Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497

> @Elxdark.9702 said:

> Deadeye will never be viable in PvP unless they change the mark and malice mechanic.

>

> It doesn't really matter if you buff rifle to do 12312312 more damage or improve traits or whatever, the fact that mark is stupidly inferior to steal it's enough for deadeye to be out the meta.

> Malice is the opposite of thief goal, thief needs to be fast, killing targets quickly move and jump into another fight as soon as you can, you can't do that with malice because you need to wait to actually do damage.

> You can also add kneel which is horribly bad designed for pvp.

>

> Conclusion : Deadeye is not going to be viable or at least playable in top tier unless they change its mechanics (mark/malice/kneel).

You must suck in PvP with deadeye then. Deadeye slams players and can be an absolute bastard when defending points. "Just walk behind a wall and Deadeye is useless?" There are normally no walls on the point. You want that point you gotta survive getting gunned down.

Most of the bad ones I've been seeing have been relying on the fact that Daredevil had so much mobility that they forgot how to move around and take opportunities when they can. That, or they don't understand that their utilities are meant to be used. Can't tell you how quickly "Binding Shadow" became my number one cantrip. The only sign of it coming is the thief raising his hand up into the air, which can be for a number of things. If you can count that small delay, you can ruin them before they recover, as well as get a massive spike of damage from your runes for disables and knock downs.

> @zengara.8301 said:

> Well......The sniper rifle literally is meant to be a modern sniper, even if you remove the obvious picture of a sniper, the sniper position on 1 knee (from other games, reality, of cause, is different.....but so is it with gunslinger) and the difference in gunslingers being more heavy when moving and shooting.......the name of the traits literally say Sniper covers and silent scope, but it really does not matter, you can change it to gunslinger I guess, if you remove the traits and focus on the PP play. Can not deny that the actual elite specialization is meant to be a sniper, like from Overwatch tho.

>

> How would you want the rifle fixed, like what would be the purpose of it? Rifle and PP even with the f1 being ranged isnt really good for anything beside picking people off in wvw (roaming), not even dungeons.

> I get that we have a difference in opinion, I generally dont know what you do in the game, I play WvW mainly and sometimes raid that is probably why I wanted thief to be part of that melee train without getting destroyed at the first push.

>

> Well probably not firearm classes, but there are more long ranged than close ranged classes (if we look at meta, of cause anyone can be melee, even elementalist, and anyone can use 100% of their time in Gw2 just enjoying the nature of the game while only collecting mining, like what was thought about BDO......but there is always a main way people generally play, and a main way the company moves the game on)

If you want to cherry pick, sure... Silent Scope and Sniper's Cover means deadeye is exclusively a sniper.

If you look at the other traits you got...

"Be Fast or Be Killed" Which is a dude holding two six shooters. The trait is basically a quick draw that allows you to rapidly burst a player down before he even gets a chance to react. A common trait for a western fantasy gunslinger is how fast they are at getting a bead and shooting someone from afar with a winchester or colt 45.

Peripherial Vision: Which is far more important to a gun slinger than a Sniper.

Maleficent Seven: A direct reference to a western gunslinger movie.

One in the Chamber: Which uses the image of a bullet loaded in the Cylinder, really did not become a thing till the days of the repeaters and six shooters.

If anything, Deadeye is more like the main character of a western movie like Winchester 73, Tomb Stone, or Highnoon.

Hell when I play deadeye, I don't think I'm Widowmaker. I see myself as a western outlaw riding on the back of a Raptor, and armed with a god damn repeating rifle and two smoke wagons.

Or, just lower the condi-damage and increase the duration to give the same damage per stack, but the full damage will not be realized till a little later. Anet stated that Condi was meant to be more useful for things that will take a long time. Where Power is immediate. If you are fighting a bunch of low health players, power is typically better. But when they start bunkering, or you are dealing with bosses, suddenly Condi shines.

> @Dedricus.3091 said:

> Hey all.

>

> On and off player for several years now. PoF caught my attention and I'm loving many of the changes so far! I have noticed there are raids now since HoT and based on a couple of the videos I've watched, it looks like Mesmers are used as the primary tank. I was wondering, in a serious setting, if there are any other options for tanks? I've seen older videos with guardian tanks but it seems like the more recent stuff strictly adheres to Chronomancers. Any input/diversity to speak of?

>

> Anything helps and thanks in advance!

