Guild Wars 2

Yasha.5963:

OK thanks, I’m glad I asked this. Most builds I’m looking at in intothemists.com use zerker gear, but as I only have the exotic soldiers chest piece it looks like I can mix it up a bit like the build Quakeman linked to above and still be effective.

Do you buy those runes/orbs/accessories from the auction house or is there some vender that sells them? Also is there a vender that sells them for Karma or laurels? (I have about 50 gold and a fair bit or karma and laurels, but no special PVE/dungeon currencies)

Your best bet is to do one of two things. If you prefer more damage, you can buy all ruby orbs from the trading post (about 16s each, fairly cheap) for your armor and trinkets. However I decided to do something different. I started with ruby orbs , and I used the sigil that increases your movement speed by 25% (name is slipping my mind sorry), but I soon realized how important it is to have 3 utility skills to use (makes a HUGE difference if you ask me), so I later opted to buy 6 superior runes of speed (cost me about 10g at the time) to get that passive 25% movement speed boost. The only reason I went for these instead of traveler’s runes is that they’re incredibly cheaper, and only reduce your dps by a little bit. I later bought full taveler’s runes (which imo are more useful that divinty runes), but the runes of speed served me very well while I used them. To summarize this, if you want more dps go ruby orbs, if you really like getting around quickly (because lets be honest who has time for walking super slow between places ) either get runes of speed, or traveler’s runes if you can afford them.

Wish did a great guide on the optimal gear setup.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Building-a-better-D-D-thief/first

The actual build can be found here:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQRAoY8YlUmiO3ey5E/5Ey2jdqCJKuHGVS1UaFoJA-jEzAorBRTWCNRAiKAk8UWzeCiVtioxqrxUuDRW7iavJiWt5wCBUeBA-w

You can use ruby orbs instead of divinty, though I like traveler’s the best, but they’re super expensive. Also, the trinkes are ascended but you can start off with exotic. I got my full set of exotic trinks when I started for under 10g. Just do some dungeons/fractals if you need money fast. The main thing to note with this build is the use of soldier’s helm, chest, and pants. You sacrifice a small amount of offense, but gain more in defense.

a t s e.9614:

Im just curious are you the thief from Borilis pass or SBI that I killed yesterday ? Im also runing Axe\shield and GS and you cant be tanky while using this build or eviscerate will deal no damage. Im running full zerker and thieves hit me for 9-12k BS. But usually I pop endure pain+zerker stance and out burst them very quickly .

I think this build truly is an anti-thief build because of the burst it has but its terribad against everything else. You dont have enough CC to shut down a necro or an engi . Not enough sustain to kill a good meditation guard and so on.

My advice would be to save your basilik venom and not use it at the begining like most thieves. Because the warrior has the advantage over you , you already used your lyssa runes for nothing while the warrior did not .

The typcal thief mistake is basilik venom , CnD , BS and HS spam . This dosent works , all you have to do as a warr is endure pain + eviscerate and the thief will be almost dead. Your first strikes must be just to burn the warr’s cooldowns and never try to burst at the begining .

I have a warrior running this build and he has 2.9k toughness (w/ zerker armor and trinks). As a thief and as a warrior running this I have neither seen a backstab nor been backstabbed for 9-12k. I only hit 9ks and up on uplevels or EXTREMELY squishy ele’s or mesmers. Sorry, but I call. But yes the rest of your advice I agree with. Some warriors will pop endure pain if you startle them enough, so I sually wait for that then use basilisk venom. This build is also not “terribad” against everything else- it’s imo well rounded and only lacks against extremely good players. Always be extremely cautious around warriors: one mistake and you’re toast.

I find it especially hard to deal with axe/sh and gs warriors because of the immense pressure axe auto attacks put on you- they hit me for 1.5-3k most of the time and I have around 2.5k armor. I also find that whenever I CnD they simply block, or dash out of my range with GS. They don’t even have to dodge my attacks because they tank all of it no issues. Thankfully eviscerate is fairly easy to dodge, but you can only dodge so many times, and when it hits it’ll hit for usually 7k or so on me. I normally run D/D and like it the best, but I switch to D/P JUST for warrior builds like this. Most warriors won’t even realize the blind is on them and you can dish out your damage a lot better. Also always try to keep poison on them w/ your AAs, it’ll help stop HS.

