Guild Wars 2

is a thief?

Against every other class, you can reset easily and try again?

What is the question

question is what counters a thief hard in WvW 1vs1?
for a mesmer, they have been crying that thieves counter them hard.

What about thieves?

Guardians in general are a hard counter to Thief. Of course some builds are more beat than others but it takes a pretty substantial Thief to down a Mediguard who knows their rotations.

Enus.2781:

Guardians in general are a hard counter to Thief. Of course some builds are more beat than others but it takes a pretty substantial Thief to down a Mediguard who knows their rotations.

but you can easily disengage and try again after.

a mesmer who fights a thief, i assume they can’t disengage from the thief. its all in for any class that fights a thief.

Only a thief can catch a thief.

which makes thief’s only counter a thief

Thief’s current hardest counter in WvW is a pack of Sick’em Longbow Rangers.

For 1v1’s the simplest way is to take a bunker build and laugh while you waltz to your zerg or a friendly camp/tower/keep.

Anything that impairs movement. Makes them easier to hit.

Ability to disengage at will doesn’t exactly counter itself. Just means both of you can escape when you want if playing right.

Seems like the counter is pretty much anything hard to kill. Longer you stay around, more time you have to screw up.

Engis and medi guards.

What else can kill a thief?

Longbow full zerk pew pew ranger that places a stealth trap equipped with Sic Em = either of the following:

- thief goes into panic mode having roughly 38 secs of revealed on him and dies
- thief manages to run away/escape more than likely resetting the match but will probz die anyway still being revealed
- thief dies

I’ve done this to a few thieves I see stalking me. I either place the stealth trap and move back so they run into it or I blatantly stand on it so the thief inevitably activates it if they land on it (most use melee). Unless they’re full on mega burst cray cray evades then it’s absolute GG in my favor coz a lot panic. Lel.

Now, do this with a friend or better still, a full group using the exact same method/build and you’ll be collecting a lot of salty orphan thief tears in no time.

Lovely text. Can you point to some videos of panicked thieves?

Zephyra.4709:

What else can kill a thief?

Longbow full zerk pew pew ranger that places a stealth trap equipped with Sic Em = either of the following:

- thief goes into panic mode having roughly 38 secs of revealed on him and dies
- thief manages to run away/escape more than likely resetting the match but will probz die anyway still being revealed
- thief dies

I’ve done this to a few thieves I see stalking me. I either place the stealth trap and move back so they run into it or I blatantly stand on it so the thief inevitably activates it if they land on it (most use melee). Unless they’re full on mega burst cray cray evades then it’s absolute GG in my favor coz a lot panic. Lel.

Now, do this with a friend or better still, a full group using the exact same method/build and you’ll be collecting a lot of salty orphan thief tears in no time.

As D/P SA thief I find most difficult to counter tank/condition combination builds.

Enus.2781:

Guardians in general are a hard counter to Thief. Of course some builds are more beat than others but it takes a pretty substantial Thief to down a Mediguard who knows their rotations.

Guardian’s a hard-counter to thief in “restricted area” like pvp conquest. In wvw roaming there’s no-way a Guardian able to catch a thief due to Guardian’s lack of snaring and weak range option.

yolo swaggins.2570:

Anything that impairs movement. Makes them easier to hit.

Doesn’t really work because almost all thieves have retreat, shadow return, and Shortbow on their hand. Thief is probably one of the classes least affected by immolize.

Toxsa.2701:

Enus.2781:

Guardians in general are a hard counter to Thief. Of course some builds are more beat than others but it takes a pretty substantial Thief to down a Mediguard who knows their rotations.

Guardian’s a hard-counter to thief in “restricted area” like pvp conquest. In wvw roaming there’s no-way a Guardian able to catch a thief due to Guardian’s lack of snaring and weak range option.

Yet the thief will never kill said Guardian and can be bursted down with ease by said guardian.

