Guild Wars 2

I’m trying to learn how to play thief, but whenever I try to I end up losing just about every game and I feel like I’m totally useless and die repeatedly. I don’t have any sort of issues when I try to play other classes at all, only thief. I’m mostly trying to play d/p + sb and practicing in unranked. If someone could try and help me figure out what I’m doing wrong I’d be super grateful for it.

Reroll we are obsolete and done.

You are not using SB#5 hard enough.

Don’t fight 1v1. Try to help your team when they are in even fights. Hunt down the squishy targets in the back of those fights. When it looks like your team is winning the skirmishes, leave for decap / helping your other point.

Use your stealth to help secure stomps / rezzes. Use Steal on kill targets.

5 1 1 1 1 1 1
5 1 1 1 twoooo twoooo

Roll Another class, when it comes to thief’s arena net is completely biased.

You want to know where the 400k cash is coming for there upcoming failed Esports venture? well that was the thief’s balance budget for the past 3 years.
Just think of all the cash they saved by Nerfing acro and selling a less viable version back to us.

Seriously though, don’t pick thief, while i’m joking about the esports cash (maybe ;D), i am not joking about there blatant biased. (I’d even argue they past Wow level of “why does no one play thief”)

If you really want to play a thief, Just pretend your a minion, all those task’s belong to you my friend. +1 and decap, It doesn’t matter that the combat is the only redeeming feature of this game because you can’t do that anymore. (cultists ruined that)

good luck with your upcoming head ache.
(really for the 3rd time, you should roll another class)

I see people saying to decap points and avoid 1v1 fights but a lot of the time I have trouble doing this. A lot of the time it seems like there are either people already on the side points or a lot of the time one or more people run into me on the way there. When I play other classes I can usually fight them and have a chance at winning, but when I’m thief it feels like I have to just run away because I lose fights every time. I don’t really understand what I should be doing to avoid those kinds of situations

Your job is to decap and +1 fights. You only 1v1 other thieves.

If other team leaves a point open, your job is to take that point. If other team has somebody sitting alone on a point, then you +1 a fight.

Tl;dr. Don’t fight. every other class can beat you.

First, don’t listen to every bad thief in the game trying to play the profession like it’s warrior. Never duel (unless it’s a shatter mesmer or some rare marauder build like fresh air ele), finish low targets in team fights, REZ (I can not stress this enough), or at least put a refuge or a blinding powder on your downed allies, interrupt stomps or banners with your Steal (the best interrupt in the game: insta-cast, 1200-range, and go through aegis and stab), decap far when you’re certain your team can hold the team fight without you for a minute.

Still, thief is by far the harder profession to play. Not mechanically (that’s easy as hell, compared to say engi or mesmer), but you have to be very aware of your positioning, of your role, and have good reflexes and a fast decision-making process.

Also, don’t forget that every player is different, and that not every player is able to play every profession. For example, everyone keeps saying that elementalist is easy to play, but I just can not be effective with it for some reason.

Fizz.8763:

I see people saying to decap points and avoid 1v1 fights but a lot of the time I have trouble doing this. A lot of the time it seems like there are either people already on the side points or a lot of the time one or more people run into me on the way there. When I play other classes I can usually fight them and have a chance at winning, but when I’m thief it feels like I have to just run away because I lose fights every time. I don’t really understand what I should be doing to avoid those kinds of situations

Well, sometimes, if your team is bad and people die before you can +1 them, you can’t be very useful. That being said, it’s often possible to get a sneaky decap on the far point several times a game. You can try to use your basi venom and shortbow, or SB#3, to slow down an opponent trying to get to the node you’re decapping. Also, don’t be afraid to use your Shadow Step to get a decap: you’re going to leave anyway after the decap, so you won’t need it.

edit: another tip: you can use Blinding Powder and immediately AA on shortbow to immobilize your opponent. You need to do it after a dodge though, because if you miss you will be stealthed and miss your decap.

1. suggestion is going to be (rightfully): don’t play thief

thief is ridiculously hard compared to other professions and how successful they are. pretty much every other profession is easier to play and rewards players more for less effort.

even D/P + shadow arts (our strongest build) has a variety of hard counter mechanics (engie’s Lock On, ranger’s Taunt, Revenant’s/Dragon Hunter’s reveal skills) as well as being generally lackluster compared to every other professions’ sustain mechanics in terms of general effectiveness.

the only thing keeping thief “relevant” in tpvp is Infiltrator’s Arrow and Merciful Ambush. in both wvw and dueling matchups thief is being phased out because other professions and their builds are just straight up both easier and more effective.

