Guild Wars 2

Hi guys
I wanted to know what do you think about this build that I have come up with for WvW Roaming and PvE

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQNAqaVlYmiO3dS5E95Ex2je+Te6p4ritTBXtKA-jkyAYLioRCCERAkSAk9KiGbfoIasqFMVpisyNoejFNLEguxA-w

The build doesn’t use Stealth, yet, I’m still testing this in WvW and if I see that is needed, i’ll take Quick Recovery and add 5 points in Shadow Arts for the minor trait and use Hide in Shadows for heal. I prever Withdraw right now because with this build I need to maintain movement and criple my foes as much times as I can to maintain distance. In PvE I’m almost 100% sure that will work even without testing it.

Hope you guys can help with suggestions to get the build better

I don’t play too much WvW, so looking at this build from a PvE perspective: it is about exactly what I’m running atm. There are some things that I want to note tough:

1. Why not take Pistol Mastery over Ankle Shots? I think the cripple on a 30-sec cooldown isn’t worth it for me when you could have 10% additional dmg. Besides, your 3 dodges spawn caltrops that cripple as well.

2. Why take Superior Sigil of Peril on your main hand pistol? The only vulnerability (Body Shot) probably isn’t affected by the sigil since the duration is so short. Superior Sigil of Air, Fire, Strength, Rage or even Water, Ice, Geomancy, Earth seem better options. Earth even seems a good option since you have some condition dmg.

Again: I’m looking at this from a PvE perspective, so your choices might make sense in WvW. Overall a good build Cheers.

I’ve been playing with a very similar build in PVE, I’ve found a sigil of purity in one of my pistol to be a pretty good source of condition removal as that one thing this build/style really lacks. Here is what I’m running. Like I said its very similar, not sure how it would preform in WvW I haven’t tried it yet. To me it has been more of a “screw it, I wanna be a gunslinger” PVE build

I play a 100% ranged Thief too. I used to WvW on a regular basis running in a 15-20 man guild group. Basically, ran with Shortbow spamming blast finishers as much as possible, switching the P/P only to finish off people and runners. Dagger Storm is also very nice in zergs.

This is the build I use for large groups, with support buffing from the Trickery line.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQNAqaVlYmaOHcS6E+5Ex2DgmTe6pgsjtTRUtKA-j0CBYLCiEFQkFgEBAZPFRjtqpIasqFYKXER1WzCRW0p2bATIAdjBA-w

For roaming, I go with this. Stealth is just too useful.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQNAqaVlUmaOHcS3E95Ex2DgmTe6p4rjtTRUtKA-j0CBYLCiEFQkFgEBAZPFRjtqpIasqFYKXER1WzCRW0p2bATIAdjBA-w

With open world PvE, again I just swap out a few things. I am however wanting to focus more on PvE, and thinking about swapping my PVT armor for Berserkers.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQNAqaVlcmaOHcS3E95Ex2DgmTe6p4rktTxVtKA-j0CBYLCiEFQkFgEBAZPFRjtqpIasqFYKXER1WzCRW0p2bATIAdjBA-w

I will have to consider Sigil of Purity/Generosity for handling conditions. It would allow to me to free up a utility skill.

Still wishing for a trait to get us 1200 range on P/P and/or Shortbow. (Crosses fingers)
-Cowboy

mPascoal.4258:

Hi guys
I wanted to know what do you think about this build that I have come up with for WvW Roaming and PvE

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQNAqaVlYmiO3dS5E95Ex2je+Te6p4ritTBXtKA-jkyAYLioRCCERAkSAk9KiGbfoIasqFMVpisyNoejFNLEguxA-w

The build doesn’t use Stealth, yet, I’m still testing this in WvW and if I see that is needed, i’ll take Quick Recovery and add 5 points in Shadow Arts for the minor trait and use Hide in Shadows for heal. I prever Withdraw right now because with this build I need to maintain movement and criple my foes as much times as I can to maintain distance. In PvE I’m almost 100% sure that will work even without testing it.

