nopoet.2960

Ok...Your first attack upon entering combat or after being disabled cost 3 less initiative

For those wanting torch. Here you go. These Focus ideas are really cool. I feel like focus 4 should have a pull but it might be overloaded then.

It could be: upon entering combat your first attack cost 3 less initiative. This resets upon being revealed. So you get a little buff icon whenever you are out of combat or get revealed. Every thief just has 12 ini.

Awesome. Can you also look at Guarded Initiation. It's kind of duplicative of Don't Stop. I would like it to be replaced by something like "movement skills cause your next attack to daze your target for .5 seconds." Give it an 8 second cool down and call it something like Daring Momentum. If you really like the condition protection, add dark aura to Hard to Catch and change the name to Grasping at Shadows. That would give us 3 interesting choices in the middle of the acro tree.

It's deliberate and, in my opinion, also a huge mistake. Sometimes I see folks here say something like the devs don't want to keep thinking up dual attacks then I remember that weaver exist.

THis is exactly the problem with Harrowing Storm! It's kinda like here i am... what now. You can cloak and dagger but ... every time?

My issue with axe 3 is that they aren't really attacks on their own. Axe 3 has to be "loaded" for it to work. Nothing else works that way. I'm asking for a minimum damage guarantee when I press 3. I feel like Anet give us experimental mechanics improves them then gives them to other classes; see tethering and ally targeting. For the record, I would have preferred an offhand but that's not what we got. We must learn and adapt.

My suggestion is to change the auto not the stealth attack. The auto would attack in a line and return in the same route. No change to the stealth attack other than bug fixes.

I just think these changes would make it more fun. Points 2 and 3 will make the skills feel more immediate and less sluggish. Axe one should return on it's own. It should attack in a straight line and return in a straight path. This gives you another reason to think about your positioning. Also, when you use axe 3 you don't really want these anyway. Axe/Dagger 3 is weird. It's not really an attack on its own. I propose that that in addition to its current functionality you throw your dagger for damage and shadowstep (see pistol/dagger 3, dagger/pistol 3, shortbow 5). Axe/pistol 3 should use your pistol. Similarly to point 2, you shot your target with your pistol that explodes in a shadowy bulls eye. Axes fly to that target.

I've used scorpion wire in DE p/d builds. You loose steal as a gap closer from steal with DE so scorpion wire is a decent replacement. It catches people off guard and with the Payback trait it's almost always available. Your opener could be something like mark > scorpion wire >shadow strike > repeater x3 > stealth > sneak attack.

The guardian feel is on purpose. A while back I suggested a new spec called seeker that was a thief's take on guardian. This is just a rehash of that because we aren't getting any more e-specs. In my head torch is a hybrid. If condition set ups would use T5 more and power set ups would use t4 more. It may not be obvious but torch 4 is a stealth follow up attack. So if you are on dagger you could backstab>lucky strike (to relight torch) > Brand (assuming you are fast enough and still have revealed).

I'm just going to leave this here as a suggestion for torch as our next weapon. Could be fun. I tried to build in some interesting combos. Torch 4. Flair: Use your torch to create a blinding flair revealing yourself and nearby foes. 4b. Brand (flip over on revealed): Strike your target with your torch causing high damage and burning 5. Purging Flames: Burn and foes around you. Remove a damaging condition and gain fire aura 5b. Trail Blazer (Flip Over on Fire Aura): Extinguish your fire aura by rolling (evade) in a targets direction leaving a path of flames (fire field) behind you Dual Skills Dagger - Fan of Flames: Unleash a flurry of attacks that damages and burns foes in a cone in front of you. This attack converts aegis to burning and protection to vulnerability. Sword - Firethorn: Use your heated sword to execute a slow powerful thrust that pierces through your target with a flameblade (additional 600 units). Grants quickness if your target is under the health threshold Pistol - Dragon's Gale: Fire an exploding shot (small push on target) that burns foes near your target (small leap backwards) Stinging Embers (flip over): Gain Stability and shoot your foe with two critical strikes, extends burning Scepter - Dusk (enemy targeted): Send a wave of cold flames at your target burning and chilling them. This leaves an ice field between you and your target Dawn (ally target): Send a wave of cleansing shadows to at your target healing them and granting fire aura. This leaves a smoke field between you and your target. Axe - Shield of blades: Block with your torch and recall axes to orbit you burning and bleeding foes that come in contact with. Doused Skills - You torch is doused when you enter stealth. Using on of the following skills reignites the torch. 3. Lucky Strike: Ignite your torch by striking you target gaining a random boon 4. Drake Spit: Ignite your torch by breathing fire on it creating a fire ball that burns your target 5. Fireblast: Ignite your torch with explosive powder (blast finisher) damaging nearby foes

Dude. This has got to be the worst weapon concept in the game. So here's what I would do with it. To make it better maybe the devs just need to double down go all out. Skills 2-5 each like 2 flip overs for like 12 skills. I don't play engineer that much but that seems worthy of yall. 1. Each canister should be unique. One is big and heavy and does a blast finisher. Another has a little propeller on it that does a whirl finisher. One is shot low to the ground so it's a projectile finisher. You could do a little leap shot for the last one to pick up a leap finisher. This gives you other ways to mix effects. 2. You still trigger and chain like before. 3. But what happens to the canisters...? They become little clockwork attack bots with attack styles that match there design. They start with some kind of overcharge attack effect then go into standard default attack mode. (Bonus if the devs can figure out how the make the little guys form up like a mini Voltron) 4. Finally, you can trigger an explosion but they don't just explode. They leave dangerous sharp shrapnel everywhere for enemies to hurt themselves on. Anyway, hope the devs can make it right for engineer mains cause this is just wrong.

Anyone else try it out? I really like it. The combination of extra time and reduced initiative makes it easier to play and I'm sure that I'm doing way more damage now. By the way, what relics are you all using? I've been using the relic of fractal but maybe there is something better?

This has to be addressed. There's no other weapon skill in the game that is fully dependent on using another weapon skill to function. It's like they forgot #3 is a dual wield skill. At the very minimum 3 should shoot or stab if no axes are present. We know it was just an oversight thought Anet. It's not like you created axes for another class then gave them to thief at the last minute.