Guild Wars 2

D/D thief here. I find that I don’t tend to have too much trouble with spirit rangers anymore. ~shrug~

snacktime.1082:

I’d say d/d and d/p are still the kings of solo/small group roaming. Haven’t changed much. The recent initiative changes effected d/p to some extent, but it’s not as bad as it sounds on the forums.

I use the versions Yishi uses in his outnumbered videos, they are still very viable.

Agreed with this advice. I use Yishis build as well and it’s the best I’ve tried for WvW.

A S/P build isn’t bad either. Personally, I use S/P for soloing NPCs at supply camps, regardless of what build I’m running since the cleave and blind field makes it easy. You just gotta use Daggerstorm to clear off the scouts first.

You…do know you can buy gems with gold right?

You can buy these things for less than 20g.

Playing against a trap ranger as a thief is tough.

Playing against a warrior of any spec/build who happens to be using a longbow is worse.

josh.7390:

The hammers dmg never was a big problem. The combination that killed every1 was longbow 5 -> f1 -> 3. This combination eats about half of a mesmers live. + its all aoe (+ for mesmer espically your clones die in the burning from f1 even after the actual use)…

Yea, as a thief, I never really worried about the hammer too much since all its moves have a big wind up that’s easily evaded. However, I pretty much just move on to another node when the long bow comes out. The AoE pressure of that weapon is just ridiculous.

Yea, SA is the best tree for survival in PvP, if you ask me. =P

Pawstruck.9708:

Maybe folks could fill me in on what TERA does wrong, because I haven’t made it past level 10 yet…

- There’s a huge lapse in power between levels. This makes PvP servers very lopsided since any level difference makes a huge difference in who wins a fight.
– Gear is a huge factor in fights. You would think that the action combat system would make all fights very skill based, but the gear scaling often decides outcome, meaning that unless you’re hardcore in getting the best gear, you are at a big disadvantage.
– There is very little customization with builds since there are very few skills and no talent tree system like GW2. Also, all classes only have 1 weapon set that they use.
– The game adheres strictly to the basic quest system with little to no diversity. Even WoW has branched off to build more creative quests, but everything in Tera is pretty much a talk-to-this-person, collect-these-items, or kill-these-mobs quest.

Few games really capture the feel of a good solid boss fight like in Tera when you’re fighting a big boss as a Lancer. However, GW2 comes close and it has a world that feels much more diverse and alive, while not forcing you to into spending every waking hour to get the best possible gear in order to stand a chance in any fight.

Yea, GW2 definitely does combat mechanics well. I would argue that Tera does it better, but GW2 beats Tera on just about everything else, lol.

mikeew.8607:

Dahkeus.8243:

You’re playing the wrong class if you want to really give support. The best you’ll do with that is stealthing groups past unnecessary trash mobs or using Smoke Screen if you end up in a group without enough reflects (i.e. Guardians or Mesmers).

Your biggest asset as a thief in a group is blinds on trash and dps. The blinds you can do with any build by equipping a S/P and keeping a field down with #5, but you attain the latter by using a heavy dps build such as 25/30/0/0/15.

D/D is the weapon set to use on single target fights
Short Bow or S/P is what you want to use on AoE fights
P/P is the weapon set for single target fights when you need to stay ranged.

If you’re new to the class or to the dungeon, then you can always switch things up to get defensive talents like Feline’s Grace.

Another option is a trickery build (0/30/0/0/25 + 15), which will give you a bit of extra utility by granting vigor and stealing boons. If you’re good at maintaining high initiative, the dps isn’t too far off from a 25/30/0/0/15.

sundering strikes vuln stacking isn’t support?

Technically, it is, but pragmatically, it’s a weaker version of what other classes do better whith less of a loss to personal DPS.

Clumsy.6257:

My “standards” are and were the basic standards of GW1 which unfortunately isn’t the same in GW2. Ahhh for the days of not only being kicked from a party, but being kicked from a guild for not running the meta build. Stuff went so much smoother and was much more fun back then.

