Hey all.
I love the thief. In every game I always play the Rogue leather-wearing archetype and this game is no different!
I am having no problem in PvE whatsoever, running a dagger/dagger bleed build with high mobility and stealth tactics.
But I am more interested in PvP. I am quite a big PvP player but I don’t think I’ve found my niche with the Thief in this game yet.
Here are the ‘standard’ builds I have used and my thoughts on them.
- Condition build, D/D: Fun for PvE and yeah it is okay in PvP. Death Blossom gives great AoE bleeds and survivability, seconding as an evade. But the whole meta atm seems based around burst. Warriors/Mesmers and glass cannon Thieves are running riot. Necromancers and Guardians LAUGH at my attempts to make them bleed, too. Overall, I love how durable a condition build is, but the offense is totally lacklustre. I have heard that Venom builds are quite effective but I have never used one, if anybody has any ideas for a venom build, lemme know.
- Backstab/Heartseeker/Pistol Whip burst: I’ll begin by saying I HATE Pistol Whip. It requires you to stand still. Thieves should never stand still. I have been running with a Backstab/Heartseeker build the last few days. It’s literally a case of kill in 3 hits or get hit in 3 hits, but that is not my issue with this build… I actually feel such a high-risk build suits the Thief stereotype. My issue with the build is just how reliant it is on cooldowns. Once you’ve blown Basilisk Venom, Steal and Assassin’s signet, you are pretty much totally useless for around a minute, give or take. I can’t stand that, I really can’t. And yes, it’s always fun to MELT people in 3 hits but really, how useful is killing 1 person then running away for a minute to the team in the long run? Not at all.
- After watching the Yippie Kay Yay thief PvP vids I decided to use his Pistol/Dagger build, attracted to the high survivability it offers compared to a backstab build. But it just seems a little misplaced in sPvP, and more suited to roaming in WvW, which is where he plays it. The maps are too small for this build in sPvP, or so my experiences tell me. It does take a while to whittle opponent’s health down, which is fine in WvW but in sPvP, the pace is a lot faster, and if you take too long to kill somebody, the chances of something intervening is a lot bigger.
So TL;DR
Condition offense, in my experiences is too easily countered and out of place in a direct damage based meta.
Backstab is fun for 1 kill then you are useless for a minute.
P/D is fun but too slow for sPvP more suited for WvW.
My question to you, my betters, is this: Is there another route for Thief sPvP? None of these three types of gameplay are ‘clicking’ for me :’(
My wish is to find a build, or create one with the help of you guys, to create a Thief whose damage isn’t totally kittened but can also stay alive for a drawn out fight.