Guild Wars 2

Since apparently people don’t understand how the build works here it is with a breakdown of how it works.

0/30/0/20/20

Signets of Power, Signet Use, Executioner

Signets of Power/Signet Use together give you 2 initiative and 5 stacks of might per sigil activated, this amplifies your damage and allows you to 1) spam more pistol whip or 2) spam more black powder.

Expeditors Dodger, Power of Inertia, Feline Grace, Quick Recovery

Expeditors Dodger, Power of Inertia and Feline Grace work together giving you swiftness, might and endurance each time you dodge. If timed properly you can maintain 4 stacks of might constantly.

Quick Recover allows you to spam more Pistol Whip or Black Powder

Kleptomaniac, Thrill of the Crime, Trickster

Kleptomaniac and Thrill of the crime allow you to shadow step to your foe in mid Pistol Whip (in case they move), gives you 3 initiative and fury/might/swiftness for additional damage and crit chance.

Trickster lowers haste’s recharge from 60 seconds to 48.

When built properly you should have over 3200 attack power, 2400 armor rating, 41% crit chance, 17000 health and 175% crit damage.

Your gear should be a mix of power/tough/vit with some valk gear and emerald berserker accessories.

I use a slight variation of this build and gear.

This general S/P + Shortbow build is probs the best Thief PVE Build tbh, there are one or two variants of it also. Id recommend to PVE Thieves stop going glass cannon full dps where you bring very little to a group ;p

I go 0/30/0/20/20

30 CS – Furious Retaliation, Signet Use, Executioner
20 Acro – Power of Inertia, Quick Recovery
20 Trick – Thrill of the Crime, Bountiful Theft.

I use power/toughness/vitality for my six armor slots and then i use power/prec/crit damage on my weapons/back/jewelry. I choose Furious Retaliation over Signets of Power because the fury lasts longer and stacks better with my crit damage, i find Signets of Power to be abit weak for pve tbh, the might only lasts 5 seconds (or abit more with boon duration) and it only pops when you have used your signets, which you only use occasionally, you do not pop your signets for the might buff, you keep them active for the passive bonuses until you need their actives.

My overall stats unbuffed are:

2931 attack, 45% Crit Chance, 15k HP (though i usually operate at 16k HP due to WVW bonus), 76 Critical Damage.

As utilities i mainly use Signet of Malice, Signet of Agility, Infiltraitors Signet and then one of your choice depending on situation (Shadow Refuge or Caltrops can be very good choices). As Sigils on my Sword and Shortbow i use Superior Sigil of Fire. Runes for armor there are two good choices depending on which way you want to go, either Superior Rune of Rage for 20% longer fury and increased critical damage or Superior Rune of Mercy (which im currently using) for increased toughness, revive speed +10%, reduced damage while reviving and reviving allies with 20% more hp.

I dont think Haste is a valuable PVE Choice, it depletes all your endurance + only has a very very short duration.

I dont know how the use above gets 3200 attack power and 175% crit damage, though i suspect with food buffs

What variant do you use?

BabelFish.7234:

What variant do you use?

I edited my previous post

3200 (its actually closer to 3300) attack with a superior sigil of bloodlust on my SB and Assassin’s Signet.

We have very, very similar builds and I think switching my rings/amulet/earrings over to ruby orichalicum of the berserker would be a good idea (they’re emerald orichalicum or the valk right now, I’ve been finding I need a bit more glass in my cannon)

The haste is amazing if you take trickster, it allows my SoM to heal me faster and allows me to dish out excessive amounts of damage in very short periods of time.
That being said, it’s not for everyone. It makes you vulnerable after and you have to plan for that instance where you need to dodge.

Mm we do have similar builds. I enjoy having so much initiative regen, on trash packs in dungeons we can basically just stack and nuke while i keep up permanent blind with Black Powder. Makes the knights in TA or the CoF path 2 defend Magg room very easy. Its basically like… Thief tanking + good dps.

How do you get 175% critical damage?

Pragmatist.1349:

Mm we do have similar builds. I enjoy having so much initiative regen, on trash packs in dungeons we can basically just stack and nuke while i keep up permanent blind with Black Powder. Makes the knights in TA or the CoF path 2 defend Magg room very easy. Its basically like… Thief tanking + good dps.

How do you get 175% critical damage?

Critical hits have a base damage multiplier of 150%
My weapons are berserker’s, my pants and chest are valk, all my accessories are slotted with exquisite beryl and my back piece is berserker’s spine guard.

So I actually have a crit damage of 196%, lol. I just need more precision so it happens more often.

Swapped out Signets of Power for Furious Retaliation, I like that trait already <3

BabelFish.7234:

Pragmatist.1349:

Mm we do have similar builds. I enjoy having so much initiative regen, on trash packs in dungeons we can basically just stack and nuke while i keep up permanent blind with Black Powder. Makes the knights in TA or the CoF path 2 defend Magg room very easy. Its basically like… Thief tanking + good dps.

How do you get 175% critical damage?

Critical hits have a base damage multiplier of 150%
My weapons are berserker’s, my pants and chest are valk, all my accessories are slotted with exquisite beryl and my back piece is berserker’s spine guard.

So I actually have a crit damage of 196%, lol. I just need more precision so it happens more often.

I suspect he misread and thought you were dealing an extra 175% rather than 175% of your standard strike. Common mistake and easy to make.

Ahh, im not taking into account the base damage multiplier on mine. Just reading off the what the stat box tells me :P.

So PVE Thieves, i want to see more of you out there with this kinda build :P.

Just bought some of my zerker accessories to replace those emerald ones…the results were…uhhh broken?

Look at my attack…I also have 208% crit now…

BabelFish.7234:

Just bought some of my zerker accessories to replace those emerald ones…the results were…uhhh broken?

Look at my attack…I also have 208% crit now…

5 stacks of might buff

your using haste in PvE? wouldn’t a party helping utility skill like shadow refuge be more useful? It’s BARELY increasing your DPS…

Scootabuser.4915:

your using haste in PvE? wouldn’t a party helping utility skill like shadow refuge be more useful? It’s BARELY increasing your DPS…

From what I understand, using Haste in a Pistol Whip build is not only for the increase in DPS, but for situational healing via Signet of Malice. You can heal yourself for 1000’s and 1000’s of health in the 4 second duration. Even more if you use lifesteal food, Sigil of Blood, Shadow Refuge … the list goes on and on.

Kindread.9481:

Scootabuser.4915:

your using haste in PvE? wouldn’t a party helping utility skill like shadow refuge be more useful? It’s BARELY increasing your DPS…

From what I understand, using Haste in a Pistol Whip build is not only for the increase in DPS, but for situational healing via Signet of Malice. You can heal yourself for 1000’s and 1000’s of health in the 4 second duration. Even more if you use lifesteal food, Sigil of Blood, Shadow Refuge … the list goes on and on.

Pretty old thread here, but the main problem I have with spamming PW in this case is the only really synergistic thing the OP took with PW was Signet of Malice. The whole point of PW spam is hit volume giving you a lot more procs, otherwise you might as well use the OP’s suggested synergies (signet synergy, dodge synergy) with auto attack for more DPS/conditions/mobility.