GW2 Thief Discussion

[Durzlla]

if you dont like hide in shadows try withdraw, heals for less but more often

also gives you an evade

[Sy]

I know, but it seems low for ranged standards.

i agree actually. shortbow was fine if the aoes and combos are used proberly.

i usually used pistol+dagger just for situations in which melee seemed to dangerous, doing damage and crippling with DD, 3-slot to keep range or dodge (it works great to just let big enemies like ettins run up close to you, then shadowstep back and see their slow melee spells hit the dirt) and in between that some 'auto'-hits when i had no initiative to spend. 2-slot when i was in bigger groups, for the vulnerability (it's damage seemed actually lower than 1-slot, so not really worth using in single or short fights).

pistol+pistol certainly would do more single target dps, but it sacrifices too much utility imho, especially with DD doing way more damage than any single pistol shot anyway, in addition to it's other benefits.

I tried making a Charr thief in the last BWE, but I felt incredibly squishy and the heal felt like it took forever to recharge. What I want to know is, does it get better? I played a warrior up to level 18 and had a blast, I felt reasonably powerful and sturdy. I don't expect the thief to be able to eat as much damage as the warrior, but was the thief reasonable enough while solo?

yes.

thief felt a bit underpowered (in pve) in general, but not by a large margin. it gets a lot better once you have all your weapon sets and their dual skills, as well as 2 or 3 utility spells that you like on your bar. and keep in mind, every class is supposed to take up quite some defensive stats on gear as well. it really helped a lot when i got some nice vitality stuff at like level 12-18, as it increases your health pool significantly in relation to the small basic pool of thieves.

still, thieves will always be meant to be more of a damage avoiding class, rather than a damage absorbing one (like warriors and necromancers). for that purpose, you get a lot of mobility and various different evade and escape mechanis, as well as other things that help with hit-and-run-tactics (or rather burst-a-bit-and-then-try-not-to-get-your-face-flattened-for-the-next-few-seconds-tactics)^^

also gives you an evade

i really like the stealth'n'heal mechanic actually, because you can stay in stealth for ~2 seconds and regenerate initiative and cooldowns (as well as various other benefits with the right trait build on higher levels), without resetting an npc, as well as having additional burst and maybe even cc for free with your stealth skills

[Migey]

How much Initiative does the Signet Use trait in Critical Strikes give you?

---------- Post added 2012-05-04 at 09:10 PM ----------

Does nobody know? I couldn't seem to find the exact number anywhere else - of the two places I found a specific number, one said 3 and the other 2.

[Glytch]

if you guys could help find *GOOD* discussion located in the thread and PM the url of the post that begins the discussion that'd be awesome, i want to make the first post to be a way for any1 wanting to know about the thief to be able to click links to find things we've discussed that would prove useful

[Bluedragonwolf]

How much Initiative does the Signet Use trait in Critical Strikes give you?

---------- Post added 2012-05-04 at 09:10 PM ----------

Does nobody know? I couldn't seem to find the exact number anywhere else - of the two places I found a specific number, one said 3 and the other 2.

It would most likely be 3. Seeing as how a thief's standard initiative is 12, it would make sense for the signet use to refund 3 for 1/4 the initiative bar. 2 is just too small and 4 too large IMO. From what I saw of the initiative regen/gain traits. It often seemed to be 2-3 overall. But I could be wrong as I only went through the crit traits once and since I settled on a non signet build, I never used that trait.

[pleaserelax]

I know, but it seems low for ranged standards.

What videos have you been watching? After having played pistol/pistol with a venom build I'd have to disagree with your assessment completely.

[Migey]

What does a venom build consist of exactly - only one of the venoms actually does damage, do you bother to use any others? Which traits, etc.

I've heared people refer to a 'venom' build so often but rarely seen a trait set for it that looks effective - i prefer one that focuses more on stealth and initiative, with Signets and amazing burst.

Mine is : http://www.gw2tools.com/skills#t;aNf...bUa;bbZa;YVfhb

[Bluedragonwolf]

A venom build is one that focuses on 2ish venoms (basilisk venom elite being really powerful if you've taken the right traits)... Venom Aura being a particularly awesome trait.

Possibly something akin to this: http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/...0k00888b8e9bjb

[Glytch]

What does a venom build consist of exactly - only one of the venoms actually does damage, do you bother to use any others? Which traits, etc.

I've heared people refer to a 'venom' build so often but rarely seen a trait set for it that looks effective - i prefer one that focuses more on stealth and initiative, with Signets and amazing burst.

Mine is : http://www.gw2tools.com/skills#t;aNf...bUa;bbZa;YVfhb

if all you care abut is "power" then you're missing out on skale venom, vulnerability? yea, thats extra damage

the power of venom focused build is they have 1) high power due to DA, and 2) you debilitate the enemy using 2-4 venoms, esp with ice skale or basilisk, DA keeps them up longer (save for basilisk) and majors like venomous stength and improvised poisons give you more

trust me, there are builds out there thats are extremely effective, either pvp, or pve

im just not goign to tell you what i used

[Migey]

Okay then.

So you type in broken grammar and mispell half your words and make misinformed statements and refuse to tell me what you use?

Right. I feel compelled to you seriously.

Although I suppose it would be unfair to not give you the benefit of the doubt and point out that if i need Vunerability then Cloak and Dagger applies that, and while it may not do so quite as efficiently or effectively, it does so well enough that one cannot really justify using a utility skill slot for Skale Venom with a double dagger build.

