Guild Wars 2

Just wondering if there’s any builds ranger wise for dealing with them if they start spamming the stealth?

Assuming the typical D/D glass cannon? Traps n’ torches. There’s also a trait that gives protection if you get hit by a single attack for more than 20% of your health, heavily mitigating the burst combo.

I use a fairly trap heavy build with sword + dagger as my main weapon set (usually running with flame and spike traps + both the trap traits). When I’m dealing with a thief I keep throwing down traps and using dodges and evade attacks. If you time your evades well you can avoid their nastier attacks your main goal being to outlast their stealth or take a backstab in the front, once they decide to flee a well aimed trap can be the end of them if you’re good at knowing where they’ll likely run towards. I’m guessing there are better builds for it though, I run with my PvE build in PvP so it’s not specifically designed for the task, but its what I enjoy playing. I have a pretty good kill ratio using this build, but thieves definitely escape more often than other classes barring mesmers.

Infatum.2481:

I use a fairly trap heavy build with sword + dagger as my main weapon set (usually running with flame and spike traps + both the trap traits). When I’m dealing with a thief I keep throwing down traps and using dodges and evade attacks. If you time your evades well you can avoid their nastier attacks your main goal being to outlast their stealth or take a backstab in the front, once they decide to flee a well aimed trap can be the end of them if you’re good at knowing where they’ll likely run towards. I’m guessing there are better builds for it though, I run with my PvE build in PvP so it’s not specifically designed for the task, but its what I enjoy playing. I have a pretty good kill ratio using this build, but thieves definitely escape more often than other classes barring mesmers.

Nope. Thief here. Traps are the best tool a Ranger has for taking me down. I’d recommend two traps and Lightning Reflexes, because that’s a fantastic stun break for when the Basilisk Venom hits you.

^ What he said. Ive killed many thieves, been killed by them too. Its tough but your best bet is go with GS and LR and traps do wonders on thieves.

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

^ What he said. Ive killed many thieves, been killed by them too. Its tough but your best bet is go with GS and LR and traps do wonders on thieves.

Or just go GS w/ Flame trap, QZ, and LR. QZ makes thieves cry.

favorite way to kill thiefs, lightning evade to get away from them, entangle to force them to stealth or else they will be stuck there(in which case i shortbow them dead)

wolf with fear to send them running and open up a clean line of sight to shoot them.
and muddy terrain to cripple/immoblize them.

thiefs have low hp so if you can get some hits on them they will usually run. long as you survive thier innitial dmg burst at least.
if they run then killing them is really easy, send a wolf to knock them down or cripple them and shortbow thier behind off.

lightning evade will usually save you from their burst as they tend to steal, stealth and then backstab you, if you dodge back then thier backstab misses, and they need to turn around to aim at you.

entangle is just ot annoy them when they have steal on cooldown and thier only option is to somehow stealth(and waste either initiative or a utility) or stand there and die

basicly to kill a thief you need ot drag the battle out so they are low on int and thier utility skills are on cooldown. if you do that and stay at ranger then it is really easy to kill them.

frost wolf + fear wolf combo with this stratagy has gotten me 7/8 thief kills so far. the 8th only escapign by spammign heartseeker to run away…i swear they must have stealthed or logged out at some point cause i never foudn them after they ran.

also, if you are with a ally, a thief will either not bother attacking you or go down quick.
remember a thief’s weakness is they have low hp, medium armor, and rely on bursts to do dmg, remove the burst and they jsut a elementalist without magic.

and as someone pointed out recently, entangle them and then have pet fear them, they will not be able to move, or use skills for the time they feared. and they will turn thier back to you, which helps shortbow greatly.

Entangle is such a great skill for thief’s that are fleeing , they pop there heal/invis but get stuck from your immobilize and cant do anything while u pop traps at their location .

Any common trap ranger build shouldn’t have ANY problem w/ a thief even w/o initial traps setup or a single stunbreak.

Few tips:
1. Always prioritize kiting and surviving over dps (use Shortbow 4 or Axe 3 right away), the thief will die pretty quickly from just a few traps and your pet.

2. When holding a point don’t just stand in the middle even w/ your traps out; a good thief will know how to maneuver around them or use stealth/shadowsteps properly to kill you. ALWAYS have your traps setup and hide somewhere where the thief wont be able to jump you immediately w/o having to position himself w/ stealth or shadowstep
- i.e. On close nodes on Battle of Kyloh you can hide under or on top of the bridgelike slope on the sides.

3. Watch out for Dancing Daggers

4. Save your Shortbow 5 for when Thief tries to heal stealth (pretty much a guaranteed kill if you land it when Thief is at 50% health)

ok now that we have listen some easy ways to kill thiefs, i have a funny video for you.

some people have convinced themselfs that thief is all powerful and can kill anything with ease by using just 1 and 2 skills.

apparently they think thief beats elementalist or warrior. and dont realize that thief is a low hp target that is onyl good at melee,
elementalist isnt ment to tank(though they think it is apparently)

and the warrior…idk they must be pretty bad at the game to be bad at the class. i tried ot make the worse build ever with it and still ended up with something that could out dps most.

watch the video and get a laugh =)
then again, if they believe it we will have more squishy targets to shoot.

I have a fully exo’d Ranger that I shelved prob about a month ago and have levelled a Thief alt out of sheer frustration at how ineffective our beloved Ranger class had become.

