Guild Wars 2

So, I was reading through the changes, and this is it:

Necromancer

*Fixed an issue in which the number of targets skill fact would not appear for various skills when certain traits were equipped.
*Wells: Added a range indicator for these skills when not traited with Focused Rituals.
*Withering Plague: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill’s recharge from displaying. Updated the range indicator for this skill.
*Plague of Darkness: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill’s recharge from displaying. Updated the range indicator for this skill.
*Plague of Pestilence: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill’s recharge from displaying. Updated the range indicator for this skill.
*Epidemic: Added a missing skill fact for number of targets (5).
*Life Transfer: Updated the skill facts to use radius instead of range.
*Flesh Golem:
*Charge: Corrected the knockback skill fact to the knockdown skill fact.
*Death Shroud: Updated the skill facts when traited with Death Shiver.
*Signet of Undeath: Added a skill fact for number of targets (3).
*Dark Path: Added a skill fact for number of targets (5).
*Greater Marks: Fixed a bug that prevented some marks from displaying their number of targets skill facts when this trait was equipped.
*Toxic Landing: Added a skill fact for number of targets (3).
*Foul Current: Added a skill fact for number of targets (5).
*Tainted Shackles: Added a skill fact for number of targets (5).
*Wave of Fear: Added a skill fact for number of targets (5).
*Chillblains:
Increased the blast radius to 240 to match other staff mark skills.
*Fixed an issue in which the blast radius skill fact would not be displayed when traited with Greater Marks.
Increased the particle effect size to better match the skill’s radius.
*Reaper’s Mark: Fixed an issue in which the blast radius skill fact would not be displayed when traited with Greater Marks.
*Life Blast (Underwater):
Renamed the skill to “Plague Blast” in order to clarify its unique functionality.
Updated the traits associated with this skill to specify that they work with Plague Blast in addition to Life Blast.
Fixed an issue in which the damage skill fact was lower than the actual value.
*Unyielding Blast:
*Updated the vulnerability skill fact to show the number of stacks of vulnerability applied (2).
Fixed an issue in which this trait would inflict vulnerability on the player in addition to the targets when used under water.
*Doom: Updated the fear skill fact to scale correctly with Master of Terror.
*Spectral Wall: Updated the fear skill fact to scale correctly with Master of Terror.
*Training of the Master: Fixed a bug that prevented the minion damage skill facts from updating when this trait was equipped.

Thoughts?

To answer my own post (friendless), I say yay for the disabling shot fix! Otherwise it was just some polishing of the tooltips and other minor things. And I will still use my strength runes.

So what ya think?

Thief

• Updated skill facts to include the number of targets for various skills.
• Steal: Fixed a bug that caused players to occasionally steal an item from targets they could not reach by shadowstepping.
• Thieves Guild: Added creature descriptions for the summoned thieves.
• Ambush: Added a creature description for the summoned thief.
• Black Powder: Fixed a bug that prevented the bullet fired from this skill from bouncing when traited with Ricochet.
• Dancing Dagger: Updated the skill facts to use number of bounces (3) instead of maximum targets.
• Trick Shot: Updated the skill facts to use number of bounces (2) instead of number of targets.
• Dagger Storm: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to continue creating whirl projectiles after the combo field it was using expired.
• Disabling Shot (Short Bow): Fixed an issue that caused the character to briefly move back toward the target when firing at an enemy behind the thief.

Also, as I and many have forseen, the Strength rune got nerfed:

Runes and Sigils

• Rune of Strength: The 4-piece bonus has had its might duration reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds for both the Major and Superior versions. The 6-piece bonus has had its damage bonus reduced from 7% to 5% while under the effect of might.

Yes and no. You get a good chunk of vitality against those nasty conditions. Again, mixing Valk and berserker is a good option.

Lol, I want to get to know this thief :-D Giving away 90g. Good on you tho, use those freebie runes! They are pretty good.

Well, as a starter I would use different weaponsets for WvW and PvE.

In PvE, easymode weapons for easymode content: sword/pistol. Spam #5 for blinds making you invincible against most mobs, and #3 will make you evade attacks. Pair this with the heal “signet of malice”, and you will never die (well, almost).

