Guild Wars 2

I’m about to invest in my first set of exotic armor and weps. I’ve already decided on the beserker’s set with 1-2 pieces of valkyrie mixed in, as well as some vitally inside my accessories.

Which weapons do you guys recommend for WvW? I’ve heard good things about D/D and Shortbow.

Shortbow, P/P, P/D

One or two of those, otherwise you’re useless. D/D is pretty useless in WvW. D/P is okay but risky. Sword is… bad. Don’t use it.

Hmm, so purely ranged would be best? D/D would be pretty good in small skirmishes, no?

It can work, but only if you use it with a backstab build… small skirmishes are generally about picking people off.

having d/d is fine but you are gonna want a range for your secondary weapon i use sb for the aoe then swap to d/d to pick off geniuses who decide to rambo it(and there are plenty of geniuses out there) .

Alright, guess i’ll just buy a shortbow first and decide on the other weps abit later.

Another question would be what sigils are you guys using?

Shortbow is essential in WvW. The 5 ability is so good for chasing or getting away, and is a good AoE ranged weapon.

D/D is great for skirmishes. Aside from the high single target damage from daggers, deathblossom gives you some AoE when there are more than one enemy or if a thief goes stealthy and you need to finish him.

Yesterday I was experimenting with D/P. Black powder + heartseeker gives you a stealth combo that is more reliable than cloak and dagger, but the drawback is you have to stay in the circle before using heartseeker. This combo allows a thief to control a fight with plenty of stealth and blindness.

grubnick.7849:

Shortbow is essential in WvW. The 5 ability is so good for chasing or getting away, and is a good AoE ranged weapon.

D/D is great for skirmishes. Aside from the high single target damage from daggers, deathblossom gives you some AoE when there are more than one enemy or if a thief goes stealthy and you need to finish him.

Yesterday I was experimenting with D/P. Black powder + heartseeker gives you a stealth combo that is more reliable than cloak and dagger, but the drawback is you have to stay in the circle before using heartseeker. This combo allows a thief to control a fight with plenty of stealth and blindness.

Yeah, D/P is pretty good i feel.

But again, may i know what sigils you guys are using on your weps? I’m having a hard time deciding as i do not know much about the hidden mechanics behind each sigil

How did you get the items to get the exotic/leg stuff?

D/P definitely gets my vote. Use Signet of Blood on your main-hand, and Bloodlust on your off-hand. Power/Crit build with Signet of Shadows, Agility and something like Shadow Refuge, Blinding Power or Scorpion Wire.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAoaVlUmaOHfS4E95Ex2jeKUe6pgsjtTBXtKA;TsAA2CnoqxUjoGbNuak1swYgxECA

Swap whatever Acrobatics or Steal related traits out as suits your playstyle.

D/D and S/P are also viable, with Shortbow in your off-hand (as always). P/D is a slower, bleed dependent build that isn’t that great in WvW. Conditions are only great in small battles due to the condition caps.

Pistol/Pistol and Sword/Pistol works well for me. P/P gives you great ranged damage and interrupts, while S/P gives you roots, shadowsteps, aoe and, of course, ranged interrupts.

Been running SB and S/P. In skirmishes, can lay down massive poison fields or shell bridges, then when the mixup happens single out someone for execution before return stepping back to safety. When acting as a long range scout, with the 25% passive speed buff and caltrops for escape, you can stay nearly untouchable but have the offensive skills to really ruin someone’s day if they press matters.

Sword+Pistol with the quickness trait and a quickness rune on the sword all but guarentees that on any one fight you will be doing your pistol whip combination at lightning speed without having to resort to using haste.

Even let me drop a necro and warrior who insisted on engaging me in a fight. Was even gonna let them get back up and live, but they kept trying to attack me. Had to put the warrior down three times. -_-

D/D is perfectly fine in WvW, if you build for it. Max condition damage, and get sigils that increase duration of bleed. Those sigils make it possible to maintain a 25 stack on a target by yourself. Many times all it takes is just 3-4 death blossoms then you can simply kite the player til they fall over from the bleeding. (Be careful vs good necros though as they can counter this tactic pretty well)

And Guardians will outright laugh at you.

Actually, anyone with an on-demand condition cure will just cleanse the entire stack. Might be a good trick on Warriors, though.

I’m interested in the comment above, by Humorless.1573 (it won’t let me quote), on the fact that D/D is useless in WvW.

I heartily disagree. Up close and personal, I can seriously burn people down. Admittedly, it is best to start ranged, and when backup comes, it is best to draw back – but honestly, I’ve done some serious damage with D/D and the right use of dodging and utility skills.

In sPvP, it is even more effective. But then you generally don’t need to worry about 30 people bearing down on you, wanting to wear your blood on their face

These suggestions are great! Though from what i see, other than a 100% shortbow, it really depends on my playstyle so i guess i’ll have to really test them all.

Control is hugely important in WvW. If you want kills, you have to prevent targets from simply dodging back into their swarm whenever they’re under fire. Mainhand sword is good for that reason, as it has a 1 second immobilize and the 1/2 sec stun with offhand pistol. It works wonders immediately after grabbing someone with scorpion wire.

