Guild Wars 2

I’m currently using Pistol/Dagger and Pistol/Pistol. Low level so trying to grasp an idea for the future. I use Dagger/Dagger in pvp and ive read Sword/Pistol is great in Dungeons. I’m not clicking with Sword/Pistol atm but really enjoying the pistol setup. I Cloak n Dagger then Sneak Attack pistol main hand for 5x Bleed, Blinding Powder, 5x hit bleed, Hide in Shadows Sneak Attack.. so forth. I can get distance if need be with Shadow Strike. Also Cloak and Dagger gives 3x Vulnerability and Body Shot gives a 5x so the debuff synergy is great!

This spec does lack AoE like crazy and I know there is a talent in Trickery for 20% bullet bounce to additional target.

Any help much appreciated.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/45902-lowells-ultimate-spvp-thief-guide-wip/

This is pretty good to learn basics.

If you like P/D, a good build is the venom build, which would be 20 in deadly arts and atleast 20 in Shadow Arts (for the venom heal), or 30 in SA (for the Venom Share).

Many will tell you “don’t bother” with venom builds because of the 25 stack bleed limit, and that others can “do it better”. I personally love P/D and the venom build.

If you’d rather forgo venoms and just concentrate on bleeds, use Caltrops.

As you have discovered, Sneak attack is great. Practice using CnD as you have, you may want to choose between Shadow Refuge OR Blinding Powder. If you went 30 in SA, Shadow Ref is a no brainer (for the regen from stealth). I think Shadow Ref is going to be your best friend since you love pistols, since it will combo for a lifesteal as well.

Just watch youtube videos of others with pistol builds and try out what fits you best. At this points I’ve tried all weapon sets and have a set of exotic power/crit gear and condition gear.

You must find what you like through discovery, it’s part of the fun and ensures you always evolve and aren’t just good at the “flavor of the month” build.

Boy, this is quite a tough one to answer...
First off, will the build you are looking to make be for PvP or PvE purposes? Here are a few notes for each.

If PvP:
- If you want to build the quintessential glass cannon Thief, Mug combined with Bountiful Theft from the Acrobatics tree is a good way of dealing damage while ensuring that your next attacks get through any defenses they had.
- D/P thieves have access to infinite stealth through the use of the Heartseeker + Black Powder combo. If paired with Infusion of Shadow HS only costs 1 initiative to cast, making it possible to stack somewhere around 15 seconds of stealth on yourself. It’s kinda perfect for a pure backstab build (there’s a ridiculous FREE high damage skill in Backstab, a commando lunging powerhouse in HS, a gap closing blind in Shadow Shot, an expensive but life-saving daze in Headshot, and an aoe blind in Black Powder)
- I do agree with you that S/P is the king of dungeon thief builds, but I can also understand how it wouldn’t click with everyone. If you liked the aoe damage, try S/D. There’s still plenty of utility and damage, minus the PW spam. By the way, I don’t mean PW spam as in mash 33333333333333... I mean that it’s your only damage source. Some people have taken on the thought that S/P thieves do nothing but spam 3 all day.

There’s plenty more but I’m on the train and can see my stop xP

Just realized I never made a distinction between PvP and PvE after all xP

Woaden.9425:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/45902-lowells-ultimate-spvp-thief-guide-wip/

This is pretty good to learn basics.

If you like P/D, a good build is the venom build, which would be 20 in deadly arts and atleast 20 in Shadow Arts (for the venom heal), or 30 in SA (for the Venom Share).

Many will tell you “don’t bother” with venom builds because of the 25 stack bleed limit, and that others can “do it better”. I personally love P/D and the venom build.

If you’d rather forgo venoms and just concentrate on bleeds, use Caltrops.

As you have discovered, Sneak attack is great. Practice using CnD as you have, you may want to choose between Shadow Refuge OR Blinding Powder. If you went 30 in SA, Shadow Ref is a no brainer (for the regen from stealth). I think Shadow Ref is going to be your best friend since you love pistols, since it will combo for a lifesteal as well.

Just watch youtube videos of others with pistol builds and try out what fits you best. At this points I’ve tried all weapon sets and have a set of exotic power/crit gear and condition gear.

