Guild Wars 2

How do you beat a dd ele as a theif i honestly have no idea…. i play S/D and P/P from what i understand they lose to burst dmg. i think that a lame way to play a theif i want to know if you guys know any way to beat them with out having to use glass cannon build.

You won’ t be able to beat a good ele with conditions, they have many condition removals available. If you don’ t have enough burst damage you probably won’ t be able out damage their healing. If you pop thieves guild and lock them down you should stand a better chance of winning.

hmm i wll try that thanks for the tip

This was inside EB JP, i was on my thief last night (S/D and P/D) and was up against a D/D ele. We fought for I think 8-10 mins before I gave up and ran away. It was fun even thou we couldn’t kill each other.

If its a tanky D/D ele then you won’t kill it. Glass eles you will.

Just run, you won’t kill a D/D bunker ele unless he’s afk. No point wasting your time on it.
If you’re a burst build, you could have a small chance of killing him if you catch him off guard and pop thieves guild.

On the bright side: they can’t kill us either.

They live the burst they’ll run as far as they can. Last one i just fought literally blew all his get aways. Ran past my ability to render him.

Bad players succeed on D/D eles..

interrupts from pistol 4 + trying to keep poison up

If you are fighting a good D/D ele killing it is near impossible as a thief. The reason being that they can just out run you when they want to and escape. You can chase them across the map if you like but honestly is the kill really worth it?

As for in a duel if they stick around, ambush trap and thieves guild help out a bit between their blind and scorpion wire you can put a damper on some of their mobility and if you are lucky put them on the ground long enough to score some good blows enough to drop them. Their whole build is built to take a beating, the good thing is that they generally don’t do much damage in return.

Scorpion wire and trip wire are also good options in a duel with them.

Jinks.2057:

They live the burst they’ll run as far as they can. Last one i just fought literally blew all his get aways. Ran past my ability to render him.

Bad players succeed on D/D eles..

The irony in this comment…

Running away for cool downs to come back up to try again. Hm…sounds familiar.

Sifu.6527:

The irony in this comment…

Running away for cool downs to come back up to try again. Hm…sounds familiar.

I agree, so long as you agree we’re both guilty parties.

When I deal with D/D ele’s, I use S/D which is probably the most effective build because you really need to keep them locked down.

I use Infiltrator’s Strike to which they’ll typically respond my knocking me on my bum, but I’ll just Shadow Return out of the stun and come right back with a C&D→Tactical Strike. In the daze duration, you can knock a pretty large chunk of health off of them, forcing them to blow cantrips, which I wait until it’s effect wears off, Steal→C&D→Tactical Strike again. It’s also VERY useful to hit them with their stolen item which can do decent damage and apply 10sec of chill, which really hurts them (they will probably cleanse it before duration, but it still makes an impact.)

Fights with D/D ele’s can go two ways… I either make them panic with my dazes and they make a mistake, which calls for a quick fight… Or it’s an extremely long and protracted duel that can last a while and has a 50/50 chance to swing either way.

Certainly my favorite class to go up against…

Sifu.6527:

Jinks.2057:

They live the burst they’ll run as far as they can. Last one i just fought literally blew all his get aways. Ran past my ability to render him.

Bad players succeed on D/D eles..

The irony in this comment…

Running away for cool downs to come back up to try again. Hm…sounds familiar.

but but thieves are the most mobile…you can’t out run a thief….

Upon the release of the game people were kittening that eles were the weakest class in the game. Then lo and behold someone figured out how to play them, and now we got the d/d eles running around.

Jinks.2057:

They live the burst they’ll run as far as they can. Last one i just fought literally blew all his get aways. Ran past my ability to render him.

Bad players succeed on D/D eles..

same can be said of D/D thief players

Laika.8795:

Sifu.6527:

The irony in this comment…

Running away for cool downs to come back up to try again. Hm…sounds familiar.

I agree, so long as you agree we’re both guilty parties.

When I deal with D/D ele’s, I use S/D which is probably the most effective build because you really need to keep them locked down.

