Guild Wars 2

This is amazing.

LOL.

This is just a general statement, but we have all the tools necessary to beat any other class (on paper).

It all comes down to relative skill.

Better players will beat me, and I will learn from it. Inferior players are a breeze, and I don’t even burn elites / heals / utilities a lot of the time.

I’ve found that Tarnished Coast has a significant number of fantastic roamers / duelers, and I often hesitate to engage them.

Kaon.7192:

DANGRYdan.8392:

I’m being 100% serious when I say this.

Anyone that complains about stealth being over powered needs to seriously think about how they are playing the game. Not being able to see someone, does not make them invincible.

As a thief, I am downing other thieves all the time(When they are in stealth), and will sometimes get downed myself while in stealth. If you pay attention to player movements, and work on improving your movements, you will have 0 problems with stealth.

I’m not sure where you’re getting the vibe that this is a complaint (I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you read the post, or at least the TL;DR).

This suggestion is aimed at improving build variety in sPvP as the primary objective, and making Stealth based builds viable in the conquest meta. A secondary, and purely coincidental benefit to these changes will hopefully be less negativity in the forums to force ANet to continue nerfing Stealth into oblivion, as they are clearly planning to do despite its sorry state in sPvP.

In other words, would you like to be completely invisible while Stealthed and allow enemies to completely dictate when you can and cannot stealth through random Revealed applications? Or would you rather give up the complete invisibility and gain the ability to contest points and move faster passively? Because at this rate we will eventually be going down the former path.

Refer to edits I made, and may not have been updated when you replied.

Basically I’m saying that if they change stealth, they need to change a lot of other things, a LOT, to balance the class out.

I’m being 100% serious when I say this.

Anyone that complains about stealth being over powered needs to seriously think about how they are playing the game. Not being able to see someone, does not make them invincible.

As a thief, I am downing other thieves all the time(When they are in stealth), and will sometimes get downed myself while in stealth. If you pay attention to player movements, and work on improving your movements, you will have 0 problems with stealth.

That being said, if they want to change stealth, I want them to buff our stats to be in-line with other classes(like warriors).

19k health in full zerker gear, yes plz.

We would also need ways to increase our mitigation, like guaranteed blocks(like most non-stealth class have). We would need real condition removal skills, and a complete rework of our stealth abilities.

Xykris.6758:

WARNING WALL OF TEXT (sorry in advance :P)

Hi all. I am thinking of a thief alt that would be used in WvW.

My Experience with the thief class is quite limited.

I thought about using this as a build and wanted to know if anyone thinks this would work?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQNAsYVlcmKOHcy7E+5Ex2DfKUe6fgs9M4qVB-jUCBoiCiEIQEJgUBAJSFRjtQqIas6aY6XER1mzFRrWKA9EGB-w

All help is appreciated. Again sorry about the wall of text. If the thief works out I may consider maining it. (my guardian is startng to get boring T_T)

First off, I’m glad you are interested in the thief class, and can assure you it will be a lot of fun to learn!

One of the keys to creating an effective Thief build is to break down exactly what you want to do with your build, before any other steps are taken. It is so easy for us to get insta-gibbed, that it is absolutely necessary to choose a playstyle and build around it.

Do you want to have 20k burst dmg potential? Do you want sustained damage? Do you want condition damage, or a hybrid there of? Do you want survivability through stats and condition removal, or through stealth and evasion? Do you want mobility? Are you going to be soloing, duoing or running with a 3+ person group?

These are vitally important and should be the primary focus of your gear, trait, rune and sigil selection.

After reviewing your build, I am left with a bunch of questions about the intent. I can definitely see a theme here, but since you have not had much time to test out how thieves play in WvW, some of your choices are definitely sub-par.

Signet of Malice should be replaced, as should your two signets. (all three are very effective for a 20k burst backstab build, but are not as useful for S/D wvw thieves).

Also, daggerstorm is not as effective as it seems in WvW and should be replaced with thieves guild or bask venom.

My recommended BUILD

This does a few things poorly, a lot of things well, and a few things extremely well.

You’re gonna have a lot of issues with massive condition application classes like Necromancers and Engineers, but will run circles around pretty much every other class as long as the combatant is at your skill level or under.

Feel free to use that build as a template for your experiments

I wrote about 4 of my current builds HERE which you may want to take a look at for ideas.

