Guild Wars 2

Hey Guys,

Since all my Friends are like “Thief is the hardest class in PvP” i want to know: Is it really that hard to play him? I’m not trolling or anything but all i see is their s/d #3 skill spamm which doesnt seem to be that hard :/

It’s incredibly hard. You have no damage mitigation outside going into stealth. Even in stealth your rejuvenation if you’ve sunk 30 points into a trait line that adds little else, is slow.

You have half the health pool of most other classes. Unless you gear and trait for vitality your working with 10k average hp. Which means most classes will annihilate you with a crit or two. And conditions rip you to peices. We have horrible condition removal, on a long cooldown and its unreliable. Which is why so many thieves have had to rely on lyssa runes, to do what alot of classes can do easily.

However right now, with the crit changes, your damage is poor, so lyssa runes make it tough to land kills.

Your damage can be nice, but the stars need to align. Most of the fights your trying to dodge and evade imminent death, hoping you can line something up.

Make one mistake, and usually you’re on your back. Over time you get the feel for the movement and timing of a thief, and you can gain quite a bit more confidence, but you are always, ALWAYS one mistake away from death.

Anyone who says spam ‘2222222222’, or its easy mode. Is either stupid, or uninformed.

It kinda depends on your definition of ‘hard’. Thief definitely requires a very fast reaction time since it’s a very fast-paced profession compared to something like Guardian. However, you’re generally not juggling as many abilities as something like an ele.

Personally, I’ve found it to be one of the harder professions to play well, but I certainly wouldn’t say that it’s harder than a staff ele to play. Eles in general are easily one of the toughest professions because of the number of skills they have to juggle along with how you have to plan which element to use so that something you need isn’t stuck behind an element on cooldown at the wrong moment.

D/P trickery is, by far, the hardest spec to play in sPvP.
Sure, you can dish out a lot of damage, but the tradeoffs are that you are incredibly squishy, extremely vulnerable to conditions and to direct damage. Moreover, your only way of doing damage is by being melee (SB can help with AoE or if you are low on HP of course, but you are not “there for that”).
Plus, you have to be really quick at rotating to help your allies: you ARE supposed to do that in order to be a “good” thief. That’s why you will usually use your ports (Shadowstep and Infiltrator Signet) for mobility rather than for defense.
As D/P, you don’t have vigor. You don’t have dodges (aside from SB, which got nerfed). Your only way of mitigating damage is Stealth (which the AoE spam in PvP counter completely) and Blinds.
You get condi spiked? You die. You get stunned once? You die. You get spiked by another zerker class? You die. Simple as that. You don’t have much room for error as D/P.

D/P, compared to the other “meta classes” in pvp (Hambow, Condi Engi, Decap Engi, Spirit Ranger, MM Necro, Condi Necro, Bunker Guardian, Condi Warrior) is definitely harder.
Of course, there are some thief builds that are easy to play in pvp (like PD condi, seen a lot of WvWers running that spec these days), but they are nowhere as effective as DP at doing what a thief is supposed to do.

It’s basically up to what your class is SUPPOSED to do. As a thief, you want to kill other zerkers fast in 1v1, you want good mobility to help when needed and decap when needed, and you need to burst weakened targets down fast in teamfights. DP is definitely the best set among these at the moment, but at the expense of absolutely all your defenses.
Moreover, you don’t have any “passives” which help you staying alive.

S/D and S/P are still effective of course, but they have a bigger room for error than D/P (they do have some condi cleanses and some evade frames).

Still, playing S/D efficiently, even with all those dodges, is 100times more difficult than playing a braindead class like Hambow, Condi/Decap Engi, MM necro or Spirit Ranger.

Thief mechanics can carry you to a certain extent at lower skill levels vs. lower skill levels, the problem is that once you hit a certain point (where your enemies have played/understand the thief) the difficulty spike is dramatic. People know how to build against/react to/mitigate burst damage and and don’t panic or flail anymore. The don’t even guess with AoE, they just use attacks and that are (almost) guaranteed to hit you in stealth (guard GS pull> whirling wrath or necro deathshroud 4&5 are good examples).

