Mobile, power DPS profession

[Patkus.9178]

I recently got back into Gw2 and was having a blast in Open World and some WvW, but recently I remembered why I stopped playing.I usually play assassins in MMOs so ofc I mained Thief for quite a while. But I realised just how underwhelming they are... Their damage is meh, usefulness in PVE is kinda trash etc.So I'm thinking of starting a new profession. Was looking into s/s Revenant (Herald or Renegade), s/dWeaver or axe/x or gs Mirage (really dislike condi builds but I can make an exception for Mirage).I need something that is usefull in almost every game mode (don't really care about Pvp, mostly play PVE and WvW), What do you guys recommend?

[joneirikb.7506]

Frankly in Open World PvE, anything goes, pick whatever you like the most. For WvW it depends more upon what you want to do than anything. I'd say it depends more upon exactly what you feel Thief is lacking in ?

Easiest is WvW: If you want to zerg and do damage, then Revenant with hammer is pretty much always in need. (Guardian will run tanky support, Necro is more about utility and aoe carpet bombing, Engineer more about support), Though an elementalist with staff can also do good damage.

If you want to Roam, Solo, small scale, Scout etc: Ranger is top dog in mobility and damage right now (soulbeast), Mesmer always strong, Thief and Warrior does decent but not as well as the other two.

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For PvE it really depends on what you find lacking with Thief ? It has some strengths that others lack for PvE:

Advantages:

• Thief always had the best mobility and could get to and away from just about anything at will
• It has the best access to stealth to bypass things, and get advantage in a lot of situations that others can't or can't get away from.
• Good access to CC, and Basilisk Venom is a great way to help groups break Break-Bars
• The Initiative system allows you to chain some attacks like sword-whip over to almost shut down some mobs

Disadvantages:

• It generally lacks in AoE damage (DareDevil staff helps), and tend to be focused on taking down 1-2 targets at a time, as opposed to the AoE spamming of some other classes.
• Complete dependency on active defenses, dodge, blind, teleport, evade etc. A lot of people doesn't like this.

Does any of these apply ? Or something else ?

Because I could for example recommend Ranger, but ranger tends to have just as big a lack of AoE's as the Thief has, so if that's the issue then it wouldn't help you. For example damage can depend heavily on what weapon you use, Pistol/Pistol spamming 3 will usually obliberate most mobs, a Cloak and Dagger into Backstab with the right traits (like 100% crit after stealth) can still hurt a lot. But the class does suffer in the sense that it can't get too powerful because of PvP, because people really hates it if the stealth class gets strong enough to 1shot players, so the class will never be able to feel like it can 1shot veterans or champions etc.

Sorry for ranting a bit, but yeah, curious why you find thief lacking.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

I find reaper and soulbeast to both be fun in pve. Ranger has great flavor if u like the nature theme and is very versatile in builds and roles it can be viable in. Reaper is also a very flavorful spec and very versatile but not as wanted in higher end raid groups at times. With reaper I found once u get used to the class get rid of the minions as it makes the reaper much more of a active playstyle and made it alot more enjoyable.With all that said I'm the opposite of most people and enjoy the thief over other classes in pve due to the mobility and initiative. The style and archetype of the class also adds alot cuz assissins are obviously cool lol. With how easy most pve is it's nice to be able to mess around with all the thiefs skills and builds and still wreck stuff. I dont like pvp with thief as much because1- get two shot by almost every class no matter the skill used2-dps most often barely dents opponents hp unless it's another thief3- initiative is a double edged sword especially if ur dps is low compared to other classes sustain ie run out of ini leaves u useless more times than not and cant weapon swap to reset other weapon skills.4- because u cant viably 1v1 ur delegated to decapping and +1 which is boring lol.

Revs have high burst and have cool skills and are also versatile but if ur used to thiefs disengage potential u may find it annoying that rev has 0 ways of disengaging without having a target outside of using shiro quickness and running away. Reaper atleast u can set wurm up preemptively or use spec walk and tele out when u need with no target needed. Soulbeast with gs/owl has great mobility and disengagrment potential as well.My 2 cents anyway lol

[vermouth.3478]

I had a similar issue with you the first time I played this game a year ago (used to playing an assassin-type of class for high dmg). I died so many times doing story and the dmg was not that high etc etc etc. I created a second char, Necro, and omg I couldn't stop playing this game till now. I do have all professions and love them all. Probably my most played character will be Necro for dungeons and open world, Holosmith for fractal and raid, Firebrand healer for fractal, and druid/condi SB for raid. However, I feel like at the moment thief has a better place in PvE compared to a year ago. I've seen many thief players (mainly daredevil) doing very decent damage in dungeon, fractal, and raid. I haven't tested thief by myself in high end PvE content though.

Back into your question, I'd say power weaver (S/D) is really good for PvE as it's pretty good for fractal and raid. It's squishy but if played right you will be the top dps. However, I don't think weaver will do good in WvW where you need survivability (unless you are one of that top player that main ele and can just outperform all classes :p ). Tempest may work in WvW but may be not meta.

In theory, power revenant may work in PvE but it won't probably optimal in fractal or raid. I personally rarely see them in fractal or raid. However, alac renegade has found its place in fractal and raid. It is a renegade build with diviner stats so your job is not only doing damage but provide boons (mainly alacrity), however it needs to be paired with firebrand that can give quickness. Condi renegade, however, is doing pretty good in raid. I believe revenant is meta in WvW (hammer herald).

Mirage is useful in raid esp for bosses that favours condition over power. I won't recommend mirage for fractal tho, but I know few people insist bringing it into fractal. It's just that fractal favours burst damage and condi dmg takes time to tick.