Guild Wars 2

So, i guess you were being sarcastic calling yourself pro player and saying that stealth is the only available defensive option? Hope so, because thief has unparalleled mobility (especially with Sword mainhand) and disengaging options which makes more sense to defensive capability than just plain stealth for 3 sec
I’m succesfully using build that has no real access to stealth beside stolen thief skill and BP+cluster bomb.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

dDuff.3860:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

dDuff.3860:

Also i want #3 skill to add vulnerability, so power line with condi duration would still be a good choice for P/P

You can trait it to get the vulnerability. Having that capability on the weapon skill will be either redundant or extremely OP.

So body shot is OP on your opinion?

What body shot got to do with Unload? What’s your point of even bringing this up?

Even if taking into consideration this trait, i think that 8 stacks of vuln on unload is fine, paired with some vuln from trait it could do a thing to P/P, but still i can’t see P/P being OP in this case.

This is the problem that I always see in this forum. Your field of view is too narrow and it’s the main reason why you don’t see it.

For your sake I’ll explain.
- Vulnerability gives +1% damage per stack up to 25 stacks.
— Sources: Sundering strike (trait), body shot, CnD
- Exposed weakness (trait) give +10% damage on target with condition (in this case Vuln)
- Combined training (trait) gives +5% damage (in this case Unload)
- First Strikes (trait) gives +10% damage if Init > 6
- Pistol Mastery (trait) +10% pistol damage
- Executioner (trait) +20% damage to target < 50% HP
- Flanking Strikes (trait) +5% damage if attacks are from behind/side

Now depending on the build, all these gets crazy when you factor in crit chance and crit damage on top of condition damage.

Right now I can single-handedly maintain 10-12 stacks of vulnerability on my target.

If your proposed change will take into effect, I can single-handedly stacks up to 20 or maybe even 25 stacks if I have condition duration items. Who needs a party anymore?

Even all the things you’ve counted didn’t bring P/P up. So you called me narrow minded about giving a suggestion to bring more viability to sets that are forgotten.
What about you being stubborn on your point of view? Anyway burning all ini for those precious stacks would starve you out of any other tricks beside using your utilities, which are can’t be a part of damaging rotation in that way. So you are calling me narrow minded about reworking 10 vuln from body shot to 8 unload. Isn’t it OP now? P/P lacks of any control to enemy, so out of ini it is trashwagon.
And how am i narrow minded?
Huh?

Hype.8032:

Thanks for the video, I had been wanting to see S/P in action. I’m getting bored with my current builds so I’ll give it a shot.

I didn’t see any evidence to say it’s better than D/P though. I think D/P + SB is still our best kit but I know everyone has their own opinions.

Cheers!

I should say that while D/P is a very solid set, it is really inferior to S/P because of the way it can be countered – you know, headshot on d/p thief while he is preparing for HS out of BP (or even in midair) – completely outplays it, because if interrupted thief don’t go into stealth and just wasted that 7 ini into the garbage, while i have a lot of toughness and space for mistake, D/p hasn’t any, because i use inf+steal (effect is like stun for 2 secs), and then go to PW that completely destroys thief.

pantsforbirds.9032:

dDuff.3860:

Sup, guys
I’ve been playing for a while with my fancy S/P build and found it is quite annoying and powerful at chasing, finishing, disturbing, interrupting, completing secondary objectives and killing.
Don’t know if any of you interested of dropping S/D, but i can say that this build is greatly superior to D/P and goes on pair with S/D.

So here are the build
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwV0-7-R-Fd0;9;4JJ;0T27-17;546BLok6;2KJG4KJG46Rc – this is somewhat condition clearing build, as you have all your skills and traits, aswell as runes and sigils synergize with each other.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwV0-7-R-Fd0;9;49T;0T2;017A;446BLok6;2KJG4KJG46RQ – this is more damaging variant, where you are losing some passive and active aspects of build (e.g. weakness on target + condition clearing every 45 sec instead of 36), but i find it as awesome as previous one.

