Guild Wars 2

Thanks for the sticky! this is a good idea.

Here’s my sPvP build:

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#3|3|2642|3468|3997|6677|4485|10|1738|0|0|30|1195|1726|1196|20|2384|746|0|0|0|0|0|10|786|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

I use Dagger+Dagger and Shortbow for weapons here. This is a Backstab burst damage build primarily. Quickly kills single targets, then falls back and lurks for another opportunity to set up a backstab kill. Shortbow for point capping and map movement. daggers for the stabby stabby.

and here’s my PvE build:

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#19|0|2642|8743|6680|3906|4485|30|1142|1714|1708|0|0|0|0|30|2384|2387|785|0|0|0|0|10|2358|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

Venomous Aura Shortbow build. The main group role this build performs is offensive support and team-mate reviving. The damage here is not the greatest, but its actually still pretty respectable in fights against multiple targets. It only really suffers noticeably against single big targets. I usually switch to melee (usually with Dagger+Dagger) against single opponents for this reason.

Excellent idea, I can’t post a link as I’m at work, but I run
20 deadly arts
20 critical strikes
15 shadow arts
0 acrobatics
15 trickery

This build is center around doing damage while having some survivability, most of the damage comes from backstabs. The 20 points in deadly arts picks up Mug and the 5% extra damage from daggers, the critical strikes line picks up initiative return on critical hits, shadow arts 15 pts for the 1 extra second on stealth moves, and the trait to return 2 initiative while using stealth moves, trickery 15 points for the extra 3 initiative, and I pick up for the thrill of the crime, for might and swiftness on steal.

I run D/D and shortbow and in WvW I am easily able to harass large enemy zergs, to lead them into traps, as well as take on multiple stragglers from Zerg groups.

My Utility skills are roll for initiative (amazing for gaining space after haste and initiative back, haste for quick burst, and the last one switches of its WvW or PVE I run shadows signet. In SPVP I take blinding powder.

Damage is great and backstabs put out some good damage, and the survivability is strong as well.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/45902-lowells-ultimate-spvp-thief-guide-wip/

Thought it might be appropriate to give Lowell’s builds guide a bump here. It’s primarily sPvP focused, but there’s a ton of good info that’s transferable to any style of play.

Changed my whole outlook on the class, and a pretty funny read, imo.

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#10|3|3537|2645|2788|3906|4989|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|30|2199|2387|785|20|1165|1695|0|20|782|1740|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

I love this build. I feel like it has a healthy amount of sustained damage with even more survivability.

Damage primarily comes from bleed – Caltrops and Sneak Attack, mostly. I mostly do three actions: Dodge, Cloak and Dagger, and Sneak Attack. Both Dodging and entering Stealth from C&D grant Might stacks (Acro 10, Shadow Arts 25), and these add up over time – it’s not unusual for me to hit 10 stacks of Might in no time!

Survivability comes from Signet of Malice, Assassin’s Reward (Acro 20), and Leeching Venoms (Shadow 20). The attacks in this build come in frequently with multiple hits, which makes Malice a great choice – Sneak Attack hits for 5 shots at once, and Caltrops ticks multiple times over its lifespan. (I’m not entirely sure if caltrops created by dodging do this, but I know that the slot skill caltrops do.) Assassin’s Reward is a nice bonus when C&D hits, and Leeching Venoms is just a great skill for survivability. Triggering a venom on Sneak Attack with Signet of Malice makes for a great ad hoc burst self-heal.

In addition to the constant healing, I’m able to dodge regularly with both Feline Grace (Acro 15) and Vigor from Bountiful Theft (Trickery 20). The healing just takes care of what even gets through in the first place.

Sustainability in regards to resource management comes from Vigor from stealing (Trickery 20) for all the semi-regular dodging I do with this build, and the only initiative-using skill I tend to use is Cloak and Dagger, which refunds 2 initiative when I hit (Shadow Arts 10).

Long story short, I’m hard to kill and I become more threatening over time.

I haven’t tried this build in PvP yet, actually, but that’s just because I’ve been PvEing a lot with friends lately. I’ll try it out there and see if it works there, too. (I have my doubts because some key skills to the build are easily dodgeable.)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAoaVlYmKPney9E95EBPjiiUvHkdsmt/AXB

I don’t know why it works, it just does. The caltrops, daggerstorm and my pistol’s auto attack make for a great bunch of bleeds on the enemy. Other than that, I just switch around my second and third utility skills depending on the situation. I also dodge a lot and have traited steal to be very very good.

D/P Blind Build http://cl.ly/3t0X1H3L030E

sPvP/WvW build, with (obviously) some minor trait/utility tweaks as needed based on the format or team. It’s a blind heavy build focused mostly on denying hits and getting backstabs off where appropriate. Roamer role for tPvP.

Options:

• Swapping Quick Recovery for Pain Response is an option
• Blinding Powder or Shadow Refuge (depends on your preference)
• One of the Signets for Roll for Initiative (stun breaker)
• Whichever heal you like the most (I pref. HiS for the opportunity to backstab and target break)

Weapon sets:
Dagger/Dagger
Pistol/Pistol (PvE)
Short bow (WvW)

Heal Skill:
Signet of Malice
Passive: Gains health when you attack. (100 with 0 healing power.)
Active: Healing 3,275 (15 second cool down, 12 with Signet Use trait.)

Utility Skills:
Roll for Initiative (Evade backward to regenerate initiative and recover from crippled, chilled, and immobile.) (Breaks Stun, Initiative gain 6)
Signet of Shadows (Passive: +25% increase in movement speed. Active: Blind foes near your target.)
Blinding Powder (Blind foes in target area and grant stealth to nearby allies)

Elite Skill:
Dagger Storm (Spin around reflecting projectiles and throwing daggers that cripple and bleed nearby foes. You can move while spinning.)

