Guild Wars 2

Ok in pve you to main situations. A couple mob on you OR one hard hitting tanky veteran or something. The whole idea is to limit how much you get hit to none as much as possible. So to start off fresh, use dagger/pistol. When you are fighting mobs use black powder and mow em down with your auto attack. they will be blind and will miss every attack. remember to renew the black powder as needed. Also remember to only use initiative for black powder.
For the big bad veterans and champs use Pistol/dagger. keep adding up bleeds and use the pistol stealth opener everytime you get the chance. if he gets to close for comfort use the “3” ability to instantly shadow step away.
While stacking up your skill points aim to get caltrops. Once you have this switch your D/P to D/D. At this time for big mobs use caltrops and the number “3” ability for d/d to stack bleeds. This combo will serve you well until level 80.
You want to specialize in condition damage maximizing on your bleeds over all.

As for traits throw 10 into trickery for uncatchable. And eventually throw 15-20(your choice) into Acrobatics for the Minor trait: feline grace. once you have those two paired together. You will be dropping mobs like no bodies business. Also throw 10 into shadow arts for Shadow protector. Later on get the assassins signet for better mobility. Good luck.

These are my reasons I am in LOVE with thief.
1) It’s a challenge believe it or not.
2) I always liked being sneaky
3) High bursts
4) MOBILITY
5) Stealth and Teleports. I really liked super hero/villains as a kid and invis and teleports and flying where my most favorite powers. (imagine if thief could fly lmao)
6) I also like ninjas as a kid.
7) Everyone hates being killed by one

SharadSun.3089:

chokes on soda

g-good one…

The Quickness attrition mechanics were designed to take away the one MOST IMPORTANT survivability element of that class. Warriors rely on natural mitigation so their penalty was a damage intake increase, Rangers rely on healing so their penalty was a healing mitigation, we rely on dodging so our attrition mechanic is Endurance.

I honestly hope we’ve all figured this out by now.

I knew all this you are saying but I never made the connection lol. Thanks for enlightening me.

The most important tactic when wvw with a thief is to gank. Not many can live through 2 backstabs at once. So set your target and blast them!! If your victim seems to be tanky (like a guardian or warrior), stealth up one person use basilisk venom and you both backstab him then right after the other person use basilisk venom and get another 2 backstabs on him and heartseeker him down (assuming he is very low on hp). Also when fighting a guardian especially steal to him and get the daze. And soon as the basilisk wears off use one and 1 second later use the other from your partner. If he is not dead he is a kitten good guardian.
When in trouble!
Just Shadow refuge and get out till your utilities start coming back. If one of you manages to get downed Shadow refuge fairly close to your partner about 50-100 units away and have him/her teleport (down ability number 2) into the refuge. This maneuver is very effective because at most times the enemy thinks he/she stealthed in the same spot not realizing he/she is now in the refuge. Also the enemy will more than likely spam aoe’s on the downed person so you guys need to be clear of that. Hopefully they have little to no more aoe’s to spam on your refuge. This maneuver was invented by yours truly Invis Dreamz. Practice may be needed but its not hard. Also learn the maximum amount of distance the downed teleport can get you. The farther away from aoe the better.
Quick Tips
You can dodge out of Dagger Storm and keep the stability.
Go around the wvw maps and learn what you can and can’t teleport on to using infiltrators arrow.
You can cloak and dagger off of anything living in wvw…use it!
Turn auto-targeting off.
Turn auto-cast on for aoe attacks.
Re-map your skills for better accessibility if possible.
Turn all character tags on for everything.
If all else fails and you have no refuge to save your partner. Save yourself. Good luck.

SKILLS
For your heal go with Hide in Shadows. This provides and extra stealth just in case. It also works well with your Shadow Arts tree.
For the utilities go with Shadow Step, Shadow Refuge, and Signet of Shadows.

Shadow Step:A thiefs worst enemy is crowd control(CC). Shadow Step is a CC’s worst enemy. Use wiseley, only if you are taking big damage.

