supa suop.8026

> @"Yasai.3549" said:

> Disgusting design.

>

> I can see this, if ever implemented, to be an extremely brain dead and dumb spec to fight with and against.

> Literally mash all Stances, Steal in and slap people with Focus 2, then retreat till all Stances are up again.

thanks for the reply!

I didn't write this in the initial post, but I actual wanted the focus skills and the shadow strikes to be weaker than the daggers, pwr modifiers included, and to be single targeting. In that way even if you can spam the focus skill 2 over and over your opponent would be able to mitigate it easily and it would drain the thief's initiative pool. Though I can see a cause for concern with the amount of evasion time and agree that 1/2s might be a bit much, and 1/4 might be a better fit. In my mind thought that it would be ok to add evasion to the skill because it serves no other purpose than being a gap closer , whereas other gap closers in a thief arsenal provide and extra benefit whether it being extra damage with the dagger or a means of repositioning with the sword. I can also see that the range of skill to has not been add, so that may add to the speculation as well as concern. I will edit it in later.

> And with the correct trait combination using Dagger, it's the most beefy gg ez build where yu just use everything on cooldown and attack blindly till someone is dead, and because it's Thief, yu can get away with it with a simple Black Powder + Heartseeker and leave.

Could you elaborate on this point a bit more? It has always been my understanding that a thief could use a D/P build to disengage a fight, wait for its CDs to reset, and then reengage the fight with any spec.

Weapon type: focus

_**Specialization ability**_ Shadow strike: when ever you hit with a skill you will also do a small amount of damage to your foe known as a Shadow Strike. Cannot critically hit(unless traited). Dmg:100( scales with power) Range:130 Shadow strikes change depending on your main hand weapon. (See GM minor trait)

Specialization drawback: thieves will lose their ability to use stolen skills(f2), but their steal distance is increased to 1500. Steal becomes Shadow Sprint(All traits will still have the same effect on shadow sprint as they did with steal, save Improvisation)

_**Utilities: Stances**_

**Heal: Way of Meditation**(4s): while this stance is active shadow strikes heal you for a small amount. When this stance ends heal for 20% of the total dmg you dealt(trait effect: at the end of this stance cleanse yourself of conditions(3))

**Way of the Shadow** (4s): while in this stance you receive 50% less damage, and are immune to critical hits. Your Shadow strikes will give you barrier. (Trait effect: when this stance ends gain stealth)(stun break)

**Way of the Unseen**(5s): while in this stance you gain fury, cannot be blinded, and your attacks are unblockable. Your shadow strikes blind foes (icd 1 secs)(trait effect :at the end of this stance blinds and weakens foes around you)

**Way of the Serpent**(5s): you gain super speed. While in this stance and conditions expire 50% faster and deal 50% less damage. You Shadow strikes poison foes and give you retaliation(trait effect when this stance ends release a cloud that poisons and torments foes)

**Way of the Demon**(6s): while in this stance your gain might (10(6s)). When a Shadow strike hits a foe it also hits foes around your target(up to 5). (trait effect: when this stance ends siphon health from foes around you. Health siphoned: 150; number of targets: 5 )

**Elite: Way of Perfection**(8s): while in this stance the effects of quickness are enhanced (100%) you gain quickness(1⁄2s) for every shadow strike that successfully hits.( trait effect: When this stance ends gain alacrity (10s))

_**Traits Minor Traits**_ Focus mastery: you gain the ability to dual wield foci

Adept minor: unleash Shadow strikes on foes

Master minor: dual-attacks grant quickness (1sec)

GM Minor Way of the master: your shadow strikes gain bonuses depending on your Main-Hand weapon.

* Sword: Shadow Stikes restore endurance: 2

* Pistol: Shadow strikes gain greater range

* Focus: Shadow Strikes hit twice (thrice, when traited)

* Dagger: Shadow Strikes siphon health (siphon healing: 50)

* Shortbow: your Shadow strikes gain a greater range and bounce( number of bounce:1)

Adept traits:

* Mirrored stance: when you use a stance skill copy your targeted foe’s boons( 2 boons copied)

* Shadow’s grasp: increase the Shadow Sprints range and evade(1s). (additional 300 range increase)

* Penetrating Shadows: your shadow strikes apply vulnerability. Deal increased damage to vulnerable foes (7%).

