Thief guide

[darkhon]

In this Guild Wars 2 class review I will cover the Thief as an agile, slippery damage dealer that jumps in the front lines of combat when it is advantageous and escapes pressure with evasive dodging and stealth.

Resource System

All Thief weapon skills are powered by a resource system called initiative and have no cooldown. Each weapon skill cost a set amount of initiative to activate. They can be quickly spammed in combat to unleash the Thief’s damage, or conserved to leave the Thief with more options, such as escape. The Thief has a base pool of 12 initiative and can be expanded to up to 15 through the Trickery trait line. Initiative regenerates about two every three seconds.

Weapon selection and attacks

My weapon of choice for the main and off hand are daggers. I went this route for two reasons, one being that daggers are just the archetypical assassin weapon. The animation for daggers are also quite smooth. However, the primary (and most functional) reason for this is the special duel skill assigned to the dagger/dagger combo: Death Blossom. Duel skills are a special, powerful skill that only appears on a Thiefs action bar when a specific combination of weapons is used. For example, dagger/dagger, pistol/dagger and dagger/pistol each have a different duel skill even though they share other weapon attacks.

What makes Death Blossom so good and fit my play style is the active elusiveness of it. When the Thief activates Death Blossom he launches himself over the head of an enemy, spinning and whirling daggers on the way. The Thief evades all attacks during Death Blossom, deals AoE damage to all in its effect and adds a stacking bleed. It couples as the perfect damage dealing and survival tool.

- Catch me if you can -

Another other notable dagger skill is Heartseeker. Heartseeker becomes more powerful as the target gets lower on health. Its damage really kicks in gear when the target hits 33% and can be spammed for lots of burst damage to finish off a foe.

Heartseeker also works as a gap closer and the animation will leap the Thief from his position to the target. Be careful about spamming Heartseeker after your target is dead, as the Thief will still jump and bound in a forward direction. I have made quick end of myself after combat was over by heartseeking off of a steep cliff.

-This actually happens. More than once.-

Let’s not ignore the basic auto attack. There are actually a few mechanics involved in it that can increase the Thief’s damage. The Thief’s auto attack is back-loaded chain attack. The first two attacks, Double Strike, are quite simple and quick. They also deal the least amount of damage in the chain. After two quick attacks from Double Strike the Thief chain will trigger Wild Strike, which also actives quickly and restores endurance. The endurance gain helps keep the Thief mobile, especially if he evades to get in melee range. Lotus Strike is the final and most powerful attack in the chain, inflicting heavy damage and poisoning the target. The activation time has a short delay on after Wild Strike, but it is worth the wait every time if the Thief can stick around to deliver it.

Additionally, if the Thief is in Stealth the auto attack will be replaced in the skill bar by a new icon and ability called Backstab. Backstab deal a very large amount of damage if delivered from behind and is absolutely devastating when it critically hits. A Trait in Critical Strikes can be taken to guarantee critical hits while in stealth.

-Not sure how a dagger can damage a rock, but this Elemental is about to be in a world of backstabbage hurt.-

Dancing Daggers is a an AoE slow that applies to each target the thrown dagger bounces to. It can bounce back and forth many times to two targets, or branch out to up to five.

Finally, Cloak and Dagger is a short duration stealth that applies vulnerability to the target. This is an easy way to get in stealth and in position to apply a backstab.


Weapon Swapping

Weapon swapping is important in Guild Wars 2, but not as important for Thieves as other Professions. A Guardian for example will switch weapons when all his abilities are on cooldown, but a Thief won’t need to for this reason because of the initiative system. This means the only reason for a Thief to switch weapons is to adjust to the situation.
I currently use pistol/pistol for as a secondary weapon set for when my health gets low and I need to attack at range. The duel skill is a very high damaging channel attack that deals considerable dps over time. A short bow is also a good option here, as it has tons of AoE attacks and a spammable cripple that is excellent tool for kiting tough monsters or even players.

-Switch out to range weapons when your health gets low.-

Trait Philosophy and Selection – View the build

I began my GW2 career building the Thief to do as much damage as possible, dumping all of my trait points into Critical Strikes and Deadly Arts. I was fairly successful and by level 30 I had about 50% crit chance and 25% critical damage. This is a fun way to play, but as I progressed on in the leveling system and story I found survival more important than raw damage. I re-traited somewhere around level 45-50 and discovered something I think no Thief should ever go without: 20 points in Acrobatics.

