Guild Wars 2

Here you go, this will help with all your questions.
[DnT] DPS Thief Build Guide For Raids 2/4/16
https://youtu.be/9EwUGweU7jA

We’ll find out more tomorrow with the livestream.. hopefully nothing from this post makes it.

Just watch Sindernerr He’s pretty solid.
http://www.twitch.tv/sindrenerr

Troll post? source..

we aren’t sure yet.. this is just a tiny snip-it of the balance changes.. we can hold hope.

I’m very much a fan of the high risk high reward style of game play.. This could be the revival of the true assassin type profession.

“Thief

In the recent history of thieves, their damage roles have been largely burst-based due to initiative, while their autoattacks do little to sustain their DPS. In addition, initiative often needs to be used defensively, which can take a toll on overall damage output. Our design for this profession tends to lean toward damage, mobility, and evasiveness. In the first quarter of this year, we’ll be looking to drastically improve thief melee autoattacks until their overall sustained damage when coupled with initiative use is extremely dangerous. In addition to the damage improvements, we’ve done a bit of reworking and improvements to the Acrobatics specialization line."

This sounds promising..

that’s yolomouse. it isn’t a setting but a app that you download. Sin has a link in the description of the video.

Good Stuff Sin!

nope, Rifle on thief is a poor choice. increase the range of shortbow to 1200, come up with something unique for the next spec.. like an “assassin” elite spec, one with hexes….
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Assassin's_Promise

I’m not going to say who, but a popular streamer said that we might get a holiday gift in the forum of a balance patch soon…

I agree! thank you Anet for the quick response to this issue.

the animations remind me of classic Wushu

Karl McLain.5604:

Once Pulmonary is on your target, it will ignore blind, evade, block, even range. The ways to really not take the hit will be through invulnerability, damage inversion (ala Defiant Stance), or damage reduction (protection, Endure Pain).
You could technically land a Pulmonary and if you’re quick enough, activate Basilisk Venom for an unblockable/evadeable stun when it pops… Or use your dodge with Evasive Empowerment to increase the damage.

Anet does this with many weapons. it isn’t unheard of.. look at Mesmer greatsword..

Tengu.5267:

nice! time to play.. lol

here is my idea
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsaVn0MBdPhFOBmOBkmiFYCzLMEHaDzdwSYLULBEA2NA-TpBFABiXGggHAQbHCgFOCA6s/AAnAAA

This one’s not bad either, you kind of took it safe and steered away from the physical skills lol. [/quote]

Yeah, lol.. I like the idea of the physical skills.. but i really don’t see much use for them in pvp

nice! time to play.. lol

here is my idea
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsaVn0MBdPhFOBmOBkmiFYCzLMEHaDzdwSYLULBEA2NA-TpBFABiXGggHAQbHCgFOCA6s/AAnAAA

this skin seems to be the best
http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/gw2-staff.jpg

arenta.2953:

Gabriell.4856:

arenta.2953:

no crit

crit is theif, with blades and sharp stuff

not a blunt staff wacking things in solid metal armor.

But but the heart explode and does critical damage!!!

does it?

how do you hit the heart?
you have a staff. (not a spear. )

at most your making the heart skip a beat or 2. but your not stabbing your staff through solid armor into the chest.

thats heartseeker. which is a thief skill. not daredevil.

if you want high dmg crits. go for theif

if you want high evasion with condition removal. but low dmg. go daredevil.

hence the “new professon”

we haven’t seen the damage on staff yet.. so this might be a bit premature.

http://dulfy.net/2015/06/24/gw2-upcoming-items-from-june-23-patch/
take a look at the staff skins.. thieves will be getting these.

awesome! finally.. now if this is an evade type spec, maybe we can hear less qq about stealth?

wait… Sigil of Air is bugged? O-o

Mossy Gargoyle.3274:

Was Thief’s 5% damage boost when wielding daggers from Dagger Training folded into the baseline? Or was it eliminated altogether? Hmmmmmmm.

I was wondering this myself……

Lets hope.. because they listed “Combined Training: This trait was rolled in baseline. All skills categorized as ‘Dual Wield’ have received a 5% damage increase”

where’s my dagger damage Anet??

In the previous livestream, they stated that the 5% increased damage with daggers (the old dagger training) would become baseline.. now that I read over the new notes, I no longer see it..

thoughts?

http://dulfy.net/2014/07/10/gw2-thief-pve-class-guide/

S/P or D/P for trash mobs, SB for utility and stealth spamming, and D/D for bosses.

which game mode are you addressing with this question? in pve D/D is much stronger. spvp D/D really doesn’t have a strong place, In WvW the shadow arts change might change it a bit.. but not really.. over all with all the trait changes D/D has been buffed.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Tengu.5267:

Legendaries are nice, but not required. I personally never change the stats on my incinerator or my bolt. (they permanently stay on zerker) with that said, I don’t play the condi spec in WvW, zerker all the way.

also, if you ever run dungeons and such, zerker is the only meta for thief.

