Guild Wars 2

Nvm! Got some great answers:
Thanx waffler and panic! Your right about the chasing part.. They really cant chase me so i think i run next time and just ignore them. it will be more annonying for them because they can only do duels and whats more annoying if they cant chase a person ghehe, thanx!

They apply confusion, poison and bleeding from stealth and all they do next is shadowsteb away and:

Pew bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed

Shadowsteb > confusion > poison > sneak attack

Pew bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed
Pew more bleed

Sorry but that builds is SO easy and it works!!! yeah i can hit him once, but ofc he just shadowsteb away and do it all over again.

Sorry but issnt this build kinda lame/too simple?? most of the conditions they do from stealth.. and all they need to do is shadowsteb away to create some distance and the conditions do the rest..

even IF its a short bleeding on just spamming 11111111 the bleeding becomes much longer in wvw, sorry but they really need to remove 100% bleeding from a RANGED weapon on AA.. yeah warrior got it but on a melee weapon.. make it like the ranger > bleeding from behind/side.. this build makes me kinda sad how simple and stupid it is..

Ow yeah ahhaha, even if do almost win from him he can OFC!! always useShadow refuse… i love that skill in wvw. :-(

Hmm cant win -Poef- gone

Predict when they will use Shadow Strike (They hit you and shadowstep away and shoot you for 2 torment stacks) and dodge it. Just be very aggressive and try not to get hit by that or CnD. If you can prevent those abilities it’s pretty easy to kill them.

alchemyst.2165:

Predict when they will use Shadow Strike (They hit you and shadowstep away and shoot you for 2 torment stacks) and dodge it. Just be very aggressive and try not to get hit by that or CnD. If you can prevent those abilities it’s pretty easy to kill them.

Predict when they will use Shadow Strike….. lol.
Whenever I heard anything relating to prediction, its an automatic fail as a strategy. You want to be rich, just predict the stock market. Yeah tell me how well that works out for ya.

PLus such Thief has 3k health + 2k armor. You won’t kill him even if you can read his mind.

But you can spec conditional bunker yourself, and not die to such thief.

Unfortunately, you need to employ the same tactic against Thieves.

“Predicting” is an euphemism for guessing, which is another way of saying “whack-a-mole”

Haha Eloquence > http://youtu.be/k0YDuSLXcX8?t=3m16s love it! :-)

But yeah the Prediction issnt always ending very well.. anyways the stealth alone is annoying but OK i can deal with that.. but the 100% passive bleeding from RANGE is just way to easy for a class like that.

CnD has a freaking half second cast. shadow strike requires the thief to be pretty much inside your character to land (seriously, its range is less than melee autoattacks).

like with any thief, CC the hell out of him. P/D builds won’t have tons of dodges to burn evading you, so play around that.

also, since they deal far more condi damage than they do physical damage (even though it’s usually power/condi hybrid), you’d do well to pack a good amount of vitality to eat those condis until the thief lays all his tricks (i.e. confusion, torment, sneak attack).

P/D, despite being a ranged set, can’t do all that much without constantly getting back into melee range.

You do have one other option, but only for certain professions. You can try to lay down tons of AoE around you and where you think the Thief might be.

Unfortunately, that method is really only viable for Elementalists and Engineers as they are really the only two professions that can continuously spam AoE attacks.

Other than that, it is as others have said. Your two best weapons are prediction and luck as you try to play “whack-a-mole” with the Thief.

May the Force be with you…

Thanks.

alternatively, you could try playing one yourself for a while, watching some videos to learn the “tricks of the trade” so to speak, and then see what gets you killed.

BrunoBRS.5178:

alternatively, you could try playing one yourself for a while, watching some videos to learn the “tricks of the trade” so to speak, and then see what gets you killed.

Doing it now.. and its easymode

> INSTANT steal that does confusion and much more crap
> from that your in melee range do INSTANT shadow strike (INSTANT!!!) that does also torment AND shadowstep away.. ofc thats simple it is…
> Pew pew pew pew pew (your already in range)
> when opponent does get into melee range just do CnD if that doesnt work well then there are tons of other ways..
> and ofc the sneak attacks from stealth hmmmm nice

Just so much into 1 weaponset.. not even talking about the other weaponset. Or utility skills

The skills are just way to easy to land and to fast… only CnD has some casttime but a freaking 1/2 sec ISSNT long!! try hitting thief with a warrior.. those skills are MUCH more slower.

Swatting these mosquitos is a real challenge for sure. Short of getting lucky with a good cc and burst (works on the bad or average p/d pests), I really don’t know a foolproof strategy – especially when you get a highly skilled player playing p/d – you’re most likely kittened either way.