Just use 6/6/x/x/x in stats, don’t need much survival traits really.

As for WvW, things change…

Are you a solo roamer, or do you mingle with the big blobby-blob brainless zerg?

Depends on what weapons you would choose, but I could recommend dagger/pistol for stealth on demand & utilities, and 0/6/6/x/x traits (put last two points in either acro or tricky trick)

Shortbow as a offhand is a classic, for mobility, poison field/area weakness (spam #2 in the poison field). #5 will take you away of some sticky situations, and even teleport you to places where the enemy can’t follow you (watch some youtube videos of where to shadowstep, learn your environment and always think ahead).

Runes? If you kitten gold, you could go for strength, but those will now likely be a waste of a good chunk of gold, since it will most likely get nerfed. Runes of the eagle or runes of the pack maybe? I my self use strength, and are happy with those.

Sigils: depends really, if you want dmg added to your burst, you could go for fire and air sigils. They procc quite often now, and it’s a nice bonus for your DPS.

You can get a lot of your questions answered if you just browse a few pages in these forums btw ;-)

shameless.4728:

i was going to get a valkyrie armor and zerk trinkets but i dont know what runes and sigils to use and what traits , any sugg?

WvW?

vincecontix.1264:

mompen.7952:

I understand you want to promote your video, but IMO this post belongs only to the Engineer forums (saw you posted it there as well).

Anyways, Engineers is in a good spot now, and they are one of the strongest roaming classes. If played well, you will win almost every 1vs1 if you have a slight clue of what you are doing.

Will watch the video, and comment on it later on.

Edit: that was a nice and long fight dude, lol. Good job! You know what you are doing.

Yea I agree just trying to show that other classes other than thief can take on group solo be super mobile at the same time. So much unjustified thief so Op, no counters, thief need nerf all that non-sense its gets kinda annoying at times.

Yeah, true dat. You should edit your topic to: “OP engineer 1vX”, haha :P
But agreed, it’s very annoying all that crying we get. Saw a vid yesterday of a Engi fighting 4 thieves at the same time, and coming out of it victorious, I lol’d. Of course bad ones, but still.

Ignorant people are ignorant.

I understand you want to promote your video, but IMO this post belongs only to the Engineer forums (saw you posted it there as well).

Anyways, Engineers is in a good spot now, and they are one of the strongest roaming classes. If played well, you will win almost every 1vs1 if you have a slight clue of what you are doing.

Will watch the video, and comment on it later on.

Edit: that was a nice and long fight dude, lol. Good job! You know what you are doing.

Stratos: nice inputs. However, wanna know what grinds my gear? When you write edit: and you haven’t really edited the post. You are supposed to write that if you first post what you want to say, and then you have to edit it for some reason, you write what you did. I’m sorry, I’ve just read a lot of people doing that lately, and it’s nothing personal against you :p

Back to the build, it has a nice mix of armors, good vitality and high enough critical chance.

Hello, welcome to the shadows.

Here are some tips for D/D newbies:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Tips-for-a-D-D-thief

D/D is viable, but as you have stated, D/P has more utilities, and you can use all of your weaponskills. D/D #3 skill is almost useless in a power/crit-build, and you have good mobility from the gecko so you don’t really need skill #4 either (and most of the times it won’t hit). So there you go, you now have 3 skills you have an use for.
That being said, I use D/D the most, since I like the playstyle. I do however wish it had some more utility as D/P offers.

Watch some good youtubers to learn. And play with builds your self, learn the ins and outs of your traits and skills. That’s the best way to learn.

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Confucius

EpicTom.6328:

@mompen
Thanks for the feedback. I hadn’t really considered what mode I wanted this build to be used for – should WvW and PvE use different build trait paths?

Yes Sir, it should.

No need to go deep in SA (shadow arts) if you are doing PvE, since most encounters are pretty straight forward if you know when to dodge etc. And not just the traits would be different from WvW and PvE (at least in your case), but your weapons as well, as D/P is not an optimal PvE weaponset. In my opinion you should go for sword/x (for example sword pistol) for pistolwhip and change your heal to signet of malice for a nice heal when you do the pistolwhip. Sword also cleave, so you hit multiple enemies at once.

