564 replies to this topic

[Voland]

Hey Lowell,
What is the state of D/P builds right now? Are they viable or much more inferior to S/P? What about higher ini build? 0/30/0/25/15?

Btw. thanks for your posts! Awesome work

[LifeScarcity]

I feel like you wanted/forced(or whatever) to play another role than a burst thief in your team and you came up with this build.(you have only 1 haste per 60sec to burst down a opponent.)

Idk if I dont see a stream you playing with that build I cant see any benefit for me and my team.

Edited by LifeScarcity, 09 December 2012 - 11:22 AM.

[daki]

LifeScarcity, on 09 December 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

[...]another role than a burst thief[...]

you're talking about his newer S/D build with 30 in acrobatics? why should this build take another role in a team? you're still almost as bursty as before, but got way more survivability.

[Lowell]

Hi! Yes, I do lose burst but I gain melee AoE, survivability and 3 of the best cc whenever I want (immob, stun, daze) which means extremly easy setup for your and your team mates' bursts (shatter mez + s/p thief, glhf dealing with that). You're a little bit less Rocky and a little bit more of his coach, see what I mean?

[Dragonhead]

Hey lowell, I tried your build and its very great with the 30 points into acrobats instead.  My question is though that the build lacks some burst.  I am trying to farm glory to rank up faster in sPVP and was wondering if you have a more bursty build? Something "cheesy" i guess?  could you link an updated build??

Edited by Dragonhead, 10 December 2012 - 08:47 AM.

[metalsazz]

Hey Lowell, do you a chance to talk to some of the devs in a more casual manner?
And how often do you get a chance to communicate or play with the players from the other team?

[Lowell]

Dragonhead, on 09 December 2012 - 06:31 PM, said:

Hey lowell, I tried your build and its very great with the 30 points into acrobats instead.  My question is though that the build lacks some burst.  I am trying to farm glory to rank up faster in sPVP and was wondering if you have a more bursty build? Something "cheesy" i guess?  could you link an updated build??

Hi! Any 25/30/0/0/15 build can accomplish that

metalsazz, on 10 December 2012 - 06:11 PM, said:

Hey Lowell, do you a chance to talk to some of the devs in a more casual manner?
And how often do you get a chance to communicate or play with the players from the other team?

I wish!
Quite a lot actually, since a lot less teams are active there are a lot of mix-team groups in paid =)

[metalsazz]

Lowell, on 11 December 2012 - 01:05 AM, said:

Hi! Any 25/30/0/0/15 build can accomplish that




I wish!
Quite a lot actually, since a lot less teams are active there are a lot of mix-team groups in paid =)

Do you think some of the changes coming to Spvp would help bring back more people, whats your thoughts on that?

[Lowell]

I'm not expecting people to come back before a proper ladder & monthly tournaments are online ^^

[Dragonhead]

is the game even worth playing right now lowell?  I mean I feel like arenanet really dropped the ball on this one.  I mean no ladders? seriously? a game that is so focused on PVP and esports doesn't even have a ladder yet.  What is there to do in this game besides pvp? What do you usually do now in game?

[CLouD PR]

Dragonhead, on 11 December 2012 - 06:59 AM, said:

is the game even worth playing right now lowell?  I mean I feel like arenanet really dropped the ball on this one.  I mean no ladders? seriously? a game that is so focused on PVP and esports doesn't even have a ladder yet.  What is there to do in this game besides pvp? What do you usually do now in game?

I'm not sure if this post is appropriate in a thread about thief pvp. I currently run tpvp in NA with a team from Singapore and I can assure the scene is still quite alive.

Lowell, on 11 December 2012 - 06:56 AM, said:

I'm not expecting people to come back before a proper ladder & monthly tournaments are online ^^

As for the guide, I'm just curious about a few things (with respect to the NA scene because that is where I play)
First, the d/d backstab builds seem to be used 99% of the time. I understand that your thread is mostly about variation in thief pvp builds, but I was wondering if you could let me know what the most effective d/d backstab build is as it is very common to see, but I don't really know what utilities to take and the major traits for a 25/30/0/0/15 build.

Secondly, I know you mentioned a s/d bunker ele in the talks video with the dev featured on gw2guru. Can you elaborate (traits and utilities) on how this build works as it is very uncommon in the NA tpvp matches. Most of the matches involve fighting aurashare d/d elementalists that do quite a bit of burst. What do you recommend doing when fighting these eles with huge burst in tpvp?

