Guild Wars 2

This guide are created to help new players as well as veteran players to get a grip around or a deeper understanding of the Thief. I have played Thief since the first beta, and never looked back. I’ve been trough a lot of nerfs and buffs, but I will always be a Thief at heart, and I will never stop playing one. If you feel like you have anything to add or find something that need improvement, feel free to comment and I’ll fix it.

“Experts at stealth and surprise, thieves can move through the shadows, vanish into thin air, or steal items from their opponents and use them as weapons. Thieves practice an agile, acrobatic fighting style, which can make them very hard to hit.” – Quote from the official Guild Wars 2 wiki.

Thief are a profession that excels in one on one combat. Thieves use stealth, shadowsteps, evades and blinds to overcome their enemy. Thieves often hit hard and fast before they vanish right before their enemy. It’s a deceptive profession that requires its player to react quickly to situations and be able to adapt to the unexpected.

I want to stress that this guide isn’t only my creation. I got the idea from reading guides in other profession forums, something our forum lack. You may find that it looks a lot like Chaos Archangel’s “Lyssa’s Grimoire” from the Mesmer forums. Which is true. I think his guide is so good that I’ll use much of the same look in mine. I use information gathered by playing the game, discussing with fellow thieves in the forums, text from the official GW2 wiki and other fan sites. I chose to create this guide so that you won’t have to look through 100s of posts and sites to find what you need – I hope you will find it all here.

Here are some terms that me and other players use:

Proc – Proc basically means “to trigger an effect.” For example: The trait Last Refuge procs stealth when you reach a health threshold or how Signet of Malice return health when you hit.

Spike – A Spike is a coordinated attack mainly used in PvP. This is done by selecting a target and all team members will focus that target with high damage skills that it will bring that target down in short amount of time.

Burst – A Burst on the other hand is like “fire at will” mainly used in PvE. It means to forget about your rotation and give it everything you’ve got. Normally used on boss fights when the boss is below 10% health.

AoE: Area of Effect – Something you’re not going to use a lot as a Thief. We lack AoE damage, except for shortbow skills and some utility skills. You can recognize AoEs as red circles on the ground, don’t stand in them. Friendly AoEs will have a blurry white circle instead.

DPS Damage Per Second – Not much to say really.

RNG: Random Number Generator – Refers to anything that happens randomly. One example are the trait Improvisation that recharges skills of one type at random when you Steal.

CD : Cooldown – The time it takes for a skill to refresh after use.

Active/Passive – Active refers to something you manually use, “active defense” refers to shadowsteps, stealth, evades,, ect. to avoid damage while Passive is something that happens automatically, like how the Regeneration boon passively heals over time. Signets have both passive effects and active effects.

— Why Thief? —

Welcome to the Thief, the most hated profession in the game! Jokes aside, we do get a lot of hate for our constant evades, blinds, shadowsteps and stealth, the latter is the subject to most of the hate. I have played Thief since it first was available in the beta, and I have never looked back. Maybe you, as many others before you, have decided to play a Thief after you got wrecked in WvW, saw a Thief level his character in god mode or simply just fell for the acrobatic fighting style. No matter what brought you here: Welcome to a deceptive, sneaky and deadly profession!

What’s good about the Thief?

• No cooldowns on weapon skills. Yep, that’s right! But we have a resource pool called Initiative that is shared between weapon sets and work as our cooldown. Read more about this in the Initiative section of this guide.
• Stealth. Not completely unique, but it’s a mechanic that define this profession. Other professions like Mesmer and Ranger have access to it, but it does not define them as much as us (except for PU Mesmer builds). More about this mechanic later.
• Blinding our enemies. Other professions do throw out a blind here and there, but the Thief is definitely unparalleled in applying this condition.
• Speed. We can walk within the shadows in both the z and y axis by using different shadowstep skills. Our travel time from point a to b are unparalleled. We can teleport up to that bridge to rain down poison or exploding bombs with our shortbow or to catch up with a fleeing enemy.
• Burst damage. There’s no other profession that can burst someone from full health to dead in 1 second. We can build for it, but we will be very open for direct attacks or AoE damage.

The downside of being a Thief.

• Hate from other players. No matter how well you do in PvP you will be told that you won because of the profession mechanics. You will hear that Thief is overpowered (OP) and that you are a bad player, even when you won. In PvE you may find it hard to join dungeon groups because it is very hard to stay alive unless you know the boss mechanics. Most bosses have skills that one shots a Thief.
• Little passive defense. This is arguable. We have the smallest health pool in the game, together with Elementalist and Guardian, and our armor/toughness isn’t exactly something to brag about… Since (almost) all our defense is active, we are very often downed unless we know what we are doing. As a Thief we have to learn other professions animations and tells for hard hitting skills. We need to learn dungeons and boss encounters. If we fail to evade one hard hitting attack, stun or knockback, we are probably going down. I find this as much of a pro as a con, simply because it forces me to learn and to always evolve and adapt. I have to be aware of what’s going on around me and I need to scope the terrain for possible areas to shadowstep to if needed. It simply forces me to become a better player.
• Conditions. This is the one damage source that can completely wreck a Thief. The small health pool makes it very hard to deal with conditions, and unless the Thief is traited into Shadow Arts for condition removal, it has very few other ways of clearing them. There are some healing and utility skills that clear conditions, but not many.
• Learning curve. Thief is a very hard profession to truly master. It’s easy to get the basics down and go to WvW and kill scrubs and bad players, but once you meet a player that know how to counter Thief you’ll be dead. Good thieves however are almost impossible to beat 1v1, and if you manage to get the better of that Thief it’ll probably run away and never be seen again. It is a steep learning curve, but very fun if you’re up for a challenge!
• No 1200 weapon. Our ranged weapons are at 900 range – at least on paper. Our shortbow seems to reach about 1200 range and our Pistol range can be increased to 1050 with the trait “Ricochet”.
• No reliable access to boons. Boons like Regeneration, Protection, Aegis and Stability are rarely seen on a Thief.
• Few weapons. We have a very limited weapon set.

— What kind of Thief are you? —

A Thief can be many things, but the one thing we excel at are assassinating weak targets, single target dps and be very annoying. The only thing that all our different roles have in common is that we are extremely squishy. Thief has a low skill floor but a high skill ceiling, which make many players deem some builds as unviable or useless. All of our different roles have their place, but some are “better” than other in any give situation – it is your job to adapt if you always want to be “best”. I want you, however, to choose your style of play. What do you want to do?

MORE COMING

— Unique Mechanics of the Thief —

INITIATIVE
As I mentioned earlier; Thief does not have cooldowns on any weapon skills, so to speak. We have a resource called Initiative. This regenerates slowly, so it is very important for a Thief to manage this resource. A Thief with no initiative is usually a dead Thief. What makes this stand out is that because of initiative we can spam the weapon skill that we find most useful in that particular situation. What is also very important to remember is that initiative is shared between weapon sets. This means that a Thief can’t burn his initiative with his daggers and then swap to shortbow and have a fresh bar of initiative, it have to regenerate in its own pace.
There are some traits and a sigil that help regenerating initiative.

The base Initiative are 12, but can be traited to 15.

STEAL
This skill was very under-appreciated in the early days of the Thief. It was however used with the Mug trait to help land some sick bursts with backstab. Mug was later nerfed so that it now heal the Thief and can’t critically hit any more. Not long after did we receive a buff to the trait Sleight of Hand; It now dazes and reduces the Steal cooldown. This was where the current PvP dagger / pistol and sword / pistol meta build appeared.

What this skill do is to shadowstep to the targeted enemy and “steal” a skill from it. I won’t call it stealing, rather making a skill available in its place. Every profession has their own stolen skills, and here they are:

• Thief – Blinding Tuft. A stealth ability with an AoE blind. This one is amazing! Stealth is one of our strongest survival mechanics, and having an extra stealth at no cost is always good.
• Mesmer – Consume Plasma. Gain all boons. Let me read that again for you; gain all(!) boons! This skill alone (which you got for free) improves your damage, critical chance, speed, reduce damage taken, a free block and doubles the rate of which your endurance regenerates – just wow!
• Ranger – Healing Seed. An AoE skill that works as a Water combo field, heal and removes conditions on the thief and his allies. Awesome indeed.
• Elementalist – Ice Shard Stab. Very little damage from this ability, but the 10 second chill is really why you want this. Getting chilled for 10 seconds is very deadly to most professions and need to be cleaned very fast.
• Guardian – Mace Head Crack. Not much damage from this either, but the 4 second daze is pretty amazing. You have 4 seconds to do what you want! /sit anyone?
• Necromancer – Skull Fear. A free AoE fear? Yes please! See that cliff over there?
• Engineer – Throw Gunk. You throw gunk at the target area (either yourself or your target). The gunk pulses for 5 seconds, deal some damage and applies a random condition with each pulse. It is also an Ethereal combo field.
• Warrior – Whirling Axe. Now this is a damage utility! You spin around dealing moderate damage with each hit, for 15 hits – AoE! It reflect projectiles and is a Whirl combo finisher! Activating this ability in a Smoke combo field in a group / outnumbered fight will render the entire enemy team useless while you deal heavy damage. This is without question my favorite stolen skill.