I use Infiltrator’s Strike to which they’ll typically respond my knocking me on my bum, but I’ll just Shadow Return out of the stun and come right back with a C&D->Tactical Strike. In the daze duration, you can knock a pretty large chunk of health off of them, forcing them to blow cantrips, which I wait until it’s effect wears off, Steal->C&D->Tactical Strike again. It’s also VERY useful to hit them with their stolen item which can do decent damage and apply 10sec of chill, which really hurts them (they will probably cleanse it before duration, but it still makes an impact.)

Fights with D/D ele’s can go two ways… I either make them panic with my dazes and they make a mistake, which calls for a quick fight… Or it’s an extremely long and protracted duel that can last a while and has a 50/50 chance to swing either way.

Certainly my favorite class to go up against…

I run S/D and D/P. What neck piece and runes are you using? Currently I use Soldier with Berserker Jewel and runes of the mesmer.

Pyrial.2917:

I run S/D and D/P. What neck piece and runes are you using? Currently I use Soldier with Berserker Jewel and runes of the mesmer.

I use Emerald Orbs for Preci/Tough/Power in all my armor and weapons, with a superior sigil of paralyzation on my dagger (works on daze). My jewelry is 50/50 zerker and valkyrie with a valk necklace, but with Ruby Jewels in everything (really wanted as much Prec as I could get.)

My armor is 50/50 Valk/Knight, with Zerker weapons too… Use Practiced Tolerance for an extra HP boost with all that Prec.

It’s working quite well for me, I must say…

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

rchu.8945:

same can be said of D/D thief players

Except shutting down a thief is a ton easier. They carry around, at most, one break stun, have 2k armor, and rely on stealth as an escape. If you can survive or dodge their burst, they’re very easy to shut down and kill. D/D Eles, on the other hand, have AoE Damage, a ton of heals and condition removal, three break stuns, and more escape abilities than a D/D thief. Killing thieves that try to burst me is one of my favorite things to do. Having to fight a D/D Ele is the most annoying thing in the game. They take like 3 minutes to kill, and they will almost always get away if you can’t kill them fast enough. As for a thief, it’s a lot easier to keep them shut down since they rarely build for raw defense.

The two aren’t comparable. One is a tanky DPS with a ton of heals, condition removals and break stuns. The other is a glass cannon thief with one break stun and an over-reliance on stealth as an escape mechanism. Hit a thief with CC and he either has to run away or die.

Bunzy.8674:

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Zw8vNJVvg

There’s no way a D/D Ele built properly (Power/Tough/Vit) is going to get hit anywhere near 12k by Backstab.

Krathalos.3461:

They carry around, at most, one break stun

Not exactly… I run with RFI, Withdrawl, and Sword 2 (Shadow Return) so I have three stun breaks… But yeah, MOST only have one break (if that.)

Krathalos.3461:

rchu.8945:

same can be said of D/D thief players

Except shutting down a thief is a ton easier. They carry around, at most, one break stun, have 2k armor, and rely on stealth as an escape. If you can survive or dodge their burst, they’re very easy to shut down and kill. D/D Eles, on the other hand, have AoE Damage, a ton of heals and condition removal, three break stuns, and more escape abilities than a D/D thief. Killing thieves that try to burst me is one of my favorite things to do. Having to fight a D/D Ele is the most annoying thing in the game. They take like 3 minutes to kill, and they will almost always get away if you can’t kill them fast enough. As for a thief, it’s a lot easier to keep them shut down since they rarely build for raw defense.

The two aren’t comparable. One is a tanky DPS with a ton of heals, condition removals and break stuns. The other is a glass cannon thief with one break stun and an over-reliance on stealth as an escape mechanism. Hit a thief with CC and he either has to run away or die.

Bunzy.8674:

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Zw8vNJVvg

There’s no way a D/D Ele built properly (Power/Tough/Vit) is going to get hit anywhere near 12k by Backstab.

If you want I can take a screenshot of my (Power/Tough/Vit) armor? There is a thief build that can one shot pretty much anything. I know what it is and how to do it however I am trying not to get it too mainstream or else people will be dropping like flies.