I am posting just so I can help a thief in my guild who is a bit new to thief and seems to die easily in teamfights often. If you have any tips regarding the matter, it would be much appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

[Lowell]

Dragonhead, on 11 December 2012 - 06:59 AM, said:

is the game even worth playing right now lowell?  I mean I feel like arenanet really dropped the ball on this one.  I mean no ladders? seriously? a game that is so focused on PVP and esports doesn't even have a ladder yet.  What is there to do in this game besides pvp? What do you usually do now in game?

Is the game worth playing? Yes, I love this game so why not!
Is it worth trying hard every game? No, I think I can count on 1 hand the ammount of matches my team tries hard during an entire week.

CLouD PR, on 11 December 2012 - 07:17 AM, said:

I'm not sure if this post is appropriate in a thread about thief pvp. I currently run tpvp in NA with a team from Singapore and I can assure the scene is still quite alive.



As for the guide, I'm just curious about a few things (with respect to the NA scene because that is where I play)
First, the d/d backstab builds seem to be used 99% of the time. I understand that your thread is mostly about variation in thief pvp builds, but I was wondering if you could let me know what the most effective d/d backstab build is as it is very common to see, but I don't really know what utilities to take and the major traits for a 25/30/0/0/15 build.

Secondly, I know you mentioned a s/d bunker ele in the talks video with the dev featured on gw2guru. Can you elaborate (traits and utilities) on how this build works as it is very uncommon in the NA tpvp matches. Most of the matches involve fighting aurashare d/d elementalists that do quite a bit of burst. What do you recommend doing when fighting these eles with huge burst in tpvp?

I am posting just so I can help a thief in my guild who is a bit new to thief and seems to die easily in teamfights often. If you have any tips regarding the matter, it would be much appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

I'll answer in details a little later in the evening, got a few things to do right now. I need to update the main page aswell, some thing are just THAT out dated and some of the builds useless x)

[Condiments7]

Lowell, on 09 December 2012 - 03:39 PM, said:

Hi! Yes, I do lose burst but I gain melee AoE, survivability and 3 of the best cc whenever I want (immob, stun, daze) which means extremly easy setup for your and your team mates' bursts (shatter mez + s/p thief, glhf dealing with that). You're a little bit less Rocky and a little bit more of his coach, see what I mean?

Great thoughts about S/P. I ran the set before but was turned off by how 'rigid' the set felt with moves like pistol whip and black powder. I might give it a run with you suggestions.

I wanted to here your insight on the S/D set. Obviously the set has innate problems(Flanking strike pathing blargh), but many benefits as well. With Cloak and Dagger you have for access to stealth, which means more survivability and tactical strike dazes. You think there are any other issues in terms of viability besides the obvious(flanking strike) compared to sets like S/P and D/D?

[jthamind]

i'm running your sword/pistol "cookie cutter venom share" build, and it's working great so far. i just have a question about Skale Venom. i noticed in every one of your links to the build editor for venom builds, you always use ice drake, spider and devourer. do you think skale is bad, or not as useful, or something else? i'm just curious what your thoughts are on it, whether it can be useful in some situations, or whether the other three are always better.

[ilJumper]

No matter what i try I dont like 30 acrobatics on pistolwhip.. I dont see any improvement on survivibility due to the fact haste removes your endurance.

I keep going back with 10 30 5 0 25 :/

I wonder if its worth taking critical haste and rage sigil over flanking strike and air sigil

[Lowell]

Condiments7, on 12 December 2012 - 04:34 AM, said:

Great thoughts about S/P. I ran the set before but was turned off by how 'rigid' the set felt with moves like pistol whip and black powder. I might give it a run with you suggestions.

I wanted to here your insight on the S/D set. Obviously the set has innate problems(Flanking strike pathing blargh), but many benefits as well. With Cloak and Dagger you have for access to stealth, which means more survivability and tactical strike dazes. You think there are any other issues in terms of viability besides the obvious(flanking strike) compared to sets like S/P and D/D?

I think S/D is good as it is, any set with main hand S is good from my PoV, the #1 combo does such a big ammount of damage, the 2 brings so much to you and your team, etc. However, I think pistoll offhand is superior due to black powder & headshot, but that's just me.

jthamind, on 14 December 2012 - 10:37 PM, said:

i'm running your sword/pistol "cookie cutter venom share" build, and it's working great so far. i just have a question about Skale Venom. i noticed in every one of your links to the build editor for venom builds, you always use ice drake, spider and devourer. do you think skale is bad, or not as useful, or something else? i'm just curious what your thoughts are on it, whether it can be useful in some situations, or whether the other three are always better.