Yeah thief can get away but in no way will they kill em

personally:

dps guard (blocks/blinds/burst)
condi signet ele (counters anything power and I find it really hard to kill a decent one, usually I have to switch to d/p for interrupt)
reveal on demand (perfect after they condi bombed me or they just chain it)

I wouldn’t have to reset if it wasn’t a counter or a better player I would have just killed him or her sometimes stupid players just don’t take advantage of my resets they act like AI just staying there thinking I’m going to say hi before attacking or believe I have no counters because I can escape my death. Most non glass characters have a better chance vs thief.

About mesmer switch zerk spec for rabid and see the major difference I’m tired of hearing thief own mesmer when it’s build specific.

A Medi Guard, Bunker Ele and Engineer can prevent dying to a Thief. That’s about as hard as a counter as it gets.
If you mean something that can actually kill the Thief. There is no such thing, a Thief can disengage from everything. He dies when he overcommits, but thats a mistake made by the Thief and not a play from his opponent.

Toxsa.2701:

yolo swaggins.2570:

Anything that impairs movement. Makes them easier to hit.

Doesn’t really work because almost all thieves have retreat, shadow retreat, and Shortbow on their hand. Thief is probably one of the classes least affected by immolize.

First off, there is no such thing as “Retreat”. Secondly, if you keep applying immobilize cripple and chill the thief is going to burn their initiative and condition clears just to get away from the attacks that are landing more often. Take d/d conditions with caltrops for example.

That build applies bleeds and cripple better than anything. The cripple makes it easier to land the attacks meaning more bleeds and cripple. And since cripple will make SB #3’s distance suck more than it does the thief will be burning initiative with #5 which will only work so much. So the thief burns everything to get away and still bleeds to death.

Secondly, Thief’s condition removal is loaded onto stealth traited and sword 2. UnIess a thief is packing one of them their condition removal is almost non-existent. Even then, they don’t help that much since one makes you useless while it works and another burns initiative making them spamming them fairly impractical. If you knew anything about the profession you’de know AoE and conditions will wreck a thief that isn’t careful.

The answer is condi engi with goggles. Analyze them as they are heartseekering through black powder and toss a shrapnel grenade and pistol 3, 2. Watch them get 100-0’d by the condis. You don’t even have to chase.

1) Condi engi (or even celestial, but he won’t be able to push you out of your SR)
2) Anyone with a Stealth Trap :P

Terrahero.9358:

If you mean something that can actually kill the Thief. There is no such thing, a Thief can disengage from everything. He dies when he overcommits, but thats a mistake made by the Thief and not a play from his opponent.

By that logic, nothing can kill a GS/sw-wh warrior. That doesn’t mean it has no hard counter.

from the posts, it seems like there are two hardcounters to a thief.

Medi Guardian
and
Condi Engineer

My question is condi engineer. why specifically engineer? can it be condi mesmer? or condi necro? or condi ranger? or condi guardian?

and if it is the condi that is hardcountering the thief, is it a case of the thief not building himself to have some condi clear abilities?

Personally I run around with condi necro and have fought thieves who know how to clear condi.

Most condi removal is tied to stealth or sword (but that sucks vs condi bombs). Condi engi can apply reveal and those few seconds are enough for a power thief to melt, combine that with the amount of cc engi has, thief has hard time vs engi.

Other condi builds, can’t prevent the thief from clearing condis that well. Thief can stealth off mesmer clones, condi rangers don’t have lb knockback etc.

Remove stealth from a thief and you get warrior with half the HP, lower armour and lower dmg.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Most condi removal is tied to stealth or sword (but that sucks vs condi bombs). Condi engi can apply reveal and those few seconds are enough for a power thief to melt, combine that with the amount of cc engi has, thief has hard time vs engi.

Other condi builds, can’t prevent the thief from clearing condis that well. Thief can stealth off mesmer clones, condi rangers don’t have lb knockback etc.

Remove stealth from a thief and you get warrior with half the HP, lower armour and lower dmg.

i see…thanks!