Maugetarr.6823:

Thief mechanics can carry you to a certain extent at lower skill levels vs. lower skill levels, the problem is that once you hit a certain point (where your enemies have played/understand the thief) the difficulty spike is dramatic. People know how to build against/react to/mitigate burst damage and and don’t panic or flail anymore. The don’t even guess with AoE, they just use attacks and that are (almost) guaranteed to hit you in stealth (guard GS pull> whirling wrath or necro deathshroud 4&5 are good examples).

I have experienced that “wall” it was the moment I met a warrior who didn’t have a GS and was not using 100b against me, had dolyak signet and endure pain…

“hard” is a very misleading word.

No class is “hard” to play in GW2. The limited number of utilities and skills ensures that.

Class control is rarely an issue.

However the Thief class is “unforgiving”.

That means, unlike for example with a Warrior, if you suck on a Thief you will be nigh useless to your team. A bad Warrior might still be more than a rally-bot to the enemy but a bad Thief…no.

This is due to the “hit and run” nature of most Thief builds. A Thief glass-cannon must rely on situational awareness, dodges and Shadowsteps to survive, all which require player attentiveness.

This is what sets Thieves apart from other classes, some more than others.

Dee Jay.2460:

“hard” is a very misleading word.

No class is “hard” to play in GW2.

Yea, it was just a matter of time until one of these people popped in here to say this.

Every time someone asks about the relatively difficulty of a profession in a game, there’s always at least one guy who has to boast about how “every class is easy” and that it’s not hard, you just have to [insert game mechanic here].

There will probably be the inevitable defensive reply to this, but don’t bother. This kinda stuff pops up on forums for every game, no matter how complex or simple the mechanics.

Every post in here has been pretty spot on. However when a class is unforgiving, that is usually associated with it being a hard class. So I’d have to say that ele and thief are the hardest classes to play with their own reasons. They also have very high skill ceilings, and usually people who play thief have been playing it for a long time and they are good. This is often misinterpreted as thief being OP because the user simply knows their class mechanics.
Why thief is hard:

- Lack of good condition removal. Yes we have various ways to remove conditions, however things like stealthing to remove conditions takes us away from the fight for a brief moment to survive. We have shadow step as well, however I hate burning it just to remove conditions because it’s much more useful when I get rooted/stunned etc. PS I don’t use Lyssa either, prefer other runes.

- Low HP. It’s been said many times, but thief has a low HP pool. This works against us because the meta is condition heavy.

- Learning curve is quick. You may do well against bad players, but when you approach higher ranks knowing your class and the enemies class is important. There are small windows of opportunity you have to burst with all you’ve got and you have to be able to spot them quickly.

- Assuming we’re talking about s/tPvp it’s difficult to hold points (which you shouldn’t be doing anyways most of the time) if you’re a stealth build.

- Any type of CC works heavily against you. Usually if a good team CC’s you and you don’t have shadow step up you’re doing to die. You get better with this in time but it is difficult at first.

I’d also like to note some things. Having a lot of stealth does not make you very useful to the team. You may be able to survive but surviving =/= helping the team. You have to take advantage of the enemies’ mistakes and be mobile. I am often roaming between points to help my allies. I honestly don’t like to 1v1 in s/tPvP very often. I feel much more useful in group fights where I can take the focus off myself with stealth and come in with very high burst to finish enemies off quickly. Sometimes 1v1’s can drag on and be useless towards your team. I hate people that just go 1v1 and say they were “contesting”. It’s a waste of time and waste of a team member.

Dahkeus.8243:

Dee Jay.2460:

“hard” is a very misleading word.

No class is “hard” to play in GW2.

Yea, it was just a matter of time until one of these people popped in here to say this.

Every time someone asks about the relatively difficulty of a profession in a game, there’s always at least one guy who has to boast about how “every class is easy” and that it’s not hard, you just have to [insert game mechanic here].

There will probably be the inevitable defensive reply to this, but don’t bother. This kinda stuff pops up on forums for every game, no matter how complex or simple the mechanics.

It’s because “hard” and “easy” are relative terms.

And if you’ve come from MMOs with 60+ abilities, traits and skill combinations then yes, Guild Wars 2 is “easy”.