Try to be creative with the use of the stolen skills. They can be used in so many different ways, so just get out there, steal some skills and put them to the test! There are way more stolen skills available from creatures all over Tyria. It’s so many that I won’t post all of them here, but for a complete list you chan check the official wiki.

Traits that Affect Steal:

• Serpent’s Touch (Deadly Arts Adept) Stealing inflicts poison.
• Improvisation (Deadly Arts VII) Stealing recharges all skills of one type (venoms, signets, traps, tricks or deceptions).
• Mug (Deadly Arts III) Deal damage and gain life when stealing.
• Hidden Thief (Shadow Arts VIII) Stealing grants you stealth.
• Kleptomaniac (Trickery Adept) Stealing gives you initiative.
• Bountiful Theft (Trickery VII) Stealing grants you and nearby allies vigor. You rip boons from your target and grant them to nearby allies.
• Long Reach (Trickery VI) Increases the range on stealing.
• Sleight of Hand (Trickery XII) Stealing also dazes the target. -20% reduced cooldown on steal.
• Thrill of the Crime (Trickery V) When you steal, you and nearby allies gain fury, might and swiftness for 10 seconds.
• Bewildering Ambush (Trickery XIII) Stealing also applies confusion.

— Stealth —

Not exactly unique, but it defines the Thief and is a main part of the class design, survival and damage. We use stealth for pretty much anything we do.

Stealth can be applied by AoE effects from other professions, fellow thieves, combo fields and finishers, weapon skills, a healing skill and utility skills. Stealth in this game means complete invisibility. Once in stealth there will be no visual clues, no proximity to be afraid of, but you can – and probably will take damage while in stealth. The only visible clues that other players may see are the «Evade» sign if you evade their attacks, see their auto attack chain go off or some shadow dust from some shadowstep skills.

When you enter stealth as a Thief your weapon skill #1 will change to a stealth skill. These skills are covered later in the guide.

If you attack from stealth you will get the Revealed de-buff. Revealed are active for 3 seconds in PvE and WvW and 4 seconds in PvP. There are no way to cleanse this de-buff other than wait it out. Revealed are applied only when attacking from stealth – doesn’t matter what attack you do, as long as it is a physical hit on any enemy – conditions that are already applied will not reveal you when they tick.There are one exception where you will be revealed without attacking; if you leave Shadow Refuge (a utility skill) before its AoE rings are gone, you will be revealed, so watch out for knockbacks!

Traits that affect or give Stealth:

• Last Refuge (Shadow Arts Adept) Use blinding powder on 25% health.
• Meld with Shadows (Shadow Arts Master) Stealth skills last longer.
• Hidden Assassin (Shadow Arts Grandmaster) Gain might when you gain stealth.
• Shadow Protector (Shadow Arts III) Give Regeneration to your allies when you grant them stealth.
• Shadow’s Embrace (Shadow Arts IV) Remove conditions while in stealth.
• Infusion of Shadow (Shadow Arts V) Gain initiative when you enter stealth.
• Cloaked in Shadow (Shadow Arts VI) Gaining stealth blinds nearby foes.
• Hidden Thief (Shadow Arts VIII) Stealing grants you stealth.
• Patience (Shadow Arts X) Regain initiative faster when in stealth.
• Shadow’s Rejuvenation (Shadow Arts XI) Regenerate health while in stealth.
• Resilience of Shadows (Shadow Arts XIII) Stealth you apply reduce incoming damage.
• Descent of Shadows (Acrobatics I) Release blinding powder when you take falling damage.
• Fleet Shadow (Acrobatics VI) Move faster while in stealth.
• Merciful Ambush (Trickery I) Stealth yourself and your target when reviving an ally.
• Instinctual Response (Trickery II) If you take high damage from a single blow you release feather to blind foes and gain stealth.

Things that reveal you:

• Attacking from stealth Any physical attack that connects will reveal you.
• Stealth Disruptor Trap This trap will give you the revealed debuff. This trap has an AoE range of 1200, so if an ally walk over an enemy’s trap and you are within 1200 range you will get revealed for 30 seconds.
• Analyze and Sic’em The Engineer and Ranger has a skill that will reveal you.
• Leaving Shadow Refuge If you leave Shadow Refuge before it disappears you get revealed. This was added as an option for counter play from other professions.

— Healing and Elite Skills —

Hide in Shadows is by far the most popular healing skill for thieves, but all are viable and has their uses. As for elite skills we have three, and all of them are very viable, but in very different builds and situations.

Hide in Shadows (30 sec CD) 5240 heal (1.0)
Heal yourself, gain 4 seconds of regeneration and 3 seconds of stealth. This skill also removes poison, bleeding and burning before it activates, so the -33% heal effectiveness from poison doesn’t apply to this skill. This skill extremely strong because of how much it gives on such a short cooldown.

• Going 6 points into Shadow Arts for Shadows Rejuvenation will even further increase the effectiveness of this skill.

Withdraw (15 sec CD) 4344 heal (0.6)
You roll backwards with a 3/4 second evade while curing chilled, immobilized and cripple conditions. Very strong with runes that proc something on heal because of its low CD.

• Even stronger if you have the traits that give you initiative (Trickery XI) and vigor (Acrobatics III) upon activating a healing skill. This skill is often used in builds that go deep in the Acrobatics trait line and use an acrobatic fighting style.

Signet of Malice (15 sec CD) Active; 3275 heal (0.5) Passive; 133 heal (0.05)
This signet is pretty popular in some dual dagger builds and in many sword builds. In PvE while wielding sword, this is the skill to use. The passive heal procs when your weapon hits someone or when a condition is applied (choking gas and caltrops pulses). Very strong in AoE or fast hitting situations.

• Can be traited to 12 second CD, give initiative, might and vigor on use which make it very strong if used intelligently.

Skelk Venom (45 sec CD) Initial; 4210 (0.6) Venom; 645 (0.2)
The Thief activate this venom, burst heal and then heal himself over the next 4 attacks. This is the newest heal available to the Thief. It is not a strong heal alone, but traited it can become very strong. Venom share builds and builds that boost venoms can make this heal very strong and a huge benefit for your team. Only use this if you know what you are doing.

Basilisk Venom (45 sec CD)
Turn your foe to stone for 1 1/2 second. Pretty strong in venom share builds and good for backstab builds. Any situation where the skill should have landed, but didn’t because of either active or passive defense, the venom is consumed.

Dagger Storm (90 sec CD)
The Thief spin around throwing daggers in random directions for 8 seconds, gaining the Stability boon and Bleeding and Crippling your enemies. This skill also do good damage and is a Whirl combo finisher. Each dagger will bounce once to a second target. Dagger Storm also reflect projectiles. I have killed a longbow ranger with this skill alone once.

Thieves Guild (180 sec CD)
The Thief summons 2 more thieves to fight at his side for 30 seconds. One of the thieves have a ranged attack and will use the skill Black Powder while the other is melee but will use a Scorpion Wire at your current target right after it is summoned. This skill can turn the fight in your favor very quickly. Use wisely, because of the long cooldown.

— Weapons —

The thing about the Thiefs weaponry is that the third skill are determined by the combination between main- and off-hand weapons, called dual skills. I wasn’t sure how to stack this for a guide, so I decided to leave out the number 3 skills that are there when there are no off-hand weapons and instead create another section for those skills. The reason for this is that I have yet to see a Thief use one of those skills for anything else than just unlocking them (Correction; I found a YouTube video of a Thief dueling people without an off-hand weapon, so I am going to create a part for this too). I also decided to stack the attacks, even though they will be repeated between weapon sets, I will talk about the use of each skill with each set.

DUAL SKILLS
The Thief is the only profession with access to dual skills. What do I mean about dual skills? The 3rd skill on your weapon bar will be determined by what weapon combination you are using. Unlike other professions where the main hand weapon have the 3 first slots and the off hand weapon have the 2 latter slots, our 3rd weapo skill are determined by the combination of the two weapons used.

STEALTH SKILLS
Thief are the only profession that has access to stealth skills. This are skills that are available in your #1 slot when you are in stealth. These skills has no cost. Remember that attacking from stealth will give you the Revealed de-buff.

Stealth skills vary from high damage skills to more tactical skills. None of these skills should be underestimated.

LIGHT SKILLS Also known as #3 skill without an off-hand weapon.
The only reason anyone should run around with only main hand weapon is to have fun. It is in no way viable in any competitive or PvE play!

• Sword
  Stab – Stab your foe.
  Just a simple attack that deal moderate damage.

• Pistol
  Repeater – Blast your foe with rapid fire from your pistol.
  A mini Unload (pistol/pistol 3# skill). Deals decent damage and has a 20% chance to be a Physical Projectile combo finisher.

• Dagger
  Twisting Fangs – Spin in place, hitting nearby foes. Each hit cause bleeding.
  Can hit 3 targets and add a long bleed with low damage. Quite similar to Death Blossom (dagger/dagger 3# skill), just without the evade.