This build does have decent condition damage with all the points sunk into Trickery and Leaping Death Blossom, and Roll for Intiative can be swapped out for Spider Venom if one wants. Shortbow also obviously has multiple bleeds and poisons which work well with that.

[Glytch]

Okay then.

So you type in broken grammar and mispell half your words and make misinformed statements and refuse to tell me what you use?

Right. I feel compelled to you seriously.

Although I suppose it would be unfair to not give you the benefit of the doubt and point out that if i need Vunerability then Cloak and Dagger applies that, and while it may not do so quite as efficiently or effectively, it does so well enough that one cannot really justify using a utility skill slot for Skale Venom with a double dagger build.

This build does have decent condition damage with all the points sunk into Trickery and Leaping Death Blossom, and Roll for Intiative can be swapped out for Spider Venom if one wants. Shortbow also obviously has multiple bleeds and poisons which work well with that.

look closer and youll see a consistency

they are typos, relax, im not going to fix them for you

vuln stacks intensity so they can be applied together but more importantly than that skale venom gives you a source of vuln and weakness without having to drop 6 init

in case you didnt know, that's alot

in addition skale venom can be spread around to multiple foes via dancing dagger or trick shot whereas CnD cant

if you dont want to drop a util slot for skale then that's you're choice, but something tells me you dont fully understand what venoms are meant to do

also if you're running a venom build with venomous aura then yea, skale poison's usefulness jump dramatically since it will apply to everyone around you

also if you're REALLY dying to know what i used in hotjoin its pretty stupidly easy to reverse engineer my build based off the post i gave for the beta... i mean its not like theres a crap ton of hints lying around...

[Sy]

What videos have you been watching? After having played pistol/pistol with a venom build I'd have to disagree with your assessment completely.

videos? we are all talking about beta experience.
and i do agree with Roggles, from what i've experienced in level 1-20 pve. haven't tried much pvp/highlevel.

and keep in mind that pistol+pistol is probably as 'pure damage' as it gets. it sacrifices A LOT of utility in comparison to shortbow, pistol+dagger or a melee set.
what other sets/builds have you been testing?

[Glytch]

videos? we are all talking about beta experience.
and i do agree with Roggles, from what i've experienced in level 1-20 pve. haven't tried much pvp/highlevel.

and keep in mind that pistol+pistol is probably as 'pure damage' as it gets. it sacrifices A LOT of utility in comparison to shortbow, pistol+dagger or a melee set.
what other sets/builds have you been testing?

off hand pistols have 2 pretty decent utilities with a ranged daze and a ranged blind that also creates a smoke field... which you can combo another blind shot via projectile (what pistols use)

[Sy]

off hand pistols have 2 pretty decent utilities with a ranged daze and a ranged blind that also creates a smoke field... which you can combo another blind shot via projectile (what pistols use)

problem is that neither of those actually do much against most enemies, if you are ranged. with pistol+dagger you get an additional evade/kite tool (which is awesome for ranged), an additional stealth for when you are caught of guard in melee range and/or want to make use of stealth traits and the free burst damage, and a 4-target high damage aoe and 5sec cripple (which is also awesome for ranged) on low cost.

all three pistol+pistol skills have a cost of five, and only one of them does good damage -- and even then only against one single target.

in the end, i can definitely see why people like the style of dual pistols, but i just think it's not worth it (over sword/dagger+pistol for melee or pistol+dagger for ranged) with the current numbers :/

[Glytch]

problem is that neither of those actually do much against most enemies, if you are ranged. with pistol+dagger you get an additional evade/kite tool (which is awesome for ranged), an additional stealth for when you are caught of guard in melee range and/or want to make use of stealth traits and the free burst damage, and a 4-target high damage aoe and 5sec cripple (which is also awesome for ranged) on low cost.

all three pistol+pistol skills have a cost of five, and only one of them does good damage -- and even then only against one single target.

in the end, i can definitely see why people like the style of dual pistols, but i just think it's not worth it (over sword/dagger+pistol for melee or pistol+dagger for ranged) with the current numbers :/

pistol pistol is more like a GvG utility ranger or a paragon from GW1, you're in the midline screwing with other casters while still putting out pressure

not a perfect analogy but that's how i see headshot and black powder

[Sy]

pistol pistol is more like a GvG utility ranger or a paragon from GW1, you're in the midline screwing with other casters while still putting out pressure

not a perfect analogy but that's how i see headshot and black powder

as i haven't played gw1 (except for a few hours of the trial version) i have pretty much no idea what you are trying to tell me^^
i agree though, i think 4&5-slot of pistols can be pretty good in pvp, where enemies will have many ranged attacks and visible casts. i still think it's not worth sacrificing all the nice stuff you'd get from one of the other sets, but whatever^^

[Glytch]

this just in: Anet has decided to give thieves axes as an additional weapon, both offhand and main hand

i managed to find this leaked dev video of an Axe/dagger thief

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSa0Xg-YadY

he has a shortbow too

[Murphlord]

this just in: Anet has decided to give thieves axes as an additional weapon, both offhand and main hand

i managed to find this leaked dev video of an Axe/dagger thief

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSa0Xg-YadY

he has a shortbow too

To hell you go.

[Glytch]

To hell you go.

i love you too

[Imperial Gaming]

backstab + weapon sigils + 150% signet = death