Guild Wars 2

So, I am new-ish to thief (obviously with a question like this). I leveled up and continue to run a D/P alternating SBow for aoe. I have been pretty much exclusively open world PvE. I would like to start doing more dungeons and a little WvW.

Once I hit 80/400 I crafted celestial gear because I had the crystals (& at time it was great with MF too!). I currently have Opals (PCP) and Beryls (PCV) mix.

I have 3 unbound Sup Runes of Divinity. Should I get 3 more & suit up or should should I be taking my thief gear in another direction? ie sell the Divines & just prep for ascended armor update.

I am a moderate skill player (improving, but no master) and still feel squishy (particularly getting hit with aoe, multiple range foes) so full berserker may still be too frustrating for me but I’m not sure. Should i consider Berserker/Soldier combo?

I am also looking to explore different weapons and builds without changing gear.
I suppose I should post my current build to see if I’m doing anything wrong there too… then if I improve my build/skill I could use all zerk ;/

Of course I just want to hear that Celestial/Divintiy is awesome & stick with it, but I don’t want to make a blind decision.

thanks in advance – ANY advice for a open world thief looking to expand & progress would also be much appreciated (ie how to approach dungeons&WvW as a beginner thief)

Edit Celesial/Divinity is awesome, stick with it.
For Damage use Scholar, nothing beats these.
If you are undecided on a spec Divinity is always a decent choice.

If you are doing open world PvE you can skip all defense once you know how to dodge.

Now if by open world PvE you mean WvW then I would say Celestial is one of the better runes since you get more stats from it than other runes.

I would point you to https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Building-a-better-D-D-thief/first this has all the math for a balanced thief for WvW. A hybrid of offense and defense all mathed out to perfection.

I have recently started using Travelers runes in WvW to afford myself an extra utility slot (the 6th set bonus is the same effect as the passive on Signet of Shadows) I don’t always maintain swiftness and this little rune helps me get around the map faster for doing havoc.

what kind of stats do you get with celestial/divinity?

All.. For PvE celestial is trash.. Pls don’t use it. Berserker is your first choice there, everything else isn’t good

@ Excalibur.9748
Superior Rune of Divinity +60 to All Stats; +12% Critical Damage

@Anubarak.3012 you seem to be confused with the question about runes. Beserker is not a rune. You may mean Ruby Orbs. The ones when applied to armor attach the suffix “of the beserker”, even then it’s weaker than Scholar runes for damage.

My understanding thus far…

Focused builds in which everything builds to one aspect are far superior both in traits and gear.
So ALL Berserker is far superior for direct damage.
Berserker is a prefix (inscription) and a suffix (orb – upgrade slot) – rt?
I’m not sure on the Berserker vs Scholar – I think it’s a running debate but most prefer Zerk? Tho ppl argue strongly for scholar too.^^

But…
We all don’t function at that skill level & don’t like dying.
I know how to evade, but make mistakes I also find I can’t always evade out of aoe, etc…
Also I may change my build up and want to switch around (ie apply conditions) so seems like Celestial is a great way to go for me.

GO SPEARMEN!

OIIIIIO.7825:

@ Excalibur.9748
Superior Rune of Divinity +60 to All Stats; +12% Critical Damage

@Anubarak.3012 you seem to be confused with the question about runes. Beserker is not a rune. You may mean Ruby Orbs. The ones when applied to armor attach the suffix “of the beserker”, even then it’s weaker than Scholar runes for damage.

you seem to be confused, he said celestial is trash for pve and he should use berserker armor preferably with scholar runes but ruby orbs work well enough if your cheap

if you’re running DPS build, youre fine with ruby orbs or scholar, ogre or centaur. i tried all of em but since i love using “Withdraw” healing skill i prefer centaur rune for perma swiftness and attack power for my D/P thief in WvW

@ Clumsy.6257
Yeah, stayed up moving and got 3 hours of sleep T_T I thought he was referring to the stat distribution on Divinity by calling them Celestial/Divinity. I now see he was talking about Celestial Armor and Divinity Rune on top of it.

