Guild Wars 2

So after some debating and the making and deleting of multiple alts, I have decided to start working on a thief. My main is a multi-use WvW guardian that fits most aspects of WvW (roaming, small groups, and zergs) as was looking to make a ranged character that can also fit the same type of role. Ranger was my first choice, but the fact of how broken pets are, and how much of a ranger’s damage they actually are pushed me away from that. Warriors became my second choice, but I already had a heavy class, and it just did not feel right. Finally I remembered that thief had a short bow aoe option, along with dual pistols for good single target damage, so decided to start working on one.

However, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping me regarding a build. I am looking for something not too squishy, and that can most likely kite fairly decently, but not get wrecked the second an enemy gets into melee. I also want to avoid stealth heavy builds, as I am personally not a fan of the mechanic, and also like to go against the norm and look for new build possibilities.

So far, this is what I have come up with.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|5.1p.h17|a.1p.h17.a.1p.h2|1n.7r.1c.7r.1n.7r.1c.7r.1n.7r.1c.7r|1i.61.1n.61.1n.61.1i.61.1i.61.1c.61|5.u59b.0.k29.f3|15.1|59.5e.5g.5b.5w|e

The numbers seem fairly comparable with what I was looking for, and have filled in the lack of condition removal with straight forward condition reduction. However the thing I notice I lack is a steady heal outside of my normal healing skill. Now, I am not sure on how effective signet of malice really is, or if there are certain things that might be a good idea to tweak here and there to get me to a decently sustainable level. Which is why I came here. So would anyone be willing to look it over and give me some tips to a class that is fairly new to me? (well outside of fighting)

If you’re a guardian and you’re used to kiting and being somewhat bunker/tanky w/ other options to healing, I think you’re best option is to actually go to the mesmer part. thieves that are successuful in kiting also are heavily traited into stealthing, and that’s not something you want (as you stated). Therefore, I honestly recommend you to go to the mesmer section.

I would recommend also looking into engineer I’d you want a strong mid to long range fighter. In my experience, they bring a little more utility and access to good boons which you will miss on your thief if you aren’t taking advantage of stealth, especially coming from a guardian.

Back to the original question the only thing that’s odd to me is the 5 points in DA as opposed to putting it in acro to bring it up to 25. As a thief, you end up dodging a fair amount and that 10% uptick in damage seems more useful than 50 power the minor ability.

Necromancers and Engineers, with some degree the Mesmer, seem to fit the style you are looking for the best. Regardless of build, a thief will always be squishy with absolutely poor ranged skills. The builds that are actually a lot of fun and a lot less stealth dependent are the sword/dagger acrobatic builds, but regardless of their movement and evasion, they still require stealth and will drop like flies if caught. I’d prefer for viable builds to be around, non dependent on stealth, but for now that is still a dream that can only be implemented by new balance changes.

Maugetarr.6823:

I would recommend also looking into engineer I’d you want a strong mid to long range fighter. In my experience, they bring a little more utility and access to good boons which you will miss on your thief if you aren’t taking advantage of stealth, especially coming from a guardian.

Back to the original question the only thing that’s odd to me is the 5 points in DA as opposed to putting it in acro to bring it up to 25. As a thief, you end up dodging a fair amount and that 10% uptick in damage seems more useful than 50 power the minor ability.

Well, keep in mind I do NOT run a bunker guardian in the least bit. And for the most part I have played fairly boonless builds. So missing out on boons is not a concern for me at all. As far as the traits go, I just had not looked at that minor for some reason, and was thinking along the lines of kiting with shortbow, then switching to p/p when the enemy hit 50% health, stealing to get a good poison on them, then unloading with well… unload, to burst them down.

Deathspike.1870:

Necromancers and Engineers, with some degree the Mesmer, seem to fit the style you are looking for the best. Regardless of build, a thief will always be squishy with absolutely poor ranged skills. The builds that are actually a lot of fun and a lot less stealth dependent are the sword/dagger acrobatic builds, but regardless of their movement and evasion, they still require stealth and will drop like flies if caught. I’d prefer for viable builds to be around, non dependent on stealth, but for now that is still a dream that can only be implemented by new balance changes.

I could never really get into engineers for some reason, part of it I think being their traits (essentially my biggest issue with rangers too) and them just not feeling right as matching my play style. I really wanted to get into necros at one point as well, but their weapons are kinda meh in my opinion. I like power builds, and the only two power options they have have pretty much no AoE. (dagger has none, axe has a single one)

However, Even with decent armor/health is the thief really that squishy without stealth? I know Guardian has alot of self healing to make up for their lack of health pool, and thieves get stealth, but is there really no way to circumvent it?

No, thieves do not have to be that squishy without stealth. The people that say they do tend to also be the people that run 25/30/0/0/15 in tPvP with full zerker. I, for one, specialize in what people might call more “defensive” builds, even though that isn’t quite accurate as a descriptor.

Thieves basically have two ways to survive: evasion and stealth. D/P relies on stealth for damage/survivability, and S/D relies on being incredibly mobile and evasive to stay alive. D/P and S/D are our best two weapon sets along with Shortbow.

However, D/P still relies somewhat on evasion and S/D uses a very small amount of stealth. It’s just part and parcel of the Thief.
Thieves are squishy. There is just about no way to get around that. What Thieves are is the slipperiest class in the game, bar none. If you don’t want to die, you won’t, unless you get heavily CCed.

Playing a Thief is much different than any other class. I’ve played them all (except Necro) and Thief, once you get used to it, is the most fun and most challenging because if you get caught you are dead.

Here’s a S/D build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAsYVlYmCO3eS6E/5Ex2jeKUe6VgsdP4a8rKA-TsAg0CoIqRVjrGTNyas1M+Y9xECA
Feel free to change it up a little but that’s the basics of the build.
I can’t help you with D/P as I’m not familiar enough with it to offer the best build.

Good luck!

Arganthium.5638:

No, thieves do not have to be that squishy without stealth. The people that say they do tend to also be the people that run 25/30/0/0/15 in tPvP with full zerker. I, for one, specialize in what people might call more “defensive” builds, even though that isn’t quite accurate as a descriptor.

What would you suggest then? As I said I am looking for a more ranged option with some survivability, but something that can work in most walks of WvW life. P/P for single target burst with shortbow for aoe/kiting are pretty much set for me at the moment. And I am looking for something to go along with that.