Guild Wars 2

For my final character slot, I’ve chosen to level a thief. I’ve leveled all my other slots to 80 (engi, elem, guard, and ranger), but am hoping this last one might be my favorite (hard to say, as I apparently have “alt-itis”).

I’m having a problem though, figuring out how to handle boss events with the thief. All my other characters (besides guardian) have some kind of decent ranged option to auto-attack those crazy, moving target-spots on dragons and bosses. The thief has a short-bow or pistols, neither of which have as much range as I’m used to. Do you just run around after the target indicator?

I’ve noticed on the big dragons (and some other bosses) that getting too close can mean instant death, particularly for squishy folk like the thief. How do you survive and contribute?

Well, which bosses exactly are you having trouble with?

Something like the Champion Svanir Shaman or the Shatterer, you can just wade right in and melee without any special precautions. I mean, stand behind the Shaman if you can, particularly when he changes forms, but you shouldn’t need to use ranged attacks. Shatterer can be blinded, so none of his offense can actually hit you no matter what class you play.

For something like Tequatl? If you do Tequatl regularly, you ideally should have a set of Soldier’s gear. With that, just go and stack on everyone else and you’ll be fine. I’ve commanded Tequatl on occasion with my thief, being the designated stacker, and I think I’ve been downed maybe once. Jump shockwaves whenever you can, trait yourself for extra dodges and try to use those to avoid the other knockback attacks from Tequatl’s moving leg when you’re not given Stability (a little wiggling back and forth isn’t going to mess up the turret cleanses). It’s no different than having an Elementalist commander for the event.

Are there other bosses you have in mind that are giving you trouble? Dungeon bosses, Living Story bosses?

Tequatl, Shatterer, and Claw of Jormag are the ones I was specifically thinking about. Tequatl kicks my butt, however Claw of Jormag just laughs at me.

If you have a decent defensive set, wear that. If not, just go P/P.

Feline grace is more than enough. Just dodge everything.

Elias.3204:

Tequatl, Shatterer, and Claw of Jormag are the ones I was specifically thinking about. Tequatl kicks my butt, however Claw of Jormag just laughs at me.

I use P/P for Teq in the first phase, after that I switch to SB and D/D. SB expecially to stack might after the defenses.
Anyway, my favourite is to dodge right under his claws, so I’m dancing in a 900 range in front of him and really don’t care about our zerg, I just do my own thing. Stay out of AOE, dodge the waves. There really isn’t more to it
Sometimes I’m also commanding, but that with my valk/zerker thief, I don’t think I’d be able to command as a full zerker, the AoE is too much. But as a commander I have to stay with the zerg and can’t run all over the place. In that case I’m using P/P and SB from the start to faster eliminate fingers.
Shatterer, the same, P/P.
Jormag: I use shadowstep to place down dynamite in the first phase and defend the golems with a flamethrower in the second – the good thing with this is that you can move at your own pace and get out of combat whenever you like/have to.
I think in the end it comes down to how well you know the boss fights to avoid what is deadly for you = you’ll get there eventually =)

My shortbow might as well be welded into that weapon slot tbh. Whenever it gets too risky to melee, there are a lot of fascinating fields I want to detonate, or I’m just lazy at that moment, I switch to SB and fire cluster bombs at things.

Yesterday i levelled my thief to 80 (3rd char) , mostly by crafting , some tomes and a bit of exploring and doing the lower bosses.
I wanted a char to be different then what i’ve been playing, messing around and having fun in the process, and it is fun to play. I deviate almost completely from everything i’ve found concerning meta’s and whatnot and i lvld it using crappy gear as well.

But bosses ? man oh man, that is a LOT of fun to do with thief.

To give an example : i did Jormag today on my thief, and i got downed only once because i tried to rezz someone closer to the boss, but other then that it’s pretty straighforward. My thief is wielding dual daggers as main and a set of pistols as second, but on a boss like jormag, all i do is help rezzing, use a bazooka and occasionally go at it with a flamethrower (the ice shards).

Any other bosses i really don’t see the problem, Golem MK2 for example, i run towards it unload the dual pistols, use dodges and retreat when the floor gets to “electrified”. I deal enuf dmg and can rezz and even heal people.

Mind you, i’m using part soldier and some rabid exo pieces atm, and just upgraded my rings to something decent, so gearwise the thief sucks in comparison to my warrior and ranger, but she can hold her own in any boss battle so far.

You just need to think a bit about your toon and exploit it’s strenghts : dodging, popping up out of nowhere only to unleash a world of pain. I love it.

Generally I just stick to ele for overworld boss events. Thief is good, but it just can’t beat meteor storm and ice bow.

But, for doing events on the thief, I usually have one of two weapon setups:

Dagger/Pistol + Shortbow, Sword/Dagger + Shortbow.

For power setups. I just love the shortbow. The bouncing arrow can sometimes hit multiple target spots, and cluster bomb definitely hits multiple spots. The cluster bombs can also be used to blast might and heals in respective fields. I find it to be so useful that I almost never take it off.