That’s not to say GW2 takes no skill. It does. It’s just that “class control”, an attribute typically associated with “skill”, isn’t a big part of it. “Situational awarness” etc. more so, but that’s not class-specific.

I feel like every time I get immob’ed, I’m dead. I also feel like every time I get feared, I’m dead. I have to use Roll for Initiative because I’m not quick enough to SS away, or I SS into some place not far enough, or I keep getting a “Out of Range”. :\

hihey.1075:

D/P trickery is, by far, the hardest spec to play in sPvP.

Is this a troll? Because only in some weirdo fourth dimension is D/P trickery the hardest thief build to be effective on. On-demand stealth + perma-blind? Please.

I can’t tell you how hard it is to learn thief in spvp because I got good with it while it was much more powerful and forgiving. As the patches (nerfs) have come through I’ve been able to slowly adjust to stay at the top. The learning curve for a new thief has got to be pretty high right now.

I feel that thief is a difficult class to play well. It requires faster reaction times than most other classes and it is quite a bit less forgiving. Engineer is considered a difficult class to play, but I was able to pick it up really quickly. I’m arguably just as good playing engi as I am playing thief even though the time difference is huge between the two.

Thief is still the most fun profession to me so it’s all worth it

Athelfirth.6308:

hihey.1075:

D/P trickery is, by far, the hardest spec to play in sPvP.

Is this a troll? Because only in some weirdo fourth dimension is D/P trickery the hardest thief build to be effective on. On-demand stealth + perma-blind? Please.

Between S/D, D/P and S/P, D/P is definitely the hardest.
S/D and S/P have evade frames AND condi clear. D/P only has stealth (which, against good players, doesnt matter much).
I know you’re not a good player, so I accept your mistaken opinion.

IMHO, with it being my main class from wvw roaming for a good 7 months, then switching to pvp, thief is a rough class to play. I’ve ran D/p since i started thief since i came from an assassin blind build from gw1, and its not so much as “hard” per say but more interesting. The reason i say that is because as simply stated from people above “if you mess up, you’re dead” period. i find myself using stealth less in pvp since when i switch to my dagger that means I’m going to kill you. with every class i kite and poison with my sb until i see them waste most of their utilities. It makes me think on my toes instead of when I play on my engi(not baggin) but go on point run in circles and aoe condi people to death. Would i say its a hard class to play, No, would i say its a more risky class to play, yes. But overall its just like every other class. just outsmart them. don’t listen to all the “AA to win” hype. I’ve used all weapon sets besides p/d since i personal find condi builds a little boring. and s/d is a little harder then spam 3. give it a try! start in pve then go into obi sanctum maybe solo roam(depending on your server). or just jump straight into pvp. thief’s a fun class (even tho we have the most haters)

hihey.1075:

Athelfirth.6308:

hihey.1075:

D/P trickery is, by far, the hardest spec to play in sPvP.

Is this a troll? Because only in some weirdo fourth dimension is D/P trickery the hardest thief build to be effective on. On-demand stealth + perma-blind? Please.

Between S/D, D/P and S/P, D/P is definitely the hardest.
S/D and S/P have evade frames AND condi clear. D/P only has stealth (which, against good players, doesnt matter much).
I know you’re not a good player, so I accept your mistaken opinion.

Yes, but D/P is also a lot more dynamic than builds like S/D since the way you use the weapon changes so much depending on circumstance. However, there’s still a lot of thieves out there that don’t use D/P beyond just dropping blind fields and leap/backstabbing (hence why you see people argue that it’s an “easy” weaponset).

Miniponki.2683:

Hey Guys,

Since all my Friends are like “Thief is the hardest class in PvP” i want to know: Is it really that hard to play him? I’m not trolling or anything but all i see is their s/d #3 skill spamm which doesnt seem to be that hard :/

Yes Thieves are not hard to play. Just spam which ever skill you like. Most Thieves like skill #3 especially on Shotbow, S/P, S/D, and P/P weapon sets. Some Thieves using main-hand Dagger loves to spam the skill #2.

However, there’s a catch. Just like in real life, you have to be cautious when something is too easy — there’s always a fine print, always.

