Guild Wars 2

Priory, Magmaton & the Kodan HotM hammers get my votes.

Plenty. Shout heals builds are popular; combine w/ axe + shield/mace/warhorn and greatsword or hammer for good effect.

I run this variant: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAnZSjgOVvJPOPMxBE0jqgLEQThiI9oMQj0A;TsAA1CtoyyklILbWuskZtgYAxUEA — typically swapping Tactics VI for Tactics I (1s root on cripple) and combining it with Axe #3 and Hammer #3. Full Knight’s gear with some Valkyrie pieces thrown in.

I really wish the Hammer knockback (#4) could be used while moving. The self-root can be pretty painful given most players clear out/dodge it due to the wind up time.

Knight’s gear w/ a shout build + Axe/Mace for the double vuln stacking is very durable.

Axe, Mace & Hammer burst skills are all pretty good. Hammer especially so.

Armor change time. Sapphire & Mithril dyes on Timberline Falls karma gear (and a variant in Iron & Frost dyes).

Greatly appreciated.

I’ve been on the hunt for good vit vs. toughness math crafting. I’m running a heavy vit/toughness build and therefore it’s good to know when I’m sitting at a 1:10 ratio and can invest ‘extra’ points into crit.

Hammer + Axe/Mace is very strong. Between Mace #5, Hammer #5 and Hammer #4, you have the ability to lock down someone hard. I run it as a Shout heals build w/ 2k toughness and just outlast people.

There’s enough burst on-hand (3k attack before any buffs) to rush down any glass cannon quickly enough.

If a clip is shorter than 10 seconds, it shouldn’t be in the video. Too many fast cuts of 100B + frenzy where the opponent never fights back.

Not a fan of Naga’s, too much thumb control doesn’t seem like it’d be great for simultaneously/quickly hitting binds.

- 1 – 4 + Q = weapon skills
- E, R, T, shift + T = utilities
- shift + Q = elite
- shift+R = burst skill

- SMB1 = dodge
- SMB2 = auto-run
- shift + SMB1 = flip camera
- shift + SMB2 = turn 180°
- MMB = voice comms

I keep it pretty simple. Using WASD for movement and unbound turn keys.

AlfredKlios.9657:

60% chance to remove on crit, learn your sigils before being a kitten troll.

So, with 50% chance to crit—maybe 70% on a good day with Frenzy—you’re going to have a 25-35% chance to remove just the one boon. Even if the enemy has only three boons you’re still having to sacrifice a goat to the RNG gods.

No, not even guards come close to 5 boons 100% uptime. Only Wars that pop signet of rage have 3, mesmers only have Might up mostly, Thieves pretty much never have boons except for vigor, but they lack stability. Only warhorn rangers have other boons up for a short time. Eles? No. Necromancers have boons but no stability, just watch for plague form.

They don’t need 100% boon uptime. When they are in a fight, they are likely to have more than 3-5 boons on them. It’s that fight that matters: because it’ll significantly reduce the chance of removing Stability when you need to.

Warriors are guards are the only ones who are boon based, and guards are easy to deal with and warriors too easy to dodge, ill run circles around you and just wait for it to fall off.

Who says they won’t do the same to you? At least give credit to your opponents.

In reality though, the male armor models are typically much better. Many of the female models are pretty “skimpy”, which looks a bit odd in heavy armor.

Took me a long while to find 2-3 sets that I can switch between that don’t resemble a bikini!

People need to stop walking in Taugrim’s shoes. He’s not the best at everything, he pools together some vids of his best performance which is usually ganking 2 on 1 on a guy or killing people at low health.

Running a Hammer + Axe/Mace build isn’t “walking in Taugrim’s shoes” (in fact I didn’t realise he was running such a build). It’s an effective tPvP build that brings a lot of control with it.

Avoid jumping to conclusions. There’s only so many “good” builds and it’s therefore likely that any half-decent player will end up making something 90% similar to what’s been popularised by an e-celebrity.

Kick is “good” but not great. There’s too many other great utilities that are more useful more often.

I run a Hammer + Axe/Mace build for the stuns & control. Fear Me, FGJ & Shake It Off for utilities in a 10/0/30/30/0 build with shout heals.

Definitely LoS mobs behind rocks/houses/stables. You should be able to rush the melee guys down before the ranged guys make it over to you.

I spend far too much time hunting down rare armors and transmuting them onto lowbie gear.

If I can minimise their initial burst, then I’m good. I only have problems with full power/crit glass cannon Thieves.

For context, I play a Hammer/Axe+Mace spec in sPvP so I’m usually in a good position to keep them locked down. I run with about 1800 toughness.

Doesn’t Team PZ run a Warrior?

Level 28. New armor; new sword. Iron & Lemon Tint dyes.

Zsymon.8457:

Popular doesn’t mean effective, warrior popularity in pvp is very rapidly dying as well. I also don’t understand why you mention mesmer, but not thieves, by far the most powerful and easy to use one vs one profession when moa morph is on cooldown. Their signet update really didn’t make them any weaker.

I have a Thief. It was my main. Mesmers are counter them pretty hard, and a good Warrior can beat one provided you don’t stand still when they stealth.

