Guild Wars 2

So I’ve resigned myself to the fact that P/P is just not a viable leveling spec since the changes to stealth not resetting aggro.

I guess I’ll be playing a melee thief then, but the whole ‘blind and autoattack’ thing doesn’t appeal to me.

So – is there any thief build that allows me to go toe to toe with enemies to some degree, with decent self healing? I’ve tried Signet of Malice, but it seems to be rather crappy (my Guardian’s passive healing is stronger). D/D is cool, but man – any sort of instant aoe/turret/ranged and I go splat.

From my post in another thread:

I’ve leveled two Thieves to 80 and I can gladly argue without a doubt that the easiest, fastest, and most effective way to level a Thief is through D/D death blossom spamming and SB trickshot/poison gas/clusterbomb kiting.

1. Get Dagger/Dagger and Shortbow, any stats are fine, but condition damage is ideal 100% of the time if you can.
2. Get Signet of Malice + Caltrops + Roll for Initiative + Signet of Shadows (25% speed increase passive) OR Infiltrator’s Signet for 1 extra initiative every 10 seconds (I prefer SoS for speed to level quicker) + Thieves Guild OR Daggerstorm ASAP in the whatever order they become available in (I think that’s the right order anyway.
3. Go for 15 in Trickery for Uncatchable (caltrops on dodge), the 5 point trait that gives you 3 initiative on stealing, and 3 extra maximum initiative.
4. Next get 10 in Deadly Arts for Mug which will make your steal do damage.
5. Next get 20 in Trickery for Trickster (reduced Caltrops and RfI recharge time).
6. Next get 20 in Acrobatics for extra health, swiftness on dodge, might on dodge (might adds to condition damage), and 2 extra initiative regenerated every second.
7. The rest of your trait points are 100% up to you, but the above is ideal for the most part.

Here’s a build link for that amount of unlock (copy/paste):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlcm6OXey5E+5EhniviWtC0sTxVtKA

Feel free to mess around with different traits, but they all have perfect synergy with the rotation below. I usually go 30 Acro + 30 Trickery for Quick Pockets and Sleight of Hand after that.

Now for the easy part, your rotation is as follows (with everything unlocked, obviously adjust as necessary for your level):

Caltrops > DB > DB > DB > Steal > DB > DB > RfI > DB > DB

If the entire group of enemies isn’t dead by the end of that rotation then they’re all champions or you’re doing something wrong. If they are alive for some reason, then switch to SB while your initiative and/or RfI recharge to max and just kite with trickshot/poison cloud for more healing via SoM ticks OR use Daggerstorm to kill whatever is left.

Remember to dodge as often as possible through the enemy to apply even more bleed ticks through dodgetrops and to gain might for even higher condition damage.

As for gear, I wouldn’t even bother getting anything until you hit level 80 and get your exotics. I’ve never done that and haven’t had a single problem with it; some people like to buy gear every 10 or so levels but I personally think it’s a waste of money and time.

If you have any more questions then ask away.

It’s probably not a good idea to post a thread with a misleading title (it asks if tank Thieves are viable, but the question asks for tank builds [I am guessing]).

To answer the title: yes.
To answer the question: try a condition Thief. They mainly use Caltrops and Death Blossom to spread bleeding to many foes, and each hit, even from Caltrops, would trigger Signet of Malice. Do not underestimate that skill. Try building around all that, or you can check the build section of the Thief forums for ideas. Happy hunting!

for leveling D/D condition build utilizing of deathblossom (3 aoe hits with conditions) and caltrops (triggers signet of malice as it applies its bleeds) with signet of malice can give you a decent staying power but your not going to be able to facetank like guardians… EVER, even if you load up on PVT gear as a thief you just don’t have the defense to do that, you gotta rely on evasion for the most part.

The “tanky thief” relies much more on blinds and evades than on blocks and armor, as guardian does.
As a guardian you can go toe-to-toe with your opponent and block/mitigate/heal his attacks. And the good thing is, that this works also on bosses.
As a thief you need to dodge more and use evade attacks (PW, FS, LDB, IF/SR). The blinds are a HUGE part of thief “tankiness”, but those dont work on boss fights…
Using signet of malice with PW is a great way to heal if you have 3 or more opponents to hit, trating for life-steal on poisons and health on ini-use also helps…

Hello Starbird!

As i have mentioned in that other thread you made, thieves can be pretty tanky. And as others have mentioned here, our “tankiness” relies on how often we can blind our opponent (if you just want to stand still) or evade tank the mob (relying on dodge mechanics to avoid damage).

For leveling as D/D, you will probably rely more on you death blossom for evade. Also CnD and the backstab mehanic can be used to your advantage, to kill mobs quickly.

For P/P leveling, you can rely on caltrops and other trap skills to keep them from getting to you. I would advice you to keep a SB as your secondary though, for those moments when you are face with multiple mobs.

Also, any xx/P combo have Black Power for the melee AoE blind. This means that all attacks from mobs inside the black powder ring will miss. You have heartseeker if your using a dagger that deals scaling damage based on the amount of HP the mob has, and pistol wip if your using a sword in your main hand.

You should also look closely at your utility skills. They are your tool set for avoiding damage, as well as amplifying your weapon skill damage.

Experiment and enjoy!

Thanks for the advice! I am going to hold off on my thief for a little bit and focus on my guardian (I just want to be able to mule her some leather and stuff to get over the initial leveling hump). But will definately give the D/D Caltrops+Signet build a go

My own Thief is rather tanky. I’m running a Venomous Aura spec (30/10/10/0/0), S/P, Knight gear, and food / sigils that heal me when I crit. Between the crit proc heals and the steady healing from Leeching Venoms, I can usually quasi-tank a Champion trash mob during an event like Jormag. The constant evades from Pistol Whip and the various sources of healing really do add to your survivability. Also being able to AoE share my x2 Basilisk Venom procs also helps to lower the incoming dps.

My thief is pure mindless brawling but its pretty good for tanking. It uses sword and pistol and abuses Signet of Malice with Pistol Whip but it requires high precision and the proper perks.

I made this build to regen Initiative quickly so I use Quick Recovery and Opportunist. I also use Practiced Tolerance for that extra Vitality boost.

Its skill points are 10/30/0/30/0 and has some perks that increases the damage it deals in any situation.

The main focuses to it’s construction is Initiative Regen, Circumstantial Healing (upon attack, kill and ability use), High Precision, High Vitality and Healing. So long as you have all those optimized, you got yourself a tank.

Even without any vitality stats from armor, my thief has 18k hp so it can take quite an amount.