Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Thief scouting builds


Jugglemonkey.8741

Recommended Posts

I've had a few guildies ask me for thief builds recently, so I thought I'd post the general builds I run in guild raids on here. Just a few WvW related points to bear in mind before I start;

  • There is a reason that rangers and thieves are hated by commanders. Thief brings absolutely NO utility to a large scale fight, and are usually a liability if not a straight up rallybot. If you bring a thief to a pug raid you will most likely not get a spot in squad, which means no stab, no heals, no cleanses, Serind will likely shout at you for not playing something useful and then at me for encouraging it.
  • J and other comms in the guild tolerate me playing thief because I'm a guildie, and because I have played this class for a long time I generally know what I'm doing. If you drop your main class to play thief, Serind will shout at me.
  • I make myself useful to the group by scouting the position of the enemy groups, and relaying this information to the comm. There only needs to be 1-2 players scouting at most in a guild raid. If we end up with a party full of thieves, Serind will shout at me.
  • Don't try to run a thief in a frontline role. Most meta classes are such because they are either best in slot for their primary job, or because they bring a range of utility, allowing them to cover multiple roles in a single class. The only utility that thief brings is blasting smoke fields, which is better done by scrapper, and the only useful AoE damage thief has is staff which requires frontline. Unlike frontline classes you bring no stability, boon rip, corrupts, blocks, projectile hate, heals, cleanses or CC, and thief does not bring enough comparative damage to justify you being carried by the support classes. If you bring thief over a hammer warrior to a frontline party, you will likely die horribly and Serind will shout at me.
  • In small scale, thief is one of the best roamers. That said, you really have to know what you are doing to get anywhere, and you will die a LOT as you learn. You're as tanky as a glass ele, and your main defensive skill is dodge. At the time of writing this post I have played my thief for 6314h, and in that time I have died 11463 times. If that would just annoy you, I'd suggest playing another class.
  • In case it's not clear; DO NOT PLAY THIEF IN OFFICIAL GUILD RAIDS. Serind will shout at me.

That all said, I use two main builds for scouting;

Marauder/valk S/D daredevilMain build -> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAUxjlNwAZbsOGJOMXntUA-zVRYDh2JqEMqJiPlmkohJE6VR1yIwOHgA2DvlqUwA-wShadow arts variant -> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAUxjlNwAZbsOGJe+WntUA-zVRYDh2JqEMqJiPlmkohJE6VR1yIwOHgA2DvlqUwA-wThis build focuses on mobility that exceeds that of mounts, with the ability to stealth a group by blasting smoke screen with shortbow. You have no stealth outside of that so your positioning relative to your group is vital; they are your meat shields, use them as such. In fights, if there is space then use sword 2 to port through your group and +1 enemies that are low health, in any other case use shortbow to place choking gas on any downs your group creates. Use daggerstorm defensively if you need to push through a choke, but watch out for lines of warding; without stability they will interrupt your daggerstorm and you will explode in the AoE. You can use D/P over S/D with either of these builds just fine if that is your preference, I have played S/D for years so I'm just sticking to what I know.

Soldier rifle deadeye;Main build -> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAQhrlFwgYbsOmJWWPvvKA-zVhYChLbIqhwgMEVCGEYp0UgmZR1aE0bKY7BIg9wbpKFM-wNomads variant -> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAQhrlFwEZbMLmJeeT/vKA-zVRYeRN3noSwgALlmC0MLqWjgeTB7OEBZP8WqSBD-wThis build is for following an enemy zerg without them being aware of your being there, so you can relay that information to the commander of your group. The soldier build is designed to be tanky while also dealing enough damage to kill something, and the nomad build is the "I really do not want to die" variant. I use both interchangeably depending on who we're playing against that week, and if I expect to fight or just avoid enemies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a fellow who also used to main thief in WvW, I find the best utility the class provides is its ability to deploy Trap and Trick consumables.

I cannot recall just how many siege engines and shield generators I have disabled under stealth with Quickness, buying enough time for our map-hop task force to rotate or even forcing an entire zerg to abandon siege. Or just how many times I ran ahead in stealth and planted Supply Removal Traps in front of the whole zerg. Or how many times an enemy zerg in perfect stealth got revealed prematurely by the Stealth Disruptor Trap I layed down.

Those were good old times. At least until the introduction of Warclaw and replacement of Stealth Disruptor Trap for Target Painter Trap. I like the new target painter toys though. They make it much more easier to relay information of enemy movement while scouting. And you still disable stuffs like a boss as long as enemy shield gens do not cover each other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Virtuality.8351" said:As a fellow who also used to main thief in WvW, I find the best utility the class provides is its ability to deploy Trap and Trick consumables.

I cannot recall just how many siege engines and shield generators I have disabled under stealth with Quickness, buying enough time for our map-hop task force to rotate or even forcing an entire zerg to abandon siege. Or just how many times I ran ahead in stealth and planted Supply Removal Traps in front of the whole zerg. Or how many times an enemy zerg in perfect stealth got revealed prematurely by the Stealth Disruptor Trap I layed down.