Here are the vid, with my playing.
http://youtu.be/5_LMTchZASs#t=0m0s (on some reason i don’t know how to fix that it starts form 22 minute )
I have to say that is not my best acting, as i was having ping issues while recording it, but it is good source of understanding how S/P works.
Also this is sPvP, not tPvP, but as i said, i had some ping issues, preventing me from playing on my best, while recording these videos. Basically it is result of two days of playing (almost straight up montage).
Good luck on trying, of you are interested.

Hey man, you have some solid builds there, but I do have some questions. On your first build you take quick venoms, but you are only using basilisk venom and no others. The main reason I see that as a weird choice is because your using Lyssa runes. Lyssa runes have an internal cool down of 50 seconds and if I remember correctly basi venom had a 36 second cooldown when traited. That means you will only be getting 1 proc from every 2 basi uses if you use it within 14 seconds of it coming off cd (and we are assuming you are doing this since you traited for it) which is kind of a waste of your runes. I would recommend you take ogre runes instead for your first build (but don’t let me tell you how to live your life/play the game if you enjoy playing that way)

Another thing to think about is taking the assassins signet. It’s passive is strong, but it’s active only lasts for kittens and, in my opinion, works better for skills like backstab or heart seeker. The active will only last for 5 of 9 hits of pistolwhip. Since you are traited for initiative regen, might stacks, and reduced signet cooldown I would highly recommend you try out the signet of agility. It seems to synergize well with with the idea of your build and it’s very helpful in team fights! It clears condi on you and your allies and it gives you endurance back.

Overall you have some solid builds and I rather enjoyed your videos. Keep up the good work man
~Rand X Al Thor

Man, all you’ve said seems very legit.
As for your first statement, i didn’t know that it has ICD (now i understand why it didn’t work everytime) so anyway i swapped this build for the second one
As for AS, while i agree on it passive that it is really good, the active part that i’m using for bursting is somewhat irreplaceable, because if i pick agility (7% crit chance) on a part when i use it for 5 might stacks – i lose that crit, while with AS i just lose 30 power and my PW (5 strikes) still do 15% more damage. It is a personal choice here i guess.
But may be i’ll try sigil of paralyzation, if it isn’t have proper and adequate impact on the build, i might take sigil of force and equip signet of agility, this would somehow save the damage and add precious crits, as a precision is a “go to” stat in this build.
So thanks a lot for the suggestions you made, i might review my build and meet new opportunities.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

dDuff.3860:

Also i want #3 skill to add vulnerability, so power line with condi duration would still be a good choice for P/P

You can trait it to get the vulnerability. Having that capability on the weapon skill will be either redundant or extremely OP.

So body shot is OP on your opinion?
Even if taking into consideration this trait, i think that 8 stacks of vuln on unload is fine, paired with some vuln from trait it could do a thing to P/P, but still i can’t see P/P being OP in this case.

Azure.8670:

S/P has always been good. people ran away from it when they nerfed the PW damage, but the set itself has always been quality

Edit – just took a gander at your second build and its the same set up I use exactly, except I use force instead of paralyze sigil. interesting though, I may give that a whirl. I use that build for all weapon sets except p/d

Sigil here is a personal choice, i’ve took paralyzation because it expands attack frame for pistol whip, aswell as prolongs the stun of BV, and hopefully increase daze duration on my daze skills.
But i haven’t tried other choices, i might consider that 5% crit is a very solid choice for a build not investing in precision, but sitting on high amount of power and fury.
As for force sigil, it seems to straightforward for me, like bonus i would never be able to notice.

Some people asking me about my gear choice, i run soldier with knights jewel on various reasons:
-Very well rounded stats, with good survivability and damage
-You should not worry about GC at all, You are the counter to them.
-You can facetank damage long enough to finish your AA chain
-You can outlast warrior on a point (If it is good healing signet warri in the field – just pass it, not worth the time)
-You are able to win 2v1 and 3v1 (vs baddies), even if they are pushing like you are the last 5 points they need to get rank 80
-You are not spamming skills, so people dying can’t complain on stealth or evades.
-You can run through the battlefield and not lose your balls from aoe (even though, rushing to the mess is always a bad idea)
-You can BV+res teammate under 2 charachters damaging you
-You can finish ppl of from 60-70% hp (GC ones) or 30-40 % hp (balanced guys), from over 3600 distance in 3 secs (it is daze+immobilize), to counter it, opponent require something more than just a straight stunbreaker.