I don't dislike it, I just think chill & immob are too good not to take, especially when you can trait them. You can consider swapping poison and the other, but then again applying poison is going to apply weakness anyway :/

ilJumper, on 15 December 2012 - 06:47 PM, said:

No matter what i try I dont like 30 acrobatics on pistolwhip.. I dont see any improvement on survivibility due to the fact haste removes your endurance.

I keep going back with 10 30 5 0 25 :/

I wonder if its worth taking critical haste and rage sigil over flanking strike and air sigil

yup, I'm trying to go without haste for that or not use it unless we're going to get a 100% secured stomp or so. Still working on it! Been loving shadow trap, but that's just because people dont know how to play against it atm, Tripwire has proven surprisingly good. Considering Signet of Agility / Blinding Powder again. Just a lot of possibilities to try and the need to settle on one after this patch

As for the trait/sigil for quickness... mmm... well it's double edged. Sometimes you'll get that quickness kill & stomp in no time, somtimes you'll get the quickness when you can't use it anymore. Higher risk higher reward than the other setup imo!

For now, I'm enjoying my super stupid unload spec, I want to force guardians to play with wall of reflection so that everyone agrees that it's OP when traited soon™

[daki]

Super stupid unload spec looks like what?

[Lowell]

http://gw2skills.net...IbRuikFtsYUwkCA

something around these lines, can swap Roll for something else, devourer venom, blinding powder, signet of shadows, shadow trap, haste

[Condiments7]

Hm, switching for signet of agility on my 10/30/0/30/0 would definitely buff my survive-ability, as conditions are my damn bane, but I just freaking blow people up with haste. I guess I'll have to see whether the extra dodges and condition removal would be more useful than a clutch take down/stomp. I guess it depends on the opponents.

I might have to try out 10/30/5/0/25 but I'll feel like I'll miss the extra dodges. XD Just more testing to do.

[ilJumper]

PW is useless without haste so i guess duel dagger would been better?Do you use p/p in tourney?

Edited by ilJumper, 16 December 2012 - 11:06 PM.

[jthamind]

i run a venom build and have no problems landing Pistol Whip without haste. an immobilize and a chill keeps them in place well enough for me to land my PW's, plus i always have Mug to land a free one, with or without venoms.

[ilJumper]

jthamind, on 16 December 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

i run a venom build and have no problems landing Pistol Whip without haste. an immobilize and a chill keeps them in place well enough for me to land my PW's, plus i always have Mug to land a free one, with or without venoms.

Pistolwhip without haste does less damage then auto attack

[Zino]

which rune is better orge or rage?

[Faded913]

hey lowell long time just curious what build are you using these days and have you made any changes? also any plans to make another youtube video? Thanks and happy holidays!

[jthamind]

what's the best weapon set and build to run for a stealth-based thief atm? i noticed you have a dagger/pistol stealth build in your post, but that doesn't look like it would fit my style much.

how good is sword/dagger for a stealth build? i really want to stay away from dagger/dagger if i can.

also, let's say i did want to go sword/dagger for this stealth build that you have listed under pistol/dagger builds:

http://en.gw2skills....GbMuYkxssYYxECA

if i changed to s/d, what are some changes to the build you would suggest, if any? i'm guessing that would get rid of the need for Shadowstep since i'll have Infiltrator's Strike.

also, thanks a bunch for this guide and for constantly helping people out with your info. it's been a lot of help.

Edited by jthamind, 22 December 2012 - 04:28 PM.

[jthamind]

ok, i just tried out your D/P stealth build for a few matches. the last match i did, i was top scorer with no deaths and had a bunch of kills. it was really fun. and i can see the benefit of dagger main hand for Backstab while stealthed. but i'm curious, what is your opinion on D/D stealth as opposed to D/P? i really didn't have a need for pistol #4/5. i know Black Powder can combo with Heartseeker for stealth, but that's a lot of initiative to waste. i would prefer to have the ranged cripple and an easy stealth with dagger #5.

basically, for this build D/D 4/5 seem much better than D/P 4/5, but D/P 3 is better than Death Blossom.

is there something i'm missing, though?

Edited by jthamind, 22 December 2012 - 08:38 PM.

[ilJumper]

Lowell stop slacking!

Why take S/P without haste? PW does less damage then auto attack without haste

[Samexnyhi]

Hi Lowell, I would like to know why you don't use signet of Agility with haste anymore ? It seems to me that's a good counterpart to the cons of Haste.

