14 replies to this topic

[Ultimos]

Hey there,

I was working on some various thief builds and stumbled upon this one. I, out of everything else, value mobility at its most. D/P helps me achieve that using Shadow Shot, allowing me to shadowstep to my target and do some serious damage with dagger auto attack and HS.

As for S/D, I've chosen it because it allows me to hit multiple opponents. I'm mostly interested in PvE and leveling, and like to take on many mobs at once, so this is a good thing for me.

Infiltrator's Strike is just amazing in my opinion, not to mention that it gives me the ability to evade and use stealth as well as the ability to cripple opponents.

What do you guys think of this? How would a build like 0/20/0/30/20 work out in this case?
Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks

[Phenn]

Just off the top of my head as a long time (as in, leveled with) S/D user:

S/D builds are usually (not always) built around the Shadow Arts tree. If you choose to go the route that you did (i.e. heavy on Acrobatics), the build is still viable. I'm actually messing around with the same kind of trait distribution in anticipation of P/P getting some love tomorrow. I'm running 0/30/0/25/15. If you're planning on doing most of your damage with the auto attacks of sword and dagger, and don't care much for the Tactical Strike or Backstab, you should be fine. Combining Withdraw and Vigor-on-Heal makes for an extremely mobile class.

To be honest, I'd be willing to give it a go just for fun. I've liked the non-typical set-ups, but I keep coming back to S/D no matter what I try. So maybe this may be the ticket.

[Ninja Battle Lion]

Ultimos, on 13 December 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

As for S/D, I've chosen it because it allows me to hit multiple opponents

Why not D/D?

[Ultimos]

Ninja Battle Lion, on 13 December 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

Why not D/D?

DB just uses way too much initiative in my opinion, and the sword hits multiple opponents without any initiative use, which allows me to use Infiltrator's Strike and Shadow Return when there's big attacks coming in to avoid them. If I used D/D with Shadowstep, 1) I would have to wait for the huge cooldown on shadowstep, 2) I wouldn't have initiative to hit more than 1 opponent after the second DB.

[Ninja Battle Lion]

Managing initiative on DB isn't too hard; even I can do it. And why bother with Shadowstepping? If you really must get somewhere RIGHT NOW instead of in 2-3 seconds, there's always Steal.

[Ultimos]

Steal goes on a long cooldown, and I don't use Shadowstep either. I use Infiltrator's Strike so I can move out of the way on big attacks. This is what bothers me :/

[Phenn]

DB is pure conditions. If you don't want to run conditions, DB is pretty pointless. That being said, the mobility of a S/D acrobat class is insane. So much fun to play and you're not spamming "3" over and over. In general, the sword is really, really good for mobility. Offhand dagger gives you so much access to stealth and its benefits it's insane, and D/P is hardcore single-target-irritate-your-enemy fun.

[Orpheo Lyra]

Why not S/P?

[Korra]

S/P is much more viable for the CC it has

D/P is one of my favourites farming sets, it has awesome dps plus a teleport to the mob with blind. The traveling time is almost 0.

70% of the time i use d/p in pve, now i pvp it kind of sucks balls since the gap closer locks you in place, remove that and ill declare d/p my favourite set forever and ever.

[The Shadow]

Sword in general is clunky.

S/P is just particularly crap.

D/P is quite awesome, but not because of Shadowshot, we have plenty of gap-closers anyway. It's awesome due to rupts and HS through stealth combo field to enter stealth not to mention PBAoE blinds.

D/D is great, but /D nerf sucks.

Use SB for AoE.

Edited by The Shadow, 21 December 2012 - 02:49 PM.

[mofogie]

i dont find S/P that bad.  pistol whip is the thief's version of hundred blades, and hits nearly as hard.  I tried different sigils, and got good results with high crit, and double sigil of rage.  Got about 3-4 haste procs per minute.   The haste procs were a massive boost in dps.  

i prefer DD/shortbow still, but i dont think S/P is that lacking.

[The Shadow]

mofogie, on 22 December 2012 - 09:22 AM, said:

i dont find S/P that bad.  pistol whip is the thief's version of hundred blades, and hits nearly as hard.  I tried different sigils, and got good results with high crit, and double sigil of rage.  Got about 3-4 haste procs per minute.   The haste procs were a massive boost in dps.  

i prefer DD/shortbow still, but i dont think S/P is that lacking.

Great point here.

PW is the Thief equivalent of Warrur 100b.


More reason to further fuel my hatred towards the blight known as S/P.

[Teilion]

S/D has niche uses for shaving boons off bosses but aside from that it suffers from less DPS than S/P. Unless you're mashing C&D and Flanking, you also run the risk of sitting on tons of initiative since auto-attack is simply your best damage option on this set.

D/P is amazing for open PvE or any 1v1 situation. Well-rounded burst, CC and with blind all day.  The only real drawback is the lack of cleave which may or may not drastically lower your DPS against trash. Also, Black Powder wins the PvE.

[Korra]

I sold my offhand dagger by error today on the emrchant and i didnt realize it before it was too late.

Now im being forced to play D/P in WvW.

Im just gonna say, best set ever.

You can BP any melee and down him with AA + HS. Interrupt anything dangerous and shit, BP+HS+BS is awesome.

[Maple]

EDIT: *. Wrong section. I only 5v5.

Some D/P thieves say that it gives them more utility. Yet you'd need to take an alternative stealth to replace cloak and dagger.

S/D is just as viable as backstab, yet you are sacrificing some burst-damage for more crowd control. I think S/D is rather sexy, because it allows you to infiltrator strike treb repair, and infiltrator strike doubles as a stunbreak + escape mechanic which requires much less initiate than spamming shortbow 5.

Now with the new patch that has hit thieves so hard, it is difficult to switch between builds. I would say practicing D/D is best for newbs so that they can transition to caltrops thief on foefire, yet a sword is essential for repairing on khylo. It also makes stealing NPCs very easy.

So it really depends - is my team CC'ing for me? If not - I want the extra utility of an offhand pistol. If so, then my D/D backstabs will land just fine. But S/D's tactical strike has some excellent implications for mindgames, and if leaving combat is your primary method of healing and your team does not have rezzing potential (signet undeath, rune of mercy, knockbacks, guardians) then I personally prefer sword for the infiltrator strike. Just remember- you cannot stunbreak while knocked down.

- Maple Maple

Edited by Maple, 22 December 2012 - 09:44 PM.