Guild Wars 2

in progress…

Introduction

My name is Aeroxe, and I have been playing d/p thief since beta. I used to main elementalist, but that was only for a few months. I would definitely say I’m not as good as the more well known thieves, but I have played on various teams, including team elusive (fifth place in ToL). Nevertheless, my goal here today is to provide a comprehensive guide that is easy to understand and pickup.

Why…?

Mostly to kill time, but…
I understand that there is a lack of d/p thieves, and that is mostly because NA players tend to play what is meta (s/d). Yes, I agree s/d might be better in this meta, but d/p is just so much fun. More people should give it a shot before jumping the gun and saying that it’s obsolete based on tournaments.

What you need….

-Know what each skill does. I assume you know the skill of thief on the level of a hotjoin or pve hero. For instance, if I say blackpowder (bp), you should know what wep set that is on and what it does.

-Know the basic mechanics. You should know that a backstab can only be performed when you are in stealth.

-A general knowledge of tpvp. You should know that you need 500 points to win, and should know what home, mid, and far are.

-You should know the standard trickery d/p build. You can find it on various streams (ostrich eggs)…google it if you have to.

Mindset/Rotations

A d/p thief plays the role of a roamer. You assist small fights that have already started, and are in charge of keeping far node in check (backcaps). Your team fight capability is very limited, but it can be worse.

With d/p, it is hardly favourable to initiate 1v1s, especially if the person you wish to fight is on a captured node in the other team’s favour. You should be looking at the mini map constantly, noting which fights are being lost and being won, assisting with those that appear to be even (thereby making them in your favour).
Once you become more familiar with d/p, you can initiate 1v1s (don’t fight engis, necros with full life force, when you have no cds, players you know you will die to…use your best judgement). Still, remember that often you must outplay your opponent hard and not make a mistake (learn to dodge basically).

Combos

The best way to think of d/p combos is to understand that instant cast skills such as steal, shadowstep, and infiltrators can be used during the cast time of a skill, resulting in you shadowstepping to your opponent and have the skill cast at that location. If your opponent is far away, you may need two of these instant skills to get near them.

Let’s call these skills TS (teleport skills), and if they are ever referred to, it means you use the skill during the cast time of the previous skill mentioned. You may use 2 TS, or even 3 TS, if that is what you need to get to your opponent.

When you think of the number of weapon/heal skills that have a cast time that a TS can be used, the # of combos are truly endless. Often, what separates a good thief and a so-so thief is their ability to understand this and mix up their TS with these various weapon skills, utilizing a dizzying array of combos. In any case, I will list a few of the common combos. Pre-casted basilisk venom is optional, but a good idea for spikes and an opener.

1) Blackpowder->Heartseeker->TS->backstab
Bread and butter. Good spike. Use in team fights, and sometimes in the midst of a 1v1.

2) Blackpowder->TS
Great for putting a blind field on your opponent. Great for initiating a 1v1. Good with infiltrator’s signet and basilisk.

3)Heartseeker->TS
Somewhat okay spike. Use in teamfights, and sometimes in the midst of a 1v1. Use when initative is low or when you need that spike now.

4) Clusterbomb->TS
Somewhat okay spike. Use when in shortbow and need that spike now if weapon swap is on cd, or when you are low in health and need to use disabling shot quickly afterwards.

5) (in stealth)…Backstab->TS
Great combo for landing steal. Good (though not the best) for initiating/in the middle of team fights, 1v1s…almost everything.

Teleporting

The best way to get the hang of teleporting with shadowstep or infilitrator shot (sb #5) is watching streamers, and then practicing in an empty server a specified telespot for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, go to a solo que, and instead of trying to win a game, focus on trying to use that telespot strategically.

Random Tips/Advice

1)Landing steal is incredibly important. A good technqiue is to wait for a dodge right after you land basilisk (rarely basilisk and steal should be used together, unless for a sure spike), and then press steal. This way, your steal is almost gauranteed to hit.

2)You really shouldn’t be going for that many stomps in tpvp. Your team should be performing stomps.

3)In high level tpvp, your biggest enemy is the other team’s thief or glass cannon. It is your job to kill this thief, and should be your priority throughout the entire game.

4)Going for a back cap or not really relies on experience. In general, you should only go if you are certain that it is empty, or that the team fight is won/lost (not when it’s even).

5)Shadowshot+backstab gives you a blinding backstab

6)Shadowstep stomp: Stomp, and then during the stomp cast shadowstep away, and, then shadow step back. Notice how all your other TS are still available at this time (daze a resser with steal perhaps?)

7)For steal to land, you must be in the line of sight.

8) It is possible to get 4 heartseekers in a blackpowder blind field. Invert your camera so that you have a bird’s eye view, and then proceed to heartseeker.

