Guild Wars 2

Hi folks so i have a couple of classes at lvl80 now and are planning on my next class to level and yes i like the whole questing to 80 experience. I was looking at the thief as my next one but have a question. Are they fun ? what sort of builds do you guys run and how do they perform in dungeons

thanx in advance

I run Sword/Dagger and Shortbow and I find Thieves fun. Signet of Shadows is down right addictive. Everyone feels slow after equipping it. Infiltrator’s Shot is ideal for getting past environmental traps like the spear traps in the Shark Maw JP, and I can use Shadow Refuge to complete Communing Skill Challenges and mine Ores unchallenged. Haven’t tried Dungeons yet, mainly for lack of time.

Thief is definitely fun for me, otherwise I wouldn´t play it (makes sense, right?).
I´m running a 10/30/30 backstab build in PvE/WvW now, with Valkyrie equip. This build is actually not as survivable as the condition dmg one (D/D, death blossom/caltrops spam build), but it is much more fun to me (bigger challenge in melee range, not so stereotypish – lot of movement, positioning and timing, unlike the other build which was basically spamming, spamming, spamming to get a lot of evades and lower dmg because of conditions bad design).
In WvW, the performance is great, especially on single targets (D/D) or making pressure on defenders/attackers on siege (short bow). I´m not nearly as glassy as the standard GC build (I have around 18k HP and raised toughness from the Shadow arts), but still performing pretty high in the terms of dmg and of course the Thief has nice mobility.

Been playin’ a Thief for awhile, only 300+ hours unlike some ah these people, but gotta tell ya, I love the class. I love ta mix things up, so I trade me weapons an’ traits aroun’ every 10ish levels – mostly when the thing I’m doin’ starts ta wear thin.

Played right the Thief is fast paced and excitin’ or subtle an’ clever. I love P/P for shear show, D/D for adrenalin, S/D for style, P/D for mobility, an’ a couple I’m forgettin’ for sure. We’re squishy as pie, but we’re slippery as puddin, so ya gotta pay attention ta what yer doin’ mosta the time or you’ll get stomped.

Steal is kinda lackin’ in the beginin’, but don’ forget about it because once ya can trait it up ah bit it’ll be a game changer for ya. It seems ta be ah “love it or hate it” kinda class skill, but ya ask me an’ it’s the best one in the game.

After the excitement ah playin’ a Thief, what with their initiative addin’ some great fluidity inta the play style, I wouldn’ wanna play another class. (an’ haven’ gotten inta any alts I’ve toyed with)

I only play my thief and I’m working on my third full exotic armor/weapon set.
From my experience, condition damage is a great balance between durability and damage, but is practically only good if you’re running around by yourself. If you want to learn how to play a thief better, play a full glass-cannon. It keeps you on your toes because you cannot afford to make any mistakes — in other words, it’s fun. You really can play a thief any way you want to, you just have to be creative with your choices of your build and gear. It’s easiest to learn to play very defensively and choose your gear in that same manner, slowly switching over to more damage the more comfortable you become with the class.

I’m speaking from a WvW perspective.

You move around the world 25% faster than everyone and can just ignore fights that aren’t convenient to you using stealth. Makes PvE much less tedious.

Manta.7962:

You move around the world 25% faster than everyone and can just ignore fights that aren’t convenient to you using stealth. Makes PvE much less tedious.

If you’re using SoS for movement you probably move around the world slower than everyone except when you’re using movement abilities. If you’re running permaswiftness and using your movement abilities then you’re moving around faster.

Tulisin.6945:

Manta.7962:

You move around the world 25% faster than everyone and can just ignore fights that aren’t convenient to you using stealth. Makes PvE much less tedious.

If you’re using SoS for movement you probably move around the world slower than everyone except when you’re using movement abilities. If you’re running permaswiftness and using your movement abilities then you’re moving around faster.

But who can do that with just one skill and still being able to weaponset whatever they like?

Manta.7962:

But who can do that with just one skill and still being able to weaponset whatever they like?

If you meant the permaswiftness, then Eles can do that kinda easily (just heal skill + switching when traited properly) anything from the weapons (staff AOE speed, dagger RTL) is a bonus

My experience:

Pve vise thief is fun as it is challenge, much toughter than my war/mesmer.
Also traveling is easier as you have access to perm. 25% speed, shadowstep, sb 5 skill.

Thieves are pretty fun, but they are not as easy for leveling as most other classes. They have one glaring flaw of not having enough weapon sets and having several weak skills within the sets they do have.

Einlanzer.1627:

Thieves are pretty fun, but they are not as easy for leveling as most other classes. They have one glaring flaw of not having enough weapon sets and having several weak skills within the sets they do have.

Thats pretty much why u go glass cannon so u wont have a problem killing monsters off easily before they kill u at 35 u get a rare set eithier Vigorous(Power+vit) or Strong set(Power+Precision) i myself like the strong set because u can just BAM C&D backstab=dead mob. easy as pie. if traited right still when i hit 70 then i branched off into bieng condition build cuz u have literally most of ur traits by then to start it off. I had literally no problems wat so ever lvling.

I’m a completely glass cannon Dual Pistol/Sword and Pistol build, and I love it. Very simple rotation, tons of utility, and very fun overall. I have no complaints here

Wow thanx for the great responses folks ive created one only lvl6 now and already having loads of fun.

Jack of Tears.9458:

Been playin’ a Thief for awhile, only 300+ hours unlike some ah these people, but gotta tell ya, I love the class. I love ta mix things up, so I trade me weapons an’ traits aroun’ every 10ish levels – mostly when the thing I’m doin’ starts ta wear thin.

