how to play d/d power thief in pve?

[cclbclc.1398]

been viewing a lot of wvw d/d thief gameplay and it seems right up my alley, but i want to get comfortable with the play style or even take it to pve. but i dont really understand how to take on larger mobs as compared to the condi d/d build. any tips and tricks or answers would be much appreciated !

[Akrib.4297]

I'm in the same situation trying to figure it out, would greatly appreciate the help.

[Drawing Guy.3701]

"Circle strafing" has always been an easy way to take on mobs - especially larger tougher mobs. Just strafe in a circle around the mob staying in melee range. This does several things:

- Most mobs have frontal attacks, and staying to the side or back avoids these.

- You get and flanking modifiers

- Particular to dagger, allows you to land Backstabs for full damage.

 

CnD and Backstab filled by auto-attack rotations for the first 75% and Heartseeker spam for the last 25% pretty much covers it. D4 is a cripple that will help slow them. There are meta rotations that maximize DPS, but it's up to you how close you want to hold to that.

 

Sword/Pistol or Dagger/Pistol is an option you can go with if you're struggling with PvE still. Pistol 5 gives a smoke field that pulses blinds to help keep you safe. S/P 3 is an evading multi-cleave attack that can help you kill trash relatively safe and quick. D/P keeps your dagger, though you'll need to P5 > D2 > D1 to set up backstabs, or if you're Daredevil, you can P5 > Bound (with Bounding Dodger trait) to behind the enemy > backstab.

 

Personally, Staff is my favorite melee weapon on Thief...

[Jana.6831]

Don't go D/P in PvE - especially not with 'larger mobs' which I guess means champs. Most if not all champs are immune to blind.

Drawing guy pretty much said it: Use other players or the slow movement of the champs as your 'pet' and always stay at his back. You can do so with an occassional death blossom - the initative should be enough when you use the CnD, BS, AA rotation.

D/D is still the best set for PvE.

[cclbclc.1398]

i should clarify, larger mobs as in larger groups.

 

and what about s/d? is that any good for pve, or at least, more viable than power d/d?

[Drawing Guy.3701]

D/P is not as good as D/D in PvE, especially on bosses, but I don't see why you should say "don't do that". You can D/P 3 to teleport from trash mob to trash mob, have black powder if pressure is too high, and AA is still strong. It will never be part of Raids and you should switch to D/D for champs, but works well in general.

 

S/D is great in PvP due to unblockable damage and boon stripping with S/D 3 and CC from stealthed Sword 1, but doesn't lend much to PvE. Most mob blocking mechanics can be circumvented with the "circle strafing" as they only block from the front, and few mobs have boons. Overall sword does less damage than dagger, but has the advantage of hitting 3 targets instead of 2, Infiltrator's Strike can teleport you to a target immob up to 3 easily setting the up for a S/P 3 or auto chain, and the auto chain has a built in cripple/weakness making circle strafing easier. So while you may be giving up the DPS of Dagger, Sword is quite good for open world PvE. And while I think S/P is better for PvE than S/D, you could still run it. Being able to stealth on command is still strong, and having fun is the most important thing.

[Jana.6831]

> @"Drawing Guy.3701" said:

> D/P is not as good as D/D in PvE, especially on bosses, but I don't see why you should say "don't do that". You can D/P 3 to teleport from trash mob to trash mob, have black powder if pressure is too high, and AA is still strong. It will never be part of Raids and you should switch to D/D for champs, but works well in general.

 

I already said it: Champs are immune to blind and BP HS BS takes too long = in pve you're losing a chunk of your DPS and get nothing for it, especially since champs are immune to blind.

D/D combo with CnD BS adds vulnerability - nifty for group play.

Of course you can always go D/P everywheere and it will work everywhere, just that you don't need it in PvE and that you're losing a big chunk of your DPS.

Personally I would kick anyone who wants to play dungeons/fractals with me and uses D/P.

 

ETA: And I still don't know what 'larger mobs in larger groups' mean - so yes ;) A veteran risen giant?