Using Shortbow

Probably one of the harder aspects to grasp of playing d/p thief is realizing that…well…you really for the most part shouldn’t be stuck on d/p most of the time. In fact, you should really be on shortbow about 70% of the time, but this really depends on what you are fighting. In 1v1s, you should be using d/p more, but still not to the level of using sb. For spiking however, daggers are unparalleled.

1) One of the things you have to practice is landing cluster bombs. Play engineer nades for a bit. Another good tactic to landing cluster bombs is that right after you are sure a surprise shot (immobolize shot from stealth) is about to hit or you have used a basi+some skill, immediately use a cluster bomb.

2)When should you detonate cluster bomb? Well, detonating is very good for getting a sigil prot to occur. Know when your sigil ICD has run out, so that you can proc it. Detonating should also be done if you know that all the small explosions will hit (your cluster bomb was right on top of target…may be due to good aim or for cleave)

3)Shortbow #3 is an instant evade. This means that right after a dodge, you can shortbow #3, giving you a longer, continuous evade (people can’t hit you in between dodge and #3). Keep in mind, however, that there is a vulnerable period right after #3.

4)Although very minimal, shortbow#4 and then blastfinisher clusterbomb is very good for spreading weakness and can alleviate some of the pressure on teammates. Use in teamfights mostly.

5) Strafing. While using sb, an important technique is strafing (moving left to right quickly and repeatedly). This will alleviate some damage, especially from trick shots and warrior longbow. Can be done by using the strafe keys or holding the camera (right click) while pressing move left and right repeatedly.

Bundles (skills) gained from steal

The first thing you should get in your head is that bundles are actually really really good (with the exception of a few such as maybe the ele chill one). Don’t waste em in order to get steal up unless you must.

Thief-Get stealth. Does what it needs to do. Good.
Ranger-Water field. Really good. Blast finisher it hard.
Engi-Throw gunk. Sort of mediocre, but can be used to land basilisk venom.
Warrior-Spin is really good (cleave especially) and reflect projectiles. Can also evade during the spin.
Mesmer-All boons is really good.
Necromancer-Fear. Decent….can use TS to help land this.
Guard-really really long daze. Sorta hard to hit…using te skill right after you steal may help.
Ele-Chill is great if you land it, but with so much condi cleanse in the current meta it is most of the time just a passing condition.

Class matchups:….to be covered soon

Amulet: Beserker’s.

Rune Varieties:

1) Scholar’s-Personally, this is my favourite alternative and is the one I use. However, keep in mind that most thieves use other runes, and for good reason too. Though I find that scholar’s is extremely good in team fights, beause often the 10% damage can come through and spike someone quickly down when entering a fight (which is what you do as a roamer).
2) Ogre’s-Great for 1v1s, which somewhat covers a lack of 1v1 potency that thief has. Great runes overall…would probably recommend this over others.
3) Strength-A cool alternative that came up with the most recent patch. Great if you are playing an alternative thief build that has might stacking, or you are using strength sigils.

Sigil Varieties:
Again, with the recent patch there is a lot of variety, but these are the sigils I use personally. Feel free to critique and such if there are any problems. I will also try going over stuff that are used by other thieves.

Sigil Varietes of Dagger/Pistol:
1) Sigil of Air: Greatly adds to dps.
2) Sigil of Force:…Again greatly adds to dps
Alts:
1) Sigil of Fire in place of Sigil of Force: The reason why I use force over air is that force is a guaranteed increase on your spike damage, whereas fire is sort of RNG.
2) Sigil of Intelligence over Sigil of Force: A great alternative that has recently shown play. I would use this sigil a lot, however…. the sigil does not proc when starting out of combat and entering fights/needing to spike someone down. Again however, this is still an amazing alternative that I would highly recommend.

Sigil Varietes of Shortbow:
1) Sigil of Fire
2) Sigil of Strength: Helps increase d/p spike damage in team fights.
Alts:
1) Sigil Air for Sigil of Strength: Great with shortbow clusterbombs. Recommended, but I find it a bit too much RNG, and just prefer the general playstyle of sigil of strenght more. However, again that’s up to you.
2) Sigil of Generosity for Sigil of Strength: This is a very interesting and often used alternative, that covers up some of thief’s vulnerability to conditions. Great for 1v1s against condi classes.

“So I read this guide, and now what do I do?”

Unfortunately, there is no “magic guide” that can help you improve your play instantaneously. Like all things in life, sucking at something is the first step to be…sorta good at something. Practice makes perfect.

Again, like all things in life, to key to improving your play is in progressions. If you focus on getting good at everything at once, then you will be too overwhelmed. Focus on one thing, get that skill down pat in a few solo ques, and then work on the next thing. For instance, if I was practicing the d/p bread and butter combo, I would work on getting that down first, and then work on a specific teleport spot on Khylo.