Krathalos.3461:

rchu.8945:

same can be said of D/D thief players

Except shutting down a thief is a ton easier. They carry around, at most, one break stun, have 2k armor, and rely on stealth as an escape. If you can survive or dodge their burst, they’re very easy to shut down and kill. D/D Eles, on the other hand, have AoE Damage, a ton of heals and condition removal, three break stuns, and more escape abilities than a D/D thief. Killing thieves that try to burst me is one of my favorite things to do. Having to fight a D/D Ele is the most annoying thing in the game. They take like 3 minutes to kill, and they will almost always get away if you can’t kill them fast enough. As for a thief, it’s a lot easier to keep them shut down since they rarely build for raw defense.

The two aren’t comparable. One is a tanky DPS with a ton of heals, condition removals and break stuns. The other is a glass cannon thief with one break stun and an over-reliance on stealth as an escape mechanism. Hit a thief with CC and he either has to run away or die.

Bunzy.8674:

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Zw8vNJVvg

There’s no way a D/D Ele built properly (Power/Tough/Vit) is going to get hit anywhere near 12k by Backstab.

Are you sure about that? L2Backstab

12K Backstab = (3052 dmage * 981 wpn * 2.4 Skill) = 7185629/ 2500 (average P/T/V ele armor) = 2874.25 * 2.5 crit dmage = 7185 * 78% damage increase from traits/sigil/rune/etc = 12790 Backstab

If the Ele has 2900 armor, it would be 11K Backstab. If the Ele has 1980 armor, then the BS would’ve been 21k.

Ele’s is dam fast
here is a video where I try to catch one with my thief
http://youtu.be/akltyvWa7Vo

Sifu.6527:

Krathalos.3461:

rchu.8945:

same can be said of D/D thief players

Except shutting down a thief is a ton easier. They carry around, at most, one break stun, have 2k armor, and rely on stealth as an escape. If you can survive or dodge their burst, they’re very easy to shut down and kill. D/D Eles, on the other hand, have AoE Damage, a ton of heals and condition removal, three break stuns, and more escape abilities than a D/D thief. Killing thieves that try to burst me is one of my favorite things to do. Having to fight a D/D Ele is the most annoying thing in the game. They take like 3 minutes to kill, and they will almost always get away if you can’t kill them fast enough. As for a thief, it’s a lot easier to keep them shut down since they rarely build for raw defense.

The two aren’t comparable. One is a tanky DPS with a ton of heals, condition removals and break stuns. The other is a glass cannon thief with one break stun and an over-reliance on stealth as an escape mechanism. Hit a thief with CC and he either has to run away or die.

Bunzy.8674:

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Zw8vNJVvg

There’s no way a D/D Ele built properly (Power/Tough/Vit) is going to get hit anywhere near 12k by Backstab.

Are you sure about that? L2Backstab

12K Backstab = (3052 dmage * 981 wpn * 2.4 Skill) = 7185629/ 2500 (average P/T/V ele armor) = 2874.25 * 2.5 crit dmage = 7185 * 78% damage increase from traits/sigil/rune/etc = 12790 Backstab

If the Ele has 2900 armor, it would be 11K Backstab. If the Ele has 1980 armor, then the BS would’ve been 21k.

Im pretty sure you have been reading my posts and maths, that’s all my maths for a post i made last night. But its 100% true, nonetheless

Bunzy.8674:

If you want I can take a screenshot of my (Power/Tough/Vit) armor? There is a thief build that can one shot pretty much anything. I know what it is and how to do it however I am trying not to get it too mainstream or else people will be dropping like flies.

You just said on that other thread you only got 2500 in the Armor stat. You aren’t using Power/Tough/Vit armor or you forgot the fact half your gear stats come from your trinkets too.

