Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, i’m a new character playing a thief and I have a question, i’ve been looking for builds but i don’t understand any of it.

First of all, what’s all this xx/xx/xx/xx Stuff? I haven’t hit lvl11 yet does that have to do with it?

Also, I’m wondering, which build style caters to the fast crit, damage and attack type of playstyle?

And last of all, if someone could provide the sort of utilities I need for this kind of build?

Thanks everybody!

xx/xx/xx/xx refers to your trait lines, your primary method of specialization. Honestly if you’re just leveling up and exploring the profession you’re better off taking traits/skills that seem interesting and trying to find a play style you enjoy. When you get to >70 you can start looking at effective builds people have developed, but building towards one of them from the second you unlock traits may diminish your enjoyment and exploration of all the thief can do.

Traits in this notation are as they appear in your Hero window:
Deadly Arts / Critical Strikes / Shadow Arts / Acrobatics / Trickery.

Like Tulsin says, don’t worry about builds too much, experiment and enjoy the game while following the story, and doing hearts and events.

OP: To go along with what the previous posters said:

You won’t unlock the ability to put points into traits until level 11 I believe. However, if you’d like to get a feel for how the profession plays at max level, jump into the Heart of the Mists (pvp Lobby) by clicking the two crossed swords at the top of your screen.

Here you will be able to set all traits, refund them at will, use any available weapon set, rune set, and general stat amulet all for free. You can then test your build on training dummies, AI characters, or jump into an actual pvp game (and probably get slaughtered the first time you try, lol).

Again though, for now just enjoy exploring. When you get higher level, then you can worry about these things.

If you want a high direct damage build i recommend going with sword in your main hand and pistol in your off hand. Use the 5th ability, black powder, to blind enemies inside the field and use your auto attack to deal damage. The second ability on the sword can also remove conditions if you need it.

As said, for traits just pick whatever seems most useful to you at the time. Endgame builds generally wont be as useful since you don’t have access to most traits. Resetting your traits is quite cheap and you will have to do it anyway when you buy a new trait book, so feel free to experiment.