Guild Wars 2

I’ve been out roaming and in OS some with P/P today, and fared well, but this shatter mesmer just ate me for lunch several times, and I couldn’t get a win in!

In that instance, I sure wished i had ricochet.

Looks cool Messiah.

I’ve been earnestly trying to get P/P to work as well.

One thing, and this is just academic discussion here, but I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I think ricochet is tough to fit in to a power pistol build. I’m interested to hear your insight here.

Perhaps in a group setting, though, to your point, it would be fine.

I know this takes the build away from some of your key concepts, but given my druthers, I’d kit you out in something closer to this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqa4alsMp3p9NxsJ8PNRPRtdAcADIXjQ39wPEDA-TFCEABcv/ABnAgtUCykyPDeAAdofAgDCgLq/QGA9tA-w

Now you’re only a single target beast, but you’ve got a metric ton of ini regen, more dodge, and some sustained heals. In addition, I take away one trap, but I replace it with a stun break+ini bank, and give stealth back via HiS to maintain all that sweet, sweet Sneak Attack. I think all this ini would result in more DPS for you, even considering I’ve poached your executioner.

It could also be a bit buggy for you. If you happen to use the “jump dodge” combo, I’d remove that. If you jump and then get immobed, sometimes you end up caught just above the ground and sometimes you can use skills, sometimes you cant, and it messes with hit boxes.

I roamed a bit in S/D P/P again last night, in this build and a few trait tweaks. It’s amazing how just off the wall damage is with P/P, and just as anet intended, P/P gives you great and consistent crit heal.

My only stealth is SR and CnD at this point, but that’s a sufficient amount. I find myself CnD in to a weapon swap Sneak Attack, followed by a Head Shot at their reaction, then an unload.

I tried leeching venoms with a poison venom, but I do still prefer firing from within smoke screen instead, then again I’m stacking heals from a lot of sources already. Maybe if I was taking dodge food I’d use leeching venoms to further bolster things. However, that spike sneak attack with leeching venoms from within your SR dark field is crazy.

babazhook.6805:

…but s/d does have the ability to set up a finish and can hit hard in its own right. It not that hard to hit for 5k on a larcenous or the same and more on an A/A chain.

This is somewhat true. S/D can set up some burst with the right planning. Many of my past S/D builds (and I’m sure other peoples builds & S/D playstyles) took advantage of preloading flanking strike to close, and then having a “locked and loaded” larcenous strike, which you could deliver with a fury fueled Mug steal that hit like a truck, especially if your lightning/fire went off.

That has, unfortunately, been made more difficult to accomplish due to the FS/LS mechanic changes.

In this current build in particular, I don’t have any trickery or deadly arts, so sword is there largely to dance, and to sustain/control. As a result, I feel like D/D (or P/x) is necessary for offensive punch.

This build works great as D/D P/P as well, I’ve found, or even S/D P/P, but even for all the massive damage and heals of P/P (AND daze, AND immob), I still don’t prefer it over pretty much any other option for one reason – no mobility. Even if it gave some endur regain on auto, like dagger, or something.

Mobility is king.

Thats true, thanks for the insight. I play at odd times, sometimes mid-day, sometimes evenings, so it’s tough, I think, to plan around. It’s nice to have a nice even population relatively around the clock, so I guess good “coverage” servers are what I need to look for. I do think SoS had relatively good coverage, while still allowing mortals to enter the mists during reset night eventually ;p

Anyhow thanks again for the warm welcome back

Jayden, Thanks! How are you liking Aurora Glade? I’m on the fence if I’m going to transfer back to SoS, or maybe TC. It’s a tough choice. Most of my thief friends are on SoS, most of my former [EP] raiding friends are on TC. I may just stick it out, marooned on maguuma, but not sure the fights will be stimulating enough in silver or below.

Lamuness, LOL thank you for pointing that out. I’ve changed the title.

It’s true that I often swap to D/D and take it all the way to the end for those sweet sweet HS. The only exception to that rule so far has been vs guardians, to stun lock them before their rotation comes back around. In what scenarios do you feel that closing with S/D is superior to D/D?

babazhook.6805:

Leeching Venoms. Even one of these can make a difference with life steal per crit added on top of your Vampirism and sigil of blood.

