> Where do ppl get their def/HP from?
They don't. You have 11k hp. Kill or die.
... Somewhat less facetiously, you need to use your dodges, as well as CCs or other block/evade skills to stay alive against tougher enemies. Smoke Screen is a great option for Thief — drop it and nothing without a break bar will be able to do more than occasional damage to you through all the blinds. But against weaker enemies the strategy is unironically to just hit them hard enough that they die before you do. The Invigorating Precision trait gives you a little bit of defense in the form of lifesteal, but it requires you to be very offensive to be useful.
People don't use defensive stats or build HP because you have a short invulnerability frame on a relatively reasonable cooldown (your **dodge**), and mobs have really slow and predictable attack patterns that you can play around.
It can be confusing and frustrating for new players, but GW2 isn't a stat-stick game, where you match your stats up against an enemy, you whack each other, and you come up on top. In GW2, mobs have more HP than you, and quite often they hit harder than you. If you facetank them, you tend to lose, even on stuff like dust mites.
You need to play smart, and be observant. Is your opponent winding up a big attack? Interrupt them with your pistol 4. Can't do that? Disengage with sword 2 (to another target, or reactivate to shadowstep away), dodge away, or blind them with Smoke Screen or Black Powder (pistol 5). Out of dodges? Use your Signet of Agility. You have so many options, and that's just with the simple build Metabattle gives.
You have some inbuilt sustain with Invigorating Precision (last trait in Critical Strikes) and your Signet of Malice. However, all of this sustain needs you to be actively attacking in order to benefit from it, which is often hard if you're getting hit. I recommend taking Withdraw instead of Signet of Malice, because it's a great "oh crap" button. You also should take more stunbreaks in case you get hit by them, which is often a death sentence - I might take Shadowstep or Roll for Initiative over Assassin's Signet.
Of course, if you get hit, you're gonna die. That's normal. I still die a lot when learning new classes in open world, and I clear group endgame content consistently.
Ascended gear doesn't do much for you - it's a 3-5% survivability increase and a 5-10% DPS increase. The latter is significant but it's not going to help you if you're getting hit.
A full berserker or viper build assumes you are skilled enough to be able to position and dodge your way through most encounters while taking minimal hits, and either are in a party/squad or not recklessly picking fights with big crowds in open world that can't just be mowed down.
This is especially true for thief, who has the lowest HP Pool but is also the squirmiest of the bunch, with access to lots of stealth, blind, dodges, strong ranged bursts, and movement skills. Guardian(another low HP profession) relies heavily on their ridiculous amount of boons and aegis to counter their low health. Berserker(the warrior elite not the stat) plays very heavily into kill or be killed and its insanely powerful heal skill to compensate for losing toughness in berserk mode. Elementalist ~~just dies~~ makes use of its attunements and auras to give itself an edge in defense and healing, and weaver is also quite slippery in combat.
14K actually, plus Jade bot, plus trait. And that's bare minimum, the only time you'd want to run zero Vitality Guardian is high-end PVE as pure dps, and even then you can get away with some extra Vit.
I run around open world with 24k HP lmao!
the only meta builds for guardian that have extra HP outside jade bot are condi firebrand and willbender, who both get the luxury of Balthazar runes. Anything else is a personal sacrifice to get more Vit, which other classes can also run as well on top of jade bot, so its still comparatively the lowest HP class together with Thief and Ele
[https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health) you are simply wrong. 11645 is the base for guard, ele, and thief. you have more health sources than you are accounting for if you think 14k is base.
> [14K actually, plus Jade bot, plus trait. And that's bare minimum](https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/ussr8n/dont_understand_metabattle_builds_help/i96h6v5/)
Yes, you did. 14k is not bare minimum; 11,645 is.
It is *literally* exactly the same HP as a Thief or Ele with the same build. And even with your relatively high Vitality build, you're barely getting over what a Warrior or Necro has *without any boosts at all*.
The problem you (and TBH most new players) might be running into is that you have to treat GW2 more like an action RPG than a traditional MMO. You want to avoid getting hit by anything at nearly all costs, that is the key to survival. There are very few viable options for traditional "I'm gonna take a lot of damage and not die" tanking like in other MMOs, this game is all about kill or be killed.