Trait points:
Deadly Arts 10 points
Critical Strikes 25 points
Shadow Arts 0 points
Acrobatics 20 points
Trickery 15 points

Major Traits:
Sundering Strikes (40% chance to inflict vulnerability on critical, 1 second cool down)
Practiced Tolerance (5% of precision is converted to vitality)
Signet Use (gain 2 initiative when activating a signet. reduces signet recharge by 20%)
Power of Inertia (gain might whenever you dodge)
Assassin’s Reward (heal yourself when ever you use a skill that uses initiative. heal yourself for each point of initiative used)
Flanking Strikes (deal 5% extra damage when attacking a foe from behind or the side)

As for play style in PvE I usually find myself acting like a cat playing with their food before eating it. Try to use Death Blossom as a dodge when you’re against multiple foes. A good use of Dancing Dagger is to make them group up so you can mow them down. Cloak and Dagger then Backstab for the champions you’re gonna fight. Blinding Powder is for getting away or setting up a Backstab when low on initiative. Don’t worry about using all of your initiative you have 15 instead of 12 from Preparedness and a ton of initiative gain.

Initiative gain: any signet 2, roll for initiative 6, stealing (Kleptomaniac) 3, and Opportunist (20% chance on critical) 1.

Lyrsen.6702:

Weapon sets:
Dagger/Dagger
Pistol/Pistol (PvE)
Short bow (WvW)

Heal Skill:
Signet of Malice
Passive: Gains health when you attack. (100 with 0 healing power.)
Active: Healing 3,275 (15 second cool down, 12 with Signet Use trait.)

Utility Skills:
Roll for Initiative (Evade backward to regenerate initiative and recover from crippled, chilled, and immobile.) (Breaks Stun, Initiative gain 6)
Signet of Shadows (Passive: +25% increase in movement speed. Active: Blind foes near your target.)
Blinding Powder (Blind foes in target area and grant stealth to nearby allies)

Elite Skill:
Dagger Storm (Spin around reflecting projectiles and throwing daggers that cripple and bleed nearby foes. You can move while spinning.)

Trait points:
Deadly Arts 10 points
Critical Strikes 25 points
Shadow Arts 0 points
Acrobatics 20 points
Trickery 15 points

Major Traits:
Sundering Strikes (40% chance to inflict vulnerability on critical, 1 second cool down)
Practiced Tolerance (5% of precision is converted to vitality)
Signet Use (gain 2 initiative when activating a signet. reduces signet recharge by 20%)
Power of Inertia (gain might whenever you dodge)
Assassin’s Reward (heal yourself when ever you use a skill that uses initiative. heal yourself for each point of initiative used)
Flanking Strikes (deal 5% extra damage when attacking a foe from behind or the side)

As for play style in PvE I usually find myself acting like a cat playing with their food before eating it. Try to use Death Blossom as a dodge when you’re against multiple foes. A good use of Dancing Dagger is to make them group up so you can mow them down. Cloak and Dagger then Backstab for the champions you’re gonna fight. Blinding Powder is for getting away or setting up a Backstab when low on initiative. Don’t worry about using all of your initiative you have 15 instead of 12 from Preparedness and a ton of initiative gain.

Initiative gain: any signet 2, roll for initiative 6, stealing (Kleptomaniac) 3, and Opportunist (20% chance on critical) 1.

This is a great post, lots of good info here,
i do things in much the same way apart from a few tweeks,
i go higher into deadly arts to get lotus poison, and i use caltrops most of the time … when you have a big pack of mobs you are kiting with dancing dagger stick caltrops on them soon as they are bunched up, caltrops will proc heals from signet of malice=) this little gem has saved me countless times.

also, sigil of speed on one of your daggers… as the mobs drop your swiftness duration stacks up nicely somtime i finish a fight with 25 seconds pluss of swiftness … keeps you ahead nicely.

I have 2 ultra mitigation builds designed as variants of the full offensive burst and bleed builds for sPVP. I call it the superthief because he is ridiculously durable and deadly still.

I’m using the sword/pistol & dagger/pistol burst version for tournament. We’re looking at 20 critical strikes: signets of power for 5 stacks might/5 seconds on signet activation, and signet use for 20% faster reset & 2 initiative gain on signet use

20 shadow arts, for shadow protector, giving me and teammates 5 sec regen boon on my stealth effect with shadow refuge. And hidden thief to stealth during steal, allowing for the regen boon, and a great benefit to both escape situations and pistol whip attack setup

20 acrobatics – going with power of inertia to gain might on every dodge and assassin’s reward for added passive healing, what makes the superthief tick. Option I can change to trait 3 to gain vigor on heal if I need to go more defensive/mobile and use heal to up my dodging and speed instead of keeping the passive heal up all the time

10 trickery – thrill of the crime to add more boons during steal for me and my team, and make steal an initiative regain

Signet of malice makes this build work. Ideally keep it on passive or else the only option is to run and hide or finish the opponent for 12 seconds. Pistol whip, dagger storm, are both quick heal buttons with this overall setup due to the high number of strikes that multiplies the more targets you can land it on.

Slots are shadow refuge for team revives and survival boost, signet of agility to let me dodge for swiftness while moving between conflict points and give more precision while passive, infiltrator’s signet 1 initiative regain/10 sec which activates as a stun break/shadow step to target. Dagger storm finishes it off as a tool for dealing with being swarmed by enemies or illusions/pets thanks to massive heal.