SHORTBOW
The Shortbow are the most valuable and versatile weapon in our weaponry. It is more of a utility than a weapon, but it is very viable as both. Most thieves use it as a utility though. This weapon has access to a lot of AoE skills, an instant evade and a shadowstep ability. It is an excellent weapon for open world PvE, exploring maps, PvP and WvW. Almost every single Thief in the game has this weapon as their secondary weapon. This weapon also has access to the best Blast finisher in the game: Cluster Bomb.
Pros: Very good for AoE situations, tagging mobs or players in larger groups in both PvP and WvW, de-buffing the enemy, buffing our allies and moving around on the battlefield.
Cons: Not the strongest weapon in duels.

1. Trick Shot – Bounce an arrow between multiple nearby foes.
   Not the most hard hitting attack, but its effectiveness is increased the more players you are fighting. The Trick Shot bounces 3 times. It also has a 20% chance to be a Physical Projectile combo finisher.
   Surprize Shot – Shoot an arrow that immobilizes your foe.
   This is a guaranteed combo finisher that also immobilizes your target for 2 seconds. Pretty strong if used at the right moment.
2. Cluster Bomb – Fire a cluster bomb at target area. Detonate in midair for multiple explosions. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   The strongest Blast combo finisher in the game. It deals a pretty good chunk of damage and bleed the targets where it lands for 4 seconds. The fact that we can spam this skill makes us very valuable in groups. We can effectively damage and de-buff our enemy or buffing our allies by blasting combo fields. Can be detonated mid-air to:
   Detonate Cluster – Detonate your cluster bomb in midair. – Cost 2 Initiative.
   By detonating the cluster you are losing the combo finisher, but getting 3 bombs instead that each deal 33% of the original clusters damage and bleeding for 4 seconds. If used correctly all clusters can hit the same target and deal full damage and stack 3 stacks of bleeding for 4 seconds. Strong in condition builds.
3. Disabling Shot – Do an evasive leap away from your foe while firing a crippling shot. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   An instant evade, Physical Projectile combo finisher with moderate damage that also cripples your foe for 2 seconds. Strong if you need to burst evade something but are out of Endurance (shame on you). I don’t use this as much as the other skills on the Shortbow, but it definitely has its uses.
4. Choking Gas – Fire an arrow that fills the target area with a poisonous cloud and a small damage on impact. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   A Poison combo field that pulses for 4 seconds, applying Poison for 3 seconds with each pulse (stacks) and is unblockable. This is the strongest applicator of poison in the game. Blasting this field will also apply weakness on your enemy. Poison also reduces the heal efficiency of your foes with 33%. A very strong de-buff that is popularly used as an opener in PvP to get the edge from the start of the match.
5. Infiltrator’s Arrow – Fire an arrow and shadowstep to the target area, blinding nearby foes. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   This is the main reason thieves all around Tyria love this weapon set. Most thieves use this to get around faster or to escape certain death. Just try it and love it.

DAGGER / DAGGER
Probably the reason you chose Thief as your profession; Backstab. This is a very fast and hard hitting weapon set that is used in both condition and power builds. Before thieves discovered Dagger / Pistol, this was the king of the hill. Its fast and hard hitting combo was the reason for a lot of nerfs and hate in the early days of the Thief. It is now a pretty balanced set that offers a lot of damage with some utility. Every Thief should try to 2-shot people in WvW with this weapon set at least once.
Pros: Fast paced and hard hitting attacks. Access to our two most hard hitting attacks. Offers some de-buffs that help us survive or catch up with enemies. Strong in condition builds.
Cons: Retaliation, be aware because of the fast paced auto attack chain. If feels like a weapon set that doesn’t know wether it should be condition or power.

1. Double Strike / Wild Strike / Lotus Strike – Strike your foe 4 times, gain endurance and inflict poison. Damage and poison application can hit up to 2 targets, but the endurance gain can only happen once.
   This is a very strong combination of attacks. When facing an enemy with this weapon set you should always make sure that you let this chain run between rotations. The poison it applies really help getting them down, especially if you’re traited 3 points in Deadly Arts for weakness on poison application. The endurance gain isn’t as much, but it is noticeable in the long run.
   Backstab – Attack your foe from the shadows, striking for double damage if you hit from behind.
   The very reason people hate Thief, and the very reason we love it. Our most hard hitting attack, at no cost! «From behind» isn’t necessarily true, as «behind» also counts as from the sides. The angle of which you can land it for full damage is pretty large. This attack is the bread and butter of all power builds with dagger in main hand. It should be an essential part of your rotation.
2. Heartseeker – Leap and strike your foe. The less health your target has, the more damage you cause. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   A Leap combo finisher that deal increasingly more damage the less health your target has. The thresholds are as follow: 100% – 50%, 50% – 25% and 25% – 0%. Below 25% this attack hit almost as hard as Backstab, which is why this is an excellent finishing move. In most power builds you will one-shot your foe with this attack when they reach 25% health. This attack also works very good as a gap closer when needed.
3. Death Blossom – Do an evasive attack over your opponent, striking nearby enemies three times. Each hit causes bleeding. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   The evade frame are very small, only 1/4 second, but it helps. This attack are mainly used in condition builds because of the 10 second bleed it applies, which is usually 3 stacks too. It is also a Whirl combo finisher, but it is rarely used for that reason. One good use are against engineers. Use their stolen skill and DB through it a few times to shut them down with some confusion stacks.
4. Dancing Dagger – Throw a dagger that cripples nearby foes and returns to you. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   The dagger can hit 4 targets and cripple them for 5 seconds. The damage is ok, but this attack is meant to slow down fleeing foes so that we can finish them off. It is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher. I rarely see this skill used after it had its damage nerfed, but it is still very useful in some situations.
5. Cloak and Dagger – Stab your foe and vanish in stealth, leaving them vulnerable. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   The main access to stealth! Learn to land this skill by practice, lots of it. This is part of the main rotation and also applies Vulnerability that can help your backstab by increasing its damage. Learn it, love it, and practice some more. The damage from CnD are reduced by 33% in PvP.

DAGGER / PISTOL
This weapon set wasn’t discovered before months after launch. The reason? People thought it was useless because you couldn’t access stealth. But boy were we idiots… This is now the strongest dueling weapon set in the game! It has access to stealth, backstab, interrupt, blinds, gap closers and a strong finishing move! I remember back when I tried to wrap my head around combo fields and finishers, and suddenly I just went «BAM». I had realized how strong this set really was – and I was about to put it to the test immediately! I went and bought myself a lovely Molten Pistol and went straight to WvW. I quickly learnt that other Tyrians wasn’t aware of this (not many at least) and they had no idea how to counter me. Now it is the most hated and loved weapon set in the game. This is a full power set.
Pros: Access to all you need in a duel. Every single attack in this set is useful. Hard hitting, fast paced, and doesn’t require a target to stealth.
Cons: You get a lot of hate by using this set, but I guess that would be the only downside of it.

1. Double Strike / Wild Strike / Lotus Strike – Strike your foe 4 times, gain endurance and inflict poison. Damage and poison application can hit up to 2 targets, but the endurance gain can only happen once.
   This is a very strong combination of attacks. When facing an enemy with this weapon set you should always make sure that you let this chain run between rotations. The poison it applies really help getting them down, especially if you’re traited 3 points in Deadly Arts for weakness on poison application. The endurance gain isn’t as much, but it is noticeable in the long run.
   Backstab – Attack your foe from the shadows, striking for double damage if you hit from behind.
   The very reason people hate Thief, and the very reason we love it. Our most hard hitting attack, at no cost! «From behind» isn’t necessarily true, as «behind» also counts as from the sides. The angle of which you can land it for full damage is pretty large. This attack is the bread and butter of all power builds with dagger in main hand. It should be an essential part of your rotation.
2. Heartseeker – Leap and strike your foe. The less health your target has, the more damage you cause. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   A Leap combo finisher that deal increasingly more damage the less health your target has. The thresholds are as follow: 100% – 50%, 50% – 25% and 25% – 0%. Below 25% this attack hit almost as hard as Backstab, which is why this is an excellent finishing move. In most power builds you will one-shot your foe with this attack when they reach 25% health. This attack also works very good as a gap closer when needed.
3. Shadow Shot – Fire a blinding shot at your foe, then shadowstep to them for a dagger strike. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   An unblockable gap closer that is a Physical Projectile combo finisher, applies blind and has decent damage. Mostly used to chase down fleeing targets as long as they are above 25% health, if below then use Heartseeker.
4. Headshot – Daze your foe with a head shot. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   God I love this skill! An instant ranged interrupt that is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher. Learn to use this to interrupt key skills, such as heals and other high damage or very benefiting skills for your enemy team. If used correctly, this skill alone can ensure a win.
5. Black Powder – Fire a black powder shot, blinding nearby foes with the smoke cloud. Blind last for 2 seconds and pulses every 2 seconds for 4 seconds. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   A ranged blind, Physical Projectile combo finisher, Smoke combo field that pulses for 4 seconds and blinding all enemies that walk into it. This skill is what make this weapon set work. Drop this field then use Heartseeker through it to gain 3 seconds of stealth. You cain chain up to 4 Heartseekers to stack stealth before the field vanishes. Subject to a lot of hate.

