Guild Wars 2

so im like 3 days new to thief, i power level him with books to lvl 80 and right away made a build with full exotic berserker armor with strength runes, berserker d/d, short bow and borrowed my ascended berserker trinkets from my other character. well i did my homework and found that new thieves should go d/p but i kind of dont want to go that route. i want grow into and get use to d/d but the build seems too vulnerable or maybe im not palying it right.

This is the build that im using right now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVlsMpyplOx7J8PNxORsdwzA3ndldtD-TVCBwA12fAyTA4sSQsKzwp+DgTAQWlGp0Hs5QAEAABgbmNH6NDA-w

what should my combo be like?
im using this Elite(if not in CD), F1, 5, 1, then auto and finish with 2. in reality this doesnt always work in pvp or wvw. so i kind panic when my opponent reacts and hits me with a few hits, almost downing me. is there a better way to execute a combo to more of a hit and run? what are some other good combos with d/d because i dont know any besides that one.

what do you guys think about this traits? and Withdraw
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVl0MpyplOx7J8PNxOhsbgH8dy7pLvC-TVCBwA12fAyTA4sSQsKzwp+DgTAQWlGp0Hs5QAEAABgbmNH6NDA-w
i like being able to shadowstep to my opponent with 21.sec CD on steal and 24sec CD on Signet but i feel really slow. is there any other good traits i can use with the armor set i already have?

please give me a hand by answering at least 1 question, i appreciate all answers even the smartest ones :P
thanks guys,
your fellow new thief member :D

Personally, i would say this :

- forget about elite basilisk venom, you’re better of with daggerstorm or the thieves guild.

- use signet of malice : heals when attacking

Until you are more “familiar” with your new thief, remember this :

-thieves are squishy. You can use different trinkets that give you VIT to increase your survivability while you explore the world with him/her. That should give you enough time to get used to the skillset and see what you like.

- dodging + evading are your friends.

- in between heartseeker (your best skill imo with signet of malice on) you do a double regular attack to regain initiative

- you might want to consider using caltrops with its corresponding trait to regain hp when it hits. Pretty awesome.

I’m sure there are plenty of good/expert thieves that can give you a more in depth or sound advice, i’m just stating some obvious points.

darkaheart.4265:

well i did my homework and found that new thieves should go d/p but i kind of dont want to go that route. i want grow into and get use to d/d but the build seems too vulnerable or maybe im not palying it right.

For PvP this might be kind of true.
For PvE D/D is “the meeetaaa”
Do whatever you like in wvw, I play D/D.

darkaheart.4265:

This is the build that im using right now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVlsMpyplOx7J8PNxORsdwzA3ndldtD-TVCBwA12fAyTA4sSQsKzwp+DgTAQWlGp0Hs5QAEAABgbmNH6NDA-w

This is the better option for your current setup (you have runes of strength and get your might from the SA line) – but I’m no fan of executioner for solo roaming as you first have to get your target to ~50% health before the trait really becomes useful and that can be a problem with D/D and alone.
So in my book the optimal build around runes of strength and D/D is valk armor (~2,5 k more health -it isn’t the world, I know but it does help) and x66xx with hidden killer as the main damage source.
We’ve had a build which used the trickery line (your second build option) but runes of the pack as what you’re missing then is critical chance that’s what runes of the pack are for.

As for the skills: It depends what you want to do actually, if going for mostly 1vs1 basilisk venom is your best bet, except when fighting against rangers, condi thieves or engis – for that daggerstorm is the best elite. I wouldn’t go for thieves guild, I only use that elite in a few dungeons/fractals. otherwise the skills seem solid and your combo does as well.

note that I’m a wvw player – I don’t know too much about pvp

Thanks for the advice guys.
One solution i found to replace runes of pack was runes of str + sigil of accuracy. i thought about it really hard, because its not cheap to salvage full zerker armor. so i hope i made a good decision.

Anyways i tried d/p with the same traits, because i saw it on the Metabattle page and it doesnt feel the same. Black Power + Heart seeker take too much Initiative to stealth and then i feel kind of lost. is it because i started of with d/d and its not the same playstyle? or whats a good combo for d/p?

Here I have 2 videos just to show how I am doing and ill like some feedback please.

I seen some thieves taking over thieves with so much easy with d/d or doing really high damage but I cant seen to do that. They can hit around 8k-11k while im just doing around 4k-7k and a few times 8k. So what am I doing wrong or what should i be doing? Also in the past i had some thiefs take me out really quick with d/d bursting when i was playing warrior but now that im playing thief d/d its not the same and warriors seen kind of dangerous lol. My respect to those individuals! whats the best way to deal with warriors? because the steal ability i get from them seems kind of useless as it leaves while open or when should i use it.

darkaheart.4265:

Thanks for the advice guys.
One solution i found to replace runes of pack was runes of str + sigil of accuracy. i thought about it really hard, because its not cheap to salvage full zerker armor. so i hope i made a good decision.

Weren’t you using runes of strength? and what did you salvage and why?

darkaheart.4265:

Anyways i tried d/p with the same traits, because i saw it on the Metabattle page and it doesnt feel the same.
[…]
I seen some thieves taking over thieves with so much easy with d/d or doing really high damage but I cant seen to do that.

May I say it? Yeah I say it: The meta battle thief dagger mainhand builds are kitten.
And in fact I just explained to you why your damage isn’t that high.

darkaheart.4265:

IAlso in the past i had some thiefs take me out really quick with d/d bursting when i was playing warrior but now that im playing thief d/d its not the same and warriors seen kind of dangerous lol.

