Guild Wars 2

I’ve decided to leave my ranger for a while and level up a thief (perhaps as a new main) and would like some advice on D/D and P/D builds. At this moment in time, I’m level 25 with 10 points in Shadow Arts and 5 points not spent. I’ve been reading so many thief-build posts that I’m confused as many of them conflict. I’ve heard that daggers go with condition damage and that condition damage is great for survival, and I’ve heard that daggers go with crit and that condition damage is awful in most circumstances. I’d appreciate it if any thieves with lots of experience could post their favorite PvE/WvW build from any GW2-calculator and explain why a particular type of gear goes with the build.

TL;DR: Post your favorite PvE/WvW D/D and/or P/D build

double daggers are used with both condition damage and crit based builds. mainly because thieves have no CD on weapon skills, death blossom from double daggers stacks bleeds quickly, and where burst is concerned you can chain cloak and dagger with back stab every 3 seconds, with heartseeker to finish off an enemy.

for leveling I would recomend a condition damage build with dagger/dagger and/or pistol/dagger and picking up caltrops as a utility skill, to bleed and kite things all day long in pve.

end game for condition a good starting point would be http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAoY6YlUmaPXeS+E+5EB3Djy0m6p4rjtTxVjPA

end game D/D direct damage builds come in a few different flavors. one that uses hidden killer for auto crit backstabs, then traits for survivability and gears with mostly valkyrie gear. then there is the glassier crit based builds. you still go 30 into crit strikes, but you take the +20% damage on foes below 50% health trait. then there are several ways to go, from stacking points in power for mug and might on signet use and trickery for steal range to get the the full glass, super backstab combo build, to putting points into acrobatics/shadow arts, while mixing valkyrie or knights gear in with your berserkers for more survivability.

that said, there are also some mean sword/pistol users out there, if you think that combo may be enjoyable for you.

Thanks for replying. I thought it over and might take a condition route leveling as well as a burst route at some point to experiment. I made a build that relies mostly on dealing large crits with back-stab. The traits go in Critical Strikes for the 100% stealth-crits and instant gain of 5 might on signets (and the passive crit increase). I have points into Shadow Arts so that I can stealth for an extra second and can conserve initiative which is always helpful. The points in Acrobatics are there purely for dodging so that I can gain might, swiftness, and regenerate endurance faster. The last points go into Trickery for the initiative gain and the fury/swiftness/might on steal. On paper, it seems like this build might do okay, but feel free to correct any mistakes you see. This build would allow one to move quickly in and out of stealth with proper avoidance. Lemme know what you think.

Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAoY6YlUmaPXey5E+JFx2jd6TiyfwoeFIb/hrC

walsd.4968:

I’d appreciate it if any thieves with lots of experience could post their favorite PvE/WvW build from any GW2-calculator and explain why a particular type of gear goes with the build.

Here’s what I’ve been running recently in WvW:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAsYVlYmiO3cS5E+5Ex2jdKUeyfwo9M4qVB
Sword/Dagger + Shortbow
Withdraw, Shadowstep, Signet of Shadows, Infiltrator’s Signet, Dagger Storm
Critical Strike – 30: III, VIII, XI
Shadow Arts – 15: V
Acrobatics – 25: III, IX

I run around in full Zerk/Zerk gear, with Sigils of Air and Paralyzation in the sword and dagger, respectively.
I also carry a Pistol to switch to Sword/Pistol when I want to kill a bunch of NPCs.

~

The overall gameplan is to rely on mobility and big damage to get things done. I use Shortbow heavily in sieges and group battles, and melee attacks to kill routed players or stragglers on the edges of a battle. Learning to use Clusterbomb to pressure the enemy zerg or down enemies through the walls is more important than actually using Sword/Dagger well. Big-hitting Clusterbombs and sword attacks are essential to actually killing things; with so much evasion and some shadowsteps, I don’t stick around in one place long enough to make trading Power/Precision/Crit for defensive stats worthwhile.

Shadowstep is a great scouting/chasing skill. WvW gives you plenty of opportunities to swap skills ahead of a fight, so I bring in Scorpion Wire, Smoke Screen, and Shadow Refuge as needed. (I usually put Signet of Agility in that slot underwater.)

I mainly use the signets for emergencies and stomping enemies in the middle of an active battle. They save my butt.

~

When I’m too lazy to retrait for PvE, I just switch the Shadow Arts skill to Master of Deception and run around with Sword/Pistol all day.