564 replies to this topic

[Lowell]

jthamind, on 24 December 2012 - 04:58 AM, said:

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.

I mostly use shadowstep for stomps and stunbreaks/escapes, not that much for condi removal. To make it useful you really shouldnt hesitate to use it. If you feel it's going to be of use, use it, the CD is rather short.

As for mesmers, I haven't had any problem with 99% of them recently, only 2 mesmers beat me more than ~20% of the time and one of them is in my team. Just shortbow them into cooldowns, never get immob/shatter combo'd (or you most likely lost your fight), don't use haste unless you know you're going to finish him with it (because you'll need your dodges), if you're using s/p swap from shortbow to s/p as soon as he fails a combo and daze him to death while spamming #1. If you're d/d, you should wait until at least 1 distortion is blown and don't use everything on the first burst unless he already had a shatter CD reset or used his 2 distortions.

Basically, as long as you don't get combo'd, you shouldn't lose. The most important thing is to not even try to melee him unless he failed a combo, otherwise he can just shatter around himself whenever you get into melee and kaboom woozah dabuh flash 14k damage you're dead

edit: talking about shatter mesmer btw, you should probably lose to a decent phantasm mesmer, but I don't want to state it as a fact because I haven't had to fight one in ages.

Edited by Lowell, 24 December 2012 - 09:34 AM.

[Faded913]

Lowell, on 24 December 2012 - 01:41 AM, said:

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!

interesting..mine is similar right now 10/30/0/20/10 can you please post your current build? thanks!

[Lowell]

http://gw2skills.net...GbNOak0ssYUw0CA

[Dragonhead]

First off, happy holidays and merry christmas Lowell!  

Anyways, have you been keeping up with the gw2 forums lowell?  There has been a lot of crying lately of a super crazy macro for thieves that can kill bunker guardians in 1.5 seconds, YES that is right 1.5 seconds.  Any thoughts on this and how it is done etc etc?

Here is the video.

[jthamind]

Lowell, on 25 December 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

http://gw2skills.net...GbNOak0ssYUw0CA

interesting build. could you give us some insight on how you play out a fight with that field? whether 1v1 or you and some of your team vs a few of theirs. i'm a huge fan of sword main hand, but i haven't used it since switching from a s/p glass cannon with haste and signets. i'm also curious as to how you benefit from Side Strike.

i'm just wondering how you approach fights with this build since it seems to be a mix of burst and survivability, and not just pure burst.

Edited by jthamind, 25 December 2012 - 09:30 PM.

[Lowell]

Dragonhead, on 25 December 2012 - 08:59 PM, said:

First off, happy holidays and merry christmas Lowell!  

Anyways, have you been keeping up with the gw2 forums lowell?  There has been a lot of crying lately of a super crazy macro for thieves that can kill bunker guardians in 1.5 seconds, YES that is right 1.5 seconds.  Any thoughts on this and how it is done etc etc?

Here is the video.

Thanks, I wish you the same!!
Yeah, I did not know how to reproduce the glitch (nor did I try to actually), but I knew of it and know the few guys using it. one of them uses a macro that's for sure, I don't know about the other one since he's the only thief I actually enjoy playing against  I hope he does it manually at least since it seems doable manually.

As for what I think about it, it's a glitch it should be fixed, that's all!

jthamind, on 25 December 2012 - 09:09 PM, said:

interesting build. could you give us some insight on how you play out a fight with that field? whether 1v1 or you and some of your team vs a few of theirs. i'm a huge fan of sword main hand, but i haven't used it since switching from a s/p glass cannon with haste and signets. i'm also curious as to how you benefit from Side Strike.

i'm just wondering how you approach fights with this build since it seems to be a mix of burst and survivability, and not just pure burst.

well, you'll mostly spam #1 and use your initiative to: cc for someone else's burst with immob/stun (s/p thief + shatter mesmer = op), stomps, rez, assist on your guardian's books with AoE blind or even to counter a plague form (GOTTA BLIND THEIR BLIND DAWG) and spam Head Shot like there's no tomorrow because it's overpowered. Focus on the heals, elites and rez signets obviously.
If at any given moment you can't do those, spam #1 and #2 with shortbow, profit.

You can play it with berserker's, I just had to use Soldier's because people want me dead most of the time and my mesmer mate provides enough damage to kill 20 people anyway.

Edited by Lowell, 25 December 2012 - 09:56 PM.

[Samexnyhi]

Hello Lowell,
Could a P/D build (with or without venom) work in tPvP ?
I really like these weapons, but I find myself not doing enough dammages to be as usefull as I wanted to be.

Thanks for your answers so far.

[chase128]

Quote

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.

Quote

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

This stealthy sword/dagger build looks interesting.  Can anyone give me a quick run down of combat strategies? I enjoy roaming around WvW, how would this build fare?

Edited by chase128, 28 December 2012 - 02:21 PM.

[Maldeor]

Lowell, on 25 December 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

http://gw2skills.net...GbNOak0ssYUw0CA

Hey Lowell, great guide, though some aspects of it seems a little outdated. It is still by far the best guide out there.
Why did you switch away from a venom sharing build? Is it not as viable anymore as it used to be or has something simply taken its spot?

