Guild Wars 2

I cannot 1v1. I am older and my reaction time just seems too slow now.

Is it viable to be a “support thief” who takes uncontested nodes when possible, and otherwise uses the shortbow for dropping poison/weakness on team fights, and bursting low-health enemies in the teamfight?

I think what you just described is the role of any thief in pvp…

Thief role not meant to 1v1…

Ok. Cool to know. All these top thieves seem to love dueling.

When I pvp’ed …
I always roamed around, capped points when they were available/easy to cap…
If I ran by a fight that was happening and it was a “fair” (1v1, 2v2, 3v3) fight or in our favor… I would make it more in our favor by stepping in. Then I would disengage and continue to roam around capping and making unfair fights.
In a weird way, I found it much less productive dueling or trying to be a bada_s doing 1v2, than say capping a point and ensuring a winning fight.

This is for sPvP.

Ignore toughness/vitality/condi damage/healing power, kill them as fast as possible (preferably while outnumbering them), stomp with stealth and blind, revive with shadow refuge, decap nodes, don’t 1vs1 unless forced to, have shortbow as secondary weapon and make use of it.

Best way a thief can support a team is by not being in a team.

“those top thieves” love dueling because they are top thieves i would say but dueling isn’t really supposed to be the thief job.

kill whatever is easy to kill but a straight-on duel is a big risk, 1 bad move and a thief dies which leaves your team behind in manpower and possibly score.

tl:dr best way to support your team is to not take unnecessary risks

Volrath.1473:

Best way a thief can support a team is by not being in a team.

Or by being on the other team and dueling/trying to do 1v2 or 1v3.

Lurk in shadow, kill your prey faster as much as possible, keep in mind you are always needed everywhere.
withdraw if the wind is against you, always keep track of your ally aswell as enemy.

Oh and stop dying.

Silentshoes.1805:

I cannot 1v1. I am older and my reaction time just seems too slow now.

Is it viable to be a “support thief” who takes uncontested nodes when possible, and otherwise uses the shortbow for dropping poison/weakness on team fights, and bursting low-health enemies in the teamfight?

I feel your pain. I totally fail in 1 vs 1.

really wish they never stealth nerfed the poison arrow.

go zerker front line sb blasting mode with server zerg for extra fun

Zero Day.2594:

Volrath.1473:

Best way a thief can support a team is by not being in a team.

Or by being on the other team and dueling/trying to do 1v2 or 1v3.

Nomnom

You “support” your team as a thief by knowing where to be at what moment.
Mapawareness is very important as a thief.

You “support” by dealing dmg and interrupting keyskills on enemies, either with /P#4 or traited steal.

You can also “support” by rooting the enemies, either by speccing into panicstrike or by using devour venom.

Another way to play thief supportive would be by taking venomous aura, however i personally feel that i support my team much more by dealing dmg in the right situations than by sharing venoms.

Silentshoes.1805:

I cannot 1v1. I am older and my reaction time just seems too slow now.

Is it viable to be a “support thief” who takes uncontested nodes when possible, and otherwise uses the shortbow for dropping poison/weakness on team fights, and bursting low-health enemies in the teamfight?

Unfortunately, Thieves requires you to have fast reflexes since you need to take advantage of your shadowsteps, dodge, and evade for the most part. You miss any of these then you’re nothing but a red carpet for your enemies to step on.

With that said, it would be very difficult to play support as a Thief. You need to keep in mind that in team fights, the enemy Thief will always come after a Thief or anyone easy to dispose and if they beat you in reflex time, you’d be the first to fall, if not, be easily become a liability for your team. That’s the reality of it.

However, in WvW, there are other ways to support your team by way of manning a siege engine far far away, preferably a trebuchet or a mortar. Those stinking cows are OP.

get venomous aura trait and start blasting fire fields for might stacks with cluster bomb. as a thief you have pretty much every combo finisher in the game at your disposal.

fire fields = free might (condi dmg + power)
water fields = free regen
light fields(most guard AoE’s) = free retaliation

if you use cluster bomb (not the second activation just let it big bomb sail) it’s a spammable blast finisher which means if you blast fields it can buff your entire team. I do it in dungeons on my thief not horribly sure how viable it is in Spvp but sure would be cool to see.