Guild Wars 2

OK, previously, my Thief ran a 0/30/25/0/15 trait build. Not only that, I’m using the 2 ascended rings that gave Cavalier stats, totalling my Toughness to 1551, but apparently that only leaves me with around 13k HP and despite my high toughness, I still go down too quick.

I just switched my traits today, placing the 25 points I had on Shadow Arts to Acrobatics. I now have like, 16k HP and 1287 Toughness. But I still have doubts about it.

I did some testing with my traits and I noticed that Assassin’s Reward doesn’t give me much HP back even when I use skills that cost 6 initiative(I get like around 356 HP back with Cloak and Dagger). Not only that, the Shadow Arts trait line had traits I really liked using, Shadow’s Embrace and Infusion of Shadow. All in all, I really don’t know if it was worth giving up 250 toughness, better condition removal and free initiative on stealth for more HP. I haven’t ran through a dungeon with this trait build yet but I feel like I’m regretting it already.

I basically need to know which trait line to put my 25 points in so I can you know, not fall down so much.

If it means anything, I alternate between D/D, S/P and P/P, at least one weapon from each weapon set has a Sigil of Energy, and my stats are a mix of Soldier, Knight, Berserker and Cavalier, using a full Superior Rune of Might set. The utilities I use are usually Hide in Shadows, Shadow Refuge, Signet of Agility and Infiltrator’s Signet and I tend to mostly do PvE and dungeons.

Also, any suggestions that might imply anything along the lines of “go full Berserker” will be ignored. Thank you.

Go full Berserker.

In all seriousness, it depends on your preference. If you’re stealthing regularly, it’s better for you to go in to SA. But remember that most of a Thief’s survivability also comes from dodging rather than sponging hits, so 25 in Acrobatics would help with that (that 10% damage increase on non-full endurance is a nice boost and Quick Recovery would help if you’re using S/P).

If you meant standard dungeons, full berserker thief shoudn’t have much issues with staying alive.

Overall I find Acrobatics to be better in PvE for added survivability whereas Shadow Arts excels in PvP (or WvW more specifically).

15 points in Acrobatics can easily double the amount of Dodges you can perform and that certainly pays off in PvE. But more than 15 points isn’t always worth it.

I would recommend something like a 15/30/10/15/0 build with a lot of Vitality on gear.

15.000+ HP is what I’ve found essential for running dungeons.

Dee Jay.2460:

Overall I find Acrobatics to be better in PvE for added survivability whereas Shadow Arts excels in PvP (or WvW more specifically).

15 points in Acrobatics can easily double the amount of Dodges you can perform and that certainly pays off in PvE. But more than 15 points isn’t always worth it.

I would recommend something like a 15/30/10/15/0 build with a lot of Vitality on gear.

15.000+ HP is what I’ve found essential for running dungeons.

This sounds about right. I’m running 15/30/0/25/0 with all Soldier armor with Emerald Orbs, the rest of my gear being Berserker. I have 2149 Power, 44% Crit Chance with 81% Crit Damage, 1327 Toughness and 16425 HP, and it seems like a good sweet spot for me.

Dee Jay.2460:

Overall I find Acrobatics to be better in PvE for added survivability whereas Shadow Arts excels in PvP (or WvW more specifically).

15 points in Acrobatics can easily double the amount of Dodges you can perform and that certainly pays off in PvE. But more than 15 points isn’t always worth it.

I would recommend something like a 15/30/10/15/0 build with a lot of Vitality on gear.

15.000+ HP is what I’ve found essential for running dungeons.

I’ve been running exactly similiar traits distribution, gear is just full zerker. 15 in acrobatics helps a lot, it essentialy makes your dodges cost 35 endurance instead of 50. Plus all your weapon sets have built-in evade move in one of their attacks, though some of them are plainly terrible (S/D for instance).

Well, the main reason why I’m looking for some survivability is because I need something to fall back on. I’m kinda aware that I’m not exactly an MLG-level player so I figure being able to take a hit or 2 would benefit me at least.

As for mixing up SA and Acrobatics, I never really thought of that. Always figured I needed as much HP as I can get so I can survive.

OK, I’ve decided. I’ll try out 0/30/10/15/15 for now and see if it does help. Thanks, guys.

OP:

I’ve recently switched out to a 0/10/30/30/0 build and it’s pretty amazing. I run berserker jewlelry, but with P/V/T armor + weapons. I know it’s rough missing out on a lot of crit damage, but both the SA line and Acro line are just too good to pass up.

novaz.4965:

…
I just switched my traits today, placing the 25 points I had on Shadow Arts to Acrobatics. I now have like, 16k HP and 1287 Toughness. But I still have doubts about it.
…

You really shouldn’t use traits for static attributes, there are too many useful major traits to select from to toss them away for something that can be gained with switching gear.

Switch gear, not traits. Which has the added benefit that a wider selection of gear in you backpack allows you to switch gear and change the focus of you build in between two fights.

>frans

Yeah, I noticed, myself. I tested my build by running Fractals once. I could take hits better, but I ended up feeling gimped anyway because aside from having to choose between free 2 initiative on stealth or better condition removal, I found out I could accumulate Might faster with the 3rd minor SA trait than I could with the Acrobatics trait that gave Might every time I dodged; I just saw myself not dodging enough. Besides, I technically don’t need Feline Grace because of the Sigils of Energy and Signet of Agility.

So now I’m just thinking of replacing my gear with full Soldier’s, since I have Signet of Agility, my accessories and Thrill of the Crime to cover for my precision.