Guild Wars 2

hello guys i tend to struggle againts that class..i need some help. The problem with thief is that it seems i cannot lock em down (pointblank and stealth always misses on them because their dodges get them off my target unitframe…cause of stealth,dodges etc.). Do you guys have some tricks that i maybe forgot to figure out on my own, help is welcomed. TY

I don’t generally have too much drama against them, except for them continually stealthing, then it becomes a stalemate. Then their friends usually turn up. Either that or they take too much damage and run away. Reeks of cowardice to me when you initiate a duel from stealth and then figure you are outmatched and run away.

Axe/Dagger w/ Sword/Torch is a good set against them, lots of evasion and movement debuff, and Bonfire is great for when they shadow refuge or when you think they will attack. You want Lightning Reflexes imo, its a great gap opener combined with sword. Vigor is also great as you will be dodging a lot against them. Its going to be hard to conquer thieves with a LB though, mate.

Try SB and Sword/Torch. Also, “Sic Em” can be good against them, IF you time it just right, as 4s of revealed is pathetic. It should be more like 12s. Snow Owl pet and Snow Leopard are my fav two for them, the chill really slows them down.

Edit: I think I came across as making out like I never lose to thieves with this post, but in general I only die to them if I’m outnumbered or get insta-downed by basilisk venom and a burst. I don’t really count that as a fight though. If I can survive that, I usually fight them into the ground. I may just be encountering hopeless thieves though too, but it makes for fun fights anyway. That Basilisk Venom is the hardest thing about them imo.

One note on the LB, its so much fun in EotM for shooting them off the edges!

Ugh… used to defeat them quite a bit but lately having a slew of bad losses… a couple 8-9k backstabs and a 6k c&d and dead in seconds… :p

Things that work well: lightning reflexes, rapid fire (long bow), point blank (long bow), signet of stone with mastery, counter attack (Great sword), wolf fear

Things that dont work well: cc (like muddy terrain or entangle – seem to ignore it), rage as one (pretty sure they steal buffs and basically win), anything channeled (they will bs if you dont stay mobile).

I’ve lost a lot of confidence in defeating thieves, vs perm invis zerk builds its really hard to fight them since you cant see them and they score massive hits even with 2k tough.

Any reasonably well rounded thief I can generally win or fight to standstill (they leave).

I posted this in another thread. You have to assume the thief’s entire goal is to backstab you (unless you see he’s using different weapons or something.)

“You can use yourself as bait for the first C&D and then immediately Lightning Reflexes out of the Basilisk Venom. Sword 2 in 2 random directions will probably make the 2nd attempted backstab miss (it will never come before they unstealth) and then for the third one, Muddy Terrain yourself right before/as they unstealth. Possibly drop the entangle there as well.”

As Kilger pointed out, muddy terrain and entangle can be stealthed out of, so use it when they just come out of stealth or when you know where they are in stealth (muddy terrain only, since entangle needs a target.) You can use the drakehound howl in the same manner.

Also, rapid fire is your bread and butter for tracking stealthed thieves. If you see them low on health and know they are about to stealth, start the channel. It will follow themif you start attacking them before they finish stealthing. Turn with your RF so they don’t get out of your forward angle that RF works in. I.e. if you see them moving behind you, turn with it. You can tell how close they are to you by how fast your RF turns directions.

Don’t camp in LB against a thief. You’re pretty much only going to quickly switch to LB to make use of skills 2, 3, and 4, or autattack when they are circling around you before they attack. Only use barrage for area denial (i.e. to cut off an escape route when he’s stealthed, on Shadow Refuge, or on rare occasions use it on yourself to cripple him as he moves to backstab, then swap to melee and fight him in the AoE. That last use is very situational, be careful and do not default to using barrage.

Make liberal use of your melee sets movement skills. Be unpredictable if you don’t know where he is.

Work with your pets’ random CC, i.e. if your wolf knocks him down, follow it up with the LB4 knockback as he stands up.

Wolf fear is incredibly strong against anyone.

Hope any of that helps. Remember that their goal is usually to backstab you and reset combat if it doesn’t work, so get inside their head.