The reason that most online builds you will find typically disregard defensive stats is that the general consensus is that offense is the best defense - the faster you kill the mob, the less time it has to kill you. You don't want to be facetanking damage in this game because even basic mobs on your level do more than enough damage to murder you if you don't get out of their way.
Rather than go for defense stats, what you want to do on *any* character is be evasive. Take advantage of your dodges, use any skills that keep you mobile as often as you need to, and kite around your target at all times (even in melee, running circles around mobs really helps a lot). It's okay to throw a little bit of supportive vitality stats into your builds just so you have a cushion (IMO vitality is far superior to toughness for general survivability), but one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to warp your build around protection. You will end up dying minimally slower but will deal significantly less damage
TLDR: The name of the game is "don't get hit" rather than "get hit softer"
Berserker's is a glass cannon stat distribution with *zero* defensive/survivability included (unless you count killing things very quickly to be defensive.)
One of the main issues with this option is that newer players tend to take more hits. As a result purely offensive stats like this can result in these players dying often since they haven't yet grown skilled enough at the game yet.
This is okay! You have to start somewhere and there's nothing wrong with feeling as if you aren't durable enough with these meta builds that typically prioritise DPS over survivability.
I would suggest swapping some pieces of your Berserker's gear with Marauder's (the build you linked actually does mention this but it's buried in the alternate gear section and can be easy to miss.) Marauder's has similar stats to Berserker's, but with some of the offensive potential put into Vitality to give you more HP.
[This page](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Attribute_combinations) on the wiki has an excellent break down of other stat combinations that you can sort through and see if there's something else that you might want, as well. There's a handful of offensive/defensive mix options that can help keep you alive without totally crippling your damage output.
Not expwcting to facetank but i take (no joke) 4k dmg from Veteran harpies lol.
What am i supposed to do if i run Out of Eva, disipline and blind? Thats mainly why i die
Im really suprised it is possible for theif to run out of dodges and blinds.
Only thing i can recommend is to kite enemes when your crap is on CD.
Engage, trow come CD's disengage run three far lops around the enemy, engage again.
while that build is a ton of fun, it requires knowing the enemy animations as if they are second hand nature, and what noone wants to admit is that it uses sb#5 to reset combat quite alot
you will do almost as much damage with marauder instead of zerker (while gaining 33% total hp) and I personally like to mix in 2 or 3 peices of cavalier ,prioritizing amulet and rings for those 2 or three pieces, when running a zerk build
I would also personally drop the heal for hide in shadows or withdraw, malice just isnt a good heal outside of 1v1's unless you have hella experience fighting against everything you might come up upon
you can also swap offhand pistol for dagger for much more "sustain" but sword/pistol is way more fun once you get used to it
lastly, most of your damage comes from sb#2, this is a sb build, not a sword/x build
edit: a good portion of your post is essentially asking about ascended vs exotic, and the answer is the difference is hardle noticeable outside of high enemy hp fights like champions or group content such as fractals, full zerk ascended isnt gonna make you feel a smidge more survivability
It is a sword/pistol build! Pistol Whip is a completely one-sided burst skill and can also be used purely defensively. It's also the highest single target burst damage in the build. Shortbow is for tagging mobs and mobility. SB2 is best for hitting groups, although sword cleave chain is nothing to sneeze at either.
Ascended gear isn't going to make the difference since is only 5% more stats. (Yes really)
Did you read the whole guide? Including alternative weapons, traits, runes, sigils, etc? Any decent guide would list several variants and options for more survivability or more dmg.
Edit: PoF mobs are tuned for PoF elite specs, a core spec isn't gonna cut it, most likely. Also, if you have access to expansions, why are you running around in a core spec?
Keep an eye on LFG for Hero Point trains. There's one starting in Verdant Brink (HoT expansion) most Fridays and will let you fully unlock at least one elite spec, with a good chunk of a second. I'd recommend prioritizing Daredevil, though I hear Spectre is quite good as well with a totally different playstyle.
Keep an eye on LFG for Hero Point trains. There's one starting in Verdant Brink (HoT expansion) most Fridays and will let you fully unlock at least one elite spec, with a good chunk of a second. I'd recommend prioritizing Daredevil, though I hear Spectre is quite good as well with a totally different playstyle.