… but the trait Shadow protector is worth considering as in addition to your leeches , your high usage of stealth will give you constant health regen.

Thanks Babazhook, I agree. I’ve seriously considered replacing blind on stealth with leaching venoms and just one venom, in place of Smoke Screen. 1v1 it’s much better in most situations (5 life leaches and poison is great even outside of a condi build!) so I take your point. Also, 3 l;ife leach chills goes well with Vampire RP I suppose ;p

Evalia.7103:

you’re missing out on swiftness completely.

Hi Evalia, I appreciate your feedback. Please allow me address some of your points.

I gain swiftness on dodge, and I use HS in swiftness for travel mobility. Rotate that with a reverse withdraw heal, which also gives vigor (and stacks a life leach), and you can rinse repeat for overland mobility.

(Edit: like this: DodgeSwiftness, HS, HS, forward withdraw, DodgeSwiftness, HS, HS, swap weapons, target NPC, sword 2, swap weapons, DodgeSwiftness, HS, HS.)

This is a very very mobile build. HS in swiftness is more distance per ini than shortbow, if you’re out of combat. Though I agree that it is less mobile in cases where you are in combat, chilled, or have quickness. You also are not able to take advantage of infil arrow to go to ledges, which I agree makes this far less mobile in pvp maps and forces you to burn your Shadow Step more often.

Evalia.7103:

I think Rune of Vampirism has a lot of potential, but it shouldn’t block your skills that’s for sure. I’ve tried it and more often than not I’ve felt it was the cause of my death when I couldn’t cure conditions and/or stealth myself.

I cure damaging conditions from Pain Response, Shadow Step, Infiltrator’s Return, and Shadows Embrace (which I access via stealth through Shadow Refuge, Cloak and Dagger, or Smoke Screen+Heartseeker).

I keep trying it out, and I keep being disappointing, overall. In PvE its just boring and in pvp/wvw it has a serious lack of defense. I find myself saying “oh no, i’m stuck in p/p, can’t wait to swap to my offset and regain some positioning”. 1v1 is the only exception here, P/P functions fine in this regard imo.

P/P seriously needs a mobility mechanic of some kind. P/D gets both mobility and stealth (and access to the same immob).

Sure, you can remedy the situation with utilities, but long CD’s mean sooner or later you’re focused down. Maybe that’s long enough for some, but it’s a lot sooner than other thief options.

I think it would be cool if unload had a second phase, where you could press it again to leap backwards or shadow shot forwards. That wouldn’t always be tactically appropriate (if you’re already at your outer range, no reason you’d want to go backwards). This would also make it less of a spam-able skill.

pupi.2465:

I may need tranining, but whenever i encounter a condi teef (p/d), i always loose… I use Caeds power build, but can’t defeat p/d condi teefs.

Is this normal?

Definitely try to duel them more. If you can, message them and set up a duel, or just hang out in OS or pvp dueling servers and I’m sure you’ll come up against one eventually.

I haven’t “honor dueled” one since dire p/d became all the rage, but if they are using Hide in Shadows as their heal, that’s your best opportunity. Lock them down before they get the cast off.

For general tips,
- Evade their opening basilisk venom
- Try to stay in stealth longer, or chain CnD, this denies their sneak attacks
- You can evade a lot of their attacks
- Bring more condi clear, lots more
- More than that, bring a little more
- Keep poison up on them to reduce healing
- Clusterbomb the area they are hiding
- If you are caught outside of stealth try to time evading their sneak attack
- Make them whiff CnD and Shadow Strike, people often whiff Shadow Strike twice

Thanks guys! I’ve been playing since release and every video helps me improve greatly, mainly from all of the mistakes or “should have” moments. Like trying to “dancing (sw)agger” the warrior at the end instead of just HS him.

It’s almost cathartic to post this stuff up. This has been the most positive reception to date and I appreciate the kind words. Makes me want to do more!

If I can fit it in a <5min format, I’ll take any requests for future fights or content. I’ve considered posting an “all losses” video, and general trolling/escaping, in addition to the same ol’ win reel, for example.

