Guild Wars 2

Just curious, what all I should bring to dungeons on my theif, and what I shouldn’t bring. Zerker gear assumed. A brief explaination of why would be appreciated.

They bring stealth for easy and fast skips mostly. Thief stealth is stronger than engie stealth since they have multiple ways of applying it and they can do it instantly mid-run without Revealing themselves in the process. By comparison engies can apply stealth of comparable length but they need to be able to stack in a safe spot while they do it and they can’t do it multiple times in rapid succession (thief has two stealth stackers, while engie only has one).

In most situations you can just bring Assassin’s and Agility Signets since they provide a nice boost to your personal DPS. Your 3rd utility can vary, but I usually use Signet of Shadows here to move faster past trash mobs. Infiltrator’s Signet is a good choice too for the extra bit of initiative.

Switch out your utilities based on how redundant they are for the part of the dungeon you’re at. Skipping is an example, you’ll want to switch Assassin’s Signet out for Smoke Screen or Shadow Refuge, maybe swap out Agility Signet to take both if you think you won’t need the extra 2 dodges.

As far as weapon sets go, I roll with D/D and S/P. Two solid sets, S/P bringing permablinds and CC and D/D bringing massive DPS against bosses.

Edit: Forgot about elites. Depending on the situation you’ll want to take either Thieves’ Guild or Dagger Storm. Basilisk Venom has been nerfed to uselessness in PvE. Generally I go with Dagger Storm for when I need the personal reflects in a pinch, or sometimes I need the Stability. Dagger Storm is one of the few elites that does not remove Stability when you cancel it, so you will find it helpful in skips like those in Arah P2. Thieves’ Guild is supreme in boss fights for rather obvious reasons (+ one of the thieves will throw a Scorpion Wire).

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

(thief has two stealth stackers, while engie only has one).

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Powder

Infinite stealth stackers in practice.

Should I consider myself restricted to 6-5/6-5/0/x/x?

If you were trying to push for maximum damage then you’d have to go for 6/6/0/0/2. Personally I drop Revealed Training and go 5/6/0/0/3 because I find the extra 3 initiative helps me a lot with mobility (dat HS spam) while not being a large drop in DPS.

What elites are valuable? I’m gathering a good half of our utilities are unneeded.

See my edit above for that.

the dungeon thief, (( lets see if i get this right))

the dungeon thief brings several things that are wrapped up into a neat little package. first being obscene Damage vs single targets (bosses) losing out only to an ELementalist. Your “go to” for single target is Dagger Dagger. Simple rotations with cloak and dagger, and the back stabs. as well as heartseekers at correct times. keep it simple in theory but will take some learning on how to keep it moving.

Sword and Pistol is your general use trash clearing and multi target Damage. basic concept is pistol 5 for the blind and 1 auto attack rotation, pistol 5, AA, repeat. throwing the occasional pistol Whip in will allow for convenient interrupts and a flurry allowing you some evades and breathing room. Pistol whip is (for me) the most wonderful thing for peeling off stacks of defiant very fast. so that your party can use a major interrupt when needed.

Personally i always have my shortbow on my swap. the damage is depressing but the utility is what you are after. Shortbow 2 into fire fields will blast fast stacking might. and your shadow teleport (5) is great for getting around and trash skips.

Stealth.
most common stealth mechanic used is using your smoke screen, and using shortbow 2 into it. blasting for stealth. for longer skips you can start with that, run a ways and then have your shadow refuge ready to be dropped for the longer duration and farther run. Smoke screen also provides convenient projectile defense as a block.

utility skills are semi situational. but generally speaking you want your Signet of agility (extra precision , and a emergency condi removal. ) and assassins, (extra power passive and a 15 percent damage bonus when activated). 3rd slot is up to you and what you are about to do. Personally i always have my agility signet on, and i adjust the other 2 as needed. Experience will allow you to know what you need for when.