-You are not able to kill good bunker guard solo (but who can?)

TL:DR i should say that once i’ve dropped zerker i lost the feel of mashing my buttons to dish up damage bedore i die. Now all skirmishes are about reading your opponent’s mind, and it brings its benefits to me.

I think that is “general” part of these notes is really close to what it would be on release date, at least i’m very happy to believein that, but as for “balance” part, it seems very illogical to me and kind of foolish. Even though, it sill has it chance for life.

Well, guys, one thing you may want to know, PW isn’t rooting you at place, you could hit movement button again, and you will move (interrupts PW ofc).
Mobile PW would be ridiculously OP.

I’d suggest pistol #2 to become “flame and frost shot”, adding burning and chilled for 2 secs. Even according to the “leaked notes” it won’t be anyhow OP, but both P/x sets would benefit from it.
Also i want #3 skill to add vulnerability, so power line with condi duration would still be a good choice for P/P

Superkav.5012:

Tried the build and it was acutally quite fun. However, I would really like to see how this build performs in tpvp.

It’s nice to not have people raging about blind, stealth and evade spam when you kill them :-) Next thing we know is raging on the cc the build provides.

Oh yeah, they rage a lot, but not on CC you do, but on constant teleporting and in-and-out tactic, when they just can’t do nothing on this onslaught coming to them, when they are just preparing.
I’m recording some tpvp highlights, but actually, i find it very common to win 1v1 against any class (except bunker guard – kitten that kitten), so i’ve decided to pull off some epic moments, demonstrating the real challenge for me as a thief, but so far, i guess, i have quite enough material to make 8 min footage of what i can do (want ~14 minutes).
So, i may have some free time during the weekend and will show the result to you, guys.

It is very nice that i see more S/P nowadays, i can even feel my own impact on the community))

The only thing we could ask for is the reducing aftercast time of slash and slice (AA chain), coupled with nerfed FS, it would be great for both sets.

I know it is not on subject, but what would you say about black powder+cluster bomb on top on someone’s body? It procs reveal.
May be you’ll say it is how things should work, but what about HS+Steal out of Black Powder? It gives you stealth succesfully.
Why similar mechanics are working in different ways?

I think that something more than 1200 would be not OP, but it will me too complicated for thief gameplay. Right now we can use 1500 initiation with both steal+inf strike/inf strike+inf signet (And 4000 initiation for all-in tactic), and that range is more than enough to have free time, to cycle through cooldowns and initiative regen.
Actually PW is well rounded set, with all abilities being useful and logical.
I guess we could have some buff to headshot, or interrupt tactics (like confusion on interrupt, or might on interrupt), as well as buff to tactical strike. But overall, S/P do not require a buff, because when traited in a proper way, it is impossible to 1v1 with it, on top of being uncatchable in teamfights and dishing PBAOE heavy damage, preventing fast ressurects.
So in my opinion, sadly, i have to disagree with you and say that, the less S/P thieves are in quantity, the bigger they are in quality. Because S/P require a lot of experience to master interrupts and whips.

To your proposal about infiltrator strike – do you imagine the OPness of S/D… Yeah, i’ve seen that you said it would be only for S/P – but it is some kind of discrimination to other sets and it is what Anet won’t do.

Whatever build you like, just find one over the forums and try it, also all the tactics and tricks, i think, can be seen in videos here and on youtube.
You’d better find it yourself, because your questions are too common and you should just use search.

Yeah, its like “well dudes, nerf stealth, lol”
^_^

Sup dudes, i guess we are the club of sword&pistol, old good pirates!
Don’t know, is it my dedication to play unusual build or just love to stun and daze, but i think that community done well with words of unusability of SP and we even might expect some buffs.
Would be great.