I will assume you are referring to WvW. What I usually do there when I see a thief, I quickly change one of my skills to “Sic’em”. Then I just use QZ and RaO and burst the thief down easily. Any weapon can works really, but make sure you are not blinded and there is no smoke field when you use Sic’em. Also, time your interrupt (SB 5 or LB 4) so it hits right after the revealed buff goes off.

Having 30 in marksmanship and signet of stone helps a lot as well. I think that’s obvious but say if it needs more explaining.

In PvP you can do the same thing. Or you can just play some of the “standard” ranger builds. PvP section in forum has links to them.

What to do against thieves overall? Do what I did:

Go into PvP 1 vs 1 arena with a thief friend, regardless of their skill level. Work your way to killing them, modify your build and gear as you deem it necessary. Use websites to build your character outside the game, so you don’t spend anytime in game looking for gear when you don’t know better. Put your ‘i think this works’ build in these forums so we can comment on your ideas. As you get better, challenge other thieves in the 1 vs 1 arena, until you feel strong enough, but do come back periodically to retest your skills and builds.

In my experience, I find that condition/toughness centered builds work best. There are certainly many variations in approach and I can share mine if you want, but it all will depend on your skill, your build can only take you so far as there are really skilled/experienced thief players out there.

Pro tip:
1. It’s essential for you to learn a thief’s approach, make a thief and practice with them in PvP, learn the flow of battle, or level them to 80 just for the single purpose of having fun.
2. Learn your ranger, we have a lot of (quite spreaded) survival options and damage options. When you have mastered your ranger, your weapon, utility and pet skills should flow as smoothly as an elementalist’s going through their elemental atonement rotation. The difference is that we can be more versatile since we have plenty of options, it’s just a matter of using them best the way that suits the situation AKA trashing the floor with that —- thief.
3. Learn to use your pet…. period.
4. Be open to losing, getting killed over and over by a thief until there is a permanent hole on your ranger’s back from all those backstabs, that’s how you will learn from your mistakes.

awge.3852:

3. Learn to use your pet…. period.

yeah,yeah,yeah, the old L2P issue…………………. it is epic when your pet stop each time the thief stealth.

how do you use your pet when the thief is in stealth???Because the f2 skill have a long cooldwon( if you are using CC pets)

Not a whole lot you can do vs a thief tbh. Generally vs any decent thief its a question of build (yours) If you play as tanky bm/regen then you have a shot through attrition, otherwise your hooped lol.

dylan.5409:

Not a whole lot I can do vs a thief tbh.

Fixed that for you.

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

Not a whole lot I can do vs a thief tbh.

Fixed that for you.

Pro said.

What you can do: take some consolation that if they are built that glass for 1-1 they get torn apart doing anything else.

urdriel.8496:

awge.3852:

3. Learn to use your pet…. period.

yeah,yeah,yeah, the old L2P issue…………………. it is epic when your pet stop each time the thief stealth.

how do you use your pet when the thief is in stealth???Because the f2 skill have a long cooldwon( if you are using CC pets)

It depends on the pet, if it’s not a canine you can just F3 the pet back to you while the thief is in stealth, but if your stowed pet is a canine, swap to it so you get the pet’s stomp, which will mitigate the thief’s burst.

In general you need to use your pet to your advantage, if the pet gives you a boon then use it while the thief is in stealth. If swapping pets gives you boons then do it while they are in stealth or as they come out of stealth.

Also while the thief is in stealth keep the pet by your side and make sure the thief doesn’t lure your pet far away from you only to shadow step by your side and kill you because you’re a bit overwhelmed with the situation or can’t swap pets.

One thing you should do is invest at least 10 in beast mastery for faster F2 usage (commanding voice I think it’s the name of the trait).

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

Not a whole lot I can do vs a thief tbh.

Fixed that for you.

Yea there will always be “pro’s” telling you how things should be/ l2p. However, 1 clever forum edit does not change a proff’s mechanics unfortunately.

A good way to survive thiefes is to have at least 3k armor and some aoe.

a good s/d or d/p thief can’t be killed in 1vs1, he will just run and reset the fight, sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t.