Also another question. why medi guard? I play a medi guard myself, GS+scepter/focus. I’m an average medi guard.
Admittedly I don’t struggle much against thieves, but there are still a few exceptionally skilled thieves who can kill me.
And condi thieves got a higher chance of killing me too.

So what is it about a medi guard that hard counters a thief? is it more sustain, more blocks, more dps, more blinds?

EremiteAngel.9765:

from the posts, it seems like there are two hardcounters to a thief.

Medi Guardian
and
Condi Engineer

My question is condi engineer. why specifically engineer? can it be condi mesmer? or condi necro? or condi ranger? or condi guardian?

and if it is the condi that is hardcountering the thief, is it a case of the thief not building himself to have some condi clear abilities?

Personally I run around with condi necro and have fought thieves who know how to clear condi.

First, Engi can auto proc alot of conditions in a very short period of time through just auto. Their skills also tend to have very short cast time and animation.

Second, even if you don’t have reveal on your Engi, if they take grenade, there’s a pretty good chance to land attacks against an invisible thief if you’re good at guessing locations. Basically Engi has some of the best on demand area denial during roaming.

Third, Engi is pretty tanky, and can pretty much handle everything thief throws at them. Engi has so many anti-burst abilities such as alot of blocks, invulnerable, stealth, and even auto protection when CCed. Not to mention they all have relatively short CD, so no matter how many times thief tries, Engi can probably handle it.

Fourth, Engi has method to deal with Thief’s trump card: Shadow Refuge. They can instantly push thief outta it through shield 4 so thief can’t just get away as they please.

Fifth: for an overkill, Engi do can bring reveal so thief has very minimal ways of handle conditions.

A really freaking good medi guard.

Nothing counters a thief in open world . They have bad match-up of course , but the option to escape will allways be here and because of that you can’t talk about counters . Duel in restricted area is an other story . If you are against a thief in WvW , the end of the fight depends of him .

EremiteAngel.9765:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Most condi removal is tied to stealth or sword (but that sucks vs condi bombs). Condi engi can apply reveal and those few seconds are enough for a power thief to melt, combine that with the amount of cc engi has, thief has hard time vs engi.

Other condi builds, can’t prevent the thief from clearing condis that well. Thief can stealth off mesmer clones, condi rangers don’t have lb knockback etc.

Remove stealth from a thief and you get warrior with half the HP, lower armour and lower dmg.

i see…thanks!

Also another question. why medi guard? I play a medi guard myself, GS+scepter/focus. I’m an average medi guard.
Admittedly I don’t struggle much against thieves, but there are still a few exceptionally skilled thieves who can kill me.
And condi thieves got a higher chance of killing me too.

So what is it about a medi guard that hard counters a thief? is it more sustain, more blocks, more dps, more blinds?

Well, the only thief block is underwater soo :P

It’s the aoe nature of most guard skills, aoe ignores stealth and thieves need to get into melee to burst.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

EremiteAngel.9765:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Most condi removal is tied to stealth or sword (but that sucks vs condi bombs). Condi engi can apply reveal and those few seconds are enough for a power thief to melt, combine that with the amount of cc engi has, thief has hard time vs engi.

Other condi builds, can’t prevent the thief from clearing condis that well. Thief can stealth off mesmer clones, condi rangers don’t have lb knockback etc.

Remove stealth from a thief and you get warrior with half the HP, lower armour and lower dmg.

i see…thanks!

Also another question. why medi guard? I play a medi guard myself, GS+scepter/focus. I’m an average medi guard.
Admittedly I don’t struggle much against thieves, but there are still a few exceptionally skilled thieves who can kill me.
And condi thieves got a higher chance of killing me too.

So what is it about a medi guard that hard counters a thief? is it more sustain, more blocks, more dps, more blinds?

Well, the only thief block is underwater soo :P

It’s the aoe nature of most guard skills, aoe ignores stealth and thieves need to get into melee to burst.

Not really. Pistol dire condition thief becomes increasingly more popular.

