Guild Wars 2

As I progress, which stat should I put more emphasis on as I level my P/P Thief for PvE: Power or Precision?

My P/P Thief is in his mid-20s and I’m trying to decide on which Order I want to join: Vigil or Whispers. Right now, my Power (armor, runes) and Precision (armor, traits) values are about even, but looking forward I notice that Vigil armor has Power while Whispers has Precision so one is going to become dominant eventually.

Then again, I guess I don’t have to actually use the Orders’ armor or weapons if their stats don’t match what’s best for my style of play, but my original question still stands.

I have to say I’m surprised how much fun I’m having with P/P since I rarely play DPS in games of this genre. I like the sound of the gunfire and the bouncing shells, recognizing opportune moments to dodge, and letting the barking irons roar. The S/P backup for those “oh kitten” moments is handy, but I prefer to stay ranged. And, contrary to what others have experienced, I find the build quite survivable as long as I keep moving (every encounter makes me think of the shootout scene from “The Matrix” in the building lobby as I dodge and roll in my trench coat, using obstacles for ranged cover, dual wielding pistols).

Anyway, thank you, in advance, for the assistance in helping answer my question.

I’m always surprised when people say “I like the worst weapon set in the entire game” anyway – power > precision

Thanks, Anubarak, for your input. And “worst” is relative; different strokes for different folks. It comes down to what’s fun for each player.

ZioGio.9102:

As I progress, which stat should I put more emphasis on as I level my P/P Thief for PvE: Power or Precision?

My P/P Thief is in his mid-20s and I’m trying to decide on which Order I want to join: Vigil or Whispers. Right now, my Power (armor, runes) and Precision (armor, traits) values are about even, but looking forward I notice that Vigil armor has Power while Whispers has Precision so one is going to become dominant eventually.

Then again, I guess I don’t have to actually use the Orders’ armor or weapons if their stats don’t match what’s best for my style of play, but my original question still stands.

I have to say I’m surprised how much fun I’m having with P/P since I rarely play DPS in games of this genre. I like the sound of the gunfire and the bouncing shells, recognizing opportune moments to dodge, and letting the barking irons roar. The S/P backup for those “oh kitten” moments is handy, but I prefer to stay ranged. And, contrary to what others have experienced, I find the build quite survivable as long as I keep moving (every encounter makes me think of the shootout scene from “The Matrix” in the building lobby as I dodge and roll in my trench coat, using obstacles for ranged cover, dual wielding pistols).

Anyway, thank you, in advance, for the assistance in helping answer my question.

As you level, you should pick power over precision since having a higher baseline of consistent damage is nice. But as you progress in the game, the gear you get will have more stat categories on it and you’ll get to pick and choose which stat combinations you want to mix into your build. A popular choice for PvE is berserker gear, which has power, precision, and critical damage all on a single piece of gear. But with all of the options you’ll have available at higher levels, you can really customize your stats in great detail.

I only use my thief in WvW, so I try to keep just enough precision that my crit chance stays near 50% then the rest goes into power (with a little bit of toughness and vitality thrown in to give my opponents more of a headache). The end result is that I can still hit really hard without completely sacrificing my survivability.

Here’s a link to my build if you need ideas to start with:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|a.1g.h19.a.1g.h17|8.1g.h1h.a.1g.h17|1c.73.1c.73.1c.73.1c.73.1c.73.1c.73|4s.d1g.2s.d13.3s.d16.1g.67.1g.67.8g.67|a3.u57b.0.u389.0|1b.2|59.5c.5f.5g.5v|e

Don’t be afraid to play what’s fun for you. I like to play without using stealth and I get by just fine.

Great advice, TeamBattleAxe. Thanks!

real quick heads up, don’t pick your order based on the stats the armor gives. They’re only rares and won’t give you the optimal stats. Pick your order based on aesthetics and the looks of the armor.

@OP

That’s actually an easy choice – Power all the way. Precision only gives you Crit Chance which you can get from somewhere else (i.e. food buff, sigil).

But don’t join the Vigil as a Thief, we don’t belong there and the Whisper’s medium armor is the best [looking armor] among the three Orders.

Power first.
Precision is a choice amongst the other attributes.

Unless you go condition damage, then precision isn’t a good choice at all.

I’d say precision. once you hit 80 and once you get a good baseline power level through equipment.

dont go pistolpistol at any costs, becuse vital shot and body shot.

since you have no real condition dmg other than sneak attack id go full zerk here with a slight touch of vitality. p/p is only usable in large zergs with richochet and maybe venom share.