Guild Wars 2

So after giving sPvP a go, then realizing it’s just not my cup of tea at the moment I have decided to focus on world completion & dungeons. However I have ran into a problem. After researching for hours on end and hundreds of Google searches I still can’t say I’ve found a good all around build focused on Dungeons & PvE. Most of the conversations I run into or builds I find are for a lack of a better term, incomplete. On the other hand I’ve found many topics basically trashing the thief when it comes to dungeons. So I guess what I’m after is the advice, builds or whatever from experienced Thiefs who focus on PvE & Dungeons.. Help me lock down a build so I can be the best I can for my groups. Whether it be support or DPS I don’t care.. I just want to get into dungeons.

S/D (Sigil of Paralysation + Sigil of Fire) + Shortbow (Sigil of Fire)
Armor a mix between Zerker, Valk and Knight

Traits 0/30/25/15

- Gain Fury when opponent reaches below 50% health
- 10% chance to gain Quickness on a critical hit
- 20% more damage when enemy below 50% health
- AoE blind when u’re stealthing
- Gain 2 Initiative when using a skill that stealthes you
- Gain might on dodge

Utility:

Signet of Malice
Shadow Refugee
Shadowstep / Smoke Screen (swap between those 2)
Signet of Shadow
Thiefs for Elite

Food: Omnomberry Ghost

Have fun !

Take at least 15 points in deadly arts and use shortbow for aoe weakness, this plus caltrops for aoe snare is pretty big against trash mobs. Shadow refuge is good for easy resses.

I use a glass cannon dagger build with full zerker armor/jewelry. Mostly shortbow against trash. You can’t pug with such a build though unless you get lucky with a few tanky ppl to stand between you and the mobs.

I run glass cannon D/D and SB thief and i got to level 80 no problem except when i hit orr where the mobs just pwned me. After playing a lot of WvW and a few sPvP; think you should go a thief build focus around CONDITIONAL DMG because you can melt mobs down in PvE with deathly blossom (if you go D/D). But i find conditional dmg a bit useless in dungeons because there is usuall someone who is running some form of bleed already so for dungeons, i think you should go a hybrid build or Power/Precision/Crit damage (with some valkyrie armor for health)

Look up RainyThief on youtube if you want some more insight (It’s what i used)

Dagger Pistol for burst-build PvE.
Problem Solved.

Edit: Alright, to be more assistance I’ll elaborate.

25 Deadly
30 Critical
15 Trickery

Traits:
DA – Mug, Quick Venoms.
CS – Practiced Tolerance, Signet Use, Exe.
TR – Thrill

Dagger + Pistol / Shortbow

You will spend much of the beginning of fights in Shortbow, only spiking your cooldown burst when the target mob is below 50% (the premise is, wait for the Executioner damage bonus before you start to blow initiative and lose the ‘First Strikes’ damage bonus.)

Dagger Pistol burst:
Black Powder
prep Basi
HS -> Steal (much like CnD precast, HS can be used in the same way) -> Backstab

You can then choose to dump remaining ini on #4 skill to burn through stacks of the CC immunity on bosses, setting them up for a longer, more controlled effect from one of your party members to land on the boss. Oh, yeah should you be fighting “trash” mobs, Black Powder is amazing by itself when all your attackers get spammed with Blind.

I’d run something like:
Heal – HiS
Util 1 – Shadowstep -or- Roll -or- Signet of Agility (probably a better choice for “boss” encounters)
Util 2 – Refuge
Util 3 – Assassin Sig (or any Signet you want really, I just use AS for the spike + the ini return to compensate for the Black Powder cost, as Heartseeker’s is covered by Klepto’s +3 ini on Steal. Meaning the entire burst combo leaves you with a total cost of (4) Initiative.

Elite – Basilisk Venom.
You can run any elite with this build, just change out the Master trait in Deadly to reflect it.
IMO, however, a well timed stun every 36s on the proper target can be far more effective than a derpyspin2win elite every 90s and moderately more effective than calling in two summons to wreak havoc every 3 minutes, just due to an obscene cooldown from a PvE perspective (unless you’re doing Arah/Fractals, then you’ll be in their long enough to get multiple uses out of TG).

@shizzlenit.. That’s pretty much my favorite build after countless hours trying different builds.. Only problem is lack of condi removal.. Do ya rekon its worth switching sos for sig of agility?

Condition damage + Death Blossom + Caltrops + Signet of Malice do good in PvE.

