Staff or rifle?

I’m in the process of creating a legendary for my thief. I only miss the gift which is specific for the legendary (1st Gen). Do you think the meta will shift towards rifle for PvE or should i just build the staff?talking specifically about PvE

I will prefer staff because it have much better single and with it aoe damage and you can dps through dodging evading attacks and have great mobility while rifle (as for me as I have tested some in opwen world, personal stories) have no mobile, with p/p I will burst my targets much easier and faster while able to kite them and with mobility.as for me rifle in pve is good only to roleplay because have no use for me with lack of mobility with dps worse than p/p while with these p/p you can move and be effective

I would wait for the first balance passes before you decide.In the current version Rifle isnt worth using, it has too many drawbacks compared to even pistols.Rifle is fun to use since its gameplay is completely different from what we had before, but thats currently all.In bossfights you can basically store it since your main damage skill cant be used, you have to kneel for it and bosses dont want that you stand around...

@LazerusKI.7485 said:I would wait for the first balance passes before you decide.In the current version Rifle isnt worth using, it has too many drawbacks compared to even pistols.Rifle is fun to use since its gameplay is completely different from what we had before, but thats currently all.In bossfights you can basically store it since your main damage skill cant be used, you have to kneel for it and bosses dont want that you stand around...

I've been using kneel succesfully in boss fights. You just need to be good at dodging, and repositioning via Shadow Flare or Shadow Step.

Buuut... yeah, compared to other weapons thief has. Rifle is incredibly weak at the moment. Utilities are great on the other hand. I just wished that Shadow flare had one or two more ticks.

Arguably, Staff is better right now. It provides AOE cleave. It's got harder hitting autos. You won't feel initiative starved. And the mobility skills are reliable. But staff got a balance pass that placed it in a really good spot.

While I love Rifle and will pick it over Staff... it's got a lot more flaws than pluses that I can point out. Mobility skill is unreliable as all hell. For a weapon that takes both hands, it does not do a very good job on damage for how slow it fires without quickness. Skill Priority is a little fucked in the logic department. Kneel will preempt the queue and cancel on going skills. But Free Action will not (when it is really important that it does). Initiative costs are pretty damn bad. Staff you can roll without Trickery. But here... it's hard to do much without it.

I can understand what Anet means by they want Deadeye's choices to actually matter, rather than spamming the skills. But if that is the case, they need to actually improve the rifle to better reward those choices with all the trade offs the player has to make.

@Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497 said:

@LazerusKI.7485 said:I would wait for the first balance passes before you decide.In the current version Rifle isnt worth using, it has too many drawbacks compared to even pistols.Rifle is fun to use since its gameplay is completely different from what we had before, but thats currently all.In bossfights you can basically store it since your main damage skill cant be used, you have to kneel for it and bosses dont want that you stand around...

sure you can do it that way, but then you have to sacrifice two ability slots. meanwhile on P/P i run more damage (as i said TRB: 5k, Unload: 10k, DJ: 15k) while i can still profit from malice over time without waiting for one ability that deals damage. i can start the fight with Unload and i can end it with Unload, malice even increases the damage during the fight.I like the idea of the more complex Deadeye gameplay, its not "one button" but also not "piano". It just needs tweaks and buffs.I mean...while we run around with a peashooter that has no meaningful advantage (damage isnt higher than other ranged weapons, range isnt higher either...) Firebrand runs around with 80k fire dps...and we are stuck at 20k-ish or so.

I wasnt there at HoT release, but from what i have read Staff wasnt that great at the beginning either, only after a few balance passes we reached what we have now.Thats why i said that i would wait until Rifle gets a balance pass too, as it is now its not worth using over other weapons

I guess I will have to wait for the balance patch. When is it?around november?

Also how do you predict will the meta form before and after the balance?rifle or staff for raids and fractals?

Make both! :)

Legendary Staves are meh for Thief. I made Great Destroyer Staff instead.... it's a much cooler melee weapon. Rifle probably wont be a meta for anything in PvE without some changes but the traitline is okay for other weapons. I made HMS Divinity though cuz I couldn't pass up shooting things with a cannon.

