After the recent outcry we might get the duration of the pistol smoke field reduced.
I used to run D/P – S/D on WvW/sPvP before, but the extra revealed second is hurting my S/D gameplay a lot. Im using it less and less and going with the Shortbow more and more on its place.
I still miss the buff-removing…
I use it only for trash on PvE or soloing Sup Camps.
Thief devs are always in the forum, but they abuse perma-stealth
My guardian was great at low lvls. One of the easiest to lvl up.
Get a GS/Hammer. Use the GS to dps/aoe and the hammer to defend.
I was running with full Power/Precision gear up to lvl 60 or more. Using traits for lower shouts CD, might and vigor on crit. Using mostly hold the line and save yourselfs with the sigil for heal and the one for dmg reduction.
A lot of people go for the blind on virtue of justice, but I find that its only good on trash mobs, and trash mobs are already no problem.
I could solo most group event bosses (melee ones, for ranged ones need to change for wall of reflection and the shield utility).
Usually I activate VoJ and SY, jump in with GS 3-4-5-2, use HtL for regen and some dodges for healing and avoiding main attacks. If I’m low or the oponent is doing some combo that I need to disengage, I dodge out, change to hammer and use hammer 3 to hold it. I can then use hammer 4 and 5 to keep it at distance or CC it a bit while I regen/heal or to remove stacks of CC imunity (hammer 5 can be great for that with smart kiting). When you feel safe to attack again, go back to GS and burst some more…
I tried other set-ups but found this to have better results regarding veterans and stronger mobs, while also beeing great for clearing trash.
You could try soloing guild challenges.
This would be very interesting.
And maybe change some of the small guild outcry
The problem with this system is that people are moving around the tiers, not the servers.
I vote for “revealed immunity” – 2-5 sec (not more than that).
then you just stand next to him and chain CnD?
like whackwhackwhackwhack, 15 sec invis npnp.
Depends on how you make the buff works…
If it stays for 5secs but only gives you immunity to the first revealed, than you can only chain 2 CnD to run away.
In this scenario you can try to finish the fight with 2 quick backstabs and still be low on health for the spike, or you can chain 2 cnd for 8sec stealth and run as far as you can (if you dont get CC’d)…
Its really tricky to compare things like that…
If you dont look to skills, traits, etc…
Still, do the other virtues also enter in the equation?
How can you add the burn proc and the aegis proc on this calculation…
I think its a nice try, but there is so much to it that its hard to just put it in a simple formula like that.
I vote for “revealed immunity” – 2-5 sec (not more than that).
Check the builds that focus on burst dmg with GS/Sw+T and keep burning/blind/vul on targets.
Great burst and mobility.
Use D/P build for leveling. The process will be fast and.. safe. :-)
Id say S/P for hitting more mobs with Auto-attack inside smoke fields.
I personally prefer soldier runes: hhouts remove conditions. I also put 20 in virtues so that virtue of resolve is stronger and heals 3 conditions.
The trait that says all allies that are affected by shouts convert conditions into boons also affects you… So if you don’t use that trait then yeah soldier runes are spot on… However it kinda hampers group play slightly because now the allies also don’t get the conditions removed with your shouts.
I might be wrong, but I think soldier runes make shouts remove cond from allies also.
But the trait removes one cond AND turn it into a boom, so more heal with AH.
Using both, each shout remove 2 cond and can give one extra boon.
Sooo many D/P thiefs on wvw last night.
Anyway,
BP field is quite small one, using a 2Hander near it will get the thief inside without geting you blind. Dont go inside the field, stay in the border.
Staying in the border of the BP field will also screw the thiefs HS combo if hes using to get away.
Also, it doesnt work much on group play as any other field will change your combo.
When I play a guardian I like to use the hammer ring and/or the staff wall right on top of the field, with this, I know the thief will be knocked down right there and wasting his ini, or he will be forced to run away. GS pull also works well as it gets stealthed players, and thiefs have NO STABILITY! (unless they stole it from you, but only cond thiefs run that trait)
Using fields (necro marks, ele stun field, etc) over the BP field is a good way to counter that gameplay and force the thief out of his confort zone.