First don’t listen to people who have know clue how the thief class works, As in fact s/d is suppose to be a bruiser spec, which play’s more like a warrior then say an assassin, what is common sense? it ain’t common anymore that’s for sure.

You touched on the main problem Fizz, and why thief’s are loot bags
If the enemy team know’s Basic rotations, and can win in the team fight, thief’s are useless, they can’t rotate far to backcap (by the time the defender is down, he will have reinforcments,) you can’t team fight for you will die in a blaze of Aoe, and your Task of +1 can be filled by other professions easier. As for mobility well that’s easy to beat, most people have been fooled into believe fighting off point is “Bad” when in reality all you have to do to defeat thiefs mobility is stand half way between points , this will give them more then enough time to prevent a decap and/or provide help.
Steath rezing is instant death if you are fighting player’s with a half a brain

The most hilarious part of all is that both +1ing and decaping are just pieces of a role,but some people obviously don’t understand, “FAR POINT ASSAULTER”
(the thief’s original role….)

Highlie.7641:

they can’t rotate far to backcap (by the time the defender is down, he will have reinforcments,)

No

You leave far alone if there is a set defender camping it. If someone is in between as someone suggested u can try a decap and run : forcing that defender to sit and recap it while you go back to help mid or +1 another fight.

Unless that defender is a fast win for you in 1v1.

supvil.3470:

Highlie.7641:

they can’t rotate far to backcap (by the time the defender is down, he will have reinforcments,)

No

You leave far alone if there is a set defender camping it. If someone is in between as someone suggested u can try a decap and run : forcing that defender to sit and recap it while you go back to help mid or +1 another fight.

Unless that defender is a fast win for you in 1v1.

You won’t decap it, again i said decent opponent’s,what will happen is you will pull them to the point and break to another point, this leaves you starved of initiative. Or you blown your shadow step, either way your easy enough to pick off.

…

Highlie.7641:

You won’t decap it, again i said decent opponent’s,what will happen is you will pull them to the point and break to another point, this leaves you starved of initiative. Or you blown your shadow step, either way your easy enough to pick off.

…

Decapped vs plenty of top tier opponents.

Pull to point -> restealth -> opponent is forced to sit on point a bit since he has nfc where i am. Once he sees im fighting at mid again (for example) he can break off. Or ill wait and keep restealthing untill he thinks im gone again and decap after.

Decent opponents you say? I played pretty much everyone thats considered “decent”. I played these mindgames as thief at the top of the MMR/ladder since day 1 pretty much.

There is a reason that i win 60% of my rated games (while queueing solo), while some other ppl win 45% for example (your winratio during last ladder season)

Thieves are not brawlers like warriors revenants and guardians, thief does not simply walk into melee fight.

supvil.3470:

Highlie.7641:

You won’t decap it, again i said decent opponent’s,what will happen is you will pull them to the point and break to another point, this leaves you starved of initiative. Or you blown your shadow step, either way your easy enough to pick off.

…

Decapped vs plenty of top tier opponents.

Pull to point -> restealth -> opponent is forced to sit on point a bit since he has nfc where i am. Once he sees im fighting at mid again (for example) he can break off. Or ill wait and keep restealthing untill he thinks im gone again and decap after.

Decent opponents you say? I played pretty much everyone thats considered “decent”. I played these mindgames as thief at the top of the MMR/ladder since day 1 pretty much.

There is a reason that i win 60% of my rated games (while queueing solo), while some other ppl win 45% for example (your winratio during last ladder season)

Honestly, this.

Sorry fellow thieves, I know we’re in a tough spot but grow a pair and stop crying… at least for now. With HoT, revenants and scrappers will give us even harder time so do us all the courtesy and hold your tears until later.

Unless you have 0 map existence and pressure over the opponent team, there will very often be times the bunker is splitting off the Far node. Long enough to decap and get back into the fight. This holds true in high-tier PvP as well.

It takes a lot more effort but you can indeed carry fights as a thief in soloqueue and maintain a higher w/l ratio than 50%. Especially in higher MMR where team mates are more dependable (well — there will always be exceptions)

Just reroll….. there is no valid path to hope for this class.
Unless you have a team to carry you, it won’t be worth to play thief in HoT… at all.

