My Thief is going to be using a Venom Share build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAqYVlUmCN3aS1E95EB3DjC1n6VgsaPopNjJA;TsAgyCtogxAjAGrPOYk+sCZEysDAMain Set: Pistol/DaggerAutoattack
Vital Shot stacks bleed. Every fight you should be looking at a full stack of bleed on the enemy. Your gear is set up to maximize the bleed duration and condition damage you do with this.
Skill 2
Body Shot applies vulnerability. A decent enough opener for combat but a rather weak skill overall. The least used of your abilities.
Skill 3
Shadow Strike is amazing. Instantly move out of melee range infinitely. Warrior closes in for the kill? Shadow Strike and you're out of danger. You can basically just stand there all fight clicking this ability each time you're in range going
"HEHEHE HOHOHO HEHEHE!" For PvE I'll often dodge roll forward through the enemy and use the ability to avoid maxing out the distance from spawn they can travel before they rubberband back. Note you must hit your target for the skill to work, which requires you be in melee range.
Skill 4
Dancing Dagger hits 4 times, procs physical projectile combo fields and cripples. Incredibly useful skill when used for a good combo. More for that later.
Skill 5
Cloak and Dagger is your second on demand melee avoidance skill. Instead of zipping you backwards like Shadow Strike you gain stealth. Do NOT use this one if your enemy is charging for a powerful attack, as stealth will not protect against damage, just avoid enemies targeting you. Use this when you're in a group and surrounded by enemies. The enemies will likely choose a different target instead, letting you get out of trouble and find a safe distance. It also lets you use your stealth combo attack, which for pistol is a rapid fire stacking large amounts of bleed or for your second weapon a single shot which immobilizes. Again note the skill must hit the target in melee to trigger.
Second Weapon: ShortbowAutoattack
Trick Shot bounces 3 times. Pulled multiple mobs? No problem. Wanna get exp from every enemy in an event and extra loot? Easy. Pull out your shortbow and spam this attack if you're too lazy to use any other ability and you'll still end up with max credit for any event requiring killing large numbers of trash mobs. You'll see lots and lots of sparkly bodies too, since because you hit them twice or more you get a shot at loot. It's a great powerleveling tool and used wisely can make a huge difference against waves of enemies. Downside? No condition ability attached and only 20% combo proc rate. For a freebie it's a good one and it's a fast attack, but if you wanna use a multitarget attack to proc off a combo you're better off going for Dancing Dagger.
Skill 2
Cluster Bomb. Yes, the damage is alright. Yes, it can cause bleed. All very nice, but one more thing.
Combo Finisher: Blast. If you see a combo field, drop this one into it. If you don't see a combo field, make one. Put down a Choking Gas and follow it with a Cluster Bomb for an AoE Weakness debuff. Make all enemies hit weaker and dodge slower? YES PLEASE! I don't explode my Cluster Bomb shots for this reason. This is the Thief's only Blast combo finisher and you can get some really great effects from it. Besides your own combo Weakness debuff, you can get combos with other classes for Dark (AoE Blind), Ethereal (AoE Chaos Armor), Fire (AoE Might), Ice (AoE Frost Armor), Light (AoE Retaliation), Lightning (AoE Swiftness), Smoke (AoE Stealth) and Water (AoE Healing). Probably you won't benefit from these because you'll be ten feet away from the action, but the melee will love you for the buffs. This is your Team Player skill, the one that makes you a valuable asset and brings the love.
Skill 3
Disabling Shot is another
"HEHEHE HOHOHO HEHEHE!" skill. Enemy too close? Leap backwards and evade with this one. Also applies cripple to the target so they're slower at catching you. Already a great sell, but there's one other feature of this skill that makes it even more delicious. This evade works even when you're immobilized. If you're chained to the ground and someone's about to smash a hammer through your impeccably stylish hat, timing this ability right can avoid all damage. It's a really cheap trick to use, perfect for a thief who is designed to avoid getting hit.
Skill 4
Choking Gas is an AoE poison that will probably be your opening move for this build. Hit every mob in a large area from a distance with a big stack of poison from a condition build? Mmmmm, tasty. See notes below on how traits make this even more attractive.
Skill 5
Infiltrator's Arrow is an aimed teleport. A little slow to use and the range can feel short at times, but it can make a significant difference in speed if you're moving up hills or running away from enemies. Also has a blind effect attached for kicks. I seldom use this one offensively in combat, but I'll see if that changes.
Utility Skills:Skill 6
Hide in Shadows is the strongest of all the heals in my opinion. Consider these arguments for it. First, the skill cures all DoT conditions. None of your weapon skills and only a few of your utilities (Shadow Step) cure conditions. The only other way you can protect against these is if you Trait for them, and you sacrifice a lot to do so. Second, it grants stealth, meaning when you're hurting you can instantly shed all aggro by healing. Let the enemy find another target while you lick your wounds. I've played with the other heals, but this one is by far the most useful.
