GW2 Thief Discussion

[Deleted]

Hello thieves, I am doing the thing I sweared I would not do; I have alts, many many alts. One of them is thief. Anyways that was not my point, my point was the build I used with my thief. I saw it at GW2guru. You can also find more detailed description from there.

The idea is to use Death Blossom to stack bleeds while evading attacks and gaining health from signet with every hit. The build is this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQ...UPFkFsaPoZLfJA

Upon entering a mob:
>Run in
>Death Blossom*3
>Steal, immediately followed by using the Stolen skill
>Death Blossom another two times
>Activate Assassin's Signet and use Heartseeker. When fighting just one foe; get them to 9-12 stacks of bleeding then spam Heartseeker till they die.

I even made picture of that "rotation":


At lower levels you may not be able to use Death Blossom that many times, but just 9xbleed is enough to kill normal mobs and veterans quite fast.

[Gentlepenguin]

imo just spam dancing dagger... it does a lot more dmg than death blossom. plus it lets you kite /shrug.

again tho need to ask: 100% crit chance attacking from stealth or the +25% dmg when target is <50% hp?

which 1 have u guys gone for? i went for the 100% crit chance primarily for backstabs

death blossom is about bleeds, not frontloaded damage. i prefer the 50% if i go that deep into crits.

[Cempa]

Need some advice: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQ...OwkgtIYQwmgJBA

P/P + P/D 0/30/20/0/20

[Deleted]

My ears are starting to suffer from leper'ism (or whatever it is called) and are now falling off from hearing people complaining about Heartseeker OP... Well i do see how 12 year olds might do too well from spamming one button, but there are counters to everything, even kids playing thieves... Come on...

[Glytch]

Some notes on venomous aura
Transfers all venoms including basilisk
Venomous might is applied to allies that get your venom
Leeching venoms will work on venoms you apply to allies. Unsure if it double dips if you give to a thief with leeching
Lotus poison does not transfer to allies (it's tied to applying the poison condition not from the venom itself in the case of spider
Residual venom transfers an extra strike to allies

More notes:
Shadow protector stacks with hide in shadows it is awesome
Lotus poison is amazing when used with reaper of grenth. Try it and thank me later after you have aoe weakness, chill, and poison

[DrakeWurrum]

Lotus poison is amazing when used with reaper of grenth. Try it and thank me later after you have aoe weakness, chill, and poison

And I was worried that racials would be completely worthless, after seeing what they did to Battle Roar.

---------- Post added 2012-09-06 at 10:04 AM ----------

Shadow protector stacks with hide in shadows it is awesome

Doesn't surprise me. All boons/conditions stack, so redundancies work fine.

Lotus Poison NOT transferring to allies does surprise me.

[Glytch]

And I was worried that racials would be completely worthless, after seeing what they did to Battle Roar.

---------- Post added 2012-09-06 at 10:04 AM ----------


Doesn't surprise me. All boons/conditions stack, so redundancies work fine.

Lotus Poison NOT transferring to allies does surprise me.

Shadow protector bit was more of "hey look". Lotus was clarification

[DrakeWurrum]

I guess it kinda makes sense. Stacking up such a huge duration of Weakness probably would be OP. I don't think it's so much that it mechanically doesn't work, but that they specifically made sure it wouldn't.

[Glytch]

I guess it kinda makes sense. Stacking up such a huge duration of Weakness probably would be OP. I don't think it's so much that it mechanically doesn't work, but that they specifically made sure it wouldn't.

has almost nothing to do with balance, its about inheritance. you inherent the same version of a venom the thief applies to themself. however lotus has absolutely nothing to do with venoms, only poison. that wont get transferred over

its 100% mechanics

[Gentlepenguin]

My ears are starting to suffer from leper'ism (or whatever it is called) and are now falling off from hearing people complaining about Heartseeker OP... Well i do see how 12 year olds might do too well from spamming one button, but there are counters to everything, even kids playing thieves... Come on...

well if you pop haste+quickness procs you can demolish someone pretty fast if you get a bunch of crits.

[DrakeWurrum]

Heartseeker is only deadly when you're already below 33% HP anyways.

[-aiko-]

Heartseeker is only deadly when you're already below 33% HP anyways.

It's also a great gap closer, though, so I find myself using it pretty often.

Hey guys i was wondering if any1 could put up or come up with a good Dagger / Pistol trait build for me? I just fell in love with the playstyle of it , along with the Blinds etc. and i'd like a good build to go along with it and tbh i suck at figuring those out. Thanks in advance.

Gods this took a while, sorry: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQ...OwkgtIYQwmgJBA
I don't claim to be an expert at builds, but I built this with the idea of keeping initiative as high as you can, blasting away from ranged or melee, then going in for the kill with Heartseeker when they're low on hp.

[Deleted]

I'm having trouble evading stuff on my thief... even when i just go to an enemy hit him once and then try concentrating solely on evading its next attacks... I fail miserably. it's probably because I'm a total noob who needs to "LTE", so If somebody has some tips

My main issue is, when I look at the attack animations, say a bandit with a dagger, when you see him wielding his dagger, i'ts already too late to dodge... even If you escape before the hit lands it will register. So how the hell am I supposed to know when the next attack is coming? count seconds in my head after each swing. Maybe I'm not supposed to dodge those at all?

the special attacks are less of an issue, there's usually at least one second of charging animation before it happens (ettins are especially easy to dodge). I wouldn't mind some kind of visual cue though like the red glint in tera, cause often the special attack anim isn't very different from the normal ones.

