GW2 Thief Discussion

[Glytch]

in process of updating this post to be less-shitty...give me a while


I want this thread to be a respectable place to hold discussion about GW2 thieves. so im going to try to dig up previous good conversations and post links to them. after that i would like any posts anyone finds useful or feels would be useful to link to the OP to be asked to be linked. just PM me if a discussion is good and ill edit in in

TEMP: please help scan through the thread... i really dont want to dig through 74 pages

also... try to focus on serious talk. if this thread becomes "lol you look up stuff on MMO champ? you bad" then I'm going to destroy you all...slowly... by making you bleed out through where your toenails used to be.


You have been warned.

Stuff you should probably know:
Initiative regens at a rate of 1 init every 1.67 seconds
Breaking stealth gives you "revealed" for 3 seconds preventing further stealth
The air burst on shortbow will shoot out farther if the projectile is high up and clump more together if low to the ground, useful for hitting the same target 3 times

Relatively useful discussions/posts to read:
Good example of using secondary weapons to set up combos which I've been trying to preach
Builds that don't focus on backstab

Relatively useful videos to watch:
tips on dodging the shit out of warriors (A/Sh;GS), (more)

Relatively useful steals that you should probably memorize:

Throw Gunk: creates an ethereal field.. o yea it also inflicts a random condition

/ Blinding Tuft/Throw Feathers: blinds enemies and stealths you. use it for stealth skills. they are awesome. this is pretty much the default steal item. You will find this a lot.

Eat Egg: it heals you. more importantly it restores 10 of your initiative. you get the most gain when you use it at 0-1 init since it has a 1 sec cast time

Consume ectoplasm: it gives you 1 stack of all boons. can be saved for when you need to take a hit or two since it will give you both aegis and protection along with regen. Use it BEFORE you're in deep shit

Relatively useful combos you should memorize:

• WATER: always try to finish a combo on water. it always heals. Whirls like death blossom and dagger storm will heal your buddies, leaps like heartseeker will heal yourself

• SMOKE: shooting any projectile will blind. if you head shot through it you will block up to 2 attacks, the daze will interrupt and the blind will stop the next attack. leap onto it to stealth yourself and follow up with a stealth move (heartseeker then backstab)

• ETHEREAL: Leap to give chaos armor to self to punish fast attackers. Projectiles (unload is good for this) will stack confusion to punish things attacking your buddies.

• LIGHT: since you have no cooldown on your skills it can be better for a thief to activate light combos. leaping will give retaliation. if your group is condition stacked try to whirl

• DARK: projectiles will give you life steal. if you're running pistol pistol drop shadow refuge and sneak attack then unload through it for copious amounts of heals. make sure you'll be able to do the unload once you come out from sneak attacking since refuge doesnt last long

• POISON: shortbow thieves can blast their poison fields, it helps to be close to it.

• FIRE: leaps will give you a sexy fire shield as per the elementalist skill. Shortbow's blast is easily spam able to stack might even more

• LIGHTNING: you can leap into this to daze your opponent giving a dagger mainhand additional control

Ranges:
Units of range in GW2 is in inches. problem is its usually easier to see the world in...shall we say... larger increments.
so he's a few nifty ranges and their conversions...

Range	Feet	Yards	Meters
130	10.83 ft	3.61 yd	3.30 m
450	37.5 ft	12.5 yd	11.43 m
600	50 ft	16.67 yd	15.24 m
900	75 ft	25 yd	22.87 m
1200	100 ft	33.33 yd	30.49 m

Good to know damage formulas:

Here's the known condition damage formulae

Burning: (4 * Level) + (0.25 * Condition Damage) per second
Poison: Level + (0.1 * Condition Damage) per second
Bleeding: 2.5 + (0.5 * Level) + (.05 *Condition Damage) per stack per second
Confusion: 25 + (0.5 * Level) + (0.075 * Condition Damage) per stack per skill use

At level 80 that translates to...

Lvl 80	+0	+10 (trait)	+35 (might)	+100(10 traits)	+1434 (max)
Burning	320	322.5(+2.5)	328.75(+8.75)	345(+25)	678.5(+358.5)
Poison	80	81(+1)	83.5(+3.5)	90(+10)	223.4(+143.4)
Bleeding(per stack)	42.5	43(+.5)	44.25(+1.75)	47.5(+5)	114.2(+71.7)
Confusion (per stack)	65	65.75(+.75)	67.625(+2.625)	72.5(+7.5)	172.55(+107.55)

Unusable underwater skills (Glub glub glub...)
you cant use these underwater. it sucks.

Thieves guild
Dagger storm
Shadow refuge
Caltrops
tripwire
needle trap
shadow trap
ambush
smoke screen
blinding powder


Thread notes:
for our discussions you can use these abbreviations for weapons

D - Dagger
P - Pistol
S - Sword
Sb or Sbow - Short bow
Lb or Lbow - long bow
A - Axe
M- Mace
Sc - Scepter
F - Focus
T - Torch
WH - Warhorn
Sh -Shield
GS - Great Sword
H - Hammer
Sf - Staff
R - Rifle
HG - harpoon gun
Sp/Sr - Spear
Tr - Trident
X - any weapon in this slot

/ - used to denote dual wield configurations, the weapon on the left is the MH and OH is the right example S/P would be sword pistol
; - used to denote a second weapon set. example S/P;D/D means sword pistol and dagger dagger

Skill icons from http://wiki.guildwars2.com We love the wiki, love it back, help support it and update it or baby asura WILL Steal your underpants

[Larynx]

i liek te stabby stabbyz


1) Enemies do not autoface. NPCs will autoface after they finish the attack animation
2) The Thief videos imply that is correct. NPCs will not reset when you stealth.