- Wolf F2 is good to push the thief off shadow refuge
- Don’t waste your evades/dodges

I usually don’t bother with them, if they keep attacking me I retaliate but usually the thief is looking for cheap wins and won’t waste hes time against someone who he can’t kill.

dylan.5409:

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

Not a whole lot I can do vs a thief tbh.

Fixed that for you.

Yea there will always be “pro’s” telling you how things should be/ l2p. However, 1 clever forum edit does not change a proff’s mechanics unfortunately.

Totally agree with you. The fact that so many people in this thread are giving constructive advice as to how to beat thieves should tell everyone the guy that said it’s impossible to beat them should have written what I edited his post to. He needs to read this advice himself and practice fighting thieves rather than being so defeatist. They’re really not that difficult.

Edit: Also I love this post.

sminkiottone.6972:

I usually don’t bother with them, if they keep attacking me I retaliate but usually the thief is looking for cheap wins and won’t waste hes time against someone who he can’t kill.

It’s easy to get sucked in to dueling a thief for 10 minutes, but all you’re doing is wasting time. Go take a camp or something instead if you can’t kill him in 1 or 2 resets.

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

Not a whole lot I can do vs a thief tbh.

Fixed that for you.

Yea there will always be “pro’s” telling you how things should be/ l2p. However, 1 clever forum edit does not change a proff’s mechanics unfortunately.

Totally agree with you. The fact that so many people in this thread are giving constructive advice as to how to beat thieves should tell everyone the guy that said it’s impossible to beat them should have written what I edited his post to. He needs to read this advice himself and practice fighting thieves rather than being so defeatist. They’re really not that difficult.

If you play a condi/bunker/regen ranger against a good thief he will never die, he will reset fight til he have the upper hand, and will kill you ( or you will flee).

If you are playing a zerker ranger, and kill a thief, well…..is a bad thief or you did a unexpected burst.

urdriel.8496:

If you play a condi/bunker/regen ranger against a good thief he will never die, he will reset fight til he have the upper hand, and will kill you ( or you will flee).

Depends, a lot of people like to post their condi roaming videos, and they like to highlight killing thieves in them. But you’re preaching to the choir here, I don’t like the slow kill speed.

urdriel.8496:

If you are playing a zerker ranger, and kill a thief, well…..is a bad thief or you did a unexpected burst.

Isn’t that the point? If you expected an attack to land, you’d just dodge it instead.

For example, the other day I ran in to an absolutely excellent thief. I always take sminkiottone.6972’s advice and just scare thieves off (or as you pointed out, kill the bad ones.) This guy was really good and he kept engaging and resetting the fight when I chased him off after a nerve wracking fight on both our parts. Finally I got him using the Muddy Terrain anticipatory move I suggested in my first post. The guy was well practiced, but unfortunately all that practice made his final backstab attempt too predictable. He didn’t expect it, and my attacks landed.

Fluffball.8307:

urdriel.8496:

If you play a condi/bunker/regen ranger against a good thief he will never die, he will reset fight til he have the upper hand, and will kill you ( or you will flee).

Depends, a lot of people like to post their condi roaming videos, and they like to highlight killing thieves in them. But you’re preaching to the choir here, I don’t like the slow kill speed.

urdriel.8496:

If you are playing a zerker ranger, and kill a thief, well…..is a bad thief or you did a unexpected burst.

Isn’t that the point? If you expected an attack to land, you’d just dodge it instead.

For example, the other day I ran in to an absolutely excellent thief. I always take sminkiottone.6972’s advice and just scare thieves off (or as you pointed out, kill the bad ones.) This guy was really good and he kept engaging and resetting the fight when I chased him off after a nerve wracking fight on both our parts. Finally I got him using the Muddy Terrain anticipatory move I suggested in my first post. The guy was well practiced, but unfortunately all that practice made his final backstab attempt too predictable. He didn’t expect it, and my attacks landed.

But it is unfair that due to the lack of balance of stealth the only way to kill a stealth thief is to make random and/or blinds attacks, you cant balance classes around THIS stealth mechanic.