Evade their attacks, try to not get locked/stunned.
Their steal ability is great if they’re attacking you with longbow, otherwise you could use it with Basilisk Venom, they’ll get the (nearly) full hit of it.

Edit: D/D thief is the hardest class and build to play in this game, so be patient.

I saw your video (the part where it was 1st day especially) and i noticed at some point that your opponent was at 1/3rd of its hp, and you retreat. IF at that point, when he was close to you, you would have used caltrops (with dodging) you could have kept the pressure up (bleeds), jump right back in and do a combo to try to finish him off.

Like i said, you have to anticipate a bit (when possible) when an enemy wants to come close, at that point pressure him and evade. There is nothing more annoying then someone pressuring you till you make a mistake.

I’d use BV over daggerstorm unless you can see the reflection and stability as being necessary or very helpful against a target, such as a necromancer or ranger (and even against rangers, BV is incredibly nice).

I can’t recommend Executioner on D/D unless you plan on playing a swap-based sigil of intelligence build to secure backstab crits (I have this build posted on the “Show your build” thread somewhere, but I don’t recommend new players or even most players using this). Use HK on D/D because you’re going to need to land those crits and know you’re going to land those crits. Executioner only really helps against squishies where CnD can bring them to half, in which case a stab from HK without the bonus damage would be enough to easily kill them, anyways. The HK bonus helps you take down heavies and more durable targets both easier and more reliably.

I’d drop Signet Use for Practiced Tolerance. The extra vitality will help you a lot more than a 6 second cooldown reduction/1 initiative bonus.

The reason you’re not easily melting tankier builds simply is because in order to do so, you need to commit more into the Deadly Arts line. With Mug, a Steal + CnD will net you similar damage to the backstab crit. Additionally, there are plenty of other damage modifiers in the Deadly Arts trait line paired with the additional power it grants to help make your hits substantially more impactful. You’re losing about 27% damage from not using the Deadly Arts line.

Thieves with an excessive amount of damage usually play signets and don’t use Shadow Arts. The cost to get huge numbers pretty much means you cannot enter a fight with utility skills available and have very limited to no access to defensive boons, condition cleansing, etc.

Valkyrie armor parts will help a little further, as that also bolsters damage coming from food buffs, as vitality gets converted into power, and Valkyrie doesn’t drop your ferocity and HK can accommodate for the lower crit chance.

Generally speaking, unless you’re playing signets, you’re not killing warriors/guards (unless they have no CD’s/are unprepared) before they get the chance to react. The trade-off for playing signets, as mentioned, however, is enormous in that you do not have access to condition cleansing, any extra defenses, stunbreaks, or general utility effects and (until the trait rework) will have strictly less health from being largely unable to use Practiced Tolerance.

As a small side note, if you’re playing sPvP, do not bother with D/D. It is arguably the weakest set of skills currently available in sPvP, and yes, that includes things like A/F necromancer or P/P engineer. D/D is strictly bad in sPvP due to the current status of the dominant play strategies and severe nerfs to the damage from CnD, while also offering no support or utility aside from the cripple, which is nothing compared to spammable ranged dazes and blindfields, gap closers, etc. offered in D/P).

Since you mention it only being your first and third day playing. You are doing pretty okay.

My main tip would be, don’t burn your endurance so easily. Especially against hammer warriors, you need to be able to dodge. Yet you throw your dodges as soon as they are up. Leaving you open for the stun chain.

Don’t worry about warriors though, warriors and medi guardians can be very tough opponents for thieves. Practice what to dodge and what to interrupt/blind. D/P relies on blinds!

And as mentioned by others, D/D is hardmode. And those hard hitting ones are most likely running 6/6/2/0/0 variations. Giving up almost all utility to hit as hard.

Just keep having fun with the thief and try to learn from every defeat. And soon you’ll beat those pesky cheese mode warriors.

Puz.8529:

And those hard hitting ones are most likely running 6/6/2/0/0 variations. Giving up almost all utility to hit as hard.

Don’t underestimate might with runes of strength.
I’m running 06620 (not recommended) with sigil of bloodlust on my second dagger (again not recommended) and have wvw guard stacks. I don’t use sigils, except sigil of shadow (again not recommended).
I usually hit a medium armor geared person for around 7,5-9,5 k. Warriors and most guards get hit for 6-8k, I recently hit a guard for 9,5k, several times actually, that guy was pretty mad. Squishies are hit for 8,5-11k – all of these are pure backstabs without my sigil of fire which also triggers from time to time. Even without any stacks, or against rather tanky players, my hits are usually around 7,5 k.

Edit: Also don’t forget food/sharpening stones.
Btw: I also have another thief who’s got ascended zerker armor with runes of the pack, exact same setup, one dagger fire, the other air, and he hits for ~2k or more less.

A 5/6/0/0/3 signets or slower stab variant using 6/6/2/0/0 will deal 50% to 100% more damage. With my current build, anything below 12k on a heavy implies soldiers gear or protection. I do not use fire/air because they detract from player skill and cannot be considered as reliable enough damage despite being clearly the best sigils in the game by a very large margain.

Well, first of all, HOW DID YOU LEVEL UP THAT FAST?!! Ok, now that that’s over with, I think it is because your survivability stinks. You should probably stick to the Shadow Arts trait line to help with that.

You should do less critical strikes more acrobatics.

thunderfall.8095:

Well, first of all, HOW DID YOU LEVEL UP THAT FAST?!!.

I level up with Experience Scroll and Tomes of Knowledge

Well how did you get that many? Sorry if I am in awe as I am newer character at LV 50.

They are fairly easy to accumulate from time spent in sPvP and as daily login reward chests. They are also given from AP rewards, and can drop from various loot bags.