[Glytch]

i liek te stabby stabbyz


1) Enemies do not autoface. NPCs will autoface after they finish the attack animation
2) The Thief videos imply that is correct. NPCs will not reset when you stealth.

eggcellent (lol moa steal)

[Deleted]

The Thief is actually the only class that haven't catched my heart that much compared to the other professions, bad memmories I suppose with other Thief like professions/classes

That's why i'm going to make one as my second character.

Also-

1) Enemies do not autoface. NPCs will autoface after they finish the attack animation
2) The Thief videos imply that is correct. NPCs will not reset when you stealth.

Quote this because it's true.

[Glytch]

trying to make interesting support builds

so far i think venomous aura (trait) combined with devourer poison, ice drake poison, and basilisk poison with be hilariously annoying esp with the improved venoms trait to help back it up

thrill of the crime looks like a neat support boost

and i love the change to shadow refuge to make an aoe heal zone

cloaked in shadow (renamed) as always looks useful, mostly for the damage thief that wants to help a little with support (like a dagger dagger thief)

[grandpab]

This video definitely belongs here...



He shows off a decent amount of abilities. He speaks a different language, but he still mouses over the tool tips before he uses the ability and in full screen the picture is clear enough to read what it does.

[Fencers]

I really like the dual pistol & dagger + pistol set up. Somewhat leaning toward a Thief in place of Warrior lately. Seems like Thieves are a condensed Assassin, and I enjoyed the high mobility playstyle in Factions.

[Loaf Lord]

I'm really liking the thief because of it's ability to escape combat, which a lot of the other classes don't seem to have that luxury save maybe the mesmer. If I go thief I'll probably be dual dagger/dual pistols, Maybe dual swords in place of daggers, but leaping death blossom seems too cool to pass up.

[Wynnyelle]

i liek te stabby stabbyz


1) Enemies do not autoface. NPCs will autoface after they finish the attack animation
2) The Thief videos imply that is correct. NPCs will not reset when you stealth.

I've seen a few videos of enemies auto-facing. Is this a bug? I was hoping that there wouldn't be auto-facing, and I was disappointed a little bit when I saw a video depicting it. I feel like I remember them stating that it was still buggy, but I don't know if I'm just imagining that or not.

[Larynx]

I've seen a few videos of enemies auto-facing. Is this a bug? I was hoping that there wouldn't be auto-facing, and I was disappointed a little bit when I saw a video depicting it. I feel like I remember them stating that it was still buggy, but I don't know if I'm just imagining that or not.

Most likely it's an animation bug.

Unless you mean players? If so, I don't know.

[Glytch]

I'm really liking the thief because of it's ability to escape combat, which a lot of the other classes don't seem to have that luxury save maybe the mesmer. If I go thief I'll probably be dual dagger/dual pistols, Maybe dual swords in place of daggers, but leaping death blossom seems too cool to pass up.

sword is a MH weapon only

[grandpab]

I've seen a few videos of enemies auto-facing. Is this a bug? I was hoping that there wouldn't be auto-facing, and I was disappointed a little bit when I saw a video depicting it. I feel like I remember them stating that it was still buggy, but I don't know if I'm just imagining that or not.

Best example I've seen is the warrior video that's been going around a lot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNXKR...feature=colike

Start at 3:20, you can see when the boss attacks it doesn't turn until the animation is over.

[Fencers]

I'm really liking the thief because of it's ability to escape combat, which a lot of the other classes don't seem to have that luxury save maybe the mesmer. If I go thief I'll probably be dual dagger/dual pistols, Maybe dual swords in place of daggers, but leaping death blossom seems too cool to pass up.

^ Yea, that sounds pretty fun. I enjoy vanish mechanics as I like to 'PULL EVERYTHING', hehe. Will say I am a little dismayed at no perma stealth though.

[Deleted]

The moment you "vanish" enemy will attempt to return to his post and then begin to regain % portion of his heatlh each second(maybe half a sec not sure), there is no evade kind of mechanics or insta full hp you know from WoW. You can engage enemy on his way back or any time during his healing process without any problems, this also allows for some nice kitting possibilities

[Loaf Lord]

sword is a MH weapon only

Didn't realize that, damn.

---------- Post added 2012-02-23 at 09:41 PM ----------

^ Yea, that sounds pretty fun. I enjoy vanish mechanics as I like to 'PULL EVERYTHING', hehe. Will say I am a little dismayed at no perma stealth though.

That is exactly the one thing that keeps from finally deciding thief. I really do like perma stealth, and the absence of it kinda made me sadface.

[Deleted]

Will say I am a little dismayed at no perma stealth though.

Using a dagger in your offhand you can vanish in stealth during combat any time you want without any cd, I think thats way better and more fun than perma stealth

[Fencers]

Using a dagger in your offhand you can vanish in stealth during combat any time you want without any cd, I think thats way better and more fun than perma stealth

I think you only get a reverse shadow stab. Which requires combat conditions. Which is the skill you are talking about? I might be off base.

[Deleted]

I think you only get a reverse shadow stab. Which requires combat conditions. Which is the skill you are talking about? I might be off base.

Skill Im talking about is Cloak and Dagger (5th skill) - reduce armor of your target and put you into stealth for a few seconds. No cd you just need to have enough initiative (energy) to use it

[Autumn xD]

The Animation for Black Powder (OH Pistol) seems to pulse 3 times, which I would guess to be 3 Blinds in the one ability.
Would it be safe to assume this? Seems strong for 5 ini.

[Loaf Lord]

Using a dagger in your offhand you can vanish in stealth during combat any time you want without any cd, I think thats way better and more fun than perma stealth

Well shit, that's awesome.