The melee weapons depend on the circumstance, particularly whether I have to strip boons or not. You can’t believe how useful larcenous strike is against champion karka. A special exception can be made for Tequatle defense teams, where I use sword/pistol for Pistol Whip and Black Powder.

My build rarely shifts from 5/6/0/0/3. My gear is either full zerkers, or soldiers with ruby orbs/exquisite ruby jewels. Utilities are usually 3 signets and shadow refuge, smoke screen, haste, or other unique skill. For each specific event:

Shadow behemoth: Dagger auto, heartseeker at half health.
Jungle Worm: Same as above.
Frozen Maw: Same as above
Covington: Same as above
Modnir Ulgoth: Same as above
Megadestroyer: Same as above. I use scorpion wire to pull it to the shore. Otherwise, shortbow.
Fire Elemental: Shortbow auto and cluster bombs
Shatterer: Shortbow and cluster bombs.
Golem Mark II: Shortbow and cluster bombs. On this boss, the shortbow will bounce between target marks, doing more damage than the dagger.

Karka Queen: I use Sword/Dagger on this. The strategy is mostly to auto attack, rolling away twice when she jumps. Use flanking strike + larcenous strike to steal away her boons. I use roll for initiative to sometimes withdraw from her jumps and rolls. Otherwise, engage at point blank range.

Claw of Jormag: First phase, I stand in the middle of the area and shoot shortbow + cluster bombs at the ice wall. You can get close enough to hit with those attacks safely. I use shadowstep to break stun. I’m careful to melee both spots with the dagger after the ice wall falls. Between each DPS period, I stand by the bombs, pick one up when the NPC says “Don’t take your eyes off of it!” and run it to the wall, then retreat back afterwards. Phase two jormag just involves killing all of the crystals, and running up to melee during DPS phase with dagger/pistol.

Evolved Jungle Worm: I rarely do this event, and have never done it with a thief. Afraid you’ll have to get advice from someone else here.

The Sunless: I usually go on the defensive teams, running smoke screen and concealed defeat. I engage enemies at point blank range, using black powder/smoke screen for defense, and pistol whip for more defense/offense. Dagger storm for projectile reflections, and concealed defeat as a trait for even more blinds/defenses. During the defense stage, the only special thing I do is use scorpion wire on the bloated plague carriers. During the DPS phase I blast might with the shortbow, then auto with the sword.

For engaging teqqy directly, I use the dagger to auto attack tendrils, and the shortbow to shoot cluster bombs at teqqy’s face. Shadowstep for stun breaks and condi cleanse. I’ve never run the turrets on a thief.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

snip

SB is nice for trashmobs but does a lot less damage compared to unload from P/P.
And against World Bosses you mostly want to do as much damage as possible.

Honestly i just attack from range.

Usually there’s a ton of people doing these events, so you can simply attack from range, get your chest after the boss dies and continue with your adventure. Otherwise, just listen to the guys here, their advice is solid.

d/d + SB + knight’s armor + zerker jewelery and weapons for everything PVE. Also Bloodlust sigils on weapons + of purity or similar to get rid of conditions. 0/6/0/6/2 – very agile, constant regenerating health with attacks and really hard to catch thief (2 traits + 1 sigil to regen health) with a good constant control of the field via caltrops drop each dodge. =) All utilities are signets. This way there is no need in stealth. At all. You will yawn at world bosses at some point. Hope it helps.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Generally I just stick to ele for overworld boss events.

I know I am not helpful repeating that but after 2yrs of doing everything with thief, ele seems a lot better for world bosses, great range/dmg. 900 range with thief is just way too limiting (not just for pve), sb dmg vs single target sucks. You can go melee and risk dying in 1 hit.

I use ele for anything pve.

If you use P/P you can trait for “Ricochet” and extend your pistol range by 300.

Ive been doing world bosses on thief for a while now running full 100% zerk ( I wvw a lot..)

Teq= stay on a turret or go help the spots other than the zerg, or if you do zerg always know where youre safe area is (where are you gona SR, evade to, if you go down wheres an ally who can rez?..)

Shatter = ShortBow.. just spam the fields

SB= shortbow for blasting fields and damage, then d/p the portals + shadowstep to get back and nuke

Maw = nuke it he wont even aknowledge you

Covington = run bombs (shortbow for speed + signit of shadows) then blast fields once her RI goes off

Jormag = again run bombs + kill ice staying in the zerg

Megadestroyer = Shortbow….

FE = dies in 5 seconds just spam fields

Jungle wurm = spam sb fields and go melee when its not whirling around

Ulgoth= Shortbow again..

Youre doing enough damage where you dont have to worry about a party, just pay attention and youll do fine, the only boss I die on is the Mark II golem because I dont pay attention to his electric field which is totally my own fault.

World bosses are not hard in the least bit, just coordinate with everyone and pay attention. The Key to thief is you have one of the THE BEST blast finishers in the game and you can spam it all you want. just hammer down on the combo fields to help your zerg out and youll be fine