I highly recommend using GW2BUILDCRAFT when creating new builds, it has a handy “Effective Health” and “Effective Power” feature, which will help with itemizing.

crouze.3078:

XI Hard to Catch
Shadowstep away and give swiftness (12s) when you are disabled (stun, daze, float, knock down, launch, knock back, sink, or fear). This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
Idea: Shadowstep away Break stuns and give swiftness stability(5s) when you are disabled (stun, daze, float, knock down, launch, knock back, sink, or fear). This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.

The shadow step away is much better than changing it to a stun break. This trait is one of the most effective ways to survive FOTM warrior knock down + hundred blades. But the change from swiftness to stability would be amazing!

I agree with other posters that it should NOT be a grandmaster skill though.

S/P + SB PVT Tanky roaming build (I run this when commanding in WvW)

Build

I really enjoy this build, and generally swap to it when leading a zerg around in WvW. I also tend to use this build if there are a lot of other thieves out roaming, it is hilarious to destroy them with the new Pistol Whip.

Gear Selection:

I run PVT armor with Lyssa runes and Soldier trinkets slotted with Beryl Gems.

You have the stats to absorb burst, good condition removal, and lots of endurance regen. In addition to those survival stats, you have enough effective power to pump out sustained damage on a target. You will be surprised at just how effective this can be for destroying other thieves.

Total estimated buyout cost of build: 462000 Karma(get chest and gloves from Lyssa to save money) + 300 AC tears + 25.52 G

Trait Selection:

The trait setup for this set is a lot of fun, and is built around staying out of stealth for the most part.

You will have a lot of mobility, dodges and tons of initiative gain.

The traits are 0/10/0/30/30

One of the keys to the build is maintaining fury as much as possible, which is why the 10 in critical strikes and 10 in Trickery are so important. Both give you access to fury, and your 30% boon duration buff will help keep that up as much as possible.

General play style:

Regardless of which weapon set you choose, I recommend this gear and trait setup to any new thieves that are looking to get involved with WvW.

You are a more of a bruiser with this setup than any of the other builds I list, and can give/take a lot of punishment.

It is vitally important to utilize your dodges and all of your weapon skills. You will evade during the pistol whip duration, which is amazing and will catch novice WvWers by surprise every time. Black Powder is an awesome skill to drop over people you are rezzing or finishing, and makes you extremely annoying in close quarters.

Even without a lot of stealth, you will be able to disengage from fights easily with the use of shadowstep, withdraw and swapping to SB for Shadow Shot.

Also don’t forget to use your Shortbow as a blast finisher, there are a lot of finisher fields which grant awesome boons from blast finishers. (Stacking for static field with cluster bomb finishers is a great way to stack lots of swiftness for your group.)

P/D + D/D Condition heavy roaming build (based on a build made popular by Wild Bill)

Build

This is hands down one of my favorite builds to date, and has remained effective since launch.

You most likely won’t take down the gimmicky warrior builds with this setup, but it is a lot of fun for 1vX combat and remains extremely viable.

Gear Selection:

I run nearly full carrion for armor/weapons and trinkets and recently switched to using 2 centaur runes and 4 mad king runes. For the alternate weapon set I swap between D/D and SB depending on the situation. The D/D are both berserker for the additional dmg to backstab if you need to finish someone.

The beauty of this set is the nice distribution of stats to both power and conditions. You get a very respectable power and condition damage stat, and will not be screwed completely by the anti-condition builds that are used so frequently these days.

I swapped to mad king runes to gain additional condition duration, while only losing 5% bleed duration.

Total estimated buyout cost of build: 73.29 G

Trait Selection:

I go back and forth with my trait selections here all the time, but primarily stick with the 20/0/30/20/0 setup.

You’re getting an extra 20% condition duration and 200 power from Deadly Arts, and the might stacks + venom recharge can be really nice.

30 in Shadow Arts is standard, and was made popular by this build.

20 in acrobatics for Pain Response is also standard, it is one of our best survival skills and is absolutely core. I really like Descent of Shadows, and include it in builds whenever possible.

Alternatively, I sometimes move the 20 from Deadly Arts into Trickery for steal buffs.

General play style:

This is an extremely fun build to solo-roam with and is very effective at pumping out sustained damage over time at range.

You will be running people around and will cycle through 3 / 5 of your weapon skills, 1 out of stealth is your main damage dealing skill, with 3 and 5 being swapped between depending on how the fight is progressing.

This is the kind of build where you can actually fight groups of 3+ people effectively, and will be extremely annoying to roaming groups.

