Guild Wars 2

Just wondering if S/P for PvE is good for levelling a thief, and also is it still viable at 80 for PvE? if so what do these builds tend to look like i kinda don’t know what to trait for them.

It’s what I used, also P/P is handy because you can start attacking from a distance and get their hp down some before they make it to you. I went with a pretty straight forward berserkers stats with some defensive gems (power/vitality) and it seemed to work pretty well for me.

Yes it’s good for leveling, and viable for level 80. (Good as in safe, less damage than D/D however)

I suggest S/P to newbies until they learn the class better. When you are better you can use D/D to get off the super high CnD + BS combo chains going.

i was thinking something like this? http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c;4Vw-1-5-JOFd0;9;4JT;0J29-28A;443-5JV0-JG4xpMUxpMUo-Fv-A-6-N_LdOVTWYXcYi3o4230C-2i;5cW5PcW5PQ

Looks promising, I haven’t had much success with the basilisk venom, I prefer thieves guild for the extra dps (especially when trying to solo some of the harder personal story lines and skill challenges). Also shadow refuge is an amazing ability especially if you are going to be doing alot of pve/dungeons it has amazing group utility. Signet of shadows is also very useful in battles two fold, because of the speed boost it can make it easier to avoid damage without using all of your endurance up with dodges plus it can be used for a targeted blind on opponents.

Here is what I run: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c;4Rw-a05-FOkd0;9;5TT-9;148B25A;12;0LJW4K;1V19cV19cu-Fv-Ak1gN_scOVTWYXcYi3o40H0GN2s;5FX7BF18Z;9;9;9;9;0V0;3V3-6S

I would suggest something more along the lines of this. This is a glass cannon, however it’s safer than D/D for starters.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c;4ZwF_05-V-kd0;9;4OT;0E59-17A;44;0LJk0LoHAudbTudbTo-Fv-A-6-N_scOVTWYXcYi3o4230C-2i;9;9;9;9;9;9;1Ek3c

*Note The second Sigil on the shortbow denotes stacking Bloodlust on one, then swapping to a secondary shortbow with sigil of Fire on it.

I used this leveling primarily in dungeons. Once you know the attack animations of the mobs you fight you can time the pistol-whips to perfection.

I personally think S/P is the best gear for PVE. The S auto attack hits multiple enemies (for quite a big radius in fact); coupled the with signet of malice.
You are virtually invulnerable fighting melee mobs with 100% uptime of Black Powder. Certain champions (that doesnt do aoe) can be soloed with nothing more than auto atk+ black powder.
In fact, camps at WvW are easily soloable with S/P + signet of malice set up.

You also get condition removal with shadow return (#2) and burst with pistol whip, if and when needed.

Daspian.9246:

Just wondering if S/P for PvE is good for levelling a thief, and also is it still viable at 80 for PvE? if so what do these builds tend to look like i kinda don’t know what to trait for them.

I run a S/P + Shortbow Thief mainly for PvE/Fractals/Dungeons and I really love those weapons more than daggers (I use dagger in OH on the dredge boss with many adds to steal his boons).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYIQNAsaVlYmaPHcS9E+5Ey2jKcn4JuCFV3DuyqqKA-jwxAYLBRySEJCAZviox2GKiGruGT5SEVLFQEjBA-e

I really like the extra HP (it helps with dealing with some perma-conditions fights) I’m also not yes so confident about playing a squishy thief so I add some Toughness and Vitality.

I also often change the 20 trait in Critical Strikes for something else like 10% pistol damage if fighting dredge last fractal boss or smoke screen on downed if a hard projectile fight it depends. The Utility also is getting changed I only use shadow refuge it’s a mandatory skill the rest is changed depending on fight.

Yet I did only fractals from 10-18 range but that will soon change becouse I focused now on the thief the mobility is amazing.

Here is an example how I play my thief (be advised that I still have a lot to lern) I find the class really fun to play and as soon as I get more skill I’ll trait and gear more offensively, as for now it’s ok.

Grawl Fractal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-mvFKJ2kQ8
Maw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHNE6MGX9Ww (I love S/P on maw I just love it!)

Strifer.3507:

I personally think S/P is the best gear for PVE. The S auto attack hits multiple enemies (for quite a big radius in fact); coupled the with signet of malice.
You are virtually invulnerable fighting melee mobs with 100% uptime of Black Powder. Certain champions (that doesnt do aoe) can be soloed with nothing more than auto atk+ black powder.
In fact, camps at WvW are easily soloable with S/P + signet of malice set up.

You also get condition removal with shadow return (#2) and burst with pistol whip, if and when needed.

Would you mind sharing your PvE trait set up?

unless you can reliably net multiple targets to melee down simultaneously and none of them are ranged/have a long enough reach that they can stop just outside of your blind aoe…imo d/p is better.

more damage basically.

ive had multiple times where the above scenario has happened to me on my way to just level 24. and has gotten me killed more then once. and thats with scorpion wire too.

at the end of the day i prefer the higher single target (better at soloing stronger mobs too) and the ability to enter stealth with my weapon set.

your mileage may vary however. i can certainly see merit to S/P and malice combo if you can reliably find groups of melee mobs with normal reach.

D/any deals more single-target damage than S/P, but S/P deals more AoE damage and is more durable due to the evasion on named Pistol Whip. Remember, the stealthy type of defense thieves rely on in PvP works less well in PvE, so I find S/P more effective than D/any in PvE.

Gnat.9405:

Strifer.3507:

I personally think S/P is the best gear for PVE. The S auto attack hits multiple enemies (for quite a big radius in fact); coupled the with signet of malice.
You are virtually invulnerable fighting melee mobs with 100% uptime of Black Powder. Certain champions (that doesnt do aoe) can be soloed with nothing more than auto atk+ black powder.
In fact, camps at WvW are easily soloable with S/P + signet of malice set up.

You also get condition removal with shadow return (#2) and burst with pistol whip, if and when needed.

Would you mind sharing your PvE trait set up?

Second that request!

S/P is a great way to level, it really shines mid way through leveling (in the early levels D/D & SB win because mobs have less health and you can AoE with conditions quite well)

Anyhow S/D is awesome for hard fights with Black Powder and easy mobs can be burst down fast with Pistol Whip. Bit of advice would be to add defensive utilitys so you can focus on glass cannon gear. There are some unforgiving situations but you can always stealth away and restart.

Any trait builds?

Sword / Pistol is great for leveling! Just drop Black Powder and spam auto attack or Pistol Whip. You’ll heal yourself with Signet of Malice all the time, so losing health wont be a problem.

The build

I would first go for the Deadly Arts tree and then trickery. This build gives you a ton of damage and still pretty good survivability with the blinds. I just took signets since its pretty easy and they give you passive buffs. But feel free to swap them out as you want. Utility skills doesn’t really matter with this build, so it’s all according to your own play style and taste.

Good luck!

With sp levelling be sure to use signet of malice. That combined with caltrops, caltrops on dodge, and daggerstorm you can take on huge amounts of mobs at once. Against vets you just dodge backwards and Pw when they’re in the caltrops ti facetank. Go full bers gear the life on hit makes you plenty tanky

Thanks for the info!