Guild Wars 2

PVE Thief Build

Do you have a slow computer or high ping?
Are you always getting downed?
Or just want something with a bit of room to breath.
After spending a bunch of time playing on calculators and doing dungeon runs ingame I came up with the 0/30/10/30/0 build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoYlYmiPXcS4E95Ey2jdqC5JuCOV3jsS+0KA-jUBBYfBM3sIasFXFRjVXDT5iIqGA-w

This build maintains around 80% of the DPS of the meta 25/30/0/0/15 build with a whooping boost of nearly double eHP, assuming they werent using practiced tolerance. Also has bonus heals from Assassin’s Reward for better sustain.

Why not 30 points in shadow arts? On paper it offers better heals and over all better sustain through access to perm regeneration and a larger heal during stealth via Shadow’s Rejuvation. I ran 10/30/30/0/0 for awhile and i found that because of aggro mechanics and due to the fact that 3 things affect aggro; range, dmg and toughness, the added toughness meant that i almost always had aggro and i just didnt have enough healing to stay alive.

30points in Critical Strikes
This actually accounts for a bulk of the DPS in any thief build. Just 30points in critical strikes puts you at about 30% less dps then the optimal DPS build of 30/30/0/0/10. It also has alot of useful traits.

10points in Shadow Arts
This is a gem. It allows you to choose between
1. Infusion with shadows
2. Shadow Protector
3. Shadow’s Embrace

30points in Acrobatics
Assassin’s Reward doesnt offer alot of passive healing, but its passive healing non the least. You also get feline grace, near perm swiftness(depending on the circumstances) and a nice 10% increase to dps when your endurance isnt full(and how often is it?). As i said before, in PvE i found a slight DPS boost and i rarely found myself going down compared to the 10/30/30/0/0 build.

Other Notes:
You can easily swap out Valkyrie Armor for Berserker. It would add a bit more then 5% DPS to the build.

This isnt some super OP build or a build i would advise to a player that currently has no problems running a glass cannon build. This is for players that want to play thief and feel they are too squishy and go down to often. I tried to find a build that can still maintain dps without going down so easily. A dead player does no DPS.

Hope this build helps some players.

MyCondolences.8172:

PVE Thief Build

Do you have a slow computer or high ping?
Are you always getting downed?
Or just want something with a bit of room to breath.
After spending a bunch of time playing on calculators and doing dungeon runs ingame I came up with the 0/30/10/30/0 build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoYlYmiPXcS4E95Ey2jdqC5JuCOV3jsS+0KA-jUBBYfBM3sIasFXFRjVXDT5iIqGA-w

This build maintains around 80% of the DPS of the meta 25/30/0/0/15 build with a whooping boost of nearly double eHP, assuming they werent using practiced tolerance. Also has bonus heals from Assassin’s Reward for better sustain.

Why not 30 points in shadow arts? On paper it offers better heals and over all better sustain through access to perm regeneration and a larger heal during stealth via Shadow’s Rejuvation. I ran 10/30/30/0/0 for awhile and i found that because of aggro mechanics and due to the fact that 3 things affect aggro; range, dmg and toughness, the added toughness meant that i almost always had aggro and i just didnt have enough healing to stay alive.

30points in Critical Strikes
This actually accounts for a bulk of the DPS in any thief build. Just 30points in critical strikes puts you at about 30% less dps then the optimal DPS build of 30/30/0/0/10. It also has alot of useful traits.

10points in Shadow Arts
This is a gem. It allows you to choose between
1. Infusion with shadows
2. Shadow Protector
3. Shadow’s Embrace

30points in Acrobatics
Assassin’s Reward doesnt offer alot of passive healing, but its passive healing non the least. You also get feline grace, near perm swiftness(depending on the circumstances) and a nice 10% increase to dps when your endurance isnt full(and how often is it?). As i said before, in PvE i found a slight DPS boost and i rarely found myself going down compared to the 10/30/30/0/0 build.

Other Notes:
You can easily swap out Valkyrie Armor for Berserker. It would add a bit more then 5% DPS to the build.

This isnt some super OP build or a build i would advise to a player that currently has no problems running a glass cannon build. This is for players that want to play thief and feel they are too squishy and go down to often. I tried to find a build that can still maintain dps without going down so easily. A dead player does no DPS.

Hope this build helps some players.

