Guild Wars 2

Finally reach 80, gear up in full zerk, get d/d and d/p in hands and goes to WvW to find adventures.

Some duels i won, some lost (2 elems kills me almost instantly with all that 6k aoe damage, blocks and blinks)

And then i met warrior with rifle and bow, my damage – nothing, his damage drop me in second, i don’t even understand what happened. And start to think, should i even bother with my new thief, or forget about him like my dusty engineeer?

He used kill shot. It helps being a thief to fully understand the other classes and be able to call out which skills they’re using the moment the animation starts, and what that skill does. You constantly see thieves like Yishis calling out which weapon skill the enemy is using and why he’s doing what he’s doing to counter it.

You’ll also have to know your limitations. You can’t win every fight, especially those against multiple condition heavy classes such as necros and engineers who also have access to a multitude of stuns and CC.

Thf is hard to play, it’s rewarding but very difficult. Here is a video of someone with a d/p spec rocking 1vX in wvw and the commentary is great lernin.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcTKt47ixk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DKRcTKt47ixk

tattoohead.3217:

Thf is hard to play, it’s rewarding but very difficult. Here is a video of someone with a d/p spec rocking 1vX in wvw and the commentary is great lernin.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcTKt47ixk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DKRcTKt47ixk

Yeeaa, i saw this, very inspiring, but i’m start panic and button mash.

Bow is da new meta, Root = free kill for GS/hammer/Rifle users

To answer your question: thief is capable of winning almost all 1v1s so if you are having trouble it’s your skill or your build. I’m certainly not saying we’re on equal ground as all professions but we can still win by outplaying them. If you’re really in full zerker gear that’s too glassy for your skill level. Mix in some soldiers (chest,helm,legs if I remember right) to gain some sustain. Thief plays differently than all the other professions, you have to learn a new style of play to be effective.

Are you 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/10/0? I still think one of those is best for d/d in wvw.

Mmm, Killshot. the 1200 1hit kill from any direction. Now if that exact skill was on Thief and unusable in stealth and even had a tripled cast time people would demand it removed.

You could try roaming in a small group or at least one other till you get the hang of things.
Duos with Thief are nice because you don’t have to worry about getting perma stunlocked. If they go for your buddy while you’re stealthed or too far away you can nuke’em.

Also hotkeys are extremely important as Thief. If yours aren’t setup to allow you to hit any skill while moving you’ll have a serious problem.

knbBlackTemplar.3059:

tattoohead.3217:

Thf is hard to play, it’s rewarding but very difficult. Here is a video of someone with a d/p spec rocking 1vX in wvw and the commentary is great lernin.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcTKt47ixk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DKRcTKt47ixk

Yeeaa, i saw this, very inspiring, but i’m start panic and button mash.

Practice, practice, practice. You’ll never take down a warrior using healing signet without outplaying them tenfold, but for the other professions, just know how they work. The only way to keep a calm demeanor when you’re fighting is practice. Run a few games in sPvP hotjoin, maybe. If you have a problem with a profession, roll one and run a few games. Learn how they work.

Hype.8032:

To answer your question: thief is capable of winning almost all 1v1s so if you are having trouble it’s your skill or your build. I’m certainly not saying we’re on equal ground as all professions but we can still win by outplaying them. If you’re really in full zerker gear that’s too glassy for your skill level. Mix in some soldiers (chest,helm,legs if I remember right) to gain some sustain. Thief plays differently than all the other professions, you have to learn a new style of play to be effective.

Are you 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/10/0? I still think one of those is best for d/d in wvw.

0/30/30/10/0, and i don’t see how 1k more hp can save me. Only way to survive i see – is do not take damage at all

Hype.8032:

Are you 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/10/0? I still think one of those is best for d/d in wvw.

I really like Thrill of the Crime (in a 0/30/30/0/10 build). Starting most fights with Fury, Swiftness and a little bit of Might attached to your opener helps your burst. It even lets you consider Executioner over Hidden Killer.

I tell myself I can live without the Vigor from the acro traits by using Withdraw as an extra dodge

As for gear, knbBlackT should consider using Valkyrie armor (with zerk everything else). You get plenty of power and crit damage, trading precision for vitality. It’s pretty easy to jack your crit rate quite high without full zerk.

knbBlackTemplar.3059:

0/30/30/10/0, and i don’t see how 1k more hp can save me. Only way to survive i see – is do not take damage at all

Because it opens the possibility to recover from mistakes. Everyone will make mistakes, but the difference between other professions and a thief is that a thief is punished brutally for it (usually resulting in death). I mix Berserker/Valkyrie/Soldier to attain 50% critical rate, 102% critical damage, 16K HP and 2.5K armor. It works well for me.