The key to this build has been balanced stats. Runes are divinity for all 6, +12% critical damage, +60 every stat. This enables me to be lethal and terribly hard to down much less catch. It’s viable either with berserker or celestial, there is more condition damage but less critical synergy without berserker so it fits a dagger/dagger alt set

In the main set I have sigil of rage which gives quickness for some random burst, great for finishing when it happens at the right time. Sigil of superior blood is 30% chance to life steal on critical for more damage mitigation

Off set can be used to sprint with heart seeker and do black powder/heart seeker combo to gain stealth and shadow protector regen.

http://is.gd/O9JEos via gw2 skills

Here is the alternate version, using maximum hybridization while using all 3 special heal tactics in the thief skill set- assassin’s reward, signet of malice, and Shadow protector/shadow rejuvenation. Blinding powder, shadow refuge, and roll for initiative round out the build. Dagger storm including for combo in shadow refuge and standalone high heals on signet of malice. Shortbow for weakness combo and evading/fleeing options, plus cluster bomb detonate provides a lot of signet of malice heal as well. still undecided on perfect hybrid stats for it but this is the best mix that fits the strengths I have found. Moving the 20 points to critical instead of trickery leans away from support into lethality and works awesome with dagger pistol instead of shortbow alternate
[have to directly copy and paste links for gw2skills forum calls it a bad link]

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAsYVlcmiP3dy9E+5EB3Dm60m6pgsjtTxV1KA;TwAg0Cvouxcj4G7Nubk3syYIyeiZGA

this is mine:
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#3|3|2642|3997|3361|8743|4485|10|1143|0|0|30|1731|1190|1728|30|2384|2199|750|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
It’s lot of burst from backstab and enter fast in stealth to compensate low survivability

0
30
0
25
15

Runes of the Thief on armor. Soldier’s Amulet w/ Berserker’s Jewel.

Sigil of Frailty on Sword. Sigil of Strength on Pistol. Gives chances to build Might and to apply Vulnerability on crits.

Offset is Dual Pistols, Ice Sigils but this set can be open to whatever Sigil choice you want. Can be replaced with Shortbow if you want extra mobility.

General overview is here . It has the utility set up for a Pistol Whip burst but it actually does a lot more of it’s damage through Infiltrator’s Strike and the various bonuses we get from dodging and attacking positionally.

To wit:

- Power of Inertia (Dodging stacks Might)
- Fluid Strikes (10% damage increase is Endurance isn’t full)
- Executioner (20% damage increase when enemy is at half health)
- Side Strike (7% Crit chance increase when attacking from the side or behind)
- Rune of the Thief (10 damage increase when attacking from the side of behind)
- First Strikes (10% damage increase when Initiative is over six)

Defensively, dodging gives some Initiative back, drops caltrops, and gives swiftness. Stealing gives Initiative back and our pool is increased by three passively. Helps with First Strikes.

In depth analysis is here . With suggested rune changes, potential weapon set substitutions, and minor trait changes. Main suggestion is to have the 10 slot in Crit. Strikes use Side Strike and then have the 20 use Critical Haste. It works well, considering our higher precision and crit chance.

The build is about dodging and picking your targets well. Vitality is high, toughness is low (barring some changes to runes). The Venom, Haste, PW use should really only be for emergencies or for burning high priority targets. It’s not really something to be spammed since we can do enough damage with our other bonuses and have a decent uptime if we use dodging and Infiltrator’s Strike/Shadow Return to our advantage.

Here’s mine.

Theres a gameplay video with my build including a guide with skill setup and trait tree. The link is in the youtube video.

//Skov

WvW focused build: Power/Vit/Crit Damage backstab-focused. D/D

30 CS – Traits: Furious Retaliation; Signet Use/Critical haste depending on how I feel; Hidden Killer

20 SA – Traits: Shadow’s Embrace; Hidden Thief

20 Acro – Traits: Fleet Shadow; Fleet of Foot

Healing/Utilities: Withdraw; Assassin’s Signet; Shadow Refuge; Smoke Screen

My take on it’s effectiveness:

Thieves in WvW imo need to focus on mobility and trickery. Fleet Shadows for easier backstabs and fleet of foot removes cripples that occur sokittenmuch in wvw.

Shadows Embrace I’ve found is invaluable. The first tick of cond removal ocurrs as soon as you stealth. Which means with meld with shadows you can remove 2 conditions while in stealth. Considering how much this build relies on stealth conditions are virtually a non-factor for me. The loss of infusion of shadow does suck but I’ve found the base ini regen rate is still manageable – I just have to dodge around more if I’ve initiative-dumped which I don’t really tend to do. The cond removal is just too valuable with all the bleeds/poisons/burns going around in wvw.

Having taken shadows embrace to remove cond damage I’ve taken withdraw for my heal. For a 1500 reduction in healing I can heal twice as often with an evade/gap creator and remove the annoying mobility conditions like chill and immobilize. Really effective against bola/hundred blade spamming scrubs.

Assassins signet is obvious – I can crit softies for 10-14k with it popped depending on toughness/orbs. Shadows refuge is sooo amazing I cant live without it. Its what lets me pop a softie in a zerg and get away with it; great for survival too, only have to worry about aoes while in it and the stealth lasts up to 15 secs as long as you stay in the refuge zone – really handy in messing with people in 2/3v1s. Smoke screen Ilove because its a 30 sec stealth cooldown (combos with heartseek for a 3 sec stealth – and heartseeker actually hits while the stealth is activated, kinda like a ghetto mug. Also a 7 sec blind if I decide to stay inside it and a basic invulnerability against ranged single-target skills. Also good for disengaging. Elite is Thieves guild – self explanatory.

