Lock & Key: The Next Step

Lock & Key: The Next Step 

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!

Runes:

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…