Guild Wars 2

Hello guys

First off i’m belgian and play on an na server. So sry for the bad spelling and cynical remarks and all the other stuff.

I’m farely new at the game and lvl’ed my thief to 80. Then i read the forums looking for info and builds on how to get beter, because yes i suck. I tried a few builds but i like trying the builds that are not that popular, sort of an underdog. So i chose s/p (for wvw because i read its the lvling build for pve so not really underdog). i tried to look up as much info as i could but hey i’m belgian so i don’t understand everything :-) and a lot of the posts get derailed which is hard for new guys to look for info. So i would like that this post only goes on s/p builds. The builds, playstiles, pro’s and cons, rotation, armour and so on. I’m not interested that d/d or d/p is better in wvw or any other situation, i just want this to be about sword/pistol. Sorry

That being said, off course i need a little help.

I’m at work so i will put up my build by heart: 25-30-5-0-10

Mug – venom strength
Pistol mastery – side strike – executioner
Thrill of crime

For now i have beserker sword and pistol.

The rest i need to work on.

I like it so far i am mostly in the top of the zerg with sb and try to infiltrate strike or mug damaged opponents then use black powder and pistol whip. But sometimes or most of the times i’m pistol whipping in the air like a ninja showing of his nunchakus because the opponent dodged and i off course look like a fool swinging my sword around in thin air :-) 1 v 1 i try to avoid because like i said i suck unless they are running away :-)

So i’m hoping people start sharing their build, eperience, tips, gear and so on

Again only sword-pistol, maybe other people can start posts like this for the other weapon sets if this works off course :-)

Oh and yes, what descent thing can i buy with karma?

And i’m no math specialist :-)

Have fun and enjoy

Not been playing S/P much, but this is how you should prioritze your gear if you’ll go with PvT.

1: Helmet, Legs, Exotic Rings, Exotic Back = 16 stats per 1% crit dmg
2: Chest (+2H weapons)
3: Exotic Earring
4: 1H weapons
5: Exotic Amulet
6: Shoulders/Boots/Gloves = 12 stats per 1% crit dmg
____________________
7: Ascended Items
8: Orbs
9: Exquisite Jewels

All above the line contains expensive crit dmg, while all below have profitable crit dmg.
Then fill the slots with items after your own desire.
Since you are S/P I’d suggest soldier helmet, chest and back from karma and legs from badges/dungeons, and after that aim for high vitality to give you some protection against conditions but also keep in aim to have a minimum of 40% crit chance.

Thank you for the answer

I’m going to chime in with probably the worst build for a new s/p thief, but it suits my playstyle perfectly and after over 1k hours on my thief, it’s what I have chosen as my favorite. I have built and tweaked it to best suit the way I play and therefore it may need some tweaking to work for you.

First of all, This is a PvE/WvW duo/group roaming build. You will not survive in dungeons until you get good at it and you will not be able to effectively hold points in sPvP. The squishiness will be something to get used to but since I see you already use zerker it may not be that much of a change. IMO, health is wasted on a thief, a good thief should not be taking damage in the first place, they should be in and out, making use of blinds and evades whenever possible.

I run 10/30/0/0/30, I have absolutely no access to stealth besides group stealthing with pistol #5, which is such an excellent tool for group WvW. It gives you mug, It gives you the obvious perks of the crit line, and 30 in trickery also makes your steal extremely useful, especially with the recent buffs. A long range gap closer/escape/heal/daze on a 21.5sec cooldown? How can you beat that!

Upon approaching an enemy 1v1, my routine is this: Steal>lock them down with IS>pop haste and PW>if they are not dead, quickly use return and IS>PW again. If they have no stun breakers and are squishy I can almost guarantee that they will be dead by this time.

I’ll leave you with my build, feel free to PM/reply if anyone has any questions.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.3|c.1g.h17.a.1g.h1|a.0.0.0.0.0|1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e|1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.8g.67|a3.u1ab.0.0.u68c|55.7|58.5k.5m.5h.0|e

Once again, this build will not work for everyone. I hate the idea of stealth so I have chosen to instead use a combination of evades, shadowsteps and life steal to keep myself alive, while still seeing huge numbers.

Tips*

I find when using S/P it’s very helpful to have an immobilize to land all the hits or a shadowstep to follow them.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Basilisk_Venom
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Devourer_Venom
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Steal
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadowstep
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Infiltrator%27s_Signet

Bread and butter combo
Infiltrator Strike -> PW

*Note- You can use all of these while in the animation for PW except Basalisk Venom.

I replied to your message and provided you a sword/pistol build. Hope you like it! I’ve still got to finish gearing my thief for that build outside of PvP, but I’ll be posting a video when that’s done.

Here’s a thread I had about a build after last patch: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Post-patch-sword-pistol-pve-build/first#post2303291

Thanks guys! I appreciate it

Jrunyon.3012:

I’m going to chime in with probably the worst build for a new s/p thief, but it suits my playstyle perfectly and after over 1k hours on my thief, it’s what I have chosen as my favorite. I have built and tweaked it to best suit the way I play and therefore it may need some tweaking to work for you.

First of all, This is a PvE/WvW duo/group roaming build. You will not survive in dungeons until you get good at it and you will not be able to effectively hold points in sPvP. The squishiness will be something to get used to but since I see you already use zerker it may not be that much of a change. IMO, health is wasted on a thief, a good thief should not be taking damage in the first place, they should be in and out, making use of blinds and evades whenever possible.

I run 10/30/0/0/30, I have absolutely no access to stealth besides group stealthing with pistol #5, which is such an excellent tool for group WvW. It gives you mug, It gives you the obvious perks of the crit line, and 30 in trickery also makes your steal extremely useful, especially with the recent buffs. A long range gap closer/escape/heal/daze on a 21.5sec cooldown? How can you beat that!

