Guild Wars 2

Hey folks,

as the title says I’ve decided to play the thief as my next active profession besides my mesmer. Really like the class so far (level 35 atm), but I got a couple of questions. Hopefully you can help me out.

1) Shortbow in the second weaponset: Actually I see every thief running around with a sb; so I guess it’s pretty viable. Yet I don’t “feel” it’s to strong tho; I’m actually only using it to move around faster (skill 5). When I go for the ranged fight, skill 2 and 4 don’t seem like a dps “boost”; or am I wrong? Can you tell me how “to effectively use shortbow”? What makes this weapon so strong?

2) What do you prefer in PvE ? (both fractals/raids and pve open world wise) – Dagger / Dagger or Staff and why? What weapon actually deals more damage? Or is more “useful”?

3) What about utility skills in open world? Should I just stick to the signets with maybe having one stunbreaker; or should I use some DD skills? What about the healing skill? Which one would you recommend?

1) At low level, it doesn’t really matter what weapon you choose and the only advantage of shortbow is its ability to deal AoE damage. Even with a sword main-hand (no off-hand, no swapping), you can get to level 80 just fine. Shortbow only really useful at end game where you have Ascended gears and a fine-tuned build. You won’t see its usefulness at low level.

2) PvE – anything really. Fractals, it depends — D/P is less effective against Dredge for example and you’re limited to Spear and Harpoon gun in Aquatics — I just bring S/P and pistol whip all the way. Raid, I have no idea, I don’t like that part of the game so I don’t bother.

3) In open would, you would want condition remover and anti-CC, not necessarily stun break. Other than that, you can bring anything really as long as you know what you’re doing. If you’re going for World Completion Achievements, it’s all about shortbow, stealth and speed boost in most parts.

1. You already figured it out. The SB is almost completely useless to a power build beyond mobility.

2. Staff for the AoE or P/P for the ranged attacks.

3. I use Shadow Step, Bandit’s Defense and SoA for general use. Sometimes when I am just navigating a higher level map, I will switch BD and SoA for Refuge and Blinding Powder.

1 – Shortbow is really only used for the extra mobility – but said mobility is very strong. The damage it puts out is passable at best, so you’re not really going to be using it for damage. In PvP and WvW, it’s nice for applying poison to groups of people to restrict their healing, but in PvE this doesn’t really matter.

2 – Use anything, really. I’d say staff is better than d/d, since you can help apply vulnerability stacks consistently, reflect projectiles in melee range, and Vault is basically an AoE backstab.

3 – Shadowstep and Signet of Agility are nice for extra mobility, and Blinding Powder and Shadow Refuge can help you get through packs of mobs. For extra damage in instanced content, Assassin’s Signet, Fist Flurry and Impairing Daggers are good choices.

Thanks for the replies! I have only trief out staff in the PvP test area so far; it seems like the staff is better for cleaving and it feels like it deals a bit more damage as well. Is the skill 5 worth to be used for a damage increase? Or only situational?

ABout the shortbow: I guessed that (yet I see many theif running around with a leg shortbow, so I guess it’s somewhat viable :-o); but incase I’m “forced” to go ranged (which isn’t happening too often); what skills should I preferably use to damage as much as possible? Spamming 4 and/or 2; or just go with the auto? When using 2, should I implode it or not?

Thanks again!

When using Cluster Bomb, splitting it is totally up to you – by not splitting it, it stays as a blast finisher for combo fields, but splitting it does more damage over a wider area (depending on how high up it is before you split it), or it can do more damage to a single target if all 3 smaller bombs hit them. If for some reason you’re forced to go ranged, spam Cluster Bomb and split it when it’s close to the ground for the most damage.

Vault isn’t all that situational, so you can use it whenever you have the intiative to spare. Try not to spam it too often though, as you might get caught out without any initiative.

As you’ve found out, shortbow is used mostly for competitive formats for its mobility. Cast it upwards underneath/up cliffsides and structures, and many will let you skip having to platform. This is pretty essential when rapidly moving around the PvP map, since you won’t be defending points or staying for fights in most cases. The shortbow itself is only particularly required in sPvP; it’s not really needed for WvW (though many recommend it for its utility and map-traversal speed), and certainly not for PvE unless your party needs more blast finishers (which is situational by comp).

As said above, if you detonate the cast of CB as the bob enters your target’kittenbox (close to the ground), the combined damage from the multiple attacks will deal more damage than the single bomb. However, you will miss out on the blast finisher, so it kind of depends on the situation, as blasting a water field and healing yourself/allies can mean much more than just getting a marginal damage increase.

Bump! (didnt want to open a new topic)
Just curious, when playing underwater, what rota do I use whilst playing underwater?

I’d recommend utilizing all the weapons and swap around as needed. Shortbow is definitely decent as a ranged weapon, particularly if you need to plink away at stuff from range. It has AoE in the bouncing auto and cluster bomb and the evade is not bad in some situation but cluster bomb is really nice but more a close-up attack (easier to detonate).

If you’re power, try the sword but staff is also quite nice. Pistols are pretty stylish too but pretty much pure single target. If you’re condition, I think daggers combo’ed with pistols gets you the best options.

I swap between power and condition depending on my mood. Both are quite fun and have completely different feels.

thanks, but I was just curious about underwater fighting

Now that D/D is somewhat compareable (hopefully a-net keeps d/d equal to staff) thief became more interesting for me again.

does lotustraining work underwarter? I’m honestly asking because i never find myself in underwater combat.

Nefarius.9702:

thanks, but I was just curious about underwater fighting

Now that D/D is somewhat compareable (hopefully a-net keeps d/d equal to staff) thief became more interesting for me again.

When in a group, stick to the harpoon gun using Deluge whenever you have at least 10 init (you’ll want to save 5 init for Spear #3). When you get aggro, swap to spear and use Nine-tail Strikes (Spear #3) to counter with multiple strikes or use Shadow Assault (Spear #5) to trigger “on evade” abilities.