@ShOkwaVe I c what u did there ;-)

@OP: Yeah, the traiting is OK, if you find it survivable enough. You are a little squishy tho, so it’s a glass cannon spec, hit and run.
You haven’t stated what mode this is for, but I guess WvW?
I bow in the dust for you, good Sir, if you don’t find conditions a pain in the kitten without any condition clearance, except your heal. As a very LEAST thing, no matter how nice Cloaked in Shadow are, I would change that for Shadow’s Embrace, which removes conditions when you are in stealth

Hai.

There is this secret a few selected individuals know about, and I am now passing on this information to you: berserker gives you slightly more damage then valk.

But it’s up to personal preference I guess, some people have a hard time fighting against condition classes, and then valk would be nice for the added HP you get.

I use a mix of ‘serker and valk, since I find the added vitality is nice, and the decrease in damage isn’t really noticeable.

I would maybe start out crafting maybe 3 ’serker (head, gloves, boots or whatever) and use some exotic valk gear for the rest of you to see how it fares for you.

Again, this is MY opinion, and it isn’t really a recipe for what to wear, it’s more up to personal preference.

Hey man. What I would have done, is picking the speedy kits-t trait, and put the rest of the trait points in the damage lines (top two). And just go ham with nades and bombs. PvE is not hardmode (I miss that of GW 1!)

GLHF (Good luck ???? , and have fun)

Hey man.

Have you ever played a thief? I’m just curious, since it will help you understand the class mechanics etc, and how to counter them. I beg for thieves to engage me, and since I have played a thief for a long time, it has helped me.

What build etc are you running?

Thanks, I will check them out

Allright. Well, I play conditions on my necro, and want this guy to be more direct dmg oriented. Risks I can live with

Hey. Thanks for the answer.

I think direct dmg would suit me just fine :-)

Hello frands!

As the title says, I’m soon finished leveling my Mesmer (I have speedleveled him in Edge of the Mist with birthday booster, so I’m not really confident going out in WvW quite yet).
That beeing said, I am just going to dive out in WvW, that’s the best way I learn.
No shortcuts.

Anyhow, I hear people complain about PU mesmers, and after playing thief a lot, I think this is a stealth heavy spec? I am going to duo with a D/P thief as well, so I think these two classes have some nice synergy (after what I have read).

Can anyone link me to a PU build? I also need to buy everything, so if you wouldnt mind putting the armors etc on it as well, would be appreciated.

I also heard people call it a easy build, but that fits my current experience with Mesmers.

Thanks in advance, Kenny.

I have a Serious Thought about this.. And the more I Seriously Think about it, I get no further. Therefore, I Seriously Think I will leave this Serious Thought, and think no more Seriously Thoughts about it.

Tachii.3506:

…
If you want to play it really safe you can have shortbow and use #3 when you need to disengage from monsters …

What you really ment was:

If you want to play it really safe you can have a shortbow and use #3 when you need to show your moonwalking skills to the monsters :P

Nah, from all seriousness to joking: (no the other way around) These 3 last posters have it figured out for you, S/P for leveling! Have fun! Good luck with the moonwalks.

Nice to see you guys use a similar setup, then it’s not that far fetched what I’ve been doing. So I guess I’l stick to 20246 then Thanks for your inputs.

And yeah, condi clear can be a kitten with 20066, and you can’t avoid condis in WvW.

Herro!

I’m just debating with my self what would be the best:

Dropping Mug for Assassins Reward?

See link of what I got equipped atm:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZEQRAsY4al0Mp0pFOx7J8PRBNhwVNvD/tsWB68YUA-T1CBABVcEAMSJUN7PAxJBoSVQwS5DOqIAwDAIF9DToEUH1LIFwATAA-w

My build is focused alot on steal, so some extra dmg would be nice. And again, some sustain from AR would also be nice..

HmmMMmm.

Also: 48% crit change enough, don’t you think?

Thanks for any answers or basic criticism.

Peeeace

Hello!

