Guild Wars 2

I think I’ve been spoiled by builds with passive sustain like hambow and engineer in general. I’ve tried to play the 3-4 meta thief builds using d/p s/p s/d but I consistently get wrecked because there’s less room for error. So I’d like to know, which meta thief build is “training wheels”, which one is the hardest? Could I please get some tips for thief in general and tips for specific builds.

I’ve been using these builds. http://www.reddit.com/r/gw2esports/comments/23w0wl/tpvp_build_list_up_to_date_builds_as_of_the_april/ch13s0b

Thanks!

2/0/0/6/6 s/d with strength runes is probably the easiest and is arguably the most effective overall for most teams. Any build that uses 6 in crit strikes is much harder to play but your burst will be higher so really it just depends on your playstyle. Acrobatics trait line just gives more sustain, and its much easier to stay alive while still doing very similar damage thanks to sigil procs and lots of might stacking. my 2c

s/d also offers you more condi clear, boon stripping while d/p is much more team reliant on keeping you alive as its much easier to counter d/p atm

good players learn how to counter all classes. The real training wheels is literally play every class.

play shadow art if you are bad. shadow will carry you very hard

I don’t main a Thief but I like to play one semi-regularly. Sort of a cursory guide I’ve developed for myself from playing way too much PvP over the last couple years:

26006 SB + D/P – more of a search and destroy dps-assist roaming build. Hang on the fringes of fights using Short Bow to apply aoe pressure, as soon as a called target reaches the executioner threshold (50%) you start your burst combo. Stay out of aoe, help with stomps using Black Powder

20066 SB + S/D – focuses on less burst, but more sustained damage and mobility for getting from point to point and stretching opposing teams across the map. back cap, rotate to help teammates, offsetting player numbers in fights in your teams favor for easy skirmish victories.

Thief’s responsibility in the team:

1. First, foremost, and always – if there is a Thief in the opposing team your first job is to keep that Thief in check and counter pressure them when they pressure your teammates.

2. Remove DPS threats – just like it says. Take out any threat on the opposing team

3. Be the +1: look for teammates on the map in even numbered fights and rotate to help them and create quick numbers advantages for easy skirmish wins.

4. Back cap – at the earliest point you can in the match check out who is guarding far point for your opponents and make a mental note of it. If you see them anywhere else on the map then make a point to at least decap their point if you can. This relieves pressure elsewhere on the map by forcing your opponents to dedicate players to watching their home rather than push up the map.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Don’t listen to the angry mob. Listen to someone who has theorycrafted the profession for almost 2 years. :P

I’ll start with some basic information to get you started, mainly on the basic themes of the weapon sets. You can choose your play style but the best thing to do is understand all of the weaponsets’ capabilities.

S/D – This is a great dueling build since it comes with plenty of neat tools for you to use. There are 5 skills but you actually have access to 7. Infiltrator’s Strike (#2) turns into Infiltrator’s return which is good to quickly move yourself out of AoE while removing a condition in the process. Flanking Strike (#3) is an evade which turns into Larcenous Strike. Both do a bit of damage and with LS you can steal a boon from your enemy as well. With C&D you can stealth but my favorite attack is Tactical Strike which Stuns from behind. Its powerful against the boon reliant.

S/P – This is your tanky weaponset. Just don’t ACTUALLY tank with it lol. The reason why I say “tanky” is because of the #3-5. In a melee weaponset, Black Powder seriously decreases the amount of hits you will take… so long as the foe stands in the tiny AoE. Head Shot also is a good interrupt because the attack is instant for immediately shutting down channeled skills. Pistol Whip shouldn’t really be used unless you know how to stop the second half. Or you can let it finish and use steal to get the most out of the attack. You are better off using the auto for damage though. You have to use this in a power build or else it’ll suck. :P

D/D – Is what I believe to be the bread and butter of the profession. It has access to stealth, AoE bleeds, gap closers and the most powerful attack the thief has access to. Its mainly meant for power, but it is possible to use it as a condition set. It is challenging to use but there are a few thieves out there who know how to use it effectively.

D/P – This is what people call the “troll” weaponset. It is due to the fact that it’s survivability relies on blind uptime and stealth but it’s real trick is the stealth that is applied after using heartseeker (#2) through black powder (#5). Now that is a pretty cool trick but the point of it is to stick to the enemy. Its main downside is that it eats initiative, so it really is something I do not like to touch.

P/D – This is your main condition set. It is “kite-tastic” and has the lowest initiative usage of every set. You can go heavy into Condition damage but I usually go Hybrid with it. In fact, I use P/D “Tri-brid” in dungeons to keep the party from dying while keeping conditions on enemies and pewpewing them to death. The main thing about this set is it’s combo attack Shadow Strike which is what keeps you away from melee enemies. It also hits a little hard.

P/P – This weaponset has the second most mobility of all the thief weaponsets. It is meant as a power weaponset simply because your auto attack’s DPS is lackluster and you’ll most likely end up using Unload alot. You do have the tankiness of pistol offhand however so you can definitely hold your own.

Shortbow – This has the most in combat mobility in my opinion. You have Disabling shot and Infiltrator’s Arrow to keep your positioning solid as well as Cluster Bomb which goes really well with Signet of Malice when fighting groups of melee players. The autoattack works well too. But it’s trick is the ability to spam blast finishers. If you are in a small group, having a Shortbow with a Fire Sigil on it and SoM equipped makes it the best AoE thief will ever get.

Hope this helps any…