It was a balanced fight, IMO. We disengaged 3 times (to be fair I was the one who disengaged one of those times with a stealth LR sword2sword2.) I got an adrenaline rush from fighting the guy because he was so good, but at the same time he was running around with um, 10,805 is base thief right? Plus he had the guard buffs up, so he only had 13,305 health? I suck at math but I think that’s correct. It only takes 3 LB autoattacks to kill a thief, so he was living on the edge just as much as I was.

Thieves have 1 way to beat you if they are a backstab thief. They cannot whittle you down in most cases. Rangers have a ton of sustain whether they’re condi bunker or full berserker, so the matchup favors us if the thief is willing to engage. And the willingness or not to engage is what determines almost all thief vs ranger matchups.

Edit: If it’s a condi thief is another story. I matchup horrifically against those.

Edit2: One final thought (I’m sitting here waiting awkwardly for an appointment). I played full map completion and quite a bit of WvW and sPvP with a backstab thief. It’s actually a lot harder than people give it credit for. I think knowing where it is hard for a thief will help anyone make it hard for the thief.

Any thief, especially in wvw , that plays well/dosent want to die, wont, its really as simple as that.
If they stick around and fight, then they have the stolen water field; several condition removal options; the best burst coupled with the best avoidance in the game. As Urdriel pointed out, power is hopeless 100% of the time vs a good thief while tanky rangers may not have enough damage to kill 1. I would add that even in a spirit build (outside of the elite being rdy), thieves often have the upper hand (depending on their build).
So what to do? The best outcomes ive had have been with bm regen (bounce around with sword and hope for lousy pet ai to actually hit, which it wont vs a thief who uses good movement).
Best way to beat a thief is to focus them when revealed….in a group fight ’cause its not a fair fight 1v1 imo.

dylan.5409:

As Urdriel pointed out, power is hopeless 100% of the time vs a good thief while tanky rangers may not have enough damage to kill 1.

This sort of absolutism is enraging. It’s why I corrected the post of the guy who said there is nothing to be done against thieves. YOU can not kill thieves, MANY of us can.

“Then they aren’t any good if you can kill them” is not an acceptable answer. If that’s the case, there are no good players at all in the game. I can clearly see who are skilled players, people who are pulling off amazing feats of timing or hitting evades or teles that take me completely by surprise. My first main character was a thief that I played very extensively in all formats of the game, so I know a good thief when I find one.

No one complains about thieves in sPvP (aside from occasional skill imbalances like the current pistol whip.) They have advantages and they have disadvantages, just like every class out there. In WvW you get the added bonus of not even needing to kill the thief you encounter. If he can’t kill you, he’ll probably leave.

Some of you watched a Ready Up a few weeks ago where Matt Visual, someone who is extremely low rank in PvP went up against one of the premier thieves in all of GW2. Matt lost, but it was a good fight.

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

As Urdriel pointed out, power is hopeless 100% of the time vs a good thief while tanky rangers may not have enough damage to kill 1.

This sort of absolutism is enraging. It’s why I corrected the post of the guy who said there is nothing to be done against thieves. YOU can not kill thieves, MANY of us can.

We all killed thiefs at some point or another, some more than others, but those thiefs had bad build/ they where newbie / they where suicidial or we simply outplayed them.

I saw a lot of videos on youtube of rangerX killing thiefs but all I always think is " how bad is the thief playing lol", thief that stands on the bonfire or walk out theyr own shadow refuge or miss they bursts like it’s the first time they play (miss the burst because of range, not because the ranger actually evaded it).

My point is : if the thief is good and he doesn’t make too many mistakes we cannot kill him, and btw we cannot chase thiefs, so he can keep resetting the fight at will till you make a mistake or he gets bored and leave.

Here is a realistic assessment of thieves from people who should know. People on the thief forum.