SWORD / DAGGER
A very acrobatic weapon set. Very popular in PvP due to its constant evade frames, shadowsteps and hard hitting auto-attack chain. This set is a bit of an odd one. It has access to stealth, but doesn’t really utilize it. It’s stealth attack is an ok daze that can help you land all attacks in the auto attack chain or interrupt key skills, but most Tyrians don’t use this set for its access to stealth – in fact, they rarely use stealth in this set. This is a power set.
Pros: Hits like a truck! Can rip boons, has condition removal, evade frames and access to stealth. Its auto attack can hit up to three people.
Cons: After the nerf to Shadow Return it has seen less players.

1. Slice / Slash / Crippling Strike – Slice your foe three times and cripple them with the last hit.
   This auto attack chain was really under-appreciated in the early days of the game. The fact that it has a cripple and weakness on its final attack is reason enough to let it go all the way through, but the final attack hits like a truck too! Very hard hitting, and with some nice tools.
   Tactical Strike – Blind your foe by bashing them with your sword hilt. Daze them instead if you attack from behind.
   Very little used, and very under-appreciated skill. The blind lasts for 5 seconds and the daze for 2 seconds (half daze duration in PvP). If timed and used correctly this skill can turn the tide of the fight in your favor.
2. Infiltrator’s Strike – Shadowstep to a foe and then strike them. Use Shadow Return to shadowstep back and cure one condition. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   A 600 range shadowstep that immobilizes the target for 1 second. Amazing ability that allows for some very tactical use and flanking possibilities. A perfect opener for every match if you feel like you need a safe return spot. Also perfect for chasing down fleeing opponents.
   Infiltrator’s Return – Return to your original location. Cure one condition. – Cost 2 Initiative.
   Cure one condition and return to your starting point within 1200 range. Amazing to withdraw and reposition yourself or to just gtfo when things go the wrong way. Must be used within 15 seconds of activating Infiltrator’s Strike.
3. Flanking Strike – Evade and stab your foe. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   1/2 second evade frame that deal decent damage and can be spammed. Subject to a lot of hate from other Tyrians. Are now required to hit its target to turn into Larcenous Strike.
   Larcenous Strike – Stab your foe and steal one boon from them. – Cost 1 Initiative.
   This attack is unblockable, hit pretty hard and rip one boon from your foe and give it to yourself. This attack was added to counter bunker builds – which it does with great success.
4. Dancing Dagger – Throw a dagger that cripples nearby foes and returns to you. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   The dagger can hit 4 targets and cripple them for 5 seconds. The damage is ok, but this attack is meant to slow down fleeing foes so that we can finish them off. It is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher. I rarely see this skill used after it had its damage nerfed, but it is still useful in some situations.
5. Cloak and Dagger – Stab your foe and vanish in stealth, leaving them vulnerable. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   The main access to stealth! Learn to land this skill by practice, lots of it. This attack applies Vulnerability that can help your auto attack chain do more damage. The damage from CnD are reduced by 33% in PvP.

SWORD / PISTOL
The sword main hand is a very strong weapon, but this set isn’t strong because of its auto attack, but because of its off-hand skills and dual skill. Most used in lockdown builds where you try to negate your target all of its attacks by interrupting them and forcing them to play defensively, which they can’t do because you are going to stop them from running or healing. Fighting a Pistol Whip Thief can be a real pain. You feel like you cant do anything, and you are probably right. This set offers spamable evade frames, interrupts, blind fields, immobilizes, a strong auto attack and shadowstep. How can you not love it? This set is a full power set.
Pros: Hard hitting control set. Cleave damage. All attacks have their uses and can benefit your team greatly if played right.
Cons: Very initiative heavy, so be careful to land those attacks, or you will be locked down and killed once you’re empty.

1. Slice / Slash / Crippling Strike – Slice your foe three times and cripple them with the last hit.
   This auto attack chain was really under-appreciated in the early days of the game. The fact that it has a cripple and weakness on its final attack is reason enough to let it go all the way through, but the final attack hits like a truck too! Very hard hitting, and with some nice tools.
   Tactical Strike – Blind your foe by bashing them with your sword hilt. Daze them instead if you attack from behind.
   Very little used, and very under-appreciated skill. The blind lasts for 5 seconds and the daze for 2 seconds (half daze duration in PvP). If timed and used correctly this skill can turn the tide of the fight in your favor.
2. Infiltrator’s Strike – Shadowstep to a foe and then strike them. Use Shadow Return to shadowstep back and cure one condition. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   A 600 range shadowstep that immobilizes the target for 1 second. Amazing ability that allows for some very tactical use and flanking possibilities. A perfect opener for every match if you feel like you need a safe return spot. Also perfect for chasing down fleeing opponents.
   Infiltrator’s Return – Return to your original location. Cure one condition. – Cost 2 Initiative.
   Cure one condition and return to your starting point within 1200 range. Amazing to withdraw and reposition yourself or to just gtfo when things go the wrong way. Must be used within 15 seconds of activating Infiltrator’s Strike.
3. Pistol Whip – Pistol-whip your foe, stunning them, then slash repeatedly with your sword. – Cost 5 Initiative, 6 in PvP.
   The bread and butter of this weapon set. Hard hitting, has an evade frame and stun the enemy for 1/2 second. This attack also cleaves. Be aware that you are rooted in place while slashing your sword, moving will cancel the attack. This skill can be spammed, which you are going to get a lot of hate for. Watch out for bigger groups with Retaliation! 9 hits on 3 foes with Retaliation is a death sentence.
4. Headshot – Daze your foe with a head shot. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   God I love this skill! An instant ranged interrupt that is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher. Learn to use this to interrupt key skills, such as heals and other high damage or very benefiting skills for your enemy team. If used correctly, this skill alone can ensure a win. Use only when Pistol Whip isn’t in range or it will not be smart to use (Retaliation for example).
5. Black Powder – Fire a black powder shot, blinding nearby foes with the smoke cloud. Blind last for 2 seconds and pulses every 2 seconds for 4 seconds. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   A ranged blind, Physical Projectile combo finisher, Smoke combo field that pulses for 4 seconds and blinding all enemies that walk into it. Very good skill to use while auto attacking to evade damage without burning your endurance.

PISTOL / DAGGER
A weapon set that is perfect for beginning thieves! This weapon set specializes in condition damage. I have seen some power and hybrid builds out there, but it is definitely designed as a condition weapon set. A lot of Tyrians call this weapon set cheesy because of its gimmicky approach to conditions. The key with condition fights are attrition, something the Thief usually isn’t that good with, except with this build. A well built P/D condition Thief can be impossible to out-sustain or kill. This set relies heavily on the use of stealth and stacking conditions rapidly and often.
Pros: Easy for the new players, lots of damage and good survivability. All attacks have their uses.
Cons: Subject to a lot of hate. You have to learn how to land Cloak and Dagger or you will be useless and dead.

1. Vital Shot – Bleed your foe with a shot to the vitals.
   Low damage, but stack bleeds like a king! Give 4 seconds of bleeding with each hit. It also has a 20% chance to be a Physical Projectile combo finisher.
   Sneak Attack – Sneak attack with rapid fire from your pistol and make your foe bleed.
   The bread and butter of this weapon set. Decent damage, but 5 stacks of bleeding for 4 seconds in one single attack that is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher!
2. Body Shot – Make your foe vulnerable with a body shot. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   One of my favorite attacks to keep up with fleeing foes or keep them at distance. Acts as a Physical Projectile combo finisher that stacks 5 stacks of vulnerability for 3 seconds and immobilizes your foe for 1 second. Very under-appreciated and under-used skill. Did I mention it is spammable?
3. Shadow Strike – Stab your foe, then shadowstep away and shoot them. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   A decent damaging attack that shadowsteps you 600 units away and inflict 2 stacks of torment for 5 seconds. Very, very strong in condition builds, excellent for kiting purposes.
4. Dancing Dagger – Throw a dagger that cripples nearby foes and returns to you. – Cost 3 Initiative.
   The dagger can hit 4 targets and cripple them for 5 seconds. The damage is ok, but this attack is meant to slow down fleeing foes so that we can finish them off. It is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher. I rarely see this skill used after it had its damage nerfed, but it is still very useful in some situations.
5. Cloak and Dagger – Stab your foe and vanish in stealth, leaving them vulnerable. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   The main access to stealth! Learn to land this skill by practice, lots of it. This is part of the main rotation and also applies Vulnerability that can help your backstab by increasing its damage. Learn it, love it, and practice some more. The damage from CnD are reduced by 33% in PvP.

PISTOL / PISTOL
The least used, but possibly most wanted weapon set in the Thief weaponry. It’s not completely there yet, but it is closing in on what it should be. A lot of thieves (me included) really want this set to viable in PvP, but I think we are starting to lose hope. This is usually used in full power builds, but it has its uses in hybrid builds too. It has some hard hitting abilities and access to some pretty nice utilities as well as decent condition stacking with bleeds.
Pros: Good damage if built for it. All ranged attacks. Access to some good utilities like blind fields, immobilizes and interrupts.
Cons: All ranged attacks. Not completely there yet.