Toxsa.2701:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

EremiteAngel.9765:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Most condi removal is tied to stealth or sword (but that sucks vs condi bombs). Condi engi can apply reveal and those few seconds are enough for a power thief to melt, combine that with the amount of cc engi has, thief has hard time vs engi.

Other condi builds, can’t prevent the thief from clearing condis that well. Thief can stealth off mesmer clones, condi rangers don’t have lb knockback etc.

Remove stealth from a thief and you get warrior with half the HP, lower armour and lower dmg.

i see…thanks!

Also another question. why medi guard? I play a medi guard myself, GS+scepter/focus. I’m an average medi guard.
Admittedly I don’t struggle much against thieves, but there are still a few exceptionally skilled thieves who can kill me.
And condi thieves got a higher chance of killing me too.

So what is it about a medi guard that hard counters a thief? is it more sustain, more blocks, more dps, more blinds?

Well, the only thief block is underwater soo :P

It’s the aoe nature of most guard skills, aoe ignores stealth and thieves need to get into melee to burst.

Not really. Pistol dire condition thief becomes increasingly more popular.

Pistol auto sucks. It’s stealth attack isn’t so great either but most of the time you are in melee distance when you apply stealth so you can use the attack. Same thing with shortbow. You can’t use condition SB effectively and power SB requires point blank because clusterbomb will not hit otherwise.

reveal trap, obtainable by any class

/thread

Thief can literally 1v1 anything if you don’t need to capture an objective
you can literally reset any fight after you make mistake and try again until you kill the enemy foe
the panic strike build is the most forgiving one, i’ve seen someone reset all their CDs 3 times in a role, it’s literally god mode.

choucs.4507:

Thief can literally 1v1 anything if you don’t need to capture an objective
you can literally reset any fight after you make mistake and try again until you kill the enemy foe
the panic strike build is the most forgiving one, i’ve seen someone reset all their CDs 3 times in a role, it’s literally god mode.

Agree. That’s why they making Improv a GM trait since it is going to be a very strong trait. It has the potential to put your heal off CD…

choucs.4507:

Thief can literally 1v1 anything if you don’t need to capture an objective
you can literally reset any fight after you make mistake and try again until you kill the enemy foe
the panic strike build is the most forgiving one, i’ve seen someone reset all their CDs 3 times in a role, it’s literally god mode.

The ignorance is strong in this one.

This is the hardest thief counter in the game

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Last_Refuge

cursE.1794:

This is the hardest thief counter in the game

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Last_Refuge

Not with vamp runes. Then this trait carries you hard.

EremiteAngel.9765:

from the posts, it seems like there are two hardcounters to a thief.

Medi Guardian
and
Condi Engineer

My question is condi engineer. why specifically engineer? can it be condi mesmer? or condi necro? or condi ranger? or condi guardian?

and if it is the condi that is hardcountering the thief, is it a case of the thief not building himself to have some condi clear abilities?

Personally I run around with condi necro and have fought thieves who know how to clear condi.

Condi Engi is NOT a hard counter to Thief.

Learn how to use your Shortbow and they are nothing to be bothered with.

Engineers aren’t very mobile and can be easily CC’d using a shortbow. The only time a Thief will die against an Engi of any build is when the Thief becomes impatient and has the illusion of grandeur —who jumps in the middle of a turret firing squad while being exploded by bombs or granades.

Shortbow’s projectile can travel further than 900 and some skills have a blast radius that further extend the range.

The typical result against an Engi is a stalemate — it’s boring and I usually never bother with them.

Medi Guardian on the other hand is a beast with AoE, burning, and insane gap closer.

lol by reset every fight u mean poke them n run away.
Once u commit to a fight and try to actually kill players escaping is not so easy.

Just putting this out there, but any build where the standard advice for fighting it is ‘run’, is generally seen as a counter. The fact we as thieves are very good at running is actually irrelevant: if we have minimal chances of winning against build X, and are forced to run or die, it’s a counter. If you failed to catch us when we were on the ropes then that’s your problem.