@ OP Beserker Armor is the End All Be All for thief, however if you have trouble with surviving you can replace certain pieces with PVT (starting with Legs, Chest, & Helm since you lose the least amount of offensive stats on these) until you learn the encounters well enough to use all beserker armor.

TL:DR
Damage Focus
Armor BIS =Beserker
Runes BIS=Scholar (there are other high damage runes, but scholar is highest damage)

Divinity runes are good if you dont need utility from runes as they give the most useful stats compared to any other rune set (+40 useful stats and 2% Crit damage each.)

Celestial gear however is just terrible. You should never use it, ever, for anything, not even a single piece, ever, for anything ever, never. Unless they increase the stats it offers.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Celestial-Armor/first#post2424729

wish.1027:

Divinity runes are good if you dont need utility from runes as they give the most useful stats compared to any other rune set (+40 useful stats and 2% Crit damage each.)

Celestial gear however is just terrible. You should never use it, ever, for anything, not even a single piece, ever, for anything ever, never. Unless they increase the stats it offers.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Celestial-Armor/first#post2424729

divinity runes are bad, sure 12% crit damage, 60 pow/prec might seem good but compared to ruby orbs with 12% crit damage, 120 pow, 84 prec theyre much worse and a lot more expensive

Clumsy.6257:

wish.1027:

Divinity runes are good if you dont need utility from runes as they give the most useful stats compared to any other rune set (+40 useful stats and 2% Crit damage each.)

Celestial gear however is just terrible. You should never use it, ever, for anything, not even a single piece, ever, for anything ever, never. Unless they increase the stats it offers.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Celestial-Armor/first#post2424729

divinity runes are bad, sure 12% crit damage, 60 pow/prec might seem good but compared to ruby orbs with 12% crit damage, 120 pow, 84 prec theyre much worse and a lot more expensive

Ruby orbs offer 35 stats (20 power 15 precision) and 2 crit damage.
Divinity runes offer 40 useful stats (10 power, precision, toughness, vitality) and 2 crit damage

Ruby orbs can never win in a comparison if you have any defensive stats anywhere, since Divinity offer more stats, and Ruby orbs are garbage compared to Scholar runes so… ya.

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

wish.1027:

Divinity runes are good if you dont need utility from runes as they give the most useful stats compared to any other rune set (+40 useful stats and 2% Crit damage each.)

Celestial gear however is just terrible. You should never use it, ever, for anything, not even a single piece, ever, for anything ever, never. Unless they increase the stats it offers.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Celestial-Armor/first#post2424729

divinity runes are bad, sure 12% crit damage, 60 pow/prec might seem good but compared to ruby orbs with 12% crit damage, 120 pow, 84 prec theyre much worse and a lot more expensive

Ruby orbs offer 35 stats (20 power 15 precision) and 2 crit damage.
Divinity runes offer 40 useful stats (10 power, precision, toughness, vitality) and 2 crit damage

Ruby orbs can never win in a comparison if you have any defensive stats anywhere, since Divinity offer more stats, and Ruby orbs are garbage compared to Scholar runes so… ya.

your assuming 40 stats = 40 useful stats when in reality only pow/prec matter so it becomes 20 stats to 34 stats making ruby orbs superior in every way to divinity runes, and yes ruby orbs are worse than scholar runes but they’re also 1/60 the price

Clumsy.6257:

only pow/prec matter

I had a good laugh.
Thanks for that.

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

only pow/prec matter

I had a good laugh.
Thanks for that.

oh sorry, pow, prec, crit damage

Wow I was almost more confused but now it’s clear…

I got the answer I was looking for – NOT the answer I was looking for – the Celestial armor is junk.

So Berserker/Scholar it is … with some PVT thrown in on chest, legs, helm until I feel comfortable full on.

Guess I’ll sell my Divinity’s & gear up!

