Guild Wars 2

Hi
I play gw2 since lauch and my two main characters have been Elementalist and Guardian, but recently I’ve got bored of these 2 and I wnat something new. I was thinking about the Thief. The thing is everytime I ask about the Thief people always tell me strait up damage, full Berserk and stuff like that.
It’s not that I like damage, because I do but I never liked to play a Glass Cannon character so I’m here asking if there’s more ways to play with Thief without beign ful Berserker. Inicially I was thinking in a Shortbow Thief but then again only damage so now I oppen for more option.

Can you help me?

hmmm its rather difficult to create a bunker type thief if your mindset will be of a elementalist or a guardian

we can build a pseudo-bunker thief, but it will not perform like ele or guardian,

i found that the most bunkerish build you can really achieve is 0-10-30-30-0 since it invests on boon duration + toughness+ vitality and healing power,

there is also a balance build 10-30-30-0-0 and 0-30-30-10-0

(you are really inclined in using the 3 class that has the lowest hp pool ^^)

it doesn’t need to be bunker but at least not glass cannon
i play my ele with a staff and even that i kittenage i’m not a glass cannon, i can do a resonable damage and still have 1.5k thouness and 1.5k vitality

my piece of advice: try glass cannon first to get the hang of it, since even if we incorporate tons and tons of toughness and vitality, thieves will always die in an instant you lose your rythm

try it in spvp first using 25-30-0-0-15 if you cant survive enough

next step is balance build 10-30-30-0-0 and 0-30-30-10-0

if survivability is not sill attained use 0-20-30-20-0

then 0-10-30-30-0 full bunk

advanced build 10-30-0-0-30

No one mentioned the fun times of the P/D condition thief? Bleedy pew pew pew pew pew?

0-0-30-20-20, loaded with Carrion gear. It’s the opposite of burst, since it’s full attrition. And what you can’t wear down, you can usually run away or hide from.

There are plenty of builds posted in these forums even that are a bit more on the beefy side. As in able to take a hit or 2 without worry….. will you be able to sit there and never dodge and just face tank? No, no class can do that.

With the thief and many other classes you do not get survivability from gear. You get survivability from skills. While your skills are negating damage, all your dps is being used but your durability is not. This leads people into heavy dps builds and it is personal choice as to how much extra vitality/toughness you need as contingency.

Most tanky-esqe thieves will have 30 in SA and have plenty of ways to stealth (Hide in Shadows, CnD [x/D], Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge) to remove conditions, heal, and gain might. They’ll also often have at least 15 in Acrobatics to gain some Endurance on dodge, allowing a thief 3 dodge rolls in the span of 2. Even further, some thieves will have 15 in Trickery to get the gain 3 Initiative on Steal & Increase of Initiative Pool. This leaves 10 points that you can pretty much put wherever you want and gear your thief appropriately.

Suralin.3947:

Most tanky-esqe thieves will have 30 in SA and have plenty of ways to stealth (Hide in Shadows, CnD [x/D], Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge) to remove conditions, heal, and gain might. They’ll also often have at least 15 in Acrobatics to gain some Endurance on dodge, allowing a thief 3 dodge rolls in the span of 2. Even further, some thieves will have 15 in Trickery to get the gain 3 Initiative on Steal & Increase of Initiative Pool. This leaves 10 points that you can pretty much put wherever you want and gear your thief appropriately.

I liked this and what do you recomend for gear? knight and berserker? (knight for a bit of defence)

use evasion as your invuln. Build on bio… twitch in signature. R54.

Aquin.3192:

use evasion as your invuln.

This.

Stealthing can be very useful for healing and condition cleansing, if you trait into it, but the only form of damage reduction it might provide is blindness.

On the other hand, evasion gives you a brief window of invulnerability, and more mobility. The best defense is not getting hit in the first place, after all. (Easier said than done though, heh.) Plus it will get you out of that red circle.

So, while it might not turn out to be your cup of tea, I’d still recommend that you check out evasion and shadowstepping. Let me know if you’d like specifics, such as skills and traits. In any case, have fun experimenting!

mPascoal.4258:

Suralin.3947:

Most tanky-esqe thieves will have 30 in SA and have plenty of ways to stealth (Hide in Shadows, CnD [x/D], Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge) to remove conditions, heal, and gain might. They’ll also often have at least 15 in Acrobatics to gain some Endurance on dodge, allowing a thief 3 dodge rolls in the span of 2. Even further, some thieves will have 15 in Trickery to get the gain 3 Initiative on Steal & Increase of Initiative Pool. This leaves 10 points that you can pretty much put wherever you want and gear your thief appropriately.

I liked this and what do you recomend for gear? knight and berserker? (knight for a bit of defence)

Personally, I wouldn’t go Berserker. You can go Knight’s & Valkyrie or Carrion & Rabid. Most who go for this kind of tanky build will generally be just a Condition Thief with Caltrops and Poison fields.