Elites. I will take thieves guild most of the time. unless i think i might need the stability. just be aware that the thieves guild will scorp wire your target. so it may or may not mess up your defiant and or positioning of the target you are trying to kill. Experience will also help you in what is useful when.

general builds yes are 6, 6, 0, 0, 2 for max damage. 5, 6, 0, 0, 3 for slightly less damage, but more initiative. I think they both work well. just depends on how you are at managing your initiative etc.

regardless thieves are a lot of fun to play and are very capable of “pulling their weight” in runs not just their ability to stealth.

{DnT} has some build video’s you can look at that will most likely do a far better job of explaining it than I did. DTGuilds.com check out Nike’s page and or Brazil.

most important!…

Have fun!

Some might want to skin me alive for this advive, but if you are still learning the ropes you can try 5/6/0/3/0 to begin with.
Yes, you lose some damage that way, but the endurance return of the acrobatics master tier minor trait can make a lot of difference as far as staying on your feet is concerned.
Once your comfortable enough, go to 5/6/0/0/3 or 6/6/0/0/2.

As a thief you will also want to bring vulnerability. A thief, using FGS will give 25 stacks of vulnerability.

Silberfisch.3046:

Some might want to skin me alive for this advive, but if you are still learning the ropes you can try 5/6/0/3/0 to begin with.
Yes, you lose some damage that way, but the endurance return of the acrobatics master tier minor trait can make a lot of difference as far as staying on your feet is concerned.
Once your comfortable enough, go to 5/6/0/0/3 or 6/6/0/0/2.

I think 5/6/0/0/3 is better if you are starting since you are using signet heal so vigor on heal wouldn’t be that great since you have to pop your heal. The minor in trickery is better since you can use that 3 extra initiative for evades on Death Blossom or Pistol Whip (which heals you and stuns too). If you really need an extra dodge just pop your signet of agility since it refills your endurance. Top that off with blind fields and I think the extra 3 initiative would help newer players more than getting 15 endurance back from a dodge.

Actually I would use power of inertia as adept major in a 5/6/0/3/0 build, not vigorous recovery.
And I agree that against trashmobs and to stay above the 6 initiative theshold 5/6/0/0/3 would work better, but agains a boss? If you’re using pistol whip to remove defiance or you can time the evade portion of the psitol whip properly it might be easier as well.
But if you are in dagger/dagger mode I think the extra 15 endurance in combination with the endurance refund from wild strike will offer you more suvivability. At least it does in my experience, but maybe that’s just me and it might be personal preference.

Stealth is the main and most obvious reason to bring a thief, but I wouldn’t forget blinds. Black powder shuts down trash mobs like nothing else – it’s amazing for things like the cliffside and ascalon fractals. Improvisation (20 in to deadly arts) makes thieves great conjure-users. And as was pointed out above, sundering strikes (10 in deadly arts) is important for vuln stacking. Shortbow has a spammable blast finisher which is not only good for stacking stealth in smoke screen, but also for stacking might at the start of a fight. Pistol whip is a spammable and short-cast cc, so in fights where defiance needs to be stripped to interrupt a powerful skill, you’ll want to be sure to help in the stripping.

Everything has already been mentioned, but

Stealth: trivializes run sequences. All of them, in the whole game.

Black Powder (pistol off-hand 5): Perma blind. A significant number of mobs will not be able to deal damage.

Crazy DPS: Everyone knows this already. Did you know thief has a trait that lets them deal more damage with bundles? Bundles like ele conjures, for example.

Spammable blast finisher: Enough said.

A lot of enemy A.I tends to try and swarm you. Smoke fields (Blinds) Instantly eliminates a lot of risk of team wipe. The roaming rock dogs in HoTW/ the spider venom type foes in S.E and anything with a hammer etc are all examples of where chained smoke fields help prevent a wipe by 500%.

Bringing a thief to a dungeon run is an ideal way to do you daily revive achievement.

Mac.3872:

Bringing a thief to a dungeon run is an ideal way to do you daily revive achievement.

I suppose that’s true if you’re the thief in question.

Kaiser.8504:

Mac.3872:

Bringing a thief to a dungeon run is an ideal way to do you daily revive achievement.

I suppose that’s true if you’re the thief in question.

I see what you did there. xD