Yea…there were a lot of gimmick meta builds back in the day (looking at you Barrage/Pet SF runs). However, there doesn’t seem to be as much need to bring a specific build as there used to be. Maybe that will change if we get some more challenging content with unique mechanics…

Arctisavange.7260:

So is it still any good or has the thief nerfs made it weak?

Atm im looking for a good decent wvw thief build.

It’s a very solid build, particularly for sPvP and has only gotten better since the patch. This is the same build I run.

Sparda.9750:

i love the bow.. 3 target at once is a lot of!! anyway.. i wanna try 25,30, 15, 0,0.. is it a coimpletely suicide??

There is no build that is too squishy if you know how to use it. The builds I mentioned before (25/30/0/0/15 and 10/30/0/0/30) are/were top tournament builds for D/P and they ran with the Berserker amulet.

Survival on the thief class is 90% how you play and 10% defensive stats since you live by avoiding hits and not by absorbing them (such as with classes like Warrior/Guardian).

Yea, the more you play, the better you’ll get at dodging in and out of fights…but don’t underestimate your short bow. One of the biggest mistakes a lot of thieves make in PvP is to jump into high AoE group fights as melee when they can do a lot more with their short bow.

I wouldn’t recommend going for such a glassy build unless you’re either very experienced with the class or are ok with getting absolutely crushed in the blink of an eye.

Because of this, I would say either go with a full glass build to get high backstabs (25/30/0/0/15 or 10/30/0/0/30) or stick with a SA build (0/30/30/0/0 + 10).

For WvW, a SA build is really still better overall, even for an experienced player because of how useful all the extra utility that the SA build gives.

As for traits to take in Deadly Arts, go with Mug III and Dagger Training IX. The vuln from sundering is pretty weak.

No matter how you cut it, there’s a trade-off that you must decide on. Which is more important to you: Higher backstab crits or more tools to control the fight and survive the burst?

I like this idea. It would definitely give players more reason to be competitive in PvP.

I mean, if you can get a special logo for getting map complete, why not have something equivalent for PvPers?

If you can point out the video and where the 12k hit is, we may be able to explain it better, but backstab hasn’t been nerfed.

There are a lot of factors that go into how much damage a target takes from a backstab, so you can’t compare something like a golem in sPvP getting hit to an up-leveled lowbie in WvW getting hit by someone with ascended weapons.

D/P against a mesmer is quite a bit tougher than D/D. This is one of the reasons I’ve been loving D/D lately (lots of mesmers popping up in PvP lately).

The blind field can still come in handy to some extent, but since so many attacks come from ranged, it’s not close to what it is in a fight against something like a warrior. However, good utilities will make a difference.

Some other little tips for fighting a mesmer:
– If a mesmer is downed and you have no allies around, stealth and go for the stomp. However, if there is someone or something for the mesmer to target, they’ll use their #2 ability to stealth and teleport. In this case, just dps them down and only attempt a stomp if they have already used their teleport and have a good chunk of HP left.

- Since they changed the tab target system, finding a mesmer among clones is easier than ever. If you lose track of the real mesmer, just drop your current target and hit tab. The first mesmer you target will be the real one unless they are stealthed. Also, you can usually identify the real mesmer since they will have boons.

Here’s the problem: You have a 360 range for that might, meaning that you either need a full melee stacked group or you need to make sure that everyone in the group stays very close (Staff eles, Grenade engis, etc.) even though they can hit from farther away.

If you have a group this organized, then they’re probably better off with a more min/maxed class that brings this kind of support without sacrificing so much personal damage. If you’re in a pug, then what sounds good in theory will easily go to waste when you have longbow rangers sitting miles away from you. =P

Anytime you watch WvW, just be aware that most of the time when you see huge numbers, it’s because someone hit a leveled up enemy.