Hype.8032:

To answer your question: thief is capable of winning almost all 1v1s so if you are having trouble it’s your skill or your build. I’m certainly not saying we’re on equal ground as all professions but we can still win by outplaying them. If you’re really in full zerker gear that’s too glassy for your skill level. Mix in some soldiers (chest,helm,legs if I remember right) to gain some sustain. Thief plays differently than all the other professions, you have to learn a new style of play to be effective.

Are you 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/10/0? I still think one of those is best for d/d in wvw

This, pretty much.

There’s not really any universal thief build capable of killing precisely every player, depending on what you fight you might need either more damage or more defence, different traits and utilities, weapons and even runes for what’s better suited in the fight.

With full berserker you can’t play too aggressive and you’re most effective in the start of the fight, you should always value and ensure your own survival, one mistake and you will have your death caused by Mesmers successfully performing a Blurred Frenzy>Shatter combo, or Elementalists and Engineers with their ordinary faceroll rotations (Engineers actually have to put out elite turrets and ground target so takes some skill!), and Warriors simple keyboard smashing and 3 shotting you with the hammer stuns meanwhile. While ensuring your own survival, time your burst well.

Personally, I find glassiness most viable on sword builds and in PvE.
Here’s my current D/D build:

Here’s a couple of other good builds, info, maths and statspread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Building-a-better-D-D-thief/first

Some good vids:
Yishis – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Lh8Oogl6Y
Mugi – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzSnrOvsAnA&feature=c4-overview&list=UU0gehl_xFuq30fe9V64talA

If you insist on high numbers:
Yski – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onzIWX-AQV8

Ghostwolf.9863:

If you insist on high numbers:
Yski – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onzIWX-AQV8

Oh my god, these numbers..

ideas for you to get better
1. start p/d – you’ll have better armor 3k. and you’ll learn to hit cnd right. give you range perspective of the fight and more time to react and learn your enemy moves
2. after go d/d – i started with pvt armor and zerk trinkets and after a while change to pvc armor for more crit dmg
3. play defensive – as dont try to kill 1v1 rather that prolong the fight thus learning to manage initiative, react, learn moves when to dodge etc
4. ask ppl to duel you and to learn from it – after getting stomp by healing signet warrior i asked one enemy to deal and learn and he was really helpful . still he was better than me
5. start 1v1 till you do it perfectly. than go to 1v2. and as you can see most videos out there you probably wont see 1v2 against 2 d/d ele or hgh engineer as it too difficult to fight against . so learn your limits
6. when doing 1v2 again try to prolong the fight with stealth skills cnd etc to learn your limit . i find that after 15-30 seconds 1vx my enemies start to do mistake as they used all their burst skills
yesterday i tried with p/p set to do 1v3 (kitten impossible) and failed over and over and today i manage to do it againt engineer+warrior+thief (i was lucky)
7. practice at solo camps without stealth and only dodging and again with only stealth without dodging. it will give filling when to stealth and when dodge

sum it up: there is a reason why everyone QQ on thief – because player who learn how to really play this class can take anyone and thief imo is the hardest class to master but very rewarding

messiah.1908:

ideas for you to get better
1. start p/d – you’ll have better armor 3k. and you’ll learn to hit cnd right. give you range perspective of the fight and more time to react and learn your enemy moves
2. after go d/d – i started with pvt armor and zerk trinkets and after a while change to pvc armor for more crit dmg
3. play defensive – as dont try to kill 1v1 rather that prolong the fight thus learning to manage initiative, react, learn moves when to dodge etc
4. ask ppl to duel you and to learn from it – after getting stomp by healing signet warrior i asked one enemy to deal and learn and he was really helpful . still he was better than me
5. start 1v1 till you do it perfectly. than go to 1v2. and as you can see most videos out there you probably wont see 1v2 against 2 d/d ele or hgh engineer as it too difficult to fight against . so learn your limits
6. when doing 1v2 again try to prolong the fight with stealth skills cnd etc to learn your limit . i find that after 15-30 seconds 1vx my enemies start to do mistake as they used all their burst skills
yesterday i tried with p/p set to do 1v3 (kitten impossible) and failed over and over and today i manage to do it againt engineer+warrior+thief (i was lucky)
7. practice at solo camps without stealth and only dodging and again with only stealth without dodging. it will give filling when to stealth and when dodge

sum it up: there is a reason why everyone QQ on thief – because player who learn how to really play this class can take anyone and thief imo is the hardest class to master but very rewarding

To add to this, I never EVER engage more than 1 tanky enemy, especially when they deal heavy conditions. As a thief it’s your job to take out the squishies, and they should be your highest priority since they pose the largest threat and also are the easiest to take down.

messiah.1908:

ideas for you to get better
1. start p/d – you’ll have better armor 3k. and you’ll learn to hit cnd right. give you range perspective of the fight and more time to react and learn your enemy moves
2. after go d/d – i started with pvt armor and zerk trinkets and after a while change to pvc armor for more crit dmg

I’m really don’t have money for 2 more armor sets

Run one day more today, it was definetely better, lot of kills (but still making damloads of mistakes). Need just runes of traveler so i can replace 25%speed signet with something like hook or shadowstep to better chase/runaway.

