Guild Wars 2

A few days back I noticed that you could get the Balthazar back piece from playing PvP, and being currently in the need for a new back piece I decided to start PvP’ing for the first time in GW2. I know that a lot of these issues are because I’m new to PvP in GW2, so I’m just looking for some advice/tips to help me get better. Anyway…

It doesn’t matter if I catch somebody unaware or not, whenever I engage in combat with somebody 1v1 I am dead within seconds and they have like 75%+ health left. My attacks are constantly getting “blocked” by players so I end up hardly even hitting them.

I’ve been running D/D in PvP with full Berserker gear & Scholar runes. I mean I could be dying within seconds due to wearing Berserker gear, but the thing is I’ve come across a lot of Thieves 1v1 in PvP and they just wipe me out within 2-3 seconds whereas I’ve hardly even hit them. So surely THEY must have been wearing Berserker gear if they can wipe me out that easy shouldn’t they? If so, how come I hardly ever do any damage to them, lol?

Anyway, would appreciate some help with this so I can at least start enjoying PvP a little on the way to the back piece I want. Perhaps I’m using the wrong weapons, talents, skills… I don’t know.

This is my current PvP build, probably crap – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVlsMp8pFOxzJsPNRLhsdoNf09Sg+qC

A few things:

1. Your build doesn’t have any stun breakers. This means that if someone uses any disable on you, you have no way to get out. Take Shadow Step . It not only will save your kitten if you get spiked, but it’s actually two stun breakers in one! It even removes 3 conditions when you return.
2. Your build is WAY too yolo for someone just starting out. D/D isn’t even really used much in PvP simply because the other weapon sets are far better. This is the meta D/P thief and with some practice, will get you much farther.
3. Your tactics are probably all wrong. You aren’t a warrior. You’re a HUNTER. You wait for the enemies to already be worn down by your allies and you jump in and BOOM, dead. If you are going for 1v1s and a noobie, you’re going to be severely disappointed with thief.
4. Your mechanics are probably off. Are you using steal mid cast of skills to come out of no where and burst? Or are you just walking in?

If you want some help with the class, I can get you started in game. I’m no top tier thief, but I definitely know how to get a thief going in PvP.

Another note, the thing about this game is simply taking the right amulet will allow you to do lots of damage. You don’t need to be 8 billion points into power and crit lines to be strong. You can go deep into defensive lines and still be really damaging. Take a look at This Build . While that build is running berserker with fire and air, the traits are MUCH more defensive and thus, you can stay alive a lot more.

The build doesn’t matter. This is a dodge/active defense issue. There is no reason you should be dying that fast even in zerk gear. If you are on zerk thief you need to disengage the second you take damage and reset because you cannot take any pressure. You should also be choosing your targets better. Use your surprise spike damage to finish someone off, not open up on someone.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

A few things:

1. Your build doesn’t have any stun breakers. This means that if someone uses any disable on you, you have no way to get out. Take Shadow Step . It not only will save your kitten if you get spiked, but it’s actually two stun breakers in one! It even removes 3 conditions when you return.
2. Your build is WAY too yolo for someone just starting out. D/D isn’t even really used much in PvP simply because the other weapon sets are far better. This is the meta D/P thief and with some practice, will get you much farther.
3. Your tactics are probably all wrong. You aren’t a warrior. You’re a HUNTER. You wait for the enemies to already be worn down by your allies and you jump in and BOOM, dead. If you are going for 1v1s and a noobie, you’re going to be severely disappointed with thief.
4. Your mechanics are probably off. Are you using steal mid cast of skills to come out of no where and burst? Or are you just walking in?

If you want some help with the class, I can get you started in game. I’m no top tier thief, but I definitely know how to get a thief going in PvP.

Another note, the thing about this game is simply taking the right amulet will allow you to do lots of damage. You don’t need to be 8 billion points into power and crit lines to be strong. You can go deep into defensive lines and still be really damaging. Take a look at This Build . While that build is running berserker with fire and air, the traits are MUCH more defensive and thus, you can stay alive a lot more.

- Will add Shadowstep to my bar right away!

- I actually heard a few people talking in PvP the other day saying that D/D sucked, but I wasn’t sure what the alternative was.

- Tbh, I HAVE been yolo’ing it like a Warrior, ha ha. I tend to start fights instead of end them, I guess I’m gonna have to scout around a bit better before engaging in combat.

- Regarding Steal, I almost always use it to engage the enemy, as my build has it apply poison, which I figured was best to put on them at the start seeing as it’s a DOT?

- What is a “meta” build? Sorry. Do you mean like cookie cutter? Really not bothered if it is, I’ll still use it, just wondered what meta meant :P

Thanks for the builds, I’ll take a look at them.