Gear build is valkyrie set for the power/vit/crit damage. Socketed divinity runes. Consumables are orrian steak frittes for +100 power/vit and sharpening stone for even more power. So I’m maxed on power with a secondary on vitality. Crit damage multiplier is through the roof too which synergizes well with hidden killer. I’m only sitting at 20% base crit chance but with furious retaliation that puts me at 40% when my target is below 50%. Not too useful in 1v1s but great synergies in 2 vs 1. HP is 20k+ depending on orb status. Only around 1000 toughness but I focus on evasion as my defense with my high hp pool as a backup. IMO best stat setup for wvw – full berserker is just not worth it.

backstab builds all the way

Hello everyone. This is my current build, dont know if it s good but i d like you to get a look and tell me if it s bad or not. I only play a while thief and i am not that experienced.
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#2|3|2642|3906|6677|4004|11435|30|1142|1714|1708|30|1195|1193|1728|10|2199|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|3|10|0|28016|28016|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0| I pop Devourer and Skale venom & start with Infiltrator s Strike to get close to my target, make some auto attacks, use flanking strike then use shadow return and switch weapons. Then i pop Basilisk Venom, use Shadow Shot to get close to my target again, Haste and spam HeartSeeker and auto attacks.

I posted this in another thread just now, but I’ll put it here anyway.

Dagger+Dagger/Shortbow

0/0/20/30/20

Shadow Arts: Infusion of Shadow, Patience
Acrobatics: Power of Inertia, Pain Response, Quick Recovery
Trickery: Uncatchable, Trickster

Runes: Rune of the Undead 6/6

Sigils: Sigil of Agony 2/2+1/1

Utility Skills: Roll For Initiative, Caltrops, Signet of Shadows

Elite Skills: Dagger Storm, Thieves Guild (situationally)

This build is ALL condition damage, and relies on constant movement/evading/Death Blossom to avoid damage and prolong fights for as long as possible.

Very few classes can compete with the longevity of this build.

Roll For Initiative is the only stun break I need. Enjoy getting all of your initiative back while dodging far enough away from your opponent that their 4s Quickness ability is used up.

Every dodge you perform gives you a 20 (twenty, yes, twenty) second duration stack of Might. I’ve managed to get upwards of 7 (yes, seven) stacks of Might in the heat of combat, which means improved Condition damage.

If your endurance is not full, you’re getting a passive 10% damage bonus via the Acrobatics line. This does not apply to bleeds to my knowledge, only direct damage. This means that you should be dodging 100% of the time if you do not have the initiative to use Death Blossom, or if your endurance bar is full. Do not allow your endurance bar to fill up.

Dodge right on top of your opponent if possible to ensure Caltrops lands on them, applying extra stacks of bleeds as well as cripple, in addition to the HUGE radius of the utility Caltrops.

Avoid using Hide in Shadows to cure conditions if your health is >75%. Pain Response will automatically remove all damaging conditions from you once your health hits 75%, this ability is on a 45s internal cooldown.

Enjoy.

I know I have made a thread with my build but I might as well post it here.

High Bleed Semi Glass Cannon Conditions
Link to build

Basically using Dual Daggers as your main weapon set and then Dual Pistol and Shortbow in Inventory.

As you see, from using steal we obtain 4 buffs. Fury (higher crit chance), Vigor (faster endurance regen), Might (increased damage), Swiftness (ms boost).

This build revolves around applying 20+ bleed stacks to multiple enemies and works best when they’re all clumped together.

Gear wise is half and half Rampager’s and Carrion for armour, Trinkets are full rampagers (we want at least 50% crit chance), Weapons can either be carrion or rampagers. My runes atm are superior rune of the pirate for that Magic Find but they should be half and half krait/afflicted. The reason why is so that I can get that extended bleed duration.

How to use:
Multiple Enemies.
If your initiative is at full, run in until you are about in range for LDB (Leaping Death Blossom), If not precast caltrops and then steal (if done this was the following will not be the same, you just need to apply as many LDB and bleed as possible). Spam LDB 3 times following with caltrops (just see all the bleed stacks), from there use steal granting you all those buffs. If you get the item which creates a pool of muck that inflicts conditions (YAY) if not use it straight away on the targeted enemy. Use your final LDB and then depending on the situation, Dagger Storm. After that use another LDB or 2. Also don’t forget to use dodge whenever you can for those might stacks. I’ve been able to get 7 stacks from the traited major/minor slots.

Single enemy:
Normal: beat it to death with CnD, backstab, LDB and HS
Veteran: LDB it to death, use steal.
Champion: Good luck, I only managed to get one down to 3/4 hp. Was an event boss.

You would only use Dual Pistols when your team wants to pull one enemy so that you don’t aggro any adds. Another situation would be when you are getting annoying vistas that are very high up…you don’t want to LDB yourself off and die.

Shortbow usage is mostly for WvW or when you want to have fun.

0/30/0/20/20

This build is meant to maximize your to a point allowing for longer bursts and skills to be put out on the target, as well as adding mild group utility to your game play. The up side of this build is it allows you to run whatever you want to run weapon wise. It doesnt hold your feat to the fire saying you MUST go X weapon or you lose damage.

However, as with any build it has draw backs. This build as i gear it is not a 1v1 killing machine. It supports group play extremely well and makes you a hard target to kill using 2 stun breaks and teleports.

I would recommend this build to people who are looking to be part of small group combat where they are looking for fighting larger numbers of players.

Gear wise i would take power tough condition as you get a lot of crit from the skill tree. necks and rings can also augment crit.

Thief Dungeon builds seem very sparse…
Anybody got any suggestions for a dungeon build? Vitality or toughness might be a must for the bigger explorable bosses, since you’re going to get buttkicked out of the dungeon with all the instakill skills the bosses have.

Template here. Anything I’ve selected is essential to the build. Unspent traits/points and empty slots are up to you, they’ll all work. I’m frequently changing it up myself. At the moment, my build looks like this.

This is a jack-of-all trades build. It has good damage, great survivability, great mobility, and can support allies with some really strong boons. It is extremely good at beating burst instagib specs (like Hundred Blades warrior or Pistol Whip thief).

