Guild Wars 2

I’m currently level 31, and am using either S/D or D/D. I have P/P as my secondary weapon set. I’m using the following 3 signets:

Infiltrator’s Signet (Extra 1 Initiative Every 10 Secs)
Assassin’s Signet (Increased Power)
Signet of Agility (Increased Precision)

First off, I’m wondering whether or not it’s viable or even optimal to run all three signets together? I hardly ever USE them directly, therefore I’m constantly receiving the passive bonuses. It’s a shame the passive bonus disappears if you use them, therefore I just keep them sitting idle on my bar, but oh well.

Secondly, is Infiltrator’s Signet really worth using at all? I only wonder, because 1 extra Initiative every 10 seconds just seems as though you’d hardly even notice it. Is it worth using up a skill slot for this signet?

Just trying to see which skills are worth using over others really, as I’ve not really touched any of them apart from the signets & ‘Ambush’ every now & then.

I keep hearing things about using P/D or D/P etc aswell, yet I picked Thief because I wanted to be a melee class. To be blunt, if I wanted any ranged attacks, I would have gone a primarily ranged class. Is it alright to forget about using pistols & to just stick with Melee weapons as a Thief? I’m hoping so as I don’t want to be forced into a play style I’m not comfortable with, just because it’s the ‘optimal thing’ right now.

And finally, I seem to be CONSTANTLY running out of Initiative during fights. If ONE mob is on me, I do fine, yet as soon as I’m fighting against 2+ mobs I’m basically dead, due to the fact my Initiative keeps running out. It basically forces me to just use 1 or 2 skills MAX on my skillbar, therefore a lot of the time my other skills sit idle due to the fact that I have to preserve Initiative. This is another shame as I want to be able to use ALL my skills with no problems, not just be stuck to using 1-2 skills due to issues with Initiative. Any suggestions please?

Thanks guys.

Of course it’s a worthy build. You can get a trait that causea you to gain 5 stacks of might on signet use. There’s another that causes you to gain… I think 2 initiative on signet use. So you definitely want to use signets if you slot them, assuming you get the right traits. They also have ridiculously short cooldowns.

In the case of Infiltrator’s Signet, I find the active to be more important than the passive.

Try to view the passives as sort of… well, as bonuses. Think about cooldowns in other MMOs. 2-minute cooldown, you blow it every 2 minutes on the dot to maximize it’s usage, regardless of what it’s for. Or you hold it for an extra, say, 30 seconds to get the most use out of it for that next use, while getting less uptime. Sucks, right?

In the case of signets, these are cooldowns that you won’t feel “required” to use right away. You can hold off on it for a bit, and still get some benefits from the ability. That said, imo, you really should actually use them, in the right situation.

Like it’s been already mentioned, you want to make sure that you’re using the Critical Strikes traits which augment Signet use if that’s the kind of build that you want to do.

To cover you other question, yes you will have to eventually use ranged combat a lot in things like open world zone boss live effects and dungeon named mobs. Even though I’m a melee machine with my S/P weapon set, there are times when I’m forced to switch to my Shortbow. It might be because I just took a bit hit of damage and I’m hanging back to wait for my heal to refresh. Or it might be because we’re being forced to ranged kite a dungeon mob as a group. Some mobs just have so many AoE effects that it’s just too difficult to stay in melee range for more than a few quick attacks. In those situations, you’ll need a backup ranged weapon set of some sort.

Yeah, really shouldn’t ever try to limit yourself to just melee or just ranged weapons. You need to use the tool that fits the job best. You remember fights in WoW where the melee are useless, because it’s too dangerous to be in melee range? Or the ranged are useless, because they’re too busy dancing around to avoid damage, or maybe even they take damage when they use an ability?

That doesn’t happen in GW2, because you can always have the option to suddenly switch from melee to ranged or vice versa. You will never be useless, unless you intentionally kitten yourself.

I think so. But scorpion wire and shadow refuge are very good imho, so dunno if I want to miss out those two:)

No. Short n simple answer, of course just my opinion

First of all, get Signet of Shadows. 25% movement speed increase will make you better at everything you do. Ever. You will level faster, you will get places faster, you’ll circle strafe better…

Signet of Agility is nice, since it cures conditions and restores all stamina, so keep that.

There are better things you can get with your last slot. Power is good at lower levels, but quickly becomes very fractional (once you get to about 50 or so it’s not worth it at all anymore), and its active is pure garbage. Roll for initiative can be good, albeit it has a long cooldown; Shadow Refuge is another good one to drop down, since it stealths, heals and it’s a dark combo. If you have points in Power, venoms actually become somewhat worthwhile, and Scorpion Wire is always nice for a bag of tricks.

Normally I run 3 signets but currently I am running the AoE stealth/heal for revives in lieu of one signet. I mainly go d/d and run 2 signets, with p/p on switch for nasty fights I don’t want to be in (I have a shortbow and only use that for dynamics with mass foe spawns). Still levelling at 55.

Been running this since i was able to and havnt changed it yet

If you’re running S/D ymight wanna check out the Acrobatics trait-line. Extra Endurance refunded on dodge + 2 initiative every 10 sec with that Infiltrator signet = Infinite dodging

Sorry for the late reply guys, I went to bed after making the thread. Have just read through it now, and just want to say thanks to everybody for the help/tips, I appreciate it. Will hopefully allow me to play my Thief better than I have been.

I usually run three Sigs. Sometimes I swap one out for the AoE stealth heal. But yeah, I’ve been mostly doing PVE.

You’re kinda forced to Underwater.

I run D/P with signet of shadows, signet of agility and spider venom.

The thief non signets skills are pretty underwhelming. Currently I run +25 movement Signet of Shadows, Signet of Agility and Ambush or Ice Drake Venom in PvP. None of the utility skills are interesting or change gameplay in anyway. I found utility skills on elementalist and necromancer much more enjoyable.