That being said, a competent medi guard or condi engi will likely counter a thief with little problems, due to the large amount of sustain, CC and hard to avoid damage available to both builds.

Jugglemonkey.8741:

Just putting this out there, but any build where the standard advice for fighting it is ‘run’, is generally seen as a counter. The fact we as thieves are very good at running is actually irrelevant: if we have minimal chances of winning against build X, and are forced to run or die, it’s a counter. If you failed to catch us when we were on the ropes then that’s your problem.

That being said, a competent medi guard or condi engi will likely counter a thief with little problems, due to the large amount of sustain, CC and hard to avoid damage available to both builds.

Yeah, it’s our problem for letting you get away because stealth and shadowstep have so little counter-play. That’s why I play pew pew ranger with sic-em when I see thief in WvW :P Then those angry thieves start posting nerf threads about ranger because they sometimes do die to them because there’s actually a counter-play to all their advantages. Guess thieves do not allow their mechanic to have any counter-plays

A Guardian generally counters a Thief.

The reason this is less of an issue than when a Thief counters <insert most zerk builds> is that a Thief can outrun a Guardian so it can outrun (escape from) its counter.

When the Thief is the counter, the opposite is true. Now you have a counter that can not only escape from you if you do manage to start winning, but it your counter is quite capable of chasing you down.

Lesson? Have your counter be classes/builds that are slower than you. Counter those that are faster than you. Then no one dies as you’ll run from your counter and those you counter will run from you … eventually you’ll get back to the loop through where the fastest guy counters someone slower … and that slow kid is gonna get ripped.

Jugglemonkey.8741:

Just putting this out there, but any build where the standard advice for fighting it is ‘run’, is generally seen as a counter. The fact we as thieves are very good at running is actually irrelevant: if we have minimal chances of winning against build X, and are forced to run or die, it’s a counter. If you failed to catch us when we were on the ropes then that’s your problem.

That being said, a competent medi guard or condi engi will likely counter a thief with little problems, due to the large amount of sustain, CC and hard to avoid damage available to both builds.

Letting a Thief run away is not a hard counter.

Bunkering is not a hard counter.

Refusing to die is never a hard counter.

Therefore, a condi Engi is never a hard counter; it doesn’t matter how competent the Engi is, they will only kill an incompetent Thief.

Killing a Thief IS a hard counter and only Medi Guard can successfully do this based on my experience.

Toxsa.2701:

Jugglemonkey.8741:

Just putting this out there, but any build where the standard advice for fighting it is ‘run’, is generally seen as a counter. The fact we as thieves are very good at running is actually irrelevant: if we have minimal chances of winning against build X, and are forced to run or die, it’s a counter. If you failed to catch us when we were on the ropes then that’s your problem.

That being said, a competent medi guard or condi engi will likely counter a thief with little problems, due to the large amount of sustain, CC and hard to avoid damage available to both builds.

Yeah, it’s our problem for letting you get away because stealth and shadowstep have so little counter-play. That’s why I play pew pew ranger with sic-em when I see thief in WvW :P Then those angry thieves start posting nerf threads about ranger because they sometimes do die to them because there’s actually a counter-play to all their advantages. Guess thieves do not allow their mechanic to have any counter-plays

You just complained about thief mechanics having little counter-play, then described exactly how you personally go about counter-playing a thief in the very next sentence. Working as intended imo, and still more counter-play than invuln. (I’m tired, forgive me if my sarcasm detector is faulty tonight).

And yes. When there is counter-play to a mechanic, it is always the opposing player’s fault if they fail to use it, regardless of class or situation. If you correctly counter-play a mechanic and get the kill, you deserve it. In your case, that’s why I normally run daggerstorm when I roam solo. kitten you rangers :P

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Jugglemonkey.8741:

Just putting this out there, but any build where the standard advice for fighting it is ‘run’, is generally seen as a counter. The fact we as thieves are very good at running is actually irrelevant: if we have minimal chances of winning against build X, and are forced to run or die, it’s a counter. If you failed to catch us when we were on the ropes then that’s your problem.