The key to killing burst builds is one skill: Infiltrator’s Strike/Shadow Return. IS/SR is the best burst-avoidance skill in the game. It breaks stun, moves you well out of danger, and even removes a condition for bonus points. The golden rule of this build is to always have SR available. The moment you get stunned before the burst comes, hit SR to escape to safety. They’ll burn initiative or cooldowns hitting the air where you used to be while you laugh at them. I usually immediately follow up with either stealth or a daze/knockdown.

While in combat, your damage is all coming from your spam attack. You want to keep your initiative high, because each initiative you have gives you 1% damage. Dodge often; don’t just spam dodge, but any time you see a big skill coming you can dodge it. With this build, you can dodge every 3s, so don’t worry about saving initiative. Likewise, each dodge gives you might (which comes out to ~4% more damage) and you get +10% damage if your endurance isn’t full.

You should also be frequently using Cloak and Dagger → Tactical Strike. That 2s daze is really strong, and you can pretty easily apply it every 5s. Likewise, stealth can really disorient your opponent. If they get good at avoiding you while you’re stealthed, combine stealth with SR. Set them up so that your SR spot will put you near them when they try to avoid you. Stealth, then use SR to go somewhere they don’t expect. Daze them, and then immediately use IS so that you have SR available.

This build also has great escape potential. If you’re trying to run away, lay a fresh SR spot. Then run the opposite of the direction you actually want to go (so if you want to flee east, run west). Let them follow you until you round a corner or otherwise break LOS with your SR spot. Then stealth and use SR. They’ll sit around waiting for you to reappear, desperately trying to avoid the Tactical Strike daze they’ve learned to hate, and they’ll never realize you’re already on the other side of the map. It’s an even better mindkitten if you use Shadowy Refuge, because that can stealth you for up to 15s. I’ve watched people sit there for the whole 15s spamming AoEs and waiting for me to reappear (I, of course, was far away at a nice vantage point regenerating).

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#19|0|2642|2631|3997|6677|11435|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|20|2199|746|0|30|727|1700|2354|20|2419|786|0|0|0|1|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

WvW Scout shortbow: High mobility, speed and stealth combined with excellent single target crowd control every 30 seconds. Hold them til your allies come to destroy them.

This is NOT a solo PVP build and is pretty worthless in pve.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAoaVlUmKO3cy9E95Ex2jdqTey9woItpeFILA;TsAg0CvoqxUjoGbNuak1sqYUxMAA

My stealth/crit/backstab build. Need comments/opinions for this, how to make it better. The build in the link is for sPvP but I’m trying to adapt it to general PvE (and dungeoning).

My general rotation goes like this: Steal (which makes me stealth), backstab, use whatever stolen skill I have, then 3 or 5 to blind, then use heartseeker for damage and stealth if I use 5. Then I backstab again and finish off whatever’s left with heartseeker + Assassin’s Signet. What’s fun with this build is I gain stacks of might when I steal, go stealth, etc, but it’s still hard to maintain a pretty high count. Also, the blinds help my survivability and keeps me stealthed, too. And I have shadow refuge/thieves guild for emergencies.

But then there are a few problems:

1. Handling mobs: I switch to shortbow, but the stealth aspect of it pretty much dies. Maybe I should use a venom utility instead? I find it hard to kite mobs since the cripple skill only cripples one. Or just blind ’em with dagger/pistol? Maybe I can also use Basilisk Venom for this purpose, and just use that as my elite.

2. Should I stick with 10 Trickery for Thrill of the Crime, or 10 Acrobatics for Power of Inertia? Any other traiting suggestions are welcome.

3. Not sure what armor set I should use. I’m planning to get a travelers set for general PvE for a while, but not sure if I should go Knight’s, Carrion or Berserkers for my main armor set. EDIT Possibly Valkyrie as well.

This is my spec if anyone interested.
Suggestion are welcome;)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAsaVlcmaOHcy9E95Ey2jKUn4JPFk1Y1p4qsKA

I went through the hassle of filling out my build for one of the threads.. so might as well throw it out here.

It’s a highly durable, high healing, sustained damage build. It’s the build you would use if you wanted to figth with a guardian for 15 minutes, because the likelihood is that neither of you would ever die. Played properly this build loses to no class, simply just to better players.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQRAsY4alUmaPHfS4E+5Ex2jeuTey9gpOFpdkittenA;TwAA2CnoqxUjoGbNuak1s+Y8xeiJGA

I love arena net, but this looks suspiciously like an undercover “Help us identify builds that need nerfing thread.”

Freelancer, that’s highly unlikely seeing how the PvP forums are already highly “vocal” about builds that they find imbalanced.

this just seems like keeping the forum tidy.

I play a roamer for my tPvP team. I’ve chosen traits to help raise the % damage as high as I can get it, while choosing utility skills that help my survivability. I don’t have the Haste utility in this build – I get it by way of the Sigil and Trait. Even if the quickness procs on one of the last hits, I still get a hasted stomp. I have Infiltrator’s Strike/Return, but the amount of times Shadowstep has gotten me out of a sticky situation are uncountable.

Because of my frailty, I prefer to do a mongoose dance with auto attacks and Infiltrator’s Strike until an opportunity for Pistol Whip presents itself. I have Sigil of Bloodlust on my Shortbow – if there is a sure kill and I don’t need to Black Powder stomp, I pull out the Shortbow and secure some additional power.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAsaVlUmaO3eS6E95Ey2jKUn4J/DglODa6lA;TsAg0CnoqxUjoGbNuak1sgYMysAA

I just wanted to share this build that I’ve been using to great success in sPvP. Haven’t done any WvWvW with it, but I don’t imagine it would be that great unless it was a small scale fight.

