Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

Thief was my first character when I joined gw2, but has been covering dust since then. I’m playing mostly a warrior for frontman zerg fights and condi engineer for roaming.

I want to get back with my thief for roaming. I’m playing D/D and I have a lot of trouble surviving. I watched a lot of videos mostly from Yishis, to learn some of the playstyle.

I was wondering if there is a more user-friendly build where I won’t die so often until I start getting good at it. Also, I’m in full berserker.

Thanks for any advice guys.

P/D (not D/P)
Focus on Condition Damage, Thoughness and Vitality gear, mix with Carrion for more power on C&D.
Trait into Shadow Arts, Shadow Rejuvenation, Shadow’s Embrace and Cloaked in Shadow. Some Acrobatics, Trickery and Deadly Arts, flavoured to your play-style.

Frans.8092 is wrong. D/D got both better survablity and burst than P/D. The reason you die is that you run full berserker. You shuld take so much valkyrie gear that you get 15-17 k hp. To convince you about that precison part. You see that hidden killer trait? It gives your backstabs 100% chance to crit anyway? What does a typical backstab crit for? 6-10 k yes? A cloak usally goes for 4 k on a crit. same about your heartseekrs about 5-6 k. So i ask you which attack do you prioritize. you get exact same damage with your backstabs with some valkyrie stuff and still you yet get a lot more health.

D/D is way better than P/D becuse it got better survablity. And more imporantly more burst. the trick to fight outnumbered as a thief is to lure your targets away for echoter then gank 1 of them as quick as possibole before the opponent notices. then you rinse and repeat untill you have done 1vX. And you gank way faster with D/D if your opponent notices he will just go up and rez/CC and then you gotta start over. And you dont want that yes? So just keep doing D/D and get some valkyrie gear. i like to do Valkyrie armor/Zerker wep/trinkets

(speaking as someone who has got a lot of outnumbered wins like an 1v6)

To start playing a thief P/D is much more forgiving on positioning, it doesn’t have a backstab that must land just right, you can Sneak Attack from anywhere within the 900 range. Full Dire also boosts both thoughness and vitality which result in better base (static) survivability then Valkyre/Berserker. Once you get a feel for timing and all you can try D/D 1vX.

D/D backstab build that has more survivability then P/D ? In what world ? Oh and in what server ppl gets seperated for free kills ? I want to transfer. Once they see me they turttle up and start spamming cc.

Big Tower.5423:

Frans.8092 is wrong. D/D got both better survablity and burst than P/D. The reason you die is that you run full berserker. You shuld take so much valkyrie gear that you get 15-17 k hp. To convince you about that precison part. You see that hidden killer trait? It gives your backstabs 100% chance to crit anyway? What does a typical backstab crit for? 6-10 k yes? A cloak usally goes for 4 k on a crit. same about your heartseekrs about 5-6 k. So i ask you which attack do you prioritize. you get exact same damage with your backstabs with some valkyrie stuff and still you yet get a lot more health.

D/D is way better than P/D becuse it got better survablity. And more imporantly more burst. the trick to fight outnumbered as a thief is to lure your targets away for echoter then gank 1 of them as quick as possibole before the opponent notices. then you rinse and repeat untill you have done 1vX. And you gank way faster with D/D if your opponent notices he will just go up and rez/CC and then you gotta start over. And you dont want that yes? So just keep doing D/D and get some valkyrie gear. i like to do Valkyrie armor/Zerker wep/trinkets

(speaking as someone who has got a lot of outnumbered wins like an 1v6)

While i agree OP should swap some zerker out for valk, you’re wrong on D/D being more survivable that P/D.

The playstyle is pretty much the same 51515151, but since condition builds only need one damage stat (condition damage) compared to P/CC/CD which power builds rely on. Condition builds are more tanky bc of that and thus more forgiving for new players.

If you start out roaming on a thief i always recommend P/D condition as it is the easiest to play and the most forgiving.

p/d is pretty dull though. You gradually wear your opponents down. Btw, unless you use venomshare+thieves most warriors will out regen your damage.

Also you’ll have a hard time with decent ele’s (due to cleanse).

Most other classes will be straightforward. If they stay and fight. You won’t be killing anyone very quickly. So hard to pick people off from zergs and escape.

But yes, it’s very survivable.

P/D thief is what i leveled my thief as back when I started. Truth is you can survive plenty but it has no case and pressure only exist vs classes with low condi removal. D/D swap some of your zerker for valk. It is the only advice you really need.

There is one thing that makes D/D more survivable than P/D is the skill named heartseeker. It gives you moblity.

True, P/D lacks mobility, though SR usually is enough. Or a second set with more mobility.

1. Higher mobility = Higher survablity
2. If you kill your opponents quickly you can escalate it down to a 1v1 from a 1v2 and then your survablity suddenly doubles up. becuse you bursted before teammate noticed.

About the stats. Thief survablity is not stats. its our stealth and moblity.

Big Tower.5423:

1. Higher mobility = Higher survablity
2. If you kill your opponents quickly you can escalate it down to a 1v1 from a 1v2 and then your survablity suddenly doubles up. becuse you bursted before teammate noticed.

About the stats. Thief survablity is not stats. its our stealth and moblity.

@1 – Shadow refuge is more then enough time to get out, even without shortbow or dagger main
@2 – If the burst succeeds, the D/D will have Mug on cooldown after the first, while P/D is actually quite happy with extra bodies to C&D on. The glassy D/D that manages to down an opponent in one burst is also rather squishy on stats (and traits) and far more easily downed than the P/D.