Guild Wars 2

So I recently leveled my first character to 80 and he is a thief. Love playing him. My main focus is PvP (I do both sPvP and WvW). I’ve been only playing hot joins and recently started doing some solo arenas. I’ve been thinking that I’ve been playing fairly well because I tend to have more points than most people. However even with having the most points, some people call me noob and other names because we end up losing. Some players have been saying that I don’t know how to play and my rotation is terrible. So my question is what exactly is a thief supposed to do in sPvP? Like how do I rotate and things like that?

Check the map. If you see the opponents on close and mid so that far is free. Move over to far. Cap (or just decap ) it and move back where the action is.

Force the opponent team to lose their homepoint or to be outnumbered in team fights because they can not move as fast as you can.. A good thief is pain in the kitten of your opponents.

For starters, having “more points” at the end of the match means nothing. Sure, having 0 points means that you didn’t do very well, but the point system is totally garbage and by no means shows how well a player performed.

That said, the thief’s role in a PvP match (assuming you are playing the nuker/roamer role, with a Shortbow as second weapon) is to keep the enemy home defender constantly sticked on his home point: try to figure out if the enemies have a dedicated close point defender, and whenever you see him moving away from the point, get back to it quickly to decap it (you can also cap it, but just getting a decap is usually enough). Of course, don’t go away from a winnable teamfight just to decap (and letting your mates lose the teamfight because you left).
If you keep the enemy constantly glued to their home point, you will usually have the advantage somewhere else (be it mid or your close), and you can quickly turn the tides by jumping in the teamfight and finish off weakened players.
Pay attention to the map, and try to figure out where your help is needed by watching the player icons. Use the shortbow when the fight is too messy to go melee.

Try not to die. If you see a fight is lost, go elsewhere (go decap a node or go back to your home point to stall the enemy and giving your mates the time to get back in game).

The worst thing you could do as a thief is trying to be the hero and starting to 1v1 bunkers when the node is already theirs. If you are absolutely confident in your skills, then 1v1ing a guy when is trying to get back to cap their home point can be ok, but only if your team doesn’t need your help elsewhere. And of course, if things start to go dire in said 1v1, go back immediately. The other guy will be busy to cap the point and you will have time to recover and join your mates. As a thief you always have the mobility advantage over any class.
As long as your team is holding 2 points, you can harass all you want.

In general, try to always be thinking “Am I doing the right thing to help my team NOW?”

thiefs main job is to be a roamer, force uneven fights and burst down weaken targets. Best thing you can do is watch some videos of good thiefs on youtube.

Personal scores aren’t an accurate representation of the contributions towards team scores.

As a thief you need to be moving to points quickly in order to give your team a numbers advantage. If an enemy leaves a point empty, you should be decap ping it. That’s really all you need to do strategy wise, if you are getting caught up on a 1v1 with a guardian for 2 minutes you’re wasting time.

I just wanna point out that its really cool that when the OP got criticized in-game instead of going “wut lol kitten”, they actively seeked to improve themself and asked for help.

Props to you, dude. Need more open-minded players like this

“As a thief, going for a decap on far whenever it’s available isn’t always the best option – you need to make sure your mid and home fights are in a decent place to attempt it. If you leave graveyard on Foefire and your “The absolute best time to get a decap on far is when you stomp a player out in the mid-fight – this should give your team the numbers advantage at mid, and you have a good 30 seconds before the player on respawn can get to their home node. If they send another player from mid to defend against your decap, they will almost certainly lose the mid-fight.”

This is great advice here and really it doesn’t have to be just for thieves. Any class with good mobility if you have good awareness its often apparent with the middle fight is pretty much locked up and you can get free far point caps if there bunker cheated to help. The worst thing a thief can do imo is get caught up in longish fights on far point accomplishing nothing and it happens a lot. Help out in team fights and pick your spots to take far.

big thumbs for everyone in here.

good feedback and attitude!

also thanks josh for dropping by!

As a thief your strength is less your ability to fight, and more your ability to get across the map super fast with things like the shortbow teleport or sword teleport, and do so with invisibility.

So if you are a thief and you are sitting in team fights racking up kills you are doing it wrong.

Since there are only 5 players in a match, one player can make a huge difference in team fights. 4v3 the 4 will win. Even if the 3 are really good, downed state mechanics and the like assure thier eventual doom.

A special note is that the team with the first kill gets a big player advantage that can snowball and dictates how the rest of the match plays, so you especially don’t want o leave your team at a disadvantage at the start.

As a thief, you can assure that your teams get 4v3s all the time by flipping any un defended point. If they send people over to take it back, you can either try to beat them or you can shadow refuge and leave them wondering if you stayed near the map or teleported to another point to help your team.

Josh Davis.6015:

Edit: As the posters above mentioned, don’t get too tied up looking at personal score.

Unless your score is 0 in late game despite your best efforts.

Oh, another thing : don’t be afraid of using your utilities (infiltrators Signet, Shadowstep) to move faster if the situation really asks for it!

Really good advice here. You really want to get decaps and keep your opponents guessing where you are, and a large part of that is map-awareness as well as the state of the game.

As others have said – is your team winning a teamfight at mid (have high health, at least one opponent dead)? Good time to dip out and get a free decap. Do they have someone sitting on home-point being afk? Probably better to stick to the two points you own and win with a 5v4.

