Guild Wars 2

I have bought an Ascended Inscription Recipe as a forethought. I have Leatherworking.

After talking to some folks, scouring the GW2 Guru and the forums here I have come to the understanding that:

• The best gear is made or forged
• Stat Priority for a Thief: Power – Precision – Vitality, in that order.
• Ascended Inscriptions do not provide that combination. Instead I have a choice between gear sets known as:
  - ‘Valkyrie’ :
• Power – Ferocity – Vitality (Stonecleaver’s Inscription)
  - ‘Berserker’ :
• Power – Ferocity – Precision (Zojja- very like her)

I could throw another 22K karma down the drain and buy them both, but right now I can only afford one. I need to make a decision and activate this recipe in the right direction for me. What sells on the market is yet another question altogether.

There also isn’t any clear, 100% Stat priority order answer for Thief. What I gleaned from all I have read is:

Damage Stat Priority
Power>Precision>Ferocity>Condition Damage>Vitality>Toughness
Using the Berserker’s sets for arms, armour and jewellery.

Endurance Stat Priority
Power>Precision>Vitality>Ferocity>Condition Damage>Toughness
Using Valkyrie’s sets for arms, armour and jewellery

Not so sure about the second one. I seem to have answered my own question but am not sure.

So, it boils down to:

1. Stat Priority for a Thief?
2. Valkyrie or Berskerker for my use?
3. Valkyrie or Berserker for the market? Provided self-made Ascended armour is salable to begin with.

Or is it Carrion? Argh…

Zerk, zerk, zerk is the name of the game in PvE for 6/8 classses, including thief. Vitality or toughness gear is usually used as training wheels while you get used to playing and then phased out progressively until you’re able of running full glass. So if you’re going for ascended gear, which is likely something you’re not going to make too many versions of because of the cost, it’s more beneficial to go berserker right away. If you want vitality, have them on trinkets or a couple exotic armor pieces.

So for a thief in PvE, zerk. For your personal use, zerk also probably unless you WvW or something, and even then I believe thief roamers like their sick deeps. And ascended armor cannot be sold on the TP, so that point is moot.

Thank you kindly.
Zerk as in Berserker, I understand, I think.
Running full glass? As in full glass cannon?
Sick deeps?

All berserker. Full glass. Much nuke. Very hype.*

• Only for PVE, except Tequatl and Triple Threat world boss fights.

The best gear is made or forged

Or found. Or through specific achievements.

Stat Priority for a Thief: Power – Precision – Vitality, in that order.

Power builds with no Ferocity is pointless outside of WvW Zerg Frontlines. The extra vitality from Valkyrie or Toughness from Cavalier will allow your squishy thief to withstand an extra ONE regular attack from a boss. HYPE!

Sorry, too used to talking with friends :P. Zerk is indeed the common shotcut for berserker. Full glass is glass canon yes, which is effectively what you get by going full offensive stats and is especially noticeable on squishy classes like eles or thieves as they don’t have much base health to help the way warriors or necros do. Sick deeps as in, sick DPS.

The answer is largely dependent on the type of PVE content you’re interested in. For dungeons and fractals, berserker gear (power prec fero) is highest priority.

For map completion, I would again suggest berserker but it is mostly preference/play style.

For world bosses, power/toughness/vitality is your best bet, as there are a number of world bosses that are unable to be critically hit and have AoE/sustained damage that makes vitality a good resource.

In instances and dungeon content, it comes down to group utility. The best thing a thief brings to the party is damage. This is why berserker gear is optimal, and within the current meta, most public groups require you to run it.

As a side note, if berserker gear is not what you want to run in dungeons, save yourself the headache of joining those groups that require it in the LFG description.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Inferring from all the above I gather the following:

I have to carry my own ’Superman’s clothes-changing telephone booth’ everywhere I go, where I have to carry a wardrobe of three different full clothing/gear sets:

1. Dungeoneering and gallivanting about the countryside: Berserker Power- Precision- Ferocity
2. World Bosses: Soldier Power – Toughness – Vitality or Cavalier Toughness – Power – Ferocity Valkyrie Power – Vitality – Ferocity
3. WvW: Power Builds without Ferocity. Does this mean Power as any attribute (Major, medium, minor)?