Hard to fit it all in one song though, but I do like the short format.

Thanks again.

Thank you! Its a fun build, and cheap too – try it out!

Sword offhand would be so. sweet.

1. auto attack
2. infil strike
3. parry (evade frame, if you successfully evade an attack, gain retaliation, attacker receives 2 stacks of confusion)
4. hamstring (decent damage. more damage and a short cripple if from behind)
5. coup de grace (like HS, but for sword. terrible damage when enemy is high health, better as they are lower)

Took a long break and came back “post patch” in order to try a build I thought would be fun. I’ve posted a few vids since then and I hope you enjoy this build, just in time for Halloween: The Vampire!

They’ll curse you as a vile creature of the night… Or /laugh at you for being ridiculous – such is life.

Nothing meta going on here, just good clean fun. Also, I am aware leaping death blossom is terrible.

Hope you are entertained. Build is in the description.

We still have way more access to stealth, and we have great on stealth abilities.

I believe the Mesmer is still closest in the running for the best stealth class in GW2, but thief still wins

I just made a video of a build I’m working with, and I ran in to a lot of Rangers. I’ve gone ahead and cut every solo encounter to date into a short clip, if you’re interest:

http://youtu.be/tcMAbtjLs1s

The biggest threat from rangers is their distance, and catching you unawares amidst a large group, but generally speaking you can be fast enough to react and get out, with the right tools on your util loadout.

evilapprentice.6379:

What it did was kill [S/D] damage

I agree. S/D damage was already iffy damage wise, not because the raw numbers aren’t there, but because of the slow attacks. That is fine for sustain and general pressure, though I land my third AA much less vs practiced players, but it doesnt allow for any spike, and without any spike, you can’t get over the top of many enemies HP before they react or have time to heal. This leads to long protracted fights.

We found ways to spike with different combos, like “preloading LS”, but otherwise, all our spike options (mug, sigs, i guess.. haste?) were also available to other weapon sets which did it better, so what was the point?

Sword makes a good control set, but since it’s not a damaging condi set, it really doesn’t work well (at least as S/D, maybe it does as S/P with poisons would) in a condi/power build – but again, dagger MH would do better, pistol MH even better.

So what is it’s place? Evasion troll? Clutch interrupts? I love both of those things, but occasionally I’d like to down someone.

To answer OP:

How would I have fixed S/D? I’d leave trait-ed evades alone. Messing with traits has collateral damage for other weaponsets/builds. To fix S/D, I would increase ini cost of FS, as they did, but also increase it’s damage. I would reduce the damage of LS significantly, and make it more of a utility skill, so restore it to 2 boonrips, for instance, or maybe apply a non-damaging condition, or maybe even gasp clear a condi so we don’t have to keep going in to SA!

Edit: Or, screw it — I’d increase Ini on FS, increase damage on FS, and I’d remove attack damage from LS, and rename it from LS to SP (Soul Parry). As is now the case, SP would need you to successfully land a FS, if FS is blocked it would not allow SP.

SP would life leach a small amount and transfer 1 condi from myself, to the opponent. Now with Infil Strike and SP, this would be our anti condi, non-stealth set.

Dang did it not? I’m batting 100 on my misinformation. Sorry.

It’s funny the reality we build in our minds sometime. I thought the 50% damage nerf to DD also included a removal of bleed. But I was wrong.

I am biased because I enjoy #3 evades from sword, and I wish that LDB had similar evade frames. As it stands, LDB, along with the “new” Shortbow Disabling Shot (even though 1/2 second evade frame is still decent) both lock you in to an animation that makes you vulnerable (unable to dodge, or use skills) longer than they evade!

I actually like(d) the idea of d/d being hybrid back at release. It had poison on AA, and aoe bleed on both #3 and #4. Then they removed it from #4, and nerfed #3.

I think, since they removed bleed from Dancing Dagger, they should either remove it from LDB and buff the skill in some way, or return bleed to DD so the set could be used more effectively in a hybrid build.

Great stuff, thanks for putting this together. Looking forward to seeing it develop.

