Guild Wars 2

Hello! I have been an Engineer since release, and have really enjoyed it. However, I think that a thief might serve more of my current interests. My Engineer is great at being a part of a huge zerg in WvW, but I am really attracted to the more solo play style of a thief. Also, I would like to have a backup profession in case A-Net really screws over Engineers sometimes. So, my questions.

1.) If I can sometimes have some pretty bad skill lag in WvW (being on tier 1 BeastGate), would this devastate my ability to play a thief" As an engineer, I usually have enough health to at least survive a little lag, would this be possible on a thief? This leads into question 2:

2.) Are tanky builds available to thieves, in both sPvP and WvW? I remember a long time ago someone who was talking about a caltrop-based build that focused on doing enough damage to kill people through bleeds, but having a lot of health and survivability, along with a little stealth. Is this sort of thing still possible? To me, this would create the coolest experience ever, having the mobility of Steal and access to stealth, while still being able to take and deal some hits.

3.) Is PvE not a real option to thieves? I remember asking a guildy who was into really high fractals levels what he looked for in a group and he said, “someone who is not a class cannon, who can take a lot of damage.” All I could think of was … so basically anything but a thief. Is this what it is like? I don’t want to PvE with a class that would require me to play at absolutely highest percent just to be able survive a dungeon. (Not talking high level fractals, but lower)

4.) Alright, so if I am going to be a thief, how on earth to I get there? What builds are best to level with? I don’t mind a unique experience, but what is the most painless way there is to level a thief?

Thank you for reading this, and I will really consider all of your suggestions.

d/d vitality power gear to level with. youll get the hang of it. pve is ok for thieves unless ur fighting big bosses or too many ranged mobs. tank builds are ok if ur running heavy condition dmg. go to the thief topic “thief build. the new old. videos included” i included a tanky condi build that is pretty good. skill ls def bad for a thief bc u die quick no matter what build you run :/.

1. Yes, mostly because of #2.

2. Yes, there are. These builds happen to be my speciality; I run (almost exclusively) 0/0/X/X/X, and, as opposed to what Trav says, I don’t run condi damage at all. Never liked it, never will. If you want to take a look at my build and try it out a bit, feel free to PM me about it.

3. PvE is very possible for thieves. Stealth is a very good defense for us here, given that mobs don’t attack you while you’re in stealth. The SB is also a wonderful weapon for this game mode. Your guildy may have been referring to thieves there, but the problem is that not every thief is a D/D 25/30/0/0/15 glass cannon, which- I agree- are very strategically and tactically weak overall. Again, you’re going to want to invest in a tanky build, if you’re planning on going into higher-level PvP, WvW, and PvE, so a tanky thief would be a very good choice for you. Also, given their wonderful regeneration properties, stealthing, and mobility, they can bring a lot to any party. Will they absorb as much as a guardian that goes full tank? Probably not, but they can insert themselves in and out of battle much more easily than any guard, can move around like crazy, stealth allies, etc- all very useful things to have.

4. This is a bit more of a difficult question for me to answer. However, I would suggest a sword build for leveling, mostly because sword builds have automatic condition cleansing and stun break, good AoE melee damage, cripple and weakness, and a bunch of other good stuff. Most likely, I’d choose S/P, try to get 15 Trickery as quickly as possible, and then spend points into Acro and CS.

Also, @Trav: trust me, that’s only the thief meta- to die quickly. You’re missing out on a whole world of builds for thieves.

Travlane.5948:

skill ls def bad for a thief bc u die quick no matter what build you run :/.

I see… hmm… that’s unfortunate. So there is really no way to be able to barrel through some damage? What I am picturing is a hearty thief, and you’re saying that’s never gonna happen, you’ll die really quickly regardless of what you’re gear/spec is?

Welswift.9813:

Travlane.5948:

skill ls def bad for a thief bc u die quick no matter what build you run :/.

I see… hmm… that’s unfortunate. So there is really no way to be able to barrel through some damage? What I am picturing is a hearty thief, and you’re saying that’s never gonna happen, you’ll die really quickly regardless of what you’re gear/spec is?

That’s not really true. See, the majority of the thief community will run something like

X/30/either 0 or 30/maybe 10 or so/10-15

It took me a while, but I made my own build which I have yet to see pop up anywhere else on the nets, that throws out this semi-outdated concept and throws points into a build that, I think, is extremely consistent throughout, resulting in decent damage while also being near-unkillable, if you want it to be. I understand how this might be a major misconception that most thieves have, but I think that it’s time for the meta to be changed.

Arganthium.5638:

1. Yes, mostly because of #2.

2. Yes, there are. These builds happen to be my speciality; I run (almost exclusively) 0/0/X/X/X, and, as opposed to what Trav says, I don’t run condi damage at all. Never liked it, never will. If you want to take a look at my build and try it out a bit, feel free to PM me about it.