[Glytch]

I'm having trouble evading stuff on my thief... even when i just go to an enemy hit him once and then try concentrating solely on evading its next attacks... I fail miserably. it's probably because I'm a total noob who needs to "LTE", so If somebody has some tips

My main issue is, when I look at the attack animations, say a bandit with a dagger, when you see him wielding his dagger, i'ts already too late to dodge... even If you escape before the hit lands it will register. So how the hell am I supposed to know when the next attack is coming? count seconds in my head after each swing. Maybe I'm not supposed to dodge those at all?

the special attacks are less of an issue, there's usually at least one second of charging animation before it happens (ettins are especially easy to dodge). I wouldn't mind some kind of visual cue though like the red glint in tera, cause often the special attack anim isn't very different from the normal ones.

You normally don't dodge the non specials

If you don't have enough endurance to dodge take the master major trickery trait that gives vigor on steal
Bountiful theft iirc

When people say "you shouldn't take any damage bc you are supposed to dodge -everything-" just assume they are full of shit. You can't dodge every single move on land b4 you get drained of end

[DrakeWurrum]

It's also a great gap closer, though, so I find myself using it pretty often.

I try not to waste it like that. If I want a gap closer, I could use a utility, or go Dagger/Pistol in the second set.

[Glytch]

I try not to waste it like that. If I want a gap closer, I could use a utility, or go Dagger/Pistol in the second set.

Or you can use it as a gap closer, hit them with it,save a util slot, and not get locked on your swap

[DrakeWurrum]

Or you can use it as a gap closer, hit them with it,save a util slot, and not get locked on your swap

It's only got 450 range, is what I'm getting at. The dagger/pistol dual wield has exactly twice that. As does Infiltrator's Signet, which can be traited to give Might and initiative when you use it (and doesn't cost initiative). Steal even has a longer range than that (traited, 900 baseline), and can also be traited for all sorts of useful effects (including putting you into stealth). Hell, Shadowstep has a 1200 range, and can be used as a "OH SHIT GTFO!" mechanic afterwards if the opponent proves to be too much for you.

Heartseeker is best used specifically for the execute-style damage. It's great as a "gap closer" if they're running away at low HP, and you were in melee range to begin with, but as a fight initiating gap closer, hell no.


In addition, you don't necessarily need to get locked in your swap. You have Dagger/Pistol, all you need is a different way to stealth besides #5 combined with #2, if you want to use Backstab anyways, and you still have access to Heartseeker.
(Dagger/Pistol + Sword/Dagger is actually a pretty neat set up)

[philefluxx]

I'm having trouble evading stuff on my thief... even when i just go to an enemy hit him once and then try concentrating solely on evading its next attacks... I fail miserably. it's probably because I'm a total noob who needs to "LTE", so If somebody has some tips

My main issue is, when I look at the attack animations, say a bandit with a dagger, when you see him wielding his dagger, i'ts already too late to dodge... even If you escape before the hit lands it will register. So how the hell am I supposed to know when the next attack is coming? count seconds in my head after each swing. Maybe I'm not supposed to dodge those at all?

the special attacks are less of an issue, there's usually at least one second of charging animation before it happens (ettins are especially easy to dodge). I wouldn't mind some kind of visual cue though like the red glint in tera, cause often the special attack anim isn't very different from the normal ones.

You really only need to dodge the heavy hits which have a longer animation than normal hits. Death Blossom, should you enjoy duel daggers, is a very powerful move that can help you evade attacks. Plus the dot stacks so you can hit it twice to get upwards of 7-8 stacks on a single target. If you have high condition damage its deadly. I use this for grouped up mobs, generally death blossom twice to apply bleed to all the targets then dodge backwards and kite until I have enough initiative to death blossom again to add more stacks and keep the bleed up until most of them are dead then I single target the last 1 or 2 with Heartseeker.

[Duncanîdaho]

I'm having trouble evading stuff on my thief... even when i just go to an enemy hit him once and then try concentrating solely on evading its next attacks... I fail miserably. it's probably because I'm a total noob who needs to "LTE", so If somebody has some tips

My main issue is, when I look at the attack animations, say a bandit with a dagger, when you see him wielding his dagger, i'ts already too late to dodge... even If you escape before the hit lands it will register. So how the hell am I supposed to know when the next attack is coming? count seconds in my head after each swing. Maybe I'm not supposed to dodge those at all?

the special attacks are less of an issue, there's usually at least one second of charging animation before it happens (ettins are especially easy to dodge). I wouldn't mind some kind of visual cue though like the red glint in tera, cause often the special attack anim isn't very different from the normal ones.

Get into the habit of always going for a guys back. AI mobs will follow you pretty good regardless, just use evade for the big moves like people are saying, but always be moving. When you start doing pvp and your used to circling AI's going for their back constantly it will be easier to do against people. People are not as good at following you so you evade a lot moves that way. They can't hit you when your behind them.

Also for questing I rarely even use my daggers. Dual pistols + Caltrops + movement speed signet and nothing will touch you. Open up with pistols on them to aggro them, drop a caltrop and backpedal constantly and evade backwards when you have energy while shooting. By the time they reach you, if they do, you can drop caltrops again. I can literally kite a big pack like this forever until they are all dead. It was kind of natural for me as I've just been doing literally the exact same thing except with dual crossbows on my DH in D3 for awhile now lol.

[Deleted]

thanks for the tips, will try circling around and use death blossom. At the moment though I found a pretty efficient build with sword/dagger and the trait that blinds on stealth... can pretty much chain stealth and keep a mob from ever hitting me. though a bit slow on dps.

Duncanîdaho: yeah I know pistols are pretty effective at kiting, my trouble is for dual dagger really.