Guild Wars 2

Hello, I am new to thief (to GW2 in general, this is my first post on the forums) and I am looking for advice. So far, I have mostly played sPvP and PvE (mostly open world).

PvE:
I have seen on guides that the preferred build is D/D, and honestly not sure how. So far I had most success with S/D. D/P seems to perform better as well. Not sure what I am missing.

sPvP:
First, nothing but D/P is working. I already scanned through the thief forums and it seems that it is not just me. S/P can’t hit and has no survivability. D/D requires so much emphasis on being in melee range and one missed cloak and dagger and you are toast. SB is usually alt weapon, but just for mobility and some aoe. Does anything else work?

For healing, I played so far mesmer, warrior and ranger beside thief and all three have better healing options. Combine that with lowest hp pool it does not work very well. With invigorating precision in the critical strikes specialization and the blinds from pistol I can stand my ground against most classes, unless heavy condition.

What do you do against heavy condition builds? Again, from all classes I played thief has the worst condition removal paired lowest hp pool and blinds do not perform very well against condition builds.

What stats should I use for D/P build? I am currently using Mara amulet and eagle runes.

Also, for utilities I am using Signet of Shadows, Blinding Powder and Shadow Refuge, plus Basilisk Venom for elite. I want to remove blinding powder in particular, but I cant find any other utility that is more useful in sPvP.

For game play in sPvP, so far I have been largely successful, 20 wins in 30 games. I try to avoid crowds and attack the least populated areas. In large battles, again low hp pool, between aoe and conditions I get burnt down easily. Not sure that I am doing something wrong, but playing on the fringes so far has been much more profitable.

Finally (this not tied to a specific game mode), I find it unreasonable that thief has about 25% less hp than medium hp pool and 45% less hp than heavy hp pool. I was one shotted so many times in PvE and in sPvP, if I am not super careful not to get in the thick of things, I can die so easy. Forget using berzerker in sPvP. Is it just my lack of experience or is it a class issue? Granted, high hp pool does not mean great survivability, but it can help avoid burst damage, especially when it is not avoidable or really hard to avoid.

Appreciate the advise

otto.5684:

Hello, I am new to thief (to GW2 in general, this is my first post on the forums) and I am looking for advice. So far, I have mostly played sPvP and PvE (mostly open world).

PvE:
I have seen on guides that the preferred build is D/D, and honestly not sure how. So far I had most success with S/D. D/P seems to perform better as well. Not sure what I am missing.

Dagger has overall better dps, and d/d if preferred over d/p because you can autoattack chain -> cloak and dagger -> backstab -> auto chain -> cloak and dagger and so on, the reveleaded debuff disappears just before the second cnd lands. and heartseeker spam deals crazy damage when boss is at low hp.
Though optimally you would swap between d/p and d/d depending on situation.

otto.5684:

sPvP:
First, nothing but D/P is working. I already scanned through the thief forums and it seems that it is not just me. S/P can’t hit and has no survivability. D/D requires so much emphasis on being in melee range and one missed cloak and dagger and you are toast. SB is usually alt weapon, but just for mobility and some aoe. Does anything else work?

You got it pretty right here, sadly we don’t really have any other good builds than d/p for pvp at this moment. Some builds like s/d and d/d can work but it is always an uphill battle.

otto.5684:

What do you do against heavy condition builds? Again, from all classes I played thief has the worst condition removal paired lowest hp pool and blinds do not perform very well against condition builds.

Another reason why d/p is the most common build, our main condi removal is Shadow’s Embrace which can be found from shadow arts line. Shadow step it also good emergency condi removal. Then you have some more situational things like healing spring that you can steal from ranger

What stats should I use for D/P build? I am currently using Mara amulet and eagle runes.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Thief_-_Dagger/Pistol

Also, for utilities I am using Signet of Shadows, Blinding Powder and Shadow Refuge, plus Basilisk Venom for elite. I want to remove blinding powder in particular, but I cant find any other utility that is more useful in sPvP.

The most common utility bar you see it withdraw-blinding powder-shadow refuge- shadow step.
You should ditch the signet of shadows and use shadow step instead, which is probably one of the best utility skills in the game, and if you want, you can use infli signet instead of blinding powder.
For pve you can just go crit signet, power signet and haste.
Also a side note, blinding powder is a blast finisher, so if you use it in smoke field you get even more stealth.

For game play in sPvP, so far I have been largely successful, 20 wins in 30 games. I try to avoid crowds and attack the least populated areas. In large battles, again low hp pool, between aoe and conditions I get burnt down easily. Not sure that I am doing something wrong, but playing on the fringes so far has been much more profitable.

The role of thief is to move around the map quickly, capping empty points, bursting low hp targets and ganking enemies, making fights 2v1. You can 1v1 other classes ( as long as they are not heavy condi builds) but it is usually not worth the time.
If you have problems in large fights, take a look at the map, if there are empty points you should probably go cap them.

Finally (this not tied to a specific game mode), I find it unreasonable that thief has about 25% less hp than medium hp pool and 45% less hp than heavy hp pool. I was one shotted so many times in PvE and in sPvP, if I am not super careful not to get in the thick of things, I can die so easy. Forget using berzerker in sPvP. Is it just my lack of experience or is it a class issue? Granted, high hp pool does not mean great survivability, but it can help avoid burst damage, especially when it is not avoidable or really hard to avoid.

Surviving with thief just requires quite a bit more skill than with many other classes, positioning especially is very important. Also zerker amulet in pvp isn’t really used, it is too squishy for even experienced players. Also don’t forget to abuse stealth in pvp.

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thief is going through a transition atm so it can be quite unforgiving, then again it always has been unforgiving. If you want to play a thief imo you need to be moving in and out sword dagger isn’t that messed up it depends on your play style.

its all on how you want to play it sneaky stealth high crit or dodging and shadowsteping.