That being said, you get your best burst from D/D when you use CnD -> Backstab instead of just Backstab alone. You pull this off by stealthing, getting behind your enemy, then timing your CnD to land just as your stealth wears off so that it doesn’t trigger revealed, but doesn’t leave you unstealthed long enough for your enemy to react.

Also, patience is key to success with D/D. In a tough 1 v 1, don’t be afraid to let your enemy burn some cooldowns before you go very offensive. You can easily CnD, then wait for the stealth to go away by itself early on in a fight if you want to be defensive so that you can stealth early when your enemy uses a big attack. After they’ve used up things like Shield Stance, nail them with Basilisk Venom and heavy burst while their defense is on cooldown.

P.S. Don’t forget that you stack might in stealth. This means that sitting in Shadow’s Refuge for a good while will buff you up with a good bit of might.

The nerf to First Strikes in the CS tree really affects PvE builds more than PvP since you’re constantly landing attacks in berserker armor in PvE, whereas in PvP, you’ll generally have less crit chance from armor and will spend time doing other stuff (moving around, healing, using utilities, stomping, etc.) which reduces the amount of time you spend attacking.

Personally, I’ve noticed a very positive change to initiative regen in the 0/30/30/10/0 D/D build I run.

WildStar has some cool features for sure…but it’ll come with a sub fee and it’s another generic MMO where males come in different sizes and personalities, whereas all female characters are skinny sex objects. =/

My wish list:

More full, permanent dungeons

More game types for sPvP
– Would love to see something similar to GvG and/or HoH from GW1

More diverse items from the gem store
– Give us more instruments like a guitar
– Would also love to see more emotes and/or new dances
– It’s a shame there’s not more stuff available now since gem store items make great gifts for the holidays

New elite skills and utility skills
– As happy as I am to see new skills released, the new heals aren’t really game changers.
– Elite skills, in particular, need more diversity. Many classes have limited options for a lot of situations (ex: mesmers in PvE)

New profession
– The game has been out for well over a year now. Adding a new profession to the game would be a very welcome addition to keep the game feeling fresh.

Viking Jorun.5413:

DakSevkla.3278:

S/P and P/P 30/30/0/10/0

30 DA for 5.5s Immob on 50% or less
30 CS for 20% dmg on 50% or less

Stacking Vuln with crits. I get you down to 50% and you are completely screwed. Anyone who uses a stunbreak to dodge the Immob gets hit with 2-3 more. PW and they’re dead. Hitting about 8-10k per PW.

Big numbers are great and all, but sacrificing that much survivability to hit hard isn’t good for anyone, especially when you’re rooted by Pistol Whip and can be 1-shotted at the end of your evasion. Get some vitality man!

Nah, I played PW for a good while with a zerker amulet and it was fine. In WvW, yea, you probably want at least your armor in full valk, but that’s pretty much with any build.

Blinds and evades replace passive defense from stats when you use them right.

Nausiation.1469:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Nausiation.1469:

O.K. It seems it’s probably something with my computer but I don’t know what. Like I said it is a pretty decent computer and should not be taking this long to load. I really am at a loss.

Do you have 32bit or 64bit windows installed?
It makes a MASSSIVE difference.

64 bit

I have a AMD Phenom II X6 1100T processor and a gtx 560 graphics card.

You have a really good graphics card, but a relatively weak processor, so that’s where you’re bottlenecked. Upgrade your CPU.

Unless you have the cash to upgrade to an Intel motherboard for an I5 or I7 processor, go with either the AMD 8320 or an AMD 8350. You can get an AMD 8320 for about $160 on Newegg or better if you find a good sale. Personally, I got mine for $130 a few weeks ago from TigerDirect.com.

The problem isn’t bunkers. The problem is map design which encourages bunker.

Stabme.4381:

Im using d/d with 0/30/30/10/0. Full Valkyrie set.

Any way to 1v1 a mesmer unless he’s really really bad? It’s insane.

