Guild Wars 2

So I’m in quite a bind in that the two class playstyles that I like the most in this game are considered the most Overpowered and the other being the most Underpowered.

With my luck, If I roll an Elementalist it’ll probably get nerfed once I hit 80. Meanwhile if I go with a Thief and hope they buff the class, it probably won’t ever happen. Or I’ll stop playing the game once it does.

I need some advice over here. I have both characters already created. I think I like the Thief playstyle slightly more but dear lord…every single experienced player is saying that Thief is a bad idea right now so I’m very hesitant to continue spending time leveling it up.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

why not both. It doesnt take a long time to level up to 80 anymore.

Kris.4802:

why not both. It doesnt take a long time to level up to 80 anymore.

Well mainly because I’m usually a completionist on my first character playthrough and I’ll be leveling up mostly through the open world PvE zones going for 100% completion. This will probably take a LONG time. I don’t want to just sit in Mists all the way to 80.

I want to experience the full leveling experience for my first max character

I suggest you go with ele.

ele is alot better in pve than thief then

I don’t pve but Ele is god tier in PvP and WvW….

Ele is op right now.pve meta=2 eles(top dps with bows) Spvp=undead Cele ele .WvW=>like always.

Ele is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) professions in all meta. I’ve never known Thief to be underpowered. I mainly keep to the dungeon/fractal and something WvW areas of the game though.

Ok I know Elementalist is OP right now but will they get nerfed any time in the next few months? It would be pretty rough to get to lvl 80 then get nerfed a week later.

How do Elementalist and Thief compare to each other in PvE?

Currently, elementalist is top tier in all gamemodes. It has already been confirmed that dd ele will recieve some nerfs because it’s too strong in pvp. What is getting nerfed and how hard is anybody’s guess, therefore we won’t know what the impact on other builds and in other gamemodes will be. My guess is that the impact on pve will be minor and i hope they won’t overdo the pvp nerfs.

As far as DPS goes, both ele and thief are top tier, although eles have a much stronger burst at the start of the fight. Both classes are highly desired in dungeon runs, but they each fulfill a different role. Ele is more capable of carrying the group through fights because of its utility and damage. Thief mainly makes skipping and certain puzzles easier.

basic ele responsibilities:
- maintaining party fury
- might (prestack before fights; you can also maintain a high amount of might with a df build if you lack a PS warrior)
- vulnerability
- blinds for trash fights
- icebow (for deep freezing bosses)
- ….

basic thief responsibilities:
- strip defiance for deep freeze (basilisk venom, steal, scorpion wire; don’t use headshot)
- blinds for trash fights
- stealth for skips (both blasting on darkness fields and shadow refuge)
- mobility skills like shadow step, shadow trap and infiltrator’s arrow can be used to make some puzzles easier and faster

This is by no means a complete list but it gives you a general idea of what your job is during a dungeon run while playing the respective class. Especially for the ele, there is so, so much more you can do to make the dungeon run easier for your party.

Detailed guides and builds for both classes can be found on dulfy, their respective class forum or you can check out the youtube videos made by DnT.

petyr baelish.9675:

Currently, elementalist is top tier in all gamemodes. It has already been confirmed that dd ele will recieve some nerfs because it’s too strong in pvp. What is getting nerfed and how hard is anybody’s guess, therefore we won’t know what the impact on other builds and in other gamemodes will be. My guess is that the impact on pve will be minor and i hope they won’t overdo the pvp nerfs.

As far as DPS goes, both ele and thief are top tier, although eles have a much stronger burst at the start of the fight. Both classes are highly desired in dungeon runs, but they each fulfill a different role. Ele is more capable of carrying the group through fights because of its utility and damage. Thief mainly makes skipping and certain puzzles easier.

basic ele responsibilities:
- maintaining party fury
- might (prestack before fights; you can also maintain a high amount of might with a df build if you lack a PS warrior)
- vulnerability
- blinds for trash fights
- icebow (for deep freezing bosses)
- ….

basic thief responsibilities:
- strip defiance for deep freeze (basilisk venom, steal, scorpion wire; don’t use headshot)
- blinds for trash fights
- stealth for skips (both blasting on darkness fields and shadow refuge)
- mobility skills like shadow step, shadow trap and infiltrator’s arrow can be used to make some puzzles easier and faster

This is by no means a complete list but it gives you a general idea of what your job is during a dungeon run while playing the respective class. Especially for the ele, there is so, so much more you can do to make the dungeon run easier for your party.

Detailed guides and builds for both classes can be found on dulfy, their respective class forum or you can check out the youtube videos made by DnT.

Awesome response. Exactly what I was looking for, thank you. Yes, I was doing google searches before I made the post but I kept getting old results stretching back to 2013. I wanted to get up to date feedback, which you provided me with.