Hope you guys can help with suggestions to get the build better

Seems like a pretty solid start. You’re going to have a tough time against skilled WvW roamers, especially those with heavy condition builds or some of the higher damage-dealing regen builds out there (like warriors), but your damage and mobility will be good enough to let you pick fights on your own terms.

As initiative-hungry as p/p and shortbow are, I still don’t think you really need to go 20 deep in Trickery. Ricochet is not all that great, even after the recent buff, and the extra max initiative is only helpful at the start of a fight. I’d leave 10 in Trickery and move the other 10 to go 30 deep in Acrobatics. The extra 10% damage from Fluid Strikes is awesome if you manage your endurance well, and you have some great options for your grandmaster trait (plus the extra vitality is nice). Quick Pockets would probably be your best bet so you can keep switching back and forth between the steady dps from your guns to the poison from your shortbow to wear people down and prevent their healing. I’m also a huge fan of Pain Response… it’s saved my life a ridiculous amount of times.

Stealth would not be necessary with this type of build.

TeamBattleAxe knows what he’s talking about. I’ve seen a handful of his P/P videos, and he has pulled off some really impressive plays. If you can’t tell from his description, he recommends and plays 10/30/0/30/0.

That being said, I have had great success with a 0/30/0/20/20 build, but you’re missing one of the key traits: Thrill of the Crime. The idea is that you open up with using a little initiative, then steal for the might/fury/swiftness buffs and extra initiative. When you couple Thrill of the Crime with Furious Retaliation, you can get 24/30seconds uptime on Fury. In my opinion, it makes up for losing Fluid Strikes.

As aside, I actually hate the idea of Fluid Strikes. There will be situations where you don’t need to dodge, and yet, you’ll want to in order to pump up your damage by 10%. Dodging should, in my opinion, be used defensively exclusively. It’s why I had to stop running a Inertia build (2 Runes of Strength/Fire/Hoelbrak for 60% Might duration). Getting two stacks of might on dodge (food buff), and having them last long enough to perpetuate ~8-9 stacks of Might (more with Sigil of Strength), was good, but dodging offensively often leads to getting hit by a key attack that will lead to your death.

While Preparedness (increased Ini pool) only helps at the begining of a fight, Kleptomaniac (Stealing gives Ini), gives a burst of Initiative regen. If you Steal on cooldown (which you should be to proc Thrill of the Hunt), you get roughly 1ini/10sec: the same as Infiltrator’s Signet.

I find it hard to give up Ricochet. Yeah, it’s a useless trait in a 1v1 scenario. Got it. But when soloing camps, small scale skirmishing, or even Zerg vs Zerg, Ricochet really pumps up your damage. Pumping out constant Unloads can chunk one person, add half pain to a second, and then a third target gets even more pressure added to him (for reference, the first guy would take 8k, second 4k, and third 2k [more or less depending on RNG]).

I’ve been really enjoying P/P for WvW. You can really surprise people with the Unload damage.

P/P is fun, to be sure, but you have to play it with a certain mindset, or you will get yourself killed.

I tend to run a spec more similar to Vecuu’s (swap Ricochet for Bountiful against boon-heavy targets, I also keep Quick Recovery in my Acro tree). At the same time, I’m not at all adverse to TeamBattleAxe’s version. I definitely agree with his mention that one does not require Stealth with this kind of build. Hell, it’s more fun, stealth-less.

Thanks guys, I have really good replys here, I think I have enough to continue with getting better with this style and try to get something more “unique” for me.
I really like this play style of P/P, it feels really like a Gunslinger, a class that I never played much in MMO but would like to see it more in MMo, and since Engi isn’t all that great with P/P I decided to try Thief. I still like combos with Dagger, I just want to try something new and effective in my play styles (PvE mainly and WvW Roaming for PvP, sPvP will be later)

About PvP, Thief in sPvP is the P/P style effective? Not with this builds