Mesmer have more stealth, deal more damage, his illusions follow and damage you while you’re in stealth, not to mention that aegis-like spell, that prevents your backstab damage.

Yeah, im probably just on emotions, cause i lost duels to a mesmer, without any chance of winning, but anyway.

I will apreciate any advice, that’s not “run away if you see a mesmer”. Thanks

What utilities are you using? I find Shadowstep and Blinding Powder invaluable for fighting a mesmer since Shadowstep will save you from the shatter burst and Blinding Powder allows you to stealth after they do so that they come out of it first and are there to be backstabbed.

As others have said though, patience makes a big difference. Keep yourself re-stealthed from CnD on clones until you get in a good spot to burst them. I find the best way to burst is to Basilisk while stealthed, then time a CnD to hit as soon as your stealth drops so that you can immediately backstab after.

If you’re just running up without stealth and using CnD → Backstab, you’re losing a lot of burst potential. It takes some practice to get the timing of hitting CnD with an immediate Backstab as soon as your stealth drops so that you don’t trigger revealed, but it makes a big difference.

Also, don’t forget that you get an Aegis when you use the stolen Plasma bundle. This can be a great help for a lot of situations.

P.s. never use Shadow’s Refuge against a mesmer that has a GS unless you have a dodge available, a block available (plasma), or you know for sure that the GS knockback is on cd. Otherwise, you’ll get knocked out and revealed.

Excalibur.9748:

Dahkeus.8243:

Excalibur.9748:

not playing right now no. they introduced a new bug with the patch that they still haven’t fixed.

Which one?

the one where if you dodge at the end of an infiltrator arrow you sort of CC yourself and roll on the spot instead of moving forward.

Hmm, never noticed that…but it’s probably because I almost never dodge immediately after inf arrow.

All is Vain in PvE too I guess. =P

The achievement junkies and people with inflated expectations make a great market for me to sell my presents to. Thanks!

Takato.4976:

I don’t remember it being once per account… I have 9ish char slots and EVERY new character goes through the tutorial, ( it’s honestly annoying at this point. )

Are you talking about the intro level 1-2 PvE content or the PvP tutorial thing?

I haven’t seen the PvP tutorial since I rolled my first character back when the game started. .

Excalibur.9748:

not playing right now no. they introduced a new bug with the patch that they still haven’t fixed.

Which one?

Alice.8694:

If you want to support as a thief, this is the venonmancer build for it:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.3|c.5k.h4.a.5k.h19.0.0.0|5.1k.h1p.0.0.0|1k.71n.1k.71n.1k.79.1k.79.1k.77.1k.77|21l.0.21l.0.31l.0.1k.68.1k.68.2u.0|k48.0.u29c.0.k57|0.0|0.5t.5r.5s.5u|e

Thieves are decent enough offensive support but weak on the defensive support. You can swap the chill venom for smokescreen when needed. You lose about 50% of your damage potential for party healing on hit and 20 second (+60%) might buffs.

Venoms, unfortunately, are terrible support for dungeons.

Poison is rarely in short supply, especially since it comes in a healthy dose from your auto attack. It’s also one of the weakest dps conditions and the heal reduction only works on a handful of enemies.

Chill is really weak in PvE since mobs seldom run around once you’ve engaged them anyways.

Vulnerability can be applies more easily by other classes. An engi alone often gets close to 25 stacks.

Torment is a very weak condition in PvE since, again, mobs rarely run around.

Finally, the heal is weak as well since most of the healing it provides will be wasted on overhealing allies at or near full hp.

Finally, the might that this build provides is very low. Considering all the dps that you sacrifice to go as a venom build, you probably won’t make up for it with might stacking your group. Other classes can stack more might without sacrificing DPS like this build does. They can also apply these benefits at a 600 range as opposed to the 360 range of Venomous Aura.

