Guild Wars 2

As the title says can someone help me against mesmers they seem to have better stealth and damage and utility than us thiefs.
Also instead of whining about the patch that clearly nerfed us find a way to get around it for now . We might have to change the way we play and that’s fine.

There is a ‘simple’ way to get on their nerves big times and pushing them down fast. Use your SB, 1,2,4 sometimes 3 if you run out of evades. It will give him a headache.

And if you are running on high dmg this is vastly effective (running sigil of air and fire on my SB) as I run DA/SA/Trickery I actually use both Venom traits in SA, which makes Basilisk alot more usefull in general.

Just beware… DO not get near him, if you do you die to fast if you run Berserker (marauder is an alternative option)

It is ouplaying him with the bounce Attack, high DMG albeit Slow AOE cluster bomb, keepin’ poison on him (reduce heal ftw) and evading/good positioning… and using your basilisl venom which now has 2 charges which can be helpfull.

Just do not seek melee battle with them, even the last finishining move via steal/going invis/backstab can kill you, because to many attacks from all sides/aoe field

So pretty much camp with the SB. Thank you very much. Makes sense though as I do only die within melee range

The good thing is due our bouncing arrows we can kill illusions quite quickly and we are not screwed if we loose focus on the mesmer for a moment…
he will be hit: either by bounce, aoe cluster, aoe poison

It sounds easier as it is, but it is something I did from the beginning. Another beneficial note: Most groups in PvP tend to ignore the thief on range, they underestimate the havoc you can cause from afar with your SB… and then switch, use your favorite burst… blinding powder… f key… win. Most cases in Group fights, I start from afar and help with poison, bouncing attacks, weakness/aoe dmg etc.

and then jump in

rather than simply say that you die when you get near him and therefore never get near him. why don’t you play a shatter mesmer for yourself or at least learn about them to see which mechanics you are ignorant of.

for example, the reason you die in melee range is most likely due to them shattering their clones using mind wrack which is the reason for you dying in melee range, this can be nullified with a simple dodge as can many other of their key damaging abilities such as mirror blade. I can tell you that when fighting shatter mesmers one of the most important things to do is always dodge mirror blade, it does a good amount of damage and spawns a clone on hit which will then be combo’d with a mind wrack. this one simple combo alone will deal half your health easily.

so as I said you should try playing a shatter mesmer yourself in pvp and you will learn how to fight them twice as effectively. this goes for any class you struggle with
metabattle.com for all meta pvp builds if you don’t know them

That is true, just saying it is alot easier to jump into melee after fighting a bit on range ^^

(or do you think I take the risk, as a squishy thief, that after a bit of time another enemy might come?)

Just saying if you are not confident in melee him, don’t go near him.

And honestly if you played a shatter Mes yourself (and it sounds like it) you are not having one selfmade friend on the field as soon as you spot him. That’s almost always the reason I start every battle on range.

Though as you yourself know, written and in action vastly differ in most cases in one form or another.
My advice was just something, which makes it easier for a thief^^ (and you can get a good feeling of what your oponent does for that matter, as you have more overview)

it was just overgeneralising and lazy advice that won’t really allow him to get better, for thieves who know how to fight mesmers they don’t need to rely on things like “never go in melee range” they know when to do certain things and why. that’s what being good at thief is, or any class for that matter.

oEnvy.3064:

it was just overgeneralising and lazy advice that won’t really allow him to get better, for thieves who know how to fight mesmers they don’t need to rely on things like “never go in melee range” they know when to do certain things and why. that’s what being good at thief is, or any class for that matter.

^^^ this

If you’re going to give someone advice it’s your responsibility to make sure its factual and effective.

This is how I fight them (shatter mesmers). Fight on your own terms, you dictate the fight. You have superior mobility. I will stay at range poking with SB to do some bounce damage and hopefully kill a clone or two waiting for the mesmer to throw that bouncy pink sword. When I successfully dodge that and they hopefully waste a shatter (hopefully mindwrack), I will steal into melee and start stabbing knowing that most of their burst has been negated and I’m relatively safe for a while (as long as they haven’t generated more clones for a next shatter).