Right. I see.
So it boils down to ‘glass cannon with group’.

Secondary Attributes from the Guild Wars2 Wiki Attributes Page.

One more tip, Asumir:

Asumir.1978:

So it boils down to ‘glass cannon with group’.

As someone above already mentioned, defensive stats are mostly training wheels for Thieves. You do not really -need- power-vitality-toughness for world bosses.
I usually run about with only one set; the one I’m wearing. Part of how I’m staying mobile and still dealing damage is through conditions. You should consider that as well.

My technique is to maintain one armor set, usually berzerker, while swapping in ascended accessories as needed (e.g., berserker vs soldiers, so power always stays maximum for a non-condition build).

Armor and rune sets can be expensive! Plus accessories take up less space for storage.

Asumir.1978:

Thank you, gentlemen.

Inferring from all the above I gather the following:

I have to carry my own ’Superman’s clothes-changing telephone booth’ everywhere I go, where I have to carry a wardrobe of three different full clothing/gear sets:

1. Dungeoneering and gallivanting about the countryside: Berserker Power- Precision- Ferocity
2. World Bosses: Soldier Power – Toughness – Vitality or Cavalier Toughness – Power – Ferocity Valkyrie Power – Vitality – Ferocity
3. WvW: Power Builds without Ferocity. Does this mean Power as any attribute (Major, medium, minor)?

Right. I see.
So it boils down to ‘glass cannon with group’.

Not necessarily. See in this game when you know your encounter you can survive anything without defensive stats by using your active defense. As a thief you don’t have much else than your two dodge and that enough for most dungeon. If you need more you can keep smoke screen in your bar. Its a very good option in the best builds to stealth ppl in dungeon, but if you need it you can put it on a boss to blind then and safe your group a couple hits. But just watch out if there is Sceptre elementalist that would want to stack might at the beginning of the fight (dropping your smoke screen at that time would kitten their things up). If you still need a bit help, you can take the trait Vigorous Recovery without sacrificing too much damage to give you some more dodge. But keep in mind that its normal to have some difficulty at the beginning. Not only you have to learn how the game work, you also have to learn how your profession work and the content. That’s a lot to learn at the same time so most ppl learn with some pieces of more defensive gear. You can take 2-3 pieces of soldier or valkyrie gear for example just to give you more room for errors. Then eventually get to all zerker as you get better and know more about the game.

You can’t crit on most world boss, but not all. You shouldn’t take a specific gear for World Boss unless its one of the major place where you fight. In that case, Soldier all the way and check on which world boss you can or cannot crit, don’t use your soldier gear on Triple Trouble for exemple, because the second phase need all the dps they can and you crit on it. If you do world boss from time to time i suggest that you use your WvW gear instead of keeping another set of armor for not much.

In WvW it depend on what build you are using. If you are using Dagger/Dagger or Dagger/Pistols (D/P is the most popular right now) your main source of damage is your backstab and you have a trait in that kind of build that allow you to have 100% crit chance when you are in stealth, making precision less useless than with other build. For that build Power, Vitality, Ferocity, Precision would be your stats priority until you reach a sweet spot in survivability (it depend on your play style, some ppl like to burst and flee, other like to play in the middle of the zerg). Make your own mix of zerker and Valkyrie gear to fix what you need.

Thank you, Jackaljag, Ojimaru, Thaddeus, Grimwar, Seal and Gnat.
You are all so helpful.
So it is Soldiering till I can fly as Berserker. I see.

And all the considerations to be given to the other members are important, as well.
This game is so not ‘me, me’, is it? It is very much a ‘we’ game.

Currently fond of the Sword/Dagger combination with a Shortbow complement.
Considering switching Shortbow to Dagger/Dagger or Pistol/Dagger.

A wider view of this entire subject opens up if you realize you CAN mix armor stats and keep a few spare pieces in your bags for use in specific areas of the game. Same with Trinkets (mentioned above).

Unless you are trying to do record breaking Dungeon runs, full Zerker is never needed in the game (and is highly useless against Bosses you can’t Crit).

