Dual Pistol Thief Questions from a new player..

[Lancelot99]

New to the game and after messing around with a fewcharacters and builds i decided that a dual pIistol Thief looked fun :-) but i have a few questions from experienced players...

1. I will mostly be pve ing and maybe move on to wvwvw later (pvp seems too full of no lifer eletist players for me to get involved in that) - so, with this in mond, is the dual pisol thief viable?

2. i am thinking of going crit max - so should i load up on precision or power+precision runes etc...?

3. My build is 30 DA 30 CA 10 Acr to try and maximise crit hit chance with some poison... this ok?

4. 2nd weapons i am torn between 2x daggers (for heartseeker once target health is low) or short bow?

Thanks for all advice :-)

[Anacrusis]

Ive been using this build and it's one of my favs. However, I use sig of shadows For the perma 25% move speed instead of roll for initiative. I also use eagle armor rune for the higher crit instead of ogre. For leveling, short bow with cluster bomb aoe spam will be better than dual pistols. But you can switch it up whenever you want to change weapons. The infiltrator arrow teleport with short bow will be crucial in escaping death once you get the range down.

At lvl 2 Hit h, click pvp, go to heart of mists. Configure your lvl 80 thief. Practice on training npcs there. You don't have to pvp and can test everY combo. I think every thief should get 15 in trickery for the extra 3 initiative and getting initiative when you steal. Also, thrill of the crime is awesome. This equates to alot of extra dps cause you can use more skills before running out of ini. In fact, putting 15 in trickery will get you more dps than 15 in deadly.

http://www.guildwars2forum.com/threa...p-w-commentary

[Anacrusis]

I think the trickery 15 trait that gives you 3 extra initiative is underrated. Most people probably think they would get one extra skill use in a fight because after your in combat you generally never get back to full initiative. However, my strategy is to blow all my initiative ASAP. I then pop my elite dagger storm. While I am spinning aoe damage my initiative fully recharges by the time dagger storm finishes. Therefore, in one fight I got 6 extra initiative over the guy who didn't take the trait. This is a serious dps increase.

[Steel Singer]

For regular PvE it will always be fine.
In dungeons, explorable mode, it might not be so great.
My brother says that the dual pistol lacks CC. It has no(or nearly no) blinds?
Which is the only reason why a thief can live.

The thief is the king of the blind and not utilizing this feature to its fullest could set you back.
But again, this only applies to the more hardcore contest as explorable dungeons, in normal PvE you can run whatever and stuff will still be easy.

[Mitchrapp]

I think the trickery 15 trait that gives you 3 extra initiative is underrated. Most people probably think they would get one extra skill use in a fight because after your in combat you generally never get back to full initiative. However, my strategy is to blow all my initiative ASAP. I then pop my elite dagger storm. While I am spinning aoe damage my initiative fully recharges by the time dagger storm finishes. Therefore, in one fight I got 6 extra initiative over the guy who didn't take the trait. This is a serious dps increase.

Those 3 initiative are definitely nice to have. Add in roll for initiative, steal for added initiative and the Dagger Storm like you mentioned you can keep initiative going for some time. I have a condition bleed damage build so I get bleeds all over the place. Perfect. Thief is so damn fun.

[Anacrusis]

I'd be interested to find put how a condition damage geared thief compares to a crit/power geared thief in WvW, spvp, and dungeons. I have 20 in trickery so I do have a very little condition dmg, but my gear is all power/precision/toughness/vitality/crit dmg for dungeons/WvW. I use daggers and short bow. I'll have to try spvp with condition damage. what gear/armor rune do you you use on a condition dmg build? And what stat do you give up for the condition damage, crit chance and crit dmg or power?

The reason I didn't go with condition damage is because everyone has condition removal, but they can't remove direct damage. I would think you would have a rough time against guys with with alot of condition damage removal.

[Mitchrapp]

I'd be interested to find put how a condition damage geared thief compares to a crit/power geared thief in WvW, spvp, and dungeons. I have 20 in trickery so I do have a very little condition dmg, but my gear is all power/precision/toughness/vitality/crit dmg for dungeons/WvW. I use daggers and short bow. I'll have to try spvp with condition damage. what gear/armor rune do you you use on a condition dmg build? And what stat do you give up for the condition damage, crit chance and crit dmg or power?

The reason I didn't go with condition damage is because everyone has condition removal, but they can't remove direct damage. I would think you would have a rough time against guys with with alot of condition damage removal.

For sPVP you go in as a group and stay with the group. Perfect for a thief anyway. 1 vs 1, condition thief probably won't work as well.

[Anacrusis]

I had not done any spvp the past 10 days while i was lvling my thief to 80. I did some spvp last night with my 57% crit rate build and had a ton of fun. If you have a 57% crit rate you have an advantage with the sigils that trigger on a critical hit.

I will still try a condition thief for kicks, but i do not want to play a build that is inferior 1 vs 1. I have the most fun winning 1 vs 1 fights at a point, which is crucial to the team's success.

You mentioned going in as a group and staying with the group. However, I don't wait for anyone and I run as fast as possible from point to point. I use the sig of shadows and the extra 25% move speed to take points and run people down. If i see 2-3 guys at a point I will charge in spamming clusterbomb like mad and dodging, then shadow refuge, withdrawl, infiltrators arrow to escape if necessary.

Many times you will have teamates show up to help while your fighting against a group so any damage you do its a huge plus. Also, if im tying up 2-3 people for awhile it means my team has a numbers advantage somewhere else. A very aggressive approach has served me well.

[Fey]

1. I will mostly be pve ing and maybe move on to wvwvw later (pvp seems too full of no lifer eletist players for me to get involved in that) - so, with this in mond, is the dual pisol thief viable?

Dual pistols actually excel in PvE. WvW, not so much. But the nice thing about pistols is the trait lines you use for them go hand in hand with several other weapons, like the Short Bow, Swords, Daggers etc.

2. i am thinking of going crit max - so should i load up on precision or power+precision runes etc...?

The thing about Crit, especially for thieves, is that you generally want to focus on it or ignore it. So if you're planning on going crit bases, then yes, you'll need a lot of power to back it up. The runes you'll want will be Divinity runes or something similar. +The Stats You want(all/power/precision/etc), +%Crit damage.

3. My build is 30 DA 30 CA 10 Acr to try and maximise crit hit chance with some poison... this ok?

For PvE, you can pretty much spec into anything as long as you play it properly. I.E. if you go that route you'll be a glass cannon, so don't get hit. If you find yourself struggling it's not because the build is bad but more so that it probably doesn't fit your playstyle.

[Mitchrapp]

I had not done any spvp the past 10 days while i was lvling my thief to 80. I did some spvp last night with my 57% crit rate build and had a ton of fun. If you have a 57% crit rate you have an advantage with the sigils that trigger on a critical hit.

I will still try a condition thief for kicks, but i do not want to play a build that is inferior 1 vs 1. I have the most fun winning 1 vs 1 fights at a point, which is crucial to the team's success.

You mentioned going in as a group and staying with the group. However, I don't wait for anyone and I run as fast as possible from point to point. I use the sig of shadows and the extra 25% move speed to take points and run people down. If i see 2-3 guys at a point I will charge in spamming clusterbomb like mad and dodging, then shadow refuge, withdrawl, infiltrators arrow to escape if necessary.

Many times you will have teamates show up to help while your fighting against a group so any damage you do its a huge plus. Also, if im tying up 2-3 people for awhile it means my team has a numbers advantage somewhere else. A very aggressive approach has served me well.

Well we all have different play styles. Going with group over 1 vs 1 suits me better.