Guild Wars 2

Prior to actually playing the game, I had chosen a dual axe crit focused warrior as my build of choice. I hated it. I could not play it in sPVP, and I could not play it in WVW (I only enjoy PVP). For starters, I would frequently be in the middle of a mob, get overwhelmed, button mash, and die. So I immediately looked for a ranged build with good damage and mobility. And here’s what I found:
http://www.gw2builds.org/view/106004/range_thief_tickle_baddies_with_your_love_bullets
So I would appreciate it if the build was examined and was given some feedback. More importantly, could I use it well in sPVP and WVW. I have been playing with it for a week, and I do enjoy it. In sPVP, I rarely die, and feel as if I do reasonable damage and can hold my own in 1v1 fights. In WVW however, I die pretty frequently and if there is ever a 1v_ I pretty much loose. I actually find it hard to escape in these fights. Not sure if WVW attracts better players than sPVP or the build is just less effective in WVW, but I would rather my character preform better in WVW than sPVP.

Thanks for the help.

It’s a matter of P/P just being rather bad I’m afraid. Mobility and damage are both very weak with dual pistols. Your best bet with it will definitely be to stay on the outside of skirmished and attack from there. You’ll lose pretty much all 1v1s because everyone does more damage than you and has better mobility and utility.

Though, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong anyone.

Heres the problem with P/P

- No AOE.
- No Piercing Rounds. (Every other ranged weapon in the game can pierce.)
- Poor Range.
- Poor Damage.
- No Stealth. (and we don’t get anything to make up for it.)
- Poor Mobility.
- No Evasion on attacks.

Right. There is obviously a bit of an issue with the build. But, while playing sPVP, I mentioned that I rarely die. In this, I mean that I die on average less than once a round. The survivability, although not stellar, is pretty good, and I still do considerable damage. Through evading and being tricky with my character placement, I can get good shots off and do very well if I have a teammate fighting next to me. I do agree that in 1v1, we die. I also agree with all of your points against the build; I have noticed them before. I suppose people who have (or are considering playing) this build should look for a ranged ?warrior? alternate build instead?

I just ran a rifle/longbow warrior in sPVP. I’m pretty sure my thief did more damage. It was also more mobile.

Aether the Nob.9172:

I just ran a rifle/longbow warrior in sPVP. I’m pretty sure my thief did more damage. It was also more mobile.

P/P has better sustained that Rifle. I can get 2-3 Unloads (depending on build/procs) in the time of 1 Volley. Rifle has better range and better burst though, so it evens out. P/P damage is fine in comparison to other ranged weapons. The problem I see is that when I play P/P, I only use #3. When I play Rifle, I use all of the abilities. P/P abilities just don’t have a lot of synergy and lack overall usefulness.

Blacksarevok.8104:

Aether the Nob.9172:

I just ran a rifle/longbow warrior in sPVP. I’m pretty sure my thief did more damage. It was also more mobile.

P/P has better sustained that Rifle. I can get 2-3 Unloads (depending on build/procs) in the time of 1 Volley. Rifle has better range and better burst though, so it evens out. P/P damage is fine in comparison to other ranged weapons. The problem I see is that when I play P/P, I only use #3. When I play Rifle, I use all of the abilities. P/P abilities just don’t have a lot of synergy and lack overall usefulness.

P/P has poor sustained damage, Volley does 2x more damage then Unload does, i’d rather have volley up every 8 seconds then use 3 unloads, because after 3 unloads, I have to wait 24 seconds to get my initiative back, meanwhile I can use volley again in 8 more seconds…

Rifle Autoattack also does about 40% more damage then Vital shot.

Daecollo.9578:

P/P has poor sustained damage, Volley does 2x more damage then Unload does, i’d rather have volley up every 8 seconds then use 3 unloads, because after 3 unloads, I have to wait 24 seconds to get my initiative back, meanwhile I can use volley again in 8 more seconds…

I suppose that this is the greatest argument against the dual pistol thief. It makes a lot of sense. Obviously, in every respect other than the mobility, ranged warrior is more effective (in that it deals more damage). The biggest issue that I have with the slow attacks of the warrior is when a player runs away. If the player dodges and obstructs me, there’s absolutely no way to get him. My thief had a much easier time in these situations.

Daecollo.9578:

Blacksarevok.8104:

Aether the Nob.9172:

I just ran a rifle/longbow warrior in sPVP. I’m pretty sure my thief did more damage. It was also more mobile.

P/P has better sustained that Rifle. I can get 2-3 Unloads (depending on build/procs) in the time of 1 Volley. Rifle has better range and better burst though, so it evens out. P/P damage is fine in comparison to other ranged weapons. The problem I see is that when I play P/P, I only use #3. When I play Rifle, I use all of the abilities. P/P abilities just don’t have a lot of synergy and lack overall usefulness.

P/P has poor sustained damage, Volley does 2x more damage then Unload does, i’d rather have volley up every 8 seconds then use 3 unloads, because after 3 unloads, I have to wait 24 seconds to get my initiative back, meanwhile I can use volley again in 8 more seconds…

Rifle Autoattack also does about 40% more damage then Vital shot.

My Warrior and Thief are both in the same gear (100% 80 exotic berserker) 20/30/0/0/30 for Rifle and 25/30/0/0/15 for P/P.

Volley does 2,965,
Unload does 2096

Bleeding Shot does 393
Vital Shot does 349

Volley does about 40% more damage than Unload, but you can easily get in 2 Unloads in the time between Volley CD’s (sometimes even 3, while maintaining at least 6 initiative, mind you).

Bleeding Shot does about 15% more damage than Vital Shot, but P/P utilizes VS less than Rifle uses BS, so I would say it evens out in the big picture.

There is not a huge gap between Rifle and P/P damage like this community likes to make it out to be. P/P has a lot of issues, but damage isn’t one of them.

Blacksarevok.8104:

There is not a huge gap between Rifle and P/P damage like this community likes to make it out to be. P/P has a lot of issues, but damage isn’t one of them.

I seem to misunderstand. If damage isn’t a problem, and the build has pretty good mobility, then what are the issues with the build???

Aether the Nob.9172:

Blacksarevok.8104:

There is not a huge gap between Rifle and P/P damage like this community likes to make it out to be. P/P has a lot of issues, but damage isn’t one of them.

I seem to misunderstand. If damage isn’t a problem, and the build has pretty good mobility, then what are the issues with the build???

Outside of Unload, the other abilities aren’t very useful or lack synergy.

- Body Shot is nearly worthless. It does nothing for solo and 2-3 person encounters, and it’s useless in large scale encounters because other classes will provide vulnerability without having to give up as much, or any, damage.
- Head Shot isn’t so bad, but like above other classes/kits can provide interrupts without giving up as much damage as P/P does. It’s nice if you need a spammable, ranged interrupt, but there really aren’t that many situations where you do.
- Black Powder is a great ability, but it doesn’t really doing anything for P/P since it’s a melee-oriented ability and the whole idea as a ranged kit is to stay away from melee. Totally lacks synergy.

And the mobility really isn’t that great. The kit doesn’t provide anything to restore mobility, nor does it have a cripple/root/knockback. Not having a single 1200 range ability also hurts P/P. The lack of range is actually what bothers me the most out of everything.