Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, just looking to find some help from the more experienced thieves out there with a build.. Just a few questions about the class below. I appreciate any and all help, and thank you in advice for reading this on your own time.

1. Are there any builds that are more noob-friendly than others for PvP?

2. I like conditions and/or burst.. What builds would some of you experienced thieves recommend for this gameplay on this class? (Don’t have to be noob-friendly.)

3. Do you have any tips for mastering this class? I really enjoy the gameplay of it, just finding it a bit more difficult than the others (which I expected). Any tips would be really beneficial!

Thanks for any help again. I also only PvP, so kinda looking for builds for that. Runes, sigils, amulet, weapon selection, traits, and utilities would all help me out if you post a build. Thanks!

No thief builds are especially noob-friendly, as success requires a fair bit of situational awareness and skill. The class is more like elementalists and engineers than warriors or guardians. However, we have a lot of options to mix damage (burst or condi), mobility, various forms of damage avoidance (stealth, dodges, pseudo-dodges from abilities), etc.

There are a ton of possible combinations, but D/D is probably the best burst build, while P/D is likely the best one for conditions. Take a look at the following videos for examples of players who are really good at those two builds:

D/D, here’s Mugi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp-Uog_Eesk

P/D, Laela Blackbird: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hge-Sx9gxVY

Other good build possibilities include S/D, S/P, etc. I am not aware of any great videos laying those out, but Tessa Avery has some really nice write-ups:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83508-tessa-averys-sworddagger-shortbow-evasion-burst-build/

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83957-tessa-averys-swordpistol-shortbow-daze-burst-build/

Three tips:

- Keep a shortbow as your offhand in whatever build you like. Once you learn how to use it, it’s a remarkable weapon

- Avoid P/P. It looks simple and noob-friendly, but it’s just not very effective

- Take all the complaining here with a grain of salt. Thieves are fun to play, and have many different styles available

1. D/D+SB with Valkyrie/Soldier mixed into the gear provides (much needed) health and toughness. I am currently at 2500 armor, 16.000HP, 50% critical rate and 102% critical damage (including food). This number changes according to the class balance and how confident I feel running with less armor or health (thus tied into experience and knowledge).

2. Condition build is not all that useful in my opinion. It is a nice build to be an annoyance to others, but you will not likely take a kill against anything that can be considered half decent. We do not have the sheer condition pressure that other classes are capable of (primarily Necromancer and Engineer). I run the build described with the gear in point 1 using a 0/30/30/10 trait configuration. I feel that, for me, this is currently the best build to engage in prolonged combat alone or in small team combat. I tend to swap out SB for S/D though.

3. Know all the professions. Unlike most of the other professions, knowing what kind of patterns to expect, predict and react upon is mandatory. For most other professions, it makes you a better player but is not strictly necessary. Pacing and positioning is most important. Personally I don’t take the approach of a do-or-die burst attack but take my time depleting the utilities of a target prior to performing the burst that I am actually capable of. This is more of a mind game, as I throw them off by not backstabbing half of the time therefore wasting precious skill cooldowns. Wearing someone down often works, unless in combat with the better players. Truthfully, you probably can’t even win those, so walk away (Yes, I’m looking at that Healing Condition Warrior that is played properly).

I appreciate the feedback from both of you! Thanks for the build and advice, will look more into what both of you have said. Still looking for other possible burst builds, as that seems to be more effective with the current thief. Thanks again, both of you.

1. Yea look into some warrior builds. If you want noob friendly you looking at the wrong class. Maybe at its hayday this was a good class for noobs with all the heartseeker spam. That was like a year ago though.
2. For condition P/D, burst D/P
3. If by mastering you mean learning how to exploit perma stealth and perma evade gimmicks (as effective as they may be) then I suggest you don’t rely on them because they’re both getting nerfed.