Guild Wars 2

Is a ranged Thief build viable for pve and wvwvw? I have an 80 ranger, but am feeling underwhelmed by the damage output. Is it possible to play a thief or warrior as a ranger? I just want to sit back and pew-pew and have enemies die around me with the least amount of concern for dodging and kiting lol.

Yes it’s possible.

The main thing would be to get Critical Haste in the Critical Strikes tree for the Thief, and put a Sigil of Rage on your weapon. You will get a decent number of Quickness procs and see some rapid fire damage going on.

You could also grab Haste itself, and use that in between to really churn out some effective damage at range.

For the other utilities, grab Traps. Tripwire is a sweet knockdown on an approaching enemy, and the Needle Trap immobilizes to keep the enemy at range.

I’d get 30 in Critical Strikes for good sub-50% health damage, and overall crits, and 30 in Acrobatics for the extra health and longer Boon duration, i.e. longer Quickness. Get Haste, Tripwire, and Needle Trap for your utilities, and grab Basilisk Venom as the Elite (use it whenever it’s up, don’t think about it hard). I think you’ll find it enjoyable if you like range.

The most potent thief ranged weapon is situational in that it is vastly more effective vs. multiple targets.

That said, if you’re looking to stand at a range and do damage without “dodging or kiting”, then thief may not be the way to go. Several skills in every thief ranged arsenal involve kiting or evading to maintain that range. Even when I’m in zero danger of my target closing I’m still dodging to build might stacks. There’s no excuse for standing still.

“There’s no excuse for standing still.”

What if you’re immobolised

When you’re immobilized you have to be the most active, either using condition removal, crippling incoming enemies, or stealthing. I usually go toe-to-toe with a sword and dagger and I still don’t let myself stand around immobilized if I can help it.