Often overlooked are duels. The most important duel that every thief should practice is thief vs thief. This is an incredibly important duel to practice, especially due to the fact that one of your main jobs in high level tpvp is to take out the other thief. Additionally, dueling against another thief will reveal some of their skills and secrets that you might want to hone later on.

Watching streams are also essential. I would take a look at a variety of thieves that stream, and watch their vods for an hour or so. Pick up on a few things, but remember to practice one skill at a time.

Conclusion

I would like to thank again the overwhelming amount of support I have received from players these past two years, and especially these thieves whose skills are really unparalleled and have inspired this guide:

Cruuk
Caed
Magic Toker
Ben Zy
Steb
Reikou
Falchii

(if you don’t want your name mentioned, again…message me)

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. This guide will continue to be updated probably when I feel like it, but I thought a conclusion would help sum things up a bit.

Video of certain class matchups will probably be put in soon too. Maybe.

For those who wish to rock and roll (d/p), we salute you. Reserved.

Good guide, Aeroxe. There needs to be more D/P thieves out there.

5)Shadowstep+backstab gives you a blinding backstab

I think you meant Shadow Shot + Backstab.

7)For steal to land, you must be in the line of sight.

Not required after the latest patch.

Gud guide, Aero. I suggest you to add a video if it is possible so more people will test it for real.

And ya there’s a lot of s/d thieves now including me, though I always played s/d back in the day.

d/p is a good weapon set to start using the thief and if you master it you will not lose vs any other weapon set(s/d, s/p etc).

I will consider a video guide, but as of now, I’m on a small hiatus from gw2. I’ll probably be back in a week or so though once mistpedia and ToL or something starts.

Even then, watch dogs comes on the 27th :P. We will have to see.

Pretty basic stuff here.
I’d write more about the shortbow though. What really defines a thief’s combat skill is the use of SB IMHO. Not many use it, and not many use it correctly.

I must consider his tip cuz here whom we see is NA best thief!
Thx for tips ^^

And for the record, his name is pronounced “Zerox”

hihey.1075:

Pretty basic stuff here.
I’d write more about the shortbow though. What really defines a thief’s combat skill is the use of SB IMHO. Not many use it, and not many use it correctly.

I will add more about sb, but keep in mind that this is to help thieves who have a basic knowledge of the class and nothing more.

Aeroxie-woxie!

I wouldn’t call this comprehensive but nevertheless it has decent information and is useful for newer players.

Narcarsis.5739:

I wouldn’t call this comprehensive but nevertheless it has decent information and is useful for newer players.

It was my initial intention to make a complete guide, but I don’t think I have the knowledge, skill and moreso patience to create one.

Thanks for putting this together, looking forward to your updates. You could request a dev update the title from “Comprehensive” to “Beginner’s” or something.

For shortbow 3’s evade you should add that the evade downtime can be canceled with a weaponswap, which gives you the option to dodge and continue the evade or potentially use another skill, (useful also on S/D because you can do SB3 weapon swap S/D3 in order to chain evades if you ever find it necessary)

I like how thieves say they are d/p s/d s/p etc but spend the majority of their time in sb.

Sorry fellas you are short bow thieves.

Why does anybody want MORE D/P thieves out there? Talk about a weapon set which coddles its users..

Thanks for putting time and work into a guide, but this is the worst thief spec there is.

Updated. Will be updated more hopefully with videos of certain guest stars. Maybe.

Although I can multi-class all 8, thief will always be my main. There is one stomp not many thieves know about, and it used rarely. If you are in Shortbow, and can’t swap to another weaponset nor have Shadowstep/Blind available, you can Shortbow #5 max distance away from the target you are stomping and press your stomp button. After that you can use either infiltrator signet/steal or Shadowstep if it comes off c/d and it will port you back with the stomp animation. The reason why you need to SB #5 away is so you have enough time to start the stomp animation. This stomp is rarely used, but it’s fun stomp if you can pull it off.
Credits to my friend Chimplicity for showing me.
The thing about thief is having awareness, reaction, and patience which goes for all classes. Counting evades and actually dodging things you need to dodge. Timing burst and baiting people’s cool downs. Learning someone’s play style and common rotations will give you the upper hand. I’ve fought alot of thieves and each of them have different playstyles.

Cruuk – Uses SA treeline with might stacks, far point assault build.
Caed -Probably the most mechanical thief with d/p, experienced veteran with thief.
Magic Toker -A good thief and knows his mechanics well.
Ben Zy – Fun Guy from Strange World, it was always fun fighting him.
Steb – From Blacklisted, another notable thief.
Reikou -Another solid thief that knows his mechanics.
Falchii -A good thief, but was slayed by Lux Fortuna. (I love you Falchii)
Aeroxe -Lands his burst well than most thieves with d/p.
Chimplicity- Recently met him in tpvp, a good thief overall
There are other thieves I want to name on NA, but these are the ones I mostly see alot.