Shortbow is fantastic for utility and for overcoming the thief’s range limitations. The bouncing auto attack is basically your only way of hitting things beyond 900 range, in a mode where every other class usually equips 1200 range weps. That and clusterbomb also lets you attack defenders on walls without direct line of sight. And most importantly, infiltrator’s arrow alone makes shortbow worth equipping. It lets you escape from almost any bad situation, and it makes thief the best supply runner by far.

I think it depends on how you are going to play, if you are going to play solo/in small groups then D/D is probably the go to option.. the threat of massive backstabs can turn around a small skirmish in the matter of moments.. and it’s sick 1v1

If you are going to be running with a big group often, where 1v1 is less important.. a more support focused P/D build might work, applying conditions with the pistol while using the dagger to cripple/stealth for the sneak attack when needed.. can even go the route of venoms and apply them to allies with a build like that.

I think regardless of what you pick.. your 2nd weapon slot should be shortbow.. it is god like for mobility around the massive maps, great for defending/attacking in a siege.

I don’t think a sword/dagger or sword/pistol build is good in wvw.. with so many players around getting your pistol whip interupted is going to happen.. being rooted during that skill will get your killed alot as well

hope that helps.

^ Helps alot. I think i’ve decided on going D/D. Any good sigil suggestions for that?

Humorless.1573:

Shortbow, P/P, P/D

One or two of those, otherwise you’re useless. D/D is pretty useless in WvW. D/P is okay but risky. Sword is… bad. Don’t use it.

Really?

A Thief is only viable if using range? Great…

As for Sigils, Sigil of Air and Accuracy/Force is what I typically use. Air is just amazing, especially for a single target weapon like Daggers. I heard Accuracy is bugged, but I’m not entirely sure. If it isn’t, I’d probably go with that. Force is pretty good either way.

Thief is viable using just about any weapon build. I don’t get why Humorless thinks only range is good, when it really just isn’t true. P/P is kind of lackluster right now. Shortbow is great for utility and aoe, mainly because it’s really the only good aoe damage Thief has. A Flame Burst on Crit Sigil (I’m thinking it’s called Fire, but not entirely sure) would work wonders on that. As for melee, D/P, D/D, and S/P are great in WvW. D/D has insane burst and utility. S/P has good CC and some AoE damage to boot. D/P keeps some of the burst and utility of D/D while gaining a blind and a daze.

I personally use D/D and Short bow most of the time. I have every level 80 weapon combination for Thief, so I’ll generally change it up once in a while, but I normally just stick to those two. S/P is good and fun to use.

If you are going for a DPS build with few vitality then you should use P/P as your main set and use S/D or D/D or Shortbow depending of what you wanna acomplish when a clash between armies is coming. You wanna keep distance, use the shortbow; you wanna do decent damage and disrupt, use S/D or S/P, if you want to be able to chase your enemy to finish him use D/D or P/D.

I’m using a controller build for my thief with my main set S/P and my second set a shortbow.

The good thing about this game is that all the weapon sets are viable but you need to build your trait and armor acordenly to it. If you don’t you will fail. I recomend you going to PvP just to try builds with the dummies, that woked really good for me and I love how my thief does his job in WvW.

I find it hilarious that people say S/P is bad in WvW. It is, by far, one of our best skirmish weapon sets. The only bad thing about it is, to be efficient with it, you require haste and (this is preference) shadowstep. The cleave alone have let me to double/tripple assassinates on the squishies in the back (If you’re trying to fight front line as a thief in WvW you’re suicidal). They just don’t expect a 1200 leap in their face. My PW hasted with mug can kill a squishy/semi squishy in a double tap. And the fact that you can either use your sword’s #2 , or shadowstep’s shadow return for safety means you’re never out of position.

And of course, shortbow is a must as an offhand. It is too good not to take, no matter the circumstance.

In fact, the only bad set up in WvW for us IS p/p. Because there are much better 1v1 options out there, and for more than 1v1 your shortbow is flat out better. There is ZERO reason to go full ranged in WvW. Want to be more useful at range on defense? Go sit in an arrow cart or spam cluster bombs on the gate attackers.

The only difference in weapon set ups is up to you.
Chaser? d/p
Sub-par ranger? p/p
Any-secondary-weapon-slashs-aoe? Shortbow
Stealth? d/d (or d/p if you want some more mobility)
Cleave/ PBAoE spike? S/D (Or if you’re feeling lucky,shortbow)
Conditions? p/d (or if you like sitting at 0 initiative and have slow conditions, d/d)

All have their roles, and all perform well in teams. But if you play solo, I’d suggest sticking with a stealth build, you’ll live longer.

Personally I’ve used p/d and s/d in WvW and have done well with both. P/D was good disruption and conditions do seem to cause quite a panic on your opponents (p/d conditions especially because even if they remove them, they have a new stack on them in the next 2 seconds). And sword cleave is just amazing for 5v5+ skirmishes , assuming you know how to keep yourself alive and unnoticed until it’s too late for your enemies.

Sinte: what would you recommend as far as traits and gear set for a S/P w/ heavy shortbow use for WvWvW?

shortbow is the best so far (aoe)
altho they need to fix infiltrator’s arrow (and other similar teleporting abilities)