So what’s the fine print on using Thief? If you go on a shopping spree to max out your credit card, you’ll have to pay that money back with a ridiculous interest. When it comes to playing Thief, you can’t just go on a shopping spree maxing out your Initiatives — because you’ll pay for it big time, with interest and hidden fees — in plain words, you’ll die, horribly.

Simpy put. Is Thief easy to play? Sure. Is it easy to master? Absolutely not!

Dahkeus.8243:

Yes, but D/P is also a lot more dynamic than builds like S/D since the way you use the weapon changes so much depending on circumstance. However, there’s still a lot of thieves out there that don’t use D/P beyond just dropping blind fields and leap/backstabbing (hence why you see people argue that it’s an “easy” weaponset).

Wait, there’s other things I can do on D/P other than 5, 2? I mean it in a sarcastic, but not really sarcastic way. Because there’s not really much you can do outside of a well timed headshot. Maybe 3 → 1 backstab. I find that when I 1v1 in sPvP thieves that play S/P do 2, 3, you stun break it, 2, 3 again. I only have so many breaks!

Every weaponset seems to be spammy if you wanna put it that way.

On D/P trickery, skill spam only works on killshot bait. It is the functional equivalent of six pool zerg rush. It’s something you don’t want to do, if you hope to stand a chance against better players, but it can get the job done against less-skilled players.

Lamuness.3570:

Wait, there’s other things I can do on D/P other than 5, 2?

The repetitiveness of D/P is a lot less than many other classes out there. A typical greatsword mesmer uses phant zerker, mirrorblade, mindstab into shatter. A typical hammer warrior earthshakers, then just presses all his buttons. A typical D/D ele revolves completely around landing their burning speed through knockdowns and launches, etc.

D/P trickery completely revolves around landing your steal, steal item skills, backstabs, and interrupts.

All combos are generally short, quick, and each one serves a purpose usually to get through the other person’s defenses. The basic stuff does revolve around landing backstab, but shortbow is THE weapon that a D/P trickery thief should get used to using the most – as it is the best weapon they have.

The basic D/P combo is: Blackpowder => Heartseeker + steal => Backstab

This combo really only works against people who aren’t paying attention. It’s usually used when approaching a point that has people already fighting on it.

The more reliable combo is: Blackpowder => Heartseeker => Backstab + Steal

It’s more reliable, but does less damage than the previous combo. It’s used most often in conjunction with a burst from another teammate.

Then there is a long range version: Blackpowder => Heartseeker + Infiltrator Signet + Steal => Backstab

Thieves use this if they critically need to get to a point quickly. Say a teammate is having some severe trouble on point. It blows both of your reliable teleports, so thieves better make sure they land their backstab.

Then there is the poor-man’s teleport: While in stealth => shadowshot into backstab

This is particularly useful against riposte skills. The blind is unblockable, but will trigger the block, and the subsequent hit will be blinded while you deal your backstab damage. It’s not used often because initiative is scarce on D/P trickery and it costs 4 to do.

There is the “fake-out”: Blackpowder + steal => Heartseeker => Backstab

This one is pretty reliable, especially against certain classes. This is used against targets who generally have slower attacks, or people prone to panic. It’s used to get in people’s faces. The big drawback behind it is that you’re in easy cleave range, so it can potentially put the thief out of position.

The “finisher”: Heartseeker + steal

Used to finish off targets that are on low health. Pretty straightforward, but any thief shouldn’t rely solely on heartseeker since it’s such a trash skill – especially compared to the auto attacks.

Then there are the shortbow combos, usually revolving around landing steal item skills or clusterbomb shots through the use of surprising shot – which means you need to pay careful attention to your cooldowns as you have limited access to stealth while using shortbow. Steal + Clusterbomb is particularly useful and is used much in the same way as a porting phoenix shot from an ele. It gets even more complex with the introduction of basilisk venom, as basilisk venom is like a better version of surprise shot because you don’t need to be in stealth to activate it. For example, you can reliably achieve about a 6 second hard cc lockdown on a target if you time your skills correctly and land a guardian mace hit – assuming they are out of stunbreaks.