IbanezShred.9682:

So it’s been a pretty long while since I played and I’m looking forward to getting back into the game. That said, I’m sure the patches since I’ve been gone have changed the way I should build my Thief, and I was never super sure of what I was doing to begin with.

Anyway, I’m looking for advice on a build, I remember liking S/D and would really like to continue to use that but, I wonder if it’s very effective. I’d like to deal some pretty decent sustained dps but, still be able to make a mistake or two without dying every time. Not a big fan of condition damage either…

I sound picky don’t I? Lol.

I’m not super interested in PvP right now, so is an effective build like this a possibility?

Consider something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQJAsYkYmTEbP2pO5pPDyO2+DXF-jAyAY/ASWApCAJviox2GKiGruGT5SEVbvLiWtMAVLA-e

Use the utilities/elite of your choice.

This isn’t going to be the absolute best build for speed clears or anything, but this will give you strong dps while also giving you extra defense through the additional dodges that Feline’s Grace affords you.

Since S/D does the most DPS when you rely on your auto-attack, the 25 trait in Trickery will allow you to keep up heavy dps while also providing the extra utility that this trait line offers.

However, just be aware that the players who know all dungeons like the back of their hand and are just concerned with clearing as fast as possible will want you to use something more like a 25/30/0/0/15 D/D build. =P

Your title was exactly what I was thinking when I read your post…

You’re asking so many random half-questions, that I don’t know where to start, but honestly most of this stuff is being discussed in threads right next to this one. =P

Honestly, I don’t think Hard to Catch is fixable since it’s inherently a pretty bad trait…

And that’s ok. Not every trait needs to be amazing. There are enough good traits available to thieves right now, imo.

Warkupo.1025:

I tried D/D before I eventually settled on D/P. Ultimately I felt like D/D was just an inferior version of the same thing. The whole Black Powder + Heartseeker > Backstab combo is better at defense and getting you into position for what you want to do. I really liked Death Blossom, but it felt out of place with the rest of the set and ultimately didn’t offer better damage/mitigation than BP/H> B.

I went through the same thing. I liked D/D initially until I got used to D/P, then really loved the utility of the blind field.

However, lately, I guess I just came full circle back to D/D.

You’re playing the wrong class if you want to really give support. The best you’ll do with that is stealthing groups past unnecessary trash mobs or using Smoke Screen if you end up in a group without enough reflects (i.e. Guardians or Mesmers).

Your biggest asset as a thief in a group is blinds on trash and dps. The blinds you can do with any build by equipping a S/P and keeping a field down with #5, but you attain the latter by using a heavy dps build such as 25/30/0/0/15.

D/D is the weapon set to use on single target fights
Short Bow or S/P is what you want to use on AoE fights
P/P is the weapon set for single target fights when you need to stay ranged.

If you’re new to the class or to the dungeon, then you can always switch things up to get defensive talents like Feline’s Grace.

Another option is a trickery build (0/30/0/0/25 + 15), which will give you a bit of extra utility by granting vigor and stealing boons. If you’re good at maintaining high initiative, the dps isn’t too far off from a 25/30/0/0/15.

Yea, a trickery burst build like the one Shirts posted is a solid way to go for D/P and would be my top pick.

Other good alternatives are:
25/30/0/0/15 – Brings slightly higher dps than trickery, but has less utility
0/30/30/0/0 + 10 – Lower damage, but better survival with SA traits (condi removal on stealth, ini gain on stealth, and regen in stealth). However, this was nerfed slightly to regen less ini from stealthing. Still, this is a good build to learn with if you’re new to D/P. Put the extra 10 points in DA for mug or Acro for Vigorous Recovery or Power of Intertia.

Current build:
0/30/30/10/0
I/III/XII
V/VI/XI
I
D/D
Heal – Hide in Shadows
Utilities – Shadowstep, Shadow’s Refuge, Blinding Powder

It’s pretty much Yishis’ build, but when I’m in sPvP, I’ve been playing it with Power of Intertia (I) in acro.