A decent mesmer will catch on quickly and try to go into melee with you probably by blinking or using sword 3. GTFO with shadowstep/withdraw/RollForIni or whatever.

If a mesmer stealths first, GTFO. He will summon clones while invisible and blink onto you and rip you apart with a 4 x mind wrack.

TL;DR
a.) Go in for the kill when they don’t have clones up.
b.)If they initiate or they have clones up, GTFO and kite with SB, then do step a.)

Edit: I only now read oEnvy’s post. He is right about mirror blade. Some mesmers are so programmed to mindwrack after mirror blade they will waste the shatter if you dodge mirror blade. Then you have a free access pass to jump into melee and wreck them.

I’m not gonna lie, if you see a mesmer using Mantra of Distraction and PU, run away. We now outstealth you, our bursts are at least as high as yours and we can stun you at anytime, from 1200 range, without warning.

If you want the fight, take your time, never engage without a stunbreak, expect Mirror of Anguish when stealing with Daze and wait for the perfect moment, if it ever comes.

Iavra.8510:

I’m not gonna lie, if you see a mesmer using Mantra of Distraction and PU, run away. We now outstealth you, our bursts are at least as high as yours and we can stun you at anytime, from 1200 range, without warning.

If you want the fight, take your time, never engage without a stunbreak, expect Mirror of Anguish when stealing with Daze and wait for the perfect moment, if it ever comes.

I’m happy to see that you are all working on different strategies. I quoted this one cuz i thing he’s wrong.

You wanna kill a mesmer? It’s gonna be the same as the rest. You gonna have to work for it. Be more strategic & versatile.

1- change your kitten meta. The squishy build high damage does not work!
It’s not only the mesmers but all classes have the ability to 1 shot light armor.
It becomes a question of who hit’s first. So learn from it. & build something that will tuff out a 1-2 punch. Cuz all other classes are doing so. Thief players are just not folowing.

2- As a thief, you gonna have to deal with the fact you wont be able to hit & run thinking you just obliterated your target with his full health. That meta is gone. But it does mean that timing is everything. you gonna have to use more strategy & wait at the right moment. If you want to hit & run, let the other party members do the work. Wait till your targets health is less then 50%, then finish him off. If it doesent work, just reset.

3- Lear more then just button mash 1 & 2. The easy road to a kill is obviously to master the thief class. Not sit back & pew pew heart seeker all the time. One & a main reason why mesmers have an OP advatage on thieves? Is mesmer players are better then thief players. For so long they wer outclass by thieves. Mesmer players had to learn to deal with thieves. & they did. So stop the whinning & use this as an opportunity to learn & get better. So figure it out. Good luck!.

One other thing – there are different types of mesmers, and not all of us use shatter as a primary mechanic. Personally I use phantasms and condis with lots of reflects and am fairly tanky. Lots of thieves hurt themselves on my by using SB which I sit inside my whirling warden.

For us, you need to blind, blind, blind. It’s also a bit dangerous since reflects will end up blinding you (if projectile based).

im running into a fair amount of stun-lock mesmers running staff/ sword pistol that constantly just stuns you and dazes you until your out of stun breaks and then just burst you down. Its really frustrating to fight against as they as well constantly stealth and i just cant seem to outplay them.

Mesmers went from challenging to nightmare mode even with a high burst setup they seem to have the traits to avoid it.

You thieves are funny.
Let me tell you a story as a good mesmer player. One good lesson I’ve learn from good thieve players. Is to hide into the corner while everybody else fights. Target my thief or my squishy first. Then at the right moment, when he least expect it. Pounce! Bam!…. Squash..like a bug. Then get out before i get focused.

True story!

ps: dosent always work, but every time you try, you get better at it.