I’m sure it’s not for everyone, especially button mashers, as it requires lots of stealth and avoidance until you can unload. It’s not bursty, but it has lots of steady damage.

Gotta get up in somebody’s grill and Cloak and Dagger as often as possible and Sneak Attack frequently. If someone tries to run, switch to pistol/pistol and let them have a taste of both barrels.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYUQRAqY6alUmKO3cy7E95EyODgqC5UYUIlPDwSsA;TsAA2CookyIlQKbNOpkSNCYzxcAA

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/thief#2|10|2642|3989|8743|4004|4485|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|30|2199|1600|751|30|1165|1695|1163|10|786|0|0|0|0|0|28047|28016|49978|49978|49978|49978|49978|21031|21080|0|0|0|0|

That’s my spvp build. Other weapon set is Dagger/Dagger.

Play sort of like a ramp up sustained dps, very reactionally defensive, while switching to the sword/pistol with haste for the kills.

Also, imagine being stealthed, hitting shadow refuge, quickness, and getting triple killing blows…. So fun.

Rate my build? Am I doing it wrong?

Running a 20 Shadow Arts, 20 Acrobatics and 30 Trickery build. Made a build video a couple of days ago, let me know what you think =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asw31iAXoDM

Wouldn’t it be a better idea to split this into 2-3 threads for different events?
Either just PVE && PVP or PVE, WVW, && SPVP?

This is just my opinion, but I know that users like myself don’t want to filter through half the builds when I want /only/ sPVP builds (as an example).

Just a thought ~

Dacromir.6207:

Template here. Anything I’ve selected is essential to the build. Unspent traits/points and empty slots are up to you, they’ll all work. I’m frequently changing it up myself. At the moment, my build looks like this.

This is a jack-of-all trades build. It has good damage, great survivability, great mobility, and can support allies with some really strong boons. It is extremely good at beating burst instagib specs (like Hundred Blades warrior or Pistol Whip thief).

The key to killing burst builds is one skill: Infiltrator’s Strike/Shadow Return. IS/SR is the best burst-avoidance skill in the game. It breaks stun, moves you well out of danger, and even removes a condition for bonus points. The golden rule of this build is to always have SR available. The moment you get stunned before the burst comes, hit SR to escape to safety. They’ll burn initiative or cooldowns hitting the air where you used to be while you laugh at them. I usually immediately follow up with either stealth or a daze/knockdown.

While in combat, your damage is all coming from your spam attack. You want to keep your initiative high, because each initiative you have gives you 1% damage. Dodge often; don’t just spam dodge, but any time you see a big skill coming you can dodge it. With this build, you can dodge every 3s, so don’t worry about saving initiative. Likewise, each dodge gives you might (which comes out to ~4% more damage) and you get +10% damage if your endurance isn’t full.

You should also be frequently using Cloak and Dagger -> Tactical Strike. That 2s daze is really strong, and you can pretty easily apply it every 5s. Likewise, stealth can really disorient your opponent. If they get good at avoiding you while you’re stealthed, combine stealth with SR. Set them up so that your SR spot will put you near them when they try to avoid you. Stealth, then use SR to go somewhere they don’t expect. Daze them, and then immediately use IS so that you have SR available.

This build also has great escape potential. If you’re trying to run away, lay a fresh SR spot. Then run the opposite of the direction you actually want to go (so if you want to flee east, run west). Let them follow you until you round a corner or otherwise break LOS with your SR spot. Then stealth and use SR. They’ll sit around waiting for you to reappear, desperately trying to avoid the Tactical Strike daze they’ve learned to hate, and they’ll never realize you’re already on the other side of the map. It’s an even better mindkitten if you use Shadowy Refuge, because that can stealth you for up to 15s. I’ve watched people sit there for the whole 15s spamming AoEs and waiting for me to reappear (I, of course, was far away at a nice vantage point regenerating).

I love the looks of this build, but I can’t imagine ever killing anything with it in WvW. It seems like it would just take so long. No poison to reduce healing, No crit or damage talents for burst… Again, I like the build and may try it, but it just seems very low damage.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#Mzkzz9covlamovlCm0G0xGzRMaqVc
Stealing and dodging gives a lot of buffs, heal has less then 15 sec recharge, and all inititive skills heal.
Whoa.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Bleed-Thief-D-D-P-P-PvP-movie/first#post305683

My take on bleed thief!

30 deadly arts
30 critical strikes
0 shadow arts
0 acrobatics
10 trickery

its pure dmg

wat u guys think, very good? bad?

It’s what I run for PVE high end dmg output. I’d be curious to see what you have for your selectable traits. Though if your thinking pure power then I know what ones you picked.

Pistol whip build…
With Haste on weapons from proc…

Focusing on Crit chance at 40% the rest in crit damage..

Heal self doing damage with malice..

Its a nice solid build… But light on the health / toughness..

Pretty much YOU have to be doing damage to stay alive..

http://uk.ign.com/builds/guild-wars-2?class=thief&d=00300400000000000000000100000000000000000003103403504405600000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003000000000010700010800011303000000000012200012800012901000000000014

I run this with Rampager gear in PvE and WvW.

The gear keeps my power, crit chance and condition pools up so Death Blossom is worth it, but it’s all about C+D/backstab and staying alive. All the stealth skills work perfectly in tandem, and dropping Thieves Guild from within a Shadow Refuge and dropping in when they least expect it is amazing. I’ve taken groups of 4-5 by myself with this build. You survive incredibly well, and deal a decent amount of damage while doing it.

