Is Thief for new players?

[Puck.3697]

44 minutes ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Wow, that's a lot of negatives about Thief. That's really a bummer :(, I really like the class fantasy about it, I just die all the time. 

More specifically about P/P not thief itself. 

Spectre has some really strong solo builds, if your looking for a more tanky build consider trailblazer. 

There are some decent DD staff builds also but that will rely more on active dodging. 

[Sentinel VX.1392]

I would have recommended playing daredevil with invigorating precision, but since the IP nerf it's not beginner friendly anymore.

 

Specter would have better survivability if you can learn to use the shadow shroud effectively, but it's not as easy and straightforward gameplay.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

11 hours ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Wow, that's a lot of negatives about Thief. That's really a bummer :(, I really like the class fantasy about it, I just die all the time. 

It's got a great class fantasy, and playing thief - once mastered to an extent - feels wicked great. No other class quite nails that clutch and sly feel. In competitive, playing thief to a good effect requires creativity and a great sense of improvisation and awareness on the spot.

In PvE, unfortunately, thief has been largely neglected for years upon years. Other classes receive constant QoL buffs and changes, we do not. It's fun, and nice for occasional roleplay, but not "meta". Never has been.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

3 hours ago, Sentinel VX.1392 said:

I would have recommended playing daredevil with invigorating precision, but since the IP nerf it's not beginner friendly anymore.

 

Specter would have better survivability if you can learn to use the shadow shroud effectively, but it's not as easy and straightforward gameplay.

Specter is currently the best spec for soloing bosses and other higher end content due to its kiting ability, ranged damage, boon uptime, continuous DoTs and synergy with numerous stat combinations. It's really, really effective once you maximize juggling shroud and initiative usage.

Condi daredevil is still workable, but it has never been up there w/ mirage, cele-ele or even warrior. It got heavily nerfed w/ the Tormenting Rune changes, but could somewhat make up for it w/ Signet of Malice.

Power solo for thief, currently, is just UGH. Unlike condi, you really need to invest in offensive stats hard if you want to be able to match the timers on bosses. And there's not a whole lot of bosses out there who don't nearly, or outright, oneshot thief.

Edited April 6, 2022 by NorthernRedStar.3054

[attractiveman.7164]

The best way to learn any profession including thief is...no sustain at all, die repeatedly until you learn how to play the profession without a crutch. Then start adding in your own personal utilities based on need. And soon you'll have your own very personal build.

[Infinity.2876]

You really want to play daredevil over deadeye in pve it will save your life

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAYhrlZwwYZsFGJOqTWtcA-e

The build above provides some nice sustain but lacks dps you can take a crit strikes variation for that. Staff is better with evade and activating traits and dagger pistol has 2 into 5 stealth option among other things

[Gigawatt.7850]

1 hour ago, Infinity.2876 said:

You really want to play daredevil over deadeye in pve it will save your life

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAYhrlZwwYZsFGJOqTWtcA-e

The build above provides some nice sustain but lacks dps you can take a crit strikes variation for that. Staff is better with evade and activating traits and dagger pistol has 2 into 5 stealth option among other things

Thanks for this, I don't have DD unlocked yet. Just core and deadeye. I find myself enjoying core more? Is that weird? Deadeye isn't what I thought it was, just feel like I spam #2 all the time. 

I have that one exotic gear called celestial with power weapons. I'm new so I don't really know what to get so dont laugh lol. 

[kash.9213]

54 minutes ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Thanks for this, I don't have DD unlocked yet. Just core and deadeye. I find myself enjoying core more? Is that weird? Deadeye isn't what I thought it was, just feel like I spam #2 all the time. 

I have that one exotic gear called celestial with power weapons. I'm new so I don't really know what to get so dont laugh lol. 

Figure out build templates and use a few builds as you learn. Deadeye Rifle can be played with the fluid sliding motions similar to Staff Daredevil. A lot of people don't bother with Kneel or Snipers Cover though and so they do end up spamming #2 and only using Death's Retreat in panic instead of offensively. 

[Tails.9372]

1 hour ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

I have that one exotic gear called celestial with power weapons. I'm new so I don't really know what to get so dont laugh lol. 