(cont)

Then there are the cross-weapon combos on D/P trickery – which makes them unbelievably unpredictable and is the prime reason why other squishy classes (good players, at least) have such a scary time against them. They usually involve weapon switching in stealth, or applying bassi venom in stealth, or using steal item skills in stealth. Say you’re a mesmer. Thief goes into stealth with d/p. You expect a backstab, but he ports to you instead with steal – interrupt your current skill, remove two boons of yours, then clusterbombs your face killing your much needed clones in the process. On top of this, since he’s in shortbow, he has an easy access to an evade so your phant zerker that so commonly attacks people after they reveal themselves from stealth is going to just get evaded. That’s scary.

Blackpowder => heartseeker, weapon switch => surprise shot => steal + clusterbomb

This can also be paired with any steal item skill as you will land the immob on the target. As an example, after surprise shot, you port in with guardian mace it into a point blank clusterbomb.

While in stealth and in shortbow, => surprise shot, weapon switch => shadowshot/steal or infiltrator signet + heartseeker

This allows you to quickly approach your target, blind them (with shadowshot), shadowshot can be used against targets reposting (most targets use their riposte skill when immobed from surprise shot), and is set up nice and pretty to land a few auto attacks. It can also further link into the “fake-out”, etc.

Then there is the ultra combo, which no one uses but is very flashy:

Be in stealth while in shortbow => Clusterbomb from max range => surprise shot => weaponswitch, steal + backstab

All of these completely revolve around what steal item skill you currently have, and how to land it. Bassi venom is very useful to land these items easily. A bassi’ed backstab can link into a whirling axe, mace crack, necro fear, engie gunk, etc.

All of which is completely dependent on the situation at hand. On top of this, you need to land your interrupts on critical skills, and apply blind/counter damage to support your team at the right time. D/P trickery is FAR from a one-trick-pony – which is the exact reason why it’s the only spec on thief I don’t consider boring.

thieves are not hard, anyone say other wise either only play thief, or just have no idea what they talking about.

the ability to abuse blink points whenever they want to disengage is insane.
burst damage are easy to setup, insane mobility.

nothing else you can ask.

Lamuness.3570:

Dahkeus.8243:

Yes, but D/P is also a lot more dynamic than builds like S/D since the way you use the weapon changes so much depending on circumstance. However, there’s still a lot of thieves out there that don’t use D/P beyond just dropping blind fields and leap/backstabbing (hence why you see people argue that it’s an “easy” weaponset).

Wait, there’s other things I can do on D/P other than 5, 2? I mean it in a sarcastic, but not really sarcastic way. Because there’s not really much you can do outside of a well timed headshot. Maybe 3 -> 1 backstab. I find that when I 1v1 in sPvP thieves that play S/P do 2, 3, you stun break it, 2, 3 again. I only have so many breaks!

Every weaponset seems to be spammy if you wanna put it that way.

If you’re playing D/P like D/D (stealth → backstab until heartseeker at low hp) with the occaisional headshot, then you’re really not doing the set justice. There shouldn’t be any skill that you spam on D/P outside of hitting HS a few times against someone at low HP and is out of endurance/survival cooldowns.

Ultimately, what sets a good thief apart from a mediocre one when it comes to D/P is how they use the set in team settings and not simply how they fight in a 1 v 1.

Dahkeus.8243:

Lamuness.3570:

Dahkeus.8243:

Yes, but D/P is also a lot more dynamic than builds like S/D since the way you use the weapon changes so much depending on circumstance. However, there’s still a lot of thieves out there that don’t use D/P beyond just dropping blind fields and leap/backstabbing (hence why you see people argue that it’s an “easy” weaponset).

Wait, there’s other things I can do on D/P other than 5, 2? I mean it in a sarcastic, but not really sarcastic way. Because there’s not really much you can do outside of a well timed headshot. Maybe 3 -> 1 backstab. I find that when I 1v1 in sPvP thieves that play S/P do 2, 3, you stun break it, 2, 3 again. I only have so many breaks!

Every weaponset seems to be spammy if you wanna put it that way.

