Guild Wars 2

Dear Thief Forum Guild,

xxuknownxx here. I am an artisan from the guild and I have tried to make a new build for the thief, although I do not know if other people have done this build as well. It uses minimal stealth and has decent evasion. It uses 3 weapon sets for different situations and playstyles.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsYVl0MhenYZTw2Jw/EHwElPMij2oXYJRiqTgAY3A-TpgTQAg9H2lBAA

The above has the 1st and 2nd weaponset as a pair. S/D and Shortbow

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVl0MhenYZTw2Jw/EHwElPMij2oXYJRiqTgAY3A-TpgTQAg9H2lBAA

The above has the 3rd and 2nd weaponset as a pair. D/D and Shortbow

::Explanation::

As aforementioned, this is an attempt at a new build. The below are the explanation for the traits.

Deadly Arts: More damage
::Mug::- Great opener and heal option. Combined with Basilisk Venom, this can create a huge opening for a combo or stopping a disengage attempt.

::Panic Strike::- Great for keeping the target in place when widdling their health down when escaping, or keeping them in place for more damage. Explained more so in the combo explanation.

::Improvisation::-I use it so I can have more use out of the Steal ability, as some skills can become even more useful such as having 18 seconds of boons when using stealing from a mesmer, or 2 dazes from a guardian which can allow for a nice combo or disengage.

Trickery: CC, Tricks, and Steal
::Flanking Strikes::-A chance for 6 seconds of Quickness and Fury. Especially great for more damage in D/D or S/D, and can speed up gate destruction in Legacy of the Foe Fire. Helps with the combos in the combo explanation.

::Trickster::- This is your CC. Helps for more heal and initiative as well when disengaging in an unfavorable situation.

::Sleight of Hand::-Dazes your enemy when stealing. Great way to start the knockdown combo as they cannot counter, for the most part. Also good for escaping. More in the combo explanation.

Acrobatics: Evasion.
::Pain Response::-Heal and CC.

::Hard to catch::-Refills endurance, prevents stuns, knockdowns, fear, and the like. Good for escape and overall survival.

::Don’t Stop::- Prevents immobilization periodically, instead turns it into cripple. Cripple and chill effects are reduced by 50%. Great for escape, survival, and movement.

Skills:
::Withdraw::-Trick. Heals, CC, evades, and lower cooldown due to Trickster. The main source of healing.

::Roll for Initative::- Cuts immobs, stuns, turned to stone, and knockdown time.

::Tripwire Trap::- Knocksdown anyone who walks into it. Stops leaps, backstab attempts and enemies in their tracks. Good for the knockdown combo explained later, counters leap attacks, and good for disengages.

::Tripwire::-Pulls and knocks down enemies. Although it may be bugged, it can be used for many things such as the knockdown combo, preventing stomps, stopping the enemy dps and can help disengages.

::Basilisk Venom::-Short cooldown makes it good for rotations and soft resets, great for soloing things like the lords, and creatures. Also great for knockdown combo and disengages.

Combos: ::Use these as bases, but change depending on situation::

Standard Knockdown combo S/D- :: Immobs::
Starting off with Basilisk Venom to steal, Cloak and Dagger(Stone 1 Sec), Tactical Strike from behind, Infiltrators Strike for Immob,Scorpion Wire to knockdown, Setup Tripwire Trap on them for ~4 seconds of knockdown, Cloak and Dagger, Tactical Strike for Immob, and then wail on them using either AA or Flanking Strike to evade incoming attack.

Standard Knockdown combo D/D :: Damage ::
Starting off with Basilisk Venom to steal, Cloak and Dagger(Stone 1 Sec), Backstab from behind, Double Strike on the side, Scorpion Wire, Tripwire Trap on them for knockdown, Cloak and Dagger, Backstab, AA to Lotus Strike then Heart Seeker.

Standard Evasion combo Shortbow- ::Evasion:: (Assuming all actions are evades)
Withdraw, Dodge, Disabling Shot til Not enough initiative, Trickshot, Dodge 2x,Disabling Shot, Roll for Initiative, Steal to heal, about face, Disabling shot, Trickshot, Withdraw, Disabling Shot til not enough initiative, dodge.
Note: Since Feline Grace now procs during evades and not during a dodge, if a thief properly evades using all of the above, you will have a high uptime of Vigor. Combined with Endless Stamina trait, which increases Vigor Effectiveness by 50%, and you will have a lot of dodges ready.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and please give me feedback.

Thanks for sharing this build. It seems solid and i’m gonna try this tonight. I’ll leave some feedback

Edit 1 : Why don’t you use Marauder Amulet ?? The slightly more ferocity and power you get from Zerk amulet doesn’t make it for the more HP you get from Marauder but this is just personal preference i guess. Rune of Vampirism is kinda bad choice too imo

How does this build translate into WvW for you? I use Swindlers instead of Hard to Catch right now and as long as there’s at least small group action of maybe three or more bad guys up to zerg numbers I can maintain a decent Steal and Stolen dance as long as I can pick out the right targets. I build bit by bit according to what I feel like I’m in need of and I can’t seem to edge out of this build to something more along the lines of what more adept players are using.