Imo hammer is fine at the moment. As a thief main, I just got really used to the hammer animations and learned to dodge them. They’re really quite animated and easy to dodge. However, generally if you don’t dodge one you die quite quickly, but I use 2 stun breakers just for this scenario. Hammer hurts but it’s really slow; balanced to me. Your best defense against hammer is dodges to be quite honest.

Actually had me there for a second.

Travlane.5948:

Quakeman.9378:

I agree. I feel certain parts of thief are simply sub-par to that of other classes. However, prepare for the incoming flame.

what flame ? you mean from haters on my post?

Yeah. I would honestly be surprised if you could bring about he topic of thievies being in a bad spot w/o people from other parts of the forum saying it’s either A. a l2p issue, B. you’re bad, or C. thieves are op sthu.

I agree. I feel certain parts of thief are simply sub-par to that of other classes. However, prepare for the incoming flame.

Carpboy.7145:

Quakeman.9378:

Carpboy.7145:

Probably the max burst 25/30/0/0/15 D/D build. Full zerk and scholar, full signets for might. Cast CnD at the same you steal (from 1500 range) then backstab. If theyre still alive HS spam to death

Care for aegis with this build. If a guardian has aegis on and you do this you’re going to get destroyed because you’re beyond squishy. Still hilarious landing those 9k+ backstabs though. Very risky build, but it fits what you’re looking for.

Just use an auto attack….

And 9k backstabs? I consistently get 12k

The point is if you open on them w/ CnD + steal it won’t work. If you steal aa + Cnd, they’ll dodge your cnd if they have any sense at all. Also, I believe I said "9k," which means 9k and everything above.

Carpboy.7145:

Probably the max burst 25/30/0/0/15 D/D build. Full zerk and scholar, full signets for might. Cast CnD at the same you steal (from 1500 range) then backstab. If theyre still alive HS spam to death

Care for aegis with this build. If a guardian has aegis on and you do this you’re going to get destroyed because you’re beyond squishy. Still hilarious landing those 9k+ backstabs though. Very risky build, but it fits what you’re looking for.

Korossive.7085:

It wasn’t a thief.

I was quiet for the most part to let you blame someone else, but alas, my conscience is killing me!

I’m a Mesmer. It was noon, we were one floor above you in the carpeted hallway, and I was conversing with my phantasm regarding her behavior in a fight we had this morning against a fierce facerolling hammer warrior. I expressed my concerns, reviewed the tactics she used, and next-time expectations to my phantasm and so forth.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the lobby, one of the clones apparently jealous of the attention the phantasm was getting went renegade and decided to run away, planning a Tyria-roadtrip and stole your broom! Yes – It wasn’t me! I assure you – clone stole your broom!

Realizing what had happened, I looked out the window and saw the fleeting clone with the broom. I shattered, and the broom fell to the ground safe and in one piece.

If I were you I’d hurry. While the broom is whole and working, it fell just by a skritt hole. Luckily, your broom is not considered by any stretch “shiny” so might even still be there.

I still mourn the phantasm though, she was a good one :’-(

Every shatter we lose some of ourselves. So sad.

This just made my day.

Valentin.2073:

frans.8092:

Valentin.2073:

its not a mechanic. it is imbalance. do you think its cool fighting someone who disappears every couple of seconds? a ranger only has 3 sec of stealth and we use that more tactically than thieves.

They don’t get protection on every dodge roll, their opponents not seeing where they are is the only damage mitigation beyond dodging. They also have damage and healing tied to stealth.

i dont see thieves like these in pvp at all and i know how to play thief in pvp. stealth in wvw from thieves is completely out of control. you cant make a mistake if you wanna kill them. no single mistake.

Something new to learn then. Afaik one can not cap or hold points while in stealth, which is why you don’t see them there. In Wvw you can try to kill the competition and then cap a point.

im sure a lot of people who arent playing as a thief have the same complaints.

