Guild Wars 2

Traits: 25-30-0-15-0

I have a level 80 thief who was always a Berserker (Power/Precision/Crit Dmg) thief up until recently. My armor, weapons & accessories were all Berserker.

The problem was, I was dying a lot in WvW and Fractals, which I’ve been trying out recently. Because of this, I decided to spend 350k Karma in order to get myself a full armor set of “Soldiers” gear which is Power/Vitality/Toughness. Although I kept my accessories and weapons as Berserker.

So at this point I have Power/Toughness/Vitality armor, with Power/Precision/Crit Dmg weapons and accessories.

The problem now is, I’m not sure if I made the right choice or not. Having been reading around on various sites (including this forum) I’ve seen several people say that a thief should always run berserker gear due to them having high mobility and the ability to dodge out of the way of attacks, and pretty much not get hit at all. Well either I suck at dodging and need to learn to position myself better, or thieves desperately need the added toughness & vitality, because in WvW I’m being dropped in a matter of seconds. The same goes for PvE really, although it’s more ‘predictable’ than WvW so it’s often not as hard to stay alive.

One of the problems I had whilst using Berserker gear as a thief though is when I try to fight in close combat. I love to use Dagger/Dagger although in dungeons, fractals etc whenever I get close to something I often have to retreat after 2-3 seconds and just range them instead to prevent me getting 1 or 2 shotted. It’s a shame because I’d much rather play in close quarters using Dagger/Dagger, although I often feel forced to stand back at range and use my ranged weapons due to feeling too squishy in close quarters.

I was hoping that using P/V/T gear would solve this problem, although I’m already considering going back to Berserkers and just hoping I learn to play my class better, which is apparently a better idea than giving up any DPS, so I read.

I was hoping you guys could shed some light on this for me, and point me in the right direction. Will I be fine using berserkers for PvE & WvW or will I be better off using the new P/V/T gear I spent my karma on?

I absolutely don’t mind the fact that I’ve spent the karma already though, I won’t feel it’s been wasted, so please don’t let that play a part in any reply given. If the best option would be to go back to Berserker armor, then so be it, that’s fine, I’d just rather know!

Thanks guys.

You’ll always feel glassy in X/X/0/0/0 based builds,
and it’s not viable for longer fights.

You’d need almost every piece of your gear to be items with defensive stats
for you to achieve the toughness of casual SA builds.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoImI2eAAAwTdGAAA9H4KA-jEyAYrAm9KiGbboIasKGMVZS1lRWfC4NKiWNA-w

and casual SA builds:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAoKmI2eAAAQUuHAQpNtrAWB-jEyAYrAm9EETfKrtB0+AR0oeBTVSEV7NKiWNA-w

(just gear setups, and didn’t spend much time balancing)

Vanchatron.2306:

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I’ve seen several people say that a thief should always run berserker gear due to them having high mobility and the ability to dodge out of the way of attacks, and pretty much not get hit at all.
[cut]

This is not the case of a 25-30-0-15-0 build.
If you want to use this build you should have a specific approach to the fight.
Come in, kill, run out.
If you want to stay in the battle you should use a stealth or a dodge build.
I suggest a x-30-30-x-x and the use of stealth to let your enemies lose their target on you.
you can simply stealth and move few steps away, to not reset the fight but avoid some damage, or stealth and go away if they are too much.
As for the stats you can keep your zerk jewerly + weaps + soldier legs and head and buy valk gloves, feet, shoulders and chest.

Play with what you are comfortable with, not what others claim is best.

The extra toughness allows you to stay up front a bit longer giving you the chance to become more experienced with dodging and then you can start swapping berserker pieces back in.

Dont listen to the noobs run full zerker. Try to aim for about 15k hp this can be achieved without any solider gear by going 25-30-0-15-0. Always run D/D + SB this gives you 2 evade skills that are usable no matter what kit you are in. Always use the evade heal its amazing… 15 sec cd + dodge + high healing. If you do get that +15 in acrobatics you get endurance back after dodging and swiftness which makes things alot easier.

Manage dodges… don’t dodge the attack that hits for 100 dmg… save it for the attack that hits for 10k. Even more important imo is positioning. Dont stand infront of a boss and wonder why you die. If your low on hp and have no healing left switch to shortbow for 15 seconds then move back in… Cluster bomb hits like a truck and you can probably out dps most scrubs with SB alone. Use a blood sigil on your dagger… its 450 dmg and heal every 4 seconds or so (2 sec int cd on crit etc…) and use heal on crit food… I have no clue if the sigil and food stack, but at least the % will