Guild Wars 2

I have a personal ‘kill list’ for my thief, where I try to come across a class/build and try to beat them. So far, I have a few more to cross off the list, but I will need advice for these:

1. DPS guardian

2. MM necro

3. Some kind of warrior build that facerolled what I thought would be an easy fight, and wrecked me in 0.5 seconds. Bloody hell, didn’t even have time to react and evade that burst.

Edit: I’m a d/d thief, offhand p/d. Shortbow was nice, but I find the pistol mainhand to be much more effective.

First off, what build do you play?

Assuming you’re D/P, since that’s the most powerful Thief set for roaming I’ll state:

1. I don’t know, but I’ve never had a problem with DPS Guardians. Black Powder generally does a great job at mitigating their damage output. The Burn is nasty, but you can work around that. Not really sure what to say here.

2. Minion Master Necros are a beast, but not that common in WvW. It’s hard to be specific but in general you can try and outlast them. Don’t go for a quick kill, as their pet stun will ruin it for you as will their Deathshroud. But once their Deathshround is spent you can apply enough pressure for a kill.

3. What your probably encountered was a Axe + Shield + Greatsword Warrior in Full Berserker gear with Hambow traits. They are mean, and their Eviscerates can hit for 12.000 easy. But again, Black Powder can mitigate most of their damage. Just be weary of 100 Blades since it partially penetrates Black Powder. Make sure to kite or out-stealth their Berserker Stance and Endure Pain and you should be able to kill them just as fast as they can kill you.

1. Land your stolen daze.

2. Shortbow. Very bad matchup for thief. Need to play extremely defensively. Kill Blood Fiend first if at all possible.

3. Probably: dodge the burst.

Dee Jay.2460:

1. I don’t know, but I’ve never had a problem with DPS Guardians. Black Powder generally does a great job at mitigating their damage output. The Burn is nasty, but you can work around that. Not really sure what to say here.

No black powder for me. I can usually stalemate against one long enough, but a good DPS guardian will add enough pressure to force me into refuge. That’s where I lose most of my fights against them.

Dee Jay.2460:

3. What your probably encountered was a Axe + Shield + Greatsword Warrior in Full Berserker gear with Hambow traits. They are mean, and their Eviscerates can hit for 12.000 easy. But again, Black Powder can mitigate most of their damage. Just be weary of 100 Blades since it partially penetrates Black Powder. Make sure to kite or out-stealth their Berserker Stance and Endure Pain and you should be able to kill them just as fast as they can kill you.

Yep, that sounds like it. I made the mistake of starting the fight with a steal.

Reikou.7068:

1. Land your stolen daze.

Easier said than done, since most guards will expect some kind of stun – either from my venom or from the daze.

What utilities are you running?

Arikyali.5804:

Easier said than done, since most guards will expect some kind of stun – either from my venom or from the daze.

Everything is “easier said than done,” but that’s what you need to do to win. So do it. You asked how to defeat DPS Guards, and I gave you the answer. Now you just need to be able to execute.

Arikyali.5804:

I have a personal ‘kill list’ for my thief, where I try to come across a class/build and try to beat them. So far, I have a few more to cross off the list, but I will need advice for these:

1. DPS guardian

2. MM necro

3. Some kind of warrior build that facerolled what I thought would be an easy fight, and wrecked me in 0.5 seconds. Bloody hell, didn’t even have time to react and evade that burst.

Edit: I’m a d/d thief, offhand p/d. Shortbow was nice, but I find the pistol mainhand to be much more effective.

Ok I’ll try my best to give some tips

1. A DPS guardian usually runs Greatsword/Sword Shield. That being said the main burst comes from bubble created by the shield, the spin to win, and the #2 on the sword I think which slashes and reflects projectiles. Usually they are also constantly blinding you on top of that. So when the bubble shield goes up you can either hit them 3 times to break it or get away from them before it explodes. If you do not hit them 3 times in the duration it will explode and do a ton of damage, like 5-7k. When the guardian uses the spin to win or the slashes with the sword, it would be a good idea to use the stolen ability to interrupt them. That is what I can think of off the top of my head. Lastly, be aware of the conditions you have on your bar, because a blind can really punish you if it makes you waste your CnD. Just auto attack to get rid of it.

2. A MM necro is definitely a underestimated opponent. Because it has so many NPCs around it, landing a backstab becomes a very challenging task. Luckily you have a lot of targets to CnD off of. Mainly just CnD off of a NPC and backstab the necro. Then just back off and CnD off another of his minions and go in again for a backstab. Also if you manage to land your D/D burst, immediately use the stolen skill to interrupt the heal and continue to heartseeker/ AA.

3. Lastly the warriors that roll in 0.5 seconds that don’t go down :/ These atm are the hardest classes for me to face besides D/P thieves. Most of these warriors will run great sword and axe/ shield. The main damage comes from the axe special attack called eviserate (can’t spell) which will take you down to half health. Also 100B is used to deal damage. Since the warrior skills are either very slow or telegraphed warriors need to lock you down. They will either use the shield bash to stun you and then use the axe eviserate on you. Best thing to do is to double dodge when you see the shield stun coming because they expect it to land and have already pressed the axe attack. Usually then they use 100B they will immob you and you should CnD off of them to cleanse the immob and get out of there, or use a teleport. In order to kill a warrior you need to try to keep up constant poison in order to lower their passive healing. Do not try and burst them down because you will waste your utilities and end up getting crushed. Reserve your dodges and stunbreakers for their big attacks. Fighting a warrior is a very hard fight to win, even if they are of lesser skill.