I know that D/P is generally more accepted for sPvP and I did play as D/P for a long time, but with Cloaked in Shadow, I’ve really been having a lot of success with D/D, so I’ve stuck with it. I also like the playstyle of D/D a bit more for 2 reasons:
– Since you don’t have to leap a combo field to stealth, it plays a bit faster
– The was very initiative efficient before the patch and is even more so now, meaning that I don’t have to play as conservatively with it and rely less on auto attacks

I haven’t really been doing dungeons on my thief lately since I tend to do those on my guardian, but if I did, I would go back to using the standard 25/30/0/0/15 D/D build.

Before the patch
Pretty much the same since this was only buffed. Same goes for the 25/30/0/0/15 PvE build.

Reroll?
lol, no. However, as mentioned, I tend to bring my guardian to dungeons more than my thief since he generally brings more utility. Thief is more fun in dungeons though.

Uninstall?
lol, no.

Other questions about state of thief
Most thief builds are fine, but people who ran S/D were hit hard. Fortunately, I was never a huge fan of that build. I do miss S/P having a decent stun, but that wasn’t a nerf from this patch. D/P thieves who relied heavily on the perma-stealth aren’t in good shape, but D/P is still fine overall. However, I think this is a good time for a lot of thieves to give D/D another chance. You really have to get your timing down well and you have to pay attention to blinds/aegis/etc. to utilize the stealth well, but when you do, it works well.

And no, thieves don’t need to be nerfed.

Class still works fine for me. ~shrug~

I was running an AMD Phenom II 6 1045T and loading screens were a bit slow, but I upgraded to an 8320 recently and they’re much better now.

ExaFlare.1390:

Warriors were useless for almost 1 year. Then they got buffed and reappeared in tpvp.
It was too strong so they nerfed it a little.

Their goal isnt to remove warriors from tpvp again.

An eloquent, rational, and educated response? This kinda stuff is rare in these parts…

lol @ the commercials in the audio!

Krayiss.4926:

Ya remove it for now atleast. Us pvpers dont have any money to spend on the game anyways your just stopping us from switching classes.

ITS NOT COOL ANET

Oh, you don’t want to pitch in to fund the game the rest of us enjoy playing?

Well, don’t be surprised if the rest of the paying customers have little mercy for people who don’t pay towards the game and can’t be bothered to obtain 25 skill points.

Raion.5280:

As someone who never really pvped before, I’m happy with the new rewards. In two days I now have a new 20 slot bag due to glory. However now I’m sad to find out they will be removing glory. Why?! Now there really is no reward. When they remove it, is there? And what am I going to do with these 36 glory boosters I have?

The glory system will be replaced. It is yet unknown what will come of the glory boosters, but the devs advised that you use them now.

I know it’s a bit late for this to happen this year, but it would be nice if we could get some more new items released for the holidays in the gem store since they work so well as gifts. I mean, I know there is a lot of stuff in the store now, but so much of it has been out for so long, that people already have what they want.

Anyways, just thought I would pass on a tip for ANet if they want to make some extra $$$ during the holidays. =P

Thief.

Mobility > all

Yea, it’s generally a good rule anytime you buy something big from a vendor to make sure it’s not available elsewhere cheaper. This has happened with other items in the past as well.

Oni Link.4621:

Josh Davis.6015:

First off, I’d like to thank you for your efforts in broadening the cultural horizons of our day-to-day forum goers. That said, I believe that much of the raw emotion that lives within the original narrative is lost in this translation.

While your version is much more accessible for the everyday reader, I truly hope that they become captivated by the thematic undercurrents and take the time to fully understand the piece in its original form.

I hope you understood how ruined is the PvP player base now. Guess who is the culript…

All is Vain!

Romek.4201:

maby 1 in 100 games start with 4v5
maby 3 in 100 games people leave mid match
maby 10 in 100 games people go afk cause losing

ye – this

This sounds most accurate to me.