They have learned.

it’s a 2 sec of protection which is almost useless and you have to trait for that heavily. you dont compare how hard it is to play a ranger to how facerolling it is to play as a thief in wvw. you just dont.

when i see a thief alone, i make sure i kill him so he could not faceroll other roamers like me. i’ve seen a thief kill 3 people. do you think that’s fair?

Going in stealth is the ONLY means of defense thieves have. You cannot expect a class that revolves around stealth to not stealth. And as far as thieves being easy goes, they’re not. I have so many horrible thieves. Thieves can be annoying yes, but so can every other class in the game. To be perfectly honest I find condition/regen rangers and condition engineers to be more of a pain than thieves. Also, I have seen eles 1 v zerg, nerf eles now too I guess?

Carpboy.7145:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Building-a-better-D-D-thief/first

Math and everything. Enjoy

Beware the valk/zerker bads

Thanks!

And remember that thief is the most op thing ever and there’s no way to counter it.

I’ve seen many different statements on what the optimal gear for a D/D thief is, so I’m asking you guys what you believe is the best setup. Some say to use valk, others a mix of zerker and soliders, so I have no idea what to actually work towards.

Mightymealworm.8409:

Guardians are good at buffing warriors and carrying their banners for them.

This just made my day.

What builds are you guys using at the moment for running dungeons and fracs?

Axelwarrior.9084:

I’m assuming the Elementalist you met was using a scepter. The air attument’s autoattack is a continuous electrical discharge.

I had fun using D/D while levelling, but it’s really up to you. Just use the weapon you have most fun with.

I completely agree with you. The only reason I play ele over other classes is because I find it the most enjoyable. I personally find D/D the most fun, but plenty of people prefer scepter; all up to you.

wildfang.9670:

warrior has a higher rate of heal but has 1/3rd less armor then the guard.

I do hope you’re kidding.

Warlord.9074:

nothing you said made any sense and I read it. warriors are tanky because they are heavy armor warriors and they do good melee damage because they are the purest melee DPS class in the game. This is a profession that is meant to facetank and do high melee DPS because it is a warrior. Look up warrior in the dictionary and that is the definition of a warrior. There is nothing wrong with warriors they are exactly how they should be there is a bunch of problems with the other professions ranger is one of them. How about you guys accept the fact that warriors are warriors and ask ANET to fix your other classes. And stop making useless threads asking for anet to nerf warriors because your class is broken and is underpowered.

What he said makes perfect sense actually. However, what you said does not. You cannot apply the denotation of the word “warrior” to a video game- it simply does not work. If you were to for instance, apply the true meaning of a necromancer to this game, what would stop them from using all they kill as their minions? You would have necromancers walking around with their own armies. Now back to the topic on hand: the warrior. All the OP is saying is that warriors are good at too many things. For example, if a class is superb in one area like extreme tanking, said class should not be able to out damage another class which is horrid at tanking but has high damage; that would not be balanced. For the sake of the game, balance must take priority over our imaginations of what should be.

what mixture of soldiers and cleric would you recommend?

After seeing how outrageously expensive the recipes for celestial exotics are, I am going to go for ascended. Might as well when you’re paying 20+g for some of the recipes.

Cynz.9437:

Only time anet played a thief (at least from what i recall) was new fractal preview and all they did was spamming unload and being dead 90% of the time so go figure… don’t believe me? Check their stream.

As far as complains go, majority do pve, pve spoils players, they expect you to stand still and fight toe to toe which thieves can’t do due to survival mechanics… stealth requires you to use brain and predict what thief will do next… most people just wanna press 1 2 3 4 5 and win.

yes yes and yes!

Dee Jay.2460:

For sPvP don’t even bother with D/D.

It’s nice in PvE albeit S/P is more effective in most situations and it’s borderline terrible in sPvP because D/D burst builds are extremely susceptible to random AoE damage flying around.

You also can’t get reasonably high crit-damage in sPvP to make Backstab all that attractive.

Do yourself a favor and jump straight to D/P. It’s superior in almost every way.

