New Player- have some thief questions

[SydeSplitter.9207]

Hey all! So I'm really drawn the class fantasy of a dual-pistol or staff wielding rogue kinda character, so naturally I'd like to play thief. However I've been told they're very difficult to play, I think because of their HP? At least that's what I've gleaned from conversations. Can someone give me some advice on playing a thief and eventually daredevil, as a newcomer? Thanks cuties.

[ASP.8093]

PvP/WvW thieves benefit from good reaction time and a lot of attention to movement, but the class isn't especially hard to play, imo. (There's less *stuff* to manage than engie or ele, and the bursts require less button-pushing gymnastics than, e.g., mesmer.)

 

It's an _idiosyncratic_ class thanks to the specific mechanics, and rather fragile at times, but it's not brutally hard to play.

[Fueki.4753]

When I play Thief, I usually play Staff/Dual Pistol Daredevil with Marauder Gear.

If you need even more Health, you could slap on Wurm Runes, which aren't META, but still decent.

[Taril.8619]

Early game, while leveling, having a Pistol in your off hand and casting Black Powder for a Smoke Field that pulses Blind will prevent most enemies from being able to damage you at all.

 

Later in the game, with some Marauder or Berserker gear you can use a trait called Invigorating Precision in the Critical Strikes line which will give you health based on your crit damage which provides a ton of sustain.

 

This can make Thieves surprisingly hardy. But they can be susceptible to being bursted down quickly from certain enemies and bosses if you're not careful.

 

Beyond that, things are fairly straightforward for Thief. Hit things until they die. Dodge the bad stuff to not die (Or to deal extra damage as Daredevil). No particularly odd or difficult mechanics to utilize and your stuff is pretty easy to see (I.e. Unlike other classes, weapon skills don't have cooldowns so you don't have to try and remember skill cooldowns when you weapon swap)

[Zacchary.6183]

Get marauder stats. I use Valkyrie stats and infiltration runes on my armor and Marauder trinkets. You might also want to work towards a set of ascended gear.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PaQAQlVwiYXMJGJO8XnvKA-zRRYDhJGF4RQ6A-e