Loperdos

The first build I ever ran with (and the one introduced by Rachmani) follows a classic distribution of trait points that maintain decent crits and damage, provide survivability through stealth, and maintains high-uptimes on dodging.

SA Traits:
  
For leveling, SA V (Infusion of Shadow) and SA VI (Cloaked in Shadow) are absolutely necessary. The first returns two initiative per Cloak and Dagger (CnD) use, and will help in keeping CnD available. The second blinds all foes when going into stealth. This keeps you alive when tackling multiple mobs, and is indispensable in earliest levels. It’s the first trait you should take with S/D when leveling regardless of how you decide to play later in the game.

Other good options: SA I for the CD on Deception utilities, SA IV for ConD removal, and SA VII for dedicated Short Bow fights.

Acro Traits:

With the classic setup, we only have one major trait slot. The two best choices are: Acro II (Power of Inertia) and Acro III (Vigorous Recovery). The first gives might stacks on dodge, and the second Vigor on heal. Both help in staying up and maintaining damage.

Utilities/Heal:

Since the Classic build leans toward the stealth-side of thief play styles, Deception utilities are usually best. Shadow Refuge (iHouse) is indispensable for group play and personal survival. Blinding Powder is an excellent back up, but is a little redundant with a traited-CnD. Shadow Step (ShS) is a mega-version of InfS and is always good for extra condition removal and mobility.

Personally, I almost always have two signets on my bar: Signet of Agility (SofA) and Signet of Shadows (SofS). I like the extra movement speed and the precision. Plus, SofA offers a condition-cleanse and gives back two dodges.

When it comes to heal, Hide in Shadows (HiS) is good—more access to stealth and condition cleanse. But Withdraw works rather well, too, especially when traited to give Vigor.

Play Style:

The play style for the classic build follows a very regular pattern. You will always use Infiltrator’s Strike (InfS) to close the gap to the mob(s). It’s a fast panic button to get out of danger, and it’ll clear a condition.

Once you’re in melee range, you’ll use CnD for the stealth and blind. Then move around behind the mob and use your #1 attack for the 2-second Daze. You’ll follow this up by a full round of AA. Always try to get in a full AA-cycle, as your biggest damage come from the third hit.

When the AA cycle is over, you should be able to stealth again with CnD. Stay behind the mob(s) and use Tactical Strike (TacS) again, followed by AA. This cycle will also generate a rather decent amount of Might thanks to SA 25—I usually maintain 5–7 stacks depending on how long a fight goes.

That’s about it! Make sure to watch your InfS, and re-apply it when it drops off. You always want that escape route open. Use Flanking Strike (FS) and Larcenous Strike (LS) when necessary to evade an attack or steal a boon.

As a final note, don’t rely entirely on CnD and blinds to stay up. You do have good dodges, and decent evasion. Use them.

On-Swap Weapons:

This build pairs well with every other weapon set, so you have quite a bit of freedom with your on-swap weapons. I typical run with Short Bow (SB), however, for its all-around support, damage, and mobility.

This build drops five points in SA to take an extra Major Trait in Acro. It gains additional initiative-regen, dodging, or general survival depending on what you choose, and offers a more flexible base—especially when swapping to other weapon sets.

SA Traits:
  
For this line we have the same options as the Classic build, sacrificing only the Grandmaster-tier minor trait.

Acro Traits:

As with the classic setup there are only two good choices for the first slot: Acro II (Power of Inertia) and Acro III (Vigorous Recovery). However, the second-tier in Acro offers some decent traits. Acro IX (Quick Recovery) and X (Assassin’s Reward) both help with survivability. The former provides an extra point of initiative every 10 seconds, and the latter heals you a little bit for every point of initiative spent. Having extra initiative regen will make sure you have CnD available more often, and the heal will bump up your survivability.

Utilities/Heal:

Like the Classic build, the Hybrid should make good use of Deception skills and Signets. Because you have a higher initiative regen, you may not find yourself in as much need for mobility utilities (ShS or SofA), and can take some support-oriented skills. Smoke Screen (SmS) provides good support and blind for groups. iHouse is always useful.

Finally, Withdraw works best with this build, especially when traited to give Vigor. Instead of taking a Master-tier trait in Acro, taking both Acro II and Acro III will give you good uptime on Vigor, which means more dodges, which means more Might.

Play Style:

The play style for the Hybrid build is more or less the same as the Classic, but allows you to be a bit more free with your use of initiative. As such, you will have the freedom to use FS and LS regularly, maintain your cycle of CnD + AA, as well as avoid damage through porting (InfS). If you’re running with a group where stacking Might is not an issue, this may be a better setup, and allow you more flexibility.

On-Swap Weapons:

The Hybrid build allows for great flexibility in weapon choice. The extra initiative makes D/P a perfectly viable choice (given the high cost of BP). Additionally, P/P becomes more viable for the same reasons.