Does Shadow Trap actually work as a stun break now? It used to, and then they “fixed” some things on it, and added a cast time on the “Destroy Shadow Trap” portion (edit: which does still show on the tool-tip that it breaks stuns, but it does/did not.)

When I tested it several months ago it would not break a stun because it couldn’t “cast”.

If they fixed it, that’s great! The Shadow Trap functionality is great, especially when paired with SA (might out the wazoo and possibly condi clear, etc).

As d/d, perhaps you were more used to cnd+blind on stealth, but you changed builds? Don’t try that old sword meta build 20066, try something like 04460 and retain some of the defense you enjoyed on dagger (namely, shadow arts), do an sd/sd build just to get used to the weapon set.

I think sd/sd is fun! Go 6 acro=quickpockets, and really get used to sd, equip like this, sword in primary weapon slow/nothing in off hand, then nothing in primary weapon slot/dagger in offhand. That’s an easy sd/sd.

There’s no reason an A+ thief shouldn’t be well versed in every weapon set, and sd is super fun, immerse yourself. It’s all about clutch interrupts with auto-attack1 out of stealth. You basically trade damage (with dagger back stab and poison on third strike) for control (stun out of stealth or weakness on third strike).

With S/D, you control the fight, or you die.

Rampagers can work for thief, but you need to build towards it. I experimented heavily with rampagers when the ferocity stat was introduced (to determine if the damage delta of added condi was greater than that provided by the “nerfed” crit damage of the new Ferocity stat), and it actually gives more Prec than Zerker, but you’ll need to rely on might to push power/condi to an acceptable level.

However, that’s the point right? Get power/condi both really high, do great damage over time, and good up-front damage.

To take advantage of rampagers precision, i’d suggest both sigil of strength and sigil of air. Sigil of Air scales with power (not crit) so you’re getting some synergy by stacking power from might.

I’d also suggest at least 3 into critical strikes, so that you are gaining some more initiative from crit, if your build can allow for it — though hybrid builds are even harder to get “just right” with point distribution, because you are trying to do a lot.

Moral of the story is, if you’re going to go the hybrid route, it’s really all about power and condi. You can use carrion to open up your build options (it already comes with great power/condi baked in) and provide more survivability, or you can rampagers to use crits to take advantage of “on crit”, both from runes/sigils, as well as our scant options for on crit traits. But if you go rampagers, stack as many on-crits as possible, either from equipment, or traits, or both.

I hear ya Amon! Nice vid though, makes me want to get back in to the game!

Oh crud I shouldn’t have visited these forums, now I’m caught in the gravitational pull.

S/P is great. As someone said to me recently, when you lose to a good S/P, you feel like you did real poorly.

A reason for that is, a good S/P counts your cooldowns and knows when to strike. Because otherwise their attacks are very predictable and are not open to that much change or interpretation on their part.

As S/p you can pick when and where you want to lay down the boom, but it’s the same boom every time. And I love it when an S/P drops BP, that kitten costs a lot of ini and i’d rather it go to that (which I can swing just outside of) than a pistolwhip to my face.

That said, pistol interrupts are so clutch, as is the feeling of baiting someone in to FINALLY taking a whole or most of a PW, and dieing instantly.

S/D on the otherhand has a bit more flexibility (due in part to the two-stage FS/LS). You can not always land a full PW, but you can always land that mug+LS, and in most trickery builds, that’s stripping 3 boons as well, very useful in this might stacking and boon meta.

S/D
- More flexibility
- Easier ini management
- More Boon Rips
- More opportunities for “sure thing” damage (landing LS, landing mug+cnd+tacstrike)
- If 4 points in SA, blind on CnD

RedSpectrum.1975:

@ Woaden, I don’t know if you use it anymore but I tried it from one of your vids and its had very nice results, to where I even use it in PvP was the S/D 2/0/2/4/6

The build has taken some big hits from recent patches, but I do still use it on occasion. It is good in duels, but there are better builds for that purpose now that lyssa is weaker, and ferocity has lowered damage. Shortbow is still great, but that Disabling Shot nerf was pretty tough imo. Doable, but tough.