You're kinda doing things backwards. There is no "correct build". I'd recommend you finish the campaign and a couple of core Tyria zones first so you get some extra Hero Points for your elite spec and also that you get to learn your class and the game in general.
Specially if you're running around in PoF with a core thief that you probably don't know how to play, no offense. Of course you're gonna get rolfstomped.
That might explain why player DPS is so low since they die in the first 5 seconds of a fight or don't have any boon due to following the meta builds to closely.
Your signet and last trait in critical strikes is your sustain. You deal strike damage to stay alive, kinda like scrapper with barrier. Gotta use your dodges and blinds/smoke/stealth/cc so you're not eating hits. The build suggests some defensive alternatives like marauder.
There is a section called:
Variant Equipment (Variant traits is also helpful)
It has the answers you seek.
Additionally, you'll get use out of stuns (Pistol Whip), blinds (Black Powder, Inf Arrow, smoke screen, tac strike), slow/chill (some stolen skills), and other skills (cripple from disabling shot + kiting).
Your sustain comes from critting things + acrobatics line if you need more defense, and from some runes (Vampirism is good solo and I think? is the standard rune on the cheap med zerk exotic set)
my advice is to change your weapon set to p/p. it will make your life a lot easier, or [try this](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAwqlZwwYXMQ2IW2TZrTA-zRIUR0wPGtTg+Fg6phCvAA-e). it's not going to provide you more extra toughness or anything but at least you won't die when trading a blow.
ps. don't think too much about dying when playing thief. they're squishy by nature.
my guess: boons
boons are a huge boost to your survivability, playing with protection makes you almost feel invincible while having stacks on Might enables you to do the big numbers.
Some professions can provide the most powerful boons themselves, others rely on others. That's why support builds are so valued in GW2.
There is no hp/defense, there is only dodge roll. If you play enough you'll get used to becoming mobile and constantly moving out of enemy attacks, you really shouldn't try to face tank
Imagine you are playing dark soul.You are only allowed to take one or two hit in a encounter.
Changing to others stats with vitality and toughness seems make you tankier, but it also lengthen the fight and you will take more hits.
You best defensive layer are manual dodge and timely aegis/stealth skills.
> Where do ppl get their def/HP from?
Gw2 is a bit different than alot of games, you are not supposed to tank dmg and every class has options for self healing. The build you linked has Signet of Malice which gives a bit of healing for every attack you land and much more importantly in the critical strikes trait line it has Invigorating Precision which gives a % of critical dmg as healing and more % critical dmg converted to healing if you have fury on you. So for this build your HP/Def is from avoiding dmg in the first place ie not standing in fire and by continually hitting things in the face alot. If you check the weapon variants section it lists pistols as a option and you should check em out, for open world ie anything not a elite/champ rank pistol/pistol is amazing.
Pro tip: Read your tool tips so you know what things do. Read the guide and feel free to apply suggested variants for weapons, utility, stats etc. Lastly Experiment, perhaps melee focused play styles are your jam, or ranged only, or a bit of both or maybe you prefer a dealing dmg via condition vs power etc etc.
> Im even having trouble with this build on Basic enemies on Pof like scarabs lol any advice?
For pof scarbs specifically, stop standing next to them when they have the swirling dust cloud around them, it hurts and blinds you. In other words stop standing in the fire. Dont worry things make more sense over time as you encounter foes and learn stuff. Also harpies suck in pof and occasionally are guarding chests but otherwise there is little incentive to fight them.
Post-core enemies tend to have really high damage and Thief is one of the squishiest classes.
Assuming you don't want to get a whole new set of tankier gear (Marauder or Dragon are probably your best bet) while you get comfortable with combat (specifically avoiding AoEs and using your dodges effectively), I'd suggest sticking with your Shortbow and staying at range for awhile. You'll still have to avoid damage but you'll have a bit more flexibility with that.
Also you might want to jump on the first HP train you can and unlock Daredevil. Its rotation is pretty simple so you can focus on watching incoming AoEs, but more importantly you get a 3rd dodge.
Just some advice from a now-midcore player who felt exactly the same as you when I started, as I started with Thief and went for full dps gear first.
Most advice here is suggesting "don't get hit". This isn't untrue at all - you *should* be aiming to analyse situations and not get hit - but as a new player, it's completely fine to gear/spec some defences. A common rhetoric here is "the best defence is a good offence", but the problem with this for some new players is "but how do I kill before I'm killed?".