If you’re playing D/P like D/D (stealth -> backstab until heartseeker at low hp) with the occaisional headshot, then you’re really not doing the set justice. There shouldn’t be any skill that you spam on D/P outside of hitting HS a few times against someone at low HP and is out of endurance/survival cooldowns.

Ultimately, what sets a good thief apart from a mediocre one when it comes to D/P is how they use the set in team settings and not simply how they fight in a 1 v 1.

^^^^!

This can’t be emphasized enough. You can stop stomps and blind CC’s for your teammates that bring little to no stunbreaks (like a well-build necro). Sleight of hand even gives you the ability to stop stability stomps. Shadowshotting a hambow warrior dropping in with earthshaker can turn around fights.

Edit: P.S. : Headshotting a res while your teammate stomps can also determine the fight.

I feel that when I play D/D I’m so limited in the useful skills I can use. I use shadowshot too much and it burns my initiative And I agree. I suck at 1v1 but I’m extremely useful in 2vX settings. I hate running around by myself in pvp.

I’ve come across a time or two where I’ve headshotted a guy trying to stomp a teammate, and stole / interrupted another, letting my other teammate get the kill on a dude and rallying both guys. That was epic

It’s pretty difficult playing as a thief. Back then, we could rely to our high damage, but now that’s gone. We have very low health pool, the only specialty we have is stealth and out of stealth, it is easy to die. The initiative system instead of cooldowns though is pretty fun.

Miniponki.2683:

Hey Guys,

Since all my Friends are like “Thief is the hardest class in PvP” i want to know: Is it really that hard to play him? I’m not trolling or anything but all i see is their s/d #3 skill spamm which doesnt seem to be that hard :/

It is not hard at all. Thieves just complain because they don’t’ want a nerf. it is not hard to go in stealth every 4 seconds then just wait around till target blows their cool downs then spam backstab or whatever you plan on spamming (because that is literally the only thing a Thief does).

The class as itself is a joke but with the broken stealth mechanic is just ridiculous. Not to mention all the PvE (aka WvW) Thieves thinking they are pro (such a joke).

Its skill floor for Thief is by far one of the lowest, only higher than Mesmer. If you are decent at playing PvP games you should not die on a Thief at all, in any situation. Just stealth and run. It doesn’t get any easier.

(Note all the pro players begged Anet to change the horrible stealth in this game before they all jumped ship which happened almost a year and half ago)

Vanthian.9267:

Miniponki.2683:

Hey Guys,

Since all my Friends are like “Thief is the hardest class in PvP” i want to know: Is it really that hard to play him? I’m not trolling or anything but all i see is their s/d #3 skill spamm which doesnt seem to be that hard :/

It is not hard at all. Thieves just complain because they don’t’ want a nerf. it is not hard to go in stealth every 4 seconds then just wait around till target blows their cool downs then spam backstab or whatever you plan on spamming (because that is literally the only thing a Thief does).

The class as itself is a joke but with the broken stealth mechanic is just ridiculous. Not to mention all the PvE (aka WvW) Thieves thinking they are pro (such a joke).

Its skill floor for Thief is by far one of the lowest, only higher than Mesmer. If you are decent at playing PvP games you should not die on a Thief at all, in any situation. Just stealth and run. It doesn’t get any easier.

(Note all the pro players begged Anet to change the horrible stealth in this game before they all jumped ship which happened almost a year and half ago)

Learn to play dude.

hihey.1075:

Vanthian.9267:

Miniponki.2683:

Hey Guys,

Since all my Friends are like “Thief is the hardest class in PvP” i want to know: Is it really that hard to play him? I’m not trolling or anything but all i see is their s/d #3 skill spamm which doesnt seem to be that hard :/

It is not hard at all. Thieves just complain because they don’t’ want a nerf. it is not hard to go in stealth every 4 seconds then just wait around till target blows their cool downs then spam backstab or whatever you plan on spamming (because that is literally the only thing a Thief does).

The class as itself is a joke but with the broken stealth mechanic is just ridiculous. Not to mention all the PvE (aka WvW) Thieves thinking they are pro (such a joke).

