Guild Wars 2

I have over 600 hours playing as a guardian, and I’m trying to play my lvl 80 thief. My main issue is that I’ve played an AH guardian for so long, that I’m simply not used to the fact that I cannot heal at anytime I want with a thief. Condition removal is also something I have to actively think about (As a guardian, conditions are auto removed every 10 seconds and at every shout). I run a mixture of Valkyrie/Knight armor with berserker accessories on my thief, and yet I feel so squishy. Do you guys have any advice or builds that can make my transition easier? What traits should I go with? Should I go with a more tanky spec?

First and foremost, learn to love dodging. I played Thief before Guardian, and I found that while running my AH build, I didn’t even need to dodge any attacks at all, in all sorts of dungeon content. It was a huge sigh of relief. I can only imagine the transition from Guardian to Thief would be almost traumatic in comparison.

i got over 500 h on guardian and over 1000 on thief, so i can tell you :
thief got better condition removal, without sacrificing any utility slot -sword main hand / stealth condition removal
you can train for regeneration on stealth
however you cannot spam skills like on guardian, you must prepare your combo, most of the times you can use 3 skills in row before you run out of initiative.
autoattck does not adavantage you in wvwvw /spvp against heavy armors you cannot trade blow for blow
On pve shortbow is your best friend
only weapons that got aoe on autoattack are sword/shortbow,
you can also train for blind on stealth, wich might increase your survaivability with offhand dagger or dagger /pistol

Like you, I played guardian (about 500 hours) before thief, and as said before, you really need to learn how to dodge. Perhaps use the shortbow until you’ve got the hang of it, because #3 skill has a built-in evade. There’s also several traits that increase your endurance, which should give you a few extra dodges in the place of Guardian’s vigour. As for your concerns about condition removal, there’s also a trait that removes conditions every 3 seconds that you’re in stealth, or something like that. Signet of Agility also cures conditions on active, and refills endurance.

Thieves are pretty squishy no matter what build you use, but the huge amount of mobility makes up for it. Get used to moving around constantly. It was a pretty steep learning curve, but I find that playing thief so much, and sticking with it, has actually made me much better at playing guardian.

Thief is a LOT more fun (opinion of course). You won’t be able to facetank anymore so you’ll have to dodge but you’ll be compensated with significantly more dmg. Thief is basically a condition guardian if you trait it right. Guard gives protection, regen, aiges, swiftness, etc. Thief gives weakness, poison, blind, cripple, etc. It’s a lot more interactive class that’s really mobile. You have to think about everything you’re doing b/c it’s also not a very forgiving class.

I’d say go zerker. Hella damage and if you play right, you should be getting hit much at all.

I go 10-30-20-0-10 for insane dmg, high ini recovery, condi removal, and team buffs. Although I do wish I could have 15 into acrobatics and 20 into trickery. Bountiful theft is AMAZING. It would be smart to not put 10 into da and just put them into trickery but I love the big burst with mug and the poison to nerf heals when I steal.

All weapon combos are useful in pve except pistol dagger is usually junk even on a condi thief. Reason being is in pve, most mobs/bosses cleanse too much and to the ones that generally don’t, straight dps is significantly more useful. Pistol pistol is fine due to ease of access to blinds. One thing you need to watch out for though is that blind isn’t that good vs bosses as for w/e reason, most bosses have a form of defiance against blinds. I’d say it’s about 50% effective against them.

Sbow>pistols in 90% of situations bc sbow has greater range (both say 900 but the arc on the arrow makes it more like 1050, cluster bomb is 1200 but it’s most effective in close range), great aoe, more mobility, and a great evade on the 3 ability. It also has a field and 2 finishers over the pistols 1 and 1. Cluster bomb is THE BEST finisher in the game.

All melee weapon sets are great but I’d suggest starting out with sword until you got used to the class. Daggers do more dps and spike but they don’t have the amazing is/return or great aoe dmg.

Never stand still – ever. I know you can say this about most combat in GW2, but it needs repeating for the Thief – you are super squishy and have to keep your feet moving. IME Thief is the most frantic class in the game to play, though I’ve a friend what tells me Mesmers are that way, too. Get real familiar with what you can and can’t do with initiative; become good friends with your weapon swap; and once you trait it up a bit – around level 30 say – Steal really comes into its own. (my favorite mechanic, ever … some people don’t like it but their opinions don’t count ;P )

Use ranged attacks for melee enemies, melee attacks against ranged enemies and use your mobility skills for weapon and in your skill bar. If you’re not flying around like a crazy person you’re probably not playing your Thief right. (well, at least not having as much fun as you could be having)

Ambush trap and Thieve’s Guild are both really really nice, since they help take attention away from you, so jump on those when you can.

Stealth just got really nerfed in PvE, so you can’t rely on it the way you could a month ago … not really a useful offensive or defensive tool anymore. (well, it still has its uses, just not as much as it used to and no I’m not bitter what makes you think that?)

Dual Pistols look really neat but aren’t worth much … with that said, I love my pistols because they … well, look really neat.

In melee you should be able to wipe out trash mobs pretty well, but you’ll have a lot harder time with Veterans and above. (get used to kiting)

It is a fun and exciting class to play, so I hope you have a good time with it!

OH yea, steal is amazing if you trait for it. Don’t let anybody tell you different.

