Guild Wars 2

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Seriously, I think I went from one class, to it’s near opposite. I have reached level 80 on my Necromancer Charr and I decided I wanted to try a new class. I dabbled in some here and there, but I am still very accustomed to the playing style of a necromancer, which if played right…do not die. The amount of damage from their conditions is ridiculous. Now enough gushing.

I made a human thief and I adore him, but I am only level 12 and the struggle is real. I find myself using the bow because I seem to stay alive longer, but I love having dagger on my main hand (HS noob here). But I also like dual dagger on my necro, so I think its just a habit. I read some debates that a longsword and pistol is better combo.. I have no idea. For PVE standards, what are some of the best weapon combos?

best weapon combo is what ever u feel comfortable with. u need to test out what u like. s/d and s/p have extreme mobility and deception. d/d has very high burst and could be used for condition. d/p is versatile with its key skill black powder. personally i started with d/d and swithed to d/p. in pve d/p is very good seeing how mobs will stand in your black powder doing no damage to u. if you run d/d i suggest grabbing at least 20 points in Shadow arts and picking up the trait that blinds on stealth. this means when you use your number 5skill with d/d you will blind everyone around u wen stealthing. most cookie cutter builds run 30 in shadow arts. msg me if u need more help. i main thief since this game released and i rarely use any other char. he is my only lvl 80 and my favorite. people hate “good thieves” because with our resources we can solo small zergs. thief is a very technical prof and positioning and knowing what to do in situations is key. the only way to feel comfortable with the thief class is to take riskes try different builds and see what you like most.

Got to the Heart of the Mists and experiment with the different weapon sets on the golems until you have a decent idea of what weapon set you like best, then try it out in PvE.

Pro tip: The fastest (and most fun, in my opinion) way to level is D/D + Shortbow focussing on condition damage with Death Blossom which will make you as unkillable as your Necromancer (especially if you trait right for it, which is actually very easy as you level, since almost every trait you get is going to directly benefit you if you do it right).

x/P with Power/Crit will also work fairly well on everything but the Dredge, but you won’t have the AoE power that you do with Death Blossom on D/D. Also, playing this and just hitting 5 every 4 seconds and auto-attacking in between is boring as kitten, but it’s up to you.

Good luck, hope I helped.

In terms of leveling, it’s probably better to stay away from dagger mainhand at lower levels until you get to level 40+, BS is very stat and gear dependent you won’t do enough damage with it at lower levels to kill things fast enough. Also a lot of thief’s survivability is unlocked in master and grandmaster traits so thats another challenge of leveling a thief.

Another problem with leveling is lack of thief AoE, as shortbow clusterbomb is the best AoE that we have but again, at lower levels, it doesnt do a lot of damage. This is why sword/pistol is the recommended leveling tool.

Why? Black powder (pistol 5) is an AoE blind that pulses, meaning you will avoid most of the damage coming in from melee. Sword mainhand because the autoattack is a cleave and does a decent amount of damage to multiple enemies. Once upon a time pistol whip used to be amazing (the 3 skill) but now its simply ok, again useful for the AoE. Sword 2 is absolutely amazing (gap closer + immobilize + retreat and remove a condition all in one skill!).

When i made my first thief, i had the same trouble. After trying all kinds of weapon sets and failing miserably with d/d (in pve ofc) I decided soon to stick with sword/pistol and just blinded and auto-attacked everything. i COULD kill many enemies at once, but it was really boring that way. I made a new thief recently, and i’m using d/d, and god knows why but i’m doing so much better (maybe i know the class better and know what to do and when) Against multiple enemies usually i drop caltrops, deathblossom as many times as initiative lets me, then steal to regain some initiative and deathblossom again. It’s not hard but more fun imo. If anything’s alive by the time i finish, i melt that little hp they have left with autoattack.
For utilities to help survive I recommend Blinding Powder and Shadow Refuge, my third is Caltrops when fighting, but i switch it out for Signet of Shadows when exploring or just running around. It has a blind so it’s not bad in combat, but caltrops just brings so much damage.

Okay another question. One build I saw they max Shadow arts then do 20 in arobatics and 20 in trickery…. then I see the opposite, where people don’t touch shadow arts and max critical strikes and deadly arts. Which is better?

There’s no easy answer to which is "better". The best traits are the ones that compliment your play style and weapon choices. Thief is totally about give and take. You can lean towards survivability or burst damage. The problem is that the low levels are frustrating because you don’t have the traits to help out.

You need to figure out what range you’re comfortable engaging at and how much risk you like to routinely accept. Do you want to survive by avoiding hits by dodging/evasion or by staying in stealth a lot or by bursting stuff down before it can hit you? How are you going to dish out damage, over time or bursting?

Those are the main things you have to figure out. How am I going to deal damage, how am I going to deal with incoming attacks?

It’s a lot of tweaking based on experience. I leveled with P/D and Shortbow. Of late, I find myself loving D/D when I’m solo PvE daily achieving. I swap over to D/P now and then.

Study the trait sets.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_thief_traits
I like looking at the high end stuff and then working my way back down trait lines to support my playstyle.

Shadow Arts are for people that love stealth and/or use it as their main survival tool. Shadow’s Rejuvenation with an offhand dagger and Hide in Shadows, Shadow Refuge and Blinding Powder can keep you alive. Shadow’s Embrace is gravy on top of that as an on demand condition drop.

Feline Grace, Acro 15, means you get to dodge more than other classes, especially if you find yourself buffed with vigor.

I’ve never been overly impressed with the Deadly Arts line traits, but it is the Power line and Condition duration paired with that is good. It does have access to the +5% damage with daggers and +10% damage when your target has a condition. To get that deep, you’re picking up +250 power from the line. It goes good with the backstabby dagger life.

Critical Strikes takes everything you get from DA and cranks it up a notch. Executioner, the +20% damage when your target is at 50% life, nuff said.

But really, trait choices, try to pick stuff that compliments each other and your style. Trial and error. It gives you something to look forward to as you suffer through the early levels.

Oh yeah, and how are you going to deal with multiple PvE targets? There’s using shortbow, Caltrops, Death Blossom from D/D, sword hits 3 targets a swing, or you can just focus on working 1 target down at a time.

No matter what, unless you’re using Pistol 5 for the blind field, you’re going to have to be constantly moving or dropping into stealth.

Kiono.6187:

I have reached level 80 on my Necromancer Charr and I decided I wanted to try a new class.

try choosing again, maybe you will get lucky and like it

Incurafy.6329:

Pro tip: The fastest (and most fun, in my opinion) way to level is D/D + Shortbow focussing on condition damage with Death Blossom which will make you as unkillable as your Necromancer (especially if you trait right for it, which is actually very easy as you level, since almost every trait you get is going to directly benefit you if you do it right).

This…. and I wish I had this information back in the beginning when I created my thief. It was a rough and slow go, but D/D Condition will do well especially against multiple mobs, which I’m sure you’re having issues with. I did.

Good Luck