This is a variation on a build I’ve been running for many months now: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYUQRAoY6alcmaOHcS5E+5Ey2jKUo4JuCJV3jryq0KA-jgEBYfhGVMQYLI4LYEEhmwAg0AhIBiIALzcas5PBpqpIasqaCy6jYKXJ1eLR2ca1WdASBsxyI-e.

Originally with Rampager armor for the crit chance and now I’m moving to Berserker Ascended. Its still squishy, but I’ve found it better than x-30-30-x-x for staying up and mobile while still allowing me to fight toe-to-toe with multiple opponents (and yes I do dodge a lot but I will also solo engage half dozen or more mobs or multiple veterans at the same time, and a solo elite or an occasional champion). I’ve never been that impressed with the last 10 points in the Shadows line so I’ve never found past 20 pts worthwhile. I’ve also never been fond of Withdrawl – on paper its nice and does all the right things but I dislike uncontrolled movement on my character and I frequently am in fights where throwing the character backwards suddenly could be very bad.

I like this build because it suits my play style, I like being constantly, aggressively on the attack. I play around with several variations in the traits and skills and the #7 skill I swap as needed – normally the Signet of Shadows is just my back up blind for when I don’t have a Cloak and Dagger/Cloaked in Shadow available. I’ll swap just about anything for it as the situation dictates. I also swap out Pain Response for Assassin’s Reward or the Quick Recovery (more the former than the latter). I ran Hide in Shadows forever but now only use it occasionally.

The weakness I’ve found in the build is lack of a decent reliable on-command condition removal utility – that should be the Signet of Agility but it isn’t (it really should just be a remove all conditions – give it a longer cool down if necessary to balance). Normally conditions in PvE are not that big a deal, but sometimes (toxic tower event etc.) they are, and when they are it can truly suck. I run everything with this character first but I can attest that its still glassy in ways that my secondary character, a ranger has never been. To me its telling that I’ve spent 30 points in vitality on my thief but my ranger, who has spent about 10 or 20 has 4000+ more health. Because of course with Anet’s logic the class with a longbow multi-attack vulnerability-causing skill with a 1200+ range and an 8 sec CD and a tanky pet to draw and hold aggro is clearly one one that needs 22K+ hit points . . . not the point blank “look em in the eye when you stab them in the other eye” thief.

By no means is this meant to be a tanky thief. I was just trying to find a build that can maintain good DPS but not go down after a mistake or two. I’ve been running this build through CoF, previously in a 25/30 build i was getting downed several times a run, with this build i rarely get downed and thats usually bc i’m trying to ress an ally.

I find the 10points in shadow arts to be a real bonus myself. Condition removal every 3 seconds or near perm regeneration or if i dont need either of those i can use infusion with shadows and keep full intiative.

Ever since i started playing d/d i’ve feel in love with blinding powder, it has no cast time so can be used while stunned/kd or ressing an ally. I use it as a pseudo stun breaker i suppose you can say. Also to trigger my shadow art trait if i’m not in range for CnD or using long bow.

Also I’m not a fan of withdraw myself, i much prefer SoM but the healing is better with withdraw and you cant ignore the condition removal as well. I just hate how long the dodge roll is and the annoyance of running back to melee range.

I love using withdraw myself. Unless of course I withdraw over a cliffs edge

I like the build, but I just find it impossible not to run 30 SA. Heck, I’d run 40 SA if I could, as you get 1) Easy condition removal, 2) AoE blind, 3) Perma Regen, 4) Decent Healing while stealthed or.. other good stuff. Note, my focus is WvW and overland PvE.

The SA traits are just too good

Oghier.7419:

I like the build, but I just find it impossible not to run 30 SA. Heck, I’d run 40 SA if I could, as you get 1) Easy condition removal, 2) AoE blind, 3) Perma Regen, 4) Decent Healing while stealthed or.. other good stuff. Note, my focus is WvW and overland PvE.

The SA traits are just too good

Yeah i agree SA has some awesome traits but most of the good ones are available with only a 10point investment, you just have to pick and choose depending on the situation.
That being said, the reason i went 30 into acrobatics instead of SA was solely bc the extra defence of SA lead to me taking aggro alot more often where as with acrobatics i rarely take aggro. Not having to tank bosses meant i could survive alot longer.
For overland PvE this probably wouldnt be a problem but in dungeons i just couldnt sustain with the extra dmg.