Beeing a build hipster is a good thing, but I have a few questions/remarks for you:

How do you deal with conditions in this build? With no points in shadow arts, and no traits and no skills that remove conditions. I would at least switch out “Quick Recovery” for “Pain Response”, for removing burn, poison and bleeding at least. If you meet a necro or condi engi, I don’t see how you would survive?

And:

“You could probably move around the 8 trait points not in the critical strikes tree if you have tankier gear, are comfortable with a smaller life pool or have some pet traits you really like. But I like the little extra burst of heals in the acrobatics trait line with Assassins Reward and the extra 3k health.”

Maybe you were tired writing this, but it does not make sense removing points in the critical strikes tree if you have tankier gear, so I guess you were ment to write: “You could probably move around the 8 trait points not in the acrobatics tree…”

And one more thing that comes to my mind is, you also say: “I like this build because I still do damage while not being a squishy thief”, while you run with zerker armor with valk trinkets and no Shadow Arts for toughness. The reason most people go for Valk gear is for those nasty conditions out there, but again, you ain’t got no condi cleeear.

In PvE world events/bosses etc, I see this can work, and in WvW to an extent, before you meet a condi player (which 95% of people are using, unfortunately).

Just my two cents, BRRAH!

I can confirm this bug. As much as I like the moonwalk animation, this skill now is nearly useless.

“Thief – An Agile class that excels in 1 on 1 combat, and also has mastered the art of moonwalking in the heart of the battle.” Those cheesy thieves!

“Hey guys I would like to try out d/p but all I have seen is thief’s do in wvw spam #5 #2 – zzz, is that all that is used in wvw ? i mainly roam with guildys flipping camps, defending towers if we can and well just fighting people who me meet on our travels.
I have been playing d/p in pve just to see how useful the skills are and they seem to be a lot more useful then say skills #3 and #4 on d/d set up. is there any good videos of thief’s in wvw using d/p that doesn’t permanently rely on #5 #2 spam please so I can watch and observe please?”

Hey man!

You do have some more utilities in D/P then D/D, that’s for sure. IMO D/P is more suited for solo roaming, (even tho I use D/D for that as well), and D/D would shine more in a small group you run with. Then you can Cloak and Dagger from more targets, and you have better burst.

But what D/P offers is, like you say, more then D/D #3 and #4 skill does. You can interrupt with #4, it’s nice to shut down obvious healing animations your enemy does etc. And you provide blinds for your group through #3 and #5.

Depends on what kind of professions you run with, but I recommend running with a shortbow as your second weaponset, and spamming #2 on combofields (its the most spammable blast finisher in the game yo). It’s nice for stacking might to your whole group with lets say an engineer, if he drops a fire bomb. The stacks also last very long, and you can easily get 20 stacks lasting quite a bit.

Anyway, here I go typing all kind of random stuff you didn’t even ask about.

As for watching a skilled player, I know mostly some good D/D roamers, but if you just search at youtube I imagine you will find what you are looking for, or others on this forum will answer your question soon I guess.

I got about 700 hours.. Consider my self an OK player. I give a good fight to more experienced players then me (I have played videogames since I was a little boy, and I grew up with Doom and the first Duke Nukem games, lol! So I get the hang of games pretty well. Also played competitive CS:S for many years, attending many LAN’s etc. So I’m a competitive gamer at heart. If I lose to a player, I try to see what I did wrong, and how to improve my self. This has helped me a lot).

WvW: D/D and shortbow. Love the style of D/D, and the fast gameplay. It also appeals to me that you have to hit C&D for stealth (which also does some nice DMG). It can be a bit repetitive tho, and I would like that nr 3 on D/D is reworked (IMO. Some claim D/D to be a kind of hybrid set, but most ppl use it for power). And that throwing dagger? Seems like it never hits. So despite using only 3 of the skills D/D has to offer, I still use it the most.

Tried experimenting a bit with S/D now, seems like a cool weaponset as well. Went for 2/0/6/0/6 for a lot of steal abilities and more ini. Love to steal boons Ele’s defenses are severely down when I’m ripping the boons of them and giving it to my self. Or stealing a 15 mightstack from a Guard, also pretty fun. I’m like: “Oh, cheers!”

Do you mean avoid using the skills yourself? Or if you as a player has to avoid certain skills your opponent is using against you?