Acrobatics is an amazing trait line. Although it doesn’t bring the pain like Critical Strikes and Deadly Arts, in my opinion it makes a Thief, a Thief. Lets take a closer look on what makes Acrobatics so good.


Acrobatics

The 20 points I invest in this trait line are perhaps the least flashy off all 70 in the build. But they are the engine that make everything else better. They are a foundation that my Thief is built upon. Acrobatics adds enormous amounts of mobility and sustain that I just cannot go without.

Adept — Expeditous Dodger: Gain two seconds of swiftness on evade.
My build synergizes on quickness, mobility and agility, so we can never get enough movement speed. PvE players run around a whole lot in this game as well, so the extra movement speed helps us get from heart to heart or event to event.

Adept II- Power of Inertia: Gain might when you dodge
Depending on how mobile you are (a good Acrobatics Thief will be), and how well your dodges are spaced out, this can turn into a near permanent might buff. A very nice passive buff that rewards an active playstyle.

Master — Feline Grace: Dodging gains some of the endurance used.
This is amazing. By default, a character may dodge two times in succession then are out of endurance and cannot dodge again until the endurance bar refills. Every time a Thief with Feline Grace dodges, nearly half of the endurance is restored. This means a Thief can dodge three times in succession and a fourth will be ready in a matter of seconds. More dodges mean less incoming damage and better battlefield positioning. This passive is outstanding, but it’s power is subtle. I don’t realise how good it is until I go without it (or play a different character) and see how quickly my endurance bar depletes.

Master IX— Quick Recovery: Gain two initiative every 10 seconds.
This passive gives the Thief the added initiative regeneration to quickly jump back in the fight after making the initial assault. This stacks with the innate initiative regeneration all Thiefs have. The two extra initiative can make the difference between taking a big hammer swing to the face or evading the damage and leaping over your enemies head with another Death Blossom. For long PvE fights it adds a substantial amount of dps because you can activate your abilities more frequently. It also helps the Thief recover more quickly after a strategic disengage, which the next section will cover.


Shadow Arts

Ever heard the saying “If you can’t take the heat, then get out of the kitchen?” Sometimes the Thief (or any class for that matter) will find themselves in over their head in a sticky combat situation. This is where my investment in Shadow Arts really shines.

Adept— Last Refuge: Use Blinding Powder when your health reaches 25% (90-secondcooldown).
Nothing like escaping a near-death situation by disappearing from the enemy’s vision in a puff of smoke. A free use of blinding powder when its needed the most is a most welcome survival tool.

Adept I—Master of Deception: Deception skills recharge 20% faster.
Deception skills are what Shadow Arts is all about. This includes stealths and shadow steps. More on deception skills later. This is a very good trait for a deception Thief, I’m surprised it can be picked up with an adept point investment.

Master— Shadow’s Embrace: Stealth skills last one second longer.
When the going gets rough, sit in stealth and regenerate health and initiative. A true assassin waits in the shadows and finishes off their opponent when the circumstances are back in their favor.

Master X— HIdden Thief: Stealing also grants you two seconds of stealth.
This will give you another trick up your sleeve and a good chance to get in position for a backstab due to the shadowstep inherent in stealing. This can set up your damage potential, which is covered in the next section.


Critical Strikes

As elusive and tricky as my Thief is, damage will need to come from somewhere and cannot be ignored. I choose to go a full 30 points into Critical Strikes for my offensive punch. I did this because I enjoy the idea of a dagger assassin that crits often and the 30 point passive in this tree is just phenomenal.

Adept- Keen Observer: Critical chance is increased by 5% when health is over 90%
This passive honestly is not very good. The crit chance increase is decent, but rarely does a Thief’s health stay above 90% for long. In the long run, this will just help the initial damage you deal hit a bit harder.

Adept III- Side Strike: 7% chance to critically him from behind or the side
This is actually a large amount of crit chance that works a reliable amount of time. It’s just up to the Thief to position himself to get the benefit.