Eduardo.4675:

Sifu.6527:

Krathalos.3461:

rchu.8945:

same can be said of D/D thief players

Except shutting down a thief is a ton easier. They carry around, at most, one break stun, have 2k armor, and rely on stealth as an escape. If you can survive or dodge their burst, they’re very easy to shut down and kill. D/D Eles, on the other hand, have AoE Damage, a ton of heals and condition removal, three break stuns, and more escape abilities than a D/D thief. Killing thieves that try to burst me is one of my favorite things to do. Having to fight a D/D Ele is the most annoying thing in the game. They take like 3 minutes to kill, and they will almost always get away if you can’t kill them fast enough. As for a thief, it’s a lot easier to keep them shut down since they rarely build for raw defense.

The two aren’t comparable. One is a tanky DPS with a ton of heals, condition removals and break stuns. The other is a glass cannon thief with one break stun and an over-reliance on stealth as an escape mechanism. Hit a thief with CC and he either has to run away or die.

Bunzy.8674:

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Zw8vNJVvg

There’s no way a D/D Ele built properly (Power/Tough/Vit) is going to get hit anywhere near 12k by Backstab.

Are you sure about that? L2Backstab

12K Backstab = (3052 dmage * 981 wpn * 2.4 Skill) = 7185629/ 2500 (average P/T/V ele armor) = 2874.25 * 2.5 crit dmage = 7185 * 78% damage increase from traits/sigil/rune/etc = 12790 Backstab

If the Ele has 2900 armor, it would be 11K Backstab. If the Ele has 1980 armor, then the BS would’ve been 21k.

Im pretty sure you have been reading my posts and maths, that’s all my maths for a post i made last night. But its 100% true, nonetheless

^Yes, thanks for doing the math. I didn’t know the coef of BS was 2.4.

Sifu.6527:

Eduardo.4675:

Sifu.6527:

Krathalos.3461:

rchu.8945:

same can be said of D/D thief players

Except shutting down a thief is a ton easier. They carry around, at most, one break stun, have 2k armor, and rely on stealth as an escape. If you can survive or dodge their burst, they’re very easy to shut down and kill. D/D Eles, on the other hand, have AoE Damage, a ton of heals and condition removal, three break stuns, and more escape abilities than a D/D thief. Killing thieves that try to burst me is one of my favorite things to do. Having to fight a D/D Ele is the most annoying thing in the game. They take like 3 minutes to kill, and they will almost always get away if you can’t kill them fast enough. As for a thief, it’s a lot easier to keep them shut down since they rarely build for raw defense.

The two aren’t comparable. One is a tanky DPS with a ton of heals, condition removals and break stuns. The other is a glass cannon thief with one break stun and an over-reliance on stealth as an escape mechanism. Hit a thief with CC and he either has to run away or die.

Bunzy.8674:

This is how you kill a D/D ele. You run pure glass cannon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Zw8vNJVvg

There’s no way a D/D Ele built properly (Power/Tough/Vit) is going to get hit anywhere near 12k by Backstab.

Are you sure about that? L2Backstab

12K Backstab = (3052 dmage * 981 wpn * 2.4 Skill) = 7185629/ 2500 (average P/T/V ele armor) = 2874.25 * 2.5 crit dmage = 7185 * 78% damage increase from traits/sigil/rune/etc = 12790 Backstab

If the Ele has 2900 armor, it would be 11K Backstab. If the Ele has 1980 armor, then the BS would’ve been 21k.

Im pretty sure you have been reading my posts and maths, that’s all my maths for a post i made last night. But its 100% true, nonetheless

^Yes, thanks for doing the math. I didn’t know the coef of BS was 2.4.

No problem. The skill multiplier i found doing this: buy steady weapons, go to golems and hit them repeatedly without no precision, to only get non crits. Golems have 2598 armor (heavy), 2320 (medium) and 2182 (light). Formula will be-> SM=Dmg*Armor/(Power*Weapon). Hit one golem with C&D and then hit the other golem while stealthed (C&D applies vuln, so it skews results). If using blinding powder to stealth, you must do as with C&D, coz BP apparently increases dmg on next hit after stealth. This procedure can be repeated for every skill ingame, to find out the skill multiplier. I got for BS a SM of 2.39xxx, rounded up to 2.4.
For a fun fact, ive posted this build/scenario for gigantic bacstabs before, twice, the first time my post was deleted on grounds of me being trolling the guy i was responding to, and i got a warning, last night i did post it again, i got no warning, but the thread was closed…

Eduardo.4675:

If using blinding powder to stealth, you must do as with C&D, coz BP apparently increases dmg on next hit after stealth.