Shadowstep.6049:

just reroll….. there is no valid path to hope for this class, for a year at least

I see what you did there :Kappa:

Thanks for advice everyone. I’m starting to do a lot better now I think. I also changed my traits a little and even though it’s probably suboptimal I’m doing better with it, I put on acrobatics instead of DA. The movespeed in stealth seems really nice.

Again, you won’t have time to decap, since you stop on entering stealth.
secondly, Every stealth ability has a tell, and if you fail to interrupt it that’s your own fault.
Again you talking about 7-10 seconds at most I know you guy’s don’t believe in reverse camera, but that will Easily give you time to prevent a decap Even if you started to run towards another point.

Are you really talking about win/lose rate. wow. poor little fella, you never realized it means Nothing. and as for 45% winrate, i’m surprised it’s that high honestly, As i don’t play Conquest i just fight on the road since i could care less who win’s this joke mode.

Bliss thief’s are not vaible,

Look go roll Cs/DA/Tr with s/d pick every burst/damage trait. Then go find a ranger.
On a pure glass build you will crit them for 600 damage, with 20 stacks of might (s.Trap, Signet, you will crit them for 1500-2000,) Now factor in the Healing, and regin, and passives on that ranger.

Do try again. but be warned i have over 3 year’s on my thief, i can assure you all you ain’t going to win this argument whatever delusional methods you fabricate are going to fall short.

Ragnarox.9601:

(…), thief does not simply walk into melee fight.

Or ranged fights. Or fights against condi users. Meh, just quit this whole fighting thing completely. After all, it’s not a big part of PvP anyway.

Tamasan.6457:

5 1 1 1 1 1 1
5 1 1 1 twoooo twoooo

Engi hit you with any attack and proc reveal and you fall over dead.

Highlie.7641:

Again, you won’t have time to decap, since you stop on entering stealth.
secondly, Every stealth ability has a tell, and if you fail to interrupt it that’s your own fault.
Again you talking about 7-10 seconds at most I know you guy’s don’t believe in reverse camera, but that will Easily give you time to prevent a decap Even if you started to run towards another point.

Are you really talking about win/lose rate. wow. poor little fella, you never realized it means Nothing. and as for 45% winrate, i’m surprised it’s that high honestly, As i don’t play Conquest i just fight on the road since i could care less who win’s this joke mode.

You where screaming how it whont happen vs decent oppponents…as if i never fight decent opponents. I have more games played …at a higher rating …with a higher winratio (which leads to playing vs better opponents).

Dont state things as facts since you struggle with a certain element of playing conquest as thief.

Maybe you should ask for help. Should i record some games for you tomorrow?

Highlie.7641:

Bliss thief’s are not vaible,

Look go roll Cs/DA/Tr with s/d pick every burst/damage trait. Then go find a ranger.
On a pure glass build you will crit them for 600 damage, with 20 stacks of might (s.Trap, Signet, you will crit them for 1500-2000,) Now factor in the Healing, and regin, and passives on that ranger.

Do try again. but be warned i have over 3 year’s on my thief, i can assure you all you ain’t going to win this argument whatever delusional methods you fabricate are going to fall short.

You can’t always “win” an argument: sometimes people cling too desperately on their believes. One of us certainly does, and since we’re on the forums, I’m ready to bet the most dramatic is.

S/D is not viable (which is a shame), and dueling a ranger on that build is not always a good idea (although you have a good chance of winning providing your iReturn is out of LoS). But I stand by what I said: d/p thief is not only viable, but is one of the strongest builds as of now. We’ll see how it will perform in HoT, but for now, it’s meta.

Oh, and don’t be afraid of using your Shadow Step for a decap. You won’t fight anyway, and when the defender is running to you and your job is done, just use the Return and get back into the fight faster

Nah i would rather just continue killing you both off point

Constantly decap and +1 fights… That is a thiefs role for any newbies

Also I have one more question. I understand thief is currently really strong in high level tPvP matches, but is it still equally strong of a class in solo queue or other less organized games? Also when DD comes out and runes and amulets change will there be any possibility of other builds being viable that have a different playstyle than the decap/+1 style of d/p?