I may go Elementalist because it is strong in both PvP and PvE whereas the Thief seems to be strong in PvE and bottom tier for PvP.

I’ll level my Elementalist the old fashioned way through map completion and if Thief gets buffed or Elementalist gets nerfed I’ll level the second character through Mists for speed I guess.

I will add about Ele icebow.Ice storm(number 4 skill) deals 24 impacts,each deal 5~7k damage to boss lvl 80 like bloomhunger.If boss have big model/big “hit box” =>then this skill deal 100k damage+some condi damage.Also you give bow to you team,so 2 eles= 4 ice bows=>400k damage to boss in 2 sec+long CC “Deep freeze”.Same about meteorshower 24 impacts,but more randomly,each deal 10-12k damage~even 50% miss>its a lot of damage.

For example in Asura Fotm full meta/zerker party kill boss less then 20 sec.Thief not strong in pve.He helps to skip mobs or doing dredges ,but he dont give anything to party and his dps =like warrior,but warrior give banners,re-stack might,give 150 power etc.

Showbiz.9725:

Ok I know Elementalist is OP right now but will they get nerfed any time in the next few months? It would be pretty rough to get to lvl 80 then get nerfed a week later.

How do Elementalist and Thief compare to each other in PvE?

So? The odds thief gets a buff is about 0 (they’ve received 2 in the 1,5 years I’m maining mine).
If you’re a good player in general and want to just play PvE you can roll a thief though in Dungeons they’re about equally good, I guess. And if you’re fast you’ll have no problems in any PvE content with a thief.

If you’re into pvp/wvw go ele.

Berzal.7294:

For example in Asura Fotm full meta/zerker party kill boss less then 20 sec.Thief not strong in pve.He helps to skip mobs or doing dredges ,but he dont give anything to party and his dps =like warrior,but warrior give banners,re-stack might,give 150 power etc.

I think everybody who knows me would disagree – Stealth is a powerful tool in pve, not just to skip mobs.

Jana.6831:

Berzal.7294:

For example in Asura Fotm full meta/zerker party kill boss less then 20 sec.Thief not strong in pve.He helps to skip mobs or doing dredges ,but he dont give anything to party and his dps =like warrior,but warrior give banners,re-stack might,give 150 power etc.

I think everybody who knows me would disagree – Stealth is a powerful tool in pve, not just to skip mobs.

The problem is you’re so squishy on thief you’ll eventually need it.

One thing to consider is the upcoming elite specializations. You might for instance be more interested in thief and daredevil than elementalist with upcoming unknown nerfs and tempest.

Hard to know how the specializations will end up effecting any meta, I do know that daredevil on paper looks a lot more appealing and is well received while tempest has been more or less deemed one of the worst just above the guardians spec. Again this is based on people looking at skills and theorizing so it might end up vastly different.

If your not into map pve and more tuned towards pvp/wvw daredevil might be of interest if you like high mobility.

I would look into it and use that as the current baseline with your choice rather than the current standard spec meta.

For instance, I’m making a necro right now because I know the elite spec uses a greatsword and appears to be a blast. I’m really not digging necro right now as a dagger/staff set up (cant stand all the ground target skills on staff) but I know ill like the elite spec just from what ive seen of it.

You’ll have way more build diversity with Elementalist. If you are a completionist and plan on spending quite a long time with a single class, I think the variety will be a big factor later on in keeping you engaged. Thief is a blast, but I think build options will go a long way in your enjoyment.

I’m an Ele main, but I also really enjoy my Thief so I’m gonna try to make a case for it since everyone else is busy talking up the Ele.

First of all, ignore the haters. The Thief isn’t bad, at least not in PvE and WvW (I don’t play much PvP so maybe they’re terrible there, I dunno). It is probably weaker than the Ele overall, but PvE isn’t difficult enough for that to really matter and Thieves are still the kings of scouting in WvW; if you want to live behind enemy lines, no one does that better than the Thief. Thieves also have far more AoE stealth than another else, giving them a unique way to help their team in dungeons.

Something else the thief does better than almost anyone else is dish out huge, shiny numbers. Warriors can also dish out big numbers, sure, but not as consistently and easily as the Thief, and usually as the result of long channeled effects rather than single hits. Eles, by comparison, have lots of DPS but almost all of it is spread out across many small hits and all the big numbers have long cooldowns. Landing a cool 10k backstab while soloing a couple of Veterans is really satisfying, especially when you can turn around a few seconds later and do it again, or just spam Heartseeker for 6k 6k 6k 6k 6k. (I prefer D/D Thief, which isn’t exactly meta right now but whatever, I like it.)