@Wish you still post in PvE topics without any experience…..
Pls go back to WvW

@OIIIIIO.7825 I know that problem

Anubarak.3012:

@Wish you still post in PvE topics without any experience…..
Pls go back to WvW

I dont even play this game, but that doesnt mean my proving 3 is a bigger number than 2 is wrong.

Why does PvE even matter you can basicly run everything in PvE probably even naked and finish the content while reading a book… well maybe except teq…

wish.1027:

Anubarak.3012:

@Wish you still post in PvE topics without any experience…..
Pls go back to WvW

I dont even play this game, but that doesnt mean my proving 3 is a bigger number than 2 is wrong.

except 3 being larger than 2 is common knowledge, just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve so saying that vit/tough matter in pve would be like saying 2 is larger than 3…

Sizzle Hint.1820:

Why does PvE even matter you can basicly run everything in PvE probably even naked and finish the content while reading a book… well maybe except teq…

why do people care about pvp? i sure dont

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?
As I said earlier… If you never get hit Scholar runes are vastly superior… and if you do get hit well, ya, youre gonna have some defensive stats and Divinity runes 4tw.

And if you even come back as a PVE carebear and say Scholar is expensive, Im going to mock you forever.

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?

What? I really dont understand what do you want to say oO?
Ruby Orbs = pow/prec/crit% but you cant know that if you dont even play gw2

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?
As I said earlier… If you never get hit Scholar runes are vastly superior… and if you do get hit well, ya, youre gonna have some defensive stats and Divinity runes 4tw.

And if you even come back as a PVE carebear and say Scholar is expensive, Im going to mock you forever.

im advocating ruby orbs because theyre dirt cheap and the best stat combination next to scholars and when your like me and have over 40 sets of armor between all your characters putting 15g of runes on every set is ridiculous

Anubarak.3012:

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?

What? I really dont understand what do you want to say oO?
Ruby Orbs = pow/prec/crit% but you cant know that if you dont even play gw2

Maybe you should of read everything I posted instead of just the first sentence if you wanted to understand what I am saying…

Clumsy.6257:

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?
As I said earlier… If you never get hit Scholar runes are vastly superior… and if you do get hit well, ya, youre gonna have some defensive stats and Divinity runes 4tw.

And if you even come back as a PVE carebear and say Scholar is expensive, Im going to mock you forever.

im advocating ruby orbs because theyre dirt cheap and the best stat combination next to scholars and when your like me and have over 40 sets of armor between all your characters putting 15g of runes on every set is ridiculous

Why would you have 40 sets of armor and use them all only for Direct Physical damage?

Maybe you should take a page from what I do, and learn the math behind the game, then build the optimal set of gear for each circumstance and not have ineffective useless sets of armor. Unless youre saying you have 40 characters, which I dont believe for a second. My way only requires 3 sets of berserker/soldier armor and 9 scholar runes and 9 divinity runes… And I know my sets are the most effective possible too, and I can prove it with math.

Divinity runes: Complete soldier set, berserker gloves, shoes, shoulders.
Scholar runes: Complete berserker set, soldiers body, legs, hat.

Mix and match complete rune sets for purposes as needed.

Celestial gear is highly underrated. I run celestial in PvP (and also WvW) and kick kitten . You can run this gear with thief and still DPS higher than most other character classes. I know there are hundreds of thief players who post in these forums who have never died and will never die, they have invincible characters and always win in every fight; but for those of us who play in “reality”, survivability is an actual issue for thief, if you go glass cannon you die so easy, especially in PvE where so many things can instagib you if you don’t get your hp up, and mobs will have channeled skills that hit you while you are in stealth, some bosses can see you through your stealth, etc.

wish.1027:

Anubarak.3012:

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?

What? I really dont understand what do you want to say oO?
Ruby Orbs = pow/prec/crit% but you cant know that if you dont even play gw2

Maybe you should of read everything I posted instead of just the first sentence if you wanted to understand what I am saying…

Clumsy.6257:

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?
As I said earlier… If you never get hit Scholar runes are vastly superior… and if you do get hit well, ya, youre gonna have some defensive stats and Divinity runes 4tw.