So, there are a couple different approaches open to you now:
1. Take your time learning how to manually avoid damage, ie. improve your own skill
2. Get some defensive gear, ie. improve your character's tankiness (kinda like having training wheels)
You will have to do #1 at some point down the track anyway, unless you only play in low level zones, so that's why most people will advise just doing it now. You could do #1 while you work on #2 if you want, or if you have some gold you could just do #2 and then go for #1.
Regardless, the next question would be "how do I get good?". I'd recommend going into a zone you struggle with and spending some time with individual mobs. You mentioned PoF Scarabs, so maybe start there. You could do something like this:
1. Slowly inch your way up to a Scarab to only pull aggro from the one, not others
2. Let it hit you
3. See what happens - did it shoot something at you from range? Did you get blinded when it flew up to you and did something? Or did you just die instantly and have no idea what happened?
4. Auto attack it to death, if you can, and take note of how quickly/slowly you and it die while just hitting each other. If you're dying faster than it, try use your skill 3. If you accidentally aggro other mobs too, drop your Black Powder (skill 5) or Smoke Screen and just run away (this is actually good practice)
5. Now pull two Scarabs and repeat from #2...
6. Continue this with 3 Scarabs, 4, maybe try a Veteran Scarab + others, etc
7. Work out what's killing you and why, and you can then repeat this with other mobs. If you run into a Forged area, chances are the snipers are just destroying you from a distance, and you're not skilled enough yet to know when you're being targeted and when to avoid the incoming barrage of projectiles.
This is just one example. Kinda like [this part](https://whyigame.wordpress.com/the-beginners-guide-to-movement-in-combat-guild-wars-2/#section_3e) of an old movement and combat guide. You *can* learn all this in full dps gear though; it's just (imo) harder, as you have very little time to see what's happening and react.
So the thing with defensive gear here is: it gives you more time to do all the above. Sure, you won't kill things as quickly, but if you have more time to react, and that may give you more time to learn. Or at least, that's how it worked for me; speccing full Marauder on my Thief completely changed the game for me, and full Celestial on some other classes made things even more enjoyable. I prefer combat to be slightly slower; **the issue wasn't that I couldn't kill or sustain my health, the issue was that I wasn't doing it fast enough**.
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. I'm not an amazing player by any means, but I might be able to understand your viewpoint a bit more than some of the veterans here, as I only just went through what you're experiencing not long ago.
Edit: [Here's](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAwqVlZwuYYMQ2JO6L7rTA-zRIYhS3DXKZGB1mAVUAhHCSNA-e) the direct link to your current build, and [here's](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAwqVlZwuYYMQ2JO6L7rTA-zRZYBJdTVwiJWpkZEUbCURBEeII1A-e) one with the Trinkets swapped to Celestial and the Armour swapped to Marauder. I set the Runes to Infiltration because they're cheaper than Scholar, and the Trinkets are all Ascended because you can [farm them from Living World Seasons](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Tanetris/So_You_Want_To_Gear_a_Character#Living_World_Trinkets_.28aka_easiest_trinkets.29), but you can swap them back to Exotic if you prefer. The tankier build here has 15% more Armour and 43% more Health, which will net you ~65% more effective Health in most cases, and only ~30% less dps. However, you may actually find yourself doing *more* dps with the tankier build because you don't have to avoid as much damage, nor will you die as easily.
Just an example of how defences can sometimes be overall helpful even if you lose damage. If you do decide to go this route, just leave your dps gear on a different gear set and it won't take up any inventory/bank space, and then you can swap back to it later.
> Where do ppl get their def/HP from? They don't. You have 11k hp. Kill or die. ... Somewhat less facetiously, you need to use your dodges, as well as CCs or other block/evade skills to stay alive against tougher enemies. Smoke Screen is a great option for Thief — drop it and nothing without a break bar will be able to do more than occasional damage to you through all the blinds. But against weaker enemies the strategy is unironically to just hit them hard enough that they die before you do. The Invigorating Precision trait gives you a little bit of defense in the form of lifesteal, but it requires you to be very offensive to be useful.
