Guild Wars 2

A lot of the Guardians I run into during WvW are built like tanks and I have a tough time making any lasting impression. Damage I deal is soon mitigated via protection, regeneration, blocks and further healing abilities, leaving me in a situation where I can hardly make a dent. There have been many instances where I have engaged for several minutes with a sturdy Guardian only for it to end in a stale-mate as one of us gives up and walks away. If I do give chase there isn’t much I can do to stop them and they successfully retreat into a nearby safe-zone. While I can stay alive during the fights and escape whenever I want, so too can they, making the whole thing a pointless waste of time.

One example of many (this happened today): Took down an Elementalist and saw an incoming Guardian, so I stealthed away to heal. Engaged whilst she was trying to revive her team-mate. Thus begins a 2 minute battle where I dodge, stealth and blind to avoid her damage while she absorbs and heals everything I give back. Realising I’m not a huge threat she begins reviving the downed player and between breaks of healing and counter-attacks she succeeds. I retreat and re-engage the Ele alongside his new bodyguard(ian), downing him once and downing him again to get the kill. By this point the Guardian begins to flee (maybe due to boredom), escaping to a nearby Tower that happens to be in the middle of getting taken over and attracting the attention of 2 others. She exits and heads west with 3 of us on her tail. She manages to walk from that tower, across the bridge, around the island and then back over the other bridge on the opposite side before she is finally downed and killed.

Is there anything I can do as a Thief to win in a 1v1 situation against a Guardian built like a fortress? Or should I just face facts and avoid engaging/leave the fight the moment I realise they are too tanky to take down? I’m a D/P build, using Valkryie armor with Beryl Orbs and exotic Berserker stats for everything else.

I presume you mean D/P with those stats. Carry S/D as your offset and try to boon strip them. That’s your best bet… but it’ll be an uphill battle (presuming equal & non-low skill levels of both players).

Short answer: no

Long answer: keep Poison up 100% of the time, even though it’s impossible. Interrupt every heal, even though it’s almost impossible. And remove that Regeneration and Protection, which is… actually very possible with S/D. But it’s really not worth your time.

Also, P/D is one of the weakest damage dealing builds in the entire game. Would you expect to 5-1 your way through everything?

d/p means tanky guardian should not pose any threat to you even if you can’t kill him. Just move on and let him cry alone.

as gandalf would say: you shall not win !
have fun

I run full berserk and scholar runes. 030/30/10/0.

I run shadows embrace also which is key and d/p. the only thing that damages me from guardians is the burning. Everything else is negated by blinds. When your low back off and regen but you need to land those 8k backstabs. 2 of those plus some auto attacks and your going to win. It’s a longer fight than normal but don’t be afraid to stack some stealth up and regen. Use basi or thieves guild.

Backstab and interrupt are your best bet. Evade their damage while landing your backstab in between their aegis will get him downed sooner or later. Guardians are often built to have high sustained damage coupled with scary amounts of survivability. I usually just ignore them because of this..

The consensus appears to be “don’t bother, move on” and I can’t argue with that.

I’ve got an offhand Shortbow but I rarely make use of it so I’m not against giving S/D a shot.

Just walk away from them. You have to realize you’re an unstoppable force and he’s an immovable object. (assuming equal skill levels).

YuiRS.8129:

Short answer: no

Long answer: keep Poison up 100% of the time, even though it’s impossible. Interrupt every heal, even though it’s almost impossible. And remove that Regeneration and Protection, which is… actually very possible with S/D. But it’s really not worth your time.

Also, P/D is one of the weakest damage dealing builds in the entire game. Would you expect to 5-1 your way through everything?

yuirs points out some good ideas in here. you have 2 options. if ur running d/p then you should bring s/d as your backup everytime. 0 30 20 20 0 builds are what you want because you lose the regen on stealth but you shouldnt be getting hit that much with blind anyway. so then you have 100% crit on stealth which really ups the DPS alot. also you prolly dont know this but use steal to apply poison about 70% into his hp….just auto attack really just auto attack. a guardian cant keep up with your dmg…. “but what about his heals?”, you ask. well…if u use ONLY skill 4 head shot and rupt his heals…..(granted its not the 3 sec block one) then he has no chance at healing. if he does use that i use skill 3 for some big hits 2x in a row which usually offsets the heal.

p/d also is the same as d/p in the sense of accepting 5 1 5 1….dp goes 5 2 2 1 5 2 2 1. any thief build u will use is going to do that. and particularly against a guardian …p/d DPS is higher than d/p

Pretty much walk away as others have mentioned. I’ve been on both sides of the equation and that’s the only consensus I have come to. Be secure in the knowledge that if you want to get away, you can and there is nothing he can do to force you to stay.

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Not sure if serious

Guardians have some of the best condition removal in the game.

Berengar.6951:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Not sure if serious

Guardians have some of the best condition removal in the game.

So people say, yet I’ve never lost a fight to one with my Condi build. When you can reapply bleeding the moment they remove it, condition removal only makes their death slower. They’re still taking damage at a consistent rate.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Berengar.6951:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Not sure if serious

Guardians have some of the best condition removal in the game.

So people say, yet I’ve never lost a fight to one with my Condi build. When you can reapply bleeding the moment they remove it, condition removal only makes their death slower. They’re still taking damage at a consistent rate.

The moment you run into a properly built boon guardian youll know and wont be able to win. They probably wont be able to kill you either, but thats just the way it goes for Guardian sometimes.