Understand that a “tanky” thief is one that doesn’t get hit, so Evasions, Stealth, and Dodge Rolls (like RoI and Withdraw), and Shadowsteps. So any build that gives you plenty of Evasions/Stealth/Rolls/Shadowsteps (Pick 2) will be sufficient as a thief. I threw out the above because it’s the easiest and most-well known type of “tank” thief.

There are a lot of ways to make a semi-tanky Thief. My own build is a Venomous Aura AoE buffing spec that generates a bunch of free healing for everyone. When combined with the built-in evade of the Pistol Whip skill, various ways to heal when I crit, and using Knights gear, I’m pretty dang survivable. (Though I have an extreme fear of conditions in that build and have had to build in multiple ways to deal with them.)

If you’re curious to see more details, you can take a look at my linked build. Just be warned that it doesn’t play like a traditional Thief.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|c.1n.h15.a.1n.h15|5.1n.h19|1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i|1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.8g.67|u48c.a6.u19c.0.0|55.7|57.5t.5s.5b.5u|e

Suralin.3947:

mPascoal.4258:

Suralin.3947:

Most tanky-esqe thieves will have 30 in SA and have plenty of ways to stealth (Hide in Shadows, CnD [x/D], Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge) to remove conditions, heal, and gain might. They’ll also often have at least 15 in Acrobatics to gain some Endurance on dodge, allowing a thief 3 dodge rolls in the span of 2. Even further, some thieves will have 15 in Trickery to get the gain 3 Initiative on Steal & Increase of Initiative Pool. This leaves 10 points that you can pretty much put wherever you want and gear your thief appropriately.

I liked this and what do you recomend for gear? knight and berserker? (knight for a bit of defence)

Personally, I wouldn’t go Berserker. You can go Knight’s & Valkyrie or Carrion & Rabid. Most who go for this kind of tanky build will generally be just a Condition Thief with Caltrops and Poison fields.

Understand that a “tanky” thief is one that doesn’t get hit, so Evasions, Stealth, and Dodge Rolls (like RoI and Withdraw), and Shadowsteps. So any build that gives you plenty of Evasions/Stealth/Rolls/Shadowsteps (Pick 2) will be sufficient as a thief. I threw out the above because it’s the easiest and most-well known type of “tank” thief.

for D/D which is better? Stealth? and for Shortbow? evasions? can i main the shortbow?

Wiser with Age.3714:

There are a lot of ways to make a semi-tanky Thief. My own build is a Venomous Aura AoE buffing spec that generates a bunch of free healing for everyone. When combined with the built-in evade of the Pistol Whip skill, various ways to heal when I crit, and using Knights gear, I’m pretty dang survivable. (Though I have an extreme fear of conditions in that build and have had to build in multiple ways to deal with them.)

If you’re curious to see more details, you can take a look at my linked build. Just be warned that it doesn’t play like a traditional Thief.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|c.1n.h15.a.1n.h15|5.1n.h19|1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i|1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.8g.67|u48c.a6.u19c.0.0|55.7|57.5t.5s.5b.5u|e

thanks
look really nice but i have a question about the runes, you don’t have any condition damage so why do you use lyssa runes instead of runes of the eagle that gives you crit damage and precisison?

lyssa runes because only a thief can utilize its full potential using withdraw on heal + basilisk venom, due to its low CD

The use of lyssa runes with a venom build is due to the 36 second cd of our elite. It gets major mileage from Runes of Lyssa.

thanks for that
but if i plan to main D/D or shortbow is that build a good build?

mPascoal.4258:

thanks for that
but if i plan to main D/D or shortbow is that build a good build?

After some thought, I’d say Yes. For your opening Shadow Arts T1 Major trait, switch it to Shadow’s Embrace. The ultimate bane of my personal Venomous Aura build is condition damage. I’m not running any source of +Vitality, so the only bonus to Health comes from my Critical Strikes trait. If you don’t quickly remove conditions, they will eat you alive.

To deal with condition damage, I’ve got the following:

1) Sword #2 – Inefficient use of x5 Initiative to spam it twice in a row to remove x1 condition, but it’s great as an emergency resource.

2) Hide in Shadows – While it won’t stop unique condition dots from bosses or Confusion, this is my main source of condition removal.

3) Superior Runes of Lyssa – Although the 50 second cool down on the Elite proc means that it will only happen every other Basilisk Venom use, it’s another great source of condition removal.

From what you’re thinking about, using Shadow’s Embrace and Dagger #5 would fullfill the same function that I’m using Sword #2 for. All things considered, it should work out pretty well.

EDIT

Also in regards to your original question, my Thief spec is designed around giving debuffing conditions through all of my venom choices. (The 15pt Deadly Arts trait turns the Spider Venom into another great source of Weakness.) With the +10% from the Lyssa runes, I’m increasing the net duration of my debuffs by +40% and the Lyssa also gives me a great boost in the crit department. For the purposes of healing on crits, I care more about getting crits and not as much about how much damage the crits are actually doing. As if this isn’t good enough, the Lyssa proc with a venom spec’ed Basilisk Venom is really nice on multiple levels.