We don’t know that much about the OP. What if he prefer condi spec and want to use the meta build for dungeons? He’ll need to create 2 Ascended weapons for each build.

I’m curious, why did you choose to make a Legendary instead of just Ascended if you’re only using one type of stats?

I currently have 2 ascended daggers, ascended pistol and ascended shortbow, and sword. I also have Incinerator, and Bolt.. why do I have the legendaries?? the answer is very very simple.. the skins.. the reason why I have so many ascended weapons.. it’s due to the dungeon I’m currently running. (each one has different sigils)

He could favor condi, that’s his choice. he could make two sets of ascended weapons for the cost of half of a legendary, which would also give him flexibility..

Personally I would go with weapons. the dps is extremely important for WvW. The armor is good as well, but only if you can afford the infusions for it.
Legendaries are nice, but not required. I personally never change the stats on my incinerator or my bolt. (they permanently stay on zerker) with that said, I don’t play the condi spec in WvW, zerker all the way.

also, if you ever run dungeons and such, zerker is the only meta for thief.

I have a very strong feeling that they will merge traits to create new ones. If you look at the screen shot of the article you’ll see new icons.. assume Fresh Air and Aeromancer training are going to be merged.. it would make more sense for them to do that..

King Noob IV.3560:

more than half of you guys who aren’t trying to make a funny costume don’t even look like assassins lol. mine is the best in this thread

So I looked around for this “assassin” that you claim is superior.. Haven’t found it. please post… (or maybe your troll is just incomplete) also when the “Assassin” (from GW1) is released I would love to play it.. currently we are playing “Thieves”.

here you go
http://dulfy.net/2014/07/10/gw2-thief-pve-class-guide/

Here is my current look. pretty happy with it.

you can with shortbow #3 as well.

Don’t forget about the new Boon as well..

New and Shiny!
New boons, conditions, and status effects have been added to the revenant as well as spread across other professions’ specializations. These are cool ways we’ll allow players to interact with new types of skills in our combat system.
Resistance (Boon)
“Conditions currently on you have no effect; stacks duration.”
• Currently, we have skills that provide a similar effect, such as the warrior’s Berserker Stance (condition immunity with no counterplay). When placed on a character, this boon will temporarily relieve them of all the negative effects that conditions have on the character. For example, if a character is running in fear with the fear condition, they’ll stop running in fear when resistance is placed on them. When resistance ends, they’ll resume running in fear. Having this type of effect on a boon makes it so the boon can be removed by other players, adding in more counterplay.

I’m assuming this will be added to the list of boons that steal grants in the trickery line.. so you get the new conditions, pop steal and kill your target.

There are many skills that allow stealth in gw2. (blinding powder, shadow refuse etc..)
the main way to achieve this is through the dagger/pistol weapon set.
Black powder (pistol #5) then while in the black powder field use heartseeker (dagger #2) this will grant you stealth.. gw2 has many interactions within the game. take a look at this to see how all your skills interact with various fields and walls.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

Here you go, this will help you out. http://youtu.be/MlLTrfLYfhs

In my opinion, it really isn’t the weapon that I’m excited about.. but the brand new trait line that we’ll receive, I’m also wondering which line it’ll replace.

for optimal use, you would need two sets of armor. one for pve, and one for WvW.. In WvW i use pack runes. PVE i use Scholar… nothing else can beat Scholar in pve..

She had brand new daggers in the living story event that was released yesterday.. they are very different, and hopefully available soon.

Here is my Thief.. I’ve hated the trench coat look for years…. so i’m happy with the new pvp set..

When I decided to try the condicheese, this is what I chose to run.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZMQRAqY6YlsMp7pdOx0J8PNhRBxdECwD8eG74+dVCA-TFSEwAKUCqX/AAzfHV+F5kAgT9nW7Pw4JAQKAYmDA-w

you have to be careful with ogre runes.. damage that bounces will always bounce to you.. even in stealth.. (ex.. trick shot, engi shots.. etc)

The animations are easy to see, with that said it doesn’t matter anymore. due to the new standard character model option.

CobOfCorn.6352:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but did Anet stealth add projectiles to Infiltrator’s Arrow (SB 5) and Shadow Shot? (D/P 3) There’s a pretty obvious dark line that shoots out to guide the skill that I don’t think was there yesterday.

I’ve noticed this too, previously when i used SS5 i didn’t see a projectile. (i don’t have the dreamer) and now it’s very obvious.. so yeah, ninja added..

what type of game mode? pve or wvw?

So last night I was in spvp, (Battle of Kyhlo) and decided that the ranger on the enemy team was the issue, being that he was the auto attack flavor of the month.. So everytime I saw him on the field, I had to make sure that he understood his place. This lead to a huge cry fest in map chat, as well as in whispers.. to quote him. “stop playing d/p and learn to be gud noob”. So yeah, the QQ is still very strong in the player base when it comes to thieves. lol

NinjaEd.3946:

d/d is not a good weapon set for fractal, but atleast you got the gear (although you’ll die in 1 hit).

