Question for the pro's: How do you handle a thief?
I somehow manage to half kill the stupid dualist ones with my shield reflect. As soon as I see the two pistols typically the first thing they do is unload spam, so I just reflect it back in their face, and block the second volley with my second shield ability. After that I have free reign to lay into them while wait for their energy to come back.
I’m sure there are better thieves though. And the melee ones with Pistol Whip are pretty deadly. But I think a general thing is to wear PvP gear to survive their faceroll bursts.
Our profession has A LOT of hard control abilities. We also have the most spammable AoE attacks at both long and short range. (Grenades/Bombs)
I’m usually running a control rifle build that comes with PBR, Slicks Shoes, and Grenade Kit/Utility Goggles/Rocket Shoes. Thieves aren’t anything to write home about honestly for me. I see a Thief start spamming Heartseaker, I just go ahead and Overcharged Shot→Net Shot and take the glass cannon down with a Blunderbuss→Jump Shot→Grenade Barrage(If I’m running that build).
The real Thieves aren’t the ones spamming Heartseaker or Backstab, it’s the Thieves in a Sword/Pistol / Shortbow combo who knows how to dodge and use their dodge utilities. The best Thieves are the ones you cannot hit.
i use a pistol/shield build with bomb kit, elixir gun and elixir s.
since thieves love to melee, i always immediately equip my bomb kit and start out with the immobilize > confusion/fire bomb into blind, switch out, lay down confusion/blind with my pistol “3” and then get them poisoned.
if the thief is going melee, bomb kit with elixir-infused bombs makes me a god vs them. i’m healing and doing damage to them. plus, if you use elixir s and switch to a kit, you can still use the kit in it.
Their initial burst is brutal, try to last through it and then keep them from running off to recharge. Dodge, heal, inflict weakness, block if you got it.
I am especially fond of rocket boots against the heartseeker spammers. They bunny hop right back up to you and then look befuddled when they realise that they ran out of initiative doing it.
If you catch them at range, its usually rather easy to kite them. They have some decent gap closers, but are no match for the control an engi has.
Unload condition damage onto them and watch them melt.
The fun thing about glass cannon Thieves is that for all their damage, they can’t take a punch. I build my engineer with a lot of Vit and Toughness, so a thief has to put out a lot more damage on me than I have to put out on them.
Double pistols for glue shot + insane burn + confusion (try to use unload 3x when confused xD), then elixir gun for poison and cripple. Elixir B and C help pretty much, also healing turret can blow melee thieves and heal you
Toughness + HP
Thief has a resource system and CD’s….
1) Learn to recognize his CD so you can mitigate it with Elixir S on other ways.
2) Learn when to use YOU CD’s for maximum return.
3) Learn what to do when you mess up!!
Kill Time in this game is high enough to allow for mistake recovery.
OR you can play BUNKER spec which is put all points in the last 3 trait lines and use a pistol + shield and NEVER EVER AGAIN worry about any melee player!
I haven’t met many of them going dual pistols and I admit that the few times I did I had trouble dealing with them, as not having a shield equipped makes us quite vulnerable to ranged dmg. Those that rely on melee for dmg, either dagger/dagger or sword/pistol are kinda easy to deal with thanks to our excellent kiting. All “main” weapons are good for the job (pistol with the blind, rifle with overcharged shot + net, shield with the stun, off-hand pistol for the burst) and many good utilities help a lot ( slick shoes devastates them, but personal batterning ram, the flamethrower and the bomb kit help too).
“We have no first-person view because stupid people would lock into it”
“You can’t have more than 10 HS decks because that would confuse people”
“30 fps is more cinematic”
“You can’t have more than 10 HS decks because that would confuse people”
“30 fps is more cinematic”
Rocketboots and run to a different point. I don’t even bother trying anymore.
There are a variety of ways, as described above. One of the great things about this class is the tremendous versatility.
I personally run a power rifle/bomb/elixir spec. Spammy thief attacks, you lay down Big ol’ bomb, and lulz ensue. Spam moar bombs. Dead and mad thief.
For an actual skilled thief, using a build like mine, you’ll need to anticipate their location while their stealthed, and switch between rifle and bomb abilities. Most will want to close right away, so again Big ol Bomb is key. It’s radius is huge and those dumb enough to not evade will get knockbacked. Anticipating them closing again into melee range, drop a glue bomb, then a smoke bomb. The blind will cause some of that big burst damage to whif, and smoke bomb’s large radius is hard to avoid. From that point, it’s a matter of timing the cd’s from these bombs and your rifle control skills (overcharge and net shot) to either keep the thief at range or negating their high burst. Elixir S is a critical tool in my build, rendering you invulnerable. You can also switch to your bomb kit while shrunk, giving you additional free bomb spam while the thief wastes more burst on an immune target. Jump shot is another important tool for positioning, giving you a couple seconds to get range again.
Your results may vary, as many thieves tend to spam a couple of abilities, but there is a minority getting more crafty with condition builds or are really good about being janky in stealth. For me and my playstyle, the anti-thief strategy is all about bombs.
If you’re using pistol/shield, Shield 5 is an amazing way to stop your heart seeker or pistol whip spammers before they get their combos started. From there, I usually equip the bomb kit to drop my bombs during the stun duration. If everything connects, they should already have taken heavy damage, putting them on the defensive rather than the offensive. This also works for Warrior bull rushers.
The number one advice is to not waste your stun break on their initial attack if you don’t have to.