This build is, perhaps, my absolute favorite. The traits are very flexible across all weapon sets, and allow you to adjust to several different situations just by changing traits or utilities. The primary difference in the mobility builds, apart from the lack of points in SA, is the increase in initiative. Furthermore, the points in Acrobatics boost your survivability, and tack on a very good damage boost (more on this in the Play Style section).

Acro Traits:

Depending on where your play style settles, there are to main routes you can go with the traits in Acro. If you chose to emphasize dodges for both Might-stacking and survival, you can take Acro II giving Might on dodge, and Acro III giving Vigor on heal. In conjunction with Withdraw, you’ll have a decent uptime on Vigor, which means more dodging, which means more Might, which means more damage...you get the picture.

The alternative is to take Acro III in the first slot, but take Acro IX (Quick Recovery) in the second to make sure that your initiative stays full. In conjunction with Trickery (Tricks) 15, this will give you a deeper pool to draw from if you find yourself often using InfS, FS + LS, and other initiative-heavy skills.

With mobility builds, I recommend always taking Acro III in one spot or another, as it makes Withdraw extremely powerful.

Tricks Traits:

With the Acrobat build, the Tricks tree is primarily important for the minor traits. Tricks 5 gives you three initiative every time you use Steal. This changes how you use it, too. Instead of a simple gap-closer, Steal gives you a burst of initiative that can make the difference when you really need to get a certain skill off. Tricks 15 increases your initiative pool by 3. Both of these minor traits go a long way to increasing both your damage (makes it easier to take advantage of CS 25’s damage boost when initiative is over 6) and your flexibility.

For a major trait, we have several good options. Since S/D performs best from a flanking position, Tricks IV (Flanking Strikes) adds a near-constant 5% damage boost. Tricks V gives several good boons every time you Steal—which you should be able to do more often thanks to the CD-redux from the Tricks line. Lastly, if you find yourself kiting mobs often, Tricks III (Uncatchable) drops caltrops every time you dodge, crippling and bleeding enemies.

Utilities/Heal:

The utilities in this build follow the general pattern established above. SofA and SofS are both excellent choices—particularly SofA which refills your endurance on use. More dodges in a dodge-based build are always welcome.

Since you’re also working with a deeper initiative pool, Roll for Initiative (RfI) is very strong. It’s a good stun-break, will refill by half your initiative pool, and creates a good gap if you need a breather. Combined with Withdraw, you can put some serious distance between you and mobs in a matter of a second.

Finally, the Deception utilities are still strong with this build. Though not buffed through points in the SA line, they still offer good utility (iHouse and SmS), survival (BP), and mobility (ShS). You can’t go wrong with one or two of them on your bar.

Play Style:

The primary difference between the stealth builds and the mobility builds is, well, one relies on stealth and the other mobility. Though this may sound obvious, in practice it’s important to distinguish between the two.

In the Acrobat build, there is no set rotation of skills. You will not want to rely on CnD + TacS to lock down enemies and take them out. For the Acrobat, TacS should be used on a as-needed basis whenever a stun would help. But with this build, don’t try to spam TacS.

Instead, you’ll want to maintain Might stacks through consistent dodging, and use your dodges as your primary means of avoiding damage (obvious, maybe). Additionally, the 25-point minor trait in Acro adds 10% damage whenever your endurance is not full. This means you want to keep your endurance bar around 3/4 at all times. The damage boost is noticeable.

Lastly, always remember to get in a full rotation of AA as often as possible. Your damage is going to rely on you being able to get in, hit hard, and get back out. Becuase you have higher initiative pool, you can use FS + LS to stay in melee range, evade, and keep up the AA cycles.

On-Swap Weapons:

As with the stealth builds, the mobility builds work well with any weapon set on-swap. For the Acrobat build, I use P/P and focus on boon-removal and boon-steal (the linked build has this set up). The SB, as always, is a strong choice for the added mobility. Off-hand pistol becomes viable due to the larger initiative pool, and Black Powder (BP) isn’t as costly. For this reason D/P is also a strong choice.

Where the Acrobat build relies on dodges, the Jumper build relies on ports (teleporting skills/utilities). This build is the most glass-cannon you can get with S/D, and the damage is well-worth the fragility. You do need lightning reflexes, however, and a keen awareness of mobs’ attack patterns. You’ll have to be aware of the battlefield at all times, because positioning is absolutely crucial. Let’s “jump” in.

DA Traits:

We take ten points in DA for the boost to Steal alone. DA III (Mug) is a decent increase in damage, and now heals for a small amount. Because we’ll be taking 30 points in the Tricks line, Steal will be up quite often, and plays a significant role in this build.

