Guild Wars 2

Level 18 using s/p and i am just struggling to stay alive. I am dodging but running out of endurance, using my pistol whip to evade attacks but running out of my imitative fast. I truly do enjoy the class and play style but really am having a hard time staying alive against multiple enemies which I’ve never had an issue with other classes.

Once i do hit 80 does invigorating precesion make a pretty large diffrience with staying alive? Or if I’m having a tough time at level 18 am i always going to have a tough time?

It does get easier at 80 but it’s not because of invigorating precision, though it may help a little bit. If you are not using the signet of malice heal skill I recommend it, every time you pistol whip you’ll get healed lots. When you get your elite slot daggerstorm works really well with that signet and sometimes can get you full HP.

get signet of malice healing skill, it helps… but yeah gets used to the fact that you die fast on thief

don’t bother fighting big mobs, just 1-2 enemies at time

with signet of malice, use your black powder and auto attack. only use your pistol whip if you’re getting tagged and need that quick burst of health. saving your init to keep the black powder up is more important the burning through it with pistol whip. of course i haven’t done pve really since before the black powder nerf.

With its interrupt, evade and cleave damage, Pistol Whip is incredibly seductive. It’s also, sadly, a trap. One that I fell into as well. The key to S/P is actually Black Powder + Auto Attack chains, like Mahkno suggests. Black Powder got nerfed in the feature patch, so it’s not as overwhelmingly good as before, but that combo is still a better way to stay alive and kill things on S/P than spamming Pistol Whip. Also learn to use Infiltrator’s Strike/Return strategically so you can extricate yourself out of a group of mobs when you’re getting overwhelmed.

Alternatively, explore other weapon sets. When I got to the point where you are now, I tried out all available weapon sets for a short time and discovered that I really like the mobility of D/D. I’ve run my thief mainly as a screw-the-meta D/D hybrid ever since, although I still use S/P on some fights. I want to explore the D/P and P/D weapon sets some more one of these days, but I’m still having too much fun with my current gear to do so.