“…once you know and understand the Thief mechanics, you can actually counter them. Denying Cloak and Dagger is the key to beating many Thief builds and it can make a fight quite thrilling.
Against many classes it’s obvious who will win within the first 10 seconds. But against Thieves it’s always exciting since many of them like running glass-cannon, and thus can die at a moment’s notice.
I can see though why other classes might dislike Thieves, especially if they don’t fully understand the Thief’s mechanics. Thief’s put a lot of pressure on an enemy, often unannounced, forcing them to react quickly. Many players can’t handle that sort of pressure and thus cave in quickly.”

“Players get easily frustrated and that frustration comes out in the forums.”

“d/p is not that hard to counter
it is all about pulls pushes stuns cc.
to interrupt them before they finish there black powder / heart seeker combo.
and your timing weather or not they have shadow refuge on cool down . and how much initiative they have left over when u break there combo
break the combo and the thief can break to”

“<3 for learning thief first instead of qqing on forums like most other people do.”

My point is : if the thief is good and he doesn’t make too many mistakes we cannot kill him, and btw we cannot chase thiefs, so he can keep resetting the fight at will till you make a mistake or he gets bored and leave.

I mostly agree with this. They can escape if they want, however three points. The topic is surviving them. Rangers can break combat with thieves as well (see my example above.) Forcing them to disengage more than once is probably all they need to move on to greener pastures. And finally, if you’re playing berserker, you can often kill them before the can fully escape, even if they are “good”. The good ones are usually the ones that will wind up dying rather than fleeing because they’re used to playing on the edge as well as not looking for easy targets.

One other note I will make regarding fighting a thief in WvW, have high armor, anywhere near 3000 will be a life saver. Also, let them steal the water field from you because it’s honestly pretty hard to counter the moment that they will decide to steal you (not impossible just hard). Save your block/evades for their burst. The second that they use the water field, walk away from the spot immediately while maintaining damage on the thief. Most thieves will drag you to fight them within the water field, so they will leap into the water field and heal/cure conditions mitigating all your effort. If you can keep a thief chasing after you as you fight, even if they reset the fight a million times, they will fall into your pace and this is key to beating them… as long as you don’t screw up.

The first thing you should never do is run away from a thief. The first thing you should always do is have your character facing the thief head on.

@Fluffball
Im not saying ive never killed a thief, I outplay them all the time. If its even skill however, I wont win, I may get an advantage only to see the thief reset.
People complain about thieves in spvp all the time lol. Theres like a 5 pg thread on how they drive away other power proff’s. That being said, thieves do get easier when you gain a bit of experience with them. Some helpful tips (no more qq’ing:D): theres a 3?(unless they chain it) second window in stealth, it can help to count it out and time a dodge or evade. As the op points out, relying on big hits lb4 for example, can be a real pita with the constant blinds/resets, but if you want to use lb, then you need to time the channel for right before stealth, thats the only advantage for that weapon sadly. Bottom line is that to killa thief, you need lots of burst or cc and while we have some soft cc (pet f2 hopefully is more responsive after 15th), the ranger proff is designed around steady-non bursty damage.

dylan.5409:

Im not saying ive never killed a thief, I outplay them all the time. If its even skill however, I wont win, I may get an advantage only to see the thief reset.

Sounds good to me. If the thief is better than you, he wins. If you’re better than the thief, you win. If you’re equal, one or both of you will disengage. I don’t see the reason you and others need to tell the OP “nothing you can do if you face a thief” rather than listing specific things you can do to beat a thief.

dylan.5409:

Bottom line is that to killa thief, you need lots of burst or cc

And this is probably why I don’t have trouble with thieves. Most ranger roamers play to bore their enemies to death over 10 minutes (hyperbolic description of a condi bunker). I play a berserker roamer based heavily around CC, exactly what you just described as being needed to kill thieves. I really don’t understand why that type of playstyle is not more popular, since roaming on your own you either run in to thieves or lost zerglings, both of which die to a berserker ranger.

Fluffball.8307:

dylan.5409:

As Urdriel pointed out, power is hopeless 100% of the time vs a good thief while tanky rangers may not have enough damage to kill 1.

This sort of absolutism is enraging. It’s why I corrected the post of the guy who said there is nothing to be done against thieves. YOU can not kill thieves, MANY of us can.