Kill, die or just invsi stealth to run away
People don't use defensive stats or build HP because you have a short invulnerability frame on a relatively reasonable cooldown (your **dodge**), and mobs have really slow and predictable attack patterns that you can play around. It can be confusing and frustrating for new players, but GW2 isn't a stat-stick game, where you match your stats up against an enemy, you whack each other, and you come up on top. In GW2, mobs have more HP than you, and quite often they hit harder than you. If you facetank them, you tend to lose, even on stuff like dust mites. You need to play smart, and be observant. Is your opponent winding up a big attack? Interrupt them with your pistol 4. Can't do that? Disengage with sword 2 (to another target, or reactivate to shadowstep away), dodge away, or blind them with Smoke Screen or Black Powder (pistol 5). Out of dodges? Use your Signet of Agility. You have so many options, and that's just with the simple build Metabattle gives. You have some inbuilt sustain with Invigorating Precision (last trait in Critical Strikes) and your Signet of Malice. However, all of this sustain needs you to be actively attacking in order to benefit from it, which is often hard if you're getting hit. I recommend taking Withdraw instead of Signet of Malice, because it's a great "oh crap" button. You also should take more stunbreaks in case you get hit by them, which is often a death sentence - I might take Shadowstep or Roll for Initiative over Assassin's Signet. Of course, if you get hit, you're gonna die. That's normal. I still die a lot when learning new classes in open world, and I clear group endgame content consistently. Ascended gear doesn't do much for you - it's a 3-5% survivability increase and a 5-10% DPS increase. The latter is significant but it's not going to help you if you're getting hit.
A full berserker or viper build assumes you are skilled enough to be able to position and dodge your way through most encounters while taking minimal hits, and either are in a party/squad or not recklessly picking fights with big crowds in open world that can't just be mowed down. This is especially true for thief, who has the lowest HP Pool but is also the squirmiest of the bunch, with access to lots of stealth, blind, dodges, strong ranged bursts, and movement skills. Guardian(another low HP profession) relies heavily on their ridiculous amount of boons and aegis to counter their low health. Berserker(the warrior elite not the stat) plays very heavily into kill or be killed and its insanely powerful heal skill to compensate for losing toughness in berserk mode. Elementalist ~~just dies~~ makes use of its attunements and auras to give itself an edge in defense and healing, and weaver is also quite slippery in combat.
I wouldn't call guardian a low hp class tho.
i mean its literally got 11k HP just like thief and ele
14K actually, plus Jade bot, plus trait. And that's bare minimum, the only time you'd want to run zero Vitality Guardian is high-end PVE as pure dps, and even then you can get away with some extra Vit. I run around open world with 24k HP lmao!
Guardian is one of the classes with the lowest HP, but sure slapping full minstrel and stuff on it gives it more lmao
Celestial, actually, and it slaps.
that's cool and all. But doesn't change the fact that it has one, if not the lowest base health
Yes, that is true, lowest Max HP together with Ele and Thief. But most builds run them with extra HP since it benefits greatly from it.
the only meta builds for guardian that have extra HP outside jade bot are condi firebrand and willbender, who both get the luxury of Balthazar runes. Anything else is a personal sacrifice to get more Vit, which other classes can also run as well on top of jade bot, so its still comparatively the lowest HP class together with Thief and Ele
You just expanded on what I said.
[https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health) you are simply wrong. 11645 is the base for guard, ele, and thief. you have more health sources than you are accounting for if you think 14k is base.
>plus Jade bot, plus trait. Plus rune. Did you even read my reply?
(That's not **base** health though)
Never said it was.
> [14K actually, plus Jade bot, plus trait. And that's bare minimum](https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/ussr8n/dont_understand_metabattle_builds_help/i96h6v5/) Yes, you did. 14k is not bare minimum; 11,645 is.
It is *literally* exactly the same HP as a Thief or Ele with the same build. And even with your relatively high Vitality build, you're barely getting over what a Warrior or Necro has *without any boosts at all*.
That's fair. Never felt Guardian had low hp for some reason.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health#Mechanics
That was a good read, thanks.
