Guild Wars 2

Hello all. I’m a bog lover off gw2 and really enjoying my time, but I’m still having problems settling on a profession and thinking today I want to give something different ago. So I am thinking a their. Now I know nowt about the thief class and hope you guys can help.

So what is the best build. Can I do a hybrid of conditions and damage. Any tips.

The main builds are Dagger/Dagger, Pistol/Dagger, Sword/Dagger, and Sword/Pistol. Of these four, only one is a non-stealth build. D/D and P/D can be condition focused. In fact, that’s the whole point of P/D. Then on the other end of things, S/P is purely physical damage.

1) Decide if you want to go into a stealth build. If so, then accept that you must use a Dagger in your off-hand slot.

2) A lot of people like the Acrobatics trait line. There’s something attractive in there for almost everyone. Also if you’re built around conditions and ranged combat, you’ll want to take at least 10 pts in the Trickery line for the Uncatchable trait (which drops Caltrops for free whenever you dodge).

3) Beyond that, it’s really up to you. Stealth builds will normally dip into the Shadow Arts trait line for some of the stealth traits. (Shadow’s Embrace is a great source of condition removal.)

4) If you want an odd build, the Venomous Aura trait from the Deadly Arts line is something to think about. To play it effectively, you’d have to devote 30 pts in Deadly Arts and 30 pts in Shadow Arts to get everything out of Venomous Aura. It’s certainly not your standard cliche about a stealthy assassin. Yet it’s a decent soloing build and remarkably strong when you can buff your fellow players.

5) Otherwise just experiment. There are so many different Thief builds that you have to find your own voice with the class. We can all give you advice, but only you will know when something feels like what you’re looking for.

(For reference, my own Thief is a S/P Venomous Aura build. At least on my server, we seem to be ultra rare since most people don’t become a Thief to be a group buffer. However I adore the build and we can bring things that no one else can.)

If by hybrid of conditions and damage you mean getting effective use out of both direct and condition damage, then most condition based builds work that way already by pairing Condition Damage with Power. The common stats would be either Rampager for full glass cannon, or Carrion for a more balanced approach.
You just don’t get nearly AS MUCH value out of direct damage attacks as a direct damage focused build.
An effective condition damage spec for the Thief is to get P/D, and split your points between Shadow Arts, Deadly Arts and Trickery.

D/P can be a stealth build …

I stealth way more often with D/P than X/D because I don’t need a target to stealth off of.

Agree with swinsk. Basically how dagger/pistol stealth works is that you use the 5 skill (blinding powder) to throw down a smoke combo field. Then you use heart seeker (2 skill) on the combo field which is a leap finisher and gives you stealth. This is the entire premise of “perma stealth” because as long as you don’t hit someone off of stealth you can keep spamming this (until your initiative runs out).

If you’re strapped for initiative you can still achieve stealth through using smoke screen (also a smoke combo field). Alternatively you can throw down blinding powder or smoke screen and then swap to shortbow and cluster bomb into the field, this will give AoE stealth.

Regarding condition damage, be careful with this. D/D condition thief is probably the easiest way to level (LDB is an AoE!! AoE’s for thieves are pretty scarce) outside of S/P direct damage thief. However, when running dungeons and such if you are teamed with a condi ranger or necro, you’re going to have problems if you’re running d/d or p/d thief. Shortbow, d/d and p/d gives you access to basically some poison and a lot of bleeds. Your main damage output comes from bleeds, but since max bleed stack is 25 once that threshold is reached you’re useless to the group since the necro and ranger can rack up bleeds as well as the thief (if not better).

Lastly, this is a matter of opinion but I think in GW2 you’re better off specializing in one thing rather than trying to do everything. Do either condition or direct damage, doing both isn’t necessarily optimal. But that’s just my personal feeling.

For the thief, I’d say that build is unimportant compared to learning to play. If you spend time thinking how shadow steps, smoke, and cripples can keep you alive it will be more productive than thinking about condition damage vs precision. So I’d start with an offhand pistol and look at smoke fields. Then you could look at pistol/dagger and kiting crippled mobs. You could then look at shadow steps and see what shadow steps do for you, particularly shadow return. Stealth is a big class mechanic but look into it once you have some trait points to give it purpose.

dagger/pistol pvp