I think later on a week there will be tpvp footage of this)
Stay on line folks

Wow, thx for messages.
@Crawford i don’t think that dropping bow is good idea, because i’m constantly using shortcuts to teleport, cluster bomb blasting, into water fields mostly, but anyway, abd still, bow is a very solid choice in my opinion. That’s why) i’m not sure i understood you clear, about your point of my heal/stealth, i’m using withdraw, as a mobility thing, i’ve mastered that 180* heal. Also build excels on sticking with constant immobilize and stun from PW. Usually i have no problems landing stun from PW after few hours of training. But thanks for your message.
As for your vid, i think you should really finish it. This is what i can’t learn: enough patience to give some amazing montage like yours
I was using all available builds on thief, and sometimes i want try this, or that, but “not today”
@Kolly
Yeah, i guess i should stated that this is sPvP in beginning…
On my comp where i could record in a good quality, i have about 250-500ms delay time (crazy 3g internet), I hope someday i’ll be able to buy new Vcard to record in nice quality at home (and even stream lol). But for your statements, i can parry with that this build carried me to 150 easily, before i went on AFK streak. I think this is because no one else using S/P in such manner, but anyway, I can easily initiate any fight 1v2-3, and roll away in second if it sounds like problem, but in TPvP, at least on my ranks and level people suffer a lot from stun, daze and immobilize in a teamfight, and that is what i can offer to GC (actually i would call this build “locker”). And this is carrying me without tryhard mode.

The practice makes its best, and every i’m finding an opportunity that I haven’t seen before.
I must admit the build is quite OP for me, because it is so hard to catch in 1v1 but this is what thief should be.
Anyway, that was just a build of mine, and i’m lazy to write the guide, better show the footage.

No way, you are using capitals in title!

Did that ranger won you?
Was it once?

AikijinX.6258:

dDuff.3860:

Nope, not gonna happen, i’m not using others builds, aswell as condi builds. and what does professional d/p thief means? Is he got paid for his playing?
Also, i think that WvW is not a place to compete with others because of some freaking runes and sigils and buffs from WvW. if you mind trying your condi build in PvP you can contact me, (unfortunately (fortunately) there aren’t perplexity runes in PvP so this cheesy build isn’t really viable there.
Also, i’ve seen your video, and, sorry to say, haven’t been impressed with its gameplay at all.

On subject, i was talking about active effect of signet, which is the most questioned part of it, because a passive is still passive, and someday, with the devs words aout adding new skills, every class would have that “+stat” signet.

Not going to argue. Thanks for your input

Hey, may be i was too offensive. Soz for that.
I should say, that confusion on interrupt makes sense on any class, but may be, if reduce it to 2-3 stacks, it would be reasonable enough, to build yourself around condi damage+perplexity runes, and introduce it spvp then, so almost any class would be able to build some interrupting build.

OIIIIIO.7825:

I will try this later, however it look pretty fun. Nice Job

How do you deal with retaliation? (The Bane of S/P)
I see the ability to steal two boons with the trickery trait, is it left to that or waiting it out?

Dunno how to answer… So, there are not many classes, that abuse retaliation uptime. Most retal i see is on guards or engi. I’m not that cool to watch for it everytime, but when i see some heavy retal guy, i’m trying to aa him until he has ~12 retal – just steal it.
But don’t know, would you believe me or not, I don’t count retaliation as a big problem, because i have 17k hp and about 6,5k hp every 18 secs (couting regen ticks), covered with 2500 armor and in-and-out tactic. I wonder how that could be countered.

1. should be reworked to provide smth more than just offensive weak ability. Aswell as #2.
   I guess it should stacking vuln on #3 and something like chill or cripple on #2, then PP may be at least will be able kill someone.

Nope, not gonna happen, i’m not using others builds, aswell as condi builds. and what does professional d/p thief means? Is he got paid for his playing?
Also, i think that WvW is not a place to compete with others because of some freaking runes and sigils and buffs from WvW. if you mind trying your condi build in PvP you can contact me, (unfortunately (fortunately) there aren’t perplexity runes in PvP so this cheesy build isn’t really viable there.
Also, i’ve seen your video, and, sorry to say, haven’t been impressed with its gameplay at all.

On subject, i was talking about active effect of signet, which is the most questioned part of it, because a passive is still passive, and someday, with the devs words aout adding new skills, every class would have that “+stat” signet.