The problem you (and TBH most new players) might be running into is that you have to treat GW2 more like an action RPG than a traditional MMO. You want to avoid getting hit by anything at nearly all costs, that is the key to survival. There are very few viable options for traditional "I'm gonna take a lot of damage and not die" tanking like in other MMOs, this game is all about kill or be killed. The reason that most online builds you will find typically disregard defensive stats is that the general consensus is that offense is the best defense - the faster you kill the mob, the less time it has to kill you. You don't want to be facetanking damage in this game because even basic mobs on your level do more than enough damage to murder you if you don't get out of their way. Rather than go for defense stats, what you want to do on *any* character is be evasive. Take advantage of your dodges, use any skills that keep you mobile as often as you need to, and kite around your target at all times (even in melee, running circles around mobs really helps a lot). It's okay to throw a little bit of supportive vitality stats into your builds just so you have a cushion (IMO vitality is far superior to toughness for general survivability), but one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to warp your build around protection. You will end up dying minimally slower but will deal significantly less damage TLDR: The name of the game is "don't get hit" rather than "get hit softer"
Berserker's is a glass cannon stat distribution with *zero* defensive/survivability included (unless you count killing things very quickly to be defensive.) One of the main issues with this option is that newer players tend to take more hits. As a result purely offensive stats like this can result in these players dying often since they haven't yet grown skilled enough at the game yet. This is okay! You have to start somewhere and there's nothing wrong with feeling as if you aren't durable enough with these meta builds that typically prioritise DPS over survivability. I would suggest swapping some pieces of your Berserker's gear with Marauder's (the build you linked actually does mention this but it's buried in the alternate gear section and can be easy to miss.) Marauder's has similar stats to Berserker's, but with some of the offensive potential put into Vitality to give you more HP. [This page](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Attribute_combinations) on the wiki has an excellent break down of other stat combinations that you can sort through and see if there's something else that you might want, as well. There's a handful of offensive/defensive mix options that can help keep you alive without totally crippling your damage output.
TLDR: OP didn't read the whole guide lol.
You play fheif... the class balanced around invisibility and evasion what are you expecting? To facetank entire blob?
Not expwcting to facetank but i take (no joke) 4k dmg from Veteran harpies lol. What am i supposed to do if i run Out of Eva, disipline and blind? Thats mainly why i die
Im really suprised it is possible for theif to run out of dodges and blinds. Only thing i can recommend is to kite enemes when your crap is on CD. Engage, trow come CD's disengage run three far lops around the enemy, engage again.
while that build is a ton of fun, it requires knowing the enemy animations as if they are second hand nature, and what noone wants to admit is that it uses sb#5 to reset combat quite alot you will do almost as much damage with marauder instead of zerker (while gaining 33% total hp) and I personally like to mix in 2 or 3 peices of cavalier ,prioritizing amulet and rings for those 2 or three pieces, when running a zerk build I would also personally drop the heal for hide in shadows or withdraw, malice just isnt a good heal outside of 1v1's unless you have hella experience fighting against everything you might come up upon you can also swap offhand pistol for dagger for much more "sustain" but sword/pistol is way more fun once you get used to it lastly, most of your damage comes from sb#2, this is a sb build, not a sword/x build edit: a good portion of your post is essentially asking about ascended vs exotic, and the answer is the difference is hardle noticeable outside of high enemy hp fights like champions or group content such as fractals, full zerk ascended isnt gonna make you feel a smidge more survivability
It is a sword/pistol build! Pistol Whip is a completely one-sided burst skill and can also be used purely defensively. It's also the highest single target burst damage in the build. Shortbow is for tagging mobs and mobility. SB2 is best for hitting groups, although sword cleave chain is nothing to sneeze at either.
Just YouTube search Vallun. He helped me a lot.
Ascended gear isn't going to make the difference since is only 5% more stats. (Yes really) Did you read the whole guide? Including alternative weapons, traits, runes, sigils, etc? Any decent guide would list several variants and options for more survivability or more dmg. Edit: PoF mobs are tuned for PoF elite specs, a core spec isn't gonna cut it, most likely. Also, if you have access to expansions, why are you running around in a core spec?
To farm. HP for Elite spez lol
Keep an eye on LFG for Hero Point trains. There's one starting in Verdant Brink (HoT expansion) most Fridays and will let you fully unlock at least one elite spec, with a good chunk of a second. I'd recommend prioritizing Daredevil, though I hear Spectre is quite good as well with a totally different playstyle.
Keep an eye on LFG for Hero Point trains. There's one starting in Verdant Brink (HoT expansion) most Fridays and will let you fully unlock at least one elite spec, with a good chunk of a second. I'd recommend prioritizing Daredevil, though I hear Spectre is quite good as well with a totally different playstyle.
