Thieves end-game pve?
I wont tell you what you must do, but yes thieves are to weak for endgame pve.
To spam BS+ Stealth with an fullzerker build and gear is the only way to do more dmg as GS-warriors (on one target!), but you will die as fast as a rabbit.
Caleb Ferendir
-Charr Thief-
It’s good to be bad!
-Charr Thief-
It’s good to be bad!
(edited by Black Teagan.9215)
Forget about p/d. Grab sword/pistol and spam pistol whip.
Thief/Guardian. Desolation [EU]
Pistol/pistol does single target dps at range with no defenses. That’s the wrong weapon profile for most dungeons and world events. Shortbow gives you an evade skill and aoe damage, plus a blast finisher when you’re in a group. Melee weapons give you more damage, evades, and blinds.
You do have to relearn your thief in dungeons and play smarter. Heavy classes can get more done for less effort but if you enjoy your thief you can still get everything done.
agreeing with the posters before me, better stay in meele range instead of using P/P just makes you lazy and not being able to dodge properly, my go to weapons for pve are s/p – d/d and s/d for bosses who buff themselves (to steal mightstacks etc.) also P/P dmg is kind of low compared to d/d.
so all in all, thief deals dmg but is squishy, you have to rely on your dodges to make things work.
Thieves have a niche in PvE by being able to deal a lot of damage. But unlike Warriors, they do have to make trade-offs to achieve that damage, which makes them very susceptible.
More than anything, knowing encounters will help you survive.
With that caveat out of the way, I think Sword + Pistol is the best weapon-set for most PvE content. Black Powder is an excellent way to tank trash mobs and Pistol Whip spam can help your survive boss encounters in melee (if you know your timings).
Of course, eventually you should carry every weapon set with you so you can adapt. But having the Shortbow (for AoE) or Pistol/Pistol (for single target) ranged DPS is always a good choice.
As for gear and traits, I’d recommend getting Soldier gear at first (Power, Toughness Vitality) and then continuously replace those items with Beserker gear as you become increasingly confident.
For traits, 15 points in Acrobatics is always worth while, maybe even 20. The rest should go towards improving your DPS.
(edited by Dee Jay.2460)
Thieves are just fine in endgame PvE. We’re absolutely not weak and don’t listen to people say that we’re too squishy, it just isn’t true. If you are THERE to be squished, then you’re not playing the thief effectively. Evasion, stealth, blinds… we have a lot of options for avoiding direct damage. You just need to keep mobile.
There are a lot of options for gearing and traits, though after playing full condition set/builds, full “zerker” and various hybrids, I’ve finally settled into a heavy power/crit setup, with some armor pieces from other sets to boost survivability where needed.
What Hawken said. I’d go so far as to say Thief is incredibly potent in PvE, contrary to the whiny babies who don’t know encounters and then blame the game for their shortcomings. Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
Running full Berserker with Scholar runes, 25/30/0/0/15, sometimes 10/30/0/0/30 if boons are lacking in the composition, and carrying all weapons for any situation, mostly S/P. I have a PTV set that I swap in and out of depending on reliability of damage evasion and volume/strength of hits eg. Underground Fractal at the trash runs (blind immunity and HUGE amount of incoming hits that some are eventually going to get through), back to Berserker at the bosses.
Gnome Child [Gc]
Resident Thief
Resident Thief
Re-roll guardian or warrior – less hassle, better results.
Or try to get into groups that have both a thief and a warrior/guardian and pay attention to how they perform. Even WvW wise…
It depends what you mean by PvE. If you are referring to dungeons, other classes are much better to take along. If you are talking living story, thief is fine.
It depends what you mean by PvE. If you are referring to dungeons, other classes are much better to take along. If you are talking living story, thief is fine.
Again, sorry this is a ridiculous statement. I play most classes but particularly guardian and thief and have run most dungeons on both. Thieves can be very effective and helpful to the group in dungeons. They offer high dps and a lot of utility — at the very least, access to group stealth (Shadow Refuge:“http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Refuge”) and AoE blind/stealth (Blinding Powder:“http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blinding_Powder”), AoE bleeds, roots, AoE healing, etc.
What Hawken said. I’d go so far as to say Thief is incredibly potent in PvE, contrary to the whiny babies who don’t know encounters and then blame the game for their shortcomings. Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
Running full Berserker with Scholar runes, 25/30/0/0/15, sometimes 10/30/0/0/30 if boons are lacking in the composition, and carrying all weapons for any situation, mostly S/P. I have a PTV set that I swap in and out of depending on reliability of damage evasion and volume/strength of hits eg. Underground Fractal at the trash runs (blind immunity and HUGE amount of incoming hits that some are eventually going to get through), back to Berserker at the bosses.
I should emphasize that although I think the “full zerker” setup is a viable choice and obviously does a lot of damage, I don’t think it’s the optimal setup for PvE (personally). After trying many builds and setups, I now believe in leaning to more balanced stats for various reasons. Going for, say, 80% direct damage via power/crit and then 20% investment into condition damage and surviviablity makes a lot of sense, considering all of the different combat situations we can get into. AoE bleeds, torment and poisons may seem like small change when you see those big crit numbers pop up… but they still add up in group situations.
(edited by Hawken.7932)
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.
I think that’s true, Fletch. It’s the both the best and most difficult thing about the class — it’s not an easy-mode profession that’s for sure. It’s also due to the fact that a lot of people go “full berserker” and then cry when their glass cannon build goes down on the first big hit.