Skill 7, 8 & 9 are all venoms. This is the bread and butter of this build. To start with, here's a few notes about venoms for those that haven't played with them. First, venoms are instant cast. Clicking them will not interrupt any current ability you're using. If you're charging up a cluster bomb for example, you can click the venoms while the animation is playing and apply them on your next hit. All three can be clicked together and stack on the next hit. Second, venoms don't need to be used in combat, and it's actually better to load them up beforehand. They'll stay on your weapon for 30 seconds after being triggered, more than enough time to find some trouble. Finally, there's an interesting stacking mechanism with abilities that hit multiple targets. From what I've noticed, attacks that bounce will proc the venom applied to each mob for every bounce and only remove one stack of venom from the weapon. Whether this is intended or a bug I'm not sure, but what this means is that the skill Dancing Dagger can apply one stack of venom four times. That means if you bounce the attack between two enemies, you double your venoms on both. For this reason, Pistol/Dagger is your go to weapon set, opening with a stack of venoms if you've applied them and then following with bleeds, shadowstepping back to stay out of trouble while your DoTs do the rest.
Skill 10
Thieves Guild is yet another option in your skill set to avoid damage. The two summons will deal decent damage, one using melee and scorpion wire on the target, the other doing ranged pistol damage and occasionally dropping a smoke field for some blind. The biggest use is during solo play to create something to take the heat off you when you're in over your head. Call out your little friends and stealth to buy some breathing space. Remember, a Thief doesn't believe in a fair fight. Stack the deck in your favor and bring some extra muscle.
Traits:The build takes 30 Deadly Arts, 30 Shadow Arts and 10 Trickery total. Deadly Arts brings a huge amount of synergy for venoms plus increased condition duration, Shadow Arts mainly brings a team dynamic to venoms, and the extra points go into Trickery for a small boost to condition damage and buff to stealing.
Deadly Arts:The free traits
Serpent's Touch (10 seconds poison on steal),
Lotus Poison (3 seconds weakness each poisoning) and
Exposed Weakness (10% damage on enemies with conditions) all synergize well with a venom based build. Lotus Poison also applies to your shortbow Choking Gas attack, becoming an AoE weakness debuff on its own that can then stack additional weakness duration if you combo with a Cluster Bomb.
Adept Trait:
Mug deals damage when stealing. So many thieves don't steal! It's a very random mechanic but can reward you when used right. The biggest downside to stealing is that it puts you into melee. Counter this by stealing, optionally using the stolen item immediately depending on the situation, then activating one of your escape skills such as Shadow Strike to put you back to ranged. Mug will add some extra pow to your steal.
Master Trait:
Quick Venoms make venoms cool down faster. Simple.
Grandmaster Trait:
Residual Venom makes all venom skills apply an extra stack. Extremely powerful and well worth the investment.
Shadow Arts:The free traits
Last Refuge (blind and stealth when health drops to 25%)
Meld with Shadows (+1 second stealth) and
Hidden Assassin (15s Might on stealth) combo well with the Cloak and Dagger and your heal Hide in Shadows. Using stealth is a great way to dodge out of danger and get whatever's chewing on you to go find something else.
Adept Trait:
Infusion of Shadow returns 2 initiative when stealthed. Effectively this drops the cost of Cloak and Dagger from 6 initiative to 4 initiative. It also means a small boost to your initiative pool when you activate your heal, but mostly it means Cloak and Dagger can be used more often.
Master Trait:
Leeching Venoms is a must for this build. Every time your venom is applied to an enemy you gain health. If you combo the venoms with Dancing Dagger you get even more health. This is where your extra survivability comes from, and why you will be keeping venoms on your weapons whenever they're off cooldown.
Grandmaster Trait:
Venomous Aura applies all your venoms to allies. Not only this, but extra boosts you have on the venoms carry over too. This means your allies are healed by Leeching Venoms, they apply 3 seconds of weakness with Lotus Poison, and they apply an extra stack with Residual Venom. The 2 seconds per hit of immobilize from Devourer Venom? Applied with this build and 4 party members, it becomes 30 seconds. Your cooldown on venoms is 36 seconds. In theory, with everyone spamming autoattack at range against a single target using nothing but this one ability, the target could only move for 6 seconds before being chained for another 30, whilst every ally is healed when hitting with a venom.
Trickery:The freebie
Kleptomaniac adds 3 initiative when stealing. The biggest advantage here is that it means you have no concerns about dodging back out of melee because Shadow Strike now becomes effectively 1 initiative to activate. You're in, steal, apply mug damage, poison and weakness, optionally use your stolen item and then back out in less than a second.
Adept Trait:
Thrill of the Crime add Fury, Might and Swiftness for 10 seconds to you and your allies. A nice bonus for using what's effectively a free ability.
Overall this one suits my playstyle down to the ground. Stay outta melee, hit the enemy with tons of condition damage and have plenty of escape options when the shit hits the fan.
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Topic: Guild Wars 2: Bookah Wars, you silly bookahs. (Read 188029 times)