Guild Wars 2

Ok so I’ve hit 80. I near enough 100% do WvW content however will attempt some PvE fractals possibly.

I’m totally stuck with what builds to take.

My main priority will be flipping camps (if possible) and taking dolyaks out. Which obviously means lots of mobility and being able to get round places quickly whilst having good damage output and survivability for the camps.

Any help or links would be greatly appreciated!

If your main priority is the PvE side of WvW, you probably want to focus damage and steatlth mostly. Dagger and shortbow help mobility and i’d suggest runes of the traveller to get the 25% runspeed without using a slot skill so you can have more tricks.

Sorry i’m not much help, but if you aren’t worried about enemy players other than escaping when you need to, i think this will work fine.

Ok, any particular build that I should be following? Traveller runes isn’t a bad idea, I hasn’t thought about rune sets. In terms of gear. Would I go full zerk or mix in PVT?

I have tried many different builds in WvW, and this 0/30/30/10/0 version is the best compromise I have found:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlUmiO3eS+E+5Ex2jeuTiy9wpJtpdFwKA-jEDBYfBCbBkoAksAiIAI9pIaslhFRjVXDTVSpW5KQmzCaeDK1SBonwI-w

Key features:

- Overland Speed. Runes of the Traveler help, and (untargetted) Heartseeker spam will let you cover enormous amounts of ground quickly

- Plenty of burst damage — this is a backstab build

- Some survivability due to Valkyrie armor. You lose precision, compared to ’zerk, but Hidden Killer mitigates the loss

- All kinds of escape tools in the utilities

- 30 SA is the thief’s best friend in battlegrounds, providing condition clear, AoE blind and a heal every time you hide

- Shortbow offhand is close to a requirement, as this is what makes you useful in medium to large groups. Spam #2 blasts into water fields or fire fields or any other kind of field, and you are a healing-buffing machine. It also lets you tag the other zerg

- Your gear will translate reasonably well to PvE, if you decide to do dungeons. You’ll probably drop the 30 SA for fractals, going 25 into DA and upping the Acrobatics investment to 15. Your runes are not ideal for PvE, but they’re still pretty good

Condition builds also work well for what you want to do in WvW, and they’re easier to play than the power/ precision D/D build I linked above. Sadly, condition builds translate poorly to organized PvE of any sort. You’d need an entirely different set of gear for fractals (and with Ascended out now, that’s a prohibitive barrier)/

To get some examples of how these builds work and play, google up Yishis and Mugi for D/D videos, and take a look at Laela Blackbird for a good P/D condition build. They’re easy to find on Youtube.

Welcome to 80. Thieves are fun

Allow me to hi-jack the thread a bit…

I recently hit 80 as thief and is currently near getting my exotic set.

I am wondering whether I should buy the exotic like “nikka’s ______” etc or I should use my badge of honor and get it from WvW badge trader?

Personally I would like to save however much gold I can, so currently I am leaning toward using up 950 badges for that set… I fear that I might not know how much badge of honor are needed for other things.

Also… valkyrie or berserker? Which should be my first full set? I mostly do boss events and WvW. Haven’t run a single dungeon yet, might try one of these days.

currently using
rare armor
rare trinket/ring/etc
exotic SB
rare pistol
green daggers and sword…

Valkyrie vs Berserker vs a mix of the two is a long-running debate with no definitive answer. Factors to consider:

- The more you lean toward fractals, the more you’ll want pure zerker

- The more you learn toward WvW, the more you need some survivability

- Valkyrie trades Precision for Vitality, retaining Power and Crit Damage. If you’re running D/D Hidden Killer, that makes up for a lot of lost precision

Running Valk armor and Zerk accessories/ weapons is a fairly popular choice for a WvW-focused dagger thief. You can’t really go wrong with it. You can add push that mix in either direction, to suit your own taste. Another approach is to mix Zerker and Soldier gear. If you choose to do that, make sure you read and understand what Loperdos posted here:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/84827-thief-armor-berzerker-knights-valkyrie-mix/#entry2226597

For runes, max DPS is Scholar Runes. There are other good choices for deeps, but Scholar is proven the best. Many folks use Traveler instead, as they’re still fairly good for DPS and save you a utility slot. Runes of Speed also work, and are much cheaper.

As to the source of your gear, it doesn’t matter. I crafted all mine (and Valk exotic has to be crafted, I think). You can grab stuff from Temples, the WvW vendor or the Tradepost as you like — there are no set bonuses for armor pieces. It’s down to what mix of stats you want and what skins you prefer.

If you have been playing a while, you may have a decent stash of laurels. Take a look at the laurel vendor in your home server borderlands. For rings/ amulet, you may be able to skip exotic in some slots and go right to ascended. Similarly, if you have built up some guild commendations, you may be able to grab ascended accessories sooner than most.

As a start get PVT armor from wvw for badges, buy damage jewellery of the TP berzerker and Assassin, get the PVT back slot item form the temple of Grenth in orr (42k karma).
zerker or valkyrie weapons.

You will need the PVT gear for wvw you will face players with full ascended sets soon, trust me YOU WILL NEED the vitality and touhgness.

Unfortunately, damage and survivability (health, mobility, utility, etc.) must be interchangeably sacrificed/balanced to reach one’s own “happy place”. If you adopt what another suggests, then you’ll have a poorer understanding of why X was chosen over Y, and how they’re all tied-together for a particular play-style.

Condition or Power/Crit? Glass, Bunker, or “Balanced”? Weapon-sets? Runes, Sigils, Traits, and Consumables all “play differently” on any of those questions. With enough experimenting, you might find something that’s “perfect” for you.

Thanks a bunch Oghier, that was a perfect thing to read. I have around 2k badges I can use to gear him up so I can’t wait to try it out.

Thanks to everyone for the help!