It doesn’t but the level 25 minor Deadly Arts trait gives you 10% more damage on any target that has a condition on it. It was probably that.

LittleRaven.7319:

Ele’s is dam fast
here is a video where I try to catch one with my thief
http://youtu.be/akltyvWa7Vo

You’re lucky that player was not too good and gave in to the panic.

stof.9341:

Eduardo.4675:

If using blinding powder to stealth, you must do as with C&D, coz BP apparently increases dmg on next hit after stealth.

It doesn’t but the level 25 minor Deadly Arts trait gives you 10% more damage on any target that has a condition on it. It was probably that.

Nice catch, i didnt think of that, went there and tested again, away from golem, you were spot on, i was puzzled by that, and assumed some ninja effect, as BP also works like a stun breaker, albeit not being one… not a technical stun break, as it doesnt remove stuns/dazes, but the skill is unaffected by those and is usable while dazed/stuned, so, since it blinds ur opponent, its almost as good. Guess is compensation for our infiltrator strike from sword not working as the stun break its advertised as.

LittleRaven.7319:

Ele’s is dam fast
here is a video where I try to catch one with my thief
http://youtu.be/akltyvWa7Vo

Sure he’s fast, but you coulda cought him easy if you zoomed your camera out (so you can actually target the ground properly) and used infiltrator’s arrow before you’re at full initiative (else you’re just wasting initiative regeneration).

thanks for the reply everyone so the moral of the story is it a waste of time to even try dealing with that class. i beginning to think i suck at the game was missing something big.

Taobella.6597:

thanks for the reply everyone so the moral of the story is it a waste of time to even try dealing with that class. i beginning to think i suck at the game was missing something big.

Well it depends.
If you just meet a D/D in the middle of nowhere, don’t waste your time on him.
If he’s trying to cap a supply camp, you should at least try to chase him away.

stof.9341:

Bunzy.8674:

If you want I can take a screenshot of my (Power/Tough/Vit) armor? There is a thief build that can one shot pretty much anything. I know what it is and how to do it however I am trying not to get it too mainstream or else people will be dropping like flies.

You just said on that other thread you only got 2500 in the Armor stat. You aren’t using Power/Tough/Vit armor or you forgot the fact half your gear stats come from your trinkets too.

I am using power/tough/vit armor actually..

Bunzy.8674:

I am using power/tough/vit armor actually..

You are using a partial power/tough/vit set then, probably different in the jewelry part.

Jinks.2057:

They live the burst they’ll run as far as they can. Last one i just fought literally blew all his get aways. Ran past my ability to render him.

Bad players succeed on D/D eles..

Funny comment comming from a thief. Bad players succeed on all bunker specs.

I play shortbow main with sword pistol swap/burst w/haste. Glass cannonish with 14K health but kittenloads of dodge and perma swiftness (runes of centaur, signet of malice). I take the steal 2 boons (and get vigor) 20pt trait in trickery. Basically kite kite kite with SB (I also take shadowstep util), get them down, watch their boons, and hit them with the steal pistol whip haste burst at the right time, follow up with infiltrator strike, chase while popping pistol 4 interrupt. I find dd ele very very difficult to beat and never beat a rank 30+ one

Jefzor.7145:

Sure he’s fast, but you coulda cought him easy if you zoomed your camera out (so you can actually target the ground properly) and used infiltrator’s arrow before you’re at full initiative (else you’re just wasting initiative regeneration).

I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who was disturbed by the camera being zoomed in too much.

I agree the lack of using infiltrator’s arrow properly is why this ele got ahead.

The ele should have fought the thief in the water. We lose a lot of our great utility skills underwater.

Ele main here w/ Thief alt. Some tips:

1. It’s true, many of us run 3 stunbreaks via cantrips. The key to winning this fight is making us blow cantrips. Ele’s HATE being kited / unable to fight back, and will use up their utils to break free.

