8 replies to this topic

[Eronaile]

I'd like your opinions on a truly thief-like 'Support & Damage' build:

Check it out here!


The idea is to boost your group's damage and control potential with 4 venoms.
Initiate with Stealing for 3 group boons.
Use your initiative mainly for laying Black Powder versus normal and silver mobs to blind them, then use your shortbow's blast finisher to stealth as many of your group as possible. This gives them 5 seconds or regeneration every time.
Against bosses you probably want to use a pistol in your main hand so you don't get killed in melee range.

This is a rather theoretical build and I have questions which maybe someoen can answer who already tried some stuff:

1. Does the extra application of 'Residual Venom' work on Basilisk Venom? And does it also apply to your groupmates who receive your venoms as well? (thanks to 'Venomous Aura')

2. Does the lifeleech of 'Leeching Venoms' trigger on each venomous attack or only once, after you applied a venom to a character?
Does it work on your groupmates, too? Via 'Venomous Aura'? This would certainly increase your healing potential nicely, beyond the meager Regeneration support.


Ideas? Opinions? And maybe someone would like to try it out?

Thanks in advance.

Eronaile

[redefinedmix]

http://www.guildwars...hief-guide-wip/  basically a guide to all venom supports for pvp but it can be used for pve =]

[Eronaile]

Not bad, thanks. So leeching and the additional venom application works on venoms shared with your allies as well. That's very nice.
Altho to make it really efficient you'd have to teach your allies to switch between targets regularly, especially when using Basilisk Venom.

But it vexes me greatly that all the build mentioned in that post do not use Basilisk Venom... should be a really strong skill in PvP. Or is it not?

[Perval]

Eronaile, on 11 September 2012 - 09:36 AM, said:

But it vexes me greatly that all the build mentioned in that post do not use Basilisk Venom... should be a really strong skill in PvP. Or is it not?

While I don't PvP, there seem to be mixed feelings about it.  If you've got multiple people nearby for PvP (which is less likely than PvE), then it's a decent Elite after sharing it.  The main issue is that the cast timer was increased to 2 seconds, which is just too long for PvP.  When you combine the slow casting time with people being more spread out in PvP, you're likely to only share it with 1-2 people at the most.  In this kind of situation, it's not as viable as our other Elite choices.

[Yamirashi]

Eronaile, on 11 September 2012 - 09:36 AM, said:

Not bad, thanks. So leeching and the additional venom application works on venoms shared with your allies as well. That's very nice.
Altho to make it really efficient you'd have to teach your allies to switch between targets regularly, especially when using Basilisk Venom.

But it vexes me greatly that all the build mentioned in that post do not use Basilisk Venom... should be a really strong skill in PvP. Or is it not?

This puzzled me too for a while until I found out it's because venom shares with the thieves from Thieves Guild... If you don't take that your sharing ability becomes nullified if you are caught solo. Sharing venom's with the summoned thieves is just too strong to pass up...

[Snikt]

To add to Yami's point, Ambush is also pretty crazy with a Venomshare (you can drop it in the middle of a fight for a near-guaranteed trigger).

[Omniabsent12]

That's basically what I've been running in dungeons and it's very strong.  With +condition gear you also lend a lot of damage from your poison and the bleeds from Cluster Bomb.

[Iximi]

I have been running a venom support build in EM dungeons: http://www.guildwars...sk-thief-build/

Works great so far; mine is slightly different than yours with higher condition damage and synergy with runes as you can probably see.

[teh_eria]

I tried Shadow Protector yesterday, and it wasn't really that great. Trying to time the black powder and weapon swap became a chore, and most of the time my party was moving around, so it had very little effect in dungeons. However, it does work on you as well, so if you slot it, you can regen every time you stealth.

I was with a ranger, and we found it much more useful for him to drop healing spring and have me cluster bomb it for area healing.