That being said, a competent medi guard or condi engi will likely counter a thief with little problems, due to the large amount of sustain, CC and hard to avoid damage available to both builds.

Letting a Thief run away is not a hard counter.

Bunkering is not a hard counter.

Refusing to die is never a hard counter.

I’m not saying any of these things. Quite the opposite in fact, I agree that they’re all irrelevant to whether something is a counter.

Therefore, a condi Engi is never a hard counter; it doesn’t matter how competent the Engi is, they will only kill an incompetent Thief.

Killing a Thief IS a hard counter and only Medi Guard can successfully do this based on my experience.

My point is that if a certain build has all the tools available to counter the mechanics of another, it’s a counter to that build. Condi engi vs thief fits that imo, but that may be subjective. At least we agree on medi guard :P

There’s still a problem in your logic though: killing a thief isn’t a hard counter. I’ve killed 2 rangers 2v1 on a plex apothecary engi, but I wouldn’t by any stretch say that my build hard counters rangers, or even that my build was any more than a failed experiment in trolling. All it really shows is that I know how to LoS and they were dumb enough to stand in my bombs and kept attacking with 15 stacks of confusion on them (I kinda see your point with condi engi now i’ve written that, fair enough). What I think you mean that if a build RELIABLY forces another to run or die, it’s a counter. Which is pretty much what I said in my first post.

Tldr: the thief ran, big whoop. Doesn’t change whether your build is a counter to theirs or not, it only means the thief realised how much you counter them.

Jugglemonkey.8741:

My point is that if a certain build has all the tools available to counter the mechanics of another, it’s a counter to that build. Condi engi vs thief fits that imo, but that may be subjective.

My point is, that is not necessarily true. Using the Engi as an example, just because he refuses to die doesn’t necessarily means his build is a counter to Thief only because the Thief can choose not to attack and the Engi does nothing.

At least we agree on medi guard :P

Yes, we do. Medi Guard has the ability to put Thief in the defensive that even if the Thief choose not to attack, the Guard will just beat on their face. Engi is too sluggish to do that to a Thief.

There’s still a problem in your logic though: killing a thief isn’t a hard counter. I’ve killed 2 rangers 2v1 on a plex apothecary engi, but I wouldn’t by any stretch say that my build hard counters rangers, or even that my build was any more than a failed experiment in trolling. All it really shows is that I know how to LoS and they were dumb enough to stand in my bombs and kept attacking with 15 stacks of confusion on them (I kinda see your point with condi engi now i’ve written that, fair enough).

When we talk about counters, we’re talking about all party involves are competent. Your example is invalid since you use incompetent players to support your point.

What I think you mean that if a build RELIABLY forces another to run or die, it’s a counter. Which is pretty much what I said in my first post.

No, that’s not what I mean at all. When someone runs from you, how do you then know that you countered them and not that they got bored and need to take a nap?

The only reliable evidence that you have successfully countered them is when you stab their dead corpse with a banner of victory — otherwise, it’s wishful thinking.

Tldr: the thief ran, big whoop. Doesn’t change whether your build is a counter to theirs or not, it only means the thief realised how much you counter them.

Keep on believing that while the reality is that you’re boring.

The Thief can’t kill you, you can’t kill the Thief = boring, waste of time.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Jugglemonkey.8741:

My point is that if a certain build has all the tools available to counter the mechanics of another, it’s a counter to that build. Condi engi vs thief fits that imo, but that may be subjective.

My point is, that is not necessarily true. Using the Engi as an example, just because he refuses to die doesn’t necessarily means his build is a counter to Thief only because the Thief can choose not to attack and the Engi does nothing.

At least we agree on medi guard :P

Yes, we do. Medi Guard has the ability to put Thief in the defensive that even if the Thief choose not to attack, the Guard will just beat on their face. Engi is too sluggish to do that to a Thief.

