Guild Wars 2

I know most people think that thieves will lose to a lot of classes 1v1 but i thought I would ask for advice anyways. I just want general advice on how to improve matchups in case I run into any class 1v1.

Mesmer – I know that we are the traditional counter to them but I find that they can kill you just as fast as you kill them if you’re not careful.
Warriors – What’s the best way to fight them? They seem to have huge amounts of hp that negates a lot of my burst and one swing of their sword takes almost all my hp.
Engi – Similar story to warriors. Huge damage against me and I can’t burst him enough.
Guardian – I’ll be honest, Guardians are the only class I’ve never played at all so it’s probably just not knowing their moves but I lose vs dps guardian more than any other class.
Thief – This one may seem strange but let’s say the thief gets the jump on you with basilisk venom and everything. What’s my best course of action? Should I shadowstep away or should I try to blind him and fight him? Should I infiltrators signet?

Mesmers… Dodge THROUGH their Illusions when you notice them coming towards you for the shatter (which is a lot of their dps). You got easier stealth access so make use of it. CnD of the illusions or do the Smoke Field with Heartseeker etc.
Simply the fact that they don’t know your location negates a lot of their damage potential and increases your chance of a good (re-)opening on them. Attacks that ricochet/bounce of targets are good against their standard illusions to clean up the area.

Against warriors… Playing S/D you shouldn’t random dodge, only dodge when you see the attack coming.
If you play D/P, just blind them with #3 or use the whirling axe steal in your #5 for high damage and near invulnerability from the rapid blinds it gives.

Engi approach depends on the build they run. An Engi who puts heavy Condi presure will only be able to be beaten comfortably by catching them off-guard. That can be done with stealth or unexpected shadowsteps, or a combination of those. That actually kind of goes for all heavy Condi burst builds regardless of profession.
Turret Engi’s are much less of an instant avoid now but the approach I take to them stays the same. I crush their toys before moving in. Drop a poison field with SB #4 and put pressure with auto attacks and Cluster Bkmbs on #2, make sure to explode them, the bleeding works more wonders on the turrets than the AoE weakness does.
A more Power oriented Engi is a matter of blinding them and using stealth in a clever way that doesn’t blow your initiative.
If you run Panic Strike or got access to another option to Immobilize (sword #2, SB stealth attack, pistol #2), try to immobilize them in the Gunk you steal from them for some extra Condi pressure. You can alse blast it or leap through it for chaos armor, or even use a projectile or whirl finisher (dagger storm for example) to stack Confusion on them for added pressure.

Guardians are the same as Warrior really…
Blinds are your best defense. If you fight a Medi Guard, use ranged to kite them, then burst them when they switch to scepter or sword.
If you can, start with steal if you’re traited with Bountiful Theft to take their Aegis and other defensive boons they’re likely to have up.
A great way to burst them is to hold the mace that you steal from them, until you know you can steal from them again, should you use that mace. Basilisk Venom, hit, F1 for mace daze, hit, F1 for second steal, hit, hit, F1 for mace daze, hit, hit, hit. They will either have to blow through their utilities, or you’ll get about 7seconds in which you can freely burst.

Thief… Simply be a better one.
Many thieves are predictable, just think about what you would do in their situation and adapt.
If you can predict, adapt, adjust, anticipate their moves while staying unpredictable yourself, you’re likely to win.
If you run Mug (and Improvisation) in Deadly Arts and/or go deep into Trickery, Steal can be key to victory.
Really… If you play thief long enough, fighting another thief will just become a game of timing.
As an S/D Thief, evade when a D/* Thief has stealthed, throw them off by using shadowsteps you might have available sword #2 return, SB #5, if you’re in a real tight spot you can also use the utility etc.
You can maintain pressure with the shortbow and use the #3’s for evade (both on S/D and SB, try not to waste dodges for no reason, ever, not even on this would-be perma-evade build.

Hope that helps

Oh I see how it is, leaving out necro.

MonkeyButtFace.4862:

Oh I see how it is, leaving out necro.

Sorry but necro is hardly an issue unless they play the condi game. I did make a mention about condi burst though :P

If the OP has questions about necro, I supose I’ll edit and add it to my previous post :P

Wow thanks for the detailed post! Definitely helps a lot. Its annoying that against most classes as a thief you have to play it perfectly or you’re kittened. I can’t count how many times I’ve been ahead in a fight and then one slip up and they take me from 100 to 0 in an instant. I suppose it makes the class very exciting to play though.