Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

Thief being my 3rd char that I want to level (almost) entirely through dungeons, I feel it’s quite a bit harder to find a place in a group that makes it worthwile to get me into the party instead of anyone else. (Even if a group takes me in, I feel a dead weight sometimes, and that doesn’t sit right with me)
I’ve raised a Guardian and Ele through dungeons, and in the Guardians case, having on level green equips and a somewhat supportive build allowed me to tank and support, where as for the Ele, going Water support made me an asset for any group. These builds all lacked the trait points to go all-out awesome sauce and so I was often lacking in damage, but that was ok.

Thief, on the other hand, even if I spec for damage dealing at my lowly 47 to do AC, I’ll do a whole lot less damage to the enemies than a level 80 in exotics, regardless of scaling. I also bring little support in such a build.
Condition damage heavy is very often a waste, because as soon as someone else wants to throw on conditions, I pretty much become useless (even more when my probably weaker conditions start overwriting their more powerful ones).
I’ve considered utility, like doing massive blinds, aoe stealth and weakness support and this is decent, but feels a little bit lacking. I also can’t make a coherent build that makes sense when I want to do all these 3 things together.

Anyone here with some more experience in thiefs that can help me out? Basically a build made for dungeons for a level 50ish thief (40 trait points to spend), and with only green gear available with two stat options still. Yeah, tough assignment go go go :P

For thief which is my alt – I raised him to 80 by doing dungeons since 50, so I can definitely help out.

Most of the Dungeon runs were in AC and some CM.

I started out with a Bleeding/Condition Build and it was good until i got to 70 then switched to Bleeding/Venom Build.

For traits with 40 points -

20 points – Acrobatics (Power of Inertia, Assasin’s Reward)
20 points – Trickery(Uncatchable, Thrill of the Crime)

Skill – Signet of Malice, Caltrops, Roll for Initiative, Shadow Refuge, Dagger Storm.

Weapon is D/D and S/B. Runes get Vitality/Condition Duration increases on Pow/Vital/Cond Armor. For Sigils when you get to 60 (Sigil of Stamina on 1 Dagger and probably Agony on other) for S/B get whatever you like.

Pretty much spam Caltrops in a large group, and Dagger 3/4 to cripple and Death Blossom them. Sigil of Stamina combos we’ll since you will be dodging a lot after killing enemies to boost up your might/caltrops/ and swiftness when dodging.

As i got closer to 70 I switched over to the Bleeding/Venom build and it really is amazing in a coordinated group.

30 in Shadow Arts(Cloaked in Shadows, Leeching Venoms, Venomous Aura)
20 in Deadly Arts(Venomous Strength, Quick Venoms)
20 in Trickery(Thrill of the Crime, Bountiful Theft)

Skills – Hide in Shadows, Spider Venom, Skale Venom, Devourer Venom, Basilisk Venom will sometimes switch Devourer Venom for Shadow Refuge depending on situation.

Weapon – P/D with skill 5/Hide in Shadows it will create blinds on nearby enemies really useful since you will stay close-mid range. Blinds are a great way to mitigate damage. For Sigils I prefer damage increases or condition durations. For runes definitely Lyssa Runes – it is amazing with Basilisk Venom due to the recharge rate. Armor is Pow/Vit/Cond same with Jewels. Skale Venom is great against bosses/single yellow mob since applying weakness to them. I like to start the fight off with # 5 to blind them by going stealth and then use Sneak Attack.

When I play thief the worst that happens is removing conditions in this build, you have to rely on playing smart and utilizing the heal and Basilisk Venom. Hope this helps.

hmmm, you could try power/vitality gear to take a few hits or power/precision for more damage go into crit strikes 20 points and put 20 points into trickery. pick up might, fury, and swiftness to party for 10 seconds on steal, and then vigor and boon rip on steal. that way you can at least give the occasional buff to your party, and the points in crit work well with a sword/pistol combo for daze interrupts on demand, pistol whip stun. have smoke screen and shadow refuge on your bars. and caltrops when that would help, since the bleeds hurt, plus cripple can help kite a lot of bosses.

basically drop caltrops into groups/on boss, steal to buff group, pistol whip/auto attack/interrupt with your weapons, and when someone goes down, drop shadow refuge or smoke screen on them to cover the rez. probably about a support like a thief can get until you get access to venom share when you get grandmaster traits.

I would suggest a D/D condition build for this. Ultimately building to 0/0/20/20/30. Key traits being Shadow Arts 10 for Shadow’s Embrace, Acrobatics 15 and Trickery 15. This could give you a good start for a not so squishy condition build. Condition is nice to throw out your damage and back off for a bit, not having to be in melee 100% of the time.

Shadow Refuge is a good support ability, allowing you to drop it over a downed player to help them to their feet. Its also great for running your group past packs you don’t want to fight, Blinding Powder will hit your group also and extends the stealth

This build allows you to simply focus on Condition and Vitality gear w/o needing Power, Precision and Crit% to be most effective.

If you are concerned about removing conditions from yourself you could run P/D condition with 0/0/20/0/20 for Hidden Thief.

GL,
Blood~

I run D/P for dungeon runs with my buddies. Black Powder Shot is probably the most awesome skill to use against PvE enemies for support.

A while back when I first started out in dungeons, I remember the Warrior in the group stop and asked if he was being healed because he wasn’t taking any damage. The Elementalist said he wasn’t at all. Nor was anyone else traited for support.

I just replied with " ".

I run a unique build, it satisfies me. 20/30/20/0/0 With the intention that Hidden Killer will be my biggest damage unleashed with guaranteed crits from constant stealthed Backstabs.

This is the build I would run on a lvl 50 that’s only doing dungeons:
Shadow protector makes blinding powder viable and shadow refuge even greater than it already was.
20 Acro gives some extra survivability, might on dodge and A 3RD DODGE.
10 points in trickery for traited steal gives your team some nice buffs.

If you get more trait points and want to spec some in extra damage, go for critical strikes, not deadly arts.

If you use direct damage, always bring a shortbow. Clusterbomb is great, infiltrator’s arrow is great, disabling shot is great when you’re out of endurance, even auto-attack is pretty good on multiple targets.

Only go for melee if you know you can survive it.

Try to spec your armor as glassy as you can handle, but don’t overdo it. There’s no point in doing 10% more damage if you get downed all the time.

Always bring Shadow refuge, it can and will save lives. If you feel that the CD is too long on it and your team needs more stealth support, you can bring blinding powder too.

Don’t forget to swap out skills/weapons to adapt do different situations. (thieves guild for bosses <—> daggerstorm for big groups, signet of shadows for jumping puzzles, etc. )