Thieves - Looking for a survivable WvW build? - Profession Builds

I've seen several posts on the official thief forums erroneously stating that we only have 2 viable options...condition or berserker burst. In this post, I will lay out and explain my light tank WvW build.

GEAR:
- Armor: All Power/Toughness/Vitality (can get through karma in Orr, badges, or from AC exp mode) with emerald orbs

- Weapons:
        -Sword: Pow/Tough/Vit with Superior Sigil of Blood
        -Dagger: Pow/Tough/Vit with Superior Sigil of Perception
        -Shortbow: Pow/Tough/Vit with Superior sigil of Fire

- Jewelry: All Emerald Orichalcum crafted

Food:
-Omnomberry Ghost

Traits/utility skills:
http://www.guildhead...rvo0xxa0oRqcmqz

Final Stats:
-Attack: 2837
-Critical Chance: 47% (high 50s % with stacked sigil)
-Critical Damage: +30%
-Armor: 3127
-HP: 16,235

GAMEPLAY:

Ok, now that we have this tanky thief built, how do we play it? Well here are a few tips that I've found helpful.

Most of your damage will come from the autoattack chain, the last attack of which, can crit for upwards of 4k in this build vs glass cannons (try to allow the 3rd swing to go off before performing another action)

Use Cloak and Dagger frequently to keep regeneration buff up on yourself and to drop conditions applied to you. You should watch your buff bar for the presence of "revealed" debuff and not use Cloak and dagger so long as it persists (3 secs).

Try to use your Tactical strike from stealth behind your target and time it to interrupt a cast (usually your target will attempt to cast a heal after you stealth so it's great to prevent that)

While roaming in WvW, it's generally a good idea use Infiltrator's strike without a target as it comes off CD. This will keep Shadow Return up permanently so if you get suddenly stunned, knocked down, or CCed in some other way you have an instant escape. (great vs those thieves who run basilisk venom)

Vs another thief, it's a good idea to use Infiltrator's Strike followed immediately by Cloak and Dagger. The Infiltrator's Strike will immobilize the thief long enough to ensure your Cloak and Dagger lands regardless of whether they insta-stealth.

Flanking strike is very powerful, if you understand its quirks. First, it strips a boon off your target (use this vs a dagger storming thief to remove their Stability boon) Secondly, it's UNBLOCKABLE. vs a warrior who uses shield block, you can spam this ability and land every hit.

Making Flanking Strike land regularly takes a bit of practice. You always spin to the right so if you are fighting someone who moves allot  approach them from the right side and face 90% from their trajectory (towards them) this will cause you to spin along their path. Keep in mind that after the first swing, you are again in control of your character, so try to close the gap between you and your opponent a bit before the second strike goes.

Vs a target that is charging you, angling a little bit to the right seems to increase the likelihood of both strikes landing.

Dancing dagger is no longer used as a primary damage ability, however it is still VERY useful to snare a running target and allow you to catch up to where your autoattacks will perma-snare them.

Cloak and Dagger should be used as frequently as initiative/revealed debuff allow.

This build decreases the CD on SIgnet of Malice to only 12 secs, so don't be afraid to use it. I find it helpful to pop it just after i use cloak and dagger so that at least some of the CD is during the period in which you are stealthed.

Shadow Refuge should be used carefully, most good players will expect it and try to knock you out before the stealth becomes permanent (3 secs??) Vs a class that does knockbacks, try to place it against a wall or some other solid object and put your back to it. Vs a mesmer with focus, try to wait until they swap to their other weapon set and use it then while swap is on CD. (their #4 ability will pull you right out on focus)

Blinding powder, try to use this inside melee range and only if Cloak and Dagger is not an option (no initiative) If forced to use Blinding powder, allow the stealth to dissipate all the way to regen as much initiative as possible, then Cloak and Dagger as soon as stealth breaks naturally (no revealed so long as you don't attack from stealth)

Dagger storm is useful mostly vs ranged classes, or 3+ enemies. With many enemies your health regen is astronomical with it due to your food buff and signet of malice.

Steal is a very versatile ability. Try to pick a target to steal from that will give you an ability most suited to your current situation and then save what you steal to use at the most opportune time.
(I'm aware that the names are not all accurate)

Necro: AoE Fear -(in group play try to fear bomb the middle of their cluster and/or fear a target back into your group.
Warrior: Whirling Axe -great to use in tight clusters of players, provides allot of health regen due to your healing signet and does large amounts of melee range aoe damage.
Mesmer: Boons -this ability gives you every boon most notably, stability, great when vs a group trying to CC you
Ranger: Healing -this ability will spawn a stationary tree that stacks regeneration on allies nearby, the longer you stay in radius, the longer the regeneration duration stacks (try to fight under it)
Engineer: Slime -places an aoe field at your target's feet that stacks random conditions, however as a combo field, it applies confusion with projectiles, making this a very strong group utility steal
Thief: Stealth -applies 3 seconds of stealth with a .5 sec cast time (use this lieu of C&D or your CD abilities if you have it (free stealth)
Elementalist: Chill Spike -provides short ranged chill effect on your target and does moderate damage on hit.
Guardian: Daze -applies 3 seconds of daze to your target (try to use this to interrupt guardian's heal)

These are just a few of the tips I've learned over the course of my gameplay. As always, feel free to contact me in game with more specific questions; I will try to answer them as best I can.

~Shadowkat