So it’s still really fun, and 20246 is still great in group situations (it’s a great brawling spec) and you can outplay an opponent and look really cool, but vs equal skill in a duel it’s an uphill battle vs more builds than used to be the case.

I’ve used my old build in a GVG recently and it worked well, but I wasnt getting any condi pressure, so tbh 20066 would have been better for the +10% damage alone.

Oddly enough, I’m running Rampagers 20606 build right now.

unicorngirl.1487:

Thanks for the replies – is withdraw necessary for an S/D build?

Withdraw is just so nice for our low HP pool, combined with S/D evades, it works really well. Essentially, if you get hit ONCE, it’s a withdraw’s worth of damage, and you want to GTFO of that area anyhow, with no cast time.

Hide in Shadows is great, but I think you’re playing on the edge if you want to take full advantage of the heal, because you may be below 50% HP at that point, and you don’t want that. Even going 6 SA with all the benefits to stealthing (making HiS OP!) I still choose withdraw if im at 11-16k HP.

unicorngirl.1487:

Also, I was under the impression that S/D builds tended to be a bit tankier, but most seem to be full zerk?

It’s from fast reaction time, ample condi clears, damage mitigation from weakness (and blindness on stealth if SA) and most important of all: evasion.

Here you go: http://tinyurl.com/sdroamer

This is something a bit different: 03650 build
20066 and 20606 are also great great sword builds at the moment. I think x6600 is still fine too.

I may get some criticism for recommending this build, but I think it accomplishes your goals, and it would work well with a PU mesmer (you’d both be very hard to kill, feeding off each others stealths).

Pack runes are a nice relatively budget option, and they get the job done very well, especially in a party situation, and if you like swiftness, this is a good offensively leaning option for runes that accommodate that.

Taking on D/P means you don’t necessarily need the interrupt from 6 in trickery. Also keep in mind heartseeker distance is influenced by any +movement increase, so you can dodgeSwift, HSHS, dodgeSwift, HSHS as you’re traveling the map.

Trick is my fav line (always has been) but it’s not necessary in sword if you bring another interrupt, or some other way to manage your opponents healing game (ie poison+confusion for attrition, etc).

It will be fun for you to try out all of the suggestions tho, good luck!

FS is good to use as a way to “home” back in on your target, as well. So for instance you dodge rolled a big attack, but that takes you out to the left and behind your enemy.

So you FS and you’re now at their right side. Don’t “SPAM” the LS afterwards unless you know it will land (and good opponents will dodge out of it, its quite telegraphed).

Instead, try to get in a full auto attack cycle, you should have time for the LS at the end. Also steal+LS, especially if you took bountiful theft and mug, can be quite the game changer, esp vs all this STR rune boon meta stuff.

I’d suggest you find a thief on your friends list who is better than you. Then set up some times do duel and listen to their critiques after each fight.

Take a lot of dirt naps in OS.

Also, if you have not already, try going 6 into SA but play it aggressively with s/d physical damage (and find some other ways in your build to improve damage modifiers). Condi clear, aoe blind, and heal over time on each stealth allows you to make some mistakes.

Then again, trial by fire is also fun. It can hone your skills much more quickly too. In that case, run as stealthless as you can for a few days, take no points in SA, and survive as long as you can! When you return to a “safe” build, it’ll be like everything is in slow motion.

Confusion is a condition you just can’t remove reliably as a 20066. That, along with the crazy burst of EVERY condi is just too much for you to remove. You can use your Shadow Step to clear some of them, once every 50 secs.. then agility signet, for one. Sword 2 is very inefficient for condi removal and more of a nice to have.

Are you using Hide in Shadow? As a 6 acro I’d guess you’re using withdraw. HiS is great condi clear heal, especially paired with shadows embrace from SA traits. I know its painful to give up withdraw, esp since the bottom end of your build probably relies on it somewhat.

Over-all, the condi engi & necro are a hard counter for 6 acro builds with no SA.

