Guild Wars 2

How hard/punishing is it to solo level Thief in PVE?

When I leveled my engineer (second character) I never used anything but pistol pistol (no turrets, no grenades, no nothing). I soloed one of the chrystals at jormag with my pistol/pistol and that back when pve was a bit harder – but granted I had access to all traits.
Pve is that easy that you don’t have to worry about anything on no class. Unless you want to start to do dungeons at level 30 – I wouldn’t recommend that actually.
Other than that if you want to learn how to play thief watch a few youtube videos. That was what I did when I wanted to know more about stealth.

I found pistol/dagger thief with short bow very easy.

Most fights auto attack chain, black powder, auto attack chain, hit 2, your in stealth for backstabs then repeat. I found this to be a fun combo to do that is simple. Skip the first auto attack chain and drop a black powder first if needed. Your 3 skill works great for mobility and 1v1 fights. Around level 40 or 50 zones though trash mobs with knock downs get a little tough though if not blinded at the right moment. Overall though thief was easy to level. Easier then ele or engi for sure.

Sylent.3165:

I found pistol/dagger thief with short bow very easy.

Most fights auto attack chain, black powder, auto attack chain, hit 2, your in stealth for backstabs then repeat. I found this to be a fun combo to do that is simple. Skip the first auto attack chain and drop a black powder first if needed. Your 3 skill works great for mobility and 1v1 fights. Around level 40 or 50 zones though trash mobs with knock downs get a little tough though if not blinded at the right moment. Overall though thief was easy to level. Easier then ele or engi for sure.

That would be D/P thief actually – P/D has got a different mechanic.

Hello,

I’m leveling up a Thief now, using D/P + SB, but I’m wondering what trait-build I should aim for now I have passed lvl30.

Something like a regular 66002?

If you are used to playing something like a Warrior and just tanking through every hit, i suppose the answer to your question would be yes. As a Thief, you need to utilize dodges in order to negate a good chunk of damage. Luckily thieves have access to a ton of evasion and a lot of good traits to help you out.

If you’re looking for a good leveling build:

I used this build for my first 50 levels or so. Basically you use D/D with an offhand SB, gather a few enemies, use Caltrops, and spam Death Blossom while dodging around to drop more caltrops (from the Trickery III trait).

The best part about it is while you’re doing your spamming you are dodging all attacks.

Thank you for the information, gonna try it out