Shadow Refuge: This skill is mandatory for thief survival. it heals and stealths you and your stealth heals you as well. One thing though if you manage to come out of it before it vanishes you will be revealed. Players know this and will try to pull, knockback, or fear you out of it. Keep that in mind.

Signet of shadows: This skill shines at best with it’s passive effect 25% movement speed. great for wvw coverage and over all movement. Before the fight switch it out for Blinding powder if you are greatly out-maned.

Basilisk Venom: This elite grants you a free backstab, and in most fights that last about a minute you will get to use it twice. Switch this out to dagger storm for zerg fights and when you are out-maned.( Baslisk venom can be wasted if you hit an aegis, blocked by some other means, or try to hit while blinded so watch out for these).

BUFFS!!
The buffs should increase your survive ability.
Bowl of Truffle Ravioli: +100 toughness, +70 precision, +10% bonus experience
Hardened Sharpening Stone: Gain power equal to 5% of your toughness, Gain power equal to 3% of your vitality, +10% bonus experience.

I hope this was easy to read. I will start writing on tactics when grouping with another thief.

Armour & Trinkets
For your armor you want to go valkyrie instead of berserker. This is trading the Berserker’s precision for the Valkyrie’s vitality, and all other stats are the same. Doing so will increase your survive ability on a bigger range than the trinkets. As for upgrades go for divinity runes. As well as the Critical damage it provides, you also get an all around stat boost for the best survive ability.(These runes are expensive so an alternative until you get the are the Beryl orbs.)

For your trinkets go berserker since the vitality buff isn’t so macho with trinkets. This will boost your precision and since you have the Practiced Tolerance trait, it will further boost your vitality. As for the upgrades go with the ruby orbs.

WEAPON TYPE & UPGRADES:
For your weapons go Berserker for each one.(Practiced Tolerance) On the main hand dagger, upgrade it with the sigil of AIR, this will boost your backstabs to an insane amount of damage when it procs. Some use fire but Air does a little more damage, and it is a single target attack.(Thief attacks are mainly single target anyway)
For your off hand dagger, go sigil of force for even more damage.
And for your short-bow, go with blood lust. Me and the crew attack a mob of wolves and skelk in wvw with cluster bombs to stack the bloodlusts and then we move out.

Traits
-Critical Strikes: This is where your damage comes from, maxamizing the backstab and over all critical damage.
MINOR TRAITS
—Keen Observer: Critical-hit chance is increased by 5% while health is over 90%.
((This trait is most useful with the short bow. When you start a fight you may want to get him to about 50-60% health then go in for the real damage.))
—Opportunist: Critical hits have a 20% chance to restore one initiative (1-second cooldown.)
((This trait isn’t too reliable but can really help when it procs. More initiative more fun..for you that is. ALSO a thief has 12 initiative naturally.))
—First Strikes: 10% increased damage when initiative is over 6.
((This is a great tool on the first backstab assuming the fight just started.))

MAJOR TRAITS
—Practiced Tolerance: 5% of precision is converted into vitality.
((The Hiddden Killer trait below makes precision aka crit chance useless. Cirticals are nice but you mainly want to crit on your big attacks aka backstab. So we trade some in for more survive ability.))
—Critical Haste: 10% chance to get quickness (2s) on a critical hit (30-second cooldown.)
((This trait isn’t too reliable but can really help when it procs. If the victims health is high continue to auto attack and backstab when possible. If the victims health is fairly low AND it is safe to do so, go ahead and HS spam to secure the kill. The HS spam shouldn’t take more than 2-3 HSers.))
—Hidden Killer: 100% critical hit chance while in stealth.
((This trait is VERY important. To ensure that every backstab does the damage you want it to, Hidden Killer is the man for the job.))

Shadow Arts: This is where your survive ability comes in hand. Maximizing in your stealth since you will be using it a lot.

