Guild Wars 2

After playing my thief for a while I have gotten really good pvp/wvw.

If you go back and read any of my posts (not that you care) I asked for a lot of tips on stuff… at times I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t critting for huge numbers like those guys in youtube videos…

A huge game changer for me was getting into a guild and asking people if they wanted to duel. I dueled against class and kept asking who was the best. It didn’t take long until I started to see their moves and when not to attack.. mostly..

I play a s/p & sb thief that is a total glass cannon. I BP/HS into stealth – BS – mug then depending what I stole I will do a HS for combo (chaos armor etc) evade away wack wack bp/hs etc its not hard and with the BP/HS combos you get to land a free shot and not loose stealth. Not sure if thats a bug but its pretty awesome.

Its a very easy combo and very deadly (for me). I know when to run. I kill people fast or I run. There is no long battles for me. I feel comfortable going into a zerg from behind and picking off someone/stealth kill then escaping out. If its a big zerg fighting they never even notice half the time.

Anyway I just want to say if your feeling frustrated cause your getting rocked in wvw or pvp and just want to get better then duel people. Sometimes its not you, its just the other player is REALLY good.

This is where dueling comes into play big time. Find that guy that is REALLY good and duel him until you figure out how to beat him.

Sidenote: The toughest thing for me was mesmers. This will probably make some of you laugh but I never used to mark my targets. I also notice a lot of people don’t. It makes a world of difference ….

Anyway you gotta find your style. These forums are great and some amazing knowledge and input here but in the end some of the combos here are too complex for me.

Here is a pic of my thief and a link to my traits if u care to see.

Traits – http://hnic.shoemoney.com/images//sm-20130422-202118.jpg

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Kasama.8941:

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Well I am happy for you that my build is “too easy”. I really had to work at it.

Don’t worry about it, some people just troll because they have nothing else to do. Keep improving. I’ve had a Mesmer, Ele, and Thief since the first month and I only recently started my thief. The other two were too easy and forgiving, with thief sure, you have stealth but if you’re caught, you’re done. Keep looking for new ways to play and don’t be afraid to experiment!

hardest to play is s/d. here is somebody id say about 75% to mastering it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3wipl5GEu4 enjoy i use s/d and d/p myself. i personally like the 2 sec stun (3.5secs for me) on tactical strike.

ShoeMoney.5249:

Kasama.8941:

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Well I am happy for you that my build is “too easy”. I really had to work at it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there’s no learning curve to it, just that it’s very easy to play, compared to other builds. There is a learning curve to all builds, and no matter what build you play, you still have to learn the in and outs of other professions. But just because you didn’t have knowledge of other professions, or your own build, before, it doesn’t mean that the build is difficult to play, in general. You even say it yourself; “its not hard and with the BP/HS combos you get to land a free shot and not loose stealth”.

Try playing with pistol/pistol, shortbow, or sword/pistol as your main weapon set. Once you can’t rely on that repetitive stealth from your weapon set, it’s a whole different game. And one that’s a lot more fun, in my opinion.

I really wished this picture never existed. >.>

I play with this build and it’s not so “easy” to play. Yes you kill fast, but die fast too. You need to know when attack, when retreat and who can you attack or it’s better for you run away.

It’s not so easy :P

I personally cannot play that build well. I tried it before and it’s just too fragile for me — making a lot of mistakes.

But nice to see that your hard work paidoff.

Hey man, Don’t listen to the trolls. I am glad that you found a build and were content with it, and that you picked up a few skills along the way. Hard work pays off in the end. Now the next step is to keep on training. A Thief’s training is never done. You’ll fight every class, and build there is out there. Be ready and able to counter them all. It is possible. Just need timing, and execution. Good Luck!
~ AikijinX

ShoeMoney.5249:

Kasama.8941:

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Well I am happy for you that my build is “too easy”. I really had to work at it.

he has a point as you are using the main vs players build. If you were to get someone were to knock you out of refuge or anticipated your stealth or you just couldn’t escape w/e, you’d die fast. The immobilize on low hp target is amazing but it would make you a better player if you took at least 10 into shadow arts for the cleansing of conditions or at least put 5 into acrobatics as the only good reason for putting any points into that line is for feline grace. From acro you can get something better from any trait line except feline grace.

Also don’t feel ashamed or anything about finding mesmers hard. They are the 2nd worst class for a thief, 2nd only to guardian. They are even worse than eles. If you’re not in a pt, you can’t target the real mesmer and even if you were, the target is lost when they stealth.

Last thing about your build is it’s useless against anything other than players. If all you’re doing is pvp and wvw then ignore what I’m saying now but in against anything that doesn’t die in a heart beat you’ll have crap for dps as you have no good way of getting ini back. Since we can’t see what utilities you generally run, I can’t say for sure but you’d either be highly susceptible to damaging conditions or movement conditions or both. Against someone who is quick, with a class that can root you, you’d get eaten unless you are using all defensive utilities.

If all you do is wvw and pvp then ignore me and gj on your success

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

Kasama.8941:

ShoeMoney.5249:

Kasama.8941:

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Well I am happy for you that my build is “too easy”. I really had to work at it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there’s no learning curve to it, just that it’s very easy to play, compared to other builds. There is a learning curve to all builds, and no matter what build you play, you still have to learn the in and outs of other professions. But just because you didn’t have knowledge of other professions, or your own build, before, it doesn’t mean that the build is difficult to play, in general. You even say it yourself; “its not hard and with the BP/HS combos you get to land a free shot and not loose stealth”.