1. Vital Shot – Bleed your foe with a shot to the vitals.
   Low damage, but stack bleeds like a king! Give 4 seconds of bleeding with each hit. It also has a 20% chance to be a Physical Projectile combo finisher.
   Sneak Attack – Sneak attack with rapid fire from your pistol and make your foe bleed.
   Decent damage, but 5 stacks of bleeding for 4 seconds in one single attack that is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher!
2. Body Shot – Make your foe vulnerable with a body shot. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   One of my favorite attacks to keep up with fleeing foes or keep other foes at distance. Acts as a Physical Projectile combo finisher that stacks 5 stacks of vulnerability for 3 seconds and immobilizes your foe for 1 second. Very under-appreciated and under-used skill. Did I mention it is spammable?
3. Unload – Blast your foe repeatedly with both pistols. – Cost 5 Initiative.
   A very good skill that do a lot of damage. It fires 8 shots and has a 20% chance to act as a Physical Projectile combo finisher. This is the bread and butter for people running this weapon set as their main source of damage.
4. Headshot – Daze your foe with a head shot. – Cost 4 Initiative.
   God I love this skill! An instant ranged interrupt that is also a Physical Projectile combo finisher. Learn to use this to interrupt key skills, such as heals and other high damage or very benefiting skills for your enemy team. If used correctly, this skill alone can ensure a win.
5. Black Powder – Fire a black powder shot, blinding nearby foes with the smoke cloud. Blind last for 2 seconds and pulses every 2 seconds for 4 seconds. – Cost 6 Initiative.
   A ranged blind, Physical Projectile combo finisher, Smoke combo field that pulses for 4 seconds and blinding all enemies that walk into it. Very good skill to use while auto attacking or using Unload to evade ranged damage. Also perfect to use if your enemy catches up with you.

— Underwater & Downed skills —

Coming when I have time. Currently working on other parts of this guide.

— Utility Skills —

DECEPTIONS
Deception skills are skills that trick the enemy by either repositioning the Thief, stealthing him or blinding / blocking damage. None of these skills do any damage, but some of them offer great team utility. People often expect the Thief to bring at least one AoE stealth to skip parts in PvE or to revive downed allies in PvP/WvW. They also expect the Thief to use Smoke Screen to block projectiles in projectile heavy fights.

• Master of Deception (Shadow Arts I) – 20% reduced cooldown.
• Improvisation (Deadly Arts VII) – Stealing recharges all skills of one type (venoms, signets, traps, tricks or deceptions).

Blinding Powder (40 sec CD) A skill every Thief should feel comfortable about having on their skill bar. It works as an AoE stealth, is a Blast combo finisher and blinds nearby foes for 5 seconds. Can be a life saver in group fights as well as solo encounters. Often used to gain quick and easy access to stealth to line up a stealth attack.

Shadow Refuge (60 sec CD) A skill every single Thief should have on their skill bar in dungeons, PvP and WvW when in groups! One of the most wanted skills in dungeons for skipping parts and highly wanted in PvP/WvW for team reviving or ambushing. The refuge pulses for 5 seconds, granting a total of 12 seconds of stealth to up to 5 players inside it and healing them for a moderate amount. This is a dark combo field, so using any whirl or physical projectile finishers will steal life.

Shadowstep (50 sec CD) A skill I never leave home without. A stun break that remove 3 conditions when you return to the starting point within 1200 range. Not much for your team, except for keeping you alive or flanking your enemies.

Smoke Screen (30 sec CD) An under-appreciated skill. A Smoke combo field that blocks projectiles and blinds nearby enemies is a strong skill in my opinion. The field last for 7 seconds. Very strong to use in projectile heavy encounters. Learn when to use this and your group will love you.

TRICKS
This is a quite wide range of skills. It has everything from crippling your enemy, increasing your own attack speed, to evade to safety and pull your enemy to you. Some of these tricks are very useful, some are not. All the tricks have their uses in their respective builds though.

• Trickster (Trickery VIII) -20% reduced cooldown
• Improvisation (Deadly Arts VII) – Stealing recharges all skills of one type (venoms, signets, traps, tricks or deceptions).

Caltrops (30 sec CD) Very popular and very, very strong in condition builds. This field (which is quite large) pulses for 10 seconds and applies bleeding and cripple to every enemy that walks or stand in it. Very hard to use against players, but if used well it can be very strong.

Haste (60 sec CD) This skill was used a lot in the early days of the game until they nerfed quickness. This skill makes you lose all endurance and reduce endurance regeneration by 50% while quickness is active. Your attack speed and cast time are however increased by 50% and it breaks stun. Popular in Pistol Whip builds and some other builds. Rarely used since there are far better alternatives.

Roll for Initiative (60 sec CD) Rarely used, but strong if used right. You gain 6 initiative, evade backwards for 3/4 second and break stun. Most seen in Sword or dual pistol builds.

Scorpion Wire (20 sec CD) So fun, yet so little used! Skyhammer with this skill is so fun you just have to try it for yourself! You pull your foe to you within 1200 range. Can be used to pull people off cliffs, but often it is ignored because of its laggy nature. It often fail to connect, therefore it is rarely seen in use.

TRAPS
It’s a trap! Oh well, traps. Rarely used, but strong in some areas of the game. The other skills in our weaponry just completely renders most of the traps as useless since we will be much better off choosing any other skill in its place. The joy of using Shadow Trap is pretty satisfying, though.

• Master Trapper (Acrobatics V) -20% reduced cooldown.
• Corrosive Traps (Deadly Arts II) Apply 5 stacks of vulnerability for 8 seconds when a trap is triggered.
• Improvisation (Deadly Arts VII) – Stealing recharges all skills of one type (venoms, signets, traps, tricks or deceptions).

I have very little knowledge / experience regarding traps, so if anyone have used them and want to add their two cents, let me know!

Ambush Trap (35 sec CD) You call in a Thief to fight for you for 20 seconds. This Thief can be either of the two thieves from the Thieves Guild elite skill. Can be strong if used in combination with Thieves Guild or/and in venom share builds. I haven’t really used this skill yet though.

Needle Trap (30 sec CD) A trap that immobilizes, poisons and bleed foes when triggered. Probably has its uses, but not for me – yet. I find that I have more reliable sources of both of those conditions that I’d rather rely on.

Shadow Trap (45 sec CD) Now we are talking! When an enemy walks over this traps the Thief can shadowstep to his location (right behind his foe), gain stealth 10 stacks of might and fury for 5 seconds. Perfect for lining up one of those hard hitting backstabs. I have had so much fun using this in WvW and have found tons of places to use this in PvP. The trap can be destroyed and teleported to manually without having someone trigger it. Oh, and the range is 10.000 units!

Tripwire (30 sec CD) A trap that knock foes down and cripples them. The only knockback available to thieves though, but so unreliable that I have never used it for any serious play.

VENOMS
Venoms are used in both power and condition builds and have a ton of uses in all parts of the game! Especially strong are venom sharing builds utilizing as much venoms as possible. I find venoms to be a fun and creative skill group since they all do different things. Some are tailored for condition builds, but some venoms are very useful for control instead of damage. Remember that a venom charge are used if the attack was supposed to land, but didn’t due to any active or passive defense of the enemy. I use venoms a lot and in many different builds. It is a very versatile skill group.

• Improvisation (Deadly Arts VII) – Stealing recharges all skills of one type (venoms, signets, traps, tricks or deceptions).
• Quick Venoms (Deadly Arts VIII) -20% reduced cooldown.
• Residual Venom (Deadly Arts XII) Applied venoms last an additional strike.
• Venomous Strength (Deadly Arts IV) Venoms grant might when activated.
• Leeching Venoms (Shadow Arts IX) Siphon life from your foe when triggering a venom.
• Venomous Aura (Shadow Arts XII) When you use a venom skill, you apply the effects to all nearby allies as well.

Devourer Venom (45 sec CD) The next 2 attacks immobilize our foe for 2 seconds. Pretty strong to lock people down. Very strong in venom share builds to lock down entire groups of players.

Ice Drake Venom (45 sec CD) The next 3 attacks chill your foe for 1 second. Not as strong as it should be, but deadly if timed right. I rarely use this venom for anything else than sharing it.

Skale Venom (45 sec CD) Applying vulnerability for 10 seconds and torment for 5 seconds with my next 3 attacks is pretty sweet, especially in condition builds. I use this to burst my foe with conditions to finish them off.

Spider Venom (45 sec CD) The most used and most loved venom of the all (except for Basilisk Venom). The next 5 attacks applies 6 seconds of poison, pretty strong, eh? I love to use this when using Sneak Attack. The chances are high that my foe are going to evade, but with 5 chances I’ll probably land at least one of the charges on my foe.

SIGNETS
The one thing (almost) all professions share are signets. All signets have passive and active abilities that has a great range in what they do and how good they really are. Some signets are used solely for their active ability, and some are used for their passive. Using signets is the only way for a Thief to achieve 25 stacks of might without any help from players, runes or sigils.

• Signet Use (Critical Strikes VIII) -20% reduced cooldown and gain initiative on use.
• Signets of Power (Critical Strikes II) Gain 5 stacks of might for 10 seconds upon signet use.
• Improvisation (Deadly Arts VII) Stealing recharges all skills of one type (venoms, signets, traps, tricks or deceptions).