Your posts seem to be based completely on hearsay.

The Hammer is also a fair bit slower to attack with.

Well, a lot of very experienced tournament/structured pvp players completely disagree with your opinion on this, so I wouldn’t be too quick on calling mine awful. I don’t have much experience with tpvp and spvp, that’s why I based my opinion on those players who do have a lot of experience with that content.

Who are these players?

Last I checked, Warriors are still quite popular in top tPvP teams.

1v1 they’re probably one of the stronger classes due to the ability to self-sustain and the significant control they can bring. I’d say that only Mesmers are “better” in 1v1 right now.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Oh wow. GO me!

Did you notice a dip in FPS?

Not the other poster, but there is a slight drop in FPS, as to be expected by rendering more of the environment. However, it seems to be very minimal on my machine (i7/12GB/6970M 27") given that the FOV increase is also relatively conservative (a good thing!).

Anecdotally I’d say a 2-3% frame rate drop at most, even in busy environments.

Dee Jay.2460:

When you look at the opportunity costs of using a Venom build (which requires at least 2+ Venoms) then you always come up short.

Nailed it.

I played a P/D condition venom share Thief a lot in beta. I loved the group support—it was obvious when venom share was in effect—but you were fighting uphill against a lot of players.

You need at least two (2) venoms, and you’re giving up utilities that can offer condition removal, mobility, stun break or dark/smoke fields in exchange. In tPvP, you really can’t afford to be without a stun break or a condition removal.

I’ll be honest and say that I don’t know a simple way to fix this. Maybe rolling two venoms into a single utility and balancing it by making a 2nd or 3rd tier trait add more value (damage/duration/whatever), so that non-venom builds don’t gain too much by just picking up the single venom?

Instagib is bad.

But it’s also worth keeping in mind that thief/assassin archetypes are often decried as overpowered in MMO’s, because of stealth and their burst. There are definitely a number of players out there who would rather complain on the forums over learning how to fight/build against them.

My lowbie (level 11) alt w/ Ebonhawke weapon skins.

D/P Blind Build http://cl.ly/3W3s3o1v213Z

Updated it from my original post. Still running 0/30/0/20/20. Focuses on Black Powder chaining.

Utilities:

• Signet of Shadows (run speed; ranged blind good for burst or stomp denial on allies)
• Roll for Initiative (condition removal; stun breaker)
• Shadow Refuge (smoke field; regen; AoE stealth very useful in groups to provide support)

Elite is Thieves Guild most of the time (sPvP), or Dagger Storm in WvW.

Penetrating Aureate (esp. the pistol) and the Ebon Vanguard (both; from Ebonhawke for 9k Karma per skin) get my votes. The Ebonhawke daggers & swords have a very contemporary design.

Tulisin.6945:

elithrar.7143:

the key is to not focus all your time on the BP>HS>BS but do what pistol offhand does best, screw with everyone.

Black Powder spam is very effective. You can solo Supply Camps with it,

I’d like to point out that having good offensive stats and using daggerstorm will also pretty much accomplish this, killing everything but the veteran.

Yeah, I often swap between TG & DS as my elite – as you say, DS is the best for camps/etc.

the key is to not focus all your time on the BP>HS>BS but do what pistol offhand does best, screw with everyone.

Black Powder spam is very effective. You can solo Supply Camps with it, and with good positioning, deny players damage when fighting on top of keep/tower walls due to their narrow width.

In a sPvP context, it’s also useful for denying stomps against allies, and/or denying enemies damage when they’re on a cap point (and forcing them off). You can also reduce the risk when soloing Svanir/Chieftain.

PS: Note that the BP Blind is both targeted (ranged) and PBAoE. The projectile will apply blind to the target; and the field will spawn at your feet. Can deny an approaching enemy some burst if you’re engaged in melee with another.

Not sure why I can’t edit the post – try here: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlUmaO3dy9E95Ex2jeuTe6pgsjtTBXtKA;TsAA2CnoqxUjoGbNuak1swYgxECA

Shadow Step is nice for the cond remove & stun break, as you’re also missing the latter.

Looks good. Similar to what I run with.

Thoughts:

- Haste never seems immediately useful in a build like this. I don’t think BP + HS stealth combos have much synergy with it.
- Traits look good. Not the same as mine but that’s fine, you have gone for a more stealth-focused build.
- Lacks condition removal outside of HiS.

Moss Green/Mushroom/Ancient Bronze.

Exactly, it’s pretty clear that Arenanet carefully balanced Shadow Refuge to be exactly what it is.
If you want a vanish, blinding powder is the utility skill designed for that purpose.

Spot on. Shadow Refuge gives you a limited range in exchange for the heal, dark field and ranged placement.

Blinding Power gives you PBAoE stealth & blind that gives you an escape route.

Different applications.

I still see plenty of other thieves tearing it up with Pistol Whip + Haste. Can we stop with the crying now?

It’s still very strong.

FWIW, Thieves will always be a target of complaints due to things inherent to their archetype: stealth, movement, burst. It seems that some players just don’t want to learn how to counter us.

