Main problem with Courtyard is it isn’t a traditional TDM in that it isn’t round based, so when you solo into it you get people straggling in one or two at a time in respawn waves. The team to win the first team fight usually wins the game because of this. This is why a good majority of these games goes 500-0, and good luck coordinating a bunch of solo players to play as a team.
Aside from that, I’ve played a few games as meta D/P and a few as S/D and I feel the S/D handles Courtyard better, especially if you aren’t going into it with a team. It’s much easier to bait and lead a few people on a merry chase with S/D, letting your team get a numbers advantage elsewhere. And if no one bites, it’s still a solid team fighting spec. Mobility allows you to abuse LOS quite easily, pop in and out of big fights with all your evades (D/P is much more vulnerable), and support stomps with poison fields and CB cleave. An SR opening is very valuable as well.
I don’t think double SB would bring anything to the map. You wouldn’t have burst potential and you can be ignored because you aren’t camping a point. P/D is probably more viable than it is in conquest, but I haven’t tried it yet because we still don’t have build templates and I don’t bother to swap around for 1 map. That said, I can see a stealth heavy condi thief being the “skyhammer engineer” of courtyard.
Badding up tourneys since 2012
NA tPvP – Elementalist – Thief
Playing with premade works better,soloq style will not guarantee that the rest of team knows what to do and won’t get farmed. It’s all about baiting and surviving, wait for opposite team to act first you can judge their skill level based on the first wave. You need 1 or 2 tank/bait/support to help in front line assisted with by a ranged and melee glass,thief is great at that using SA works don’t be afraid to use SB for safety as long as they are not focused on you ,disengage to lose focus if you have to.
The ranged glass can position himslef in a hard to reach against most conquest builds which are expected and should know how to lose focus and reposition in danger. The other player(s) are here to take advantage of unaware foes,they serve a similar role to the frontline glass but they attack from the back of the foe. When a player is downed stealth finish him or let the glass range AA him. Bait the other team to try to revive him ,rest of the team hide safely while stomp/bait is active .
All in all don’t rush, don’t stall,don’t be obvious you won’t gain anything from those 3 above. The chance of success with a non premade is slim since most ignored the map. It’s all about survival not farming the other team. Your thief spec will depend on role you want to play and how much support(heal,cleansing..) the bait can provide he doesn’t need to do any damage. It also depends on opposite team and again soloquers are usually hard headed good luck.
“Revenant is actual proof that devs read the necromancer forum” – Pelopidas.2140 The Dhuumfire thread
From winning several matches in a row on premades I can give you this advice:
Assault the backlines and harass the living kitten out of them, and take down squishies. Make sure you call out the target you are going to burst. If you’re running d/p burst, you can stealth and get into the backlines, then burst low targets quickly. This will very much disrupt the enemy team.
Also, if there are fire fields, use shortbow #2 to give your team might. It helps IMMENSELY.
Another good strategy is to have your team stack on you, use black powder, and blast it for area stealth. This is great for ambushing the enemy team.
Use shortbow if you need to weaken the enemy group as a whole, or if you are too low hp to go into the backlines and burst.
P/D cheese has worked wonders for me when I’m feeling lazy. Venom share or just normal p/d, doesn’t really matter. Both of them are deadly and able to survive forever.
But I’m usually staying with D/P or S/D for the challenge.