“Then they aren’t any good if you can kill them” is not an acceptable answer. If that’s the case, there are no good players at all in the game. I can clearly see who are skilled players, people who are pulling off amazing feats of timing or hitting evades or teles that take me completely by surprise. My first main character was a thief that I played very extensively in all formats of the game, so I know a good thief when I find one.

No one complains about thieves in sPvP (aside from occasional skill imbalances like the current pistol whip.) They have advantages and they have disadvantages, just like every class out there. In WvW you get the added bonus of not even needing to kill the thief you encounter. If he can’t kill you, he’ll probably leave.

Some of you watched a Ready Up a few weeks ago where Matt Visual, someone who is extremely low rank in PvP went up against one of the premier thieves in all of GW2. Matt lost, but it was a good fight.

lol thieves are nerfed in spvp vs wvw. need to learn the basics.

Fluffball.8307:

No one complains about thieves in sPvP.

And yet they complain about spirit rangers like there’s no tomorrow. Maybe that’s because the game modes are significantly different in stat allotment, available gear, and goal?

You get only 50 crit damage with 30 in crit line and zerker ammy with zerker gem.

I have almost that much with mostly soldier and knights gear and only 20 in skirmishing.

Thieves would be just as annoying in spvp as they are in wvw if they had pve crit damage along with food, wrench, ruins bloodlust, and guard slayer on them.

Due to;

1. lack of hunter conditions
2. bad autoaiming
3. slow ROF
4. smaller damages
5. unable to keep distance well
   It’s hard to keep up the fight with a thief who can doublepush a button to kill you, or going to stealth all the time and returning full HP.

Best we can do right now is to berzerk on them, and fallback in case they seem very OP. Most of thieves who die in 1v1 are losers, otherwise in the current state of Ranger, you better skip them when possible. Aim them in zergfights too, take your revange >:)

Hello, lootbags. WvW thief here. Since power Rangers are considered a happy corpse on legs by most thieves, i’ll try to show you our perspective, what we hate to bump into. Okay, here it comes.

1. AoE on Shadow Refuge. Since you bothered to slot that longbow, don’t waste your Barrage on silly stuff like my Black Powder/Heartseeker combo. I’ll just move out on it. What i hate is when my Shadow Refuge has an ugly red circle on top of it. Of course, other AoE/Cleave weapons work even better. Hit me with a maul, i’m dead.

2. Did i mention “Hit me with a maul, i’m dead”? Ranger’s melee weapons are an effective choice against me. Sword/dagger offers obscene amounts of evades. It’s like trying to backstab a grasshopper. Greatsword, on the other hand, is a great backstab deterrent. Nothing makes me throw a juicy kitten like a GS #4 right when i am about to backstab, followed by Hilt Bash and Maul.

3. Canine Pets. Yeah, forget bears/cats/devourers/moas/piggies. They just take valuable space and waste natural resources. If you want to give me a challenge, at least bother slotting your Wolf. And remember, dogs execute their awesome leap right after pet swap!

4. One, two… dodge! That doesn’t apply only to Rangers, but it’s an effective strategy against all D/X thieves. If you see me stealth, count to two and dodge. You’re almost sure get away. If you have no dodge, bind about face to a nearby key. Difference between 10k and 5k crits is amazing if you ever have to eat it. Weapon dodges count too, so keep them in mind.

5. Don’t stand there. Nothing brings a smile on my face as a Ranger having a casual picnic and plonking things with his longbow. Yes, expect me to dodge that Point Blank Shot. And then you’re already a lootbag. MOVE. Especially when i stealth.

I hope those few tips will help you in countering us Thieves a bit better.

Lenor.8197:

Hello, lootbags. WvW thief here. Since power Rangers are considered a happy corpse on legs by most thieves, i’ll try to show you our perspective, what we hate to bump into. Okay, here it comes.

1. AoE on Shadow Refuge. Since you bothered to slot that longbow, don’t waste your Barrage on silly stuff like my Black Powder/Heartseeker combo. I’ll just move out on it. What i hate is when my Shadow Refuge has an ugly red circle on top of it. Of course, other AoE/Cleave weapons work even better. Hit me with a maul, i’m dead.