Assassin’s Signet (45 sec CD)
Passive: 180 Power
Active: Deal 15% more damage on the next 5 attacks

This one pretty much speaks for itself. Often used for its passive in PvE as it boost your raw damage. Sometimes used in strong backstab combos.

Infiltrator’s Signet (30 sec CD)
Passive: Gain 1 initiative every 10 seconds.
Active: Break stun and shadowstep to your foe within 900 units.

Often used in PvP for the shadowstep and stunbreak.

Signet of Agility (30 sec CD)
Passive: 180 Precision
Active: Refill endurance and cure a condition on each nearby ally.

Often used in PvE for its passive. Have seen it used in some builds in PvP though. The extra evades you get from full endurance plus the condition removal are pretty strong.

Signet of Shadows (30 sec CD)
Passive: 25% movement speed.
Active: Blind foes near your target for 5 seconds.

Again a signet that are most used for its passive – especially in WvW and PvE. Great for exploring and to cover great distances in short time. Can also be used to secure a stomp with the blind.

— Traits —

Most thief builds are defined just as much by traits as they are by gear stats. Our traits range from boosting our damage to help us stay alive, some are loved by most thieves and some are hated by the majority of the thief community (Last Refuge are a good example of this). A thief can choose to go full-out damage or just be an insanely hard to kill troll. There are some traits that are very important in specific builds!

WvW D/P, D/D or P/D roamer – Shadow’s Embrace (Shadow Arts IV), Cloaked in Shadows (Shadow Arts VI) and Shadow’s Rejuvenation (Shadow Arts XI).

sPvP Trickery builds – Thrill of the Crime (Trickery V), Bountiful Theft (Trickery VII), Sleight of Hand (Trickery XII) and Executioner (Critical Strikes XI).

The trait Hidden Thief (Shadow Arts VIII) are currently bugged when used with Mug (Deadly Arts III). The stealth from HT are applied before Mugs damage land, therefore you will get the Revealed de-buff when using these two traits together. However, I am having a hard time finding a reason to slot Hidden Thief instead of any of the above mentioned traits from the Shadow Arts trait line.

It is rarely a good idea to slot a trait for only one skill. Master of Deception (Shadow Arts I) are a good example; unless you are using several Deception utility skills this trait is probably a waste of space. If you have a good reason for using it, then use it.

DEADLY ARTS: +50 Power / +5% Condition Duration
The Deadly Arts line focuses on Venoms, physical damage, making yourself stronger while de-buffing your enemy.
Most valuable traits: Mug, Venomous Strength, Sundering Strikes, Improvisation, Quick Venoms, Dagger Training, Combined Training, Residual Venom and Revealed Training.
Adept: Serpent’s Touch -_ Stealing inflicts poison for 10 seconds._
Master: Lotus Poison – Apply weakness for 4 seconds when you poison someone.
Grandmaster: Exposed Weakness – Deal 10% more damage if your target has a condition.

—-

I) Back Fighting – Deal 50% more damage when downed. I have yet to use this trait.

II) Corrosive Traps – Traps apply 5 stacks of vulnerability for 8 seconds when triggered. Anyone use traps at all?

III) Mug – Deal damage to your foe and heal yourself. Probably the most used trait by thieves.

IV) Venomous Strength – Venoms grant 2 stacks of might for 20 seconds when activated. Awesome in a venom build!

V) Potent Poison – Increase poison duration by 33%. Only use this trait if you can’t find anything better to slot in its place.

VI) Sundering Strikes – Critical hits have a 50% chance to apply vulnerability for 6 seconds. This skill have no cooldown, which makes it pretty awesome to use in PvE. I dare say it is mandatory to have in a dungeon / fractal group unless there are better sources of vulnerability from the group.

VII) Improvisation – Stealing recharges all skills of one type. Also give a 10% damage boost while wielding a bundle. Sucks if it doesn’t choose one of the skills you are using, so use with caution. It do however, as DanielGames was kind enough to remind me, boost the damage when using conjured weapons from elementalists. Strong in dungeon in other words.

VIII) Quick Venoms – 20% reduced recharge on venom skills. Awesome and almost mandatory in any venom build!

IX) Dagger Training – Dagger damage is increased by 5%. A nice little boost if you are backstabbing bosses in PvE.

X) Combined Training – Dual skills deal 5% more damage. If you use Pistol Whip, Flanking Strike, Unload or any of the other dual skills a lot and you are this deep in Deadly Arts, then I would choose this trait.:

XI) Panic Strike – Immobilize your foe for 2.5 seconds when striking them below 50% health. Pretty sweet in PvP, completely useless in PvE.

XII) Residual Venom – Applied venoms last one extra strike. Awesome in venom share builds because this trait works with Venomous Aura, so your allies will also benefit from this trait!

XIII) Revealed Training – Gain 200 extra power when the Revealed de-buff is active. Very strong in all builds that regularly pop in and out of stealth. Can be used in combination with Mug to precast Backstab from stealth and then hit Steal. Mug will land and you will get the de-buff before Backstab land, so your stab will be dealt with 200 extra power!

CRITICAL STRIKES: +50 Precision / +50 Ferocity
The Critical Strikes line focuses on boosting your critical chance, damage, increasing your gunslinger capabilities and rewards good health and initiative management.
Most valuable traits: Furious Retaliation, Side Strike, Practiced Tolerance, Signet Use, Combo Critical Chance, Executioner and Hidden Killer.
Adept: Keen Observer – Critical hit chance is increased by 5% while health is above 90%.
Master: Opportunist – Critical hits have a 50% chance to restore 1 initiative on a 5 sec cooldown.
Grandmaster: First Strikes – Damage is increased by 10% when initiative is above 6.

—-

I) Furious Retaliation – Gain fury when your target falls below 50% health. Good when you don’t have other sources of fury, especially if your critical chance isn’t that good.

II) Signets of Power – Gain 5 stacks of might for 10 seconds when activation a signet. I have used this in some builds where I expect to use my signets often. Very fun to use in a backstab 2-shot build.

III) Side Strike – Increase critical chance by 7% when hitting your foe from behind or the side. Perfect synergy with Backstab and Flanking Strikes (Trickery IV).

IV) Concealed Defeat – Create a Smoke Screen (same as the utility skill) when downed. I never used this skill, but I guess it has its uses.

V) Pistol Mastery – Deal 10% extra damage with pistols. Used in all gunslinger builds. Use this with Side Strike (Critical Strikes III), Flanking Strikes (Trickery IV) and Combined Training (Deadly Arts X) for a sick combo!

VI) Practiced Tolerance – 7% of your precision is converted to vitality. Very useful in PvP where our health pool are very limited. Has it uses in all game modes and is only a survival trait. Only slot this if you don’t know what to dodge just yet since there are better alternatives.

VII) Ankle Shots – Critical hits with a pistol have a 60% chance to apply cripple for 3 seconds. In pistol builds this can be useful if you have problems kiting your enemy. There are far better alternatives, so only use this skill if you have problems kiting!

VIII) Signet Use – Gain 1 initiative when activating a signet. Reduces signet recharge by 20%. Good in combination with Signets of Power. I only use this if I know I am dependent on my signets staying up – when using Signet of Malice for example.

IX) Combo Critical Chance – Dual skills have 5% extra critical hit chance. If you regularly use dual skills then this may be a good option for you.

X) Critical Haste – You have a 25% chance of applying Quickness for 2 seconds on a critical hit on a 30 second cooldown. Some builds can benefit from this trait. Pistol Whips are suddenly blazing fast!

XI) Executioner – Deal 20% extra damage to targets below 50% health. Our second most used trait, but probably our strongest trait. Combined with Heartseeker this is a deadly combo. This is the number one reason why we are excellent executioners in PvP and why our dps is sky high in dungeons against bosses.

XII) Hidden Killer – 100% chance to land a critical hit from stealth._ Guaranteed critical hit on a backstab? kitten yes!_

XIII) Invigorating Precision – You heal yourself for 8% of your outgoing critical hit damage. This trait is still pretty new and un-tested. I think both Executioner and Hidden Killer heavily outshine this trait in a DPS perspective. I can see this work in a troll build however.

SHADOW ARTS: +50 Toughness / +50 Healing Power
The Shadow Arts line is focused on survivability, group utility, venoms and the deceptive arts.
Most valuable traits: Shadow’s Embrace, Cloaked in Shadow, Shadow’s Rejuvenation, Venomous Aura and Resilience of Shadows.
Adept: Last Refuge – Drop blinding powder and vanish in stealth when your health reach 25%. Hate it, love it – we all have this kind of relationship to this trait.
Master: Meld with Shadows – Stealth skills last 1 second longer.
Grandmaster: Hidden Assassin – Gain 2 stacks of might for 15 seconds when you enter stealth.

—-

I) Master of Deception – 20% reduced cooldown on deception skills. A very nice trait if you slot several deception skills.

II) Slowed Pulse – Gain 10 seconds of regeneration when you have 2 or more stacks of bleed. Meh. There are far better options than this trait here.

