Guild Wars 2

Why do you need a LFG to collect hero points? It’s not like any of them can’t be soloed. Unless you’re talking just to have a group to run around with, or RP?

Judging by the responses it seems to be a topic addressed by ArenaNet and/or discussed ad nauseam, but please enlighten me: Why isn’t there and won’t be a raid LFG? Seems reasonable to me. I haven’t done a raid yet, but it seems to me that they’re just bigger, harder dungeons with a bigger team. There’s LFG for the 5-man dungeons, so why not for the 10-man raids?

Feirlista Xv.1425:

Did you read the original post this was not a fraudulent key the upgrade was paid for with his moms credit card, when his mom got the statement she didn’t recognize the perchase, though is was a fraudulent charge did a charge back.

Did you read the original post? It had nothing to do with her not recognizing the charge or thinking it fraudulent, she didn’t take into account AUS → USD currency conversion and decided it was too much money.

Gatvin.6510:

Once you know these things, its just a question of when does wintersday end?

See this post from Gaile Gray (ArenaNet Forum Communications Team Lead) 11 days ago:

Gaile Gray.6029:

We’ve noticed that you’ve had a few questions about Wintersday, and specifically about the Wintersday Presence Collection. We’d like to share the following info with you:

• Wintersday is scheduled to end on January 12, 2016.
• We will be leaving the Festive Imbiber achievement active throughout the year.
• We will not be able to change the text that indicates it’s a Wintersday-only achievement, but you will be able to continue to imbide (in moderation, please – think of the dolyak children!) to gain that achievement.

Enjoy the festival and we’ll see you in the game!

Oh I see, I guess I was still regularly logging in while S2 was being released but then stopped when they released the last two episodes. Didn’t realize it was a per-episode thing; okay, makes sense.

Hi All!

So when LW S2 came out, I think I logged in during the two weeks where doing so unlocks it. I also recently bought HoT. My question is, I have all of LW S2 unlocked EXCEPT the last two episodes. Those are available for unlock for 200 gems each. Does that make sense? I’m just coming back after being away for a year, so IDK if the last two weren’t available for free unlock or what. I have since bought them, but now I’m thinking that maybe they should have been unlocked for free? If someone can explain, I’d appreciate it!

EDIT: The reason why I say “I think” I logged in during those first two weeks, is because it was a while ago and I have a vague memory of doing so, but I’m not certain. But, I am certain I didn’t unlock all but 2 episodes with gems.

Yeah, I played some living world season 2 content with this, and was having a hard(ish) time. Not unplayable, but just slow… especially anytime I had to destroy objects. It was fun to try out again, but I ended up swapping back to power. Oh well.

So, any chance this build is viable in PvE, now that conditions don’t overwrite each other?

Faction.4013:

Seeing as the Chronomancer is a bit of an unusual class for aesthetics, I was wondering what y’all did for your Chronomancer outfits.

I went with the Aetherblade set, due to the Gears & Sprockets that make it look like Clockwork. I’m having an issue finding a color combination I like with this particular set, though. I settled on Gold, Glory & Midnight Purple.

Love it, looks awesome.

Aloha!

I’m coming back to GW2 after ~1yr away, and I’m seeing a lot of talk of condi in PvE in the forms. Is it viable there now? If I recall correctly, condi was no good in any PvE group setting, because of the way they were applied to enemies. If you had a condi-focused build and applied condis, and then other players who were “pure dps” focused also applied condi, it would overwrite yours… or some such. Basically, due to condi caps and the way they’re applied, there’s a good chance your condis wouldn’t stick around very long as pretty much all skills apply one condi or another. Is that still the case? Has AN reworked how condi’s work in groups? Am I just off my rocker? I platyed PvE mesmer for a while and this was a big deal for us.

Thanks!

For food, what about using bowl of truffle sautee to further help with solo might stacking? IDK how much this costs, but it could be worth it.