Fizz.8763:

Also I have one more question. I understand thief is currently really strong in high level tPvP matches, but is it still equally strong of a class in solo queue or other less organized games?

simply put, no. thief is subjugated almost entirely to support roles, meaning thief as a single player cannot make any meaningful contributions to a team of bad players against a competent team. you also risk ending up having multiple thieves on a team which very rarely pans out positively for said team.

if you soloq as thief, you have to be kitten good at thief otherwise you’re wasting a spot in the queue.

Also when DD comes out and runes and amulets change will there be any possibility of other builds being viable that have a different playstyle than the decap/+1 style of d/p?

1. vampirism change will hurt thief big time if our current sustain remains unbuffed and mesmer’s damage output remains the same. hopefully they’ll get around to nerfing mindwrack before and not after it becomes painfully obvious it needs it.
2. amulet changes wont affect us much save for sinister possibly.
3. the jury’s still out on Daredevil. haven’t played it myself but it seems to be a possible saving grace for thief given it makes us ridiculous at decaping (way more than even current thief) and essentially gives us an Acro that’s good for dueling again.

even though daredevil might seem good, contextually it’s bad. if scrapper, reaper, herald, druid, and chronomancer aren’t toned down significantly, the benefits daredevil brings will be completely overshadowed but the damage the other specializations do to thief.

In the current state of the class, it is definitely not a good or easy to pick class.
But, it is not as bad as everyone says, the problem is the vast majority of thieves suck, but you can win fights, survive more than 2 seconds and be useful to your team with some practice, just try harder.
You’ll be much more useful on a pre-made team with strategy tho,
playing with random players can be a pain when you are a Thief.

Hey dude! Glad to hear you’re giving thief a go. I’m a thief and engi main and if you’re on NA and still need some help I’d be happy to jump into a server with you and work on anything you have questions over (as long as I can answer them)

BeepBoopBop.5403:

Reroll we are obsolete and done.

sinject.4607:

Fizz.8763:

Also I have one more question. I understand thief is currently really strong in high level tPvP matches, but is it still equally strong of a class in solo queue or other less organized games?

simply put, no. thief is subjugated almost entirely to support roles, meaning thief as a single player cannot make any meaningful contributions to a team of bad players against a competent team. you also risk ending up having multiple thieves on a team which very rarely pans out positively for said team.

if you soloq as thief, you have to be kitten good at thief otherwise you’re wasting a spot in the queue.

Also when DD comes out and runes and amulets change will there be any possibility of other builds being viable that have a different playstyle than the decap/+1 style of d/p?

1. vampirism change will hurt thief big time if our current sustain remains unbuffed and mesmer’s damage output remains the same. hopefully they’ll get around to nerfing mindwrack before and not after it becomes painfully obvious it needs it.
2. amulet changes wont affect us much save for sinister possibly.
3. the jury’s still out on Daredevil. haven’t played it myself but it seems to be a possible saving grace for thief given it makes us ridiculous at decaping (way more than even current thief) and essentially gives us an Acro that’s good for dueling again.

even though daredevil might seem good, contextually it’s bad. if scrapper, reaper, herald, druid, and chronomancer aren’t toned down significantly, the benefits daredevil brings will be completely overshadowed but the damage the other specializations do to thief.

Thank you for this answer. I’m going to keep practicing still, but I’ll try switching for a game if I see another thief and hopefully DD will open up more builds. I like how theif feels enough to go with the support role but I’d like to be able to fight people sometimes x.x

Most thieves I see have no map awareness and are obsessed with 1v1’s. If you can look at mini map often and use fog of war correctly you can decap whatever side point is owned by the enemy repeteadly unless they have a guy sitting there which in that case your golden because its 5v4 elsewhere. Decapping a point takes a few seconds and its very valuable.

El Psy Congroo.7965:

In the current state of the class, it is definitely not a good or easy to pick class.
But, it is not as bad as everyone says, the problem is the vast majority of thieves suck, but you can win fights, survive more than 2 seconds and be useful to your team with some practice, just try harder.
You’ll be much more useful on a pre-made team with strategy tho,
playing with random players can be a pain when you are a Thief.

The vast majority of players in general suck, the problem is with the class itself. At least with warrior you can still actually engage in fights 1v1.

Highlie.7641:

Bliss thief’s are not vaible,

Look go roll Cs/DA/Tr with s/d pick every burst/damage trait. Then go find a ranger.
On a pure glass build you will crit them for 600 damage, with 20 stacks of might (s.Trap, Signet, you will crit them for 1500-2000,) Now factor in the Healing, and regin, and passives on that ranger.