2. Did i mention “Hit me with a maul, i’m dead”? Ranger’s melee weapons are an effective choice against me. Sword/dagger offers obscene amounts of evades. It’s like trying to backstab a grasshopper. Greatsword, on the other hand, is a great backstab deterrent. Nothing makes me throw a juicy kitten like a GS #4 right when i am about to backstab, followed by Hilt Bash and Maul.

3. Canine Pets. Yeah, forget bears/cats/devourers/moas/piggies. They just take valuable space and waste natural resources. If you want to give me a challenge, at least bother slotting your Wolf. And remember, dogs execute their awesome leap right after pet swap!

4. One, two… dodge! That doesn’t apply only to Rangers, but it’s an effective strategy against all D/X thieves. If you see me stealth, count to two and dodge. You’re almost sure get away. If you have no dodge, bind about face to a nearby key. Difference between 10k and 5k crits is amazing if you ever have to eat it. Weapon dodges count too, so keep them in mind.

5. Don’t stand there. Nothing brings a smile on my face as a Ranger having a casual picnic and plonking things with his longbow. Yes, expect me to dodge that Point Blank Shot. And then you’re already a lootbag. MOVE. Especially when i stealth.

I hope those few tips will help you in countering us Thieves a bit better.

Sounds consistent with my experiences! Dodging the first bs & cnd is key, I think thats been my failure lately. I most often use my GS#4 to block it but sometimes have my longbow out because Im trying to pin them down to fight which is bad.

Its annoying that we have to do everything right not to be dead in 2-3 hits vs a good thief but then again doing it right means our chance of winning is really good.

Chrispy.5641:

The first thing you should never do is run away from a thief. The first thing you should always do is have your character facing the thief head on.

This right here, even if you know will die then what you will not do is die like a coward. How else are you going to learn to kill them?

Well thanks for this intel Lenor.
Please keep in mind that if we’re not Bunker, so most likely trying to play as Power Ranger which worth as mutch as a warrior’s used pants, don’t forget that you’re using skills that autojump in our face and poof our half of our halfed dmg gone.

I did fairly good until yesterday when I just took a 19k backstab in the front…

Kilger.5490:

Its annoying that we have to do everything right not to be dead in 2-3 hits vs a good thief but then again doing it right means our chance of winning is really good.

Don’t forget a glass cannon thief has even less health than we do. Both of us die in 2-3 hits.

I’ve mentioned this a bit before when I talk about my build, but I always get the guard buffs up, use vitality food, and have vitality infusions, so even in 100% berserker gear I’m a little under 23,000 health. That makes a big difference if you mess up a backstab.

Just keep practicing Royal.

Fluffball.8307:

Kilger.5490:

Its annoying that we have to do everything right not to be dead in 2-3 hits vs a good thief but then again doing it right means our chance of winning is really good.

Don’t forget a glass cannon thief has even less health than we do. Both of us die in 2-3 hits.

I’ve mentioned this a bit before when I talk about my build, but I always get the guard buffs up, use vitality food, and have vitality infusions, so even in 100% berserker gear I’m a little under 23,000 health. That makes a big difference if you mess up a backstab.

Just keep practicing Royal.

Ive got 2k toughness and 20k health, and have eaten 25k damage in only a couple seconds, so high health is only good vs garden variety thieves. Thieves that give me this trouble have full stacks up too, have a fair amount of resilience and dont die too easy. This is a rarer type that doesnt lend itself to common experience. You must avoid their bs/cnd or it is just over, like that second.

Very exhilirating, but a bit disheartening if you get caught behind a bad weapon swap timer.

If equally skilled, ranger has no chance vs thief. As a ranger , you have to over play a thief to win them. It’s not your fault, it’s Anet’s fault.
Even a mesmer will have a hard time against an equally skilled thief, class wise the only class who can really challenge thief is engi. Go to thief forum and see how they feel. less than 1% thief will complain about how to vs ranger, but >50% of them will discuss how to deal with engi.

traps

problem solved

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m the only one of this forum who actually uses Sic’Em…. It always brings a smile to my face stomping a thief who lost and WOULD have escaped, but reveals a kitten ain’kitten

irk.2047:

traps

problem solved

Pretty much this and not ranger traps, stealth traps.
Use them if everything else fails to get rid of a theif they are the hardcounter.

