Guild Wars 2

I want some tips on how to deal with multiple enemies as a thief. I feel that against a single enemy I can often kill them while only receiving a couple of attacks at most due to all my dodging/stuns/dazes. However, when I come up against multiple opponents these are less effective. I tend to just go in with a sword and try to kill them before they kill me, which is far too high-risk as a tactic.

Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with multiple enemies as a thief? Should I be using other weapons, or just making use of AOE utilities?

Personally I run with a D/D thief myself. I also spec’d quite a bit into Acrobatics for more dodging/more stamina so I’m constantly evading. Couple that with LDB spam and you’re golden.

If you want extra awesomesauce, try to steal “Whirling Axe” from melee based enemies. The amount of damage I can put out on a group of 5+ monsters is sickening.

it depends what weapons you are using. at earlier levels i found i was able to take on 3-4 enemies by using an offhand dagger. dancing dagger spam from the start could usually bring em to at least 1/2 health each (2 enemies). dancing dagger also cripples them so you can kite them if your low on hp or initiative. having a mainhand sword as you said also helps with its ability to cleave multiple enemies.

using a shortbow is another way to deal a lot of aoe damage. your main ability is basically dancing daggers as an auto attack but with lower damage. you also have aoe poison and aoe bomb that will deal with multiple enemies at once. your disabling shot and infiltrators arrow are good skills to keep distance between you and your enemies.

theres also utililty spells such as ambush trap which will call an NPC thief to help you out, usually taking aggro when he appears. caltrops is also good for kiting.

hoped this helped. good luck.

Seems like you need to review your utility skills. Although I’m more set up for confusion, evasion, and retreat, I have been able to apply it equally well against multiple targets.

In most cases, the 2 people you are fighting is about to turn into 5 in WvW as friends and enemies come wandering by. So get a single kill and get out; let the 2nd guy chase you while you have half health for a moment, and then turn right around when a couple cooldowns are up and take him on as well. It’s not supposed to be slice-and-dice 2 people because you chose to be a Thief. There must be some decision making.

I use my ranged as much as possible…especially the short bow with its 2 aoe attacks…the bomb and the gas cannister. Then I use the bow to whittle away life on the mobs before jumping in to melee with dual daggers. Also..use your steal ability! I also trait for any kind of shadow step

I’m only level 12 on that toon, but am having a good time on it…its a challenging class to play no doubt.

But..its a Thief….sometimes tactics work, sometimes you die.

Raf

shortbow.

the auto attack bounces and will hit all of them, then just kyte the mob. D/D on switch to finish them off when they clump up nicely.

I personally use duel pistol’s for going against multiple mobs. Just run in a circle and spam the auto-attack and the Unload skill and you should do fine. If you have the Caltrop’s skill use that as much as you can as well.

I also found that you can solo Bosses with this method if you use it properly and iv used this since i was lvl 5 (I’m currently lvl 25). I hope you found this extremely useful. (Remember this method dose not always work)

Midnight

What midnight says, but the caltrops skill is a waste imo, I’d much rather use something else and have the caltrops-on-dodge trait. As for the rest it’s just a lot of running. Once you get the hang of it you can solo hard mobs even with adds.

Nemo.6295:

What midnight says, but the caltrops skill is a waste imo, I’d much rather use something else and have the caltrops-on-dodge trait. As for the rest it’s just a lot of running. Once you get the hang of it you can solo hard mobs even with adds.

Just so this doesn’t discourage any thiefs from the skill, the utility Caltrops is amazingly effective, where as the traited caltrops on dodge ability, while useful, is very watered down from its utility counterpart.

ozymandias.5317:

Nemo.6295:

What midnight says, but the caltrops skill is a waste imo, I’d much rather use something else and have the caltrops-on-dodge trait. As for the rest it’s just a lot of running. Once you get the hang of it you can solo hard mobs even with adds.

Just so this doesn’t discourage any thiefs from the skill, the utility Caltrops is amazingly effective, where as the trained caltrops on dodge ability, while useful, is very watered down from its utility counterpart.

Yeah, found that out playing with the different utility skills.

The trait for dropping caltrops fills maybe half (being generous here, maybe even 1/3) of what the utility skill for caltrops. Also it only lasts 3 seconds as opposed to 14.

If you like dodging and kiting enemies (pistols/bow), traiting for caltrops would be desired.

Caltrops is not a waste. Great kiting tool. Wonderful. Fast cooldown. 50% speed reduction. What’s not good about it?

OP: One of my early storylines required me to kill 5 at once. I used a shortbow with strafing. Takes forever to kite 5 mobs. Get ’em pretty low and switch to melee ( I use sword/pistol, most say dagger/dagger ) and take one or three out. All of my attacks hit 3 mobs, not just Auto-Attack. Three swings and three dead mobs. Pop a stealth skill and finish whats left.

I’m 74 now, and I haven’t played for 4 of the (whatever number from headstart) days. I played with pistol/pistol in the BWE’s first. Dagger/dagger next. Found the sword/pistol combos and I like it’s utility. Yea sure… 1/2 second stuns are dumb. But I’m specced for side and back attacks. Pistol Whip works for me. And I found out the auto-attack for the sword is actually 3 different attacks with the third 2x damage.

Just gotta remember ranged thieves plink. Melee face-melt. Kiters can’t be touched. Face-melters get melted if you can match the dps. Use your ranged when your overwhelmed and switch to melee to finish off. Sword/Pistol gives you a shadow-step to target to Pistol Whip ’em then shadow step back and your ranged should be near cooldown to switch back to kiting.

Solo champions. 30min battle…. not a scratch on me. Veterans are a 30s fight. Well… some are minute with their dam abilities. 2mins with adds.

So corny but, lrn2play. No insult intended. Serious.