Great vid! I can’t seem to identify where the 3 stacks of vulnerability you keep inflicting are coming from. It looks like it’s coming from your signet use, but I don’t see why that would be happening in the build you listed. Can you clarify?

Some cheap and effective builds, if you’re not rolling in gold and a master player:
More steal & init, my pref
More dodge & vit

You’ll want to keep SB on hand for utility. Replace sigil of night with something fun like sigil of frailty if you’re not running a night dungeon, and use the “powerful potion of X slaying” if you’re running the same dungeon repeatedly.

Veydar.5017:

Why can’t you use S/P and D/D and swap in a SB for blasts when needed? D/D for Bosses, S/P when you need the cleave. I fail to see how recommending a single set will help the OP.

Exactly this

This is the one that Diva is running, in another thread

I can’t wait to try it out. Personally, I’m not sure if I’ll like Stone Heart or Written in Stone more. Oh, and with this you’re supposed to stay in earth for added survivability and condi removal.

Thoughts on this adjustment? Water points moved to Air, and Earth GM trait changed:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJArdhcMKb23wuBd0ACAW4AQDoIOuHsDKCi2AA-TJxCwAAOBAC3fYbZA7PAAA

So if i want to try things out without dropping a ton of G (to see if i like it), then maybe I can try this with what I already have? Is the trait setup for D/P the same as P/D?
Would this work?

Roam solo or with a small PUG. I’m looking try and ask in map talk if anyone wants to roam with me and show me the ropes. It’d be fun to sort of scout and sneak into enemy territory, try to find someone(s) unawares, engage and kill them. Kind of like how air superiority fighter jets in WWII used to scout enemy lines and try to surprise and kill others.

Any changes to my build b/c of that?

Also, I currently have everything listed in the build EXCEPT traveler’s runes and valk set. My current setup is zerk for dungeons. What’s the best way to get a valk set? You can buy armor from a WvW vendor, right? Should I use my zerk set to save up for valk, or buy a rare valk set and use that to save up?

mompen.7952:

Check what Hunter wrote here, pretty much sums up a standard D/P build with good sustain through shadow arts:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/HunterXIV-s-Thief-Build

Yeah, i just put what he said together into the build editor. Seems like that is a good entry-level build, but I don’t want to assume he’s right.

Aloha from Hawaii!

I’m a regular PvE/Dungeoneer, and am starting to get some interest in trying out WvW. I don’t know much about it, but I take it my zerk D/D & S/P builds don’t work so well in WvW. So, I’ve been doing some reading, and it looks like this is an entry-level build:
P/D & SB

I know there have been some major changes to thief recently and I’m not new to thief, but I don’t know much about WvW. If there are other builds and/or you have any constructive advice, please feel free!

Mahalo

EDIT: Fixed bad link to build… thanks smithkt!

I guess I’m lucky, I’ve only been playing dungeons to get exotic sets, and aside from the BP nerf, it’s been good for me (I use D/D and S/P with Invigorating Precision).

Guess I’ll be waiting longer to try out WvW/PvP. Or maybe use my mes.

Elitist.8701:

I’m terms of skill floor, things like shatter mesmer have a higher skill floor, but skill cap thief has by far the highest.

Where are you getting these statements from? What verifiable evidence do you have to support this? I see these statements made in every prof forum, and it always boils down to subjective opinion being presented as fact. The only person who would even be able to make such claims with any credibility would be, idk, a widely-recognized expert at all professions…

evilapprentice.6379:

sirrealist.1360:

1) “Invigorating Precision: Increased life steal from 5% to 8%.”
- As I understood it, IP heals you for a percentage of outgoing crit damage. They way they word it here, using the key phrase “life steal”, they are implying that you now do additional damage that is 8% of outgoing crit damage, and are also healed for that amount. I take it this is just poor wording on their part?

2) There is no mention of dagger now cleaving on 2 enemies.

Thoughts?