MINOR TRAITS
—Last Refuge: Use Blinding Powder when your health reaches 25% (90-second cooldown).
(( This will save your behind for those situation where you have no way out. If this procs LEAVE and imagine the cooldown for it so it can proc again just in case.))
—Meld with Shadows: Stealth skills last 1 second longer
((This is great for when you want to excape a death sentence. Also Stealth duration is capped at 13-14 seconds.))
—Hidden Assassin: Gain might for 15 seconds when you go into stealth.
((This trait is just an add on to your already oh so high damage out put. It stacks while you are in stealth by the way. Might stacks this way is capped at 10 stacks.))

MAJOR TRAITS
—Infusion of Shadow: Gain 2 initiative when using a skill that stealths you.
((This trait reduces the amount of initiative it takes to Cloak and Dagger to four alowing some space for other skills to be performed.))
—Cloaked in Shadow: Going stealth blinds nearby foes.
(This trait is mainly for stomping people without getting inturrupted. Quick tip, you have to be touching the person while in stealth to blind him/her.))
—Shadow’s Rejuvenation: Regenerate health while in stealth.
((This also is a life saver, pretty self explanatory. More health..why not!))

Acrobatics: This is where your mobility comes in and saves the day!

MINOR TRAIT
—Expeditious Dodger: Gain 2 seconds of swiftness on evade.
(( This trait helps you run to or from enemies, or just anywhere you want to go. It does not last too long but its there…use it.))

MAJOR TRAIT
—Fleet Shadow: Move 50% faster while in stealth.
((This trait helps you get behind the victim faster assuming they will be running from your expected backstab. ALSO it helps you run from a near death experience while in stealth.))
EDIT: This trait can also be swtiched out for
—Descent of Shadows: Release blinding powder when you take falling damage. Take 50% less damage from falling.
((An extra stealth just in case.))

Hello Mechant! First off congrats on finding a significant other that plays games that’s just epic. Further more for validation of my opinions I have 1.5k hours on my thief, 600 games in sPvP on my thief and I run a thief party in wvw every night with the guild mates.

With that out of the way I will start off by showing you my build and then I will explain why I picked each one.
Build

Weapons: (Dagger/Dagger and Short-bow)
The reason I choose dagger/dagger is because of the fast damage it caries and the burst it upholds. Also with Cloak and Dagger it has an “on demand” stealth for quick stealthing. Although dagger/dagger’s rival, the dagger/pistol has more utility I find that it costs too much initiative to Black Powerder + Heart Seeker for my own tastes. Also with the BP+HS combo, HSing multiple times to stack stealth is dangerous in a fight because after the first HS if you hit anything you are revealed. so you have to make sure you in the clear which can be difficult at times. (Props to D/P zerg fighters).

As for the short-bow, it adds an exceptional amount of mobility as well as a ranged alternative if needed. As well as its good damage on auto-attack, it also has aoe attacks that can serve handy in special situations.

Yea that build is just annoying they do almost nothing so don’t worry about it. They are just a “picture on the wall”.

The game slayer, I see your concern here. But in the thief classes defense we know that the longer we stealth the more time we give your own heals and utilities to recharge. So our bursts have to be fast and consistent.

Melpomene.2367:

And this is why you aren’t a developer

Mug was an OP easy to get trait before they nerfed it. Opening up with (and very often too) a 4k-6k hit that is a shadow step and instant is ridiculous. It’s fine how it is now.

I second this although I did love mug where it was I do acknowledge how unfair it may have been. With basilisk venom there was no way to counter the stun and there for a free back stab with literally no effort. I do know you can still do this but without the crit the victim can at least react.

Yea I don’t know why some thieves think spamming 2 will get the kill. FOR ALL THIEVES OUT THERE! Heart seeker is definitely a great tool for thieves so use it wisely. It says more damage when enemy is on low hp so use it for exactly that. When he is about 20% health I would spam it, it only takes about two HS anyway at that point. Spamming HS right off the bat is suicide ESPECIALLY against a good thief.

Reading the posts as follows it all comes down to how much knowledge the thief has. And imo thats the same for every class so to all the complainers, I humbly say just really l2p. Not only your own class but all others as well for the best results. Each profession can do amazing things just have to know how.
Side Note: Warriors have the most mobility if done right even a thief cant catch one.

