Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve been playing various Thief builds since the game launched.

A Condition Damage build (which in retrospect was pretty subpar).
A glass cannon – backstab build (mainly in sPvP)
A balanced Pistol Whip build (which I’ve mainly used to PvE).

and some others for a shorter duration of time.

As a side weapon I’m always using the short-bow btw.

Now overall, while Pistol Whip is certainly effective in PvE…and to an extent in PvP…I’m finding the lame play-style and the self-root to be getting rather tedious. I’m also not convinced it’s really all that great in WvW since there’s so much moving around.

On the other hand going full D/D assassin style requires something very close to a glass cannon build…which may…or may not be all that awesome.

And then there’s the issue of respeccing….which I’d hate to do for every dungeon crawl.

So what do you for in a solid WvW build?

I am currently a Stealth+crit heavy build mainly for mobility+backstabs and getting out when needed in wvwvw. However I am not sure if it’s really all that great in the longrun with mostly zergs vs zergs. I may switch to condition damage as it rocks in spvp (not looking forward to spending all that gold again tho)

Personally I can’t live without 15 acrobatics just because dodging is the best thing this game offers. Completely avoiding damage is amazing and those 15 points let you dodge a lot more.

Other than that I went for straight up damage because I feel condition damage builds are completely useless in WvW. You’ll hardly be of use in zergs or tower/keep defense because you can’t stack bleeds properly without dying.

Pistol whip is a kitten joke in WvW and everyone that uses it should be laughed at. The only way you kill anything competent with that spec is with haste, and if you really want to wait for that cooldown to kill one target you’re a waste of a WvW slot.

Humorless.1573:

Personally I can’t live without 15 acrobatics just because dodging is the best thing this game offers. Completely avoiding damage is amazing and those 15 points let you dodge a lot more.

Other than that I went for straight up damage because I feel condition damage builds are completely useless in WvW. You’ll hardly be of use in zergs or tower/keep defense because you can’t stack bleeds properly without dying.

Pistol whip is a kitten joke in WvW and everyone that uses it should be laughed at. The only way you kill anything competent with that spec is with haste, and if you really want to wait for that cooldown to kill one target you’re a waste of a WvW slot.

I dunno Ive seen a condition damage thief the other day drop down from the wall to the front of the gate where a small zerg was meleeing it, he dropped caltrops as soon as he landed I think, then spammed DB, then Dagger stormed while moving away and stealthed. He killed a bunch of peeps.

That’s those peeps being bad, then. Dagger storm kills people yes, but it’s not because of the bleeds alone. Anyone that simply dodges out and heals will never die to a condition damage build in a group zerg. And if they do, they should have dodged back into their team and will be ressed. The only way to kill people in defenses/zergs is bursting down the front line and then killing them completely or running in and trolling with Dagger storm, in which case it’s got very little to do with condition damage.

A condition damage spec works great in smaller fights, but so do other specs that are a lot more useful in zergs/defense, so why bother?

A venom share build is great in WvWvW as a support role. Pistol Whip build is awesome too if you aren’t a total noob and know when to use it and how to land it without missing or screwing yourself over. For myself I like to use a setup with all damage and mobility then pick off the people who run or stray too far from the zerg with S/P and engage the bigger groups with SB using hit and run tactics.

So far I’m liking the crit chance / crit dmg build. I’m in green coral jewelry (so no crit dmg) and about half yellow half orange berserker gear with orange weapons (dd/sb) with dd I’m rocking 57% crit chance and like 74% crit dmg. That’s before my 25 stacks of precision rune. My utilities are blinding powder / safe refuge / 25% run speed signet. I really like this build because I just do sooo much damage. In wvw my short bow cluster shot hits for like 4k + bleeds so if I lay down a poison and spam cluster shot I do some good damage to people on walls. You have to be smart though since you are pretty squishy. I have about 15k health (precision to vitality trait) but I go down pretty fast. With all the stealthy however it’s pretty fun to be the hit & run assassin or the “finisher” with heartseeker. I’ve heartseekered people for 5-6k before which pretty much drops anyone with low health. 2 shotting Elems are always fun with a 9k backstab and a 5k heartseeker.

For dungeons I swap my off hand with p/p for a lot of fights, and stay ranged when mob is above 50% health. Once it drops below though I swap to dd and go in to burn it down. And for aoe fights I obviously just keep the short bow out. With the high crit chance / dmg no matter what weapon I’m using I do decent damage (pp unload hits for 2-4k usually) but dagger dagger is definitely where it shines

Power build all the way for my playstyle. Backstab build with Assassins sig, shadow refuge and smoke screen. Hidden theif traited for an extra stealth, withdraw for heal.

30 CS 20 SA 20 Acro

Mobility is so important in WvW and so is stealth. Its Shadow refuge that lets me pick one off in when going up against zergs. I steal in, usually on a softie, backstab with Asassin signet for 8-14k depending on enemy toughness, finish with a hs or two. Shadow refuge when their down so I’m cloaked and finish with finisher. Switch to sb (with hydromancer rune so i freeze nearby players) and IA away. If i soaked too much aoe damage while finishing I’ll withdraw roll away first then IA away.

Armor build is all power,vit and crit damage with divinity rune, mainly for the extra crit damage. Consumables are Sharpening stone and orrian steak frittes (100 power 70 vit)

I found a neat tower defense build. It doesn’t require much tweaking of your average build.

Run shortbow
Get 20 points into acro for the 2 initive every 10 seconds trait.
Run infiltrators for another +1 initive every 10 seconds.
Rock devourer and spider venom as last two slot skills
Spam clusterbomb on the attacking force for poison and bleeding lulz.

You can also fire clusterbombs at the back of your own gate to rut melee

With the ini regen you can use clusterbomb FOREVER!