What I will say is that the Thief class is truly one of the classes that CAN roll FULL glass and STILL have very decent survivability thanks in part to the well thought out and executed escape mechanics.

I can now safely say that no decent Thief should ever die to any class, let alone to a kitten Ranger if they keep a level head and bide their time. Dont believe me? Level one.

Here are a couple things not covered by posters above:

1. Knockdowns/knockbacks are a thief’s bane.
Longbow #4 and dog pets are how we have access to that.

2. Channeled direct damage attacks will continue to damage someone in stealth.
Longbow #2 is our access to that.

3. Fear is a great cc that you can use without a target.
Wolf pet is our access to fear.

4. Pet Strategy: Using dog pets
a) Use your wolf fear when they go invisible and dodge roll twice towards your pet; the thief will be coming for you and get hit with the aoe fear.

b) Switch pets after the fear for quickness so you can dps his back.

c) If your switched pet is also a dog type, he will be leaping at him for a knockdown as fear dissipates.

RANGER BUFFS INC, lets hope they are worthy of us.

yeah as its been said, doggies eat thieves. RNG for the win; Had a thief try to backstab me while my wolf was directly behind me, after their initial stun my wolf knocked him down, he proceeded to run and claim i was a hacker the rest of the match.

also, greatsword counter attack is worth the laughs. “ooo that thief stealthed while walking towards me, lets see how smart they are.” You would initially think they would wait the few seconds, but i’d say 8 out of 10 dont in spvp. (feels buggy tho if anyone can confirm issues with counterattack and stealth, i’d be grateful)

Entangle and spam on the binding roots is another cheap way of going about it, works well with GS.

Build for survivability. I really should look into Lightning Reflexes, but I like buffing my pet too much. just wish f2 fear would work every time i pressed the button.

Most thieves panic when under fire, play offensively, with defensive dodges and counters while keeping the pressure on them. Once they start running, snare/stun and go to town. remember to swap pets for quickness for finish him.

Yea I dont play defensively against thieves, its impossible for me.

I play trap spec and Thieves are the easiest class for me to solo honestly. After they activate a few stacked traps it is usually lights out.

I play a thief as my main while my ranger is shelved… I am really familiar with both professions. I also don’t play the thief as an instagib cheese build.

I smile a little when I come across a ranger by himself in pvp…because it is a guaranteed win. And I don’t mean that as I can outplay him and win, or if he doesn’t screw up I win, or I don’t screw up I win… I mean… I’m going to win. The pet… ah, the pet. In this situation does the ranger far more harm than most people ever realize.

If I’m using my power sword/dagger control build, I’ll unload some dancing daggers, these bad boys bounce off his own pet and end up dealing twice the normal damage. Really punishes them. If I’m using my attrition condition pistol/dagger build, then the pet serves as a free stealth source. I can freely go in and out of stealth because its movements are so predictable I can land cloak and dagger on it every time without fail. It ends badly for the ranger, because the only way to counter that build is to reliably deny it the stealths…. instead the ranger give them out for free.

A trap build is the only build that has ever presented me on my thief with any degree of challenge, but I just have too many cleanses in either build I play for it to really win… it just prolongs the inevitable a smidgin… lol.

I’m not trying to gloat. The state of balance between these two professions is just rediculous. I want my ranger to be more effective, and I want my thief to have a challenge.

Silent.4378:

Entangle is such a great skill for thief’s that are fleeing , they pop there heal/invis but get stuck from your immobilize and cant do anything while u pop traps at their location .

Unfortunately any thief that is not a complete noob will use one of the many thief skills that can get them out of entangle. It is actually very weak against thieves (good against many other classes though).

i always kite thieves then once they get close enough to do damage i use my signets to null damage followed with rao only time i have problems with thieves are when i am out numbered they really irk me. And as far as stealth goes i have a fairly good sense of direction and i just keep shooting until i see evade and the red arrow appear when you hit them in cloak and they freak out. Pretty balanced fight but sometimes they do get in position in which i cannot defend myself

Ravnodaus.5130:

I play a thief as my main while my ranger is shelved… I am really familiar with both professions. I also don’t play the thief as an instagib cheese build.

I smile a little when I come across a ranger by himself in pvp…because it is a guaranteed win. And I don’t mean that as I can outplay him and win, or if he doesn’t screw up I win, or I don’t screw up I win… I mean… I’m going to win. The pet… ah, the pet. In this situation does the ranger far more harm than most people ever realize.

If I’m using my power sword/dagger control build, I’ll unload some dancing daggers, these bad boys bounce off his own pet and end up dealing twice the normal damage. Really punishes them. If I’m using my attrition condition pistol/dagger build, then the pet serves as a free stealth source. I can freely go in and out of stealth because its movements are so predictable I can land cloak and dagger on it every time without fail. It ends badly for the ranger, because the only way to counter that build is to reliably deny it the stealths…. instead the ranger give them out for free.

A trap build is the only build that has ever presented me on my thief with any degree of challenge, but I just have too many cleanses in either build I play for it to really win… it just prolongs the inevitable a smidgin… lol.

I’m not trying to gloat. The state of balance between these two professions is just rediculous. I want my ranger to be more effective, and I want my thief to have a challenge.

You havent came across me^^