Guild Wars 2

Hey, I’m here to ask for a bit of advice from other thieves. I’m not a pro thief by any means, but it is my main, and it is my favourite, I’m estimate myself to be slightly better than average as a thief, but I’m hitting a specific problem that I think better can answer for me

So to get straight to the point, I roam a lot in WvW/ pick off people in zergs. One thing I’m really struggling with, especially in WvW encounters is getting past the abundance of boons that a lot of classes are able to throw up a lot at the moment. Especially with mesmers, and guards, some engy roamers im finding hard to nail down once they get their row of yellow up, that superman Ele thats roaming around now is almost untouchable by me right now. I know we have the boonsteal skill from steal, but that only takes 3 boons, and a lot of classes seem to able to throw up a lot of boons often, and keep them up and it seems to nullify a lot of the initial burst that is so vital to thieves.

Just wondering what the options are, wait it out? are their other skills? just avoid the fight?

It’s all a matter of timing my friend. First off for eles specifically you need to time the stolen ability ice shard. This is a good way to shut down a d/d ele that applies a bunch of boons as it chills them and increases their cooldowns. This gives you a good opportunity to hit them with your full burst. Apart from that, just spamming stealth and dodges until you can either hit them with your burst just as their boons drop or boon steal just as they get through applying their boons. I’ve stolen an eles 15 stacks of might plenty of times so I could hit them with a big backstab.

S/D #3 has the ability to steal boons and so does the Trickery core specialiation trait line.
I am pretty sure this is it.

The most important isn’t to steal their boons, it’s to watch for them. Don’t make moves when you see them with Aegis or a high level of Might, at the very least try to steal the Might.

The rest of time you have to deal with them:
- inflict Weakness for -50% damage (Shortbow #5+ #2)
- Blind, so that their extremely powerful attacks don’t even hit you.
- Daze them, they won’t even have the chance of using skills.
- Poison ,so that regeneration doen’t even heal properly.
- Dodge.

Again, watch for the boons and be prepared to their negate their effects.

Ele’s, assuming you’re referring to D/D cele-ele for the most part are a nightmare as typically the best way to deal with them involves either condition use through chill, poison, or weakness (which get cleansed instantly) or trying to wait through portions of their rotation, which ultimately just lets them sustain better.

Boon stripping is good, but access is limited. Timing bountiful theft (if you’re traited for it) is pretty big as to snag might and protection if possible.

I’ve found that bombarding them with CC/interrupts on their major combo finishers/the heal through Sleight of Hand and Tactical Strike (Headshot if you play offhand pistol is the best) is the best way to really mitigate them. That said, it requires a lot of pressure and in/out from the sword to cleanse the burning you’ll be taking as they get huge amounts of it.

Thanks for the advice, lots to take on board, seems to be a combination of wait/timing is what dertermines how our fights end, more so than the other classes I play, not sure how I feel about that as far are keeping fights entertaining, but I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense with regards to the roll of a thief. I’d just like to be able to stand up to these guys more consistently. Especially playing WvW with skillag.

But again thanks for the constructive points, gave me a lot to think about.