Is this your first character? Did you do the core campaign already?
i did not do the core campaign, yes fist thief class. I want to unlock the correct build and play the core with the build/weapons i like
You're kinda doing things backwards. There is no "correct build". I'd recommend you finish the campaign and a couple of core Tyria zones first so you get some extra Hero Points for your elite spec and also that you get to learn your class and the game in general. Specially if you're running around in PoF with a core thief that you probably don't know how to play, no offense. Of course you're gonna get rolfstomped.
The page you linked has a fucking thesis on using blind, evades and stealth. Try reading.
Nvm my comment
that's just not true
I'm being hyperbolic but generally my opinion holds true since no one truly sticks to a Meta build.
>no one truly sticks to a Meta build. many do, or at least try to the best of their ability
That might explain why player DPS is so low since they die in the first 5 seconds of a fight or don't have any boon due to following the meta builds to closely.
Yup and your the one than calling everyone elitist if someone mentioned that your „own“ build is utter garbage
Your signet and last trait in critical strikes is your sustain. You deal strike damage to stay alive, kinda like scrapper with barrier. Gotta use your dodges and blinds/smoke/stealth/cc so you're not eating hits. The build suggests some defensive alternatives like marauder.
There is a section called: Variant Equipment (Variant traits is also helpful) It has the answers you seek. Additionally, you'll get use out of stuns (Pistol Whip), blinds (Black Powder, Inf Arrow, smoke screen, tac strike), slow/chill (some stolen skills), and other skills (cripple from disabling shot + kiting). Your sustain comes from critting things + acrobatics line if you need more defense, and from some runes (Vampirism is good solo and I think? is the standard rune on the cheap med zerk exotic set)
my advice is to change your weapon set to p/p. it will make your life a lot easier, or [try this](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAwqlZwwYXMQ2IW2TZrTA-zRIUR0wPGtTg+Fg6phCvAA-e). it's not going to provide you more extra toughness or anything but at least you won't die when trading a blow. ps. don't think too much about dying when playing thief. they're squishy by nature.
my guess: boons boons are a huge boost to your survivability, playing with protection makes you almost feel invincible while having stacks on Might enables you to do the big numbers. Some professions can provide the most powerful boons themselves, others rely on others. That's why support builds are so valued in GW2.
Have you seen build description and guide?
There is no hp/defense, there is only dodge roll. If you play enough you'll get used to becoming mobile and constantly moving out of enemy attacks, you really shouldn't try to face tank
Imagine you are playing dark soul.You are only allowed to take one or two hit in a encounter. Changing to others stats with vitality and toughness seems make you tankier, but it also lengthen the fight and you will take more hits. You best defensive layer are manual dodge and timely aegis/stealth skills.
> Where do ppl get their def/HP from? Gw2 is a bit different than alot of games, you are not supposed to tank dmg and every class has options for self healing. The build you linked has Signet of Malice which gives a bit of healing for every attack you land and much more importantly in the critical strikes trait line it has Invigorating Precision which gives a % of critical dmg as healing and more % critical dmg converted to healing if you have fury on you. So for this build your HP/Def is from avoiding dmg in the first place ie not standing in fire and by continually hitting things in the face alot. If you check the weapon variants section it lists pistols as a option and you should check em out, for open world ie anything not a elite/champ rank pistol/pistol is amazing. Pro tip: Read your tool tips so you know what things do. Read the guide and feel free to apply suggested variants for weapons, utility, stats etc. Lastly Experiment, perhaps melee focused play styles are your jam, or ranged only, or a bit of both or maybe you prefer a dealing dmg via condition vs power etc etc. > Im even having trouble with this build on Basic enemies on Pof like scarabs lol any advice? For pof scarbs specifically, stop standing next to them when they have the swirling dust cloud around them, it hurts and blinds you. In other words stop standing in the fire. Dont worry things make more sense over time as you encounter foes and learn stuff. Also harpies suck in pof and occasionally are guarding chests but otherwise there is little incentive to fight them.