Master traits:

* Deadly paradox: your stances get an ammo count and have additional effects, but stance durations are decreased. (Ammo count:2, Duration decreased 60%)

* Shadow’s remedy: shadow strikes transfer one condition from yourself to your foe (3 sec icd)

* Quickening Initiative : Gain initiative while under the effects of quickness: 1 initiative for every 2 seconds of quickness.

Grandmaster traits:

* Open Palm: Your shadow strikes can now critically hit, and you gain bonus ferocity(150). While wielding a focus in your main-hand Way of the Master is enhanced and you gain additional ferocity(150).

* Shadow’s Avarice: your shadow strikes steal boons (3 sec icd) (Boons Stolen:1) . When you steal a boon also siphon health per a boon stolen.(siphon heal: 200) (siphon damage:200)

* Stolen Speed: whenever you gain quickness you also gain super speed (2s), and apply slow and chill to foes around you (number of foes:5) Slow and chill duration:2s (icd 5s)

**Weapon Skills**

Stealth skill Temple Strike: Hit a foe from the front or back blinds them. Hitting them from the sides blinds as well as stuns them. Stun and Blind(2s)

Skill one:

* Jab Quickly: hit your foe twice

* Evading blow: Quickly dodge and strike your foe (Evade(1⁄4s))

* Feint Strike: Hit your foe and do an additional shadow strike

Skill two Mach punch (3 initiative) Dash at your foe evading attacks and deliver a punch, if the strike lands gain swiftness (2s) Evade(1⁄2s)

Skill three:

Shadow tether(focus/dagger) (4 initiative) (tether break: 2 initiative)

Stab your foe and leave your dagger embedded in them creating a shadow tether. This tether applies weakness(1s per pulse) to you foe and grains you might(2 stacks (4s)). You can break the tether to shadow step your foe to you.

Spider’sThread/Falling spider(dagger/focus)

* Spider’s Thread(3 initiative):Throw your dagger to a target area then the skill turns into a falling spider. If a foe is struck then they are immobilized(1½s )

* Falling Spider(2 initiative): shadowstep to your targeted area and deal a strike that poisons. Foes will suffer additional damage and poison if they have movement impairing conditions on them.

Shadow Uppercut(focus/pistol) (5 initiative)

Fire a shot and shadowstep to your target then deliver a deadly uppercut. Damage increased if foes heal is below the threshold. Threshold 50%

Shilling shot:(pistol/focus)

Punch your foe and shadow step away from them. Then fire your pistol at them. If the pistol shot lands, transfer 2 conditions from yourself to your target.

Forceful thrust/Low Blow(sword/focus)

* Forceful thrust(3 initiative): Lunge at your foe and stab them, and this skill turns to low blow. If they are below the health threshold they are knocked back(120) . (Threshold 50%)

* Low blow(4 initiative): Kick your foe. If they are above the threshold they are crippled(4s), if below the threshold they are knocked down(1.5s) (Threshold 25%)

Shadow Flurry (focus/focus) (5 initiative)

Hit your foe with multiple strikes, if all strikes hit you gain initiative(2 initiative) Bonus damage per a vulnerability on foe (1%)

Skill Four Pickpocket(4 Initiative) Hit your foe with a punch then evade backwards. If a foe is struck, steal one boon from them. The stolen boon* has increased duration(2sec increase) Evade(1⁄2) * if the boon has stacks when stolen , i.e Might, all stacks will be applied to the thief.

Skill Five Shadow parry (6 initiative) Block you next attack, if an attack is blocked you stealth yourself and your next attack does increased damage Stealth(3s) Increased dmg(10% increased)(3s)

If you have read it all thank you. Let me know what you think, critiques and all.

TL;DR: I Just want a punchie punch elite spec for my thief

Couldn't get into ranger when the game was first released and have not really given them a chance since then, nor do I want to. Mesmers I have always have had it out for since the GW1 days( those kitten power blockers :p). I do use memser for the largos raid boss though.

my main is thief, mostly use the daredevil specialization due to be the closes thing that i'm going to get to a martial artist in this game, for now at least. The other main alts that I use are warrior and necromancer with there respective elite specializations. The other classes I play from time to time when I just wanna try something different, and I always have blast most of the time.