So, what would be the active effect of signet, 180 condition damage alone is not very impressive suggestion.
As for me, i don’t care about condition damage on thief at all, because beside venoms, we can only stack bleeds on a very long way, which in turn, could be easily removed.
So, if we think about condition signet, we should introduce its active effect, iroving the tactic of condition builds. Like stealth (but this is too straight mechanic for signet), or boons (regen, protection, vigor).
But anyways, i’m refusing to use condis on thief.

enzone.5924:

Nice video. Any chance of ‘normal speed’ version? Very good use of infiltrator strike.

Only few of them have 1.5x speed because they are very long (spirit ranger one and the fight at Spirit Watch)
Thx for feedback!

Thx a lot, i added HD video, so it is much better quality now)

Sup, guys
I’ve been playing for a while with my fancy S/P build and found it is quite annoying and powerful at chasing, finishing, disturbing, interrupting, completing secondary objectives and killing.
Don’t know if any of you interested of dropping S/D, but i can say that this build is greatly superior to D/P and goes on pair with S/D.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-cFRV;1VwF_07-R-Fd0;9;49T;0T2;017A;446BLJk6;2KJG4KJG46RT -This is what i’m using at, this is more damaging variant, where you are losing some passive and active aspects of build but i find it as awesome as previous one. (I’m using this atm) (As for after dec10 berserker is very good here)

Here are the vid, with my playing.
http://youtu.be/5_LMTchZASs#t=0m0s
I have to say that is not my best acting, as i was having ping issues while recording it, but it is good source of understanding how S/P works.
Also this is sPvP, not tPvP, but as i said, i had some ping issues, preventing me from playing on my best, while recording these videos. Basically it is result of two days of playing (almost straight up montage).
Good luck on trying, of you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N3X0ECYE-Q&feature=youtu.be
tpvp footage
Top 150 montage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biuBVgNKaoA

My recent experience proved that if opposite team have none of these:
-thief
-ele
-SD engineer
– you can take berserker and be successful with it
(If you team lacks of damage ofc, otherwise – soldier is a better choice for soloQ)

I leaving a request for some S/D thief from EU to add me in friends and play together with TS
I think results will be godlike.
But I repeat, that my S/P Build isn’t best killer (primarily because of soldier’s) But that wasn’t the purpose – CC synergy very good with any sort of damage dealing.

Hi. I think you are sacrificing too much for defensive behavior.
But while you think you are doing fine – whatsoever, no one would kick you, or give you a word about your build. But, it is kinda obvious for me that investing in both SA and Acro traitlines is overtroll on thief, because you are losing so much damage and acquiring lesser defene instead, that, in my opinion it is not worth it.

Well, if Anet decide to remove shroud from necro i wouldn’t be against dire stats in sPvP, but until – no.
Necro is fine enough

Geiir.7603:

Here’s my take on the little used Sword / Pistol weapon set! Have been using this build for a few months now, with great success if I dare say so!

In the right hands it will be deadly, but this is not a build for new players. You will have no access to stealth (except for Black Powder and Cluster Bomb combo), so you’ll have to learn how to survive without it.

This build was made for tournaments. Works great in team fights as well as solo fights. My use: Far point assaulter.

This is pretty much what i’m using in tpvp for few months…
There is variant to go 20 to DA and pick poison recharge (against condi teams), to have lyssa runes effect and stun a bit more often+weak on poison, but i’ve come to conslusion that executioner is better.
And signet of agility don’t do this much business, at least with zerker’s amulet, so i’m using soldier amulet (knight’s jewel)assasin’s signet.
Today/tomorrow there will a vid with me pwning with this build

enzone.5924:

A lot of useful information. Thank you all! I’ll try to test it during the weekend and get back to you with results. One more question when you are outnumbered do you use the SP set at all or just use the short bow? How are you guys escaping from bad situations? For example when you are in a 1v1 and suddenly two more enemies jump on you. With a stealth build you usually have a decent chance to hide and escape.