1) it wasn’t life steal before (afaik), doubt it is now
2) yes there was

1) That’s my thought too. It’s not listed as a “life steal” skill, so I think they were just careless with their description here. Can anyone confirm that IP does not give life steal, but instead just heals for 8% of outgoing damage? I’m not sure how to verify that.

2) I see it now, my mistake.

1) “Invigorating Precision: Increased life steal from 5% to 8%.”
- As I understood it, IP heals you for a percentage of outgoing crit damage. They way they word it here, using the key phrase “life steal”, they are implying that you now do additional damage that is 8% of outgoing crit damage, and are also healed for that amount. I take it this is just poor wording on their part?

2) There is no mention of dagger now cleaving on 2 enemies.

Thoughts?

So just as terrible in PvE as it’s always been?

Solori.6025:

Dodging for no reason
YOU ALREADY HAVE 3 CLONES WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!!

So funny when I see this!

Hello Fellow Mesmers!

I’ve been out of the mesmer game for a while, trying out different professions. I wanted to try something different, as I felt like I was not particularly useful/powerful in PvE play unless I went with a mantra build. Maybe I wasn’t playing it right, but even then I didn’t feel very “powerful” like an “epic hero”, and I didn’t really like the mantra build play style anyway. I’ve been dungeoneering with a zerk thief, and at least now I feel like I can really sway battles in my team’s favor.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to catch up with all the upcoming changes to mesmer and I’m wondering: is a build like the Maniac Magician going to be viable in PvE play now? I’m referring specifically to the changes to scepter AA and the fix to IE. I know we still have the condi-stack limits, but idk, maybe there’s something I’m missing that will allow this to work? I know the double-whammy to DD doesn’t really help things any.

I just love the idea of trying to smartly use your clones with projectiles bouncing all over the place to be so cool. It fits in with my idea of what my kind of mesmer would be: chaotic. My mesmer laughing maniacally while balls of chaos bounce all over the battlefield. Clones reappearing as soon as they’re destroyed. Going in and out of stealth. It all feels very mesmeric, but I’m afraid that something like this is still only viable in WvW or PvP (or maybe not even there).

Oh, and in case you’re just jumping to the end, I encourage you to read (or re-read if you’ve been here before) the OP, as he put a lot of time and thought into it. Thoughts?

cudzgaming.9316:

Thank you for the responses, I’ll try out D/D then. Kinda like a regular assassin.

Good start, but you want want a 2nd set to go with that. I like S/P for my 2nd. SB is also good to learn with.

There is an alternative way to level (opposed to S/P blind spam) which I found to be very fun, but you have to keep in mind that it is not good for later on (maybe PvP, I don’t know):
Condition. You can use the trait “Uncatchable” with the utility skill “Caltrops” and the D/D dual skill “Deathblossom” to get 25 stacks of bleed in AoE on multiple enemies. I was able to take on 3-5 enemies up to 9 levels above me once I got good with the very mobile way you have to play it. You can dodge to stack up the AoE bleed fields, use DB to keep the pressure on, and swap to SB to disengage while still doing damage.

Both leveling play styles are discussed here

Slightly off topic from the OP, but for those of you saying #2 proj is too slow:
1) I agree. Not saying it should change b/c of possible balance concerns, but I do agree.
2) Try using it as a melee range attack. By quickly tapping l-click right next to you and #2 twice on the KB (or whatever your keybind is), you can VERY quickly pump out detonated clusters for huge spike damage. B/c you’re targeting the ground right next to you, the proj speed issue becomes moot. Very useful for holding/capping. Most of you probably already know this.

I made some trait adjustments for some survivability and now I’m doing really well! I’m reliably doing CoF runs without going down while still staying in the fight. Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it!

This is the build I have now

I don’t have exotic armor or trinkets yet, but you get the rough idea

Thanks everyone! I’m starting to get the hang of it a bit better. Last night I did CoE, and while I did get downed a fair number of times, I think I also did a good job of supplying high DPS while staying up. I only really went down to Kudu’s “killing shot”… he liked to target me with that and every time I would just go down. I had my first +7k backstab! It’s fun to see those big numbers.

