Guild Wars 2

What i’m looking for here is to say what i like about the Thief, what feels good to me, and see if anybody here can form a viable build for it that i can enjoy. I appreciate all input.

I’ve levelled a Thief to around 40 in the past but never really took it further. After playing Daredevil in the preview weekend and seeing the upcoming Deadeye spec i couldn’t not just boost to 80 because it’s a kitten tonne of fun. Working through HoT right now. Very squishy but from my understanding it’s all about the evades and stealth. All i really want is a viable build that i feel comfortable with (doesn’t need to be meta).

So weapon-wise i’m really liking the D/D. I’ve read that this isn’t as good as D/P for PvP (not sure about PvE). D/D as far as i can tell is a condi set. I’m also quite enjoying the venoms. It’s satisying applying the venoms and then doing a dagger 2/3 and watching the health melt off the enemy. Are venoms actually worth using though? You get one damage burst before a lengthy cooldown. What sold me on the PoF preview weekend was the Daredevil spec, not because of the staff, but mainly the way you turn you evades into attacks! I don’t really care much for the staff play but the traitline itself looks useful. So i’d really if possible like to be a D/D Condi Daredevil i guess? No idea what the offhand should be, at the minute it’s the shortbow. I’ve got Deadly Arts specced in to make poison stronger because i saw that on a YouTube video somewhere. I’m struggling to figure out the best 3rd traitline though. Shadow Arts was cool for the venom cooldown and stealthing, but Trickery seems great for the extra base damage and initiative. I’m actually currently specced into Crit Strikes though, and while it doesn’t really synergise i think i’m noticing a damage increase and No Quarter is quite fun to try and upkeep. I’ve taken Haste alongside my venoms to trigger fury.

Now that build i have right now seems obviously flawed. There’ no condi removal unless i take Withdraw, and frankly i’d much rather take the stealth heal or DD heal. I’m also aware that i’m speaking from a very naive viewpoint as i really don’ tknow what makes the Thief good in any way and i’ve probably just listed the worst trailines to put together.

So a D/D + X condi Daredevil that likes venoms, doesn’t like the staff, has some condi removal and at least one stealth access? Anything like that around? Cheers!

Condi D/D generally focuses on evades/dodge for survivability over stealth. High evade uptime and a signet of precision help quite a bit in avoiding conditions in concert with Shadowstep.

Daredevil can cleanse on evade so in a condi build using evades you can be highly resistant to condi yourself. A warning, you need to have a second and third source of cleanse available because otherwise people can load you up with conditions and then stop attacking while you flail around trying to evade attacks that aren’t coming.

If you like stealth based gameplay you can try P/D as an alternative. It’s what I run and can be highly effective in some situations.

Feel free to pm me in game and I’ll help you out in person if I can.

Hi, thanks for the reply! I did try having a P/D as my second set at one point, but it felt kinda…clunky? To elaborate, i would be in close range with the D/D and then if things got a bit rough i would P3 to shadowstep back. From here the damage felt very small and i couldn’t find something to do when the enemy came towards me except use P3 again, which would use the initiative i was trying to regen in time for the weapon swap cooldown. Any tips?

Ah i haven’t unlocked the whole DD traitline yet so i never saw the condi cleanse. That sounds pretty cool. Any suggestions on the other sources of cleanse? And by Signet of Precision do you mean Signet of Agility?

Thoughts on venoms? I currently have spider, skale and basilisk equipped.

As for stealth, backstabs do feel great, but I think i like the utility and luxury of it more than i would like to build around it. I can imagine backstabs are quite hard to land in PvP. The main thing i’d want stealth for is an escape i reckon.

It’s a bit old but you can watch the videos linked in my signature for P/D venom based gameplay.

P/D is the primary weaponset rather than secondary in that case.

I dropped Trickery for DA and increased my damage significantly FYI compared to the videos.

EDIT: yes Signet of Agility.

What ever you do. Do not blow all of your initiative, or you are a dead thief.

It’s funny that you mention that because not 5mins ago i realised i was blowing all my initiative and i’m looking for ways to sustain without taking trickery now. Roll for Initiative seems pretty nice.

EDIT: Yeah i can’t seem to get a nice flow going without trickery giving me multiple ways to regen initiative…

Im sure youtube has many helpful guides if u do some quick searching for what ur looking for, more precisely footage than words

Verdis.8472:

So a D/D + X condi Daredevil that likes venoms, doesn’t like the staff, has some condi removal and at least one stealth access? Anything like that around? Cheers!

First, what game mode are you looking to play? Do you want to primary PvP, WvW, PVE? This will help answer your questions.

D/D Daredevil synergies very well. It has lots of evades which cause conditions, while also removing them from yourself, and of course avoiding attacks. So yes, what you’re asking for is around and can be very strong in the right situations.

You like Venoms, depending on which game mode you want to play will effect how many venoms you “should” use, imo. In PvP and WvW I would not use more than one utility venom. If you use more than that I feel you end up losing too much in other areas. The elite venom is an acceptable option in most cases.

As for your other weapon set, generally Shortbow is the go to. However, you are wanting additional stealth, so using Dagger/Pistol as offhand can be an option as well. You will be trading mobility and AOE poison for stealth, basically. I wouldn’t say its ideal, but can work.

I wouldn’t try to combine D/D and P/D however. Those are both main sets that are going to leave you with limited mobility, especially if you’re using the condition evade.

For a build, Id check out https://metabattle.com/wiki/Thief
And as suggested above, search for D/D daredevil on youtube, I’m sure you will find a good amount.

D/D is power in optimized PvE since it brings higher damage per hit than D/P due to the OH dagger’s base weapon damage being marginally higher than the OH pistol’s. It has more damage offered with a faster output in terms of burst and cheaper stealth since CnD + Stab is 6 init versus D/P’s stealth combo requires 9. MH dagger AA coefficients are the best source of damage on the thief for power and if traited into Dagger Training are a major source of DoT as well for conditions. The remainder of D/D condi just pretty much mashes 3 in most of PvE for further bleeds.

If you intend to seriously PvP/WvW as power, don’t bother with D/D unless you intend to be at a massive handicap and die a lot. Nearly five years of D/D play and I still would slot D/P to beat opponents I found tricky – the divide really is that substantial in efficacy in PvP formats. Play D/P or Staff as a primary with shortbow (PvP required) or S/P (can be done in WvW) as a secondary. Condi should run (P/D or S/D venoms) + Shortbow. D/D power is the weakest PvP/WvW loadout by a large margin, and D/D condi can be countered hard unless you play it reactively. If you’re aggressive, don’t bother with D/D as a whole for PvP/WvW.

P/P is decent overall (best burst damage per initiative and can be nearly free wins in some matchups) and can be played either way, but P/P + Shortbow can be countered extremely hard by reflects and projectile hate; M/S + GS power stance warrior will walk right over you if they play well, and water-reflect ele can be literally immortal to such a build if built to be a bit more durable. I don’t recommend loadout as it can get both you and your allies killed by a competent opponent with the right build. Double ranged is usually not a good idea.