Advice regarding Thieves and PvE
watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsUTWQPZlng
I’m guessing that you’re struggling to cure conditions and this ties up your utilities and heals. You’re then struggling for enough smoke and blind to control mobs and this pushes you into dodges and evades that leave you frustrated and dead. This is happening because you’re running a very glassy build.
The first thing to try is an offhand pistol for smoke and use that on your safe dungeon trash. Use a shortbow on the dungeon trash that are not safe to melee. If that doesn’t suit you then try the shadow arts trait lines. If you trait for a blind on stealth and condition cures in stealth then yes you lose some dps but it frees up your utility slots and makes your offhand dagger much stronger.
i use every weapon set (except pistol mainhand) for a variety of purposes
for bosses i use d/d, for trash i use s/p, for bosses/trash that apply a lot of boons i use s/d, and when i have to range i use shortbow
currently my build is 10/30/10/0/20, all berserker equips
mug, side strike, practiced tolerance, executioner, shadow’s embrace, thrill of the crime, bountiful theft
i usually change around my build depending on which dungeon i’m running, since i usually run coe i’ve found bountiful theft and shadow’s embrace to be very helpful
you’re running pretty glassy right now, if i were you i’d give up 15 points in DA and put them in acrobatics for feline grace and vigorous recovery
i don’t know what heal you’re using but withdraw is such a life saver, and signet of malice will keep you alive through trash if you’re cleaving
Notalkingplz (PvE/Spvp) – Guardian
Rough Trade (PvE)/Urok Ashpaw (Spvp) – Engineer
good thief pve guide
I assume you’re 80, and have full access to all trait points, right?
If so, honestly I never saw much value in any of the stealth-related skills or traits in PvE… I know it’s not that way at all in WvW/PvP, but in PvE honestly the most important thing (IMHO) is killing stuff as fast as possible all while constantly healing the steady stream of damage flowing into your medium-armored body. That means as much Condition damage as humanly possible for as long as humanly possible to as many mobs as humanly possible.
My fave for this type of play is, without a doubt, Dagger/Dagger with traits set up for 3 dodges + caltrops-on-dodge (all of which trigger Signet of Malice, your constant-healing little friend). You MUST dodge the big incoming attacks… MUST! Damage avoidance via dodging (while dropping caltrops that bleed and trigger your healing signet) is the key. I typically also run the full Caltrops skill for times that I round up 3-6 trash mobs and group them around me (the big patch gets them all and really fires the healing signet, add more with dodges). Death Blossom is even more avoidance + more condition bleeds. When done right, you should be able to apply so many stacks of bleed so fast that trash mobs melt like butter and even Vets are no problem whatsoever solo between your dodge avoidance and constant stacks of conditions. Obviously, armor and trinkets choice is heavily loaded towards the +Condition Damage variety plus I add full sets of Superior Runes of the Lich or something along those lines to add even more bleed damage.
As far as a backup weapon, I generally carry Pistol/Pistol or the Shortbow for times when I’m all out of Initiative and am in a tough Champ fight – I drop all my remaining caltrops, use Dagger #5 (the only stealth skill I occasionally use) to break off, use Roll for Initiative to get back part of my Init. pool (plus get a good amount of distance quickly), then spam Blinds with pistol or AOE with SB until I refil, then back to the D/D fury.
It’s stupid fun, works in all PvE content (even dungeons and fractals) and makes me feel powerful.
(edited by ImagoX.4718)