Guild Wars 2

I’ve seen many “guides” online… including the one below claiming that Dagger/Dagger has the highest damage potential in the game for a Thief:

http://www.noxxic.com/gw2/thief/damage/pve/core-build-and-traits
-
I’m not sure how legit that information is… Nevertheless, I was told by a good friend of mine that Sword/Pistol is where its at when it comes to damage… I’m not sure if any mathematicians out there could assist in bolstering this claim?

Regardless, I love the skillset on the S/P… how close is the damage between the D/D and the S/P?

I was also wondering, what’s the best possible option for Sword/Pistol when it comes to gear stat combos weights e.g. (45 Power/ +32 Toughness/ + 32 Vitality), Runes e.g. (1 Rune of Superior Divinity, +6 Runes of Superior Scholar) and Sigils e.g. (Mainhand: Superior Sigil of Air, Offhand: Superior Sigil of Force)?

I really appreciate your feedback… and remember… “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” – Mike Tyson

First of all, is this about PvP or PvE? Because it makes a big difference.

Dagger/Dagger damage evolves around Backstab and Heartseeker which are both situational abilities. They deal very high single-target damage, especially if they crit but require a little setup.

Sword/Pistols main source of damage is Pistol Whip, which stuns the opponent briefly and then commences to slash them repeatedly for a lot of damage. The best thing is, Sword slahes hit everything within a frontal cone. So it’s great AoE damage too. However since the Pistol Whip animation takes about 1-2 seconds to play, it leaves the Thief quite vulnurable in PvP and targets are prone to evade the attacks.

This is why I’ve found Sword/Pistol to be a great combo for soloing and PvE, but much prefer the dynamics of Dagger/Dagger for PvP.

Based on the Thieves I’ve seen in sPvP, most seem to agree.

As for numbers, I’d say Sword/Pistol definatly does more damage in PvE, especially when you can hit multiple targets at once. I think it can also get away with worse gear, less focused on damage stats.

Dagger/Dagger requires high crits and a very damage-focused build in order to compete with Sword/Pistol. This works better in PvP than it does in PvE.

As Dee Jay said, it depends on PvE or PvP, and what spec your running with each weapon set.

I find S/P to overall provide both better damage and utility in both PvE and PvP due to PW and the 1 chain hitting very hard while being PbAoE. Pistol Whip also has an evade attached to it which kinda rules out the whole “your vulnerable while PWing”.

D/D can hit very (read, VERY) hard with Backstab and Heartseeker. Mug can easily crit for 5k damage with a D/D power/crit setup.

Side note-
Yes people can walk out of about half of PW, but not if they’re crippled (which the 1 skill chain applies) or you use haste with PW. Lots of fun popping haste and Pistol Whipping 2-3 unsespecting enemies
Both are competitive, just go with what you like best. I prefer S/P, Dee Jay prefers D/D.