2. What makes us use these? Just about anything that limits our movement or actions. Immobilize, daze, stun, Bask venom, etc.

3. Although Ele’s have tons of condition removal, it doesn’t mean it isn’t effective in the long run. Average bleed times last around 9 – 10s. If you force them to use cantrips early, the only thing they’ve got is water attunement. The second they leave water, hit them with everything you’ve got. It will take at least 9s to swap back to water, which can be plenty of time to have lots of conditions ticking their full duration.

4. The most common ele build for D/D is 0/10/0/30/30. I was running with 17k health, decent heals and condi removal, but suprisingly low armor. About 2.1k I think. That means these builds WILL crumble under burst damage if they can’t avoid it. DON’T OPEN WITH YOUR BIGGEST BURST, this is where so many thieves go wrong. Draw out the fight a bit, then hit them hard and fast.

5. Stealth is still a royal pain in the rear to deal with, even when having lots of point blank AoE. Use cloak and dagger frequently if you have dagger offhand, and be somewhat unpredictable with it. Move around and dodge back, force Ele’s to use their gap closers and blow their CDs looking for you. Ele’s have 20 weapon skills, but they all have very long CD’s for the most part.

6. D/D thieves are incredibly predictable for Eles. Do something a little more unorthodox. Here’s a hint: D/D eles are forced to move to where you are, so get something with some range. I fought a P/D thief the other day and he was stacking venoms, bleeds, etc. on top of being constantly stealthed every few seconds and kiting me like crazy. He also used thieve’s guild which made the fight even more frustrating. D/D Ele’s have a lot of AoE, true, but most of it is PBAoE, or must be lined up properly, and stealth really messes with that.

7. If you see them start channeling Churning Earth, don’t panic, and don’t try to run out of the AoE. They will use Lightning Flash towards the end of the channel and teleport to you. Right at the 3s mark you just dodge and it doesn’t matter where they go, now they’ve just blown a big CD and one of their strongest skills. The best part? You can beat on them hard within that cast time once you get the timing down. Dodge again immediately after your first dodge if you think they’re going to use Earthquake (knockdown) right after.

Good luck thiefbros.

So many Ele’s now…yeah not so good Ele’s I get them to chase me and blow cooldowns then turn on them, good Ele’s..I eventually give up and leave them to it or they leggit off. They are definitely the fastest class at escaping.

Jericho.4521:

Ele main here w/ Thief alt. Some tips:

1. It’s true, many of us run 3 stunbreaks via cantrips. The key to winning this fight is making us blow cantrips. Ele’s HATE being kited / unable to fight back, and will use up their utils to break free.

2. What makes us use these? Just about anything that limits our movement or actions. Immobilize, daze, stun, Bask venom, etc.

3. Although Ele’s have tons of condition removal, it doesn’t mean it isn’t effective in the long run. Average bleed times last around 9 – 10s. If you force them to use cantrips early, the only thing they’ve got is water attunement. The second they leave water, hit them with everything you’ve got. It will take at least 9s to swap back to water, which can be plenty of time to have lots of conditions ticking their full duration.

4. The most common ele build for D/D is 0/10/0/30/30. I was running with 17k health, decent heals and condi removal, but suprisingly low armor. About 2.1k I think. That means these builds WILL crumble under burst damage if they can’t avoid it. DON’T OPEN WITH YOUR BIGGEST BURST, this is where so many thieves go wrong. Draw out the fight a bit, then hit them hard and fast.

5. Stealth is still a royal pain in the rear to deal with, even when having lots of point blank AoE. Use cloak and dagger frequently if you have dagger offhand, and be somewhat unpredictable with it. Move around and dodge back, force Ele’s to use their gap closers and blow their CDs looking for you. Ele’s have 20 weapon skills, but they all have very long CD’s for the most part.

6. D/D thieves are incredibly predictable for Eles. Do something a little more unorthodox. Here’s a hint: D/D eles are forced to move to where you are, so get something with some range. I fought a P/D thief the other day and he was stacking venoms, bleeds, etc. on top of being constantly stealthed every few seconds and kiting me like crazy. He also used thieve’s guild which made the fight even more frustrating. D/D Ele’s have a lot of AoE, true, but most of it is PBAoE, or must be lined up properly, and stealth really messes with that.