Duel-wielding foci so I can have a punchie elite spec. Though I would not mind having a greatsword or twin daggers either, but it all depends on the legend for me.

For the foci: Killroy Stonekin, chances are this would never happen

Greatsword: asgeir dragonrender

Twin daggers: Svanir, because I believe that we need more antagonist legends in the revenants arsenal

Also another thought.

Swipe

* Change the unblockable attack into Gain the [unblockable effect](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unblockable_(effect) "unblockable effect") (5s) if you land swipe.

It never made sense to me when they made Swipe (the attack) unblockable when we already have basi venom as well as Bountiful theft to assist with getting a successful swipe. This change allows the daredevil to apply greater pressure on their target if they land a swipe which would be helpful with the different type of block that other classes have.

> @"babazhook.6805" said:

> Signets of Power.

>

> The added passives across the board are not significant enough in Particular given they tied to killing a foe.

Personally, think the problem of this trait is the "on kill" condition. It would have made much more sense if they change it to "on critical hit" instead.

Signet of Malice: Gain increased healing(100%) when you land a critical strike.

Assassin's Signet: Gain might(2 stacks for 5 seconds) when you land a critical hit. 1s ICD

Infiltrator's signet: Gain 1 initiative when you land a critical hit. 3s ICD

Signet of Agility: Gain 5 endurance when you land a critical hit.

Signet of Shadows: Blind foes(2s) when you land a critical hit. 5s ICD

I believe that this will make the trait more appealing to Both PvP and Pve, but SoP would have to be moved out of the adept tier and put into the master tier or maybe even GM tier.

From a PvE standpoint I love the new berserk mode makes me feel like a Power house. and the new Ark Divider feels great. That being said there are a few things that should be looked at for future the Berserker elite spec.

**1. Weak and vulnerable outside of zerker mode**

so after you exit zerker mode you are left in vulnerable state. This obviously because you lose your core burst skills as well as traits that are tied to said core burst unless your are in zerker mode. One way to fix this is to make zerker mode be accessible with any lvl of adrenaline. Of course the duration, burn and trait bonuses of zerk mode will depend on what lvl you activated at.

For Example:

Fatal Frenzy LvL 1 gain +100 pwr/condi -100 toughness Duration (5s) 1 stack of Burning

Fatal Frenzy LvL 2 gain +200 pwr/condi -200 toughness Duration (10s) 2 Stacks of burning

Fatal Frenzy LvL 3 Gain +300 pwr/condi -300 toughness Duration (15s) 3 stacks of burning

**2. Rage skills outside of zerker mode**

With the change of rage skills they feel a little more on the useless side when you are not in zerker mode. A simple fix to this would be when using a rage skill outside of zerker mode they reduce the cooldown timer of zerker mode by X secs depending on the skill you are using.

**3. Decapitate**

This skill feels exactly like eviscerate without the leap even with quickness applied. Maybe reduce the precast time of it by 25%. it does not necessarily have to do more dmg but I feels like this skill should come out quicker.

**4. Ruptured Smash**

Can we make this skill like Arc Divider, or Holosmith skill 5. We are trading out 1-2 sec stun from core hammer burst for a 1 sec daze and 2 sec immobilize burst in zerker mode.... this does not seem like a good trade at all, its more like you are just giving the warrior a 2 layered stun. You could give Ruptured Smash the same cascading effect as Arc Divider , but with more of a focus on CC (both hard and soft ;) ) rather than Damage.

For example:

Ruptured Smash

First impacted radius 240, Launch foes (distance 0) and apply vunerability 10 stacks (5s)

Second impacted radius 360, Immobilize(2s) and weaken(4s)

Third impacted radius 480, cripple(5s)

And that is my two cents on what would help push berserk in the right direction moving forward after this recent rework In my opinion. None the less I appreciate the changes that have been made to berserker, both the ones I agreed and disagree with, it has given the elite new life and and added slightly different play-styles to the warrior. looking forward to your future changes.

**Thief**: an elite spec that Dual wields foci and is monk (kung fu) like. I know we have daredevil for that i just like to punch things.

**Guardian**: an inquisitor elite spec that is more power focused, and gives boon hate to foes

> @"Chrono.6928" said:

> its clearly stated in one of the gw2 books, the 1st time we see guardians, it states they have evolved from warriors, monks, and ritualists. I forget the books name but I believe its the one about the ocean and lions arch. The main character has a doll from his dead little sister and he was the first captain of LA or whatever they call it in game.

