Guild Wars 2

For a PvE/WvW player this patch wasn’t too bad. I am very glad to see that they are at least making changes to some things with the ‘only in pvp’ tag. I am disappointed in the non-pvp nerfs but all in all its not as bad as I expected.

I am disappointed that P/P and S/P weren’t fixed and Haste/Quickness and stealth rendering remain the problems.

Blood~

I love initiative how it is, not a fan of cooldowns or cumulative initiative costs. I agree that slowing down a backstab build just a little may be warranted but I don’t want to lose the ability to hit one skill a couple times in a row if I want to. I think it actually brings some depth to the class and the ability to mess with different builds with different play styles. This really differentiates Thief from the other classes. I would probably say goodbye to the game if they mess with my thief at this level. Just my thoughts though, everyone is entitled to their own.

Blood~

HiS vs SoM is a tough one. Usually in WvW that nice big heal and stealth is very helpful but if managed right SoM isn’t all that bad. Looking at raw healing SoM with Signet Use trait is base 16375 healing per minute where HiS is 11520 healing per minute (using guildhead skill calc numbers). Stealth can mitigate a hell of a lot of damage though… I used to dislike SoM until I learned how to work with it.

For WvW I like a 0/20/0/20/30. The 20 in Crit lands us Signet Use which turns SoM into a decent heal every 12 seconds if needed. Coupled with Trickery 30 Hastened Replenishment you can pull 6 initiative every 12 seconds. And Vigorous Recovery will keep you dodge’n/caltrop’n. This will give you more healing only in smaller chunks which isn’t always the best for PvP but you can then have more DB rolling in stead.
Run some stealth utilities to make up for losing HiS. SoM requires you to be more proactive on your healing than reactive.

Also, for PvP I’d concentrate on more Condition Damage rather than Condition Duration for more up front damage because your bleeds will get wiped off within at least 10 seconds.

I hope our incoming backstab nerf at least nets us some more reliable condition damage…

Blood~

I think its server side or mechanics because I have the same problem, it just seems you cant get off of the revive fast enough. Each time I go in for a revive close to melee I know there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll be on the floor too… unless Shadow Refuge is used.

Blood~

I’m running a condition build using 0/20/0/20/30. I’m running Signet of Malice along with the Signet Use trait from Crit 20 line and Hastened Replenishment trait from Trickery 30 line. This gives you 6 initiative every 12 seconds. Roll for Initiative is great also. Vigorous Recover from Acrobatics gives a ton of endurance for more caltrop drops on dodge. Get Condition damage and duration gear and eat Super Veggie Pizza’s

GL
Blood~

IIRC a simple dodge doesn’t do it. You need some movement first, then dodge.

As a thief a great way to revive is Shadow Refuge, throw it on top of the NPC/PC and start reviving. If you stay in the field until the House icon drops you should have an extended stealth, enough to revive your target. Works great in PvE and PvP.

Blood~

I started a guardian alt, then I started a mesmer alt. When I get frustrated with my mesmer I’ll just pop over to guardian and smash stuff until I feel better…

Guardian so far is the easiest/fastest to level with. Go GS and Staff or Hammer and don’t look back I’m only 24 but I see what my guardian buddies do and I’m excited for 80.

Blood~

You can ‘respec’ at your trainer. One is in Lions Arch by the Mystic Forge and there’s at least one in each city I believe. I think cost is tied to your level, has capped at 3.5 silver at lvl80.

I’m a relatively young Mesmer, just hit 17, and I’m also looking for a good/fast leveling build. Things were tough until I took 5 traits in Illusions then things started to go easier. Seems that Mesmer kill relatively slowly and have troubles with packs of enemies. When I get frustrated I’ll hop over to my 20 Guardian, gather up a bunch of mobs and aoe till I feel better…

This class looks very rewarding at lvl 80, hope I can push through these lower levels.

Sorry for leaching info from your thread

Blood~

I mainly PvE with my Thief and I really enjoy it. I am often the last one standing and I’m the one who keeps the boss from resetting while others run back. My suggestion is Accrobatics 15 minimum for Dungeons to make your life easier.. and longer…

Some things are simply unavoidable or too hard to see in all of the action, and you will end up on the floor. Some AI is terrible as the mob will continue hitting you if you’re on the ground. Aside from those instances you can survive quite well even in melee range for the most part with practice and it is very rewarding soloing the last 15% of the boss..