Just because it’s not fixed yet and ANet reps are posting here doesn’t mean “nothing was done” until now, as many are claiming. I know people bought the game for X, they want to do Y etc., but seriously, there are lots of things to do in the game, especially since you should be at or close to 80. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be fixed, or you shouldn’t post here to make it known there’s an issue, or that it shouldn’t be a priority. However, the tone of sheer outrage at the audacity of ANet to not have it fixed by now (with these people having absolutely no idea what it takes to troubleshoot/fix the issueor what HAS been done so far) is just… so immature. Let’s all just take it down a couple notches and go do something else for a bit (and yes I realize what #1 is, so skip that for now ).

EDIT: and of course, they fix it right before I post. But still, my point still stands. I hope you all will join me in saying “THANK YOU!”.

Thanks everyone!

Wow, what a difference! I pretty much have to relearn how to play my thief. The days of laying down caltrop fields and death-blossoming all over the place to stack bleeds on all my enemies are over. I realize that the sword AA cleaves and that’s how you do your "AoE’ damage, but it’s a LOT different for me. I have to be a LOT more careful about how many enemies I aggro and how many hits I take. So, here’s what I’ve done:

1) Bought all rare zerk armor
2) Bought cheapest exotic zerk daggers, sword and pistol
3) Bought (6) runes of rage, (2) sigils of force and (2) of night
4) Bought ascended (my first!) amulet from WvW vendor
5) Bought “soldier’s” breather from karma vendor
6) Bought a few superior stones and minotaur steaks
7) I ran out of money, and so did NOT buy any other trinkets or a SB

I took all my new gear into AC story, a dungeon I know pretty well, and did… okay. I can certainly kill anything quicker, as long as I stay engaged. I feel my PUG was a bit lower than avg, and I didn’t need a res during the run, but I felt that I had to disengage from combat a lot more. I would engage, try to stay positioned, hit when I could, but anytime I saw an AoE attack start I would have to pull back and wait until I could get back into the fight. It’s hard to see which way the enemy is facing and what they’re doing exactly, with all the effects and toons standing right on top of the target, but I did my best. Without a short bow, I didn’t have a weapon to switch to when I had to disengage. Is this a common thing I shouldn’t worry about? In my condi build, I could constantly do damage by laying down caltrops, Deathblossom and SB. So, even if I disengaged (which I had to do a lot less b/c i have 17k health pool), I was still doing lots of damage with bleeds, or ranged attack. But now when I pull back, I’m not doing anything except waiting to get back in the fight. I know I’m doing more damage overall now, I just feel like I’m “doing something wrong” when I disengage and heal and/or wait for my opening to get back in. And even if I have a SB, I won’t be able to use it unless I switch to it BEFORE the fight. Thoughts?

Also, I’m a little confused about trinkets. It looks like you can buy all of them except the back item from the WvW vendor, yet it’s been suggested several times to get my accessories and rings from guild mission and fractal vendors, respectively. Is there a reason to get them from those vendors instead of the WvW one?

I joined the dungeon guild. I haven’t asked for help yet, but I will soon.

Any other advice and thoughts on what I should be doing except learning enemy tells, learning the dungeons, getting my CoF tokens for exotic armor, saving up for scholar runes and getting my ascended trinkets?

Thanks again everyone!

I’m experiencing the same problem.

Awesome advice! Thanks soooo much!

@FzeroWing: I actually figured that out last night, buying the full set w/ karma. I think I have the karma to do it, or close to it. Is there any reason NOT to? Is karma used for anything else? Part of the fun of doing dungeon runs is to get the tokens to buy the gear, so if I already have an exotic set then the drive to do dungeons is lessened. What do you all think of me buying an exotic zerk set with karma? Or, should I buy a rare set and then run CoF for the Flame Legion set (looks cool).

As for weapons, should I just buy the best sets I can afford from TP? Is there another way to get exotic weapons besides crafting and TP?

