To me it sounds like the best way to kill a thief is to know that they are coming, know where they are coming from, preempt them in every omniscient way, and hope they fall into your traps…
As one of the few non-omniscient players, are there tips out there?
Also, since when is a class not imbalanced when everybody has to develop their characters to specifically counter these classes? If your pro-tip for not dying to this class mostly involves building your character around it, then that class is op. This isn’t a game with 2 classes. At any given point I might have to fight a different class. And being “good” means nothing when you are discussing balance. For all of the good non-thieves, there are plenty of good thieves that are more than capable of handling w/e you use to counter them. Skill should never be brought up in a balance discussion.
My “pro-tip” isn’t building a character around it. My builds are generally meant to handle any situation they encounter. What I mean is, some builds simply trump others. So my tip is, if you know your class/build or whatever struggles against a general build archetype, then edit your build a little bit to handle it, thief or not.
Also, skill IS a factor in balance discussion, because some people may argue that certain skills require more or less skill, and that may impact their opinion on a skill’s “OP-ness”. For example, if you’re a thief that just spams #2 heartseeker, one may argue that that skill is somehow overpowered or unfair just because it’s so easy to use, when it’s really not. And while I agree with you that skill should not be brought up in balance discussion, it is inevitable. I brought it up because it’s good to point out that some players may simply be raging about the countless times that they been owned by a few skills; just because an adept player effectively and strategically uses a skill does not make it OP. And that is why one of my tips is to simply have enough experience going into battle. If you know the player you’re taking on is way more experienced that you, why would you try to take them on?
As for your question, there are plenty of “non-omniscient” tips out there. If you have no knowledge of your opponent, don’t know where they are attacking you from, or don’t know how they will attack you (i.e. weapon skills), there is some advice I can offer you.
If you’re going on the defensive side, and a thief just stealthed, whether or not you know he’s coming, you should have certain skills set aside for taking him/her on. Simply put, use your profession’s skills to your advantage! If you’re a guardian, use aegis; if you’re a warrior, keep stability at hand. For me, I utilize spectral wall so if a melee thief tries to attack, they just get feared away. To sum it up, there’s almost always a counter, you just have to find it.
Also, timing is everything. If you know they just stealthed again after attacking you, use that opportunity to cleanse, heal, or whatever. Know when to attack and when to hold back. While the’re stealthed, I usually try to stick in one place and try to outsmart them. I make them think I’m either not paying attention or don’t know what’s going on, and then when they attack, I quickly get rid of blindness/break stun or whatever is necessary, dodge, and retaliate.
If you’re going on the offensive, I would try to interrupt them as much as possible. Chase them down with movement skills, and if they get away, make sure you keep your health up, as they probably just gained back all of theirs. If they pop shadow refuge, spam that area with AoE’s and what not. Find ways, like this one, to punish them for using stealth.
I hope this was helpful to you, and to all others reading this thread. I’m sure there are plenty of other tips people can offer you; these are just a few I like to keep in mind when attacking thieves.