I mostly agree, but I still prefer D/D in WvW. Although I do use D/P quite often too. The blinds from D/P are amazing.

An Siorai Tharian.4516:

I would actually suggest the following:

If you aren’t already level 80, go ahead and start working on making yourself the Charged Quartz Crystals necessary to make the Exotic Armor. By the time you are level 80, assuming you aren’t playing like 12 hours a day every day or something silly like I am, then you should easily have accumulated enough to make the Exotic Armor by that point.

If on the other hand you are already level 80, and have the appropriate crafting skill already to level 400 (which you will need for both Ascended & Exotic Celestials anyways). Then you might as well go ahead and start working towards your Ascended Gear as it will take time to get to level 500 in the Crafting Skill… not to mention the time needed to farm the materials to do so.

That said, Ascended is by default the better gear due to infusion slots and slightly higher base stats. It can also hold Runes in addition to it’s infusions. So there really is no reason not to try for the Ascended Gear if you have the time, and money to waste towards it.

Ascended it is then! Thanks for the advice!

I feel the same, and this is exactly why I now refuse to play warrior. I just don’t find it fun that I don’t have to try to face-stomp everyone else; I get nothing out of it. I also feel that this accurately sums up what’ wrong w/ the warrior: it does everything too well. They heal like they’re guardians, they deal damage like they’re thieves, and they have high mobility to to it off with.

An Siorai Tharian.4516:

Gokil.2543:

I’d definitely go for ascended. The recipes for exotic celestial are absurdly expensive, might as well go ascended

Actually, the Ascended Gear is much more absurdly expensive (in terms of time, and in some cases money) when it comes to what you invest into making them. It’s just that the Exotics require a material that is rather difficult/expensive to get unless you played a specific installment of the Living Story. That said, 5 to 30 gold is not all that expensive as far as the Recipe’s go. At least not when compared to something like a Legendary Weapon (which is essentially, stat wise, what Ascended Equipment is).

And yes… it is easier to make the Exotic gear, it just potentially takes more time. All you need is the Recipe, which costs between 5 and 30 gold on the Trading Post (only place it can be obtained ATM), and 5 Charged Quartz Crystals per piece of Armor.

The problem is that in order to make a single Charged Quartz Crystal you need 25 ordinary Quartz Crystals. And you need to take them to a Skill Challenge like the one at the top of the hill in Wayfarer Foothills where you fought the Giant Wyrm (Issormir?) in the Norn Tutorial Mission in order to convert them into Charged Quartz Crystals. The problem is that you can only do this once per 24 hours. And since you need at least 30 Charged Quartz Crystals for the Armor alone, that is approximately 750 Quartz Crystals, or around 7 gold and 50 silver, and at least a months time invested.

That being said, what do you suggest?

CMstorm.8679:

just go for the exotic set, or unless u feel like crafting the ascended celestial

Is it a lot easier to make the exotic?

CMstorm.8679:

celestial is really expensive generally

I’m aware, but it provides the stats I want.

I’m interested in a set of celestial armor, but I’m not sure if I should go for the ascended set, or the exotic set. Any thoughts? I don’t care about the looks, price is more of the issue.

ErazorZ.5209:

Quakeman.9378:

Going full support ele is borderline pointless, so I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that ele is a “support” class from. My burning speeds hit as hard as my thief’s backstabs do. Ele is definitely not solely support.

Simply said they didnt buff staff and the AoE im doing is just too low to be even considered good.

what other reason is there for a staff user except the forced into support?

OH my bad thought you were talking about ele in general. In WvW at least, I’ve only used staff in large groups with full zerker gear on simply for the massive aoe damage. Meteor storm hurts like hell when you have 100% crit dmg and around 3.2k attack. But- you die beyond fast. I do see your point though, staff is pretty weak. It is okay for supporting, but the good support skills are on uber long cds, so doesn’t work quite too well. Staff definitely has issues. However it is fun massacring large groups of people with meteor storm I have to say. I think staff was probably designed to be more of a support weapon, and I see how unsatisfied you are with being forced into that role, it’s pretty stupid in many ways.