What about accessories? Should I buy rare and do fractals until I can buy ascended? Should I buy exotic? Is there another option I should consider? I have like 30something laurels, idk how many you need for an ascended set or if I should be spending them on something other than accessories.

As for builds, I’ve worked on two. I’m going to try to do D/D and S/P, and see if I can’t do alright with D/D. If not, I’ll go SB. In any case, I have:
1) This one that focuses on precision/fury
2) This one that focuses on dodge/might

The only differences between them are the food and runes. Or should I just be getting ruby? I think I like #1 more due to the synergy of fury/quickness.

Clearly there is a LOT more to this than I realized. Thoughts on all this? Thanks SO much!!!!!!!!!!!!

DivineSlayer.5039:

caveman.5840:

if u r NEW to dungeons dont play thief … just roll war
no one likes a bad thief in a dungeon run :S

thiefs are good for healing downed players in dungeons with shadow refuge !

but really u just need to be good enough to never get hit because u will die quick … a sword pistol …. black powder pistol whip is the way to go 4 dungeons if u r running a thief ….

but a support class can be better for your team

None of this is correct. For PvE Thief is a great class for stealthing and it is the highest dps class in the game for single target bosses. The build for PvE is 6/6/0/0/2 with full berserker gear. You can find the full build guide here: http://www.dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/12497961-dnt-thief-build-415-patch

For bosses you’re gonna want D/D for single target DPS
For trash mobs you’re gonna want S/P for cleave and blinds
For blasting stealth/might/swiftness your gonna want Shorbow

Hi Divine! Thanks for chiming in. I’ve read the guides (and I’ll be sure to watch the vid you posted), but the thing is, they all already assume you’re fully geared out and know the dungeons. Are you suggesting that for a freshly leveled thief who is learning dungeons, I go straight for a zerk/scholar setup? Can that even be purchased with ~30g?

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I’m interested in joining as a student and learning from great teachers! I’ve played a lot of open world, most dungeons in story, and a few explore paths. I’m eager to learn and listen! I’m on TC, Hawaiian Standard Time.

Aloha from Hawaii!

I just hit lvl 72 last night, and am quickly approaching 80. I am currently playing a D/D & SB condi build for leveling, but I know this isn’t particularly good for end-game PvE content. I have played AC-CoF in story mode, and AC/CM in explore a few times. I want to practice playing dungeons well, learning them and hopefully eventually guiding others though them.

I’m not new to GW2 (I have 80 mesmer and warrior), but I never “got serious” with either of them, putting them away to level a new profession. Thief “feels right” to me, so I want to start exploring more of what the game has to offer in terms of PvE.

I’ve read the Book of Shadows, the Dulfy.net dungeon speed run guide, and probably 308749234702384 posts here in the forums. I know these posts show up all the time, but I’d like some general advice with respect to play, gear and builds for someone learning dungeons. I know zerk is the way to go for optimum play, but maybe it’s not the best for those learning the dungeons?

I don’t have a lot of gold yet (~30g), so I need to be careful about where I spend it for now. I assume I’ll be buying all rare/exotic gear (depending on cost) to start with, and then as I run them more and amass gold, I’ll be able to buy better. But for newbie’s first set of gear, what should I focus on? Knights? Zerk? Other? Maybe one set is super cheap and great to start, and then you use that to lean and save up for better? Maybe getting tokens from exp mode in one dungeon is the way to get gear? I’ve also been saving up all my materials since I started leveling. I don’t know very much about the finer points of crafting and I haven’t done any with my thief, so maybe crafting is the right way to get gear or sell for gold to buy gear? As you can see, there’s a lot I don’t know (and don’t know I don’t know ).

Perhaps you guys can show me some build w/ gear in them and explain why I should go that route? Maybe you’ve learning from your own experience what worked or didn’t, or what you wish you’d done when first getting into “serious” dungeon play?