Reikou.7068:

Everything is “easier said than done,” but that’s what you need to do to win. So do it. You asked how to defeat DPS Guards, and I gave you the answer. Now you just need to be able to execute.

Haha, touche. But I’m talking about the guards who know what they’re doing against a backstab thief, not the dps guard I managed to kill in pvp by landing a stun after a venom.

That fight was too easy, I’m not counting it as a win for my kill list. I’m after the big prey, the dps guard that can avoid a simple stun trick. I need to know when to drop the stun, how to make him panic, and figure out how to escape his attacks as well. It’s not going to be endless lockdown stun.

hihey.1075:

What utilities are you running?

Shadowstep, blinding powder, and shadow refuge. And basilisk venom, but I assume that’s a given.

D/D power/crit fails in spvp, you can not get the stat combinations it would need to work (you will either be to squish or do marginal damage), P/D power/crit is also very bad (P/x basically gets hardcountered by retaliation).

You either need sb avoidance or x/P control or S/D avoidance without any of those you are dead meat.

Thieves can not go toe to toe with any other “melee” class, you need the avoidance your problem is basically summed up in dropping sb for P/D.

Bazzoong.7145:

D/D power/crit fails in spvp, you can not get the stat combinations it would need to work (you will either be to squish or do marginal damage), P/D power/crit is also very bad (P/x basically gets hardcountered by retaliation).

You either need sb avoidance or x/P control or S/D avoidance without any of those you are dead meat.

I should mention that this is for WvW, not sPvP. That’s not to say I don’t take D/D and P/D into sPvP. That’s where I can practice 1v1, and be ‘underpowered’ to learn my build’s limits and advantages. Also where I can fight other classes/builds without distraction from havoc, mobs, zergs, and scouting duty.

Bazzoong.7145:

Thieves can not go toe to toe with any other “melee” class, you need the avoidance your problem is basically summed up in dropping sb for P/D.

I’m gonna disagree there. I have seen it done, met thieves who’ve done it, and actually have managed it one or two times myself. Saying it’s ‘not possible’ means the melee classes are OP – and everyone knows that thief is supposed to be the most OP class, obviously.

(Truth be told, the annoying ones are the ranged classes. They won’t let me CnD them!)

Oh, wvw, I thought you where talking spvp, ignore my 1st post then.

In wvw basically everything works, due to more possible ways of combining stats and due to consumables.

In wvw SB is mandatory atleast you need one to switch in as a offset.

For anything involving daggers get about 3 k attack then focus on crit chance.

To land a CnD on ranged proffesions simply press 5 then steal or inf signet, the teleport will make it land.

Remove aegis with dancing dagger or sb 1 on guardians before you attack, instantly remove the long burn, to land the mace crack use a teleport or HS AFTER he dodges, the stolen items are the key to easy wins make sure to use them, trait blind on stealth in shadow arts, this will blind on cnd and will make you able to counter his hard hitters with stealth (cnd).

Use a sb to start against the mm necro, poison and clusterbomb on the zoo then use cnd on the zoo when they get to low hp, keep chaining cnd on the zoo and take your time, throw in some attacks on the necro BS if possible.
This will take a while do not overextend, especially before DS just chain cnd and keep some pressure up, Throw i some BS on the necro now and then and wait for an opportunity,the stolen fear is the key if you time that well and make sure the minions are hit aswell you have a good oportunity to get him, repeat over and over…

Against warriors blind on cnd is the key, do not get hit by his burst ever, but against warriors with a decent build you will not win if they do not make serious mistakes, you will get a stalemte at best.

Arikyali.5804:

Haha, touche. But I’m talking about the guards who know what they’re doing against a backstab thief, not the dps guard I managed to kill in pvp by landing a stun after a venom.

That fight was too easy, I’m not counting it as a win for my kill list. I’m after the big prey, the dps guard that can avoid a simple stun trick. I need to know when to drop the stun, how to make him panic, and figure out how to escape his attacks as well. It’s not going to be endless lockdown stun.

So bait them lol. You’re making something complicated out of nothing. How you kill the DPS guard is still the same. Land your stolen daze.

Bazzoong.7145:

To land a CnD on ranged proffesions simply press 5 then steal or inf signet, the teleport will make it land.

My gosh, I never knew that actually worked…thank you. I always assumed CnD would get interrupted with the teleport. Once I get better at the timing, I won’t have to stealth my steal anymore.

Run p/d. Beat everything cept dem op condi necros with dhuumfire and signet of spite which are slow just stealth and run from anyway.

ShadowNinja.1238:

Run p/d. Beat everything cept dem op condi necros with dhuumfire and signet of spite which are slow just stealth and run from anyway.

and engineers.