Guild Wars 2

Hello guys, this is my first post. I am running this D/P build 2/0/6/0/6 for survival and sustenance. This is about WvW and PvP

However i heard everybody is doing 2/6/0/0/6 and i am just wondering how get rid of your conditions, or even heal?

I met 2 thieves (one D/P, the other S/D) in WvW that destroyed my squad of 7. :/

Yes we were noobs, but still, they earned my respect.

Please don’t stay " I use steal to heal" cause that’ just 2k heal and you will lose that health in the next 2 hits.

I am satisfied with my build but I wish, i could do a bit little more damage.

Thank you for the insight, and nice to meet you all.

Your main condi cleanse is sword 2. You also have shadowstep. Trickery is harder to play than sa, though. You can’t really spam the clears, and you’re overall very vulnerable to conditions. Signet of agility also removes one condition party wide, but I don’t use that in WwW, only in pvp. Also, trickery deals the same damage kitten. You loose personal survivability for boonhate and interrupt.

No, oxtred, you’re talking about S/D, this guy runs a D/P build.

Kocoff, try the full Shadow Arts line with everything that removes conditions and heals, instead of the Trickery line. If you’re feeling a bit more confident you can try your current build again.
I’m running 06620 btw (but as a D/D thief, so I need a bit more help).

Edit: This setup is good for wvw but probably not so good for pvp.

so this means 2/6/0/0/6 is ONLY for S/D

Well, I’m running D/P S/D in www where you don’t need the shortbow much, that’s why. I found this combo working great on a 2/6/0/0/6 build.
Edit: no, 2/6/0/0/6 works for D/P. S/D can spec into acrobatics for more survivability, d/p acro isn’t a thing though.

No it is for D/P but it hasn’t got condi clears.

0/6/2/0/6 for shadow embrace, slightly lower burst but you won’t melt to single burn on you. Trickery builds are more common in pvp, majority wvw thieves have 6SA.

Here’s some of my thoughts from playing thief for over 2 years in sPvP.

GW2’s combat system is one the prioritizes active play rather than reactive play. You can completely mitigate all forms of incoming damage thrown at you by evading or dodging the attacks. Thus, the best form of defense is preventing the damage from hitting you at all. And the thief is a profession that is built around this concept.

You see, the thief isn’t designed to take damage. It has the lowest HP pool in the game, tied with elementalist, and its armor doesn’t mitigate much damage. A thief will die just as fast as an elementalist. The way these professions are able to be on par with the others is how they deal with damage. Where the elementalist has a plethora of boons, damage mitigations, CCs, and heals, the thief survives by preventing and avoiding the damage thrown at it altogether. And it does this through its plethora of blinds, evades, stealths, and its superior mobility.

And this is why the main build for thieves has absolutely no defensive traits or gear. Because the thief already has so many defensive options in its skills and utilities, there is no reason to build defensively. As long as you play well, you won’t get hit. So your options are best put towards offense to kill your opponents quicker than anything else.

With d/p, you have good mobility from heartseeker, shadowshot, and steal, a stupid amount of blinds, a spammable interrupt, and readily access to stealth at any time (From heartseeker + Black powder combo). The beauty of this set is you can use all of these options for both offense and defense simultaneously, meaning you don’t particularly need to spec for defensive traits or gear. Ideally, you shouldn’t be taking any direct damage. The damage you sustain should mostly be from passives, fields, boons like retaliation, and the occasional auto attack or aoe that manages to connect. And because of this, the healing you get from mug and your heal skill should be enough to sustain yourself for as long as needed.

The key to the thief is learning how to choose your battles and to use your environment to the fullest. Your mobility and stealths let you engage and disengage seemingly at will, and your mobility and teleports allow you to maneuver the battlefield with ease.

But enough context, you want actual tactics and information.

As I stated above, I find that mug and hide in shadows/withdraw are usually sufficient for surviving fights for a long period of time. But your choice of utilities really helps too, especially when things don’t go your way. The most common utilities used by thieves for the 2/6/0/0/6 d/p build is infiltrator’s signet, shadow refuge, and shadowstep. Of these 3, there is really only 1 I’d recommend you change to your personal preference.

• The signet is useful because of the instant teleport. It is also a stun breaker, so it can get you out of a lot of situations and is amazing for offensive purposes.
• Shadowstep is arguably one of the best utilities in the game. It is an instant cast, ground target teleport with 1200 range, breaks stun, and can be activated again within 10 seconds to teleport back to your original location. Using it the second time is ALSO a stun break and removes 3 conditions. This skill is just so versatile. It can be used for mobility, offensive purposes, defensive purposes, and for its utility of removing conditions or guaranteeing stomps. Always have this on your bar for PvP settings.
• Shadow refuge gives you about a dozen seconds of stealth if you stay in it for the full duration, while also providing a bit of healing. It’s a fantastic support skill in group scenarios and can help you reset a fight if you are starting to lose (or just run away). It’s also a combo field, however, and projectiles will give you life steal if they land, also helping with survivability in some situations. However, its use is somewhat limited. You can replace it with a lot of other good options to your preference. Some good choices are:
  Blinding powder -Instant stealth, aoe blind, blast finisher
  Signet of agility – Increased precision, refill endurance bar of yourself and up to 4 allies, and removes a condition
  Roll for initiative – Huge retreat distance, an evade, restores 6 initiative, and removes all movement crippling conditions
  Smokescreen – Blocks projectiles, blinds melee, lasts 7 seconds, low cooldown, and is a smoke field that you can combo with to produce stealths just as long as shadow refuge
  Devourer venom – Long immobilize

Learning to use your skills and utilities to prevent taking damage is really the key to being a good thief. And this is why good thieves are often really good players in general. If you can play well with a thief, you can play well on anything. Watch good thieves and see how they play, and pay attention to how they react to different situations.

Anyways, good luck. Cheers ~