7. If you see them start channeling Churning Earth, don’t panic, and don’t try to run out of the AoE. They will use Lightning Flash towards the end of the channel and teleport to you. Right at the 3s mark you just dodge and it doesn’t matter where they go, now they’ve just blown a big CD and one of their strongest skills. The best part? You can beat on them hard within that cast time once you get the timing down. Dodge again immediately after your first dodge if you think they’re going to use Earthquake (knockdown) right after.

Good luck thiefbros.

hello,

Im main thief and alt Ele, and definitely appreciate the info you shared with us here. I do have a question, in general, is D/D backstab thief build give you more problems or any sword / x build? How effective is flanking strike’s boon stripping mechanic helps against D/D ele?

What I usually do is…

1) switch to shortbow

2) realize where I am fighting and see if anyone is close enough to help or realize someone is fighting

3) pull him or keep him/her as much as I can on me (it’s so easy to stay alive against a d/d ele if you focus on evading)

4) once I see someone close enough to attack him/her, then I just go invi I try to immobilize the ele, I try to shut him off, crippling, pull him with scorpion wire if he tries to run away etc etc pretty much anything that screw his/her escape

That’s atleast what I have been doing last days, d/d eles are so confident about their skills that they charge in w/o hesitation so I just take advantage of their stupidity, sadly when a thieve runs away is not the same even if we use invisible why? because you CAN HIT US, d/d eles are loaded with protection and dmg skills, no wonder why it have been stated that they will nerf it soon, and now in WvW T1 1 of 3 chars is a d/d ele XD tell me how that is not realizing how OP is that build

rchu.8945:

Jericho.4521:

Ele main here w/ Thief alt. Some tips:

1. It’s true, many of us run 3 stunbreaks via cantrips. The key to winning this fight is making us blow cantrips. Ele’s HATE being kited / unable to fight back, and will use up their utils to break free.

2. What makes us use these? Just about anything that limits our movement or actions. Immobilize, daze, stun, Bask venom, etc.

3. Although Ele’s have tons of condition removal, it doesn’t mean it isn’t effective in the long run. Average bleed times last around 9 – 10s. If you force them to use cantrips early, the only thing they’ve got is water attunement. The second they leave water, hit them with everything you’ve got. It will take at least 9s to swap back to water, which can be plenty of time to have lots of conditions ticking their full duration.

4. The most common ele build for D/D is 0/10/0/30/30. I was running with 17k health, decent heals and condi removal, but suprisingly low armor. About 2.1k I think. That means these builds WILL crumble under burst damage if they can’t avoid it. DON’T OPEN WITH YOUR BIGGEST BURST, this is where so many thieves go wrong. Draw out the fight a bit, then hit them hard and fast.

5. Stealth is still a royal pain in the rear to deal with, even when having lots of point blank AoE. Use cloak and dagger frequently if you have dagger offhand, and be somewhat unpredictable with it. Move around and dodge back, force Ele’s to use their gap closers and blow their CDs looking for you. Ele’s have 20 weapon skills, but they all have very long CD’s for the most part.

6. D/D thieves are incredibly predictable for Eles. Do something a little more unorthodox. Here’s a hint: D/D eles are forced to move to where you are, so get something with some range. I fought a P/D thief the other day and he was stacking venoms, bleeds, etc. on top of being constantly stealthed every few seconds and kiting me like crazy. He also used thieve’s guild which made the fight even more frustrating. D/D Ele’s have a lot of AoE, true, but most of it is PBAoE, or must be lined up properly, and stealth really messes with that.

7. If you see them start channeling Churning Earth, don’t panic, and don’t try to run out of the AoE. They will use Lightning Flash towards the end of the channel and teleport to you. Right at the 3s mark you just dodge and it doesn’t matter where they go, now they’ve just blown a big CD and one of their strongest skills. The best part? You can beat on them hard within that cast time once you get the timing down. Dodge again immediately after your first dodge if you think they’re going to use Earthquake (knockdown) right after.