[Lowell]

ilJumper, on 16 December 2012 - 09:54 PM, said:

PW is useless without haste so i guess duel dagger would been better?Do you use p/p in tourney?

I wouldn't say useless! But as I said you're there to setup more than burst yourself imo! I'm back to haste anyways I used P/P during 2 days for the lulz, until I couldnt kill a S/D ele and cried all the tears in my body.

Zino, on 20 December 2012 - 03:24 PM, said:

which rune is better orge or rage?

Runes that give fury are potentially the highest damage increase you can get, but I wouldn't run rage for it. I'd run 5 citadel 1 divinity. However, I kinda like my ogre doggy D: I mostly switch between those 2 atm.

Faded913, on 22 December 2012 - 04:23 AM, said:

hey lowell long time just curious what build are you using these days and have you made any changes? also any plans to make another youtube video? Thanks and happy holidays!

Hi! still rolling with a 10/30/0/30/0, utilities being haste, shadowstep and either shadow refuge or signet of agility. I'm planning to work on the guide during the holidays, but the simple fact of re-reading it and seeing how many things I have to change made me want to cry. Should be working on videos with the entire team, stay tuned!

jthamind, on 22 December 2012 - 04:31 AM, said:

what's the best weapon set and build to run for a stealth-based thief atm? i noticed you have a dagger/pistol stealth build in your post, but that doesn't look like it would fit my style much.

how good is sword/dagger for a stealth build? i really want to stay away from dagger/dagger if i can.

also, let's say i did want to go sword/dagger for this stealth build that you have listed under pistol/dagger builds:

http://en.gw2skills....GbMuYkxssYYxECA

if i changed to s/d, what are some changes to the build you would suggest, if any? i'm guessing that would get rid of the need for Shadowstep since i'll have Infiltrator's Strike.

also, thanks a bunch for this guide and for constantly helping people out with your info. it's been a lot of help.

I'd do that: http://gw2skills.net...GbNOak0ssYYxECA

jthamind, on 22 December 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

ok, i just tried out your D/P stealth build for a few matches. the last match i did, i was top scorer with no deaths and had a bunch of kills. it was really fun. and i can see the benefit of dagger main hand for Backstab while stealthed. but i'm curious, what is your opinion on D/D stealth as opposed to D/P? i really didn't have a need for pistol #4/5. i know Black Powder can combo with Heartseeker for stealth, but that's a lot of initiative to waste. i would prefer to have the ranged cripple and an easy stealth with dagger #5.

basically, for this build D/D 4/5 seem much better than D/P 4/5, but D/P 3 is better than Death Blossom.

is there something i'm missing, though?

in 90% situations, D/D stealth is easier and more efficient. The other 10% being if the enemy team plays only ranged builds with a lot of cripple/immob/chill that would make you miss C&D

ilJumper, on 23 December 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

Lowell stop slacking!

Why take S/P without haste? PW does less damage then auto attack without haste

I know I need to stop slacking, but it's sooo hard! Well, because auto-attack already does a retarded ammount of AoE damage would have been my answer..... but I'm back to haste D:

Samexnyhi, on 23 December 2012 - 06:53 PM, said:

Hi Lowell, I would like to know why you don't use signet of Agility with haste anymore ? It seems to me that's a good counterpart to the cons of Haste.

Because my team captain wants to burn me whenever I dont bring shadow refuge to the table. However, I've been sneaking my lovely signet in a few games here and there lately... so hopefully...... !!


Anyway guys, I promise to revamp the mainpage during those holidays and I apologize for slacking off for so long.

Head Shot. OP. Never. Forget. ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

[jthamind]

Lowell, what types of situations do you use Shadowstep in? i've been bringing it with me since you suggested it in the build, but i don't use it as often as i would, say, Infiltrator's Strike. when i use Shadowstep, i almost feel like i'm forcing myself to use it since it's there, and thus am using it incorrectly. i feel like it's a great tool in the right build, but i just don't feel like i'm utilizing it well enough. or is it more of a preference thing as far as bringing it? for the record, i'm running d/d atm.

also, do you have any other suggestions for how to fight mesmers in addition to what you have in your first post? i play a thief and elem, and i feel like i'm i'm wading through a constant sea of shit trying to reach a mesmer with all the clones in the way. it's not hard for me to tell which one is the mesmer, it's just such an annoying and difficult matchup for me (less so on elem since i'm more durable). i honestly usually run away if i'm heading somewhere and see a mesmer headed my direction. i know fighting them is the best way to learn, but man...they piss me the hell off. lol.

Edited by jthamind, 24 December 2012 - 04:58 AM.