Cool idea. I personally think this would work better as 2/6/6/0/0 with venom share/venom heal with Skale or Ice Drake venom in place of trip wire (and MAYBE Skelk heal instead of withdraw. But in that case, go balthazar runes). But i guess then you’re back to a very old build (venom share with ambush and guild was popular on release), just with an added rockdog.

Build in some traits that help with the situation. By that I mean, aoe blinds, dodges, or stealth heals. The more the better, so long as you can produce enough damage.

Irrespective of traits:

Damage overcomes all. However, try to pack an interrupt if you can. You want to be able to stop heals, else its going to take too long to thin the numbers.

Use downed state foes as bait. What they see as helping their friends, you should see as “the place to deeps”.

If you are part of a group, but still outnumbered— there is an ebb and flow: whoever they are focusing should be kiting, or otherwise trying to occupy all of the enemies attention for as long as they (safely) can. The rest of your party will switch to dragging down the weakest target at the moment.

Prioritize the weakest. Know who has blown their cooldowns. Know what to do when they “counter”. So if they are stacking protective AOE damage on top of themselves/their wounded friends, leave that area and ranged dps them. If they are channeling a big heal or big upcoming, telegraphed deeps, interrupt and apply pressure, etc.

Record yourself and then watch “gametape”. Be self critical, and get better!

Applied Fortitude (from WXP rank) gives 250 vitality, and 6 acro gives 300 vitality.

I personally run around 12-13k base HP, with 3 or 4 points into acro.

I “top out” with AF at 17k or so, but that will depend on your build.

Duxis.4683:

if to do zerk or hybrid armor and jewelry to get best posible stats like Woaden told

I’d still recommend going full zerk in almost all thief situations.

Mixing soldiers/zerk gives you the best possible total stats. But I’d rather sacrifice hp/toughness for more damage.

So I guess you could say I like going “glass cannon”, and like Dee Jay said— when you gain enough WXP, the “guard stacks” will give you plenty of HP.

Nice vid, thanks for posting!

I’ve just transferred to mag and I’ve seen you around some.

No, you misunderstood me. Sorry.

Go for Berserker gear: It allows for more build options.

Do not go for Valkyrie: It limits your build options.

edit: you could also go for a “perfect math” stat combo, where you get the most overall stats, or whatever. People were very passionate about this sort of thing back near release:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Post-Your-Build-Thread/page/3#post2426220

It allows for more build variety. You have to build around valk, not so with zerk.

zerk

/15characters

Nice vid, a good length too, I’d separate your two classes into their own POV vids though.

This is what? 0/0/6/2/6? My only feedback on play style with that build is, be more patient in stealth (to get more healz and better positioning). Also, when you stealth, go in a random direction, not in the direction you were traveling last they saw you, esp laying caltrops, give them some misdirection.

With PD there’s no reason you shouldnt always be at their back, this becomes especially critical when facing something like a power necro, who needs to be facing you to get off their big hits.

Also, my personal pref is to build away from using shadow sig. If you can fit Thrill of the Crime in to your build you should achieve near perma swiftness, and you could replace shadowsig with blinding powder for additional sneak attacks.

Nice vid nice music. Thanks for posting.

It’s not the best trait, but it can be somewhat useful if you spread out your utilities, like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqY6YlsMp3p9Nx0J8PNBNBxXN8OMfpM6GgZD-TJxHwADOKAa2fAwLAgZZAA

It’s too bad we can’t make our own bundles though. That would be a cool new util, either as an elite or maybe a trap/trick.

Elite: Shadow Blade- summon a bla bla.

Or maybe a trick: Activate, Shadowstep to target, steal their weapon/skills for a set amount of time. Something like that.

T raw.4658:

No cleave
No poison on downed

The problem with S/D like this fella described it is it’s too slow, and allows for an easy escape.

Sword auto attack cleaves. The build 2/x/x/x/6 gives aoe fury, might, and swiftness, gains ini, rips and aoe shares 2 boons, gives vigor, heals you, damages target, and poisons every 19 & 3/4 seconds.

And I can assure you, if someone on the periphery has my attention, they have a hard time escaping.