Played right the Thief is fast paced and excitin’ or subtle an’ clever. I love P/P for shear show, D/D for adrenalin, S/D for style, P/D for mobility, an’ a couple I’m forgettin’ for sure. We’re squishy as pie, but we’re slippery as puddin, so ya gotta pay attention ta what yer doin’ mosta the time or you’ll get stomped.

Steal is kinda lackin’ in the beginin’, but don’ forget about it because once ya can trait it up ah bit it’ll be a game changer for ya. It seems ta be ah “love it or hate it” kinda class skill, but ya ask me an’ it’s the best one in the game.

After the excitement ah playin’ a Thief, what with their initiative addin’ some great fluidity inta the play style, I wouldn’ wanna play another class. (an’ haven’ gotten inta any alts I’ve toyed with)

Would it not be easier and quicker to just type the actual words instead of in an accent?

theboycodd.9134:

Jack of Tears.9458:

Been playin’ a Thief for awhile, only 300+ hours unlike some ah these people, but gotta tell ya, I love the class. I love ta mix things up, so I trade me weapons an’ traits aroun’ every 10ish levels – mostly when the thing I’m doin’ starts ta wear thin.

Played right the Thief is fast paced and excitin’ or subtle an’ clever. I love P/P for shear show, D/D for adrenalin, S/D for style, P/D for mobility, an’ a couple I’m forgettin’ for sure. We’re squishy as pie, but we’re slippery as puddin, so ya gotta pay attention ta what yer doin’ mosta the time or you’ll get stomped.

Steal is kinda lackin’ in the beginin’, but don’ forget about it because once ya can trait it up ah bit it’ll be a game changer for ya. It seems ta be ah “love it or hate it” kinda class skill, but ya ask me an’ it’s the best one in the game.

After the excitement ah playin’ a Thief, what with their initiative addin’ some great fluidity inta the play style, I wouldn’ wanna play another class. (an’ haven’ gotten inta any alts I’ve toyed with)

Would it not be easier and quicker to just type the actual words instead of in an accent?

When it comes to video games, a lot of things are quicker and easier, but a lot less fun.

Osculim.2983:

Hi folks so i have a couple of classes at lvl80 now and are planning on my next class to level and yes i like the whole questing to 80 experience. I was looking at the thief as my next one but have a question. Are they fun ? what sort of builds do you guys run and how do they perform in dungeons

thanx in advance

They are a fun class, IMO, because they require more skill to build and play successfully. There is more risk involved than say, with a mesmer or warrior or guardian or ranger. Learn to love D/D and SB for your weapon sets. Experiment with S/P instead of D/D (players tend to fall into the D/D camp or the S/P camp).

Once you get the hang of the class, I think you’ll find that fighting is very fluid and engaging.

Tips:

1. Always trait for 15 points in the top row (Lotus Poison) so that your dagger 1 and SB 4 skills will perma-weaken your target.

2. Always trait for 15 points of baseline initiative and +1 initiative on crit. Avoid the 7% chance to gain 1 initiative on weapon’s #1 autoattack, though, because that’s not very much initiative +regen in reality.

3. Steal as often as possible, and get Roll for Initiative as soon as possible and always keep that one on your bar regardless of what you’re doing.

4. Death Blossom is uber. Learn to love it.

5. Always save enough initiative for Heartseeker spam when the target hits 30% health, and never use Heartseeker until then.

My build after many hours of trial and error:

15 – I
20 – VI III
0
20 – III VII
15 – V

I play my thief simply because they run faster than anyone else. I use a sword/pistol combo and spam 1 and every now and then press 5. I do not do any sort of PvP, only PvE.

I am not a min/max player and honestly don’t know, nor care to know, all the intricacies of having the absolute most effective weapon set or trait set. I run 20/20/0/10/20 with a Knight’s Prowler set of level 80 green armor. My sword is exotic but my pistol is green. I use a green short bow as my swap weapon. I can kill just about any mob I set my mind to, even large groups.

And before anyone says I would not be effective in their group, don’t worry… I don’t group or do dungeons with my thief. I play the way i like to play and I have fun doing it, that’s all that matters.

I love the Thief because of all the build options available. Each weapon loadout plays different. Thief is my first 80 and my main, I’m still learning new stuff and trying out new builds.

I think everyone should play a thief, its like riding a motorcycle. Teaches you to know your surroundings and dodge :P It will make you a better player all around. You will also try the glass cannon backstab in WvW and help the community realize that it’s not as OP as people say.

Thieves are effective in PvE, after you get good at dodging I can push a lot of damage using a condition or backstab build. Shadow Refuge is great support also.

My builds currently are condition based with D/D 0/20/0/20/30 for more damage or D/D – P/D 0/0/20/20/30 for more survivability. I’m looking for a good S/D build now though.

GL
Blood~

as soon as i got to play an asura thief in BW3 and played P/P i instantly fell in love with the class and spec.

sure p/p needs buffing but i enjoy it so much. just staying at ranged spamming 1 skill seeing loads of nice big numbers on the screen, the other day i got 3x 10k unload crits in a row on a fractal boss.

its all about playstyle and what you enjoy. ignore what ppl "tell"you what to use

krixis.9538:

its all about playstyle and what you enjoy. ignore what ppl "tell"you what to use

Yes and no. Play style and what you enjoy are most important, but if you happen to enjoy a weaker play style or setup you give up the right to complain about content being too difficult or groups not taking you in. People “tell” you what to use because they’ve found it effective, and that advice is worth listening to.

I’ll respect someone’s decision to play Dagger/Nothing with full healing gear because they enjoy the style, but only up until the point that they start calling for content to be nerfed to make their desired play style viable, that PvP needs to be nerfed because everyone is stronger than they are, that groups keep booting them out, etc.