I know the advice could depend on my skill, since, say zerk is more damage but knight is more survive, so the answer really depends on how good I am and how well I can avoid damage. So, let’s say that I understand conditions, I understand the need for stacking/skipping, I’m fairly good at dodging and understand the combat mechanics of GW2. But I’m not an expert by any means.

One last note on gear: I do intend on eventually exploring WvW, so I’d like to be able to get gear that’s also viable there, but it’s not my priority.

Please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions. I’m not a member of a guild on my thief so maybe I should find a friendly one and ask people to show me the ropes. I’m on TC, and I hear good things about AARM, but feel free to advise me on that too. Oh, and just to be clear, I always put things like “looking for guide”, “New to this dungeon”, “all welcome” and the like in my LFG desc. I’m polite, listen, and truly wish to learn and not be a hindrance to others.

TL;DR: I’m new to “serious” dungeon play and am looking for advice/builds/gear for learning them to become a useful member of group play.

Mahalo!

Would LOVE to see this change, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

RyuDragnier.9476:

sirrealist.1360:

RyuDragnier.9476:

sirrealist.1360:

roamzero.9486:

The SB Choking Gas nerf is pretty ridiculous too, considering Mesmers can summon phantasms and clones without breaking stealth.

The thing that breaks stealth with SB choking gas is that it will now register a damaging hit from the player. They might make it do 1 damage, but it’s a hit if an enemy is within the AoE. A mesmer summoning does not hit, and the illusions doing damage is not the player doing damage. You’re confusing two very different things.

Okay, so all AoE fields should proc retaliation from your line of thinking, correct? Because that’s exactly what this move will be doing from now on.

No, unless the AoE field has a direct damage component (like a hit). Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I don’t think non-direct damage (like conditions) proc retal.

They do not. So what makes this skill the highest priority for this nerf, that will give a move that has no direct damage suddenly get direct damage? What is the point of it? If they think it’s a buff, unless it hits for AT LEAST for the equivalent of a Detonated Clusterbomb with every tick that adds poison, this will be anything but a buff.

I do not believe it is intended as a buff. They want to make it so that using CG while in stealth causes stealth to break. The point of adding the direct damage component is to trigger this desired change. All they have to do is make it hit for any amount to achieve this. Only time will tell if they’ll make it hit for some inconsequential amount or not.

Disclosure: What follows is extrapolated theory.
If all of this is true, then you can still use CG from stealth and not break it, you just have to NOT hit an enemy (i.e., no direct damage). You could, for example, estimate the path of travel of an enemy, estimate the radius of the AoE field, and then target the ground so that the enemy is right outside the AoE when it lands and then runs into it. Theoretically, this would not “hit” the enemy and so you would stay in stealth, but would still subject them to the poison field, until they left it. I’m not saying this is easy, usable or anything else, just pointing out how the whole “hit breaks stealth” mechanic works and how you can try to get around it. Clearly, this wouldn’t work for throwing poison fields into zergs from the flanks while remaining in stealth, which I’m guessing is the “issue” they are seeking to address.

BrunoBRS.5178:

tick the poison twice as fast.

I’m not sure I follow that. Did you mean that it’ll stack duration?

EDIT: Also, thank you all for your quick responses!

RyuDragnier.9476:

sirrealist.1360:

roamzero.9486:

The SB Choking Gas nerf is pretty ridiculous too, considering Mesmers can summon phantasms and clones without breaking stealth.

The thing that breaks stealth with SB choking gas is that it will now register a damaging hit from the player. They might make it do 1 damage, but it’s a hit if an enemy is within the AoE. A mesmer summoning does not hit, and the illusions doing damage is not the player doing damage. You’re confusing two very different things.

Okay, so all AoE fields should proc retaliation from your line of thinking, correct? Because that’s exactly what this move will be doing from now on.

No, unless the AoE field has a direct damage component (like a hit). Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I don’t think non-direct damage (like conditions) proc retal.