I’ve been trying to clean up Acro a bit to build more for not getting hit, but in WvW, I get hit a lot so Panic and Don’t Stop have been clinging to my trait build. Do you find those reactionary traits are simply needed for now or do you think the Acro line could be felt out a bit more or do those other traits just not come into play enough for you?

Seiroxena.6350:

Thanks for sharing this build. It seems solid and i’m gonna try this tonight. I’ll leave some feedback

Edit 1 : Why don’t you use Marauder Amulet ?? The slightly more ferocity and power you get from Zerk amulet doesn’t make it for the more HP you get from Marauder but this is just personal preference i guess. Rune of Vampirism is kinda bad choice too imo

I prefer Berserker’s Amulet since I need as much damage as I can get, as this is more of a backdoorish kind of build, if that is even the term for it. Get it, as much damage and chaos as possible, get out and disengage unless you think you can do it. But it’s just personal preference. The Rune of Vampirism for me squeezes a bit more health and a second chance to evade if I mess up and helps me disengage, but I believe you can substitute it for another rune. A good substitute would be Rune of the Mesmer for more damage, but again, personal preference.

kash.9213:

How does this build translate into WvW for you? I use Swindlers instead of Hard to Catch right now and as long as there’s at least small group action of maybe three or more bad guys up to zerg numbers I can maintain a decent Steal and Stolen dance as long as I can pick out the right targets. I build bit by bit according to what I feel like I’m in need of and I can’t seem to edge out of this build to something more along the lines of what more adept players are using.

I’ve been trying to clean up Acro a bit to build more for not getting hit, but in WvW, I get hit a lot so Panic and Don’t Stop have been clinging to my trait build. Do you find those reactionary traits are simply needed for now or do you think the Acro line could be felt out a bit more or do those other traits just not come into play enough for you?

I don’t play WvW, so I can’t say, but in terms of combat, I believe that the traits are fine as is, but it’s up to how you play. This build is more of a base that you can edit to your playstyle and situation.

seems fun! i like the idea of skill and movement denial you got going on and generally making the other player rage as much as possible lol. One thing though about start of the combo, unless I’m misunderstanding, but if you’re starting off using Steal with BV active, you’re essentially using 2 dazes at once since Mug will proc a BV charge and Slight of Hand dazes as well. The thing that sucks about BV is that it doesn’t stack duration since it’s not a true daze but instead a petrification effect so you’ll just end up using 2 good uses of a 1sec daze up in 1 action instead of adding to the duration making it 2 seconds. Not really much you can do unless you wanna try casting BV after you steal but that’s a PITA.if you want, you could try opening up with Infiltrators Strike to proc the first BV charge and go from there to get all 3 dazes instead of just the 2. Just gotta try and time your first 2 BV procs so you get the 2nd one right after the 1st one ends or is broken. Sorry for rambling but just some food for thought! keep up the build making! GL HF!

I just tried the D/D build and my mind just blown :O

Problem is that your are too squishy to have a “brawl” type play style. Even with these brawl type traits. If you go with valk or soldier you don’t do damage to be effective .

Mauraders is still too squishy and a little less damage.

So why put traits in anything other than bursting the kitten out of people? Just change your play style up to attack people on the out skirts of aoe and +1 fights?

Builds like this remind me of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Just not going to fit well…

swinsk.6410:

Problem is that your are too squishy to have a “brawl” type play style. Even with these brawl type traits. If you go with valk or soldier you don’t do damage to be effective .

Mauraders is still too squishy and a little less damage.

So why put traits in anything other than bursting the kitten out of people? Just change your play style up to attack people on the out skirts of aoe and +1 fights?

Builds like this remind me of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Just not going to fit well…

No need Valk/Soldier… Berserker works fine even tho i would use Marauder for more sustain. Thief is squishy because its a high risk high reward class that should always remain in it’s bursting nature and to be honnest just give a little more hp (like 6k for example) and you are good to go. Only problem remains condi mesmer condi necro and some types of builds. But overall it’s a really nice dagger/dagger build that i’m pretty sure alot of thieves who were desesperate to see the d/d build dying will really appreciate. Of course it dies fast since you kill fast but you can’t get the butter and the money of the butter. Just little more hp plz

llXUnkownXll.8370:

Dear Thief Forum Guild,

xxuknownxx here. I am an artisan from the guild and I have tried to make a new build for the thief, although I do not know if other people have done this build as well. It uses minimal stealth and has decent evasion. It uses 3 weapon sets for different situations and playstyles.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsYVl0MhenYZTw2Jw/EHwElPMij2oXYJRiqTgAY3A-TpgTQAg9H2lBAA

lol this build looks exactly like the build I have been running for a long time before the Vamp Rune became mainstream and before the S/D was nerfed.

I fully understand your playstyle since I’ve used this a lot. The Vamp+Withdraw+CND combo gives this a lot of survivability that many players often overlook.

Great job.

Bountiful Theft is too good to get rid of, guardians will walk over you