Hey Guys,

I’ve been playing thief since launch and have enjoyed a variety of builds/play styles and wanted to share some of them with the community.

A lot of thieves on these and other forums focus on one weapon/gear/trait set, and try to make it work for a variety of situations. And while I agree with most of their points, I prefer having a build for every situation, and liberally switching between them.

I generally keep 1 set of armor equipped and 1 additional set of armor in my inventory, for quick swapping.(Usually my zerker set and the carrion set)

I will be breaking down each build into three categories: gear selection (with estimated costs), trait selection and play style.

NOTE: As a general rule, I tend to lean towards survivability over raw damage, and generally try to find ways to augment damage through creative use of food and gear, without sacrificing some necessary(in my opinion) traits.

S/D + X Balanced Roaming build

This is my main WvW Build and main PvE Build. I will only be breaking down the WvW builds, but wanted to include my trait changes for PVE.

Both builds use the same armor / trinket set, and berserker weapons.

Gear Selection:

Half Zerker / Half Valk armor with Traveler runes and zerker trinkets – I started out running full zerker for this build, but ended up switching in a few valk pieces recently. I wanted to help deal with the ridiculous damage output some other classes can currently spit out without losing much burst potential. If you are roaming solo or with a partner, you really need to think about survivability in the current meta. The sheer number of M/S + GS/Hammer warriors out there can be frustrating and I have tried to find ways of surviving their stun + blades combo without sacrificing what makes this build fun.

The traveler runes are just too good not to use for this build. They give you everything you’re looking for, extra utility slot, raw stats, and some boon duration for might stacks, fury and regeneration.

(The alternative weapon set listed for both builds changes all the time, and could be anything really. I swap to shortbow for PvE a lot of the time, or even WvW depending on what I’m doing. I run a superior sigil of bloodlust on the shortbow, and highly recommend stacking bloodlust as much as possible before roaming).

Total estimated buyout cost of build: 107.6 G (yikes)

Trait Selection:

0/30/10/30/0

Thieves have some amazing traits and this build takes advantage of that fact.

30 in Critical Strikes is key to your ability to pump out damage and is a pretty standard choice for most power based thief builds. 10 in Shadow Arts is essential for Shadow’s Embrace and Last Refuge, both are invaluable for survival in WvW. 30 in Acrobatics probably the most questionable of my trait choices and has come from my frustration with disables. Hard to Catch is a really underrated skill, and can really save your butt from being chain stunned. Descent of Shadows and Pain Response are fairly standard choices from the Acrobatics tree, and are extremely strong.

General play style:

The main WvW build is extremely strong, but is not really an entry level setup. A new thief should focus on some of the builds I list further down, or practice S/D in sPVP before investing gold in this build.

In WvW you will be fulfilling a hit and run role with this build. You will want to wait on the outskirts of a fight or group and choose your prey wisely. I have a lot of fun stalking groups and waiting for LOS to cut off party members, then quickly dispatching the now-solo enemy.

Don’t hesitate to disengage if the going gets tough, and wait for your targets to stop looking for you before re-engaging.

While this build is extremely strong and can duel other classes very well, it is not really something I would enjoy dueling some of the better warriors, elementalists and engineers with. Heavy amounts of knockdown and conditions will really put the screws to you, and takes a lot of the fun out of this build.

I’m just commenting on what was said above:

The Thiefsmer build found within the following thread really isn’t very strong in PVE, but is incredibly fun in WvW:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/video-D-P-vs-Perplexity-Thief-Thiefsmer/page/2#post2851859

Here is a link to a slightly more do-able item build(without ascended gear):

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|a.5q.h5.a.5q.h1n.0.0.0|5.1q.h5.0.0.0|1q.b1p.1q.b1p.1q.b1p.1q.b1p.1q.71p.1q.71p|1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.9b.1b.62|0.0.u48b.a1.u2ac|30.d|57.5n.5b.5c.0|e

If you’re wife has some extra gold, and wants to watch elementalists and warriors kill themselves with confusion stacks, look no further!

Cspence.6921:

Hi guys I got this game around 4 days ago and I’m loving it

So far I have a level 21 Warrior and to me one of the best features of this game is that classes are based on their weapons for their skills. I say this because I am on my level 21 Warrior currently using a Longbow and dual wielding Axes and it is the best feeling.

I feel like a true adventurer and I’m just as proficient with my bow then I am with my axes and I don’t have to have a silly beast to use ranged weapons!

But this leads me to my question!