Bacon Please I salute you sir. Salutes I main thief now and I must say I am glad that you finally rolled a thief and saw exactly how the play was for us. A player that knows his enemies best always wins. It all comes down to how much you know about yourself and the opponent. Whoever knows more will most likely win.

Me being a thief I had to roll each and every profession and every build to know what to dodge and when to burst. (except engi getting there) I encorage all players to play thief in spvp and see really how thieves play and the amount of knowledge it takes to even have a chance.

Eskimo.1654:

Currently i’ve got 30 in critical strikes and 30 in shadow arts.

But now I can’t decide whether to stick the last 10 points in trickery or acrobatics.

Which one would be more useful to me, and which trait should I pick for the 10 point trait? Any input would be appreciated.

I put it in Acrobatics and get +50% when in stealth to get behind the enemy faster. AND if I need to escape I move faster even in combat. Turn auto-targeting off and HS out of there if you have no teleports.

I know what you mean man I kinda hate those things to minus the dagger storm thing, As I dont really us projectile weapons anyway. HS theives are useless to me and easy to counter. And why in the world would anyone try to d/d condi build lol. I have to check out the engi forums i have never played and i don’t really know how to counter the nade build with my d/d thief. And that kitten ed crowbar cursed crowbar. :P

Subscribed will watch later on tonight.

Great post! All My encounters where I managed to kill a thief was based on getting a good cc on him and then continued with burst. BUT they do have Shadow steps so use a less valuable cc on him and a light burst to get him to use his stun breakers. He will then heal and be stealth, at this point he will get a backstab off be ready for it. When he does this use your best cc and QUICKLY burst the kitten out of him. And if you have any other cc, use it if he is not dead. With no heal and no shadow step he will most likely die. ALSO most thieves save Shadow Refuge for this exact moment so save your pulls or knockbacks or Fears for this time. GOOD LUCK.

EDIT: If you have no CC to get him out of the SR aoe spam and poison if you have it to negate the heal. At this time his heal should be close to being ready to use again.
(This is in regard to most d/d, d/p, and p/d builds.) Sword main hand has alot more evasive skills so ill work on a post for them later on today.

Grackleflint.4956:

Maybe have a “clash” mechanic where players have to stop what they’re doing and rapidly tap A and D. Whoever taps faster wins and rips the other player’s mask off.

LMAO Dragon kitten days

I said B.@.L.L-Z dayz but replaced with kitten :/

SoLeciTO.3490:

Please people . . . I know iam not the only one that wants to say this.

LEARN TO PLAY AND STOP CRYING.

I have fought with every single build and profession in this game and this is my conclusion.

Like Dungeons . . . don’t go thief . . . go warrior or Mesmer.
Like SPVP . . . don’t go thief . . . go Ranger, Mesmer, Ele, Guardian
Like PVE . . . Don’t go thief . . . Go Ranger, Mesmer, Ele, Guardian, Warrior, Engi . . .
Like WvW zerk . . . . Don’t go thief . . . . go any else but thief . . . sucks.

Like roaming . . . . go Thief, Mesmer, Ranger, Ele

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

If you get killed by a roamer thief in wvw because you was just roaming with your necro . . .

DONT COME HERE TO CRY

Every profession has a great build for roaming but maybe is not good as a thief . . . the same is comparing a thief with a warrior in a dungeon.

so just learn to play and stop crying because is just patetic.

Lol you done started it! Anyway the Thief profession is more versatile than you think. The only reason some people say other professions are better than thief at “this” or ‘that" is because it is simply easier. NOT impossible. You say not to cry when you cry yourself. I mean what was the purpose of this post. You think everyone is just going to stop and re-roll. And how dare you come and insult our thief players in that manner? I for one LOVE the thief for whatever I want to get done. So much that I made two. I don’t know what happened to you, but don’t base everyone else off your playing experience with the thief.

Metamega.9025:

I know what you mean. I play a thief and if my team mates throw those girls out ill spam my bows blast finisher all day( its so boring though) but man watching everyone around get a perk from it is awesome. The good players know whrn to stack on me. Like if yiu see a thief spamming cluster bombs in a rangers healing spring, get in it, it heals so fast.

