Guild Wars 2

Hi,

So… I’ve been playing thief for a while now and I’m trying to main the thief. So far I’ve been enjoying the thief a lot and I have about 400 hours on the class but things are still kinda off for me. I don’t really play a lot but I think I play more then enough to at least know more than the basics.

I currently play both PvP and PvE with the thief and haven’t really looked into WvW yet. When playing PvE I run D/D and SB which is alright with me, I’d prefer to play with P/P instead of SB but it seems like the short-bow is just much stronger since the D/D already does the single target damage. When it comes to PvP I play with D/P and SB. Again, I would love to run P/P but that just seems inferior compared to the other weapons.

So currently I’m really close to getting the Quip but I’m not sure if I should keep it or not since the only real place you use the pistol is in pvp/wvw I assume, however, I play PvE a lot more and as far as I’m aware you don’t really run a pistol on PvE. I would honestly love to just run P/P or P/D in PvE because I really like how the quip looks but I think this would just hinder those who I party with. Perhaps after the specialization the P/P might be better but for now it seems like the P/P is just bad ._.

So in short: Should I keep the Quip once I acquire and use pistol in PvE as well or should I sell it and buy another legendary? A buddy of mine told me to get Bolt but I’m not a fan of the sword on the thief, I don’t really know why but I just dislike it ._.’’

(This isn’t only about the Quip, it’s also a question whether the pistol is viable in PvE)
(Also if I made a mistake or if you think I said something horribly wrong in this topic please feel free to correct my mistake)

Hi, I just started playing thief. Coming from guardian, I find it’s quite to stay alive with D/D . S/P is really strong though for thrash mobs.

http://dulfy.net/2014/07/10/gw2-thief-pve-class-guide/
That guide should cover most PvE questions. Pistols as offhand are really good since you can create smoke field on demand(for perma blind mobs or gaining stealth) and Pistol 4 is a good interupt skill. D/D is hands down the best single DPS currently therefore it mostly is used for boss encounter.

From what I see, P/P is weak in every game mode at the current state.

Hey, thanks for the quick response!
I feel like I completely forgot my purpose of this thread (Sorry!)

Surviving with D/D is currently one of my biggest issues, when I’m playing Fractals or dungeons with my friends I’m always the one that ends up dying first. For this reason I played a dedicated P/P build for a while which was pretty nice to play with but it did indeed lack the damage that D/D has. Also I’m aware that the S/P is really nice for trash mobs but I can’t get myself to like the pistol whip. I don’t know if anyone can share some tips or just hand any type of advice as on how to survive with D/D in PvE content because I cannot seem to do it.

I’ve read the Dulfy guide you sent earlier already, the guide pretty much tells you the basics of every single thing that’s available to the thief which is really good but, I’m looking for something else. I’m trying to figure out why I keep dying instantly or fast in dungeons/fractals.

Another thing I want to know is if the pistol can be used in PvE beside S/P since I hate the sword (Due to pistol whip stopping my movement.) I know that D/P is used in PvP and sometimes in WvW but, from my experience it’s not that good in PvE.

Though I havent tried it, a D/P build based on critical strikes and executioner might be fine in PvE. TONS of blinds when running dungeons and you gain back initiative on crits. In dungeons I wouldnt take withdraw and would take Hide in Shadows.

For stacking on bosses, all those blinds will be very effective and you still have the damage.

Not to mention the ability to interrupt big skills with a daze. With practiced Tolerance your health goes up. Also Furious Retal, and Executioner delivers the damage.

Pack Runes for precision for you and swiftness, might and fury to you and your allies.

Then trickery for stealing boons from the boss and giving them to allies also another stun on the boss.

And Mug for a self heal and for poison on said boss to reduce heals not to mention your AA poison.

I would think D/P would hold up well in stacked dungeon runs, especially considering all the blinds, but Ive never run it in PvE.

Hey thanks for the tips in your post ^^

I’ve played around with it for a while and it worked out pretty good. The blind is indeed really useful while stacking thus making surviving a bit easier but the lack of damage is pretty big. Being able to only use your basic attacks and HS as a damage source is kinda sad. I’m currently just trying to play with D/D because the damage difference is pretty huge.

I also rolled with S/P for a while even tho I don’t really like the sword but in the end it seemed like I was wrong. After trying it, it seemed pretty satisfying to be honest, stunning mobs while they were charging an attack feels rather good. BUT I decided to practice D/D and SB, this way I won’t be a bother for my team mates.