TL:DR version

Full Zerkers gear. Divinity Runes

D/P or S/P depending on personal preference. Fire/Air coupled with Force

SB. Bloodlust, Fire/Air or Force

HiS

Shadow Refuge, Signet of Agility, 3rd option open

Elite. Thieves Guild/Hounds of Balthazar or Daggerstorm Depending on the situation (bas venom is extremely situational in pve and dungeons)

Traits – you really should read for more options as they are tailored to your weapons, playstyle and utilites so here I’ll just simply give mine

25/30/0/*5/10 (Mug and Dagger training – Grandmaster traits in deadly arts are useless. Practiced Tolerance, Signet Use, Executioner. The 5 in acrobatics is simply for swiftness and is a quality of life decision. Thrill of the Crime in Trickery)

/P is great for PvE and to a lesser extent dungeons simply because of the utility it provides. Perma blinds make anything without unshakable almost like a joke and is still useful for slower attacking bosses (or if you can time it right though most of the time you’re better off just dodging). Defiant stripping? Interrupts with headshot? Remember those sneaky inquest that perma stun you in arah? Headshot – frees your buddy. Same instance Deadeyes completely neutralized with blind or interrupted just as they’re about to shoot.

Mainhand is completely up to you. D/P provides greater mobility and another blind as well as backstabs. S/P has an daze/blind on it’s stealth skill instead, (immobilize) condition clear and of course the infamous pistol whip (combos quite nice with signet of malice, though I am of the opinion that you could simply use lifesteal food instead and keep the utility of the other two heals)

Shortbow for your second set AoE weakness, insane AoE Damage, Evades, Shadow steps. What’s not to love?

Heal skill is HiS – it simply heals for more, stealths you and clears most damaging conditions, I find myself managing conditions just fine with this and signet of agility.

Utility skills are completely up to you. I find myself having refuge and signet of agility always on my bar (unless the situation really demands it) and just switching around the 3rd one depending on current needs
Thieves have a lot of useful utilities that have a large impact on the options your party will have in tackling a fight
Scorpion wire is one of the only true pulling skills in the game, next group of enemies particularly deadly together but aren’t tied to one another? (and even then in some cases you can still pull one off) Wire and take them down one by one.
Shadow Step for greater mobility (useful in stuff like lupicus and certain puzzles – cliffside and swamp come to mind)
Smoke Screen – the ability to completely neutralize some deadly range attacks in the game? Yes please. Think Harpy Knockbacks, Asura’s orb, Ascalonian archers, Deadeyes
Blinding Powder – useful if a long team stealth is required. Coupled with refuge the team stealth lasts quite a long time.
Signets also have their place, having shadows on makes world explore so soo much faster and the aoe blind on tap is always nice to have around, Agility would just be beyond awesome if anet finally fixed it’s condition clear aoe detect (I have never seen it clear more than one condition even if an ally is next to me) as it is now a full bar of endurance and a condition clear every 20 seconds or so isn’t too bad. Assasin’s is great when you only have to worry about dealing damage, situations like these still come up even in fractals…
Infiltrator’s has a place here if you’re really desperate for ini regen. I grab it when I go underwater and know I’ll be facing tough fights, the constant shadow assaults turns me into a psuedo tank to the point where I usually prefer engaging first and drawing all aggro underwater.

Elite skill up to personal preference. Thieves guild/Hounds of Balthazar (I roll a human thief) if I need the distraction and more bodies to soak up damage, Daggerstorm if you need to a lot of AoE damage fast (in normal dungeons I never found a need for daggerstorm since more bodies to distract was always better – fracs though grawl, harpies, Sons of Svanir [earlier levels because as you go up it’s faster to just stealth light the bonfire] and probably more situations had me switching into it and of course in wvw it’s always nice to have in a large fight)

25/30/0/5/10
Deadly Arts – I personally grab mug and dagger training in this tree. Though stuff like sundering strikes (though I’ve found the direct damage from mug just so much better) improvisation and combined training are viable alternatives depending on what you’re running.
Critical Strikes – Side strikes or Practiced Tolerance. Signet use, combo critical chance or critical haste. Executioner (it is just flat out better than Hidden killer)
Acrobatics – I trait five into this simply for the swiftness. It’s more of a quality of life thing when you don’t have signet of shadows on your bar, feel free to spend these 5 points elsewhere though I don’t recommend grabbing the grand master traits of deadly arts.
Trickery – As you may have noticed so far there isn’t a lot of ini regen in this build, I’ve learned to manage with only ini from steal and signets (like if I need ini right this second in an emergency or crucial point in the fight, steal [which I usually leave off cooldown] and signet use usually does the job). Uncatchable (more of a pvp trait I would say), Flanking strikes or Thrill of the Crime are all viable. I lean more towards ToC for a party buff

Full Zerkers gear. Divinity Runes.