I too started pvp as a thief, and I sympathise. You’re gonna die. A lot. I know it’s hard to achieve, but don’t always 1v1 quite yet, and try to join team fights attacking unaware targets. It’s the role of a thief, and you’ll probably get better that way. If some of your guild mates are pvp players, ask them to duel you : hotjoin is a cruel world for a newcomer, and you might want to learn in less messy fights.

Vanchatron.2306:

- I actually heard a few people talking in PvP the other day saying that D/D sucked, but I wasn’t sure what the alternative was.

There’s a few:

1. D/P is all about spiking and staying in stealth.
2. S/D is all about dodging and jumping in and out.
3. S/P is all about exploding people in melee range.

The rest can be made to work, but they aren’t very good.

Vanchatron.2306:

- Regarding Steal, I almost always use it to engage the enemy, as my build has it apply poison, which I figured was best to put on them at the start seeing as it’s a DOT?

Steal and Infiltrator’s Signet are great because they are instant cast, not just because they are teleports. This allows you to do the majority of your casting of skills while AWAY from the dangerous melee range areas. For example, a D/P thief can begin casting heartseeker and JUST before it connects, teleport in and it will CONTINUE to cast heartseeker when you finish teleporting in.

Vanchatron.2306:

- What is a “meta” build? Sorry. Do you mean like cookie cutter? Really not bothered if it is, I’ll still use it, just wondered what meta meant :P

Meta simply means a lot of people use it. It’s generally very powerful, but it does NOT mean OP. Just very commonly used.

Also I wanted to mention that it’s not that thief CAN’T 1v1 everything, it’s that it requires an incredible amount of skill to beat most builds. They can mess up a LOT and still win, where as you basically have to play perfectly. Until you figure out what that means after playing the class a while, don’t try to go for a 1v1 unless it’s something and bursty as you (shatter mesmer, other thieves).

And again, feel free to PM me for help. I’ve dueled a lot of newbie thieves to help them get going before. Always willing to do it again.

I have been a thief since beta, but mostly PvE’d until a year and a half ago. Learning thief is frustrating sometimes, and a lot harder than most people think. I actually learned how to play thief in 1v1 arenas and hot joins when I first started out. My advice would be to run a meta build (cookie cutter) and just play around with it until you are comfortable with how it works. If you add me, (My ign is Ably) I can help you out. Best of luck ^^

PS: If you are just in this for the backpiece, just keep grinding solo queue and after a day or two you should have it, winning the majority of your games or not.

As a Thief you need to know about class mechanics that are a threat to you while your enemy is not visible, or out of range. So if you encounter a player you immediately understand, based on your position and profession you’re facing, what your escape spots are.

Shortbow is a great weapon to escape from lethal situations. Just like mainhand sword.

If you master this, you are ready to learn how to beat each and every spec. Which is a lot of learning. And I myself have not finished learning yet.

I wouldn’t recommend S/D for starting out as a thief…that takes a bit more practice to succesfully land attacks and for its management of initiative. Although that build is great of course.
After looking at your build, you need more power than you currently have. Remove the Scholar Rune and try out the Rune of the Ogre (gives you a rock dog for those situations where you’re downed and you need that extra damage to finish your opponent to rally up), you’ll also stack more power and ferocity. 300 ferocity is on the lower side, 450 and above is good.
I would put the extra 2 points you have in the Shadow trait line instead (once you’ve selected your 2 main trait lines) and choose Cloaked in Shadows in there, that can literally save your life when you’re at very low HP making you invisible to just be able to slip away.
Trickery is a good way to spend points, it’s a plus for recharging you’re steal skill faster.
I would recommend a D/P build for starting out as it has more survivability because of Black Powder (blind field), it can ward off finishers, heavy attacks and you can slip away again into stealth from it using heartseeker. It’s more user friendly than S/D.
By all means Shadowstep like someone pointed out above. Real life saver if you are pinned downed by heavy CCers.
And I would definetly have Shadow Refuge on my bar if I was starting out as a thief, that is one extra life save, plus ideal to rez your team mates or stomp your opponent if not too much under condi fields.
Thieves Guild isn’t the best elite skill, because what your enemy will do is kill them first then move on to you and they are easily killed. I found it to work more on a P/P – P/D build but not my favorite. Yea Basilisk Venom is your friend, this is one CC that can put an end to a zerk build very fast if you have the power to back it up.
I personally prefer the Assassin’s Signet over Signet of Shadows, more power on use. You have condition curing with Shadow Step as it is so that’s fine.
Get rid of Blinding Powder if you go D/P, you won’t need another blind, you can use that slot for a better utility.
That’s all I can think of, hope this helped. Have fun playing one of the most fun class in the game!

The first set to actually learn should be D/P.
The feature of this build is the Black Powder + Heartseeker combo which is Smoke + Leap = Stealth. This allows you to enter stealth without a target, or at range, to escape or to land a Backstab.