With no real way to gauge our damage output vs other classes it’s hard to say but I think I have found a condition build that truly does very good damage, at lest that is how it seems after I switched things up and ran some dungeons with guildies.

Thief in PvE is challenging but very fun, just don’t forget to bring your short bow.

Blood~

This advice will be for PvE

The two big things that you can do to up damage is Condition Damage AND Condition Duration. Trickery is a no-brainer here but Deadly Arts will increase your Deathblossom bleeds by 1 tick per tier or +1% per point. Eat some Super Veggie Pizza and get a cheap Krait and Lyssa rune set on your armor. I don’t have the best setup but I have an 18 second bleed stack with deathblossom that does about 4.5K per 3 bleeds. I can kill stuff using just Caltrops on dodge but it takes a while :P I would suggest 30 in Trickery and 10 Deadly arts minimum to get the most out of Steal and a faster refresh.

I’m running 20/0/10/20/20 and its working well for me. This isn’t too heavy on steal though. I just cant get away from Shadow’s Embrace, I rely on it too much If I could I would run 25/0/0/20/25.

GL
Blood~

Idea on Venom, have them act like signets giving some direct damage or utility depending on which one you have on. Activate the venom for a larger effect. This may not fit the flavor of a venom but it could work mechanically to make Venom better for PvE. -or- Make poisons personal so the slot on our bar isn’t just adding to another’s poison duration.

Reduce bleeds to 18 stacks but make the stacks personal. Three bleeders in a dungeon is counterproductive. Condition builds are terrible for world events and dragons… If I see 25 stacks on something I just switch to SB and autoattack…

Taking the direct damage component away from Deathblossom was suggested, I’ll disagree with that simply for the fact that when bleeds are maxed you would get nothing out of this ability without the direct damage.

I love the Initiative system of the thief, I play a thief so I don’t have to deal with cooldowns.

I love the depth of the class and the build options we have, that being said there are traits that could be greatly improved or reworked to make them competitive with other traits.

P/P, I like that this feels like the direct damage ‘shoot um in the face’ loadout but it could use a damage buff or a way to stay at ranged or a bit better utility.

*I have made some of these points already, just adding some new ideas.

TY
Blood~

Bleeds need higher stacks or have personal stacks and it maybe needs to be tougher to drop full stacks in PvP.

I love condition damage but I feel less than effective in some situations. Solo it is great, 5 man group content it can be great or can be 50% (or less) effective if you have another bleeder in the group, ‘raid’ Dragons and world events it’s terrible.. PvP can wipe it off easily and you just wasted all of your resources to very little effect. I decided to move to a backstab build for at least dependable damage output but this may go away depending on how the ‘adjustment’ is handled.

P/P needs something. I would be more than happy with a better talent that gave it a 2 to 3 target bounce or a damage increase to Unload. Make Ricochet a T1 trait with improved % to bounce as not to lock P/P into a certain build. Also, this loadout feels like it does one thing and one thing only, single target ranged damage. I actually kind of like that feel but if this is the only thing it does it needs to do it better. Bit more range, bit more damage and allow Unload to pierce to its target.

Poisons are not very appealing, they could use a rework. Faster cooldown or something.

Improve on Stealth, it has been buggy lately

TY for listening to the community Dev’s

Blood~

My default load-out is D/D and SB.

Just as a reference on practice dummy, lvl 80 with 0/30/25/0/15 an full Exotic,

SB autoshot hits for ~425 each bounce, Cluster Bomb is ~1.1K each target and you get Disabling Shot for escape, Chocking Gas combo field and finally Infiltrators Arrow for moving around.

P/P hits for ~335 dmg + 247 bleed, Unload for 2k dmg and Black Powder for blinds. Also Head Shot for interrupts and Body Shot that isn’t used much.

P/D hits for ~335+247 bleed, CnD+Sneak Attack rotation is ~2.2K dmg + 1235 bleeds but this requires Melee range to be consistently done. Shadow Strike ports you away and is a good escape but is a bit contradictory to working the CnD+Sneak Attack. Dancing Daggers hits for ~800dmg on 4 targets.

I go with P/P for single target sustained dmg and SB for multiple targets as ranged weapons go.

