Guild Wars 2

so with the new Thief class revamps with daredevil, is there anyone that has finally found a good pistol pistol build? I tried to make one but probably just ended up screwing it up because I’m not much of a min-maxer…. here’s the link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZEQRAqa4an0MpZiGTNNZnpumwyUtTQaq9JL+EmXT4Ndg2CADgA0cBcB2AB-TlxNwAoV/pumgZK/mqXYrSQA7PAA-w

I’ve been thinking about how to make a P/P thief for a long time.

Considering this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZEQNAqaVl0M1MpsppptNdNx3p2J0PtPtwTYeRhsQVYuA2AnganpfQAA-TFCFABt9AAwe/BAOFAFq+zVKBRS5nAHBg00HAA-w

Trapper Runes give you 3 secs of stealth every time you lay down a trap (disable auto attack to prevent accidental reveals). You have two traps via utility slots, and one trap via “lay down a needle trap when you heal”.

This gives you 3 free sneak attacks every 30 or so seconds (heal trap trait has cooldown). Combined with all the Unloads you can perform while revealed, this should quickly bring down a single target. Note that Unload does about twice the amount of burst damage of sneak attack (which scales 50/50 between burst and bleeds), making Unload your main source of damage (so it’s more like the sneak attacks are filling in between Unloads). Thus I have gone full Berserker in spite of the condition stats in Trapper Runes. Thus I don’t recommend Black Powder + bounding dodger for DPS via more sneak attacks.

A power-condition build could also work pretty well if you use Headshot (with interrupt traits) instead of Unload to cover revealed. The Black Powder combo stealth is also more useful here for sustained sneak attacks. I don’t like this choice because it impacts Shortbow performance, and the Shortbow is an incredible solution to crowds of any kind.

sirkenric.5198:

so with the new Thief class revamps with daredevil, is there anyone that has finally found a good pistol pistol build? I tried to make one but probably just ended up screwing it up because I’m not much of a min-maxer…. here’s the link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZEQRAqa4an0MpZiGTNNZnpumwyUtTQaq9JL+EmXT4Ndg2CADgA0cBcB2AB-TlxNwAoV/pumgZK/mqXYrSQA7PAA-w

The first condi build you run into will ruin this build. No stun breakers either so the build will always be vulnerable to stunners. Any build with decent gap closers will own this build as well. Lastly there is no “oh crap” escape when a fight turns which is the thief’s “superpower”.

More defense is needed and I would probably lean towards traps. Trip Wire and Shadow Trap are under utilized in the game (at least they were) and are potent for controlling small fights. Smoke Screen can also be a big game changer when dodging through it forcing melee to blind themselves in order to follow and outright stopping most ranged attacks. Roll for Initiative could work for this build giving one more evasion, quick init regen and a much needed stun breaker. IMO very few thief builds work without Shadow Step.

Even with the proper balance P/P is still screwed. Once they took out Ricochet they turned an under-powered but fun build into another why bother build. Nothing I have seen in the upcoming changes effect that diagnosis.