I’d like to be a Ranged class that doesn’t use a pet. WoW has ruined it for me and I’m sure Rangers are great fun but I just can’t do it. I would like to be a thief and I know they can use ranged weapons and I was wondering if it’s viable to simply use nothing but ranged weapons on them and not be a liability to myself or people I group with?

Thanks!

You will not feel powerful(at all) with a shortbow thief until you are 80 with exotics. Stick with the warrior for what you are describing!

Login.5102:

Wvw view

1. Which is the best gap closer for traveling? hs or sb? Hs would get you farther with the int. Cost right?

2. how to use a sb effectively(power/crib)? Vs single target do you spam 1 or do throw in a cb on CD for maximum dmg? When or if should I explode cluster bombs? Is the poison field worth the int? People really use #3 when they are so used to dodge? Any neat tricks/combos/tech you want to share.

3. can you cancel dagger storm?

4. Is there any other useful skillS besides c&d to use before stealth.

5.when you steal from a war, is it worth the risk to use the axes?

6. When using d/d what sigil do you put on your other dagger( assuming you have air/fire on the other)?

Thanks for any insight =)

1. HS is much better if you are using signet of shadows, MUCH better.
2. I used them a while back, I preferred using SB with my pow/crit set over my condition dmg set.
3. Yes, roll.
4. Yes, basilisk venom.
5. Since warriors should be an easy kill for you, yes. Spin2win for the luls. Do not use to fight multiple targets though, and only use it to kitten the person off.
6. I like Battle, I run D/D + S, and swap quite often while in combat.

ZLE.8293:

lordhelmos.7623:

Thoughts on adding an effect to the burning condition that does not allow burning foes to enter stealth while on fire.

I agree if the folowing things cannot happen if the target is on fire,bleeding,or poisoned:
1.Warrior cannot gain adrenaline and lose 8000hp
2.Necro cannot have minions,enter Death Shroud and lose 8000hp
3.Mesmer cannot have clones/illusions
4.Ranger don’t have pet
5.Ele cannot change attunements
6.Guardian loses all his passives
7.Engi cannot plant any turrets/mines/bombs e.t.c

I will accept those terms as well.

juicifruitz.6251:

Tonight TOG paid Homage to Mag’s Flame Ram God on YB BL at Astral with a couple from NOVA looking on

Always remember Camp Ramalot

Hey all,

Los Banditos Rojo (RED) is currently looking for a few more players to join our ranks. We started up on Maguuma at launch and have not really recruited at all until now. The guild is mostly filled with IRL friends of mine, or friends from other major MMOs we have played.

We are a friendly lot and have TS3 and plenty of guild perks!

Our primary focus is WvW, but not in the same sense as many other guilds. We much prefer to engage in small scale skirmishes and will often times hang around eternal battlegrounds moping up the floor with our opponents.

In addition to WvW we are all actively leveling alts(3 80s for me at the moment and 3 30+), running dungeons(speed clears, fractals, storymodes, whatever), and working on HoM stuff as well.

If this is at all interesting, please feel free to leave a comment, or to PM me for more information.

The only real requirement to join this guild is an eagerness to interact with your guildmates and some experience/excitement for PVP

Yoda.9428:

In my opinion the thief is now the weakest character in the game, it has less health and less damage , it has the weakest crowd control options, 1 skill that has a 1200 range, etc.. But what is really ticking me off about these changes is now I have to completly change my build which means new armour and more gold I don’t have.

As everyone has been saying, thieves are doing alright at the moment.

As a thief(and warrior) I just shake my head when reading all of the thief hate threads; especially those that complain about perma-stealth.

When fighting other thieves it is quite easy to guess where they are (when invisible) and put them in downed state.

It is so easy to put a thief in downed state if you are even semi-competent.

It is funny how many people can not grasp the fact that they are still there, just invisible. I can’t tell you how many times i have seen thieves try and initiate on me, and I just dodge out of the way of their opener, burn them until they try to run and then cut them down inside their shadow refuge.

In reference to heartseeker – 7-8k dmg is pretty standard against classes that have built them selves glass cannon (and if you are spec’d for it vs more heavily armored people as well.) But that is not an unbalanced amount of damage. With 2 easy dodges you can avoid the damage from two heartseeker attempts totaling 6/12 base initiative. If they are opening on you with heartseeker it is not going to hit that hard anyway and you can save the dodges. If you are actually interested in being a viable combatant, you most likely have 3 support skills which add to your durability and should have ways to avoid further damage or block incoming attacks.

