Guild Wars 2

I thought critical strikes line was extrememy powerful because of the stats it gives + master trait, and I really really hate the trickery line because I don’t like depending on steal so much. but after researching a bit critical strikes is really bad and trickery is the thieves best trait line which I don’t really understand aside from making steal a super ability. anyone agree with that?

edit: oh and idc about acrobatics besides the 1st 2 points since I play only d/d and d/p, and I kind of like the power tree but not that much. but I really like shadow arts it’s my second favorite next to critical strikes

Deadly Arts currently doesn’t have a lot going for it. More traits are mediocre at best (though there are exceptions such as Mug) and the set of Grandmaster traits aren’t the best. I don’t like Panic Strike.

Critical Strikes has a nice combination of traits that deal with critical damage and normal damage and even some support, and has in my opinion the best set of Grandmaster traits. All three are very useful when applied correctly.

Shadow Arts is a nice traitline that focuses on improving the advantages of stealth. It’s pretty lackluster in other aspects though and some of its traits are a bit too cheesy for my taste.

Acrobatics shines mostly because of Feline Grace, as it does have good Adept traits and a few decent Master traits, but all the Grandmaster traits are awful. It’s a nice traitline still but not worth investing 6 points into.

Trickery is the most strategic and control-oriented traitline we have. It excels in augmenting Steal and also has a few party support options.

Trickery is the best thief trait line imo
a fully buffed steal is awesome if you learn to use it, and then deadly arts also becomes way nicer because of mug and improvisation, panic strike is nice to get some burst off
i dont like SA (apart from SE on 60206 D/P for at least some condi remove as you otherwise lack that almost completely on thief) simply because its so passive and doesnt encourage active play at all – with 6 points in it you’ll get loads of defense so that you kind of have to go for 6 in critical strikes to get some burst which does make you a one-trick-pony (relying on stealth & bs mainly)
critical strikes is carried by two things: the stats on it and executioner/hidden killer (latter one for some – in my opinion boring – wvw builds that mostly arent full berserker)
acrobatics trait line’s 2nd minor is really good, offers you a lot of dodges which makes you less reliant on stealth