Guild Wars 2

Srs. Sword/X (typically) thief always on the look out for trap rangers, rather face anything else else in the game atm.
Suggestions? Trap rangers that like to move off their point aren’t much of an issue, but im presuming they don’t know what they’re doing. If they’re not on the trap then it’s not pressuring me.
Best time is basically in any area where I can abuse terrain to remove the pet from the equation to at least remove one aspect from the scenario but outside of that?
I’ll lose a SB vs SB match, and going in melee gets nonsensical, from the condition stack. Abusing Shadow rejuvenation feels the most attractive, but when I think of it, the majority of trap rangers I actually lose to, don’t move they stay within range of their trap and dodge what’s mandatory (CnD) or phase out otherwise. Tactical strike isn’t a great use when it’s coup-de-grace is daze but the conditions and pet are active regardless of the ranger themself being disabled.
I figure Ambush trap+Thieves guild is basically the best option for this short of weapon swapping to something else. I figure Unloads also would be able to put in dents, pressuming they stayed in SB they’re whole life, but you don’t need to.
Wot do?

Unload won’t do anything against a ranger that knows bows outrange pistols. And trap rangers have a 600 throw trap range.

Just be happy that trap build is the only way a ranger is going to beat a good thief. You can easily run away from a ranger as a thief and being a trap build forces them to fight on a point, meaning their damage is not that mobile.

So, do what most classes have to do when they see a thief or mesmer: Run the other direction. Or run with a group.

Zenith.7301:

Unload won’t do anything against a ranger that knows bows outrange pistols. And trap rangers have a 600 throw trap range.

That and the ini cost making it a rather all or nothing tactics.

Just be happy that trap build is the only way a ranger is going to beat a good thief. You can easily run away from a ranger as a thief and being a trap build forces them to fight on a point, meaning their damage is not that mobile.

Why would I settle for that? Being contempt with mediocrity is quitter talk.
If the counter for trap ranger’s is unorthadox for a thief, I don’t mind that but settling with “Just deal with it” is redonculus.

So, do what most classes have to do when they see a thief or mesmer: Run the other direction. Or run with a group.

If they have support builds maybe, you shouldn’t have any fear of a thief if you’re alone maybe if you’re a necro, but this isn’t the necro boards :O.

Full glass cannon backstab build. Equip Devourer venom. Do a fake entrance wasting his traps. Waste his Empathic Bond with trash conditions. Do a quick hide in shadows to cleanse conditons. Apply venom and proceed to burst Ranger down and finish it with Shadow Refuge on. Trap Rangers don’t have any on demand condition removal and are extremely vulnerable to the immobilize condition, abuse that. Be ready to dodge the AoE fear on your burst process or your stomp.

If the Ranger sees you coming, he will precast TU making things harder if you attack straight away, just back off for 10 seconds with shortbow and proceed to perform your burst. Or just don’t let him/her see you coming.

Can always go P/D with Shadow Arts and cleanse his condis from you by using the pet to CnD. Fight would prob take too long before backup arrives though.

Khenzy.9348:

Full glass cannon backstab build. Equip Devourer venom. Do a fake entrance wasting his traps. Waste his Empathic Bond with trash conditions. Do a quick hide in shadows to cleanse conditons. Apply venom and proceed to burst Ranger down and finish it with Shadow Refuge on. Trap Rangers don’t have any on demand condition removal and are extremely vulnerable to the immobilize condition, abuse that. Be ready to dodge the AoE fear on your burst process or your stomp.

If the Ranger sees you coming, he will precast TU making things harder if you attack straight away, just back off for 10 seconds with shortbow and proceed to perform your burst. Or just don’t let him/her see you coming.

Signet of Renewal is something plenty of rangers run with, including myself. Lightning Reflexes, Signet of Renewal, and Fire Trap. So, two passive condition removals, a condition removal on initial heal+condi removal every other tick, and an on demand condi removal with signet of renewal.

And, by the way, serpent strike or stalker’s strike still evades while immobilized. If you use a greatsword, you can also use the block>knockback to waste the venom.

ensoriki.5789:

Zenith.7301:

Unload won’t do anything against a ranger that knows bows outrange pistols. And trap rangers have a 600 throw trap range.