You and I both mate; glad to see other people know the potential of the thief.

DeWolfe.2174:

After looking at the Maps for the first time today I’m now thinking, why? Why are JQ and BG attacking each other?

Maybe it’s just me but, this week should be a full on 2 v 1 against SoR. They have been literally, asking for it! Let’s bring it!!!!!!

I play on the SoR server and I agree also! I remember SoR, and SoS doing this to BG way back when. So bring it on! I did notice tonight that JQ and BG attacked Stonemist at the same time. So the plan is already in action. I’m looking forward to more great fights!

fakeblood.2576:

How about remove the downed state when your underwater you just die this would be in PVP only including WVW.. You would still have it in PVE such ad honor of the waves.. Yea I like this idea way better

I don’t know man I think this would destroy underwater combat, and we don’t like it already.

It’s simple it would be nice to be able to buy the superior siege in addition to crafting them. Of course the price should be significantly higher, even so to where it is cheaper to craft as it is in most cases with other items. This would be helpful to players that don’t hoard mats and or just need to get some siege QUICK FAST AND IN A HURRY!

Quick story: Once I didn’t even know about superior items. Then when I found out about their existence I still didn’t know how to obtain one. This change would help new players especially, to the full experience of WvW.

*PLUS*+ You get another gold sink.

PROS: Everyone plays different, therefore we need more options.
Elevate fights to the next level.
Life is that much easier.

CONS: Decrease in the sales of mats. (sorry all you farmers out there)

NOTE: Although I do see a drop in the price for mats. It shouldn’t be that big of a change since superior siege is still not as common as it should be. Especially in T1 servers. EVERYTHING should be superior there imo.

What does the community think? (comment don’t be scared, I may have missed something)

Lol some of you guys sound so evil :P

Stunbreakers, Shroud, invun, mistform, blinks, blind, retaliation. all of these are good counters especially retaliation. Hope you are successful next time

When I ran my Pistol whip build. I had the trait that immobilized you at 50% health, also I used basilisk venom to start then AS SOON as you break out of the petrify I’d pop the venom that immobilizes you my next two hits. All this in conjunction with haste.

Most of these builds have 30/30/10/0/0 or something close to that so if you break out somehow IMMEDIATELY cc the thief and burst him down. He can now either die or if he blinked in he could shadow return out. GL

I really like the ripping of the mask for a stomp underwater.

My idea for the animation is when activated the stomper grabs the victim and attempts to rip the mask off, and if successful the person that was stomped just sinks and eventually fades away.

Interrupts should be available like the kick knock-back or even making the stomper sink for half a second.

Now a regular stomp on land has a bit of time before the stomp is complete. So to make the animation long enough you could add a bit of struggle to get the mask off. Or even the stomper grabs from behind, turns you around, and then attempts the ripping of the mask.

I don’t know if too much animation would be a problem, but it would be cool looking.

What does the forum think about the possible upcoming under-water stomps
(In regards to the latest SOTG (5/31/2013))

1. Team Death Match
2. Team Death Match
3. Hctam Htaed Maet!!

So people say that not being able to see an assassin/thief is not right….. kitten outta here.
I’m pro stealth. yes I play thief but I also play all other professions so i’m not biased at all.

Big Tower.5423:

I have seen a lot which think warrior has higher dps than thief, that is WRONG, meanwhile warrior can hit more at the time, means they clear out group fastest.

Lies and propaganda!

Wolfield.9812:

Dont spam the skill.

Glad i could help you, please enjoy the rest of your day.

You just made my day!! lmao

Tonikor.5637:

Reads “clicker” -> Doesn’t watch

Well that’s prejudice. Btw i dont click any more, my new mouse came in.

Deathspike.1870:

style.6173:

No idea what you are talking about. You think they can’t see the spinning thief already?

You overestimate the ability of mindless people to notice a spinning animation, flying daggers, damage and the buff. Flames are terribly obvious though, even for the most mind-numbing silly people. Personally, I’d rather not give such as a huge obvious clue to ridiculous and unskilled people zerging around and let thieves at least punish those.