Good luck thiefbros.

hello,

Im main thief and alt Ele, and definitely appreciate the info you shared with us here. I do have a question, in general, is D/D backstab thief build give you more problems or any sword / x build? How effective is flanking strike’s boon stripping mechanic helps against D/D ele?

A lot of people suggest boon stripping via flanking strike. I can tell you that is fairly ineffective, as the boons will be very quickly re-applied without the Ele even thinking about it.

As for D/D backstab…It’s hard to say. In theory, the full combo would drop me. In practice I really can’t recall the last time I’ve been killed by a backstab thief, but I’m willing to say that they probably were new / not very good. If you get the jump on them, then you might have a chance at pulling this off before they can react. Problem is, they can literally just hit Mist Form, lightning flash, or shocking aura and that will ruin your combo in one button press. Anytime I even suspect there’s a thief nearby, I’ll pop shocking aura, so if you’re going to do it be very sneaky or gank them in the middle of fighting someone else.

The hardest thief I’ve ever fought was running P/D, and just kited me as much as possible. He was smart enough not to get up in my face and stay there. If I got close, he’d get a quick CnD and then be back off to kiting. He also used Dev. venom to immobilize me frequently which caused me to waste cantrips. We didn’t get to finish the 1v1 unfortunately, but he definitely had the best shot at killing me out of all the thieves I’ve faced thus far.

I would imagine a P/P thief could be pretty tough with constant blind + daze too, but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever fought one.

i usualy blow up all my stealth skills vs elementarist, and safe initiative
i start with cluster – shortbow 2 -3 hits , stealth /imobilize / cluster / /stealth imobilize cluster, stealth imobilize cluster. if the combo manage to drop half of his hp – i switch on D/D and try burst him down with heartseeker / C&D/ backstab / HS.
Situation 2 -he is still full hp – i start to troll him with C&D /dodge untill my utility’s are refreshed

A D/D Bunker Elementalist can’t kill anything.

Ignore him, and go about your business, he’s just wasting everyone elses time, and his own. <grins>

I have most luck using p/d vs those guys.

what about specifically in spvp, vs a d/d dps ele NOT a bunker

I play d/d + sb glass roamer thief and recently have noticed Ive been getting taken down by d/d eles when my elite is on CD (or im saving it)

im assuming that not all d/d eles are bunker

In spvp, a good d/d dps ele will almost always beat a d/d burst thief if they see the thief coming. If the thief catches the ele by surprise, the thief will probably win.

If the thief is running 30/30/0/0/10 with scholar runes, assassin’s signet, and basilisk venom with 100% crit out of stealth trait the thief will most likely insta-gib the ele.

A good d/d ele can and will beat any thief build 1v1. No exceptions. It’s a tough matchup for thieves, just like bunker engies, condition necros, etc.

Payneful.7934:

In spvp, a good d/d dps ele will almost always beat a d/d burst thief if they see the thief coming. If the thief catches the ele by surprise, the thief will probably win.

If the thief is running 30/30/0/0/10 with scholar runes, assassin’s signet, and basilisk venom with 100% crit out of stealth trait the thief will most likely insta-gib the ele.

TY

that pretty much described my situation spot on, though its nice to know im not a total scrub ,its not really encouraging lol

guess ill just work on figuring out exactly what needs to be dodged when vs them

Payneful.7934:

In spvp, a good d/d dps ele will almost always beat a d/d burst thief if they see the thief coming. If the thief catches the ele by surprise, the thief will probably win.

If the thief is running 30/30/0/0/10 with scholar runes, assassin’s signet, and basilisk venom with 100% crit out of stealth trait the thief will most likely insta-gib the ele.

This is exactly how I feel in WvW as well.

Slic.2406:

A good d/d ele can and will beat any thief build 1v1. No exceptions. It’s a tough matchup for thieves, just like bunker engies, condition necros, etc.

I found P/D becomes a draw, they can’t kill you and you can’t kill them.