3. PvE is very possible for thieves. Stealth is a very good defense for us here, given that mobs don’t attack you while you’re in stealth. The SB is also a wonderful weapon for this game mode. Your guildy may have been referring to thieves there, but the problem is that not every thief is a D/D 25/30/0/0/15 glass cannon, which- I agree- are very strategically and tactically weak overall. Again, you’re going to want to invest in a tanky build, if you’re planning on going into higher-level PvP, WvW, and PvE, so a tanky thief would be a very good choice for you. Also, given their wonderful regeneration properties, stealthing, and mobility, they can bring a lot to any party. Will they absorb as much as a guardian that goes full tank? Probably not, but they can insert themselves in and out of battle much more easily than any guard, can move around like crazy, stealth allies, etc- all very useful things to have.

4. This is a bit more of a difficult question for me to answer. However, I would suggest a sword build for leveling, mostly because sword builds have automatic condition cleansing and stun break, good AoE melee damage, cripple and weakness, and a bunch of other good stuff. Most likely, I’d choose S/P, try to get 15 Trickery as quickly as possible, and then spend points into Acro and CS.

Also, @Trav: trust me, that’s only the thief meta- to die quickly. You’re missing out on a whole world of builds for thieves.

Wow! Thanks for all of this. I will definitely be messaging you sometime soon! It seems to me that what you play is exactly what I had in mind.

Arganthium.5638:

Welswift.9813:

Travlane.5948:

skill ls def bad for a thief bc u die quick no matter what build you run :/.

I see… hmm… that’s unfortunate. So there is really no way to be able to barrel through some damage? What I am picturing is a hearty thief, and you’re saying that’s never gonna happen, you’ll die really quickly regardless of what you’re gear/spec is?

That’s not really true. See, the majority of the thief community will run something like

X/30/either 0 or 30/maybe 10 or so/10-15

It took me a while, but I made my own build which I have yet to see pop up anywhere else on the nets, that throws out this semi-outdated concept and throws points into a build that, I think, is extremely consistent throughout, resulting in decent damage while also being near-unkillable, if you want it to be. I understand how this might be a major misconception that most thieves have, but I think that it’s time for the meta to be changed.

I would be happy to be a part of this movement

Welswift.9813:

Arganthium.5638:

1. Yes, mostly because of #2.

2. Yes, there are. These builds happen to be my speciality; I run (almost exclusively) 0/0/X/X/X, and, as opposed to what Trav says, I don’t run condi damage at all. Never liked it, never will. If you want to take a look at my build and try it out a bit, feel free to PM me about it.

3. PvE is very possible for thieves. Stealth is a very good defense for us here, given that mobs don’t attack you while you’re in stealth. The SB is also a wonderful weapon for this game mode. Your guildy may have been referring to thieves there, but the problem is that not every thief is a D/D 25/30/0/0/15 glass cannon, which- I agree- are very strategically and tactically weak overall. Again, you’re going to want to invest in a tanky build, if you’re planning on going into higher-level PvP, WvW, and PvE, so a tanky thief would be a very good choice for you. Also, given their wonderful regeneration properties, stealthing, and mobility, they can bring a lot to any party. Will they absorb as much as a guardian that goes full tank? Probably not, but they can insert themselves in and out of battle much more easily than any guard, can move around like crazy, stealth allies, etc- all very useful things to have.

4. This is a bit more of a difficult question for me to answer. However, I would suggest a sword build for leveling, mostly because sword builds have automatic condition cleansing and stun break, good AoE melee damage, cripple and weakness, and a bunch of other good stuff. Most likely, I’d choose S/P, try to get 15 Trickery as quickly as possible, and then spend points into Acro and CS.

Also, @Trav: trust me, that’s only the thief meta- to die quickly. You’re missing out on a whole world of builds for thieves.

Wow! Thanks for all of this. I will definitely be messaging you sometime soon! It seems to me that what you play is exactly what I had in mind.

Sweet, always glad to help a new thief.

I am engineer that played a class since release in wvw and currently switched thief, since wanted diversity.

1) Skill lag is pain, but with shortbow you should be mostly fine. Neither as Engineer nor Thief i ever relied in WvW on health. Mobility, keeping out of aoes and knowing the safe distance and when to shadowstep make Thief actually more easy to survive than engineer. I dont use stealth and run with like 10k HP, yet i still die less – since i can just use Infiltrator Arrow of shortbow to get out, use steal to port to other enemy and get out of danger, shadowstep, and dagger storm elite is great if you are in a group of enemies, since it reflects all projectiles and minority reacts correctly on it – most just see thief rotating and try to get away. thus it serves as nice oh kitten!/escape ability. The only class i fear right now are roaming backstab thiefs

2) “Tanky” thief is nonsense if you expect durability to damage. You can build evade thief for 1on1 (does not work in wvw well), or HP/healing thief with heal on signet – which works pretty well: it`ll not save you from focus, but its good enougth to not really worry about stray damage in wvw. Some nice traits that save you when your HP drops (well, like most classes if you need them)

3) PvE for thieves feels actually way easier than engineer. Just run Shorbow/Cluster bomb spam and get used to avoid real getting stunlocked and get out to heal. Do not run dungeons, so cant say how sueful thief is there. Taking out Supplycamps in WvW on thief is also easier than on engineer due to superior damage, though have to watch the hp/stunlock.

4) Leveling – shorbow cluster bomb spam in melee.