I reckon it’s the first one, but good to know.

Edit: Rome and Shock pretty much covered it

As to Pavel, he was just hysterically funny. He’s right tho, Anet sadly listens to whiners…

Yeah, currently.

I was also speaking of a WvW PoW (but whatever grinds your gear!).

I used 6/6/0/0/2, full glass that is, just to instagib someone.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQJAoYlsMp0pNOx7J8PNRLBt9Ii+L86Ma/gAcAA-TlCFABFcCAsRJUJ7PAwDAoQVQQS5jAKBRRlgM0Doi6GAA-w

This way I could get a nice % increase in my backstab with 5 attacks while activating Assassins Signet (5% dagger training, 5% flanking strikes, 7% thanks to runes and might and 15% from the signet, and 10% if I’m moving thanks to seaweed food).

In and out, and not a serious setup, but fun to nuke ppl down fast with little too no survival for yourself.

I use strenght runes on my valk/zerker setup. Like what’s allready said, when you are running around 90% of the time looking for someone to fight, some extra speedbonus is nice. What I do, is equiping Signet of Shadows while running around, and when I finally meet someone, I change back what I un-equiped (I sometimes forget to change it tho, and sometimes you will be caught off guard, which sucks).

I miss the movementspeed in combat tho…

Just a sidenote: I foresee a possible nerf on the runes, maybe scaling down the 7% dmg bonus to 5%. But it’s still nice.

I’m just curious.

I have gotten some nice numbers lately, and the latest was 12.5k on a ranger (was prob. a zerker one tho) an hour ago. Was pretty nice! I were going pretty glass, D/D, with Valk armor (2 zerkers) and zerker trinkets.

Yeah, why not use both You can travel as fast with heartseeker spamming as with # 5 on SB (ran with a fellow thief and tested it). SB #5 can shadowstep you to some nice locations tho.

Anyway,

METAshift: do you know the internal cooldown on panic strike? Both wiki and build editor don’t say.

Edit: it’s 30 sec, saw it now. But my question on your GM trait still stands.

Just a thought: pre-casting cloak and dagger with steal will procc revealed training (DA XIII) that’s a 200 extra power for dat backstaph. I haven’t tried this my self (gonna do tonight), but that’s gotta change the numbers some.

200 extra power over immobilize, thoughts?

As much as I love drama, maybe you two (Sandrox and Amon) could continue your discussion somewhere else, and let’s not move too far away from the topic, thanks.

Lol, thanks for those who pointed out my typo. And yeah, englO is not my native lingO.

To answer my own question;

• Some rangers are freekills, yup, but some put up a fight.

• Mesmers seems to be bursted down pretty quick (some), and I can predict their movement in stealth pretty easily, specially if they have the “make clone on dodge trait”, suddenly a clone appears out of nowhere is a big sign of “HERE I AM” really.

Wolfield.9812:

Carpboy.7145:

Strength runes, strength/air sigil, and some combination of valk/cav/zerk

~15k health
~2.5k armor
~2100 power
~210-220% crit dmg
~40-50% crit chance

This is what I use. I also have precision stack from bow since your crit chance is lower than with zerker and bow is just movement weapon anyway.

Hey yo.

You can also free a sigil from your shortbow (and maybe go for sigil of energy or something) and equipping your precision stacking sigil on your water-weapon in stead. You always carry it around, but almost never use it.

I’m not sure if this works now, (?) but I used it about a month ago.

Yay for freeing up a sigil on your shortbow, right?

So, as the title says. We have a thread asking what class you find the hardest to beat, so:

• What is the class(es) you approach with confidence, and why?

I wish that this guy could see this post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/wish-1027 – See what I did there? I remember he was a real numbers-crusher, and did some good math. Maybe send him a PM and see if he responds, he hasn’t been active for 5 months or so.

And I guess there are others good at math here, tho ;-)

Depends on the toughness on your target. High toughness and heavy armor: around 5-6k (maybe 7k if lucky and plenty of stacks) and squishy targets with little to no toughness you can achieve those numbers, yes. I use Valk armor, but if you like to live dangerous, you can go HAM zerker everything. In the current condition meta DUCK, you would do nice with some vitality tho.

