Guild Wars 2

As the title says, i have just reached level 80. And this is my first thief(not to mention character in gw2) to make it this far. I have looked for guidance, talked with ppl. but still nothing 100% as where to go next. First of all i am interested mostly in PvE (i know not the thief`s speciality). . . but it`s doable, from what i`ve heard. I haven`t done many dungeons, so my gear is basic. So any of you out there doing the same thing, and willing to share some advice? I would like to know what traits are best (acrobatics? trickery?) and why? What weapons should i use (i like to do some variety here, i know P/P is best for dungeons but i get bored fast of the same wep. type). And what skills? (uitility, elite) also why? And for last: what gear i should buy? I have 45 jugs of karma, and another 24k on me. . . so should i go for arah karma vendors. and pick the armor, with best attributes? I don`t have money for Tier 3 armor, nor to buy from Black Lion Trading Post. Also what is important for PvE? Power? Toughness? Precision? This would be it. I would appreciate it if you have some thoughts in plus. Thank you in advance!

lets start with the weapon set, D/D S/P S/D and SB are all viable, and main hand sword is one of our best PvE weapons. as far as gear, can you at least afford a set of green gear off the TP? should be very cheap, and it is a good way to get started until you can afford rares/exotics through dungeon tokens/trading post. if you can’t, go to lost shores and mine the rich orichalcum node near the champion karka using shadow refuge and one other stealth ability. that should give you enough for greens. the best sets depends on how you play. you can survive full berserker, but that requires enough experience in dungeons that you don’t make mistakes very often at all. survivability is key in dungeons, so knights,valkyrie and soldier gear is all nice to help out direct damage builds. mixing in valkyrie jewelry with berserker armor and weapons gives you enough health to take a hit or two and live, while keeping your damage high. if you want to go with condition damage carrion is a great option. as far as builds, I would recommend 20 points in acrobatics for most builds. the extra health and dodging ability is priceless.

the big question is what weapons/play style you like though. give us that to work with and it will be a lot easier to give you an armor set/weapon combination and starting build that you are likely to enjoy and find success with.

Good advice from Gungnir. Most weapon loadouts are pretty close to the same damage output (from my preliminary testing) D/D Backstab and P/P being the highest and S/P Pistol Whip being lowest.

S/D and S/P are pretty stable choices. S/D gives you stealth and agro control, S/P gives Evasion for face tanking. Sword is frontal AoE for nice group damage and respectable single target damage. Sword also gives you a very nice condition removal.

D/D Conditions is nice to throw on your damage and run away, quite effective. Synergizes well with Acrobatics and Caltrops traits.

D/D Backstab and P/P are mostly single target damage, quite good in some situations.

D/P is a more challenging play style if you want maximum damage, also lower on DPS.

P/D is middle of the road damage wise but gives you some stealth and synergizes well with a ‘tanky’ build.

Shortbow is a great secondary weapon.

Traits, these need to be tailored to your weapons and what you want to do. Some favorites for me are Acrobatics 15, Trickery 15 and III, Shadow Arts IV, V, VI and XI, Critical Strikes 15 and XI or XII but it depends on your weapons.

Skills for dungeons.. Shadow Refuge is a staple for me. Other favorites depending on spec and weapons are Blinding Powder, Roll for Initiative, Thieves Guild, Shadow Step and Signet of Agility. Signet of Shadows is always nice but not as useful in dungeons.

As Gun said get yourself gear for your Build. Carrion for D/D Conditions or P/D. I prefer a mix of Valkyrie and Berserkers for direct damage builds. I like a large health pool so I’m always looking for Vitality. Get youself Greens or Yellows if you can afford um. For probably 4 gold you could have a nice yellow set of armor and green accessories. Power/Tough/Vit from Karma is decent to start also. Get Exotic weapons as soon as possible, buy them off the TP or using dungeon tokens. AC and CoF are easy to get tokens out of.

This class is fun and viable in PvE, just stay alive>DPS

GL
Blood~

Thank you for your useful, and prompt answers! You help me a lot! Well I pretty much like D/D for the high DPS. . . I would like something like Burst DPS, kill the enemy before he kills me. . . as for secondary, i leveled up with P/P. i like it, don`t get me wrong, but i would like a change of phase, and i am really into SB. . . I would like to be able to change them, if i can. I am not really into S/P – S/D – D/P and that kind of combination, because i can`t really play effectively with them, and i haven`t seen much ppl. with them, but i would be open to try it out. I will make some money and buy gear, but shouldn`t i spend some of the karma? is it really not worth buying gear from karma vendors?

p.s. Until now i`ve played buff/heal classes, this time i wanted something new… straightforward. so in dungeons if i can`t really help them by healing, buffing, i would like to help my mates by DPS-ing as hell. I`ve also heard about a stuff that thief can bring to the party. like the mobs start with 25% less HP, or something like that. Is that true? How can I do that?

the problem with karma gear is that it can be hard to get the stats you need on it for every piece without traveling everywhere. except for the power/toughness/vit from the WvW vendors. D/D is fine if you enjoy it, but short bow would probably give you better performance with it than dual pistols, since it will give you a source of AoE.I would start off with something like 0/30/10/20/10 and berserker armor/weapons with valkyrie acessories. you can then tailor the build and your gear more to your tastes.
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mckzzc9cMFLnoMFLno0xaGazoqVMRV
just as an idea to start with.

as far as the mobs start with 25% less hp thing, our opening burst is insane. on non boss enemies we can quickly burst for massive amounts with cluster bomb and back stab, softening the enemies before the rest of the team gets set up a lot of the time. not to say the burst is less on bosses, just less noticeable.

WoW, thanks dude… really! Im off doing just what you suggested.