Guild Wars 2

So decided to make myself a thief char (I plan on making one of every class eventually, Thief is number four) and, at level 16, I’m finding myself in a pickle…

Which weapon setup should I use?

I’ve tried a couple, and D/D, S/D, and S/P all stand out due to having something I like, but they all have skills I don’t really use much and am left with wondering what to do with.

D/D is fun because of the mobility and being able to jump around a lot.
S/D I like because of the shadowstep ability and the ability to hit multiple foes, and flanking strike is a nice confusing evade.
S/P I like because of the stun/slash in skill three.
The main issue though is that for the most part, skills 4 and 5 feel… not very good. I barely use them in my combat, so am left trying to pick simply because of skill three. Mind you, like I said, I’m only level 16 and am working on levelling up and completing anything as opposed to PvP or WvW at the moment. So I’m just curious to hear the standard opinions on the weapons or what might work with them.

And for the record, my secondary weapon is the shortbow.

Chessrook.8643:

S/D I like because of the shadowstep ability and the ability to hit multiple foes, and flanking strike is a nice confusing evade.

The only confusing thing about it is why it hasn’t been fixed yet. And it certainly isn’t nice.

Laika.8795:

Chessrook.8643:

S/D I like because of the shadowstep ability and the ability to hit multiple foes, and flanking strike is a nice confusing evade.

The only confusing thing about it is why it hasn’t been fixed yet. And it certainly isn’t nice.

Well it seems nice in concept.

“Ha, in your face! Stab stab OHNOBACKHERE! Haha stab!”

/D offhand’s are much better in PvP/WvW. You get a bouncing snare is #4 and #5 is arguably the best Thief weaponskill in the game. Great damage in PvE/WvW and gives stealth which will get better and better as you get more traits and such.

/P offhand #5 is great to tank PvE mobs. Just fire it and stand there swinging. It has PvP uses as well. #4 is more PvP/WvW again. It’s an on demand interrupt for when players are healing/stomping/whatever and you want to stop them.

S/P has 2 ways to mitigate damage, Pistol Whip and Black Powder depending on what you want to use. Both are good against multiple targets. Pistol Whip works well with Signet of Malice to heal yourself up. You’ll either spam #3 or #5+auto attack with this loadout. The other abilities are situational, Infiltrator’s Strike removes conditions which is nice, Head Shot is used more in PvP/WvW than PvE.

D/D you will either spam #3 and dodge or #5 and auto attack depending on your build. Heart Strike when your target is almost dead and running away and Dancing. Daggers for ranged.

S/D is nice for CnD>Tactical Strike which dazes. Stealth is always nice for control and damage mitigation in PvE. Again Infiltrator’s Strike cures conditions. Dancing Daggers is longer range than Infiltrators to cripple and damage multiple targets. Flanking Strike is useful if you are out of dodges and need to get out of the way, limited use.

I usually suggest S/P Pistol Whip or D/D Bleed as leveling options because the main attack has evasion built in so you’re taking less damage. D/D benefits a lot from 15 points in Trickery and S/P from 15 points in Critical Strikes as they’re both initiative hogs, S/P auto attack however does almost the same, if not more, as Pistol Whip so if you’re out of initiative you’re still damaging. Prior to lvl 40 D/D Backstab with Infusion of Shadow trait could help you maintain a rotation also.

As a thief most weapon loadouts have an ability or two we spam and the others are situational. Different from most classes as we don’t have cooldowns to worry about.

GL out there,
Blood~