Guild Wars 2

I like the “being a Thief” idea so I PvE’ed one to 80.
I enjoy melee in GW2, so my weapons of choice are Sword/Dagger nd Dagger/Dagger, although I carry a Shortbow to move around in style.

So, the point of this thread is… I can’t Thief. It’s cool and all, but I just… can’t or don’t feel I’m playing as it should be.

I play a Guardian/Elementalist (equal hours) and Mesmer mainly. With those I feel like I’m being active, actually doing something (I’m not complaining about the support of the Thief profession). With the Thief, however, it feels I’m not doing enough damage (I don’t see the bursts of damage as I do with my other characters) and I also feel I spend too much time downed or dead (probably my main issue).

Before anyone says about the “full zerker meta”, here is my build:
Exotic Berserker Armor, Runes of the Pack
Ascended Berserker + Valkyrie Trinkets
Exotic Soldier + Valkyrie Gem Backpack
Ascended Soldier Weapons

Yeah it’s not much defense, but I got a little bit of def and health so I don’t get insta-downed while still trying to maintain high damage.

As for Traits, I enjoy Deadly Arts and Trickery, and as 3rd I reluctantly pick Critical Strikes because it’s a must for damage, but I really like Shadow Arts for being… shadowy and stuff.

So, here’s the issue, I’m going here and there doing PvE stuff (and I push stuff hard, like mobbing – I love mobbing) and comes 3 mobs, 1 hit each and I’m almost dead.
I’m fighting a boss, his back is annoying to get (my aggro is tank-level on World Bosses and champion events), I can’t backstab only frontstab, sometimes I get on a mob’s back, he farts and I’m down “wtf was that?”

Comparing to, say, Guardian, I can take a few hits here and there while I set down all the skills, symbols, traps, AoE.
Same for Elementalist, a bit less tanky but it’s still manageable.
With Thief though, there’s no time, the few hits here and there is enough to down me.

Without Daredevil I also have only two dodges like any other profession, and I have no Vigor. I manage around with Withdraw and Death Blossom, but it’s trickier due to CD and the startup animation.

In the end, I feel it’s too much effort for less/almost equal performance of other professions and I end up logging my other characters. But I keep thinking “man thieves are so cool” and I’ve been repeating this for a while.

So, how do you PvE?

Am I doing something wrong, or is this really the state of the profession? I assume I’m not skilled with the Thief’s playstyle but I don’t see if I were to practice for godlike skills that it would be any better, hence the question.

That’s just pretty much how the profession is. It’s completely squishy when building for damage and overcoming that is the innate difficulty of play. There is a reason players proclaim the profession is more skill-intensive than the rest to learn how to play, and it lies pretty much entirely on its durability. You need to make sure you dodge virtually everything when it matters using weapon skills, stealth to break attack sequences/aggro, and constantly keep re-positioning to prevent your enemies from just going to town on you.

As far as damage goes, the thief does have low damage values, offset only by its traits. DA/CS/Tr is pretty standard for PvE, however DA/Tr/DD and CS/Tr/DD are also good mixes using staff, as the staff has the best damage of all of the weapons on the thief.

You can run tankier armor like Cavalier’s or Valkyrie on a few pieces to be a bit more durable if you feel you really need it, but your damage will be reduced further due to the crit frequency dropping. Look into using Invigorating Precision for your CS GM trait as well, over NQ. Again, you’ll lose damage potential, but your sustain will increase dramatically. Otherwise it’s just learning the timing and casting animations on your skills as well as all of your opponents’ skills, and making sure you manage your resources well for evasion and damage. Without video breakdown I can’t really give you any advice on where to improve, as your capacity to stay in a fight in PvE is pretty much all about how you play rather than what you play with. There’s just very little room for error and it’s something you’ll get used to in time.

Good luck!

1. Get full zerk. The extra defense you have may be ok in PvP, but in PvE you need to kill fast. Use blind, evade, stealth to survive, not stats.

2. S/D isn’t great in PvE. Try S/P for better damage along with a great evade on 3 and blind field on 5. S/P 3 with Signet of Malice and Invigorating Precision can heal you to full in a mob.

3. Don’t waste initiative on Death Blossom when running power gear. It deals pitiful DPS and robs you of the init for stealth.

4. With full zerk, feel free to take Shadow Arts. Shadows Rejuvenation should help you tremendously. Mug or Invigorating Precision can also help you survive.

5. Play the AI. They lose you when you stealth, so wait to backstab if you need to regen a bit. Learn to time interrupts, blind, etc. to avoid damage.

You can just stand behind a boss and do your CnD, BS and autoattack combo – the reason a lot of people might hate me when we "duolo"a tower in wvw.
When it comes to real world bosses go ranged – melee is pretty hard, although possible – I go ranged with mostly P/P because I’m lazy.
If you’re up against several trashmobs use your SB to kite and #2 to kill them, #3 to evade if they get too close. You can also use deathblossom – which I did when I was a noob, but SB is a lot better for that.
But yeah, SA , like Zodryn said, is a nice training wheel.
I guess pulling off S/D in PvE, right now, is pretty difficult – it might in general rather be a pvp/wvw build. S/P would be a good alternative. Try out signet of malice with that – works best if you’re up against multiple foes.

But yes, we currently need a lot more effort and probably always did, although it was once justified with us having the highest DPS in game.

S/D was nerfed about 18 months (?) ago and has been a bottom-feeding weapon set ever since. However I still main S/D so my advice, for what it’s worth:

Always open with Infiltrator’s Strike. Always. Gives you escapability and a cleanse.
Hit and run. You can’t just attack over and over.
Always be ready to dodge/evade/Infiltrator’s Return. If your vitality falls under about 60%, just get out and reset. This is a strength of W/D
Stealth is less useful for a S/D thief than for D/X. Be ready for straight-up brawling, but use your distancing tools.

Good luck. Play what you enjoy.