III) Shadow Protector – When you stealth an ally he gain 10 seconds of regeneration. Pretty nice if you are playing a support build. Ninja Nurse inc!

IV) Shadow’s Embrace – Remove 1 condition every 3 seconds while in stealth. The first one is triggered as you enter stealth. This trait is one of our three strongest survival traits! We have very limited condition removal, except for this trait.

V) Infusion of Shadow – Gain 2 initiative when you enter stealth. This trait was nearly mandatory before we got our initiative regeneration rate buffed. Now it is rarely used.

VI) Cloaked in Shadow – Blind up to 5 enemies around you for 5 seconds when you stealth. Melee professions hate us – this is the reason.

VII) Power Shots – Shortbow and Harpoon gun damage is increased by 5%. Yeah, underwater is a no go for us, so is using Shortbow for damage. Far, far better alternatives than this trait.

VIII) Hidden Thief – Gain 3 seconds of stealth when you steal. Better alternatives, but it has its uses.

IX) Leeching Venoms – Siphon life from your foe when triggering a venom. Cool in venom share builds. Useless when playing solo because of the far better alternatives.

X) Patience – Gain 1 initiative every 10 seconds when in stealth. Eh, what?! Yeah…

XI) Shadow’s Rejuvenation – Heal yourself every second while in stealth. Oooooh! Mandatory for any stealth thief roaming solo in WvW and one of he main reasons people hate to fight us!

XII) Venomous Aura – When you activate a venom you apply the effects to up to 5 allies. This skills use your condition damage and duration. If you have traits that benefit from venom use, like weakening players by poisoning them or siphoning life, then these also work on your allies when they use your shared venoms. Works great with Residual Venom (Deadly Arts XII) and is really fun to use when roaming with small groups or with minion builds. Underestimated in PvP.

XIII) Resilience of Shadows – Reduce incoming damage by 50% on all players you stealth, including yourself. Ninja Nurse again! Very strong when roaming with small groups in WvW.

ACROBATICS: +50 Vitality / +5% Boon duration
The Acrobatics line is focused on evades for survival, buffing yourself while evading and boosting your damage while using your endurance. Also has some survival traits and initiative regeneration traits.
Most valuable traits: Descent of Shadows, Power of Inertia, Vigorous Recovery, Fleet Shadow, Pain Response and Quick Pockets.
Adept: Expeditious Dodger – Gain 2 seconds of swiftness on evade.
Master: Feline Grace – Return 15 endurance when evading.
Grandmaster: Fluid Strikes – Increase damage by 10% when endurance is not full.

—-

I) Descent of Shadows – Release blinding powder (same as utility skill) when you take falling damage. Also reduces falling damage by 50%. I can not count how many times this have saved me in WvW! Perfect for lining up ambushes, getting free stealth attacks and watching people fall to their death as they follow you over that cliff.

II) Power of Inertia – Gain 15 seconds of might on evade. A very strong trait in both condition and power builds if you evade a lot. Works really well with condition builds and Uncatchable (Trickery III).

III) Vigorous Recovery – Gain 5 seconds of vigor when using a heal skill. We have access to two healing skills on a 15 second cooldown, one can even be traited to 12 seconds! Very strong in acrobatic, condition or power builds. See the synergy between Power of Inertia and Uncatchable (Trickery III)?

IV) Assassin’s Retreat – Gain 20 seconds of swiftness when killing an enemy. The only use I have ever had for this trait are in PvE when exploring. But again, there are far better alternatives to this trait.

V) Master Trapper – Reduce recharge on traps by 20%. Anyone using traps? Didn’t think so…

VI) Fleet Shadow – Move 50% faster while in stealth. Perfect for flanking people, catching up with a fleeing foe or escaping. Learn to love this trait in WvW.

VII) Fleet Foot – Dodging removes cripple and weakness on a 10 second cooldown. Would be more viable if it had no cooldown. Now it is rarely used because of the far superior traits to chose from.

VIII) Pain Response – Gain regeneration for 10 seconds and remove bleeding, burning and poison when struck below 75% health on a 30 second cooldown. Has its uses, especially if you have limited condition removal.

IX) Quick Recovery – Gain 1 initiative every 10 seconds. Again, far better alternatives. Only slot this trait if you have serious problems managing your initiative.

X) Hard to Catch – Shadowstep randomly within a 600 radius and gain swiftness when you are disabled. If this trait wasn’t so unreliable….

XI) Assassin’s Reward – Heal yourself for each initiative spent. Need a slight buff. Other than that it should not be used for any other reason than trolling.

XII) Quick Pockets – Gain 3 initiative when swapping weapons in combat. If you swap weapons a lot then this trait is priceless! Remember the glory days of the unicorn d/d bleed build?

XIII) Assassin’s Equilibrium – Gain stability for 1.5 seconds when attacking from stealth. I believe this is meant as a joke from ArenaNet. Seriously though, this trait is new and not yet tested. I do believe that it has literally no uses when compared to other traits available.

TRICKERY: +50 Condition Damage / -5% Steal cooldown
The Trickery line is focused on buffing steal, conditions and initiative. Also great for pistol users with the Ricochet trait.
Most valuable traits: Uncatchable, Flanking Strikes, Thrill of the Crime, Bountiful Theft, Ricochet, Hastened Replenishment, Sleight of Hand and Bewildering Ambush.
Adept: Kleptomaniac – Gain 2 initiative when stealing.
Master: Preparedness – Increases maximum initiative from 12 to 15.
Grandmaster: Lead Attacks – Damage is increased by 1% for each unused initiative.

—-

I) Merciful Ambush – Stealth yourself and your target for 2 seconds when reviving. Useful for the Ninja Nurse! Very nice if you want to interrupt a stomp but doesn’t have any interrupts at hand.

II) Instinctual Response – If you take 10% or more damage in one hit you release blinding feathers and stealth yourself as you blind your foes. I have never used this trait – ever. But I guess that if you have any trouble dodging the big blows you could slot this as a safe-guard.

III) Uncatchable – Leave behind caltrops that bleed and cripple your foe when you dodge. Great in condition builds or for kiting purposes.

IV) Flanking Strikes – 5% increased damage while flanking your target. Works very well with Backstab i dare say. Mandatory trait in PvE dungeons where you are positioned behind the boss.

V) Thrill of the Crime – Gain might, swiftness and fury to you and up to five allies for 10 seconds when you steal. Very powerful trait in PvP. Works very well in Trickery builds.

VI) Long Reach – Increase steal range from 900 to 1500 units. Thief has enough gap closers, so I really can’t find a need for ever slotting this trait over any of the other available.

VII) Bountiful Theft – Stealing grant you and your allies 10 seconds of vigor while it also rips up to 2 boons from your enemy and grant them to you and your allies. Extremely strong in any PvP environment.

VIII) Trickster – Reduce recharge on tricks with 20%. If you slot a lot of tricks, then this should be slotted too.

IX) Initial Strike – Attacks with the first weapon slot (auto attacks) have a 7% chance of regaining 1 initiative. Far better alternatives, but if you have trouble managing initiative this may be a good idea to slot.

X) Ricochet – Pistol shots have a 50% chance to bounce to an additional target. Can bounce a total of 3 times. Also increases range of Pistol weapon skills by 150. All pistol builds benefit from this trait! Each shot fired from your gun can potentially hit 4 times, which means 400% damage increase if it happens!

XI) Hastened Replenishment – You receive 4 initiative when using a healing skill. Remember what I said about Vigorous Recovery (Acrobatics III)? Same applies here – two healing skills on short cooldowns.

XII) Sleight of Hand – Stealing also dazes your target for 1 second. It also reduces the steal recharge by 20%. Extremely strong in any PvP environment! Combine this with Mug (Deadly Arts III), Thrill of the Crime and Bountiful Theft for some sick combos.

XIII) Bewildering Ambush – Apply 5 stacks of confusion for 5 seconds when you steal. A simply amazing trait in a PvP environment where you run a condition build.

— Sneaking around Tyria —

Being a Thief requires you to always be on your toes. You need to swap utilities, traits, weapons and gear as you travel between dungeons, the Mists, fight off some bandits in Queensdale or roam the borderlands. Knowing your Thief and your opponents is the key to any thief’s survival and success on the battlefield. You will be one-shotted by that large vine over there, even though you may be a renown fighter!

This part of the guide are here to help you find the current up to date meta builds as well as some guides of how to play them and some tips and tricks. But remember; You will never stick to the guide 100%! You will change your traits and skills out. It may be for personal taste, or your group just requires you to do something completely different than you expected.

LEVELING YOUR THIEF
I am currently working on leveling my 5th (!) Thief. This time I am taking notes to improve on this guide when I have time. For now I will be using edited info from a leveling guide written by Silver.4798.

I want to start off by saying; Don’t read this part of the guide unless you feel you have to! The best way to learn any profession are by leveling it, testing all the different weapon sets and combinations. Try and fail while you test out traits, skills and tactics. If you are certain that you want to just flow through PvE with little to no problems, then read on.

