Welcome Back Thieves! I hope that you’ve survived your first week-or-so in the world of Tyria. I know I’ve enjoyed myself tremendously. Finally putting the time into a Thief I could call my own was extremely satisfying. Having reached level 38 at the time I am writing this, I’ve started to encounter a few things which were outside of our grasp in the Beta Weekend Events. This week, we’ll discuss these ‘mid-level’ elements, such as sigils, dungeons and more!
While I had seen them in the beta weekend events, Runes never really got much of my time. This was mainly due to the fact that I knew my character was destined for deletion, and frankly, WvW was absorbing much of my attention. However, now that I’ve got my trusty Thief Mrell up to the level where he is seeing sigils, I figured they’d be more important to take note of.
Boy was I missing out before then.
Runes, to me, seem to be almost as important as Traits or Utility skills in your Thief’s build. The set bonuses some of these items offer are superb. Currently, I’m running with the Minor Rune of Divinity. It gives a lovely set bonus of +3 to all stats and a 1% Critical Damage buff. If you’ve got two then this is doubled. In addition, I’d love to have a pistol with each of the Racial Runes (i.e. the Minor Rune of Grawl Slaying), just sitting in my bank at some point in the future.
One tip I will give you all is to invest in a Master Salvage Kit early on. Keep it in your bank, and when you get to town, salvage those items you’ve found with Runes you like. I’ve already acquired quite a little collection.
No matter which Runes you choose to use, make sure you spend the time and think about them. They can be a great addition to your gear and can make a surprising difference in just how powerful your character can end up being.
Dungeons:
Ah yes, Dungeons. These staples of PvE endgame are the way in which we can test our ability, our team work, and our capacity for stress. We got a taste of what is to come when we ventured into the depths of the Ascalon Catacombs in the Beta Weekends, but we’ve got far greater encounters ahead of us. While I’ve not yet ventured into the halls of Minister Caudecus’ Manor, I’ll offer you a few tips I accrued from my runs of the first dungeon.
- Collaborate with your Team: May seem like a given to some players, but communication is key. It is better to be oversaturated with people ideas and plans than stuck in a position where you don’t know what is going on.
- When a Thief is Downed, They aren’t Out: Are downed skills have to be some of the best in the game. Simply teleporting to the side, and then pelting the enemy with knives is both helpful to your team, since it does damage, and helpful to you, since it gets you closer to standing up again.
- Group Stealth: This can be very useful. Made a bad pull? Throw down a group stealth and you may just have an opportunity to reset things. Personally, I like Blinding Powder, but Shadow Refuge or Combo Fields are a good way to go as well.
- Scorpion Wire: Have this Skill available. Being able to pick an enemy out of a melee, or pull one member of a mob of enemies to your group can be a life-saving move. Four mobs might be too many, but three might just be doable.
Those are just some of the tips I can offer about Dungeoneering in GW2. I’m sure that once I get a few dungeons under my belt, this topic will be revisited in great depth.
Factions:
Just join the Order of Whispers. You are a Thief, so it fits perfectly. The story is great, and the characters (well, really just one…) are fantastic. Honestly, this is some of the best stuff I’ve experienced in the game so far, and it does a superb job of making you feel like a covert spy. Trust me…
General Tactics:
- Dodge Sparingly:. There are more than a few times I’ve been knocked down simply because I dodged when I didn’t have to. Strafing and zig-zaggin’ however, I give you permission to do as much as You’d like…
- Elites can, in fact, be used frequently: Don’t worry about saving these. There have been more than a few times that the use of Thieves Guild has saved my life.
- Learn your limits: You have stealth, which means you’re able to easily escape from most situations. Learning which situations you can handle and which you can’t can be incredibly important. It means you won’t be dying as much, which is always good….
Next week, I’ll spend some time discussing the leveling process from 1 to 40 in depth, talking about the four ways you can play a Thief while leveling…
If you get a chance, join me at Guutra’s Lodge for a flask of Hylek Absinthe.
Yours in Larceny,
Wormwood
I love the abruptness of Blinding Powder, but I usually run with Shadow Refuge because it's a "wipe" saver... on more than one occassion I've pulled the fat out of the proverbial frier with SR.
Scorpion Wire also acts as an interrupt if timed well... doubling its usefulness imo (but it is still subject to being countered by stability.)
Outstanding advice about the Master Salvage Kit... I've started using these as well, and much prefer to either go the whole hog, or not at all (I don't use the in-between grade salvage kits any longer - either going for cheap and just the base components, or all the way towards the best chance to recover upgrades.)
Great article as usual Wormwood. Looking forward to reading your further insights on the later levels of the profession. (My alt addiction has kicked into to full swing, so you'll get there well ahead of me... heh.)
@ArcherAvatar Shadow Refuge is definitely one of our most powerful skills. However, like you said, I lvoe the abruptness of Blinding Powder. More and more, I'm getting pulled towards a stealth build...
Scorpion wire never leaves my bar.. Love it.
I just bought one of the Black Lion Salvage kits with gems. I plan to keep this around for that express purpose. Your advice is good though. I've been buying Fine Salvage kits mostly, but i think you actually have the right idea. Keep the good ones for when I NEED the special item, just raw process everything else.
Hooray for Alt Addiction!!