Opinion on Thief (PVE only)

[Frozenize.9603]

At the moment, thief cannot fit into any metas at all. A thief can deal a ton of dps in a short period of time but in the long run it is kinda weak compares to most dps classes. In my opinion, Initiative point is the only reason why Thief is weak in the long run and cannot fit into anythings except for SPvP and WvW. Think about it, 9 out of 10 classes in Gw2 do not have any resources when they used their weapon skills (instead of resources they have a cooldown). So, when other classes do PvE content, all they need to do is swapping weapons with a good rotation. However, Thief is different, when it spends all its resources, it has to use either utility skills or auto attack chain to recharge the initiative pts and this is why thief's dps is not as good as other classes (same boons, same auras, same buffs). When I play thief in PVE I feel like rotation is just a fancy word for the class. I know there are traits that you could use to recharge initiative point faster or increase the cap, but I still think it is not enough to maintain the good dps during a boss fight. My suggestion to put Thief back on the PVE map is either replace initiative point with cooldown or reduce the recharge time when thief gets quickness or alacrity.

 

All the things above are my opinion, if you guys have some opinion please comment below. I would like to know what do you guys think about Thief (PVE only). MAKE THIEF GREATER AGAIN!

[Dreadshow.9320]

Or 2x the resource pool and remove cooldowns on utility skills, Thief is meant to be in and out and in again of long fights due to low hp. Right now it's fight use all resources, stealth wait for resources to build up, loose stealth, fight and wait for utility skill to cooldown with no resources left so basically run around hoping not to die until you have either resources or cooldowns back.

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Dreadshow.9320" said:

> Thief is meant to be in and out and in again of long fights due to low hp. Right now it's fight use all resources, stealth wait for resources to build up, loose stealth, fight and wait for utility skill to cooldown with no resources left so basically run around hoping not to die until you have either resources or cooldowns back.

 

Exactly. :+1: Thief fits fine into open world PvE and some other game modes. You just need to learn that it plays differently than any other profession.

[blambidy.3216]

I had to show a friend how to dominate with thief in pve. Thief in pve is easy, in 2 secs can sky rocket the dps. Look up the snowcrow staff build. And use those traits in that site. Then what you do is for skills, Use shadow refuge instead of the venom skill. Then for your second pair of weapons, use p/p. So you first hit the balisik, dodge then press 5 with your staff. Then hit 2, dodge again, and hit 2 till its dead. Then pretty much repeat.

 

If your about to die, whip out your pistols and spam 3 since you have your self healing signet healing skill. If it gets really bad hit steal, dodge back and spam 3. Switch weapons back to your staff and repeat.

 

Just make sure all your gear is berserkers though. If not, the damage will not work.

 

https://snowcrows.com/raids/thief/daredevil/power/

[Scud.5067]

Running rifle deadeye, having no problems Open World, Dungeons of Fractals. Don't Raid so...

 

The thief rewards a proactive style of play. The more you learn how to push it the more you get. Its a class you can really learn to play.

 

And sure, I'd welcome some thief love - who doesn't like buffs?

[Lucinellia.9247]

For raids please check out my comment [here](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/580612/#Comment_580612 "here"). Thief DPS is actually pretty okay (as in, second on a large number of power-viable bosses and decent on condition damage fights).

 

It is simply untrue that Thief cannot fit into any "metas". For groups that are simply wanting to clear Wing 1 to 5 without much difficulty, both Condition Daredevil and Power Deadeye are fine (despite what is listed on SC's build page). Sure, if you want to speedclear, look elsewhere. It is also worth pointing out that the biggest issue with Power Deadeye is actually burst - the sustained DPS is actually very good and with only minor tweaks Deadeye could end up in a very strong high single target, low cleave niche.

 

For open world PvE, pretty much anything works. I posted an open-world Dagger/Dagger + Pistol/Pistol might share Deadeye build in the Deadeye build thread if you aren't wanting to go with a Daredevil build. For pretty much any open world play, the trick is ensuring that you have Invigorating Precision.

[Tails.9372]

Depending on the build thief ranges from ok to needs severe improvements. Bursting down enemies works fine for the most part as long as you're not up against upscaled veterans or big groups of enemies with a ranged build. Besides damage (which usually isn't even top notch even if you're running a damage oriented build) you're not offering much to the group which I don't think is much of a problem but if I were to describle the profession with one word I'd say outclassed. I do like the initiative system tho, which is one of the main reasons why I'm even playing this class to begin with.

[Dadnir.5038]

> @"Frozenize.9603" said:

> At the moment, thief cannot fit into any metas at all. A thief can deal a ton of dps in a short period of time but in the long run it is kinda weak compares to most dps classes. In my opinion, Initiative point is the only reason why Thief is weak in the long run and cannot fit into anythings except for SPvP and WvW. Think about it, 9 out of 10 classes in Gw2 do not have any resources when they used their weapon skills (instead of resources they have a cooldown). So, when other classes do PvE content, all they need to do is swapping weapons with a good rotation. However, Thief is different, when it spends all its resources, it has to use either utility skills or auto attack chain to recharge the initiative pts and this is why thief's dps is not as good as other classes (same boons, same auras, same buffs). When I play thief in PVE I feel like rotation is just a fancy word for the class. I know there are traits that you could use to recharge initiative point faster or increase the cap, but I still think it is not enough to maintain the good dps during a boss fight. My suggestion to put Thief back on the PVE map is either replace initiative point with cooldown or reduce the recharge time when thief gets quickness or alacrity.

>

> All the things above are my opinion, if you guys have some opinion please comment below. I would like to know what do you guys think about Thief (PVE only). MAKE THIEF GREATER AGAIN!

 

I'm affraid that the only thing I can think of when I read you is: "Wait! That is not how you play thief in PvE!"

 

In PvE you do not blow away your initiative and you do not go in and out of the fight. That's a waste of the profession's capacities If what you say reflect how comtemporay player use their thief in PvE, I'm affraid that I kinda understand why they are not welcome in group content.

 

Power: In PvE group content you'll mostly use a Dagger Dagger build for both core thief and deadeye. Most of your damages will come from your auto attack, initiative will be spent on cap'n'dagger to proc stealth when you're not under the effect of reveal in order to blow the big numbers. The initiative management is very easy. As for dardevil, you spend your initiative into weakening strike without spaming it.

 

Condition: You'll still favor Dagger Dagger but this time you'll use your initiatvie into death blossom and make use of your proc on dodge.

 

Let's be honest, more initiative won't do you any good, if you have trouble with your ini management with this amount of initiative, you'll still have trouble with double or even triple the amount of initiative. As for replacing initiative by cool down, you can be sure that it will hurt the thief dps more than it will improve it.