If you're new then I would recommend farming the Tarir meta and use that gold to buy living world season 3 episode one. In this episode there is a vendor that sells ascended blood ruby gear (a ring, an amulet and a backpack). They are stat selectable and most importently can also be reset for a miniscule fee which IMO makes them some of the best gear a new player can go for.

Also, completing the main story of HoT will unlock a side quest that rewards you with an ascended weapon which can both be reset and be changed into various weapons types including a sword, a dagger and a scepter.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Tails.9372

[Gigawatt.7850]

18 hours ago, Infinity.2876 said:

You really want to play daredevil over deadeye in pve it will save your life

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAYhrlZwwYZsFGJOqTWtcA-e

The build above provides some nice sustain but lacks dps you can take a crit strikes variation for that. Staff is better with evade and activating traits and dagger pistol has 2 into 5 stealth option among other things

Just have Core and Deadeye right now. Honestly I enjoy Core over Deadeye Rifle. I just run the below build.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Thief_-_Basic_Thief

[Infinity.2876]

6 hours ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Just have Core and Deadeye right now. Honestly I enjoy Core over Deadeye Rifle. I just run the below build.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Thief_-_Basic_Thief

I started playing as deadeye but quickly found that rifle is best in pvp situations to use silent scope effectively stealth is not as powerful in ow. you can use other weapons for open world but deadeye is still difficult because it has no sustain traits except from your mark which makes it decent against boss events but not regular killing of many mobs.

 

Core thief is nice but you want to use shadow arts and/or acrobatics for sustain and frankly I don't like core thief much there are some cores that aren't fun like engi, because all core engi weapons are and and you use kits the entire time anyways, and mesmer in early zones as you don't have many traits to back you up.

 

Specter has sustain from shroud and has about the same sustain as a daredevil.

 

Daredevil has nice sustain traits like weakening strikes, marquees resilience, escalates fortitude, and so on.

 

This is essentially my previous post in more detail.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Infinity.2876

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

On 4/6/2022 at 7:21 PM, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Is that weird? Deadeye isn't what I thought it was, just feel like I spam #2 all the time. 

That's because you haven't 1) mastered the spec yet, and 2) played against challenging content where your mastery is tested.

Also, you nearly always want to be taking Maleficent Seven over Silent Scope on rifle. It's a massive boost to your dps on larger enemies.

Never, ever, touch core thief. It's useless, no utility, little cc and crappy dps.

Edited April 7, 2022 by NorthernRedStar.3054

[Gigawatt.7850]

4 hours ago, NorthernRedStar.3054 said:

That's because you haven't 1) mastered the spec yet, and 2) played against challenging content where your mastery is tested.

Also, you nearly always want to be taking Maleficent Seven over Silent Scope on rifle. It's a massive boost to your dps on larger enemies.

Never, ever, touch core thief. It's useless, no utility, little cc and crappy dps.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Deadeye_-_Power_Deadeye , that a good build for me to roll with? 

[ASP.8093]

12 hours ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Deadeye_-_Power_Deadeye , that a good build for me to roll with? 

It's very a reasonable build, but try Maleficent Seven (going 1-1-1 in the Deadeye trait line) as well — you'll get far better DPS and staying power in *hard* situations, at the cost of just slowing down your burst a tiny amount when you're quickly killing trivial trash.

Definitely vary up your second (non-Rifle) weapon set as well to find the ideal ones for you. I personally like Rifle + Shortbow and Rifle + Dagger/Pistol the most.

Also, I'd definitely run Sigil of Force + Sigil of Celerity in Rifle, it's a bunch of extra Quickness just for using your Mark Target ability.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

5 hours ago, ASP.8093 said:

Definitely vary up your second (non-Rifle) weapon set as well to find the ideal ones for you. I personally like Rifle + Shortbow and Rifle + Dagger/Pistol the most.

Dagger/dagger has the best dps out of a 2ndary weapon set. Dagger/pistol has the best situational utility. You don't need a shortbow, if you're doing content that requires shortbow then DE is not your go-to. Rifle has very good mobility on its own, particularly with 4-ini cost Death's Retreat (6 ini in competitive is a massive difference).

Regarding sigils: Force is a safe pick, and you'll be using that in most instanced and group content, and it works fine solo as well. The 2nd sigil heavily depends on what you're doing: Impact for aforementioned content, otherwise it's up to you.

