Guild Wars 2

After leveling my guardian to level 80 (craft leveling cough) I came to the conclusion that its playstyle really wasn’t for me and I couldn’t figure out WTF I’m trying to accomplish as a guardian.

I’m not a big fan of spellcasting clases. Instead I prefer more simple, direct, up-front roles such as Warrior who is able to deal straight out DPS and CC while having access to simple party support (press #5 to vigor allies and weaken foes, or #7 to For Great Healing my party.)

My current max characters besides Guardian are my Warrior, Engineer, and Ranger. However, I’m looking for something a little more useful for Fractals besides Warrior.

I’ve tried out Shortbow and I am absolutely in love with it. The thief will not replace my Engineer for farming, but the shortbow has definitely proven itself to be a super weapon.

However, I’m concerned we are locked into Sword/Dagger for melee because dagger can only strike one foe, whereas Sword can strike more than one at a time. Is this ever a problem for Thiefs? If so, Sword/Dagger versus Sword/Pistol?

And is there ever a reason to NOT use an Off-Hand? There seems to be exclusive skills for when not using an off-hand. Were they added just for the sake of, or do they have a purpose?

I also hear Thiefs are not only great for stealthing the team in speedruns, but also spread weakness, blind, and other supportive abilities. Could someone please elaborate on these options to support my team as a Thief?

And Pistols. Are they really as bad as everyone says they are? Especially Unload? I hear it’s better to use Shortbow than Pistols for single-target damage?

My general playstyle is to run very high critical percentage. On my Ranger I made a hybrid of Berserker jewelry+Knight armor. But would such a set be too “squishy” on a Thief even though my taste is a burst-damage role?

So.. Is Thief a class for a Warrior-loving, Guardian-hating, high damage player like myself?

When talking about squishiness, it’s inevitable as a Thief. You simply cannot build one to the point where you can be up front, taking the brunt of the damage. You MUST learn how to dodge and mitigate damage through blinds/weakness/stealth. Don’t go full glass cannon if you can help it, though. I have around 1.6k Toughness and 14k HP and it’s a sweet spot for me, considering my high DPS while being able to get out of dodge when things go upside down.

In terms of support, yes, they have a lot of options, most of them indirect (rather than direct eg. boons/heals). You can spec in to Shadow Arts and give allies regeneration when you stealth them with Blinding Powder etc., but that’s not too great. Indirectly, you can just keep landing blinds in combat with S/P or S/D cloak and dagger with Shadow Arts blind traits, and spam Shortbow skill #4 and skill #2 for Area Weakness to keep your team alive in big packs. Smoke Screen and Shadow Refuge are the best support skills in existence.

Also, the “light” skills (no off-hand) don’t actually exist.

If all you’re looking for a good mix of damage, support and control, Warrior is a much better balance than a Thief, and has a lot more survivability while maintaining good damage. Thieves are more towards damage and indirect support.

Assuming a thief is able to dodge (especially after so much practice as melee warrior), then is Berserker+Knight hybrid acceptable?

And because Thiefs rely on blind to help them stay alive, how do they combat bosses?

Somewhat related, but which race provides the best racial skills for them in PvE? I was considering Asura but not sure…

Anything is acceptable, really. It just depends on your confidence to be able to avoid taking hits. Just be aware that a Thief without damage, condi or direct, is pretty much a redundant Thief, so don’t overdo your Toughness/Vit.

With bosses, quite simply, dodge. I use S/D almost exclusively and stay at melee and just use Flanking Strike all the time, and then when backing out in to range, I use Smoke Screen and shoot through it. You can also use S/P and facetank with lifeleech foods, or spam Headshot to get rid of defiant stacks.

In terms of racials, I have no idea. Thief skills alone are useful enough, really.

Depends really on what you plan on doing with your thief. I’d say that despite having some support abilities (smoke field/black powder can be really good) it’s the class with the least group support in dungeons. If you decide to be brave and not follow the cookie cutter BS build but still want d/d and some AoE options I can strongly recommend going with a condition build. The poblem there though is that since you can max out bleed stacks pretty much on your own, the damage will take a hit if there are any other condition builds in the group. Generally, I usually prefer to bring another class to dungeons over my thief but the thief offers it’s own interesting playstyle as well.