To begin to improve as a thief, don’t spam Heartseeker. Initiative gives you options, and locking yourself into a leap animation doing a predictable move allows opponents to outplay you, particularly when you run out of initiative.

All thieves should learn to use Shortbow effectively in PvP, it’s the set you will spend 75% of the fight in. The D/P set is used to spike low targets; it has tremendous chase potential. The SB grants the thief its renowned mobility via 5, has good point blank AoE, poison perfect for suppressing resses, and emergency evades (use it like a dodge, with proper timing).

Things to learn (a casual checklist to mastering thief…):
What to interrupt, managing conditions with your heal and shadow step, knowing your position, spatial awareness and when to disengage, blinding key skills, evading key skills, initiative management, teleport spots, ganking squishes in teamfights, anticipate and count enemy cooldowns, use dodges effectively and not randomly, stealth jukes, managing own cooldowns, landing steal, using stolen skills to counter professions.

This is all on Metabattle.com
Look up streams for D/P gameplay.
Twitch: Aeroxe, Caed, Collero, Sizer (this ones S/D) etc

Classic D/P
2 Mug
6 Practised Tolerance/Critical Haste/Executioner
0
0
6 Thrill of the Crime/Bountiful Theft/Sleight of Hand
Infiltrator’s Signet/Shadowstep/Shadow Refuge/Basilisk Venom
D/P Fire + Air
SB Energy + Fire
Runes of the Pack/Ogre/Strength
Zerker amulet
Moderate skill floor, very high skill cap. Best thief set to start off with, does not allow many mistakes and hones your thief-sense.

Panic strike D/P
6 Mug/Improvisation/Panic Strike
0
2 Shadows Embrace
0
6 Thrill/Bounty/Sleight
Same gear. The immob proc from Panic Strike allows you to hold target in place for your final spike to bring it down.

Can use same traits for S/P. Recommend mastering D/P and not giving up.

Evade S/D
2 Mug
0
0
6 Power of Inertia/Pain Response/Vigourous Recovery
6 Thrill/Bounty/Sleight
S/D Air + Fire
SB Energy + Anything
Same utilities as D/P
When you get used to evading key skills and using D/P mechanically and effectively, use this. Don’t rely on dodging randomly though. Just makes you a mediocre thief.

Some good help above but I do think folks forget how hard it is to run a thief when you are new to it and everyone else has had years of 1v1 and 5v5 experience. And on D/D too… that’s a twitch set for ADHD Korean orphans.

Even if you’ve run it a lot (I do personally in sPvP) it has become FAR harder right now thanks to the tone of the game overall in terms of class strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think you are going to get better to the extent you want to in the timeframe you are looking at by running a power set at all.

The noob friendlyest build is a heal thief if you want to study how other folks play from a position other than horizontal. You’ll still get to contribute in fights by not respawning and stomping / resing. Then you progress to Carrion Condition when you feel like you are pretty indestructible but realise you aren’t killing anyone. Then go power when all your reactions and other class knowledge are in place.

You simply can’t start with a D/D full glass thief in PvP… it’s like jumping in an F1 car and racing Hamilton because you drove a go-kart once.

This should help you simply observe and dip in and out of fights: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAoY6YlsMp7plPx5J0PRRSRw9SQint160XHA-TJRAwAsLDA4JA8b/hOnEAA

A lot of folks would find it heretical – just ignore them and play it. I’ve introduced thieves this was before and it provides a very low skill floor and a lot of safety. You’re not using backstab on the D/D set Deathblossoms, cripples and stealths.

What the first poster said is what I am agreeing with. The build he posted is the exact same build as I run in tPvP.

If you are on EU I could give you some in-game help and tips.

Knowing how to rotate, areas to use your shortbow and when to disengage is critical as a thief! D/P is not about engaging 1v1s, but helping outnumbering team fights by bursting down a weak target or ranged dps and decap far. We have mobility far beyon every other profession – use it.

Just send me a pm on the forums or in-game if you are on EU and want some pointers ^^

Thanks guys, a lot of great advice here.

thief is dog poop right now. Patch made me switch from 5 year exp thief into necro. I skyrocket from 50% winratio into 80%. Necro EASY WIN! Imagine what i ll be able to achive when i learn a lot.

Urejt.5648:

thief is dog poop right now. Patch made me switch from 5 year exp thief into necro. I skyrocket from 50% winratio into 80%. Necro EASY WIN! Imagine what i ll be able to achive when i learn a lot.

Can’t agree with you that thief was nerfed into oblivion. Last time I checked both Caed, Zizer and Magic Toker are still going strong in high level tournament play. I am still having a blast on my thief with a pretty decent win ratio.