[Infinity.2876]

17 hours ago, Gigawatt.7850 said:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Deadeye_-_Power_Deadeye , that a good build for me to roll with? 

WARNING

Invigorating precision got nerfed so just be careful out there

[nosleepdemon.1368]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:05 PM, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Wow, that's a lot of negatives about Thief. That's really a bummer :(, I really like the class fantasy about it, I just die all the time. 

That is a lot of negatives because it's full of bs. Those damage numbers are entirely unreflective of actual combat. Trust me, a Revenant is not going to throw out 17K damage a second using just a single utility skill and auto attack in anything approaching normal circumstances. Actually, doing well with a Revenant is fairly difficult. For example, not so long ago its chief conditions damage build required something like 40 steps in its combo.

 

Thief is harder to play than most professions BUT it is also a lot of fun. I would stick with it, and as others have said Thief depends greatly on using your abilities to avoid taking damage.

[ASP.8093]

Ever since they added Specter, I no longer swap classes away from Thief most nights.

* For open-world stuff, I have a safe ranged damage build that self-buffs very nicely, with tolerable cleave and great breakbar performance as well.

* For instanced group content, I have a solid support+dps build with a simple "priority-based" rotation.

* The class is a clutch role-player in both SPvP and small-scale WvW.

 

I'll still switch to Rev or Ele for large-scale WvW but my PvE Rev and Firebrand have become completely neglected.

[Puck.3697]

On 4/10/2022 at 7:09 PM, ASP.8093 said:

Ever since they added Specter, I no longer swap classes away from Thief most nights.

* For open-world stuff, I have a safe ranged damage build that self-buffs very nicely, with tolerable cleave and great breakbar performance as well.

* For instanced group content, I have a solid support+dps build with a simple "priority-based" rotation.

* The class is a clutch role-player in both SPvP and small-scale WvW.

 

I'll still switch to Rev or Ele for large-scale WvW but my PvE Rev and Firebrand have become completely neglected.

Spectre looks rly cool, but at the same time. I have a voice in the back of my head that says Anet is gonna over nerf it and its gonna go down hill really quickly. 

[Ishmael.6740]

I'm using this build currently and it works alright for doing open world and story content.

 

On 4/5/2022 at 4:49 PM, Caedmon.6798 said:

Survival will be your biggest issue,thief needs fast reflexes,you dont have any invulns or blocks, you rely on porting away and dodging, stealthing,throwing bp's for survival etc. I wouldnt say its noob friendly though, it can take a while to figure it all out in proper content. Not by hitting that random yellow deer.

 

Well, you have lots of evades though, sword/pistol is pretty tanky actually with pistol whip and blinding powder. And I mean there's literally no skill involved here, you use 5, hit stuff with your sword and everthing that doesn't have a breakbar is basically easy game.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Ishmael.6740

[reddie.5861]

On 4/6/2022 at 6:21 PM, Gigawatt.7850 said:

Thanks for this, I don't have DD unlocked yet. Just core and deadeye. I find myself enjoying core more? Is that weird? Deadeye isn't what I thought it was, just feel like I spam #2 all the time. 

I have that one exotic gear called celestial with power weapons. I'm new so I don't really know what to get so dont laugh lol. 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAprlFwiYYYj4wfZ+MB-zRIYREzXC2OA-e

pretty sure u can wreck everything with that in open  world, else flip around the deadly arts trait line with crit strikes.
u basically just use f1 > f2 > 1 (if stolen skil lgives stealth if not skip > 3 > 3  repeat

f1 gives u HP back so u should be fine if we are talking about trash mob killing

[Gigawatt.7850]

On 4/14/2022 at 6:51 AM, reddie.5861 said:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAprlFwiYYYj4wfZ+MB-zRIYREzXC2OA-e

pretty sure u can wreck everything with that in open  world, else flip around the deadly arts trait line with crit strikes.
u basically just use f1 > f2 > 1 (if stolen skil lgives stealth if not skip > 3 > 3  repeat

f1 gives u HP back so u should be fine if we are talking about trash mob killing

Thanks for this!

 

[frareanselm.1925]

Why dont you try condi daredevil with traiblazer armor? it's almost impossible to die  if you keep dodging and spamming death blossom