once it’s over, to avoid a myriad of bugs.

Nah, you can always include an exception to the function that allows interruption. So even if you’re airborne during leap, you can still be interrupted by Fear, for example.

It’s just that ArenaNet don’t want us to Steal during a Vault, which is counter-intuitive since we can Steal mid-HS — which is also a leap.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Thief trapper with Runes of the Dragonhunter. All the might.

I wonder if it triggers on Trapper’s Respite…that would be really cool.

Key Abilities:
- Scorpion Wire – Interrupt + condition removal
- Smoke Screen – block projectile, blind, stealth (leap)
- Uncatchable – pet kiting tool
- Trickster – self-explanatoty

How to use Scorpion Wire?
- When the ranger is channeling, dodge forward then Scorp Wire. The dodge will leave caltrops on the floor to cripple the pet. You have approximately 2s to burst the Ranger.

How to use Smoke Screen?
- This skill has three uses; 1) it blocks projectiles, 2) you can leap thru it for stealth, and 3) it’s a blind field
- I typically pre-cast SmSc then Steal. This will drop the smoke field on top of the ranger. They can either stay and be continuously blinded or move away — in this case, you can HS thru it for stealth. The best part of this execution is often times I can bait their point blank shots.

I hope these gives you some ideas.

Shadowstep.6049:

Dadnir.5038:

For boss : learn tell, dodge on tell. Its easy, thieve is probably the profession with the most dodge in game.
For trash : blind them.
For every mob that can hit from range : use smoke screen.

Tips : do not rely on stealth except for trash skip.

actually standard pve build has just as many dodges as any class (nobody plays acro in pve)

Silverwaste requires Acro. :/

Swag.5483:

99% of this is l2p but I am hoping you guys could give me some hope and insight in playing my thief in fractals and dungeons. In spvp and wvw I am very comfortable on thf, but in fractals 1-9 range I get downed at least once every boss fight I am using the metabattle build s/p d/d build and I am executing my rotation correctly but I am so squishy. This also goes for world events and other enemies I just can’t spam blind on… Am I just horrible at timing my dodges? (Half the time I don’t know when the boss is using a powerful attack). Is there some survivability trick I’m missing? Did any of you ever have issues staying alive but found some tricks and tips that helped you? Thanks.

First of all, you need to carry a ranged weapon, I prefer P/P, but others prefers Sb, either way, you’ll need.

In Fractals, it’s all about awareness and most of the time you can use LoS to your advantage. You have to play hit-and-run most of the time allowing your team mate take aggro and always to engage last letting your most tanky member get the most hate.

Also, when it comes to Thief, it’s more important to evade attacks than to complete your rotation. I personally prefer burst so I choose D/D over S/P. I still bring a sword with me, but only during the dredge fractal. Speaking of the dredge, relying blind as your form of defense will get you killed — they can’t be blinded.

Similar case in dungeons, just have an awareness of your surrounding (stay out of the red circles), finding obstacles you can use for LoS, letting your team mates take aggro and be the last to engage.

In the end, it’s just a matter of knowing the fractal and dungeon mechanics.

sinject.4607:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

sinject.4607:

a 10% increase to withdraw would, at this point, be so underwhelming in every way there would be close to no difference. it’s literally just an extra 31 hps (with trickster).

If that number is true, then that’s 465 health per use of Withdraw.

That’s not underwhelming at all.

there is no way that this small of a buff would ever actually make an impact on our current standing. thief either needs substantial buffs or we need to see just about every other profession receive just nerfs.

I disagree with this statement.

how is that not underwhelming by definition?

465 is less than almost any autoattack (non-critical), a sigil proc, a single tick of most condition attacks (i.e. any form of application of burn from ele, engie, or guard), a pet/clone/minion auto attack, etc.

even getting the extra 465 twice, or even three times will not save you from even a critical autoattack.

Of course it will. This is Withdraw we’re talking about. Not only that the skill heals you, but it also removes conditions in addition to evading attacks (an additional condition removal when traited with Trickster).

When DD rolls out, each evade will also bring more heal and condition removal.

Now compare Withdraw to other heal skills we have, it’s the best reliable heal skill, thus improving its healing output is a positive thing.

The amount increase might not be overwhelming, but it’s definitely not underwhelming either.

it’s pointless, either give us something valuable (like baseline mug and bountiful theft similar to mesmer getting illusionary persona baseline) or don’t give us anything. pitiful “consolation buffs” like this aren’t going to help thief, especially when we are lied to about getting them.

I agree that we need something valuable but the 10% heal increase is not pointless.

Rudy.6184:

Eh don’t go for toughness… Waste of dmg.

I agree and many builds do away with toughness for more damage. If you’re really good at dodging, evading, strafing, shadowstepping and stealthing, often time you can go with base toughness.

Although I don’t recommend it because if someone gets a jump on you, your low toughness will not give you enough time to react.

CadeRG.4508:

Gw2 is not a free to play game. Be thankful that Anet doesn’t force you to play monthly.

GW2 is a free-to-play game.

Source: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/play-for-free-today/

Dagrin the Ethereal.8371:

You will have to have HOT to craft the new Legendaries. They require items that are only obtainable in the new zones. Much like the Bandit Crests and Geodes. The zone completions of the new areas is also a requirement. Take a look at the Points of Interest posts on the GW2 website. It lays it out.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/hot-new-legendary-weapons/

I apologize that my sarcasm wasn’t apparent.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Nocta.5274:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Shadowstep.6049:

Because they need to sell HoT and what is better way to do it than create artificial demand by nerfing thief to oblivion and give rev all that thieves ever wanted?

They didn’t even stop there. They nerfed the core game as a whole and put all the goodies behind the pay wall. You want legendary? Too bad, the precursor will no longer drop after HoT since you can craft it there. If you want a legendary, you need to buy HoT.

Precursors for vanilla legendaries can still be obtained the normal way. I’m not sure but precursor crafting might even be something everyone get, even without buying HoT.
Also, since when expansion are waywalling stuff in a MMO. This whole argument over other parts of the forum is ridiculous.

Of course. I was being sarcastic.

If ArenaNet would create an artificial demand, wouldn’t they have done it on the Legendaries instead of the Thief skills? Since they didn’t, this idea of “artificial demand” must be false.

SlayerSixx.5763:

Stop trying to crush my dreams you kittens T.T. Bow gerdian and jumpteef op.

lol, sure, I hope you have enough dodges to evade the nerf bat. :P

sinject.4607:

a 10% increase to withdraw would, at this point, be so underwhelming in every way there would be close to no difference. it’s literally just an extra 31 hps (with trickster).

If that number is true, then that’s 465 health per use of Withdraw.

That’s not underwhelming at all.

there is no way that this small of a buff would ever actually make an impact on our current standing. thief either needs substantial buffs or we need to see just about every other profession receive just nerfs.

I disagree with this statement.