Yeah, that’s a fair point about the engi, although I’d still say it’s one of the harder matchups for thief at least. Fair play.

There’s still a problem in your logic though: killing a thief isn’t a hard counter. I’ve killed 2 rangers 2v1 on a plex apothecary engi, but I wouldn’t by any stretch say that my build hard counters rangers, or even that my build was any more than a failed experiment in trolling. All it really shows is that I know how to LoS and they were dumb enough to stand in my bombs and kept attacking with 15 stacks of confusion on them (I kinda see your point with condi engi now i’ve written that, fair enough).

When we talk about counters, we’re talking about all party involves are competent. Your example is invalid since you use incompetent players to support your point.

I think you dismissed my point out of hand, and missed what I was saying here. Just because I kill a thief once doesn’t make my build a counter to thief, it just means I outplayed them at that time. My point is if you need to get the same results reliably before you can say it’s a counter.

What I think you mean that if a build RELIABLY forces another to run or die, it’s a counter. Which is pretty much what I said in my first post.

No, that’s not what I mean at all. When someone runs from you, how do you then know that you countered them and not that they got bored and need to take a nap?

The only reliable evidence that you have successfully countered them is when you stab their dead corpse with a banner of victory — otherwise, it’s wishful thinking.

Tldr: the thief ran, big whoop. Doesn’t change whether your build is a counter to theirs or not, it only means the thief realised how much you counter them.

Keep on believing that while the reality is that you’re boring.

The Thief can’t kill you, you can’t kill the Thief = boring, waste of time.

Whether I’m boring or not is ad hominem and is irrelevant to the argument. If I just manage to run away from a medi guard, it doesn’t change the fact the medi guard just handed my kitten to me on a plate.

My point is simply that just because thief is one of the only classes that CAN run from a bad encounter, doesn’t mean you counter him any less if you have to fight. Since the entire idea of a counter assumes that you have to fight in the first place, deciding that something counters you less because you can simply run away makes absolutely no sense, which is what some earlier posters were saying.

I don’t know how I can say it any clearer than that, so we may have to agree to disagree.

How exactly does a thief chase another thief if it is stealthed? I assume you are talking about using stealth to reset/escape fights? If your talking mobility a warrior can build to easily keep up with and catch any thief, so too can some other professions. Stealth is the only strong tool a thief has to escape with, and due to the fact it makes you invisible NO profession will be able to follow you. They may be able to predict you if you are using stealth to attack them, but they will not be able to follow and catch you, no matter what their profession is.

Any player that can spike a thief hard enough, to force them into escaping, will counter them. If they are running away they are not attacking you or your friends.

I do not believe there are any hard counters to any of the professions in this game. Just strong builds and skilled players. People say thief is hard counter to mesmers, but I see plenty of mesmers beat thieves. Its all down to having the skill and the build to deal with whatever you’re fighting.

Heavy Crowd Control and anything that provides Heavy Condi Pressure.
Prefferably a lot of different condi’s (which is why the Engi is named in particular).

Our mobility is one of our strongest pro’s in a fight, taking it away from us can really have a fight go sour very quickly.
It’s also a pretty general known thing that our Condi Cleansing is just terrible and the only reliable form of it comes through passive play in stealth.
Putting pressure on a Thief with any class/build that can do eiter (or both) of these will be a “hard counter”.

how about 1 hit kill skills?

like warrior killshot
or engr rifle power shot

I have seen both destroy a thief in one hit

EremiteAngel.9765:

how about 1 hit kill skills?

like warrior killshot
or engr rifle power shot

I have seen both destroy a thief in one hit

then a 66200 thief or such would be a counter to almost anything thats walking because it can pretty much one-shot anything that moves
or a mesmer could counter the mesmer – the other way round with bs as well
so nope, not a counter – and btw, at least kill shot is super easy to dodge and power shot is hard to land properly for max dmg