Upon approaching an enemy 1v1, my routine is this: Steal>lock them down with IS>pop haste and PW>if they are not dead, quickly use return and IS>PW again. If they have no stun breakers and are squishy I can almost guarantee that they will be dead by this time.

I’ll leave you with my build, feel free to PM/reply if anyone has any questions.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.3|c.1g.h17.a.1g.h1|a.0.0.0.0.0|1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e|1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.8g.67|a3.u1ab.0.0.u68c|55.7|58.5k.5m.5h.0|e

Once again, this build will not work for everyone. I hate the idea of stealth so I have chosen to instead use a combination of evades, shadowsteps and life steal to keep myself alive, while still seeing huge numbers.

Hey man,

Thanks for the great info. I like the buildcraft, because that one i can check on my ipad.
I have a question on your rotation. If you use steal and then IS. Don’t you loose the ability shadow return to get away if you use IS when you are already on the target?

Greets

OIIIIIO.7825:

Tips*

I find when using S/P it’s very helpful to have an immobilize to land all the hits or a shadowstep to follow them.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Basilisk_Venom
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Devourer_Venom
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Steal
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadowstep
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Infiltrator%27s_Signet

Bread and butter combo
Infiltrator Strike -> PW

*Note- You can use all of these while in the animation for PW except Basalisk Venom.

I see devourer venom working good with that, don’t want to loose dagger storm for basilisk venom.

Zorlack.4052:

Hey man,

Thanks for the great info. I like the buildcraft, because that one i can check on my ipad.
I have a question on your rotation. If you use steal and then IS. Don’t you loose the ability shadow return to get away if you use IS when you are already on the target?

Greets

You don’t lose it per se. Basically, the main reason for that IS is to make sure that they don’t get away. I’ll give you an example:

>I jump a target with steal from long range
>They are good and dodge/use some kind of teleport/walk away before I can get to PW
>I’m left swinging at thin air

What that IS does is no matter where they go from the point that I initiate with my steal, as long as I have them targeted I will be right on them with a quick stun to PW.

One other thing, you mentioned the need to get away, but that is mostly unnecessary due to the evade on PW and the fact that “most” (I say most as I cannot guarantee it) enemies don’t stand and fight where you initiated.

Any smart enemy will move away from you to get a good look at you/surroundings and to prepare for the fight. This movement takes you away from the SR point, which you can then return to if things aren’t going your way.

Some combo’s you should utilize:

Precast PW into steal, infiltrators signet, shadowstep: this will teleport you to your target and land the stun so you can hit the rest of your PW. Besides that always have infiltrators return up incase you screw up and have to run. Mastering teleports and your CC is key to playing S/P well.

Resouled.5614:

Some combo’s you should utilize:

Precast PW into steal, infiltrators signet, shadowstep: this will teleport you to your target and land the stun so you can hit the rest of your PW. Besides that always have infiltrators return up incase you screw up and have to run. Mastering teleports and your CC is key to playing S/P well.

I precast IS into steal. That way I can cover huge distances in a blink, this often catches my enemy off-guard and usually end in an easy kill.

Positioning is everything, and every thief should know that by their first day of playing it ;p

There’s no point precasting IS into steal? You’re better off just casting IS for the 600 teleport and then precast PW into steal/shadowstep/infiltrators signet. This makes you cover a bigger distance and let’s you hit PW faster and more reliable.

Resouled.5614:

There’s no point precasting IS into steal? You’re better off just casting IS for the 600 teleport and then precast PW into steal/shadowstep/infiltrators signet. This makes you cover a bigger distance and let’s you hit PW faster and more reliable.

I agree with this. Use iStrike first as 9 times out of 10 the target will blow their stun breaker/condition removal to break the immobilise. Once they do this you can follow up with a precast PW & Steal/iSignet or shadowstep to queue the primary attack. In most cases the target will have blown their CC breaker on the iStrike and will be vulnerable to the pistol whip stun.

Here is my guide i recently made for the sword/pistol spec i use: http://intothemists.com/guides/294-rand_x_al_thors_swordpistol_build

Its a s/tpvp oriented guide, but the spec works well in wvw too

pantsforbirds.9032:

Here is my guide i recently made for the sword/pistol spec i use: http://intothemists.com/guides/294-rand_x_al_thors_swordpistol_build

Its a s/tpvp oriented guide, but the spec works well in wvw too

Great guide! Well written and thought trough.

Works very well for me too in sPvP. Chain stunning people is a huge benefit in team fights!

Geiir.7603:

pantsforbirds.9032:

Here is my guide i recently made for the sword/pistol spec i use: http://intothemists.com/guides/294-rand_x_al_thors_swordpistol_build

Its a s/tpvp oriented guide, but the spec works well in wvw too

Great guide! Well written and thought trough
Works very well for me too in sPvP. Chain stunning people is a huge benefit in team fights!

Thanks man! I think sword/pistol is underrated and i would love to get some attention to the weaponset

pantsforbirds.9032:

Geiir.7603:

pantsforbirds.9032:

Here is my guide i recently made for the sword/pistol spec i use: http://intothemists.com/guides/294-rand_x_al_thors_swordpistol_build

Its a s/tpvp oriented guide, but the spec works well in wvw too

Great guide! Well written and thought trough
Works very well for me too in sPvP. Chain stunning people is a huge benefit in team fights!

Thanks man! I think sword/pistol is underrated and i would love to get some attention to the weaponset

I completely agree! I used it a lot before they nerfed PW and picked it up again after they gave it a small buff. It’s an amazing weapon set with nice burst and survivability. The amount of interrupts and stuns we can pull off with this is just crazy!