I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.
people are complaining about Pistol Whip in pvp? Are you kidding me? How hard is it to dodge roll someone who has to stand still for a whole second. Infact the stun is so short, you start attacking as it finishes. Oh and if people are complaining about quickness/haste, you should tell them it’s side effects and if they still think it’s OP, just put them on your ignore list.
I won’t even get into how bad HS spam is or how easy it is to counter, if you can’t counter HS spam you were destined to lose anyway.
Tl;dr who cares what they say, they are just looking for excuses to be bad.
I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.
Have you tried a D/D build that is based more upon backstab and stealth? The basics are 30/30 in Critical Strikes and Shadow Arts and potentially 10 in Trickery. Make sure to pick up the +stealth when stealing, +2 init when stealthing, and 100% crit chance when stealthed. You’ll end up getting guaranteed backstab crits and you’ll have plenty of initiative left to finish your opponents off with HS when they are low.
I’ll see if I can build it in one of the online generators, but I can’t find one that is completely up to date. The wiki has Hidden Killer at 100% critical chance when stealthed, but others have it at 50%. I believe it is 100% in game.
I agree. It is very easy to counter. However, It’s less about people complaining and name-calling and more about me wanting to try builds with a higher skill cap to become a better player. I’m not going to get anywhere as a thief if I keep spamming heartseeker or pistol whip with haste activated. At first it was like: “Big numbers! Awesome!”, but now it’s getting to the point where I’m getting bored. I need something more.
I agree. It is very easy to counter. However, It’s less about people complaining and name-calling and more about me wanting to try builds with a higher skill cap to become a better player. I’m not going to get anywhere as a thief if I keep spamming heartseeker or pistol whip with haste activated. At first it was like: “Big numbers! Awesome!”, but now it’s getting to the point where I’m getting bored. I need something more.
I recommend the Short Bow then, it’s legitimately overpowered when used properly, really hard to maximize your damage and utility with it, but like i said, overpowered when you do.
I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.
Have you tried a D/D build that is based more upon backstab and stealth? The basics are 30/30 in Critical Strikes and Shadow Arts and potentially 10 in Trickery. Make sure to pick up the +stealth when stealing, +2 init when stealthing, and 100% crit chance when stealthed. You’ll end up getting guaranteed backstab crits and you’ll have plenty of initiative left to finish your opponents off with HS when they are low.
I’ll see if I can build it in one of the online generators, but I can’t find one that is completely up to date. The wiki has Hidden Killer at 100% critical chance when stealthed, but others have it at 50%. I believe it is 100% in game.
I’ve really wanted to try a Thief build that is centered around stealth. I actually made one myself when I first tried a thief and it ended in disaster. If you made a solid build like that I would love to see it.
30 crit strikes, 30 shadow arts with soldier amulet / zerker jewel is the most well rounded thief build I’ve tried.
Lots of condi removal and self healing with massive escape potential, the damage is constant and impressive from repeated backstabs even if you don’t go for the glassy 10k crit stuff; much more reliable.
If you’re into that then I suggest the Sword / Dagger daze spamming build as well, it’s similar but you get in your damage from the sword auto attacks. I run it with Haste and Signet of Agility so it’s kinda of half way between Pistol Whip and Back Stab.
It’s a lower output build but you can run it with zerkers to compensate and with Runes of the Mesmer and traited to blind on stealth, your target will never be able to strike back.
I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.
Have you tried a D/D build that is based more upon backstab and stealth? The basics are 30/30 in Critical Strikes and Shadow Arts and potentially 10 in Trickery. Make sure to pick up the +stealth when stealing, +2 init when stealthing, and 100% crit chance when stealthed. You’ll end up getting guaranteed backstab crits and you’ll have plenty of initiative left to finish your opponents off with HS when they are low.
I’ll see if I can build it in one of the online generators, but I can’t find one that is completely up to date. The wiki has Hidden Killer at 100% critical chance when stealthed, but others have it at 50%. I believe it is 100% in game.
I’ve really wanted to try a Thief build that is centered around stealth. I actually made one myself when I first tried a thief and it ended in disaster. If you made a solid build like that I would love to see it.
Okay, so I won’t use an online generator because they all seem out of date. I can’t find any that are not.