If you’re hurting for survivability, you can drop these ten points into SA for the blind-on-stealth, or in Acro for Vigor-on-heal. But since this build is a full glass canon, I stick with Mug.

Tricks Traits:

The Trickery line minor traits make this build what it is. The Jumper build revolves around having a large initiative pool full at all times, and Tricks 5, 15, and 25 get us there. More on this in the play style section.

For the major traits, we have a few options. Because 30 points in Tricks reduces the CD on Steal, those traits affecting Steal are quite viable. When running solo, Tricks V (Thrill of the Crime) adds Might, Fury, and Swiftness which can boost your damage quite well. (Also, Steal can be used out of combat for the Swiftness when running open world.) When with a group that’s providing boons, however, Tricks IV (Flanking Strikes) is an excellent flat-damage increase.

For the second trait slot, the boon-strip from Tricks VII (Bountiful Theft) synergizes well the boon-steal of LS, and also provides Vigor which we lack by not taking points in Acro. Again, with the high up-time of Steal, this can be very strong.

Other options for the second slot are Tricks VIII (Trickster) if you want to make use of RfI, or Tricks IX (Initial Strike) to add another layer of initiative regen.

The final traits choice must go to Tricks XI (Hastened Replenishment). This skill turns Withdraw into a mini-Roll for Initiative, returning four initiative every time you use it. This helps keep your initiative pool topped up, which, for this build, is key.

Utilities/Heal:

As with the Acrobat build, the Jumper build has quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to utilities. Again, I will always suggest SofA and SofS. RfI is also very strong with this build for the reasons mentioned above in the Acrobat section.

My personal favorite is Shadow Step. Not only does it keep with the general theme of “jumping” around the map, it is made super-powerful in conjunction with InfS. Between the two, you can gap-close huge distances in a very short time span. Additionally, having InfS up on one side of the battlefield and ShS up on the other means you be wherever you’re needed most instantaneously.

The Deception utilites are also helpful, as explained above—you just can’t go wrong with iHouse. This is the only build where I’ll make a recommendation for Elite skill, as well. Because this build capitalizes on the power-house of the Sword’s AA, Basilisk’s Venom is actually quite strong. Not only will it lock down mobs long enough for a full AA-cycle, it also IGNORES DEFIANT. This is huge when you sweep in to interrupt a group-wiping attack or something of the sort.

Finally, Withdraw is the only heal you should take with the build. It’s a gap-creator, initiative regen, and CC remover. The Jumper build dies if it ever gets locked down, and Withdraw keeps that from happening.

Play Style:

What makes the Jumper build glass canon-ey are the 25-point traits in CS and Tricks. The former adds 10% damage whenever your initiative pool is over 6, and the latter adds 1% damage per point of initiative in your pool. This means that, whenever your initiative pool is full, your AA has an automatic 25% damage increase. When combined with Executioner and Flanking Strikes (remember, you should always be attacking from behind or the side), you’ll have a total 50% boost to your AA damage.

This is huge. It means that you do not need to use any initiative-consuming skill to do decent damage. In fact, you want to conserve your initiative as much as possible to keep your damage high.

The actual play style is relatively straight-forward. You’ll want to stand behind or to the side of your enemy, and cycle through AA as much as possible. Avoid using initiative-consuming skills unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, the name “Jumper” comes from this play style’s way of avoiding damage. Since you’ll have no points invested in SA or Acro, blinds/dodging/etc. are harder to come by. Instead, you’ll use InfS exclusively to avoid damage. Port into the mob, use AA, and when the mob winds up to attack, port back out. Rinse. Repeat. InfS is a low-cost mobility skill that shouldn’t hamper your damage, but allows you to completely avoid attacks, clear conditions, and give you some breathing room.

This creates a pace of battle that is crazy-fast, then sloooows down as you evaluate your next pass. Then you port back in, attack, and back out again. You need to be constantly aware of your surroundings and the flow of battle. I typically look for low-health enemies to go after, or any mob that’s chasing a ranged party member.

When combined with the port of Steal and the port in ShS, you can “stick” to your enemy almost indefinitely, and always have a way to get out. In WvW this is great for catching runners or other “slippery” classes, and I have a blast doing it.

As a final note, the Jumper build is very squishy, and if you get locked down you’ll most likely go down. The key to survival for this build is to simply not be there for the incoming attacks. The Jumper build also works great with a party where someone else has aggro and you can whale away on the enemy. It takes time to learn, but it’s a blast to play.

On-Swap Weapons:

The jumper build works well with any on-swap weapon set that has a hard-hitting AA. For this reason, SB offers a great combination of decent damage and maneuverability. For single-target, however, D/P is by far the best on-swap weapon set for the Jumper build. The Dagger AA hits hard and fast, and with a high initiative pool, you can keep BP up. For my purposes, I always have SB on swap when I’m running with the Jumper build.