Much prefer fighting d/x power burst thieves because at least there’s an element of counter play involved (when you compare with p/d).

I made a p/d condi thief awhile back to play around with the build and my conclusion is that if you have at least half a brain you should never die to any other build in a 1v1… ever. The worst you should expect is a stale-mate if you fight something like a shout guard or diamond skin ele, other than that they are the god mode 1v1 build in this game (even more cheesy than pu mesmer). Fortunately, they are completely useless in team fights, just run cheese mode dual healway guardian comp and you can completely ignore them since they will actually do 0 damage to your group, then they will just turn invisible and run away once the rest of their group is dead and you get to shrug and go about your day.

Waffler.1257:

I made a p/d condi thief awhile back to play around with the build and my conclusion is that if you have at least half a brain you should never die to any other build in a 1v1… ever. The worst you should expect is a stale-mate if you fight something like a shout guard or diamond skin ele, other than that they are the god mode 1v1 build in this game (even more cheesy than pu mesmer). Fortunately, they are completely useless in team fights, just run cheese mode dual healway guardian comp and you can completely ignore them since they will actually do 0 damage to your group, then they will just turn invisible and run away once the rest of their group is dead and you get to shrug and go about your day.

Exactly what Waffler said. Any seasoned veteran that decides he wants to pick up P/D conditions will not die to anything if they don’t want too. The good thing is, they have absolutely no chasing utility.

“What…?”

Yep, they cant chase you. If you die to one, that’s because you are are falling into their defensive utility. Notice how you are the one that has to chase them. If we as a whole decide to simple walk away from P/D fights, you’ll notice that they get awfully bored xD

But seriously… if you want any tips, deny them their CnD/Sneak attack. How? Anticipate it whenEVER they get into melee range. Next time you fight one, dodge around them the moment they come into range of you, and remain a small distance away from them…just enough so they can’t CnD or Shadow Strike. Make them burn init. If you can, fight them with whatever range you have. Keep them blind, or crippled. They absolutely hate that. If you force them into shadow refuge, force them out with any AoE. Don’t forget to laugh as they shadow step away from you to OOC

Thanx waffler and panic! Your right about the chasing part.. They really cant chase me so i think i run next time and just ignore them. it will be more annonying for them because they can only do duels and whats more annoying if they cant chase a person ghehe, thanx!

Exactly! They are the ultimate troll build. Just walk away and deny them the pleasure.

If you want to kill PD Thieves there are plenty of builds that counter it.

Skullcrack on Warrior with the projectile reflect trait
PU Scepter Mesmer, move 20pt in domination to inspiration and time the scepter block on every sneak attack = dead pd thief
Terrormancers can flip the conditions back onto the Thief.
D/P Permastealth Thieves can shed conditions endlessly plus blind the CnD
D/D Eles have plenty of tools to deny CnD and shed conditions (offhand focus works well too)
Toolkit Engies also have CnD denial and aoe.
LB Rangers should be able to counter easily enough after they get buffed.

PD Thieves are incredibly predictable and lower on the cheese scale than some other builds you see if you ask me (Im looking at you PU Mesmer). People just dont factor in the threat they pose into their own builds/strategies for whatever reason, probably because the garden variety backstab Thief is a lot more common.

I switch to shortbow and kill them with no effort at all what r u talking about?!
That spec is 6/2/0/0/6 with 2 condi removers on a long cd.
I keep them poisoned and use SB 1, 2 and 4.

Of they are SA instead of DA i kill them with D/D, i time my cnd or simply use black powder or shadow refuge to get 1 backstab in then finish them off with auto attack or HS if they shadowstep away.

I played P/D for some time with success so i cam predict what they are going to do, before they do it making it easy to counter xD

As said before the key os avoiding the cnd and shadow strike wile keepng the presure high, they die real fast.

roamzero.9486:

PU Scepter Mesmer, move 20pt in domination to inspiration and time the scepter block on every sneak attack = dead pd thief

If I were fighting a mesmer using scepter block on a p/d thief I would probably just cnd off clones until the scepter block was over, but that’s probably an effective method against bad p/d thieves. In fact, even if you do mess up and get the torment on you, you can always just cnd off clones until you are full condi cleared/healed. Mesmers honestly have no chance against a good p/d thief since the thief can molest and abuse their clones to no end to heal up whenever they need, shadow rejuvenation is an insanely strong trait.

Just be happy that you are having fun. And they are not.

