Question for newbie build

[Rothkal.9185]

Hello! I just started back after years, from 0, and I'm trying the thief class.Any advice on how to build it to base it on stealth, backstab and evades? Does it become too much single target? Is it ok to put id double dagger?

Many thanks in advance!

[saerni.2584]

Usually, you choose to focus more on evade or stealth. But a lot depends on whether you are talking about PvE or PvP (WvW or sPvP).

I'd say start by picking a weapon set and then ask for advice on building for it.

If you like backstab, stealth and double dagger I'd suggest starting with a Shadow Arts-Trickery-Deadly Arts.

[Yasai.3549]

I'm gonna assume for PvE, and only access to Core Thief since yu mentioned "from 0"

Double Dagger is pretty nice, but yu do lack some cleaving for mobbing, but for Openworld, it will suffice.I recommend Critical Strikes - Trickery - Deadly Arts for PvE Openworld play, because it allows yu to sustain and deal larger amounts of damage with these traitlines.

Yu also have no problems sustaining Stealth due to Cloak and Dagger (Dagger 5)

Do note that yu should check yur status for the Revealed debuff after making a Stealth attack, because yu cannot stealth while Revealed.Wait for the Revealed debuff to expire before casting Cloak and Dagger again to reapply Stealth.

[Rothkal.9185]

@"Yasai.3549" said:I'm gonna assume for PvE, and only access to Core Thief since yu mentioned "from 0"

Double Dagger is pretty nice, but yu do lack some cleaving for mobbing, but for Openworld, it will suffice.I recommend Critical Strikes - Trickery - Deadly Arts for PvE Openworld play, because it allows yu to sustain and deal larger amounts of damage with these traitlines.

Yu also have no problems sustaining Stealth due to Cloak and Dagger (Dagger 5)

Do note that yu should check yur status for the Revealed debuff after making a Stealth attack, because yu cannot stealth while Revealed.Wait for the Revealed debuff to expire before casting Cloak and Dagger again to reapply Stealth.

Well surely if i will like again the game I'll buy the expansions, so for now yes i concentrate on double dagger backstab for pve, but there's the chance to think also on pvp with secondary class...Isn't it better shadow arts to enhance the effects while hidden, like Saerni said?

[Yasai.3549]

@"Rothkal.9185" said:

Isn't it better shadow arts to enhance the effects while hidden, like Saerni said?

It depends on yur approach to combat.

Shadow Arts have lots of nice stuff which SUPPORT STEALTHING not GOING INTO STEALTH

So the stuff yu will find in Shadow Arts are mostly defensive traits which synergize to applying Stealth to yurself, and some minor sustain, which allows yu to kite mobs around, play around with mobs, focusing on stealthing and reapplying stealth after an attack etc etc.

Critical Strikes is meant for a more aggressive approach aimed at taking down enemies faster.For one, yu will have boosted Critical Strike chance, and with proper trait choice, the ability to grant yurself consistent amount of Might, allowing yu take enemies down faster.Yu lose the "defensive" aspect of Shadow Arts, but yu have plenty of Stealth access with Cloak and Dagger anyway, as a result, yu may not really get hit as much as expected.And since yu hit harder, enemies die faster.

There are also two key traits tied into Critical Strikes oriented Stealth play :Hidden Killer and Invigorating Precision.

A popular build is for players to run full Valkyrie stats (Power, Vitality and Ferocity) and run Hidden Killer to artificially boost their Critical Chance to 100% for the Stealthed Backstab, and for 2s after leaving Stealth.By then, Revealed debuff would have worn off, and yu could use Cloak and Dagger once again to go back into Stealth, and repeating.

The main draw is that it allows running Valkyrie stats which feature no Precision to increase yur base crit, which isn't needed because yu basically have 100% crit all the time with yur Stealth based playstyle, and as a result, enjoy better durability over conventional Thief builds.

Invigorating Precision is another way to use Critical Strikes, but this time it's just straight forward lifestealing.Using a typical Thief build (probably Berserker or Marauder stats), yu can use Invigorating Precision to Lifesteal up to 20% of the amount of damage dealt by yur Critical Strikes.That's a pretty great form of sustain if yu can ensure the enemy can't keep hitting yu (like going into Stealth every 3 seconds or dropping a Smoke Screen).

There is no real right or wrong answer when it comes to PvE, people run what suits them the best.Like I said, it ultimately ends up with how yu choose to approach combat.

[Rothkal.9185]

@Yasai.3549 said:

@"Rothkal.9185" said:

Isn't it better shadow arts to enhance the effects while hidden, like Saerni said?

It depends on yur approach to combat.

Shadow Arts have lots of nice stuff which

SUPPORT STEALTHING

not

GOING INTO STEALTH

So the stuff yu will find in Shadow Arts are mostly defensive traits which synergize to applying Stealth to yurself, and some minor sustain, which allows yu to kite mobs around, play around with mobs, focusing on stealthing and reapplying stealth after an attack etc etc.

Critical Strikes is meant for a more aggressive approach aimed at taking down enemies faster.For one, yu will have boosted Critical Strike chance, and with proper trait choice, the ability to grant yurself consistent amount of Might, allowing yu take enemies down faster.Yu lose the "defensive" aspect of Shadow Arts, but yu have plenty of Stealth access with Cloak and Dagger anyway, as a result, yu may not really get hit as much as expected.And since yu hit harder, enemies die faster.

There are also two key traits tied into Critical Strikes oriented Stealth play :

Hidden Killer

and

Invigorating Precision

.

A popular build is for players to run full Valkyrie stats (Power, Vitality and Ferocity) and run

Hidden Killer

to artificially boost their Critical Chance to 100% for the Stealthed Backstab, and for 2s after leaving Stealth.By then, Revealed debuff would have worn off, and yu could use Cloak and Dagger once again to go back into Stealth, and repeating.

The main draw is that it allows running Valkyrie stats which feature no Precision to increase yur base crit, which isn't needed because yu basically have 100% crit all the time with yur Stealth based playstyle, and as a result, enjoy better durability over conventional Thief builds.

Invigorating Precision

is another way to use Critical Strikes, but this time it's just straight forward lifestealing.Using a typical Thief build (probably Berserker or Marauder stats), yu can use Invigorating Precision to Lifesteal up to 20% of the amount of damage dealt by yur Critical Strikes.That's a pretty great form of sustain if yu can ensure the enemy can't keep hitting yu (like going into Stealth every 3 seconds or dropping a Smoke Screen).

There is no real right or wrong answer when it comes to PvE, people run what suits them the best.Like I said, it ultimately ends up with how yu choose to approach combat.

That's amazing, but wouldn't this make me become a glass cannon?

[Yasai.3549]

@"Rothkal.9185" said:

That's amazing, but wouldn't this make me become a glass cannon?

Yur playing Thief my dude :pYu have basically no passive/innate defenses period, unless yu run Acrobatics or Daredevil.

Do note, I'm talking strictly about PvE here, and when talking about PvE, mobs are stupid.If yu stealth every 3s they just sit there waiting for the hit, or they will time out and reset.

Shadow Arts will not save yu either if yu don't know how to rotate between Stealthing and Revealed :p so there's that.

As Saerni mentioned in his comment, yur gonna focus on evading or stealthing.That's honestly all the "defenses" Thief has access to.