Going full support ele is borderline pointless, so I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that ele is a “support” class from. My burning speeds hit as hard as my thief’s backstabs do. Ele is definitely not solely support.

a t s e.9614:

Anything that is not a condi bunker will get completly destroyed by this build .

Except those who can dodge. But yes, this build is definitely strong, although imho takes little skill to play and not very rewarding for me.

Eles definitely aren’t in a great spot at the moment, but myself and many others still find them very enjoyable. Just because something isn’t above the top strong doesn’t mean it’s not fun or good. Of course though- hates gonna hate.

Justin.5231:

Quakeman, what are your traits for the 20,20,30 setup? I know the typical setups for 10,30,30 but not that one.

Okay so for the 0-20-0-20-30 setup I use the following traits:
air- VI (or I but I find the 20% added dmg to those under 33% gives more dps, and you already get enough fury), X
Water- V,IX
Arcane- same as 10,30,30

This setup is okay and all but still not my favorite. I’m experimenting with 0,0,20,20,30 right now with water and arcane being the same as b4, but in earth I take VI and VIII. THe stability on earth attunement helps A LOT (especially against stun wars), and the additional 10% dmg is on all the time b/c as D/D eles our skills are close range.

DeShadowWolf.6854:

Quakeman.9378:

I do run 0-20-0-10-30 sometimes depending on who I’m running with.

You look to be missing about 10 trait points there.

Typed it in wrong ty. Meant 0-20-0-20-30

Duran.3196:

Quakeman.9378:

Although people say 0/10/0/30/30 isn’t viable, they’re completely wrong and imho it’s the best setup.

Against Condition Builds in fact it is not, and especially not against condition necros that are at least average, if you not just try to avoid encounters with them.

Till u stacked your might you already got every condition he has on you with several stacks, if you have to start removing conditions you know your fight is already lost.

Against a condition spec a survivability spec almost always loses, cause the longer the duration of the fight the stronger the condition spec gets.
If the fight lasts >5s the condition build usually wins

Not to mention condition builds are lazy builds often you can see this in the playstyle of necros, some dont even bother to dodge (okay against a full bunker elementalist i wouldnt bother dodging as well, cause his attacks dont even itch)

Best way to deal with condition builds and thieves (stealth thieves) is to kill them before they realize what just happened, or at least burst em zu 10 or 20% percent.

Yeah condition necros can be iffy, but more often than not I’ll end up killing them. I didn’t say this before but I do carry a nice 70% crit damage on my ele, so my attacks don’t “itch.” But yes, I don’t run 0-10-0-20-30 specifically for necros, it’s just imo better overall. I do run 0-20-0-10-30 sometimes depending on who I’m running with.

Depends completely on what build you’re running. Although people say 0/10/0/30/30 isn’t viable, they’re completely wrong and imho it’s the best setup. Depending on your gears you still get some insane damage, you’re not overly squishy, and have a nice source of condition removal. I have no trouble fighting necros, as you just burst them down. Dat might stacking. On a side note, from my experience at least you can pretty easily 2v1 with this build (depending of course), anything higher than that depends on how good you are. And if you do believe you’re gonna die, most of the time you can get away pretty kitten well. Ele takes A LOT of practice so you’re going to die at first, but once you get the hang of it: mm mm good.

I run full dire and imho it works much better than carrion. If you’re running p/d you’re a condition thief and thus need more toughness and vitality simply to outlast your opponent. In other words: condi builds can take a while to kill someone so you need to be able to stay alive for that amount of time. The power is also wasted stat, as it won’t make that huge of a difference in my dps since your precision should be low (another wasted stat on a p/d condi build) and you don’t have much to any crit damage. There’s just no real point to sacrifice your defense for some extra power- you don’t need it.

First off, you’re an amazing player! But I have a question if that’s okay.
Any specific reason that you run full centaur runes?

a t s e.9614:

oZii.2864:

Did he say S/D is the only Viable Thief spec? Do these people actually go read the forums of the classes they play or just go to other classes they don’t and comment?

Yes S/D is the only good spec, theres P/D condi but its way too complicated on a thief, roll warr or necro for this.

