Guild Wars 2

Hey, this is a pretty general question not specific to thief, but that’s what class I’m asking about. I bought a decent set of armour a while ago not really knowing what I was doing, but now I have to cater to it. My question is, if the stats it boosts are power, precision and toughness, should I boost those traits (using trait points) as well, or boost others because the armour will fill the void? Can’t decide between power or condition thief, so this might force me to choose one.

you should generally avoid putting points into a trait line just for the stats. major and minor traits should be what you look at first. pick the ones that have the best benefit and synergy for the build you are working on, at max level the stats are more of a bonus than the primary reason for a trait line as opposed to when you are at low levels. that gear set is on the power based side obviously, but it isn’t the best armor for thieves. mixing it with valkyrie gear can make you rather durable though. is it exotic gear? if it is just rare you can get most of your money back on armor/weapons by salvaging them with the best kit available from vendors and selling the materials you get on the TP.

Nah it wasn’t exotic; back when I spent all of my money on it I didn’t really know what to go for, so I was looking for power and toughness mainly (because of the low survival), but I’ve already transmuted it with the cultural armour I wanted which was stupid when I hadn’t sorted myself out yet, so salvaging would destroy that, haha :\ …I think I’d rather the power build, but all of the best major and minor traits (or at least, the ones I’m interested in) are in the condition/vit/tough, which is why I’ve had such a bad time trying to sort the traits out. Thanks though, guess I’ll have to look into better armour as well.

You can transmute it again, and given the price of cultural armor (tier 3) I would recommend that over salvaging …

You’ll need exotic level anyway, eventually. Meanwhile, power precision and toughness are fine, but to make precision work you need a decent amount of it (say, crit chance to 40-60% or higher) and some +crit damage trinkets. So add precision, + crit damage and some vitality on you trinkets. For a power (direct damage) build Critical Strikes is ok, though I find it somewhat lacking in desirable traits.

For a direct damage Thief I’d recommend:

For more DPS: Power > Precision > Critical Damage > Condition Damage
For more survivability: Vitality >Toughness > Healing

Precision vs. Critical Damage is a bit of a balancing act. Generally it’s better to get Precision from Armor and Critical Damage from Accessories/Orbs.