Most people mix stuff. There are certain slots that provide better trade-offs than others regarding % stats.
I think you can mix Valk and Cavalier if you dont need a lot of crit-chance (hidden killer) and want to split your defense more (Armor/HP)
Condition specs tend to run full Carrion…
There are some control builds (mostly S/D) using Soldier armor with some Knights on the mix…
Really? It seems to only work on vendors for me.
Bleed doesnt fit guard that much. change it to burn.
Dwayna is a human god, all other guards wont be happy. Need another name.
Would be nice to see a longbow weapon for guardians. After all we can already summon one.
Pls make so that every iten from collections (craft mats, minis, etc) dont go to the bank when you click “deposit all collectibles”.
This way we can keep a mini pet or some mat we need to keep track of stack and still cleanse the rest of the bags from stacks we want to go to bank.
Nice video.
I run a similar spec, 0/15/30/25/0
I find that the on the scenario you are running, the bonus 10% dmg when endurance is not full (often as we constant dodge) is better than the 10s fury every 45sec, since the gear already provides high crit chance.
I also use a couple more knights armor pieces and berzerker instead of valk. This gives me lower HP but I think the higher toughtness covers that well, since we cleanse conditions so often with stealth.
One nice thing of this build is that you only need to change a few things to make it a good S/P build for pve or soloing supply camps.
Its harder to learn the rotations, but after your fingers got used to it its easier than most classes.
The ammont of AoE, fields, and ground target skills (and the ammount of skills) means that you need to pay more attention on your rotation and CD than on your opponent (not saying that you can just face-roll, but kinda, yea).
Other classes need to pay more attention on the oponents so they dont miss their burst/defense or they are stuck with CD. Eles just have another big set of skills and diferent rotations and combos to go to, and nearly never need to stay on auto-attacks (again, after you get used to your rotations).
I think the props to GW is that, everything is easy to get it working, but most things get some extra effort to master it and make it really shine.
Great guide. Really like the build idea, looking forward to test it.
I love WvW roaming but never tried with my guardian.
I have a ele and a thief that I’ve used, but the thief is lacking so much on pve that I have been putting it aside unless I want to stealth across the JP for a daily chest.
I also have a riffle/support warrior for when there is nothing to do but follow the zerg.
After going back to my guardian I was amazed by how many different builds and roles you can effectively play with it. Even more compared to the poor variations thief and ele have.
I just hope other classes will see so many build variations as guards do…
Untill then, I’ll enjoy my guardian… And heck, the armor looks much better than those longcoats.
[edit] One thing I’d change on the tatics though. I wouldnt activate VoJ just after JI for longer burn duration. By doing so, you risk your oponent cleansing both your burns with one cleanse. Wait untill the burn is gone and you are ready to put presure again and then use VoJ. This way you can keep the burn on more strategic moments, not having it cleansed so easy and keep the passive burn from VoJ.
(edited by lLobo.7960)
Mouse to turn and target, also got dodge and jump on it (thumb btns)
movement and skills on keyboard (actually a gamepad)
both can be tanky, both can do a lot of dmg, both can provide tons of boons and support. Really depends on how you want to do it.
Ele is more mobile and relly more on rotations (fields and blasts). If you like to move around a lot during combat (D/D ele) or to stay away and nuke/support (Staff ele) its a good choice.
Guard is more “melee” oriented. Your support comes more from your utilities and traits, and not so much (but still some) from putting fields and finishers. I feel its a more reactive class than the ele. Its harder to run from a fight with guardian if you somehow get more than you can handle (mostly in pvp).
I run a “balanced” 0/15/30/25/0 build with S/D and D/P.
The main problem of D/P is that its very ini heavy, and the extra second on revealed for S/D makes me use more ini with IS/SR or FS to avoid dmg on that extra time.
