Guild Wars 2

Um, D/D isn’t ranged.

Visit metabattle.com. Do be warned that Thief is probably the worst solo PvE profession in the game.

YuiRS.8129:

Um, D/D isn’t ranged.

Visit metabattle.com. Do be warned that Thief is probably the worst solo PvE profession in the game.

You really mean that? When (not that often) I play PvE with my thief, I find it a blast.
Just equip Sword/Pistol, and PvE is easymode really.

mompen.7952:

YuiRS.8129:

Um, D/D isn’t ranged.

Visit metabattle.com. Do be warned that Thief is probably the worst solo PvE profession in the game.

You really mean that? When (not that often) I play PvE with my thief, I find it a blast.
Just equip Sword/Pistol, and PvE is easymode really.

Have you played Warrior or Guardian? Thief is like an anemic kitten compared to those classes when it comes to soloing.

But yeah, S/P is the best set for soloing, that’s for sure.

YuiRS.8129:

mompen.7952:

YuiRS.8129:

Um, D/D isn’t ranged.

Visit metabattle.com. Do be warned that Thief is probably the worst solo PvE profession in the game.

You really mean that? When (not that often) I play PvE with my thief, I find it a blast.
Just equip Sword/Pistol, and PvE is easymode really.

Have you played Warrior or Guardian? Thief is like an anemic kitten compared to those classes when it comes to soloing.

But yeah, S/P is the best set for soloing, that’s for sure.

Yeah, it’s of course easier on those classes :-) And more boring IMO :-P

YuiRS.8129:

Um, D/D isn’t ranged.

Visit metabattle.com. Do be warned that Thief is probably the worst solo PvE profession in the game.

lolwut? I rushed through solo pve with using dual pistols’ unload only. Easymode for sure.

I completely disagree with thief being a bad PvE profession.

In open world I run S/P and D/P or D/D. S/P combo pretty much lets you just tap 3 to kill everything. If you’re against a tough target, just time your 3 for attacks as it is an interrupt and an evade. Dagger 2 to finish off near dead targets. But with 4 teleports (steal + Sword 2 + D/P 3 + shadow step), perma swiftness on kill, and dagger 2… you’ll have amazing mobility. I just chain off mobs to keep moving quickly.

D/D gives you one of the best single target DPS. Coupled with the Revealed trait, you just CnD > Backstab > auto until revealed debuff is gone > repeat. Work to keep yourself behind the target by the time your BS lands. Once target gets below 25%, either spam HS or HS > auto once or twice > repeat. By going D/D over D/P you give up some of the mobility and easy survival options the pistol offers for a solid DPS increase. But note that if you’re going against a target that has constant PBAoEs making it where you can’t stay on the target without constantly dodging out I’d suggest either S/P for the interrupt/evade so you can stick on the target. S/D also gives plenty of evade so you fight tougher targets, but I do think that is a weapon set better reserved for PvP as you’re giving up DPS and boon stripping usually isn’t a serious concern in PvE.

I’ll give you Warrior and Guardian is easier as making mistakes won’t get you killed like they would on a Thief (and even then, S/P 3 + malice allows you to just 1-button almost everything in the game with little effort and almost all trash dies to one or two presses of the button), but Thief is still the fastest open world class in the game. Warrior can try… Guardian might as well be a cripple. Add in that you can stealth past anything you don’t want to fight, and at 50% run speed + 3 non-combat starting teleports + speed enhanced leaps… it becomes no contest even with the Warrior’s generous access to leaps and sprints.

Then there is dungeons. Thief gives copious amounts of stealth for skipping junk you don’t want to fight, a reflect wall, a spammable blast finisher for buffing the party on combo fields, vulns and blinds all while being near-top DPS with support (better than that of warrior and more reliable than Guardian)

That said, you NEED to carry a shortbow. Shortbow gives you that great blast finisher, extra mobility options, poison fields if the party is lacking poison debuff ability, and ranged is still DPS when you can’t be on the target due to AoEs or other boss mechanics.

I’d also say you NEED a pistol. Offhand pistol gives you access to a spammable interrupt, a smoke field to blind the target and give easy access to stealth (via Dagger 2 or SB 2), and pistol also has great combos with your melee weapons. S/P 3 gives you an interrupt + evade + DPS move. D/P 3 gives you a mobility move to finish closing in on your target very quickly. P/P 3 is also one of your few solid ranged DPS moves, though I don’t find that required too often. I personally carry 2 pistols so that I have access to that ranged DPS option along with all the utility and mobility pistols provide.

You can certainly play as a S/D thief – but your PvE life would be much easier with S/P. So if you want to avoid pistol but still go for effectiveness, D/D. The addition of cleave to Dagger has greatly increased it’s trash killing ability, and CnD > Backstab > Heartseeker is still enough to kill even level 80 trash. It just happens to be that when you start getting larger amounts that it gets a bit tougher.

Theif is a lot of fun in PvE. As stated S/P is the easy mode melee weapon set. I prefer S/D.
The big thing is for open world PvE you want a decent cleave weapon set. Sword/x is gonna be the better at that than D/x. Shortbow should be your other weapon for its utility.

For builds just visit meta battle, but also consider going tankier than recommended while learning the class. After all you won’t learn much from being downed all the time.

Stealth is your friend in PvE, it ensure you never have to fight anything you don’t want to.