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To your build:
Why sigil of force? If I´m right it does less damage overall than air/blood and most damage comes from the “burst” in connection to hard hitting attacks and sigil-procs.
I think there was someone doing the math for it.
I could be wrong though.
Same problems with sb. I just can´t get off from air/fire. Adds some burst to shortbow. I don´t think that force is usefull on shortbow. A lot of low hitting attacks (when you detonate the clusters) so proc-sigils are more useful imo.
Bloodlust is just…I don´t know…after some time you have the advantage of being fullstacked with guard-stacks and bloodlust and meet players without them. I can´t enjoy these fights then.
HiS? I´m not really a fan of it. While it provides stealth ad condiremove the cast time is terrible against good players. Together with the long cd and using vigorous recovery I would definitly stay with withdraw.
Sigil of infiltrator or agility is about what someone prefers. But I prefer last one atm. You have another stunbreak on 30sec cd through hard to catch and enough shadowsteap with S/D and sb.
Adding more valkyrie to the armor is a good move if you need or just want it. Was thinking about that myself, because my goal were always 50% and I´m far over it. Still sticking with full zerker though. To lazy to craft new things and it still works in WvW. ^^
I think I agree to the remaining.
I just want to say that sigils and utilities are pure preference and everyone has their own tastes and likes as well as preferences that they like in particular to a sigil or utility. My sigils/utility’s I like to use because they make up for what I lack in traits imo.
Why Sigil of Force?
Call me old fashioned but I’ve always loved the force/fire combo. I’ve tried Air/Fire in the past but I don’t see much of a damage increase. I don’t really like relying on sigil procs, I prefer the consistent damage bonus force offers fulltime. Especially since my build is focused on damage over time with sustain and not full burst 1 shot drop and get out because I’ll die if I don’t. It’s more balanced to drop people if they’re glass enough, and wear people down If they’re tanky. I’ve also never really liked Air. It may be slightly better than Fire, but I like seeing the Fire aoe flame blast when fighting people, especially on stealth enemies when they’re down and hiding. It’s a nice indicator to see if I happened to hit them when I can’t see them.
Why Bloodlust?
My build is not as bursty as other builds. It’s mainly built around perma Fury, Might and Swiftness. The consistent fury makes up for the lack in crit-chance that I lost when switching from full zerk to a bit of valk. The perma swiftness makes me very mobile and I can outrun most people when I need too. Bloodlust has always just been a given for me. I like the extra damage. I’m not one to run around looking for the full 25x before I fight, but I like the additional damage when I need it. I’ve beaten people when they had full stacks and I had none, it’s a disadvantage but it’s not impossible as people do it all the time. So if I have them I have them, if not I do without and just roll with guard stacks.
Shortbow
Shortbow is mainly for transportation, and kiting. It’s not a main source of damage for me. It stacks bloodlust and it allows me to kite until my steal is off cooldown and I can swap to S/D again and re-engage.
HiS
A lot of people don’t like HiS, but I couldn’t imagine not using it. I don’t like withdraw that much. I don’t like the movement of it, and it’s a small heal even though its cd is only 15 sec. Withdraw doesn’t cure conditions, it’s just an evade with a short cd. One would argue the removal of immob it offers is a bonus, but with Don’t Stop I don’t need that as I am pretty much immune to immob already. HiS has a longer cooldown and a long cast time, but it’s a free stealth, regen, condi clear (a big reason) and I can use it while in SR or wherever without rolling into a situation I did not want too (literally lol). I like utilities that serve multiple purposes and can be used for different things.
Infiltrator’s Signet
I used to use Signet of Agility a lot, but I find Infiltrator’s Signet to be WAY more useful offensively and defensively. Agility offers more dodges, but I have plenty of them. I’m all about making up for what my build lacks in traits with utilities and since I have more than enough dodges, SoA feels like a wasted slot to me. The stunbreak Infiltrator’s signet offers is definitely more valuable than 2 extra dodges. But it’s more than that, it serves multiple functions too. It can be a stunbreak as already known, but it can also be used as a gap closer to engage. You can travel so far when using SS > Infil Sig > Sword 2 > Steal! It can also be used as a gap creator to escape by targeting something and porting to it just for a bit of distance in those omg gtfo situations when you have nothing left to get away. Lastly, it grants another way to stomp enemies. If I’m stomping and an ele mistforms I can use SS, Steal or Infil Sig to spike him. Same for thief or Mesmer as well. You can even do combo’s too. If I SS away to stomp a thief and port back to finish it, but the thief moved, I can quickly press infil sig and port again to him to still land that much needed stomp in 1vX situations or group fights. It also is nicer to just use Infil Sig as a port stomp instead of wasting steal/SS for it as I value those things more for other uses. Also the extra initiative it grants is minor, but a nice touch. This signet is just too versatile for me to give up for 2 dodges with SoA.