With a S/x builds you shouldn’t have a lot of these situations when you get caught in 1v1, because during the fight you should always have shadow return from sword #2 and preferably it should be a safe spot (behind the pillar, downstairs, behind the corner etc.), so usually, your escaping strategy is shadow return+withdraw+shadowstep+swap to bow with energy sigil.
With S/P I love the sweet feeling of being untouchable for a while even in 3v1 fights. Keep distance and you can even down 1 or 2 opponents, if you are lucky. On the other hand, when you are coming close to a larger combat 2-3v4-5, better to find weak one and use inf. signet+inf.strike+steal —→> pistol whip with assasin’s signet (in my build, target would be immobilized, poisoned, weakened, dased, would lose 2 boons, and I will get 2 boons, vigor, fury, might, swiftness, 2k health, stolen ability, +10 stacks of might (i’m using traited signets))
If you chose the right target it would be at least damaged, but in such combat it is not that hard to find someone with less than half hp – so you go there.

In my opinion shortbow here to have that energy sigil+inf. arrow. But in some situations there is opportunity to cover combat field with cluster bombs, but i like to find weak one and finish him, before he could even react with a stunbreak.

enzone.5924:

dDuff.3860:

So answering to your qustion is mostly situative, because a lot of factors should be included.

I guess I am really bad at using the AA chain. Against warriors and guardians, they do much more damage to me than I to them if I fight them head to head with AA. Against ranged classes I just cant keep up with them, so I am never able to complete my AA chain. Thus the damage is mediocre.

After reading what you wrote it seems that you fight mostly with AA. If so then why using SP and not SD?

Not mostly, but i’m trying not to spam abilities.
S/d lacks of control, and S/P build lets you stun/daze lock your target, while your teammates (GC ones) burst the target down. There is no counterplay here, because you are i’m already counterplaying, reacting to the situation as my team need.
Warriors are kitten pain, because of sustainability of heal – basically, all you need to do to win is damage your enemy until he goes for the heal, and then interrupt him with one of your stuns/dazes. problem with warriors that they are incredibly tough and have no heal to interrupt, so most of them trying to facetank your damage, and trying to outlast you. (hope signet will be shaved a bit, because for now it is kinda weird – i can only guess, how hard such warrior could be for other builds/classes.
As for the guardians, in my build their damage is crap anyways, but they have shelter, such guardians should be avoided until you come to them with a teammate, then it will end really quickly..
Actually, S/p is an “oh kitten” build, because when people see “the thief”, they think that it is somewhat d/p, or s/d, and when they realize that you’are locking them to death, it is usually too late.

Marduh.4603:

evilapprentice.6379:

I could be wrong, But I believes its actually 10 hits (1 Hit for the pistol whip, 3 sword swings which each generate 3 hits)

combat log = 9 hit
1 hit stun
8 hits dodge

I believed that it is only 5 strikes with one being the stun.
Since numbers pop only 5 times…
But now i see that it is really more than 5.
And still i haven’t realized retaliation as a problem for S/P

enzone.5924:

dDuff.3860:

But pw should not be spammed, that is the trick of the build, land some melee attacks, w8 for heal, then steal+pw and finish.

Which heal do you use? Are you playing in sPvP or WWW? Are you able to land the 3th auto attack on regular basis?

I’m using withdraw (soz for spelling), playing both tpvp and wvw, And i should say, that S/p carried me to top 200, untill i went to a losing streak with AFKers, leavers, and un
Unlucky games…
About your last question, i should say that it depends on my opponent, if it is smth sweet like thief, mes or ele, they primarly should be controlled via inf strike+inf signet, or inf strike+steal (both are 1500 initiation methods), or inf signet+inf strike+steal (2400) add a shadowstep if your opponent has less than 50% of hp (3600 range), so basically, weak armored classes tend to evade my AA chain, otherwise they are almost constantly dead (2-4k crits with the final strike)
Tough classes, like warri, necro, or guard, usually, eat my chain strikes before realizing that i’m hitting like a truck. I can’t say more, because stunlock is all about mindgames and interrupting heals with headshot (almost everyone doing this: getting damage, dodge roll – attempt to heal, so i just wait for this dodge to headshot the heal – free kill)?
So answering to your qustion is mostly situative, because a lot of factors should be included.