If people actually played heads-up and payed attention to character animations and sound effects they could actually start getting better at PVP and become less agitated by classes and less whiny about what they perceive as imbalance.

As far as suggestions go, I believe P/P needs some love.

Mubarizun.6435:

I knew I should of taken a screenshot of it but I figured someone else was doing it.

Basically, we knocked down the wall near the grub with about 4 catapults. While we were doing that some people attacked the grub. We didn’t think anything of those few that attacked it until after we poured through the breach…

We realized that as we pounded on the EB inner wall, the grub had followed us inside because some people were too dang stupid to leave it alone. So naturally the grub proceeds to saunter up to the wall where we were trying to build rams and totally ruins that plan lol.

So now we’re losing more and more people and decide to back off onto the op of the outer wall and perhaps build siege to attack from afar. EB now starts to wipe against the grub who’s knocking on their door. I didn’t get to see if the grub dug underground through the inner wall but I have a feeling it did since it’s body got obscured. Needless to say we weren’t taking the keep and our commander were really pissed lmao.

All in all.

EB 0
Maguuma 0
Grub 2

You can thank <LOS BANDITOS ROJO> for that lil number. We really did not expect the Grub to come out on top, but it was a lot of fun to watch him tear through the zerg!

Jasher.6580:

19k-25k hundred blades is okay… yet they nerfed pistol whip… I’m genuinely confused. Both root the character, both are channelled attacks, yet the guy with the heavy armour and high health gets to keep that ridiculous damage.

Confused.

100b does not root.

I really can not believe how many people log out after being downed in WvW, it is ridiculous.

I hope so, I am sick and tired of people getting downed and then logging out to avoid being killed.

Swindler’s Luck – Maguuma

Totally viable,

I run the following and have no problems in dungeons:

http://tinyurl.com/brswqts

Big numbers, survivability, mobility, Aoe, single-target; this build does it all.

Hi Rhone,

Contrary to what Mesket complained about, Greatsword / Longbow warriors are definitely viable in dungeons!

I recommend starting with a build like this:
http://tinyurl.com/9vlnk2b

The basic premise here is simple, crits > adrenaline > longbow burst; rinse & repeat.

This build comes loaded with an oh-sh&$ button, some endurance regen, 2 -condition skills, and an AOE boon which also grants adrenaline.

You will want to keep both your signet of rage, and for great justice on cooldown, and liberally swap between your weapons as the need arises. With leg-specialist you will have a great multi-target immobilize with your greatsword, as well as some nice escape measures (rush & whirlwind attack + evades).

The key here is to understand when you can be in melee range, and when you need to stay back and shoot stuff. Both will provide ample DPS, while allowing for a good deal of escape.

Hope this helps.

Elcyion.7452:

Groggy.4761:

So basically all the posts and talk about what a wonderful community Maguuma is only holds true if you’re in Goon’s mumble, following Goon’s orders and being a good little “pubbie”?

Its not Goons mumble its public maguuma Mumble. As far as i know theres mostly non Goon Commanders actuly leading. Part of beeing a goon is u cant lead it seems

The public mumble was created to foster communication, and expand Maguuma’s ability to organize.

Part of being a Goon is solidarity as well.

Do not forget the founding of Ramelot!

I just put together a new WvW and light dungeon-running build:

http://urlm.in/pbvv

Gear:

Axe + warhorn / Rifle

Knights armor + weapons
Superior runes of the soldier
Ruby Berserker trinkets
Your choice on Sigils (I need to test more)

This is a skirmishing build and would not be as effective for keep defending. Although you could still pump out some serious single-target dmg.

In a 1v1 situation you should do very well AND have the ability to get a nice crit on a fleeing Thief / Mesmer / Elementalist.

In dungeons I recommend using the rifle to DPS and the warhorn to support your allies.

Badwrong.3596:

Ninein.4782”

You really are a troll that shouldn’t be in this conversation. You obviously only WvW during the “events.” Just state it so and don’t try to make your statements as representing this whole matchup.

I guess I’ve offended you, or you just use “troll” to refer to anyone who’s opinion you don’t agree with.

Either way, my apologies. I can tell you guys aren’t open to criticism.

“You are clearly Badwrong” – Jimi Hendrix

“Ramelot contained the hopes and dreams of our entire corner of the map. No zerg can match that kind of dedication to thievery.” – Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the USS Enterprise (D+E)