Guild Wars 2

What’s the best sPvP setup for a thief? I tried the same D/D glass cannon i use in PvE/WvW but in sPvP it really s*cks… I ve only half critical damage and about 2/3 critical chance…
What setup are you using? Does it work?

Funny, I always thought the glass-cannon Backstab build worked better in sPvP than it did in WvW/PvE.

Anyway, in sPvP I’m using a Pistol/Dagger build. Very durable but low damage obviously. It’s great for smaller scale fights.

However I can’t bring myself to play a Condition Damage build in PvE/WvW. Farming is a pain, too much competition for the Bleed spots etc and overall much lower DPS.

I don’t sPvP a lot, but D/D condition damage works quite well for me, your main damage can be cleansed, and you aren’t going to kill someone as quickly as a burst build, but you are much more survivable, and caltrops in a point that is being contested are deadly if the enemy doesn’t clear out. I have been using 0/0/20/20/30 with runes of the afflicted, and two bleed duration runes for my daggers, and a short bow for my second weapon.

I tried almost everything and I’ll recommend trying this:
P/D conditions – strong balance of defense/offense, but bad when most people are at average-bit above average level of play.
P/P direct damage – very strong and stable dps at range. Squishy, but incredible if played cautiously. Abuses people’s inability to make decisions fast enough.
S/D dazelock – brings most in team play and can be specced defensively, people have hard time dealing with this in group fights.

I treid this out last night and it worked really well. This was my test for a spec that needs no stealth in case they nerf it.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mckzzzz9MolbLMolvLMa9Mxxccsbckq8khf7khG7khf7khG7070z7kuB70z7kIN70z7kG270z

Ignore the offhand sigils, those can be anything you want. You can’t use food in sPvP so no point in Agony not hitting a breakpoint. You can also use inf signet instead of the endo heal one. The extra init regen doesn’t hurt and a shadowstep to get into the fight would be nice since steal is used to regen init/endo after the fight starts.

The build is just complete evade tanking. DB spam and evade spam. Heals give vigor and init, swapping gives init and endo, stealing gives init and vigor. Roll for init when needed and malice heals like crazy or can be used for it’s active every 15s, every utility stun breaks..

edit: forgot to say carrion neck of course.