Evilek.5690:

Marduh.4603:

enzone.5924:

Does the retaliation damage go through?

Yes. You get at least 2k damage.

2.5k vs one target,5k vs two etc. and yeas. This is the reason why not to use S/P on PvP.

How could it be 2,5k damage, lol?
Retal is 255 per hit, and pw deal 5 strikes if fully executed
255*5=1275
But pw should not be spammed, that is the trick of the build, land some melee attacks, w8 for heal, then steal+pw and finish.

I’m succesfully using S/P with trickery and para sigil
Right now i’’m collecting material to make a vid of its gameplay.
S/p is way more interesting manner of playing than s/d 311333v331v3v113

Pyriall.5027:

A whine post telling people to stop whining…how classic.

Whine?

And for those who interested, i’m playing S/P thief.

Just now. Stop whine.
Seriously guys, i have no idea what has happened to all the forums, the amount of QQness here is bigger then at WoW forums through the all time.
I dare, i double dare you kittens, have absolutely no clue what “the meta” is.

I have seen ridiculous amounts of post, where ppl just cry about the OPness of spirit rangers. OPness? seems like everyone of you have been playing only card games, where the rules and situations are constant and predictable. It is game, developed by a good producer, and trust me, It is balanced enough for common level of playing. Get used to it. Kill spirits and go for the ranger. It is not that hard since spirits can’t dodge, can’t buff, can’t heal and so on and the ranger damage is kitten, generously.
Warriors, well i have to admit, that warriors really became a problem in the kitten after last few patches, but they’re common, using the same skills, same traitlines and same strategy. Drive them crazy, dodge crucial abilities, kite and make a finish blow in theirs unbreathing body. Get used to it.
Necros? Conditions “meta”, are you kidding me? May be those of us, who suffer from conditions should drop berserker or pick some removals? Like really, i have troubles with conditions only when i rush 1v3-4, and even then i’m glad to have lyssa runes (which are glitched a bit, and have a chance to fail).
S/D thief? well, if you are not facing Jumper (which is 99.99% of cases), you have the sense of what S/D thief gonna do. After few hits this thief, commonly, would lose his self-confidence and it is crucial for him.
Get used to it.
If you want to play a game, where your desires are satisfied completely, then, i must upset you, you gotta make one by yourself. Otherwise, play by the rules of Anet – roll warrior, s/d thief, necro and so on. The whine is the last thing here to do, because no one cares about thief’s stealth as long as mesmer has clones and necro has shroud, no one would ever dare to nerf any class basing on some forum discussions and so on. Everyone in this game make mistakes, and if can’t win in regular fight, drive defensively and wait for that mistake from your opponent.
I have faced a lot of opponents and basically, no one (like really NO ONE), had that UNREACHEABLE GODLIKE SKILLZ that i could never achieve. Ask some of pro players, do they afraid or hate fighting, say, necro? Nope, don’t care. Fight is a fight. Someone is always better then the other.
Get used to it.

Combo fields is a very situational thing in PvP.
As a staff ele – you can farm people 1v1 if you are using all combos available for you. But barely a lot of people know about it (thats why i cry when i see this “staff is bad” posts)
Actively exploiting it’s bonuses you can easily set a way to win in 8v8 combat, but more of this like 10v10 and more, there is too much spam and effect of comboing (beside water blasts) are quite useless.
I thought about it in a way like adding new trait setup into current builds:
Finishers – your finishers are stronger/giving longer effects/affect more targets/giving bonus effects (like more boons or smth).
This would separate Dps/bunker/control/finisher and add a new floor on current pvp arena.

Once you put gold into regular chests, you’ll almost establish glory=gold course and this is what developer should evade.
I mean that victory=50s is good, but 1000 glory=10s is bad.
We already can make this transition: buy chests-salvage items-craft uncommon dyes on mystic forge-use them-sell

Well, guys, it is still a game and there is Black Lion Trading Company in it. And skins/dyes cost some money. Why wouldn’t Anet just give us money in our prizes? Just 50 silver per chest? Would it be so incorrect?
In my opinion it can improve pvp audience and motivate people to join more tournaments.

laquito.5269:

I don’t really think they need to buff the current items, as they’re all useful in some way, but what we do need is variety.

