killy.3278

I did try aristocracy, and in spvp at least, I didn't find it very reliable. Thorn runes inherently has +125 more condi damage built-in, so Might is only worth it if you can maintain 10+ stacks. In +1s there usually isn't time to build up Might, and in 1v1 I can't spare the initiative to blast for weakness, or periodically spend endurance every 3sec to proc Weakening Strikes. Ultimately, while the Might can get high, it's frequently not available when I need it for bursting. On the other hand, consider that a significant portion of the damage for this build comes from Choking Gas and poison bolt finishers, which are all low duration (2s) Poison applications. I find more often than not these tick for the full damage as people tend not to bother to use their cleanse on poison that doesn't last very long. So Thorn runes giving 50% duration increase is actually a significant damage boost to keep up pressure.

The build I posted uses Thorn runes, not anti-toxin.

Kathy, did you see my comment on this build from the other thread? Basically stack Trickery instead of Physical skills for cleanse so you don't need to run anti-toxin runes. You also gain more initiative, with the downside of having the "burst" on longer CD. I've been having success with it in spvp, but haven't really tried it in wvw. But in a wvw build I imagine it'd be something like:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAVVn0MB9OhlOBemC0PhFYCz7LEHWCzfwTYLULBEAKAA-j1xHQBKS9nDq8jN6CuoSQA8EAi3lAwd7PAA-w

Because it's about thief and only thief threads get moved apparently. Notice the other threads about profs(scrapper) or specific mechanics(rampage, arc divider) remain in pvp forum for cross-profession discussion. Whereas the thief threads about Daredevil nerfs and Daggerstorm get moved to individual forums to die in an echo chamber of thief mains. My comment may seem facetious but I really don't see under what criteria the threads get moved.

I actually ran a similar build in spvp before, but with emphasis on Trickery skills instead of Physical. The "burst" has a 6sec longer CD, but in return I had a lot more ini to play around with. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAVVn0MB9OhlOBemC0PhFYCT7PFAKAzfwTYL07LEHWCA-jJxBQBY4SAYw9H8SZAA8EAAA It was actually good at 1v1'ing a lot of common builds (e.g. warrior), but got hard countered by D/P so I didn't think much of it at the time. My variation of your build was largely untouched by the recent changes, so maybe I'll give it another spin now that I won't be running into many D/P thieves anymore.

Yea I'd like this route too. Having a 3ini on the only blind and ranged poke for staff can go a long way for dueling imo. That and fix staff2 reliability so the set has some real offensive options.

if you burn hard you can still pretty reliably get the decap, but I think the issue is that with other brawlers/sidenoders being a more mobile now, the value of decapping far has been greatly reduced. The whole point of decap is gain time for your team (in order to create fight imbalance) via the decap vs recap difference, and the time difference from forcing at least one opponent to run slowly between mid and far. The latter has shrunk significantly given a lot of professions can now run in between nodes pretty fast. So even if you do decap, the imbalance that thief was designed to create isn't nearly as impactful anymore.

Serious question, what pure condi thief build is there left for it to matter at this point?

lol 7char

Why would a thief want to interrupt any of those channeled blocks, as opposed to waiting it out and then interrupt the heal that will inevitably follow?

This. I'm really disappointed by the new traits layout. Basically no matter how you slice it, DD is forced to take one defensive trait and one damage trait. There's no room for optimization for the style the player prefers. So regardless of which combination you go with, both offense and defense ends up mediocre at best. I suspect ANET is scared of pve thieves stacking staff master + havoc specialist + weakening strikes. That's potentially +22% damage and 240 power, whereas previously staff DD already had competitive DPS in raids from the old traits granting +17% damage.

The initiative system and Shortbow5 are the reasons that thief can't be strong at actual fighting, which is honestly sad because both of those are supposed to part of thief's profession signature. The initiative system, together with the standard 10sec cooldown on weapon swap basically ensures that there will never be good synergy between different weaponsets while in combat, regardless of the weapon skills. Because unlike other professions, thief's class resource is shared between weapon sets, and a 10s CD makes it extra restrictive when it comes adapting to ever changing situations. With other profs you frequently see an offensive weaponset complimented by a defense set or an utility/cc set, rotating through them to juggle cooldowns and alternating the pace. Even rev with it's energy system regains up to 50% energy on legend swap by default, 75% when traited. Thief, when traited, only gets a pitiful 3ini lol. As a result, almost all meta builds will just have one optimal weapon for fighting, and one weapon for running (sb5). As long as this doesn't change, thief will always be a lesser force. Because from a 1vX perspective, it's effectively fighting with one hand tied behind it's back at all times.