Guild Wars 2

I just hit level 50 and am enjoying the thief playstyle more and more, but I have a few questions to help better understand the class as I continue my journey towards becoming a master thief.

I currently main D/D as I feel it tears through anything and can handle multiple mobs with caltrops and deathblossom without even paying attention condition damage. It is also the most fun for me because sword just feels too slow, pistol whip feels kindof weak, and other weapons objectively kill too slow for my tastes.

My current issue is for some reason I feel like I am not getting the most out of my traits. The only trait I enjoy is Uncatchable, it’s just so useful and I use it offensively even more than defensively. We’re talking about PvE leveling here, so typically offense is king. I’ve always heard that when traiting, don’t pay attention to the stat increases and just go for the actual traits that you want. Trouble is, there are no traits on the thief that I actually want! I also have a Warrior and an Ele, and some of the warrior traits are just unreal (like I can’t believe I get a stack of might every time I crit with a greatsword, plus -20% cooldown! Crazy trait!). The only thing that looks good on paper is Assassins Reward from the Acrobatics line, but that’s a defensive trait and I don’t really feel like I need it for leveling.

The TL;DR questions I am getting to are: Should I just trait for stats and take arbitrary traits in strength or arms? Is power or precision better for PvE leveling? And are there any traits available to me that perhaps I am missing the synergy and true meaning behind that would help me get the most out of my thief?

If you are of mind offense is king, just throw 10 in deadly arts for mug, and the remaining in crit line. The stats and traits go well with d/d.

Maybe try the +7 crit from side/back, fury @ 50%targethp, or whatever.

Pow/precision. At 50, if you arent feelibg too squishy, there is +pow/pre gear. Until you need defense, avoid it

If you still want to go the D/D route (by far the most effective no matter the level imo) then go for 10 DA for Mug, 20 Acro for initiative every 10 seconds and might on dodge and 20 Trickery for Uncatchable and Trickster for the reduced caltrops cooldown. The reason you want might stacks is that they increase your condition damage.

Everything after that is up to you, but those traits will enhance your build dramatically, assuming that you have the right rotation down so that you get off a maximum amount of DB’s.

Pay attention to your traits like the one that increase damage with a pistol in your set by 10% and all the increase in damage you can get by speccing right. You’ll see that Pistol Whip deals a LOT of damage and it´s aoe ! And you got blackpowder for dungeons or tough situations.
Plus combine it with Assassin Reward, Signet of Malice ( healing skill) and you got a crazy health regen, more with haste ( even post-nerf), this passive heals and the evade are just awesome !! Give it a try

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoYlcmKP3cS4E+5Ey2jK0n4JPFf1Y1p4q0KA

I find that , that my personal build for leveling is quite useful (although i used it while doing map completition, still i think it ll be usefull for PvE leveling)

The main idea is to survive while you tank many mobs with healing while you re attacking. You must never hit your Signet of Malice hotkey, you must spam Death Blossom as much as you can because you will heal a very descent hp, if you run out of initiative, dodge all the way, if your endurance is empty, hit Signet of Agility and Steal for Vigor from Bountiful Theft ( Trickery VII ) , when you feel in a deep danger, hit your Dagger Storm and kite your mobs , the more mob you engage, the more hp you recover, in my experience, Dagger Storm will heal you until full health lol.

Hope it helps, critiques and thoghts are very welcome

Thanks for the tips guys, I’ve got a few things to try out now. 20 in Acro sounds decent for the extra 2 init/10 seconds, and if I am in a particularly difficult area I can swap it out for Assassin’s Reward on the fly. Great advice.

Also, i was unaware that Pistol Whip counted as a pistol ability that get’s +10% damage across the board. I was unclear what category it fit in since it was a dual skill and all the chopping is done with a sword. If that is true I will consider it because I’d love to make S/P as my alternate set feel worth it. Currently pistol whip gets me hurt too bad because it interrupts mobs the drops the evade right as they are ready to attack so everything on it hinders me more than helps. Will still play with it tho.