If they are that bad…. Your gunna kill them anyway.

AlBundy.7851:

first fight longbow/sw/sh warrior

Bangs head on wall repeatedly

lol yea idk what he was thinking.

Lol Yea Im still getting used to them. I just recently switched them up

CRL&S
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Hit me up with a comment and a like if you could
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Travlane.5948:

i have to disagree…. thieves and eles are hte 2 hardest classes to master. yes its easy to pick up any class and play…including thief….but why do some thieves die easily and others it seems like they have cheat mode on? well thats the difference between mastered and easy to play :P….anyone can go invis and seem like they are good. but u never know how bad they move with invis unless u see their video……95% of the thieves you see actually are not good….its just invis is a hard skill to duel against…

Bravo! You took the words right out of my mouth. I encourage everyone to try and play the elementalist and thief and see how “easy” it is. In my opinion, ele and thief are the two most squishy professions in the game. Its all based on knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and all around knowledge of every other profession that makes a good player. If it was as easy as people make it seem to be, why isn’t everyone playing it? I play them both to challenge myself.

Stealth.9324:

Hm… Why they think Eles is Immortal bf and now Ranger got the same title too? I, bunker Eles, can kill a Bunker Ranger. Sure the fight is long, 10 mins but they are not Immortal, same with Eles. By the way, I play Eles, Not Ranger.

AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FO DAT!!!! (I had to lol)

Almost every mmo I have ever played had a map where all the races/servers could meet up. Why GW2 doesn’t have one? I don’t know. But it’s kinda standard for mmo’s to have one. Mmo without a commons is like a pie with no sugar, It still is what it is just not quite right.

I’m with you on this one!

EDIT: I wrote this knowing that Lions Arch is more or less a commons, but not big enough imo. I don’t know all the details like how many people can fit in a map at once and stuff like that but if wvw can fit about 2-300 people. Then I say HoM should be redone.

The gear named PvP nightmare (breastplate etc.) I cant find out how to craft this set. Its the TA medium gear. Devs?

Rastaman.9015:

IGN: Invis Dreamz
Day Available: Everyday Except Wednesdays (6:00 pm-12:00 am EDT)/ and Saturdays
Record Capability:Fraps
NA or EU:NA

EDIT:

• I’m going for Thursday by the way.

Zacchary.6183:

Thieves are for those who can handle the challenge.

Exactly

IGN: Invis Dreamz
Day Available: Everyday Except Wednesdays (6:00 pm-12:00 am EDT)/ and Saturdays
Record Capability:Fraps
NA or EU:NA

Search StealthTV on youtube Also Bemeric1

Dasorine.1964:

Situations where thief is at all strong: Noob stomping WvW roams and Hotjoin PvP

Situations where you don’t see thieves much if at all: High level sPvP play, dedicated zergs in WvW accomplishing what WvW was designed for.

Well thief actually has a HUGE role in wvw many just haven’t figured it out yet.

Zikory.6871:

People want every build and every class to be balanced and that is only going to build a stagnant PvP system.

Exactly what I try to explain to people, thanks.

Incurafy.6329:

It has been like that since beta, it’s not a bug and it’s working as intended.

That being said, I do think that Aegis, invulns, blinds, blocks, and dodges should all cause revealed so that an enemy is rewarded for successfully countering a stealth attack.

Lol I play thief as well and as much as I would love for this to stay. I would be mad if I just wasted an aegis on a thief and he didn’t reveal. Also I plan on using the aegis from Runes of Lyssa to counter a thieves steal with baslisk, and I would want the thief to be revealed.

So I just finished my mes and have started a sylvari thief. And I really want the TA medium armor skin.

I run all my dungeons with my guardian (for obvious reasons). But I’ve been running magic find this whole time. Now that I know more about how traits work and synergy type stuff. What would you guys recommend I trait, weapon, armors, runes, sigils, foods, and all that good stuff.

Try and keep it rare I still gotta buy stuff for my thief.