I use Infiltrator Signet and Quick Recovery for extra ini and Infusion of Shadow also.
I’ve run this build for a long time, as I can change just a few utils and wep around to get some good PW dmg (with evade and heal with SoM) for soloing camps.
My doubt, that I havent been able to test properly, is.
If I change Infusion of Shadows (2 ini when using a skill that stealths) to Patience, and waiting the full 3/4 sec duration of stealth, would it give more ini regen to keep up with longer fights?
Maybe leaving shadow embrace to keep both, but I just feel its too useful to fight mesmers, necros, cond thiefs, rangers, etc…
Combat feels very clunky now on my thief.
Before, you could go out of stealth, get one attack chain (sword or dagger) and fire a CnD to get back in stealth for daze or BS.
Now you have some extra time with not much to do. If you fire some other attack (HS or IS) you will have problems keeping the Initative for long fights, an extra attack from the chain is clunky and lacks dmg or conditions (your poison or weakness/criple will be out of time)
It really screw the flow of combat for thiefs.
For thiefs that used stealth for buffs/debufss and regen/cleanse its a HUGE nerf. You lost some important blinds, might buffs, regen, etc…
The extra second puts the whole combat out of pace for thiefs that used stealth in their combat chain.
Not to mention that clones and pets can still follow you around making it easy mode for mesmers (and some rangers too) to run after thiefs…
First I have to say that I belive the changes to revealed was not needed, the fix to culling was going to be a change big enought to provide reaction time to the GC thief attacks. The change actually hurts those builds that used stealth to keep in combat (balanced builds) and not those that chain stealth to run or to stay in the middle of zergs or the “one-shot” Mug-CnD-BS-HS-HS comboers.
Another problem is that the change came without any other promissed changes to thief mobility. The effectiviness of thiefs (both PvP and PvE) has been changed to anyone that used Shadow Arts line and relied on stealth for buffs/regen.
Stealth has a lot of problems that have been overlooked on this change.
Thief is now very clunky with a broken chain and no fluid attacks.
The change on revealed is bigger than most think.
Its not only that the thief stay out of stealth one extra second, its much more than that.
The problem is, the change decreased thief dmg, buff stacking, healing and utility greatly, without anything to balance out the loss.
For the few people running builds that dont relly on stealth (or only used itto escape) this might not be a big deal, but for those using stealth to its full it was a big deal.
Healing/cleansing – Stealth healing/cleanse was the main form for balanced builds to stay in combat. The extra second means the thief have lost a huge amount of regeneration and now its even more squishy than before. This means that more and more thiefs will be resorting to chain stealthing or heavy GC (all or nothing) builds to be able to win any fights. I dont think that was the intention of the changes.
– To solve that I think healing on stealth could be improved (or the impact of healing power) and/or stealth time increased for thiefs.
Dmg – CnD/BS builds were the best dpsing builds for single target fights for thiefs. For those, stealth was only a preparation for backstab spike dmg. The dmg is now reduced due to the frequency that can be pulled out and what can be done in between (see clunkyness below).
- Sugestion: Increase BS dmg (by more than 30%) and split it into 2 chained attacks. This would make the chain more fluid (BS – new attack – Dagger chain – CnD) and reduce the lost dmg from revealed. It would keep the thief dps for groups (staying behind target) but not much for solo (mobs turn around) and pvp (stealth first attack doing less dmg than BS)
Clunkyness – Before changes, both Sword and Dagger main hand had attack chains that fit perfectly on the revealed time. Now, the extra second of revealed leave the thief only able to do one weak attack (first of the chain) or nothing at all (maybe a dodge). For defensive builds, the lack of a parry or block makes this extra second critical. Now to be able to survive, you need not only 30 in SA but also at least 15 in Acrobatics, to be able to dodge on this window where you cant stealth to regen or attack eficiently.
Suggestion: Make stealth attacks for both sword and dagger main hand a 2-attacks chain or increase the normal attack chain by one attack for such weapons (and increase the duration of its conditions) in order to make combat fluid again.