You must find what you like through discovery, it’s part of the fun and ensures you always evolve and aren’t just good at the “flavor of the month” build.

Thanks! Btw is Ricochet not worth it?

Joel.6587:

Woaden.9425:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/45902-lowells-ultimate-spvp-thief-guide-wip/

This is pretty good to learn basics.

If you like P/D, a good build is the venom build, which would be 20 in deadly arts and atleast 20 in Shadow Arts (for the venom heal), or 30 in SA (for the Venom Share).

Many will tell you “don’t bother” with venom builds because of the 25 stack bleed limit, and that others can “do it better”. I personally love P/D and the venom build.

If you’d rather forgo venoms and just concentrate on bleeds, use Caltrops.

As you have discovered, Sneak attack is great. Practice using CnD as you have, you may want to choose between Shadow Refuge OR Blinding Powder. If you went 30 in SA, Shadow Ref is a no brainer (for the regen from stealth). I think Shadow Ref is going to be your best friend since you love pistols, since it will combo for a lifesteal as well.

Just watch youtube videos of others with pistol builds and try out what fits you best. At this points I’ve tried all weapon sets and have a set of exotic power/crit gear and condition gear.

You must find what you like through discovery, it’s part of the fun and ensures you always evolve and aren’t just good at the “flavor of the month” build.

Thanks! Btw is Ricochet not worth it?

Not really I havent tried it with pistol pistol though but I have with p/d it procs decent but in my opinion the other traits are just way better. Why take a trait that is useless if you are fighting someone 1 on 1 or 1v2 and they have good spacing. I rather have any of the other traits over ricochet

Personally I wouldnt not take Ricochet. I tried it when they buffed it, but I still feel it is outclassed by the other traits in that slot.

In fact, if you go P/P I think you can spend your points in better areas than Trickery line. P/D still benefits from the steal (since it’s like a “seeker” to the target, which guarantees a CnD hit to open sneak attack). For P/P I would probably load up on deception skills (shadowstep, shadow refuge, blinding powder— though probably replacing blinding powder with roll for initiative).

Also, for the most part P/P is a physical damage build (relying more on unload than sneak attack+bleeds), while P/D is more of a condition build (spend a lot of time in stealth watching your bleeds tick/positioning before the next sneak attack)

Also just my suggestions on builds to try:

This is a P/P build about evasion and not getting rooted/stunned. Hard to Catch is a tough skill to get used to, but with pistols it’s not as bad. I’d take mostly power/precision gear… go glass cannon or not depending on your style.
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|10|2642|8743|134|2786|4485|0|0|0|0|30|1195|1193|1728|10|2383|0|0|30|1165|1168|2354|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

This is a very potent Bleed+Venom build. You will have no crit chance, but hit hard and bleed hard. In PvE (or with thieves guild in pvp, kinda OP but long cooldown) swap the 30 SA skill heal for the venom share. All Carrion or Rabid gear.
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|3|2642|2788|6680|3997|11435|20|1142|1714|0|0|0|0|0|30|750|2387|751|20|1165|1692|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

Black Frog.9274:

Dual pistols have an often overlooked version of AoE. If you use Unload, it will hit your target, unless someone is standing in front of the target, in which case it will hit that person. If you use it on a target and then run in circles around it (or any variation on that theme, basically moving around), 99% of the time you’ll be scoring hits on everything surrounding them. I often intentionally switch away from my first target if it comes closer to me than the other targets and keep moving. Unless I need to take it down, of course.

Also, the Bounce is dangerous. I used it for a few days after they buffed it. Talk about aggravating. Nothing worse than bouncing when you don’t want it to and then constantly aggro’ing monsters near your true target.

You hit the pro’s and con’s of choosing the bounce right on the nose.

Also, I run SB as my off-set, I just love infil arrow and cluster bomb too much, so the bounce is redundant for me (but if someone liked an aoe ranged theif playstyle, ap P/P-SB build could be really fun, esp with on swap abilities), and withdraw/roll for initiative combo, that could be interesting

Edit: also, i couldn’t resist. here’s what I think a P/P-SB AOE weapon swap build would look like.

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|10|2632|2786|8743|2640|4989|0|0|0|0|20|1195|2386|0|0|0|0|0|30|1165|1168|1163|20|782|1722|0|19|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|