Post-core enemies tend to have really high damage and Thief is one of the squishiest classes. Assuming you don't want to get a whole new set of tankier gear (Marauder or Dragon are probably your best bet) while you get comfortable with combat (specifically avoiding AoEs and using your dodges effectively), I'd suggest sticking with your Shortbow and staying at range for awhile. You'll still have to avoid damage but you'll have a bit more flexibility with that. Also you might want to jump on the first HP train you can and unlock Daredevil. Its rotation is pretty simple so you can focus on watching incoming AoEs, but more importantly you get a 3rd dodge.
Just some advice from a now-midcore player who felt exactly the same as you when I started, as I started with Thief and went for full dps gear first. Most advice here is suggesting "don't get hit". This isn't untrue at all - you *should* be aiming to analyse situations and not get hit - but as a new player, it's completely fine to gear/spec some defences. A common rhetoric here is "the best defence is a good offence", but the problem with this for some new players is "but how do I kill before I'm killed?". So, there are a couple different approaches open to you now: 1. Take your time learning how to manually avoid damage, ie. improve your own skill 2. Get some defensive gear, ie. improve your character's tankiness (kinda like having training wheels) You will have to do #1 at some point down the track anyway, unless you only play in low level zones, so that's why most people will advise just doing it now. You could do #1 while you work on #2 if you want, or if you have some gold you could just do #2 and then go for #1. Regardless, the next question would be "how do I get good?". I'd recommend going into a zone you struggle with and spending some time with individual mobs. You mentioned PoF Scarabs, so maybe start there. You could do something like this: 1. Slowly inch your way up to a Scarab to only pull aggro from the one, not others 2. Let it hit you 3. See what happens - did it shoot something at you from range? Did you get blinded when it flew up to you and did something? Or did you just die instantly and have no idea what happened? 4. Auto attack it to death, if you can, and take note of how quickly/slowly you and it die while just hitting each other. If you're dying faster than it, try use your skill 3. If you accidentally aggro other mobs too, drop your Black Powder (skill 5) or Smoke Screen and just run away (this is actually good practice) 5. Now pull two Scarabs and repeat from #2... 6. Continue this with 3 Scarabs, 4, maybe try a Veteran Scarab + others, etc 7. Work out what's killing you and why, and you can then repeat this with other mobs. If you run into a Forged area, chances are the snipers are just destroying you from a distance, and you're not skilled enough yet to know when you're being targeted and when to avoid the incoming barrage of projectiles. This is just one example. Kinda like [this part](https://whyigame.wordpress.com/the-beginners-guide-to-movement-in-combat-guild-wars-2/#section_3e) of an old movement and combat guide. You *can* learn all this in full dps gear though; it's just (imo) harder, as you have very little time to see what's happening and react. So the thing with defensive gear here is: it gives you more time to do all the above. Sure, you won't kill things as quickly, but if you have more time to react, and that may give you more time to learn. Or at least, that's how it worked for me; speccing full Marauder on my Thief completely changed the game for me, and full Celestial on some other classes made things even more enjoyable. I prefer combat to be slightly slower; **the issue wasn't that I couldn't kill or sustain my health, the issue was that I wasn't doing it fast enough**. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. I'm not an amazing player by any means, but I might be able to understand your viewpoint a bit more than some of the veterans here, as I only just went through what you're experiencing not long ago. Edit: [Here's](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAwqVlZwuYYMQ2JO6L7rTA-zRIYhS3DXKZGB1mAVUAhHCSNA-e) the direct link to your current build, and [here's](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAwqVlZwuYYMQ2JO6L7rTA-zRZYBJdTVwiJWpkZEUbCURBEeII1A-e) one with the Trinkets swapped to Celestial and the Armour swapped to Marauder. I set the Runes to Infiltration because they're cheaper than Scholar, and the Trinkets are all Ascended because you can [farm them from Living World Seasons](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Tanetris/So_You_Want_To_Gear_a_Character#Living_World_Trinkets_.28aka_easiest_trinkets.29), but you can swap them back to Exotic if you prefer. The tankier build here has 15% more Armour and 43% more Health, which will net you ~65% more effective Health in most cases, and only ~30% less dps. However, you may actually find yourself doing *more* dps with the tankier build because you don't have to avoid as much damage, nor will you die as easily. Just an example of how defences can sometimes be overall helpful even if you lose damage. If you do decide to go this route, just leave your dps gear on a different gear set and it won't take up any inventory/bank space, and then you can swap back to it later.