Do try again. but be warned i have over 3 year’s on my thief, i can assure you all you ain’t going to win this argument whatever delusional methods you fabricate are going to fall short.

So let me get this straight:

You want me to roll a completely garbage and YOLO traitline (cs/da/tr s/d set) pick nothing for defense (full burst), find a class that is innately better at countering us on 1v1 (ranger) and expect to fail? Well gee Sherlock!

You’ve contributed to nothing but your own exposure of inexperience. 3 years well wasted sir. Slow clap.

Well rip I think i went like 3 wins 15 losses spamming games yesterday. Even when I feel like I’m constantly doing things, ill look at scoreboard and realize our team is like 100 points behind, no matter how many decaps I get or how many times I manage to successfully help in bigger fights ;-;

And then if I switch to something easy like burn guard I have no issues rolling my face on my keyboard and winning. All my classes have good win rates so far, and then thief is at like 39%

Bliss, D/p is no diffrent, interupt there stealth and there done for, Why? Well that set (like s/d last meta) rely’s solely on passives, it’s a shame you can’t figure that out.
(maybe after the vamp change you will start too)
As for now, IF your opponent knows how d/p works they can easily kill them / prevent them from decaping. You had lot’s of way’s at launch, and now you have even more.
Do you need me to list how for you….?

Fizz, That’s thief life. Most of these Gentlemen spamed “teef Op” threads for year’s The other’s just can’t take that fact they lost to someone who play’s joke builds. The fact is you need an insane amount of hours in this game just to be a “viable Pet”. And to be “Viable” (if your fooled into believing that) you need to run the most Passive spec a thief has.

Funny enough if they released Daredevil without giving any other professions any elite, most of the problems with thiefs would disapper, you would probably have to tone down other professions passiveness still but as far as sustain/C.removal/damage most of it would be par. sadly it does not account for the new elites (or what it looks like from the outside so far) All we can do is hope it’s not as bad as now though.

Fizz.8763:

Well rip I think i went like 3 wins 15 losses spamming games yesterday. Even when I feel like I’m constantly doing things, ill look at scoreboard and realize our team is like 100 points behind, no matter how many decaps I get or how many times I manage to successfully help in bigger fights ;-;

And then if I switch to something easy like burn guard I have no issues rolling my face on my keyboard and winning. All my classes have good win rates so far, and then thief is at like 39%

You have 3 jobs as a Theif:

1. Kill the opposing Thief
2. Kill the opposing DPS threats
3. Decap undefended side points

In that order.

Your basic function is to help your teammates win fights quickly with a strong interrupt from stealth followed by extreme burst on whichever opponent they’re focusing or under pressure from. You’re not great at head on 1v1’s and far better when taking by surprise. Never engage a fight without being in stealth first. Stay out of the middle of team fights. Interrupt their heal.

Everyone dies a lot when they’re learning a new class and mechanic, so don’t sweat it. Thief is too much fun to give up on. Stick with it and it’ll be worth it. GL

hackks.3687:

Fizz.8763:

Well rip I think i went like 3 wins 15 losses spamming games yesterday. Even when I feel like I’m constantly doing things, ill look at scoreboard and realize our team is like 100 points behind, no matter how many decaps I get or how many times I manage to successfully help in bigger fights ;-;

And then if I switch to something easy like burn guard I have no issues rolling my face on my keyboard and winning. All my classes have good win rates so far, and then thief is at like 39%

You have 3 jobs as a Theif:

1. Kill the opposing Thief
2. Kill the opposing DPS threats
3. Decap undefended side points

In that order.

Your basic function is to help your teammates win fights quickly with a strong interrupt from stealth followed by extreme burst on whichever opponent they’re focusing or under pressure from. You’re not great at head on 1v1’s and far better when taking by surprise. Never engage a fight without being in stealth first. Stay out of the middle of team fights. Interrupt their heal.

Everyone dies a lot when they’re learning a new class and mechanic, so don’t sweat it. Thief is too much fun to give up on. Stick with it and it’ll be worth it. GL

Can’t do second function anymore since thief was stripped of combat capability with spec patch. Don’t give OP wrong ideas which have nothing to do with reality (if he starts facing good opoponents).

i will happy to help you out
whisper me in-game when i am online