Buffs/debuff – Stealth also provides might and regen and AoE blind for those traited for this. With the changes, the (de)buffing potential has been fairly reduced.
Suggestion: Increase (de)buff duration and/or stacks of such buffs.
TL:DR – The change hurts balanced thiefs, GC will still “one shot” people, CnD will still be chained to achieve “perma-stealth”, but others are now clunky. It breaks thief ability to stay in combat, buff and debuff. It also does so without any balancing for the thiefs traited for balanced play (staying in the fight) and without the promissed increase in mobility.
Im seeing the opposite. Ive been getting better loot from fractal chests lately.
this one, ^
since the patch i get at least one core (sometimes two) in the last chest and half the time rare item.
same here
I have this problem for a long time.
It seems to be some UI glitch, as when I have this I cant see the page to sell my itens and I cant get the mouse-over tooltip on the itens I want to buy.
Restarting the game always worked for me…
Try it, if doesnt work…
“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
I run 0-15-30-25-0 with a mix of knights and zerker armor/trinkets and love it.
I used to run the 0-30-30-10-0 with knights-zerker-vaks mix but the traits you get on the other setup fully compensate the small loss of crit dmg. IMO…
They are all mythical creatures…
Or do you think bunnies and racoons really exist? Never saw one in the city I live…
In practice the reason why smoke screen “blocks” projectiles and black powder doesn’t.
Blackpowder is a rather small spot that’s filled with smoke. It blinds melee persons because they are IN the powder and get it in their eyes, thus can’t see anything
Ranged person just see a rather small place filled with smoke .. shoot in it = hitSmoke screen on the other hand is a wide screen that no one can see through. You can be standing anywhere behind that screen. In real this would mean they have an X% to hit you. In game they just changed X to 0, assuming you are an awesome thief.
Ofc you can assume that a blind swinging enemy can still hit you if you don’t move, but those are details.
Its magic.
No, it shouldnt be implemented.
There is no real gear-gate on this game. Gear can improve your play but the only place that specific stats are really needed to complete content is in high lvl fractals.
Creating an inspect option would create a “virtual” gear-gate made by the elitists that already ask for a 80-only, war-only, zerk-only groups…
Saying that something bad is already going on doesnt mean it should be given tools to become worse.
I mostly run dungeons with my guild, as the groups are more fun, but I feel bad for the people that have to pug all the time on weekends for CoF runs.
Weekend CoF p1 runs are where you will find the most rude players on all GW2.
I just had a blast this last weekend seen all the zerker warriors wiping non stop due to changes on the food buffs, while my WP thief could evade most of the dmg…
Warrior lvling → spam 100b/whirling axe/evis
Guardian lvling → spam hammer #1/hammer #2 or spam GS #5/#2
thief lvling → spam pistol #5/auto attack or spam PW or spam CB or spam CnD/BS…
ele lvling → RTL/AoE (with whetever you have out of CD)
ranger lvling → afk pew-pew and let pet take the heat
engi lvling → walk around throwing bombs and/or granades on whatever moves or just turn on your FT and go for a walk (pies are not a must anymore)
The reason lvling is sometimes seen as tedious is becouse most of it dont need a good strat, most overland trash mobs will die for one or two rotations or skills…
check the wiki for satchel armor recipes.
you need to get the recipe by using some mystic forge ingredientes with a chest piece of the armor you want… something like that
Blueberry Warband would be awesome.
Its a nice idea.
A good one would be also get in some duels with a friend, recording both sides and make the video analysis using both views.
I think this will be much easier when they implement the expectator feature on spvp tourneys.
Terrible idea…
IS as a leap finisher would be crazy OP…
Blind not going away on attacks would be insane OP, even if they didnt stack in duration.
S/P is a good set now, maybe some work on PW to improve time or dmg, but even as it is is a good skill to use…
S/P is not a burst dmg set, is more controll and sustain dmg set.
