Good leveling build?
Here is mine. I basically dodge and kite like mad in fights using the Shortbow to dispatch multiple targets. Once I whittle down a tough critter to below 50%, I switch to D/D and finish them quickly. It isn’t a perfect build but it is solid and easy to play (for a thief in PvE).
“Youre lips are movin and youre complaining about something thats wingeing.”
Thanks! I’ll take a look at that. So far I’ve found I like the shortbow quite a bit more than the other weapons I’ve tried, though there are a lot of combinations to play with.
Sword/pistol, sit on blind field. hell anything/pistol works, but sword is aoe.
“Sit on blind field” = ? Thanks.
black powder, it trivializes leveling.
I suggest you give all weapon combinations a try just so you get a feel of some basic thief play styles. I also recommend that you invest points into shadowstep and shadow refuge early on and use them while leveling. You may not find them useful as first but those two skills let you pull of some beneficial things in pvp. Example, your friend just got downed but no one is finishing him off yet? Plant a shadow refuge on top of each other and you both get around 12 seconds of stealth so you can res him and relocate for some revenge. Shadow step can be used to finish off downed opponents with ease since using it doesn’t stop your finisher cast time.
With the shortbow you can take advantage of a spammable blast finisher if you know your combo fields well.
If you invest 15 points into Acrobatics you’ll be a mobile machine.
30 points into Critical Strikes allows you to trait for 100% critical chance with a stealth opener which is really good for dagger playstyles.
If you’re going pistol on your mainhand then 20 in Trickery is a worthwhile investment for Ricochet since it adds aoe to your pistols. Ricochet also spreads conditions which is helpful if you want to keep multiple enemies blinded.
When underwater you can easily take on most enemies with #3 with the spear. It’s a parry/riposte style ability. If you start getting low in initiative while doing this you can always steal since most aquatic enemies give you egg (restores some health and initiative). For underwater skills I use Withdraw and Roll for Initiative as they can really help in a bind.
If you’re guarding an area then mess around with traps. All 4 trap skills have their uses and are always satisfying when they’re triggered.
With pistol on your offhand you can facetank most enemies using black powder as long as they aren’t unshakable.
It’s not in the tooltip’s description but Sword/Pistol’s #3 gives you evasion frames during the second part of the skill. If you can time it right you can evade big damage while staying offensive.
Lastly, Smoke Screen won’t save you from getting 1shot by Eir at the start of the pull in TA SM…
Sorry for the long post. Hopefully some of this is useful
It is, thanks. I always do play with the available weapons on each new class I try and will do so here as well; I appreciate the suggestions.
I’ve gotten up to level 12 and so only barely started with traits. I’m going to I think try for starters a D/D and shortbow build focusing on condition damage as I like the shortbow and the D/D skill #3 quite a bit. I have to play with pistol more, haven’t found much there that’s worked for me too well yet except for the #3 when dual-pistol-wielding which is pretty awesome.
Oh and I did find and fall in love with spear #3 underwater already.
Thanks again!
I have a level 22 thief that I haven’t used in over a month, any suggestions on what armour / trinkets / weapon prefixes to use and also which healing skill is the best?
I only PVE but I’m having problems staying alive when I’m by myself.
Sword/pistol, sit on blind field. hell anything/pistol works, but sword is aoe.
This does work and is great for PvE but it doesn’t improve skill play for WvW if that is where you are headed. Kiting is also safer because there are quite a few mobs that cannot be blinded.
30 points into Critical Strikes allows you to trait for 100% critical chance with a stealth opener which is really good for dagger playstyles.
Hidden Killer (crit from stealth) is a fine skill in WvW but very weak compared to Executioner (20% more damage against opponents below half health) in PvE.
“Youre lips are movin and youre complaining about something thats wingeing.”
(edited by Straegen.2938)
I’m currently leveling a thief in PVE until 80, when I moving to WvW. So I’ll share what I’ve learned from reading others guides here, and playing the class. Keep in mind this is for leveling in PVE, doing hearts, map completion, and following the champ train around.
Firstly, I leveled via D/D – Short bow combo. I took the condition route for the early levels as well.. Get condition damage gear as you can, and mix in some toughness/power/healing power accessories when you can use them. Also be sure and grab some condition damage food, and a stack of sharpening stones. They stack, and will increase your exp gained by 20 %.
On my weapons I ran a combo of two sigils. Fire and Corruption on each weapon set while dual wielding, and Fire sigil on shortbow.
Your first skill points to get asap if you go this route are Signet of Malice, and Caltrops.
For traits I went this route, and it worked well for me.
First 10 points in trickery. This nets you 3 initiative on steal for the first 5 points, then at 10 points pick up “Uncatchable” which leaves caltrops behind when you dodge.
This is your bread and butter skill set now, everything else you pick skill point wise, and trait wise are icing on the cake, so to speak.
The play style is very simple, and you can breeze your way to level 30-40 easily. I respeced my traits and regeared to a totally different playstyle at 40. More on that in bit.
Basically you kite the enemies with caltrops utility skill, using dagger #3 to stack bleeds and avoid damage, short bow #4 for more condition damage, and short bow # 2 (detonate it for big bleeds). All the while the condition damage you do is healing you via signet of malice. Be sure to dodge through your enemies to also stack your caltrops on dodge trait.
Now you are ready to choose a second trait line to spend points in. Most folks tend to choose Acrobatics for the swiftness on dodge, and might on dodge traits when going this leveling route. I don’t for reason. You can’t dodge that often yet, as you don’t have 15 in acrobatics for the increased vigor regen, so the very short duration swiftness on dodge isn’t so impressive yet.
I actually find putting these 10 points in the deadly arts line way more beneficial.
You get an extra 100 power, and increased condition duration, as well as buffing your steal ability to poisoning and damaging mobs, and healing you on use. Which works with those 10 points you put in trickery to lower your steal recharge rate.
So put those 10 points in Deadly arts and nab “Mug”.
That should get you going. I take no credit for anything here. It has all been posted by way more experienced and better thieves already on this forum. Just thought I would share what worked for me.
The build can get a bit boring, but I find it more fun than sword/pistol. It’s also incredibly easy. =).. tough it out to level 40 when everything just starts to pick up and get way more fun.
At level 40 I switched to Power/Precision/toughness gear.. and swapped to a more d/d – back stab play style, while picking trait lines that increased my survivability since I’m soloing a lot. It’s working great and I’m almost level 70 now.
Good luck!
Hidden Killer (crit from stealth) is a fine skill in WvW but very weak compared to Executioner (20% more damage against opponents below half health) in PvE.
For a D/D build it’s been theorycrafted that if you have around 63% crit then yes Executioner is better. Otherwise use Hidden Killer. Of course the boss mechanics also play a part in this. Correct me if there’s been new data disproving this. It is a 7 month old thread.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/TC-Hidden-Killer-or-Executioner
Thanks for the info! Kyotee, that looks pretty similar to the leveling build I am actually using right now.