That and the ini cost making it a rather all or nothing tactics.

Just be happy that trap build is the only way a ranger is going to beat a good thief. You can easily run away from a ranger as a thief and being a trap build forces them to fight on a point, meaning their damage is not that mobile.

Why would I settle for that? Being contempt with mediocrity is quitter talk.
If the counter for trap ranger’s is unorthadox for a thief, I don’t mind that but settling with “Just deal with it” is redonculus.

So, do what most classes have to do when they see a thief or mesmer: Run the other direction. Or run with a group.

If they have support builds maybe, you shouldn’t have any fear of a thief if you’re alone maybe if you’re a necro, but this isn’t the necro boards :O.

Let’s see…. glass cannon ranger cannot beat thief. Glass cannon warrior cannot beat a good thief. Glass cannon ele (not bunker) cannot beat a good thief (full glass cannon ele is about 14k hp at best with 916 toughness; Mug+CnD alone will kill him instantly without any need for backstab). Glass cannon engineer cannot kill a thief (the engis that kill thieves are bunker/cc spec). Glass cannon necro cannot kill a thief.

Basically, any non-mesmer glass cannon is a guaranteed kill against a thief. Simply because their HP and defenses cannot survive a backstab>heartseekerx2 even if they use a stun breaker to avoid the steal combo, and they certainly won’t survive a thieves guild+new burst when the thief pops a shadow refuge once they’ve wasted their stun breaker. The thief’s ability to reset a fight and begin it on his term by assuring he lands burst first makes him a complete foil against glass cannons that don’t have short cooldown immunities like the mesmer.

The part is tricking them into using those skills so you can set up the kill, LF acts as an evade that’s gonna be used on BV, same with SoR (tPvP trap Rangers usually run 3 traps or LF), also Serpent Strike doesn’t provide you with a 4 second lasting evade, which is what’s going to last the immobilize. So no, trap Rangers rely quite a lot on passive condition removal, becouse Empathic Bond is that powerful.
It’s not an easy fight by any means, the one that needs better timing here is the Thief and has to know when the evades are coming, but we are not talking about rearranged duels here, where the Ranger knows the Thief is coming or where he has time to reposition or similar.
Greatsword is used on more bunkerish (mostly BM) builds as far as I’ve seen and don’t usually have the monstrous pressure of a full condi trap ranger, so a different strat would be applied here.

I would say clusterbomb the crap out of them but when they use TU just wait 10 seconds or poison their heal. I believe you can also set off the traps by rolling over them. That way you can evade them and set them off. Not verified though.

Fyi guys. I run bezerker ranger in paids. Good thieves aren’t a problem.

Not even the pet will know you’re there until it is too late.

Are you seriously linking a wvw video of a thief pwning upleveled people who don’t care to even stunbreak or dodge the moment the first spike hits?

The mesmer in the first few seconds only did 1/5 of the thief’s health — a proper glass cannon mesmer easily cuts a d/d thief’s health in half with a 6-7k whirl, and a shatter alone will bring a thief down to 10-20% health. The mesmer didn’t even try to Blurred Frenzy the steal combo.

Eurantien.4632:

I would say clusterbomb the crap out of them but when they use TU just wait 10 seconds or poison their heal. I believe you can also set off the traps by rolling over them. That way you can evade them and set them off. Not verified though.

Fyi guys. I run bezerker ranger in paids. Good thieves aren’t a problem.

That assumes I don’t see and clear the poison, which I always look for, if it doesn’t auto clear. As well as me also not knowing when my TU is down which I do, which is why I save my off endurance evades, leaps and blocks until TU has stopped ticking. Nothing funnier than Lightening Reflexs then Swoop/Hornet Strike away from a thief with “about face” and then seeing TU is almost back up again. I have no fears about bugging out of a fight in order to give TU time if I know the thief is hitting hard. If they shadow step to me (too far away most of the time), that’s what block and knock back are for and well out of their SB range, including a BM pet swap frenzy cast for my TU.

Of course, a good player will force you to adapt and change that, forcing to to break stun when TU isnt running yet because I didn’t see them first, or maybe the terrain is tight but I find as a general rule saving things for when TU is down works well for me because as a bunker spec, when TU is up I’m not going down easy.