GL
Blood~

GW2 PvE is really about Stay alive>work the mechanics of the fight>DPS in that order. At 80 I hit dungeons and got very discouraged. I wanted to play a thief for melee combat but it put me on the ground a lot. I spec’d into 25 Toughness and 25 Vitality lines and things seemed to turn around. After learning the class more at 80 I am now spec’ing into other stuff but can stay alive much easier just due to practice and knowing the content. I am a melee PvE dungeon crawler and I feel I can stay on my feet better than a lot of people. Never forget your SB though…

There are 2 paths that I take for DPS, Condition or Crit. I have sets for both and I will adjust per group makeup. Condition is great in PvE unless you have other classes that throw bleeds, its terrible for dragons and large group events. Max of 25 bleeds per mob can kill your damage output. I am leaning towards the backstab/crit builds that don’t lose potency due to group makeup.

In PvP I use D/D and SB load-out. People are getting wise to the thief so I will mix it up a lot, throw a Deathblossom then work a couple backstabs and maybe finish with more bleeds and a HS. Full condition in PvP can be strong if the target can’t remove them, but quite ineffective if they do.

PvE and PvP stealth is your best friend

GL
Blood

*Edit. Dagger can be effective as either Condition or Backstab/Crit. Really depends on your traits. I run Power, Vitality and Crit Dmg% and use Hidden Killer trait for 100% crit out of stealth. At lower levels just stay alive though. Power would be my choice and if you can get the Might buff it improves condition and strait damage as well. Also, pick up green or at minimum blue gear every 5 levels to replace old stuff.

This game is all about survival and self preservation :P To do this you need to mitigate damage, take none at all or kill the mobs first. Your tools are all there but their potency is limited at low levels. Our best way to mitigate damage is stealth imho. It drops aggro until you unstealth and allows you to run or just get a quick breather if things start getting messy. Note if a mob has initiated an attack before you stealth it will still hit if you are in ranged and don’t dodge but will not drop you from stealth. Black Powder is also a very strong option as noted in previous posts.

Single targets you may do well with D/D Cloak and Dagger>Backstab combo. D/P Black Powder>Heartseeker>Backstab could be good for multiple mobs but watch your initiative. D/D Deathblossom is nice for 3 to 4 mobs in a group, throw 2 or 3 on and run away, let the bleed do the damage, wade back in and finish um off when you have initiative for another strike. S/P could be good for you, Pistol Whip gives you evasion while it is going and does respectable damage, this load-out also gives you Black Powder blind field and Sword hits 4 targets in front of you iirc. I prefer Short Bow as a secondary weapon.

My suggestion is to gear Vitality and Power to allow for trying different weapon load-outs as you level. If you like the stealth>backstab route trait 10 in Shadow Arts for Shadow Infusion at lvl 20. If you like S/P Acrobatics 10 for Power of Inertia and more Vitality may be good or Deadly Arts 10 for Mug maybe.

When you hit Tier 2 traits I really like Trickery 15 for Preparedness.

GL
Blood~

You could try D/P, I like to farm with this set. Black Powder>Heartseeker>Backstab is nice, you stealth in the rotation and are throwing down a blinding field. Take out 1 mob at a time but mitigate a lot of damage from blind/stealths. Critical traits are Shadow Arts 10 – Infusion of Shadow and Trickery 15 helps alot. At Tier 3 Critical Strikes 30 – Hidden Killer is great here. Gear for Precision and Crit Dmg %.

GL
Blood~

P/P just doesn’t make use of condition dmg well as you will want to use Unload as your main damage source which doesn’t bleed. Best load-outs for conditions are D/D, SB and P/D.

I see, thank you Tulisin. I don’t use SoM but I may try it in a vigor build.

I don’t think that the SoM heal on attack triggers any of the -on-heal traits/effects. At least they don’t trigger for me. It only triggers when you hit the signet for the big heal.

Unless I’m doing it wrong, which would be awesome…

Blood~

Vigor on Dodge would be awesome, I looked for a way to have vigor more reliably but I couldn’t find a reliable way to keep it up. I can understand why we don’t see vigor on this though, caltrops on dodge would be just that much better… On the other hand we are very squishy and could defiantly benefit from this, definite improvement in PvE, may be considered OP in PvP.

I only run SoS if I’m not Acrobatics or traveling.

Blood~

Last I checked Eagle set was very expensive, 18+ Gold on my TP. You could look at Ogre or Scholar 6 or Mesmer or Ranger 5 sets which may be a bit less costly. Also Ruby Orbs are good upgrades for Precision/Crit/Power.