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.I think that’s true, Fletch. It’s the both the best and most difficult thing about the class — it’s not an easy-mode profession that’s for sure. It’s also due to the fact that a lot of people go “full berserker” and then cry when their glass cannon build goes down on the first big hit.
thats player error, not build or armor problems, its very easy to survive in full zerker with a glass build if you know where the dodge button is
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.I think that’s true, Fletch. It’s the both the best and most difficult thing about the class — it’s not an easy-mode profession that’s for sure. It’s also due to the fact that a lot of people go “full berserker” and then cry when their glass cannon build goes down on the first big hit.
thats player error, not build or armor problems, its very easy to survive in full zerker with a glass build if you know where the dodge button is
That’s much like saying gear doesn’t make a difference, which I would categorically reject — obviously gear does make a difference, and spec’ing for more survivability is obviously going to help people live longer than if they spec full berzerker.
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.I think that’s true, Fletch. It’s the both the best and most difficult thing about the class — it’s not an easy-mode profession that’s for sure. It’s also due to the fact that a lot of people go “full berserker” and then cry when their glass cannon build goes down on the first big hit.
thats player error, not build or armor problems, its very easy to survive in full zerker with a glass build if you know where the dodge button is
That’s much like saying gear doesn’t make a difference, which I would categorically reject — obviously gear does make a difference, and spec’ing for more survivability is obviously going to help people live longer than if they spec full berzerker.
apparently you misunderstood, theres no point to bring any defensive stats because 90% of damage in this game can be avoided and those stats are wasted
now as for using defensive gear to survive, why? thief brings 2 things to the party, lots of stealth and extreme damage (were #2 only because ele has fgs), so why would you sacrifice close to 66% (random ballpark here but its fairly close if you consider 100% crit chance and crit damage) of your damage, now since your dps is now below a zerker necro why would people want you in the party?
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.I think that’s true, Fletch. It’s the both the best and most difficult thing about the class — it’s not an easy-mode profession that’s for sure. It’s also due to the fact that a lot of people go “full berserker” and then cry when their glass cannon build goes down on the first big hit.
thats player error, not build or armor problems, its very easy to survive in full zerker with a glass build if you know where the dodge button is
That’s much like saying gear doesn’t make a difference, which I would categorically reject — obviously gear does make a difference, and spec’ing for more survivability is obviously going to help people live longer than if they spec full berzerker.
apparently you misunderstood, theres no point to bring any defensive stats because 90% of damage in this game can be avoided and those stats are wasted
now as for using defensive gear to survive, why? thief brings 2 things to the party, lots of stealth and extreme damage (were #2 only because ele has fgs), so why would you sacrifice close to 66% (random ballpark here but its fairly close if you consider 100% crit chance and crit damage) of your damage, now since your dps is now below a zerker necro why would people want you in the party?
I don’t think that I misunderstand at all, I just disagree.
It depends on what you use for mobility and avoidance. In PvE, I don’t trait into Acrobatics at all, for example, so I opt instead to go heavier into damage lines and counterbalance that by taking some survivability through gear. I’m not saying people shouldn’t trait into Acrobatics as a rule, I just don’t personally because in PvE I find it more enjoyable to go other routes.
I find the wholesale “full zerker” statement that people shout around to be a little ignorant, to be honest, because you can use the stats on gear to balance out the choices that you make in your traits. I agree though that for the thief at the moment, power/crit is the way to go as conditions are so broken in PvE boss fights, making it essentially a useless setup (unfortunately).
Thief is very punishing for error, but rewarding when encounters are played correctly.
This is kind of the entire point of peoples meh on thieves.
I’m almost exhausted after doing a run on my thief compared to some other classes I have.I think that’s true, Fletch. It’s the both the best and most difficult thing about the class — it’s not an easy-mode profession that’s for sure. It’s also due to the fact that a lot of people go “full berserker” and then cry when their glass cannon build goes down on the first big hit.
thats player error, not build or armor problems, its very easy to survive in full zerker with a glass build if you know where the dodge button is
That’s much like saying gear doesn’t make a difference, which I would categorically reject — obviously gear does make a difference, and spec’ing for more survivability is obviously going to help people live longer than if they spec full berzerker.
apparently you misunderstood, theres no point to bring any defensive stats because 90% of damage in this game can be avoided and those stats are wasted
now as for using defensive gear to survive, why? thief brings 2 things to the party, lots of stealth and extreme damage (were #2 only because ele has fgs), so why would you sacrifice close to 66% (random ballpark here but its fairly close if you consider 100% crit chance and crit damage) of your damage, now since your dps is now below a zerker necro why would people want you in the party?I don’t think that I misunderstand at all, I just disagree.
It depends on what you use for mobility and avoidance. In PvE, I don’t trait into Acrobatics at all, for example, so I opt instead to go heavier into damage lines and counterbalance that by taking some survivability through gear. I’m not saying people shouldn’t trait into Acrobatics as a rule, I just don’t personally because in PvE I find it more enjoyable to go other routes.
I find the wholesale “full zerker” statement that people shout around to be a little ignorant, to be honest, because you can use the stats on gear to balance out the choices that you make in your traits. I agree though that for the thief at the moment, power/crit is the way to go as conditions are so broken in PvE boss fights, making it essentially a useless setup (unfortunately).
why would you need acrobatics for survivability? you have a massive amount of evades and why are you worried about mobility? stack in corner doesnt require mobility, and why do you assume im using acrobatics, ive always ran 25/30/10/0/5 which has no access to vigor or endurance regen
(edited by Clumsy.6257)