Thieves also have one of the easiest times surviving rough encounters. You’re squishy as heck, don’t get me wrong, but as long as you aren’t one-hit KOed you can always choose to stealth, disengage, and try again when your cooldowns are back. If you die as a thief, it’s probably just because you stuck around too long or attempted something a bit too crazy.

If you’re interested in World Completion, I cannot recommend the Thief more highly. Even though I main Ele, I still did my World Completion on my Thief because stealthing past a bunch of mobs to grab another Hero Point or Vista is so much more satisfying than having to lay everything in my path to waste. Thieves also have better mobility than the Ele so not only will you only have to complete content when you choose to complete it but zipping around the map will also take you much less time.

If you’re planning to level up from scratch by completing content (rather than popping a level 20/level 30 scroll and crafting your way to 80), the Thief will get you there much more easily. The Ele’s survivability and damage are both tied up in their trait lines, making early levels extremely brutal for them, whereas the Thief has higher amounts of both in their weapons and skills. Don’t get me wrong: open world PvE is pretty easy and it’s totally possible to level to 80 as an Ele, but the Thief does it noticeably more smoothly than the Ele.

Tl;dr: Both the Ele and the Thief are very fun professions and you shouldn’t feel like there’s an objectively “better” choice. The Ele is more flexible, the Thief is trickier and more brutal.

StrangerDanger.3496:

For instance, I’m making a necro right now because I know the elite spec uses a greatsword and appears to be a blast. I’m really not digging necro right now as a dagger/staff set up (cant stand all the ground target skills on staff) but I know ill like the elite spec just from what ive seen of it.

The Reaper’s specialization is indeed pretty bamf. For the Staff, might I suggest trying out Instant cast? There’s a drop-down menu in settings that will fire off a ground-targeted effect exactly where your cursor is (or an intermediary option where it will show the targeter when you press the skill and fire it off when you release. I find that helps make the staff feel smoother. It’s actually a really versatile weapon if you can get around the targeting issues.

Blaine Tog.8304:

I’m an Ele main, but I also really enjoy my Thief so I’m gonna try to make a case for it since everyone else is busy talking up the Ele.

First of all, ignore the haters. The Thief isn’t bad, at least not in PvE and WvW (I don’t play much PvP so maybe they’re terrible there, I dunno). It is probably weaker than the Ele overall, but PvE isn’t difficult enough for that to really matter and Thieves are still the kings of scouting in WvW; if you want to live behind enemy lines, no one does that better than the Thief. Thieves also have far more AoE stealth than another else, giving them a unique way to help their team in dungeons.

Something else the thief does better than almost anyone else is dish out huge, shiny numbers. Warriors can also dish out big numbers, sure, but not as consistently and easily as the Thief, and usually as the result of long channeled effects rather than single hits. Eles, by comparison, have lots of DPS but almost all of it is spread out across many small hits and all the big numbers have long cooldowns. Landing a cool 10k backstab while soloing a couple of Veterans is really satisfying, especially when you can turn around a few seconds later and do it again, or just spam Heartseeker for 6k 6k 6k 6k 6k. (I prefer D/D Thief, which isn’t exactly meta right now but whatever, I like it.)

Thieves also have one of the easiest times surviving rough encounters. You’re squishy as heck, don’t get me wrong, but as long as you aren’t one-hit KOed you can always choose to stealth, disengage, and try again when your cooldowns are back. If you die as a thief, it’s probably just because you stuck around too long or attempted something a bit too crazy.

If you’re interested in World Completion, I cannot recommend the Thief more highly. Even though I main Ele, I still did my World Completion on my Thief because stealthing past a bunch of mobs to grab another Hero Point or Vista is so much more satisfying than having to lay everything in my path to waste. Thieves also have better mobility than the Ele so not only will you only have to complete content when you choose to complete it but zipping around the map will also take you much less time.

If you’re planning to level up from scratch by completing content (rather than popping a level 20/level 30 scroll and crafting your way to 80), the Thief will get you there much more easily. The Ele’s survivability and damage are both tied up in their trait lines, making early levels extremely brutal for them, whereas the Thief has higher amounts of both in their weapons and skills. Don’t get me wrong: open world PvE is pretty easy and it’s totally possible to level to 80 as an Ele, but the Thief does it noticeably more smoothly than the Ele.

Tl;dr: Both the Ele and the Thief are very fun professions and you shouldn’t feel like there’s an objectively “better” choice. The Ele is more flexible, the Thief is trickier and more brutal.

StrangerDanger.3496:

For instance, I’m making a necro right now because I know the elite spec uses a greatsword and appears to be a blast. I’m really not digging necro right now as a dagger/staff set up (cant stand all the ground target skills on staff) but I know ill like the elite spec just from what ive seen of it.