I did it against Goreseval with a Deadeye. I literally just hunkered down with kneel, iron-sights, and dodge rolled out of the way when I saw something bad. I was sober. My static raid squad didn't give two shits (nor do we really follow the meta...)

Just remove the god damn 1 second cool down from the thing.

> @kash.9213 said:

> I use it with about face for map travel but as janky as it is, I still use it a lot in fights also. I think as with most things DE, you try to think at least two steps ahead so you can use DE stuff at least one step ahead and it sort of works out. I get most complaints about it and I'm on board with them even if I'm not having much trouble with the skill. I think my main gripe right now is that I can flip backwards off of a cliff or down to another level, but I can't about face and take the same trajectory upwards. Let me do both or let me do neither.

As useful as it is, the bug that is STILL on it that will WASTE the thief's precious initiative is STILL completely unacceptable. Meanwhile the other specs are getting plenty of bug fixes :/

The Sand Lions are the ones with the block projectiles ability. This is not just a problem with deadeye, this is all classes. It just happens to be that Deadeye is the only one that can reliably remove that stupid buff at range with his sneak attack instead of needing to burn a utility or something.

My guess is they introduce these creatures to force you to use other weapons. Sword Dagger works pretty damn well on mobs with reflect projectiles, block projectiles, can not be killed at range.

But this is nothing to complain about yet. Wait till you have to deal with a Deadeye's (yours or someone elses) Veteran/Legendary shade. They will just start popping people off if not dealt with immediately.

Shadow Magic and Death Magic would not be inherently evil. The both are just tools, and they only harm people if the user wants to.

As for Shadow Magic being Death Magic, no. The two have completely different functions. Shadow Magic would likely be conjuring shadows, or the lack of visible light, and focuses more heavily on trickery and deception. Death Magic is dealing with lost souls.

> @kash.9213 said:

> Same with Rifle running animation. Instead of looking like a sharpshooter shifting around we look like we're charging with bayonets. It's frustrating because both staff and rifle have a few really good animations and the whole set should be fleshed out, especially it's default look that we see a lot.

Try char. When you run with the rifle, you just lumber around with it in one hand like a sword.

Ask your local Deadeye to put the thunder bird down.

Nah, it feels pretty fluid with core thief's weapons. Especially when Be quick or Be Killed speeds up slower but hard hitting weapons.

> @Esquilax.3491 said:

> 2 unloads with quickness from the steal is way better / faster / spikier damage than whatever a rifle could do with its tripl shot and imobilized status from kneeling.

>

> My main gripe with the weapon is that I find Deaths Judgement to be useless on anything outside of an elite/champion or legendary world boss. The ramp up time is so kitten high that even against veterans they are dead before you hit max malice. So kitten stupid that the signature skill of the weapon is completely useless in 95% of gameplay, and the rest of the skills just feel "meh".

There is another built in way to speed up the ramp time. Given that DJ gives 15% per stack, you don't need a lot to fuck something up, especially when your sigils are set up to take advantage of it.

Do you need a party of players to do this one? I was some how able to do it alone.

Anyways, if you need a player to help you, if you are NA I won't mind offering some assistance.

> @"Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582" said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > Deadeye doesn't have enough DPS to compete for a DPS spot.........

> >

> > A somewhere under 1K dps of Power Staff, with a much easier rotation, and with ALL of the utilities that a Deadeye can provide without donating their entire trait tree for DPS? Yeaaaah... qT can burn in hell with their speedrun meta.

>

> See, this is why DPS meters are a good thing, you can actually *prove* your worth.

You know... I am usually strongly against DPS meters... but you chose your words well and chose when to use them well. :/

I'm gonna install one at some point.

> @Tadsoul.6951 said:

> with a shorter duration to use return you can then use the attack more often. When I'm using IR it is normally well within a shorter time peroid

I think the idea behind it was that it allowed the sword thief to quickly jump in and fight and quickly run away after securing the kill, or deciding the attack was a bust. My issue with it is they nerfed the instacast and stun break. I wouldn't mind if they just took away the stun break. But I wished they left the instacast on it.

I'd recommend packing Shadow Bind if you leave behind your other cantrips. It works wonderfully for helping your team kill tankier targets. Most players don't carry stun breaks or movement imparement removers from what I've noticed. Due to the condi meta, they tend to prefer taking condi cleanse or more DPS.