GL
Blood~

I’m running Valkyrie gear with Beryl gems and Accessories for Power, Vitality and Crit Dmg%. IIRC I have approximately 48% crit damage from gear not including full Critical Strike tree. I don’t gear precision but I’m running Hidden Killer for 100% crit from stealth. I’m seeing 4.5K to 7k standard backstabs in PvE on lvl 80 mobs. This is only really effective if you’re running a stealth>backstab setup with D/D or D/P though as my Precision is not real high. I’m right under 16K hps.

Hope this helps,

Blood~

P/P Trap Build

You could do well with this build. You’ll Unload and then Autoshot until you’re back to full Initiative to give yourself the most damage output. Crits and Autoshots will help recover Initiative. You’ll have a lot of caltrop and dodging capability.

Do you mainly PvE or PvP with this?

Blood~

I accidentally the whole thing…

It has failed to stealth me a number of times when it should have. I notice that it tends to do this when a number of abilities hit at the same time in close proximity to me. Just an observation.

CnD has failed a number of times also but I know there are more issues here.

Blood~

S/P Pistol Whip is decent damage and you get evasion while it runs and it hits multiple targets.

D/P Blinding Powder>Heartseaker>Backstab is a fun combo, blind works to mitigate damage well. Works best with Hidden Killer and Infusion of Shadow traits.

Stealth is a great panic button…

Those are possibly the better options to keep incoming damage low and leveling through content.

Some of my favorite traits;
Critical Strikes 30 – Hidden Killer for any stealth/backstab build
Trickery 15 – Preparedness for 3 extra Initiative pool
Acrobatics 15 – Feline Grace
Trickery 10 – Caltrops
Shadow Arts 10 – Shadow’s Embrace, Infusion of Shadows (BS builds), and Cloaked in Shadow are all nice.

GL
Blood~

nice guy + internet anonymity = kitten

Problem here is that people don’t post if they’re happy or just casually enjoying the game.

I love this class. I do fine in pvp. I can get grounded quickly by a good player but I’m still happy with the class. We are and hope to stay high on the burst and squish scales…

Blood~

Check the AH for yellow MF gear.

Traveler’s or Explorer’s are good sets depending on what you want. Opal Amulet, Ring and Earring for accessories.

I run Superior Rune of the Pirate x5 for the +Might duration but there are other good options. Other rune sets you could look at are Traveler and Nobel.

Opal Orb can upgrade items with +3% MF each and may be cheaper than Superior Runes.

Chocolate Cherry are a consumable that are very cheap on my server and give 25% MF while you have a boon active which isn’t hard for a thief. There are better options here also.

I suggest getting your Rare MF set and farm up for an Exotic set that fits your build. Don’t quote me on this but I do not think any Dungeon armor set has MF so TP or crafting is your route.

wiki.guildwars2.com has some good info on it.

GL
Blood~

I have tried Signet of Malice but haven’t had much luck and always revert to Hide in Shadows. I see that a lot of people like using Signet and I’m interested in making it more effective. What do you run for your Heal?

Also, I have messed around with Vigorous Recovery, Assassins Reward, Shadow’s Rejuvenation, Signet of Malice and Pain Response but it seems to me that they don’t give a lot or benefit. Also seems that Vigorous Recovery only triggers with the use of your Heal ability and not off any other type of healing.
Is there a way to trigger Vigorous Recovery more reliably?
Have you found that any of these talents make a big difference in your survivability? Are certain weapon load-outs better for any of these?

I have mostly run PvE Dungeons but am looking to expand to PvP.

Input is appreciated,

Blood~

TYVM

I built a Charr, figures I’d pick the one that didn’t have the animation I was looking for…

Another question, from what I’ve read some people rank damage output of the Mesmer at second to last after Necro. Is this due to class or player, and can Mesmer be competitive with damage output vs. other classes?

TY
Blood~

Couple quick questions.

1. What is the difference between Phantasm and Illusion? I’m looking at the Inspiration vs Illusion trait lines and I’m wondering what effects what.

2. What race has the animation of the Great Sword floating and spinning while using Spatial Surge? Thought it was Human or Silvari but I’m not sure.

3. My main is a Thief and I’m strictly PvE. How is the Mesmer’s survival in PvE? Preferably compared to Thief but I’m not expecting many to have experience with both classes.

Much appreciated,

Blood~

Really the thief starts to play well with the tier 2 traits. I got into P/D for a while but the Sneak Attack has low damage even coupled with the bleeds. P/P isn’t bad for single target ranged but it does just as much as Pistol Whip now and less than Deathblossom or a Dagger Backstab.