The biggest issue here is that you have to do a fair amount of thinking. Try to save your Hide in Shadows skill for escaping big fights in a hurry, but feel free to use it in combat in 1v1 situations. We have a lot of great situational skills that can drive our opponents batty.
I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.
Have you tried a D/D build that is based more upon backstab and stealth? The basics are 30/30 in Critical Strikes and Shadow Arts and potentially 10 in Trickery. Make sure to pick up the +stealth when stealing, +2 init when stealthing, and 100% crit chance when stealthed. You’ll end up getting guaranteed backstab crits and you’ll have plenty of initiative left to finish your opponents off with HS when they are low.
I’ll see if I can build it in one of the online generators, but I can’t find one that is completely up to date. The wiki has Hidden Killer at 100% critical chance when stealthed, but others have it at 50%. I believe it is 100% in game.
I’ve really wanted to try a Thief build that is centered around stealth. I actually made one myself when I first tried a thief and it ended in disaster. If you made a solid build like that I would love to see it.
Okay, so I won’t use an online generator because they all seem out of date. I can’t find any that are not.
The biggest issue here is that you have to do a fair amount of thinking. Try to save your Hide in Shadows skill for escaping big fights in a hurry, but feel free to use it in combat in 1v1 situations. We have a lot of great situational skills that can drive our opponents batty.
Will definitely try this. Thanks for the detailed post.
I play a condition build thief who is d/d and p/p. It is very fun and I dont consider it that OP. I love going stealth when they get low and watching them die from my conditions lol
I use a D/P build, I prefer this to D/D because of the following:
3 – Gap closer (900 range)
4 – Ranged Interrupt (stop revives / stomps)
5 – Aoe blind also blinds the target from range, also prevent knockbacks when you are stomping if you place it on the person you are stomping.
My fights usually go:
Blinding Poweder – HeartSeekser – Backstab (assasins signet)
Using heartseeker from blinding powder puts you into stealth, so you blind the target, then leap to them for some damage, then get a nice backstab in.
If you target the right people this is a very strong combination.
I think this build brings a little more utility to the group than D/D, and you don’t need to get into melee before you stealth as the HS from BP does that for you
Let me tell you one thing: if you play a class, any class, and kill people in pvp(because you are a good player or they are just baddies) you will get called op/noob. People in MMOs tend to be incredible bad losers.
As for builds I like the D/P SB setup with a heavy focus on evasion for SPVP. (works pretty well in small skirmishes in WvW)
The amount of trolling you can dish whilst still killing people makes this build insanely fun to play.
I fell in love with the play style after watching this guy’s videos during BWE3.
I modified it a fair bit to suit my preferences but kept the basic idea, and it is incredibly fun to play.
Having played fighting games extensively over the years (in particular SNK games like KoF) it reminds me of the high speed gameplay they used to offer.
I love having high mobility, nice combos, and keeping heartseeker available as an execute type of skill.
people are complaining about Pistol Whip in pvp? Are you kidding me? How hard is it to dodge roll someone who has to stand still for a whole second. Infact the stun is so short, you start attacking as it finishes. Oh and if people are complaining about quickness/haste, you should tell them it’s side effects and if they still think it’s OP, just put them on your ignore list.
I won’t even get into how bad HS spam is or how easy it is to counter, if you can’t counter HS spam you were destined to lose anyway.
Tl;dr who cares what they say, they are just looking for excuses to be bad.
It can be hard to evade pistol whip. If they’re smart they immobilize you which means you can’t dodge. So you have to keep a CC breaker slotted and then dodge. If it’s hasted and it will be, you will definitely have to eat at least one round which is a ton of damage.
I don’t think its that OP btw, just stating the obvious. I think a huge source of complaints is everyone is running glass cannon builds because they’re still not sure how to spec. I dropped a elementalist the other day with one C/D and a backstab. I’m sure he kittened somewhere. I also ran into an elementalist that would have put a guardian to shame with how well he tanked and healed.
Condition damage build with dual dagger, shortbow or D/P.
Plenty of mobility/kiting options. With the right traits it’s sturdy enough to be annoying. At least 20 points into the vitality line (can’t think of the name) for 2 init/10 and endurance on dodge so you can stay mobile and draw out the fight while they bleed. Gets countered by cleanse/high sustain builds, but they usually don’t have the damage to burst you without you being able to outrun/kite.