On forest, always keep a very close eye on the animals as a thief. Understand when it seems like your opponents might go for the animal (after some of your team-mates die and you lose mid, for instance, or if they are down and looking for opportunities to get points). Any time a thief is not accounted for on the map at Forest, it is a very risky proposition to take the animal. Practice knowing when you can burst to steal.

In actual fights, shortbow is your best tool when there isn’t a viable target. When there is someone on the fringe who isn’t easily protected (like a necro up on a ledge, or a low-health ele/mesmer), its your role to jump on them and spike them. Many bad players will try to run from the fight, while good players will run to their team-mates for protection.

If the other team has a particularly problematic squishy character, you can even do well to just make it your job to take them out of the game. If they have a zerker staff ele, for instance, you can even go as far as almost spawn-camping him. If your team ignores that ele, you will lose every teamfight. If you spike him, you will have a permanent advantage and SHOULD win.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I just wanna point out that its really cool that when the OP got criticized in-game instead of going “wut lol kitten”, they actively seeked to improve themself and asked for help.

Props to you, dude. Need more open-minded players like this

This.
Wish OP all the best now.

Josh Davis.6015:

As a thief, going for a decap on far whenever it’s available isn’t always the best option – you need to make sure your mid and home fights are in a decent place to attempt it. If you leave graveyard on Foefire and your team gets decapped because they were down in numbers…that’s going to hurt your team a lot more than getting a decap on the enemy team’s home node is going to hurt them. The absolute best time to get a decap on far is when you stomp a player out in the mid-fight – this should give your team the numbers advantage at mid, and you have a good 30 seconds before the player on respawn can get to their home node. If they send another player from mid to defend against your decap, they will almost certainly lose the mid-fight.

To learn to rotate properly your best bet is to understand the entire team/conquest strategy in general. I’d recommend checking out Django’s guide for a quick primer.

You’ll make mistakes – everyone does. The key is to not let those occasions – or the players you’re teamed up with – get under your skin.

Edit: As the posters above mentioned, don’t get too tied up looking at personal score.

Have you any plan to introduce INGAME a better explanation about how to play conquest correctly? I mean videoguide/tutorial for every class, why using a build instead of another, how to manage correctly a teamfight, how to move in different maps , tips and tricks etc. etc.

Guide for basic/advanced and top level.

Because i think this is the main problem because we have bad player in this game

Very few people know how to play conquest correctly and new players have many issues in their progression skill.

In this forum there are excellent guides, but forum it’s not the best place to teach people how to play a game.

Thank you everyone so much for the replies! I didn’t expect such a huge response! The community is great. Really appreciate it everyone.

I am currently working on a video series covering roations for all the different classes and roles hope it will get online soon

Sensotix.4106:

I am currently working on a video series covering roations for all the different classes and roles hope it will get online soon

Nice, sounds like a big project. It’s good to hear you are still making video’s

Zero.6592:

Sensotix.4106:

I am currently working on a video series covering roations for all the different classes and roles hope it will get online soon

Nice, sounds like a big project. It’s good to hear you are still making video’s

i will start tomorrow again with a build guide

Sensotix.4106:

Zero.6592:

Sensotix.4106:

I am currently working on a video series covering roations for all the different classes and roles hope it will get online soon

Nice, sounds like a big project. It’s good to hear you are still making video’s

i will start tomorrow again with a build guide

Hopefully on your main class, not that other one
#purpleforever

But yes in all seriousness I’m sure those guides will be very helpful for old and newcomers alike.

Sensotix.4106:

I am currently working on a video series covering roations for all the different classes and roles hope it will get online soon

I’m watching your vid’s right now!

Beleth.8249:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I just wanna point out that its really cool that when the OP got criticized in-game instead of going “wut lol kitten”, they actively seeked to improve themself and asked for help.

Props to you, dude. Need more open-minded players like this

This.
Wish OP all the best now.

I can only hope that the people that called the OP out in the match were as objective and polite in their criticisms as the people here have been with their suggestions. Oh, wait. It was soloq. That place has the eloquence and grace of a club-footed sailor on shore leave. So double-props to the guy who can ignore the kittens and try to get better. But just know that even great players get called noob kittenbags in pvp, from time to time. It’s the nature of the beast.

geekanerd.4123:

Beleth.8249:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I just wanna point out that its really cool that when the OP got criticized in-game instead of going “wut lol kitten”, they actively seeked to improve themself and asked for help.

Props to you, dude. Need more open-minded players like this

This.
Wish OP all the best now.

I can only hope that the people that called the OP out in the match were as objective and polite in their criticisms as the people here have been with their suggestions. Oh, wait. It was soloq. That place has the eloquence and grace of a club-footed sailor on shore leave. So double-props to the guy who can ignore the kittens and try to get better. But just know that even great players get called noob kittenbags in pvp, from time to time. It’s the nature of the beast.

I’m sure everyone of us has been called names, especially at the beginning. But when you have a PvP mindset, this just motivates you to improve and to shut them up. Otherwise you come on forum to cry and to create endless threads about the “toxic community”.

One of the people on my team (a warrior) said they would friend me just to know when I log off so they wouldn’t have to go through another match with me… Some very constructive criticism lol. But other team members offset his words by saying I did alright with the little experience that I have. I can’t wait until I see that warrior on the other side of the battlefield