And if you even come back as a PVE carebear and say Scholar is expensive, Im going to mock you forever.

im advocating ruby orbs because theyre dirt cheap and the best stat combination next to scholars and when your like me and have over 40 sets of armor between all your characters putting 15g of runes on every set is ridiculous

Why would you have 40 sets of armor and use them all only for Direct Physical damage?

Maybe you should take a page from what I do, and learn the math behind the game, then build the optimal set of gear for each circumstance and not have ineffective useless sets of armor. Unless youre saying you have 40 characters, which I dont believe for a second. My way only requires 3 sets of berserker/soldier armor and 9 scholar runes and 9 divinity runes… And I know my sets are the most effective possible too, and I can prove it with math.

Divinity runes: Complete soldier set, berserker gloves, shoes, shoulders.
Scholar runes: Complete berserker set, soldiers body, legs, hat.

Mix and match complete rune sets for purposes as needed.

no I have 7 80s currently but have leveled 12 to 80

and@incandescence … you could achieve much higher damage and better survivability with valkyrie or possibly soldiers

Traveler runes, since you get a 3rd utility slot. .-.

incandescence.6784:

Celestial gear is highly underrated.

Celestial gear is overrated and very bad.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Celestial-Armor/first#post2424729

Clumsy.6257:

I have 7 80s currently but have leveled 12 to 80

So wait, why do you need 5-6 full sets of berserker gear with ruby orbs per character exactly? You could probably salvage 4-5 of them and be able to afford a scholar rune set for the remaining set…

Doggie.3184:

Traveler runes, since you get a 3rd utility slot. .-.

Traveler runes are indeed super awesome, but we’re talking about runes that don’t give utility, so those are not included in the discussion since +25% movement speed is utility.

Clumsy.6257:

wish.1027:

Anubarak.3012:

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?

What? I really dont understand what do you want to say oO?
Ruby Orbs = pow/prec/crit% but you cant know that if you dont even play gw2

Maybe you should of read everything I posted instead of just the first sentence if you wanted to understand what I am saying…

Clumsy.6257:

wish.1027:

Clumsy.6257:

just like its common knowledge that pow/prec/crit % are the only stats that matter in pve

Then why are you advocating kitten ruby orbs?
As I said earlier… If you never get hit Scholar runes are vastly superior… and if you do get hit well, ya, youre gonna have some defensive stats and Divinity runes 4tw.

And if you even come back as a PVE carebear and say Scholar is expensive, Im going to mock you forever.

im advocating ruby orbs because theyre dirt cheap and the best stat combination next to scholars and when your like me and have over 40 sets of armor between all your characters putting 15g of runes on every set is ridiculous

Why would you have 40 sets of armor and use them all only for Direct Physical damage?

Maybe you should take a page from what I do, and learn the math behind the game, then build the optimal set of gear for each circumstance and not have ineffective useless sets of armor. Unless youre saying you have 40 characters, which I dont believe for a second. My way only requires 3 sets of berserker/soldier armor and 9 scholar runes and 9 divinity runes… And I know my sets are the most effective possible too, and I can prove it with math.

Divinity runes: Complete soldier set, berserker gloves, shoes, shoulders.
Scholar runes: Complete berserker set, soldiers body, legs, hat.

Mix and match complete rune sets for purposes as needed.

no I have 7 80s currently but have leveled 12 to 80

and@incandescence … you could achieve much higher damage and better survivability with valkyrie or possibly soldiers

I played with different options (like Soldier’s and Zerger) in sPvP, which I think is the most accurate way to judge; and I kick a lot more butt with celestial. Just saying. For those that think it is crap, play with it in sPvP and actually see for yourself before making a conclusion based on judgment from theory. Almost everyone that says celestial is crap has not actually run with it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlUmCNHdS+E/JFxWBgy9wpJtpeKI7Y7KEVA-jUDBIgREJEgqAg+AiKAM5TQMFSZtMsIasKZQqaBVXDT5CR7CWKAImGB-w

Celestial gear can be pretty good though. (WvW solo/smallscale)