Waffler.1257:

roamzero.9486:

PU Scepter Mesmer, move 20pt in domination to inspiration and time the scepter block on every sneak attack = dead pd thief

If I were fighting a mesmer using scepter block on a p/d thief I would probably just cnd off clones until the scepter block was over, but that’s probably an effective method against bad p/d thieves. In fact, even if you do mess up and get the torment on you, you can always just cnd off clones until you are full condi cleared/healed. Mesmers honestly have no chance against a good p/d thief since the thief can molest and abuse their clones to no end to heal up whenever they need, shadow rejuvenation is an insanely strong trait.

That when pu mesmer has to use his brain an shatter clones and critical moments. Also use clones as shield to absorb the sneak attack damamge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY8Y7pvQQuA Few seconds in I kill pd thief have almost never died to a condi pd thief. You need to know what they are capable of, there mobility isn’t that great either so that to your advantage.

Also the bigest counter spec is a zerker sf ele.

Total counter to pd thief its 3rd person view so not very entertaining but you see how sf ele is hard counter to pd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usMYNWy1cPw&feature=youtu.be

As a necro / mesmer you can give the conditions back to the thief. Let them put some good conditions, transfer them and heal yourself.
I also do that against condition warriors.

silentnight warrior.2714:

As a necro / mesmer you can give the conditions back to the thief. Let them put some good conditions, transfer them and heal yourself.
I also do that against condition warriors.

P/D Thief can also cleanse condition whenever they go into stealth (1 at start, 1 more 3 sec later). So returning the bleed stack is not enough you also need to put a few cover conditions before they go back to stealth.

Waffler.1257:

Mesmers honestly have no chance against a good p/d thief since the thief can molest and abuse their clones to no end to heal up whenever they need, shadow rejuvenation is an insanely strong trait.

Strange, I managed to win against a very, very good p/d Thief today on my Mesmer. Sure it took like 3 minutes of battle and the Theif only popping up for 3 seconds before stealthing again, but still. Timing and luck worked to my advantage in the end. Heavy defensive footwork with the staff was one of the main reasons I could keep on top.

But it all depends on how you count a win.

Of course I didnt kill the Thief, I only got him down to real low HP. Killing a p/d build is pretty much impossible with any build/class combo unless you’re an elite PvPer. He withdrew and bowed though, lol.

And they call PU Mesmers cheese, sigh… Its nothing compared to a p/d condi Thief.

nicknamenick.2437:

BrunoBRS.5178:

alternatively, you could try playing one yourself for a while, watching some videos to learn the “tricks of the trade” so to speak, and then see what gets you killed.

Doing it now.. and its easymode

> INSTANT steal that does confusion and much more crap
> from that your in melee range do INSTANT shadow strike (INSTANT!!!) that does also torment AND shadowstep away.. ofc thats simple it is…
> Pew pew pew pew pew (your already in range)
> when opponent does get into melee range just do CnD if that doesnt work well then there are tons of other ways..
> and ofc the sneak attacks from stealth hmmmm nice

Just so much into 1 weaponset.. not even talking about the other weaponset. Or utility skills

The skills are just way to easy to land and to fast… only CnD has some casttime but a freaking 1/2 sec ISSNT long!! try hitting thief with a warrior.. those skills are MUCH more slower.

It seems to me you haven’t fought any good players yet.

Ways to deal with Condi Pistol Thief that isn’t a Tormentor;
- Stay at range and let them come to you. They’ll try to hit you with CnD, dodge that, make them pay.
- When they are in stealth, just wait for the first bullet then dodge. You’ll evade a few bleeds and get them out of stealth that way.
- Also, don’t attack when you have confusion. That’s just a death sentence.
- Have condi cleanse. Since they mostly apply bleed, should be easy to stay alive against them depending on what class you run.

Dawdler.8521:

Waffler.1257:

Mesmers honestly have no chance against a good p/d thief since the thief can molest and abuse their clones to no end to heal up whenever they need, shadow rejuvenation is an insanely strong trait.

Strange, I managed to win against a very, very good p/d Thief today on my Mesmer. Sure it took like 3 minutes of battle and the Theif only popping up for 3 seconds before stealthing again, but still. Timing and luck worked to my advantage in the end. Heavy defensive footwork with the staff was one of the main reasons I could keep on top.

But it all depends on how you count a win.

Of course I didnt kill the Thief, I only got him down to real low HP. Killing a p/d build is pretty much impossible with any build/class combo unless you’re an elite PvPer. He withdrew and bowed though, lol.

And they call PU Mesmers cheese, sigh… Its nothing compared to a p/d condi Thief.

PD condi thief is actually harder to player and has more counters compared to standard condi pu mesmer build.

Dawdler.8521:

Waffler.1257:

Mesmers honestly have no chance against a good p/d thief since the thief can molest and abuse their clones to no end to heal up whenever they need, shadow rejuvenation is an insanely strong trait.