That’s a load of bull dude. D/P is also extremely viable, and d/d isn’t completely non-viable.

As someone who mains a warrior and also plays a thief I can easily say that the warrior class takes much less skill to play than the thief class. But the question is why is this. IMHO it’s because warriors get to spec tanky (like I do) but still get insane crits. Mesh this with the passive heal (which is amazing) you get an easy to play heavy damage dealing warrior. However, I like thief more but I realize I’m definitely not good with it, but I’m also getting a lot better over time. From my experiences with both classes warrior is simply too forgiving with the amount of damage and sustain it has. Not QQ’ing, just stating my opinion.

SoLeciTO.3490:

HAHAHAHAHA

QQ thread from the most OP class in every way to play this game has.

He was a GC Thief, use your OP skill to be invulnerable and spit him on the face . . . dead.

Serious this people with L2P issues raging in the forum is sooooooooooooo boring.

The amount of grammatical errors is too kitten high.
Oh and on a side note, you either need to learn to troll, or you need to learn to read because you’ve missed my whole point. Probably both though.

Incurafy.6329:

Quakeman.9378:

FOR THE LAST TIME PEOPLE, this was not intended to be a freaking QQ thread, and it’s starting to kitten me off that it’s impossible to post anything on these forums without getting flamed. I know very well that I’m far from pro, and I don’t need you nimrods to remind of that fact. To those of you who actually answered/added onto this discussion in a non-condescending kittenish way I thank and salute you.

As someone who has had a great time reading this thread and laughing at the false claims by those QQing, a salute to you for simply asking questions and not QQing.

In future, I suggest that you post this in the Thief forum itself. You will be surprised at the amount of supportive posts you will get explaining and giving you advice if you post to ask a question and not to QQ. Posting it in any other class forum is a mistake because most of the answers are “because Thief is OP”, as seen here.

Alright thanks, and advice taken

IMHO both classes are strong, but thieves have a higher skill cap. That being said, it really differs person to person.

FOR THE LAST TIME PEOPLE, this was not intended to be a freaking QQ thread, and it’s starting to kitten me off that it’s impossible to post anything on these forums without getting flamed. I know very well that I’m far from pro, and I don’t need you nimrods to remind of that fact. To those of you who actually answered/added onto this discussion in a non-condescending kittenish way I thank and salute you.

kiwituatara.6053:

Time to nerf backstab coz armor don’t work. Thieves are OP lmao

For the love of god stop insinuating that I think thieves are OP because I don’t. Now bugger off to another troll hole.

Oozo.7856:

Thieves also hit people who wear pink armor harder than other people. It’s like a +15% damage bonus if any piece of your armor is pink.

I’ll have you know that it’s the funniest looking die I have plus it’s different lmao

Excalibur.9748:

I don’t want to hear thief QQ from the most OP class in the game.

I do hope you’re aware that this was just a question and not a QQ thread.

Olba.5376:

Quakeman.9378:

Okay so, earlier today a thief hit me for a 6.49k CnD and an 11.2k Backstab. Now, if I had been playing any other character I would’ve ignored it but, I was on my tanky hammer warrior at the time. I have about 3.4k armor, and I’m kind of wondering how the hell he hit me that high. Exactly how much crit damage and power would he need to do this to me?

Well, first off, from the looks of it you have Thick Skin. That means your actual armor is 3,264.

Second off, a 25/30/x/x/x D/D zerk thief can definitely hit you for that much. That setup can give you

• +10% damage from Serpent’s Touch + Exposed Weakness
• +5% damage from Dagger Training
• +15% damage from Assassin’s Signet
• +20% damage from Executioner
• +10% damage from First Strikes
• 5/10/15% damage from Sigils (Force/Night/ForceNight)
• +10% damage from Rune of Scholar

For example. this could get 94% crit chance, over 3k power and the aforementioned total of +85% damage. Of course, you can increase the amount of damage significantly by stacking tons of Might, which isn’t that hard to do either. You could just pop 4 signets for 20 stacks.

Alright thanks. Try this I must