Guild Wars 2

So.. after toying with my engineer and various builds for the last month, ive decided Rifle IS the weapon I want to use. The problem I am having, is that nearly all rifle builds seemingly consist of using s/d, and zerker gear, and i’ll admit, im not nearly good enough to be roaming in wvw in zerker gear without constantly being gibbed by every thief I see. So I’m looking for a little help.

1. Are there any rifle builds that are not centered around s/d?
2. Any tips to help me against classes like thiefs?
3. Is rifle even viable for wvw roaming?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, as im loosing my mind at this point..

In short:
1. Yes.
2. Hit your s***, dodge their s***. Of course I mean skills.
3. Yes.

@1:
One example: power nades, like 30/10/0/10+/10+, take any utilities in addition to grenade kit that you feel confortable with. Build pure zerker, knight/zerker, mix with soldier etc., make sure it’s as defensive as you need it and as offensive as possible.
Another option might be rifle hgh (maybe also with nades?). However, better ask a hgh player about such a build.
As a control/support build Rifle+FT+EG might work, I would build that one more durable and run it in a group.
Rifle in a cond nade build is also fun, you’ll have less conditions from your weapon, but more control to make you grenades hit.
You can really try anything and see what works out for you.

@2:
I guess you have problem with stealth? Spam aoe, turn around the whole time following a movement pattern that makes it hard to get behind you, get your back towards a wall and/or use mobility skills when they want to hit a backstab so they’ll have to burn up initiative to catch up in time and stealth might end before they are in range.

Vs P/X better get yourself an obstacle to kite around, retreat when they are surprising you, P/X thiefs aren’t that good at chasing.
Vs X/D dodge CnD. Get away from NPC’s/mobs the thief could use for CnD or kill them. Avoid using turrets/detonate them as soon as the thief begins to use CnD on them (a nice way to let them burn some initiative btw).
Vs S/X keep an eye on their #2 “anchor” (little circle) and the duration of the buff
S/D is a bit tricky, when they are good they’ll dodge most of your attacks. Create a spvp thief and learn the evasion time frames. CC them when they use an attack without evasion (rifle #4).
Vs SB… well, SB alone usually doesn’t kill you, most of the time thiefs use it for escaping, which is something that is hard to counter when they aren’t careless. If a thief tries to slowly kill you in a ranged attrition fight, use LOS.

@3:
Sure. It adds mobility, burst and control to your skillbar. Basically everything you want in a power roaming build. It’s less effective in large encounters though, P/S offers more defense vs. multiple targets (block+stun, aoe KB, multi-target blind).

Thanks for the advice. Here’s the build and utilities ive been running today, so far, I LOVE them. but am open to suggestions / tweaks. Currently running knights armor, with ruby orbs. zerker trinkets.

Edited with my gear and all entered in.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUnIE1zavLOvQ9ikY0jOz5MDmRe9rYBfKIXA-jEDBYgAYLIUEIkFApPRMBaIrtBFRjVtATVaI1qYQeDYuDDpWIARjBA-w