Master- Opportunist: Critical hits have a 20% chance to restore one initiative
At my current gear level (50% crit chance) this turn into one out of every 10 attacks restores one initiative. This isn’t game breaking, but the Thief does attack quickly so you will get some procs.

Master VI-Critical Haste: 10% chance to get quickness (2s) on a critical hit (30-second cooldown).
When Critical Haste procs, the Thief’s damage gets absurdly high for a couple of seconds. Take advantage of this and attack until it fades.

Grandmaster-First Strikes: 10% damage when initiative is over 6.
This trait can really shine when the Thief is able to auto attack with a high initiative bar. If you want to get the most of this passive, you cannot simply spam all your skills as it will net a dps loss.

Grandmaster XI- Executioner: Deal 20% extra damage when your target is below 50%.
Yes. This is where it is at. 20% increased damage is a massive chunk, and a fully specked Critical Strikes Thief gets it when he needs it most: to finish off his opponent. Thus has additional synergy with Heartseeker, which also scales off enemy health percentage. Executioner will help the Thief put their enemy in the grave. This is excellent for high hp PvE monsters.

or

Grandmaster XII- Hidden Killer: 100% critical hit chance while in stealth.
This guarantees that your backstabs will be critical hits. The burst damage of this traits is outstanding, recommended for PvP and low hp PvE targets and questing.


Deception

My build relies heavily on Deception skills to keep opponents off-balance and the thief healthy. I could see how playing against a Shadow Art/Deception Thief could quickly become a very frustrating endeavor. The signature ability of Deception skills is stealth. Where do I begin? Stealth has saved my characters life (and alleys lives) more times than I can count. In PvE it gives the Thief a reliable de-aggro and can be hard to deal with in PvP.

-Stealth: the ultimate “oh crap” button.-

A Thief isn’t entirely safe in stealth, however. While he cannot be targeted with single target attacks, he is still susceptible to AoE damage while he remains in a shroud or stealthed. The Thief must remain active to avoid damage.

Shadow Refuge is large ground targeted area of effect stealth skill that heals all targets in the effect and lasts for a relatively long amount of time. The only negative to Shadow Refuge is if the Thief or an alley leaves the shroud area, they will lose the stealth.

My favorite stealth skill is Blinding Powder. It works similarly to Shadow Refuge, but is a point blank area of effect and no heal. What I like about this skill is the lightning fast activation time. While Shadow Refuge is instant, the Thief still needs to target the ground at the correct location and click the mouse. Blinding Powder triggers after just clicking the corresponding hotkey. The other thing that makes this skill such a life saver is that it can be activated while knocked down. There have been plenty of times I have failed a dodge and got knocked down, about to take massive damage, only to activate Blinding Powder to basically get out of deep trouble with no consequence. Amazing tool.


Signets

I use Signet of Agility for the added precision (90 at level 80) and active endurance fill (which keeps the Thief mobile) and condition removal. Conditions can absolutely wreck you in GW2. Don’t leave home without a removal.

Elite

Dagger Storm does gobs of AoE damage and even gives the Thief stability for the duration. This is the best choice for damage. If you find the need of some cooldown tankage for rough tumbles, consider taking Thieves Guild. They will draw some damage away from you, and still contribute a good chunk of damage themselves.

Healing Skill

I find both Withdraw and Hide in Shadows quite good and worthy of a skill slot, but by nature they excel in different ways. My prefer to use WIthdraw as much as possible because it is on a very short cooldown (15 seconds) and when activated works as a backwards evade for even more mobility and escape. The total healing over time trumps Hide in Shadows, but HiS is couples as a stealth as well which gives the Theif even more options. Ultimately these two skills are too close to decide a clear winner, but my vote goes to Withdraw because the short cooldown.

Alternatively, Withdraw can get you in trouble. I have tumbled backward off of cliffs (to my death) and aggroed more mobs when trying to get the heal. To use Withdraw, the Thief must be very aware of his surroundings.

Conclusion

Overall I think they Thief is a very well-designed Profession. It has tons of synergy inside the trait and weapon skills and incredible amounts of mobility. They are a ton of fun to play! If you like sneaky stabby types at all I highly recommend checking them out!
As found on medagaming.com