Try my Katarina build

One build which revolves around your daggerstorm/pve style of play and has a decent heal. I would most recommend this for wvwvw though, and massive pve mob killing due to it’s burst lifesteal. I would use a set of cleric armor and use this build.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#czkMzzzzMovNFoovNFm9MpfxMRMcsk

This is based off of pretty much what I call my Katarina build.(from League of Legends.)
If anyone has played League of legends and played Katarina, you will understand why I named it. Katarina is a champion that focuses on her spellvamp/lifesteal in the game.
The idea of this build is to utilize your daggerstorm and your healing ability and run into any large group of monsters and tank everything. This also builds tankiness into your style of play. It’s mainly a semi-condition thief because of its high rate of condition damage traits. This build is more for survival instead of a typical burst damage that a thief is supposed to play as. Your dagger storm is considered a 90 second heal due to it’s massive heal with signet of Malice depending on how much monster in one area. The more, the better.

The second build I recommend is also kind of tanky, and close up style of play. This is a tanky backstab build. I normally don’t recommend this in pvp because in pvp as a thief going backstab, it’s better off going full damage rather than this.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#czkzzc0zMovNFoovNFmax0ffczobMV

This build utilizes stacking might off your dodging instead of the traditional build of backstabbing whereas you do damage with a consistency of high power. All in all, the more you dodge, the more damage you deal. I would go Berserker armors on this build, and superior sigil with stacking power. With this buld, it’s more focused on boss fights and 1v1ing enemies. Since it’s a backstab build, you’ll expect to see a speed in killing 1 monster or two significantly fast.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#cckzMc0MzMFCaoMFCaoaxx9MczaqVaq8kiG7kij7khV707khA7kNb70m7kGL7ofD

i call this my disruption or “combo” build.

With this build you can perform every finisher.

with black powder/smoke screen you have: blinding projectiles with bow auto, blinding with HS, area stealth with shortbows blast finisher, and blinding bolts with daggerstorm

with shortbows poison field: area weakness with blast finisher, weakness with HS, Poison with shortbow auto, and poison bolts with dagger storm.

with shadow refuge: area blindness with shortbow blast finisher, blindness with HS, lifestealing with shortbow auto, leeching bolts (lifesteal) from daggerstorm.

thats 12 combos you can perform yourself. abusing this knowledge is key. too many players dont abuse combos when some can be quite powerful tho some need buffed.

for example from what i read (havent looked ingame yet) the leeching bolts only heal about 66 hp per hit at 80..but the bows trick shot hits up to 4 targets, potentially healing for 264.

but even without combos this build has great disruption just with black powder, shadows refuge, and smoke screen. all of which add to survivability, as well as daggerstorm when used right. daggerstorm+smoke=blinding bolts=your immune to ranged and melee!

This build has given me a reason to switch to shortbow for more then just infiltrators arrow or some clusterbomb spam. on demand areas stealth, blinding/leeching/poison arrows.

this build is sickly fun once you get the hang of it

I’m currently toying around with this pvp build

dagger/pistol
short bow

stealth heal
power signet
shadowstep
shadow trap
basilisk venom

30/30/10/0/0
Deadly Arts: II IX XI
Critical Strikes: II VI XII
Shadow Arts: III

Focusing primarily on power, precision, and crit damage. Taking the set that increases damage by 10% on players with more than 90% health.

—

My opening combo is to lure an enemy into my trap so they get 5 stacks of vulnerability and puts me in a good position for a signet backstab crit. I ready basilisk venom when the trap is about to trigger.

I use pistol on my offhand for two reasons. I combo Black Powder with Heartseeker to stealth up. I also like having Headshot handy for lockdown and to prevent ressing.

Because of my build’s lack of speed control, I use a bow for ranged damage and teleport if it’s impossible to land backstabs on the enemy.

Shadowstep is used primarily to break stun.
—

It’s a very glass cannonish build but I like seeing big numbers with my opening combo

WvW Combat Thief

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mckmMc0MzMFLaoMFCaoa9MxxccRaVkb8khT7khA7kiH707khA70z7kGL70V7owX

Stealing is highlighted in this balanced, somewhat tanky build. Chain dodging granting swiftness coupled with a multiple of ways to remove conditions makes you very durable. Decent power and enough movement on the battlefield to exploit combo fields. Very strong in 1v1 versus any class/build. Resilient and mobile enough to evade nearly any situation – even zerg melee trains.

30% cooldown reduction for Steal
30% Boon duration

Gear:

Armor: Invader/Orr – Power/Toughness/Vitality – with Divinity runes
Jewelry: Knights with Emeralds – Toughness/Precision/Power
5% crit/5% damage Sigils on Sword and Pistol
Bloodlust Sigil on Shortbow

This gives you nearly 3000 Attack – Over this when Bloodlust stacks are up. 30% base crit (50% with Fury – which has a significant up-time with this build). Condition damage gets a slight boost from the Trickery line.

Trait Choices:

10 in Power

• Mug
• Poison on Steal

30 in Acrobatics

• Swiftness on Dodge – you dodge a lot and boosted with high Vigor uptime (almost 100%) this basically lets you drop Signet of Shadows
• Vigorous Recovery – Vigor, under-rated; makes this build very strong. I used to run might stacks on dodge, but Vigor is just better for long fights (majority of WvW).
• Pain Response – Pretty much a hoser card for condition builds. Can make some 1v1 matchups lopsided after the first few volleys.
• Assassins Reward – this makes all that Toughness and Avoidance even more valuable. I used to run Quick Pockets but I think that this is stronger in this kit.