First Impressions
When someone first rolls a thief, there are several things some people notice immediately (I know I have):

• This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to play a ninja class…
  I think that centaur just gave me a love tap and found out that my muscles are SQUISHY!!! This must be why I just got downed.
• I keep dying so much that I’m getting frustrated, how am I supposed to level to 80 when I can’t even level past my 30s?!

And last but not least
This class is actually really quite fun!

General Things to Avoid
To begin with, it is very important to establish that end game thief play style is REALLY different from beginner thief. I cannot stress that enough. Most of our end game builds are extremely gear dependent. With proper gear getting a 5-7k backstab off in WvW, for example are expected. Without the proper gear but the same exact build, you’ll be lucky to do 2k. This applies to PvE as well.
Said another way, trying to go burst dagger/x (particularly d/d) for a thief under level 40 is going to be an exercise in frustration. Not only are the gear not adequate at that level to support a backstab with decent damage, the stealth buffs that we rely on to help with survivability aren’t available yet.

Two Most Effective Ways to Level

The power Sword/Pistol method
Pretty straight forward way to play. Equip a sword main hand, a pistol off-hand, all gear should be power/precision and (when level 60 and above) critical damage. Remember to turn off auto targeting. Sometimes you want to drop Black Powder just to create a combo field – more on this later.

Build can be found here. I left some trait spots open, this are because you will change them depending on what weapon you are using. Keep in mind that this is the end-game build, so you may want to slot in Mug in Deadly Arts while leveling. There will be a more thorough explanation of end-game play later in this guide.

Playstyle:
The main rotation with this weapon set are: Black Powder (#5) and auto-attack. Seriously, that’s all there is. Black Powder combined with the slow attack intervals in PvE will make you a god against all normal mobs but Dredge (immune to blind). I sometimes use Infiltrator’s Strike to enter if I am taking on a dangerous mob and need an escape plan. But 99% of the time it will be enough to just drop Black Powder and auto attack that poor being.

Pros/Cons:

• Main pro is that you’re going to pretty much be able to avoid most damage while you dish out some hefty DPS between your Black Powder and evades from Pistol Whip. Of course if you are facing dredge who are immune to blind… things get a little dicey and you basically have to abandon using black powder on them.
• You aren’t exactly invincible in this playstyle even if you’re not facing dredge. Black powder pulses once per second to blind targets. This means that if a target is hitting you more than once per second, you will take some hits.
• AoE is still somewhat of a problem, while all sword hits do cleave damage it’s not adequate to deal with crazy amounts of mobs coming your way. For this, have the shortbow as your alternate weaponset, cluster bomb is excellent for AoE!

The Condition Dagger/Dagger Build
Unlike the burst variant of this build, you do not use stealth offensively and you do not care about Backstab at all. The one reason why you are in stealth is to avoid aggro and to reposition yourself defensively. All your gear should have condition damage (and up to you for the other stats, i recommend power). Invest early in Trickery (particularly Uncatchable trait that drops caltrops every time you evade) and acrobatics (particularly, Power of Inertia which gives you a might stack per evade. Might increases condition damage).

Build can be found here. Because of the natural defenses of this build you can chose quite freely from traits. Go deeper into the Shadow Arts trait line for more defenses or find some more offensive traits if you have no problem staying alive. This is not an end-game build and should not be used in dungeons unless your group allows it.

Playstyle:
Since this is a rather initiative heavy build, managing your initiative is very important. Likewise, investing in initiative recovery is highly recommended, such as Quick Recovery in the Acrobatics trait line (1 nitiative every 10s), or the utility skill; Infiltrator’s Signet (1 initiative every 10s). Since you will need to invest at least 20 into Trickery (this trait line has the condition damage) you will also get some steal and initiative recharge buffs, such as Kleptomaniac (recover 3 initiative when you steal) and Preparedness (+3 initiative so you have 15 initiative rather than 12).
In a mob, start with Death Blossom, drop Caltrops(utility skill), DB 3 more times, steal, DB once more, evade and run around to avoid damage and watch things die. Very fun way to play.

Pros/Cons:

• DB can be very funky in terms of where you land. I have DB-ed off of a cliff and/or got myself stuck somewhere that I couldn’t climb out of more times than I care to count. Be careful in uneven or narrow terrain.
• The curse of all condition toons is the lack of single target DPS. It is great for AoE but against bosses you will kill things a lot slower. The tradeoff is a lot higher survivability.
• Don’t get end gear for the d/d condition thief, they do not perform well in dungeons where it is all about boss fights. See above about single target DPS. Also, because of the bleed mechanic of GW2, 2 condition characters will cancel one another out since the max bleed stack is 25.

Closing Thoughts
This is the first guide attempt I ever made so I’m sure I completely messed up several times, I apologize. I personally used both these builds when leveling my thief. Both are very effective although I grew bored of the sword/pistol build quickly. I enjoyed the d/d a lot more due to the more active playstyle. But in terms of validity both these builds are solid. I hope this answered some questions for new thieves and was helpful!

- Silver

DUNGEONS
Playing a Thief in dungeons can be very fun, and very frustrating. Most bosses and mobs have attacks than can literally one-shot you, so it is your job to know what to evade! You may find a hard time joining random dungeon groups, simply because there are a lot of “bad” thieves out there that don’t know the dungeon and therefore find themselves more on the floor than fighting. This part of the guide is here to help you better understand what your role are in the dungeons of Tyria!

Dulfy.net has such a good guide written on this point that I don’t see the need to write it all again. This extremely good and in-depth guide should be read by every thief out there that is not sure about what to do in dungeons, or just every thief in general.

MORE TO COME

FRACTALS OF THE MISTS

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I am not a good thief in Fractals. I have done a few and I am at about lvl 20 in Fractals. Therefore I am going to need help from more seasoned fractal thieves to help me create this part of the guide. Send me a PM or respond to this thread if you want to help.

— PvP – Lurking in the Mists —

Being a Thief in the Mists is completely different from anywhere else! Stealth will not contest points, so try to stray away from stealth heavy builds if you want to be of any good to your team.

If you are new to the PvP part of the game I want you to watct these videos, at least the first one, before you continue reading. Those videos give you the basics of PvP and is a very good resource created by Denied, the leader og the PvP guild ZeuS.

Your main job in Conquest is to roam the map, de-capping the enemy teams home node if it is left undefended (or if it is a quick win), help your team turn team-fights in your favor or execute other thieves.

MORE TO COME!

PS: I am far from a top tier thief in sPvP. Therefore I am in need of help from other experienced PvP thieves that can help me form this part of the guide. I want it to contain everything from meta builds, basic rotations, target priority and more. If you have anything to contribute, please give me a heads up!

— WvW – Cutting throats in the Borderlands —

WvW is the biggest reason we get nerfed. Shadow Arts prove so strong for surviving that thieves all around have no trouble fighting outnumbered and still walk away. The joy about WvW is that it is so forgiving! If you test something new and die, then no one cares, so this is the place to learn rotations, practice Cloak and Dagger and test new builds. You can choose to build squishy, or you can be a condition tank – it is entirely up to you.

MORE TO COME!

I want to stress that I am rarely taking part in any siege, zerging, karma trains or really any part that help my borderland advance in the ranks. 99% of my time in WvW are roaming, looking for outnumbered fights, and testing my skill against other players. Therefore I need your help to make this part of the guide even better!

What can a Thief do in a siege? Supply runs, how and when? How to command. These are some of the questions I need help with, so if you have anything to say – please do so! If you want to be a part of this guide, then send me a P.M. and we can get your part woven in!

— Tips & Tricks —

In this section I will post anything from plain text to video links. Anything I find useful and see some questions about will go here.

Withdraw Forward
Credits go to Menzies The Heretic.3415 for creating this guide.

Some players have been asking me, how to effectively do a Withdraw, Roll for Initiative (maybe even Disabling Shot or Phase Retreat) in the direction you are moving.

Often used to:

• Move around faster
• Get behind your enemy quickly
• To look Pro (well this one not really)

Here’s how you do it: Link

I’m using 1,2,3 just for you, so that everyone can pull it off.
You should however use other keybinds that are more effective to use in battle.
Feel free to subscribe, might post some other usefull video’s later.

Infiltrator’s Strike
Credits go to Menzies The Heretic.3415 for creating this guide.

Menzies made a quick guide on how to use Infiltrator’s Return without returning to your original position. You can find the video here.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

— Resources —

GOOD VIDEOS TO WATCH

Infiltrator’s Arrow spots in PvP
Here’s a video from Denied, the leader of the PvP guild ZeuS. It shows you the locations of where you can use the Infiltrator’s Arrow on Shortbow for tactical movement in the PvP maps.

LINKS

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

— How to make other professions hate you —

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

— Final Words —

So, there it is! Here are all the information I have gathered from playing the game, browsing the web and talking / discussing with other players both in-game, in real life and in the forums.

If you found one or more answers in this guide that you needed or found helpful, then I dare say that I have done my job right. A lot of time and effort has, and will continue to, go into this guide, both in research, keeping it up to date and just the job of posting it. If you liked it, then feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think! I love feedback as it is the only way I can ever improve this guide.

Thank you for taking your time reading this guide! Now, I can’t wait to see you in-game doing your thing – hopefully with more knowledge now than before!

Cheers!

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