If you are fighting another deadeye, or a LB ranger of some sort - take Smoke Screen. It basically acts like a wall so you can be brave for a moment and kill them with your rifle. Using death's retreat through it will cloak you. It also lets you blind people, so you'll be saving your team mates.

> @"Doctor Hide.6345" said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

>

> >

> > The kneel has also produced an interesting behavior I've noticed in WvW. It can actually behave like cover fire. The game's line of sight checks have already proven that they don't go both ways. You can actually fire projectiles from behind a fence or something, and depending on the player elevation they might not be able to hit you. And it also works as a pretty cheeky way to make yourself harder to see if the player doesn't hold down alt, or have enemy name tags on by default.

> >

> So all I have to do is mark the target then crouch behind a fence, and all my projectiles will hit the target?

Not quite, you need to be high enough that the barrel of the rifle actually pokes over the object, or at least your head. I haven't tested this extensively.

> @Silverstone.4539 said:

> I'm just sitting dead meat, not much more. WTH class is this? why don't they make something that is on par with current meta, not something that is so below the bar it's not even worth playing.

>

> I do like the idea of deadeye, but it just does not work. People are not NPCs, they don't stop attacking when you stealth. And they now I can't really move so they just keep swinging.

>

> I'll try a bit more to make this work but I'm just not seeing it.

>

Here's some tips.

DE is not Daredevil. Do not play it like one. To be a DE, you need to be as ballsy as a honey badger. Unlike Daredevil, you really can't run away from a fight very well. If someone engages you, don't run away. Just fight them. DE is built heavily around securing the kills. Look at his traits - they practically encourage you to duke it out. It might not seem like it, but DE can seriously rock someone's world in a heart beat.

Slot your cantrips. I've seen this a lot in WvW, very few DE's slot their cantrips and they complain about being easily killed. Your cantrips seem underwhelming at first glance but they are probably some of thief's most powerful utilities. So where DD's utilities revolved around dueling and damaging. Your Cantrips revolve around defense and pre-emption. Shadow Gust will launch marked targets, letting you throw them off cliffs, or to give yourself some room while you reposition. Shadow Bind is the three second knock down that will prevent most players from doing jack crap - letting you dump three DJs in their face for free. Mercy lets you do some stupidly deadly combos or play mind games. And don't even get me started on some of the Core thief utilities.

Get accustomed to thief's weapon sets. Dagger Pistol is nice, but that whole meta was built around the roaming style. You can be a tanky bastard if you role with sword and iron sights and hit like a truck with each swing with cleave. Or you can be a slippery man with dual daggers and just dance around them while using grievers or marshal trinkets.

The DE has the strongest self heal in the game without needing healing power. You can almost completely restore your HP with 5 marks, or gurantee a full HP pool with 7.

You can speed up malice generation by taking advantage of the Revealed Malice which grants a malice stack for being revealed, and mix it with Shadow Meld.

You can get up to 50% damage reduction from Shadow Arts and the Deadeye's Iron Sights, and even avoid taking critical hits while stealthed.

Kneel is actually very useful the way it is set up. I've found it to be a pretty god damn handy movement imparement remover, which is cheap. The Free Action is immediate, but you have to suffer the small time it takes to actually crouch down.

The flash, freeze, sharpshooter, and that positioning mechanics aren't terrible to deal with in the bounties as a Deadeye with rifle using Kneel. You just need to understand that you need to use it at the appropriate times. Meaning Kneel when the mechanic has been popped, or the mechanic is focusing someone else.

The kneel has also produced an interesting behavior I've noticed in WvW. It can actually behave like cover fire. The game's line of sight checks have already proven that they don't go both ways. You can actually fire projectiles from behind a fence or something, and depending on the player elevation they might not be able to hit you. And it also works as a pretty cheeky way to make yourself harder to see if the player doesn't hold down alt, or have enemy name tags on by default.

Another fun note is unless a player runs around while holding "Show Enemy name tags", they probably won't notice you if you suddenly hid in a bush, but did not cloak.

The kneel provides very cheap access to stealth on two charges. Making it perfect for ambushing without giving away your position to a Gunpowder field from D/P

And the Kneel works surprisingly well when chained with a dodge. You can dodge, and trigger the kneel part way through the animation to dissolve some of the time it takes to get down. I've actually used this is Melee range against players multiple times and killed them with it.

Edit: Check that, for some reason I never noticed the nameplates over enemy players that is up at all times.

