Hello,
Figured I’d give everyone a heads up on the Thief Downed State. It’s not as hard to deal with as you might think. Just like the Mesmer’s Downed State, it takes some getting used to. As a Thief, I can tell you what works, and if you listen up and improve your skills, downing a Thief will only be a few seconds longer than downing anyone else.
The first note is to realize, yes, it will always take you longer to down a Thief. So, because you are owning him so hard before the Downed State, you should prepare mentally when he does go down that it’s time to look for his teleport.
The Thief has two escape abilities when Downed. The first is a very short range teleport. It moves the Thief a short distance, instantly, and is immediately available upon becoming Downed. The second is a very short stealth, which does not become active for a while after being Downed.
If you look at your own Downed skills, you will notice you have the same kind of thing – one ability available immediately and the other on cooldown. The Thief is no different.
So you’re stunlocking, evading all his attacks, and finally killing that Thief. He goes down. Now what? Provided you have the health, go in for the F-inisher or Stomp, and begin the animation knowing full-well this guy is going to teleport nearby before you can finish. Some Thieves will teleport right as you begin the Stomp – and others will wait to the very last moment. Either way, understand that your first Stomp won’t kill him, so yes, you’re wasting a few seconds on the first animation. As soon as he teleports, just cancel your first Stomp animation and move to his new position and Stomp him for good. If you do this in sequence just like this, the stealth ability that the Thief has will never come into play. It has such a long cooldown, it only becomes available when you don’t react fast enough.
So, Down the Thief, begin the Stomp – cancel the Stomp when he teleports, move to the new location and Stomp him for good.
It’s that easy. It’s just a little more practice and you’ll get them every single time.
Now, let’s say there is some confusion, or someone Fears you off the Downed Thief. First, note this is called team play and it doesn’t matter if it’s a Thief or an Elementalist, either way a Fear or other crowd control on you will prevent you from Stomping the guy. But, if this happens, note that the Thief will still teleport – and then wherever he is, he’s staying put. So if he does have enough time to cast his 3 second stealth, just go there and swing at him. He’s not healing this entire time, so keep hitting him with autoattack in that area where you know he is. If you give him long enough, he will teleport again, but it’s on a long enough cooldown that a Thief should never get 2 teleports in while down unless you just ignore him.
If you are low health, make sure to run from the Thief and don’t kill him right away. That teleport and stealth ability while Downed? Casting it resets the Thief healing himself, so he’s just going to be Downed for longer and longer each time. But if you are low health, keep distance, because some Thief players will pick a trait which gives us 50% more damage while Downed. So we can actually dish out some pain to put you in a Downed state with us, and at that point, we probably win that match with the teleport and stealth confusing you enough to our position. Luckily, most Thieves don’t like being in Downed state, and wouldn’t ever pick a trait for PvP that relies on them losing in the first place.
It takes a long long time to heal up on his own, so the best thing is to ignore the Thief at first. Our auto-attack when Downed bounces targets, hitting up to 3 people. This includes that random monster that happened into the fight. So the Thief can actually kill a nearby monster and Rally back to life again! If the monster is on the Thief, there’s not much you can do, but if the monster is on you – run away! Get some distance and kill the monster, then come back for the Thief. I assure you, he is still there, still down, you just need to be aware of that.
2 weeks in, I don’t think everyone knows how to counter every class during their Downed state. Some people make it easy on you and don’t fight. The Thief sure has some awesome abilities – I wouldn’t say the best – ever see a Guardian push an entire team off a high bridge after getting Downed? That’s sick. The Thief teleport is supposed to be so he can teleport closer to friends to help him revive. The stealth is there in case you Fear off the reviving player and begin a Stomp later than normal. Overall the Thief will still be there and you have a good chance of downing him either way.
Tip: Put your camera rotation to maximum so you can look around easier. If I’m teleporting, I guarantee I’m not teleporting the way you are facing.