For me it’s a shadowstep, damage dealer, condition applier, team buffer – swiftness, might, and fury. If fully traited for stealing it can also strip boons, give vigor, daze, make you invisible (which gives more ini/regen/condi removal), and can reset the entire cool down of a full utility type. Not to mention the stolen items! It’s an amazing skill.

I did the opposite transition and really feel bad for you.

Thief is fun and challenging, but the Guardian is so much better.
So much healing, dmg, defense and group utility… The only thing the thief can do better than a guardian is run away… And actually, my guard can do that better too…

Thief can remove 1 or 2 conditions on stealth… Guard can remove 2 cond every 10secs without stop whatever he is doing, or he can remove 1 or 2 cond from the whole group with shouts and even turn it into boons, while healing himself and giving crazy buffs (considering shout spec)… Or you can just turn all cond into boons and get a nice heal (considering meditation spec)…

Thief can have a good burst going GC, guardian has great burst going GC too, with more survivability and more sustained dmg…

Control/tank guardian wins… on trash mobs or bosses…

The only thing thief can be better than guardian is the condition spec. Guards have no viable cond spec… Maybe ranged combat, but only for pvp, as mobs dont really dodge the blue-balls-of-fire… and when going ranged with guard you can have more missile defenses using shield, wall of reflection and the summoned shield…

Guardian is a much more forgiving class also. If you forgot to dodge you still have aegis, high armor and constant heal/regen to stay in the fight. If a thief dont dodge, he’s dead or need to go hide in the corner until he can recover…

Don’t get me wrong… I love my thief, but guardian is a much more balanced class (in terms of trait/skills/stats synergy) and can do much more in both solo and group environments. And its no surprise people take guards over thiefs to “elite runs” and all that stuff…

do yourself a favour and don’t listen to anyone who stopped playing their thief early. Thief is amazing, it just takes time to find all the little tricks that make them such an amazing class. If you like resource management over cd management, you’ll love and excel at this class.

my tips:
- omnom ghost food if you feel like you need steady heals throughout fights. I used to rely on this food too much but after nerf, I just use the 200power on kill or the 100preci + 10% cdmg

- using sword and playing around #2 Infiltrator’s Strike / Shadow return + Withdraw [15s cd] + Withdraw makes you really last long and also messed up with players and boss attacks. Warp in, burst and warp out to avoid big hits and clear condition. A ‘combo’ would be like use Withdraw heal to dodge roll back and heal, then hit #2 to get back in fight, knowing you got safe o kitten button (#2 Shadow return).

JFYI my thief’s is S/D 10 III / 30 I VI XI / 0 / 0 / 30 V VII XII (pvp) (switchin 3 traits for pve). Full berserker/ascend (p/v/t gear rusting in bank for a long while now).

Mileinnor.7125:

I have over 600 hours playing as a guardian, and I’m trying to play my lvl 80 thief. My main issue is that I’ve played an AH guardian for so long, that I’m simply not used to the fact that I cannot heal at anytime I want with a thief. Condition removal is also something I have to actively think about (As a guardian, conditions are auto removed every 10 seconds and at every shout). I run a mixture of Valkyrie/Knight armor with berserker accessories on my thief, and yet I feel so squishy. Do you guys have any advice or builds that can make my transition easier? What traits should I go with? Should I go with a more tanky spec?

That is a very good observation of the difference between the two professions. Unlike the Guardian, for which you get Aegis to mitigate damages and a lot of ways to block incoming attacks, Thieves relies solely on dodges, evasions, shadowsteps and blind to avoid damage.

Thieves will always be squishy that is why you need to learn how to use your damage prevention skills and to learn that you cannot handle large group any more like you would with your Guardian. You need to eat and breath Thief before you can overcome this limitation since it requires a lot of experience and technic training to pull off a very effective playstyle.

But first, to learn the Thief profession, you need to remove all bias that you have about the Guardian and about the Thief. It seems that your trouble starts because you expect the Thief to function like the Guardian, but once you set the Guardian in you aside, there will be nothing in the way for you to learn how to become a Thief.

Mobility and positioning are important a thief. Don’t just use mobility to approach mobs but to also get safely behind them quickly, with an option to shadow return when in trouble. If you need to back off and use all your initiative for evades, shadowsteps, or stealth then do that. There are defenses for most situations with smoke screen, cripples, and blinds so make sure you are actively using those and taking control of the situation.

Stooperdale.3560:

There are defenses for most situations with smoke screen, cripples, and blinds so make sure you are actively using those and taking control of the situation.

All of Stoop’s post, but wanted to stress Smoke Screen; it will save your life soooo much against ranged mobs. (and it blinds when you shoot through it) I put off using it forever … for some odd reason, and I could just slap myself.

smokescreen + dagger storm, is a good defensive approach also

Jack of Tears.9458:

Stooperdale.3560:

There are defenses for most situations with smoke screen, cripples, and blinds so make sure you are actively using those and taking control of the situation.

All of Stoop’s post, but wanted to stress Smoke Screen; it will save your life soooo much against ranged mobs. (and it blinds when you shoot through it) I put off using it forever … for some odd reason, and I could just slap myself.

also: when facing static mobs/bosses, can place SS right under their feet so it acts as the tiny aoe strip acts just like blackpowder field for 6s (blind ticks every second).