As you say good thieves are not a problem.

Khenzy.9348:

Waste his Empathic Bond with trash conditions.

You don’t “waste” Empathic Bond, since it’s a passive ability that we have no control over in the first place.

Zenith.7301:

Are you seriously linking a wvw video of a thief pwning upleveled people who don’t care to even stunbreak or dodge the moment the first spike hits?

The mesmer in the first few seconds only did 1/5 of the thief’s health — a proper glass cannon mesmer easily cuts a d/d thief’s health in half with a 6-7k whirl, and a shatter alone will bring a thief down to 10-20% health. The mesmer didn’t even try to Blurred Frenzy the steal combo.

You should probably watch all of his videos, and pause them on the initial damage because it is obviously too fast for you to see what is really going on. You do know if I apply an immobilize to you, while you are stunned that Lightning Reflexes will bug out, and do nothing, therefore you’re left with only one other stun breaker, as a Ranger. Not many builds use that stunbreaker.

No Thief should ever lose to a Ranger.

just wait outside of the rangers 1200 SB range and until he moves off his traps, then engage and win.

so simple

jkctmc.8754:

Zenith.7301:

Are you seriously linking a wvw video of a thief pwning upleveled people who don’t care to even stunbreak or dodge the moment the first spike hits?

The mesmer in the first few seconds only did 1/5 of the thief’s health — a proper glass cannon mesmer easily cuts a d/d thief’s health in half with a 6-7k whirl, and a shatter alone will bring a thief down to 10-20% health. The mesmer didn’t even try to Blurred Frenzy the steal combo.

You should probably watch all of his videos, and pause them on the initial damage because it is obviously too fast for you to see what is really going on. You do know if I apply an immobilize to you, while you are stunned that Lightning Reflexes will bug out, and do nothing, therefore you’re left with only one other stun breaker, as a Ranger. Not many builds use that stunbreaker.

No Thief should ever lose to a Ranger.

Good luck with that teeny tiny immobilize vs my Runes of Melandru and Lemongrass soup and Signet of Renewal.

Hell, even if all those points above don’t effect the immobilize condition GS block and/or serpent strike (which still evades when immobile) depending on which I have active at the time.

Or did you only fight rangers that didn’t know serpent strike can still be used to evade while they are immobile because a normal evade doesn’t work?

I LOVE thieves that immobilize before attacking, they play right into my build.

capuchinseven.8395:

jkctmc.8754:

Zenith.7301:

Are you seriously linking a wvw video of a thief pwning upleveled people who don’t care to even stunbreak or dodge the moment the first spike hits?

The mesmer in the first few seconds only did 1/5 of the thief’s health — a proper glass cannon mesmer easily cuts a d/d thief’s health in half with a 6-7k whirl, and a shatter alone will bring a thief down to 10-20% health. The mesmer didn’t even try to Blurred Frenzy the steal combo.

You should probably watch all of his videos, and pause them on the initial damage because it is obviously too fast for you to see what is really going on. You do know if I apply an immobilize to you, while you are stunned that Lightning Reflexes will bug out, and do nothing, therefore you’re left with only one other stun breaker, as a Ranger. Not many builds use that stunbreaker.

No Thief should ever lose to a Ranger.

Good luck with that teeny tiny immobilize vs my Runes of Melandru and Lemongrass soup and Signet of Renewal.

Hell, even if all those points above don’t effect the immobilize condition GS block and/or serpent strike (which still evades when immobile) depending on which I have active at the time.

Or did you only fight rangers that didn’t know serpent strike can still be used to evade while they are immobile because a normal evade doesn’t work?

I LOVE thieves that immobilize before attacking, they play right into my build.

Your last sentence is an epic failure. You don’t immobilize before attacking, you do so while attacking. And you act as if WvW is a vacuum, and that everything happens perfectly.

You’re one of those Rangers I love to prey on, and I have never lost to a single Ranger, ever, on any of my toons including playing my very own Ranger. Anyone who claims to be remotely good at this game isn’t going to lose to a Ranger, period.