Sigil of Air/Fire on the Dagger. Sigil of Force on the pistol

Shortbow – Sigil of force, fire, air, Bloodlust are all viable

My favourite fractal/dungeon build revolves completely around sharing buffs to nearby allies, while also preserving your own damage through both conditions and direct hits. Critical hits get neglected somewhat (low %, around 14), but raw power and condition damage flourish.

Some things to keep in mind when reviewing this build:
1. Might duration stacks, both from acrobatics and the rune sets. This means you will run around with 70% extra might duration. This also shares to nearby allies when you use your shortbow #2 blast finisher on a fire field (3 stacks of might) and when you share your venoms (2 stacks of might).
Because of the 70% they now last incredibly long (~30 seconds)
2. Dodging gives you might (~24 seconds); It may seem lame, but it’s a nice stacking damage bonus, and necessary to keep your damage up.
3. Weapon Switch every 10-15 seconds to give yourself extra might with Superior Sigils
4. If you’re low on health, don’t use venoms all at the same time, but spread them out. The venom health stealing ticks go over 300, and combined with signet of malice you heal yourself for really decent amounts, usually combined near to at least 450 per hit.
This will keep you alive during painful moments.

This build gives you a really high survivability as well as the necessary damage to matter in a group. Personal damage is somewhat put down to compensate for group wide buffing, and the addition of nice crowd control from the venoms.

Armour
Full Carrion set; Condition damage, Vitality, Power
Or
Carrion Chest, Boots; Condition damage, Vitality, Power
Rampager’s Helm, Shoulders, Pants, Gloves; Precision, Power, Condition damage

Jewellery
Full Carrion set; Condition damage, Vitality, Power

Runes
2 x Superior Rune of Fire (25 power, 20% might duration)
2 x Superior Rune of Hoelbrak (25 power, 20% might duration)
2 x Superior Rune of Strength (25 power, 20% might duration)

Weapons
Shortbow; Superior Sigil of Battle
Dagger/Dagger; Superior Sigil of Battle/Superior Sigil of Endurance

Support skills
Signet of Malice
Spider Venom
Skale Venom
Ice Drake Venom

Elite skill
Basilisk venom

Traits
30/0/30/10/0
Deadly Arts
IV, Venomous Strength, Adds 2 stacks of might for 20 seconds when using a Venom skill
VIII, Quick Venoms, Reduces venom cooldowns by 20%
XII, Residual Venom, All venoms have one extra use

Shadow Arts
IV, Shadows Embrace, cure 1 condition in stealth every 3 seconds
IX, Leeching Venoms, You steal health every time a venom triggers on a mob (~300+)
XII, Venomous Aura, shares venom skills to nearby allies (including the 2 stacks of might)

Acrobatics
II, Power of Inertia, Gain might every time you dodge (15 seconds base)

My favorites

S/D 0/30/25/15/0 Zerker gear with Knights trinkets and Superior Rune of the Wyrm(cheaper than some others), Vitality is good to have here. Sigil of Blood and Sigil of Accuracy. Critical Strikes III, VI and XI, Shadow Arts V and VI, Acrobatics II. Utilities are Signet of Agility, Shadow Refuge and Blinding Powder. Served with Omnomberry Pie.

Or

D/D 0/20/0/20/30 Carrion gear all the way. Superior Rune of the Nightmare, Sigil of Corruption and Agony. Critical Strikes VI and VIII, Acrobatics III and X, Trickery III, IX and XI. Utilities are Roll for Initiative, Shadow Refuge and Shadowstep. Served with Super Veggie Pizza. Use Signet of Malice every 12 seconds for 6 initiative, keep those Deathblossoms going.

GL
Blood~

I have had really good luck, and a lot of fun, in both World PvE, Dungeons, and WvW with a D/D – P/D Bleed/condition build and all Carion weapons and armor. I love the 20k health and its a lot of fun to play. I’m running 0/0/30/20/20. Great survivability, great sustained AE and single target dps. Easy to gear – all Carion armor and weapons, 2 rune of the Centaur, 2 rune of the afflicted, 2 rune of the Krait, Superior Sigil of Corruption, Superior Sigil of Agony.