Try playing with pistol/pistol, shortbow, or sword/pistol as your main weapon set. Once you can’t rely on that repetitive stealth from your weapon set, it’s a whole different game. And one that’s a lot more fun, in my opinion.

no need to further explain, some people are just sensitive. It is true that S/P is one of the easier build to play thief with, and I agree S/D is a bit harder to become good at it.

Maugetarr.6823:

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

He wanted Mug, Sundering, and Dagger Training — that’s why.

Typically 25/30/x/x/x is for non-Dagger builds.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Maugetarr.6823:

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

He wanted Mug, Sundering, and Dagger Training — that’s why.

Typically 25/30/x/x/x is for non-Dagger builds.

Ok, I just thought if the fight is over in a matter of seonds, the extra dodge may decide the battle over sundering strikes.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Maugetarr.6823:

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

He wanted Mug, Sundering, and Dagger Training — that’s why.

Typically 25/30/x/x/x is for non-Dagger builds.

You don’t need sundering for dagger build. Sundering is a prolonged fight trait. He’s a burst thief. Sundering is pretty much useless for him. Panic strike would be over 9000 times better. 4s immobilize (so those heart seeker spams can’t be dodged) vs 1% more damage to your burst before you run away. When I saw 30 in da I just assumed it was panic, didn’t even look. Now that I’ve looked at what they are I can safely say the traits are quite junk. Sorry op but they are. I suggest looking up other builds, it would make you a much better thief.

randomfightfan.4091:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Maugetarr.6823:

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

He wanted Mug, Sundering, and Dagger Training — that’s why.

Typically 25/30/x/x/x is for non-Dagger builds.

You don’t need sundering for dagger build. Sundering is a prolonged fight trait. He’s a burst thief. Sundering is pretty much useless for him. Panic strike would be over 9000 times better. 4s immobilize (so those heart seeker spams can’t be dodged) vs 1% more damage to your burst before you run away. When I saw 30 in da I just assumed it was panic, didn’t even look. Now that I’ve looked at what they are I can safely say the traits are quite junk. Sorry op but they are. I suggest looking up other builds, it would make you a much better thief.

Don’t chew my head, I’m just stating where he allocated his points.

Maugetarr.6823:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Maugetarr.6823:

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

He wanted Mug, Sundering, and Dagger Training — that’s why.

Typically 25/30/x/x/x is for non-Dagger builds.

Ok, I just thought if the fight is over in a matter of seonds, the extra dodge may decide the battle over sundering strikes.

I would think it’s an insurance policy just in case the fight took longer than expected. Extra dodge will make the fight last even longer so if you want to end an overdued fight, I think you’re better off with Sundering.

So my whole point kind of got lost.

You can read about other people’s builds and watch youtube videos forever but dueling for me is what has made me a very good pvp/wvw player.

Thats all I was trying to say.

ShoeMoney.5249:

So my whole point kind of got lost.

You can read about other people’s builds and watch youtube videos forever but dueling for me is what has made me a very good pvp/wvw player.

Thats all I was trying to say.

The point of the post is not lost, because everyone who played thief knows that we need to get those timings down and find our rhythm may it be from dueling or just running random PvP a lot. So that’s kind of a given since everyone agrees on that matter.

You also posted builds and an image of your thief, so that is also up for discussion.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

ShoeMoney.5249:

So my whole point kind of got lost.

You can read about other people’s builds and watch youtube videos forever but dueling for me is what has made me a very good pvp/wvw player.

Thats all I was trying to say.

The point of the post is not lost, because everyone who played thief knows that we need to get those timings down and find our rhythm may it be from dueling or just running random PvP a lot. So that’s kind of a given since everyone agrees on that matter.

You also posted builds and an image of your thief, so that is also up for discussion.

LOL I wasn’t saying anything was off limits.

I just wanted to make sure my point was driven home and based on some private messages I have gotten from people its far from a given..

ive never been a fan of glass cannon Builds

Kudos to you for learning your build though

i prefer survivability

i will always have 30 in Shadow arts for the heals

i use Zerker Weapons and for the trinkets and armor i have a mixture of

Valkyrie
Knights
Zerker

these change all the time

i usually run either

0/30/30/10/0

or

0/20/30/20/0

the 2nd i usually use for D/P

the first i use more for D/D

i have recently been experimenting with S/D aswell and having alot of fun with it

Sir Vincent III.1286:

randomfightfan.4091:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Maugetarr.6823:

Glad it works for you! I rarely build without 30 in SA myself. One question though, why 30/30/0/10/0 and not 25/30/0/15/0? Not a criticism, just curious!

He wanted Mug, Sundering, and Dagger Training — that’s why.

Typically 25/30/x/x/x is for non-Dagger builds.

You don’t need sundering for dagger build. Sundering is a prolonged fight trait. He’s a burst thief. Sundering is pretty much useless for him. Panic strike would be over 9000 times better. 4s immobilize (so those heart seeker spams can’t be dodged) vs 1% more damage to your burst before you run away. When I saw 30 in da I just assumed it was panic, didn’t even look. Now that I’ve looked at what they are I can safely say the traits are quite junk. Sorry op but they are. I suggest looking up other builds, it would make you a much better thief.

Don’t chew my head, I’m just stating where he allocated his points.

Sorry did t mean it like that, meant it as more of an extension to my original post :s. sorry if I offended, non was intended