Thief ‘squishy-ness’ can be mitigated a number of ways. Vitality and Toughness help along with Shadow Arts and Acrobatics trait trees. Pistol Whip and Deathblossom give you evasion as they are going off, you can time this to evade attacks. Stealth is like your shield, throw some damage and stealth to drop agro. Dancing Daggers lets you do some kiting..

Try focusing on staying alive and taking the least amount of damage other than killing stuff quickly. We do have a lot of tricks to work with. Shadow Arts VI with CnD is great for blinding the enemy and Backstab/Sneakattack. My bar is usually Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge and Roll for Initiative or Signet of Shadows.

Leveling, hrmm…

I’d suggest trying out everything. I forget what levels the trait books open to you but I’d pick 2 weapon sets and just try some different talents. Switch up weapon loadout every 5 levels or so and see what you get. D/D Backstab and S/D or S/P are less initiative intensive so would be good to start off with. D/D Deathblossom will take out a group of 3 easily, just evade/dodge/run away after you apply the bleeds. I don’t use P/D and D/P much but I want to get better with them. Any build can do fine leveling if you keep your gear in blues every couple of levels. Mess around and see what you like. I’m respecing my 80 every few days to try out new things.

GL
Blood~

Am I missing something or does Hidden Killer not give you 100% critical hit chance while stealthed? If you’re looking for Backstab crits then that trait should keep you covered.

If you choose Hidden Killer over Executioner then you can gear for Power and Crit Dmg % to make up for it, yielding strong crits on every backstab.

Run 0/30/30/10/0 or 0/30/25/15/0 with Hidden Assassin and Power of Inertia to stack Might on Stealth and Dodge.

I’ve read through all the replies an even being a satisfied Thief player I’ve picked up some very helpful suggestions that I’m itching to try.

PVE content in this game is Dodge/Evade/Stay Alive>Work the mechanics of the fight>DPS in that order.

I like D/D and SB for a weapon loadout. Watch the fight, run in and DB 3 to 6 times, run out and keep yourself alive until your Initiative re-gens and run back in. You can put 3 DB down in the time it takes to do 1 Pistol Whip and even if you stand in melee and autoattack1 your ahead on damage.

I recently spec’d 0/0/25/25/20 and I feel much less squishy with Vit gear. Kept the AC E2 2nd boss(iirc, the guy that sucks everyone in and whirlwinds them to death) busy the whole fight while my group was dieing and running back. It can be done, we don’t have to be glass cannons to dps and live.

If you’re in a group with too many bleeds just switch to CnD and BS+HS them.

I got fed up with dieing, started a guardian, reassessed my thief and am back to playing it full time.

Blood~

This is mainly PvE but I’m building 0/30/10/0/30 for Initiative with P/P, D/D and P/D. Unload does good damage if you can keep your crit high and positioning right, the P/P sneak attack is also pretty decent. You regain initiative on stealths and heals so you get double returns for Hide in Shadows and Shadow Refuge. I tend to use P/P in dungeons where melee are usually on the ground.

GL
Blood~

I would like to see events zone wide also. I would guess they limited the visibility of events so people had to explore the zones. I have spent multiple levels at event hubs alone. I would also guess that we will see expanded visibility in a later update.

Blood~

Still leveling, only 63. Solo I prefer D/D for flying blossom of death. I’ve found that it is fun and effective but in dungeons I spend a lot of time trying to get back on my feet. In a group I am starting to use P/P simply for the ranged survivability. If incoming damage isn’t bad and others are staying alive I’ll use Unload, if people are hurting I’ll Black Powder.

Unfortunately my P/D Cloak n Dagger blind build did not work as well as I’d hoped for keeping damage lower.

Blood~

I’m currently leveling and enjoying the game. Coming up on 60 and looking at trying Pistol/Dagger with Cloak and Dagger>Sneak Attack for sustained damage. Build 0/30/10/0/30 in the end. Main traits being Hidden Killer for 100% crit while in stealth and Infusion of Shadow/Initial Strike/Hastened Replenishment for Initiative.

Hoping to keep Initiative high for when it’s needed.

Rotation of Body Shot>Cloak and Dagger>Sneak Attack shot.

Questions,

Will the pistol 5 shot sneak attack crit on each shot or just the first?

Is this a decent build or is D/D just plain better?

TYVM
Blood~