Staff. And bifrost is glorious on a DD.

@Doggie.3184 said:Legendary Staves are meh for Thief. I made Great Destroyer Staff instead.... it's a much cooler melee weapon. Rifle probably wont be a meta for anything in PvE without some changes but the traitline is okay for other weapons. I made HMS Divinity though cuz I couldn't pass up shooting things with a cannon.

So rifle is a no-no for PvE huh?Hmmm..interesting.No chances it will get into the meta?

@harris.7964 said:

@Doggie.3184 said:Legendary Staves are meh for Thief. I made Great Destroyer Staff instead.... it's a much cooler melee weapon. Rifle probably wont be a meta for anything in PvE without some changes but the traitline is okay for other weapons. I made HMS Divinity though cuz I couldn't pass up shooting things with a cannon.

It's meta already. That is if there is a hero point train meta, a world boss train meta, and a standing around lions arch looking cool/role play meta.

Even after balance patches I highly doubt seeing rifle in pve endgame. First kneeling mechanics in fractals and raids it's just not....that good.Second I highly doubt the overall rifle DPS will be boosted by the necessary 33% to reach around 31k. Everything 30k or 31k+ is a solid choice I would say.

Top DPS builds for endgame pve are around 33k-37k. Thief only has condi DD in there. While staff DD is solid, it's by far not top tier. Im still using it though, cause I love it.

Edit: I don't see deadeye in raids, cause the only chance would be d/d deadeye, but some bosses get you perma revealed (staff daredevil is happy), so you can't cnd backstab. You can backstab only with your elite.

Ι see. I will just make the staff then. Thanks for your input people!

DD is undoubtedly superior in every single game mode to DE.

Rifle is a roleplay weapon. If all you care about is roleplay, make rifle...else make a staff.

I find the main problem to be, when Death's judgement is finally available / worth using (max malice), you are well and truly out of initiative and like in the thick of kitten.

Where as staff (aoe aside...) is ALWAYS strong and available.

@Asur.9178 said:DD is undoubtedly superior in every single game mode to DE.

Rifle is a roleplay weapon. If all you care about is roleplay, make rifle...else make a staff.

I dont think DD is in every way superior from DE...it is superior from rifle but you forgot you can use other weapons on DE which are very good and with some other builds great...it is just rifle that suck af

Personally, I would wait until they've tweaked the skills for Deadeye. The rifle and the Mark needs a lot of work in my opinion.

Staff, aaaaaaaaall the way.Much more fun to use, way more cool Animations and I really don't think that Rifle will be better for PvE due to its Single target only damage dealing.

Eh,> @Alatar.7364 said:

Staff, aaaaaaaaall the way.Much more fun to use, way more cool Animations and I really don't think that Rifle will be better for PvE due to its Single target only damage dealing.

Animations aren't as cool with the staff. Staff animations are one of the main reasons I hate DD and the staff. Also, the constant thump noise annoys me.

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:Eh,> @Alatar.7364 said:

Staff, aaaaaaaaall the way.Much more fun to use, way more cool Animations and I really don't think that Rifle will be better for PvE due to its Single target only damage dealing.

Even accounting for taste staff animations are by far better than rifle, even DD utility animations are awesome. Rifle has a couple of really cool animations, like Rifle 4 jump back and kneeling looks kind of legit, but everything about rifle is so stop and go that those few good animations don't even feel very rewarding because they don't roll easily into an action that pays off.

@kash.9213 said:

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:Eh,> @Alatar.7364 said:

Staff, aaaaaaaaall the way.Much more fun to use, way more cool Animations and I really don't think that Rifle will be better for PvE due to its Single target only damage dealing.

I like all the rifle animations because when it comes to firearms I don't expect flashy animations since they are firearms which I appreciate. I love the Deadeye shooting noises though. Something about them makes me gitty. Especially the TRB.

@Vertep.2498 said:

@Asur.9178 said:DD is undoubtedly superior in every single game mode to DE.

Rifle is a roleplay weapon. If all you care about is roleplay, make rifle...else make a staff.

Why, yes...I can be willfully ignorant too; but, that won't make me right. However, ignorance is bliss.