Guild Wars 2

Thieves in a nutshell/general advice for new thieves (wvw)

Hello fellow thieves,

since it is that time of year I am going to share my insights into the thief class,make of it what you will.

So here it is thieves in a nutshell (WvW):

There are things about this class that make it wastely more fun than any other the most important of those is the ability to use any combination of your attacks in any sequence as needed due to the unique initiative mechanic.
This leads to very creative gameplay if you so chose and the ability to adapt to a vast range of different situations on the fly. Ifit is needed you can repeat the same skill or combine different skills no other class has that choice.

Going on from there the most creative strategy is to build for that ability to adapt, so ignore the one trick pony specs and go for diversity.

Unfortunately in that regard your choices in weapons will be limited very much.

So weapons:

You will end up with d/p and sb if you compare the weapon sets. The reasons are rather simple, those weapons provide the most diverse options.
They got the greates number of different fishers and combo fileds the class can offer.
And provide the most control.
d/p 4 is the only repeatable ranged “hard cc”in the game, the blind field and d/p 3 also provide unparalelled control from range before engaging in melee, aditionally stealth becomes available for bs and escape and condition removal. Also group stealth can be applied via the blind field realiably.
The bild field is also ideal to "protect stomps " sice interrupts will miss you if you stomp in a blind field.

sb provides the best defensive movement with again control via aoe weakness and cripple. It also provides spammable blast finishers if needed.

Traits:

Now with traits you need to think diversity and control again which leads to traiting steal. Again this limits you choices somewhat. The things you really need are condition removal on stealth and daze on steal (which also reduces steal recharge).
The reasons for both are as I said control you need to control the enemies conditions and be able stop them from useing their most powerful abilities. Sleight of Hand/Steal is the only absolutely unavoidable ranged interupt, you can use it even while disabled to make it even better you will want to also trait Bountyful Theft this trait steals stability 1st due to the boon steal priority so you can even interrupt targets who have stability.
Steal will also become a low cd emergency escape this way.

Try to make your build starting with this and then consequently go for control. Try Long Reach and Hidden Thief or blind on stealth with it to strengthen this even more. But there are lots of different options. EVEN s/x if you want to not us sb for more boon removal and daze.

Skip the crit trait line go for utility and control in wvw you can get enough crit from the gear. You can even skip the power trait line if you want the damage will still be enough due to food stacks and group boons.

Utilities:

Use roll for initiatve as main stun/imobilize breaker it beats shadowstep by far it also grants initiative, if you use sb 3 after it you can disengage while spaming evade (yes thanks to roll for ini you will have the ini to do that).

Switch you other utilities often to be less predictable and adapt to the situations, think about your combo options (cross class combos, especially aoe combos, will always win out in the end, the game is designed that way, remember blinding powder is another blast finisher).

Elite:

Use daggerstorm everything else is not even half as good, remember you can cancel the skill anytime by useing dodge but you will still get the full 8sec stability. It also reflects projectiles (once you have reflected a rifle warriors burst or a p/d condi unload or a imobilize rangers burst you will understand why this is awesome). If you use lyssa runes you will get the 6 point benefit even if you cancel daggerstorm.

Gear:

Mix your gear this is easy in wvw start with pvt armor zerker weapons and mixed jewellery, then modify to your preferences.
When you start out pvt is verry good since you will meet players in ascended gear you will need the vitality and armor, trust me, this will make your life a lot easier.

Good Luck and HAVE FUN.

Question, What does PVT armor mean? I’m running 0/30/30/10/0 zerk / soldier gear and I feel like I’m not doing enough damage. @ 5k backstab, most classes get off a heal or block and now I’m just chasing after them trying to land a few more. At this point I’m about to say screw it and run full zerker.

EDIT :
Did I say Valk / Soldier? I meant zerker / soldier with valk / zerk trinkets

That is a pretty big nut shell. I spy a few things in there that are a bit ill advised, don’t feel like pointing them out but overall interesting. Should prolly rename to “A beginners guide to thieves by Bazoonga/a beginner”. Seems also rather biased/generalized. instead of discussing options you simply state “this is best” which is just begging for an argument, lots of people would disagree with there being a “best”.

Nice post, but this is more you in a nutshell.

The utility Shadowstep brings to me, I find far more superior than Roll for Initiative,
it provides you with 2 stun breakers within a time window, high mobility, removal of 3 conditions, Teleport>Return stomp while inside clustered situations, and for simple teleport stomping of eles, thieves, mesmers, may require good timing and reaction speed and not always possible.

Daggerstorm is a great Elite, and you can cancel it by just stowing your weapons, no need to dodge. Thieves Guild has a long cd, but is the strongest Elite in a 1v1 and with a venom share build they totally annihilate your opponent. A well-timed basilisk venom can also give you the upper hand in a fight, and with Runes of Lyssa it grants you a good condition removal on a relatively short cd.

PvT armor, zerker weapons, zerker jewelry is a simple way to go, but you can achieve more stats by placing your gear in the right slots, example: with exotics; PvT rings, head, legs. Ascended; PvT head, chest, legs, weapons. And this is by no means optimal, having high crit dmg wearing full slotted crit dmg along with hidden killer will make your backstabs hit hard and can make many fights really short.

D/P is a great weapon set with 5 well shaped weapon skills, but it also has its weaknesses, and there are situations where D/D will perform better. D/P can however be a lot more forgiving and tanky. Myself went through all weapon sets and ended up back on D/D, and sometimes D/P for tournaments, but my main task in the team is to get between bases quickly and take down various strategic targets quickly and execute with HS and leave quickly for next place letting my team mates stomp, D/D outshines D/P for this.

Shadow Trap beats Shadow Refuge by far when solo imo, it can be used both offensively and defensively for escaping or waiting out cds, the instant 6 sec stealth (if SA traited) will allow you to escape most situations, a zerged shadow refuge will in most cases lead to your death, but there are some tactical ways of using SR as well.

30 CS is optimal for having good damage output with Dagger mainhand, dagger mainhand needs good burst to drop most opponents and having 30 points here will open up more gearing options.

Thiefs in a nutshell……

Nerfs…….

we don’t even have a shell anymore……