To the point of some of the other commentors here, though— if you’ve come to this thread out of curiosity to know what “the best gvg build” is: It is any build that you can play at your best. Working gank/counter periph in GVG does not have the same strict build/theory crafting of the front line and their support. Frontline/Support are supposed to behave as a single organism (like a Siphonophore of doom). Gankers just do more ganking. Bring the build you gank with more effectively. FOTM and Meta builds work, so do homebrews.

The more important fact is, know your tactics and work well together. But that’s for another thread.

Brando.1374:

I think s/d+d/d would be a good set for that kind of playstyle.
s/d for the immo/daze/aa chain cripple then CnD swap weps to get the nice BS off.

For sure! s/d d/p is great too, with more access to daze. It’s certainly true that nothing beats the single target burst damage of a backstab, or the finishing power of heartseeker. Not bringing those to the table, though, is also fine!

To your point, I’d personally still probably go d/d as you suggest, if my only choice was d/p or d/d, pistol offhand is just not my bag!

S/D P/D or S/D SB in zerker gear put out plenty of damage. Paired with the access to daze and immob it is quite potent.

The situation goes like this: An enemy is out of position, you or your periph leader calls target. You Sword 2 to target (immob), Dagger 5 (stealth), Tactical Strike (daze,), auto attack chain, waiting to steal (daze, blablaTrickery, mug damage/heal) any critical cast. Your 1, 2, or 3 periphery teammates also converge on your dazed, immobilized target, making quick work.

If the target somehow escapes (using their stunbreaks), swap pistol, immob/vuln shot, cast basilisk, auto attack freeze, cast immob shot, steal+cnd unload, dagger 3 blink/torment, and find next target.

I am in [EP] GvG/Raiding and [Grim] Roaming.

It largely depends on your periphery group make up. This works in the one I run with.

Your mileage may vary.

Yes sorry I edited it to be even more OP since you quoted it!

I’m not doing it in the spirit of balance though, I’m doing it in the spirit of wanting to play it ;p

3 skill-> Shadow Reposte: Block. If struck, counter attack cleave with blindness to all those damaged. If not struck, gain stealth.
4 skill-> Ringing Blade: Stun target for 1s
5 skill-> Flourish: Evade in place, Gain Swiftness and Vigor

As some others have said, thief GVG is DPS/Spike patrol. It’s called “working the periphery”. You’d typically be in your own “periph” group, either a 4man with the GvG leader (who is the 5th and likes to see you call targets) or your own gank squad.

Sword mainhand or Pistol mainhand are both great for GVG thief, because the immobilizes keep that person who is “out of position”, well, out of position, and you chew them up.

Try to find enemy DPS or periph support (messing with staff eles can really give your team the edge, but watch out— they are sturdy and WILL be protected on a good team).

My build is still pretty close to the “mirage” in my sig link, currently running 2/0/3/3/6 s/d p/d.

As always, go as glarss as your arss can parss.

Solo Q is only slightly less wild west than hotjoin.

My best soloQs are when I identify the bunker on our team and just do whatever they need/communicate. Your mobility, and their immovability, can carry even an outnumbered team in spvp easily.

Evalia.7103:

… Inertia gives 15 seconds alright, instead of going dodge food which does not stack with vigor you can make a choice inbetween 3 might stacks on heal for 20 seconds base(so 35 seconds with 30 in acro and strength), or generic +40% condition duration which is plain overpowered…

You can use dodge food + inertia. The food DOES stack with the minor 3 point trait in acro. So while it does not stack with vigor, you just don’t put any vigor in your build!

Someone taking inertia would naturally be skipping vigorous recovery in acro, so they may as well also skip bountiful theft. If they are pistol mh, ricochet would be a great option.

Here you go:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqa6al0Mp3pFOx0J8PNBNBtdGWQE0KAdHl+OEA-TJBGwA/2fAwRB4wLAIaZAA

Do try to get power to 2100 or over, obv strength runes can do that.

Also pack, scholar, etc.

Str is still best if you build towards might uptime, especially if you also have more than a couple condi’s (like you run p/d or something).

Though I think you’re just going to need to convince yourself ;p

I run pack in wvw cause I like the quality of life improvement. I convinced myself that was better.

In before math wizards.