Traveler is nice for the 25% movement speed bonus, but in the current meta, I don’t think it dishes out enough dmg, unfortunately. I still have mine somewhere tho, if I feel like using it again. Miss the speed bonus :/
Strenght is good (what I run atm), but the price is very high! If that’s no issue, I would choose that rune set. And maybe set up your build around might stacking.

You already gain 2 might whenever you enter stealth, (what adept acro trait you got?) and choose power of inertia for 2 might stacks when you dodge.
In critical strikes you also have Signets of power, which gives you 5 stacks of might while using a signet (Infiltrator’s Signet, also a stun breaker).

Cloak & dagger: 2 stacks of might, dodge maybe, 1 more stack, infiltrator’s signet to target while in stealth (won’t break stealth) then you got 5 more stacks, and upon backstab you got easy 8 stacks, and it will increase further as the fight goes on.

You can also build more in trickery for bountiful theft, and steal 20 stacks of might from a warrior :P

1. Maybe change out executioner for hidden killer? for dat backstaph 100% crit chance.

2. I think that scholar is a good rune set when your health is above 90% (?), but that isn’t a reliable source of dmg (maybe as an opener), but most of the time you will most certainly be under 90% health. There are other runesets that would be better IMO.
3. Sigils: nice! After the update these trigger alot more frequently. Good.
4. Okay. It would also boost your precision having some food on ya. I guess it’s personal preference, but IMO, you miss out on some nice dmg. And ppl in WvW use whatever they can use to gain an advantage, and you come short here if not using what is available for you (again, IMO).

Maybe they got tired of eZ mODe^ xD troll weapon set? I had one that couldn’t kill me (play D/D) and he just 5+2 failed to backstab me for 5 mins or so, so I got tired of his kitten, and just walked away. Then he started to /laugh. Really?

But to your question, I don’t know, I guess there are some around still.
Have you looked through the forum? There is a lot of other threads with the same question. The setup is the same as before, x/6/6/x/x, with some room for personal modifications. Centaur is nice for perm swiftness paired with withdraw.
Alltho many people now days use strength runes for mightstacking, and with all the stealth uptime with D/P, (make sure to select gain-might-on-stealth-trait) maybe thats a good runeset for ya? And with fleet shadow you move fast while in stealth, and you are in stealth 99% of the fight, so centaur may be redundant…

One proposal:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQJAoalsMp8pVOx0J8PNRPRsdwwD3ZjhddD-TFSDgAJPAQJYvyP29HA1CAY+LW9njTAgoOASBMwwI-w

If you find initiative management an problem, you can change cloaked in shadow for infusion of shadow.

Hello.

First;

1. Exactly what traits are you using?

2. What armor do you have equipped? (with runes)

3. What kind of sigils you have on your weapons?

4. Do you use any consumables (food)?

@Ceres:

Speaking from a WvW pespective: would change the force sigil for superior sigil of fire. After the update it procs alot more frequent. And I don’t think you are using the best food really.
I would also change out one of your shortbow sigils, superior sigil of restoration. You are not that of a killing machine (if you are doing PvE, world events etc, then maybe) to take advantage of it.
And maybe change out the soldier trinkets for either zerker or valk.
Beryl Orbs is not the best option for damage either.

Haha, but this is just my two cents tho.

Hi, and welcome to the forums of QQ’ers. Hope you brought your heavy armor from your second main, and use it as a bodyarmor to peel of the hate whispers you get daily.

Naaaah man, hope you enjoy the class! Enjoy the shadows

Sceinna.3561:

Thank you so much all of you, means a lot to me.

I can take critism but I’m always afraid of responses when I put out a video, thinking people will not like it.. it’s been overwhelming. I’m thinking I might do more videos again and not just 1 every 2 months or so. ;p

I think you should, it’s an inspiration to watch :-)

I want a two handed samurai sword.

I want a blowgun.

Oh, and I want a rework on D/D.

6/6/x/x/x

Berzerker armor, berzerker weapons, berzerker trinkets. See how long you will live :P

No, but it’s really several ways to play a D/D build, depends on what you want really

Awesome video, good job!

And you got some skills as well. Keep it up