Guild Wars 2

So I hit 80 recently as a Thief, he’s my first 80 woohoo!
But I die way too easy and PVE takes too long for me.

My current trait build is: 0/30/0/25/15, and I pretty much only ever use shortbows combined with caltrops from traits and the skill in order to kite and kill guys.

I suck at Thief, but I love them.

So I have a few questions you guys might be able to help me out with.

1: What trait build is good in PVE? I like my current one, but I could try something different. I’ve heard D/P and D/D are pretty good weapon combinations, what commonly used trait build goes with those weapon sets?

2: I see a lot about stealth, but outside of shadow refuge in PVE in order to escape, I never use it. How is it so powerful and necessary in PVE, and more to the point, how do you actually activate it go into it?

3: What gear is considered the best for Thieves in terms of a balance between PVE survivability and damage dealing potential? I’ve heard Berzerker gear thrown around a lot, but Knights gear seems pretty decent too?

What type of thief should focus on each stat, and why?

Any help is much appreciated, I’d love to get better at Thief, I’ve already read a few guides, but they haven’t helped me figure out more than the absolute basics.

Thanks!

For PvE I enjoy my D/D 0/30/30/10/0 build I couple it with a mixture of valk and zerker armor since you don’t generally want a glass cannon build, skill 5 for D/D is your main stealth I combo it with shadow refuge, blinding powder and shadow step, works decently to keep you in stealth and lots of back stabbing involved, couple that with traits that give me bonuses for being in stealth and add to stealth time etc. is nice, and then SB for backup or for you for primary if that’s what you like, again I’m no pro thief or anything but it’s what I use fairly effectively for PvE.

also, if you just turned 80, you probably have all rare gear…you’ll want to upgrade to exotic asap. that period is sort okittenward for any profession, since you will be outdone by better geared players. try to get in some dungeon groups, gw2lfg.com is good for this. CoF is a straightforward dungeon and thieves do well there. Also the rewards for it are exotic berserker gear, so a good choice for a thief. You’ll probably die a lot at first, but as you get to know areas, you’ll get better at dodging and popping stealth to avoid damage.

weird, I wrote in a-w-k-ward and apparently profanity filter caught it…

shortbow thieves also do well event farming in ORR, but I think dungeons are more fun.

bobross.5034:

weird, I wrote in a-w-k-ward and apparently profanity filter caught it…

apparently putting the “of” followed by a-w-k is a curse word XD
news to me

Hi there!, I hope these answers help you =) I had a hard time learning how to use my thief, so hopefully you’ll save some time with these tips:

1.- I’d like you to try the following build, its pretty common (and effective) 10-30-30. Use Mug and shadow rejuvenation as mandatory traits, you can choose the others (i’d also personally choose executioner, but hidden killer is fine too). Your weapon set will be Dagger/pistol (D/P) any secondary set is fine, like shortbow.

2.- Well, since you havent discovered it yet, its time to learn the beauties of stealth: D/P skill #5 creates a smoke field, using a leap finisher (skill #2, heartseeker) allows you to enter stealth, and since this isnt an utility, you dont have to wait 30sec minimum to enter stealth again (just the 3-4s revealed debuff), we’ll call this the “supah stealth combo”
Now here’s how you’ll play from now on: get in melee range (its nice to use skill #3 as it’s a gap closer and deals good damage) and inmediately do the supah stealth combo, you see, the smoke field will blind your enemy as long as it lasts, in the meantime you’ll be choping and slicing like there’s no tomorrow, with a backstab as a fine damage-dealing gift. As soon as the revealed debuff wears off, do #2 again and give another backstab, rinse and repeat.
You’ll be dealing good damage, and the best part is that 90% of mobs (outside dungeons) will miss their hits as they’ll be blind, so you can rest easy on your squishy thief. As a panic measure, entering stealth via combo or shadow refuge will heal you, or u could mug a mob for a little healing, thats nice too. Beware though, in dungeons, blinding mobs doesnt work as fine as in the open world, so learn when to rest easy and when to be cautious.

3.- Use Zerker, and while you’re learning, you can combine it with some knight gear, it isnt a sin.

When you’re confident enough, you can try a 25-30-X-X-X build for more damage, in the meantime, learn more about combos, the beauties of stealth and how to survive in general (as you may know, we die incredibly fast, making us feel awful)

I hope this helped, i’d be happy to read a reply, and if it worked or not for you =)

See ya!