Sniping Builds

[Toastybob.7189]

Idk if this has been posted, but does anyone know if Crusader's gear (Power/Toughness major, Ferocity/healing minor) or Valkyrie (Power major, Vitality/ferocity minor) would work well for a deadeye in WvW or even open world in general? Idea is to run with shadow arts, crits, and of course deadeye so I both heal in stealth and have max crit chance without needing precision. Is this build even worth considering, or should I just stick with full zerker's gear?

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

Here is the build I'm currently running with my main Thief using the same traitline you've posted, albeit different gears:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PaxAgqRlNwmYiMNmJWWPuvSA-zRpYBKZDaUIUFrgoGUKASlYQInSTKj2kAFKgqQE4yLQQoECA-e

 

As you can see, the Daredevil rune and and Hidden Killer will trigger on stealth dodge using a Rifle. The Hidden Killer is really just to have max crit after the stealth attack. Eventhough this is not yet an optimized build, you can see right away how this will work out.

 

Is it worth considering? You're the only one who can answer that for yourself. As for me, I'm using it.

[Toastybob.7189]

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?Pa1AQhrlNwwYJsQmJWWPqPTA-zRIYTUzXGBnCVUBudRCm9wXR/A-e is the build that I've been eyeing at the moment. Really like the idea of being able to get kills without instantly dying if I make any mistakes. That, and it's more fun to roam when you have stealth and survivability together

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

> @"Toastybob.7189" said:

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?Pa1AQhrlNwwYJsQmJWWPqPTA-zRIYTUzXGBnCVUBudRCm9wXR/A-e is the build that I've been eyeing at the moment. Really like the idea of being able to get kills **without instantly dying if I make any mistakes**.

 

All the more reason to take Flickering Shadows instead of Leeching. ;)

>

> That, and it's more fun to roam when you have stealth and survivability together

 

Definitely. That build is very similar to mine. Except I will never take Leeching over Flickering.

[Deax.1572]

Been running this for a good while now.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAQhrlNwAZXsNmJeUXnvSA-zRJYiRN/p0kIoNFQmChKkAK+iEGbg3SVKbA-e

You can replace smoke screen by anything you want. Mercy is a good pick for extra stun break, mark reset for boon-steal and initiative.

I recently started playing smoke screen and have to say it's quite good. Unblockable blind-pulse field, projectile block, It's good against other deadeyes and rangers, it's good for safe-stomping downed or ressing allies. You can spam dagger 2 for stealth in it and it has only 25s cd instead of 60s that shadow refuge has. It has a lot more utility than it seems at first, if you utilize it properly.

With full marauders while you're using rifle and have fury you're capped at 100% crit chance. Fireworks rune is great for that extra boon generation every 20s while in combat and the 25% movement speed does come in handy every now and then.

You can swap it out for Rage rune if you so choose. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAQhrlNwAZXsNmJeUXnvSA-zRJYiRNfp0UE0WBkZIURC42FJM2AvlqU2A-e

And Durability rune for a more defensive rune. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAQhrlNwAZXsNmJeUXnvSA-zRJYiRN/p0kIoNFQmChKkAa8iEGbg3SVKbA-e

Sigils are up to you, Rage sigil for more quickness is not too bad, extra 3s of quickness on opener. Sigil of Cleansing on secondary weapon set is a good option too for those sweet 3 condi clears on weapon swap.

Edit: Leeching venoms with sigil of air is a solid 1,3k extra damage on most enemies, leeching venoms has a bit more utility. It is a little extra dps, heal and impairs sustain setups with poison, even tho the condi by itself doesn't do damage it still applies -33% healing from all sources. It allows going toe-to-toe with heal warriors a bit easier as they will be poisoned most of the time hurting their insane sustain.

Flickering shadows is a solid pick as well, probably superior to leeching venoms in a more group oriented fight.

Both are good picks for power or condi builds.

Edit2: From my experience a tiny bit of toughness doesn't help that much, if you go for it then aim at 2,5k armor at least. But that impacts your damage quite a bit. Going for "+10% Damage Reduction" food/traits would be far better, furthermore "Protection" boon is king. What you would waste 500 stat points getting that one boon does it for you, with that being said thief does not have any way to generate protection reliably. Also "Damage Reduction" is multiplicative not additive so keep in mind diminishing returns.

[Seis.4736]

I still run zerkers. Very squishy and can end up as 0 dps if you die fast but I find it fun and challenging.

[nxsage.6578]

You can run valkk with hidden killer, since it doesnt have a cooldown, you can trigger it multiple times. It's a bit harder to pull off since your damage is only within those 2second windows and you highly depend on cooldowns but I found this build super fun.

 

[meowmeow.9125]

> @"nxsage.6578" said:

> You can run valkk with hidden killer, since it doesnt have a cooldown, you can trigger it multiple times. It's a bit harder to pull off since your damage is only within those 2second windows and you highly depend on cooldowns but I found this build super fun.

 

Sigil of vision be much easier to exploit. Or combine.

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

> @"meowmeow.9125" said:

> > @"nxsage.6578" said:

> > You can run valkk with hidden killer, since it doesnt have a cooldown, you can trigger it multiple times. It's a bit harder to pull off since your damage is only within those 2second windows and you highly depend on cooldowns but I found this build super fun.

>

> Sigil of vision be much easier to exploit. Or combine.

 

I generally run marauder gear with vision on D/P for deadeye for that reason. With mara you get close to max crit chance on rifle after fury and bqobk anyways, and that crit chance means I can use no quarter to improve my spike by precasting spotter's shot before DJ (makes up for most of the loss of power and crit from marauder vs valk) and it means I can use invigorating precision vs tower lords without having to respec every time. It just works better this way now mounts mostly deny you the instagib malicious backstab opportunities imo.

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

> @"Deax.1572" said:

> Edit2: From my experience a tiny bit of toughness doesn't help that much, if you go for it then aim at 2,5k armor at least. But that impacts your damage quite a bit. Going for "+10% Damage Reduction" food/traits would be far better, furthermore "Protection" boon is king. What you would waste 500 stat points getting that one boon does it for you, with that being said thief does not have any way to generate protection reliably. Also "Damage Reduction" is multiplicative not additive so keep in mind diminishing returns.

 

You get about 50% overall damage reduction vs your marked target from the combination of protection from M7, flickering shadows and iron sights, and smoke screen covers you beautifully if you are forced into melee vs warriors and soulbeasts. If you're taking those traits, it's a better option to take some diviner gear for the extra duration on protection with either durability or fireworks runes than say cavaliers for the extra toughness imo. Earth runes are an interesting middle ground, tho.