Its skill floor for Thief is by far one of the lowest, only higher than Mesmer. If you are decent at playing PvP games you should not die on a Thief at all, in any situation. Just stealth and run. It doesn’t get any easier.

(Note all the pro players begged Anet to change the horrible stealth in this game before they all jumped ship which happened almost a year and half ago)

Learn to play dude.

^

Chicago Jack did a very good job on breaking down thief gameplay and gave nice detailed situations. Great post. There is much more complexity to thief than what players think. An example was earlier today when I landed a 9k backstab on a warrior in tPvP to end the fight, and he claims “spam 2 more pls” as if he couldn’t check his kill log to see what skills I used. I rarely if ever use heartseeker, and it gave me a nice laugh because it reminds me of all the QQ posts I see on the forums.
If you think thief is easy, you have most likely either not played against great players, or you’re just naturally talented. I always hear “THIEF IS SO EASY LOLOL BACKSTAB OP HEARTSEEKER SPAM TO WIN” . This shows you haven’t played extremely hard games where the enemy team is full of conditions, high burst, and is well coordinated, and you’ve probably only done hotjoins. I hate hearing people base a class off of sPvP, hotjoins and sometimes WvW(so many buffs can be had). The true test of skill is displayed in a head to head tPvP match.

Since d/p trickery is so focused on dazes and interrupts, get used to learning what other players use. Over some time, and some critical thinking/self correction, it won’t be hard to figure out the pattern of other players since the average player is so boringly predictable.

As an example, the typical thief player (usually an SA thief) will constantly blackpowder => Heartseeker. Give yourself some patience to interrupt the heartseeker, then counter burst them down. Even if you don’t kill the thief, he is forced to spend 12 initiative to get back into stealth, or blow his blinding powder cooldown. If the thief equipped hide in shadows, and you’ve just done your burst, his typical response will be to shadowstep away to gain distance from you then cast his heal. Interrupt it with headshot.

As said earlier, the typical mesmer you’ll run across has a predictable pattern to it. Same with warriors, eles (though you can’t counter daze -if you get knocked down- the burning speed now since it has evade frames), and most other classes. The only one that’s reliably scary, in my opinion, is engie. Their incendiary powder cannot be dodged and the best hope of proccing it is if you have rock dog – it’ll proc on rock dog and not you. They typically have protection injection, so you might want to use your bassi venom to force proc it, then apply your real burst via steal to rip the protection off. Keep in mind though, it’s dangerous to get into melee range with an engie – the chance of their nades hitting you exponentially increases and they usually have bombs. Lots of cleave hurts.

Vanthian.9267:

It is not hard at all. Thieves just complain because they don’t’ want a nerf. it is not hard to go in stealth every 4 seconds then just wait around till target blows their cool downs then spam backstab or whatever you plan on spamming (because that is literally the only thing a Thief does).

The class as itself is a joke but with the broken stealth mechanic is just ridiculous. Not to mention all the PvE (aka WvW) Thieves thinking they are pro (such a joke).

Its skill floor for Thief is by far one of the lowest, only higher than Mesmer. If you are decent at playing PvP games you should not die on a Thief at all, in any situation. Just stealth and run. It doesn’t get any easier.

(Note all the pro players begged Anet to change the horrible stealth in this game before they all jumped ship which happened almost a year and half ago)

If you are stealthing and running, you are not capping points, or in general being helpful to your team at all. Think about that one. Thief cooldowns are pretty long, so if he’s using his stealth options to run away, chances are, your cooldowns will be ready to pop once he comes back around. And yes, for a fact, it does get easier. Get on a warrior, throw a bolo and faceroll until your target is downed. You don’t even have to heal because healsig will take care of that for you.

Chicago Jack.5647:

D/P trickery is FAR from a one-trick-pony – which is the exact reason why it’s the only spec on thief I don’t consider boring.

Other than 6 in trickery, what other trait lines would be good to invest in? I’ve been using a D/P+SB signet/might stacking build that does some good damage and some nice survivability. What would you suggest?