> @Urejt.5648 said:

> Friendly reminder deadeye is trash in pvp, especially vs daredevil

> edit: becuase:

> 1. rifle cant atack enemies in mele range

> 2. rifle 4 is trash

> 3. easy pulmonaries deal 10k dmg

Who cares about your opinion? I've been making it work, and slaying players left and right . Also, if you're going to complain about rifle in melee range, why are you still using rifle when you can swap to a melee weapon? Mater of fact, why aren't you using 4 and 2? You get a 600 unit backstep, and a piercing cripple with a larger hitbox than you'd think.

> @tigirius.9014 said:

> Deadeye even with buffs and stolen buffs it just doesn't do much damage. Enemies stay for long period of time alive and well dancing around shots like they got tickled.

>

> Engineer PVE with the new elite spec Holosmith puts Deadeye to shame, I can range it and shoot shots at enemies knocking enemies over at range and easily avoiding shots.

>

> I think the developers have severely nerfed this spec because of a false notion that a ranged character should not be powerful, they did this with the long bows once on the Rangers as I recall it was well overdone and the longbow was so weak no one used them anymore across the entire game.

>

> Arenanet please fix this damage ratio on this class because you've nerfed it under the table for PVE.

You must be doing something wrong. I am one of the hardest hitting players in group events and fractals. And I'm not even in Zerks.

If you're going to complain about the lack of AOE as a counter argument (which is common), you have Shadow Flare for AOE damage. You can put on grievers and use caltrops. Or you can get good and adjust your positioning to get the most out of Deadeye's penetrating shot. Even the Superior Sigil of Fire works well.

For Melee Cleave you got sword for that which is awesome with malice. Sword Pistol for invulnerability while you are buzzing people down. Sword Dagger for Fights were mobility is important. Each whack with sword's auto easily deals 4k damage when compared to zerks staff which does have cleave but the damage is around 6-7 for the full auto rotation.

> @SyDragon.5136 said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > How... did the toilet even accept that? You shouldn't be able to stat change a precurssor because it is of exotic rarity. And the stats are set, not selected.

>

> The new precursors from HoT are ascended.

Huh, are they? Well I wouldn't know. I'm still working on a core Tyria legendary.

No thank you. I'd rather them focus on Guild Wars 2

> @"Sir Vincent III.1286" said:

> Shadow Mage Elite Spec...no more BS specs. We need a full-blown Shadow Magic caster and a rebuff of Shadow Arts that includes shadow tentacles and clones. Let us dual-wield Scepters that allows the Thief to steal their spiritual essence by casting a hex on them -- yes, you read that right, bring back HEXES. Introduce Shadow Form and allow evasion while Shadowstepping.

>

> We need this Elite spec to be really scary that every other profession will fear their own shadows that they will refuse to turn off the light at bedtime and they will pee their pants at the sound of a wind passing by their ears. The scratching of branches on their windows will keep them up all night and when they are fully exhausted, they will sleep...permanently. Bwaahahahahahahahah...

>

> Happy Halloween. :)

Shadow Dancer? The Thief is already heavy on the DnD references. Might as well throw in a prestige class

I think you completely forgot the nature of the Deadeye's stolen skills being an instant cast, even when stunned. To you, Aegis and poison sounds stupid. But it is actually rediculously helpful when used at the right moment. Block an attack that would normally kill you while you were stunned (because your stun break is on cool down) - guardian is now ticking for poison damage that he might try to purge. You get a precious second to get back up on your feet and murder him.

> @Turk.5460 said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > > @Kuulpb.5412 said:

> > > It's already a stronger Boon "removal" than any of spellbreaker's skills, it doesn't need a buff.

> >

> > Except that it is pretty kitten worthless at the moment. DJ is a much better stealth attack as you get bonus damage for being revealed, it reveals you before it fires. Doesn't have a stupid kitten cool down. And when combined with Malignant reveal, you get free malice.

>

> There is no cost to Cursed Bullet, so there is very little reason _not_ to use that before casting Death's Judgement.

Except that the Cursed Bullet is completely untrustworthy. When fired, it behaves like a minion that runs across the field. This means that if there is for some reason a discontinued path (WHICH PLAGUES THIEF ALREADY) it becomes obstructed. Worse is that the bullet will not try to navigate the map to find its target, It behaves more like a guided missile that's stuck to the ground.