Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I’m levelling up my thief and I’m wondering which weapon combo is more viable at end game dungeon playing. I hate condition damage so I thought a direct damage power/crit build (not glass canon though) would suit me.

Now I’ve played around with both setups and both have appealing points:
S/D has stealth which is an amazing mechanic as well as a built in evade in the dual skill (really mediocre dmg in that skill though), has a bit of blind if spec’d for blind on stealth but it doesn’t mitigate as much damage as black powder
S/P has mass blind which is amazing when surrounded, and the daze is awesome. Pistol whip is mediocre as well, and there’s no stealth in this combo.

Also any tips on not dying on bosses and champ since blinds are useless.

Pistol Whips is definitely not mediocre, its damage is on par with the auto attack, it provides evasion and stun. It also offers more chances to process on crit sigils/traits.

Used properly its one of the best skills in the game which is capable of bursting down entire groups of enemies.

For vsing bosses/champs you need to do the old spam pistol whip and roll back when you’re in danger/swap to short bow until you can shadow step/steal back in and pistol whip spam some more.

I prefer S/D but I keep a pistol with me whenever I go if I feel like S/P would work better for a certain boss. The main reason I use S/D is because of the boon remove and I like to run CoE where Subject Alpha is best dealt with if you can constantly dodge (using flanking strike)

I agree with Babelfish on the Pistol Whip front. As a mostly full time melee Thief who’s willing to slug it out with Champion mobs, the built-in Evade of Pistol Whip is life altering. Also while it does do about the same damage as our Sword #1 auto attack, the multiple mini-swings are great for delivering Venom procs and for triggering crit-based procs. Even without any +Initiative abilities, you’ll be able to permanently alternate between Pistol Whip and a full attack swing cycle of Sword #1.

Have both a pistol and a dagger ready in your inventory. Then switch out your offhand, depending on what weapon set will help you most in the part you’re at.