Thanks for doing this!

[Rinoa Heartseeker]

Hey Lowell, is the Unicorn build still viable or would a Direct Damage build be better considering most people are still running GC?

P.S: This question mostly pertains to WvW.

[Riddler]

Heya

What is the name of the shortbow you are using in this video? I like the model

http://www.youtube.c...&v=_pr6gxULn00#!

[ilJumper]

Riddler, on 04 January 2013 - 11:43 PM, said:

Heya

What is the name of the shortbow you are using in this video? I like the model

http://www.youtube.c...&v=_pr6gxULn00#!

Vigil. Free Tourney Item

[Riddler]

ilJumper, on 05 January 2013 - 04:17 PM, said:

Vigil. Free Tourney Item

You wouldn't by chance know if there was a PvE equivalent to this skin would you?

[Rabenfeder]

Vigil Weapons

[Riddler]

Rabenfeder, on 06 January 2013 - 10:46 AM, said:

Vigil Weapons

Unfortunately the shortbow is different

[Lowell]

Hi! Indeed the PvP shortbow has a longbow skin, that's why it's amazing ;D

Anyway, I'm working on the update it should be online tomorrow or the day after. I'm sorry it took so long, I had to do a lot of stuff on Necro and Ranger for my team (≧ロ≦)

[Tyrionhellraiser]

hi lowell i need do a simple question...can you explain how to defeat a perma stealth rendering p/d thief? i play s/p, and it is difficult to face them, any tip is welcome XD
ty for the guide,I was and is very useful

[realmisr]

Tyrionhellraiser, on 08 January 2013 - 03:04 PM, said:

hi lowell i need do a simple question...can you explain how to defeat a perma stealth rendering p/d thief? i play s/p, and it is difficult to face them, any tip is welcome XD
ty for the guide,I was and is very useful

lay black powder down if you know they are coming close for c+d...without c+d, they only have 2 choices of stealthing which is blinding powder and shadow refuge, both with over 30s of cooldown. 30s is way enough time to down them.

#2 is your go-to tool, you can immobilize them (you can keep hitting them through stealth even if they try to stealth while immobilized) and you can hit #2 again to bail and cure their bleed. The problem with condi thieves is that they only apply 1 condition, so as long as you can cure your conditions fast, they do absolutely no damage.

[Condiments7]

Hey Lowell I've started using Sword/pistol again and I'm really liking the set. I made the switch from berserkers to soldier's amulet with the berserker's jewel, and its surprising how much survive-ability I've gained. The control options of the set when paired with a dps/burst partner are just awesome.

While its hard to deny how much haste compliments the set with pistol whip, I've been messing around with blinding powder and I really like the utility. The easy access to stealth on relatively low cool-down with plenty of applications makes it hard to pass up. I haven't been able to find a good warrior, but I think using blinding powder to mask his burst combos along with the set's control would be pretty good.

I also love the 30 in acrobatics for the sustain it gives me, but given the amount of boon spam going on in this game right now, I wonder if the boon stripping from trickery would be better for setting up combos for your partner. Taking things like protection and stability would be perfect for maintaining burst phases.

Also you gonna have any videos up of you playing with your team? I'd be cool to see your play-style in action.

[Thorfinnr]

Hey Lowell...I have enjoyed reading this, and its given me a lot to think about.

I was wondering, could you group the builds you would see as effective in W v W(maybe with some minor tweaks), for those of us just getting into that aspect of play with our Thieves? Some of them seem like they would do ok, but I'm not familiar enough with the mechanics and such as to pick out which ones to list for best variety in playstyles for W v W.

Hope that's not asking too awful much.

Thanks, and really enjoyed the guide for all the info!

[blowyourbrain]

lowell, dont you stream anymore ? =(

[Maldeor]

Condiments7, on 19 January 2013 - 05:34 AM, said:

. I haven't been able to find a good warrior, but I think using blinding powder to mask his burst combos along with the set's control would be pretty good.

While you might be able to mask his burst combos, you have to remember that Blind lasts as long as the skills says it does OR until your target attacks. After that first attack he's not blinded anymore. That means that you have to be close to him in order to blind him properly and you can only blind one attack. This is great if you blind his Bull's Charge, but to be honest, I think you're much better off just dodging the attacks. Remember that skill 3 on the Short Bow also dodges. That's pretty handy if you find yourself out of endurance. I'm not saying that Blinding Powder is bad, because it's not and it have a lot of applications, but for masking the burst I don't think it's your best option.

EDIT: Just saw that you're using S/P. You can also use Pistol Whip to evade, so you actually have a lot of dodges in that build.

[Dragonhead]

This game is so dead...lowell doesn't even update or post anymore.  GG gw2 =(

[Jan Roman]

To Dragonhead: sPvP is dead, that's why we are so eager to wait for the 28th when the update comes. I am level 8 Rabbit and it gets repeptitive already. I would say it's boring, but I have absolutely no motivation to play sPvP more, I just do my dailies and that's all.

[fafnr]

Im still laughing even months later that it takes a guide that huge to tell people to master 4 or 5 buttons.  lol