I love sword Rangers, they jump around expecting their pets to do the work for them, when in fact a good player will rarely, if ever get hit by the pet, and an even smarter player will burst the pet out in seconds, praying you instantly switch pets so that they can kill the second one two, leaving them with what, a 45 second window to kill you while you do minimal damage?

Or are you going to lie and say you can kill without your pet?

jkctmc.8754:

Your last sentence is an epic failure. You don’t immobilize before attacking, you do so while attacking.

Love that you think that matters to the point. As I’ve said elsewhere any thief I see first won’t kill me, if they get to me before I see them then the fight is likely going to go to them if they are any good.

jkctmc.8754:

And you act as if WvW is a vacuum, and that everything happens perfectly.

lol, right because that point only counts for rangers right? YOU act like WvW is a vacuum.

jkctmc.8754:

I love sword Rangers

I love that you think you know my build or style because I said swords.

jkctmc.8754:

Or are you going to lie and say you can kill without your pet?

…that’s like me saying, “the best way to kill a thief is to CC them, or are you going to lie and say you can kill me while you’re CC’d to death by a mace warrior?”

What’s your point? That you can think of a way to kill a ranger? Is this your first MMO or something?

I think you need to take a step back, and bare in mind you’re not talking to someone who has personally insulted you here.

Zenith.7301:

Khenzy.9348:

Full glass cannon backstab build. Equip Devourer venom. Do a fake entrance wasting his traps. Waste his Empathic Bond with trash conditions. Do a quick hide in shadows to cleanse conditons. Apply venom and proceed to burst Ranger down and finish it with Shadow Refuge on. Trap Rangers don’t have any on demand condition removal and are extremely vulnerable to the immobilize condition, abuse that. Be ready to dodge the AoE fear on your burst process or your stomp.

If the Ranger sees you coming, he will precast TU making things harder if you attack straight away, just back off for 10 seconds with shortbow and proceed to perform your burst. Or just don’t let him/her see you coming.

Signet of Renewal is something plenty of rangers run with, including myself. Lightning Reflexes, Signet of Renewal, and Fire Trap. So, two passive condition removals, a condition removal on initial heal+condi removal every other tick, and an on demand condi removal with signet of renewal.

And, by the way, serpent strike or stalker’s strike still evades while immobilized. If you use a greatsword, you can also use the block>knockback to waste the venom.

ensoriki.5789:

Zenith.7301:

Unload won’t do anything against a ranger that knows bows outrange pistols. And trap rangers have a 600 throw trap range.

That and the ini cost making it a rather all or nothing tactics.

Just be happy that trap build is the only way a ranger is going to beat a good thief. You can easily run away from a ranger as a thief and being a trap build forces them to fight on a point, meaning their damage is not that mobile.

Why would I settle for that? Being contempt with mediocrity is quitter talk.
If the counter for trap ranger’s is unorthadox for a thief, I don’t mind that but settling with “Just deal with it” is redonculus.

So, do what most classes have to do when they see a thief or mesmer: Run the other direction. Or run with a group.

If they have support builds maybe, you shouldn’t have any fear of a thief if you’re alone maybe if you’re a necro, but this isn’t the necro boards :O.

Let’s see…. glass cannon ranger cannot beat thief. Glass cannon warrior cannot beat a good thief. Glass cannon ele (not bunker) cannot beat a good thief (full glass cannon ele is about 14k hp at best with 916 toughness; Mug+CnD alone will kill him instantly without any need for backstab). Glass cannon engineer cannot kill a thief (the engis that kill thieves are bunker/cc spec). Glass cannon necro cannot kill a thief.

Basically, any non-mesmer glass cannon is a guaranteed kill against a thief. Simply because their HP and defenses cannot survive a backstab>heartseekerx2 even if they use a stun breaker to avoid the steal combo, and they certainly won’t survive a thieves guild+new burst when the thief pops a shadow refuge once they’ve wasted their stun breaker. The thief’s ability to reset a fight and begin it on his term by assuring he lands burst first makes him a complete foil against glass cannons that don’t have short cooldown immunities like the mesmer.

I agree with everything here. When I run glass, I avoid thieves as much as possible. And everything else you talk abut is just juicy wisdom. Thanks for making this post.