Very inspiring moment was, when i saw head of massive zerg got one of us downed and i save him from stomping with shadow refuge and we runaway before rest of zerg come.

P.S. Sigil of Fire or Air?

Sigil of Fire for sure.

air for solo, fire for aoe
air does 25% more single target dmg so if you main role is to take squishy scatters target go air

and after you play wvw you’ll get tokens to buy armor and weapons and when i raid usually i ended with 2-5g (2-3 hours raid)

Deathspike.1870:

knbBlackTemplar.3059:

0/30/30/10/0, and i don’t see how 1k more hp can save me. Only way to survive i see – is do not take damage at all

Because it opens the possibility to recover from mistakes. Everyone will make mistakes, but the difference between other professions and a thief is that a thief is punished brutally for it (usually resulting in death). I mix Berserker/Valkyrie/Soldier to attain 50% critical rate, 102% critical damage, 16K HP and 2.5K armor. It works well for me.

Check your stats OP. This guy has great offense and enough defensive stats to stay in a fight long enough to win. Thieves in spvp don’t have the luxury of having both but in WvW you can have it all! In WvW I used to shoot for at least 15k hp and 2.4k armor but more is exponentially stronger when you’re new. Lately I’ve been running with around 14k hp and 2.1 armor 10/30/0/0/30 but it’s not a novice setup by any stretch.

how do you get those stats? 50% crit 102% crit damage, 16k HP and 2.5k armor. and how much power??

just a tip though, don’t go over 2.5k armor if you do PvE if you don’t want to attract aggro from guardians/warriors.

Excalibur.9748:

how do you get those stats? 50% crit 102% crit damage, 16k HP and 2.5k armor. and how much power??

just a tip though, don’t go over 2.5k armor if you do PvE if you don’t want to attract aggro from guardians/warriors.

I have necro for pve, he’s on 30 fractal level and i don’t want to farm it again, and i love my necro in pve.

I run with this build at the moment. Please note that I do not have an ascended backpiece, ascended weapon, an infusion or a rune set – because it takes too much time to get them (except infusions, but I’m lazy). Switching the gear around to account for a Cavalier backpiece will turn the build into something like this. If you then add weapons of Ascended quality as well, you can turn more remaining Berserker gear into Valkyrie or Cavalier as I aim for 50% critical rate and no more (go for the WvW bonus vitality stacks first – 2.5K HP additional is massive for us!) . This build is aimed towards a prolonged fight and excels in that; it does not burst for extreme numbers, but can ‘burst’ often for a long time (~6K backstab, does sound low but being able to do it over and over really does work…).

You are not bad by any means. Why you didn’t scratch him is curious to me, but it was probably the fact he had rejuvenation signet in and you got killed before you could land 3 solid attacks. You just turned 80 so it is not a surprise you died to a warrior, and if you face a guardian, well, those are harder IMO.

sierras.6297:

You are not bad by any means. Why you didn’t scratch him is curious to me, but it was probably the fact he had rejuvenation signet in and you got killed before you could land 3 solid attacks. You just turned 80 so it is not a surprise you died to a warrior, and if you face a guardian, well, those are harder IMO.

I’m sure it is different for everyone but I find guardians easier than warriors. I’ll either kill a guardian or I won’t but I’m never in much danger. A warrior can be unkillable and still have massive dps that is fairly easy to land.

EDIT: except for the trolololol dps guards that 1 hit KO you when you’re not expecting it

Hype.8032:

I’m sure it is different for everyone but I find guardians easier than warriors. I’ll either kill a guardian or I won’t but I’m never in much danger. A warrior can be unkillable and still have massive dps that is fairly easy to land.

EDIT: except for the trolololol dps guards that 1 hit KO you when you’re not expecting it

Try fight a skilled Scepter/Focus + GS guardian with a good build and gear setup.
I find them really annoying, protection to lower overall dps, lots of blocks and blinds to counter spike dmg, GS to force you out of melee range, Scepter AA spam to keep high pressure on you when you are out of melee range and even in stealth.

Sure, they don’t have the burst of other classes and builds, but they create high pressure and have lots of counters to deal with direct dmg builds.