Guild Wars 2

Two days ago I ve bought GW2 and I must say I absolutely love it. The idea of players being able to negate almost any damage with their reflexes and skills is great and IMHO it was something that almost every MMO released so far was missing.
I am now playing thief using sword/dagger as it gives me a lot of mobility ( particulary flanking strike is something I loved from the first time I saw it ) but people on the other forums say that in PVP it may be unviable due to low damage output. I am curious what you think about that. If someone is successfully PvPing with S/D thief, can you recommend me a build I should follow?
Many thanks!

I tried Mists the other day and I think dual daggers have the most dps output, or dual pistols(if you use them right).

I used traits for Power/Critical(100% crit in stealth) and condition damage for rest. Then I used the attack speed utility and Power/Crit utility signets. Damage output was great.

Dual daggers cost a lot of iniciative though so you might wann use the initiative utility skill for that. I didn’t try swords though.

Frankly I didnt like dual daggers… It seemed… static? I found double pistols way more fun but here on the other hand I dont think machine gunning with multi shot fits the world with swords and bows LoL, so I stick to the Sword/Dagger + ShortBow set. So my point still stands – are they any good in PvP?

I play thief sword/dagger in pvp successfully all the time. Specced up for power and crit damage and reduced cooldowns in stealth skills, you can backstab crit all the time with the build.

Sword and Dagger is actually really good if you are “good” with the Thief class and understand it, which 90% dont at the moment hehe.

Flanking Strike is good for getting behind your opponent and avoiding heavy attacks from your opponent. Thief in melee should be focusing on backstab for heavy damage, not Heartseeker spam which only burns down your inititative crazy fast leaving you vulnerable as a bunny rabbit on the battlefield.

Avean.7694:

Sword and Dagger is actually really good if you are “good” with the Thief class and understand it, which 90% dont at the moment hehe.

Flanking Strike is good for getting behind your opponent and avoiding heavy attacks from your opponent. Thief in melee should be focusing on backstab for heavy damage, not Heartseeker spam which only burns down your inititative crazy fast leaving you vulnerable as a bunny rabbit on the battlefield.

I agree. I find Sword + Dagger quite good in PvP, especially WvW. This set gives you lots of tools to survive and prolong fights which is good when you’re fighting someone who knows what they are doing.

Sword + Dagger has a stun break, condition removal, boon removal, and a snare. Anyone who thinks it’s weak in PvP is crazy. It’s not your highest DPS set, but you can use Dagger + Pistol or something else in your other set to get your burst off.

I played with S/D a little but did not find it to my liking. I’ll admit that flanking strike is a nice evasive attack, but I personally just had a hard time getting a feel for the tactical side of this build.

I personally prefer Pistol/Dagger and Dagger/Pistol, they are lower damage but very tactically defensive builds (best for 1v1). I’ll also occasionally mix it to D/D and P/P if I want to focus on burst damage in big groups (mainly to avoid getting stepped on).

Shadow.6018:

eladox.3457:

Get a dagger
smash your head on your keyboard (make sure it would hit “2”)

Some one really has a chip on their shoulder.

It’s not a chip on his shoulder; it’s a learning disability. We should be more understanding of his condition.

United thief players.
How cute.

Yeah. You know, in a thread asking about specific thief features.

Build 1 – Heartseeker (Dagger main hand)
Build 2 – Pistol Whip (Sword main, Pistol offhand)

Pretty face roll.

2222wwww2222222222wwwwwwww2222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222Look another guy with learning disorder.

anyone who just uses one ability is just asking to getkittenin pvp, utilizing poisons and shadowsteps not only makes you lethal but also puts your survivability through the roof.
as for the main topic i like both duel daggers and sword/dagger combo, personally i dont have a ranged setup but im more of a get in there, do work, get out kinda player

Don’t use sword/pistol I use a condition build with insane suvivabilty (Pretty much infinite dodging while stuff recharges)

and keep either Pistol + Dagger or Shortbow or Duel Pistols handy, works perfectly for me.

S/D thief is pretty amazing if you get practice with it. The sword 1 hits harder than any other weapon which is great for burst. 2 is great to jump in from ranged, keep Shadow return up to pop back out as soon as you get targeted down. 4 is almost overpowered right now for dagger, especially when you have 2 targets available. This can be 2 players or a ranger and his pet. Hell, I even use critters to bounce off of when I see they are close. It cripples and destroys with its damage. Its so good, I even use it vs. single targets from ranged. Soften them up, then pop in with 2 to immob them, and tear them apart. 5 is not as useful, but if you need to make a quick escape or in 2v1, 2v2 you need to get untarget, its a strong way to stealth and then daze back in with your stealth sword auto. I love S/D and I almost always keep it equipped, and use P/P or P/D as my ranged equip.

You just have to know how to pick your fights, you won’t be able to take damage at all since you’ll want to be specced power/prec. 1 on1 though, any class will be hard pressed to out dps you.

Thank you [almost] all. I will continue to practice s/d then.

sparrow.6349:

Thank you [almost] all. I will continue to practice s/d then.

If S/D doesn’t work for you, I’ve had a lot of fun (maybe not so much luck, but fun) with S/P.