Those were good old times. At least until the introduction of Warclaw and replacement of Stealth Disruptor Trap for Target Painter Trap. I like the new target painter toys though. They make it much more easier to relay information of enemy movement while scouting. And you still disable stuffs like a boss as long as enemy shield gens do not cover each other.

That is def true, stealth with disablers and portal is a really nice combo haha. I went so heavy on the "no utility" bit as I did essentially because I didn't want guildies swapping off meta zerg builds in guild raids just to try thief. Thief is amazing fun and is a great roamer, but it probably brings the least to a large group in the actual fights itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Jugglemonkey.8741 said:but it probably brings the least to a large group in the actual fights itself.

Well to be fair Power Daredevil per se is not a terrible DPS. The thing is simply that every other meta DPS build brings more than just DPS to the table.

That being said though, I always say that, while other classes bring utilities and stuffs to a fight, the scout brings you the fight itself.

Now, I don't know about your server, but in my experience there were times when enemy groups avoided engagement and aimed to capture objectives against minimal resistance. You know, either pug groups with number but less organized and/or build synergy with a losing streak, or guilds groups that are individually outnumbered by you, but collectively outnumber you so much that they can hit multiple objectives across differently maps at the same time and wreck your home BL simply because your group cannot be in different places at the same time.

And this is where the thief class shine. You track enemy movements before they reach any objectives, put supply traps along their path to reduce their siege capability, and disable stuffs like God so that your groups can deal with enemy groups in SMC first before rotating to save your home BL tier 3 Hills. Without you, your group might only get one fight and could not make it to the other. That along justifies a spot in the squad and participation share designation.

The only downside though is that you get only one fight yourself, instead of two like the group you serve, which is one of the reasons why I eventually quit playing Thief in WvW entirely and went for other classes. Still, I enjoyed what I did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Virtuality.8351 said:

@Jugglemonkey.8741 said:but it probably brings the least to a large group in the actual fights itself.

Well to be fair Power Daredevil per se is not a terrible DPS. The thing is simply that every other meta DPS build brings more than just DPS to the table.

That being said though, I always say that, while other classes bring utilities and stuffs to a fight, the scout brings you
the fight itself
.

Now, I don't know about your server, but in my experience there were times when enemy groups avoided engagement and aimed to capture objectives against minimal resistance. You know, either pug groups with number but less organized and/or build synergy with a losing streak, or guilds groups that are individually outnumbered by you, but collectively outnumber you so much that they can hit multiple objectives across differently maps at the same time and wreck your home BL simply because your group cannot be in different places at the same time.

And this is where the thief class shine. You track enemy movements before they reach any objectives, put supply traps along their path to reduce their siege capability, and disable stuffs like God so that our groups can deal with enemy groups in SMC first before rotating to save your home BL tier 3 Hills. Without you, your group might only get one fight and could not make it to the other. That along justifies a spot in the squad and participation share designation.

The only downside though is that you get only one fight yourself, instead of two like the group you serve, which is one of the reasons why I eventually quit playing Thief in WvW entirely and went for other classes. Still, I enjoyed what I did.

Don't feel bad about staying with the action and getting your bags, everyone should be doing callouts along the way. You can spot and respond to portals and masked drives if you're floating around your squads and you're free from core group comp to work on enemy squad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Virtuality.8351 said:

@Jugglemonkey.8741 said:but it probably brings the least to a large group in the actual fights itself.

Well to be fair Power Daredevil per se is not a terrible DPS. The thing is simply that every other meta DPS build brings more than just DPS to the table.

That being said though, I always say that, while other classes bring utilities and stuffs to a fight, the scout brings you the
fight itself
.

Now, I don't know about your server, but in my experience there were times when enemy groups avoided engagement and aimed to capture objectives against minimal resistance. You know, either pug groups with number but less organized and/or build synergy with a losing streak, or guilds groups that are individually outnumbered by you, but collectively outnumber you so much that they can hit multiple objectives across differently maps at the same time and wreck your home BL simply because your group cannot be in different places at the same time.

And this is where the thief class shine. You track enemy movements before they reach any objectives, put supply traps along their path to reduce their siege capability, and disable stuffs like God so that your groups can deal with enemy groups in SMC first before rotating to save your home BL tier 3 Hills. Without you, your group might only get one fight and could not make it to the other. That along justifies a spot in the squad and participation share designation.

The only downside though is that you get only one fight yourself, instead of two like the group you serve, which is one of the reasons why I eventually quit playing Thief in WvW entirely and went for other classes. Still, I enjoyed what I did.

Exactly, I agree with pretty much everything you said here. It's more a case of we only need one scout, and in my guild that happens to be me when I'm online, so I'm trying to encourage my guildies' enthusiasm for trying thief and to provide them with builds that will serve a purpose without ending up with a party full of thieves in raids in the process haha ^^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Jugglemonkey.8741 said:

@Serind.1267 said:I don't shout :anguished: , but i swear to god, if i see 1 MORE THIEF...

Complain when you see them and complain when you don't! :)

It's a running joke in our discord, someone mentions they made a thief, Serind nopes and sighs in disgust, and I laugh haha xD

In my guild, its the rangers that get that same reaction haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...