If anyone has some tips for D/D survival then I’d be more then happy to read them.

In PvE, there are some traits that can boost your survivability while decreasing a bit of your damage. You can put 3 into acrobatic to take feline grace so you can have a lot of dodges or 6 into critical strike to take invigorating precision.

I usually die as D/D when I have a lot of mobs attacking me. What I find working for me is use a shortbow when facing a lot of mobs or in need of heal. Detonating cluster bombs in a crowd of enemies in conjuction with signet of malice works pretty well, the heal will be boosted even further if you have invigorating precision.

Now I can face-tank mobs even without perma blind from pistol and be happy when facing a boss with the damage of D/D. Like you, I also don’t like sword as my weapon since it feels too slow and the damage is lower than D/D. Although I’m also aware that S/P is truly superior when fighting many enemies. It gives cleave, condi clear, shadowstep, evade, interrupt, and invaluable perma blind. I just hope someday they will give us a template of build so I can switch D/D into S/P quickly.

Caltrop with signet of malice can heal you up pretty good also.
Please note that I’m talking this with “damage is the best defense” in mind.

I’d recommend sticking to Sword/Pistol

Don’t underestimate the power of Pistol Whip, It can hit as hard as backstabs, while giving you a pretty long evade, which allows you to facetank even bosses.

I generally run dungeons with S/P, and swap into D/D only against certain bosses.
Unlike D/D, S/P relies on sustained damage, as well as having the ability to hit multiple foes, and is perfect for trash mobs. It also have on demand shadowsteps, which are extremely useful, especially against bosses with lots of AOE attacks. Plus, it has superior condition clear, which makes it very useful in certain fights. (such as in the Volcanic fractal, where you’ll face constant burning)
The truth of the matter is, S/P thieves have a lot more survivability compared to D/D thieves.
I personally feel that being a S/P thief who dishes out a constant stream of damage, having Black powder when stacking and the survivabilty is much more useful than being a glass cannon D/D thief. I’ve seen far too many D/D thieves who either drops every time a boss so much as sneezes on them; or hang out far away from the boss shooting their SB because they took a hit from the boss, and is waiting for their healing skill to come off CD, as they will get downed if they take another hit (which kinda defeats the purpose of a pure DPS D/D thief). I’m sure there are exceptions, but in general this is how most glass D/D thieves are.

But if you are still really keen on D/D, I’d say you can invest into Shadow arts and Acrobatics, then progressively take out more traits and putting them into Deadly arts and Critical Strikes as you become more comfortable with the class. Personally I always keep Infusion of Shadow for unlimited backstab, as well as increased burst damage in heartseeker mode with the help of smoke screen.

As for your quip-question: Why not wait until HoT comes live? Maybe we get a fancy weapon you rather would have made a legendary for.
But again, a pistol is almost always used in a thief build, be it D/P, S/P etc.

Clown away!

I like D/D myself, but find the “evade” from Death Blossom is so short you’re taking damage before the animation finishes. So don’t rely on that for survival. The unlisted evade from Pistol Whip is quite long, though the rooting effect is kind of iffy for me.

I know P/P isn’t as damage intensive as a lot of other builds right now, but the Ricochet trait can help you with groups, while also boosting your range to a whopping 1050! Which, sadly is the longest range a Thief can manage on land, and comes with the dubious bounce effect.

As for Quip, not a fan of the look of it myself (Or the Dreamer, or Bolt, or Incinerator for that matter) but if you like it, don’t let it’s usability deter you from getting it! Even if you don’t use it all the time, you’ll have the skin unlocked across your account. Having fun is why we’re here, first and foremost. Enjoying how your character looks is part of that. So have fun.

Personally I prefer DP over DD, in both PvP and PvE, mainly due to the better utility and support it can offer. DD may offer slightly better burst damage, but DP is not far behind and offers much more in the way of survivability, and can help your team much more than DD can. Also, nothing beats DP for sticking to a foe. If a LB ranger knocks a mob far away from you, BAM your back on it in a second. While you can use heartseeker, it is not always enough to get you all the way to your target.

Alternatively, as you are using DD as your single target weapon, why not replace that with PP instead of replacing SB? It can deal decent damage and almost provides you the same survival and support as DP does. Plus, you can use Black Powder and swap to SB to blast for AoE stealth when needed, offering more team support.

I just feel support is more important in most situations than a little extra damage, so I would always choose DP, or PP, over DD. Of course DD can be great fun to use, but it doesn’t help your team as much. It all depends on how you want to play really.