Durzlla.6295:

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m the only one of this forum who actually uses Sic’Em…. It always brings a smile to my face stomping a thief who lost and WOULD have escaped, but reveals a kitten ain’kitten

I switch to it when i see a thief..

But yea…Thieves aren’t that scary..

a Necro is scary

Terravos.4059:

Durzlla.6295:

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m the only one of this forum who actually uses Sic’Em…. It always brings a smile to my face stomping a thief who lost and WOULD have escaped, but reveals a kitten ain’kitten

I switch to it when i see a thief..

But yea…Thieves aren’t that scary..

a Necro is scary

Necros quite literally are “dodge their fear or die” in a lot of cases, it’s pretty stupid… Gonna be happy when we get access to more active condi removal.

yesterday i got hit for over my health in 3 attacks…3k steal,10k backstab and 9.2k heartseeker. How is it fair when you have that high dmg…i mean some class has higher dmg than the other but ….20k in 3 attacks sounds a bit to much. well balance patch is coming soon so, there might be some changes about that.

Durzlla.6295:

Terravos.4059:

Durzlla.6295:

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m the only one of this forum who actually uses Sic’Em…. It always brings a smile to my face stomping a thief who lost and WOULD have escaped, but reveals a kitten ain’kitten

I switch to it when i see a thief..

But yea…Thieves aren’t that scary..

a Necro is scary

Necros quite literally are “dodge their fear or die” in a lot of cases, it’s pretty stupid… Gonna be happy when we get access to more active condi removal.

I’m more scared of the ability that transfers all my conditions back onto me…. and then they pop signet of spite…. and then i’m dead.

Terravos.4059:

Durzlla.6295:

Terravos.4059:

Durzlla.6295:

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m the only one of this forum who actually uses Sic’Em…. It always brings a smile to my face stomping a thief who lost and WOULD have escaped, but reveals a kitten ain’kitten

I switch to it when i see a thief..

But yea…Thieves aren’t that scary..

a Necro is scary

Necros quite literally are “dodge their fear or die” in a lot of cases, it’s pretty stupid… Gonna be happy when we get access to more active condi removal.

I’m more scared of the ability that transfers all my conditions back onto me…. and then they pop signet of spite…. and then i’m dead.

Lol I’m a power build (clerics, so support but point is my condis just tickle) so I don’t really suffer from it on my ranger, by my Mesmer cries when they transfer his condis back…. I started running phantasmal disenchanter + arcane thievery on him for a reason xD

Condi trap bunker owns thieves, well it owns pretty much everything due to how condi stats work right now. One of my favorites is full glass cannon LB, let thief get you to less than 5k health, pop signet of stone, unload on him as he spams HS, if he is about to stealth barrage. It produces much rage from thieves cause they think they had a sure win, often times you will get party invites after that.

It’s excellent that some Rangers here have no problems with thieves. It could be though that you are the top 5% of the Ranger class. I am never really surprised at the things good players are capable of.

I have never had a chance to witness it with my own eyes though. Of course I have seen Rangers beat Thieves….but, when it is an above average Thief? ..no. I have attended many nights of dueling. A well played Thief doesn’t lose to a Ranger….or at least I haven’t witnessed it.

In average everyday WvW though, Rangers in general are prime food for thieves.

I just freakin’ LOVE when half of enemy zerg jumps on me, the easyloot ranger.
Instead of the Keep Lord… hah!

If they don’t want to die, you won’t kill them. They can escape or reset at will on any class, the hardest match up for them being a good engineer.

You’ll need to go BM or spirit bunker if you don’t want to be dying to them, but you won’t kill them either unless they’re stupid and choose to stay around instead of doing constant resets until you’re out of cd’s.

Percidios.8213:

20k in 3 attacks sounds a bit to much.

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