Asumir.1978:

And all the considerations to be given to the other members are important, as well.
This game is so not ‘me, me’, is it? It is very much a ‘we’ game.

It can what you prefer it to be. You can be a lone wolf in WvW roaming for the kill. I use to like to much running behind a enemy zerg and picking the fat kids one by one in their tail.

Or you can be part of a team in a zerg or in a dungeon, where each member will bring something specific to the table to boost the overall capability of the team. Thief don’t bring much defense, no problem the guardian got your back. Need more offensive buff? The Warrior is there to help, etc.

Or you can simply take whatever you want, where you want and complete the it. You won’t be efficient or quick, but it will work.

You have the freedom to do whatever you want and take on the challenge you want.

Asumir.1978:

So, it boils down to:

1. Stat Priority for a Thief?
2. Valkyrie or Berskerker for my use?
3. Valkyrie or Berserker for the market? Provided self-made Ascended armour is salable to begin with.

It all boils down to what you wish do to.
Berserker’s(Zerker) is the most widely known stat to use for all situations.
Lets break down the stats themselves and see what is useful.
Power: Raw Damage
Precision: Increases your chance to critical hit.
Ferocity: Increases the damage done when landing a critical hit.
Vitality: Increases your health.
Toughness: Decreases Damage received.

With that said a thief in PvP is much different than a thief in WvW or PvE.

PvE You usually have a group with your in events or dungeons to let you get boons and defense from them. So using berserker’s gear is okay here.

PvP It’s usually stealth and back stabs for a good chunk of damage, so critical damage is important, not so much defense. So Assassin’s or Zerker’s is good there.

WvW is a bit different, sure you have boons from allies, but it isn’t as organized as a PvE event. and The other team will be using skills on you at a large quantity. So a stat like Valkyrie mixed with berserk or assassin’s works great here. You get the raw power from both stats, the critical damage from both stats, and then a mix of precision or vitality from them.

For example, Valkyrie Armor, Assassin’s Weapons and Berserker’s Trinkets.
This will give you Vitality to give you some leverage to get hit once or twice, Raw Power and Critical chance and Critical Damage.

Yeah as others have said it also really does depend on how you prefer playing.

I personally tend to default to full berserker as the favored (and only) set for max level characters because I mostly play PvE and do dungeons with friends who lean on the speedrunners side of the crowd, and am familiar enough with bosses that I don’t really need the extra toughness/vitality from soldier’s gear, even for stuff like Tequatl. With a good party in dungeons you barely go down, and being fully specced with offensive stats means you kill things before they get to kill you.

Even taking things solo for stuff like open world exploration/map completion, I found it really fun to just zip around on my zerk thief two-shotting everything that crossed my path and didn’t have any trouble that couldn’t be solved by a 35112 combo on dagger/pistol. Similarly some people solo dungeons as thieves, and here high damage means you can finish the fight faster and so allow the bosses less chances of killing you.

The practice, where you get used to reading the enemies’ tells and wind-ups is the hardest part in my experience. That’s when you might need defensive stats, so you have second chances. Once you have enough experience under your belt to know what you can/cannot afford to facetank vs spending endurance to dodge, it can be more fun and challenging to go glass and take risks for a chance of killing stuff real fast.

Also, thief is really the class that’s designed for really high single-target damage, it feels a bit counterproductive to not fully bask in that :P

But to each their own, and it’s valid to prefer playing tanky. One big reason I do suggest zerk is because you’re talking ascended, and since it’s a considerable investment I think it better to go with the stat set that is 1. valid for all medium armor classes (caveat that engineer may be better with assassin’s, but zerk is also fine) and so can be shared with any alt you make later and 2. in high demand for dungeon/fractal runs (which is where the ascended thing comes in handy).

I usually don’t need to invest into Precision on my thief. At least in my gear.

I can easily trait out my thief to have close to 50% critical chance with just my traits alone. So i tend to invest into other stats with my armor. Vit is nice for survivablity in PvE and works well in WvW against condi players. So the Pow, Vit and Fer is what I’d use.