Guild Wars 2

Hey Guys,

I’ve been playing thief since launch and have enjoyed a variety of builds/play styles and wanted to share some of them with the community.

A lot of thieves on these and other forums focus on one weapon/gear/trait set, and try to make it work for a variety of situations. And while I agree with most of their points, I prefer having a build for every situation, and liberally switching between them.

I generally keep 1 set of armor equipped and 1 additional set of armor in my inventory, for quick swapping.(Usually my zerker set and the carrion set)

I will be breaking down each build into three categories: gear selection (with estimated costs), trait selection and play style.

NOTE: As a general rule, I tend to lean towards survivability over raw damage, and generally try to find ways to augment damage through creative use of food and gear, without sacrificing some necessary(in my opinion) traits.

S/D + X Balanced Roaming build

This is my main WvW Build and main PvE Build. I will only be breaking down the WvW builds, but wanted to include my trait changes for PVE.

Both builds use the same armor / trinket set, and berserker weapons.

Gear Selection:

Half Zerker / Half Valk armor with Traveler runes and zerker trinkets – I started out running full zerker for this build, but ended up switching in a few valk pieces recently. I wanted to help deal with the ridiculous damage output some other classes can currently spit out without losing much burst potential. If you are roaming solo or with a partner, you really need to think about survivability in the current meta. The sheer number of M/S + GS/Hammer warriors out there can be frustrating and I have tried to find ways of surviving their stun + blades combo without sacrificing what makes this build fun.

The traveler runes are just too good not to use for this build. They give you everything you’re looking for, extra utility slot, raw stats, and some boon duration for might stacks, fury and regeneration.

(The alternative weapon set listed for both builds changes all the time, and could be anything really. I swap to shortbow for PvE a lot of the time, or even WvW depending on what I’m doing. I run a superior sigil of bloodlust on the shortbow, and highly recommend stacking bloodlust as much as possible before roaming).

Total estimated buyout cost of build: 107.6 G (yikes)

Trait Selection:

0/30/10/30/0

Thieves have some amazing traits and this build takes advantage of that fact.

30 in Critical Strikes is key to your ability to pump out damage and is a pretty standard choice for most power based thief builds. 10 in Shadow Arts is essential for Shadow’s Embrace and Last Refuge, both are invaluable for survival in WvW. 30 in Acrobatics probably the most questionable of my trait choices and has come from my frustration with disables. Hard to Catch is a really underrated skill, and can really save your butt from being chain stunned. Descent of Shadows and Pain Response are fairly standard choices from the Acrobatics tree, and are extremely strong.

General play style:

The main WvW build is extremely strong, but is not really an entry level setup. A new thief should focus on some of the builds I list further down, or practice S/D in sPVP before investing gold in this build.

In WvW you will be fulfilling a hit and run role with this build. You will want to wait on the outskirts of a fight or group and choose your prey wisely. I have a lot of fun stalking groups and waiting for LOS to cut off party members, then quickly dispatching the now-solo enemy.

Don’t hesitate to disengage if the going gets tough, and wait for your targets to stop looking for you before re-engaging.

While this build is extremely strong and can duel other classes very well, it is not really something I would enjoy dueling some of the better warriors, elementalists and engineers with. Heavy amounts of knockdown and conditions will really put the screws to you, and takes a lot of the fun out of this build.

P/D + D/D Condition heavy roaming build (based on a build made popular by Wild Bill)

Build

This is hands down one of my favorite builds to date, and has remained effective since launch.

You most likely won’t take down the gimmicky warrior builds with this setup, but it is a lot of fun for 1vX combat and remains extremely viable.

Gear Selection:

I run nearly full carrion for armor/weapons and trinkets and recently switched to using 2 centaur runes and 4 mad king runes. For the alternate weapon set I swap between D/D and SB depending on the situation. The D/D are both berserker for the additional dmg to backstab if you need to finish someone.

The beauty of this set is the nice distribution of stats to both power and conditions. You get a very respectable power and condition damage stat, and will not be screwed completely by the anti-condition builds that are used so frequently these days.

I swapped to mad king runes to gain additional condition duration, while only losing 5% bleed duration.

Total estimated buyout cost of build: 73.29 G

Trait Selection:

I go back and forth with my trait selections here all the time, but primarily stick with the 20/0/30/20/0 setup.

You’re getting an extra 20% condition duration and 200 power from Deadly Arts, and the might stacks + venom recharge can be really nice.

30 in Shadow Arts is standard, and was made popular by this build.

20 in acrobatics for Pain Response is also standard, it is one of our best survival skills and is absolutely core. I really like Descent of Shadows, and include it in builds whenever possible.

Alternatively, I sometimes move the 20 from Deadly Arts into Trickery for steal buffs.

General play style:

This is an extremely fun build to solo-roam with and is very effective at pumping out sustained damage over time at range.

You will be running people around and will cycle through 3 / 5 of your weapon skills, 1 out of stealth is your main damage dealing skill, with 3 and 5 being swapped between depending on how the fight is progressing.

This is the kind of build where you can actually fight groups of 3+ people effectively, and will be extremely annoying to roaming groups.

S/P + SB PVT Tanky roaming build (I run this when commanding in WvW)

Build

I really enjoy this build, and generally swap to it when leading a zerg around in WvW. I also tend to use this build if there are a lot of other thieves out roaming, it is hilarious to destroy them with the new Pistol Whip.

Gear Selection:

I run PVT armor with Lyssa runes and Soldier trinkets slotted with Beryl Gems.

You have the stats to absorb burst, good condition removal, and lots of endurance regen. In addition to those survival stats, you have enough effective power to pump out sustained damage on a target. You will be surprised at just how effective this can be for destroying other thieves.

Total estimated buyout cost of build: 462000 Karma(get chest and gloves from Lyssa to save money) + 300 AC tears + 25.52 G

Trait Selection:

The trait setup for this set is a lot of fun, and is built around staying out of stealth for the most part.

You will have a lot of mobility, dodges and tons of initiative gain.

The traits are 0/10/0/30/30

One of the keys to the build is maintaining fury as much as possible, which is why the 10 in critical strikes and 10 in Trickery are so important. Both give you access to fury, and your 30% boon duration buff will help keep that up as much as possible.

General play style:

Regardless of which weapon set you choose, I recommend this gear and trait setup to any new thieves that are looking to get involved with WvW.

You are a more of a bruiser with this setup than any of the other builds I list, and can give/take a lot of punishment.

It is vitally important to utilize your dodges and all of your weapon skills. You will evade during the pistol whip duration, which is amazing and will catch novice WvWers by surprise every time. Black Powder is an awesome skill to drop over people you are rezzing or finishing, and makes you extremely annoying in close quarters.

Even without a lot of stealth, you will be able to disengage from fights easily with the use of shadowstep, withdraw and swapping to SB for Shadow Shot.

Also don’t forget to use your Shortbow as a blast finisher, there are a lot of finisher fields which grant awesome boons from blast finishers. (Stacking for static field with cluster bomb finishers is a great way to stack lots of swiftness for your group.)