Esplen.3940:

RyuDragnier.9476:

sirrealist.1360:

roamzero.9486:

The SB Choking Gas nerf is pretty ridiculous too, considering Mesmers can summon phantasms and clones without breaking stealth.

The thing that breaks stealth with SB choking gas is that it will now register a damaging hit from the player. They might make it do 1 damage, but it’s a hit if an enemy is within the AoE. A mesmer summoning does not hit, and the illusions doing damage is not the player doing damage. You’re confusing two very different things.

Okay, so all AoE fields should proc retaliation from your line of thinking, correct? Because that’s exactly what this move will be doing from now on.

Well, I mean, Caltrops counts as a damaging AoE field. It gets affected by Retal, reveals if the Thief is in stealth, and doesn’t stack with Caltrops on dodge (shhhhh, this isn’t relevant).

But on the bright side, it does count towards the healing off of Signet of Malice, allowing you to heal tons of small numbers like a Necromancer with points in Blood Magic… not that you need to know that considering I’m sure you’ve used Bladestorm to get a full heal in a pack of trash.

So yeah, Choking Gas might get hit by Retal and reveal you, but it can also heal you slightly in certain builds.

Are you sure Caltrops counts as a damaging AoE field? Caltrops doesn’t do direct damage, it does indirect through the bleed condition. This is straight from the wiki on stealth:
“Hitting a foe with an attack breaks stealth; if the attack missed, was blocked, or was evaded, they will not break stealth. Abilities that do not deal direct damage (like Choking Gas, Caltrops, or the Traps which do not deal direct damage) will not break stealth, even though they apply damaging conditions.”

With Chocking gas, they are adding a direct damage component, so it WILL break stealth, unlike Caltrops.

Also, I don’t think your comment about Caltrops not stacking with caltrops from dodge (Uncatchable) is correct. I believe the effects from both do “stack”.

1) I’m right next to an enemy
2) I drop caltrops
3) I dodge backwards creating another AoE from uncatchable INSIDE the caltrops AoE

Does the enemy simultaneously suffer the effects of both, if it is inside the AoE for both? Please, no guesses or assumptions.

roamzero.9486:

The SB Choking Gas nerf is pretty ridiculous too, considering Mesmers can summon phantasms and clones without breaking stealth.

The thing that breaks stealth with SB choking gas is that it will now register a damaging hit from the player. They might make it do 1 damage, but it’s a hit if an enemy is within the AoE. A mesmer summoning does not hit, and the illusions doing damage is not the player doing damage. You’re confusing two very different things.

Full Disclosure Upfront: I have absolutely no evidence for what I’m about to say, it’s only my thoughts based on personal observation, not empirical testing.

It feels that for thief, power build >> condi build for pretty much all PvE situations. I still run condi for solo because I just like the way you have to engage in combat with condi more, but because of the high burst damage and relatively low access to powerful condition builds with thief, I assume power is superior in most situations. I do love to throw AoE bleeds all over the place though (Death Blossom + Caltrops + Uncatchable).

@OP: Try going into areas where you fight 3-5 enemies at a time, 6-8 levels above you. IDK about X/P, but with D/D & SB it’s a lot of fun! 1-2 hits and you’re downed and the enemies don’t melt immediately.

I never found that method to be fun anyway. D/D & SB condi thief FTW

@Geiir: Awesome so far. I did note a mistake however (I think):
In section “The Condition Dagger/Dagger Build”
subsection “Playstyle:”
you state: “Likewise, investing in initiative recovery is highly recommended, such as Quick Recovery in the Acrobatics trait (2 initiative every 10s)”

I believe QR gives only 1 init per 10s.

@Chaos: Great to see you here!

loseridoit.2756:

sirrealist.1360:

I love this thread. No QQ, just mesmers working together to make good builds and try to explore and make viable some of out newest GMs. I’m pretty disillusioned (haha) about mesmer at the moment, but it’s threads like this that keep me feeling good about our profession

Good work everyone!

hey its fun to make bad builds and play them.

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not… but yeah, sometimes it is