Guild Wars 2

Before you guys get angry at me for posting yet another one of these threads, I have done some research and read some threads on these forums before posting this.

I’m currently playing a x/30/30/x/- thief, either D/P + Sb or D/D + Sb. I enjoy the burst that comes from backstab builds. I’m mainly doing WvWvW and PvE. I’ve recently turned lv80 and I have a good understanding of my traits and skills, the only thing I’m unsure of is how to gear, especially for some survivability.

I very well understand that Thieves are not designed to take a lot of damage and that our survivability comes from active avoidance, but I’m looking to strike that balance of being able to survive that extra little bit that in case I screw up or make a bad decision and at the same time, I don’t want to sacrifice my damage for that bit of survivability.

I have read some other threads about gearing, some from this thread and the links within https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Build-Back-to-D-D-Infinity

I see that going with some soldier pieces gives overall best benefits but my biggest problem with this is that soldiers lacks in % crit damage, which is something I highly value in my playstyle of Thief. I’m willing to sacrifice some precision for the survivability instead, as I can just trait to have guaranteed backstab crit.

So how should I go about gearing for this and what runes should I be using? Are there any optimal numbers for HP and toughness that I should aim for?

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c;4Rw-1-6-FOFd0;9;49TT;02;015B35A;4LN;4V19cV19cm-FSF6;4VhVlWqXv21475230B-2s;5kYCqNYCq;9;9;9;9;7VR-6s

About 15k HP, geared for MAX crit you can achieve (122%), geared for almost MAX attack (the only thing that isn’t maxed are Runes).

I chose Divinity over other stuff because they give me the 2% critical damage that is VERY valuable x6, they give me 60 vit, thoughness, precision and power. You don’t get as much precision or power as you would get with other runes but they add a bit of tankiness without leaving crit dmg behind, which is absolutely great.

Shadow Arts line is fully maxed, meaning 300 thoughness, aswell the trait that makes you hit 100% crit while stealthed, this makes the most use of your max crit.
Also, with the upcoming Ascended armor, I plan on keeping my 6 clothes valkyried to fully reach the 15k.

45% Critical chance is a good number to have.