Guild Wars 2

So. fairly new to WvW but in general doing OK. supporting as staff Ele with a basic pve mixed build. Doing my waterboy job and I do get the occasional joy of ranged dps from a wall. Basicly supporting the zerg.
But as we are made of – soft moldy cardboard – I do die fairly often, and have to run back to the flock..
So roaming Perma. Stealth Thieves that can kill you really quick and you can hardly target. – and IF! you get something off – its mostly condi- that they remove – by going into stealth.
Met a couple of seriously well played stealth thieves the last few days. If I could have /bow’ed from my mangled corpse I would.

So any tips on handling this.?..
Out of some 5-6 Encounters with them – I survived 1 time. by running and trowing all my usual OMG! I’m getting wacked powers. Screaming like a 4 year old girl – and only just survived cause he hit a moa accidentally, – almost killing it, so that from downed state I could kill that and get back up to run and survive.
The moa properly had 10% left after 1 of his knife attacks…. (I will donate to the Lost baby Moa sanctuary as my appreciation naturally)

At this point- If! I could see them that is. – then I might as well do a /sit and just wait for the unavoidable and get it over with.

And before you say – well you should stay with others. cause seriusly what did you think—- You’re and Ele! Eles don’t go solo running a# to b# if you know anything—doh!
I know this — now — . But same thief also took down 1-3 other players that was with me a few of the times.

just spam lightningwhip.

Thieves are hard these days because they go dd. Any chill or immob turns into a guarenteed 8k backstab.

Gearbox.2748:

…..
Out of some 5-6 Encounters with them – I survived 1 time. by running and trowing all my usual OMG! I’m getting wacked powers. Screaming like a 4 year old girl – and only just survived cause he hit a moa accidentally, – almost killing it, so that from downed state I could kill that and get back up to run and survive……

hahaha i know that feel bro

use mist form for a bit more of survival,
armor of earth so you can gain protection and stability then cast Lava Font around you and ice storm from frost bow, also lava tomb all those skills can help to down the thief if he is around you
air trait XI Tempest Defense in case of basilisk venom
if some thing immobilize you use burning retreat (staff skill4) and you can still dodge some attacks, also Fiery Whirl (fgs skill 3) can help to dodge and deals a very nice dmg if the enemy is near you, and Lightning Flash can help a bit
if you get downed wait 2 sec to activate mist form and try to kill some creature the fast possible so you can rally

chris.6583:

…
air trait XI Tempest Defense in case of basilisk venom
…

That’s one of most kittened up things about thieves, they are likely using Rune of Lyssa rendering Tempest Defense useless. They will just pop the basilisk, steal → BS/pistol whip with 5 sec stability for whole duration of Shocking Aura…

Lyssa runes will be gone next patch. Those op guard build will be needed too because of boon duration

Ok, figured i’d chime in, since i was more or less in your shoes OP until somewhat recently.
First off, you are running with a staff for supporting in group fights. Now, if you are also using a staff when a thief pops up for a 1v1, well…. don’t expect to win… ever.
Sure someone might tell you how he blows people up with staff ele 1v1 or something, but let’s be real here, no good player is ever going to lose to a staff ele in 1v1, i know i never have.
Second, are you perhaps running ether renewal as your heal to counter the condi meta? If so, again, don’t expect to win vs a stabby thief. Ether renewal is the worst heal to have vs a gc thief and it’s going to allow the thief to stay a lot more offensive on you, than you’d want.
The best general advice i can give vs a thief, is to try to instantly push the offensive in your favor. You must not allow them to be doing dmg to you for more than 2-3 secs. So how do you do that? With hard CC. I play d/d primarily so when a thief opens on me, im going to instantly shocking aura/updraft/earthquake, after which you try to deal as much dmg as you can. Most roamer thieves are running full glass, so you can quickly deal enough dmg to force them to recover (meaning stealth). If you manage to get them low enough before the stealth, you should try to finish them by doing AoEs around. If not, then just use the time they are in stealth, to heal yourself.
Also, forget about mist form. 1v1 vs a good thief, that skill is close to useless. I can’t begin to count the times i’ve been backstabbed/heartseekered a split second after my mist form ends.
I realize this may seem like a pretty generic advice overall, but really,, it’s what i’m doing currently and it works for me. The fights i’ve had with thieves lately in WvW have been either wins, or very close fights.
Now… if someone tells me a good strat for dealing with mesmers 1v1, that would be grand, but then again, mesmer is like the death knight of guild wars.

Scrib.9207:

let’s be real here, no good player is ever going to lose to a staff ele in 1v1, i know i never have.

Know the feeling. This morning, I just defeated 2 staff eles all by myself…on my staff ele. Staff eles are so easy to take down that even staff eles can 2v1 ’em.

Scrib.9207:

Now… if someone tells me a good strat for dealing with mesmers 1v1, that would be grand, but then again, mesmer is like the death knight of guild wars.

Condi mesmer, shatter mesmer or phantasm mesmer?

Number 1 requirement to beat any thief that constantly stealth after every one or two hit is massive burst. Without this element you stand no chance to beat them unless you have high dps and are able to interrupt his stealth twice in a row and the thief has only 1 stun break.

ThiBash.5634:

Scrib.9207:

let’s be real here, no good player is ever going to lose to a staff ele in 1v1, i know i never have.

Know the feeling. This morning, I just defeated 2 staff eles all by myself…on my staff ele. Staff eles are so easy to take down that even staff eles can 2v1 ’em.

Yogi Berra would be proud !

You should probably use the x/x/x/30/30 build with D/D. It has decent survivability and AoE damage, which are the best counters to a Thief.

With enough experience, you should be able to hold your own against a thief in a 1v1.

Another option, which requires a lot of practice and doesn’t work well against good thieves, is going full glasscannon and bursting the enemy before he can do anything. However, it’s very hard to play with this spec and you’ll probably end up dying more. It’s a kill or be killed situation.

Mist form jump off a cliff.

Thank you all for the feedback.
Alright, well until patch comes I can’t change spec all the time and do not really plan on moving out of my current 30/0/0/20/20 – nice long range fire spells for wall defense
fire fields for might, water fields for heals. and elemental attunement and cleansing wave for team support..lightning fields for speed- and zerk control with earth and water etc. all nice flexible things for the wvw team.
That I feel works great for support the zerk as well as my usual pve game.-

I do not plan on actually winning against a perma stealth thief 1v1 ever
.—- just survive would be great- – the first strike capability+ surprise of stealth is pretty though to move against. They usually have done some 8-9k damage by the time my first spell can be activated. – but being able to get back to my zerk from wp to the other side of the map would be fantastic.

But diffidently some tips I can use.

For the running from wp- to zerk- change to D/x and once there I can hope to find a time to change back again— I’ll try to spam lightning whip while running across the map- not sure I wont feel really dumb and still get back-stabbed but at-least its something.
Frostbow could be good. . if I survive the initial attack I could activate and shoot in front of me while screaming…. might buy me a few secs as he has to run around it.

I use Glybh of E for healing.. normaly as I have good condi removals from atonement change and waterstaff.
I run arcane shield and air signet for speed and stun breaks. and switch air to arcane blast once at the zerk. guess I could try for armor of earth for the run also.

Basically more defensive and spam aoe around me while moving from a- to -b. got it.

as for my tip on Mesmers—- ignore them if they are in the field- no point wasting time trying to chase them and fighting all the constant clones..
If they are hiding in the castle, waiting to make portal to let zerk back in—- point him out to the team. and let them be frustrated about invisibility and hitting clones while you handle your inventory.
Or do massive aoe around him while he sits and hope to not be seen….. there solved ^^