As was said earlier, the only way to win is to have a S/D setup and be able to keep protection (helmet), regen (3 dots) and vigor (leaf) off them. Not sure if Vigor matters for Eles, but guardians gain 1k+ HP every dodge roll. Which sounds a lot easier than it is if they know how to fight S/D Thieves.

wish.1027:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Berengar.6951:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Not sure if serious

Guardians have some of the best condition removal in the game.

So people say, yet I’ve never lost a fight to one with my Condi build. When you can reapply bleeding the moment they remove it, condition removal only makes their death slower. They’re still taking damage at a consistent rate.

The moment you run into a properly built boon guardian youll know and wont be able to win. They probably wont be able to kill you either, but thats just the way it goes for Guardian sometimes.

As was said earlier, the only way to win is to have a S/D setup and be able to keep protection (helmet), regen (3 dots) and vigor (leaf) off them. Not sure if Vigor matters for Eles, but guardians gain 1k+ HP every dodge roll. Which sounds a lot easier than it is if they know how to fight S/D Thieves.

I also run boon strip on steal, which may be the reason I have no issues with guardians. I do tournaments daily and roam in WvW afterward. I think I’ve had my fair share of guardians in the 3,140 hours I’ve logged.

Post a video of your glorious battles then.

Viking Jorun.5413:

I also run boon strip on steal, which may be the reason I have no issues with guardians. I do tournaments daily and roam in WvW afterward. I think I’ve had my fair share of guardians in the 3,140 hours I’ve logged.

Guardian boon builds dont work in sPVP, the boon duration on runes and from your skills is heavily nerfed. What server are you on? I can show you what Im talking about if youre fighting JQ or GoM.

wish.1027 or wish.3102, dunno which account I will be on.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Berengar.6951:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Not sure if serious

Guardians have some of the best condition removal in the game.

So people say, yet I’ve never lost a fight to one with my Condi build. When you can reapply bleeding the moment they remove it, condition removal only makes their death slower. They’re still taking damage at a consistent rate.

You’re hilarious.

If this escapes you, you should really re-visit your previous postings.

wish.1027:

Viking Jorun.5413:

I also run boon strip on steal, which may be the reason I have no issues with guardians. I do tournaments daily and roam in WvW afterward. I think I’ve had my fair share of guardians in the 3,140 hours I’ve logged.

Guardian boon builds dont work in sPVP, the boon duration on runes and from your skills is heavily nerfed. What server are you on? I can show you what Im talking about if youre fighting JQ or GoM.

wish.1027 or wish.3102, dunno which account I will be on.

I’m on GoM. You probably know my thief Kid Legacy or my warrior, Ferrum Blacktide.

I use my thief primarily for sPvP. My warrior is my go-to in WvW or PvE for obvious reasons. That’s probably why I have trouble understanding everyone’s issues with boon guardians. As a warrior, I generally run. They can’t really put a dent in me nor I them (again, as a warrior), so there isn’t a point fighting an anchor in WvW during any 1v1 fight. Even when focus targeting in my havoc team, we prioritize boon guardians the least. Having said that and acknowledged their prowess in WvW, you must realize that I don’t step into WvW on my thief (generally) and for the most part I don’t step into sPvP on my warrior. The two domains are entirely different so it’s impossible for me to make an educated statement in regards to Thief vs. Boon Guardian in the domain of WvW.

Amins.3710:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Berengar.6951:

Viking Jorun.5413:

Caltrops + Uncatchable + heavy condition focus will melt any guardian.

Not sure if serious

Guardians have some of the best condition removal in the game.

So people say, yet I’ve never lost a fight to one with my Condi build. When you can reapply bleeding the moment they remove it, condition removal only makes their death slower. They’re still taking damage at a consistent rate.

You’re hilarious.

If this escapes you, you should really re-visit your previous postings.

I’m glad you like my sense of humor. Now you should stop complaining about how OP thieves are and trolling others :).

Viking Jorun.5413:

it’s impossible for me to make an educated statement in regards to Thief vs. Boon Guardian in the domain of WvW.

Fisrt sentence in this thread:

A lot of the Guardians I run into during WvW are built like tanks and I have a tough time making any lasting impression.

Did you just skip reading the whole thread? lol Thats what this thread is about!

wish.1027:

Viking Jorun.5413:

it’s impossible for me to make an educated statement in regards to Thief vs. Boon Guardian in the domain of WvW.

Fisrt sentence in this thread:

A lot of the Guardians I run into during WvW are built like tanks and I have a tough time making any lasting impression.

Did you just skip reading the whole thread? lol Thats what this thread is about!

I tend to suffer from the Serial Position Effect. When I get to the end of the read I forget things at the beginning xP

At first I thought you were just making something up, but it turns out that that’s really a thing.

Heck, I wouldn’t try P/D on that kind of a target. If I had time, I’d get out the SB (D/D backup) and plink him down + #3 to keep him at a distance, wait til he blows his big heal, plink 2-3 times more and the switch to D/D, mug+cd+bs and you should him in “OH CRAP” mode.

Kincaidia.3192:

Heck, I wouldn’t try P/D on that kind of a target. If I had time, I’d get out the SB (D/D backup) and plink him down + #3 to keep him at a distance, wait til he blows his big heal, plink 2-3 times more and the switch to D/D, mug+cd+bs and you should him in “OH CRAP” mode.

A boon guardians base regen and dodge roll heals heal for more than the thief shortbow attacks for.