Thank you fellow rangers for setting this OP straight.
I think vault is absolutely overtuned, the damage alone needs to be looked are for a nerf yet alone the mechanics.
fought a really good d/p thief recently, his reflex for shadow step was beyond amazing. It was so fast that at one point I thought he was traited for hard to catch when my basalisk venom would hit him, but he had a shadow return…
If they do nothing to tweak warrior gunflame and engi hammer damage, the zerk meta is far from over.
I already done it to like 4 rifle warriors, it is hilarious. One crit themself for a combined 24k. lol
I dont know much about chrono mesmer other than one very long 1v1 encounter I had fighting one earlier today on my thief.
I just got one question, whats the deal with all the block up time? It felt very excessive, I don’t remember so many blocks on a non-specialized mesmer running the PU traitline.
Is this right? I have been getting fear as my stolen ability when dueling my friend as a daredevil specialization? That a bug?
I am already putting together my chronomancer suit, it’s been fun playing thief, 2016 will be a mesmer year for trolling and solo roaming.
the vital shot idea is actually pretty good. I don’t think that would be overkill if the base duration is low.
Overall survivability and condition dmg application greatly exceeds what a condition thief can do. Condi thieves must be revealed to apply condition damage, do not have inherent blocks or invulnerable traits, and can only regen health while in stealth if traited….
You obviously haven’t fought a Good condi thief yet.
Right now that’s mesmer hard counter… and it’s pretty much a one sided fight. Stop roaming and go do some real dueling in OS for a bit.
You seem to forget, even a good condi thief has to be revealed to apply condi dmg. This does not apply to a condi mesmer.
The tool tip for shadow trap’s shadow pursuit say 15 stacks of might, but gives 10.
Deadly trapper trait claims to give 5 stacks of might when a trap is triggered, but does not apply to shadow trap triggers…..
yea, condi guardian is becoming mainstream. id say invest in burning related runes, but not too deeply.
maybe yea, with might stacking from a shadow purse trap and heal. venom sharing and projectile combing threw fire fields to add burn ticks along with bleeds. yea, that seems viable as DA, SA, TR.
hey reddie, S/D SB is still the top choice set for weapon based evasions. I have a friend having great success with it traited for DA SA TR lines.
people in this thread make me laugh, fresh air is by far the weakest dps build right now and deals subpar damage if you don’t take the berserker amulet and run around with 11k hp.
lrn to chain your combos
outside of the pvp arena, wvw roaming got uber hard mode as zerk. One badly timed dodge and ur toast.
it looks like the standard D/P meta adapted for the 23rd patch. This will work, but not as strong for roaming like how it was pre patch. (due to engi and ranger reveals) You see an engi and ranger about to train on you, f’n run.
like? dodge based evades? or weapon skill evades?
Burst is over the top for the new fresh air s/d s/f meta. Burst is over the top for mesmer.
yes, it will work well for the burst as P/D S/D, D/P or D/D, the back stabs will peak out around 7k or so, but prepare your self for the one shot.
Apoth ele is pretty rediculous atm, but hell you dont even need to be cele, apoth or clerics to see how amazing the water attunment heals are when 6 in Water. Zerk Fresh air gets regen and heals that can fill they’re whole HP bar in under 3 secs if chained properly.
it is all about getting the drop, and currently wvw roaming post patch. Rangers are getting the drop on me 9/10. Plus, GS tanking as a zerk ranger is real, I’ve seen it first hand as I watched a roaming ranger win a 2v1 literally because of really good GS defensive use.
Ive notice this weird delay when trying to get off a shadow strike after a sneak attack, first I thought it was lag, but it has been fairly consistent.
lol , that engi reveal is pretty rough. 1vX/roaming just got really hard mode if there is a engi in the fight.
Ele – very strong, especially condi apoth builds and s/f or s/d fresh air burst
Warrior – incredible melee damage with GS, haven’t fought a condi warrior yet.
Ranger – one who gets the drop wins the fight, and LB/GS zerk is OP at getting the drop on engages. Condi ranger is pretty OP, granted u get caught in an immob bonfire burst.
Mesmer – alot more survivablity via stealth than ever before and phants hit like trucks. Not sure why Dire staff/ scepter/torch is still popular, i think zerk GS/ staff is far stronger.
Thief – Great burst, almost as good as a warrior’s, but i’ve seen a few zerkers get 2 shot down. Condi p/d seems to have had a reduction in cheese, which is a good thing i guess.
Engi – Excellent and strong as P/P condi, dat burn stacking!! strangely have yet to run into a zerk engi in the field.
Necro – I dunno, maybe I have yet to fight a good necro. But the ones ive fought never put up much of a fight.
I really hope OP is trolling…
I think anet needs to bring back the trait line stat bonuses and f’n tone down the dmg scaling, right now the combat is feeling like a kmmorpg.
What then? Dire vs Zerk? Either way, someone is gonna get bursted down fast.
