Guild Wars 2

Okay, so what’s considered good on Thieves in Dungeons? Is Deadly Arts a must? Does Shadow Arts hold any value? How do sword builds fare? How much room do Thieves have to be control focused? Please any other things you think Thief players should know?

A sword build is a dagger build is a short bow build is a pistol build.

25/30/0/0/15
30/30/0/0/10

edit: general advice. get all weapons. get all utilities. learn what they do.

RemiRome.8495:

A sword build is a dagger build is a short bow build is a pistol build.

So carry everything? Check. What else?

The meta dungeon thief build is 25/30/0/0/15 or 25/30/0/15/0 for more survivability. Sw/P for trash, D/D for bosses. If you bring anything other than that, especially into Arah, youll get kicked. Full zerk, scholar etc.

Now what do you bring to the group? Well, perma blind and weakness for one. Shadow refuge for skipping and spammable blast finishers with a SB. You also have some of the highest DPS in the game, 2nd only to ele. Not to mention its also incredibly easy to stay alive. Perma blind and weakness for trash, and pistol whip evades if you need it as well. For bosses just stay behind them with the rotation of CnD→backstab→repeat.

For ranged, use double pistol. If AoE, SB.

For single target, use the thieves guild. AoE, Dagger Storm.

Heal: Signet (Or Hide in Shadows when needed)

When pugging, even boss fights are sometimes much easier with the S/P because of the evade. The damage isn’t on par with D/D, but it’s decent enough.

Plus during stacking, it’s not always possible to be behind the boss. In those scenarios, whip out (no pun intended) the S/P instead.

Since you’ll mostly use S/P for trash clearing, use Sigil of Superior Bloodlust there to stack.

How do Thieves hand condi in these situations? Help from teammates?

Yeah, for the most part. Or Hide in Shadow. For trash running, the key is not to get hit at all by any conditions due to superior mobility from shadowsteps and invis and evades from S/P during battles.

I usually also use the two signets that increase damage and precision and haste. Activate haste immediately unless there’s a Mesmer about to time warp.

I try to activate the Signet of Assassin for my last heartseekers when the boss is dying.

Infiltrator’s return is really all the condition removal you’ll need in PvE.

Any decent guardians and mesmers should also be pretty active in cleansing your condi’s.

Don’t count on that in a pug however.

Are S/P’s inherent stuns ever considered useful?

Dual.8953:

Are S/P’s inherent stuns ever considered useful?

Yes. They are good at removing defiant stacks quickly and headshot makes for an easy interrupt that is always at the ready.