Ruufio.1496:

I’d like to see Roll for Initiative actually be… a ROLL where it’s a random chance for initiative restored. Minimum being 1 and maximum being all. Like dice. In exchange, make Roll for Initiative also restore 50% Endurance. Fair.

Never. Random returns are always horrible. GW2 isn’t D&D, and there’s no need to “roll” a d20 for initiative at the start of combat. The roll, in this case, is the physical roll backwards.

A slight color change (Royal Blue/Mithril). Still reppin’ the monocle and the Leather Armor skin (everything else is too revealing on a female character).

You bring a different flavor of ranged DPS as a Thief. 1200 range is not the be-all, end-all of ranged play.

@yertle — agree that we can solo, but “quickly” was my operating word. One enemy player can force you to reset the fight, so often much better with two if you have the option.

> and as has been mentioned, everyone can cap supply depots, thief is no better at it than anyone else.

What makes a Thief “better” is their speed. You can cross the map faster, and with only one other person, cap a supply camp quickly.

I think the problem is that some just don’t like the playstyle of the Thief in WvW. We have a (useful) niche. Same goes for sPvP (roamer); not everyone likes it. Which is fine, as there are 7 other classes to play.

I disagree.

Keeps and towers need supply to operate—and you need supply to siege them. Camps may not be huge on a raw points level, but having no camps will hurt you severely.

Thieves are great on keep walls, FWIW; Cluster Bomb is very strong. You also have AoE stealth tools that you can use to save/revive allies. You’re also strong in small groups against enemy siege groups since you bring group buffs & burst

I see Thieves as great scouts & skirmishers; we can cover ground fast and cap supply camps quickly.

There are other classes who complain about the opposite.

> The Thief/Rogue/Assassin/Ranger archetype is extremely popular in general, in the MMO genre, and beyond.

Spot on.

I actually recall a number of informal polls (with a few thousand responses) pre-release that had the Ranger trailing behind the Thief, Elementalist and Warrior. Come launch and the Ranger is one of the most popular classes (source: ArenaNet blog).

I play a Thief because I’ve played casters for years in MMO’s, and wanted a change (to melee) but still with a “squishy” aspect. FWIW, I’m decked out in a royal blue & black outfit with no hood; the black/red/gold hooded archetype is not my thing.

Ebonhawke Karma vendors. 9k for the low-level items, which have the same skins as the high level ones. Gold/black detailing and the melee weapons favor a slender design.

PS: I almost didn’t want to give this away.

Only some older ones from BWE3, but they will give you the playstyle:

http://youtu.be/LnioaHVRjh4
http://youtu.be/39cVK9552Io

His builds are a bit different to mine—I have 30 in Crit Strikes as Executioner is too good to pass up.

Have you tried a D/P backstab build? Less “bursty” than a D/D CnD build, but picking up some better avoidance (Black Powder) and an interrupt instead? You can get some long lasting Black Powder chains going with the right approach—it’s a very strong anti-melee build.

I run it with SoShadows for the speed/extra blind, Blinding Power/Shadow Refuge (depending), and SoAgility for the condition removal.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAoaVlUmaOHfS4E95Ex2jeKUe6pgsjtTBXtKA;TsAA2CnoqxUjoGbNuak1swYgxECA is a close approximation of what I run most of the time. D/P builds are actually fairly popular in tPvP too, so not sure how you missed it.

> As I said before mate, PvP is not even close of what WvW is like, the 2 can’t be compared …

As another player has pointed out, you actually do more damage in WvW when geared, as there’s no “parity” like in sPvP.

FWIW, I run a D/P build with (mostly) the same traits and similar utilities for WvW, and it’s definitely effective. S/P is also pretty strong in WvW, although there is a higher risk as you have fewer avoidance tools.

Get rid of your condition damage, and stick with S/P? S/P also has more AoE damage than D/D—Slash and Pistol Whip can hit 3 targets in what is a fairly decent range.

Rukia.4802:

Thieves can usually only score kills by being glass cannons, we have to sacrifice too much damage for defense, save for a venom build that can score around 2400 defense and over 19k HP while dishing insane condition damage, which is personally what I run. I can post that if you like.

Plenty of viable and popular tPvP builds can manage 19k+ HP & ~2100+ armor with strong damage. D/P and S/P builds with Runes of Divinity & Knight’s Amulet; e.g. http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYAQNAoaVlUmaOHfS4E95Ex2jeKUe6pgsjtTBXtKA;TsAA2CnoqxUjoGbNuak1swYgxECA

No need to spec pure glass cannon. Go watch a few tPVP streams if you’re not convinced.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Post-Your-Build-Thread

There’s a few there (see my post).

> well I don’t see the need for stealth stomps , if some one down give them the chance to get back up. Stealth stomps contradicts to whole point of the down state.

The Thief is also using one of their survivability tools to do this—it’s not a “free lunch”. It’s no different from any other class using a blind to stomp someone; it’s the same net effect.

I am under the impression it cannot be hidden across any class on the character select screen. My Elementalist, Thief and Engineer were all affected, and I recall my Guardian in BWE3 suffering as well.

It’s a known bug but I would say it’s pretty low priority right now.