EDIT: I haven’t made a lot of my own builds, but this is what I quickly came up with when inspired by your post. What changes would you make?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVlsMp8pVOx0J8PNBNhw9qUz8O83yaFA-T1hFwAAeCAmU/5iuAkK/Ku/gVlgJOFAAA-w

Anomaly.7612:

Chicago Jack.5647:

D/P trickery is FAR from a one-trick-pony – which is the exact reason why it’s the only spec on thief I don’t consider boring.

Other than 6 in trickery, what other trait lines would be good to invest in? I’ve been using a D/P+SB signet/might stacking build that does some good damage and some nice survivability. What would you suggest?

EDIT: I haven’t made a lot of my own builds, but this is what I quickly came up with when inspired by your post. What changes would you make?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVlsMp8pVOx0J8PNBNhw9qUz8O83yaFA-T1hFwAAeCAmU/5iuAkK/Ku/gVlgJOFAAA-w

This thread is referring to sPvP. The build you posted is absolutely useless in sPvP.

Anyway, even for WvW, your damage is pitiful. You wont be doing any damage and you would still melt to conditions. Toughness is too high.
What runes are those o.O

EDIT: the build Chicago Jack is referring to is this one: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVl0Mp7pVOx0J8PNBNhsNR8O83yaFA-T5AFwACeCAVLDA4EAAA
The things that are not filled can be choosen among these:
Runes: Either Lyssa, Ogre, Scholar or Strength
Critical Strikes traits: pick 2 between I, II, III, VI, VIII
Heal: can be either Hide in Shadows or Withdraw.
Second Sigil on Shortbow: really anything can fit.

Personally, the build I use in sPvP is this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVl0Mp7pVOx0J8PNBNBt9w7QE8OMfpMaFAA-TZBFwACeCAx2foxhAoaZAAnAAA

hihey.1075:

Anomaly.7612:

Chicago Jack.5647:

D/P trickery is FAR from a one-trick-pony – which is the exact reason why it’s the only spec on thief I don’t consider boring.

Other than 6 in trickery, what other trait lines would be good to invest in? I’ve been using a D/P+SB signet/might stacking build that does some good damage and some nice survivability. What would you suggest?

EDIT: I haven’t made a lot of my own builds, but this is what I quickly came up with when inspired by your post. What changes would you make?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVlsMp8pVOx0J8PNBNhw9qUz8O83yaFA-T1hFwAAeCAmU/5iuAkK/Ku/gVlgJOFAAA-w

This thread is referring to sPvP. The build you posted is absolutely useless in sPvP.

Anyway, even for WvW, your damage is pitiful. You wont be doing any damage and you would still melt to conditions. Toughness is too high.
What runes are those o.O

EDIT: the build Chicago Jack is referring to is this one: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVl0Mp7pVOx0J8PNBNhsNR8O83yaFA-T5AFwACeCAVLDA4EAAA
The things that are not filled can be choosen among these:
Runes: Either Lyssa, Ogre, Scholar or Strength
Critical Strikes traits: pick 2 between I, II, III, VI, VIII
Heal: can be either Hide in Shadows or Withdraw.
Second Sigil on Shortbow: really anything can fit.

Personally, the build I use in sPvP is this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVl0Mp7pVOx0J8PNBNBt9w7QE8OMfpMaFAA-TZBFwACeCAx2foxhAoaZAAnAAA

I think the build generator was set to WvW for some reason. Also, I mentioned having not made many of my own builds and was asking for advice, to which you gave some. You’re awesome.

Thanks.

EDIT: I see your edit and raise you mine. Thanks again for the guidance.

I’ve started to use Wurm in sPvP and it’s working out pretty well. I still hit an average of 6-7k backstabs on medium armors, and that’s all I can really ask for at this point lol.

hihey.1075:

Learn to play dude.

If you honestly think Thief is in any way hard to play… I just feel sorry for you. I believe you should take your own advice as Thief is a cheap and easy class to play.

S/P here but no no, i m not pwthief.
2/6/6/0/0

I only play 1toon since beta so i never feel like it hard.

Until i try Sranger Mnec. I cried to myself WTH is this?
Really like playing easy mode game due to thier survival ability.

I barly know my skill but still 2nd or 3rd place.

So thief is hard if u dont know ur kitten.
Kinda easy if u get use to it.