Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

I’m trying to make a build that’s very focused on ranged single target damage (Poisons and Conditions) With still some AoE capability and this is what i have come up with.

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|10|2642|2788|3906|3999|4485|25|1142|1714|0|30|1719|1193|1728|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|15|786|0|0|0|0|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

the idea is to stack as much Power > Condition damage > Precision as possible.

As the title states it will be for Farming and Explore mode dungeons.

If anyone has any input I would really appreciate it.

I would rather go with Sundering Strikes and Combined Training.
I never get to use venoms in explorable mode anyway, thats why i scratched them from my list. Just my two cents

Best regards.

Thank you for your input GHCS,

I’ve read that traits such as “Combined Training” & “Combo Critical Chance” Will only effect Dual wield skills, such as “Unload” and “Leaping death Blossom”

Would it really be worth it?

Since you said single target damage, unload is the way to go. Nothing deals more damage than unload (no counting bleed stacking) on a target that has 10 or more vulnerability stack on it.

i think this build will not be successful in explorable dungeons. i see three major issues with it.

1) if you are gearing for damage stats only (power, condition damage, precision) you will just die alot. the monsters in explorable dungeons are very dangerous, and even at range you can get sniped by enemy archers/casters and outright killed by the numerous AoE attacks and/or minion summons that will occur. you will need to gear with plenty of vitality to be able to stay alive in these dungeons. so you’re gonna have to compromise some on your damage stats.

2) you don’t have any utility skills slotted that will help you or your group stay alive, control enemies, or enhance effectiveness of your party. the venoms are just purely selfish buffs for your own attacks, and a bit underpowered at that. agility signet will sometimes be helpful for restoring endurance if you need to dodge more but i’m guessing that you have slotted it because you want the extra precision. this is a waste of your slot. slightly higher crit chance is not of sufficient benefit to be worth it in the difficult content of explorable dungeons.

3) your trait build seems very sub-optimal. you are missing some of the absolutely most powerful offensive support traits (Venomous Aura, in particular). you seem to be under the impression that it is a good idea to stand in the back as a pistol turret, pop your venoms (to stack some might) and just shoot shoot shoot. this will not help your group defeat the encounter. you will be providing only average ranged DPS and contributing nothing else to your group.

my build suggestions in following post

Actually the reason to have signet of agility is for group condition curing.

But he’s right about the venoms. Venoms are pretty terrible unless you spec deep into shadow arts to share them with group members and heal when you (or party members) proc a venom.

Better to have shadow refuge and smoke screen, and dagger storm (remember it’s a whirl finisher). Remember if you have a shortbow as your offset you can spam poison/weakness on enemies if you’re specced 15 into deadly arts anyway, which means spider venom is practically useless.

I don’t know, Meta. An unload build like that will not provide “average ranged DPS”. It will be mostly single-target DPS, yes, but it will by no means be average. And it can also slot sword/pistol to aoe down mobs really well.

The survivability issue can simply be mitigated by stacking Knight gear. A build like that needs no condition damage, really.

In short, I think GHCScorpion is right on the money in his post: get Sundering Strikes and Combined Training, and swap Critical Haste for Combo Critical or somesuch. There is little reason to have Quickness in explorables, especially as a thief. It doesn’t help you deal better DPS (in fact, it will lower it because Opportunist will not be able to proc as much).

Suggested Build 1: Venom Sharing

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|10|2642|3906|2788|8743|4485|30|1142|1714|1708|0|0|0|0|30|2384|2387|785|0|0|0|0|10|2419|0|0|0|0|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

gear stat priorities: Power, Condition Damage, Vitality

most of your initiative in this build should be spent on Body Shot and Black Powder, using your auto-attack bleed and Spider Venom poison to do most of your DPS.

the main power of this build comes from sharing your venoms. in particular this will spread Skale Venom to your entire party (with 4 strikes, thanks to your Residual Venoms trait). 5 party members with 4 strikes of Skale Venom ends up distributing 20 stacks of vulnerability to your enemies. this is probably the single largest group damage buff you are capable of providing., being essentially a blanket 20% party wide damage buff.

this build also includes Shadow Refuge in the utility slot. this is an incredibly useful skill for reviving downed party members. you’ve also got support for this with Shadow Protector, so your Shadow Refuge will grant every party member inside it Regeneration, greatly enhancing the amount of health it will end up restoring. Finally, don’t forget that Shadow Refuge also counts as a Darkness Combo Field, so it can be combo’d to produce either Blindness (blast or leap finishers) or Life Draining (projectile or whirl finishers).

Suggested Build 2: Unload Crit focused

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|10|2642|2645|8743|2786|4485|10|1143|0|0|30|1719|2386|1728|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|30|2419|1722|2359|0|0|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

gear stat priorities: Precision, Power, Vitality

this build is oriented around shooting off Unload whenever you are free to fire. most of your initiative in this build should be spent on Unload.

this build achieves control over enemies by crippling them with Caltrops (and Ankle Shots). it provides group support by stacking vulnerability automatically on your crits (from Sundering Strikes). this build is less group support oriented by will have higher personal damage output, particularly at finishing off low health mobs. you’ll be able to sustain your Unload dps very well with this build due to initiative recovery from Roll for Initiative and Hastened Replenishment. this build is a bit more on the selfish pistol turret style but should have high single target DPS to help justify it.