Guild Wars 2

So I finally got my agony resistence to 75 (5 extra so I am still at 70 underwater) And I have done a couple level 50’s they are fun, but very tough on a thief. I don’t go down so often as to be completely carried by my group, but I definately go down more often than in lower level fractals. Any helpful advice for an aspiring fractal thief?

Edit: I use sword/pistol and short-bow for most fights. I use Pistol/Pistol when appropriate.

Are you having specific troubles with any particular encounters?

Otherwise, all I can suggest (as a casual FotM’r) is to use Black Powder frequently and intelligently to help your team survive in melee.

For trash mobs in pug groups you can drop assassins signet for infiltrators and slot in smokescreen to guarantee blinds for the duration of fights.
Omnomberry pies provided 362(?) lifesteal every couple secs which helps with your sustain.
Fighting at max melee range allows you to step backwards out of melee range from hard-hitting attacks at will. There is max melee, and then you have the absolute max melee which is about 60 degrees off the centre of your character, if you attack diagonally your range is longest(you can attack bridgette in cm p2 without getting touched by symbol or her attacks), putting cripple and chill on bosses allows you to walk backwards and stay out of their range.
A reliable guard can help significantly, projectile defenses save lots of dodges in boss fights and the extra blinds help on trash mobs. Likewise aegis gives you breathing room for missed dodges.
Stripping defiance and allowing your party to use their longest cc gives you time to regen health, endurance and have utility cooldowns come closer to finish.
D/D will regen endurance through its auto attack if you are having trouble timing the pistol whip evades on bosses, and time in stealth is a chance to regen endurance without aggro. If you’re feeling confident death blossom is a great evade(beware of pushing bosses like lupi) which allows you to trade initiative for an evade without as much of a wind-up as pistol whip.

For bosses: Learn attack animations, learn to dodge. Make sure you never attack the boss first so you are less likely to get agro. I don’t really think theres a trick to survive better unless you are running meta team comp and just range with icebow. Withdraw is also really really good for mossman,archie,svanir,mai trin.

Watch your positioning. If you don’t have agro you can stand directly behind a boss and most attacks won’t hit you. Just be aware of which attacks hit in a 360 arc (e.g. Legendary Mining Suit’s double punch) that you will need to evade. Also be ready to dodge if the boss does switch agro to you and turn around, some bosses can also adjust the direction of their attacks mid swing so you need to watch out for allies dodging through the boss putting you in danger during those attacks (Mai Trin’s melee, Lornarr’s Frost Breath and 2nd Archdiviner’s backbreaker spring to mind). Using max melee range will also cut down the number of attacks that can hit you.

D/d will restore endurance and has superior damage, making it the go-to option in boss fights. If you haven’t yet, bind something to “about face” and slot withdraw. You’ll have far more dodges than you need with that setup, and you’ll not mess up defiant stacks trying to get evade frames out of your weapon set.