I’d love the idea that we get different items depending on the weaponset the oppo is using. This would actually make us a little bit more unpredictable.

Either way… just one guaranteed item per class is just meh imo.

Early, in BWE#2 it was like you saying and thief was stealing items based on rng and class, and after bwe it was removed because off complaints that is too much rng in it. So you should know that now))

BTW. One more tip:
-You can cast Cluster bomb from 900 distance, then swap to sword and get an immobilize on your target with steal+inf strike OR inf signet+inf strike. Get you some more reliable damage aswell as immobilize etc.

Black Cat.1024:

Divinity.8041:

Black Cat.1024:

Thieves* are good only if you practice. You don’t stand behind other players, go in for a backstab, stealth stomp and run away. We’re mobile for a reason, and that reason is being squishy like a newborn kitten, but that doesn’t mean not fighting. It means timing your dodges, your evades, knowing what the player you’re against and acting appropriately.
Also you didn’t make it clear if you’re playing a D/P setup or a D/D setup. What’s the question here? How are D/P builds in general? From a W3 perspective they do pretty good. For PvP I’d say less, you don’t need that much stealth, you’d probably do better with a D/D.
Just in case I didn’t make this clear. Thieves* are not OP, neither are they UP, they are a class you need to practice to play well – and will reward you for that.

Was wondering about what would be an ideal build in this current meta, I hate conditions, want burst and raw damage.

I am assuming d/d or d/p

is S/P any good?

S/P won’t get you far in PvP. If you want a complete burst glass cannon go D/D. D/P is more survivability based with the BP and Headshot..

If you haven’t played it that doesn’t mean it is bad.
I’m currently running my very own S/P build and it is carrying me easily. I’ll post a vid today or tomorrow. Check for it later.

Well, what would you say if i suggest:
Strikes from stealth do not remove aegis/blind and neither remove stealth, seems logical to me.

Excalibur.9748:

You can combo infiltrator signet -> infiltrator’s strike -> steal for a super shadow step which covers a lot of distance and it’s really instant even though it’s 3 skills and opens with victim immobilized and poisoned and weakened (depending on your traits)

Soon i’ll post a vid with build abusing this+shadowstep – 3600 range initiations with weakness/daze/posion/immobilize

Blast finishers.
And may be a dagger storm as a teamight maker. More or less the rest are SB tagging. But in some situations thief can stalk ele’s and other outside classes and rip their head off. O ma
In my opinion venom sharing aswell can help, but have never seen or tried it in GvG. But the range of sharing is quite low so you should he in the frontline to maximize its potential.

If s/d thief is anywhere good he will either kill you or run away. Basically (and i’m considering it is OP) pressing 3 with dodge button is almost all that build does, but to be good at it you should position yourself for infiltrator strike.
And here is where you can counter it. As long as s/d is melee you should find and fight with him near his shadow return circle, surrounding yourself with all kinds of aoe as much as you can. Time frost aura to the use of basilisk venom. Dodge only the lancernous (wrong spelling) strike, i mean the one which steal buffs and do damage. Not try to cc him when he has shadow return, and for god’s sake drop berserker. It is the thing that kills you.
But anyways, if s/d thief is good he’d run away from you in no time.

PS a lil’ tip: barely any thief would use 2 dodges in a row, there would be a brief (~1sec) time for you to hit him with blind or smth like this.

The lack of manpower brought BT to T2 as a server without queues.
Check your subjective facts.

Seems like Myrmidone and other little boys cant login into the game to see what thhe real fact is.
Elona is a massive server with good reaction and coordination but that is all they have. I haven’t seen any tactical tricks or warband that could impress me a lot. Just a lots of green people running around dying and shooting. No more.
As for the Riverside, which we met 2 weeks ago (dunno about now, but then you was like a PUG raid all the time, can’t remember any guild tags), hope you can show something new and impressive in T2
Cheers.

Guys on Elona, are you REALLY want that hills on BL?)
nothing about glitching