The Reaper’s specialization is indeed pretty bamf. For the Staff, might I suggest trying out Instant cast? There’s a drop-down menu in settings that will fire off a ground-targeted effect exactly where your cursor is (or an intermediary option where it will show the targeter when you press the skill and fire it off when you release. I find that helps make the staff feel smoother. It’s actually a really versatile weapon if you can get around the targeting issues.

I do that, another thread here has my issue with the whole ground targeting system and the disappearing mouse cursor.

StrangerDanger.3496:

I do that, another thread here has my issue with the whole ground targeting system and the disappearing mouse cursor.

Ahh yeah, I have that problem too. Really annoying. I, too, wish there were a way to make the mouse cursor stick out better without resorting to 3rd-party solutions.

Agemnon.4608:

The problem is you’re so squishy on thief you’ll eventually need it.

I almost never use stealth on myself in dungeons/fractals, just like I never use water on myself as an ele.

Jana.6831:

Agemnon.4608:

The problem is you’re so squishy on thief you’ll eventually need it.

I almost never use stealth on myself in dungeons/fractals, just like I never use water on myself as an ele.

Why would you if you never do enough damage to draw the aggro.

Greetings

Elementalist is really fun to play (haven’t tried Thief yet)
Other build I have as well is Engineer

One of the things I like about my short time in this game so far is the different ways the races “move” in their respective classes
(I bet the Charr ele is a HOOT)

Check out the upcoming skill adds to both classes
(Ele is Tempest, not sure about Thief?)

Might give your decision more to go on

Have fun!

*edit grammar

Agemnon.4608:

Why would you if you never do enough damage to draw the aggro.

You don’t really know dungeons or thieves, do you? ;)

I currently have a Thief at 80 and an Elementalist in progress at 48 and honestly, even though yes, the Ele drops mobs in a single shot quite often, I preferred the Thief overall.

I don’t weigh in on the forum very often, simply because I don’t do either dungeons or PvP, so I don’t feel I have the experience to give a valid opinion on most topics.

However, given that you sound like you’re leveling up with the same preferences I have (open world, 100% map completion, exploration based), I would recommend the Thief from purely an enjoyment perspective. Ele is so OP that it’s almost boring.

My thief is traited for survival, using acrobatics, trickery and deadly arts, and with the passive health regen on both signet of malice, and Assassin’s Reward trait, and condition removal when using caltrops, you can build out to be pretty darn resilient, for a low health class. Plus, it’s just freaking fun to play, with stealth and the steal mechanic.

Zennia.5762:

I currently have a Thief at 80 and an Elementalist in progress at 48 and honestly, even though yes, the Ele drops mobs in a single shot quite often, I preferred the Thief overall.

I don’t weigh in on the forum very often, simply because I don’t do either dungeons or PvP, so I don’t feel I have the experience to give a valid opinion on most topics.

However, given that you sound like you’re leveling up with the same preferences I have (open world, 100% map completion, exploration based), I would recommend the Thief from purely an enjoyment perspective. Ele is so OP that it’s almost boring.

My thief is traited for survival, using acrobatics, trickery and deadly arts, and with the passive health regen on both signet of malice, and Assassin’s Reward trait, and condition removal when using caltrops, you can build out to be pretty darn resilient, for a low health class. Plus, it’s just freaking fun to play, with stealth and the steal mechanic.

Acrobatics is trash, switch to Shadow Arts until HoT is released. Thief can be fun but Shadow Arts is simply a more practical traitline since you get condition removal and healing in stealth.

Staff ele imo, it basically plays just like warrior you just press 2 every 6 seconds pop utility skills and everything melts in PvE.

On the flip side since you want to do 100% map completion either choice is fine since thief in full zerker 2 shots every mob, has better mobility, and you can stealth cap hero points that have champions near them.

Go Ele, way more balanced, and useful. Thief has “one” good weapon set, and is basically a one trick pony. But then it’s all about how you like to play. Making a build is easy. Just go to meta battle and get a build from there like 90% of the player base.

Thanks for the responses guys, I have both classes at lvl 30 now and I’m leaning towards Ele a bit since they do seem more powerful in general. They both seem fun in their own way but right now Ele seems way more flexible and versatile. However, I like the actual playstyle mechanics of Thief even though they may be considerably less powerful. I do prefer the female human Thief storyline more as well.

You’re talking about PvE and you say thief is underpowered? What…?

Just make all classes. In this game you will max out in 1 week or so casually playing. This way in the future whenever you get bored of one class, you have the whole board to pick from.

Rebound.3409:

Just make all classes. In this game you will max out in 1 week or so casually playing. This way in the future whenever you get bored of one class, you have the whole board to pick from.

1 week or so only through playing Mists maybe. I doubt it’s that fast if you’re casually playing through PvE zones, etc