EU:
Only 3 Thieves that stand out to me:
Sizer: Best mechanics with s/d and use of evades
Vanish: No longer plays, but another d/p thief that was good
Shad: Another thief in EU that is notable.

-Marvin/Mirajane(Teef)

NO Snuffles has destroyed every thief name mentioned!!

SNUFFLES FAN CLUB!!

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

Although I can multi-class all 8,

heh lol

Does cruuk still use SA line really? Hes a good thief, the first time I fought him in pvp I didnt know who he was, I died and then I was quick to brush it off as a fluke…then I tried again and died! Needless to say it was cool to see some next level reaction times and was a rude awakening to what a top thief looks like.

Mike.4830:

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

Although I can multi-class all 8,

heh lol

lol, I know you can multi-class all 8 as well, but your best classes imo is engi/ele. You played mesmer alot back when custom arena came out with the first set of 2v2 servers. Alot of people multi-class, but my mains is like thief, but I mostly guard since most people aren’t experenced with it. Sure you don’t see me on all 8, but i’ve played them all to know all their mechanics. Same goes for you. Back on Topic, I forgot to mention Tron Jeremy is best thief NA.

DP needs a guide now? Ha..

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

Falchii -A good thief, but was slayed by Lux Fortuna. (I love you Falchii)

smerkscrenn

Lux.7169:

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

Falchii -A good thief, but was slayed by Lux Fortuna. (I love you Falchii)

smerkscrenn

As son of Lux, slayer of Falchii, I can confirm this.

Also no mentions of Ozie, the most fabulous canadian thief NA.

Unfortunately d/p is a bit underpowered these days. You can play it and be successful, but there are better specs out there. Thx for putting the effort out to make the guide. It’s bound to help someone.

Hype.8032:

Unfortunately d/p is a bit underpowered these days. You can play it and be successful, but there are better specs out there. Thx for putting the effort out to make the guide. It’s bound to help someone.

I’m failing to see how it’s unfortunate they’re taking away from a faceroll build to make it worth it’s skill input. I hope they do that with other classes and builds.

GJ Aeroxe, you’re one of the better thieves in NA.

Glad you’re sticking to d/p and not s/d.

Aeroxe.8140:

For those who wish to rock and roll (d/p), we salute you. Reserved.

I did it and was glad. It feels a LOT better than playing s/d in my opinion.

If there is something you guys wish for me to write about, reply down below. Still in the process of considering whether videos of duels against certain matchups are necessary.

Aeroxe.8140:

If there is something you guys wish for me to write about, reply down below. Still in the process of considering whether videos of duels against certain matchups are necessary.

Would be nice to see a matchup vs condi engis and s/d thieves.

Mbelch.9028:

Hype.8032:

Unfortunately d/p is a bit underpowered these days. You can play it and be successful, but there are better specs out there. Thx for putting the effort out to make the guide. It’s bound to help someone.

I’m failing to see how it’s unfortunate they’re taking away from a faceroll build to make it worth it’s skill input. I hope they do that with other classes and builds.

They are not taking away the faceroll build.

Guide has too many filler words, not enough pictures and no videos. also title should be the basics of d/p because this barely scratches the surface :/

Needs: Matchups, more tips, teleport spots, more tricks, rune/sigil variety

Also : “I would like to thank again the overwhelming amount of support I have received from players these past two years, and especially these thieves whose skills are really unparalleled and have inspired this guide. Without their efforts and ingenuity, most of this guide would not have been written.” is really corny since the guide isnt even 2000 words (and the majority of those words are headers and filler!)

moar

just rename it to the basic of d/p bro, really lol

Zirith.6429:

Guide has too many filler words, not enough pictures and no videos. also title should be the basics of d/p because this barely scratches the surface :/

Needs: Matchups, more tips, teleport spots, more tricks, rune/sigil variety

Also : “I would like to thank again the overwhelming amount of support I have received from players these past two years, and especially these thieves whose skills are really unparalleled and have inspired this guide. Without their efforts and ingenuity, most of this guide would not have been written.” is really corny since the guide isnt even 2000 words (and the majority of those words are headers and filler!)

moar

I guess I can try editing some stuff out. I can see why fillers might bother some people, and looking it over it is a bit fluffed out. I was just writing whatever came to my head with little filter.
I will also add some sigil stuff and more tips.

daltondeguzman.9182:

just rename it to the basic of d/p bro, really lol

Not sure how to change the thread name. I can see why this might be really misleading and might annoy some people looking for a complete guide. If any dev reads this post, changing the thread name to “Aeroxe’s basics of D/p” would be sufficient.

It would probably take 5+ hours to add all the stuff I mentioned, your guide is good it just isnt really complete till it gets a lot more.

Hey, I don’t see Martin in this list!