30 in Trickery

• Thrill of the Crime – with 30 points in Acrobatics this really shines in group fights
• Bountiful Theft – Moar Vigor and steal up to two Boons (shared with friends) – strong
• Sleight of Hand – Another 1 second of Daze makes for some mean control combos

Utilities:

Hide In Shadows – Regen and removes all damaging conditions along with stealth makes it a clear winner. Withdraw is considered but Sword gives enough stun breaks along with Shadowstep

Shadow Refuge – Revives, Stomps, Dark Combo field, so very flexible

Signet of Agility – I don’t see a lot of people running this. The Precision is a nice bonus but not really what makes this little gem one of my favorite oh-kitten buttons. Remove conditions (1 for each buddy around you – including yourself) and fill up an endurance bar – giving you 3 more bonus dodges when you probably need it most. Under-rated.

ShadowStep – this is used to set up zerg busting combos along with being one of the best oh-kitten buttons in the game. This thing has a 1200 range. You can use it for chasing, running, getting you out of a situation that you would surely die from (stunned/knock down and melee trained for example – with this beaut, you can make very aggressive moves and get away. Oh and it removes 3 conditions when you return. My only complaint with this is that the shadow return could last longer (10 seconds).

Elite: Daggerstorm – Stolen Axe – Daggerstorm – Steal from Warrior during Daggerstorm – Stolen Axe.

Exploit Combo fields early and often. Favorite combos:

Shadow Refuge (Dark)->AoE Blind
Poison Field(Poison)->AoE Weakness
Steal from Engineer(Ethereal)->AoE Chaos Armor
Black Powder(Smoke)->Daggerstorm Blind

Sword #2 with #1 spam with mixed Black Powder is much better Initiative use than Pistol Whip (rarely used in this build).

Headshot is deceptively strong with small group trains. Recognize the heal animation and you can turn a 1v1 around very quickly. Very fast animation speed and spammable. I’ve been using this more and more lately.

Black Powder is possibly one of the strongest PvE tanking skills available. Mingled with a few dodges and shadowsteps, you can tank very well. Remember that the Smoke field automatically combos with the pistol shot making this a ranged Blind as well. This can be used to great effect in duels.

Shortbow. This is a very strong skirmishing weapon and the blast finisher is just insane. Once you can coordinate combo fields with your friends, your utility in any setting sky-rockets.

Complaints – low condition damage – this build doesn’t rely on conditions for damage so the few bleeds you get from Cluster Bomb wont tick very strong (about 60ish). This makes the 300 points of condition damage from the Trickery line kind of a waste. I think this is made up for with the terrific benefits of the rest of the line (boons from stealing, extra initiative/damage) not to mention the over-powered 30% cooldown reduction on steal.

sPvP build: (cant get a good site lolz)
Knight amulet of the berserker
full Ogre rune
D-bloodlust/D-superior Air
Shortbow-bloodlust/energy
Traits:
25 Deadly arts: III,IX
30 Crit : II,VIII,XII
15 Shadow : IV
I have 19k-ish HP; 3k Attack(un-booned, un-bloodlusted), 49%crit chance, 38 crit dmg, 2130 armor.. It gives really good sustainability I can take a lot of hits and don’t insta die w/ 100 blades, eviscerate, backstab, while at the same time give my fair share of 9.5k+ crits..
maybe putting 15 in acrobatics instead of shadow arts to force more might stacks might be better but I somehow like more the traits shadow arts give..
Any feedback appreciated

I’ve finally found a setup that works wonders in PvE, but I’m not so sure it’ll work anywhere else.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Critique-this-build-Seriously-I-need-all-the-help-I-can-get/first

I really need help guys.

D/P Blind Build http://cl.ly/3W3s3o1v213Z

Updated it from my original post. Still running 0/30/0/20/20. Focuses on Black Powder chaining.

Utilities:

• Signet of Shadows (run speed; ranged blind good for burst or stomp denial on allies)
• Roll for Initiative (condition removal; stun breaker)
• Shadow Refuge (smoke field; regen; AoE stealth very useful in groups to provide support)

Elite is Thieves Guild most of the time (sPvP), or Dagger Storm in WvW.

this is my cannon build… thought i would share as it is very strong

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c3RF3;0RwV0-W5V-Fd0;9;4TT-9-38717B;11;35oG26;1G3G3G3G36BS

highlights:

18k hp, 1500 toughness

15.5k backstab on medium golem on a 36s cooldown

this is not a glass cannon build due to the soldiers amulet, just wanted to point that out.. you simply destroy ppl in 2 seconds, and then are tanky enough to continue fighting groups until the 36s is up and you destroy another person.

if you get the bloodlust sigil up to full, im sure i would hit the medium golem for +17k

note im using the golem as an example cos its consistent and everyone can test..

sorry my link doesnt work..tryin to fix it

Just started thief and been using the sword/dagger and short bow setup. I have been obtaining a ton of success with this build mostly due to its ability to regain initiative and its movement to cap the points. It is very squishy with only 14k health but surprisingly i don’t get downed too often. The trick is to not be in the mob of people but instead let your thieves guild do the dirty work while you kite with the bow.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQNAsYVlUmaPncy5E9JFx2jdqTeyfwo+HIrWBaC;TsAg0CnoQygkAJLSOkkIt0YMykCA

I really like the quickness buff from the sigil on the bow because you hit SO many people in the mobs since it dances between targets. I tend to use the bow often but when I have to use the Sword/Dagger i have a plan.

Using skill 5 I stealth and hit him from behind. This causes them to be dazed for 2sec which means no skills being used. Due to stealthing I cannot stealth again for about 3sec, during this time of the target being dazed, I just skill 1 or 3 him and than hit with 5 after the 3sec are up. This means the target has only 1sec to use any skill he wants(if done correctly and I’m not good at timing lol). I also gain two initiative from a trait every time I stealth so I always have some to spare.

Bomber how to use your build?

Where did everything go?!! [whimper]
Wow, for some reason the first page wouldn’t show up for me until I posted this. I thought everything got deleted and freaked out because I’ve been looking at these builds trying to figure out what to do on my own toon.