Strange, I managed to win against a very, very good p/d Thief today on my Mesmer. Sure it took like 3 minutes of battle and the Theif only popping up for 3 seconds before stealthing again, but still. Timing and luck worked to my advantage in the end. Heavy defensive footwork with the staff was one of the main reasons I could keep on top.

But it all depends on how you count a win.

Of course I didnt kill the Thief, I only got him down to real low HP. Killing a p/d build is pretty much impossible with any build/class combo unless you’re an elite PvPer. He withdrew and bowed though, lol.

And they call PU Mesmers cheese, sigh… Its nothing compared to a p/d condi Thief.

PD condi thief is actually harder to player and has more counters compared to standard condi pu mesmer build. Though both builds are pretty bad team play but great dueling specs.

Only one skill can counter them (if u r very lucky) :
Polymorph Moa
P/d thief build is a bad joke like this skill.

Sadly theres not even the slightest spark of balance between classes and builds in this game.

Irrelevant but…
On my warrior I just stand there with my healing sig and adren health and autoattack… If the bleeding gets overwhelming I just clear it with my warhorn

Loading.4503:

Irrelevant but…
On my warrior I just stand there with my healing sig and adren health and autoattack… If the bleeding gets overwhelming I just clear it with my warhorn

Just another thief trying to divert the attention away from the OPness of the thief…. Move along don’t take the bait.

Loading.4503:

Irrelevant but…
On my demi-god I just stand there with my healing sig and adren health and autoattack… If the bleeding gets overwhelming I just clear it with my warhorn

There we go…

Fixed that for you.

I think the OP was asking about how the other professions that don’t have the armor, health, and damage that a Warrior has deals with said Thief. I doubt many Thieves can actually out-damage a Warrior’s heals one versus one.

Thanks.

I fought one 5 min ago, 1200 range him with elixir gun bleed spam. If he comes close to c&d max range again with elixir gun 4 or rocket boots and if he really really wants to c&d put gluebomb + some other bombs at your feet. Works like a charm. Also if he gets invisible count to 2 and use your magnetic shield. Theirs a very big chance that he will bleedstack himself. If he swtiches to shortbow to close the distance for some weird reason he can only close the gab and gets 10 bleedstacks and burning to his face cause he has no initative left and sits in a weapon set he doesnt want to be in.

Thats how I do it works on my engi.

Mayama.1854:

I fought one 5 min ago, 1200 range him with elixir gun bleed spam. If he comes close to c&d max range again with elixir gun 4 or rocket boots and if he really really wants to c&d put gluebomb + some other bombs at your feet. Works like a charm. Also if he gets invisible count to 2 and use your magnetic shield. Theirs a very big chance that he will bleedstack himself. If he swtiches to shortbow to close the distance for some weird reason he can only close the gab and gets 10 bleedstacks and burning to his face cause he has no initative left and sits in a weapon set he doesnt want to be in.

Thats how I do it works on my engi.

Wait wait wait.. so what you’re saying is counter a condispam thief with an even more condispan engie?

HOW WAS THIS CONDISPAM META SOLUTION NOT SO OBVIOUS BEFORE!!!

Michaeas Magister.1589:

Loading.4503:

Irrelevant but…
On my demi-god I just stand there with my healing sig and adren health and autoattack… If the bleeding gets overwhelming I just clear it with my warhorn

There we go…

Fixed that for you.

I think the OP was asking about how the other professions that don’t have the armor, health, and damage that a Warrior has deals with said Thief. I doubt many Thieves can actually out-damage a Warrior’s heals one versus one.

Thanks.

You obviously have not participated in enough 1v1 then, the warrior class is not as invincible as you try and make it out to be… No I don’t main warrior, nor do I hardly ever play one.

When people tell you to predict when thieves will use skills like shadow step, steal, cnd, and shadow stab they’re being realistic. You need to play against thieves for a while and you’ll realize just like an auto attack rotation there are moments those skills will be used. By blinding, blocking, or evading you’re giving yourself a higher chance of negating the skill at least. It really does require a feel for it

As pointed out and shown in a nice video sf ele is a perfect counter. 3 condi cleanse + reflect when they steal, blind and invuln when they get into melee to cnd, swirling to mitigate range, water attune cleanse for minor things, strong burst and ranged pressure to punch through tanky stats.

That’s assuming the pd commits to the fight and no critters or tower walls around to cnd off of. Remember, all walls and critters are on the side of the pd thief. Also, in a completely open situation where there is no walls or critters PU condi might be better than pd condi, but critters and walls give pd condi my stamp as the “easiest to play and feel like you are good” build in WvW.