Guild Wars 2

Hi fellow mesmers
I would really like some inputs and views on how you guys deal with the initial burst from these type of thieves because despite having high armor, they seem to 2-3 shot you. It would be nice to learn something from you guys.

For me, it depends on the weapon I’m currently wielding. I always save one skill for defense in addition to Diversion/Distortion (F3/F4).

Staff – Chaos Storm’s chance to proc Daze, Aegis, and Weakness makes it a great defense in addition to comboing into Chaos Armor for the blinds it can apply to the enemy and protection it can give me. Of course, Phase Retreat not only gets you out of harms way, but gives you a clone to shatter for a Daze/Distortion.

Sword – Blurred Frenzy can be a life-saver. iLeap/Swap’s immobilize can get you some breathing room. Offhand sword’s block can absorb a hit to allow you to defensively shatter. Scepter’s block is similar and a bit quicker.

Focus- Dat pull. ’Nuff said. (and of course, the cripple from the curtain is pretty helpful)

Also, some good suggestions in this thread.. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/vs-glass-thief-spvp

Whatever you do, just don’t let a thief catch you without a stunbreak/Phase Retreat/Distortion

Scepter wise – i would start with going iCounter right away, then switch to staff for Phase Retreat when i am confident the torment has proced on them

Clone/Stealth spam works extremely well against glass cannons that rely on bursting you down quickly, atleast if you’re focusing on conditions, because they can’t handle that pressure for long and it’s pretty much impossible to burst you down fast enough unless they got you from the start when you weren’t paying attention or something.

Heartseeker spammers are usually absolutely no threat whatsoever. To any build.

That said, the counter depends entirely on your build, so you gotta tell us what you run first.

In my build’s case (shatter/phantasm with GS and sword/focus or pistol) Just make sure you have one stunbreaker in case they load basilisk venom, then dodge and proceed to chain-combo them with knockbacks, stuns, immobilizes and the ridiculous mesmer burst!

Bonus points if you happen to have Moa Morph just for the overkill.

Good thiefs are usually a dance to see who overcommits first. Moa Morph pretty much guarantees a kill unless they counter with Thieve’s Guild and get lucky with the NPC’s attacks (can buy enough time to wear down Moa).

Like I said in another post Dodge and Stealth. The bad ones don’t use a stun venom dodge and they are toast. The better ones use basilisk venom then you need to use one of the many many stun breakers and then dodge. It’s all about no panic and use your dodge and stealth. Timing is everything.

Using the staff is quite logical if you think about it.

5, 4, 3, 2, dodge, shatter.
And if they stun… 2, 3, 4, 5, dodge, shatter.

Basicly, slam your head into your keyboard, roll it around to either side and hope the Thief die before you do.

How to video connected to the shatter cat guide.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1afZXOD8fE

/Osicat

Thx all for the valuable insights. I think my problem lies on too little stun breakers as I was glamour specced. Blink and decoy seemed like a must have to stay alive.

I was running a glamour build 0 0 30 10 30 with blink, feedback and nullfield. Seems like its not too worth ir when a thief sticks on you.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Scepter wise – i would start with going iCounter right away, then switch to staff for Phase Retreat when i am confident the torment has proced on them

If you are running Perplexity Runes a further addition to this is an immediate F3 shatter after iCounter hits, 5 stacks of torment and 5 stacks of confusion from the interrupt (cos lets face it when was the last time you fought a thief that only used Heartseeker once..) followed by Phase Retreat is going to immediately put the thief on the defensive and give you space and time to heal up.