Unless your doing condi d/d is not beneficial to the group because it is single target and also requires you to keep breaking LoS which can be problematic in certain cases such as defending someone on a switch or trying to hold some enemies back while your party is rallying an downed ally.

S/X (primarily s/p) is the best because of the aoe blind for your group’s defense and also the cleaving auto attack and PW. D/d might be great on certain boss encounters but overall is a poor choice for fractals.

For wvw it’s fine, although again with your full on zerker you’ll probably melt in a few seconds if your prey is at all prepared for your ambush.

Ed is correct. but with one change.. D/D is for bosses, S/P is for trash mobs, shortbow is more for utility (movement, blast finisher etc..) this is all discussed in the other link I posted.

Starsurfer.7209:

Thanks for the feedback guys!
Tengu,
My apologies, I should have been more clear. Yes, I know that traits and utilities would have to change depending on the game mode. I simply forgot to mention that because I naturally put points into one of the defensive trees when even while in PvE, as I’ve found going full glass, despite being what you’re supposed to do, tends to get me downed even while stacking. That was confusing.

I guess the main thing I’m focusing on is the gear. Since full ascended gear can be a pretty big time and money commitment, I was hoping to find a gear loadout that would work for both game modes. From the way you speak though, it seems like that’s not possible. Shame. Well in that case, is there perhaps a middle ground when it comes to gear? A set that excels in WvW and while not providing the ideal level of dps for PvE, still allows me to adequately fill my role and contribute to fights in my team? Or is that just a frugal man’s pipe dream?

I noticed that your Fractals build uses runes of the scholar. That’s the second time I’ve seen those runes used in a thief build. Are those generally seen as superior rune options when it comes to filling a dps role? I had tried to find runes that keep my crit chance well above 50% but I’ve heard than many thieves prefer having extra power and I know that generally speaking, Power always beats out precision.

I’m also curious on your WvW thief playstyle. Your build seems to veer away from the standard dps builds that I’ve seen and takes more sustained approach to combat, which is interesting. What are some of your tactics when using this build?

Hello again,
Alright, I can see where you are coming from. Gear can be pricy. Overall it might be a bit tough to mix the two.

In pve berserker gear is king, no getting around that. In WvW it really depends on the build/ play style that you most enjoy or feel effective with. I have a few sets of armor for WvW currently. The only set of ascended armor my thief has is for pve. All the other sets are exotic, which you can get pretty cheaply.

A nice option for you might be the accessories and trinket slots. Those are fairly easy to get, and you can customize your build with those.

Scholar runes: this is a clip from the link I posted before.
“Thieves have an incredibly high critical chance from traits. Therefore they rely on their gear to get as much power and ferocity as possible.

Berserker’s weapons, armor, and trinkets. Scholar’s Runes for the armor. If the gear is ascended, aim to slot them with power stat infusions. Note: underwater fights will also require a Scholar Rune on the Aqua Breather for the +10% damage bonus.
Sigils are situational. Night + Force will get the most mileage with dungeons. Consider using Ascalonian Weapon Skins for your Night Sigils to easily tell if they can be used or not.”

WvW
It’s a very evasive style of play. With the recent change to flanking strike S/D became very annoying to fight in WvW. Pop in, evade, deal sustained damage, CnD+steal for burst etc.. This way you don’t have to keep popping into stealth in order to win fights.. just evade instead! ;p

In WvW your gear can support this style of play without losing too much damage. Don’t get me wrong this is a different build (one I’m experimenting with) but I’ve played all the meta builds. D/P, P/D D/D and currently the best roaming thief build (hurting my soul to say this) is P/D with dire gear.

Hello,

so I’m a little confused.. are you trying to create a build that has use in both area’s? meaning that you won’t have to switch your traits? the reason i ask is, in order to be effective is both area’s different traits are needed. as well as gear.. so I’m assuming that you are looking for a build that will save you time and money (so you don’t have to have multiple sets of gear for either.) overall my opinion is that you need to have different builds for each.

This is the current Dungeon/Fractal build that i use. in my experience utilities for dungeons and fractals should boost your dps as much as possible.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVl8Mp6pNOxwJ0PNRLRtdHsBfgXnh2XQAEiA-TFCBABVq+zZKBxa/R5HAHAh803wwBEIgnUgenCgAAHA/23++b++7v/+8zP/8zPvf/93f/93SBExwI-w

You can find info about this here.
http://dulfy.net/2014/07/10/gw2-thief-pve-class-guide/

WvW is interesting, their are a few viable builds running around out there. I really dislike the meta condi spam p/d build out there. so currently i’ve been using this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVlsMp7plOxyJ8PNBNhwdpaz8O83yaFA-TFCBABOqEEiTBQlq/glyAAeAAmp0ro9HY4IAEA4Aw5nf+5nfekCIihVA-w