Guild Wars 2

Ok. So i want to be a class that is fun. My fun means mobile, not spam two buttons class. I think thieves are this. I have couple things I’d like to know though. How is thieves survibility? I mean both taking damage and avoiding things. I know that main thing is not to take hits but if u do mistake, will it kill u?

So questions actually are:
1. Are thiefs mobile and class that requires brains to chooce what to skill use and not just spam couple buttons?
2. Does thief survive? Also soloing tought mobs?
3. Can thief be played as supporter type?

Thieves are fun.

1. They are mobile. There are braindead builds for Thief if that’s your deal, but there’s a lot of choice in terms of how to approach encounters. The initiative system is pretty flexible.
2. Depends on how skillful you are. Thief has the tools to handle tough fights: stealth, blinds, cripples, evasion, etc. Doesn’t have the health or the armor to take big hits, though. You can’t tank with your face.
3. Sort of. Thief has some pretty useful utility skills for groups (Shadow Refuge, Black Powder, etc), but mainly what you bring is damage of some kind. I wouldn’t call the class any kind of big-time support type.

Give S/D a try. Not as bursty as others but highly mobile with good condition removal and rips off boons pretty well. A much more control oriented thief.

The button pressing part is really simple on thieves.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t any skill to manoeuvre around and react quickly, unless you think all shooters are brainless, spam 1 button games.
It’s arguably the easiest pvp class, but in pve it takes some skill.

We have a couple of really strong support skills, mainly reviving people while stealthed in dungeons.

Ooooh… I wouldn’t really call the gameplay “braindead”, but there really is a lot of “spam two buttons” because of Initiative. A lot.
If you want a combination of mobility and diverse ability usage I would go with a Ranger or possibly an Elementalist.
And to your other two questions, thieves have spectacularly bad defense, some of the worst in the game, but clever usage of stealth helps mitigate that. You can solo effectively enough, mostly through careful usage of dodges, stealths and blindness. This makes it more difficult to accomplish than for many other classes, but not necessarily any less effective.
And, simply put, thieves have very little in the way of group support focused builds. The best you can manage is a build focused around Venomous Aura, which is fairly mediocre.

I really enjoy the Sword/Pistol playstyle. In full damage (Berserker) gear you can be very beefy with “heal on crit” food and sigils.

My primary playstyle has me hitting most of my buttons every fight.

1. is a rather powerful autoattack chain
2. is a shadowstep that if you hit again will remove a condition .. used very often
3. is my goto ability for decent damage, and a TON of self healing
4. I rarely use.
5. is a great AoE blind that is extremly useful when pulling groups of mobs
6. I rarely use, as the passive for my heal heals me for more through #3 skill usage (heal on hit)
7. is Roll for Initiative. I save this for getting out of stuns, the added initiative is a bonus
8. is Shadow Refuge, an amazing skill you will want to master .. it has MANY uses and shines in groups.
9. is Signet of Agility, passively it adds to my crit chance, and when you activate it removes conditions, I try and save this for when I am low on initiative and can not rely on skill #2 to cleanse.
10. is Dagger Storm, which I usually save for large group encounters, with enough crit chance it basically makes you immortal in PvE for the duration if you use heal on crit food/sigils.

1. Are thiefs mobile and class that requires brains to chooce what to skill use and not just spam couple buttons?

With the setup listed above, yes. Lots of button pushing, dodge and evade tactics. You also need to focus quite a lot on mob positioning because of the mechnics of the #3 skill Pistol Whip.

2. Does thief survive? Also soloing tought mobs?

Very beefy in PvE from all the self heals, and will allow you to do quite a lot of damage in full damage gear at the same time. As for soloing tough mobs, I have soloed most [Group Event] champions.

3. Can thief be played as supporter type?

Outside of the skill Shadow Refuge I do not really play my Thief as a support class. There are builds you can find out there for Thieves that focus on Support (read: Venomous Aura). My normal group consists of a Warrior, Guardian, and Necromancer, all who support the group in different ways. I just bring damage to the table, and a lot of it, which they seem to appricate greatly.

Been playing Thief for 3 months now and just recently switched from D/D (hybrid crit/power/condition damage build) which gets the job done, but got abit bored with the old “death blossom-heartseeker” routine and wanted to try something new.

I always thought of S/P as an alternative to my 2nd weapon set (P/P) to be used in areas where death blossom would send me screaming off a cliff or something =P I had been using it quite alot when my Thief was lower level but imagined it would not be that great for higher level zones considering being on the move is the best way to avoid damage altogether.

Started out with an experiment with Critical Haste + Superior Rune of Rage that led me to focus on S/P full time. Sure, haste may not always proc when desired. Sometimes I get knocked over, dazed, or it procs when the monster is nearly dead. Other sigils can enhance my damage further and thus give a more reliable source of extra damage.

Things are trickier when I encounter caster/ranged monsters, but otherwise I feel pretty bad kitten when I can lure monsters into my black-powder zone of death muahahaha >=)

Something I recently started doing is using Ambush (I now also have the trait that reduces the cooldown to 28s) I always have atleast one thief assissting me (sometimes 3) The damage these guys do is pretty decent, but what I enjoy even more is how they also acts as decoys. It helps quite alot when monsters waste their highest damage attacks on the summoned thief instead of lil’ old me =)

@evanovix
I very recently switched over to Critical Haste running the S/P weapon set, and I have to say it is quite fun! Granted, as you said, there are times it may proc at an odd time. This usually only happens when I am soloing, or in a large dungeon event that takes a few minutes to complete. Once you get your crit up high enough with Pistol Whip you will proc it pretty much exactly on its internal cooldown which is 45 seconds. I rarely pay attention to it, but as I use it more and more I do find myself switching to a full health target just before I feel it is going to go off … sometimes it works, other times ….

Ranged mobs usually are not too big an issue if you have sufficient lifesteal. basically use the #2 skill to shadowstep to the ranged guy, and the melee guys will just follow you over. If you have a group of mobs, just stay with the majority and you should be able to heal through any damage the ranged guys are throwing at you.

I have found non-crittable mobs to be my bane. Things such as Turrets, or large scale event mobs such as dragons and such that are impossible to crit can be a realy pain when your entire build is centered around the ability to crit.

@Kindread

:D I see now that in my rush to finish that post before my workday was over somehow left out the “braggy part” about critical haste and sigil of rage.

Haste is alot of fun and I would happily recommend others to try it. It adds another dimension to your ‘repertoire’ rather than just quirking power up another 100 or my health up another 1000. I feel like I have plenty of everything else, so why not have haste proc every other fight? plus when using Signet of Malice it heals for quite abit too