The name of the book is "Sea of Sorrows"

I named that raccoon looking griffon skin Bandit

I would say Asgeir Dragonrender would also be a good contender for a legend that could wield a greatsword. To lesser extent if we want more of a notorious legend anet could choose Svanir. though I do feel like Svanir would be better suited with daggers or a claw-like weapons. I just hope the next legend is Norn focused they need some love.

As for the greatsword it does not have to be a melee weapon it can be a ranged weapon. I was thinking something similar to how a necromancer's axe works excepted that the greatsword would be able to cleave foes around the target. It could fit the theme of revenant because the greatsword slashes could open up mini portals to the mist that damage foes.

> @"Sir Vincent III.1286" said:

> "Way of the Empty Palm" specialist. No weapons. Casts shadow magic.

I would like that as well. I was thinking more on the lines of getting dual foci and using them like claws/ brass knuckles.

On the other hand if we ever get a whip in the game I would like thief to get it as a dual wield or at least a main hand weapon.

> @"Felipe.1807" said:

> Someone might had said this allready, but Daredevil is a martial art fighter...so yeah, this role allready belong to thief

Its all good. Fortunately there is more then one type of martial arts fighting style so any of other a professions still has a chance of getting one. And even though it is unlikely who is to say that that thief cant get another martial art-like elite specialization.

> @"Mea.5491" said:

> Guardian but it won't happen because there's no such thing as "bare fists" in GW2 (unless they introduce new "weapons" in the future) but I really wouldn't mind dual wielding Touch of Madness... ;P

>

I think the easiest thing for them them to do as to not waste too much resources is to just make focus into a melee weapon

Personally I would want thief to get it, but I am a Avatar: TLA fan so it would be interesting to see what Anet would do if they gave it to the Elementalist.

I yearn for a martial arts elite spec, because I like to beat up things with my bare fists. However the question is as the title states.

Defiantly a buff in raids. Depending on the boss you can have anywhere from 8-12 conditions on them during the duration of the fight.

> @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> would come in handy some sort of diary with details of his past, at the very least, like the balthazar "burning notes".

>

Yeah I was thinking they might do something like that, or something similar with what they did with Vlast's backstory. Anet also has the option of putting Joko's backstory in fractals, though that seem rather unlikely.

I cant help but feel that Joko is not really "gone" gone just yet, because of the comment that Canach made at the end of the instance. Saying that the magic that Aurene absorbed from Balthazar may be influencing her behavior. If that is true then eating Joko ( assuming that his body has an abundant amount of magic) could also influence her behavior even further in a negative way . It may even give her Joko like qualities.

Shame that Joko is gone too( for now),because kitten I really enjoyed that dialogue he had at the end of the fight.

But the stories must continue and we had to beat Joko at some point I just really wish it was not so soon.

Came up with an idea!

New deathly chill:

Killing a foe will leave a chill field at his location. Applying chill to your foes now damages them. Reaper shroud skill 5 now immediately Finished downed foes.

Edit: worded it poorly

> @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> Mesmers stole the unortodox spell caster use of greatsword, and we already throw hammers. So no, i dont foresee greatswords at all. Mainhand axe seems more likely to me, or dual daggers.

Just because mesmers did it first does not mean that revenant can't.

I personally would like a new villainous/anti-hero type of legend for our next elite spec. My vote is going towards Svanir with dual wielding foci as our weapons. We could use the foci in melee range as a type of claw weapon.

I'm also not against getting a GS for our next elite spec weapon, but I would prefer it to be used in an unorthodox manner similar to the hammer. I would be nice if the made it similar to the necro' s axe but with more cleave.

I want to go back to Cantha, but not yet. The human race has just had their expac story. I want anet to focus on building up on other races. Like with this most recent LW update (S4e2) I loved what they did with the charr lore and cant wait to see how they expand on other races both major and minor.

So long as the medium armor is not another trench coat I would be satisfied.

The one thing that I truly want inbtuis game right know is a monk-like (kung fu) elite specialization. Preferable given to thief, warrior, or guardian classes.

After seeing LW S4e2 I have a feeling something like that may be in the works for rangers and or eles given the certain clan that we are introduced to.