Sword/Dagger PvE Tips
After the inexplicable removal of ricochet put the future of my Pistol/Pistol thief into question – I don’t know if it could work without it, really – I decided it’s as good a time as any to start from scratch and try something new. This something being sword/dagger.
The problem is that the last time I played a sword-focused thief, I kept keeling over. Now, that was a while ago, and a lot has change since then, but I’m still concerned. That thief was sword/pistol, as well, so that’s different.
Self-healing from Invigoration Precision, Signet of Malice and food worked really well to keep my gunslinger thief alive, but I’m not sure how it’d work for sword/dagger. If I do go with such a set-up, do I need Healing Power gear?
Or maybe I’m completely off-base here and a sword/dagger thief needs something else. I’ve already reached level 30, and it’s been going well enough, but it’s not like personal story is much of a challenge anymore.
For PvE, S/P might be the better choice. The long evasion of PW and the fact that mobs won’t dodge out of it will help. BPS + autoattack is great for damage and defense too. Finally, the stun from the PW and daze from the headshot are great for knocking off defiance stacks while the boon steal from FS has limited situational use in PvE. The multi-hit nature of PW will work better for your Signet of Malice too.
My Sword/Dagger PvE Tip is: just don’t.
It’s a pvp weapon set and it is even bad for that ATM.
Thief balance thread here.
6k+ PvP games
6k+ PvP games
For PvE, S/P might be the better choice. The long evasion of PW and the fact that mobs won’t dodge out of it will help. BPS + autoattack is great for damage and defense too. Finally, the stun from the PW and daze from the headshot are great for knocking off defiance stacks while the boon steal from FS has limited situational use in PvE. The multi-hit nature of PW will work better for your Signet of Malice too.
I might go for S/P in the end, but assuming for the sake of the exercise I stick do S/D, how should I go about it? Unless S/D is just a complete waste of time in PvE, then I’ll just go S/P.
If you’re going to run S/D, you’re better off dropping Signet of Malice for Withdraw. S/D hits the fewest number of times of all thief weapon sets so it synergizes the least with Signet healing. To stay alive in PvE, it relies on always moving and evading rather than simply lifestealing through the damage. You can also run Trickster in Trickery to lower your Withdraw CD to 14.5 s and give it condi clear. You mention Invigorating Precision so I’m assuming you’re running DA/CS/Tr, but in my opinion S/D is still better off running Acro over CS, even in its currently nerfed state.
As with all thief S/X weapon sets, autoattacking is your best DPS, so you can save your initiative on using 2 and 3 for evading attacks. CnD→Tactical Strike is also good for stripping defiance, and works well with Sleight of Hand.
For PvE, S/P might be the better choice. The long evasion of PW and the fact that mobs won’t dodge out of it will help. BPS + autoattack is great for damage and defense too. Finally, the stun from the PW and daze from the headshot are great for knocking off defiance stacks while the boon steal from FS has limited situational use in PvE. The multi-hit nature of PW will work better for your Signet of Malice too.
I might go for S/P in the end, but assuming for the sake of the exercise I stick do S/D, how should I go about it? Unless S/D is just a complete waste of time in PvE, then I’ll just go S/P.
Saital has a good explanation, although I would stick with CS and have valk/zerk armor with knight/soldier trinkets, then slowly change to zerk /valk trinkets as you become more comfortable with your evasion skills.
Okay, so I need to keep myself alive by dodging and staying on the move, rather than healing. Makes sense. It took me a lot of effort to max out Critical Strikes, so I’ll keep using them for now, I guess. At least until I hit level 45 and can pack two specializations.
If I do go for S/P, I guess gear remains the same, since I’ll still be relying on dodging and spammable blind for defence. What about traits?
(edited by Morty.4721)
This is more or less what I’d use for S/P in PvE. With the food buff, Signet of Malice, and Invigorating Precision, you can pretty much sustain all damage with Pistol Whip outside of being oneshot.
In party scenarios, you can take Thrill of the Crime over Flanking Strikes and No Quarter over Invigorating Precision. You can also swap out Assassin’s Signet for Shadow Refuge for more party support.
While you’re leveling, I would work on the Trickery line after finishing Critical Strikes, since it is common across all thief builds.
If you need more durability, you can swap out Berserker armor for a mix of Valkyrie/Knight’s.
Gotcha. I am already pumping Trickery, so it’s not a problem. I might switch to Pistol at some point, instead of Dagger. S/D is stylish, but it does indeed seem somewhat impractical in PvE. Was it more useful there before the latest updates, or has it always been a PvP set?