Show off your most insane burst thief!
the combat mechanics evolving into freaking Archeage style, its so sad. Felt a few instant stun/daze bursts only seconds into a fight after all my stun breaks are on cd.
my hybrid thief took a big hit in this patch…..its basically burst or be bursted, burst wars 2.
yea, condi ranger is rediculous atm, however, they can be easily ooc.
I dunno guys, at the current state it is nearly who ever getting the jump / stun / daze lock combo burst wins. You all really want the Archeage style of pvp?
D/P S/D S/P D/D maybe even SB all seem to have maybe a 20% base dmg inc, they just feel overall burstier. Pistol mainhand not so much, looks like the same power burst. Also the 5 bleed stacks from pistol seems to not tick as hard as condi spec. Right when I was thinking condi was gonna be the new meta because of the confusion changes and burning dmg buff, seems I was wrong, atleast for condi theif.
On paper this change seemed cool, but it is actually not very fluid.
I already refuse to because it’s unfun and corny, so with it having an appropriate power distribution, and my other favorite lines getting buffed, no.
I believe this is anets intention, an attempt to make the other damage or evasion based trait lines more attractive for power builds.
So far so good….
Will you run full shadow arts in HoT? I may not….
Cele or Cele/Mix with full SA may not be as viable post-HoT
Why won’t it be viable anymore? I’ve built this character around the celestial concept and have been playing it for about a year now.
The removal of hidden assassin and infusion of shadow from the SA trait line in HoT will be the biggest factors. Stacking might via hidden assassin and infusion of shadow was what made the celestial burst meaningful.
Celestial thief will be plenty viable for sustain purposes with 6 SA, but the burst will suffer unless one traits out partially or fully from the SA trait line.
Cele or Cele/Mix with full SA may not be as viable post-HoT but this is what I have been running since the start of the year in WvW with great success.
Dehtd’s P/D D/P Cele Mix Build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqY4al0Mp8pdPx0J8PNBNRxdNUCzg3XxXshaFAA-TlTBAB3pqif7PcmSwRVjw5TAwDPAAKVJ4KlIlp84PtCIqLAjDCwXKhA4IAEAABYmlZbWmBHtRrcMzde0ZOzbWIgyrBA-w
Take advantage of shadow art’s hidden assassin to stack upto 8 stacks of might via D/P black powder combos prior to opening up the P/D sneak attack rotation. (sneak attack, shadow strike, steal, shadow strike, blinding powder or shadow refuge, sneak attack, weapon switch to D/P, shadow shot, heartseeker/autos). This rotation is a strong burst that works by summing both modest direct damage and condition damages together, along with life leech and sigil of air procs this provides high offensive pressure that will panic even the most skilled and tanky players in wvw.
Also don’t forget the shadow refuge dark field combo with the pistol, the life leech from this combo will add about an extra 1k of dmg and return 1k of health to you. This along with Mug, the life leech procs from the scavenging runes and food buff, in addition to shadow’s rejuvenation is what can make this cele mix or any hybrid build with 6 in SA a pain for others to fight in small scale wvw roaming.
Barrage needs a DPS increase and a 5 target immob and fear.
While we are at it, rapid fire and point blank needs a lower CD, and hunters shot needs 2 more secs of stealth.
20606 D/P is the most superior, followed by 20066 consider you are full zerker.
If you want a challenge, go into anything else trait wise and try with no shadow refuge utility.
I normally play d/p thief, as I’ve done since beta. Lately I’ve been getting bored with d/p’s playstyle so I decided to try s/d for a change of pace.
Yesterday I was playing mostly in hotjoin for fun. During this time, I occasionally fought another thief and ended up winning most of the 1v1s. After a few wins, they would rage at me in map chat saying how I’m horrible and then ragequit. Trying to mail them showed me they blocked me. This happened 6 times.
I never said anything, I literally just won a few fights, got raged at, and then was instablocked. I found this odd as people normally never block me, even when I’m being a total troll. And in 1 day, 6 random people blocked me for no reason other than they lost to another thief.
Must be doing something right with that s/d build.
A really freaking good medi guard.
Mug is meta today lolz, sign of a bad thief is that they don’t run mug cause it’s so blatantly op compared to any other adept in the game
And venoms, especially in group environments are ridiculously op when used properly.
By this same logic, any thief that does not run 6 in SA is a sign of a bad thief because SA is the most superior sustain trait line?
So thieves are in two camps on this debate? The S/D thieves that only spam infiltrators strike and the D/P thieves that like to “turtle” for a backstab opening.
Is pistol sneak attack main source of conditions? Is that most of the danger?
Yes and no, most will attempt to sneak attack you at melee range to pulled off the monster steal condi combo. When steal is traited for Mug and Bewildering Ambush, your hp will drop super fast unless you cleanse it all off very quickly.
It is extremely important, no matter your profession that you dodge away from the thief the moment sneak attack starts to go off. I understand this will take some quick reflexes and practice, but it is the single most important thing you can do yo negate the full burst from melee range. (sneak attack, shadow strike, steal, shadow strike)
I don’t consider the replacement of hidden assassin with resilience in shadows a buff.
SA’s hidden assassin might stacks was what made 6 SA kinda work in hybrid builds.