Anyway, it’s all preference. Since you main D/P, I can see why SoA may be an appeal to you because of D/P’s lack of dodges and overall mobility. But with S/D SoA is not necessary imo. D/P is such a different play style than S/D.
I recently swapped Shortbow out for D/P to have a S/D + D/P combo and I really like the extra utility D/P gives me when I need it. Especially against D/P SA thieves that could always out stealth me in fights when I just had S/D. Shortbow is useless in stealth fights in most situations so the D/P was a nice touch. If I’m using S/D and I don’t manage to interrupt the thief’s D/P BP+HS combo to kill him, I’ll just swap to D/P to stealth out like he does, wait for the backstab and then swap back to S/D and continue doing what I do haha. D/P is a nice addition in gap closers too. Idk how many times I’m chasing people and I have nothing to get close to them. It’s kinda nice to swap to D/P and use that Shadow Shot for an additional gap closer when my Infil strike on Sword is on cd with Infil return. I mean, my build is a S/D build so I don’t focus on backstabs too much with D/P in hand because it’s mainly for stealth/gap closer/blinds and stuff, but I’m finding it to be more versatile than Shortbow ever was in a offense/defense way. Plus not many expect a S/D thief to swap to a D/P secondary set instead of Shortbow. I like doing things that other’s aren’t. Predictability is not good. It’s all preference though so whatever people like best is good for them in the end
(edited by thegreatbronk.6890)
Hi, as someone who has run S/D forever, I could not disagree with the post above more. SA is NOT greater than Acro for defense at all. Especially for S/D. SA offers very little in-fact. Adds a bit of stealth time, cures some condis, and you regain health in stealth which is not needed. SA hinders more than it helps a good thief. Acro is way better and I’m glad you realize this as you want to build your S/D thief around said traitline. Conditions are not an issue with my build as long as you use SS, HiS and Infil Return correctly. If the opponent is full blown condi then well…skip them…they’re not even worth the time.
Acro by all means offers MORE in it’s current state than the previous version ever did. You now have a stunbreaker with Hard To Catch (Plus 100% Endurance Refill) and are basically immune to Chill/Cripple with Don’t Stop. These things will kill a thief more often than condi’s from my experience so it’s such a plus to have traits that counter this. The old Acro sucked, simple as that. Feline Grace was nerfed, but if you only ran Acro for that reason alone…it’s likely you were bad at dodging…just saying…. the current Feline Grace is JUST fine and in some cases it needed a nerf because the dodges were ridiculous. With vigorous recovery and dodging well, you have enough endurance for any fight.
Dare Devil is meh…pretty lame imo. Not viable with S/D really. I see S/P and P/P having a good chance with it though. But I see no reason to use DD over the other much better traitlines unless you’re looking to add some stealth game to your S/P or P/P action.
My build is focused on Stunbreaks and Stuns. I can lock people down if I want with 4/5 stuns, and I can escape pretty much anything with my 3 stunbreaks. It is a very good roaming build as you will see. It is built for sustain. Damage over time. Valk Armor/Zerk everything else with pack runes. Sustain for the longer tanky fights, plenty of burst to take down people quickly. Especially those that are squishy
By all means, check out my Build on YouTube as well as my roaming videos using it. I posted it the day of the June 23rd Patch when everyone said Acro was no longer good and how I was dumb for making my build Acro based. Almost anyone who has watched my video and tried my build for themselves have changed their mind. Let me know what you think
(edited by thegreatbronk.6890)
(edited by thegreatbronk.6890)
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(edited by thegreatbronk.6890)
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(edited by thegreatbronk.6890)