You can perma blind groups of trash mob and autoattack them to death, helps the group also. You can tank with PW spam if timed right to evade boss (blind imune/10%) attacks, etc… On most bosses IS/PW/SR work wonders to deliver dmg and recover from stuns and conds.
D/P is a good solo set, but not so nice in groups due to combo overlaping that can mess up your stealth.
D/D is still a good ST dmg dealer if you dont need to worry about evading much.
but thats really not epic, the best weapon in the game should be bind to account when you craft it.
Why?
If someone buys their weapon skin with gold does it make yours less epic?
If I make myself a Ferrari in my garage I’ll still think its epic, even if my rich neighbor bought 2 or 3 by getting rich on all the crazy wall-street stuff.
As i understand it dailies are suppose to be an reward from actually playing the game not some afk reward u get when u log in.
I guess some people won’t be happy unless ANet adds ascended vending machines in Lion’s Arch which sell all the ascended gear for 10 copper each.
Actually, some would complain 10 copper is too much and ask to drop it to 1 copper.
This would make some happy, but then others would complain that their precious ascended gear is not “rare” anymore, and averyone is “running around with a rare backpack”, therefore they dont feel special.
Next thing a lot of people will come complaining that there is no end-game and they feel bored without a long-term goal.
I can’t find a backpack for sale that has stats anywhere near those of that backpack. I don’t see why I can’t get the best gear doing what I want to do vs the forced grouping in the fractals. Secondly, who are you to tell me what I need or don’t.
I’m a person who speaks English. Need is a word that has a definition. That definition is in the dictionary. Therefore you’re misusing the word. It’s pretty simple.
A lot of people today use the word need instead of want. You want BIS gear, you don’t need it. Because the game is completely playable without it. Whatever it adds is in your mind.
Like when my kid comes up to me and says he needs a certain game. What happens if he doesn’t get that game? Nothing. He doesn’t play it. But he doesn’t need it. He needs food…shelter…air to breathe…those are needs.
Technically there’s nothing in the game you need, but assuming that you’re talking about this from a casual point of view, you need to have armor. Because if you don’t have armor you won’t be able to do content.
Since I can beat any dungeon or boss in the game without an ascended backpack I stand by the statement that you don’t need it. You want it. There’s a difference.
It’s probably just a generational thing, but so many people can’t distinguish between need and want. I blame advertising.
This misconception about need and want is the main reason for most of the qq in this forum…
You can still go there and kill mobs solo, just becouse it wont reward you something designed for a group dungeon reward doesnt mean they dont let you “play as you like”.
Dont mistake “playing as you like” with “do w/e you want and get all the big rewards”.
I can play the game just soloing WvW road guards, but that doesnt mean I’ll get a legendary to drop from it…
Really, people are using the “play as you like” argument way too much on their lame QQ…
When I was in Germany I could play without much lag on NA servers… around 80-120 ping
Now I’m in Riyadh and its terrible… if I have 1-2sec delay its a good moment… sometimes can be 5-10secs lag due to the crappy internet…
Gotta love the lag…
- Running after a necro for a good 15-20 min trying to hit him on melee and only getting miss-miss-miss even standing on top of him…
– 10 other people come and I get AoE to death
– They cant finish me as they try to stomp me on the wrong place (lag makes me appear for them a good distance from where I am)
– heal up and leave the BL for the night…
Gonna stick to my ranged weps untill this gets better…
Also, it doesnt change the cost of the skills, so if you dont have the 6 ini you cant fire off CnD. But also gives you ini for using utils or combos if they apply stealth.
This thread and the one conplaining that now rare itens drop too much should be used as reference as how people will complain about anything really…
It was done so that mobs wont reset when the players enter stealth.
Or so was said.
Mine was finished in one night while doing a exotic jewelry set…
I didnt realized untill I got the little thing in the corner of the screen…
I think the cheapest way is to just craft jewels..
I agree with the OP,
Pls fix the tooltip.